Well, we finally made it! Got past all of the "decompression" time at Atterbury (which was far more stressful than the uber-planners thought it would be...idiots), all of the processing (which was decent) and all of the petty personality issues we had thanks to processing and "decompression". We got back to Evansville yesterday, and the town had turned out to meet us. We hit Tri State Aero, got on to firetrucks and rode along US 41 and the Lloyd, all lined with well wishers to the armory, where there were more well wishers and family to greet us home. It was amazing, overwhelming and truly humbling. I can complain about a lot of different things, but the manner in which Evansville received us home is definitely not one of them.
You all can imagine what we did once we got back here to the house, so I'll spare the readership all of the details. I will throw this one out there, just for Diba: Kim had an open bottle of wine, from which she had been drinking most of the week. Maybe a glassful was left in it. So she asks me what I want, I respond with a glass of wine and start looking at the rack. She tells me there's an open bottle in the kitchen, which I then grab. On the way up the stairs, she asks me if I need a glass. I looked at Kim, smiled, said, "nope" and promptly drank from the bottle. Arr!
It's good to be home. I have plenty puttering around here to keep me busy, that's for sure. It's all good, and it'll keep me going until December. That's when we've decided to start the adoption process back up and then I "get" to go back to work. Until then, I finally get to really and truly decompress. Oddly enough, "decompression" at Atterbury is an oxymoron. I could go into all sorts of complaints and such, but suffice to say, it simply doesn't work. The whole time we were thinking, "just get us the hell out of here".
On a personal level, I find me reminding myself more and more often to not snap at folks. I vacilate between that and just listening and thinking, "so what?" So, some minor things to work through but nothing that's a showstopper.
End of this week, we'll be at my parents' house for Thanksgiving. Dad and mom both just had surgery, so we need to go up there and see them. Should be a good Thanksgiving. Mom said she'd fix a beef tenderloin.
Enjoy!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Back Home Again
Back Home Again
So, we're back. The flight, which mercifully had only one layover in Ireland, landed yesterday late morning. Since then we've been here in Indiana being subjected to an arcane process known only as "demobilization" to the cognoscenti. We managed to squeeze four hours' worth of briefings into a ten hour day today, which was special. Tomorrow should be a little easier to manage, given we're doing medical and dental processing. Then we do administrative stuff, then turn some stuff in and then we get to go home home. At least it's clean and green and quiet here. Other than that, I could complain about a whole lot of things, but won't. Complaining just doesn't change things, and it's easier to get through all this if I'm not whining all the time. The process is a necessary evil, and so we go through it thinking we'd just rather be home. Of course, cooperating and getting through all this tends to make the whole thing work more smoothly, so we're willing to deal with it all, provided we keep moving - not necessarily fast, but moving. Moving is good.
Paul met me off the plane, which was cool. I hadn't seen him in a long, long time, so it was nice. Of course, the rest of the folks in my battalion just ignored me after that. Not sure what's up with that, but there's something there.
Not including today, which is Wednesday, I see Kim in four days. We're into single digits and under five. I can live with that.
Enjoy!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Guten Tag, sehr geehrte Damen und Her...
Guten Tag, sehr geehrte Damen und Herren!
I thought that an appropriate greeting, considering I've been in Germany now for...five days? Something like that. I accompanied an officer to the hospital at Landstuhl, from which the Army moved him to Walter Reed. Nothing serious, but that was their decision. So that leaves me here in Germany, trying desperately to get back down range. It's not bad, as there's not mission, no stress and nothing to do. And it's awful, since there's no mission, no stress and not a whole lot to do. I have no civvies, so going "out" is not really an option. I left the borrowed running shoes in Landstuhl (good move Mark) and so here I am. For all that, it's not bad. There's a cafe open up next door (they serve Starbucks, and I can live with that), which is open until like, midnight. I might actually go there and pay the $10 for WiFi access today and do Warcraft for a few hours tonight. I mean, why not? Right now, I'm on one of the computers in the PHA ("Personnel Holding Area"), and am posting, so it's not totally uncivilized. The only problem, the only glaring hole in this entire setup is the arrangements to fly. See, it's all "Space A" travel, which is "space available". Nothing is guaranteed. Essentially the trip that took five hours to get here will take two to three days to get back, and that's just getting to Kuwait. Yay.
Everything notwithstanding, I have no complaints. Well, no legitimate complaints. I'm here, with others in the same situation, and as misery loves company, we're a sort of odd fraternity. It's all good. I was able to hit the gym a couple days ago, and am still at body weight on bench press. I can hit the gym here, providing I don't mind working out in boots. We'll see. This is a weekend, so doing next to nothing is acceptable now, whereas yesterday it was not.
I played the rank card yesterday, which I kind of feel bad about, but it was needed. See, they put all patients and escorts into the same housing in Landstuhl. When I went to "check out" yesterday, they said, "oh sir, you'll have to wait for your platoon sergeant." I snapped. "Hey sergeant, let's try this," I started, "how about, I'm a Major in the US Army and I'm leaving whether he's here or not? I have a commander who wants me downrange, I'm not a patient and have no intent upon staying here longer than I must. I don't wait for E7s." Strangely enough that worked like magic. They started hopping. I'll only play the game for so long, usually until the situation becomes stupid, then I snap. I didn't get upset, didn't raise my voice, so that was good.
So that's what's new in my world. Either I'll get back to Mosul, or I'll get to Kuwait and await the main body. Either way, I'll get back to the unit.
Enjoy!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Working Through
Alright folks, back for another round of blogging fun and excitement!! First, I must say this is odd, as I'm not posting from an office, rather from my can. See...apparently, in the new digs, so much bandwidth gets used up in the early evening that it's impossible to access something as basic as Google Documents. Strange, I know, but such are vagaries of the Mayor Cell. Or maybe it's Internet Explorer, which I have come to despise worse than before. Have I mentioned I don't like Internet Explorer? Just checking. So while I've been navigating to this particular site where I can FINALLY post, I've managed to watch the final episode for CSI season 4, courtesy of The Market. $40 for all eight seasons simply can't be beat.
The replacements are sort of here and we're reading in those who are. Those who aren't...well, they'll catch up. Mostly I'm not concerned too much, as one extra week won't make or break them. Also, I'm not too concerned, since my replacement and my NCO's is here. It's a childish and egocentric way to look at it, but it IS the Army.
This morning I finally was able to get in contact with Kim. Between DSN lines being goofy or busy and her cell phone being cantankerous, we finally got through to one another. It's the small things that count the most, I've found and being able to talk to Kim regularly matters a whole bunch over here.
The weather has taken a dramatic turn for different. We had thunderstorms through here over the weekend. Thunderstorms. With rain. Lots of rain. Gravel isn't too bad in rain, but sand and dust mixed with water makes mud. Marez is now a mudhole with guardtowers and a kickin' perimeter. The up side to all of this is it isn't hot any longer. Humidity has climbed to a massive 56%. A little more and this place might just begin to pass for Indiana in the spring. Maybe. If you take away all the Turks, Kurds, Iraqis, palm trees, machine guns, etc.
Not sure why I'm posting this, but it struck me as a pretty cool read, so take a look.
In the meantime, I'm watching CSI, preparing for November and training my replacement. Life is decent.
Enjoy!
The replacements are sort of here and we're reading in those who are. Those who aren't...well, they'll catch up. Mostly I'm not concerned too much, as one extra week won't make or break them. Also, I'm not too concerned, since my replacement and my NCO's is here. It's a childish and egocentric way to look at it, but it IS the Army.
This morning I finally was able to get in contact with Kim. Between DSN lines being goofy or busy and her cell phone being cantankerous, we finally got through to one another. It's the small things that count the most, I've found and being able to talk to Kim regularly matters a whole bunch over here.
The weather has taken a dramatic turn for different. We had thunderstorms through here over the weekend. Thunderstorms. With rain. Lots of rain. Gravel isn't too bad in rain, but sand and dust mixed with water makes mud. Marez is now a mudhole with guardtowers and a kickin' perimeter. The up side to all of this is it isn't hot any longer. Humidity has climbed to a massive 56%. A little more and this place might just begin to pass for Indiana in the spring. Maybe. If you take away all the Turks, Kurds, Iraqis, palm trees, machine guns, etc.
Not sure why I'm posting this, but it struck me as a pretty cool read, so take a look.
In the meantime, I'm watching CSI, preparing for November and training my replacement. Life is decent.
Enjoy!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Within A Month
Within A Month
To everyone who follows my blog ramblings, I must beg forgiveness. I know it's been a while since the last post. Several significant things have happened since then, so I will attempt to bring everyone up to speed.
First, and most significantly, Dad had a birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!!
Next, my office assignment was moved and duties added. This is a strange effect, since it's a blessing and an annoyance all rather rolled up nicely in one neat package. See, I still have to do badge stuff at the badge office. AND I get to do more stuff here at the Mayor cell half a mile away. Joy! Rapture! The essential difference here is people walk in and out. A lot. Folks wander into my office and ask questions like, "hey sir, what do you think...left boot on the left foot...?" I especially enjoy that one. In any event, now I must actively wander between the two locations. To add insult to injury, I have to deal with Internet Explorer here instead of Mozilla Firefox. Yeah, I know, life's tough all over.
Lastly, we're close to three weeks from rotating out of here. Naturally, that's not the end to this nonsense, but it's close. Then, see, we get to do another ten days of "redeployment" nonsense to make sure the Army does everything it can for us (all good) and then listen to briefings (good thing I have books on my cellphone...might need to make sure those are up to date...I hear we have way many much briefings) and THEN we get to go home. I think. "Home" being defined as that place containing my wife and wine. Honesly, I should be more tolerant. After all, I know and understand the Army, like any large institution, will have its fair share of nonsense. I knew it before I joined. Still, I don't think it's bad to point it out when it crops up.
