Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Kabul. Christmas here is pretty much like any other day, cold and smoky. We have not had any snow yet, evidentially, that comes later in January. We did have a slow workday today and the bad guys cooperated to give us a quiet holiday. The best part of the holiday season this year is I will go into the 20s for days left on Saturday and should be able to get out of Kabul for a few days. The picture is of our holiday gift exchange we did on Christmas Eve in the “Burkah” Room. We had a British guy dressed as Santa and an Army Sergeant dressed as an Elf to hand out presents from our Secret Santa thing. I got a nice knife and since I had an Australian girl who we always tease about wanting to marry an American, I gave her a Kuala bear dressed in desert camouflage with an American flag on his shoulder. It was nice and a whole lot of gag gifts were given including a couple of Karzai robes, and Mosque alarm clocks. If I had to spend Christmas in the middle of an Islamic dust bowl, at least I have some good people here at work to spend it with.

Since I probably will not be here for New Years this post will serve as my overall holiday blog post. I will be back shortly after the new year and will post pictures etc for my trip to the Polish Forward Operating Base (FOB) with my old roommate who is a Polish Major. It should be a good trip and I am looking forward to seeing more of the country for a few days and I will get to ride in a Polish (Russian) helicopter!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a wonderful new year!!

Two weeks closer to home

Well another couple of weeks have gone by and things are still quiet here. After almost no rain for the first four months in Afghanistan, it has been raining non-stop for the past couple of days. It has gotten colder here and is supposed to get down to single digits Fahrenheit this weekend. Things in Kabul are quiet although we are still kept busy by the bad guys in the rest of the country.
I am now down to almost five weeks here followed by more than two weeks to get home after that. It has been an interesting tour to say the least.
Christmas in Afghanistan is quite different. There are a couple of lights up around the base and we are hoping to have a quiet Christmas this week. I will be going on a trip to visit a Polish PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) in a couple of weeks and am looking forward to seeing more of the country and getting beyond the walls here for a few days.
Nothing more to say now, I will try to blog again on Christmas.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Believe it or not, another new post

Again, it has been a long time since I have written. I could go through all the usual excuses, but it really comes down to internet problems…Since my last post, not a whole lot has changed. I am still here in beautiful downtown Kabul and still working for a living. Thanksgiving has passed and we were treated to a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner with Turkey, potato cake type things, gravy, and ham. We did get real collard greens though which made the whole meal! A very small group of people did try to ruin our Thanksgiving, but only made some more work for us and ruined the day for some of their fellow countrymen instead. We have been busy here but as winter descends upon the country, we are hoping thing will quiet down a bit!!

Tonight is the Army/Navy game and there has been some level of rivalry amongst the large population from both groups. We all know however that Navy will be destroying Army 45-3. Speaking of sports, the schizophrenic Denver Broncos are at the top in the AFC West and will hopefully wrap up the division this week or next. I am kind of surprised, but am hopeful they can pull things together and finish the season with double digit wins and the division!

Christmas is a little over two weeks away and my time here in paradise will be over shortly thereafter! I would like to thank everyone for the support I have received during my time here! This has been a very interesting experience and it really makes me think how spoiled we all are. This country has been in the midst of war for the better part of 1200 years and if you have not had a chance to look at www.quqnoos.com yet, I highly recommend looking at it and seeing how people live here!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

O.K. I’m going to give this a try. I will write my article while I have a couple of minutes at work and then e-mail it and cut and paste into the blog page.

Well, another 10 days has passed since my last posting and not much has changed. We are getting a whole lot of people here so hopefully I will be able to get some time off and write more once they all get up to speed. My birth day was uneventful with a normal work day and nothing else. I did go over my last half way mark on Monday with 80 days since arriving at ISAF and 80 days left to go. As everyone says here, the days go by slow, but the weeks go by fast! I now have just over 10 weeks until I leave Afghanistan and less than 13 weeks until I get home!! As for any Christmas items, the recommended last day for parcel post and letters is 21 November and priority is 5 Dec to ensure stuff gets here before Christmas. The last day for overall shipping of anything to me should be 31 December for parcel post and letters and 10 January for Priority, after that, I may be gone before it gets here. After I leave, if you want to send something to be given out to the Afghans (clothes, shoes, postcards, school supplies, etc) you can send it to:

Charles Potter
US NSE / JIOC-A / ISAF HQ
APO AE 09356

By the way, before I leave, my address is the same as above with my name instead of Chucks.

I will also try to include in this posting a picture of our mustache growing contest. I tied for first with another guy here, but since everyone had already decided to donate the winnings to charity, it really did not matter who won. My mustache was gone within about 5 minutes of the photo being taken and I was very glad to be rid of it!!

I will try to write more often if this cut and paste thing works. Love to all!

It has been a while..

Sorry it has been a couple of weeks since I wrote, but things have been really busy. As I said in my last post, I lost most of my team and most of what is left is very junior and still learning. Since Friday is usually a short day (ie 12 hours) and we only have one product due, I thought I would take my first day off in the last 110 days since I left Florida (only 99 days left!!!) and that gives me some time to write in my blog.

Things have been busy here and there are a whole lot of changes going on. We should be getting new people shortly, but I am not sure how many I will have or where we will put them. As for the weather here in Kabul, it is starting to get cold with lows in the 30s-40s and highs in the 60s. Still we have only had one rain storm since I got here which I understand if out of the ordinary for October-November. There is snow on the mountain tops around us, just not a whole lot yet. The food is actually getting better here and they started carrying real salad dressing including Ranch and Blue cheese! Thanks to those of you who sent me some it really helped tide me over! The best thing I can think to ask for is left over Halloween candy or other loose candy (fun size candy bars, misc halloween type candy, etc) since that is easier to share with everyone in the office. We recently learned that the Afghans do not appreciate us giving the kids candy because it makes their parents feel inadequate because they cannot supply it (seriously). As for the postcards and school supplies, these are always appreciated!!! Thanks to everyone for all of their support!!

If you would like to know what is going on in Afghanistan, please look at this website: www.quqoons.com It is a good source for local news and opinion from here and is interesting to see what the Afghans are thinking.

Since there is really not much else going on here, I will leave you with a couple of items I recently came across...

