Merry Christmas!!!
Posted by Gypsy on Dec 24, 2005
Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!
I’m out of town for the holiday, but I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. I’ll be back on Monday or Tuesday with tales of my holiday and bragging about all my wonderful presents (not that I know what they are yet, but I’m sure they are great).
Recent comment
Posted by Gypsy on Dec 21, 2005
I wouldn’t usually prepare a rebuttal to a comment, but since this is my first one that wasn’t spam or from a family member, and because I think the guy has a point, I really do feel the need to. So this is the comment from my last post (some parts have been edited out becuase they aren’t necessary for this post):
It’s kinda funny reading this. You’re a Soldier and you’re complaining about doing your job. So you have to work when you weren’t expecting to, but as a Soldier you have to always be prepared for that. Sure it sucks, I agree with you there.These guys/gals are coming home from a deployment and you want to complain about a couple days when they’ve been gone for a lot longer? That’s why I think it’s funny. It’s not like you have to unload their pallets of foot lockers or CONEX’s of gear….you have to take pictures.
I understand these people have been gone a long time. I’ll understand more since in June I myself leave for Afghanistan for a year. This is why this Christmas is so important to me. Because I won’t be here for next Christmas. And I realize I have to be prepared to work when I’m not supposed to. Believe me, as a journalist, I have to work a lot outside of the normal duty day.
There may be NCO’s or Officers in the Army that don’t take care of troops like they should, but I think it’s harsh to say that the “Army” doesn’t take care of its people. Flip it to the other side……I think the Army is taking care of its troops by making sure they have a photographer at their coming home. You know….memories….Unit history….blah blah blah.You act like you fucked up by joining the Army. By the way you talk I think the Army fucked up by letting you call yourself a Soldier. Do you remember the Army Values? How about Duty?
My feeling that the Army doesn’t look out for it’s soldiers goes way beyond this incident, as does the prevailing thought that I made a mistake joining the Army. Believe me, if this were the only crap happening to me right now, I wouldn’t be complaining. Remember how I just mentioned going to Afghanistan? I forgot to mention I’ll be going there 6 weeks after my husband returns from Iraq. By the time I return from my deployment, I’ll have been married for 4 years and only have spent 8 months with my husband. This would be one thing if I were deploying with my unit, but this assignment is a tasker my branch manager specifically put me on knowing full well that my husband was deployed. How did he know this? Because I’d called him two weeks before seeing if there was a way my husband and I could be stationed together when he returns from Iraq.
As for the photos, I work with 6 other photographers, 3 of whom live on post and are spending the holidays on post. Why can’t they take the photos? It’s only a 5 minute drive from home for them. Even if I didn’t have plans to go out of town, it would still be a 45 minute drive to post at 2 a.m. on one of the most dangerous roads in the state (we’ve had 5 people die on it in the last 6 weeks alone). That doesn’t sound like taking care of soldiers to me. I’m an NCO myself, and that’s not how I would take care of my soldiers. If I had any since we are all a bunch of sergeants with no soldiers.
Yeah, I’m in the Army and I don’t like my assignment but I know that it will get better when I go back to Ft. Bragg. I have a friend at Ft. Irwin and he doesn’t like it there. Maybe it’s just Ft. Irwin. Is that your first assignment? If so, consider giving the Army a chance. I’ve been in for 8 years and I love it.
This is actually my second duty station. I absolutely loved my first duty station. And anyone who knew me before I got here would be absolutely shocked to know I feel such anger and resentment towards the Army now. I had to go through a lot to join and I’ve worked my tail off to get where I’m at now. I’ve worked hard for the Army. Harder than a lot of soldiers I know. And the Army repays me by treating me like I’m just a number. Not a human with a family, with emotions and with a life outside of that uniform.
When I joined the Army, all I heard about was what a family it was. How the leadership is supposed to look out for soldiers and what an amazing organization it is. And don’t get me wrong, the Army is great for a lot of people. It’s been said to me that I shouldn’t blame the Army becuase one or two people are bad, but I’ve had to deal with enough of the bad lately that I’ve realized that I don’t want to work for an organization that doesn’t even care, just a little, about me. I’ve given the Army a chance. But in the end my husband and my real family comes first. I thought I could have both, but that simply isn’t going to happen. So when my time comes, I will not be staying in the Army’s family. Because it’s not really a family at all.
Fucking Army
Posted by Gypsy on Dec 21, 2005
You know, as if the Army was fucking up enough shit in my life at the moment, now it wants to ruin my damn Christmas.
My plan for this weekend was to drive to Modesto on Friday and stay with Jeremy’s aunt for the holiday, coming home on Monday.
Last week those plans got fucked when we found out 500 soldiers from here were returning from Iraq on Friday. No biggie, though, I’d just drive up on Saturday, only miss one day of my trip.
Today I walk in and they tell me the soldiers are delayed, they won’t be home until Saturday and probably not until around midnight Saturday night. Oh, yeah, and they expect me to be there to take photos. Well, I’m pissed and have already said I won’t be able to make it. I have plans for Christmas and since I’ll be stuck in fucking AFGHANISTAN next Christmas, I think they should be able to cut me some slack.
I fucking hate the Army. This is the last straw for me. The Army has proved time and again that it doesn’t give a shit about soldiers so now I don’t give a shit about the Army.
I’m ready to move to Canada.
Warm dessert….mmmmmmmm
Posted by Gypsy on Dec 20, 2005
The other day I discovered the most amazing, yummy, chocolately amazing dessert for the person living alone.
It’s Betty Crocker Warm Delights.
Basically, they are single serving desserts served warm. All you have to do is add water, stir it up, pop it in the microwave and in a few minutes you have a yummy desert perfect for one person.
I’ve tried the Molten Chocolate Cake and it’s awesome and yummy and to die for. I’m drooling just thinking about it. The chocolate chip cookie one isn’t wonderful. I’ve also bought the brownie to try, but haven’t actually tried it yet.
This is really great becuase I’ve been craving something homemade lately. I may not be able to cook real food, but I can bake. But I’m not going to bake a cake for just myself. That’s just a bad idea and I’d be as big as a house if I did that. So when I saw these in the baking aisle the other day, I had to get them. I highly recommend them. They are super yummy and great for one. Or you can share one with someone if you want something sweet but don’t want all the calories.
Oh, and I’m sure they would be great with a scoop of ice cream. Like a brownie sundae. Mmmmmmm. I need to go make myself soem cake now before I drool all over my computer.