And...we're still at a crossroads for adoption. Both Ethiopia and Russia are financially feasible, now it's a matter of where we want to go. Ethiopia is quicker, the child will be an infant, the fees are about half as much as in Russia and the visit is shorter. The agency has had no health issues with children adopted from Ethiopia at all, which is good. But we're also interested in Russia. To say we're torn would be a great understatement. Please pray for wisdom in this decision.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Back in the Saddle
Back in the Saddle
So, here I am back in Mosul, doing what I do best: dodge work. Just kidding. Mostly. I returned to find that I've been bequeathed with some additional duties, which correspond mostly to the responsibilities I'll have once we return to the Real World. Key words here are "additional duties". For those not fully acquainted with the military parlance, that simply means this is stuff I get to do on top of the list of stuff I already do. Normally I'd whine at this point and try to claim that my docket is so full I couldn't possibly get all of it done, even if we stayed another year. Unfortunately, such is not the case for me. I mean, I can't even TRY to do that, which kind of stinks.
The good news is here! Y'all need to check that link out. Basically we're at a high of 98 today and then tomorrow it drops to the mid eighties. That, in and of itself, is motivating!! I haven't seen the mid eighties as a daytime high here since we arrived, if then.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the others, who have included me in their blogs. Anjie, who contributes a lot to the comments here, included me in her blog. It's a great post and an excellent blog, so please take some time and read it. As a kid, I remember going to friends' houses and asking them to come out and play. If Anj and her husband lived closer to me, Paul and I would be showing up at their doorstep asking, "Anj, can you come out and shoot?"
Mid eighties...that's just simply outstanding!
Actually I begged off the morning briefing today and came directly to my old office here at the Badging Cell. Several reasons surround this. First and foremost, all of my archives are here and I have one last nut to crack before I can say I'm prepared to begin training my replacement (actually I have a ton of stuff to write up for him too, but I'm talking absolute minimum here). Also, because I don't have the foot traffic in this office that I do in the other one, I can actually get something done here. There's a lot to be said for that, to be quite honest. It's a yin and yang thing too - I like being around the others and the rest of the unit, but I'm more able to focus here. In any event, I'm here for the morning and plan on knocking out a plan or two. Maybe I'll get to smoke some, who knows?
Lastly, please pray for Kim and me. Over the leave, we reopened the adoption process with an agency located in Evansville. The current plan is to adopt a child from Russia. If all works out, the child will be 10 or 11 months old when we pick him or her up. Also, we have a better chance of adopting a boy, which will be a change on the grandchild front... *grin* In all seriousness, please pray. The costs seem insurmountable to me right now, and I know that if this is supposed to happen, we'll find all the resources we need. To that end, I've begun some research, but it's certainly not done. So, please pray: right direction, resources and just a sense of peace about this whole thing.
Those who would send us packages, please do not send anything! We're close enough to flowing out of here that we've been told to tell you all to not send stuff. Again, thanks to everyone who was able to send stuff, and those who wanted to do so!! Getting stuff is nice, but knowing folks are out there keeping us in their prayers and thoughts is amazing too.
Enjoy!
So, here I am back in Mosul, doing what I do best: dodge work. Just kidding. Mostly. I returned to find that I've been bequeathed with some additional duties, which correspond mostly to the responsibilities I'll have once we return to the Real World. Key words here are "additional duties". For those not fully acquainted with the military parlance, that simply means this is stuff I get to do on top of the list of stuff I already do. Normally I'd whine at this point and try to claim that my docket is so full I couldn't possibly get all of it done, even if we stayed another year. Unfortunately, such is not the case for me. I mean, I can't even TRY to do that, which kind of stinks.
The good news is here! Y'all need to check that link out. Basically we're at a high of 98 today and then tomorrow it drops to the mid eighties. That, in and of itself, is motivating!! I haven't seen the mid eighties as a daytime high here since we arrived, if then.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the others, who have included me in their blogs. Anjie, who contributes a lot to the comments here, included me in her blog. It's a great post and an excellent blog, so please take some time and read it. As a kid, I remember going to friends' houses and asking them to come out and play. If Anj and her husband lived closer to me, Paul and I would be showing up at their doorstep asking, "Anj, can you come out and shoot?"
Mid eighties...that's just simply outstanding!
Actually I begged off the morning briefing today and came directly to my old office here at the Badging Cell. Several reasons surround this. First and foremost, all of my archives are here and I have one last nut to crack before I can say I'm prepared to begin training my replacement (actually I have a ton of stuff to write up for him too, but I'm talking absolute minimum here). Also, because I don't have the foot traffic in this office that I do in the other one, I can actually get something done here. There's a lot to be said for that, to be quite honest. It's a yin and yang thing too - I like being around the others and the rest of the unit, but I'm more able to focus here. In any event, I'm here for the morning and plan on knocking out a plan or two. Maybe I'll get to smoke some, who knows?
Lastly, please pray for Kim and me. Over the leave, we reopened the adoption process with an agency located in Evansville. The current plan is to adopt a child from Russia. If all works out, the child will be 10 or 11 months old when we pick him or her up. Also, we have a better chance of adopting a boy, which will be a change on the grandchild front... *grin* In all seriousness, please pray. The costs seem insurmountable to me right now, and I know that if this is supposed to happen, we'll find all the resources we need. To that end, I've begun some research, but it's certainly not done. So, please pray: right direction, resources and just a sense of peace about this whole thing.
Those who would send us packages, please do not send anything! We're close enough to flowing out of here that we've been told to tell you all to not send stuff. Again, thanks to everyone who was able to send stuff, and those who wanted to do so!! Getting stuff is nice, but knowing folks are out there keeping us in their prayers and thoughts is amazing too.
Enjoy!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Getting Back To It All
Folks,
My sincerest apologies for the lack of posts this last couple of weeks. I've been home on leave as many of you know, and so that has been in the forefront of my mind. So, appropriately enough, this will be about the leave time and getting back. I'm still not really "back" to it all yet, as I'm stuck in Ali Al Salem, lovely Kuwait. Most folks don't like Ali, simply because it's Kuwait: way too hot, no cover, nothing but sand and buildings. Add to all that, it's a waystation for most of us, nothing more. For all that, it's not too shabby. I can get online here for a sawbuck and do stuff like this, allegedly they have a couple of gym tents and a couple MWR tents, which I might go find later (or not). In addition to the DFAC, there's a McDonalds, Pizza Hut and a Green Bean Coffee shop, so all of one's needs are cared for, almost. At this point, I'm figuring that I'll keep going on this odd body clock thing that I have, post, eat, shave, etc.
Leave was good. I didn't do everything I wanted to do, but the time was well spent. My parents came down, which was awesome! I hadn't played golf in years, so it was good to get out on the links. Plus, I don't think I'd seen them in a long, long time, so seeing and spending time with them was nice. Spent an evening with the Devines and the Kempfs, which was great (Joe - when do we do a minimarathon?)! My goddaughter came over and she, and Kim and some friends and I all went out, which was cool, and otherwise I just really enjoyed folks visiting, stopping in and just hanging out. I started 15 gallons of wine and got it all into secondary fermentation, so that's a good thing. Thanks to Kim needing practice, I got a couple massages, and we went out and played more golf. All in all, a pleasurable time home.
Most folks asked me what it's like for me, living in Iraq. I gathered a popular impression is that it's like Vietnam in the desert. It is not. Sure, it's hot, dusty, and all that. Yes, there are dangerous places there. Mostly we still enjoy most of the comforts of home to a certain degree. Some posts have more stuff than we have, some have less. We get shelled occasionally. Keep in mind, "shelling" is like one or two rockets and that's all. 90% of the time, that all hits away from where we stay and work. Outside the wire, it's more dangerous, but that is also a matter of degree. By no means is it a constant set of attacks on us, one right after the other. For all that, it's dangerous, so Soldiers keep their guards up and stay vigilant to the dangers around them. We do our part and keep the bad guys off the base, which is our job. I work most of the time, workout three or four times a week (more now that we have a PT test coming up), watch movies or play on the laptop in my off time, maybe smoke a cigar with others outside, and otherwise talk to Kim almost daily. The worst part is being away from Kim and other loved ones. The second worst part is the process of getting here and getting home. By necessity, it's complicated, which means we spend a lot of time on our tails. Usually I don't mind being here, but it's not home.
So, that's all for now while I'm in transit. I need to get some food, get cleaned up and crash for a bit
Before I sign off, I'd like to congratulate Matt & Laura on the birth of their son! You guys will be great parents!
Enjoy!
My sincerest apologies for the lack of posts this last couple of weeks. I've been home on leave as many of you know, and so that has been in the forefront of my mind. So, appropriately enough, this will be about the leave time and getting back. I'm still not really "back" to it all yet, as I'm stuck in Ali Al Salem, lovely Kuwait. Most folks don't like Ali, simply because it's Kuwait: way too hot, no cover, nothing but sand and buildings. Add to all that, it's a waystation for most of us, nothing more. For all that, it's not too shabby. I can get online here for a sawbuck and do stuff like this, allegedly they have a couple of gym tents and a couple MWR tents, which I might go find later (or not). In addition to the DFAC, there's a McDonalds, Pizza Hut and a Green Bean Coffee shop, so all of one's needs are cared for, almost. At this point, I'm figuring that I'll keep going on this odd body clock thing that I have, post, eat, shave, etc.
