Craig Ferguson Comedy Show

Here's a clip from a comedy show that was put on by the USO here at Bondsteel...Craig Ferguson was here...it was good times...lots of laughs !! Thank you USO for giving us another night to relax, laugh and forget for a few hours that we are away from family and friends...much love. Hasta!

Blu World

Hey guys..As you know, i tend to spend quite a bit of time online as i am deployed to lovely Kosovo. In one of my many attempts to kill time and keep myself occupied on this deployment, i stumbled across a great site with a legit contest tonight. The site is http://itsabluworld.com/. You could win an Xbox 360 Elite, trips to New York, Aspen, Chicago, Orlanda, etc. By far, the one i want win, if i can, would be the New Years Trip to New York. What would be better than for a soldier to come back from serving his country and winning a trip to the city that never sleeps for a wild and crazy new years party. BluFrog. It would be one amazing night. The site gives you three different ways to win, all free and easy, with no commitments or costs. You can also use your Twitter account to tweet about the contest telling everyone which prize you would want to win and why you want to win it. So get out there, get on your twitter account, use your 140 characters, use a few minutes of the countless hours you spend online anyway giving yourself a chance to win some great prizes!

weather up-date

Just a little weather update for everyone...weather here is NUTS ! rain, then sun, then insane wind...its been a guessing game trying to figure out what to wear...ACU's or ACU's...hahaha anyways...hope all is well..love ya guys, miss ya guys...talk at ya later.

Sarah Palin in Kosovo

Goood Ol' Gov. Palin stopped by Camp Bondsteel today :) very down to earth, respectful, jsut a great person...honest and open...told some jokes, shook some hands...it was definently a great visit...no pomp and ceremony...just a Gov/politician/mother stopping by to say thank you to the troops...it felt legit...it felt real...good times overall...her visit def lifted the spirits...

New Orleans Hornets Cheerleaders

Thank you girls for stopping by and giving us a night to remember...i havent laughed as hard as i did this entire deployment...PS YOUR GORGIOUS !!

International Day 2009

Hello from Kosovo...it keeps coming up so i think i will address it now...Where the hell is Kosovo? Well, kosovo is located in between Serbian and Albania...north of Greece, south of Yugaslovia...basically find a map, put your finger on Italy and head east (thats to the RIGHT)...most likely your map will not have Kosovo on it since it declared its independance 17 Feb 2008 , nine years after NATO led 78 bombing campaign which ended the war of 1999 between KLA forces and Serbian forces...lets not get caught up in the hype...both sides were/are guilty of terrible things...simple as that...but now, regardless of the rhertoric, Kosovo is a country...
I have been on deployment now for roughly 165 days, but whose counting...i've seen a lot here...

Today i attended International Day...a day for all the countries participating in this thing we call a Kosovo Deployment to come together, get some equipment, gear and food and stuff em into a booth and run around and check each other out...this event included live music, awards ceremony for US Volleyball and Basketball champs and plenty of time to run around and talk with our fellow allies about whatever you can without the help of a translator...things were interesting, fun, unforgettable all roled into one...i got to see some old faces and new faces, met some folks who had interesting and meaningful things say as well as the ever so awkward conversation with someone who speaks no english and i dont speak (insert language-Slovenian, French, Italian, Greek, etc). Old faces: The Irish, Slovenians, Italians, Germans. New Faces: Portugese, Latvians and Polish. The ever popluar exchanging of email address in hopes of establishing a long term or at least deployment long friendship via the ever so personal internet...a time to kick back and let the HOOAH/Squared away Army culture down for a bit and relax in a semi-informal enviroment...a chance for folks to talk, walk and just be themselves (to an extent) with out fear of reprisal via counceling statements/lectures or any other form of military punishment..i mean "corrective training".

