Shyzer.com

I think I’ve found the “Why” to a question I have been long trying to answer.

My War

The link above is to a fellow blogger’s site and one of the posts he made a month or so ago. He’s currently stationed in Mosul, calls himself a “skater with a gun” who holds no political affiliation, and who simply brings to life the accounts we here back home read and see in the news.

He’s also been having some trouble with the military, specifically with their censorship rules. Apparently they don’t look kindly upon a soldier who likes to report back home how life really is for the soldiers serving in Iraq. Even though he has never given away any detailed information regarding military tactics, troop strengths or weaknesses, patrol patterns, etc., he has begun to show some irregularities on his site that suggest he is struggling to keep it alive. One day it will be up in full, the next it will only have one or two posts, the next it will have some cryptic message in which the only thing available to read are the exact words from the 1st Amendment, and the next it’s back up in full.

And it all started after he posted “Men In Black.”

Over the past few months, his readership has grown from 50 to 100 to 1,000 to well over 5,000 a day. He’s gone from being just another person trapped in the clusterfuck we call Operation Iraqi Freedom to somebody that thousands upon thousands turn to for a voice of truth. The many people out there who have no real direct connection to anybody serving in Iraq have dubbed him “Our Soldier” and pray for his safety as if he was one of their own. I’ve even found myself strangely fixated on this man whom I’ve never even met. Every time CNN has a story located in Mosul, my stomach knots up inside as I silently pray that CB’s name isn’t mentioned in the report. No, he is not the only soldier out there blogging about his experiences in the military. But he does seem to be the most “real” of all the bloggers; a man who knows that all people really crave is to know the truth.

He now currently has posted his “greatest hits.” There are roughly ten or so detailed, personal accounts of his experiences in Iraq and they are some of the most interesting posts of any blog I have ever read. However, since he seems to be having trouble with keeping his site up and running, I decided to duplicate his “Men In Black” post here so that if he ever is forced to take it off his site again, it will never die.

This is what CNN wrote on their website about what happened yesterday here in Mosul:

Mosul clashes leave 12 dead

Clashes between police and insurgents in the northern city of Mosul left 12 Iraqis dead and 26 wounded, hospital and police sources said Wednesday.

Rifle and rocket-propelled grenade fire as well as explosions were heard in the streets of the city.

The provincial governor imposed a curfew that began at 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. EDT), and two hours later, provincial forces, police and Iraqi National Guard took control, according to Hazem Gelawi, head of the governor’s press office in the Nineveh province.

Gelawi said the city is stable and expects the curfew to be lifted Thursday.

Now here’s what really happened:

I was in my room reading a book (Thin Red Line) when the mortars started coming down. Usually when we get mortared it’ll only one, maybe two mortars. But this mortar attack went on for almost 20 minutes. Each one impacting the FOB every couple minutes. Something was up. My roommate ripped open the door and yelled “Get your guys, Go to the motor pool! The whole BATTALION is rolling out!” Holy shit, the whole Battalion? This must be big. So I ran over and woke my guys up, yelled, “Get your fuckin shit on and head down to the motor pool! Time: Now!” I grabbed my shit and started running to the motor pool, hearing small arms fire off in the back ground. By now everybody was running to motor pool. Putting their cloths on while they were running. At the motor pool, everybody was strapping on there shit and getting ready. One by one a Stryker was rolling out of the motor pool ready to hunt down whoever was fucking with us. People were hooting and hollering, yelling their war cries and doing the Indian yell thing as they drove off and locked and loaded their weapons. These guys that are attacking us just fucked with the bee’s nest, and now they’re getting the swarm. As I got the vehicle ready to go I overheard on our radio that shit was hitting the fan all over Mosul, large amounts of people attacking us with small arms, RPG attacks, burned vehicles, and there was a bunch of people in all black armed with AK’s over Mosul. Fuck. I overheard one of our iraqi interpreter say in broken English, “Give me gun, I want to kill these motherfuckers!” As we rolled out the main gate, our FOB was getting attacked, we had soldiers laying down in the prone up on the outer perimeter of the FOB firing there weapons out. We rolled down the main exit out and drove down a busy two way street. I was the T.C. for our vehicle, my job is to be behind the .50 cal, and operate the system, which allows me to fire it. This was only my second day as a T.C. Sitting right next to me out the hatch was my Plt Sgt.. Shortly as we were driving down the main street leaving our FOB, a man, dressed in all black, jumped out from the side corner of a building, pointed his AK47 right at me. Right at my fucking head and all I saw was the fire from his muzzle flash leaving the end of his barrel and brass shell casings exiting the side of his AK as he was shooting directly at me. I heard and felt the bullets whiz literally inches from my head, hitting all around my hatch and 50 cal mount making a “Ping” “Ping” “Ping” sound. I ducked the fucked down in the hatch. I yelled “We’re taking fire! 3 O’clock!!! Turned the gun around towards where the guy was and fired a burst. I fired a burst right over our back air guard hatch where our First Sgt was sticking out of and shooting. He yelled “Tell him to stop fucking shooting over my head!!!” Shit. My bad. I looked over and my PLT Sgt who was sticking out the hatch next to me a couple seconds ago was now dropped down from the hatch and now on his back. He was yelling, “I’m Hit! I’m hit!” I looked at his helmet and a bullet went right through his helmet and exited through the other side. Holy shit! I didn’t see any blood on him. He looked completely dazed though. He took his Helmet off and observed the holes in his helmet. No fucking shit, the bullet entered his helmet, and exited through the other side, missing his upper forehead by like 1-100th of an inch. A fuckin miricale. He was standing right next to me, that’s how close the bullets were from hitting us. We continued driving. We had to drive to the Mosul Bridge that was right next to the Mosul hotel about a couple miles away. There was reports of a buncha people, wearing all black armed with AK’s hanging out there. Our job was to locate and kill them. We were driving there on that main street, when all of the sudden all hell came down all around on us, all these guys wearing all black (Black pants, and a black t-shirts tucked in), a couple dozen on each side of the street, on rooftops, alleys, edge of buildings, out of windows, everywhere just came out of fucking nowhere and started firing RPG’s and AK47’s at us. I freaked the fuck out and ducked down in the hatch. I yelled “WE GOT FUCKIN HAJI’S ALL OVER THE FUCKIN PLACE!!! THERE ALL OVER GOD DAMNIT!!!” Bullets were pinging off our armor all over our vehicle, and you could hear multiple RPG’s being fired and flying through the air and impacting all around us. All sorts of crazy insane Hollywood explosions bullshit going on all around us. I’ve never felt fear like this. I was like, this is it, I’m going to die. I cannot put into words how scared I was. The vehicle in front of us got hit 3 times by RPG’s. I kind of lost it and I was yelling and screaming all sorts of things. (mostly cuss words) I fired the .50 cal over the place, shooting everything. My driver was helping me out and pointing out targets to me over the radio. He helped me a lot that day. They were all over shooting at us. My PLT was stuck right smack dab in the middle of the ambush and we were in the kill zone. We shot our way out of it and drove right through the ambush. The street we were driving down to escape, had 3 to 4 story high buildings all along each side, as we were driving away all you could see were 100’s and 100’s of bullets impacting all over these buildings. Finally we went over to the area we were supposed to be at. We parked the vehicles there, and dismounted the guys. The Pepsi bottling building across the street was all up in flames. Then after a couple minutes, we were told to load up and go back to where we got ambushed. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t want to go back. Fuck that shit, I don’t want to get killed. That was the last place on earth I wanted to be. I was scared to death. But we had to go back, and we did. On the way back I was up out of the hatch, scanning , I saw people running down steets that we passed with AK47’s, I didn’t have a shot at them with the 50, cuz we were going way to fast and how the gun was positioned. We past several men with a AK’s running down a street, I pulled out my Berretta and fired a several shots at them. We rolled back to the area where we all just dodged death, and we were taking fire from all over again. Again, I fired and fired and fired and fired and fired. At everything. We were taking fire from all over. I was just 360ing the 50 cal and shooting at everything. We were taking fire from all over, and every single one of us had our guns blazing. At one time I saw a dog try to run across the street, and somebody shot it. Again, at one time I had the 50 cal traversed and pointing all the way back of the vehicle and I was firing at some guys who were shooting at us up on a rooftop, and I didn’t know I was shooting right above the guys heads who were in the back airguard hatchs on our vehicle. My roommate (Sgt from Idaho) tapped my arm, which startled the hell out of me and I quickly jerked back and looked at him and he yelled, “Hey!! Get that gun to the 12!!! Let that one go!! Your doing good!!!” He later told me, when he tapped me on the shoulder, and I jerked back to look at him, I had this crazed look in my eyes that kind of freaked him out. Hovering up above we had Army Kiowa and Apache helicopters flying around. At one time I had to grad something from outside, and on top of the vehicle. So with my hands I did the sign of the cross thing on my chest, said a prayer (Please god, I don’t want to fucking die) and as my Plt Sgt layed down some suppressive fire, I got up out of the hatch, got my whole body completely outside of the vehicle and went over, got what I needed and went back to the hatch, as fast as possible. Scared out of my fuckin mind as I did this. RPG’s were still whizzing by and non-stop gun shots were being fired all over. We had our guys in 3rd Sqd dismounted, they had both 240’s with them and they were in heavy contact with the enemy, firing AT4’s and everything they had at them. Strykers were also launching missiles back at them. I got down in the hatch and started scanning my sector with the 50. Suddenly about 300 meters away I saw 2 guys creeping around this corner, they were hunched down sneaking around hiding behind a stack of truck tires. I could tell by their body language something was up. I placed the cross hairs right on them, but I didn’t fire, because I didn’t see a weapon on them and I wanted to wait. Next thing you know, I saw another guy come out of that corner with an RPG in his hands. I freaked the fuck out and yelled “RRRPPPPGGGGGGG!!!” My hands was shaking like crazy, my cross hairs were bouncing all over the screen. I gathered my composure as fast as I could, put the cross hairs on them and engaged them with a good 10 round burst of some 50 cal, right at them. Get Some. My Plt Sgt said “good job!”. I didn’t see anybody move from behind those tires after that. Shortly after that the vehicle parked directly in front of us took an RPG. This gunfight went on for 4 1/2 hours. A Stryker got fucked up with three RPG’s, and their TC (The guy who wrote SOF magazine that letter) took shrapnel to the face, and had to go back for medical attention. So 3nd squad was now going to roll in our vehicle because there vehicle was all fucked up and had go back to the FOB to be repaired. The ING’s showed up, and they were clearing the buildings on the street. 3nd squad was helping them, and I was providing over watch for them with the 50. Then all the sudden mortars started impacting around us. These bastards were now firing mortars at us. Time passed and we were extremely low on ammunition and all out of water. My entire DCU uniform was completely wet from sweat and filth. So we all mounted up and drove back to the FOB to get more ammo, water and re-fuel. On the way to the FOB we passed a watermelon stand, all the watermelons had bullet holes in them. In fact, everything on that street had bullet holes in it. The cars, the buildings, everything. There were thousands and thousands of brass shell casings littered all over the streets. Our vehicle was also covered inside and out with brass shell casings and links. Once we got to the FOB, and parked near the motor pool to re-supply, a Sgt ran up to us holding all his gear and his kit and asked, “Hey you guys rolling back out? Do you have room for one more?” This guy who asked us if he could ride with us back out, was in that vehicle that was right in front of us earlier that got RPG’d. They had to drive back to the FOB because the LT was seriously hurt. And now he was now asking us if he could come with, to go give em some more hell. We had no room for him in our vehicle, we were jam packed because we had the guys from third squad with us because there vehicle was out of commission from multiple RPG hits. Since there was no room for him, he gave us all the ammo and his water he had on him, and told us “Go get em.” By now it was night, and we were now fully stocked and ready to roll back out. I didn’t want to go back out, but you don’t have a choice, you have to. Right when we were about to leave the gate, they told us to go back to the motor poll and stand by. So we drove back packed the vehicles, and waited. I was chain smoking right now, one right after another. My nerves were completely shot and I was emotionally drained and physically exhausted. My hands were still kinda shaking. I was sitting up against the tires by myself on the side of the vehicle smoking a cigarette. I’ve never been through anything like that. I’ve never felt fear like that. And I’ve never seen anything like that. Usually these guys do this hit and run bullshit, but these guys today were on the offensive and showed no fear of us. My friend from San Diego, came over and sat next to me. Asked if I was O.K., and I told him “I don’t know.” We discussed everything that happened today, how it went down, what he did, what I did, what they did. Then the Battalion Commander came by the motor pool to check up on us and told us all we all did a great job today. Finally they told us to go back to our rooms. I went back to my room, thanked god, and passed out on my bed.

