Silly civilians. :)

"BAGHDAD - A female suicide bomber struck Shiite worshippers in the holy city of Karbala on Monday, an official and a witness said, killing at least 43 people and leaving pools of blood on the street leading to one of Iraq's most revered mosques.

The blast was the deadliest in a series of attacks that left at least 72 Iraqis dead, including six youths killed when mortar rounds slammed into a soccer field in eastern Baghdad.

Two U.S. soldiers also were killed Monday in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad, bringing the American death toll closer to 4,000 as the U.S.-led war enters its sixth year. At least 3,990 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23675352/

I will never understand the people of the United States sometimes. Never mind all the ones who don't support the war at ALL and are pretty anti-military. They can do their own thing. But I meet people all the time who do support the soldiers... and all I ever hear is "Oh, I hope you never have to go over there," or "I bet we'll be pulling out of there really soon" or even lectures on why we NEED to be done and leave that area. Two very nice older ladies stopped to talk to me the other night, actually, and they started talking up how great Hilary Clinton would be as President, since she's all about bringing the soldiers home.

For the record, I don't agree. And I don't see why so many people want us home already, when clearly, we're not done over there. If there's still suicide bombings of this magnitude, and as many attacks over there as there still are... There's still a very big problem. I know a lot of people just worry, and want all the soldiers home safely. But what do they think is going to happen if we just suddenly pull out? Do they think the entire Middle East is just going to be all "Oh, well, they were pretty bad-ass mo-fos while they WERE here, so I guess we'd better leave those Americans alone now." Hellz to the naw. They'll probably see us as wusses, and with us not there hassling them all the time, they're suddenly going to have a LOT more time to plot out new attacks for over here on American soil.

Yes, it's horrible that American soldiers have to die. I'm not saying that's a good thing. I receive DoD emails announcing every single one as it's released, and I'm saddened everytime I see a new email. I did find a unit (I'm now being attached to a chemical battalion, and we're starting to work on sending me to Medic school,) and I still do plan on volunteering to be deployed, so I know dang well that I could be one of the casualties in the next year or two. And you know what? If that happens, then it happens. I don't have a death wish by any means... but I'm not afraid to die, either. At least I can save who I can first. MOST of us joined the military of our own accord, with the full understanding of what all could possibly happen to us one day. I would rather stay over there until this job is completely finished and lose my own life, instead of pulling out in a few months and 200 innocent civilians losing theirs in terrorist attacks. What good am I as a soldier if I can't possibly prevent that in some way? Why don't the sweet old ladies understand that some of us WANT to do whatever necessary to protect them?

Oops.

Alright. So I haven't been keeping up as planned. Somewhere, I still have the rest of that crazy Basic Training journal, so I'll get it on here one day. At least for the sake of me having it, because Lord knows a beat-up notebook won't last long. Until I track it back down, though, I'll just make this a fun update.

So. Updates. Hrm. Well, as for normal life, things are pretty good right now, albeit stressful. It's entertaining trying to keep up a civilian life and an army life at the same time. I met a guy in AIT that I thought I was in love with, so we got engaged pretty quickly. (Spending ungodly amounts of time with someone stuck in training changes things, I guess.) However, I at some point figured out he wasn't very nice, and packed him back off to his mommy. So now I've learned an important lesson there. I have a nice, normal man named Jesse now, who is in one of my units with me. Cool kid. I'm back in school, for now, but that won't last long. It never does. Oy. Now that I think about it, my vague attempt at a civilian life is boring. Moving on.