I was recently sent this quiz from a friend here to determine if you are a Taliban:

1. You refine heroine for a living, but you have a moral objection to beer
2. You own a $3000 machine gun and $5000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.
3. You have more wives than teeth.
4. You wipe your butt with your bare left hand, but consider bacon "unclean."
5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.
6. You can't think of anyone you HAVEN'T declared Jihad against.
7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in you clothing.
8. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.
9. You've often uttered the phrase, "I love what you've done with your cave."
10. You have nothing against women and think every man should own at least one.
11. You bathe at least monthly whether necessary or not.
12. You've ever had a crush on your neighbor's goat.

I also received a list of 213 dos and donts written by an Army guy named Skippy while he was stationed in the Balkins in 2001. They may have been nice to distribute to the Navy guys in NArmy training:

1. Not allowed to watch Southpark when I'm supposed to be working.
2. My proper military title is 'Specialist Schwarz' not 'Princess Anastasia'.
3. Not allowed to threaten anyone with black magic.
4. Not allowed to challenge anyone's disbelief of black magic by asking for hair.
5. Not allowed to get silicone breast implants.
6. Not allowed to play 'Pulp Fiction' with a suction-cup dart pistol and any officer.
7. Not allowed to add 'In accordance with the prophesy' to the end of answers I give to a question an officer asks me.
8. Not allowed to add pictures of officers I don't like to War Criminal posters.
9. Not allowed to title any product 'Get Over it'.
10. Not allowed to purchase anyone's soul on Government time.
11. Not allowed to join the communist party.
12. Not allowed to join any militia.
13. Not allowed to form any militia.
14. Not allowed out of my office when the president visited Sarajevo.
15. Not allowed to train adopted stray dogs to 'Sic Brass!'
16. Must get a haircut even if it tampers with my 'Sampson like powers'.
17. God may not contradict any of my orders.
18. May no longer perform my now (in)famous 'Barbie Girl Dance' while on duty.
19. May not call any officers immoral, untrustworthy, lying, slime, even if I'm right.
20. Must not taunt the French any more.
21. Must attempt to not antagonize SAS.
22. Must never call an SAS a 'Wanker'.
23. Must never ask anyone who outranks me if they've been smoking crack.
24. Must not tell any officer that I am smarter than they are, especially if it's true.
25. Never confuse a Dutch soldier for a French one.
26. Never tell a German soldier that 'We kicked your ass in World War 2!'
27. Don't tell Princess Di jokes in front of the paras (British Airborne).
28. Don't take the batteries out of the other soldiers alarm clocks (Even if they do hit snooze about forty times).
29. The Irish MPs are not after 'Me frosted lucky charms'.
30. Not allowed to wake an Non-Commissioned Officer by repeatedly banging on the head with a bag of trash.
31. Not allowed to let sock puppets take responsibility for any of myactions.
32. Not allowed to let sock puppets take command of my post.
33. Not allowed to chew gum at formation, unless I brought enough for everybody.
34. (Next day) Not allowed to chew gum at formation even if I *did* bring enough for everybody.
35. Not allowed to sing 'High Speed Dirt' by Megadeth during airborne operations. ('See the earth below/Soon to make a crater/Blue sky, black death, I'm off to meet my maker')
36. Can't have flashbacks to wars I was not in. (The Spanish-American War isn't over).
37. Our medic is called 'Sgt Larwasa', not 'Dr. Feelgood'.
38. Our supply Sgt is 'Sgt Watkins' not 'Sugar Daddy'.
39. Not allowed to ask for the day off due to religious purposes, on the basis that the world is going to end, more than once.
40. I do not have super-powers.
41. 'Keep on Trucking' is *not* a psychological warfare message.
42. Not allowed to attempt to appeal to mankind's baser instincts in recruitment posters.
43. Camouflage body paint is not a uniform.
44. I am not the atheist chaplain.
45. I am not allowed to 'Go to Bragg boulevard and shake daddies little money maker for twenties stuffed into my undies'.
46. I am not authorized to fire officers.
47. I am not a citizen of Texas, and those other, forty-nine, lesser states.
48. I may not use public masturbation as a tool to demonstrate a flaw in a command decision.
49. Not allowed to trade military equipment for 'magic beans'.
50. Not allowed to sell magic beans during duty hours.
51. Not allowed to quote 'Dr Seuss' on military operations.
52. Not allowed to yell 'Take that Cobra' at the rifle range.
53. Not allowed to quote 'Full Metal Jacket ' at the rifle range.
54. 'Napalm sticks to kids' is *not* a motivational phrase.
55. An order to 'Put Kiwi on my boots' does *not* involve fruit.
56. An order to 'Make my Boots black and shiny' does not involve electrical tape.
57. The proper response to a lawful order is not 'Why?'
58. The following words and phrases may not be used in a cadence-
Budding sexuality, necrophilia, I hate everyone in this formation and wish they were dead, sexual lubrication, black earth mother, all Marines are latent homosexuals, Tantric yoga, Gotterdammerung, Korean hooker, Eskimo Nell, we've all got jackboots now, slut puppy, or any references to squid.
59. May not make posters depicting the leadership failings of my chain of command.
60. 'The Giant Space Ants' are not at the top of my chain of command.
61. If one soldier has a 2nd Lt bar on his uniform, and I have an E-4 on mine It means he outranks me. It does not mean 'I have been promoted three more times than you'.
62. It is better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission, no longer applies to Specialist Schwarz.
63. Command decisions do *not* need to be ratified by a 2/3 majority.
64. Inflatable novelties do *not* entitle me to BAQ or Separation pay.
65. There are no evil clowns living under my bed.
66. There is no 'Anti-Mime' campaign in Bosnia.
67. I am not the Psychological Warfare Mascot.
68. I may not line my helmet with tin foil to 'Block out the space mind control lasers'.
69. May not pretend to be a facist stormtrooper, while on duty.
70. I am not authorized to prescribe any form of medication.
71. I must not flaunt my deviances in front of my chain of command.
72. May not wear gimp mask while on duty.
73. No military functions are to be performed 'Skyclad'.
74. Woad is not camouflage makeup.
75. May not conduct psychological experiments on my chain of command.
76. "Teddy Bear, Teddy bear, turn around" is *not* a cadence.
77. The MP checkpoint is not an Imperial Stormtrooper roadblock, so I should not tell them "You don't need to see my identification, these are not the droids you are looking for."
78. I may not call block my chain of command.
79. I am neither the king nor queen of cheese.
80. Not allowed to wear a dress to any army functions.
81. May not bring a drag queen to the battalion formal dance.
82. May not form any press gangs.
83. Must not start any SITREP (Situation Report) with "I recently had an experience I just had to write you about...."
84. Must not use military vehicles to 'Squish' things.
85. Not allowed to make any Psychological Warfare products depicting the infamous Ft. Bragg sniper incident.
86. May not challenge anyone in my chain of command to the 'field of
honor'.
87. If the thought of something makes me giggle for longer than 15
seconds, I am to assume that I am not allowed to do it.
88. Must not refer to 1st Sgt as 'Mom'.
89. Must not refer to the Commander as 'Dad'.
90. Inflatable sheep do *not* need to be displayed during a room inspection.
91. I am not authorized to initiate Jihad.
92. When asked to give a few words at a military ceremony 'Romper Bomper Stomper Boo' is probably not appropriate.
93. Nerve gas is not funny.
94. Crucifixes do not ward off officers, and I should not test that.
95. I am not in need of a more suitable host body.
96. 'Redneck Zombies' is not a military training aid.
97. Gozer does not dwell in my refrigerator.
98. The proper response to a chemical weapon attack is not 'Tell my chain of command what I really think about them, and then poke holes in their masks.'
99. A smiley face is not used to mark a minefield.
100. Claymore mines are not filled with yummy candy, and it is wrong to tell new soldiers that they are.
101. I am not allowed to mount a bayonet on a crew-served weapon.
102. Rodents are not entitled to burial with full military honors, even if they are "casualties of war".
103. My commander is not old enough to have fought in the civil war, and I should stop implying that he did.
