It is interesting, what many people want their blogs to be. Like so many things in life, we start out with very grand intentions when we set up our blogs. I think everyone goes through the phase where they think they will earn some money from their blog. That is the dream that Google AdSense was selling. That was an interesting evolution. Google AdSense will not be a significant revenue stream for the vast majority of bloggers. Guy Kawasaki could not even make it work.

The most interesting blogs are the ones that actually have something to say. Usually a theme or a topic that they are focused on. My own blog hit its high water mark during my first tour in Iraq (Kuwait, actually). I do not really know how many readers I had but there were quite a few. In the hundreds. People read my blog because I was talking about an experience that they were interested in. I was a deployed sailor talking about life on deployment and the war in general. That is what people tuned in to read about.

So, how do you keep a readership? Joey de Villa is still blogging after good lord knows how long. Technically speaking, Post Secret is a blog. As is Engadget and several other tech blogs. So, obvious very focused and entertaining blogs draw readers. But what do personal blogs need in order to be interesting? That will be part of the effort here.

The other goal here is to have a place to practice html, css and javascript. The goal is to have this be a showcase of my web development skills. We'll see.

Freedom is not free. The price is non-negotiable. Each generation pays for the freedom of the next generation in blood. Memorial Day is a day to celebrate that purchase while honoring those who paid for it.

US Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Michael J. Pernaselli 27, of Monroe, N.Y
KIA 24 April 2004, Northern Arabian Gulf, Operation Iraqi Freedom

US Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher E. Watts 28, of Knoxville, Tenn
KIA 24 April 2004, Northern Arabian Gulf, Operation Iraqi Freedom

US Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan B. Bruckenthal 24, of Smithtown, N.Y.
KIA 24 April 2004, Northern Arabian Gulf, Operation Iraqi Freedom

I remember these three men because I have a connection to them, albeit a slightly removed one. These men were killed by a suicide bomber who was attempting to attack the Khor Al Amaya Oil Terminal (KAAOT). These men were about to board the dhow when the suicide bomber detonated his weapon killing these three men and wounding many more.

As a result of these actions, I ended up serving on KAAOT in support of security operations to prevent further attacks.

Petty Officer Bruckenthal was the first Coast Guardsman killed in action since the Vietnam war. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery. When I finally make it to Arlington, his is the first grave I would like to visit.

I will never forget.

I first heard this quote in a podcast by Ravi Zacharias. I like it because I believe it to be an incredibly accurate and concise summary of modern society or at least Western society.

Y'all do remember that the title of my blog is Smittie's Ramblings? Today, the emphasis seems to be on rambling or at the very least, randomness.

I am still trying to get back to FOB Hunter. Remembering a photo I saw from back near the beginning of the war, I have resorted to sitting out on Route 6 with a cardboard sign that says FOB Hunter or AWOL. We'll see how successful I am. It's got to be at least as effective as the other methods I've been trying over the past two weeks.

SSG LaRocque apparently got lonely down there at FOB Hunter without me. He showed up at my CHU door on Thursday night. Haven't seen him since save to borrow a pair of pants. He's off to this meeting or that. A very important and in demand person here.

So, the wait continues. I really would like to get back down to FOB Hunter for the last few months of this deployment.

1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry has returned home to Fort Hood, Texas. I worked with them for seven months. The 1-9 CAV built FOB Hunter. When they arrived on the abandon airfield of Qal At Salih there was nothing there but a few runways, some taxiways, several hangers that they called Haus for reasons I have not yet figured out. It was summer when the 1-9 CAV arrived. There were no air conditioners. For the first month or so there wasn't even any ice.

FOB Hunter is pretty comfortable now. The 1-9 CAV and supporting units built it up pretty nicely. For all that, I won't mind the day when FOB Hunter is in my rear view for the last time.

I am still at COB Adder. With luck I'll be back at FOB Hunter tomorrow for the final push to finish this tour. It's been a good break. I am looking forward to getting back to my team. Reading their reports for the past week it looks like things are nicely busy down there. Looks like they're getting out to do some real CA work. That will be good. Quite possibly we will be given the chance to go out with some significant accomplishments.

Despite all my reservations about the Army -- I still bleed Navy Blue and Gold -- with any luck at all, I will be re-enlisting in the Army on FOB Hunter. I expect that it will be a good event. I had the chance to re-enlist in the Navy out on KAAOT on my last tour over here. I ended up extending my enlistment in the Navy after I returned from that deployment. The extension was a non-event. A purely administrative event the belied the significance of what I was doing. Based on that experience, I decided that I would re-enist on this deployment. Military service is an important part of my life. I have a lot of complaints about the Army. I regret not having managed my Navy career better so that I could have retired from the Navy. That was my fault. The Army is giving me the chance to continue a life that I enjoy. I enjoyed the Navy more but, at the end of the day, I would rather be serving in the Army than to end my military service. I owe a heart felt thanks to my chain of command, First Sergeant Luedtke and Lieutenant Colonel Clark for their patience and affording me this opportunity.

