Happy Endings

Gotta be a soldiers offspring

2006-11-18T16:00:00.000+01:00

That's a sexy guy there

2006-11-18T15:46:00.000+01:00

It's time to go home

2006-11-18T15:32:00.000+01:00

We have weapons and stuff, which makes it easy to get to the front of the line of Kosovar kids

2006-11-16T14:44:00.000+01:00

2006-10-14T12:10:00.000+02:00

A squad-mate showing the kids the rubber pencil trick

2006-10-14T12:06:00.000+02:00

Taking a break during a patrol in Gnjilan

2006-10-14T11:29:00.000+02:00

Grenades found by the KPS when searching a home in Gnjilan. Recently the MSU (a special police unit comprised of French and Italian schmucks) actually did something right, when they found a large stash of TNT, machine gun and rifle ammunition, in the attic of an albanian home where a father and son spent time bonding. My platoon has found numerous anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, a few grenades, and some AK-47 ammo. Within the last months there has been about 5 or so grenade attacks on some serbian homes, shops, cars, but also on some albanians who belong to a different political faction as the albanian perpatraitors. Things are much better than they were in Kosovo, but far from perfect.

2006-09-18T07:51:00.000+02:00

Standing in one of the doors at a the remains of a castle from the Ottoman Empire, in Novo Brodo. It was built to protect the gold mining operation, the largest in the region. You can still see bridges standing from the Ottoman Empire as well, and the ruins of a Roman outpost near Serbia. There is alot of history in the region, mostly of war.

more range dogs

2006-09-01T23:15:00.000+02:00

New additions to the range dog gang

Home brew

2006-09-01T23:12:00.000+02:00

These handsom fellows are hard at work making some of the good stuff...
Probably made from the local plums, i believe they call it Raki

Two Prayer Rockets!

2006-09-01T22:59:00.000+02:00

The guys who pray here get to heaven twice as fast...
By the way, you know how when a Muslim man gets to heaven he has...what is it? like 50 virgins waiting on him? What do the women get 50 virgin men too or what?

The family station wagon

2006-09-01T16:15:00.000+02:00

You see alot of these cruising around

2006-08-14T07:45:00.000+02:00

some mountain village we passed

2006-08-14T07:34:00.000+02:00

Typical village "road"...notice the sewage running down the middle

A nicer side of Kosova

2006-08-13T18:54:00.000+02:00

2006-08-13T18:48:00.000+02:00

Can't take credit for the picture...taken last year sometime at Camp Montieth

2006-08-13T18:40:00.000+02:00

Summer storm at Camp Bondsteel

2006-07-27T03:22:00.000+02:00

One of the range dogs...they live at one of our firing ranges, sleep in tents, and eat MREs. Probably some of the best fed dogs in Kosovo.

2006-07-27T03:17:00.000+02:00

Patrolling in a small village in the german sector. I hate when my frickin eyes are closed in the damn picture.

Combat Riot Control Exercise

2006-07-15T17:16:00.000+02:00

In rides the cavalry to save the day. Hoppin off the birds after a short flight.

2006-07-15T17:13:00.000+02:00

Me with my game-face on...

2006-07-15T17:02:00.000+02:00

Our line set with the Greeks moving up. You can't see them but the Armenian's (who looked to be worthless) were behind the Greek line dealing with the other group of rioters after we split them into two smaller groups.

2006-07-15T16:57:00.000+02:00

Me taunting a "rioter."

Notice how while in doing this I position myself behind the guy with a shield.

2006-07-04T12:52:00.000+02:00

Taken while I was sitting on this wall talking to some Kosovar kids. Photo credit goes to Sgt. William Smith.

2006-07-01T23:54:00.000+02:00

The flight back to base after a pleasant patrol in a farming village, "Dobercane". One guy invited us in for some turkish coffee and chocolates. Very friendly place. In contrast, we were in a Serbian village the other day where some people hate us, others seem to be indiferent. A few like to make gestures when they think we arent looking. Not all feel the same, but you can tell a difference in the way some of them look at you.

local traffic

2006-06-29T05:23:00.000+02:00

You pay for it...we destroy it.