Note: I dont think CNN’s report of only 12 dead is accurate.

Quote of the day: “I just want this day to end.”

If you get a chance, do check out the other posts he has left up. And I know this might seem a little out of place here on Shyzer, but I promise it will all make sense in due time kiddos.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIANNE!

Sorry I can’t be there to say it in person, but you know I’m thinking about ya. I hope you have a wonderful birthday and you better save a piece of cake for me =)

After the Packers strode out onto the field and began to loosen up, it was the Panthers turn to jog out one by one as the PA announced their names. I will give Charlotte this: They spared no expenses when it came to dramatic effects to emphasize each and every individual player. Every time a player would run out onto the field, huge flares and flames of fire would jettison out of two pillars next to them. Meanwhile, a huge fireworks display was being launched from downtown Charlotte that continued nonstop until the entire team had been announced.

The team captains were called out for the coin toss and the Packers won the toss. They opted to receive and before I knew it, the game was underway!

Their first drive of the game actually resulted in a punt, but you could tell they were happy with the results nonetheless. The drive lasted for over five minutes and they had virtually run straight at the Panthers’ defense the entire drive, proving that their D was in fact weaker then many had expected. They ended up being only five or ten yards shy of field goal range. Green Bay’s defense trotted out onto the field, managing to hold Carolina to only one first down and forcing them to punt. As Green Bay took possession of the ball again, they again went back to pounding the defense with the run. However, this drive led to one of the wackiest plays of the night.

Ahmad Green (Green Bay’s RB) carried the ball up the middle on a 3rd and 1. As he was tackled and thrown to the bottom of the heap, the ball popped out of the pile unbeknownst to any of the Panthers’ players. Green Bay’s Javon Walker fell out of the pile and saw the ball sitting on the ground, so he knelt to pick it up, glanced to his right and left twice to make sure nobody saw him, and then started sprinting down the field. It dawned on the Carolina secondary that “hey, this play might actually still be live,” so the caught up with Walker about 11 yards down the field and brought him down. Alex and I were going absolutely nuts. All of the Panthers fans around us were screaming bloody murder saying that Green was down and that the refs sucked, blah, blah, blah.

Carolina decided to challenge the run and say that Green hadn’t fumbled the ball, which meant that the head ref had to go check out the peep show instant replay box and see what actually happened. After a few minutes, he jogged back into the middle of the field, turned on his microphone, and proceeded to shove all the whining down the Panthers fan’s throats. The ruling on the field stood, Carolina was charged with a timeout, and somewhere along here Alex and I embraced in what might have been a questionably too long of a hug. However, we were soon screaming at Green Bay’s head coach Mike Sherman in anger as he opted to kick the field goal in a 4th and inches situation!

Let’s see, the Panthers have been unable to stop the run all night. Ahmad Green has yet to run up the left or right side without gaining at least five yards. The Panthers’ defense is being held together with duct tape and piano wiring. It’s still early in the game and you’re on the Carolina 26 already. Idiot…

At least the Packers drew first blood. Heading into the second quarter, the Packers still clung to a 3-0 lead, but this was all about to suddenly change. After a few more futile possessions by both sides, the Panthers finally remembered that they were the defending NFC champions and that they were supposed to still be at least halfway decent this year. The Packers on the other hand decided that they would help Carolina out by being penalized twice on 3rd down; both of which the Panthers failed to gain the first down on their own. Carolina QB Jack Delhomme finally started not sucking and made a few passes, which combined with the GB penalties, earned Carolina a TD. 7-3 Carolina. Uh-oh.

My phone started ringing off the hook. Panthers and Packers fans alike started calling me:

“HAHAH! Your team sucks!”
“Dude, we’re LOSING!”
“I bet you feel stupid for spending all that money just to watch your Packers lose!”
“I can’t find the bananas I bought this morning!!! Oh, and I see the Packers are losing. Bummer.”

