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hey ladies and gentleman, this is part 3, uh we left off in part 2 I had just gotten
to Grafenwoehr, Germany okay: I went there for 3 months, failed at the school-house,
and was reassigned as an 88 mike to the 709th Military Police Battalion in Grafenwoehr,
Germany... This was to become my new home, my comrades
in arms, and my favorite duty station of all time. Also key was the funniest, craziest,
most outlandish deployment I've ever known. I even saw my drill sergeant from Ft. Jackson
when I got to FOB Lightning in Gardez, Afghanistan! Drill Sergeant Wade, I'm looking at you!
Small world! I also saw my room-mate from Good fellow Air
force base when I was stationed in COB Adder, Iraq! Jacob William Mcneil, I'm looking at
you!
the 709th mp battalion was home to some of my best friends like sergeant Evora from the
phillipines, SPC Chord from Oregon, SPC Brown from Atlanta (I think?) and Price, Lopez,
Siglow, Hernandez, SSG Wood, SPC Oshea, SPC Venable, SGM Lynch, CSM Chambers, SFC Wills,
and many many more the list goes on forever but you get the idea!
these people were my lifeline and I would have done ANYTHING for them. Especially my
buddy Chord and I'm not kidding when I say I would kill a man to keep the friendship
of SGT Evora. (I'm not saying I would actually really kill
someone, I just want you to know how special he is to me)
looking back on my military experience now it seems like it was a dream but that is five
of the strangest, longest, craziest, silliest, most serious years of my life!
There was love, laughter, tears, death, rejuvenation, exhaustion, strength, family, brotherhood,
and above everything a sense of teamwork and loyalty that I will never find again no matter
where I look... But to just be a part of that once was enough to satisfy me forever.
i moved from Germany to Fort Bliss in September of 2010, but I was in for a rude, very rude
(HOW RUDE!) awakening when I got to that post.
There was almost nobody in the 68th Transportation company when I arrived there. I had lost my
family I knew and loved in Germany. I was alone. My brother was dead. My family didn't
talk to me anymore. my life was over, and I was in a new company, going on a new deployment,
with people I neither knew nor trusted as I did my original unit.
I broke down crying my first month there. I had saved about $14,000 from my Afghanistan
deployment but that was all spent on pizza, food, video games, and a 1974 Chevy Nova that
broke down within 2 weeks of its purchase.
After I broke down and realized my life was over I had several options I kept weighing
in my head. Swallow a bunch of painkillers and never wake up again. (Which I doubt would
have worked on me anyways) Or drive my unhappy *** home to mom and dad and hope I could seek
asylum in the USA, which at that time the wars were still somewhat relevant (NOT!!!
This was 2010, the wars were all but over by now!)
So I got in my 74' chevy nova and started driving, heading for Cody, Wyoming on a wing
and a prayer. I arrived the next day in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, the resting grounds of
our good friend Billy The Kid...
Well the engine exploded that afternoon and I was lucky enough to get help from this elderly
gentleman who had served in the Navy during world war 2 named Elsy Carter... (Which was
ironic because my best friends last name was Carter at Fort Bliss)
Well I got back to El Paso the next few days and got served my punishment for being AWOL
(Absent without Leave, for you non-military folks)
We shipped out to Iraq that May, after much training in California and ITC.
Iraq was the longest, shittiest, most other-than-honorable 8 months of my life!
They mortared us often, the food was fried garbage, the leadership was assed up and horrible.
"ROWLAND DO THIS, WAIT ROWLAND, DO THAT, HEY ROWLAND, COME HERE ROWLAND!"
just the worst, God-awful leaders ever. and if I ever see Captain Olsen again I'm going
to donkey punch the *** out of that old phony.
I finally was able to prove to myself that beyond a shadow of doubt itself that I was
stronger, smarter, and just about better than everyone around me, but I did not do that.
I remained humble, kept my friends close and my enemies closer, and pulled through in spite
of the world trying to crash down on me and even kill me (somedays moreso than others!)
I left Iraq in December 17th of 2011 and haven't been on a deployment since then, praise God
Almighty, I was free at last!