2006-06-29T05:11:00.000+02:00

Luckily this happened just inside the gate at Montieth. It would have been embarrasing in public, and instead of going 5mph, we would have been going 45 on a narrow road with lots of traffic. Apparently the wheel fell off in a way that doesnt really happen and was no ones fault. Guess Im just lucky.

i think we can make it dude...

2006-06-25T00:41:00.000+02:00

Yes these are all ours

2006-06-25T00:34:00.000+02:00

DOH!

2006-06-25T00:20:00.000+02:00

oops...

2006-06-25T00:17:00.000+02:00

2006-06-18T06:13:00.000+02:00

A little break towards the end. This little guy followed us around for the rest of the patrol. The other squad showed up to the Pickup Zone with a tag along as well. We passed a funeral right next to the PZ. It was a pretty shallow grave. The birds came and picked us up in a small villages wheat field, but they didnt seem pissed. They waved as we took off. Then I passed out for 14 hours.

2006-06-18T06:06:00.000+02:00

Finally at the top. We had to pass the radio around a couple of times. At points we were crawling on our hands and knees. We still had a ways to go, but it was down hill from here. Note the brand spankin new mousque in the background.

2006-06-18T06:02:00.000+02:00

Where we came from...again doesnt look as hard as it was. Going down sucked just as much as coming up.

2006-06-18T05:56:00.000+02:00

This is when we discovered that our little hike was gonna suck alot more than we thought when we saw where we had to go. These pictures dont really do the terrain justice, its rougher and bigger than it looks.

2006-06-18T05:45:00.000+02:00

The beginning of a long day. We got dropped off by the Blackhawks around 0330 in the mountains at the Administraive Boundary Line. I was carrying the manpack radio, which gets pretty heavy after a while so I plopped down whenever i got a chance.

So close

2006-05-17T15:44:00.000+02:00

Right now I'm over Newfoundland?, near Goose Bay, Labrador. The airplane dude gave me an hours worth of time on their inflight internet service however i failed to bring along my european plug adapter so i wasnt able to charge my laptop. Oh well only about 5 and half hours left. Got lucky and am flying directly to Houston. Lufthansa is not a bad airline. The food was even decent, and the alcohol is free. The other soldier on board brought along a water bottle with vodka as well...I will need it as the indian man in the row infront of me anounced to the flight attendent in broken english that he has a gas problem. However i will not allow this to dampen my spirits. I will be home soon. I had my first beer in 7 months last night with a burger. It was glorious. Many more to follow.

soon

2006-05-15T21:08:00.000+02:00

Well...i now have less than 48 hours till i get home. There's a good amount of travel time with a shot stay in germany, but i'll be there soon.

2006-05-01T00:47:00.000+02:00

There's alot more Aggies around, but not everybody could stop working and come. That just left more cake for me. By the way I'll be on my way home in 16 days....

2006-04-26T14:09:00.000+02:00

Nice view of the mountain above Camp Bondsteel. Kosovo actually looks nice when the weather doesn't suck and your looking at it from a distance.

fun and games

2006-04-26T13:58:00.000+02:00

Some dudes doing some roit control training. We might actually have to do this for real in the near future as the time for the status decision of the province nears. There has been training on several different types of less than lethal and non-lethal equipment, like the bean bag shotgun rounds, CS, and "pepper" spray.

oh the endless monotany...

2006-04-10T09:52:00.000+02:00

It seems nobody is finding time to post as of late. My task force had to move camps which has been taking up most of my time. Besides my personal stuff I had to also move an excess of equipment that has continuously been passed to the next rotation since 1999. I finally got settled in here at Camp Bondsteel which is like 30 km from Camp Montieth. It's a pretty large camp, with alot of people. The new rotations of Germans, POL/UKRs, Greeks, British and whatnot have come. Most of the other countries have a max of 6 month rotations and in some cases less. The Irish have on of the shortest rotations, but then again their entire army is 8,500 men. The Irish navy has a whopping 8 ships. Dont fuck with them. Maybe i'll get around to posting some more shit. I have leave coming up in 34 days by the way...