Leave was good. I didn't do everything I wanted to do, but the time was well spent. My parents came down, which was awesome! I hadn't played golf in years, so it was good to get out on the links. Plus, I don't think I'd seen them in a long, long time, so seeing and spending time with them was nice. Spent an evening with the Devines and the Kempfs, which was great (Joe - when do we do a minimarathon?)! My goddaughter came over and she, and Kim and some friends and I all went out, which was cool, and otherwise I just really enjoyed folks visiting, stopping in and just hanging out. I started 15 gallons of wine and got it all into secondary fermentation, so that's a good thing. Thanks to Kim needing practice, I got a couple massages, and we went out and played more golf. All in all, a pleasurable time home.
Most folks asked me what it's like for me, living in Iraq. I gathered a popular impression is that it's like Vietnam in the desert. It is not. Sure, it's hot, dusty, and all that. Yes, there are dangerous places there. Mostly we still enjoy most of the comforts of home to a certain degree. Some posts have more stuff than we have, some have less. We get shelled occasionally. Keep in mind, "shelling" is like one or two rockets and that's all. 90% of the time, that all hits away from where we stay and work. Outside the wire, it's more dangerous, but that is also a matter of degree. By no means is it a constant set of attacks on us, one right after the other. For all that, it's dangerous, so Soldiers keep their guards up and stay vigilant to the dangers around them. We do our part and keep the bad guys off the base, which is our job. I work most of the time, workout three or four times a week (more now that we have a PT test coming up), watch movies or play on the laptop in my off time, maybe smoke a cigar with others outside, and otherwise talk to Kim almost daily. The worst part is being away from Kim and other loved ones. The second worst part is the process of getting here and getting home. By necessity, it's complicated, which means we spend a lot of time on our tails. Usually I don't mind being here, but it's not home.
So, that's all for now while I'm in transit. I need to get some food, get cleaned up and crash for a bit
Before I sign off, I'd like to congratulate Matt & Laura on the birth of their son! You guys will be great parents!
Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Home!!
Hey everybody, I'm home. I know this is the one thing that most folks tell me not to do, but that's how it is.
Several things have struck me with incredible clarity now that I'm here. First and foremost is just how quiet this place is. No generators are going in the background, no constant noise of armored vehicles moving, nothing. It's odd. Second, after living for months with what I consider to be a minimum of possessions, I'm struck with how much stuff we have accumulated and simply do not need at all. I'm tossing a lot of my own stuff out, just to be rid of the extra crap I know I'll never use again. Naturally this did not happen overnight, nor will it be solved overnight, but I can make progress regularly, I think. The more stuff I have, the more I must work to maintain it all. I don't like that. I also don't like to think of all the Army stuff I have in the garage, which THEY GAVE ME and I have never used. All I know is I just have to be rid of the majority of this stuff. This is the best one: the Army issues us all equipment, then tells us we're not allowed to utilize it in the manner it was designed to be utilized. Case in point is the black fleece jacket. Each of us in the Brigade received one as part of RFI. Yet, at both Atterbury and Stewart, First Army's standard was that we were only allowed to show ACU pattern as outerwear. I understand that as a means of teaching things to new soldiers. However, we're not new. Furthermore, the Army's cold weather clothing system is not all ACU pattern on the outside. So I'm confused, since we were issued equipment that the rest of the Army wears as outerwear, but we weren't, simply because we were mobilizing? But once we got to Iraq, we were allowed to wear it. The point is, we have way too much stuff.
Lastly, I'm struck by how strange it is to have nothing to do. That's not to say I am bored, but if I don't want to do anything, I have no requirements to do so, which is nice.
The trip here went smoothly, I spend maybe only 48 hours in transit, total, which is good. Half of that was in the sky, the rest of waiting, naturally.
So, arrived home safely and am happy, happy, happy to be home for a while.
Enjoy!
Several things have struck me with incredible clarity now that I'm here. First and foremost is just how quiet this place is. No generators are going in the background, no constant noise of armored vehicles moving, nothing. It's odd. Second, after living for months with what I consider to be a minimum of possessions, I'm struck with how much stuff we have accumulated and simply do not need at all. I'm tossing a lot of my own stuff out, just to be rid of the extra crap I know I'll never use again. Naturally this did not happen overnight, nor will it be solved overnight, but I can make progress regularly, I think. The more stuff I have, the more I must work to maintain it all. I don't like that. I also don't like to think of all the Army stuff I have in the garage, which THEY GAVE ME and I have never used. All I know is I just have to be rid of the majority of this stuff. This is the best one: the Army issues us all equipment, then tells us we're not allowed to utilize it in the manner it was designed to be utilized. Case in point is the black fleece jacket. Each of us in the Brigade received one as part of RFI. Yet, at both Atterbury and Stewart, First Army's standard was that we were only allowed to show ACU pattern as outerwear. I understand that as a means of teaching things to new soldiers. However, we're not new. Furthermore, the Army's cold weather clothing system is not all ACU pattern on the outside. So I'm confused, since we were issued equipment that the rest of the Army wears as outerwear, but we weren't, simply because we were mobilizing? But once we got to Iraq, we were allowed to wear it. The point is, we have way too much stuff.
Lastly, I'm struck by how strange it is to have nothing to do. That's not to say I am bored, but if I don't want to do anything, I have no requirements to do so, which is nice.
The trip here went smoothly, I spend maybe only 48 hours in transit, total, which is good. Half of that was in the sky, the rest of waiting, naturally.
So, arrived home safely and am happy, happy, happy to be home for a while.
Enjoy!
Friday, September 19, 2008
36 to 48
Alright, so it's getting close. Really close. This is so close, if it were Looney Tunes, Elmer Fudd would turn, face the audience and say, "Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits!" Then, naturally, Bugs would show up. See, that's close.
So, after last post, I am wondering how many folks I turned off with the Google search link. If that kept anyone away, I am heartily sorry. Those who know me and love me understand I have a wildly inappropriate sense of humor, such as it is. Naturally I laughed my tail off when I first saw that clip. Go figure.
So, I've been taking stock of the time here in Iraq, just to kind of review how things have been. First and foremost, to lay some concerns expressed by in-laws to rest, I have not yet managed to shoot myself in the foot (keep in mind, I pack heat daily, just like all the other folks here). Granted, my shooting coach is a former SF sniper with a ton of confirmed kills, so that might have something to do with it. Or, it might be because after 20 years in uniform and counting I have some shadow of a clue of what I'm doing. It's a stretch, I know. What else...oh, I'm benching my body weight and am back up to my high point on squats where last time I had to drop weight and relearn technique. No knee pain, all is good. And I'm done with ILE. Well, not totally, but close. Two of my assignments got kicked back for some odd reason (sentence length, I imagine). Honestly, I have no clue why, since they were sent to me in Evansville. Once I get home, I'll figure it out. Maybe. In any case, I'll have the military education for LTC done before I get home, that's the important thing. Other things....I've met Iraqis who have risked more for for the USA than many Americans I know. That's humbling. And I think I've grown up some, which is always a good thing.
Thanks are always in order, and I have a lot of folks to keep thanking. In no particular order, there's my wife (who ROCKS), Matt & Anj, Paul, Sarah & Carl, Brian & Joanne, Ron & Gloria (my parents, who also rock), one of the grade school classes at the church school where mom & dad attend (can you get me that address, I really, really, really need to write them a thank you letter), the Shaker Messenger, and all the folks who continue to keep me and my unit in their prayers. Thanks again! Please keep praying, as we're only close to the end, we're not there. Also, please pray for our families and keep them in mind as the end of the year and the holiday season approach. If I've left anyone out, you have my apologies.
Lastly, I have to tell you, I had a "Ron Moment" this week. First, some background. My dad is the master dissembler. Ask him to play any card game and the answer's the same: Oh no, I've never played that, show me how (and forget Trivial Pursuit). Then he wins. Earlier this week I was walking through the screening cells and saw some of the linguists playing cards. They asked me to play, and without skipping a beat, I said, "Oh no, I've never played that. Show me how." I won the first round and almost took them on the second one too. It was a classic Ron South moment. Naturally, the Kurdish linguist, who has never met my dad, fell for it hook, line and sinker. Yeah, it wasn't fair, I know.
I'm pretty pumped about going home for a while, needless to say. I can promise the phone will be on, but I can't promise I'll answer it, or be in a condition to do so. For all that, I do hope to see some of you when I get back.
Enjoy!
So, after last post, I am wondering how many folks I turned off with the Google search link. If that kept anyone away, I am heartily sorry. Those who know me and love me understand I have a wildly inappropriate sense of humor, such as it is. Naturally I laughed my tail off when I first saw that clip. Go figure.
So, I've been taking stock of the time here in Iraq, just to kind of review how things have been. First and foremost, to lay some concerns expressed by in-laws to rest, I have not yet managed to shoot myself in the foot (keep in mind, I pack heat daily, just like all the other folks here). Granted, my shooting coach is a former SF sniper with a ton of confirmed kills, so that might have something to do with it. Or, it might be because after 20 years in uniform and counting I have some shadow of a clue of what I'm doing. It's a stretch, I know. What else...oh, I'm benching my body weight and am back up to my high point on squats where last time I had to drop weight and relearn technique. No knee pain, all is good. And I'm done with ILE. Well, not totally, but close. Two of my assignments got kicked back for some odd reason (sentence length, I imagine). Honestly, I have no clue why, since they were sent to me in Evansville. Once I get home, I'll figure it out. Maybe. In any case, I'll have the military education for LTC done before I get home, that's the important thing. Other things....I've met Iraqis who have risked more for for the USA than many Americans I know. That's humbling. And I think I've grown up some, which is always a good thing.
