Thanks to Ridinhighspeeds' Genorosity I am going to have web hosting while I am in Afghanistan, and my goal is to maintain a blog of what I see, do and experience while I am there. I have the new 'War Blog' up and running now. You can see it here :
http://tadpole.defendingthetruth.com...dex.php?blog=8

Or if you prefer to be able to peruse all of my blog entries at once, you can always go to my 'All Blog Synopsis' which includes every entry from all of my blogs...

http://tadpole.defendingthetruth.com/blogs

Either way, check them out, please feel free to leave comments, and by all means tell your friends.

And again, Thanks so much for all the help John.

All of you guys have been fantastic.

I have been making posts to the war blog continually as I have time before my deployment, as of right now the word is that I will ship out to Fort Bragg on Sunday... More details as I get them.

I am doing my best to get the word out about my war blog, I am going to add a donation link to the page in case anyone wants to donate some money to send care packages to myself and my comrades, and I found out that I may have to provide my own armor. They are issuing Flak vests, not bullt proof vests, I may as well wrap myself in a thick blanket...

I am also begining to worry about being injured over there because I have been hearing horror stories about guys being injured, and being charged thousands of dollars for the equipment they left in the field... There is a soldier who lost both of his legs who was billed ten grand for the armor, helmet, rifle and such that was left behind when they med-evaced him. That's horrible. He could not afford it, and wound up not being able to get an apartment because they basically took a shit on his credit report. That scares me more than losing my leg...

How much does the armor that you need cost? And when will you have an address where care packages can be received? Which brings me to my next question; what items in a care package are most valued over there? Is porn allowed??

I just read a story about this issue. I think it is horrendous treatment of people who are risking everything for this country.

Whenever you do get an address, definitely send me a PM.

I have gotten a hugely positive response from everyone. Onthefence's son's Cub Scout unit has even 'adopted' me and offered to send me care packages. Which is great, but even just the letters will be very nice. I have had so may people offer to lend support that I have added a PayPal Donations button to the right side of my War Blog. Any money donated will be used to help my family pay to send care packages to me and the other members of my unit, the shipping alone can get very expensive. In addition, if I am not issued body armor when I get overthere, I will besure to get the word sent back home, and posted here that a collection will be taken to buy myself at least a bullet proof vest. From there if people wish to continue donating, I will help the other members of my unit get body armor and accessories if needed.

Again, I thank everyone for the support!

http://tadpole.defendingthetruth.com...dex.php?blog=8

Also, of course as a side note, if you are unable to donate any money, send a care package or write a letter but you still want to help... You can always click on one or two of my ads on any of my blogs, each click is worth anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars, and every penny counts!

I have recently made several new posts, and I have included lots of photos from training. It's good stuff, check it out...

As always, comments and feedback are very welcome and appreciated!

Love the war blog man! I hope they give you more time to use the labs so you can post more about your journey!

So do I but so far the training has consisted of a lot of very long days. There has been a ton of stuff to absorb.

Thanks for the war blog update Tadpole. It is great to see the photos and hear about your experiences.