2006-03-08T19:52:00.000+01:00

Texas soldiers and our interpreters standing on the ABL with some Serbian soldiers.

2006-03-08T19:47:00.000+01:00

HA!

2006-03-08T19:37:00.000+01:00

Ouch...at least the juice box survived. Didn't get my ice legs soon enough.

oops

2006-03-01T20:48:00.000+01:00

So i was in a little fender bender about a week ago. I was in my HMMWV going out on a quick mission one night. I was being followed very closely by this dude in a late model BMW. I needed to go left, but by the time i started to turn he tried to pass me and my truck doesnt have the best visibilty to the rear. Anyway, there was no damage to my vehicle, but his hood was a little messed up. He invited me to his village for coffee...

2006-02-27T22:02:00.000+01:00

Me pullin out some Kosovar's car from the mud. I was feeling nice that day.

2006-02-27T21:59:00.000+01:00

I think he's speeding...

2006-02-27T21:55:00.000+01:00

A couple of Apaches at Camp Montieth. They ussualy carry a load of 2 rocket pods and 30mm chain gun.

2006-02-27T21:50:00.000+01:00

An Kosova Liberation Army (KLA), or UCK (ooh, che, ka) war memorial. These are all over Kosova to honor war heros who died in the conflict.

2006-02-27T21:24:00.000+01:00

A serbian church, in an albanian town...Usually they are covered in spray paint, windows broken, burned, or blown up...

2006-02-27T21:23:00.000+01:00

Taking the hill for Texas.

2006-02-27T21:18:00.000+01:00

On the Border. You can kinda see the Serbian village behind me. And, impossible to see is a Serb Army tent, where some smart soldiers are keeping warm. It was freezing balls. My eyelashes were sticking together because of the condensation from my breath freezing on them.

2006-02-27T21:12:00.000+01:00

Yep...it's Clinton...

2006-02-27T21:11:00.000+01:00

A Kosovo Harley. Sweet huh. These things are all over the place.

I'm lazy...

2006-02-26T11:12:00.000+01:00

So I've been fairly busy. I'm not gonna lie though, I had time to post. I just wasn't motivated to do much of anything after work. This one day off a week thing is getting old. I'm trying to get transfered to one of the other companies. A Scout company where i'll have a much better time. Right now I have to deal with too many idiots. Anyway, I have lots of new pictures to post, i'll work on that tonight. My buddies and I do alot of stupid shit to keep ourselves entertained. Some interesting stuff has happened over the last month, and I got to see alot of Kosova. Yea, i have had one of those mincemeat burek. It was pretty good. I've been eating alot of the local foods. You just have to be careful about the choice of establishment. I'll check in later, just wanted to let ya know I'm still alive. Oh, by the way I'll be home for leave around May 17th. So be there.

the Bagginseses of the Kosovo

2006-01-13T19:23:00.000+01:00

Nick: the Kosovar people are of small stature, yet very rugged. They have very hairy feet and wear no shoes. They seem to travel in small packs and have strangely close bonds to those of the same sex........................................................................................................................

2006-01-13T19:21:00.000+01:00

Cruisin round the big K pimpin it up in my phat ride...

2006-01-13T09:02:00.000+01:00

I had my first full day off yesterday, and it was glorious. I slept till late afternoon, got up and and ate. Played a little Xbox, and watched a movie. I read a little and went back to sleep. The best day ive had since i been here. From here on i will be getting one day off a week, but for the first month there was too much shit to do. As you can see i made my first post of pics. When everything is covered in snow Kosovo looks pretty nice. When its not there, its a pretty big shit hole for the most part. There are nicer parts though, like some of downtown Gnijlane and Pristina. Keep on keepin on.
-lil steve

2006-01-13T02:40:00.000+01:00

The "SUSVs" that took us up the mountains to the ABL. The ride there and back to camp were the worst, most uncomfortable 4 hours ever.

2006-01-13T02:37:00.000+01:00

Me near the ABL (administrative boundary line) with Serbia in the background. It was cold and windy as shit.