As for the army... Well, I do need to finish posting those Basic Training journals. Maybe they could possibly help someone. I know I was terrified going in! I've now been in the army for 1 year and 28 days. Out of AIT for 6 months and 26 days. Something like that. So for a few months, I was just a nice, normal Guard person, doing my once a month thing and getting lazy. As I mentioned before, I'm in the army band. Which wasn't my choice, honestly. My parents begged me to do it, because they worry a lot and are terrified of the idea of me deploying. At the time, I figured I might as well. (I've learned better now, though.) Starting in January, though, I got myself put onto ADSW orders. So now, I've been working full-time EVERY SINGLE DAY doing Admin for the Officer Candidate School at Ft. McClellan. It's amazingly fun, since most of our day just consists of hanging out playing with computers and harassing officer candidates here and there. It also gets boring just sitting in there, but they take me out to the field sometimes when the candidates are out there so I can watch them run lanes and get ambushed. I can probably get away with working nearly full-time all year, since I'll now be on staff for OCS, WOCS, the MP school, all kinds of jazz like that. :)

As for learning that following my parents wishes was a mistake... I'm now remedying that. I love my real unit, the 151st Army Band... but it's not where I'm meant to be. I want to know that I'm doing something good for people. I know band is morale-boosting, but the chances of that one deploying are pretty slim right now. Besides, it's not like I'm necessary to boost any morale, the band existed without me before. So I'm currently in the process of changing my unit and my MOS. I've narrowed it down to two units, I just have to wait on a few things to go into place.. but I'm changing my MOS to be a combat medic. I'll have to wander back to training for I believe 4 months, but it'll be worth it. I'm so excited, it's unreal. I have to get back into shape first, but I have a goal to work towards, so it'll happen. Probably pretty soon afterwards, I'd like to volunteer for deployment. I really want to go, and I HATE sitting here in Alabama while others are over there fighting for their lives. I need to help. Even if I won't get to actually be able to chase down hajji and be all hooah-like, at least I can do some good by trying to save the ones that are. I know it's not glamorous, before anyone reminds me. But see, I joined the army in a time of war for a reason. Because I believe in what we're doing and want to do my part. My dad's a little concerned already, since he knows I'll probably very easily manage to get myself deployed with that MOS... And he also knows I'm very likely to get myself shot, because I stay entirely too concerned with everyone else's safety above my own. But it's like I told him... If it's my time to die, then it's my time... And I'd rather be able to save who I can and die trying there than in something senseless and annoying like a car wreck here, I suppose. I'm not afraid of death. It's a part of life. But by God, I'm going to help someone before I go. -_-

Not much else is happening. We have drill this weekend. I think there's inspections. So I have to be charming all weekend. My unit doesn't have very much rank. A 1SG and a CWO3. Everything else is E-7 and below. So no one there is ever face with officers, and some still get nervous or forget courtesies and whatnot. Working at OCS, I've gotten entirely TOO used to it, being constantly surrounded by Majors, LtCols, SGMs, etc. So apparently I'm supposed to be used this weekend to help make us look good, and help explain stuff, show them around, go out to eat with them and our staff, etc.. Whatever they expect me to do. Could be fun, I suppose!

Wounded Soldier: Military Wants Part of Bonus Back?

Wounded Soldier: Military Wants Part Of Bonus Back
Reporting
Marty Griffin
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―

The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.

To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.

Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.

One of them is Jordan Fox, a young soldier from the South Hills.

He finds solace in the hundreds of boxes he loads onto a truck in Carnegie. In each box is a care package that will be sent to a man or woman serving in Iraq. It was in his name Operation Pittsburgh Pride was started.

Fox was seriously injured when a roadside bomb blew up his vehicle. He was knocked unconscious. His back was injured and lost all vision in his right eye.

A few months later Fox was sent home. His injuries prohibited him from fulfilling three months of his commitment. A few days ago, he received a letter from the military demanding nearly $3,000 of his signing bonus back.

"I tried to do my best and serve my country. I was unfortunately hurt in the process. Now they're telling me they want their money back," he explained.

It's a slap for Fox's mother, Susan Wardezak, who met with President Bush in Pittsburgh last May. He thanked her for starting Operation Pittsburgh Pride which has sent approximately 4,000 care packages.

He then sent her a letter expressing his concern over her son's injuries, so she cannot understand the U.S. Government's apparent lack of concern over injuries to countless U.S. Soldiers and demands that they return their bonuses.

While he's unsure of his future, Fox says he's unwavering in his commitment to his country.

"I'd do it all over again cause I'm proud of the discipline I learned - proud I could so something for my country," he said.

