Happy Halloween from Afghanistan....

Halloween Part 37 -- Michael Meyers vs. the Taliban "There will be blood...Inshallah". The one time I'd be rooting for Michael Meyers....I wonder if Jamie Lee Curtis would be available - and could be wearing a burka....its a thought...

Ok - so I'm a goof - Happy Halloween

I have an older brother who is retired from the US Postal service, and I've kidded him about "going postal". Today (as you could tell from my entro) - I joined the ranks of the unstable US Postal service.....working as a Postal Clerk for DynCorp at our APO address in Kandahar. The gentleman who normally handles these duties is leaving on Tuesday for R&R, and I volunteered to stand in for him. I should have listened to Dad. Regarding military service or anything like it, he used to say "don't ever volunteer..." Should have listened.

Concurrent with his departure, we needed to find a new place to house our little mail room of sorts, because he'd been handling this out of his billeting room, which; 1) is not a good place for mail 2) I can't go in his room while he's gone, 3) Its about time to bring some organization to the process. So it was up to me locate the new mail room for DynCorp in Kandahar.

Shipping Containers are amazing things....you can live in them (I live in one), you can obviously ship things in them, which we do, you can put offices in them, which I work in, and you can make a mail room in one, which is what I did. With real estate at a premium, you make lemonade when you have a challenge. I've attached some photo's tonight to give you a taste in picture format of my life in Kandahar. I'm only doing it because I got my camera in the mail today. Kind of cool to be the mail guy down at the the post office and get your own packages...(hint, hint....Crystal Light in individual serving packets are a particularly coveted package item).

So on my first day as the Mail Clerk, I make a marvelous discovery - which is that my predecessor didn't like picking up the big packages on a regular basis. I moved 12 footlockers along with all the other regular boxed mail and letters into my new little mail room. Had to make 2 trips, and still didn't get it all. I'll be making multiple trips tomorrow as well, and moving all the mail which is still in his room to the mail room. I must be a wuss, cuz I'm whipped. Glad I got some help from Bob Zook, one of my work compatriots who lent a helping hand.

I also made a discovery about myself today, that few of you who know me will believe. I can be a little "anal retentive" when put to the test. After my training session from the Air Force Mail guys, I kinda took this mail thing seriously, so I set out to organize the mail, and create a "legal mail room" of sorts - which isn't quite there yet, but I'm working on it. So you'll see from the one picture I've loaded - the alphabetical sorting system I put in place on the inside of the CONEX box, to ge the mail organized. Didn't think I had it in me did you?

All of this is in addition to my normal duties, but it is kind of a nice break in the day - of very long days. I've been averaging about 85 hours a week on the clock, so this is a nice diversion for a couple hours a day.

Anyway - I hope this post finds everyone at home enjoying a happy weekend halloween after a big snow storm, and enjoying the freedoms that so many of our young men and women in uniform are sacrificing for over here.

Things that bite...

Because Kandahar is an Airfied - a full sized airfield - any thing from a prop plane to a 747 and Russian Antinov's can land and take off here, there's always something happening. I've seen F-16's, A-10's, Predator Drones, French Mirages, British Harriers and Tornados and any number of Helicopters from Apaches, Blackhawks, and on down the list of military flying machine - and it's a constant buzz.

There's always a mission being flown or something landing or taking off.

Last night - I was standing outside when I noticed an A-10 Warthog off to the south of the base roll over 90 degrees in what looked like an attack run as he dove to the ground - and then visually I could see smoke come out of the front of the plane, and then about 5 seconds later the unmistakeable sound of him firing his nose cannon which sounds like a big BUZZZZZZ but lower like a BURPPPPP. He did this about 5 times, coming around for another strafing run. Not sure if he was attacking or practicing, but it wasn't far from the camp. Other aircraft were taking off and landing, so I don't know if they'd have a live fire drill with aircraft in the pattern.

Definately some bite, would hate to be on the receiving end there.