104. Vodka, green food coloring, and a 'Cool Mint' Listerine® bottle is not a good combination.
105. I am not allowed to bum cigarettes off of anyone under twelve.
106. I may not trade my rifle for any of the following: Cigarettes,
booze, sexual favors, Kalishnikovs, Soviet Armored vehicles, small children, or bootleg CD's.
107. Must not mock command decisions in front of the press.
108. Should not taunt members of the press, even if they are really fat, exceptionally stupid, and working for UPI.
109. I am not authorized to change national policy in Eastern Europe.
110. Never, ever, attempt to correct a Green Beret officer about anything.
111. I am not qualified to operate any US, German, Polish, or Russian Armored vehicles.
112. When saluting a 'leg' officer, an appropriate greeting is not "Airborne leads the wa- oh...sorry sir".
113. There is absolutely no need to emulate the people from 'Full Monty' every time I hear the song "Hot Stuff".
114. I cannot trade my CO to the Russians.
115. I should not speculate on the penis size of anyone who outranks me.
116. Crucifying mice - bad idea.
117. Must not use government equipment to bootleg pornography.
118. Burn pits for classified material are not revel fires - therefore it is wrong to dance naked around them.
119. I cannot arrest children for being rude.
120. An EO briefing is probably not the best place to unveil my newest off color joke.
121. I should not use government resources to 'waterproof' dirty magazines.
122. Radioactive material should not be stored in the barracks.
123. I should not teach other soldiers to say offensive and crude things in Albanian, under the guise of teaching them how to say potentially useful phrases.
124. Two drink limit does not mean first and last.
125. Two drink limit does not mean two kinds of drinks.
126. Two drink limit does not mean the drinks can be as large as I like.
127. 'No Drinking Of Alcoholic Beverages' does not imply that a Jack Daniel's ® IV is acceptable.
128. "Shpadoinkle" is not a real word.
129. The Microsoft ® 'Dancing Paperclip' is not authorized to countermand any orders.
130. 'I'm drunk' is a bad answer to any question posed by my commander.
131. No dancing in the turret. This especially applies in conjunction with rule #113.
132. The loudspeaker system is not a forum to voice my ideas.
133. The loudspeaker system is not to be used to replace the radio.
134. The loudspeaker system is not to be used to broadcast the soundtrack to a porno movie.
135. An order to put polish on my boots means the whole boot.
136. Shouting 'Let's do the village! Let's do the whole village!' while out on a mission is bad.
137. Should not show up at the front gate wearing part of a Russian uniform, messily drunk.
138. Even if my commander did it.
139. Must not teach interpreters how to make "MRE" bombs.
140. I am not authorized to sell mineral rights.
141. Not allowed to use a broadsword to disprove 'The Pen is Mightier than the sword'.
142. 'Calvin-Ball' is not authorized PT.
143. I do not need to keep a 'range card' by my window.
144. 'K-Pot, LBE, and a thin coat of Break-free' is not an authorized uniform.
145. I should not drink three quarts of blue food coloring before a urine test.
146. Nor should I drink three quarts of red food coloring, and scream during the same.
147. I should not threaten suicide with pop rocks and Coke ®.
148. Putting red 'Mike and Ike's' ® into a prescription medicine bottle, and then eating them all in a formation is not funny.
149. Must not create new DOD forms, then insist they be filled out.
150. On Sports Day PT, a wedgie is not considered a legal tackle.
151. The proper way to report to my Commander is 'Specialist Schwarz, reporting as ordered, Sir' not 'You can't prove a thing!'
152. The following items do not exist: Keys to the Drop Zone, A box of grid squares, blinker fluid, winter air for tires, canopy lights, or Chem-Light ® batteries.
153. I should not assign new privates to 'guard the flight line'.
154. Shouldn't treat 'piss-bottles' with extra-strength icy hot.
155. Teaching Albanian children to taunt other soldiers is not nice.
156. I will no longer perform 'lap-dances' while in uniform.
157. If I take the uniform off, in the course of the lap-dance, it still counts.
158. The revolution is not now.
159. When detained by MP's, I do not have a right to a strip search.
160. No part of the military uniform is edible.
161. Bodychecking General officers is not a good idea.
162. Past lives have absolutely no effect on the chain of command.
163. Take that hat off.
164. There is no such thing as a were-virgin.
165. I do not get 'that time of month'.
166. No, the pants are not optional.
167. Not allowed to operate a business out of the barracks.
168. Especially not a pornographic movie studio.
169. Not even if they *are* 'especially patriotic films'
170. Not allowed to 'defect' to OPFOR during training missions.
171. On training missions, try not to shoot down the General's helicopter.
172. 'A full magazine and some privacy' is not the way to help a potential suicide.
173. I am not allowed to create new levels of security clearance.
174. Furby ® is not allowed into classified areas. (I swear to the gods, I did not make that up, it's actually DOD policy).
175. We do not 'charge into battle, naked, like the Celts'.
176. Any device that can crawl across the table on medium, does not need to be brought into the office.
177. I am not to refer to a formation as 'the boxy rectangle thingie'.
178. I am not 'A lesbian trapped in a man's body'.
179. On Army documents, my race is not 'Other'.
180. Nor is it 'Secretariat, in the third'.
181. Pokémon® trainer is not an MOS.
182. There is no FM for 'wall-to-wall counseling'.
183. My chain of command has neither the time, nor the inclination to hear about what I did with six boxes of Fruit Roll-Ups. ®
184. When operating a military vehicle I may *not* attempt something 'I saw in a cartoon'.
185. My name is not a killing word.
186. I am not the Emperor of anything.
187. Must not taunt officers in the throes of nicotine withdrawal, with cigarettes.
188. May not challenge officers to 'Meet me on the field of honor, at dawn'.
189. Do not dare SERE graduates to eat bugs. They will always do it.
190. Must not make s'mores while on guard duty.
191. Our Humvees cannot be assembled into a giant battle-robot.
192. The proper response to a briefing is not 'That's what you think'.
193. The Masons, and Gray Aliens are not in our chain of command.
194. Shouldn't take incriminating photos of my chain of command.
195. Shouldn't use Photoshop ® to create incriminating photos of my chain of command.
196. I am not allowed to give tattoos.
197. I am not allowed to sing 'Henry the VIII I am' until verse 68 ever again.
198. Not allowed to lead a 'Coup' during training missions.
199. I should not confess to crimes that took place before I was born.
200. My chain of command is not interested in why I 'just happen' to have a kilt, an inflatable sheep, and a box of rubber bands in the back of my car.
201. Must not valiantly push officers onto hand grenades to save the squad.
202. Despite the confusing similarity in the names, the "Safety Dance" and the "Safety Briefing" are never to be combined.
203. 'To conquer the earth with an army of flying monkeys" is a bad long term goal to give the re-enlistment NCO.
204. NEVER nail a stuffed bunny to a cross and put it up in front of the Battalion Headquarters sign as an "Easter Desecration."
205. Don't write up false gigs on a HMMWV PMCS. ("Broken clutch pedal", "Number three turbine has frequent flame-outs", "flux capacitor emits loud whine when engaged")
206. Not allowed to get shot.
207. The Chicken and Rice MRE is *not* a personal lubricant. (Skippy wanted this noted for the record that this is not something he has ever attempted or considered! It was something we heard at dinner on 22 September 2001 and it was just so obscene it had to go here.)
208. Not allowed to play into the deluded fantasies of the civlians who are "hearing conversations" from the NSA, FBI, CIA and KGB due to the microchip the aliens implanted in their brain.
209. An airsickness bag is to be used for airsickness *only*. (Also not a Skippy-ism...this was the same dinner.)
210. Must not make T-shirts up depciting a pig with the writing "Eat Pork or Die" in Arabic to bring as civilian attire when preparing to deploy to a primarily Muslim country.
211. Don't ask LTC Steele to sign my copy of Blackhawk Down.
212. Must not go on nine deployments in six years that require a security
clearance that I don't have, even if the Army tells me repeatedly that I have one and I have no reason to question them.
213. Do not convince NCO's that their razorbumps are the result of microscopic parasites.