But Fox feels like he's already given enough. He'll never be able to pursue his dream of being a police officer because of his wounds and he can't believe he's being asked to return part of his $10,000 signing bonus.

KDKA contacted Congressman Jason Altmire on his behalf. He says he has proposed a bill that would guarantee soldiers receive full benefit of bonuses.

http://kdka.com/kdkainvestigators/military.signing.bonuses.2.571660.html

... Seriously, what? Are they crazy? I've already sent "wtf" emails to the 2 Alabama senators, almost all of the 105 Representatives, and a Congressman or two. Feel free to locate some emails and pitch similar fits. Those guys went to war, got injured and made a huge sacrifice for our country... and get penalized for it?

Pffft.

1 May 2007

Day 8 16:15

Whooo, Reception still sucks! Still haven't done too much today, but the Drill Sergeants did tell us that we were shipping off to begin actual training. Thank God, because I honestly don't think my platoon would survive another entire day together. We all got into trouble again for being too loud. And we now owe 1000 sentences: "I will wear my headgear properly." We also got to play the Changing Game. Run and change into ACU's. What? We still suck? Run and change into PT's within 2 minutes. Ha, we still suck, back into ACU's within 2 minutes. At least that one ALMOST makes sense, so I guess we'll be able to get dressed fast in Iraq. Or something. O_o

I'm really nervous about shipping off tomorrow, because I know I won't be able to keep up with all the physical stuff. We're also losing some of our platoon. on 36 females can ship, and one is apparently pregnant. Whoo.

Day 13 06 May 2007 09:35

No real time for writing anymore. We got to Basic last Wednesday, and things have been INSANE since then. I'm now in the 2-60th Infantry Regiment, Charlie Company, 1st Platoon. We're named "Cold Steel." Which could be worse. The others are Mad Dawgs, Iron Deuce, and Wolf Pack. I managed to keep my battle buddy from Reception, which is good, since she and I get along really well. The only other person I really know, Chris (from my unit) is in 4th platoon. We're on a pretty normal schedule by now: Wakeup at 0500, PT, eat, go to classes, eat, do more class or PT, eat, Drill Sergeant time (more classes sort of,) and sleep at 2100. I suck REALLY bad at running. I'm one of the slow people. -_- I went to church today too. The females all stay in 2nd baty, so they're still fighting... just not AS bad, since we're more seperated now. Oh, and Victory Tower is tomorrow. I'm already terrified.

Day 16 9 May 2007 01:45

Victory Tower = every bit as horrible and terrifying as I thought it would be. Little Specialist Patton was NOT amused at being forced to rappel off a 40-foot wall. She was even less amused at the obstacle course of rope madness attached to it. The 2-rope and 3-rope bridges were okay, just tiring. It was just the 1-rope bridge. We had to lay on top of it and pull ourselves across, and it's really high in the air, and it burned, and ugh. The cargo net experience was pretty funny, though. I navigated some of it okay... I was just exhausted from the others by then, so about halfway down, my arms just gave out. The funny part about it was, I fell probably 15, 20 feet... SOMEHOW managed to fall between the net and the incredibly huge safety pad, and hit the group. (Without getting hurt too bad.) The Drill Sergeants all laughed at me for a really long time, because I just vanished from the world, and then popped up like a mouse or something. *sigh* Other than that, we had 1st aid classes today. I'm really sick already, so now my platoon keeps threatening me with CPR. O_o

Day 20 13 May 2007 08:30

We finally got to call home today, since it's Mother's Day. And then I just ended up bawling on the phone, so my parents didn't even know what to do with me. My dad did offer to come get me... and when I told him I didn't think they'd let him do that, he was all like, "Oh, I know. I just thought I'd offer." (My dad is retired army and also went to Basic at Fort Jackson.) I don't even know where we are in Red Phase, but I hate it. We're either at day 6 or day 11 in it. No one is sure when, since we keep hearing different things from the Drill Sergeants on when we started. Since we got here on a Wednesday, they claimed that was day 0, and we didn't REALLY start until the next Monday, hence they got 5 free days to torture us... but meh. Everything is just so HARD here. I'm not in shape, so I can't keep up. I barely survive road marches. I'm last or close to it on the runs. One of my Drill Sergeants hates me and is always screaming at me for no apparent reason. No one is writing me back... I just want to go home. :(