That's not the only thing around here that bites though....today in our billeting area known as Camp Hicks, they found and killed a Saw Scaled Viper. An Extremely venomous snake, native to these lands - which is also extremely agressive - probably because if it's small size. I don't have transportation - so I do alot of walking from work to living area, especially at night time...and that has made me take a little pause...

Anyway - apparently there's more than just mortars, rockets and bullets to dodge here.

Crazy Larry....

I may or may not have written about a man I've met here, but today - we will explore him just a little further. You meet "characters" in places like this. Larry - is definately a character.

I don't know his last name, and suspect I never will, but he is a contractor here who runs a training facility for the military. He's about 60 years old or so, has this extremely loud personality - and is clearly a lonely man. The facility is a "video range" or a high tech X-Box of sorts. It is a completely enclosed facility shooting range with 2 - 25 foot screens upon which is projected a video image used for qualifying soldiers on various weapons. The weapons themselves are actual military weapons, retrofitted with lasers and air compression to simulate the full kick and action and nosie of a firearm.

Because this is a video based traning facility - there are no windows in the place, and Larry lives and works inside this facility. I don't think he gets out much - and strikes me as a pretty lonely guy. He loves it when people other than soldiers come to his little facility - because he gets to talk to someone. He likes it so much - that he gets a Armed Forces Network video feed - and he puts College and NFL football up on one of the 25 foot screens - so we went there to watch football both Saturday and Sunday nights....He's so animated at having people visit him, that you could turn off the TV sound and he narriates every play. He's a little off....

The really cool thing about Larry - is when he thinks you are bored and ready to go, he lures you into "play" on the military range. He fires up the training system, and hands you an M-16, and before you know it, you are fighting insurgents in some jungle, or desert or other landscape. Me and another guy from work played for a half hour the other night and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I'll have you know I qualified 20 hits for 20 rounds on the Fort Sill, OK shooting range on pop up targets. M-16 Qualified...

Larry is a nice man, who is working on a retirement....far away from home, and because he's a one man shop - lonely and anxious for interaction.....God bless him.....

Oh wow - there really are bad guys out there...

Thus far on this deployment instead of being able to eat for free in the military's dining facilities, we've had to pay for every meal, and then been given a daily per diem to cover the cost of those meals. By far the most expensive places to eat are in the air base Dining Facilities - known as DFAC's. And probably because of this fact, some little establishments run by some of the other NATO countries, as well as some favorites like Burger King and Subway have sprung up. That's the back ground information.

Earlier in the week, myself and two other individuals had gone to a Dutch Army facility to get dinner, and because it resembles a restraunt and has a WiFi connection - it tends to get very crowded and has alot of noise. About half way through eating our dinner, one of the cooks comes running into the restraunt dining area yelling for everyone to get on the floor, incoming rounds...

Everyone in the facility immediately fell to the floor and awaited the prescribed 2 minutes - nearvously looking at each other. At 2 minutes - as we are instructed to do - we immediately exit the facility and find the nearest bunker to await the all clear signal over the bases loud speaker system.

All very uneventful for us - because we neither heard the warning beacons, or heard the rounds impact - which there were two I'm told. However - it brought home the fact that this is a hostile place, and is an active war zone - even in the middle of 20,000 some odd soldiers, airmen and private contractors.

The humorous side of the deal is that the on base police immediately rushed to find the impact points, and when we stepped out of the restraunt - about 7 police cars started up their lights and headed off into the night on their search - and of course true to form - they were parked reasonably close to the only Donut shop on the base......if you can call it a donut shop...

Too funny..

Helmand on a shoestring budget

Last night I was sitting in a staff meeting, when a gentleman walks up and says to me - you are going to Camp Leatherneck tomorrow - be at the helicopter ramp at 0730 hours. Just like that, I'm going to Camp Leatherneck which is a sprawling US Marine Corps Base attached to a British Air Force Base called Camp Bastion. These two bases happen to be in Helmand Province, right next to the Helmand River - poppy growing capital of the world, and Taliban Stronghold. WooHoo...

