Austria here we come. The highlights from Austria was the Sound of Music Tour, we lucked out and basically got our own private tour guide. She was originally from England, so the accent made all the more fun. We literally just caught this trip…came off the train went to the Info desk and they had a trip leaving in 5 minutes, so we hopped aboard. That evening we went to musical dinner event featuring works by Mozart, after all the Mozart School of Music is located in Salzburg, as well as Mozart’s birth place.
We also took a tour of the castle; it is the one you see in the Sound of Music movie. We met a guy named Christian from Germany who was there for a business meeting and he let us crash their party and have all the free Hot wine we could drink. The castle will always hold a special place in my heart for a number of reasons.
Salzburg had a beautiful Christmas Market too, which Vern took advantage of and bought herself some nice pink boots! From Salzburg, we left for Wien (Vienna).
Wien is a gorgeous city too, they have an awesome Cathedral and the biggest Christmas Market in Europe, well at least of all that I visited. Again by chance we were in the right place at the right time and Verna snagged us a great deal on a pair of tickets to the Wien Symphony Orchestra featuring music by none other than the one and only Mozart. From Wien to Venice; we thought we had it all figured out so that we could catch the fast train to Venice leaving at 0630 and arriving at 1330. We were all set to go, made it to the train station bright and early only come to find out we were at the wrong station, there is a West Hauptbahnhof and a South Hauptbahnhof. We arrived to Wien via the West, but I failed to see that we needed to leave from the South. We did a little train hopping back and forth, but we were not lucky enough to catch the early train; instead of arriving in Venice by 1330, we arrived at 1800.
We went out for dinner, then ff exploring the nightlife of Venice…needless to say; it was an early night as Venice has no nightlife. We were up early the next morning to explore Venice in the daylight, we did the famous Gondola ride down the Canal Grande, then made our way to San Marco Square and Cathedral – beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, and you’ll have to take my word on it, because of our whole trip, those are the only pictures we lost. There is soooo much more to these stories; you will just have to ask. Florence, look out here we come.
I think of all the cities I visited in Italy, Florence is my favorite. It has the right amount of action, shopping, and scenery. On our way to Rome, we took a pit-stop in Pisa to go see the famous Leaning Tower.
Rome is amazing; definitely need more than 2 days here. We arrived Saturday evening, settled into our hotel then went out for a nice dinner. The only disappointment in Rome was that we planned our main sight-seeing day there was a Sunday and Vatican City is closed, that means we did not get to see the Sistine Chapel. We took one of those hop-on hop-off bus tours with the audio tour. I really enjoyed it, there were 12 historic stops on the route and you can stop at whatever one you want and stay as long as you want, the ticket is good for 24 hours, but we only had 12 hours to see all of Rome. We were going to try and make it back to Milan by 1800 for a Christmas part of all Vern’s relatives…we rolled into Milan about 2100, met up with Ryan, Verna’s cousin and went out for dinner…next day back to reality.
Hope you enjoyed, I know I cut things short because I am so behind in my blog, but if there is anything of interest you want to hear about, leave me a comment or send me an email.
Next entry will be more escapades from Iraq!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
EuroTrip 2008, Part I
06JAN09. Well the two major holidays have come to pass, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, that means I am that much closer to coming home. Plus there was a few birthdays; Corey’s, Stacy’s, William’s, and Grandpa – Happy Birthday to you all!! Quite a lot has happened since my last entry and I do not know how I am going to tell all the stories??? I suppose I will just go in sequence and if I get too long winded, I will break the blog in two. Ok…I am breaking it in two, enjoy the first half….
