31 OCT 05: HALLOWEEN

This is a picture of me and SGT Sarah Rivera and SPC Rebecca Ramirez.
Two of my Boxing student who I became friends with while I was here in Iraq. This picture was taken on their last day on Camp Victory south. They are on their way home now. So good luck and God Speed.

31 OCT 05: Halloween

This is a picture of me and SGT Jeff Turpin. We have been to the Stan together and now he works for me here in Iraqi. This is a picture of the Guy right after her reenlisted for 6 more years. Knowing full well he is going back to the stan or Iraqi within the next year.

23 OCT 05: Still Gaining

Well for those of you that might have thought that I might have lost a step or two with old age setting in, knee surgery and the previous injuries mounting. Well deal with this! I max bench pressed 325 lbs.

In case you are wondering that is the most I have ever done in my life. So for my critics I say. I am like fine wine; I'm getting better with age.

NOT TO MENTION I AM 31 YEARS OLD AND GETTING YOUNGER!!!!

KEEP THE POPCORN BY YOUR SIDE BABY 'CAUSE ITS COMING.

Tank and Ben do your thang! Do your thang man!

22 OCT 05: Finally

Well the cold weather must finally be here. Cause every day this week so fat it has been like 55 degrees in the morning and then it get up to the mid 80s. So I am really happy not to be hot anymore. The down side is I was looking for a gradual change. No such luck in this crazy place. It was hot one day and then cold the next. Well we hope to know by mid NOV if we are going to be extended as the HQ for the war. I fully expect to be extended. Why you ask?

Well for those of you who know me know I have the worst luck in the world. The only time I have good luck is when things are so bad that the only way they can get worse is I my luck turns good. Which usually means that all the lucky people around me get some really bad luck. Strange way to explain it but I don't know how else to explain it.

Not to mention 18th ABN Corps tends to be a victim of its own success. Most people figure out that if you do something well you usually get an even harder mission to accomplish. Not that I am against to your absolute best all the time. But these are the reasons I fully expect to be extended.

At least the weather is cooler.

17 OCT 05: The peir vs the Dust

This is a picture on a research peir down deep in Waimanalo. Int eh vicinty of Sealife park. This is where we killed time before going to swim with the dolpins.
I would gladly go back there and enjoy the cool pacific water and the lush green enviroment.
Today in Iraq we have dust storm. It has been raging for a couple of hours. It is not a really bad one but the dust falls like snow and makes it difficult to see so. You could see how anyone would swap places given a choice of the two.

13 OCT 05: Lava flow look out

12 OCT 05: Up close photo

This is an upclose picture of me on a dinner cruise in hawaii. The cruise called the Ali'i kai leaves out of the marina in waikiki and goes out to diamond head for the sunset and then back again. Very beautiful. Especially when you see waikiki from the water it is absolutely beautiful. So another reason I am smiling is by request of course. My wife says I never smile. Also I took the very same cruise when I was in JR high almost 20 years prior. Everything was just how I remembered it. It was nice to have memories that were totally unrealted to the war on terrorism. Not to mention Hawai'i is a place you can just fall in love with it really is almost paradise.

12 OCT 05: Birthday's and Crashes

Well last night on my way home from the palace I wrecked on my bike. It was bound to happen eventually with the combination of the roads and the way people drive. Well I I hit a pot hole that is very deep. so deep it trapped my front wheel on my bike and I ejected over the top of my handle bars. But using my cat like reflexes (ha) I did a little tuck and roll manuever and ended up only hurting my hand that I had to use to get the roll started. I must admit ashpalt is hard and the palm of my hand just at the base of my thumb is turning into a bruise. If the bruise get picture worthy I will take a picture of it and post it.

Also Happy B day to the LTC. I am not sure how old he is but I know he is pushing 60. Way to go dad. Hope you have a good day. looks like debbie got you the best present of all. And he got to go home. Hopefully quarantine will not last very long.

11 OCT 05: Out bound to Hawaii

This is a picture of me in the final stages of my flight out of iraq on leave way back on july 15th. I know how come it took me so long to post? Well simply because I told my self I would update my blog but I was simply just caught up in leave. So the way it works is that if you are in iraq you fly to kuwait. You stand around out in direct sun in 125+ degree weather where they move you around all day. You have like 5 fourmations each one takes like 1.5 hrs to read all 200+ names that are leaving on your 747. So after you get through customs where you are almost strip searched then they rifle through every thing in your on carry on bag. Honestly you think flying is rough in the U.S. you aint seen nuthing until you try to leave iraq. But this photo was taken in the final holding area before they load you onto a plane to fly to go back to the good ole U.S. of A. So that should explain the smile. smiles are not something I am known for if you can believe that?