28 April 2007 (Reception)

Day 5

Lots more fighting today. Fabulous. It's actually been mostly peaceful today, but the few times a fight did break out, it was full out yelling and jumping people. But we now have a pretty good PG, so that's definitely helping out. We also had to get chosen for an experimental drug thing today. Something about the Adenovirus. We get paid $50 each time to take pills and get our blood drawn for testing. Hey, if I stay well, then experiment away. Project of the day: We worked on more Drill and Ceremony.

Day 6 29 April 2007 15:50

We got hauled outside for an hour-long smoke session last night after lights out. That was our first official smoking. A huge fight broke out in the bay and the Drill Sergeants like to listen through the intercoms at night, so we got busted. We also just got a motivational chat, so between the two of those, maybe they'll finally shut up. It was actually funny for a minute out there, though. One girl was crying, and the Drill Sergeant was all like, "You want your daddy?!" and the girl sobs: "I don't know my daddy!" and the DS got back in her face and yelled, "I AM yo daddy!" We did absolutely nothing today, at least. We ate and then some of us went to church. I cried wanting to go home for the first time today. I'm just still so scared that I can't do this. Other than that, we were sent to go nap and get out of the Drill Sergeants hair for a while. We got smoked again today because of two guys jumping on the phone without permission. I think we're doing laundry tonight, too. I also have to figure out how to do 22 pushups tomorrow, since it's my birthday. Oy.

Day 7 30 April 2007 2345

Today's my birthday! Whoooo! 22 pushups all day for me!

Today was shot day. I got 6 of them, all in random spots in my arm. I'm angry and in pain now. At least I did fine with them, considering that there were people crying and passing out. They really weren't that bad. I think people just thought it was going to be worse, and the mind game got to them. We got in a lot more trouble today, too. Charlie Company just couldn't shut up, so we got a 1000-word essay on Discipline and the problem for a really good smoking later on. Our PG also got replaced by one of the problem girls who couldn't shut up, so that's causing problems. She already got into a fight with someone. Hence, we got hauled outside and got smoked by the scary female Drill Sergeant. And this one was BAD, since we had those shots today. We technically finished processing today. We got the ugly Birth Control Glasses and our dog tags. We finally got to call home for 3 minutes, too. This is the only time we got to so far, so I hope we get more phone calls soon.

24 April 2007 (MEPS)

So this officially starts the Basic Training diaries. I didn't end up with quite as much time to write as I hoped, but at least there's some record of what I went through.

Day 1

We arrived at the Armory in Jacksonville at 8 am to get everything squared away and ready to leave. There were several of us all shipping out that day, so we took a van to MEPS in Montgomery. It was a pretty useless day. We checked in, a couple of Sergeants checked out our paperwork, and that was it. I was seriously baffled as to why we had to be there so dang early, when all they did was send us to chill out in the hotel. Whatever works, I suppose. A friend of mine that lives in the area came to hang out with me at the hotel, so at least I got to see someone before I left.