So - I show up at the helicopter ramp at the appointed time, and await the arrival of others going to this meeting at Camp Leatherneck with the Marine Corps commanders in the southern Helmand Province - where we are in the process of beginning construction on 4 Marine Corps Expeditionary Battalion Forward Operating Bases (FOBs). While standing there, the Deputy Program Manager arrives (former 1 Star General), and walks up to me and asks "where are you going?", to which I foolishly reply - "with you sir - to your meeting". Foolish Lad....

"Who asked you to come" says he, and I reply in kind.....

"Hmpfff" is his only reply as he shrugs his shoulders and ambles off.. Oh boy - I'm in for fun now.

The helicopters arrive - Soviet Era - Mi-8's and we board (yes, there's Irony in riding on a Russian Helicopter in Afghanistan), and alas we are off - for a 1 hour flight to Camp Leatherneck.

Seeing Afghanistan from the air - well, lets just say, there isn't much out there in terms of either quantity or quality of structure. It's pretty clear that not much has changed in the last 200 years down there. I didn't see one structure in the entire flight that wasn't made from mud - or I guess Adobe we'd say in the states.

Leatherneck was a sprawling complex that is growing, and growing - with plans for having as many as 18,000 personnel on the base. It was an interesting visit, the flights were uneventful and all went well. I didn't actually attend the meeting - as I was instructed to solve some other outstanding issue - I guess I know what "Hmpfff" means now...

I'm tired.

Where are all the Good Men Dead? In the heart? Or in the Head?

Great line from a great movie (Gross Pointe Blank), adapted from William Shakespear (Merchant of Venice), but an interesting quote when you consider the personalities of people who would find themselves in a place like Afghanistan, at a time like now.

I say it's an interesting quote - because as you meet people here - the 80/20 rule tends to come into play - meaning - what I'm about to write probably applies 80% of the time.

Men in a war zone - are either soldiers who either volunteered for sevice and found themselves here, are passionate about the cause and depending on what side of the cause they are on - find themselves here, or are civilians who most likely not - are drawn here because of the earning potential from an excercize such as this. There will always be those outliers who don't fall into the typical "bell curve" of reason.

So as you begin meeting these people and getting to know their personalities, their likes, dislikes and then their outlooks on life and reasonings for being here - as is human nature you develop an opinion of that persons life all around - right or wrong - it's human nature.

Back to the quote - Where are all the Good Men Dead? There's alot of really good men - and women here - but the question lingers doesn't it? Why would they be here? Why am I here? The answers are even more troubling really - because following the generality of the 80/20 rule here - they are either dead in the heart......meaning they probably don't have an emotional attachment to anything to keep them from being here, or they are dead in the head.....too dumb to know better than to risk life and limb.

So there you have it - I've waxed philosophical on you today - and now you are left wondering - in relation to Dave - so - what is it? Heart or Head? Eh - I don't really believe in the 80/20 rule - and if I did - I'm clearly one of the 20% of those outliers......doesn't apply to me.

Thanks for playing....its been fun.....

Karen - I'm neither stupid - or devoid of passion for my family, friends, life and country.....I love you. This is our chance to make life altering adjustments - and you know what - that's why I don't fit this mold.

The War at Home

I'm sure that alot of you who know me and my family had to be wondering in your heart of hearts what the heck I was thinking by going off to Afghanistan - half way around the world. The initial visceral reaction is "to a war zone", to the outsider looking in. But in reality - it's the War at Home that seems to cause the most pain.

I sit here in Afghanistan, unable to offer my own "physical" help to those whom I love the most, and that is painful. But to my family at home, who struggle through every days trials and troubles, I personally think it is doubly painful. There is nothing a husband or daddy can do from where I am, other than offer my verbal, and heartfelt support, and my faith in prayer for the Lord's blessings on my family.

