That is how much time I have left to get properly diagnosed by a medical authority as to whether or not I am a bona fide alcoholic, by order of my commander. Otherwise they will begin the process of giving me an administrative discharge and I don't want that, not after having received two honorable discharges from the army and the air force. I personally don't think I'm a full-fledged alky, but I did write on a government document that I might have a dependency on alcohol in hopes of lessening the severity of my punishment. Didn't work! Open mouth, insert foot! Yes I agree that alcohol has been a problem in my life. It has landed me in more trouble than I care to admit, however most of it was wrong time, wrong place circumstances. The stupidest thing I ever did was drive a car with an alcohol level of .19 in my system. That was the most expensive drink I ever had. That and the article 15 I received in Afghanistan which resulted in one month of extra duty and loss of pay for two weeks.

         I still wanna be TACP but that won't happen anytime soon so for now all I can do is get diagnosed and hopefully start a career with security forces. The earliest I would be leaving for school would be september of next year so I talked to the retention NCO about getting an "in lieu of" tasking in Iraq with the Army. Basically I'd be an air dink going on patrols and convoy duty with a line unit. I hope I can get an assignment cause I really have nothing better to do in this town. I had even thought about swallowing my pride and being a damn cook because I would only have a nine month service commitment and then I could go back to TACP. However I would probably shoot myself in the face if I got put into a fucking POG job like that. Oops, now someone will think I'm suicidal by that remark and report me to my commander cause their are so many snitches at that base. I know for a fact that certain people are documenting everything I say on here and it fucking pisses me off. My commander told me that I was spotted out at a bar a couple weeks ago tipping back a few and that it doesn't look good under the given circumstances. I have a pretty good idea as to who it was. Thanks alot! People already think I have a reputation for being a knee-walking drunk. All I wanted to do was relax and shoot a little pool. I'm not out looking for trouble, just out to meet new friends since I don't have many here. If whoever it was that snitched on me had talked to me that evening, they would probably find out that I'm not such a bad person, I'm actually quite the opposite. Fuck it though, let people think and say what they want, cause they have nothing better to do it seems like. If I walked into their house and caught them snorting blow or passing around some dank I wouldn't snitch, I could care less about what they do. Bottom line, mind your own fucking business. Snitches get stitches. I can assure you that I'm not an alcoholic, and the only way I will ever quit drinking completely is if I ever hurt or kill someone in some sort of alcohol related incident. That's the last thing I wanna do. If I get smashed at the bar, I'll call a fucking cab or a friend or relative to pick me up. If someone gets in my face when I'm drinking, I'll walk away, come back and kick the shit out of them when I'm sober. All I wanna do is get everything in my life squared away and finish my military career. I just want one more tour overseas and I know people think I'm crazy for being so eager to go back, but it's my choice.  I would die a happy man if I could retire from the military with a pair of jump wings or air assault wings on my chest underneath my CIB. If I was an airborne cook, I could live with that! With that being said, time to adjourn to the tavern for an ice cold beer!