Day 2 - Ship Day! 25 April 2007

We had to be up at 4 am to get to MEPS from the hotel. They did a few really quick medical checks, as opposed to the full physical they did the first time. Thank God, I wasn't looking forward to all that mess again. Then came many more hours of sitting around. For me, it was pretty entertaining, since people try to pull some pretty stupid things. "What? They're going to drug test us again?! F$*^!" I then wound up almost NOT shipping. I got lazy after trying to lose weight to originally pass at the first MEPS date, so today, I was 2% overweight. I had to take the ARMS test so I could go. That thing was crazy hard, considering I'm totally out of shape. The stair step test, at least. My leg muscles were cramping up by the end of the first minute, and I had to go for 5 minutes or I'd fail and be unable to ship off. I actually TRIED to give up, but the nurse person told me to keep going. I think the only reason I managed to keep going was because I really wanted to go... and I couldn't even imagine having to come home and admit to everyone I failed something as stupid as that. Oy.
After lunch, we finally got packed onto a van. It sucked. 15 passenger van, 13 people plus a ton of luggage... For 8 hours. We thought we were being taken to a bus station, but nooo. That little van took us all the way to Fort Jackson. We got there around 10 pm, expecting the usual shark attack... but our Drill Sergeants apparently had a better game. They just left us sitting out there in the dark for 20 minutes before walking out. By then, we were scared to death. We were hoping to just go to sleep, but they had to feed us sandwiches first and do a couple of hours of processing. Nothing big, we just got our PT's to sleep in, did a little paperwork, got our Smartbooks, got our platoons and roster numbers for Reception... (23rd Platoon with the females, Charlie Company. I'm number 14.) We got to sleep around 2 am, and wakeup was at 4:30 am.

Day 3 (Reception) 26 April 2007

Today was mostly medical checks and lots of paperwork. Tons of "hurry up and wait." They'll wake us up early and rush us off to a room to do some processing, and then make us sit quietly for 3 hours while we wait to even do that processing. I don't get it. Our Drill Sergeants here at Reception are surprisingly nice. If only we could keep them the whole time, right? My platoon is all female, as I mentioned. I'm not sure if this is just for Reception or if we'll stay segregated the whole time or what. I do know that 55 girls are NOT meant to live together in close quarters like this. It's not too bad, though. Ours is set up to where each bunk is seperated by 2 wall lockers, so there's ALMOST privacy! (Just not in the showers. The shower is just one big room with 8 shower heads sticking out of the wall. eh well.) I think I have Fireguard tonight, so that should be interesting. We also learned a little bit of Drill and Ceremony today. Enough that they can get us from place to place, I suppose. I've also learned that South Carolina is insanely HOT. Wake up is at 0415 tomorrow, and that's about it for today!

Day 4 (Reception) 27 April 2007 0800

Completely exhausted today. Fireguard sucks, as I learned. We had full uniform issue today. ACU's, PT's, everything. (Except dress uniforms.) That duffel bag is crazy heavy. I'm NOT looking forward to hauling all this crap around the rest of my life. Since we got our boots today, we're having to start breaking them in. So we get to look kind of silly, since we get to wear our long green socks and boots with our PTs. Hawt. In other news, I'm already wanting to go home. I'm still pretty scared of all this, but mostly just really tired. It's hard to believe that originally, I should have been only just shipping out today. Our 1st shot was today, technically... We got that TB test shot, so they can look at it in a few days and see how it turned out. As of right now, they're saying we ship off Tuesday or Wednesday. An entire week in Reception. Ugh.
1915
We handled Personal Affairs today. As one of the only females that isn't married and has no children, I felt sort of weird leaving my money and my body to my parents. Apparently I'm slow on the biological clock thing. Our platoon just might implode soon. There's too many girls trying to run the show, and 99% of them have NO idea what they're doing. We ended up missing a briefing because of so many people fighting too much. It's a little embarrassing to have your platoon yelling at each other outside when everyone else is just watching. I feel sort of bad for whoever does get appointed PG, because I sure wouldn't want to be in charge of these people. At this rate, we're never going to survive Basic. We don't have the teamwork to make it through.

Off to Basic!

This will most definitely be my last post for a good while. I couldn't really ever heckle anyone into posting blogs for me all summer... so I guess you guys will get the entire update at one time when I get home in August.

I leave Tuesday morning at 8 am... so Monday night, I'm going to go stay at home with the parental units, so my car can live at home safely for the summer and they can just haul me to the armory that morning. No internet at home.

It's going to be a rough summer... and I'm scared to death, and I'm so excited. I'm just nervous I won't be able to do it and I can't STAND the idea of failing and being sent home. Not only do I get the stress of Basic and AIT... but there's this boy I sort of care a lot about, and he leaves for Iraq this week as well for the next year and a half. I'm really nervous for him, too. I still get those DoD updates with casualty reports every day... and I can't help but imagine how horrible it's going to be if I ever do get that phone call. (Or even worse, that email, if someone decides to fail to notify me pretty quickly.) Yeah, I know he'll probably be fine, this is what we signed up to do and it's not like he isn't well trained, he's been doing what he does for 5 or 6 years now... but I can't help but worry. Oy.