My wife has struggled bitterly with first the flu and now Pneumonia while I've been gone. I have alot of guilt over that, and I'm sure in addition to my own questioning of motives and thought processes, many would find my decision to be here doubly troubling knowing the condition of Karen and the boys. I love my wife, and I hate that she struggles alone in times like this.

Then there are the kids - a 15 year old teenage boy filled with the common teen angst, and a 4 year old who thinks daddy lives in the computer now. Word has it that he walks around the house making the "Skype" notification sound, and then carries on entire conversations - from both sides of the conversation with me. And Jake - the high schooler - lets just say that he and his mom are struggling to find a common language and means of supporting each other.

I haven't been here that long, and I'm hoping and praying that this is just the initial growing pains part of a deployment. Sickness has a way of bringing all the emotion, and struggle and pain that lies hidden just beneath the surface into full view.

To my lovely wife Karen - I miss you. I love you. I'm proud of everything you are doing! You are my "Hero at Home." Like the flight attendant on every flight says - "please secure your own mask before assisting those around you" - take care of yourself - and then you will be in a much better position to take care of our sons.

Jake - I love you too son, be kind to your brother. Please respect and respond to your Mother in a loving and kind way. Be true to yourself - and don't let others dictate who you are or how you should behave. Remember who you are, and from where you come. Your family comes first.

Jonah - I'll be home before you know it. I miss you. Give your mommy a kiss from me.

To everybody else who just got to play voyeur to our family for a few moments, don't for one instant take for granted those you love and those to whom you owe so much.

Signing off for now....

One week down...

Well - its been an interesting week in my life, finding me here in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Interesting place this NATO military base. It's different I find from the normal military base that I'm used too - that being a US Military base.

I ate at a British coffee shop earlier in the week, and paid a whopping $1.90 for a pastry filled with cheese and onions plus 2 cokes. Best deal I've had in years. Later that day - I ate at a French bakery and had a smoked salmon baguette.

Now, I know I've ruined the image I may have created earlier about what a hole this place is - please don't be fooled - it's still a hole - it's just our NATO partners tend to be a little bit more "european" in their approach to the basics of life support - as opposed to the Semi trailer mounted pizza hut offered up by the Americans.

Only in a place like this.....

Diesel and Dust....

I'm not talking about the award winning album by "Midnight Oil". Diesel and dust is really the only way to grasp the environment that is Kandahar Air Field (KAF).

There are 2 paved roads. Everything else - and I mean everything is dirt. There are some 20,000 soldiers from various nationalities based here - all with their equipment, gear, vehicles in a constant rumble and malaise - all on dry, dusty, dirty roads - the dust is so thick you can taste it.

There is no "power-grid" in Afghanistan - and like every other deployed military setting I've seen, the power is all "generated" by diesel generators. The smell of diesel exhaust with the thick dust and a whoosh of sewer gas is omnipresent, and seems that it becomes part of you...

I watched the sun rise on my first day in Afghanistan. It was beautiful - and surreal. If I could send an email from my cell phone - I would post the picture I took. You start to get the sense of where you are at, by the humor that the young men and women of the military use. It is rough and edgy, and sometimes cuts right to the quick.

The restrooms available to us right now are just port-a-pottys. Not hot water - so cold showers is all there is. I was sitting in one of the port a johns having my morning constitutional.....eh hem...and the graffiti on the wall in front of me said it all...in terms that only a soldier going outside the wire could fully comprehend....and I quote...

"Take your time, enjoy your S*&t, it may be the last one you take with 2 legs..." So, I did.

It's 10:30 at night. I"m tired, haven't slept much since I've been here. I'm dirty, I'm sure smelly - could use a laundry badly. I think I'll wrap it up here.

Krazy in Kandahar

Its amazing how much can happen in a few short days. This darn blog thing is hard - because at the end of the day when you are tired, the last thing you want to do is stare at the computer some more and catch this up. But I will do so tonight, and hopefully I won't forget too many of the main highlights...