I was able to get a slot to go on mid tour leave for some R&R and as a last minute kind a thing planned a trip through Europe. I was going to hit 11 cities and 4 countries in 15 days and who do you think was crazy enough to go on this adventure with me….none other than my special friend Verna. Verna and I traveled the Philippines together a few years back which eventually lead to us dating. The dating thing lasted about a year, but we have remained great friends since and who knows what our futures hold!!?? We do know that we travel well together and what good is exploring if you don’t have someone to share all the experiences with, so she was game! The plan was to meet in Pisa Italy, but through some unforeseen circumstances, Verna flew into Milan, which worked out since she has family there and I ended up going to Pisa. The adventure started on 6DEC for me as I had to fly into Kuwait first and that is where all my travel coordination took place. I was very fortunate and was able to get in and out of Kuwait in less than 24hrs. I touched down in Pisa on 7DEC and had reservations all set to stay at Camp Darby, an Army base in Italy. My stay there was short lived. I was planning it to be my base of operations, however I landed late on a SUN and everything was closed, plus I was informed that MON was an Italian holiday so most things probably would be closed then too. I was planning to rent a car, but I did not want to wait 2 days, nor did I want to go back to the airport and try to rent one from there...good thing, because it all worked out for the best. I got a hold of Verna and decided to meet her that night, Milan was just a 3 hour train ride away. So I check out of my hotel and made my way to the train station. Of course the train I was suppose to take, the tracks were under construction, so I had to hop a bus and go to another station where with a little help from the locals I was able to get on my train and off to Milan I was!! Really having no idea where I was going, I got off at the wrong station, but good thing I was quick to realize the wrongs of my way and I was able to catch the next train to the Milan Central Station. After arriving 45 minutes later than I expected, I was able to make a phone call and miraculously hook up with Verna and her uncle. Verna had already arranged a hotel for the evening so I didn’t need to worry about that, a pleasant surprise, so we were off to meet some more family, then off to our hotel to get a good night’s sleep so we could tackle the morning early to take in all the sights.
The next day we got up, had our complimentary breakfast, met up with Verna’s uncle and away we went. We started with the town square and Cathedral. We tried to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” painting, but the place where it is kept was closed, Italian Holiday. From there we left to go to the Christmas market and see other cool buildings, side note, I will be using the term “cool buildings” a lot as I cannot remember everything we saw, and I do not have the time right now to research it, so bear with me….ok, where was I, oh the Christmas Market, there we met up with one of Verna’s cousins. This is where I had my first beer, a Heineken, and some kind of Italian sandwich. This was the first beer of many to come that night. After all the sights were taken in, we were off to meet more cousins. We ended up partying the night away, enjoying beer and some good authentic Italian pizza. We eventually escaped to go and see another one of Verna’s uncles where I was introduced to balut…enjoy the video:
From Milan we caught the train to Zurich, Switzerland. We spent one night there and when we arrived it was raining. We did not know where are hotel was, we booked it right from the train station, they have this huge wall with all the hotels and you just pick and call. We got directions for the one we choose, but somehow I think they got lost in translation. A kind gentlemen out strolling his baby kindly directed us to our hotel, there would have been no way we would have found it otherwise, well of course I would have found it eventually, you know being in the Army and all. After we checked in and got settled, we asked for a recommendation for dinner and the gentlemen point across the street there was a nice family owned restaurant. We said perfect and ran over. This would be our first sit down and relax meal. It was delicious; I had a Swiss beer and something to eat.
The next morning we were off to see the sites, check out the pics. Switzerland is very clean and very beautiful. There is an old part of town and a new part and they are divided by a river.
From Switzerland we were off to Garmish Germany, It was a 3 hour train ride through the Alps, beautiful! Upon arriving at Garmish train station, we hailed a cab and we were off to Edelweiss Resort. It is a gorgeous get away located on an Army base; It was nice to see people that speak your language. We checked in, got our room, arranged our stuff, and then went off exploring the Hotel. The hotel had all the amenities, awesome pool, a neat outdoor hot tub, a couple of restaurants and a bar. It is getting late and we were hungry so we quickly changed and made our way to the restaurant where I had an awesome T-bone steak and some German beer. The next day we planned to go skiing/snowboarding, and then get a massage later that night. We weren’t able to do any, the weather although nice, in the mountains it was foggy with zero visibility, there went snowboarding in the Alps (1 of the 100 things I want to do before I die), I guess I will be going back to Europe again. As for the massage, we didn’t reserve in time, and all slots were full. Didn’t matter, we adjusted plans and went exploring the little town of Garmish.