Thanks are always in order, and I have a lot of folks to keep thanking. In no particular order, there's my wife (who ROCKS), Matt & Anj, Paul, Sarah & Carl, Brian & Joanne, Ron & Gloria (my parents, who also rock), one of the grade school classes at the church school where mom & dad attend (can you get me that address, I really, really, really need to write them a thank you letter), the Shaker Messenger, and all the folks who continue to keep me and my unit in their prayers. Thanks again! Please keep praying, as we're only close to the end, we're not there. Also, please pray for our families and keep them in mind as the end of the year and the holiday season approach. If I've left anyone out, you have my apologies.
Lastly, I have to tell you, I had a "Ron Moment" this week. First, some background. My dad is the master dissembler. Ask him to play any card game and the answer's the same: Oh no, I've never played that, show me how (and forget Trivial Pursuit). Then he wins. Earlier this week I was walking through the screening cells and saw some of the linguists playing cards. They asked me to play, and without skipping a beat, I said, "Oh no, I've never played that. Show me how." I won the first round and almost took them on the second one too. It was a classic Ron South moment. Naturally, the Kurdish linguist, who has never met my dad, fell for it hook, line and sinker. Yeah, it wasn't fair, I know.
I'm pretty pumped about going home for a while, needless to say. I can promise the phone will be on, but I can't promise I'll answer it, or be in a condition to do so. For all that, I do hope to see some of you when I get back.
Enjoy!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
One week left
OK, just one week until I go on leave. But I'll come back to this place, so it's all good. With that in mind, I figured folks would want to know what I plan to do with the time. So, in the spirit of that, I have some links! I already have a link to Kim's blog over there on the right hand side, so that's covered. Let's see...well, there's this, and this and this. And, of course, this. Don't worry, they're all mostly PG links. I'm supposed to view this as a "family" blog and so can't add a link to the other "activities" for leave. It's all good. Some folks think they know what the internet is for (NB: this is a funny link, but relatively inappropriate...you know me).
So, what's going on otherwise? Basically I'm preparing things for a temporary replacement. Essentially, I'm preparing the foundations of my continuity binder. The collection of knowledge and "5killz" I've accumulated over the time spent here. My intent is to give my replacement more than what I was given. Now, my predecessor did an excellent hand over, so I have my work cut out for me. Right now, the hand off consists of a series of "how to" guides, which are step by step instructions, with pictures, of how to do the different things I do in Access Control. I realize this is backwards for folks like me (ie, most AGRs), but knowledge and ability are no good unless I can pass them on to someone else. The idea here is not to horde information, but to make it public and available to lots of others, so I can go on to bigger and better things and crack the code somewhere else.
As usual, I'm working out. This was a tough week for that, as I woke up last Sunday with a knot in my right deltoids the size of Texas. Needless to say, working it out was not easy. My eventual solution was to get a whole bunch of hand warmers from supply and duct tape one inside my t-shirt just over the knot. Slow heat works every time for me, and a couple days and nights of that I was up and running again. Shaving becomes a whole new adventure when I can't tilt my head up at all. I had to ditch the Merkur for a week in favor of something that pivots on its own and doesn't need my undivided attention. Not to worry, I have plenty of time to continue mastering it.
Other than that, just tying up whatever loose ends I can, avoiding the ever present drama from 3ACR (I could write a book about the drama), and am otherwise ready to go home and spend some time with Kim. See, here's where I want to complain about the cav drama we have here. Problem is, complaining won't make it go away. To be blunt, it's just stupid: he said this to him or her, and they thought that, so we did this, etc. And just way too sensitive. Anyhow, it is what it is. It's helped me to understand mainly how to pull the drama and emotion out of issues and see what really needs to happen, and to understand what matters and what doesn't. Unfortunately, those lessons shouldn't come from any one institution's culture. I've learned, and have begun to put those lessons into practice, which is what it's all about. I go back to one of my original philosophies, modified: I don't care what patch or tab or spurs you have, if you can't help get my unit to a theater of operations and back again, all of those cool tabs and patches and spurs do you (and me) no good.
Enjoy!
So, what's going on otherwise? Basically I'm preparing things for a temporary replacement. Essentially, I'm preparing the foundations of my continuity binder. The collection of knowledge and "5killz" I've accumulated over the time spent here. My intent is to give my replacement more than what I was given. Now, my predecessor did an excellent hand over, so I have my work cut out for me. Right now, the hand off consists of a series of "how to" guides, which are step by step instructions, with pictures, of how to do the different things I do in Access Control. I realize this is backwards for folks like me (ie, most AGRs), but knowledge and ability are no good unless I can pass them on to someone else. The idea here is not to horde information, but to make it public and available to lots of others, so I can go on to bigger and better things and crack the code somewhere else.
As usual, I'm working out. This was a tough week for that, as I woke up last Sunday with a knot in my right deltoids the size of Texas. Needless to say, working it out was not easy. My eventual solution was to get a whole bunch of hand warmers from supply and duct tape one inside my t-shirt just over the knot. Slow heat works every time for me, and a couple days and nights of that I was up and running again. Shaving becomes a whole new adventure when I can't tilt my head up at all. I had to ditch the Merkur for a week in favor of something that pivots on its own and doesn't need my undivided attention. Not to worry, I have plenty of time to continue mastering it.
Other than that, just tying up whatever loose ends I can, avoiding the ever present drama from 3ACR (I could write a book about the drama), and am otherwise ready to go home and spend some time with Kim. See, here's where I want to complain about the cav drama we have here. Problem is, complaining won't make it go away. To be blunt, it's just stupid: he said this to him or her, and they thought that, so we did this, etc. And just way too sensitive. Anyhow, it is what it is. It's helped me to understand mainly how to pull the drama and emotion out of issues and see what really needs to happen, and to understand what matters and what doesn't. Unfortunately, those lessons shouldn't come from any one institution's culture. I've learned, and have begun to put those lessons into practice, which is what it's all about. I go back to one of my original philosophies, modified: I don't care what patch or tab or spurs you have, if you can't help get my unit to a theater of operations and back again, all of those cool tabs and patches and spurs do you (and me) no good.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Midweek
Greetings and salutations. I stumbled upon a couple of good articles and figured I'd share.
First, another blog talks about the simply ridiculous media circus surrounding Palin. Personal politics aside, I agree with the author's point. Namely, that reporters leave out those facts, which are inconvenient truths.
Next, Atlantic Monthly has an article about the "Petraeus Doctrine". Great write up of something I consider to be the ongoing search for our professional identity as military professionals. Why I like it: first, it summarizes the essential issues well. Second, it mentions a white paper about the Field Artillery that's been circulating for some time. I happen to have a copy of that white paper, and it's also 100% on the money. Lastly, I think both Nagl and Gentile are correct. I think the Army needs to cultivate an Officer Corps that is both warrior and scholar (ie, they can think and shoot and lead). We are in a position, I firmly believe, where we as Officers must be able to conduct both combat and non-combat missions.
Also, the weather's beginning to break here. Thunderstorms have been rolling through and cooling things off a bit. Now, before you all get the wrong idea, this isn't the same thing as a Midwest thunderstorm. Here, the wind blows, it gets really cloudy and it might sprinkle. But, it doesn't rain down in sheets as we'd expect. The effect is relatively similar, as the temperatures drop and life outside becomes civilized (unless one attempts to light a cigar, then one must go inside to do so). Highs have dropped into the low hundreds, so the weather really is not too bad.
So that's about it. Shaved the grape again today too. I'm getting incredibly close between Somerset's and the Panasonic! It's impressive!
Enjoy!
Greetings and salutations. I stumbled upon a couple of good articles and figured I'd share.
First, another blog talks about the simply ridiculous media circus surrounding Palin. Personal politics aside, I agree with the author's point. Namely, that reporters leave out those facts, which are inconvenient truths.
Next, Atlantic Monthly has an article about the "Petraeus Doctrine". Great write up of something I consider to be the ongoing search for our professional identity as military professionals. Why I like it: first, it summarizes the essential issues well. Second, it mentions a white paper about the Field Artillery that's been circulating for some time. I happen to have a copy of that white paper, and it's also 100% on the money. Lastly, I think both Nagl and Gentile are correct. I think the Army needs to cultivate an Officer Corps that is both warrior and scholar (ie, they can think and shoot and lead). We are in a position, I firmly believe, where we as Officers must be able to conduct both combat and non-combat missions.
Also, the weather's beginning to break here. Thunderstorms have been rolling through and cooling things off a bit. Now, before you all get the wrong idea, this isn't the same thing as a Midwest thunderstorm. Here, the wind blows, it gets really cloudy and it might sprinkle. But, it doesn't rain down in sheets as we'd expect. The effect is relatively similar, as the temperatures drop and life outside becomes civilized (unless one attempts to light a cigar, then one must go inside to do so). Highs have dropped into the low hundreds, so the weather really is not too bad.
So that's about it. Shaved the grape again today too. I'm getting incredibly close between Somerset's and the Panasonic! It's impressive!
Enjoy!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Twelve and Two
Today after Mass, I walked into the Badging office and Dixon had blues just blasting. It was then that I realized how much I miss listening to live blues. So, Kim, add that to our list. We might not hit it all this month, but at least it's on there.
