What Coop and I did was who ever got a shower second would polish the others boots for him. This was so he could wash the shoe polish off their hands so they didn't get hounded by the DI. The man who got a shower first would polish the belt buckle while the other was in the shower. .
One night while I was on fire watch I strapped my belt to the washer machine and set it on the spin cycle. Oh man I had that buckle shinier than a brand new penny, I could see my reflection off it. I told Coop about it and would polish his buckle for him to make it look spiffy. About two nights before graduation I was doing my fire watch duty while polishing my belt buckle and wouldn't you know the washer machine ate my buckle right out of my hand! I had no idea where it went. I took the whole washer machine apart with my bare hands, still couldn't find my buckle. I put the machine back together with no tools, went to Cooper's bunk, woke him up and said "Dude, I lost my belt buckle. You have to cover me while I go upstairs and steal someone else's." Of course he covered me as I went and stole one from the second level. That next morning the man on fire watch upstairs told the DI he saw us on the second floor, but we never admitted to it. .
After we graduated boot camp, we were deployed to Iraq four days later. The day when we first stepped foot in the God forsaken country was September 8, 2003. We were both stationed in the same base camp right in the middle of Iraq in a city called Al Múqdādīyah. Our base consisted of Coop, myself, and eight other gentlemen making up a small base of ten soldiers. We also had a doctor, dentist, and orthodontist just to keep up with our basic necessities. Although our base was small, we were constantly under attack. We fought off everyone and anyone who tried to invade our base. .
We were able to come back on leave about once a year for a little over a month to see our loved ones and have a break from being under constant warfare.
