A Million Miles Away From Home

Someone left me a comment about this song and I liked it, so I just wanted to share it with everyone who reads my blog. So, please check it out and leave a comment for Bob Stewart.

A Million Miles Away from Home was written on August 8, 2005, Ohio's official "Day of Mourning" following the deaths of 14 Marines from Ohio. Factored out over the population of the United States, it would be the equivalent of more than 350 Americans dying in a three-day period. I wrote "A Million Miles Away from Home" to help me grieve the loss.

Bob Stewart
740/594-3843
bob@bobstewartband.com

GQ's - This is Our War: A Soldiers' Portfolio

GQ is asking service members, serving in Iraq, for their pictures of the war. So, they created a forum for marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen to post their pictures and comments. Every month, the editors at GQ will select the best photo they receive and the winning photographer will be awarded a new Canon PowerShot SD450.

With that, I submitted some of my photos and as you know it, last week I received a email from one of the editors saying that I won the digital camera. Needless to say, I am really excited to hear that! And the very next morning, on my doorstep was my new camera; I love it! It takes some great pictures, small in size, plus great video - something my old camera didn't do very well. This is the link to the picture they choose.

In addition, I was also interviewed by Marine Corps Public Affairs, in New York City, for a Marine article. Here is also the link: click here.

PFC Jacob Spann

Yesterday I attended the funeral of Private First Class Jacob Spann. He was a Marine killed in Iraq last week in the city of Hit. The same city that my company lived in and built a firm base for about a month. Jacob was from Columbus and this offered me a chance to attend a funeral of a Marine, since I was unable to attend the funerals of our men.

It was a beautiful service. Many people talked about Jacob's life and I was able to get a glimpse into his life. It did make me sad to see such a young man die, though I know he did it for our country and another country's freedoom. There were about 750 people at the service and well over 100 cars in the funeral procession to the graveyard. He was honored with a 21 gun salute and afterwards, the people attending released dozens of balloons into the air. It was a beautiful and fitting service for a hero and I only wish everyone would see one.

Afterwards, the group of Marines from my company went to visit Sergeant Hoffman's grave to pay our respects to our fellow Marine.

FAFSA

Last night I filled out my FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid); this is the form needed to get federal grants and/or loans from the government for students going to college. Well, while I was filing mine out, I got really angry with the questions and information it was asking for. For next school year ('06-'07), I thought I was going to bank on some grants to pay for me education. The FAFSA asks for your tax information and such, but then it went on and asked for my combat pay, which is nontaxable, my food & housing allowance (nontaxable), and my investments.

I figured that since my combat pay is nontaxable, I won't have to claim it on my FAFSA, but nope, they like to know about every single dime I made and invest. This is what angers me probably the most. Why in the world am I getting screwed out of grant money because I invest my money?! I keep a couple of CD's just to make a little bit of money while I determine what to do with it. You know, I like to keep a little bit of cash handy in case of something that would happen and now I am being treated like I have all this money for college. I should be like a lot of other people; spend everything I make and carry large debts. That way, I would get free grant money from the government! I think this is stupid because I like to be a productive and wise citizen and keep a little cash handy. Oh, they also want to know about my savings and checking account balances. I really am pissed about all of this.

Oh, I can't forget my GI Bill benefits I get from the VA. FAFSA wants to know all about that and include it in with the money I make. Now, I served my country's armed forces for this money, and yet, I am getting penalized out of grant money because of it. I don't even have a job right now, and yet they expect me to contribute almost $10,000 for the next school year! All because I was sent to war, made some money, and saved a large amount of it.

This was something that just got me upset and wanted to rant about. Oh well, there's always more student loans I can take out to continue my higher education while someone who doesn't work and saves nothing, s/he can go to college for free.

Brokeback to the Future

To any fans of Brokeback Mountain and Back to the Future, this video clip is very funny.

Check it out and let me know what you think:

Brokeback to the Future

To end speculation, no I have not seen Brokeback Mountain, but I have seen Back to the Future; all 3 of em!

My New Toy!

After much searching far and near, I came across something of great beauty and speed. I now present you with my 2001 Yamaha YZF R600



I found this great piece of machinery at Integrity Cycles in Columbus. Probably paid a little bit too much than what I should have, but I don't regret it.

