The Return To Ramadi

For a while I thought I’d seen my last day as a .50 cal gunner. We left to Ramadi yesterday and I sat in the back seat. I thought I was just going along for the ride. There wasn’t much else I could show the new gunner since he had already been trained. To me, I was basically coaching and orientating him a little bit. I’d help out with the other guys where needed as well. Most of the problems were with our radio communications and not our weapons systems.

When we got to Ramadi I thought I’d be done for the day. I thought I was finished and we’d go hang out at the MWR and find a place to sleep in the homeless shelter. Hopefully it’s the last night I’ll ever spend in Ramadi. It didn’t go as planned though. The PL wanted me to go with him to the range. The Hoosiers were going to go to the range to test out their weapon systems and troubleshoot any problems that arise. Our platoon wanted an NCO and I guess I was the best person he could find. Why me, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I didn’t do shit but sit in the back seat of the Humvee.

Luckily the PL and me left the range before the guys were done. They were able to take care of themselves and their 1^st Sergeant was there to oversee all the testing. We went back to AR Ramadi and ate chow. I knew our day was over with. Afterwards we went to the MWR to hang out for the rest of the night. I picked up another book in the library there. I wasn’t in the mood for watching a movie or television, or playing video games. It’s too noisy in that place and all I wanted to do was spend some quiet time reading a book. I’ve been reading a Star Wars novel but I dumped it. It wasn’t enjoyable at all and I got tired of reading it. I found this other book in the library there titled, “Second Sunrise”. It’s about this Navajo State Police officer turned vampire. So far it’s very entertaining.