But it was all-good. Never once did I lose faith. Never. I swear. For you see, the moment I had been waiting for my entire life occurred. Brett Favre sprang into action. 5 yard pass here. 13 yard pass there. They only reached 3rd down once and that was a 3rd and 1. Then, BOOM, 24 yard pass followed immediately by Green running it up the middle. Favre seemed to have all the time in the world back there too. Green Bay’s offensive line easily manhandled the Panthers and only once or twice did Favre have to roll out of the pocket and fire on the run. He was saving that for later =)

Before Carolina knew what hit them, they were down 10-7 again. It was around this point that Green Bay decided they were threw toying around with Carolina. Carolina had about 3:30 left on the clock to try and score before the half and they decided to go for the Packers’ weak spot…the pass. Green Bay was weak against the pass last year. I’ll admit it, they’ll admit it, everybody’ll admit it. But during the off season, they beefed up their secondary with high draft picks and it was during this drive that Carolina decided to test them. Delhomme had a few long passes swatted down, but after that, he found a rhythm in completing those little dump passes for seven or eight yards. Green Bay let them march down most of the field before finally stopping them and preserving their 10-7 lead going into the half.

Lee met Alex and me down at the concession stands and once we had grabbed some refreshments and high-fived every Packers fan we saw, we went back up to our seats. Lee came and joined us this time since there were some open spaces next to me and since the Carolina fans around him were dicks. Like I said before, Green Bay had already decided they were going to win this game. Now it was time to prove it. They kicked off the ball to Carolina, let them run two plays, and then all hell broke loose.

On the ensuing play, Green Bay brought upon Delhomme the wraths of hell as they rushed him from all sides. Carolina’s O-line collapsed faster then a house of cards and within seconds, Delhomme realized he was screwed. He tried to turn and tuck the ball, but Green Bay was far too fast for him as two players converged on him at the same time, forcing a fumble. Aaron Kampman of the Packers dove on the ball for the first turnover of the game.

Ecstatic screaming doesn’t even come close to what was occurring in section 538, row 34. I swear, I thought I was going to fall over the concrete wall behind us because I was jumping so high. We were going CRAZY! And the best part was that the Panthers fans were silent. Not a single noise could be heard out of them at all, which kind of leads me to my next point.

Carolina fans are just too…fickle? I mean, sure, the place was roaring as the Panthers were entering the stadium, but after Green Bay took that 3-0 lead, at least 50% of them sat down never to stand again. By the second half, Packers fans could smell the blood and I am not exaggerating one bit when I say they easily began to out cheer the Panther fans. And I don’t mean in the sense that the Packers fans were loud enough to make the Panther fan’s cheers inaudible. I mean the entire stadium was ringing with the Packers classic “GO PACK GO” chant. Every time we cheered that, however, the Packers had a horrible play, but that’s beside the point. It just did not feel like an away game. There were so many Packers fans around that I could have honestly guessed this game was being played at like a neutral site in Denver and there just happened to be a 50 / 50 of Panthers / Packers fans. Not once did I see Panthers fans just stand up and start cheering. The jumbotron had to tell them on 3rd downs to stand and support their team. It just felt as if they didn’t even care.

Anyways, Green Bay went on to score another touchdown led by Ahmad Green and suddenly the Packers have a nice 17-7 lead! After Carolina received the ball back, they were pretty much held in check before Delhomme finally found a receiver deep and connected with him for a 34 yard pass. Suddenly, the Panthers were back in scoring range and threatening to make this a game yet again. In steps The Defense.

On the very next play, Delhomme dropped back and found what he thought was a smart pass to make. He launched the ball to one of his receivers, but the ball was a little behind the guy, so he had to turn to try and make the catch. He bobbled the ball a time or two and before he knew what hit him, Nick Barnett swooped in and stole the ball from him for an interception! By now my voice was gone from all the screaming I had done so far and yet here I was still hollering as loud as my voice would go for the Packers. The atmosphere was just unbelievable. Panthers fans started leaving and Packers fans were just tearing the place up!

