Sunday, December 19, 2010

Judging & Charity

      It's not everyday that you can say you have found the love of your life. Through daily trials and tribulations you come to realize that some things are of higher precedence then others. At times it is the simplest things that open your eyes to the realization of how important that your love with someone truly is. Minds are quick to judge others on how they choose to live their lives, how they spend their time, but among the many things that could take ages to list, they judge who you love. As if they understand your feelings or honestly even understand love. Half of the time those who are playing the role of judge are usually unhappy in their relationship or simply have never actually had a true feeling of love. I remember as I was going through what I thought was relationships filled with love that I knew everything there was to know about the topic. Now that I actually know I am in love its almost as if others issues  even matter anymore. It's not that I don't care about people but its a neglection of getting involved in what I know i wouldn't understand. Everyone has their own problems and it is no other persons responsibility to attempt to make decisions involving anyone else's.
   Enough of the intellectual post for the day, as everyone knows it is almost Christmas time. The big thing about the season of giving people tend to forget about is why we actually celebrate. While the majority of our country is worried about what new gadget or toy they will find under their tree on the 25th, you can actually find people who care about Jesus being born on his day that has now been tarnished. Personally I cant deny i used to be gun ho on what I would be getting for Christmas, but as i've gotten older I realize I don't really care about it as much. I guess its also a realization that there are so many families out there who don't get the opportunity to celebrate by giving gifts. It is an eye opener to think people can spend thousands of dollars on toys and forget that there are families who struggle to simply provide food for themselves. This though is brought to mind simply to say that people should think about these things and look inside themselves and say, maybe I should donate to a charity to help those who are struggling. I may not make a million being a soldier, but I realize that if I don't eat out once a month I can donate that money to struggling families. Along with the right organization the majority of your money will see these families that need the money. It takes a rare person to see the commercials of struggling children on TV and not say that it bothers them in some way. Granted some organizations are not doing the right thing with the money they receive but if you search for the right ones then you will see that there are actual good organizations out there. So with this last sentence I ask everyone to reach inside their hearts and at least donate $1 dollar a month to a charity that helps those in need, its the least you can do.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Still Around.

    Well we have been without internet in our new barracks for the last couple of months, so that is why my blog was a ghost town. Today I returned to my room to find 10 routers available when I opened my mac to listen to some music. Not much has changed here really other then training is almost over and I have less then a week until i get to head back to Kentucky/Ohio for two weeks. It seems strange to say that i've been away from home training for the past 9 months. Though I do look forward to my duty station and deployment. As odd as it may sound deployment is actually something I am excited to do early next year. After going through training and being mentored by the Sergeants who train us, I have actually got the urge to check out what they all say they enjoyed the most about being in the Army.
     Now as much as I am excited I would venture to guess my wife is much less interested in me going into combat.  Along with my mother, father and rest of family who say they understand its part of the job,  I still don't think they like the idea. I can't say that i blame them, hell I hated to see my buddies from high school get deployed. After all the things you read in the papers and watch on television you would think that going to the middle east was the worst thing that could happen to someone.  When in retrospect it really isn't the worst possible thing. Though we have lost many amazing soldiers in the campaign, the ratio for casualties is still not high. Though enough of the disheartening information of my excitement for deployment (my wife reads this lol).
    Football, well to say the least this season has been dismal for the Bengals and nothing shy of mediocre for the Buckeyes. I have come to hopes that Cinci will not win another game so that we can steal Cam Newton in the 2011 draft. I think that Carson Palmer is fizzled out and can no longer lead his team to do great things. As far as Ohio State its another one loss season and another season not getting to play for a National Title. Though beating Michigan again this year was a nice little treat. I look forward to next season and see what the fall has in store for my teams
   Basketball, well being a LeBron fan I was surprised to see him make the trip down to south beach to join forces with D-Wade and Bosh. Though it wasn't a bad move it took the team 20 or so games to get their act together and now they are finally winning consistently. Though I am a firm believer in Kevin Durant and the thought of the Thunder winning the west and eventually the whole playoffs. I like to see the Lakers playing poorly this early in the season also, especially considering one of my best friends is a huge fan lol. Down on the college level it is good to see my Buckeyes riding strong in second place behind a strong Duke team. Considering Sully dropped 40 points the other night, its safe to say I have high hopes for this season and a long run come March. Drop down a state and you have Calipari coming up short in a couple games trying to keep the Cats in the top 25. With three freshman leading the way its never easy to beat teams who have the experience on them. Though I still expect to see them make some noise in March, I don't expect them to reach the final four sadly.
    It feels great to sit here in my bed and actually be able to write again. I got in trouble the other day for wasting time in class and my SSG had me write a thousand word essay on why wasting time is a bad thing. After i turned it in to her she asked my why I wasn't writing instead of in the Army. It made me laugh and think of how I would like to publish a book before I die. It's actually on my bucket list (which ive misplaced). I wrote more when i was 15-16 then I have in the past five years. It's actually a bit of a disappointment that I have pursued a writing "career" with a stronger passion. If I find myself with any spare time while I am in Afghanistan I have decided I will dedicate the majority of it to writing. If I find myself without internet access to blog I plan on sending my wife flash drives of blogs though I am sure the delay in the mailing system to and from the middle east will be a bit extreme. At least I will be able to write and not completely fall behind like I have without internet over these past two months.