10 SEP 05: South point

These are photos of me down at south point. South point is in the same area as greensands beach. South point is what is sounds like the most southern part of the Big island of hawaii. In the early 90's a lava flow came all the way to the beach. The rocks have since broken up. So walking out to the water is a little treacherous. As you might notice that I am watching very carefully where I walk mainly because if I slip and fall I will be cut by the lava rocks. Not to mention I could not afford to fall and hurt my bad knee again that would keep me from returning to iraq.

09 OCT 05: BOXES BY MAIL

Well we solved the mystery of the two missing boxes. They some how got sent back for not having the correct address on them. So Donna thanks for solving the mystery and letting us know. We also love the support we get from defendersoffreedom.us

In the mean time we got great boxes from the Kunz family. The sent us a wonderful vaccum that we are using to keep are dusty trailers clean. They also sent a box of full of meso tech protein powder and meso tech meal replacement bars. Lots of tuna fish and best of all 6 pairs of the ultimax socks. SGT Turpin, SSG Cundiff and myself each got to pair of socks so it worked out well. We will also be eating lots of tuna and chicken in the coming months.

We also got to boxes from the Vogt family who sent season 1 of lost which is currently in SPC Berlin's hands I am sure he is watching it today since today is his reduced battle rhythm day. The other box we got from the vogt family was three pair of hand wraps that will match up perfectly with the three pair of new people in the boxing class.

Thanks for all you do for us.

7 OCT 05: MAIL Problems.

Well we have run into a little snag here in Iraq land. My little section has been very lucky as of late to get some great support from Donna from Defenders of Freedom.com and Vogt and Kunz families. But my to my chagrin I think we have been victimized by the mail theif at the post office here at victory or some way along the way. I know the Kunz family said they had a box enroute about the same time Donna said she sent four. Well we recieved only two of the boxes from Donna. This makes me alittle angry. But basicly this is my way of saying if you have not seen a post or recieved a thank you email from us that talks about the specific things you sent then we probably did not get it. Sorry. The only recommendation i can make is don't put any soldier anywhere on the address. This might stem the theft. Hopefully someone is putting any missing boxes to use.

Hope you are enjoying the blog. I am attempting to add leave pictures.
Vick

5 OCT 05: Heading to Green sands beach

This is way down on South point on the Big Island. I am walking to green sands beach of course my wife is making every oppurtunity to make sure to get a picture of me while I am walking around. Green sands beach is really weird cause there is lot of red dirt with eerie light green tint to all around. So from a distance it looks green but up close not so green.

4 OCT 05: Black Sands beach; Vick up close

Well this is an up close photo of me taken by my lovely wife on the black sands beach. If you look really close you can see my lovely wife in the reflection of my sunglasses. As you might have put together I try very hard not to look like a soldier when I am off duty. But no matter what people seem to figure that out. Maybe it is my aura or vibe or something. What do you think?

03 OCT 05: Break Through

Well for those of you lifting nuts you know what it is like to be stuck at a plateu for a while. mind has been the 300 lbs range. But a few weeks ago I eeked over the line with 305. However today I incresed my Bench press 1 Rep Max to 315. For thos of you keeping count. That is like 120 lbs more than I way. The goal would be to double my body weight. That is only like 70 more lbs if I stay at 194-5 for a while. If that is even actually my weight. hard to say with the scales that we have.

02 OCT 05: Black sands beach

This is a photo of me pointing at a little black crab well suited to survival on black sands beach on the big island. My wife is taking the photos. As usual you will find I am seldom in pictures because I don't like them and second I am usually taking the photos. So there will be some photos of me in hawai'i that I have been meaning to post and I just am now getting around to it.

01 OCT 05: Weigh In

Well the scale said 194. Which would ba 3 lbs increase but I am not really sure how accurate that scale is anymore. But my waist seems to be getting smaller so the only thing I figure our is I am putting on muscle mass. or at least I am hoping that is what I am putting on.
I am lifting more and doing a low dosage of creatine almost everyday. So we will see how it works out. I have gone back to boxing just as away to up the amount of cardio I am doing every other day.
I still run every other day with the exception of this sunday. Saturday I tweaked my knee and hip. Yes the bad one. Which is the left one. So I took it easy on Sunday.