So I spent my 44th birthday on October 9th in Kuwait City. Worked most of the day - and my sweet wife kept sending me emails, and pinging me on Skype to tell me happy birthday. I'm not one to advertise my birthday because I really don't like that kind of attention, but with my computer constantly pinging while working with Gen. Close, he couldn't help but notice it was my birthday. He was very cool and took me out to dinner and we had some awesome middle easter food, and then stopped by a Marble Slab Creamery for ice cream after. All in all not bad. Then when I got back to my hotel room, the hotel had left a birthday cake in the room for me.

Saturday October 10th was our deployment date from Kuwait into Kandahar. There were 82 of us adventurous souls (crazy idiots) on our charter flight from Kuwait to Kandahar. Problem with that is that 72 of those folks were of Indian, Pakistani, Nepalese, or whatever nationality, and things didn't go as smoothly as you'd like. One issue had nothing to do with nationalities - more it had to do with equipment - specifically military helmets. Our flight out of Kuwait was delayed for a few hours while DynCorp tried to locate some helmets to go with us. Seems the ones we were to take were stuck in customs, and being the weekend - couldn't be gotten out. So it took a while to track down replacements.

The problem with being late is that flying into Kandahar is a military airfield - and if you miss your landing slot - you don't land. We flew south over the Persian Gulf and landed in Muscat, Oman for refueling. It is here where the pilot told us we were not getting in to Kandahar, and we had to sit on the tarmac, on the plane for 3 hours until our landing slot opened up again. This is where the whole nationalities thing gets wacky....

Seems being stuck in a seat on an airplane not moving is not something a guy with a real bad jones for a cigarette can tolerate sometimes...and we had constant problems sitting on the tarmac with these third country nationals (TCNs) going into the bathroom and lighting up...so much so we had to post a sentry of sorts next to the lavatories to stop that $%^&. Finally after three hours we were able to get moving again toward Afghanistan, to make a night time landing at Kandahar Air Field. About 20 miles out, the Pilot turned off all the lights in and on the airplane - pitch black approach into this airfield - obviously to not become a target for any insurgent fire. It was kinda creepy - althought not much different than riding a C-130 into Baghdad - same exercize. But the charter flight is a bit more comfortible than that old C-130 for sure.

We got into Kandahar at 2200 hrs and it probably took a couple hours just to get through security and get transported to our temporary billeting area. A giant tent - probably 50 yards long and 20 yards wide - loaded wall to wall with bunk beds. Luckily - at the time we got there - nobody was in this tent. We had it all to ourselves. Note to the untraveled - It's October all over the world - and in a climate like Afghanistan - desert nights get cold. I wasn' t prepared to be cold when I got here, so I had to go searching for a long sleeve shirt.

So - here we are - middle of the night - we drop off our gear on bunk beds - then reload transports to be taken to the lay down yard to get our Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The lay down yard just happens to be situated immedately adjacent to the base wastewater lagoons. Notice I didn't say "treatment" lagoons - just lagoons. The smell of the lagoons - hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) was so bad - frankly it reminded me of being a utility director in Fort Mojave, Arizona. Desert, dust, Wastewater smell everywhere - Fort Mojave - Kandahar - no big difference - it all smells the same.

We get back to our billets - and it occurs to me - there's no bedding here....what am I sleeping in? Just about then somebody walks in with a box of sleeping bags. Whew.. Big Tent, cold weather, sleeping bags.....usually this means it's Elk hunting season. Not so much..

It's official - I'm Krazy in Kandahar.

Waking up a year older in a strange land...

I'm still in Kuwait, and it appears I will be for 1 more day before I move along to my final destination. It's been very warm here - 95-99 degrees. Back home it snowed, and the picture to the left here shows our maple tree in the back yard covered as it gets its first dusting of snow for this season.

