Sweet Freedom

Well I actually had this weekend off which will probably the last time I have any time off to speak of until I get my four day pass in early October before I actually head over to theater. Since Ft. Bragg is the "Home of the Airborne" there are a lot of parachute riggers employed here and I have a friend from Boise State who commissioned at the same time that I did who is stationed here as a rigger. I called him up Thursday afternoon to see what he was up to and he and his wife invited me to stay at their house over the weekend so i would get off post and relax a little. It was great to be able to get out of the barracks and not have to deal with anything for a few days. Here are Brad and Melanie, the ones that took this poor vagabond in at Joe's Crab Shack where we ate dinner Saturday night.





I was also able to catch up with Boise State Alum Nick Allex who was a year behind Brad and I and just returned from Iraq.




After dinner we went to the movies and saw The Dark Knight which is hands down the best movie I have seen in a VERY long time. What was even more surprising is that it is a film with a good conservative feeling to it, actually depicting the idea of heroism and sacrifice without making fun of them as old fashioned ideals from a bygone era. Heath Ledger deserves all the critical acclaim that he is receiving for his portrayal of the Joker. his death was a tragic accident but I believe that this will be the defining role of his career. A feel pretty confident that he will win and Oscar for this performance and rightly so.

Brad also took me to the Airborne & Special Operations museum in Fayetteville. Apparently it is "Airborne Week" so there were a lot of WWII re-enactors there answering questions and showing off equipment from the era. I was impressed with the museum. Outside of the re-enactors there were a lot of life size exhibits.

This is the delivering of the infamous "Nuts!" reply to the German request that the surrounded Americans surrender during the Battle of the Bulge.

Air Cavalry soldiers dismounting in Vietnam

Delta Force getting ready to make their rescue of Kurt Muse during Operation Acid Gambit, part of Operation Just Cause in Panama

Oh, and here is another reason it was nice to get off post for the weekend... to get away from the equipment they've given us such as this high speed front loading dryer... for the record my clothes were in the one on the left NOT the one in the center!