This morning, responding to a couple of folks on Facebook, I realized how polarized opinion becomes around an election. Now, anyone who reads this knows that I'm just as bad as everyone else, which I freely admit. I have my own way of looking at life and freely allow others to know it. It's all good, it's the process that works for us here in the US. I'll be honest, I was amazed at the media response to Palin's family issues. That was plain silly. I mean really, who cares if her daughter is pregnant or not? Does her daughter's choice make Palin a quality stateswoman? Help me out on this one, because the whole affair smacks of a media circus, as opposed to focusing on the issues. We have had folks with similar qualifications running on both the Rep and Dem ticket in the past. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, both former state governors, come to mind. But no, we jump up and down about her family. This, ladies and gents, is why I don't have a TV here, and why Kim and I refuse to watch a whole lot of TV at home. I honestly can say I hate the media circus in general, and especially around elections. I wonder what the founding fathers would say about the media circus. Likely they'd comisserate, as I'm certain they had some of that as well.
This week, I've been finishing up with ILE phase 3. In fact, once I get back from lunch today, I turn off email and focus just on pushing through the End Of Course Completion Exercise. The intent is to get all of it finished today. Then, I can focus back on some of the smaller projects 'round here I've been neglecting. Once those are done, I should be pretty close to going on leave. My intent is to have enough of the "detail" stuff done before leave, so afterwards I can focus on assembling the continuity binder, brain dumping everything I know somehow (a page or two, nothing more, I assure you) and otherwise avoiding confrontations with 3ACR. I promised our CSM I'd be nice, so to do that, I have to avoid those guys, since they annoy me greatly.
I ordered the Sangiovese juice this week! Five gallons of pure, Italian, unadulterated Sangiovese juice. AND I ordered a Cabernet kit and a Merlot kit. The good news story is I stayed under my budget for these projects. So, I'll have 6 gallons of Sangiovese, 6 of Cab-Merlot, and 6 of Merlot-Cab in secondaries before I leave Evansville for Mosul.
Enjoy!
UPDATE at 1713 Mosul time: I am done with the *impressive echo voice* End Of Course Completion Exercise!! It was a whopping 16 slides. Before I panic, I'm going to go talk to another Major here, who finished this up a couple months ago, but I think his EOCCE was like 17 slides. As many of you know, I've been largely disappointed with the academic rigor needed to get through ILE by distance learning. On one hand, I'm complaining, on the other, I'm not. It will all work out, I'm sure.
This morning, responding to a couple of folks on Facebook, I realized how polarized opinion becomes around an election. Now, anyone who reads this knows that I'm just as bad as everyone else, which I freely admit. I have my own way of looking at life and freely allow others to know it. It's all good, it's the process that works for us here in the US. I'll be honest, I was amazed at the media response to Palin's family issues. That was plain silly. I mean really, who cares if her daughter is pregnant or not? Does her daughter's choice make Palin a quality stateswoman? Help me out on this one, because the whole affair smacks of a media circus, as opposed to focusing on the issues. We have had folks with similar qualifications running on both the Rep and Dem ticket in the past. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, both former state governors, come to mind. But no, we jump up and down about her family. This, ladies and gents, is why I don't have a TV here, and why Kim and I refuse to watch a whole lot of TV at home. I honestly can say I hate the media circus in general, and especially around elections. I wonder what the founding fathers would say about the media circus. Likely they'd comisserate, as I'm certain they had some of that as well.
This week, I've been finishing up with ILE phase 3. In fact, once I get back from lunch today, I turn off email and focus just on pushing through the End Of Course Completion Exercise. The intent is to get all of it finished today. Then, I can focus back on some of the smaller projects 'round here I've been neglecting. Once those are done, I should be pretty close to going on leave. My intent is to have enough of the "detail" stuff done before leave, so afterwards I can focus on assembling the continuity binder, brain dumping everything I know somehow (a page or two, nothing more, I assure you) and otherwise avoiding confrontations with 3ACR. I promised our CSM I'd be nice, so to do that, I have to avoid those guys, since they annoy me greatly.
I ordered the Sangiovese juice this week! Five gallons of pure, Italian, unadulterated Sangiovese juice. AND I ordered a Cabernet kit and a Merlot kit. The good news story is I stayed under my budget for these projects. So, I'll have 6 gallons of Sangiovese, 6 of Cab-Merlot, and 6 of Merlot-Cab in secondaries before I leave Evansville for Mosul.
Enjoy!
UPDATE at 1713 Mosul time: I am done with the *impressive echo voice* End Of Course Completion Exercise!! It was a whopping 16 slides. Before I panic, I'm going to go talk to another Major here, who finished this up a couple months ago, but I think his EOCCE was like 17 slides. As many of you know, I've been largely disappointed with the academic rigor needed to get through ILE by distance learning. On one hand, I'm complaining, on the other, I'm not. It will all work out, I'm sure.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Happy Birthday Mom!!
Just so everyone knows, I owe my mother a call today. On one hand, this should be easy, since she's retired and has little to no schedule. On the other hand, until my parents retired to Holland, I thought retired folks didn't do a whole lot. So, it might not be as easy as I think. Plus, I have to find the number, which I'm sure I have somewhere.
*hours pass*
So I hiked back out to the office, placed the call and left a message. Mom, happy birthday!
Maybe I've been here too long (not) or maybe I'm just so close to leave that I want to think I've been here too long (more likely), but I just don't give a rat's butt about the Iraq issues any longer. It's odd, really, that my world view is now to the point where I want to do this job the best I can, build my good habits and go home. That it is now Ramadan means nothing to me, as the 'Beebs haven't stepped up their attacks in any significant manner. Granted, this isn't Baghdad, which might be different, since it has an entirely different threat picture. See, I had this discussion last week (was it last week? maybe the week before that?) with one of the cav guys, wherein I explained, using very short words, that I don't have the same Access Control policy as Balad, simply because THIS AIN'T BALAD. It's Mosul. Lookie here. See us up in the north? Where it's got that pretty blue color? Yeah, that's mostly Kurdish. They hate Turks and sometimes Iraqis. And even though we, as a country, screwed them royally two or three times, they hate being under Saddam more than they hated us screwing them. They're mostly alright. See Baghdad? See how it's all orange? Yeah, they're Shi'as. Between us and them are the Sunnis, who are the minority and used to rule this place. With terror, I might add. The AQI guys (NB, Sunnis, BTW) spend as much time shooting the Shi'as (ie, the REST of the country) as they do the Americans and the Kurds (most unwise). So, whereas Baghdad and its environs have the civil war and AQI to deal with, we have some AQI remnants to deal with. Different threat picture. QED.
All that to explain it's been quiet 'round here. Still. Some folks stand on the soapbox and cry out, "oh no, it's Ramadan, they'll hit us a ton more this month!" Fine. So they'll what? Shoot at the runway twice a week instead of once? Help me out on this here. Let's be real. These folks are fasting all freaking day in triple digit heat. I don't know about any of you all, but I don't know many folks who'll be up to doing much of anything in those conditions. Heck, jump school wasn't that bad.
More good news: I am now two writing assignments away from finishing ILE. And I've seen the assignments, they're cheesecake assignments. So I'll be done with that whole gig pretty soon. Go me.
This week I sent Kim an email detailing all that which I wanted to consume while at home. Needless to say, a glass of Arrogance was something I asked her to facilitate. Good thing for me the Gerst still has it on tap. NB: Evansville folks. If they have stopped carrying it, please let me know. Those of you who know me understand the solemnity with which I ask for this information.
Well, I've managed another blog post. Life is good and getting better.
Enjoy!
Just so everyone knows, I owe my mother a call today. On one hand, this should be easy, since she's retired and has little to no schedule. On the other hand, until my parents retired to Holland, I thought retired folks didn't do a whole lot. So, it might not be as easy as I think. Plus, I have to find the number, which I'm sure I have somewhere.
*hours pass*
So I hiked back out to the office, placed the call and left a message. Mom, happy birthday!
Maybe I've been here too long (not) or maybe I'm just so close to leave that I want to think I've been here too long (more likely), but I just don't give a rat's butt about the Iraq issues any longer. It's odd, really, that my world view is now to the point where I want to do this job the best I can, build my good habits and go home. That it is now Ramadan means nothing to me, as the 'Beebs haven't stepped up their attacks in any significant manner. Granted, this isn't Baghdad, which might be different, since it has an entirely different threat picture. See, I had this discussion last week (was it last week? maybe the week before that?) with one of the cav guys, wherein I explained, using very short words, that I don't have the same Access Control policy as Balad, simply because THIS AIN'T BALAD. It's Mosul. Lookie here. See us up in the north? Where it's got that pretty blue color? Yeah, that's mostly Kurdish. They hate Turks and sometimes Iraqis. And even though we, as a country, screwed them royally two or three times, they hate being under Saddam more than they hated us screwing them. They're mostly alright. See Baghdad? See how it's all orange? Yeah, they're Shi'as. Between us and them are the Sunnis, who are the minority and used to rule this place. With terror, I might add. The AQI guys (NB, Sunnis, BTW) spend as much time shooting the Shi'as (ie, the REST of the country) as they do the Americans and the Kurds (most unwise). So, whereas Baghdad and its environs have the civil war and AQI to deal with, we have some AQI remnants to deal with. Different threat picture. QED.
All that to explain it's been quiet 'round here. Still. Some folks stand on the soapbox and cry out, "oh no, it's Ramadan, they'll hit us a ton more this month!" Fine. So they'll what? Shoot at the runway twice a week instead of once? Help me out on this here. Let's be real. These folks are fasting all freaking day in triple digit heat. I don't know about any of you all, but I don't know many folks who'll be up to doing much of anything in those conditions. Heck, jump school wasn't that bad.
More good news: I am now two writing assignments away from finishing ILE. And I've seen the assignments, they're cheesecake assignments. So I'll be done with that whole gig pretty soon. Go me.
