Anna Karina
Always beautiful.
(Source: glorious-queens)
OK, so I ended that last entry rather abruptly. It was hot that afternoon and the heat lulled me to a nap. We were supposed to be back in Kuwait by now; that is probably the most interesting chain of events in the last 5 days.
It seems that retired Gen. Garner, the U.S.’s fist pick as governor for free Iraq, came under some intense scrutiny for his handling of affairs after the country was liberated. The media, ah the speakers of unquestionable truth they are, continued to broadcast stories of the lawlessness and total anarchy that were still ravaging Baghdad and the country weeks after the military operation were complete. The citizens of Baghdad were afraid to leave their homes and could not resume their former lives. I guess all the people I saw on my few trips there were commuters and not full-time Baghdadians. (The roads around town were always packed and busy.) And all the market places and people shopping were figments of my imagination also. Anyway, Garner was “fired”, replaced is probably a better word, by a former foreign service vet, a civil servant being better for liberals to like better than a military servant. This new governor was concerned that moving soldiers out when there was so much lawlessness run rampant may not be a good idea, so, you guessed it, we sat, and sat, and sat.
The generals in charge here: McKiernan, CFLCC; Wallace, V Corps; and Blunt, 3 ID all met with this yahoo to tell him how out of proportion these stories were. They took him on a tour of the capitol and let him see for himself. (Interestingly, 3 ID was pressuring for us to be allowed to move since we were so far, geographically, removed from the events in Baghdad, but no dice.) Late last night, MAJ R. came over the radio to tell the BN that we had been approved for re-deployment and he is going to the 3 ID headquarters today to pick up the specifics. We’ll see what comes out of that one.
CPT S. LT P. and SPC D. have been up in Baghdad this whole time, first waiting on our HETs, then getting them only to be told to hold up. I’m really interested to hear his side of the story. Here in our little slice of Iraq it has been movie day followed by movie night. I’ll spend the day watching movies in the S-1 truck in the FTCP. It has A/C and is quite comfortable in the heat of the day. Then at night, I’ll wander over to support platoon to watch their movies. If no one is watching anything there, someone is usually playing Spades, Dominoes, or Rook so I’ll watch that whole deal. The other night I played my first Dominoes game, I commented how I always just sat them up and knocked them over as a kid. SSG A. is usually playing Dominoes with some guys from B Co in their building to escape from the heat of the sun and I’ll watch them for points and strategy. I don’t know if it has paid off yet but watching them play is entertaining in its own right.
Well we are still here in Iraq, same town, same vehicle positions but things are looking up. Now we are officially waiting on our HETs to show up and move us back south to Kuwait which means home is not far off. The past week has been very hectic for me and CTP St. From May 6 to May 9 we spent each day on the road between the CTCP and Baghdad. The trip, one-way, took about 2 hours but there were some interesting sights/events along the way. Most of this back and forth running was done to check on our awards, CIBs/CMBs and to do the coordination for our HETs. We’re now officially attached to 3 ID for our movement back home, and they are located at Baghdad International Airport (formerly Saddam Int’l Airport), so there is one reason for the trips. We were also still checking in at the 325 AIP HQ in their Scana Truck garage, and the 18th MP BDE in their mansion on the lake. CPT St., LT P. (aka “the Duke”) and I posed for a picture one trip in the reception hall of the MP’s building. It was pretty amazing. There had been some bomb damage on the rear of the building on the roof area that covered the boat dock, but the building was mostly untouched. the doors were carved hard wood with gold/brass handles and the floors and walls were marble. The restrooms were marble as well and the toilets and other fixtures had gold/brass handles. This was just a small building too. Both V Corps and CFLCC had set up in this compound and you can imagine how much bigger and nicer their buildings were and how much nicer their interiors were. V Corps was very, very nice, almost hotel lobby-esque and it makes you sick (almost) to think they feel like they are really “roughing it” in this palace.
During one of our trips, one of our two scout trucks blew a tire and they had to limp into a supply area called Dogwood for repair. St. was going to meet some guy there and he, of course, was nowhere to be found. When the scouts finally finished changing the tire (one replacement had a hole in it) it was about 2330 (we had pulled in around 2000), so we spent the night in the maintenance bay. After a morning stop at the 325 AIR HQ, we came home. On the way, in the town of Al Malmudiyah we stopped because traffic was so thick. Some guy was standing on the street, next to me in the HMMWV. He said, “Hello. The people of Iraq love the Americans and are glad you are here.” I replied, ” The Americans like the people of Iraq too, and that was why we came, to help them to be free.” He asked my name, I told him mine and asked him his, “Abus” was his reply. By that time we started moving again and Abus and I said our goodbyes. It was a somewhat funny conversation because about 2 blocks over, on the one-way street north through town, there was a 5-ton U.S. truck that had recently been abandoned. Its tires were flat, engine compartment was burned and “No Amerka” and “Down USA” had been painted on the bed and tailgate. Funny place, Iraq.
Repost? Maybe. But damn worth it.
(Source: thechocolatebrigade, via thepieshops)
Juliette in the afternoon
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Great art for a great film.
(Source: etsy.com)
Fantastic 3 color screen print of the DL-44.
Ya know I’ve always been curious as to why it has a scope…did Han ever camp and snipe fools? Outtakes maybe? I think I’ll write Blastech.
$30
By: AndThankYouForFlying AKA Sean Dove
With this at your side, hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match.
(via fuckyeahlucasfilm)
Anna Karina 1967
Je t’adore. (Everything. The hair. The pose. All.)
(Source: grimmperiodikum, via too--much--soul)
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