The Packers yet again drove back down the field, but this time, Favre decided to showcase one of his patented plays just for us since he knew we were there watching. They reached the 3 yard line before the Panthers finally started to play some defense and before we knew it, it was 3rd and goal. Favre called a timeout because he didn’t like what he saw, had a little meeting with the guys, and pulled out one of the sweetest plays I have grown accustomed to him making. Favre took the ball and dropped back, faking a handoff to Green and settling into the pocket. As the play around him quickly began to fall apart, he turned to his left only to find a defensive player coming straight towards him. He quickly rolled back to his right and began streaking sideways looking for anybody open in the end zone. As he soon ran out of real estate, he noticed that even though Green, being covered by three defenders, he was open just a little bit since both he and Favre were running in the same direction. While sprinting to his right with two defenders only a step behind him, Favre threw a bullet to Green in the corner of the end zone as all three defenders covering him just stood there stunned. TD Packers, 24-7, Game Over, Nice try Carolina.

I didn’t even scream or cheer. I just stood there in awe, hands clasped together in front of my face, trying to fuse that play somewhere in my mind where it would never be erased. Here I was, watching the single greatest reason I am a football fan perform a play that only a handful of people on this Earth could pull off. Here I was, watching Favre be Favre and all I could say was “Wow.”

Green Bay went on to win the game 24-14 (they gave up a late TD that they didn’t really care about since their defensive replacements were in) and took away the victory. Jubilation and celebration quickly ensued there in Ericsson Stadium since about 75% of the Panthers fans had left while almost all of the Packers fans had stayed. Lee, Alex, and myself could be found screaming and cheering all the way back to our cars as we ran up to drivers and passengers with Packers hats, exchanged embraces with complete strangers, and chanted many upon many random cheers.

The drive home wasn’t too bad and I was in bed by 4 AM, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care at all about the two exams I had the next day that I had yet to study for (I earned an A and a B on them by the way, so I don’t want to hear any lip out of anybody). I didn’t care that I had just spent a ton of money for a football game. Hell, I even think that was the first night that none of the other problems and worries I’ve been having over the past few months popped in my head.

I had just seen the Packers kick the living crap out of the Panthers with one of the biggest Packers fans I know and my oldest and best friend. There was no time for worrying =)

I have about twenty things due for school tomorrow and yet I’m sitting here typing up part I of this post? Why? Oh that’s right…BECAUSE I SAW THE PACKERS KICK SOME ASS LAST NIGHT!

Let’s see, where to begin? Went to class…dozed off…class over…repeat three more times…time for the game! I rushed home, grabbed my ticket, made sure I was dressed in all the Packers gear I own, and bolted out the door. I drove over to Lee’s apartment to see if he still wanted to go and was pleased to see that he still wanted to go, even though he had no ticket. That my friends, is the true measure of a fan. We were on the road by 5:15 and in Charlotte by 6:30. I honestly don’t even remember much about the drive up there. I swear to God it felt as if it took maybe fourteen seconds total to make the trip. I think I blacked out from all the euphoria I was experiencing from the realization that I was about to see the Packers.

Surprisingly enough, close, cheap parking was easy to find in an underground garage and as we made our way back up to street level, we began to nice something was a little off. Maybe for every two or three Panthers fan we passed, we’d see at least one Packers fan. I’ve never high-fived so many strangers in my life then I did during the two-block walk to the stadium and by the time

I’d been talking to Alex via cell phone every 15 minutes or so and eventually we found each other. We made a game plan of (A) Finding Lee a ticket (B) Getting some beverages and (C) Taking a urination stop. B and C were easy enough, but A….let’s just say that the scalpers there were a little out of their mind. It was still two hours before kickoff, so they figured they could try to scalp high. $200 was the minimum bid of the upper level seats and Lee just wasn’t having any of that. We walked around a little bit, relaxing and talking to all the Packers fans / hotties we could find, which wasn’t too hard. There were quite a few intoxicated individuals walking around trying to pick up some women, which led to some of the funniest pick-up lines I have ever heard. This one guy held up a beer offering it to the first woman to come talk to him. An equally intoxicated lady walked over to him and he just looked at her, gave her the beer, and said in this long, drawn out voice “You’re….hot.” Surprisingly, she just took the beer and left. Go figure.