So I've been working here in Kuwiat at what is known as DIDC - or DynCorp International Deployment Center - the entity set up to process deploying civilians working on LOGCAP IV through the military's process for being in a war zone. It's a similar process to what I went through back in Fort Worth, but is focused mainly on bringing 3rd Country Nationals or (TCNs) as they are known through and getting them moving on to the next destination. Problem is - this DIDC is not working very effectively, and we've had to have 2 of the most senior folks from DynCorp "parachute" in to see what the problems are, and how to move them forward. So yesterday I spent the majority of my day with these two gentlemen, writing mission statements, specific tasks, implied tasks, developing a risk register and mitigation plans, etc..and generally pushing people to ge this process moving.

Here's the problem - when the military says they want to turn over a "forward operating base" to us to run - that means we need to get all the staff into Afghanistan and to that base by a certain date. Right now - we need 2,000 people in AFG by the end of October - which if you do the math would indicate 100 people per day for the next 20 or so days. The most we've put into country so far is about 150 a week. There lies the challenge.

We are pulling people from India, Phillipines, the former Yugoslavian countries, Nepal, etc...Before they can even arrive in Kuwait - they need a Kuwaiti Visa - which is not an easy process. Then they must have an Afghan Visa - again a long and tedious process - and up until this point - we have not been able to collectively crack this "code" so to speak. Hopefully the attention given to this process (finally) will result in a much improved process, but up until this point in time - it's been not handled very efficiently. Folks are working hard, but almost like the cartoon character who runs in place.

This morning we will hold the first operations meeting of all the DIDC staff intended to get them moving in the right direction....we'll see how that goes.

Sometime during the day - I'll try to remember its my birthday, and get a chocolate donut or something from the Krispy Kreme in the mall here....

Birthday wishes from Home

Sorry I missed you. I am starting to crash myself and I see you are sleeping! David Can I just tell you how much I miss you! You are my everything and there is nothing I wouldn't DO for you and our FUTURE! As much as it hurts my heart to have you away I know Heavenly Father is giving YOU and Me another chance at success! The biggest difference this time is raiseing our children on my own when I am WAY past all of my shots of getting my life worthy of a man like you!

My Gratitude is overwhelming and my HEART completely DEVOVTED to YOU! I have and am learmning about my talents and abilities to BE the EVERYTHING to you and my boys I should have been years ago! I am TRULY HUMBLED by how far I have come and WE have in a VERY short amount of time! With both our B-Days HERE I Wish you and GIVE MY WORD OF HONOR, I WILL BE ALL YOU NEED FOR THIS AND THE NEXT CHAPTER OF OUR LIVES!

WE WILL LIVE AGAIN TOGETHER! I CAN NOT SAY ITS EASY BUT WITH YOU AND MY SAVIORS ATONEMENT AND HIS FATHER BY OUR SIDE, THERE IS MORE GOOD TO SEE AND FEEL IN THIS WORLD THAT GIVES ME THE STRENGTH TO MOVE FORWARD AND SERVE! I AM SO SORRY FOR THE PAIN I HAVE CAUSED AND KNOW YOU ARE THE ONLY MAN FOR ME FOR ALL ETERNITY! HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE! YOU CALL ME YOUR HERO, ONE DAY I KNOW I WILL BE WORTHY OF THAT TITLE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE! I KNOW I AM THE ONE WHO GOT LUCKY IN THIS PARTNERSHIP! WHEN WE MEET AGAIN YOU HAVE NOTHING TO BE WORRIED ABOUT! TRY TO ENJOY YOUR DAY! I KNOW I WILL AND AM SO THANKFUL FOR YOUR MOM WHO WAS WILLING TO GO ALL THE WAY MY DEAREST 7TH SON! I LOVE MY FAMILY! THANK YOU FOR PURSUING ME AND ALWAYS ENCOURAGING ME TO DO BETTER IN ALL THINGS! YOU ARE OFFICIALLALY ONE MORE YEAR OLDER TODAY! TO ME I SEE THE YOUNG GO GET'EM GUY TURNED INTO THE HUSBAND I NEEDED SO DESPERATLY! YOU ARE THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING IN ALL YOU DO! YOU ARE A WONDERFUL FATHER! WONDERFUL HUSBAND AND MOST OF ALL HUMANBEING! YOU ARE LOVED BY MANY AND MISSED BY YOUR ETERNAL COMPANION EVERY SECOND OF EVERYDAY!

