The Price of Freedom

This is not a picture I took with my own camera, but the sunset is amazing. It's a good transitional picture for the progression of this site. As the last post stated, this website was originally for my family and friends to watch my son grow up. I am not from Central Texas and my nearest family members reside on the Atlantic Coast. But now that David has his own place on the internet (see my links), I am going to turn this into a journal of my preparation for and deployment to Iraq for my second go-around.

During OIF II, I kept a personal journal that I never shared with anyone on my innermost feelings, fears, etc. This time around, I feel called to let the American public witness what war does to an individual and his life.

I will never violate the operational security of my unit, so this will be no place to find what I am doing specifically or anything hot happening in Iraq. As a caveat, this site is not sponsored by the Department of Defense and any opinions that I have are not those of the United States Army or anyone for that matter in my chain of command.

I am not necessarily a political kind of guy either. I am a registered Republican and I did in fact vote for Bush in the last election (while deployed). But my thoughts and opinions are not hardlined. I wish we could start a new political party, but I will speak more on that later. I will post on current issues that are of interest to me and will gladly accept comments from any and all individuals who wish to speak their mind.

The last 16 months since I returned from the CENTCOM AOR have not been relaxing. I have been away from home for months at a time. I have been to NTC twice (one month each time), JRTC for a month, two aerial gunnery exercises (stayed in the field for a month each), two week long field training exercises, the Joint Firepower Course in Nevada for 13 days, etc. Since May of last year (two months upon redeployment), we have been in "prepare for war" mode. It is not uncommon for me to work weekends, through holidays, or more regularly spend over 16 hours a day at the office. This alone should give you some background as far as what we do for a living.

I have missed my birthday, my wife's birthday, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, three weddings (that I was supposed to be in, not to mention others), two funerals, family vacations, the list goes on and on.

But this is what I signed up for and this is my calling. Many people outside of the military will never fully understand why we continue to do what we do. But maybe this site will help. In OIF II, for the first time in my life I felt like I was doing something honorable on such a large scale. When I would go to the DFAC and run into infantry guys who would single me out by the Reaper patch on my chest and cry to me in thanks for saving their life, I knew what I was doing was the right thing, despite the hardships. Despite getting shot at (I was quite the large caliber target in Fallujah!). Despite the strain this job has put on my marriage and family.

Thanks to all of you have been supportive of my career, especially my wife and toddler son. Once again, welcome to the Price of Freedom.

Daigle,
Just wanted to say thankyou for all your doing. It was good talking to you last weekend. I know we haven't stayed in touch all that much, but if there is anything I can ever do for you let me know. Take care and stay safe over there.

Urban

Good site Paul. If you need anything let me know. Keep in touch when you're deployed and remember...

Watch your "6" ( Y )
and keep your powder dry..

Big Urban