It Was A Pitched Battle!!!!!

Hi everyone,

Its time for another update from the beautiful land of heat, scorpions and war. Wait.... that was kind of negative so let see the land of sand, sand vipers, and sand fleas..... Well I guess thats not working, but hey the Garden of Eden was here before that got all messed up :-)

Ok... so on to todays story: When we go on mission we have to carry about 70 lbs of equipment and body armor. So, it is very important that each soldier stay in ultimate shape. This being the case, I require my soldiers to do PT (running, push ups and sit ups) every morning before mission. They think I am a horrible man, but the truth is staying in shape can save your life.

soooooo..... Being the good platoon leader that I am, I do what I make my troops do. Today, I woke up early for heat fest 2009 - or commonly known as running our little desert track. We have a scraped desert path that runs 3.4 miles in a loop. I usually run the track and then walk back across the desert looking for artifacts. Yes my love for Native American Artifacts has followed me to Iraq where I now pick up ancient pieces of pottery from the Assyrian empire. We are only 30 miles from the ancient city of Nineveh so it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of pottery that Jonah drank out of as he made his faithful trip after the ride in the belly of a fish.

Ok... I got side tracked. Anyways I ran the track and walked back across the desert as usual when I felt a painful thud to my head. I looked around and two crane looking birds were dive bombing me. They would fly in a big circle and then speed up straight for my head. I took of my PT shirt and started swinging it at them. That worked till they figured out my shirt couldn't hurt them. So.. I started beaming them with desert dirt clogs. It was quite a battle that ended: The Birds -1 Todd 0.

So now I am back getting ready for my afternoon mission.... and praying that it is less dangerous than my morning run lol. Anyways.... thanks for your love and support.