Well its time to hit the rack. Remember to always before yourself, and be Great.

~Brent

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Possibilities

  Life is full of them. You can walk down the streets and there is a million possibilities that could happen with every step you take. New doors are opened around every corner you turn and making every impossible situation exposed to endless possibilities of exuberance. You hold the pieces to the puzzle of the never ending struggle or effortless bliss. I woke up today realizing how great i really have it. I have the potential for a job with endless possibilities for my future. I have the most amazing, brilliant,  and her best feature is the shear fact she puts up with me. Soon enough I will be done with training and we will be off to whichever part of the world the Army decides to send me. Everyone is judgemental about getting married at a young age everyone louring on how it is the end of the road now. Though the way I see it is this has only opened more roads and adventures for us to go through life together enjoying. The potential of possibilities are not as extensive as possibilities for two people endeavoring into life together. The moral of this story is that no matter how down on yourself you want to be, there are always possibilities of discovering the path in which happiness will be found. Never look at the negatives of life as the end, but look at them as the downside to a new beginning of amazing things. If you always live life unhappy and not seeking to find bliss then you will never be complete as a human being. Life is meant to be lived to full fulfillment and joy.
    I felt inspired today to write in what seems to be a mushy side. I got up this morning after having wonderful dreams of my future and how I truly have it made. I felt everyone should get the opportunity of having their eyes opened to seeing a brighter side to life. Granted before today I was pretty down on being stuck here in Arizona without Sara. Now i realize being here is just a stepping stone and building block for our future together. That being my outlook for happiness everyone needs to dig deep into their lives and find what can drive them to push through the negatives and only live off of the positives. Time is meant to make us wiser and give us experience not have us growing bitter.

Monday, September 20, 2010

To Save a Life..

   We had an "assembly" on suicide prevention this evening and for once it actually wasn't a complete waste of time. We watched a smaller budget film called " To Save a Life". Basically it summed up the child hood of a high school basketball start set to go to college( ironically he was going to Louisville lol). It showed him being saved from a car by his best friend, who was then struck by the car and severely damaged his leg, which would leave him with a limp for the rest of his life. Slowly as Jake the protagonist in the film got older and made his way to the basketball court his friendship dwindled to not talking to his old best friend. During their senior year the best friend came to school, he walked down the hallway with a pistol, fired three rounds into the air before ending his own life. While this took place the protagonist happened to be standing there. It went to to have Jake the main character realize there was more to life then just being the high school hero. He took a fellow student down on his self and turned his life a full 180 and gave him a new light to live by. To sum it up the movie finished with a strong message or so it left with me that we should never take life for granted. I know during my teenage years and even my younger years there were people who I could have and should have treated with more respect. You look back on your past and realize that nobody deserves to be treated different then the next person despite their differences. Everyone has their own flaws they usually hide under a mask of deception. To simply put it, usually the more antagonising someone is towards others the larger their personal issues are. I realize now maybe the flaws i saw in myself I would try to pick on other people to change my outlook on the situation. If I could take back all of the negatives things i have done and said in my past I wouldn't think twice about doing it. I know many of the people in my platoon won't take away anything from this movie because they see it as 2 hours of their time they lost. I see it as an eye opener and a rude awaking for some who won't admit they have issues being heartless and almost barbaric to people sometimes. Granted I say this as I myself am not perfect and plan on working on changing the way i conduct myself towards people. You only have one life to live and there is no reason not to live it to the fullest without hurting others. These are some core values i hope to instill in my children one day, so the sooner i turn my wicked ways around the better off I will be. It also makes me want to look into helping with suicide prevention. There is no reason someone should be so down on themselves the last resort they have is to take their own life. I would trade all of my free time to helping someone decide that ending their life is NEVER going to be the right answer. I hope other people were encouraged in the same way, and for the ones who already help with suicide prevention, Kudos to you.
    I also was inspired by a youth minister in the movie to want to partake in some public speaking. I know I have the charisma to get in front of a group conveying messages to change lives. Being so blessed with the life I have had and continue to live, I would like to help others realize their lives are to precious. Of course if anyone is interested in helping people feel free to get in touch with me. I plan on working on some things this weekend to put this idea into motion. Of course I won't expect anyone to dedicate all of their time to this, but if you have some free time and would like to make a difference that would be awesome. I look forward to changing someones views on life and how they can enjoy every aspect of it even with the negative times.

