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NEWEST STUFF IS AT THE TOP
December 28th
Some times I wish we all lived under the same roof again, but some times I'm glad we don't.
I definitely miss my mom.
We just got done watching the Alamo Bowl football game on TV which hosted Nebraska and Michigan here in San Antonio. Splentastic game that was. If you missed the ending it was eerily reminiscent of the "Music City Miracle" from the Cal-Stanford game back in the day. "THE BAND IS ON THE FIELD!!!" If not for one Nebraska defender, Michigan would have won this game and I would have laughed and laughed and laughed and... yeah, laughed some more.
Why? Because short of football (which is certainly it's own religion in Nebraska), that state has... yeah, not much else going for it. Why do you think so many Cornhusker fans drove all the way down here for the game? There's NOTHING to do there! My parents lived there for a few years and I used to almost dread going "home" for the holidays because after about a day of being there I would be standing on the back deck of their house staring at the corn which surrounded our house on 3 sides and think to myself: Damn, there's NOTHING to do here.
Anyway, it was a great game to watch and I learned how to make Bloody Mary's during it. You're welcome, Erika.
I bought a Stetson Cavalry hat today with the money my parents gave me to "pick up something nice I really wanted" so that's cool. I also got it steamed to look exactly like Robert Duvall's in Apocalypse Now.
I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.
Friday Erika and I are headed back to Fort Knox for a day and then we're driving to Cincinnati to spend New Year's Eve with my buddy Stuart Sparker. A most excellent time shall be had by us.
That is all.
-Tom
December 27th
Had a great great great Christmas.
I flew to Erika's place in NC and loaded up on supersweet presents there and then we flew to San Antonio Christmas Eve and loaded up on more presents here. She got me a nice watch and a red beret with the "flash" for the unit I'm going to in Alaska.
My parents got me some supersweet stuff too including black gore-tex gloves that I can wear in uniform and will keep me warm in the field. It wasn't so hot not having my mom here for Christmas, but she'll be home soon enough from Kuwait.
The Bengals have clinched a playoff berth and are on their way to the Superbowl. Just you wait and see...
I've been doing a lot of thinking and I've decided that after they make me Commandant of West Point in a few decades I want to be the governor of Arkansas. That'd be a pretty sweet job, I think, and after I retire I'll live in my huge house on Greers Ferry Lake just north of Little Rock.
Of course, that's all hinging on more than a few things, but you're all welcome to come visit.
-Tom
December 20th
How bout them Bengals???
And I'm not one of those punk bandwagon fans either. Anyone who knows me knows I've been a Cincinnati lover since I was like 7 years old.
The past week or so I've been helping out CPT Smith and the rest of his SORO trainers out in the field. We've been dressing up like Iraqi civilians and harassing the 2LT's going through OBC now. It's fun for us because we already went through the whole course and, so to speak, paid our dues, but now it's our turn to help out.
We usually hide in the bushes, set off fake IED's, and raise as much Cain as possible to help train them in what to do for a convoy ambush or any other number of potentially deadly situations overseas right now. Sometimes we'll all load up in CPT Smith's Jeep Cherokee and drive up to their mock Forward Operating Base (FOB) and try to talk our way into their perimeter or just throw "MRE-bombs" or yell Arabic obscenities or whatever we can think of. Usually we just end up running away and try to get them to chase us, but no matter what we do it's fun for us.
Had a rather "splentastic" (ask my sister Llaura about that word) weekend down at Erika's place in Alabama. We hung out with our friend Tania Friday night, saw The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (two thumbs up), The Family Stone (eh... one and a quarter thumbs up), and bought lots of presents for baby Jesus' birthday.
As of December 16th we've been together for one year so we've got that going for us, which is nice. REAL nice.
My buddies Braden Hesterman, Mike Gold, and Chris Thielenhaus are on Christmas Exodus from Ranger School right now so I've been on the phone with them picking their brains for tips. So far I've gathered that it's going to suck a whole lot, but I'll have no problem. I've still got some gear I need to acquire before I get down there so I don't freeze in the Mountain Phase, but it'll be all good.
That'll do it for now.
-Tom
December 10th
Got a letter from my mother the other day complete with pictures from her visit to one of Saddam's former palaces in Baghdad. She's still doing well and actually likes what she's doing over there quite a bit.
The palace.
The strange part is that this looks EXACTLY like the 3-story chandelier my parents just put in their new house. Weird, huh?
Watching the Army/Navy game in style courtesy of Senorita Hussein.
From this day forth, I hereby decree...
That's all for now.
-Tom
December 8th
Remember how I said all the Ranger School slots for my OBC class had been yanked out from under us? Hehe, check this out...
From an email I received today from the Department of the Army:
3. A reservation
has been entered in the Army Training Requirements and Resources System (ATRRS)
by the quota source manager for the following soldier/student:
MARTIN THOMAS, O1, SSN ending with 7858, US ARMY
4. Course Title: RANGER, Class 005,
Report date 2006-02-05 End
date 2006-04-07
Class Location FORT BENNING, GEORGIA 31905-5007
Rangers Lead The Way.
I guess it's about time to get serious about this.
-Tom
December 6th
Had a pretty good weekend. MOBC graduation went pretty well and Erika made the trip up from Ft. Rucker to be there.
Yours truly receiving the Draper Award.
THIS VIDEO is a clip of me presenting SFC Schafer with an award at the end of the graduation ceremony for being the best instructor of the entire course.
Me and the girl.
The Crew.
From left to right is me, Travis Myers, Paul Rickmeyer, Chris Johnson, Chris Scogin, and Stuart Sparker.
That's all for now. We're just hanging out at Ft. Knox for the next month until Scout Leaders Course starts on January 2nd.
Oh, in case anyone was wondering what's on my Christmas Wish List, here you go.
1. Cavalry Stetson Hat (If you ain't Cav...)
2. "Cool Hand Luke" Bottle Opener ("Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand...")
3. Casio G-Shock Watch (Gotta have a solid watch for my deployment to Iraq)
4. Solid Black Gore-Tex Gloves (Alaska is kind of cold in the winter...)
5. Ridiculously comfortable and warm slippers (See above)
6. Red Beret with 4th Brigade 25th ID Flash (Can't be in an Airborne unit without a red beret)
7. Brush guard for the 4Runner (How am I gonna survive hitting a moose without one?)
So the squids won the Army/Navy game. Losing 42-23 sucks, but I know something worse.
It's all good because at least we, at THE United States Military Academy, can stay awake when the President of the United States is addressing us.
-Tom
The future of the US Navy.
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