Washington DC

Last weekend, I made a trip to Washington DC, with another Marine from my company. The main reason of the visit, was to visit Arilington National Cemetary and pay our respect to our fellow brothers. We were also able to stay with another Marine that we went on a deployment together to South America. I had a great time meeting up with some guys there and even have a friend that is a staffer for a congressman. With that, we were able to get a private tour of the Capitol Building compliments of the Capitol Police. The officer showed us some great places around the Capitol, even some rooms that are not open to the public like the Senators' Restroom and the Senate Majority Leader's Private Balcony. The officer offered next time we visit, he can give us a more detailed tour if we contact him ahead of time and not just show up because the Capitol was actually closed to the public when we went through. We could even do a 2AM tour if we wanted!

Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see the Iwo Jima Memorial, but there's always next time. And next time, it will be longer than a weekend. Here are a few more pictures I took during my trip. As always, check out my flickr for all my great pictures.

Most Views

I was recently talking with a buddy and we got into talking about our flickr accounts and what pictures had the most views, or interesting, or favorites. So, in light of that, I will be making this post for my most viewed pictures on flickr with 3,140 views:

Sergeant McKenzie

If you ask me, I don't know why this is the most viewed picture because I don't think it is all that great.

2nd runner up with 2,970 views:

My Hand

This is a picture I took shortly after I let some Iraqi kids write their name on my hand.

Some Minor Changes

Just in case you haven't noticed, I put in the sidebar, to the right, my war stories. They cover pretty much the 9 months of my deployment including my company's predeployment training in California then 7 months in Iraq. So, if anyone wants to read up on them, they are now pretty easy to find. Also, right below them, I put several links to my friends' blogs. Enjoy...

Bill O'Reilly

If you missed the Late Show with David Letterman the other night when Bill O'Reilly was on, you missed out on some good stuff. Check out this link:

David Letterman vs. Bill O'Reilly

Off Active Duty

With Tuesday being my last day of active duty, it was also the 1st day of class as I continue with my education at Wright State University. I am glad that I am going back to school because I think I was starting to miss it, though I will also miss my salary from the Marine Corps; I guess that's why they have unemployment compensation available.

As for school, I took an easy load; a physics gen-ed, financial management I, and probably the most challenging class, quantitative business modeling (basically statistics, this will be my 2nd go at it). I also took a guitar class and a Army ROTC class; both of which are easy A's.

Goodbye To An Old Friend

On Saturday morning, my family lost an old friend. Milo, our dog, died of natural causes. This was a rough year for him as his health was failing and was having some seizures. My mother was relieved that I was able to make it home before he died.

Milo was a fun loving and very well behaved dog. He was liked by all the people who visited our home.

My Recent Vacation to NYC

To start things off...

You are looking at my lovely room at the West Side Inn in Manhattan. Don't let the professional web site confuse you; this place was exactly what I paid for in Manhattan-cheap.

To start things off, the flight to New York was alright, except for the small aircraft that experienced a large amount of turbulence, but nothing I'm not used to riding in military aircraft and helicopters. On a positive note, the jet stream pushed us along and put the flight 25 minutes ahead of schedule! Next up, took a taxi from LaGuardia Airport to our hotel only to find that check in time is 3PM; time on deck, 1PM. So, my buddy Cpl. Rahman and I pay $5 to store our luggage in the basement. After that, we tried very hard to use the elevator to take us back to the 1st floor, but for some reason, the elevator like going to the 6th first, then hit up some random floors on its decent to the 1st floor. What fun!

After lunch, we actually took a nap before heading out into the town. The first place we went to was the Rockefeller Center to check out the Christmas tree and other such happenings.


During our short 5 day stay in Manhattan, we went to a lot of places; Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Chinatown, Grand Central, Times Square, Guggenheim Museum, and many other places. Even went to a musical called Avenue Q.

Overall, it was a great trip that allowed me to experience New York's many landmarks and life in the Big Apple. It did wear me down with all the walking we did and trying to learn the subway system. Thankfully the transit workers didn't strike that weekend.

NYC

Well, with a long year behind me, I have finally arranged to take a short vacation. Originally I wanted to go on a cruise somewhere, but I decided to put that on hold to next year. Instead, I will be going to New York City and staying in Manhattan this week for 5 days. It's been a dream of mine to visit New York and now I get a chance to visit it for a bit. Some points of interest I am looking forward to seeing is the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, and the New York Stock Exchange. Of course there will be some quality shopping to do as well.
Any suggestions of places to go?

Nothing New

I have nothing new to report at this time. Though, this has me thinking, since my return, I don't think my posts are no where near as interesting as they were while I was in Iraq. So, who still likes to read these posts anyways?