Nothing much new...

Not much new here. I guess the highlight was going to the embassy the other day for lunch and coffee with one of our 3 letter agency representatives. It was very nice to get away and pretend to be a human being for a while. We had Afghan food which was very good and spent about 2 hours sitting by the embassy pool just eating and relaxing. It was really needed. I realized I had only been out of the walls of this place 2 other times in 8 weeks.

As for the job, I am the officer-in-charge of Regional Command East and Regional Command Capital for my office. Which means I am in charge of keeping track and knowing everything that happens in about 1/3 of the country including Kabul. It is a whole lot of stuff and very active. I am losing almost 1/2 of my team this week so it will be very, very interesting to see what happens. If you would like to know more about ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) which is who I work for, you can go to www.nato.int/isaf This will give you an idea of what we are doing here.

I will write more later.

Addendum to A Day in the life...

I'm sorry, I did not mean to make this out as the worst place in the world! Actually it could be much worse.
1. I get to see the sun every day and have "fresh" air (actually LA on a bad day is better than the air quality on a good day).
2. I get to eat food while some of the people in Northern Afghanistan are starving.
3. I get to work with some great and interesting people.
4. I am not getting shot at every day
5. The problem set is always changing and we are always guessing who the real enemy is.

Unfortunately, we do get the politics and how the world economy is going down the toilet. The worse thing is that Armed Forces Network (AFN) has only one news channel and you cannot choose between Fox, CNN, MSNBC, or any other news source you get what they send.

A few more things about life here.
We have 220Volts electricity here vice 110Volts like in the states. Fortunately most electronics can work on both.
I "stole" a memory foam mattress pad that was not being used in my old room so I have some cushioning on my bed (the mattress is harder than the tile floor!)
I do have access to my personal e-mail at work, but cannot do anything with the blog there.
We do have a small US Exchange here, but I prefer the one the Brits have. All the other exchanges are way overpriced!!

More later, it is almost 11pm and I have to get up in a few hours.

Things are busy here

Sorry I have not written, it has been very busy! We have moved around some people here and are losing almost half of our people due to rotation in the next 2 weeks or so, that is a whole lot of brain power and knowledge going away!! I am fine and hope everyone is doing well and I will write more very soon!

P.S. Mom, got the robe and slippers, Thanks a whole whole lot!! Snow usually starts here in about late November into December with the mountains earlier.

A day in the life...

Well, I have now moved into freedom hall and have an American roommate. I have also switched shifts and am now working days. So, other than that, it is the same old, same old. Jen wanted me to write about my daily routine so if you are having trouble sleeping, please read on...

I will start off when I was on nights: I would get up around 5pm and get dressed then go into the office for a meeting from 6pm to 7pm. I would then think about going to dinner and would usually at least go to get a Diet Coke. Dinner here, as with every meal is very hit or miss! On the "curry line", they usually have "Pizza" which is to say it is dough, a human hair width of sauce, some type of meat and veggies, and cheese. Also, they have either "hot dogs", hamburgers, sloppy joes or something else like that. And of course they usually have beef curry on the curry line. The main line usually has a choice of two meats and veggies. It is OK food, but usually very
interesting in the preparation. Any way, I digress... I go back to work for a meeting from 730pm to 830/9pm. I then go through e-mail and messages to find something interesting to write a report on. Around 1100pm is Mid Rats which is usually left overs from the worst thing they served that day and some odds and ends thrown in. I get off work around 9am-11am and either go work out, watch something, or just take a shower and go to bed. Get up and do it all over again.

