I’m here, sitting in the help desk, alone. I’ve been here since 0600, and I’ll be here until 0600 tomorrow. My eyes are tired, but I can’t seem to get any sleep. The lights are motion activated, so if I try to sit and read, they’ll go off right when I get to a good part. If I move to put the book down, they snap right back on, taunting me.

Oh yeah, I haven’t really told anyone what unit I’m with.

Data section
Communications Platoon (S6[not sure what exactly that means])
Headquarters Company
5th Marine Regiment
1st Marine Division

It seems that most Xangans (sweet titty fucking Christ, I am a nerd) that are part of the United States Marine Corps blogring are either a) Marine wives/girlfriends or b) Marine wannabes, whether they’re shipping to boot camp soon, or just like going around saying they’re going to be badasses.

Personally, I don’t think of myself as a badass. Sure, I’m a US Marine and all that sweet jazz, and part of Fighting Fifth, the most highly decorated Regiment in the Corps, but I’m still a boot. I haven’t done anything all that impressive yet, so I’m little more than a computer geek with a kickass uniform.

Maybe I’m too hard on myself. My self-loathing tendencies see me putting myself in some difficult situations sometimes, but I suppose recognizing your flaws is the first step to self-improvement.

From the sounds of it, I won’t be doing anything all that exciting when I get to Iraq. I’ve heard stories of data Marines doing Personnel Security Details, being bodyguards for a colonel (which, I’m not entirely sure,) and essentially being grunts the entire time.

I consider myself a pogue (person other than grunt, pronounced like ‘rogue,’) though I’ve heard Marines in my section refer to us as grunts, and belittle pogues that sit behind desks all day. Well, hell, I’ve seen a few Combat Action Ribbons in my unit, so I suppose they rate it.

I want a Combat Action Ribbon. I didn’t join the Corps to be a desk jockey; I could’ve joined the Air Force for that.

There’s a laptop in here that won’t take AC power, so we’ve been having to swap out the batteries every few hours. All of these laptops are still covered in sand.

The night’s been quiet so far, and I don’t forsee anything coming up, so I’m going to sleep now.