Hi, my name is Shawn this is my first blog. Please be patient with me and my skills in grammar and punctuation.  I am starting this blogbecause as you can see from my biography I am in the army and this is my fourth deployment.  In 2002-2003 during my first two deployments to Kuwait/Iraq I had very little communication via telephone so I was forced to write letters to my family. Now five years later we have a multitude of ways to communicate. However, the benefit of writing letters is such that it can document past experiences for postarity when the memories have faded.  The information that I post here on this site will be my experiences that I choose to remember and maybe there will be some that I wish I could forget.  If my luck holds true there will be plenty of excitement to read about in the coming months so stay tuned.I am currently at Ft Bliss Texas training about 12 hours a day.  We also have our regular medic duties to conduct. The training is long but nothing too unbearable. The worst part of it is the equipment we wear.  The IBA (bullet proof vest) and all of its attachments weigh about 50lbs plus an aid bag mixed with a 12 hour work day equals one tired soldier.  The actual training is pretty basic stuff. However, when there is National Guard soldiers who are really close to being regular civilians doing these things we end up with a lot of aches and pains. This leads me to my first gripe.  The medical assets in this brigade are under appreciated.  I fear having already finished two tours in Iraq the disdain felt towards the medics may lead to tragedy.  I assure you that I will do my best to prevent that from happening. This is the only thing that I have ever really been good at. I love being a medic and a soldier.   There was a time in my military career when I didn’t feel that way…