Leave it to the scheduling gods to assign Zombie Platoon a mission on my 17th anniversary. And to put the cherry on that sundae it was a long distance mission too. So, it was either call my wife at 4am to wish her a happy anniversary (I'm not stupid) or hope we got back in time to give her a late night call. Swing and a miss. The mission was north of Tikrit and it took almost 12 hours from start to finish. We didn't roll back through the gate until almost dawn which would have been 11pm at home. However, I hedged my bet by calling and talking to my wife the day before our anniversary in case I could not do so on the special day itself. Bam!
Interesting note about this last mission: I was a driver on an RG-33 PLUS MRAP guntruck. Um, getting that heads-up was a surprise, but I do have a military license to drive one. Of course the process for getting said license went something like this.
1. Print your name at the top of this form.
2. What is this? (picture of an RG-33)
3. Point to the front of the vehicle.
4. Find three doors.
5. Locate the steering wheel, ignition switch, gear selector, and at least one pedal.
CONGRATULATIONS....you are now officially proficient in the operation of this vehicle. The United States military has the utmost confidence in your technical and practical skills on this class of vehicle. Now go forth and slay dragons.
Anyway, I got from here to there and back again without hitting anything. Well, actually I am pretty sure I flattened a traffic cone (or five), but it is not my fault if the Iraqi Army at one of the checkpoints on Main Supply Route Tampa marked off a lane 8 feet wide when I am coming through in a vehicle that is 10 feet wide. Just sayin.....
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