I think I am half way done?

16NOV08. The election has come and gone, I guess I didn’t win the election for Mayor of Montgomery, probably would help if I wasn’t the only one to vote for me. So we have a new President-elect, will he be the answer to all our troubles, I guess time will tell. I do know one thing, if you are interested in owning semi-automatic assault rifles; you better buy them now, because we all know what happened to gun control under our last democratic president. Our Task Force has out together an order for a commemorative rifle; I will be purchasing the M4 223.

Another deer hunting season has come to past and it looks like my cousin Bill and brother Jake bagged themselves some nice deer, if you look closely at my pictures you will see my brothers. He tagged a 10 point buck, dressed out at 200lbs, way to go little brother! My cousin Bill arrowed himself a nice 9 pointer that dressed at 190lbs if I remember right. I am hoping to go on an Elk hunting trip down to New Mexico with Grupe and Wildman when I get back, pending I get picked for a license.

What has been keeping me busy here the last few weeks you ask, well I ran a couple of 5k races. I did ok for taking a week off from running. I develop shin splints in my right leg so I took some time off to let it heal. After a week, it still felt the same and I was going through runner’s withdrawal so I started back up. The pain is tolerable, feels like a bruise and stops hurting after a few minutes into my run and a few minutes after my run. I have changed running shows and I think that is one of the causes, so I will go back to my New Balances and see if that helps. On 11NOV, we had the Veteran’s 5k run, out of 2000 runners, I placed 19th, not too bad for an old man!

In the work place, we are having issues with a computer virus. It has shut down 9 of my computers so far. It is believed that the virus is being transferred by the use of external media devices, commonly known as thumbdrives. My higher command has decided to block all USB ports and therefore banning the use of these devices. I do not mind at all, there really is a very, very limited need for such devices as we have a sharedrive where everyone can store their information and access it anywhere from any computer over here!! The situation has been keeping my guys busy.
23NOV.

Charlie Company was kind enough to let us “have” their trailer here since the bulk of them are working from another location. We have turned that office space into tech lab as you can see in this month’s photos. It is still a work in progress, but it is perfect for my guys to work on their A+ and networking skills. The goal is for them to build a LAN and utilize their skills to manage and troubleshoot different problems we run into. We want to set up a centralize server where we can push out our own virus updates and any other software patches/upgrades remotely making us a little more efficient.



A week ago there was a malfunction on one of the F16s and it caught on fire. The munitions started to “burn off” sounding the alarm for us to all take shelter in place since it was impossible to predict where the rounds where going to hit and or land. Thankfully no one was injured, except the Aircraft, see the picture.

These past few weeks the S6 section really scored with care packages. First Capella University sent us close to 30 I believe, I lost count as I was receiving so may per day. They set us up with over 140 DVD movies, about just as many books, if not more, music CDs, Playstaion games, coffee, creamer, lotion, and the list goes on. We have set up a video library for soldiers to check out movies as well as a reading library in out Tech Lab. We shared the coffee and the rest of the goodies with everyone too. You can see pics of all the boxes of stuff and the happy soldiers tearing into them. At the same time, the VFW Post 6316 and the Ladies Auxiliary out of Blaine, which my Aunt and Uncle are members of, sent a nice care packages of pocket flags and goodies too. One of my favorite things I received is a new embroidered shower towel that I am modeling for the Ladies Auxiliary in this month’s photo album – Thank you ladies!

It does not stop there the Dentist office of Dr. Eisenhuth, sent three HUGE boxes of candy, and toothbrushes! We literally have enough candy, and I am talking the good stuff, milk duds, dots, butterfingers, kitkats, reeces peanut butter cups, heath bars, snickers, laughy taffy, and the list goes on. They also stocked us with toothbrushes and dental floss, smart idea….in addition they threw in “Thank You” letters from kids, that was a nice touch – Thank you Dr. Eisenhuth and her fabulous team.

The week of 17-21NOV, I thought it would be a good idea to take Combatives Level One training, wow, I hadn’t quite planned for such a butt whooping. Check out the pics, I came home with a few bruises. Combatives, for those who do not know, is the Army’s new program for personal protection. It is similar to Mixed Martial Arts fighting and is a 40 hour course. You learn how to suppress your enemy with your bare hands. It is an excellent program and great training. Here is a link to what it is all about: https://www.infantry.army.mil/combatives/

To close out this month’s blog, was the celebration of Thanksgiving, one more holiday gone, another month closer to home. The dining facility went all out with cool sculptures a, made from food, check out the pics. They served the traditional meal, turkey or ham or prime rib, along with mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, I think you get the idea, so when it came to food, we were not missing out.

Next blog entry should be full of pics as I decided to take leave and go on R&R to Europe….stand bye!!

As always, enjoy the pics.

Here Comes the Rain

02NOV08, two days before the elections, what does that mean to me….just a good day to get caught up on some blogging...oh yeah, I did vote already, Are you?? I want to say thank you to the Woxlands, Asburys, and my parents. I got your care packages with everything I wanted. You all came through so I will not be needing any more dental floss, or toothpaste for the rest of my deployment!! Aunt Rea, thanks for the embroidered towel, I will have to send the Lady’s Auxiliary a nice picture of me modeling my new towel!! The pocket flags are really nice, I have been handing them out and I will get a nice picture of that too, so stop by often.

