Afghanistan Update,
 

We'll I'm sitting in Baltimore MD, now waiting for my flight, I'm really nervous my hands keep shaking and all I can think of is What the Hell am I doing, I hate flying, Not the army just the flying.

Pray for me folks and my 18 hour flight ugh....

later,

Seth

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

Try Kava. That stuff is like natural valium.

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

Don't be afraid, Seth. I cast a prayer of protection over you after I read this.

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

Ace195, good luck to you. This will be a life changing experience. For the good or bad, is how you look at. What ever happens, never forget why you are doing this.

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

Good luck man. Have a safe flight!

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

Stay Safe.

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

Let's pray for a short tour of duty.

If you get hurt or killed out there, I'll kill you.

Keep your head down and your eyes open.

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

Because he's has no choice. Same reason everybody is doing it.

I mean, stay moto :rolleyes:

This war is getting to me.

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

Yeah Gekko is right.... eh.. but oh well.. I'm here in Afghanistan now, it's not to bad.. Being a commo puke It looks like life is going to be Cake.... Look I even have internet on a daily basis.. wtf ? who knew.. Later Guys

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

Come on now, don't use that excuse. I had no choice :rolleyes: Anyway you look at it, you signed the paper. For whatever reason that my be, you still had a choice. Please don't blame your desicions on anyone or anything else, a lot of respect will be lost.

You do learn alot about people when they are in certain situations. And this is one of those situations.

Now, I'm not saying you can't complain. It's just the wrong attitude with the whole "Because he's has no choice." Actually, you will be reading in the Stars and Stripes (Letters to the Editor section) from the area, that all people will do is complain about their situation. Just try to not fall into that attitude. Believe it or not, I kept a somewhat positive attitude while I was deployed. Sometimes, things got to me, but I tried not to let that hinder my motovation.

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

I'm going to guess your either A in the Airforce or B in the Navy because there is no way to keep a happy lifestyle on a year tour..

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

I'm out of the service now, but no I wasn't in A or B, I was in the Army (MOS 11C, Infantry). The same branch of service that you are in now. And I never said I was "happy", all I said was that I tried to keep a positive attitude.

The more you think about things that bother you, the worse your attitude will become. Just trying to give you some friendly advice on making it over there. It's not going to be easy. But you have to think is it really worth it to make yourself more miserable than you already are with a bad attitude?

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

You had a choice, you no longer have a choice. And with the horrible way things are being run, there is every reason to complain. When your life is at a greater risk because of the incompetency of the leadership, why keep a positive attitude and pretend to like it? I prefer to be honest.

But then again, no one in my battalion has a positive attitude. 0.5% re-enlistment baby! w00t!

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

Yeah and they are offering a 15k reenlistment bonus, 15 for 6 years. Hrm.. tempting but no..

Re: Afghanistan Update,
 

I doubt you guys are going to read all of this, I even think it’s a little long. But here I go:

Come on now gekko, you aren’t giving me enough credit. You should know that I’ve heard just about every excuse how why they should have a bad attitude. You know, things like “It isn’t fair, Not my fault, Not my problem, I’m only a (insert rank)… yada, yada, yada” Being in the Military, the first thing that they should have taught you in Drill, Basic, Boot, is false motivation. It’s better to pretend to have a positive attitude, then having a Negative one. It won’t matter if you are putting off a good one or bad one, your attitude will reflect on others. It’s that simple. One person with a bitchy attitude can bring down the whole platoon. Yet, instead of trying to improve your own attitude, people tend to point the problems on others and blame them. I always hear things like, I would have a better attitude if they fix this thing, or treat people better, or if we got a new leader. Yeah, now that’s a joke. You are in the Military. Life in the armed forces isn’t all fun and games. Plain and Simple. I don’t care if you’re a solider/marine/airman/seaman to the bone, if it’s in your blood, you’re a born killer. From Ranger, Special Forces, Delta Force, Seal, Recon, Paratrooper. The Military is going to abuse you. There is no pretty way of looking around that. Switch Leadership, switch platoons, switch services, or switch your MOS. Just excuses on why people don’t want to improve their attitude. The grass is never greener on the other side. No matter how much you look. You can’t control a lot in the military, but you can control something, be it as simple as your motivation.

I’m not trying make it sound as simple as a magic trick, have a good attitude *poof* everything is candy and ocean waves. Nope. All I was trying to say is that I have experienced similar situations, and I did my best to have a good attitude. Look at the good things that we had. This might sound kind of sad, but the day we got a metal garbage can dedicated to doing our laundry… man that was an exciting day. Or when we found out that we had a toilet (no running water), that was like gold. Or when the military gave us a mini fridge so we could have cold water, I can’t even explain how excited I was. It even had a mini freezer in it so we could have ice cubes. Did I have the idiots in my leadership? Heck yeah, I did. Was I put through some pretty screwed up situations? Oh yeah, that one too. Was there tension on the FOB? You could cut it with a knife. Did I see things that could be considered evil? I should be put through court as a witness. Could I have sat around a complained about how horrible things where for me and my platoon? Sure could have, but I didn’t (most of the time). I got excited about the little things we got, a deck of cards, books, electricity, and the first platoon to have AC in our Battalion. Mourned when I had the time. And like I’ve said before, I’ve complained about the situations that I’ve been in, but I tried not to let it get me too far down.

There are people in the Military that don’t know how to do the whole “false motivation” thing, and they look to other people for a helping hand. Do you really want to be the one who nobody talks too because they know that you have a bad attitude? (Had this kind of guy in my platoon also. I will tell you from experience that this guy had one of the hardest times. He was having a hard time with a certain situation, but nobody wanted to listen to him because all he did was complain. Not going to go any deeper into the story.) And all you are going to do is bring them down. This is the type of thing that you cannot do alone. No matter how tough you think you are. These “idiots” around you are the only ones you have. It’s not like you can really talk with anybody back home about the things that you have seen or what you have done. Not that simple. Your guys have seen what you have, done what you have, going through the same thing you are. Truthfully, they are the only ones that understand. And I know that sucks. There are still some people I won’t talk to in my platoon because I really learned what kind of person they where.

So the question you really have to ask yourself. If you didn’t want to do this, why did you sign up? It’s not like America has been at peace with the world since… well, ever. Something is bound to happen if you join the military. If you are really that miserable, go ahead put your weapon down, go through your chain of command, and tell them that you will not fight for this country with a gun. That you do not believe in taking another human life. You have to stick to your wits here. It’s going to be hard, but it will be more worth it then putting up with something that you are truly miserable with. You always have choices, they won’t be easy, won’t be fun. But the Military cannot take away your freedom of choice. Punishment will be followed, but it’s something people have to weigh when they make the choices in their life.

If you do nothing (except complain), you have nobody to blame except yourself for the bad attitude that you have.

Just to clear it up, I’m not pointing my finger at ace or gekko. No insults were intended, just some friendly advice.