Now starts the two day journey to Austin, Texas.

After over eleven hours of driving, we headed into Baton Rouge. Sometime after two in the morning we pulled up to a house, deep in Cajun country, with a large Christmas-light peace sign over the garage door.

I imagined a bad omen chasing me as we drove south towards Georgia. I figured it was the curse of the "Marne Missile"- the bad luck that every 3rd ID soldier experiences when life has Fort Stewart involved in it in any way. Maybe it was just paranoia, but with the days getting progressively worse for me as I approached Stewart, I was afraid of what could happen when I finally got there. No A/C in the RV, GPS stolen, fire-ant attack, glass in the eye... All reminded me that- yeah, it could always get worse.

The Somdahls have established Alien Art Tattoo as a venue for IVAW members to practice with their bands, a distribution point for Sit-Rep and a place where IVAW can get discounted tats. With thousands of Marines on Camp Lejeune looking for custom art every day of the week, Alien Art has not only become the home away from home of members and allies, but the very foundation of our outreach in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

By the time we got to the tattoo studio, a line of active duty Marines from last nights concert were waiting for tats and benefits information from Bill Perry. Honestly, I felt strange seeing so many active duty guys feeling comfortable enough to speak their minds anywhere in a military town. My entire time in the service, I never felt like I could discuss war policies and the like with civilians in a public place. Camp Lejeune must be ready for some serious GI organizing!

We hit the ground running in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Due to a delayed shipment of outreach materials, the crew covered down and built signs advertising our events. But for two days, posted outside each of Fort Bragg’s three major gates were yard signs painted with information about the show for every Soldier to see.

At the end of the day, I remembered that if just one poster handed out resulted in an active duty Soldier finding the comfort of IVAW the way that I did because of the Base Tour 2007, that's worth nearly any sacrifice. So sweating until I was ready to pass out really wasn't anything.

Drum laid down a different beat last night, and truth was jamming center stage.