Now for days: I get up around 6am and get dressed go into work for a 715am meeting. Go to various meetings and write various papers throughout the day. Around 11am I go to lunch (depending on meeting schedules) and go back to work. I have the same daily meetings at 6pm and 7pm. I usually get off work around 9-11pm and go take a shower and go to bed. If I am lucky, I may have time in the day to work out or go browse one of the 7 or 8 shops (venders) on post, but usually I am just doing a whole lot of working.

As a side note for those of you who would like to know, you may notice I did not include any smoke breaks in my day. That is because I have quit smoking and am now 21 days smoke free and not going completely crazy or trying to kill anyone except the insurgents.

Anyway, that is my exciting life here. The days sometimes drag on, but the weeks are just flying by!!! I have already been here at ISAF for 6 weeks. The work is difficult and trying, but I am finding my groove and it is getting better.

Last night we did have a German Reunification Day celebration. It was more like Oktober Fest with lots of German food and free beer (for everyone except the US, Brits, and Aussies who cannot drink.) I went for a while and it was very nice! The ISAF band "Tally-Band" played live music and there was some polkas and umpapa music and a whole lot of people from off post.

Thats all for now, thanks to everyone for all the support and tune in next week for another exciting episode of "Groundhog day"!!!

An interesting trip

I just got back from Counter Insurgency School at a Forward Operating Base (FOB) on the outskirts of Kabul. The class was interesting and I was able to interact and get to know many people from bases around Afghanistan including some Afghan National Police (ANP) and Afghan National Army (ANA) members! The base where the class took place is located in between the "Kings Palace" and "Queens Palace". Here are some pictures...

This is the class picture in front of the "Queens Palace". The palace was built in the 1920s and used until the Taliban and the Northern Alliance fought in the mid 90s. It is now very run down and everything that was easily removed has been pilfered. We got to take a tour of it and I am sure it was a very nice palace at one time.

This is a picture of the "Kings Palace" I do not know much about it, but it is now condemned.






















This is the Soviet Officer's Club that overlooks the valley. We hiked up to it one morning and got to tour it. It is not as run down as the Palaces, but it is still in major disrepair! It was used by the Special Forces to direct bombing strikes against the Taliban in 2001. I have pictures of the tours of the Queens Palace and the Officer's Club that I will be sending to Heindrek for him to upload to a photo sharing site.

The Class and tours were both very interesting, but now I am back at ISAF HQ in Kabul.

Fantastic Experience!!!!!

I just had the best experience of my time here! I went with a group of about 35 people to a local school and handed out school supplies, toys, and candy to a class of boys from 6-12 years old. It was a great experience and I will hopefully be able to post some pictures sometime soon. The kids were great and very polite! They taught me some Dahri and I tried to teach them some english although many spoke some words. I even tried to show one kid how to golf (he had received a set of play golf clubs). It was very rewarding, but very short. Unfortunately, we had to be in our body armor other than that everything went off without a problem! It really put a face on the people we are here trying to help!

Not much new in Kabul

There is not much new to report from Kabul. I am slowly getting used to the schedule here and am trying to stay somewhat normal. I was looking through my past posts and I realize that it may appear that I have a whole lot of time on my hands to do a lot of shopping. The truth is that shopping, going to the gym, and watching movies is about the only thing to do on the 1-3 hours I might have off in a given day. I am currently on the night shift working from 6pm to 830am all but Thursday when I work 8pm to 8am. Even with these hours, meetings tend to run long and take place in the middle of the day so I usually only have about 8-9 hours a day to sleep, shower, go to the gym, and relax. I do go and browse usually about 1-2 days a week and look for things that are interesting and cheep. We are discussing changing the way things are done at work since we are losing about 50% of our people in the next 2 months and only about 50% of them are being replaced any time soon. So like many other places, we will need to do more with less.

I am hoping to be able to do some limited traveling here in the near future, but will not be able to post it until after it happens, so stay tuned for those updates and pictures!

One more thing, I did think of a couple of more things I would really appreciate! Ranch and/or blue cheese dressing packets. Please do not send the little plastic tubs of the dressing or bottles, but rather just the packets since I cannot refrigerate them and the tubs would be more prone to opening during shipment.

Love to all!
Jason

Jen and the boys and the Bazaar

First off, Jen and the boys will be headed to Orlando to evacuate from the fury of Hurricane Ike which is expected to be a strong Category 4 storm when it hits the Keys sometime Tuesday. I will post any updates on my blog...

Now the bazaar. It was very interesting and they had anything and everything. Prices were very easy to negotiate. If you see something on the internet having to do with Afghanistan, chances are you can find it there from rugs to Kashmir and silk tablecloths, blankets, and scarves. Here are some picts...

A Kashmir and silk blanket
















A Camel wool rug















An Afghan war rug














A Kashmir and silk table cloth


















A tribal rug (hand woven, various styles, sizes, and colors)















An antique rug (again various colors, sizes, and styles)




And much much more. Let me know if you would like for me to shop for something for you, it is very easy to negotiate for a good price and the quality on some of the stuff is very good!!

Life in Kabul

Well, I have been here in Kabul for almost two weeks and am starting to get settled in (kind of). I am working nights and have been for the past few nights. I am not yet used to the hours and am still adjusting to sleeping during the days. I thought I had a good deal for this since my roommate leaves next week and I would have the room all to myself except for about 1-2 weeks every few months but I found out a couple of days ago that I will have to move to a new building and will not get the good deal I thought I had. The room is basically a rectangle about 20 feet long and 7 feet wide, not really enough for two-three people that they are cramming into them. We do have AC and I believe there is also heat for the winter and the beds are made of memory foam so at least I have that going for me. I really am not complaining since it is much larger than I had on submarines and I can see the sun every once in a while. The food here is the same, basically there are 5-6 main dishes that the make and rotate, so the variety is not there. There is cheese (Swiss, Provolone, Bree, etc) at every meal and there are also cappuccino machines in the DFAC. I usually get a cappuccino from one of the 4-5 small restaurants here on the compound about daily. They are much better than Starbucks and cost about $2.25 for a large so that also is not too bad. All the little stores here on the compound are in € (Euros) but the exchange rate they give for $ is O.K. I am not used to the smell here (light sewer) and the sky is usually hazy. I am not ready to buy vacation property here, but all in all, it could be much much worse!!!