I look forward to continuing The Face of Iraq project, catching up on all the work Team RONIN has done while I've been goofing off for three weeks. I want to thank the team and especially my team sergeant, Staff Sergeant LaRocque for the opportunity to get a break. Now it is time to go back to work. Despite what a lot of the main stream media seems to be saying, Iraq is on its way to standing on its own two feet. I believe that Team RONIN and the rest of Alpha Company, 445 Civil Affairs Battalion has made a contribution to the province of Maysan in getting to the place where they can govern themselves. I believe that Iraq will succeed. I don't know that it will be the success the United States would like to see but it will be their success. It will be a success defined by their culture, background and environment. That is as it should be.

Thanks for the break. Time to quit goofing off and get back out there.

Growing up, my parents use to read the Love is... comics and when there something particularly relevant to their life, one or the other of them would cut it out and put it on the family Facebook of the day, the refrigerator door with a magnet. I got to thinking about that and wondered what had become of the Love is... comic. So, of course, I googled it. Imagine my surprise to discover that Love is... still is. Who'da thunk it, Love still is.

Love is... can be found on the GoComics.com site. Of course, I had to go see if it was the same comic I knew as a kid. When the page loaded, I was really quite surprised by the topic of that day's strip.

Love is...
...a prayer for your soldier boy.

After the brief they loaded us up on a bus to take us to the airport. Our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 0900. So, why did we need to get up at 0300?? No idea. I went and found some breakfast and then found a soft piece of concrete and catnapped until they woke me up to get on the flight. There were nine of us on a C-130 which made for a fairly comfortable flight. I manage to sleep for parts of the two hour flight to the first stop. We spent about an hour on the ground and then departed for Adder. By 1330 I was back in my CHU in Adder, tired as hell. I thought about going to bed but decided that would make it hard to sleep through the night. So, I went to watch a comedy show at the MWR. It was OK. Kind of fun. The comedians needed better writers. However, anyone that is willing to come over here and try to make life a little better for those of us deployed here is alright by me.

That was yesterday. Got up this morning, did more laundry, uniforms, socks and underwear that I did not get washed before I left on pass. It's in the drier right now. In fact, I need to go check on it. I'll be right back.

OK, I'm back. Actually, I got distracted and did a bunch of stuff. So, I've finished all the laundry. I'll pack a couple of boxes to send home so that I can reduce the amount of stuff I have to pack when we leave this place. My goal is to be down to one bag and an assault pack when I leave COB Adder for good. That would be cool.

Some time this week I'll fly back to FOB Hunter and go back to work in earnest. I'd like to say I'm looking forward to it but I not. I have approximately 78 days left on this tour. Unlike my last tour, I cannot wait for this one to be over so that I can return to civilian life. And on that cheery note, I'm out.

At the second stop, the old souqs, there was a much broader range of merchants. Lots of spice and herb shops, clothing, an entire section devoted to birds. Apparently pet birds. Finches, cockateels, parakeets and what not. There were even a few large parrots. For all of this, I was a little disappointed. It was not as interesting as I thought it would be.

To begin with, it wasn't old. The buildings that made up the old souqs were really quite new. There were a lot of Qatari there but it was obviously a tourist destination as well.

There were a number of restaurants in the old souqs. All of them looked very nice. We chose to eat at an Indian restaurant called Royal Tandoori. It was a very nice place, well decorated inside. The waitress helped me get the right order. I really like the chicken that comes in a thick sauce that is usually brown in color. I always think it's Tandoori chicken and then I'm disappointed when it arrives. The waitress mentioned that it would be dry without something else. I changed to the right dish but I still don't know what it is called. We had rice with peanuts and raisins, I don't know what that's called either, and plain and garlic naan. The food was very good, the service was great and the two of us had more than we could eat for $40. Pretty good deal.

Tomorrow, day 4, is my last day. At 2100 I will need to check to see if and when my flight back is scheduled for. It's been a nice break. I can't really say that I am anxious to go back to work but I am ready to leave here. A part from the tours there's not a lot to do. I like having blazing fast Internet and I can keep myself occupied but the days go quicker down on FOB Hunter. I'm looking forward to getting some more photographs for my The Face of Iraq project. As we draw nearer to the end of this tour I look forward to being done and going back to civilian life. I'm ready to be a civilian again.