Photos

Here are some funny photos from around the theater. None are made up, and all are enforced...deadly enforced.

All is well over here, there are things brewing aside from coffee, and I hope to be posting a few more regular posts (is that syntactically correct?).

War and Famine,

Joe

Quick Update

Hey all,

I am sorry about the delay between posts, but things have been fairly busy over here. I have been on the road quite a bit, but things are going well. I should be free to give a lengthy update (With Pictures!!!) in a little while. Until then, I just wanted to let my eight loyal followers know that the team is doing well and are very excited to be out accomplishing our mission. We look forward to hearing from you all, so keep the letters coming. again, our address is:

Last Name, First Name
48th MHD
OPS/KMO
Unit 117
APO AE 09374

Out for now.

Semper Iratius!

Finally a computer that lets me log into the blog!

Sorry this update is so late in reaching everyone. I think that I have found a way to upload some crap, so this should be sporadic but more complete than usual.

To date, I have been busy as heck, but we have a turtle pond here so I spend a few moments each day checking on the turtles and pondering trying to get into that gig the next time around. Seriously, how cool would it be to be a turtle? Personally, I think that it would be awesome. I mean the five we have here are pretty cool. they spend the day sunning themselves then take a dip in the pond when things get too hot. Life at its finest!

Other than that, I am trying to work my way through a book titled Quicksilver I would love to tell you all what it is about, but I honestly have no clue. Once I figure it out, I will definitely let you know. So far it is about Sir Issac Newton's sidekick.

Next time I will have more entries, till then enjoy the attached photo of Saddam's toilet (I pooped in it!)

Mojo

02/13/2010

Well, there was the trip to Baghdad that spurred some interest. Then there was the trip back to Basrah. That sucked. A journey of a few hundred miles by air took nearly a day of standing and waiting…and waiting… and waiting for the plane, helicopter, bus, etc to arrive. Once we landed in Basrah, three busses passed us buy before I went to the curb, flashed some calf, and got one of the transports to stop long enough for us to load up and finally get back to the room.

After being sealed for three days, the room’s funk had taken on a visceral consistency and I literally had to chop my way through the sheer funk of ass and sweat that had embedded into the very fabric of reality within the four metal walls. The window was thrown open, and the fan turned to high which, four hours later, has afforded us some measure of comfort. Still, I will need to redouble our supply of Lysol and disinfectants.

I miss you all terribly, and my thoughts drift in and out of home to the tune of my iPod shuffle. Memories rise to the surface like familiar scents, recreating the times I have shared with each and every one of you. The trips down side streets choked with incense and paved with cobbled stone and foreign accents. They lead through meadows and fields of tobacco haze and riffing chords. The choke of bodies moving to the rhythm of a back country band or a fresh local trio brings tears of nostalgia to my mind. So raise a bottle of PBR or Red Dog, or Licher for me and toast to the good times past and those sure to come. It is my nightly prayer that I will live them as fondly as I remember them in the days to come.

Mojo out.

Forward the Craziness!!!!

I think we now have most of the meet and greets done. Tomorrow we meet with the theater historians to get their guidance. I am tired, sick of flying, and starting to wonder how much longer I can keep up this pace. We have been moving non-stop since our arrival in theater. Soon, the meat and potatoes of the mission will begin and it will pick up that much more. I am still trying to work out as time permits, but time is a precious commodity lately. I hope to have some newer pictures up on the net soon.

thanks for the support.

Joe

Whew! Finally got some net time

Hey all,

Looks like I made it to a computer with net access finally. I hope that you all are doing well. So far, things could not be going better for me in country. The Division I am attached to is very supportive, and they have been going out of their way to set us up for success. Hopefully, here in a few days, I can get out on a mission or two to start the collection process. I have a ton of leads and should be getting my plan in place soon.

It looks as though there will be a Super Bowl party here as well, and rumor has it that adult beverages may be served. Rumors. Can't live with them, and you have nothing to look forward to with out them.

I am staying safe thus far, and I want to say thanks for everyone's support. Things will get exciting soon, so stay tuned for the super-happy-fun-times!

Joe

Finally Here

Hey all!

I know that it has been a little while since my last post, but I have been in transit for the past couple of weeks.
I finally arrived at my destination, and I am working with my team to get things set up. We are looking forward to working on our mission and have been receiving some great support from our hosts here.
Here are a few trip highlights:

• I was able to ride in the cockpit of the plane that brought us from Kuwait to Iraq, it was amazing being able to see everything from above. My Major has a few connections as is great at working with 'Smoke & Mirrors' as he puts it. Should offer to be interesting.
• The DFAC, Dining Facility, here is ok, and should at least keep me well fed. There is a nice Gym, and so far, the support ha been great. We should have offices soon (Pics to come once I have a way to upload them).
• Got to spend a couple of hours in a bunker last night. Not really fun, but I was able to make some good contacts. It is amazing the conversations one can have when hiding inside a 4x6 concrete dome.

Oh, and my mailing address:

Niesen, Joseph
48th Military History Detachment
Unit 117
APO AE 09374

Send some letters already! I promise to respond to anything that is sent.

Peace out home-slices!

SFC Joe Niesen

The Saga Begins

So, the rodeo has officially started. The TSA was the first contestant to try and wrangle the goats as they attempted to herd them through three checkpoints located at various inconvienient locations throughout the Atlanta international airport. First, they had to weigh all of their bags to make sure that they were under 100lbs, then they had to race to the opposite end of the airport where 'officials' from the TSA rummaged through all of their baggage to make sure they were not carrying anything. In the process, they were able to completely ruin the fine packing job that had been done the night before.
Finally, they were crammed into a small shelter area where they were offered refreshments in prepariation for the days trip to the international rodeo.

yee-haw!

btw...now that I have had my temp taken twice, I can confirm that I am Swine Flu free!