This week I sent Kim an email detailing all that which I wanted to consume while at home. Needless to say, a glass of Arrogance was something I asked her to facilitate. Good thing for me the Gerst still has it on tap. NB: Evansville folks. If they have stopped carrying it, please let me know. Those of you who know me understand the solemnity with which I ask for this information.
Well, I've managed another blog post. Life is good and getting better.
Enjoy!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
I think It's Dad's Fault
Today at lunch I had an interesting experience. As is my sometimes practice, I was sitting with a group of folks from the Mayor Cell. We're an eclectic bunch, us Mayor Cell types, and attract a rather eclectic selection of people from all over the FOB, for as many reasons as there are people in our little clique. One of the soldiers sitting with us complimented me saying that, three days ago, when I was walking one way and she and another soldier were walking another, I really impressed the other soldier by stopping and talking and generally being me. Apparently this other kid had expected a Major to act like some sort of ogre, and just be unreasonable and stuffy and that kind of thing. So I got a compliment, so what? Thing is, I get this often. Enlisted soldiers are surprised when I talk to them instead of at them, they're confounded when I ask a question and stand there, looking at them, waiting for them to answer (NB: I call that a "conversation", or at least part of one). So I began to think about this and it's led me to a couple conclusions.
First conclusion is maybe they have a skewed vision of what Majors are really like. I mean, most of the guys I know are Officers, and a few are Majors, and most of them are pretty decent fellows. So, maybe the Majors they know in the Regiment are normal folks and the enlisted folks just don't know them. The only problem with that line, I've met some of the other Majors, to whom I'm referring. I don't particularly like them either. The talented ones are way overworked, the untalented ones are immature. Some of them still look at us down their noses (NB: we ignore this, knowing if we, as Mayor Cell and BDOC sat down on the job, the Regiment would be hard pressed to manage without us), and some talk to us like we're equals. Most of them are the latter group, not the former. So, all that to say there might be something to the compliment giver's point of view. Their view of Majors isn't necessarily skewed, but it is limited, unfortunately, to a very few who aren't all that great to start with. I take some issue with this, as I really don't like to see my peer group have that poor of a following among the enlisted. Let's face it, there are more EMs than field grade officers. Most of those EMs are willing to work their tails off with a simple "please" or "thank you" and just treating them respectfully. The Army does a great job a stripping our dignity in certain circumstances. Those of us with rank can get a lot done simply by allowing soldiers to maintain what dignity they have.
Second, I blame most of this on my Dad. See, when we were kids (NB: my use of the first person plural in reference to myself indicates I'm speaking of Paul and of me, because we were usually together all the time as kids), Dad would sometimes take us to his school and we'd goof around, he'd work or do whatever, and we'd go around with him when he'd make his rounds. It was pretty cool. The best part was that he'd talk to EVERYBODY in that building - cooks, janitors, teachers, parents, crossing guards, everybody. And you know what? Every one of them were treated with the same amount of respect and dignity. That's a big deal. Now that I'm in kind of a similar position, I find myself (and Paul) doing a lot of the same stuff we saw Dad doing. Thing of it is, regardless of the setting or industry or nationality, treating folks with respect and dignity goes a long, long way. Thanks Dad.
This week has been like trying to take a drink from a firehose. For the most part, that's due to one company bringing in hundreds of new workers, and two other companies preparing to get out of here. Both of these activities involve me intimately, as all of those folks have badges and I'm in charge of the stinking badges. But, September's around the corner and things are a'movin' and a'shakin'. All of this is good.
In other news, more cigars showed up. This time I decided to buy some singles and try new things: 5 Vegas Classic, 5 Vegas Gold and 5 Vegas Series A. I know the Golds are very good, and am looking forward to trying the other two. I'm hoping the weather breaks a little more over the next couple of weeks. Those who are native to these parts say it will. Not that I can't deal with triple digits, but like shovelling snow, it gets old.
Other than that, I have started the third and final phase of ILE, your tax dollars hard at work, thanks.
13 and 3
Enjoy!
First conclusion is maybe they have a skewed vision of what Majors are really like. I mean, most of the guys I know are Officers, and a few are Majors, and most of them are pretty decent fellows. So, maybe the Majors they know in the Regiment are normal folks and the enlisted folks just don't know them. The only problem with that line, I've met some of the other Majors, to whom I'm referring. I don't particularly like them either. The talented ones are way overworked, the untalented ones are immature. Some of them still look at us down their noses (NB: we ignore this, knowing if we, as Mayor Cell and BDOC sat down on the job, the Regiment would be hard pressed to manage without us), and some talk to us like we're equals. Most of them are the latter group, not the former. So, all that to say there might be something to the compliment giver's point of view. Their view of Majors isn't necessarily skewed, but it is limited, unfortunately, to a very few who aren't all that great to start with. I take some issue with this, as I really don't like to see my peer group have that poor of a following among the enlisted. Let's face it, there are more EMs than field grade officers. Most of those EMs are willing to work their tails off with a simple "please" or "thank you" and just treating them respectfully. The Army does a great job a stripping our dignity in certain circumstances. Those of us with rank can get a lot done simply by allowing soldiers to maintain what dignity they have.
Second, I blame most of this on my Dad. See, when we were kids (NB: my use of the first person plural in reference to myself indicates I'm speaking of Paul and of me, because we were usually together all the time as kids), Dad would sometimes take us to his school and we'd goof around, he'd work or do whatever, and we'd go around with him when he'd make his rounds. It was pretty cool. The best part was that he'd talk to EVERYBODY in that building - cooks, janitors, teachers, parents, crossing guards, everybody. And you know what? Every one of them were treated with the same amount of respect and dignity. That's a big deal. Now that I'm in kind of a similar position, I find myself (and Paul) doing a lot of the same stuff we saw Dad doing. Thing of it is, regardless of the setting or industry or nationality, treating folks with respect and dignity goes a long, long way. Thanks Dad.
This week has been like trying to take a drink from a firehose. For the most part, that's due to one company bringing in hundreds of new workers, and two other companies preparing to get out of here. Both of these activities involve me intimately, as all of those folks have badges and I'm in charge of the stinking badges. But, September's around the corner and things are a'movin' and a'shakin'. All of this is good.
In other news, more cigars showed up. This time I decided to buy some singles and try new things: 5 Vegas Classic, 5 Vegas Gold and 5 Vegas Series A. I know the Golds are very good, and am looking forward to trying the other two. I'm hoping the weather breaks a little more over the next couple of weeks. Those who are native to these parts say it will. Not that I can't deal with triple digits, but like shovelling snow, it gets old.
Other than that, I have started the third and final phase of ILE, your tax dollars hard at work, thanks.
13 and 3
Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Kind of midweek
Alright folks, don't get accustomed to this. Most of you know why I'm posting. Let's hear it. Exactly. I have other work that needs to be done, hence the post. I am, if nothing else, predictable.
This week, we have lots and lots of workers coming here to work and then next week lots and lots of folks leaving. Why do I care? Because the former group needs to be badged, which is what I do here. The latter group all have a badge I must collect. Contrary to the opinion of the LTs in the 1-8, badges are controlled items. They're a big deal, and quite frankly, I don't fancy allowing some forgetful Turk to take one home on a convoy with him. So, this week is going to see me being detail oriented and moving about quite a bit. That's all good, as I have nothing else to do.
This morning I submitted the history essay for ILE. This means, among other things, that I am now unofficially two-thirds of the way done with ILE. I'm absolutely pumped about that! The end, as they say, is in sight. In light of that, I thought this was interesting, in terms of looking at the types of conflict to expect in the next 10 to 15 years. And I found this article too. All good stuff.
Part of me feels bad for skipping PT this morning, but I really don't. Kim was on the line and we were both fairly much awake, so it was all good.
Short post for now, so that's about it. I'll beat on KBR more tomorrow and sooner or later, they'll have the details hammered out.
Enjoy!
Alright folks, don't get accustomed to this. Most of you know why I'm posting. Let's hear it. Exactly. I have other work that needs to be done, hence the post. I am, if nothing else, predictable.
This week, we have lots and lots of workers coming here to work and then next week lots and lots of folks leaving. Why do I care? Because the former group needs to be badged, which is what I do here. The latter group all have a badge I must collect. Contrary to the opinion of the LTs in the 1-8, badges are controlled items. They're a big deal, and quite frankly, I don't fancy allowing some forgetful Turk to take one home on a convoy with him. So, this week is going to see me being detail oriented and moving about quite a bit. That's all good, as I have nothing else to do.
This morning I submitted the history essay for ILE. This means, among other things, that I am now unofficially two-thirds of the way done with ILE. I'm absolutely pumped about that! The end, as they say, is in sight. In light of that, I thought this was interesting, in terms of looking at the types of conflict to expect in the next 10 to 15 years. And I found this article too. All good stuff.
Part of me feels bad for skipping PT this morning, but I really don't. Kim was on the line and we were both fairly much awake, so it was all good.
Short post for now, so that's about it. I'll beat on KBR more tomorrow and sooner or later, they'll have the details hammered out.
Enjoy!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
14/4
Just so everyone knows: MY WIFE TOTALLY ROCKS!!!
