Entry #23: January 1, 2006

No clue where I am, I’m just somewhere out in the desert

Happy New Year!!! I hope y’all saved me some champagne cause there will be a lot of corks popping when I return. I’m out in the middle of God only knows where in Kuwait, doing some close quarters combat and counter-IED training. I’m not that tired, though I should go to bed, but I suppose my body is conditioned to ring in the New Year at the earliest possible time—midnight. As I lie awake in sobrietal celebration, I figured I might as well come up with some New Year’s Resolutions. So here they are:

I, Alan Preston Long, Jr., do hereby resolve the following:

1.To gain a greater appreciation for the sacrifices, discipline, and overall upbringing my family and friends have done in order to make me who I am
2.To take the GRE and start picking out a university for my master’s degree
3.To pick a concentration for my master’s degree
4.To make every attempt possible to watch my younger brothers walk across their respective stages and receive their respective high school and college degrees
5.To get to the beach more
6.To listen to the ocean while I’m there
7.To pay less attention to the book I’m reading and more to the women surrounding me
8.To go fishing with my Dad
9.To go shopping with my Mom
10.To gain 15 pounds (I’m probably the only person whose resolution is to GAIN weight)
11.To study the Bible more
12.To sing more
13.To eat more fiber
14.To eat less MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat)
15.To wink more (pretty ladies beware, it’s the hook and you’re the fish)
16.To laugh so hard my stomach hurts and to do it at least once a week
17.To moon some poor unsuspecting person (you should see the Kuwaiti reaction when seeing a couple of American hams hang out a Humvee)
18.To pee in the Rhine like Patton… again
19.To celebrate next New Year’s Eve with my boys: Andrew, Brad, Eric, Farid, Kevin, and Latif.
20.To be myself and never apologize for it

There ya have it. My resolutions. As my pastor Butch Rumble says, “You can throw it, chunk it, or flush it.” Either way, you’ve heard/read them and I mean them. And so the Soldier’s life continues…