As game time approached, we went back to Sleazy Corner for the twentieth time to try and purchase Lee a ticket. As Lee haggled with one guy, I walked over to some other guys to see what they were selling and Alex started darting around like a pro. He was moving around, talking to five different guys at a time, sniffing out the slightest hint of weakness and desperation. He finally turned and gave me “the look” and I went to grab Lee and bring him over. By the time we had gotten there, Alex had become best friends with the guy and was talking to him as if he was some long-lost friend. That’s why Alex is such a cool guy. He can be friends with anybody. Anybody. The guy eventually sold Lee a ticket for cheaper then what Alex and I had actually paid for ours and as we turned around to enter the stadium, we just all looked at each other and started going crazy.

We ran into the stadium, grabbed some food and drinks, and started screaming with every Packers fan we came in contact with. While in line at the ATM, we befriended some Packers fans who happened to be in our section as well. Turns out there were a lot of Packers fans in the same section as us =) We eventually found our seats and Lee happened to be in the section right next to us, so we didn’t have to part ways until right before the game started.

As Alex and I found our seats, we realized that we had some unique seats. For me, location field wise is much more important then how low or close we are to the action. I’ll take an upper deck, mid field ticket any day over a bottom section, end zone ticket. Maybe being tall and looking down on people has something to do with it, but I enjoy being high up. I feel like I can see everything and as long as I’m not in some ancient stadium that wasn’t planned well for those in the upper desk (ie Soldier Field until it was renovated, etc.) I’m happy. Well Alex and I had seats that were on the 10-yard line and in the highest row possible. We both thought they were damn awesome. We had a huge concrete slab behind us, so we were able to stand the entire game and not piss people off behind us (for some reason, Panthers fans like to sit and be quiet…but I’ll get to that in Part II) and we could see everything on the field. We had a sweet view of downtown Charlotte as well and I honestly couldn’t have been happier with our seats.

As the countdown finally reached zero, Alex and I just turned and started cheering as loud as humanly possible. The PA system sprang to life as the Packers began to sprint out onto the field. As I stood there cheering loud and hard, it finally hit me. The Packers were about to play live in front of me. The dream Alex and I had always talked about since 4th grade was finally being lived. Every year we discussed how badly we wanted to go see the Packers and how amazing it would be to see Favre play in person and yet, we never managed to make our plans materialize. Well not this time. There I stood, next to my oldest and best friend, screaming at the top of our lungs, and waiting to see #4 run out onto that field.

It was just like I had imagined it and it was truly a feeling I’ll never forget.

GO PACK GO!!!!!!!

Jesus Christ, I can’t tell you how excited I am right now! In less then 7 hours, I will be in Charlotte watching the Packers…..

Friday night was quite enjoyable. How come I never knew Grilled Teriyaki was open until 3 AM on the weekends? Sorry to whoever used the shrimp sauce after I stuck my finger in it. Some might say I was a bit inebriated, but I beg to differ. I just wanted to see what it tasted like.

I, however, am all Swaggered out. I guess a Swagger Party will do that to ya.

Saturday was the official Recovery / College Football day. I still can’t believe we lost that game to Georgia and then at the same time, I can easily believe it. That’s all USC ever does to its fans. Tease the hell out of them and then crush their hopes and spirits right at the end with some inexplicable play. I also spent a good portion of yesterday working on a new section for Shyzer. The more I work on it, the more I realize that I’m doing it more for my benefit then anybody else’s, but that still hasn’t stopped me from spending far too much time on it.

I somehow have even more schoolwork due this week then I did last week. Last week was the week of essays. This week is the week of exams. Perhaps I’m learning from my past mistakes by studying for my Criminal Justice exam now instead of trying to do it when I get back from the Packers game Monday night =)

And speaking of the Packers game, tomorrow night I will be in Charlotte watching Favre and the Packers play in person. TOMORROW NIGHT! It still hasn’t sunk in and I’ve been looking forward to this for over three months now. Regardless of the outcome, expect a long post and a new section in the photo gallery sometime this week.

TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!!!!