I will be going to my first Bazar today and will see if there is anything good. I have done some shopping at a couple of the rug shops here on the compound and there are some very nice rugs, mostly hand made, for reasonable prices. If anyone would like for me to look at rugs for them, I would be more than happy to. Once I have a better Idea of what you would like, I will go back and take some pictures and get exact prices to send you to make sure you do not spend $250-$1800 on a rug you will not like. I personally saw a couple of camel wool rugs that I really liked. The camel wool rugs have more brownish tanish colors although they did have a couple with some reds in them. For ~ 6ft X 4ft camel wool rug it was about $275, but they are hand woven and natural (waterproof) dyes and are made in Afghanistan. For a ~ 9ft X 5 ft camel wool rug it was more around the $500 range. Rugs of 30% silk and 70% wool run from $450-$700 for a ~ 9X5 and bigger ones run into the thousands. All wool and all silk run lower and higher respectively. Just e-mail or comment to this post and let me know what sizes/colors/patterns/styles/content you would like and I will see what I can find and e-mail you pictures. If you can find example pictures online, you can even e-mail me those and that might be better. The rugs cost about $25-50 to ship back to the states. There are some really nice rugs here and I have people who know rugs and will go with me to look. I will post pictures of the rugs (in general) later.

Here is a picture of the people I am working with (I am in the second row far right as you are looking at it).

More later...

Some long promised pictures...

O.K. I think I have sufficient bandwidth to upload some pictures. I will try to place them in order and describe each one.

First is the departure from South Carolina with all the groups who came to meet us.



















Next is me on the plane with my weapon. Very strange actually having to carry a gun on board.





Then there is me at the airport in Shannon Ireland.





Now here is the tent village we lived in in Kuwait.














Main Street in Camp Virginia Kuwait.
















Kabul International Airport.



Main intersection in Kabul City (notice the goat herd).















O.K, next time I will have more pictures of ISAF and where I am working. I am slowly getting used to the situation here and will be starting the night shift this evening. There is a whole lot of work to do here and as with everywhere else in the Navy, we are understaffed. I think I will like to job very much however.

That was fast and another request!!

Thanks Mom for volunteering to get me the robe and slippers! I could not imagine walking through snow in flip flops and sweats after taking a shower!!!

I have an additional request, this time not for myself, for those of you with kids in school... Evidently, Afghans love postcards! I think it would be nice if those with kids in school (or anyone) might be able to work something out through the school to collect postcards from the student body with notes written on them for the Afghan children and then send them to me (in a package, not individually please) and I will make sure they get to the people who work with the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and therefore to the children of Afghanistan. I am hoping to even be able to deliver some personally!!! I think this would really be nice!! Please just make sure the postcards are in good taste (no bikinis or buff guys or tasteless jokes etc) and please no religious buildings (they are Muslim and very sensitive religious things). Postcards with pictures of buildings (non religious), monuments, mountains, scenery etc would be perfect!!! Thanks in advance!!!!

More from Kabul

Well, I have been in Kabul for a couple of days now and am slowly getting used to life here. I am working for an Australian Army O-5 and will be starting the night shift on Sunday night after I get all of my check-in stuff done. I will also probably be changing rooms once the second floor is finished in the new US barracks although I think I would prefer to stay where I am at since after 10 September, I will only have one phantom roommate who is only here for about 4 weeks out of every 4 months! The weather here is much better than in Kuwait with the highs in the low 90s and lows in the mid 60s and no humidity! On that note however, the winter will be much like that of the DC area and since Birthday/Christmas is coming up, I need to ask for a nice warm bath robe (XL) and nice warm slippers (11). If someone living in a climate that would have such items would be gracious enough to supply one of these, please let me know that you are doing so in a comment for this post so that I can post it and do not end up with multiple robes/slippers. I am very grateful for all the support I am receiving from family and friends and will be ecstatic with anything so please do not feel that you have to send me a package! I am just as happy with letters, postcards, or even comments on my blog post.

Now, some more on the base here. I have not been outside of the Forward Operating Base (FOB) since arriving, but i can tell you that it is just like in the news and movies. It is very run down and busy. Numerous buildings throughout the city are damaged or destroyed and have not rebuilt. While I was traveling from the airport I saw a whole lot of people walking, quite a few cars, horse drawn carts, goat herds, and some signs of progress though it is slow! I will post some pictures once I get somewhere with a higher speed connection (probably Saturday). The food here is good, mostly European. Not much of a variety, but interesting. Kabul is situated between some mountain ranges so we have heavy smog, but I am sure it will be a nice view after a good rain. There are representative from about 50+ countries here all working and living on the same ~15 acre plot of land in the middle of down town. There are also three PXs (Post Exchange) here all European and with Euro prices that you would expect in dollars from an American PX which makes everything about 1.5 times as much. I will be going to the nearest American base in the next couple of days and will probably stock up on some essentials there. All in all, everything is going well although I am looking forward to digging into my job which will make me very busy and should make the time go by much quicker! I will write more when I get a chance and again, I will include pictures from Kabul and my jaunt in Kuwait!

Finally made it to Afghanistan, Kabul no less

I finally arrived in Afghanistan on late Saturday night and after some slight trouble was able to get a 15 minute flight from Bagrahm Air Base to Kabul. We took a convoy of a couple of SUVs driven by British Marines from the Kabul airport to ISAF headquarters through very busy streets. The city looks just as it does in the news! It is very run down and there are still numerous destroyed or damaged buildings everywhere. The base is very small, but seems to have quite a bit of stuff on it. I have to go now, but will write much more later!

August 23... Afghanistan bound (finally)

August 23rd was a significant date in my early Navy Career: August 23, 1990 I graduated from Boot Camp; August 23, 1991 I graduated from Nuclear Power School; August 23, 1992 I returned from my first deterrent SSBN patrol; August 23, 1993 I got underway on my second boat USS Pennsylvania; and now August 23, 2008 I will be arriving in Afghanistan. I am not sure of the exact logistics of my trip to Kabul, but I should be arriving in Bagrahm Afghanistan today and Kabul, hopefully within 24 hours of that.