2006-01-13T02:34:00.000+01:00

Helipads at the main camp. Theres a squadron of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, but we mostly have the UH-60 Blackhawks (the U meaning utility) which has various roles such as MEDIVAC, troop and cargo transport, etc.

2006-01-13T02:30:00.000+01:00

Most of the wildlife we see consists of wild dogs. In the spring there will be puppy wild dogs everywhere.

2006-01-13T02:26:00.000+01:00

Nice picture if i do say so myself. I was actually trying to catch the birds too. Big Duke (the mountain) in the background is much bigger that it appears in this picture.

2006-01-13T02:23:00.000+01:00

One of the nicer stretches of roads. HMMWVs are not made for such narrow roads though, and it can get quite tricky, especially since pedestrians dont seem to realize that a car would probably win in a fight.

2006-01-13T02:20:00.000+01:00

Town of Gnijlane that lies right outside the gate of Camp Montieth.

2006-01-13T01:15:00.000+01:00

Me and my roomate Goolsby training in Germany

A Brand New Year

2006-01-06T14:32:00.000+01:00

Happy 2006 to everybody...or at least ro the two people who read this shit. Unfortunantly i didnt get to watch the game, it was 0200 here when it started and i had to work the next day. Im glad Texas won though. Unlike alot of other Aggies, i dont have a hatred for UT. I mean i hope we beat them when we play, but in instances like the Rose Bowl, why not root for Texas? I did get to see the Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders though. They came and shaked their asses for us. For New Years the Kosovars shot off all kinds of fireworks. There wasnt like an organized thing, just everybody had something to blow up or shoot. Some just resorted to shooting tracers rounds into the air with their automatic weapons. A couple of days ago, somebody threw a grenade or something under a car, not too far from our front gate. It's a pretty shitty place. I'm already ready for this year to be over, and it just started. I should be getting a two week leave in May sometime, and probably just going to go home. Im not really interested in seeing Europe right now. I'll try and post some pictures tonight. I love your Balls.

2005-12-25T21:12:00.000+01:00

Well I am here. Kind of bored right now since we havent assumed command of the camp yet. The California guys are still here crowding the damn place. The internet if pretty slow, and again because of the Cali guys still being here theyre taking up all of our bandwidth, but i'll post some pictures at the beginning of january. Already got some good ones. I get to go to the Serbian border soon for a little mission. Then i'll be going to Pristina, the capital. So that will be fun. I heard the Call to Prayer yesterday. Kinda creepy. And there was alot of "celebretory fire" the last couple of days. I guess thats the K-serbs celebrating Christmas. Carrying around magazines full of live ammo all the time is wierd still. Pretty much we are just cops here though. So theres not alot of shots being fired. Anyway, Merry Christmas all.
P.S. Send me stuff
-Lil' Steve

merry frickin christmas

2005-12-19T11:50:00.000+01:00

Well it is about that time. I'm leaving Germany tomorrow for Kosovo just in time the enjoy the holidays in a economically dismal, socially shattered, war-torn country. Sweet. But hey, at least I'm not going to Iraq. I've been in various types of training since June for this mission. Thats 6 months of monotony and less than impressive living conditions. We definantly needed training for this deployment, but 6 months is a little excessive if you ask me. Actually we are the longest trained rotation to goto Kosovo so far. We are also the first rotation to have a year long deployment to Kosovo. So that's nice. At least I get paid below agverage wages for much more work. Live long and prosper.
-Lil Steve

5464 miles from home.

2005-12-01T20:43:00.000+01:00

As per request, here is my new blog. I will be documenting all the crap I see in Kosovo. Like Nick suggested I will attempt to accurately portray how life is for all who live in the area, including K-Albanians, K-Serbs, and of course soldiers. But mostly I'll just do it to have something to do. I want to make this year go by as fast as possible. Right now, even though i have some pictures to share, i can't, due to restrictions on the use of government computers. However, as soon as I get the chance I'll get them up. I should be getting to Kosovo right before Christmas, so stay tuned for more.
-Steve