GOD SPEED TO YOU AND OUYR SOLDIERS! I SAID IT EARLIER, I STAND IN AWE OF YOU! YOU ARE TEACHING ME WHAT LOVE REALLY IS! I ONLY WISH I COULD HOLD YOU TODAY AND KISS YOU! I LOVE THAT WE WERE BORN ONLY TWO YRS APART! THE LORD KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING WITH US! MY WISH FOR YOU THIS GLORIOUS DAY, COME BACK TO ME AND US WHOLE! KEEP THE GOSPEL CLOSE AND CTR!

THIS B-DAY WILL NEVER EVER BE FORGOTTEN AND I KNOW AS YOU SERVE OUR COUNTRY THIS WAS ORCHASTRATED BY GOD HIMSELF! YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING AND I WILL HONOR MY HUSBAND IN WHATEVER WAY YOU NEED ME! YOU ARE GETTING A REAL WIFE AND MOTHER AND DAUGHTER OF GOD FOR YOUR B-DAY! I CAN NOT WAIT FOR NEXT OCT.! DAVID, I LOVE YOU AND WOULD CHANGE PLACES WITH YOU IN A HEART BEAT WOULD THAT BE POSSIBLE! HAPPY, HAPPY, BIRTHDAY MY SWEET MAN! THANK YOU FOR PUSHING ME! THIS IS OUR YEAR IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD! YOUR CHILDREN ARE BETTER AND I AM BETTER AS PEOPLE BECAUSE OF YOUR EXAMPLE! FOREVER AND MORE MY LIFE IS EMPTY WITHOUT YOU IN IT!

LEARN, OBEY, AND COME HOME THE MAN I FELL IN LOVE WITH OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! NEVER FORGET I WILL WAIT JUST AS EMMA DID! THANK YOU DAVID FOR LETTING ME FEEL YOUR LOVE FROM AFAR! I HOPE YOU CAN WELL I KNOW YOU CAN FEEL THE SAME! ALL MY HEART, FOREVER THINE, FOREVER MINE, FOREVER OURS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE! YOUR WIFE HERE AND THERE, KAREN JOY ENSIGN MORTENSEN!

Filling in the Gaps

It's always interesting when I go back and read one of my post that half of what I thought would have been interesting never makes it. I suppose that's because I either get tired of writing, or I spend too much time writing about something else. At any rate, I thought I'd take a couple ticks and fill in some of the travel and arrival gaps that were left out of yesterdays post.

I flew from Denver, CO to Kuwait City yesterday with a 3 hour layover at Dulles in Washington, D.C. . It's a twelve hour flight from Dulles to KWI, but it seems 3 times that long when you are sitting in coach. I thought my back would utterly explode by the time we arrived, and I'm sure I spent a quarter of the flight standing in the aisle just to not have to sit.

When I exited the plane there was a gentleman with a sign that had my name on it as well as that of George Close, the former 2 Star General who I will be working for in Afghanistan. George is the Sr. Vice President of DynCorp, Intl. who will be running the Contract Support Office for LOGCAP in Kandahar. I will report directly to him. George was met at the airport by Captain Earl Gibbs, President and CEO of Gryphon Air, a private airline that we have contracted to charter flights into Kandahar. I must say - when you have to clear customs in a foreign country, it's nice to have someone like Mr. Gibbs along for the ride, as he pretty much can walk you straight through the airport.

Once we exited the customs area of the airport and had a chance to chat, Goerge introduced me to Mr. Gibbs, and as he tends to do every time he introduces me, he tosses into the introduction that I am LDS - in a playful and half jab kind of way. And for the second time in as many weeks, the response from the person I was introduced to was....."Oh - Me too!..." which gave me the chance to jab back at George, and tell him we had him surrounded...

