I'm "out of the box."
The term "inside the box" is used during a phase at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) when it's an intense time of over-realistic training. It's a years worth of experience compounded in a span of days. Well, my year is almost up.
I conducted my RIP (Relief in Place) with the replacing Chaplain, the BN Commander pinned a Bronze Star on me, I jumped in the back on an MRAP, climbed in a Chinook (pic. above), and arrived at BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) at zero dark thirty in the morning.
I had sent a ton of my stuff home so that I wouldn't have to carry as much as I brought into country. I remember SGT Hobbs and I estimating about a 120lb pack, herking it in from Kuwait up to FOB Loyalty last Dec 2008. When I was stepping off the Chinook I said to myself, "I'm not going to do this again." That is, bring this much stuff.
Well, sure enough, someone needed a hand because they had multiple bags. Tons of stuff going in. Tons of stuff going out. It's just another way to serve.
I am very thankful to the Lord, and His Saints for such wonderful support in so many different ways. I made over 70 missions "outside the wire" to Joint Security Stations (JSS) visiting Paratroopers; only 3 were done by helicopter. The bulk were by MRAP or 1151 HMMWV.
So, I'm out of the box and waiting for my freedom bird.
