The First of Many...

  Warning to the reader: The Danger Chronicles are not for the faint of heart, or for reading while enjoying soup or easily spill-able liquids or foods. This is the record of journeys, misadventures and tales that I will be a part of over the next few months, and if feel like tagging along for the ride, you've come to the right place. For those of you who remember emails from Virginia years ago, I'm hoping to follow in my own giant boot prints and keep you all entertained and informed of the happenings and fun that I'm sure this time will bring. I'm currently in Kuwait, which I'm told is a part of the cradle of civilization. If this is to be believed, then I think Kuwait must be the little puke stain in that cradle that just can't be bleached out. It's kind of a miserable place...think Tattooine from the first Star Wars film, but without the canyons or dirty cantinas. You will not find a more wretched hive of...well, nothing, really. In my 25 years of life I have never seen a place that is so completely flat, desolate, and brown...there is nothing to break up the landscape at all, no mountains, trees, brush...nada. It looks like the beach, where if you can just get over this next dune, you'll see the ocean spread out before you. Here, there is just another long stretch of sand. All I'm trying to say is, if you had plans to hit Kuwait on your tour of the world, I can draw you a picture. It wont take long.
  We've been here for a little over 2 weeks now, and my whole platoon is itching to finally head north into Iraq, which sounds kind of funny. In Iraq, we'll be housed in little military barracks rooms, not tents, we'll have internet, unlike here, and we will finally be working. It sounds wierd to be excited to finally get into a warzone, but thats the general attitude. The rumor is that we'll be moving in the next day or two, so we're packed and ready to roll. We're all going a little stir crazy...everyone is swapping movies and computer games, and we've watched most of them by now.  I've had time to read, watch movies,  and defend my house from zombie attacks (thanks again Sammers!) but I'm excited to have my own place, unpack my stuff a little, and get connected to the net more consistently. It's been hard to be so disconnected from everyone's lives, and I fully blame Facebook. Once I'm settled, I will be able to check my stuff and post adventures on here pretty regularly, which will help me out even if no one reads them. I've been doing pretty well for myself these weeks though, making a couple of friends and finding my groove with my squad. My roomate is the platoon medic, Caleb Poston, and he's a pretty decent kid. He's a believer, and one of the only 2 that I've met in the company. It's kind of amazing how much that makes guys stick out here...please keep him, his wife, and little boy in your prayers. It's hard to be away from family and loved ones as it is, but his little guy is only a month old...he and I have been talking alot out here, keeping ourselves entertained with dumb games and stories, and he's already been a huge answer to prayer.
  As a unit, we're pretty squared away and ready for Iraq, even though we're not 100% sure what we're going to be doing. The Army rumor mill is pretty impressive, so I've heard everything from months of sitting around on the base playing xbox and taking classes to invading Russia, so I'm just trying to wait and see what happens. I know that no matter what, I'm in His hands and He has a purpose for me being here, in the specific unit and with these specific guys...I'm doing my best to stay open and faithful to what it is that He has for me out here. I know that he will protect me, too...I've been reading Psalm 91 almost everyday on top of my other reading, and I've been pretty encouraged.
  Thats about it for now...I will post pictures and stories whenever I can, and feel free to write me or leave notes anytime. For those of you who are curious exactly what unit I'm with, just in case my heroics are on the news someday, I'm in the 2nd Infantry Division, 4th Brigade, 1-38 INF regiment, Alpha Company, 3rd platoon, 1st squad, out of Ft Lewis WA. I'll post my mailing address soon, but for now Facebook or emails are the best way to send me a note, and you get bonus points for doing so. Seriously. if you don't believe me, write me a note. See what happens. I dare you.