The temptation now is to post and leave that as the entire blog posting, but those who know me understand I'm far too loquacious to not expand on that particular fact. A few weeks ago, I ordered a new razor, a Merkur Heavy Duty safety razor. So, since Amazon's too much of a wuss to send that to an APO, I had it sent home to my wife, who rocks, and who is NOT too much of wuss to send it here. With it, she threw in yellow and purple Propel (excellent!), some pics from class and a card. That, my friends, is why my wife rocks. She sends me cool stuff without complaining. Along with that arrived some books from Jeff - dude, you are an intellectual oasis in a desert of Maxim magazines my friend! Thank you very much!! And lastly, a couple of DryMistat tubes I had ordered showed up. The other two tupperware containers I have here are now field expedient humidors, all for the low price of nine bucks each. Why, do you ask, do I need two more humidors? Because, with the same birthday money (thank you Mom & Dad), with which I purchased said razor, I picked up two bricks of decent cigars (personally, I like the torpedos, but that's a lot of cigar, should have gone with robustos, live and learn). Now, just for the record, fifty cigars is a lot of smokes. Ergo, the need for more humidors. The circle is complete - now all I need is for the weather to break, at least under 100, so I can sit out on my veranda, enjoy a cigar and read. One more thing to add to the "Leave List".
Did I mention that Kim is awesome?
This week has been good. My morning routine is improving, if nothing else. I'm nowhere near as consistent as I'd like to be, but that will come with time. All that said, tomorrow morning is an "A" day, so I'll be back at the weight stack. As long as I get a couple of days on the elliptical trainer, I'm good to hook.
Work-wise, we continue to work at the whole impregnable fortress image. I have two dudes to put on alert, which I'll have done in a day or two. I've made progress on the essay for phase two, and today should see me making even more progress on it. In fact, my goal today is to have the outline stuff entirely done - Germans, Russians, Modularity and the discussion and intro sections. That means I can start putting this Frankensteinian essay together and run some voltage through it to see if it can walk on its own. Once that's all done, it's on to phase three baby!
Many folks here obsess about an AFN hookup in their CHU. I do not. Personally, I don't watch a whole lot of TV at home, and what little I watch, I have on an 8 DVD set here in theater (all eight seasons of CSI baby!). All that said, I'm happy to be missing the drama surrounding the presidential race right now. For all that, I manage to keep up somehow. Needless to say, I enjoy the commentary of Day By Day.
Enjoy!
Just so everyone knows: MY WIFE TOTALLY ROCKS!!!
The temptation now is to post and leave that as the entire blog posting, but those who know me understand I'm far too loquacious to not expand on that particular fact. A few weeks ago, I ordered a new razor, a Merkur Heavy Duty safety razor. So, since Amazon's too much of a wuss to send that to an APO, I had it sent home to my wife, who rocks, and who is NOT too much of wuss to send it here. With it, she threw in yellow and purple Propel (excellent!), some pics from class and a card. That, my friends, is why my wife rocks. She sends me cool stuff without complaining. Along with that arrived some books from Jeff - dude, you are an intellectual oasis in a desert of Maxim magazines my friend! Thank you very much!! And lastly, a couple of DryMistat tubes I had ordered showed up. The other two tupperware containers I have here are now field expedient humidors, all for the low price of nine bucks each. Why, do you ask, do I need two more humidors? Because, with the same birthday money (thank you Mom & Dad), with which I purchased said razor, I picked up two bricks of decent cigars (personally, I like the torpedos, but that's a lot of cigar, should have gone with robustos, live and learn). Now, just for the record, fifty cigars is a lot of smokes. Ergo, the need for more humidors. The circle is complete - now all I need is for the weather to break, at least under 100, so I can sit out on my veranda, enjoy a cigar and read. One more thing to add to the "Leave List".
Did I mention that Kim is awesome?
This week has been good. My morning routine is improving, if nothing else. I'm nowhere near as consistent as I'd like to be, but that will come with time. All that said, tomorrow morning is an "A" day, so I'll be back at the weight stack. As long as I get a couple of days on the elliptical trainer, I'm good to hook.
Work-wise, we continue to work at the whole impregnable fortress image. I have two dudes to put on alert, which I'll have done in a day or two. I've made progress on the essay for phase two, and today should see me making even more progress on it. In fact, my goal today is to have the outline stuff entirely done - Germans, Russians, Modularity and the discussion and intro sections. That means I can start putting this Frankensteinian essay together and run some voltage through it to see if it can walk on its own. Once that's all done, it's on to phase three baby!
Many folks here obsess about an AFN hookup in their CHU. I do not. Personally, I don't watch a whole lot of TV at home, and what little I watch, I have on an 8 DVD set here in theater (all eight seasons of CSI baby!). All that said, I'm happy to be missing the drama surrounding the presidential race right now. For all that, I manage to keep up somehow. Needless to say, I enjoy the commentary of Day By Day.
Enjoy!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Surprised
The variety of tasks we undertake here as a unit never ceases to surprise me. This assignment - to be a Mayor Cell for a base - is one that ARNG units are uniquely suited to do. After all, the Regulars don't exactly have a career outside the military to draw on.
I have my leave dates, and am preparing myself to visit home for a while. Today I sent home the first of a couple of footlockers. The intent is to get some of the extra gear and stuff home from here. Extra in the sense that I know I don't need it, and can't imagine keeping it here. Ultimately, I will send as much stuff and equipment home through the postal service as I can. I have absolutely no intent of dragging multiple duffel bags through customs, dumping and repacking several times either on leave or redeployment. One of the facets of military life I've never truly been able to understand is the "necessity" for multiple inspections of the same items more than twice in a row in less than 24 hour period. So, in order to avoid this particular personal hell, I am sending home most of my stuff.
So, in December, Kim bought me a new pair of Danner THXs. Great boots - comfy, light, and generally well constructed. Eight months of wear later, the insoles are destroyed, all the eyelets are pulling out from the leather, one of them is cutting laces and there's a half in long gash in the instep of one of them. Needless to say, I'm slightly disappointed. OK, I know Danner has outstanding customer service, I'll send them the old boots and ask them to hook me up. Well, what do I wear in the meantime? My old Danners, of course! Ahh, but the insoles are destroyed in them too. No problem - bought new insoles, Sole insoles. Absolutely love them! Granted, I don't have the oven to heat them in order to mold them to my feet, but beggars cannot be choosers. Need great new insoles? Get Sole.
In the course of getting stuff done today, my NCO and I stopped at the "big PX" on the "other side". My intent was to buy foot powder, among other things. Imagine my surprise when they were sold out. Yeah, I don't get it either. I know AAFES isn't really trying to make money, and I know we only have 100+ temperatures here for 7 or 8 months a year, so WHY would they carry extra foot powder in stock? Needless to say, I am becoming very much acquainted with online resources for normal, everyday items the PX is either unable or unwilling to stock. Dear readers, if you care to send a couple or three containers of Gold Bond (or your fave brand) of foot powder, I guarantee that I will get them to the Chaplain's stock and make them available for other soldiers. I'm ordering some right now. *edit* Actually, found the second thing of it I had in my can, so all is good. Still, AAFES needs to figure out it's either get on the ball or we go online.
On that particular note, thanks tons to Brian and Joanne! The tuna fish lunch thingies are awesome! Mom & Dad, the TOC finally has the coffee urn set up and running, they are happy! Good things to send, one of which I learned from Anj, is trail mix - the kind with nuts and M&Ms totally rocks! That, of course, is just my own unedited opinion. Others don't like trail mix, but it fits well in the office, so I'm all for it. Again, thanks to everyone who has sent and keeps sending stuff this way. You all have been simply outstanding! I can't say how cool it is first to jut get mail, and second to get stuff in a box that I just can't get here (due to time or AAFES, or both).
Leave dates are just over a month away, which is a good thing.
Enjoy!
The variety of tasks we undertake here as a unit never ceases to surprise me. This assignment - to be a Mayor Cell for a base - is one that ARNG units are uniquely suited to do. After all, the Regulars don't exactly have a career outside the military to draw on.
I have my leave dates, and am preparing myself to visit home for a while. Today I sent home the first of a couple of footlockers. The intent is to get some of the extra gear and stuff home from here. Extra in the sense that I know I don't need it, and can't imagine keeping it here. Ultimately, I will send as much stuff and equipment home through the postal service as I can. I have absolutely no intent of dragging multiple duffel bags through customs, dumping and repacking several times either on leave or redeployment. One of the facets of military life I've never truly been able to understand is the "necessity" for multiple inspections of the same items more than twice in a row in less than 24 hour period. So, in order to avoid this particular personal hell, I am sending home most of my stuff.
So, in December, Kim bought me a new pair of Danner THXs. Great boots - comfy, light, and generally well constructed. Eight months of wear later, the insoles are destroyed, all the eyelets are pulling out from the leather, one of them is cutting laces and there's a half in long gash in the instep of one of them. Needless to say, I'm slightly disappointed. OK, I know Danner has outstanding customer service, I'll send them the old boots and ask them to hook me up. Well, what do I wear in the meantime? My old Danners, of course! Ahh, but the insoles are destroyed in them too. No problem - bought new insoles, Sole insoles. Absolutely love them! Granted, I don't have the oven to heat them in order to mold them to my feet, but beggars cannot be choosers. Need great new insoles? Get Sole.
In the course of getting stuff done today, my NCO and I stopped at the "big PX" on the "other side". My intent was to buy foot powder, among other things. Imagine my surprise when they were sold out. Yeah, I don't get it either. I know AAFES isn't really trying to make money, and I know we only have 100+ temperatures here for 7 or 8 months a year, so WHY would they carry extra foot powder in stock? Needless to say, I am becoming very much acquainted with online resources for normal, everyday items the PX is either unable or unwilling to stock. Dear readers, if you care to send a couple or three containers of Gold Bond (or your fave brand) of foot powder, I guarantee that I will get them to the Chaplain's stock and make them available for other soldiers. I'm ordering some right now. *edit* Actually, found the second thing of it I had in my can, so all is good. Still, AAFES needs to figure out it's either get on the ball or we go online.
