Jornal Entry Week 4

Growing up as a kid my father and grandfather always made sure if someone was in trouble or struggling with something and you have the time you should help them if you can. They were two people in my lifetime were I saw them time and time again lead by example. Both of them professionally took care of others for 30+ years then retired.

When I was a little kid I would spend my mornings going over to my grandfathers house and walking his dog down to the lake. While my mother and grandmother would have coffee talk. The older I got the easier the walk. I'd do this monday thru friday before going to pre-school. We'd walk and talk and he'd have me run up hills and go get stick for the dog and throw the sticks in the lake. By the time we made it back to the house I'd be dirty or sweat and my mother would have to clean me up(was never happy with that, grandfather always won that argument). We took the same route every morning a right out of his house down the street about 1/2 a mile then a left too the lake. We'd see the same faces getting into there car every morning. My grandfather was a postal worker, therefore he knew everyone and everyone knew him. Every where I went with him he'd have people approaching him asking how he's been. He was a minded hearted guy who loved interacting with his neighbors. When we'd walk in the winter time and people were dusting snow off there car he'd stop and have me dust off the back window while he'd tell them to sit in the car where it was warm and he'd get the front window. He loved helping people and making there lives easier. Deep inside of me I though he did these things hoping that the person he helped would return the favor to someone else throughout the day. My experiences with my grandfather at a young age makes it almost second nature for me too help those who need it.

My first deployment in the service was to downtown Baghdad, Iraq. My unit did many things over there but the most important of them all was creating a good rapport with the local populous. That meant when an Iraqi came up to any soldier with a problem we would get the intepreters attention and have him figure out what the problem was, if we could solve it ourselves or what the best possible solution for them would be. We used the crawl walk run method. In order for this too work we made sure the children would trust us, from there we made sure the women would trust us and finally although it was a struggle at first the men finally trusted us. The first step was believe it or not filling the children's belles with candy and from there that lead to the men calling us and informing us when suspicious activity was going on around there neighborhood. Helping people solve problems not only fixed minor problems but it made the capital of Baghdad from the deadliest war zone in the world to one of the calmest in 2007-2008. All it took was helping others.

On the way back home to the good ole state of North Carolina. As we touched down after being away from our friends and families for over 15 months you get this overwhelming feeling that is unlike any other. Its indescribable until about 48hrs after the fact. When everything sets in you see your family and talk to the people you love and miss. People ask you over and over how you did it for 15 months. My response was simple it was easy for moments like this being able to sit down and listen to your awful jokes and look at that dumb smile and annoying laugh of yours(sarcasm). While I was deployed I kept busy, don't get me wrong I would think about things back home but I came to the realization that I couldn't control what was going on back there. This deployment made me realize when your focused on one thing and you put everything you have into it by focusing on the task at hand great things can happen. For the first time in my life I was ultimately focused and by being so focused it got my back home to the people I love and care about.

Living with roommates is probably my overall worst experience of all-time. I cannot stand it. If you told me when I was 16yrs old my parent would be my best roommates I'd laugh at you. I am a pretty clean person and I am not the type who leaves dishes in the sink for more then two minutes. These experiences living with many different type of people whether it was in the army or when I moved back to boston have made me created ideas in my head about creating some type of bubble when you get into your apartment where you cannot be bothered by anything. Having numerous amounts of roommates has made me a pretty tolerable person and I believe in this day an age you have to be very flexible and tolerable it setups you up in the work environment and just makes you better at interacting with people.