Stuff...

So another month has come and gone since my last post. I don't have any excuses to offer but I can certainly explain my absence. First, I want to thank all of you for your words of encouragement and your prayers for me and my team. Second, I think it's important to note that it hasn't been that I didn't have anything to post. Lots has happened this past month and, on most any given day I could have written about some little thing that happened here on FOB Lagman. But the reality is that I haven't had the desire to share the mundane, day to day things that we do here while waiting for bad things to happen. In fact, I've been wrestling with what this blog actually represents and which direction to take it from here forward. I'll try to explain...

After my last post, I got some heat from certain people over the contents of the blog. I was pretty sure I hadn't posted anything that was in violation of the rules that govern social media use by members of the military but, just to be safe, I ran the entire blog by the operational security officer for the FOB, the PAO for the FOB, and, ultimately, the PAO for all of RC South. In the end, I needed to remove about four lines of text from the entire blog. In and of itself, removing a few lines was no big deal but reading back through all my previous posts gave me pause.

As you all know, my blog is mostly light-hearted, hoo-yah, go Navy in nature with as much humor as I can muster thrown in to keep things positive. By and large, that's the kind of guy I am. I love life, I love to laugh, and despite the length of my indentured servitude to the USN I'm still grateful for all the opportunities the Navy has given me. But as I read through most of my posts, a feeling of shame came over me. I felt like, up until my last post, I was painting a Pollyanna picture of something much darker than most can imagine. Much of what I know (or think I know) about this war and the machine that powers it I can't post for fear of reprimand. Most of what I feel must similarly be put aside for private conversations best reserved for the time after I return home. As I re-read my posts outlining our time at Dix and most of our time here I realized that I may have been broadcasting the wrong message to you all and for that, I apologize.

So, faithful followers, before proceeding with any further posts, a disclaimer...

THIS BLOG IS NOT INTENDED TO, IN ANY WAY, GLORIFY, PROMOTE, OR ENCOURAGE CONTINUATION OF HOSTILITIES AGAINST ANY GOVERNMENT OR ENTITY. THE AUTHOR ONLY WISHES TO PORTRAY THE LIGHTER SIDE OF OUR CURRENT CONFLICT AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, KEEP THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE FOLLOWED THE ORDERS OF THOSE APPOINTED OVER THEM AND DEPLOYED IN SUPPORT OF OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM IN THE FOREFRONT OF THE PUBLIC MIND. THE CONTENT OF THIS BLOG DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE US NAVY, THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, OR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

If reading between the lines here changes your opinion of me or what I write then so be it. I just want to be sure that there is no misunderstanding about the serious nature of what is taking place here in the middle east. In other words... this isn't all fun and games...