For this entry I think I am just going to babble in no particular order, whatever pops to mind is what I am going to write about. These past few weeks we have received our first rainfall, boy what a mess. In one day we received twice the average rainfall for this time of year. I can see how the Great Flood of biblical times happened; there is no place for the water to go. The ground here is so dry and so packed that the water cannot be absorbed into the ground, it just pools up and lingers until the Sun can heat up enough to evaporate it all. The fine dust that is on the ground, which you could mistake for cinnamon turns into a brown paste like glue that sticks to everything making it miserable walking/biking/driving from one point to another. I have a few pictures, I kind of been slacking on those, of the mess. We are entering the rainy season so I am sure I will have plenty of opportunities for more.

To try and combat the misery of walking in this crap, Grupe and I constructed our own elevated walk way so that we can make it semi-safely to the port-o-potties and the shower. Of course we talked about doing this before the rain came, but procrastinated about it, so as soon as it dried up somewhat, we were out there constructing (see pics).



In preparation of the rains to come, my high speed guys constructed an awning for our porch outside the office, it adds some addition shade so we can keep the door open and let some fresh air in…one nice thing about the rain, it suppresses all the dust in the air, so it is actually nice to be outside breathing this Iraqi air.

I did break down and purchases my 2009 Pewter Pearl Harley Davidson Fat Boy form Twin Cities Harley in Lakeville, it will be ready for pick-up when I get home in JUNE 2009!! I cannot WAIT, to ride it!!! (Click to see Pic)
Our new found favorite spot here is called the DRMO lot (acronym for something), it is where units bring equipment that is no longer working. Notice I did not say repairable, because my Joes have found some things and were able to piece together some working items. I am trying to acquire some more real estate here to build a computer lab so they have a place to work on their new projects and also gain some valuable experience in the area of computer repair and networking…I’ll keep you posted.

Some projects we have been doing around our AO include the running of a new CAT5 line to bring some more users up on our network, Giddyup and I handled that job, I like to get out in the field once in awhile to show these young pups a thing or two. The items I talked about in earlier blogs that I was trying to purchase came in, so we were able to install 5 more CISCO IP phones, and will probably install a few more here down the road. We are also working to set up some stand alone LANs to link some workshops together with a printer and we may have a mission to install SINCGAR radios into some vehicles. Other than that, we continue to refine and improve on our ongoing missions.

I ran a few races since I last wrote, same old same old, finished in the top 10. My last race was the Tulsa 15K where I placed 6th with a time of 62 minutes, that was on 25OCT and it was also the last time I ran. I have developed a shin splint in on my right leg and I am giving it time to heal. There are two 5ks coming up this week in which I plan to still run, I will truly be doing them as “Fun Runs.” Starting on 3NOV, I will bike and do the elliptical to get my CARDIO back up, I really do miss my running though. So Amy, that ice/heat back you sent me is going to be real important in my recovery – thanks! You can see my actual results from the 15k by clicking this link: Race Results (The top results are the ladies, scroll down for the men).

If you haven’t heard, the new Social Network Fad is www.Facebook.com. I have reconnected with some old high-school friends and am staying current with other friends going ons….it is a neat way to stay on top of things without having to do any work other than logging in! I can see what people are up to and if I want I can leave a comment or send a message, this works real well with my schedule!

The other neat online thing I have been doing is www.Skype.com, I have been able to Skype with my sister and family, which was really cool and with my friend Verna, surprisingly she has been getting to see me the most, it must be her work schedule??? I have a plan to Skype my parents this evening 2NOV and another for Thanksgiving, I can’t wait. BTW my Skype handle is chrispkline.

People have been asking what I do for fun over here so let’s see, on Halloween I went to my first Movie, “Pride and Glory” had a NA beer and popcorn, cost me all of $2!! On 1NOV went through a Haunted House, then went to the Driving Range and hit a few golf balls. I have been hitting the weights regularly for a month now, so although I am not running now, I am still exercising. I have been watching the TV series Nip/Tuck; I have seasons 1-4. Building my music and movie library, I guess that has really been it, nothing too exciting. I am hoping to start taking some Israeli Mix Martial Arts and Weapons training, that will be a few nights a week, From time to time they offer Salsa Dance, I may try to hit that occasionally; the MWR here has all kinds of neat things to do, I just need to plan my schedule a little better…believe me, I am not bored!!

One thing I have noticed here and that is – I do not miss my cell phone one bit, although it is funny, from time to time I will “feel” this phantom vibrate in my pocket and I will place my hand there to feel if my phone is there, only to realize, it was all in my head!

I have started a dialog with my replacements, the 628th ASB out of Pennsylvania, I am hoping to provide them all the info they need to make it a seamless transition when it comes time for them to replace us.

I will leave you with this quote, it came from one of the Company Commanders during a Command and Staff brief, he was telling us a story of how some of his soldiers didn’t perform a task quite up to standard, leading to some mishap, no one was injured thankfully, but this is how he stated it: “You can go ahead and laugh at my Privates now, because I am sure I will be laughing at your Privates later.” It took him a minute to realize what he just said, the whole room just busted out in laughter – I hope you all can find the humor in this.

As always, enjoy the pics.