This is the end…

So, I think now is the time to close down this blog.  I’ll no longer be updating it from this date forward.  All comments are now closed, and the site will be archived off.

I appreciate all the support I received from all around the world during my deployment, and I thank those of you who still support me as I work my way back into civilian life later this summer.

Please keep those who are still deployed in your minds.

Take care,
Brad

Punching Out

When you’re in the Air Force, there comes a time when you have to think about punching out. There are many meanings to “punching out,” but there are only two that matter.

The first is illustrated in this photo. In 2003, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds lost a jet at a Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho air show. The pilot ejected, or punched out, safely less than two-tenths of a second before the plane hit the ground. In fact, this photo is the first ever taken of a real-world ejection.

The second type of punching out is when you decide to leave the Air Force. The analogy is as if you were the pilot (you) abruptly leaving the plane (the Air Force) before its scheduled landing (retirement).

No doubt, my punching out is the second type.

Chilling Out, Maxing, Relaxing, All Cool…

It’s been a little over a month since I returned home from Baghdad. In that time, I’ve been doing my best to relax a bit… hence the lack of keeping up with this blog.

The big news was that I finally went on that cruise I was planning. I kept a daily diary of the cruise adventures on my travel agency’s website. The entries are here.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Blogging Iraq!

More to come over the next few weeks…

I am “Evil Edward Norton”

As advertised, I’ve finally made the full transition into Evil Edward Norton by shaving my lumberjack-like beard into a svelte goatee.

It took about a week’s growth of an itchy beard to get to this point, and I only used a razor to get this long growth into a goatee. It was quite painful to shave… physically, not emotionally.

So, the reason I call this the “Evil Edward Norton” is simple. You can tell if Edward Norton is playing a good guy or a bad guy based on whether or not he wears a goatee.

Think about it. In what roles does he wear the goatee versus the clean shave?

In “The Incredible Hulk,” he was good-guy Bruce Banner. No goatee.

In “The Italian Job,” he played a dishonorable thief named Steve. Yep… a goatee.

He played an FBI agent in “Red Dragon” standing face-to-face with Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lector. No goatee.

Although a supporting player in “Rounders,” he sported no goatee in the poker flick with Matt Damon.

In “American History X,” he played a former Neo-Nazi skinhead. You guessed it… a goatee.

So, now that I’ve grown my goatee out, I expect that people will treat me with a bit of suspicion. After all, everyone who attends the Edward Norton School of Facial Hair Choices knows that people with goatees cannot be trusted.

I’ll be keeping this during my month-long vacation, but I’ll have to shave it off if I wear my uniform on my cruise. It’s really sad, though. I think a goatee in an Air Force service dress uniform would look terrific.

Unanswered Questions

There were a few unanswered questions in my blogging adventures, and I think I’ll take a moment to address those here.

Video Recap

I collected a lot of the photos I took from my deployment to Iraq and created this photo video montage.

I chose The Who as the background music for the video. While I was deployed, I listened to music constantly, and The Who provided me lots of energy to get through the days!

Home Sweet Home

My dad and my wife met me at the Montgomery airport Thursday morning. My wife surprised me by bringing my dad down from Ohio.

So, I’ve been home for two full days now, and it’s been great to finally be here.

I went into work briefly Thursday to turn in my weapon and pick up my inprocessing checklist. I began tackling that on Friday.

Tonight, Tonight, I’m On My Way…

Late last night, I arrived in Baltimore. Before the end of the day, which was 32 hours long for me, I had been in five countries across eight time zones.

That journey allowed me the opportunity to see some truly amazing things.

This Video is Not Available…

While I’m waiting for my flight to take me out of some foreign country, into a bunch of other foreign countries, then into the United States, I thought I would try to entertain myself a little by watching some videos.

The internet told me to get bent.