I would like everyone to think of something whenever they are down or feeling lost.
" I am Great".....After all you possess every tool needed to Be Great everyday of your life.


so with my signing out I say

Be Great!
~Brent

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Time Marches on.

   Well it is another weekend down in the books of my stay here in Arizona. I make it sound as if it is actually enjoyable when really its far from that. I actually had training this weekend so sleeping in was not an option as usual for my Saturday morning. Luckily I had no schedule for Sunday so I slept until 0915. Granted that doesn't sound like sleeping in but for me it is. Though we are now down to around 125 days until I leave here(granted i keep doing well in class). As I have said before I am counting the days until i get to be with my wife again(143-7 SKW).
   Lets get down to the training we had to complete Saturday. Apparently the Army thinks that it is necessary to have training in manual land navigation. Basically they give us a map, compass, protractor, pencil and tell us to plot these particular points. After we locate the points well go to our starting point and go from point to point until the finishing point. We had five points to locate and a rough travel distance of 3100 meters. The terrain we had to cross was actually a surprise considering we are in the desert. Though granted they put us at the base of a mountain. All of the points came in, up, or around ravines. At two of the points we actually had to scale to side of a ridiculously inclined hill. Once we finished it turned our not to many people actually finished the course. We finished in under three hours along with getting to all of our plotted locations. I guess now if my convoy is attacked, every single GPS is destroyed and we happen to have all of the items to navigate we can make it out just fine. Don't forget well have to do this while fighting off the actual ambush. Anyway it is just one of those training exercises we are told is mandatory to complete the class.
   After returning back to our barracks i found out that both my Wildcats and Buckeyes handled their opponents with ease. I have high expectations of both teams this year and if Kentucky can steal a couple big games in the SEC expect to see them in the top 25 by week six. As far as Ohio State anything short of a National Championship bid will be a disappointment. I will say Joker Phillips has the Cats in shape and putting them down the right path. So for all of the doubters who didn't see the potential, who's laughing now? For the believers the season is off to an excellent start and much more couldn't be asked for. Now when today rolled around I was a bit nervous that the Bengals were gonna have a game on their hands. As expected they had just that finishing off a close game 15-10 over division rival Baltimore. I guess after the embarrassing week one game Def. Coord. Mike Zimmer decided to turn the defense around. Holding an offense with some major weapons on it to just a single touchdown followed by a field goal. As far as the offense it was still a disappointing performance considering the game was won off of a strong defense and leg of Nugent. Hitting a season high 5/5 with a long of 46. Impressive kicking is always a great thing but I hope we don't have to rely on it for winning to many games this season. At least we got the win and keep the potential of an undefeated division record.
   I was laying in bed this afternoon being lazy as i deserve to be after the week of class and week coming up. Thinking of all the things I have potential to do with my future. Sometimes the rough times you have seem like its going to never end but you have to dig deep and realize the good things to come. I have an amazing wife, family and I am building the foundation to a spectacular life. The downsides of Fort Huachuca seem so negative due to the lifestyle my generation is used to living. Once I signed that contract it wasn't just an oath for a new job but an oath for so much more. It sounds corny but the Army really is the keystone of defending Freedom. I have always taken this for granted and now that I am a part of something so much larger then anything I have ever done, I won't again. When i first swore in i thought I would never go down range and my intel. job would have me sitting in a cozy office. Now that I am over a month into class and finding out it is the exact opposite of that I am excited. Not to sound crazy but I am ready to go fight for my country along my brothers and sisters. We make some of the biggest sacrifices of anyone and for those who have the heart never think twice about getting our job done. As bad as my platoon can be sometimes there is a core group of members I wouldn't think twice about working with in Afghanistan. I look forward to the coming years of my life with my new wife, new job, new place and new outlook on everything.


