I am now in Kuwaitt. Compleatly done with the mission, now all there is is reintergratoins classes. While I question the real need for this in my own life, I can reconize that it is neccisary for the force as a whole. In any case I am just thrilled to be here.
My wife, who is amazing, has moved down to texas awating my return. She has an apartment, while sparcely furnished it is still a place to be us. I thought we were going to be living in a one bedroom hotel until I moved but she found an apartment. Praise the lord.
Today has been the best day, because today was gear turn in. All that weight that has been lugged accross the globe is no longer mine. The best is the rifle, no longer having to carry that thing from chow, to work, to the stor. I Feel Free, if not like I have forgotten something from time to time.
Well I will be seeing you all sometime in the months to come. Christina has a better idea of when and how.
10/18/08
10/7/08
I’m a hypochondriac, and so am I
The doctor look perplexed at me. Can’t say I blame him, I was distraught over clean test returns. Nothing is wrong with me.
I have been having something going on, I’ll call it a “fluttering” because I have don’t know the medical vernacular. It has been around for about a week, but I am stubborn about going to the doctor for just this reason. However the other night I was wakened buy it. SO I go in.
They ran a test, it was a lot of fun, it was like looking for a machine we haven’t used yet and “trying it out”. Mostly they tried everything because they were finding nothing.
In the end I was told I am healthy, oh good. Now, I do not want to be sick, but I don’t want to be crazy either. The Doc, suggested that it might be stress. Eh; I think the stress thing is something that Doctors say when they don’t know, but they don’t want to call you crazy.
9/25/08
Tick Tock Tick T o c k
Time travel Is possible.
That statement is true. Most will say I have lost my mind, until I add that time travel is not optional. Then some will see how I mean.
So we are all time travelers. We are just stuck in Foward, there are no U-turns. But it does not always move at the same speed all the time.
Like when you are about to plow into another car and suddenly you can take inventory of every detail in a split second of chaos, or when you are in love and it seems like the last twenty minutes were days, or the last days were minutes.
Or like when you are in Iraq and you are almost done with your tour. You cant explain it but it seems like some one is stealing the little Xs you are collecting on the callender every day. Because no matter how many days go by it does not seem any closer!
That statement is true. Most will say I have lost my mind, until I add that time travel is not optional. Then some will see how I mean.
So we are all time travelers. We are just stuck in Foward, there are no U-turns. But it does not always move at the same speed all the time.
Like when you are about to plow into another car and suddenly you can take inventory of every detail in a split second of chaos, or when you are in love and it seems like the last twenty minutes were days, or the last days were minutes.
Or like when you are in Iraq and you are almost done with your tour. You cant explain it but it seems like some one is stealing the little Xs you are collecting on the callender every day. Because no matter how many days go by it does not seem any closer!
9/16/08
To all who have wondered.......
I am still alive. I am well.
If you follow my wifes Blog you will know that I had a breif R&R. That was nice and needed. The only draw back is that it took me a while to recover. It is hard to get back into things here after visiting "Home".
That was a while ago, there is not much else to say. I will try to think of more and write more often.
If you follow my wifes Blog you will know that I had a breif R&R. That was nice and needed. The only draw back is that it took me a while to recover. It is hard to get back into things here after visiting "Home".
That was a while ago, there is not much else to say. I will try to think of more and write more often.
5/8/08
Daddys girl
Anyone who sits and talks to me is sure to get a rundown of my family. I am proud and I brag about it a lot.
I have been thinking about my Daughter lately. I don’t think she knows her name is just Hope. We all call her Hopie, most of the time. She tells me she is a baby princess. She misses daddy playing doll houses and having tea parties. I am blessed that she says that. It is a token of a small measure of success on my part. You see, while it my be surprising, playing doll house, or Tea party is not the first thing I think about when I think of a Saturday. However it makes her so happy that I enjoy doing it, I am blessed to see that I have made that right decision enough that she remembers that daddy does that with her.
We only have a limited amount of time with our children (a fact that deployed daddy’s know painfully well). I could be the scariest man, refuse to let her date, and clean my gun when the boy comes to pick her up. I could do all the clichés and still the boys will come. Ok I am ahead of myself. I have made a deal with my little girl I told her that daddy would give her money if she stayed with me forever. While she agreed I don’t think that negotiations with three year olds are really binding. So the point is one day she will leave me. I hope and pray that when that day comes I will have played as much doll house and drank as much tea as I could. Not only for my own reflection, but I want to set the bar very high for that boy.