On that particular note, thanks tons to Brian and Joanne! The tuna fish lunch thingies are awesome! Mom & Dad, the TOC finally has the coffee urn set up and running, they are happy! Good things to send, one of which I learned from Anj, is trail mix - the kind with nuts and M&Ms totally rocks! That, of course, is just my own unedited opinion. Others don't like trail mix, but it fits well in the office, so I'm all for it. Again, thanks to everyone who has sent and keeps sending stuff this way. You all have been simply outstanding! I can't say how cool it is first to jut get mail, and second to get stuff in a box that I just can't get here (due to time or AAFES, or both).
Leave dates are just over a month away, which is a good thing.
Enjoy!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Procrastination
Nothing is better to ensure a blog post than procrastination. You see, I know I haven't posted in a long time. I also know that posting has been an item in my to do list for just as long. So, while I sit here in the office, with forms in front of me to sign, I think to myself, "what a PERFECT time to post to the blog". Just ask anyone who knows me - nothing like putting off something else to get yet another thing done that should have been done a long time ago, as I procrastinated doing it then. Don't try this at home folks, I'm a trained professional.
So what's happened since my last post? Well, I turned 40, which was extremely cool. I talked to Paul, commisserated and solved the world's problems. Well, we complained, not sure we really solved anything. Kim sent me some boxes of stuff - extremely cool stuff - which I just loved! I still have that "40" confetti all over my CHU floor. That's love folks.
Today's been a good day. Got a lot done today (reconciled a company of ~ 650 badges to zero discrepancies....that's no small task considering it's run by Turks), had a great dinner with another company (my neighbors, actually) and am sitting here, writing and listening to Pat Metheny. Granted, it could be better. I could be at home, with Kim, Dave or Brubeck on the stereo, a bottle of MY Pinot Noir...maybe some Scrabble...could be very much better. But, I'm here and looking at roughly five weeks until I get to play Scrabble. Not that I did a whole lot of that before I came over here, but that's Iraq for you - never know what changes are wrought in the space of a scant few months.
This week's been interesting. I told you I just...sorry, "we" (didn't do it alone)...got a company of 650 souls to be down to zero mistakes on badge accountability. So what? So each of those badges gets a person onto the base. Getting the picture? Throw in the fact this company tends to move employees from base to base and not tell us, not get badges changed, etc, and life becomes more interesting. They're not bad people, they're not stupid, just ignorant. As humans we tend to focus on ourselves. Not true? Hmm...I think I have an apple here somewhere to test that theory. Anyhow, considering the second, third and fourth order effects of our actions and decisions requires stretching, it's work. So I run a company and need widget fixers in Tal Afar. Too easy, I'll move them from Mosul. Tell someone? Why should I do that? It's MY company. See what I mean? It's not unlike dealing with the kids I taught at LC, except I really can't speak the language this time. Tomorrow I think I start a new project and continue an older one. I don't want to look at another roster for a few days.
That's been about it. Oh, one more thing - broke 200 on benching. That was fun, felt that all day. I still don't look any bigger though.
Enjoy!
Nothing is better to ensure a blog post than procrastination. You see, I know I haven't posted in a long time. I also know that posting has been an item in my to do list for just as long. So, while I sit here in the office, with forms in front of me to sign, I think to myself, "what a PERFECT time to post to the blog". Just ask anyone who knows me - nothing like putting off something else to get yet another thing done that should have been done a long time ago, as I procrastinated doing it then. Don't try this at home folks, I'm a trained professional.
So what's happened since my last post? Well, I turned 40, which was extremely cool. I talked to Paul, commisserated and solved the world's problems. Well, we complained, not sure we really solved anything. Kim sent me some boxes of stuff - extremely cool stuff - which I just loved! I still have that "40" confetti all over my CHU floor. That's love folks.
Today's been a good day. Got a lot done today (reconciled a company of ~ 650 badges to zero discrepancies....that's no small task considering it's run by Turks), had a great dinner with another company (my neighbors, actually) and am sitting here, writing and listening to Pat Metheny. Granted, it could be better. I could be at home, with Kim, Dave or Brubeck on the stereo, a bottle of MY Pinot Noir...maybe some Scrabble...could be very much better. But, I'm here and looking at roughly five weeks until I get to play Scrabble. Not that I did a whole lot of that before I came over here, but that's Iraq for you - never know what changes are wrought in the space of a scant few months.
This week's been interesting. I told you I just...sorry, "we" (didn't do it alone)...got a company of 650 souls to be down to zero mistakes on badge accountability. So what? So each of those badges gets a person onto the base. Getting the picture? Throw in the fact this company tends to move employees from base to base and not tell us, not get badges changed, etc, and life becomes more interesting. They're not bad people, they're not stupid, just ignorant. As humans we tend to focus on ourselves. Not true? Hmm...I think I have an apple here somewhere to test that theory. Anyhow, considering the second, third and fourth order effects of our actions and decisions requires stretching, it's work. So I run a company and need widget fixers in Tal Afar. Too easy, I'll move them from Mosul. Tell someone? Why should I do that? It's MY company. See what I mean? It's not unlike dealing with the kids I taught at LC, except I really can't speak the language this time. Tomorrow I think I start a new project and continue an older one. I don't want to look at another roster for a few days.
That's been about it. Oh, one more thing - broke 200 on benching. That was fun, felt that all day. I still don't look any bigger though.
Enjoy!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Seventeen
Today, dear readers, is my seventeenth wedding anniversary. To quote Kim, if we add in the four years we knew each other prior to being married, we've known each other 21 years. We are now legal! I still can't believe she's put up with me that long...
Today is also a Sunday, which means you all get a post whether I want to write or not. Thanks to server issues, I'm posting in someone else's office instead of my own. No big deal, just incredibly inconvenient. This week has been a tad stressful, I'll admit. Companies are coming and going, which will end up issuing or terminating thousands of badges. Doing all of that in an accurate and timely fashion is no mean feat. My troops are up to the task, of that I have no fear. I do have some minor concern that the ACR isn't really paying attention when I say, "no, we're not doing an inventory, as half of the badges are going in or going out". We'll see how that works out.
Yesterday, we had a German come in to try and get a brown badge. Now, this dude's been in before, in May to be exact. He had a bad attitude then - bad enough that I was tempted to give him the option of taking the badge I was able to get approved for him, or no badge at all. So just in case he didn't get the message the first time three months ago, I wrote the response in German and attached it to the application. Oddly enough, I still cannot issue him a brown badge, that's the rules.
Other than that, most of my existance is coping with what comes my way. I hate being reactive, as it means I give up the initiative, but right now have no choice. Companies are still negotiating this and that, which means my planning is in a holding pattern until they make some decisions. It is what it is, which means we'll wait until we can see how the situation looks and make a plan to meet the goals set for us.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
It happens even here.
Last night, another officer and I went to a local vendor (a "Haji Shop") to look for DVDs. Honestly, I was looking for CSI episodes and struck the motherlode. Anyhow, I'm perusing the goods, when the vendor (a Turkish fellow) says to me, "Sir! Hello sir! Do you remember me?" Now, it had been a full day, I wasn't exactly tracking, and I suppose my face showed it. The vendor saw that and repeated, "Sir, I am Ahmed, CJ's brother! You remember?" To which I finally replied, "Oh, from two or three years ago?" At which point, this dude lights right up, "Yes! Yes! You remember!" "Um, actually, I don't, I have a twin brother you see..." So Paul, CJ and Ahmed say hello, for what it's worth. AND I picked up eight seasons of CSI for $40, which isn't bad. Naturally, if any of the DVDs don't work, I can bring them back to be recut....
Things are shaping up around here for near and long term plans. Near term, I met with some folks today and I think I can tackle the next month for the four or five companies involved with little to no hiccups. Long term, I have to decide if I'm sending anything via connex or not. At this point, I'm thinking to send all of my extra stuff home via USPS. First, because I can claim the postage on my travel voucher and get it back, second because I want it sent to my home, not Camp Atterbury, and lastly because I don't want the customs apes at Atterbury pawing through my stuff.
Hey, Carl and Sarah, thanks TONS for the package!! Used the mug this morning, and I think I have a new favorite mug. This one is nice!
Folks, that's all the news here from my end of the world.
Enjoy!
Last night, another officer and I went to a local vendor (a "Haji Shop") to look for DVDs. Honestly, I was looking for CSI episodes and struck the motherlode. Anyhow, I'm perusing the goods, when the vendor (a Turkish fellow) says to me, "Sir! Hello sir! Do you remember me?" Now, it had been a full day, I wasn't exactly tracking, and I suppose my face showed it. The vendor saw that and repeated, "Sir, I am Ahmed, CJ's brother! You remember?" To which I finally replied, "Oh, from two or three years ago?" At which point, this dude lights right up, "Yes! Yes! You remember!" "Um, actually, I don't, I have a twin brother you see..." So Paul, CJ and Ahmed say hello, for what it's worth. AND I picked up eight seasons of CSI for $40, which isn't bad. Naturally, if any of the DVDs don't work, I can bring them back to be recut....
Things are shaping up around here for near and long term plans. Near term, I met with some folks today and I think I can tackle the next month for the four or five companies involved with little to no hiccups. Long term, I have to decide if I'm sending anything via connex or not. At this point, I'm thinking to send all of my extra stuff home via USPS. First, because I can claim the postage on my travel voucher and get it back, second because I want it sent to my home, not Camp Atterbury, and lastly because I don't want the customs apes at Atterbury pawing through my stuff.
Hey, Carl and Sarah, thanks TONS for the package!! Used the mug this morning, and I think I have a new favorite mug. This one is nice!
Folks, that's all the news here from my end of the world.
Enjoy!
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