Vacationland USA

Greetings from sunny Camp Atterbury! I'd like to say lots of folks swarm here for fun and excitement and the great tourist attractions, but that wouldn't exactly be the truth. We have snow and wind, and some sun, and plenty to keep us busy.

Was thinking about that again today - the days have plenty to fill our time with, between preparing equipment to go forward, preparing ourselves as soldiers with training and such, and just accounting for it all. Right now it just feels like another AT period, being here at Atterbury. In fact, one reason the Big Army gave us for not conducting all the training here over the next few months was that we're so accustomed to this place, we would be challenged to take it seriously. That and Indiana in the winter is absolutely nothing like southwest Asia. I don't see it. I mean, there'll be dunes, wind storms that bite right into one's exposed skin, extreme temperatures...plenty of similarities. Naturally, the fact it's all based on ice and cold instead of sand and heat might have something to do with it. More to the point, my wife texted me that she misses me. I miss her fiercely, but it doesn't hit me as often as I think it does her. Thank God for text messages and Cingular's $29.99 unlimited texting plan. It's nice to be able to just reach out and pop a quick message out when I'm sitting in a meeting I don't need to be in or attending the same class for the third time and know that she's at the other end of that connection. It's a good feeling.

On a personal/professional level, I've been successful in not losing my temper in the last several days. It's a challenge for me, as constant change has rubbed me the wrong way in the past. In my journal this week, I noted that living on this mortal plane implies that we live in a state of constant change. To live is to be in a state of change. To stop changing is to not grow. To not change is, for all intents and purposes, to die. Change can be frustrating. Our rosters change, our operational plans change, we change our minds, our socks and our tires. So when I stated thinking about it earlier this week, there was an eiphany, call it God, Allah, Yahweh, a Higher Power, whatever (flash to Gross Pointe Blank for that one), but it was pretty clear: I have to accept the fact that things change, let my mind be like water, and not take it personally. Been much happier since then.

One slight frustration and I'll sign off for the night. I've noticed, the Internet has very few sites where one can find a list of things to bring on deployment. I'm not talking about uniforms, military equipment and the like. I'm talking about a no shit, here are the things that will make life exceedingly more comfortable on the FOB in theater list of things. I am fairly certain we won't be needing toothbrushes and toothpaste (although I know Kim would happily send them to me if I asked). For example, I searched the web for a few hours and finally found someone's blog, who mentioned he had purchased a hot pot for use in his can while on the FOB. Now, as someone who loves coffee, this held out hope for me. I have a camp stove, and am certain I won't be able to find the fuel cells for it (they're surface ship only too, so please don't air ship them). This created a challenge - how to heat my water for coffee in the morning. Knowing that the possibility of getting something like that on the FOB was encouraging. See, it's that sort of thing I think folks need to know. To quote my brother, if I want to know something like this, I know others will too.

That's all for this evening. I need to extricate myself from my perch, kick everyone from the day shift out of here and get to sleep myself.

Enjoy!