Joe

The Adventure Begins

I feel like one of the Keystone Kops today. Waiting for someone to take my temperature so that I can finally get the party started. I guess they have to make sure I don't have the dreaded "Swine Flu!"

I will update again once I have my bearings in the land of ... well, I don't rightly know what.



Party On Wayne.



Joe

Washington DC

Currently I am getting some fine training at the CMH here is lovely DC. I love this city. Normally, I hate the big towns, but this place is super-awesome.

Another Day in Ole Miss

Well, it is another Saturday. Yeah!

Monday I am heading to Washington D.C. to get some information from the Center of Military History before I leave out. Should be cool. Four Days in the capital with plenty of down time--I hope.
I still haven't come up with something to do once I get my 4-day pass. Laura and I decided that I should not go home since Nathan had such a bad time when I left last time. I hope that he does ok while I am gone, it is hard when I am so far away from him. I wish he would start talking to me on the phone, but I know that he will eventually. He is just upset that I am not there. Still, I will send him letters, and if I can get him to do the same, that will be cool.

Otherwise, it looks like my next training event will be out in the field. After that, it is just a matter of waiting on a bird to send me across the pond.

till I get another chance.

Mojo

Avatar rocks...at least the 3D does

So, I went to see Avatar today. yeah yeah yeah, I know what you are saying. "Boy that army training sure sounds tough." well, this was one of the good days. As you can see by the infrequency of my posts, I do not have very good e-mail access. Infact, I think that this computer is actually running DOS v0.0. Seriously, you would not believe the jerry rigging that I have to go through just to get this darned thing to print.

I digress, GO SEE the 3D version of Avatar! It is cool. I didn't get to see it in IMAX like I had hoped, but then again, war is hell. Still, the effects and the technology are amazing. It is very close to what true 3D should look like.

I go in for oral surgery on Monday, so it may be a few more days before you hear from me again. Apparently, I have an abscess on one of my teeth and they have to go through my gum line to get to it. Hopefully it is as fun as it sounds. I cannot remember what the operation is called, but it ends in '-ectomy' so I know it will be something good.

well, I have only a few minutes here and I need to check some e-mail and do some work.

Peace out home-slice!

Mojo

Wow.

Well, it looks like we are finally getting things rolling around here. I hope to be here only a few weeks, then it will be to the land of sun, sand and...well, that's about it actually. No beach that I know of :)

Hope everyone is doing well, I have had it much worse than I currently have it, and I should not complain. At least I am still in the United States. Still, the sooner I leave here, the sooner I'll be back home.

I started reading The Strain today. If anyone can make vampires scary again, I hope Del Toro can. I mean seriously, when exactly did vampires become the new metro-sexual? I personally blame Anne Rice and the whole Lestat thing. Seriously, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruse? and I am also really sick of the whole "woe is me, I am soooo cursed" attitude that all these girlie vamps have. Can I get a little blood lust? By that I mean killing, not moping around after some teenager.

well, gotta go, my download finished.

Joe Niesen

Arrival at Camp Shelby

Looking for a good way to describe this place...I don't want to call it a craphole, but this place is moderately better than Iraq was when I left in 2003. I haven't stayed in a place this desolate and crappy since that stint I did on Riker's Island for stabbing that guy while robbing his liquor store. If Mississippi is the third world of the United States, then Camp Shelby would be the 10th or 11th World.

The flight out here was OK, I went from flying on the smallest jet imaginible to flying on the smallest prop plane I have ever seen. I mean, I'm not a big guy by any stretch of the immagination, but I couldn't have placed a sheet of paper between me and the seat in front of me.

And what is it with big people on planes? Do these people really think it is a good idea to shove their pondorous bulk into my seat? Every time I fly, Pizza the Hut next to me has to heavy breathe in my ear and I wind up having to shove his flab out of my way after he passes out from turning the page in his SkyMall Magazine.

Now that is a good short rant, and I have the feeling they will get longer and longer the more time I spend here.

TTFN,
Joe

Well, I'm heading down ole Mississippi way naw

It is official, I now have reached that dreaded pre-mobilization moment when you have to ask your self "What the hell are you doing!?!" I think it hit me around 11:00pm when my son started crying that he did not want me to leave. That then triggered my wife, which almost started me going. I had hoped that after talking it over with Nathan tomorrow, but I think we all needed a good cry and to just get things out of our system. I explained to Nathan why I was going away, and I think that he understands now. He told me that he was going to be sad, but it was good for me to be sad sometimes, and he knew it was ok for he and mommy to be sad sometimes too. I am amazed everyday how much he understands what is going on around him.

Sorry for the disconnected sap, but I needed to write this.

Activation Day One

Well, day one of active duty has come and gone. We packed and marked all of our belongings and began preparation for a year-long deployment. We have a lot to accomplish in the next few days, and I hope that we are able to get it all done. In some ways, this is the hardest part of the entire deployment. There is so much prep work that we have to do, and we are doing it without a map of any kind. We have no MOI or Order to follow, just foolish assumptions and ideas--along with facts given us after the fact.

Well, I am home now, and I am watching the second half of the Doctor Who season finally. It is the last of the David Tenent episodes. I will be sad to see him go. I hope that the next doctor can fill his place. he has done a great job as the doctor.