Garmish to Munich to Prague, oh my!! On our way to Prague, we had a couple of hours to kill before catching the train so Verna and I went and explored Munich. Munich is where a kind lady educated me that although German’s love their beer, it is more of a summer drink and they prefer to drink hot wine in the winter. I said, “That sounds great too, as long as I am here in Germany I am going to have a beer, then I will try the hot wine, thanks!”
Homeland, here I come! It was a 6 hour train ride to Prague, we left right around dusk so we did not get to take in a lot of sights on the way, instead we choose to rest, relax and catch some zzzzz’s where we could. Upon arriving in Prague, we were greeted by my friend Tomas. Tomas and I met while I we attended Signal Officer Basic Course at Fort Gordon, GA. He was the most gracious host; he put us up in an apartment and offered to be our personal tour guide. My friends Mike and Amanda from London flew in for the weekend too, so Praha, look out here we come. The major mission in Prague was to find some kolachies and dumplings – mission accomplished, see the pics. Praha is beautiful, the St Charles Bridge, town square, the castle, peeing statues, Christmas Market, the beer, what a great time. We even took in some night life, check out the video.
We had a blast in the Czeck Republic, but it was time to head off to Salzburg, Austria. Watch for Eurotrip 2008, Part Duo - Coming soon to a Blog near you!
I was able to get a slot to go on mid tour leave for some R&R and as a last minute kind a thing planned a trip through Europe. I was going to hit 11 cities and 4 countries in 15 days and who do you think was crazy enough to go on this adventure with me….none other than my special friend Verna. Verna and I traveled the Philippines together a few years back which eventually lead to us dating. The dating thing lasted about a year, but we have remained great friends since and who knows what our futures hold!!?? We do know that we travel well together and what good is exploring if you don’t have someone to share all the experiences with, so she was game! The plan was to meet in Pisa Italy, but through some unforeseen circumstances, Verna flew into Milan, which worked out since she has family there and I ended up going to Pisa. The adventure started on 6DEC for me as I had to fly into Kuwait first and that is where all my travel coordination took place. I was very fortunate and was able to get in and out of Kuwait in less than 24hrs. I touched down in Pisa on 7DEC and had reservations all set to stay at Camp Darby, an Army base in Italy. My stay there was short lived. I was planning it to be my base of operations, however I landed late on a SUN and everything was closed, plus I was informed that MON was an Italian holiday so most things probably would be closed then too. I was planning to rent a car, but I did not want to wait 2 days, nor did I want to go back to the airport and try to rent one from there...good thing, because it all worked out for the best. I got a hold of Verna and decided to meet her that night, Milan was just a 3 hour train ride away. So I check out of my hotel and made my way to the train station. Of course the train I was suppose to take, the tracks were under construction, so I had to hop a bus and go to another station where with a little help from the locals I was able to get on my train and off to Milan I was!! Really having no idea where I was going, I got off at the wrong station, but good thing I was quick to realize the wrongs of my way and I was able to catch the next train to the Milan Central Station. After arriving 45 minutes later than I expected, I was able to make a phone call and miraculously hook up with Verna and her uncle. Verna had already arranged a hotel for the evening so I didn’t need to worry about that, a pleasant surprise, so we were off to meet some more family, then off to our hotel to get a good night’s sleep so we could tackle the morning early to take in all the sights.