Catching up now: I think that all the Stereotypical Scary dad things are men coming to grips with this pending separation. I fear that day, I really do but I am not a very tough guy, and I don’t have a lot of guns, I may not be able to scare away a boy without pushing her away too. So I have to set the bar as high as possible, so that when she chooses, she will choose well. I just hope I can get it right during the opportunity I have
I am convinced that this line of thinking is not as premature as it may seem, but essential. I can see down a path lit by history well enough.
By the way Ladies Call your Daddy’s they miss you.
I have been thinking about my Daughter lately. I don’t think she knows her name is just Hope. We all call her Hopie, most of the time. She tells me she is a baby princess. She misses daddy playing doll houses and having tea parties. I am blessed that she says that. It is a token of a small measure of success on my part. You see, while it my be surprising, playing doll house, or Tea party is not the first thing I think about when I think of a Saturday. However it makes her so happy that I enjoy doing it, I am blessed to see that I have made that right decision enough that she remembers that daddy does that with her.
We only have a limited amount of time with our children (a fact that deployed daddy’s know painfully well). I could be the scariest man, refuse to let her date, and clean my gun when the boy comes to pick her up. I could do all the clichés and still the boys will come. Ok I am ahead of myself. I have made a deal with my little girl I told her that daddy would give her money if she stayed with me forever. While she agreed I don’t think that negotiations with three year olds are really binding. So the point is one day she will leave me. I hope and pray that when that day comes I will have played as much doll house and drank as much tea as I could. Not only for my own reflection, but I want to set the bar very high for that boy.
Catching up now: I think that all the Stereotypical Scary dad things are men coming to grips with this pending separation. I fear that day, I really do but I am not a very tough guy, and I don’t have a lot of guns, I may not be able to scare away a boy without pushing her away too. So I have to set the bar as high as possible, so that when she chooses, she will choose well. I just hope I can get it right during the opportunity I have
I am convinced that this line of thinking is not as premature as it may seem, but essential. I can see down a path lit by history well enough.
By the way Ladies Call your Daddy’s they miss you.
Thoughts become Sermon
Poor imitations
Humans are imitators by nature. For better or worse we take one the characteristics of people we are around. If I point at someone I use my whole hand, vice just a finger, a trait I picked up from a guy named Kirk. If I can’t understand what you said I will ask “your what hurts?” a humorous response one of my chiefs used to say. Many more, many we will not write here because they are less than pretty, or PG. As I think about this it seems to me that all my habits ticks and personality are reflections of people I have been exposed in the past.
I have been aware of this for quite a long time, as it relates to the Navy. Long ago I was told that people who concentrate on not being like someone usually end up being just like them, Probably because they spend so much concentration on that person they end up imitating them. I have developed a theory about conscious imitation. I recognized that many of the people I was looking up to did not share my goals, and so I had to alter my way of looking at would be mentors. I now tell my subordinates that you can take something good from just about anyone, if you are looking, and you can pick up bad habits form the most squared away Sailor.
Applying this template of thoughts to a broader scene and I have some interesting hypothesis. First everyone has been in some way exposed to the source, God. This is why we all have a basic common instinct of morality, that spans all faiths, and cultures. This concurrent instinct that can hardly be fully explained by biological or anatomical rational.
Getting more and more like a sermon: What went wrong? For instance why would a teenage girl intentionally get pregnant, and say I just wanted someone to love me. The rest of the Rational minded people say “what were you thinking?” This makes more sense if you believe that God created humans from the beginning for his enjoyment, that we were designed to love and adore him. If you believe that we are infect created in his image. What if she is acting on some latent instinct picked up from the creator, from the beginning. Before I get tarred for sacrilege, understand that I am not employing that she has picked up a bad habit, from God. Instead I think she is confused and engaging in unintentional or incomplete imitation. I am not sure how broad this theory, and it is that a theory can be applied.
Full on sermon: Perhaps that is another way to look at discipleship is “intentional imitation”. Not just doing what he did. But striving for the why, the heart behind it. I will pick up more habits from those who I spend time with, it is my nature. The trick is to consciously imitate my mortal heroes not to judge them but to be aware of what I is I am picking up. And to consciously imitate the creator so we can get it as close to imitation this side of eternity.
Humans are imitators by nature. For better or worse we take one the characteristics of people we are around. If I point at someone I use my whole hand, vice just a finger, a trait I picked up from a guy named Kirk. If I can’t understand what you said I will ask “your what hurts?” a humorous response one of my chiefs used to say. Many more, many we will not write here because they are less than pretty, or PG. As I think about this it seems to me that all my habits ticks and personality are reflections of people I have been exposed in the past.
