and this ladies and gentlemen is what it's all about. THis is my surrogate family and the group of guys I trust my life to. I'm smack dab in the middle with the shot gun in one hand and a rifle in the other.  

so I'm not sure about the expression on my face but this is me and the other team leader in my squad after chow out in the field this last week 

the memorial angle 1 

the memorial again 

road trips: a lost art

Two great friends of mine, Lauren and Megan, came to visit me over Labor Day weekend. They drove like 11 hours to see me and were turned away from the first gate they tried to enter because an alleged explosive device had been delivered there. At this time Lauren and Megan are not suspected to have been involved in this incident but investigations are still in progress. Seriously though, I love them for coming up here to see me. YOu can see a few of the pictures from the weekend below.

contrary to what this may look like, I am not in danger of being run over by this tank as it is stationary and has been out of order for some 50 years or so 

yea, ummmmm we were real bored and I apparently wasn't allowed to take a nap so furniture jumping was the best we could come up with 

she's a goofball 

if you look closely at this one, you'll see that the expression on my face is one of curious pensivity 

Many THings

I'm in Cleveland, at the home of my best friend Michael. We've done many things during my stay here. I went to Cedar Point, best amusement park EVER and have met some excellent new people and while it's quite possible that I'll never talk to any of them again, I still liked them a lot. Probably the best thing about having been able to spend this time here is that I felt somewhat normal again. Having normal interactions with people that care about things, except that I suppose that's not really normal, it's just what I've always had in my life.

I can't imagine starting a conversation about Harry Potter with one of the guys up on Post and having them immediately respond with any enthusiasm. It's a sad state of affairs, indeed. And I certainnly can't imagine being able to say any of the things to any of them that I readily say to my best friend without a second thought. I must remember to find an outlet for some of that stuff more than once a year. That's all for now I suppose. I'll come up with something profound and witty when I get back up to New York.

Oh and whoever said that women love a man in uniform is full of crap!

It took us like an hour to take this picture 

Was Down in Cinci for a wedding. Check out the pictures.

And here's the lovely couple, congratulations. I love you guys.  

Mike and I toatll snuck a picture with the bride 

50% of these guys are getting married or already are 

not sure what's going on with my shirt being all shiny 

see 

being down in Cincinnati for the wedding made me realize that i have unusually attractive friends as seen above and in the pictures below. 

so this is my frist tattoo ever, it took like three hours to put it on. I just got it done and it's starting to scab over so it doesn't look great in this pic because of the flash but I still like it, if you're around me sometime you can see it in person 

this is the bruise on my roommates arm that he got from me putting an IV in him. I accidentally tore through his vein. I'm really not that bad at it.