Another Update for everyone

I almost forgot to tell everyone... http://painebrothersllc.com new web page....still under construction to say the least...its an actual site that my brother and i own and will use to start the "buzz" about Paine Brothers LLC. When ever we actually start this company...couple new pics...no videos yet...but i will continue to update and get that site working as time allows due to training and the deployment i am on......the times i miss being here in Germany so far from those i love...Soon enough i will be back home enjoying the freedoms that my commrads in arms provide through our sacrafices...I love you all very much...if you have comments or questions or suggestions for the blog/site just kick me an email at painebrothersinc@gmail.com ... thanks for stopping by.

PS. Here's a little Albanian for ya .. "Tung, zoteri. Si jeni? Miredite." ( Hello, Sir. How are you? Good Day (aka have a good day).

A heavy dose o' Culture

Needless to say i am getting a heavy dose of culture here in Germany. We will be/are working with yet another country here at Hohenfels, Germany. This is the Slovenian Flag. They are also heading to Kosovo the same time we are. I have been learning Albanian, Serbian, Croatian and now Slovene languages in order to communicate with our allies. Its been interesting the say the least trying to talk to another nation's soldier without butchering their language...It is nice though getting to talk to and train with other soldiers. Get to experience folks from other nations and teach them what i know and they teach us what they know,....a little international interaction is always a good thing...Slovenia is one of the many countries to come from the break up of the old Yugaslavian "empire"...hence why they speak a Serbian-Croatian type of language..the "slavic" languages if you will...I'll try and get some pics of my new friends here...i've been trading american cigarettes for language lessons...maybe i'll trade a pack of smokes for some good pics...hope everyone is doing well..talk to you guys later.

Part 1 of a short story...

It’s Friday afternoon, Katie (a young Army nurse stationed at Fort Benning, GA) has just finished making her rounds. The rooms she is responsible for are full of either Airborne school students with various injuries ranging from broken legs, ankles, torn ACL’s, and the like caused by improper landing or Active Duty soldiers with colds, flu’s or other sicknesses related to a long night of drinking and debauchery. But honestly (she thought to herself) when you jump out of a completely good air plane at 13,000 feet in the air, you’re asking for trouble. As she finished her rounds she made her way into the break room where she found her fellow nurses gathered around the far right table directly in line with the flow of cold air from the A/C. Being stationed at Fort Benning conditions soldiers to battle the heat and humidity by finding the coldest spot they can where ever they might find themselves. Katie was a rarity, to say the least. A southern Californian girl, born to a father who served two tours of duty in Vietnam and a stay at home mother. Katie stood five feet six inches tall, long flowing brown hair wrapped neatly in a bun at the base of her perfectly shaped head in accordance with army standards, her hour-glass shape hid well beneath her Army Combat Uniform (ACU’s) swayed ever so slightly side to side as she made her way to the table where her friends waited anxiously for her arrival… (too be continued…)

Address in Kosovo

Address in Kosovo:

2LT Paine, Benjamin
KFOR 11 Task Force Nightstawker
Team Aztec
Camp Bondstell
APO, AE 09340

Here is my mailing address when I am in Kosovo...I wont be there for about another three weeks or so..when i get a better idea of when i will be there i will let you guys know...mail is suppose to take about 5 days to a little over a week to get from CA to Kosovo...and of course i'll post plenty of pics so everyone can see what this base looks like and what my living conditions are going to be...hope everyone is doing alright...love ya...miss ya...

Something Old and Cool I found ...

Hey everybody...guess that this tower thing is ?!?!? A German Guard Tower from World War II ! Pretty Cool huh? I thought so...its just sitting next a main road here on Hohenfelds...it over looks a bridge, which i imagine was its intended purpose 70 some-odd years ago. I just took a quick picture of it so i could share with everyone back home...hopefully lots of fun photos will be all the way soon...no guarantees though...Hope everyone back home is doing well...look forward to hearing from ya'll...hasta.

Hello From Das Germany

Hello to everyone from lovely Hohenfels, Germany. I arrived here yesterday...and due to jet lag ... I pretty much slept the day away...i am draggin some serious ass right now...but no worries, the snow and icy wind helps keep me awake! I'll try and update this as often as possible...hope all is well with everyone...take care.

Upcoming Election....