The Udari range was interesting. I slept in a tent with AC and 39 other people (male and female in same tent) on the floor and ate nothing but MREs. I think we got lucky because it did not get above 140 while were there. We did some shooting and convoy operations geared mostly to Iraq and made it back to Camp Virginia in the early afternoon Friday. That being done, I AM FINALLY DONE WITH ALL MY TRAINING!!!! After 4 weeks of living, eating, and breathing Army grunt stuff, I can finally go to my job in an air conditioned office dealing with the three basic p's powerpoint, presentations, and paperwork! No more living out of seabags or MREs or running around with 70 extra pounds of equipment in 120+ temperatures!!!!

I will write again in my blog as soon as I can after arriving in Afghanistan.

No blogging for a couple of days

We are leaving this afternoon for a couple of days of isolation in the desert and I will not have access again until Friday. I do have some more information about the base in Afghanistan however. First, I will be moving directly into my new room once I arrive. The rooms there are 2-3 man rooms however, the guy I am relieving has set me up to replace him in his room which is shared with a civilian O-6 equivalent so there will be no third person in our room! I will have Internet access in my room and should be able to keep up the blog and with e-mails with no problems! We do not have U.S. stores on the base, only European PXs which have been described as "corner convenience stores at twice the price." That being the case, I would appreciate RED licorice (Twizzlers or Red Vines), some beef jerky, Circuit City/Best Buy/Frys/Home Depot/Lowes/Target ads from the Sunday Paper, Chex mix (homemade kind), cashews, sugar free jolly ranchers, microwave popcorn (butter/movie theater butter), or anything else you may want to send. Letters and pictures would also be extremely appreciated!!

I have my address and list of desired goodies...

I have my new address and it is making it's way around via e-mail. If you do not get it, please e-mail me, Jen, my Mom, or my Dad for it and I am sure you will receive it. As for my wish list for any possible packages, I do not know what will be available to me in Afghanistan, but any home-made items I am sure I will not be able to get especially: chex mix, brownies, cookies, and chex mix.

The trip to Kuwait

The trip over to Kuwait was long, tiring, but some good things happened. First, when we arrived at the airport in Columbia, South Carolina, there were several groups there to meet us and see us off. They had food and small things for us and we were able to talk to them for a few hours before boarding the plane. It was very nice to see the support! When we landed in Bangor Maine at 1130pm, we were surprised to see that there were a few groups there to meet us and provide some stuff during our two hours on the ground there. They even opened up one of the giftshops and one of the resturants in the airport for us. Finally, when we arrived in Shannon Ireland, we had a long walk from the gate to the waiting area in the international terminal. All along the walk, there were gates for domestic and international flights separated from us by a glass wall. I was very surprised that the entire walk (probably past 15-20 gates) people stood and cheered us thanking us in Irish, British, American, and other accents. Then in the food court (Pub) in the waiting area, we received a standing ovation. It is very nice to know that 7 years into the Global War on Terrorism people are still appreciative of what we are doing and that that appreciation transends country boundries!!! I truly believe in what I am doing here and I think I will look back on this as the most rewarding experience in my 20+ years in the Navy! I am very greatful to my wonderful family for their love and support during this deployment!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!

Life at Camp Virginia Kuwait

Well, it turns out I do have internet access in Kuwait after all so I will keep the blog updated while I am here. We arrived at Camp Virginia around 0430 and got settled into our tents just as the sun was comming up. By 0630, it was already around 100 degrees and bright, when I awoke from my nap around 1100, it was 115 and even brighter. There is sand everywhere here, but the DFAC is not that bad and there is a good sized PX and some fast food places as well as a huge USO. I will be here for a few days, then I go for more training in an even hotter and more desolate place, then finally to Afghanistan sometime in the next 8-9 days. We are living in tents here, but we do have AC when the power is up and wooden floors and even sleep on cots. The theory is that they make you live in these conditions, then move you to the range where you sleep on the ground and eat MREs (real MREs, not the crap we had at Camp McCrady), just so you will better appreciate your living conditions forward. I will post some pictures in the next couple of days.

Leaving for Kuwait

Sorry, no pictures today. Just wanted to let everyone know that I am leaving for Kuwait today and will be spending about 10 days there in the 125+ degree heat getting "aclimated" for the 90 degree heat of Afghanistan. I may not have internet there, so this may be my last post until I arrive in Afghanistan, but don't worry, I will take lots of pictures in Kuwait and post them when I can. I will post my mailing address as well once I have received it. I hope everyone is well and safe and I will post more later! Love to all!!

Life at Camp McCrady (Fort Jackson)

First, let start off answering some questions you may have

about my deployment.

Question: What is a Navy Officer doing in a landlocked country that has few lakes and no real bodies of water?

Answer: We are augmenting the Army so they can send more people to the front and they do not get too comfortable in air conditioned offices.

Question: Why did I volunteer to do this when I have 18 years in the Navy and can just retire in two years?

Answer: I was tired of planning and planning for things that were probably never going to happen and wanted to do some real operations and make a difference, not just write volumes of plans that would never be read.

Well it has been two weeks and I only have two more training days left here at Camp McCrady! I wanted to give everyone an Idea as to what it is like here and how the Army training is going so...

Camp McCrady is an instillation attached to Fort Jackson where the Navy training occurs along with some Army Reserve and National Guard training. We do use Fort Jackson for all of our weapons qualification shoots as well as other parts of training, but all classroom and all of our living accommodations are at Camp McCrady. We have been busy here learning how the Army does things and different aspects we may need in our time in theater such as:

Marksmanship
Convoy operations
Land Navigation
Combat First Aid
IED identification and mitigation
Law of War
Cultural Awareness
Army culture
Eating the Army way
"Organizing" the Army way
"Thinking" the Army way

“Living” the Army way
Speaking the Army way
Basically, it is Army boot camp condensed to three weeks...

I must say, I have a new appreciation for the job the Army does, but I still don't completely understand the Army mentality and culture. Maybe because it is a training command but there seems to be little regard for rank. The senior Navy enlisted seem to be leading the Company and the senior officers are sort of staying in the shadows. Everyone is treated the same way by the staff, from the most junior E-3 (Enlisted) to the most senior O-5 (Officer). The officers do have their own barracks, but the enlisted barracks has newer and much nicer furnature. I am living in open bay barracks with about 30 other officers all living in the same big room and sharing the same bathroom. We are wearing our IBAs (Body Armor) quite a bit and are somewhat getting used to it, but still, 65 extra pounds is 65 extra pounds. The food is O.K. breakfasts and dinners are usually at the dining facility (D-FAC) which at least has fresh salads and gravy at every meal. Lunches are mixed between Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) and sack lunches since most of the lunches are eaten in the various training areas away from Camp McCrady. The MREs are the old style with little variety and not very good. As I understand it, the MREs in theater (Afghanistan/Iraq/Kuwait) have much more variety and are self heating. The bag lunches consist of a sandwich, chips, and cookie and are not that bad.