By the way, I am doing various Toys for Tots this week throughout Columbus. So make sure to go out and drop off a toy in the box.

Thanksgiving

Well, as you can see, I was responsible for cooking the turkey this year. Actually, more like deep frying the turkey this year, which is something new for my family. I must admit, I was a little concerned about my lack of training on deep frying, but it turned out very well in the end and quite delicious, along with the rest of the fixins.

I would also like to take the time to recognize some things, this past year, that I am grateful for.

First and foremost, God's protection over my life and giving me the strength to continue on with the mission during the most trying times.

Family and friends. I have such awesome people backing me up that it just amazes me sometimes. I know that whenever I am gone, there are people who will take care of my mother and my mother will take care of me when I am gone.

The Marines. No better person than a Marine to cover your back in combat.

The Columbus community for showing tremendous support to Lima Company.

A End to a Great Weekend

This past weekend was the official welcome home for the Marines in Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines. It started on Thursday with the Columbus Veteran's Day Parade. Our company was welcomed home during the opening ceremonies in downtown Columbus followed by our participation in the parade. We were marched along the parade route where thousands of people cheered us on and thank us for a job well done. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures.

Then come Friday evening, the Columbus Blue Jackets honored our company by inviting us and a guest to the game. Before the start of the game, we all went out on the ice, was acknowledged, and received a 2-minute standing ovation. It was a really great way to be treated and I had the honor to participate in the color guard during the national anthem. It was a great game, with some great fights, but the Blue Jackets didn't win.

Saturday morning, we did a memorial service, at the drill center, for all of the families and friends of the 23 fallen warriors of our company. It was emotional for a lot of guys and even myself as I got the chance to meet some of the family of the men I fought along with, but didn't make it home.
<
A grieving widow placed some roses upon her husband's memorial.

And the best part of my weekend, the celebration of the 230th Marine Corps Birthday on Saturday evening. It was a chance to see some of the other Marines, who came from other units, and we hadn't seen in over a month. And with the support from the community, we didn't have to pay for anything and got a room at the Renaissance Hotel.

Cpl Watkins, Sgt Taylor, Cpl Bunker, and Cpl McCauley

Beans

This is a story that I heard about while I was in Iraq and totally forgot about until I found this article. I remember hearing some guys talking about a sniper hiding a dog from our Sergeant Major, but I didn't know that they got the dog home. I just wanted to share this because it is a really cool story and I knew Corporal Boskovitch.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1500797/posts

Military Honors

Today at work started like all others; show up and sit down and do nothing for about 30-60 minutes. Well, it ended up that there was a funeral for a Vietnam Vet. and there was a need for a NCO to do it. So instead of sitting around doing nothing and cleaning weapons, I volunteered to go and perform military honors at this man's funeral. Since I was the NCOIC (noncommissioned officer in charge), I had to lead this thing and such. It was pretty easy since I already done every other role, except this time I had to present the flag to the man's daughter.

A bit of advice was given to me before I left from a sergeant. He told me to not look into the person's eyes when I present them the flag because the majority of the time, they are crying and I don't want to be caught up in it all and forget what I need to tell them. Well, I find it odd to not look at someone when you are talking to them. So what did I do, I looked into the daughter's eyes while presenting her the flag and she started to cry. Then I almost got into the whole emotions of it and had to take a second to stop. I was able to finish the presentation without too much of a problem. Overall, I'm glad to get a chance to perform this honor for the locals vets.

After the funeral, LCpl. Roessner and myself wanted to get some lunch at a nearby Max & Erma's. It was a great place to eat lunch and even better while wearing our dress blue uniforms because some guy wearing a red shirt paid for our meals. This guy just told our server and then left. We didn't get a chance to say thank you. I have find this odd that a lot of times that I do get a meal paid for at a restaurant, the person who does it usually just leaves without saying but a couple of words or nothing at all.

Proud New Owner

That's right, I'm now the proud new owner of a Glock Model 23 handgun. This is something that I have wanted since I turned the ripe old age of 21. Now I have seen my dream come true 4 years later. What better way to spend some of that hard earned combat pay?

Update: my Dell laptop is working once again and I didn't even have to reformat and start all over again. Thanks to the diligence of Aaron and his father. Though in light of recent events, and the fact that external hard drives are so friggin cheap, I am going to invest in one so I will not lose my precious files and pictures.