With the upcoming election a lot comes to mind...given the fact that i am in the military i have worries about what the future holds. Yes, our president-elect promised to get us out of Iraq, but then promised to double the troops in Afghanistan...not sure if that helped or hurt me. Historically, democrats have not been favoriable to the military in regards to down-sizing and availability of funds...we did recieve our pay raise this year though i am not sure if the president elect has anything to do with pay increases happening in the Jan following an election...regardless...these next four years will be interesting...i am not authorized to say anything bad about my commander and chief and therefore am not able to quantify how i truly feel, all i can say is the day i found out about McCain losing was a sad day...i felt genuine sorrow to hear that he had lost...
The nation is in one hell of a recession, inching ever closer to a depression. Car makers, banks and other financial institutions are merging, busting and buying each other out....bail-out money was as effective as shooting a bb gun at a train to stop it...oil prices are fluxing from cheap to outragious...the US dollar is inching towards worthless...stock portfolios are can be described as a sea of RED, the US Armed Forces are fighting Terrorist in Afghanistan and Iraq with missions all over the damn globe...with a populace that doesn't understand how real the threat is of these terrorist groups...Israel and Hamas are once again attacking each other causing massive civilian casualties...its a hell of a world we live in...and sadly as most experts on the economy say, it's going to get worse before it gets better...at what point does "worst" kick in and we see a "better"...i remember about three years ago looking at my stocks and thinking that i made some good decesions...lots of green arrows point up...now...wow...things have changed....i can say one thing...im thankful for my family, friends and all those around me....i woke up this morning so things really aren't that bad. I love you guys, miss you....

Mailing Address in Germany...

Line 1 = 2LT Paine, Benjamin

Line 2 = TF FALCON

Line 3 = A Co 40th BSTB "Aztecs"

Line 4 = CMR 414, Box GD

Line 5 = APO, AE 09173

Above is my mailing address for the time that I am in Germany....Not sure how long we are suppose to be there...at least a couple weeks...I'll email/call with more details as to what date you should not send something..How is every one ? Hope everything is going well...Im just relaxing right now in my barracks...Not much to update...everyday is pretty much the same...wake-up, eat, train, each, train, eat, train, sleep...then i start all over the next day. At least is makes the days go by pretty quick...I am quickly losing track of the days. I was suprised to see that today was MLK day. i had no idea that the holiday was coming up, but then again, when your deploying you don't exactly get three day weekends, let alone a weekend off. it can suck after a while not having days off to yourself, but you REALLY appreciate the time with family and friends when you get back. Thats about it for now..hope everyone is doing well...love you all, miss ya'll, talk to you soon. Hasta Luego! or in albanian Diten a Mire (good day)

Issues with my HUMMVEE dorr... :)

This was me on my last training mission...had a bit of a problem with my door when i got out...it was pretty funny....given the fact that it was about 10 degrees outside and we were about to go into a "notional" Albanian town and practice our ability in conversing with locals...its always interesting when you mix a bunch of soldiers with guns with a town full folks who don't speak the same language as the soldiers...it can be fairly amusing...at least to the guys on the ground...anyways...things are the same as usual...lost of paperwork..lots of training..doing our normal thing.

Update on Kosovo and what it might mean for ME !

For the past several days of training i have been working with a translator named "lala" (changing her name for confidentiality purposes). She is a Serbian who lives near by here, not sure if she is an refugee or an actual US citizen...anytime i ask about it she gets a bit quiet so i thought it best not to bring it back up...i made the simple mistake of asker her and some of her Serbian friends about a fellow translator (who happened to be an Albanian) if they knew him or if they knew how to contact him...i got the impression that i upset them...which made me think...if the reaction (whether good or bad) between two cultures is this bad here in the states...what kind of reaction would i get actually over in Kosovo?!?! What would it take to launch this brand new country back into a late-90's type of epic ethnic clash? How much "drama" would need to be present to cause these people to start the ethnic cleansing all over again....keep in mind that we are ten years removed from the 1999 UN bombings that ended the Serbian/Bosnian/Kosovar conflict...now all those 6, 7, 8, and 9 year olds who watched thier mothers getting raped, their families lined up next to a ditch and executed are now turning 16, 17, 18 and 19 landing them in both the prime criminal age (16-24) and prime military age (18-24). Lets not forget where some argue the word "infantry" comes from- Infant-soldier...its not unusual to see 13 or 14 year olds with rifles joining the fight they feel is the "good fight". Hence why I am hesistant about my up coming deployment...there are far more issues in the region than a genuine hastred of one another....
-Serbia is not allowing Kosovar products into their country (causing an already poor nation to struggle to find outlets for its goods-making it poorer and poorer by the day)
-Bosnia Hertzvogenia (spelled wrong) is taxing FULL duties to products entering its nation from Kosovo (taking an even greater chunk of what little profits there is in that region away)
-Macedonia is naming newly built freeways after ancient conquerors whose victories included the brutal slaughter of Greece (political left hook sent to Greece which has started a political confrontation in an already unstable region)
-bombs exploiding and suveral ethnically fuled brawls have broke out in northern Kosovo in the city of Mitrovica between Serbs and Kosovoars
-paramilitary groups have begun posting YouTube videos of themselves in the moutainous areas between Albania and Kosovo as well as in Serbia declaring their intentions
-several groups of men have been arrested in Italy, France, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia in connection with drugs, arms, explosives all supposedly coming from the Balkans...
Though these are serious events indeed...whether or not these various events will transform into violence on the ground is still debatable...the only difference for me is .... i'll be ON THE GROUND.....(to be cont....)