I got to talk with my old friend Zhelka, a female Slovenian Infantry LT. We worked together many times in Germany as well as see each other at events like the CRC training event, Camp Bondsteel PX or pretty much any time i end up in Pristina...her face has become a welcome site at events...its always a fun time talking to her since i know about 40 words in Slovean and she speaks "okay" english...we spend about half the time we talk trying to work our way out of awkward silence and on to a slightly meaningful conversation...regardless of the language barrier, we are never short of shit to talk about...whether its patrols, life deployed or life back home, we always seem to find a new topic of conversation to battle our way through limited shared vocabulary...its fun...shes as cold hearted, unpolished and vulgar as I which is probably the main reason we are able to carry on conversations...i seem to keep offending foreign soldiers with the language, though it should come to no suprise...Infantry is known for its lack of tact in pretty much any and ever situation...

I also got the chance to talk with my many Irish friends (no translator needed). Their hospitality and ever cheerful attitude is a much welcome change to the normal greeting i recieve far to frequently hear at Bondsteel. I had the pleasure of spending a day at Camp Clarke with them, touring their base, learning about their weapon systems, touring there Area of Responsability (AOR) as well as sit in their bar and watch as the Irish Soccer team played Bulgaria for spot in the world cup. Gift of the Gab does these men little justice...there stories and manorisms are far more entertaining then anything i have seen so far deployed...the relative joy and constant smiles as we went about the day were ... almost inspiring...my morale was lifted ten fold just by sitting in there "rec-room" drinking coffee and commenting on the days events...everyone we met wanted to know where we were from, what we did before we came to kosovo, ever detail of our lives were set out on a table...it was great...there chaplain, what can you say about an Irish Priest...hes an Irish Priest...his very presence was uplifting and brought a smile to your face...

All in all today was a good day...lots to think about...plenty happened i didnt mention, plenty happened i sadly dont remember...but alas...life goes on...tomorrow, God willing, i will wake up...and will continue doing what i do hear in Kosovo...rest assured there will be plenty of drama, events, topics and randomness in the near future for me to write/blog/bitch about...until then...

"To do what ought to be done, but would not have been done unless I did it, I thought to be my Duty" -Phi Delta Theta

Dean Brody-Brothers

love you bro...miss the shit outta ya...im proud as fuck at the man you are and man you've become...love you, miss you...look forward to crushing a beer with you when i get back!

A look back

Let me preface this post by saying i am not depressed, sad, or in anyway feeling different than i was yesterday or the 100 days before that here in Kosovo...i am just sharing a random thought i had..

Tonight was a look back at how things used to be...i was sitting watching the movie Rudy...that got me thinking about Friday afternoons at Buddy's house before a home game...sitting in his den watching a few motivational movies before we went out later that night to crack some skulls on the football field...i started thinking about home, as most soldiers do when they are deployed, and got to thinking how different things will be when i get home...
I wont be heading back to my dorm at U of La Verne to crush some beers with my fellow Phi Delts...i wont be sitting in class listening to a lecture...i wont even be heading back to my old stomping ground...in fact i'm not even sure what my place in this world will be ... i am at the perverbial "fork in the road"...college is done-the good times have sadly come to an end...the safety and security and identity of my former self that i wrapped myself in is now a memory, another chapter written down in the pages of what is The Life and Times of The Ben Paine. If this sounds a bit fatalistic, i appologize. i've never been good with sugar coating the truth, blunt might be a good discriptor to use.
I will eventually head back to good ol' So Cal in search of not only a job (great economy and all) but for a meaningful path to take. Friends are getting married and having kids left and right, friends and former lovers are moving on, leaving me as a distant memory...
I turned 20 in PA shortly before heading to Mississippi for deployment, 21 in Iraq, 24 in GA training, and now i will turn 25 in Kosovo...
looking back at my "plan" coming out of high school, i laugh...i mean really laugh...WTF was i thinking...things are vastly different that i thought they would be leaving high school at the tender age of 17.

i know this thought is fleating...i'll be lucky to even remember what im thinking right now in a few hours...hence me posting this...much love...miss you guys...hope all is well...
Long is the road and hard is the way...

Jailbait

Hello everyone ! Just thought i would drop a line...things in Kosovo are much the same...now its a bit rainy, but the sunshine we've been getting is always nice :) Hope the poster is worth a grin...every little bit helps :) Hope all is well...miss you guys, love ya guys...see ya soon (kinda)