Uh guys….I think we might want to take that Monster Rocket back to Toys Reverse-R Us. Seems like it might kill us or something. Still, I think it’s one of the most kick ass toys we’ve ever bought.

Sorry for any confussion I might have caused some people with the last post I put up. I promise I’ll make it much more clear in the coming weeks when I have some time to sit down and write about it in length. Just know that it’s a good thing and I’m happy.

I have two essays, a few hundred pages of reading, three exams, and a reserach topic due within the next 5 days.

I also have a building-wide party to host, a USC football game to try to attend, and a trip to Charlotte to see Favre and the Packers play the Panthers within the next 5 days.

Can anybody guess why I don’t really care about all that schoolwork? =)

“Ryan, you have absolutely no reason to worry about graduation. All you need is this pre-modern European Hist….wait, you know what? Screw that. Take 6 hours of History classes and 6 hours of whatever else you want and I’ll clear you for graduation.”

“Are you serious?”

“Enjoy Australia!”

Needless to say, I’m more giddy then a schoolgirl right now.

It’s events like this that make me wonder sometimes why we don’t have a group like the one proposed in Tom Clancy’s book Rainbow 6, but I’ll get back to that in a minute.

The Chechen rebels fight the hardest of all fights – the one for freedom. There is no harder struggle then that for one’s independence. The context alone already puts you at a disadvantage since you are fighting a stronger, dominating, and possessive force. Otherwise, you’d already have your freedom. Screw a strong backbone – you’ve got to have balls of steel that would make William Wallace look like a pussy. When you say you’ll do something unless your demands are met, you must follow through with your threat. Nothing is more weakening to a cause than a hollowed threat that you’re too fearful of fulfilling.

And with that being said…..

When you turn to taking hostages, committing executions, and then pull innocent children into the mix, you’ve crossed the proverbial line. You’ve lost all credibility and forsaken your people to not only a much longer and harsher battle, but likely failure. You rile and ruffle the feathers of not only the entire nation you are fighting against, but those of the world as well. You’ve just handed the Russians a blank check and you’d damned well not act surprised when the whole weight of their military comes crashing down upon you. You think you have it bad with the few thousand Russian soldiers in your providence now? Just wait another week as President Putin responds to your craven, cowardly, despicable act.

If the terrorists who committed this act truly were Chechen rebels, then they have just set their cause for freedom back at least 20 years and sentenced thousands of their own people to death. What good they thought could have come from this, I have absolutely no idea.

And back to what I was talking about earlier with the Rainbow 6 idea. For those of you who haven’t read the book, the basic premise is that to help combat terrorists, especially those who would be considered “professionals”, the U.N. puts together a crack team comprised of the best of the best who basically train just for situations like the one in Russia. Therefore, when a situation arises in a country with a horribly trained military, like, say……oh…..Russia…..then these men are sent in to take over the military aspects of the operation. I could get a little more into the logistics of the process and how they would all be worked out, like the damage control on a country’s ego for basically saying their military sucks, but you get the overall point.

The Russian military and government has consistently botched one hostage crisis after another. Take for instance that standoff back in 2002 where rebels took over a theater. The Russian solution? Pump mysterious gas into the building three days later that not only kills all the captors, but hundreds of the hostages as well. The government didn’t help matters any by refusing to release the name of the gas, which limited doctor’s ability to treat those who lived since they had no idea what to treat them for!

I understand money is tight and their economy has never been strong since the collapse of the Union, but seriously, I find it tough to believe that this is the best they can do when it comes to special operation situations. I doubt you are in danger of being invaded anytime soon. Divert some of that basic military training money and invest a little in some spec. op. forces. Whether you want to face the grim truth or not, you are waging a Civil War and have been for over a decade now.

How many more innocent schoolchildren need to be shot in the back as they flee before you understand that?

I’m bored. How much longer until 9:00??

The current cam picture to the left is of my British History book. Booooo that damned book.

I’ll be in Spartanburg for a few days this weekend. If anybody else will be as well, give me a call.

I’ll be putting up a poll here on Shyzer asking for some reader input. Please take the time and answer the questions truthfully for me since I’m obviously not putting it up for my health or anything.

Well, that killed three minutes for me. I’m now three minutes closer to 9:00.