Just remember everyone controls their own destiny.

~Brent

Friday, September 17, 2010

Season of Fall

   Well normally if I was back in Kentucky outside would be turning that shade of beautiful you long to see every year. Sadly I am thousands of miles away from home, my amazing wife, my family and my friends. Considering I am still finding my feel for this Army situation things could always be worse. At least i have access to my computer and cell phone. I've found that I keep my sanity by burying myself in my xbox when I'm not doing class work. Everyone is worried about getting phase 5+ so they can go party and waste money but I am not even slightly interested in that. Being newly married really has put life into perspective for me. I now realize that I can't spend my money on alcohol and the partying i used to do. Now it's gonna all be about saving for my families future. It is actually quite exciting knowing that when I move to my new duty station that I wont be moving alone. I am by far the happiest I have ever been and no distance has come in danger of changing that. I feel distance is a true test of love and whether or not it is pure. Luckily for me i found my soul mate and couldn't find a single complaint with it. As far as the Army taking forever on letting me know where my first duty station will be. I haven't really decided if I care where I end up considering it will be a new and hopefully exciting place with my wife. We've got what seems to be an endless list of things we plan on doing once we move but January is taking its sweet time getting here. The new year will bring my 22nd birthday, a new year with my love, and a new year in a new place. We did decide we will most likely wait for children until I return from my first deployment. I really would hate to miss anything during the pregnancy, and it would absolutely devastate me if I missed the baby being born. I wanna be the husband who has to get up at random hours in the night because Sara is craving an off the wall food that I will drive miles to find. I always knew I would be a good father but now that I am one step closer, I will admit I'm pretty excited.
    Of course I will have to throw in some fantasy blogging for this entry. I had a poor week considering my top running back went down in the second quarter and my quarterback couldn't even bring me double digits. I still won by a sizable margin which leads me to believe I won't have any issues winning this league. Hopefully a few sleepers I acquired will prove pay dirt as I usually get every year. Though we can't separate the boys from the men until at least mid-season. Updates will be given weekly on how I am fairing.
   Now for another one of my thumb blistering hobbies, Gaming. I recently purchased Halo: Reach and I am having trouble keeping the controller out of my hands now. It is all that I was expecting and more. The sniper rifle is precisely what I expected and wanted. The shots register like they should, the range is true, and the no scopes are legit. I also like the idea of the single shot DMR vs the 3 round burst of the Battle Rifle so many have come to love. Competitively I see this game being on the success level of Halo 2 due to its enjoyability of play and similarity of play to Halo 1 which everyone has been moaning to return. The maps released with the game could have been designed better but once MLG gets their hands on forge it will all fall into place. I look forward to MLG and Gamebattles play from this new title.

Well its about that time again, wonderful Army formation.

~Brent

What is Love?

Is it the smile they put on your face when they do something Goofy...
or
How nothing makes you happier then to wake up with them in your arms..
or
The simple joy you getting from holding hands when walking..
or
How your heart skips a beat when there lips press against yours..
or
Maybe its the fact theres no better feeling then seeing them smile..
or
Watching a show you hate just so they will be happy...
or
Laying down at night knowing tommorow you will get to see them..

No matter what it is to you it never fails that Love will always bite you in the end or it will exceed your wildest expections. Sometimes, It starts with a small arguement, then fighting over the simplest things that dont meen anything, and finally it comes down to the relationship being over. OR It builds off a conversation, to a date, to spending your time thinking of them non stop. People say that Love is amazing and in that fact it is, but rarely do you see love last forever. So if you do truely find it, you must hold on to it. It seems as if people just lose there feelings for eachother and if they dont they just try to forget one another. If life was perfect you would never lose your Love, but since it isnt sometimes you take the slap to the face of it being gone.

Well thats my input on Love, im sure people have diffrent thoughts on it as everyone will...but when it boils down Love can bring you the greatest happieness or the biggest pain..