Training takes place Monday through Saturday and is usually in the field. It has been in the 100s with very high humidity so I am usually drenched in sweat, dirty, and very smelly by the end of the day. We work from 6am to about 6pm most days. They really push hydration here and we go through 3-4 3liter camelbacks a day. It has been interesting training and most of it has actually been fun, but very tiring and somewhat painful.

As far as my plans go for the next few weeks, I am not sure of exact times, but I should be leaving for Kuwait sometime around the 14^th or 15^th. I will spend about 10 days in Kuwait living in tents and eating MREs (not the “Hilton” where Spencer stayed) before I continue on to Afghanistan around the 25^th. I do not know what kind of internet will be available in Kuwait so I may not be able to update my blog while there, but I will take pictures and write about it the first chance I get. I am supposed to be in Afghanistan until late February or early March and then I will return back to Key West where I will continue doing real operations fighting a real war against drug smugglers and terrorists (Narco-terrorism).

I did not want to be outdone by my little brother changing his look with a mustache when he deployed, so I decided to try the Gudgell look. Let me know what you think, although I probably will not be keeping it this way for fear that it may not grow back.

I am excited about actually getting to theater and doing what I was sent here to do! I miss you all and hope everyone is doing well! Love to all!!

Fort Jackson South Carolina

Well, I am now in South Carolina at a small camp near Fort Jackson Army Base (near Columbia). I do infact have internet and will keep up on my blog as much as I can given the limited free time we have here. Today we were issued our body armor (pictures at a later date) and our weapons. I have both a 9mm pistol and M16 rifle while I am here, but will only deploy with the pistol. We will be doing quite a bit of shooting here over the next couple of weeks, so I will hopefully get to be a good shot. I will try to keep up on the blog here, but really, we are only doing training and it is not very exciting, although it is very tiring! The temperature is around 98 with high humidity and we will soon be starting to wear the body armor everywhere which weighs around 65 pounds so I am sure the days will be even more tiring as time goes on. Love to all!

Done with Norfolk

I am completed here in Norfolk and will be headed to Fort Jackson South Carolina in the morning for 3 weeks of learning how to do things the Army way. While at Fort Jackson I may not have good connectivity so I may not be updating my blog much over the next 3 weeks. Here are some pictures of me in my Army Combat Uniform which is what I will be wearing daily for the next 7 months or so...
Love to all!

In Florida and on my way to Norfolk

Well we made it to Florida and have spent much of the last two weeks unpacking and trying to get settled before I fly off to Norfolk this afternoon. We had some fun along the way visiting family in Orlando and going to Gatorland.








We have also been doing some looking for a car for our newest driver. It was a big surprise to us that Heindrek was given a drivers license instead of them renewing his permit. He got a 1997 Geo Prism (same care as a Toyota Corolla) and we spent some time doing all of the preventive maintenance on it. It is not in the best condition, but will be a good teen car for him and he has already gone solo in it.







We have also been doing some fishing from our deck. Jen has caught the most with 3, Shorty has 2, Jason has 1, and Heindrek is still trying. Shorty is the only one to have caught a keeper thus far though...















For those wondering, I did not make O-4, but am hoping the trip to Afghanistan will solidify my chances next year.

I will start writing more now that I will actually begin my training for Afghanistan and will have some time to keep this up.

Love to all!
Jason

Back in Texas!!!

Well, we made it back to Texas and wow the difference is huge!! People here are so nice and we feel like we are back at home. We had very nice visits to the Grand Canyon, Roswell, and Carlsbad Caverns and after a new tire and minimal inconvenience, we are in Texas and on our way to our house in Sinton. We did make some slight changes to our itinerary along the way. 1. We did not go to 4 corners since it was about 4 hours out of our way and we decided that 60 hours in the car was enough. 2. We only spent 1 night in Carlsbad, then drove to Odessa, TX after our trip to the caverns. We are excited about seeing the house and getting some work done and continuing our trip to Orlando and our new house on Cudjoe Key. For those who do not already have it, our new address is 22910 Privateer Dr. Cudjoe Key, FL 33042 and our phone number will remain the same (361)427-4831. I Will write again from Orlando

We are on our Way to Florida...

O.K. I have received much grief regarding not publishing recently so here is an update... We have moved out of our house in Hawaii and spent 5 days in Waikiki. We then flew to LA after a 5 hour delay and spent a couple of very nice days in California with the Eens. My dad and step mother decided to visit us in California and we all had a great time. We drove to Vegas on Thursday and after visiting the Hoover Dam we spent an exciting night at Cirus Circus on the Strip (or at least what used to be the Strip) and the boys won numerous stuffed toys. Gambling was very successful and we came out 45 cents ahead!! On Friday, we drove to St. George and are enjoying the company of Airplane Grandma, Grandma Gudgell, Granpa Leonard, and the Tylers! We will be leaving on Sunday to go to the Grand Canyon, 4-Corners, Carlsbad Caverns, and Texas.

I will give this a try...

O.K. for those of you on my brother Spencer's blog who have asked when I would start one (Heather), here it is...

Here are our plans to date...

Our family will be packing-up the first week of May and living a minimal existance the last month we are here in Hawaii. I check out of Office of Naval Intelligence Detatchement Commander Pacific Fleet on 10 June after 2 and a half years of an interesting, but very tiring, job. We will be leaving the very isolated and small island of Oahu on 10 June and fly to LA to pick up our car (I am looking forward to see what the Hybrid gets on freeways) and treck cross country with stops in St. George, Utah (to visit my Mother, Grandmother, Step-Father, and other family); the Grand Canyon; Four Corners; Farmington, New Mexico; Amarillo, Texas; Weatherford, Texas (to pick up some things we left there in 2005); Jackson, Mississippi; Crestview, Florida; and finally Orlando, Florida. Over the next month, we will spend time between Orlando and Key West while we find a place to live in Key West and get the boys enrolled in school. I will then leave in mid-July to start my training for Afghanistan while Jen and the boys will make the move to Key West just before school starts. I am not sure how exactly all of this is going to work, but we are going to try it. We will post pictures soon and keep the site updated between now and the time we leave as well as on our journey cross country!

Love to all!!!!
Jason