More Pictures

Pictures from the first snow fall of the winter and recent trip. These are a few friends who posed for me in while it was snowing. The other three are from the FOB I visited. One picture of the local village has a shepherd with his flock in the foreground. Not much grass, though. Notice the walls and the "compounds" that dot the country-side. I love the mountains here!

New Week, New Travels

Dec 14, 09
I've noticed recently the date I type in does not match the date Blogger has officially listed. They seem to be a day behind. Well anyway, it's Monday morning, and we just returned from another trip to check on our Soldiers who are out and about. It's getting cold here (and so I'm wearing the black ski-mask my mom knit for me!), and the mountains are spectacular covered in white. We went to a FOB (forward operating base) south of my home base and enjoyed some local hospitality. We ate at a local restaurant (located on the FOB) and went shopping at some of the stores owned by local nationals. Kind of like going to the Bizaar all over again, but somewhat better (although not much). Most of the stuff you can buy is junk, including pirated movies. Thet's big over here. Someone sits in the back of a theater in China or Russia with a video camera and films a brand new movie, and then they copy it over and over again and sell it for $2 over here. Many service men and women buy that junk all the time -- but it's illegal to ship it home. So why bother? But it's big business to the militray on deployment.

I tried to get a few pictures from the helicopter ride looking down on the landscape passing by. I'll try to upload a shot of a village with the square "compound" looking buildings. They are all over the country-side. I'm not sure why, but maybe it's kind of like our backyard block walls and fences. In that regards, we're all kind of similar, no matter where you live. We build walls around our stuff to protect it, our families, and keep others out.

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well back home, as I miss you all. Things here are good. You kind of get into a routine on deployment. They call it Groundhog Day , after the movie with Bill Murray (because every day starts to feel like the last and the next). Rent the movie sometime, it's funny.

Did I mention that my wife sent me 12 presents to be opened on the 12 days leading up to Christmas? The very first one I opened was a wonderful framed picture of her and the girls that they had done professionally at our church. I love it. So I put it on my shelf and look at them every day. Thanks honey. I love you.

Night time on the computer

It is Tues 8 Dec. 09,

And I wanted to test my wireless abilities this morning from the shop that sets up our internet capabilities. I thought I was still having trouble, so I brought my computer up here and they "fixed" it. We'll see. So I decided to upload another picture to see if they truly did fix the problem.

The picture is of me sitting on my bed at night doing exactly what I'm doing now: emailing or blogging (or some times watching a movie). It's kind of cozy in my shack, so this is often how I spend my late evenings before going to sleep. See ya later.

Christmas packages

Tues. 8 Dec 09

It has been a busy and interesting week since I last blogged. I had some internet trouble, but that seems to have been resolved. I have received many wonderful care packages from friends and family back home, including gifts from my kids and lights from my mom. I have decorated my little shack with the lights already, and it feels a little bit more like Christmas. So thank you.

Not too much new to tell you. However, I did notice an interesting woman in the gym the other day. I say notice her because she was wearing shorts and had tatoos on both of her knee caps. That was probably pretty painful! Anyway, it's cold here, and no one wears shorts! So I suspect she wants you to see her knees. I saw that she was lifting weights and doing one of the same exercises I was doing. But then it hit me... she was lifting the exact same weight as I was on that exercise!! Boy was I embarrassed. So I decided to show her up. I was not going to be beaten by a knee-tatooed Air Force woman... so I added 5 pounds to my bar! (Yes sir, that showed her up for sure!)

My kids sent me a wonderful picture of a Christmas tree, which I immediately put up in the office. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

One Month Down

3 Dec 09
It's official. We've been here in country over 30 days now, which means we qualify for a combat patch on our right shoulder. I understand this tradition may go back to Gen. George Washington, but we know for sure it has been utilized since WWI. Over here we fall under the leadership of the 82nd Airborne Division, so we are authorized to wear their patch, the "AA". There are many jokes around regarding what "AA" stands for, as you can imagine. Officially it means All American, but some say it means Almost Airborne. Oh well. It's a pretty big deal in the militray to have one of these, so I'll wear it with pride. For example, my Colonel worked 24 years before she got her patch, so it is kind of a career maker (or in her case, icing on the cake).

I also recently got to meet the top General in the entire Army Reserves recently. 3-star General Stultz. He came and addressed us last week and then posed for a photo-op. Pretty cool, huh?

And now that December is upon us... we have a new office and a new Christmas tree. Our company Commander's husband sent us a "live" tree, so we put it up two days ago and then had a party in our new and larger office (see photo. The little tree seen here is not the live one). It was fun. Other than that, all is well. We're into a groove now and the Units are operating smoothly. I am busy with helping out at two different protestant worship services here on base, which is keeping me busy. In fact, I preach at one of them this Sunday night! Keep me in your prayers.