I have been aware of this for quite a long time, as it relates to the Navy. Long ago I was told that people who concentrate on not being like someone usually end up being just like them, Probably because they spend so much concentration on that person they end up imitating them. I have developed a theory about conscious imitation. I recognized that many of the people I was looking up to did not share my goals, and so I had to alter my way of looking at would be mentors. I now tell my subordinates that you can take something good from just about anyone, if you are looking, and you can pick up bad habits form the most squared away Sailor.
Applying this template of thoughts to a broader scene and I have some interesting hypothesis. First everyone has been in some way exposed to the source, God. This is why we all have a basic common instinct of morality, that spans all faiths, and cultures. This concurrent instinct that can hardly be fully explained by biological or anatomical rational.
Getting more and more like a sermon: What went wrong? For instance why would a teenage girl intentionally get pregnant, and say I just wanted someone to love me. The rest of the Rational minded people say “what were you thinking?” This makes more sense if you believe that God created humans from the beginning for his enjoyment, that we were designed to love and adore him. If you believe that we are infect created in his image. What if she is acting on some latent instinct picked up from the creator, from the beginning. Before I get tarred for sacrilege, understand that I am not employing that she has picked up a bad habit, from God. Instead I think she is confused and engaging in unintentional or incomplete imitation. I am not sure how broad this theory, and it is that a theory can be applied.
Full on sermon: Perhaps that is another way to look at discipleship is “intentional imitation”. Not just doing what he did. But striving for the why, the heart behind it. I will pick up more habits from those who I spend time with, it is my nature. The trick is to consciously imitate my mortal heroes not to judge them but to be aware of what I is I am picking up. And to consciously imitate the creator so we can get it as close to imitation this side of eternity.
5/6/08
Yes I am eating.
Warning
Rant ahead.
When we were kids we used to play telephone. You get in line and whisper "the cat is black", by the time it got to the other end it was "Scratch my back". During this game there was usually that one kid who would take it to the extrema making the out come completely off base.
Now that I am grown I see that we still play that game. That kids name is CNN. If you watch the Combat News Network you may have seen that Here in sunny Camp Bucca we are not getting any food. Now before I take that kids place let me be honest and say I have not seen the report. I have however seen the ripples it has caused.
Normally, I refrain from saying anything about day to day operations. I suppose, however, it being all over the airways I can do little more harm, by correcting it.
Here is what happened: The galley changed its hours to 24/7 so that everyone had a chance to go get a meal at any time. Therefore they decided it was not necessary to deliver food to the compound as often as members could go and get a meal on there off hours. While this was inconvenient and unpopular, and being addressed by proper channels. Now, Watching M*A*S*H is enough military experience to know that some times "Proper Channels" are a bit slow. So someone Whines to there family who calls, there Friend, who calls there second cousin twice removed, and he called this homeless guy named frank, Well frank knows someone at CNN, and/or a politician. The point is now our Boss (the American Public) is in an outcry. CNNs need for a story is just less than the politicians need for that "I support the troops" spin.
In the end My Dad asks me if I am getting enough to eat. Sad.
The real bummer is now there are more resources being directed to "fix" this Inflated political hot button. What do you think that does to "proper channels".
4/8/08
Pictures
For many reasons I cannot write much about what we do at work, much less post pictures. So instead I will say a bit about when I am not at work.
Technically it is true we do not have Days off here. In fact we dont even refer to them as such they are called Maintenance days, and they do not come regualarly like weekends. They are intended to allow one to get all those essential things done that have been put aside for lesser task, such as sleep. We work thirteen hour days, and sometimes laundry piles up. That does not however keep us from relaxing, that in itself is maitanace.
It is hard to sleep late, first because there is a bustle in the tent from all those who are going to work. Second your body is hardwired to get up, and third because there is only a small window that the lights will be on so you have to capitalize on it, to do things like clean the rifle, iron, and look for the stuff you lost during the night. AKA my alarm Clock, flashlight, magazine, ect.
After Shaving and such (that is across the way). I'll gather my laundry and take it to the KBR Facility. (subsidiary of Haliburten). After dropping it off I go to the "Town" Shown here. We have a Pizza Hut, Subway, and Burger king, as well as an AFEES and other "Hadji Shops. Also there is a great coffee shop called Green Beans that makes Starbucks look horrible.