Thank you all for reading so far, and I hope everyone has a wonderful summer. I'll do my best to write as much as possible this summer, so maybe I can provide some entertainment for all of you who've had these same thrilling experiences. :) See you in August!

So for those of you that pray and happen to think about it... We could probably use them.

Still alive!

Yep, I'm still kickin'. I know there hasn't been any posts since March 26, but I haven't forgot about my lovely ramblings over here. I ran off on a road trip through for a couple of weeks there. I went to Mobile, AL... then into FL for Panama City, Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and Tallahassee.

However, I'm back in action now... For a bit, because I leave in 14 DAYS! I'm sure I'll have much more to say in the next 2 weeks, since A., I'm horrified, haha, and B., I have RSP this weekend and apparently we're getting toys to play with. I'm pretty exciting to see what they managed to drag in, since there were rumors of pugil sticks and those shooting simulators. :P

So many heroes...

-- Cpl. Henry W. Bogrette, 21, of Richville, N.Y., died March 22 while conducting combat operations in Anbar province.

-- Lance Cpl. Trevor A. Roberts, 21, of Oklahoma City, Okla., died March 24 while conducting combat operations in Anbar province.

WASHINGTON, March 25, 2007 – Two U.S. soldiers died March 23 during operations in Iraq, officials said, and the Defense Department has identified four earlier casualties.

A Multinational Division Baghdad soldier was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated during a dismounted combat patrol conducted south of Baghdad, and a soldier assigned to Multi National Force-West died while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province.

The servicemembers' names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Meanwhile, the Defense Department has identified four soldiers who died earlier this week while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Army Sgt. Greg N. Riewer, 30, of Frazee, Minn., died Mar. 23 in Habbaniyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive devise detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations. He was assigned to the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 136th Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Bemidji, Minn.

Army Spc. Lance C. Springer II, 23, of Fort Worth, Texas, died Mar. 23 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit while on combat patrol. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Army Sgt. Freeman L. Gardner Jr., 26, of Little Rock, Ark., died Mar. 22 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit while on combat patrol. He was assigned to the 18th Engineer Company, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

Army Sgt. Adrian J. Lewis, 30, of Mauldin, S.C., died Mar. 21 in Ramadi, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.

And that's not including an email full of casualties whose names can't be released yet.

Pray for all these families. I can't even comprehend what they're going through right now. Those Marines... they're my age. They're so insanely young... and I can't even imagine how my parents would take it. God bless them all for their sacrifices.

Exercise. Sort of.

I'm finally realizing just how out of shape I am. It sort of clicked yesterday... "Oh God. I'm still chubby and lazy, and I leave in a month." So, I did 50 situps and like, 5 pushups... <_< then went and jogged a mile. Came back, goofed off a bit, did 50 more situps, did another 5 pushups... sat there a minute, then did 5 more... Came and played on the computer for an hour or two, and then before bed did another 7 pushups and 50 more situps.

This morning... my entire body hurts. Ugh. I woke up and managed to do 10 pushups, which surprised me, but then could only do about 25 situps. My ab-like muscles just feel sad and weak. And then I went and jogged a mile. (Note that when I say jogged a mile, I really mean... "most of a mile, with small bits of walking here and there.") And now I'm happily settled with an apple, yogurt, and a few walnuts for lunch. My entire body feels like jello, and it's so dang hot outside, I can't even comprehend normal food right now.

My current plot is to:
A., run a mile or two in the morning and then another in the evening,
B., once every hour do around 10 pushups and 25 situps, and
C., work on my diet. Get rid of the sodas, junk food, and the fact that I normally only eat once a day at 9 or 10 pm.

I might be doing too much or too little, and I just may die before Basic... but at least I tried, eh? :P