We were driven to our hotel in Kuwait City, and later that evening I decided to go out and find something to eat.....As I waited for the elevator, there were 3 gentlemen from a 3rd country, probably the Phillipines or Nepal (I wasn't looking closely) plus 2 gentlement, clearly arabic, in traditional dress with Dish-dash and Kefeya. When the elevator arrived, I boarded the elevator of the hotel, along with 2 arabe gentlemen, however the 3 other gentlemen stayed off. I've been to the middle east several times, I'm familiar with the culture, language, customs, etc....but I was struck by the actions of one of these gentlemen on the elevator, as he made a very large show of turning around right next to me, and facing the mirrored wall of the elevator, and adjusting his head dress, or kefeya, and flinging the cloth around his head to get it jsut right - several times - brushing against my face as he did so. I don't know, but I suspect it was his way of looking down his nose so to speak at the infidel who dared get on the same elevator and didn't show the same deference as the other gentlemen who didn't board the elevator.

My roomate - as it were, banished himself to the bedroom of the 1 room suite, so not to bother me with his smoking, however, I had to open the window of the hotel to get air in, as it still filled the room with smoke.

I was able to spend a good bit of time speaking with Karen and the boys on Skype today. That was a real joy. Thank heaven for this technology, as it really helps with being away.

There is a mall attached to the hotel, so as you exit the hotel, into the mall, you can shop, eat, etc. I was struck as I rounded the first corner and saw a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in a mall in Kuwait City. No - I didn't get any - but I did have dinner at "Johnny Rockets' in the same mall. Go figure - Park Meadows Mall in Denver or Al Manshar Mall in Kuwait City - Johnny Rockets can take care of you.

Next stop....Kuwait

So the day finally arrived to leave the United States or "CONUS" as it is referred to in Military speak - (Continental United States) and take the first leap to Afghanistan by flying to Kuwait. But let me back up a week, and let you know how that went.

When I finally got the OK to move from Fort Worth to Afghanistan, I asked permission to fly home to Denver for a few days to see my family before leaving. Permission was granted, and so last Wenesday - September 3oth, I flew home to Denver. My arrival was met with some excitement, coupled with trepidation because of the whole notion of saying goodbye for a 3rd time in a month and a half.

The kicker is, both Jake and Karen were sick - with flu like symptoms......maybe H1N1......and according to the local news - 98% of flu cases diagnosed in Colorado thus far this year are H1N1. So - Jonah and I did our best to wash hands stay away as much as possible...which it isnt.

Thursday morning - Jonah woke up complaining of all the same symptoms - mainly - his eyes hurt - which sent red flags up everywhere. So I got Jake and Jonah both to the doctor on Thursday - and sure enough - tested positive for flu - Type A - the Doctor wouldn't say if it was H1N1 - only that H1N1 is a Type A flu. I think that was his code for - of course you've got it, silly boys. So - Jonah - since we caught it within the first 12 hours was placed on Tamiflu and is doing awesome. Jake - since he had symptoms for several days - too late for Tamiflu - ride it out - lungs sound good.

Friday Morning - Karen still sick - sounding worse. Call Doctor - get appointment. Diagnosis - Pneumonia - most likely from the - you got it - flu. Since Pnuemonia is what typically kills folks when they have flu - we take this very serious and get her on meds immediately.

I'm supposed to leave to Kuwait on Saturday - but this is clearly not a good idea - so I re-schedule my departure for Monday - so that Karen has 3 days of anti-biotics under her belt, and the boys are much better. Whew - what a ride. Now - I'm still not comfortible with the decision to go ahead and leave on Monday - nevertheless, that's the decision we made.

So - here I sit - in a Kuwait City Hotel, sharing a room with a nice gentleman - who happens to smoke like a freight train. Squatters rights - he was here first, and I don't have any other options....I checked...

Here's to hoping the last leg of this journey gets under way fast.