Haji shops are shops set up by locals on base to sell various nick-knacks. The most popular buys here are Cuban cigars and Movies. Also lots of stuff made of Jade from Pakistan.
The most popular (and most crowded) place is the Computer center which is where I am now.
I have also ran out of time loading these pictures so......
Technically it is true we do not have Days off here. In fact we dont even refer to them as such they are called Maintenance days, and they do not come regualarly like weekends. They are intended to allow one to get all those essential things done that have been put aside for lesser task, such as sleep. We work thirteen hour days, and sometimes laundry piles up. That does not however keep us from relaxing, that in itself is maitanace.
It is hard to sleep late, first because there is a bustle in the tent from all those who are going to work. Second your body is hardwired to get up, and third because there is only a small window that the lights will be on so you have to capitalize on it, to do things like clean the rifle, iron, and look for the stuff you lost during the night. AKA my alarm Clock, flashlight, magazine, ect.
After Shaving and such (that is across the way). I'll gather my laundry and take it to the KBR Facility. (subsidiary of Haliburten). After dropping it off I go to the "Town" Shown here. We have a Pizza Hut, Subway, and Burger king, as well as an AFEES and other "Hadji Shops. Also there is a great coffee shop called Green Beans that makes Starbucks look horrible.
Haji shops are shops set up by locals on base to sell various nick-knacks. The most popular buys here are Cuban cigars and Movies. Also lots of stuff made of Jade from Pakistan.
The most popular (and most crowded) place is the Computer center which is where I am now.
I have also ran out of time loading these pictures so......
4/4/08
Am I really takeing this fly personally?
So your sitting on your porch, in your living room trying to relax or do paperwork, but the flies will not leave you alone. Seriously they are starting to drive you mad. Finally you get up and tear the place apart until you find a Fly swatter. You return to your former position at the ready.
But no fly comes. Do they know what awaits the next pest? Surely they cannot think logically? They they must be taunting me.
What is interesting to me is the unnoticed change in my goals. I am furious that none of the impious little pest will come. Ten minutes earlier I would be happy if thy would leave me alone. If there was something I could have held in my hand that would deter them I would have been happy. But now I am angry and they must be terminated.
But no fly comes. Do they know what awaits the next pest? Surely they cannot think logically? They they must be taunting me.
What is interesting to me is the unnoticed change in my goals. I am furious that none of the impious little pest will come. Ten minutes earlier I would be happy if thy would leave me alone. If there was something I could have held in my hand that would deter them I would have been happy. But now I am angry and they must be terminated.
3/31/08
This is my first day off in a long time. I am a lot like a kid at Disney land I don't know what I want to do next but I want to do it all. The conundrum is that: one of the things I want to do is relax, can you really stress about relaxing.
I have been reading your blogs, myspaces, and TWS today, catching up on some digital stalking. I am happy to see you all seem to be doing well. I am amused that two of you have the same picture on your blog. It is nice to see our kids playing together.
I am also well. It is getting warm here and the pest are starting to stir. It seems the fly is the national bird of Iraq.
we are Working long hours, long weeks, time is starting to move finally. The work here is not really my cup of tea, but that is the great thing about this kind of assignment it is TEMPORARY. In the interim it is an experience with lessons ill likely not forget.
any way I'm late for doing nothing.
I have been reading your blogs, myspaces, and TWS today, catching up on some digital stalking. I am happy to see you all seem to be doing well. I am amused that two of you have the same picture on your blog. It is nice to see our kids playing together.
I am also well. It is getting warm here and the pest are starting to stir. It seems the fly is the national bird of Iraq.
we are Working long hours, long weeks, time is starting to move finally. The work here is not really my cup of tea, but that is the great thing about this kind of assignment it is TEMPORARY. In the interim it is an experience with lessons ill likely not forget.
any way I'm late for doing nothing.
3/29/08
3/23/08
Must.... Not....Say...."Yall"
So I have deployed half way across the globe to work along side Oklahomans. Yes, Thousands of sooner loving, Oklahomans right here in Iraq. It seems that the Oklahoma Army national guard has activated most of there units and they are working right here in Bucca. Literally every third person I see has the Thunder bird on there shoulder. I am starting to wonder if there anyone left back home at all.
I even found a guy from Ripley, Stranger still is that I did not know said guy from Ripley. So it makes for interesting conversation, many people have gone to school at OSU, or at least eaten at Eskimo Joe's. Everyone sounds like they just stepped out of the walmart back home, if I am not careful I may pick up the accent. "Must...not... say... 'yall"'
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