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Hello Friends,

It has been an eventful month.

Promoted
I was promoted to Sergeant (SGT) on Jan 1. That's a big step in the Army. That's when you go from being a soldier to a leader of soldiers. In the Army, SGT is considered a non-commissioned officer (NCO). When you become an NCO, your status changes to reflect the leadership position that you probably already fill. Typically, a SGT is responsible for four enlisted soldiers, which mya not seem like much; but with all the stuff we do both in the field and back on the FOB, keeping track of four guys can be a handfull.

Wounded
While pulling security on a mission this month, we took enemy small arms and machine gun fire. I obviously can't tell you all the details, but I was shot at the very begining. The bullet hit me in the neck portion of my body armor. It blew through the neck peice and traveled between me and the body armor wounding my back in three places. It felt like I had been hit in the back with a blacksmith's hammer. I was knocked off the berm from which I had been pulling security, but my SAW (squad automatic weapon - aka small machine gun) was still at the top of the berm. The machine gun fire coming over the berm was really intense and honestly really scary. My buddy checked out my back and saw that I wasn't hurt too badly, and finally they said I could go get my SAW. I crawled up the berm and started shooting. It was all over soon after that. That was a truly emotional day. When we got back to the FOB, we were so amped up it was like we were high on something. I can see how some people become adrenaline junkies and like this crap. Well they can have it. I'm not afraid to do it again, but I'm hoping I don't have to. Many other intense emotions surround that day. Some things that happened that day made me truly proud. Other things disgusted me. When I think back on it I feel a mixture of relief, pride, fear, excitement, disgust, frustration, anger, and satisfaction. I know - it's weird, but that's what it is.

For several days prior to this, the Holy Spirit had really been moving me to prayer and I had (even while pulling security that day) spent much time talking with God. He really protected me and my friends that day. There's no doubt in my my that people should have died or been seriously wounded taht day, but no one was. God - my God - was with us that day. There's were many miracles. It's really scary to come that close serious injury - or worse; but at the same time, the obvious presence of God's hands is so reassuring. If he can part the Red Sea, he can control every bullet and bomb on the battle field. HE IS IN CONTROL. That is obvious now. While that day was really scary, it has increased my faith and sense of peace. GOD IS IN CONTROL - NO DOUBT.

Decorated
They're giving me the Purple Heart for my gunshot wounds. I never wanted a Purple Heart, that is for sure. In some ways, before this, I thought it was a dumb award. Some people call it the "Enemy Marksmenship Badge." After getting shot and especially after seeing other people get seriously hurt, I feel a new appreciation for the medal. In fact, I almost feel like I don't deserve it because I didn't get hurt really bad. Nontheless, they put me in for it, which actually turned out to be more tramatic that getting wounded in the first place. I think there should be some sort of "Purple Paperwork Medal." If the bad guys don't get you, the personnel office will - guaranteed. I think they made me redo that paperwork 9245 times (ok it was closer to 3, but still very frustrating).

The platoon leader told me that he wanted to put me in for another award (in addition to the Purple Heart) for my actions after I got shot, but as you will learn shortly - something else got in the way.

Fired
My platoon sergeant got mad at me for something stupid, told some lies, and got me fired from Scout Platoon (the best platoon in the brigade). I was probably going to leave Scouts soon anyway since the line platoons needed some of us new NCOs, but I was really bummed to leave. All my best friends are over there, but things worked out well. There were a lot of senior leaders that wanted me to work for them. They fought over me a bit (which was flattering), and I ended up in a really great platoon with a really "no-nonsense" squad leader. This missions I have gone on with the new unit have been interesting. There's way more interaction with the civilian populace. I actually stopped to drink chai (tea) with some locals on a mission. Best of all I'm leaning more about the culture. I'm in more or a leadership role with this organization and I really like my guys. They're great. They always get the job done.

It has certainly been a roller coaster month.

Laura is in Virginia right now. After a truly traumatic flight. She's bouncing around from relative to relative visiting family and friends. I know it's hard for her to take care of our two munchkins and do all that traveling. She is doing a great job at it, though; and I am so proud of her.

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