Who is This Decurion Guy?

If forced to be laconic (not something I have ever been accused of) and describe myself in one sentence, it would have to be:

"I am an Orthodox Christian husband and Noncomissioned Officer whose hobbies are gaming, history, and writing."

Which would be a bit of a mouthful, so let's take it a piece at a time.

I am an Orthodox Christian. I am a convert to Holy Orthodoxy after spending years dissatisfied with my Protestant background. While my story is entirely too long for this brief introduction, suffice it to say that I have found where I should be. I welcome challenges, discussion, and debate on the subject. I am not tolerant of attacks on faith in general or mine in particular.

I am a husband. I'm happily married to possibly the most incredible woman on the face of the planet. Every day I am more in love with her, and more amazed that she puts up with me.

I am a Noncommissioned Officer. Specifically, I'm a 21B2O, a Combat Engineer Sergeant in the United States Army. I bleed green, and my family has for three generations (my great grandfather never served, although his brother was a Devil Dog at Belleau Woods). I am not a "citizen soldier" such as provided the fodder for the great European civil war (1914-1945), but a throwback to an older breed.

"However repugnant the idea is to liberal societies, the man who will willingly defend the free world in the fringe areas is not the responsible citizen soldier. The man who will go where his colors go, without asking, who will fight as phantom foe in the jungle and mountain range, without counting, and who will suffer and die in the midst of incredible hardship, without complaint is still what he has always been, from Imperial Rome to sceptered Britian to democratic America. He is the stuff of which legions are made. His pride is in his colors and his regiment, his training hard and thorough and coldy realistic, to fit him for what he must face, and his obiedience is to his orders. As a legionary, he held the gates of civilization for the classical world; as a bluecoated horseman he swept the Indians for from the Plains; he has been called United States Marine. He does the jobs-the utterly necessary jobs-no militia is willing to do. His task is moral or immoral according to the orders that send him forth. It is inevitable, since men compete."

I am a Noncommissioned Officer, a leader of soldiers. I do my job because I love the job, for all the pain and heartache and doubt. I do my job because the Soldiers I serve with deserve the best I can give them.

I am temporarily serving in a capacity outside my MOS and without any Soldiers directly under me due to a series of personal problems and interpersonal conflicts. This does not change who I am. I am a decurion. I am acting as a custos armorum.

Hobbies are gaming, history, and writing.

Gaming -- I love dice-chucking. Roleplaying, wargaming, I've even LARPed a few times. If you understand it, you don't need elaboration. If you don't, I can't explain.

History -- Military history is my forte. My beloved wife knows art and costume and so forth, I'm mostly interested in how people have been killing each other over the centuries. My specialty is Roman history from the Late Republic through to 1453.

Writing -- Never used to be much of a writer, but this blogging stuff is addictive. I find I enjoy expressing myself in writing.

So, where does this blog come from?

I'm deployed to Iraq, the lovely garden spot of Tal Afar. I have NIPR because I am an acting TOCroach. I used to have a nice little Livejournal, and suddenly NIPR decided to block it. Apparently Websense thinks LJ is a "dating and personal ad website". Yeah, whatever.