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The next day we got up, had our complimentary breakfast, met up with Verna’s uncle and away we went. We started with the town square and Cathedral. We tried to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” painting, but the place where it is kept was closed, Italian Holiday. From there we left to go to the Christmas market and see other cool buildings, side note, I will be using the term “cool buildings” a lot as I cannot remember everything we saw, and I do not have the time right now to research it, so bear with me….ok, where was I, oh the Christmas Market, there we met up with one of Verna’s cousins. This is where I had my first beer, a Heineken, and some kind of Italian sandwich. This was the first beer of many to come that night. After all the sights were taken in, we were off to meet more cousins. We ended up partying the night away, enjoying beer and some good authentic Italian pizza. We eventually escaped to go and see another one of Verna’s uncles where I was introduced to balut…enjoy the video:
From Milan we caught the train to Zurich, Switzerland. We spent one night there and when we arrived it was raining. We did not know where are hotel was, we booked it right from the train station, they have this huge wall with all the hotels and you just pick and call. We got directions for the one we choose, but somehow I think they got lost in translation. A kind gentlemen out strolling his baby kindly directed us to our hotel, there would have been no way we would have found it otherwise, well of course I would have found it eventually, you know being in the Army and all. After we checked in and got settled, we asked for a recommendation for dinner and the gentlemen point across the street there was a nice family owned restaurant. We said perfect and ran over. This would be our first sit down and relax meal. It was delicious; I had a Swiss beer and something to eat.
The next morning we were off to see the sites, check out the pics. Switzerland is very clean and very beautiful. There is an old part of town and a new part and they are divided by a river.
From Switzerland we were off to Garmish Germany, It was a 3 hour train ride through the Alps, beautiful! Upon arriving at Garmish train station, we hailed a cab and we were off to Edelweiss Resort. It is a gorgeous get away located on an Army base; It was nice to see people that speak your language. We checked in, got our room, arranged our stuff, and then went off exploring the Hotel. The hotel had all the amenities, awesome pool, a neat outdoor hot tub, a couple of restaurants and a bar. It is getting late and we were hungry so we quickly changed and made our way to the restaurant where I had an awesome T-bone steak and some German beer. The next day we planned to go skiing/snowboarding, and then get a massage later that night. We weren’t able to do any, the weather although nice, in the mountains it was foggy with zero visibility, there went snowboarding in the Alps (1 of the 100 things I want to do before I die), I guess I will be going back to Europe again. As for the massage, we didn’t reserve in time, and all slots were full. Didn’t matter, we adjusted plans and went exploring the little town of Garmish.
Garmish to Munich to Prague, oh my!! On our way to Prague, we had a couple of hours to kill before catching the train so Verna and I went and explored Munich. Munich is where a kind lady educated me that although German’s love their beer, it is more of a summer drink and they prefer to drink hot wine in the winter. I said, “That sounds great too, as long as I am here in Germany I am going to have a beer, then I will try the hot wine, thanks!”
Homeland, here I come! It was a 6 hour train ride to Prague, we left right around dusk so we did not get to take in a lot of sights on the way, instead we choose to rest, relax and catch some zzzzz’s where we could. Upon arriving in Prague, we were greeted by my friend Tomas. Tomas and I met while I we attended Signal Officer Basic Course at Fort Gordon, GA. He was the most gracious host; he put us up in an apartment and offered to be our personal tour guide. My friends Mike and Amanda from London flew in for the weekend too, so Praha, look out here we come. The major mission in Prague was to find some kolachies and dumplings – mission accomplished, see the pics. Praha is beautiful, the St Charles Bridge, town square, the castle, peeing statues, Christmas Market, the beer, what a great time. We even took in some night life, check out the video.
We had a blast in the Czeck Republic, but it was time to head off to Salzburg, Austria. Watch for Eurotrip 2008, Part Duo - Coming soon to a Blog near you!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Iraq - The Early Days
Well the weather has started to cool off reaching mid 90’s at its high and I have been waking up to the 60’s, feels nice. Since I last wrote my big things to do were my spending budget and getting the Motor pool connected to the network.
First the budget; our Battalion has a shortage of automation equipment over here and it is one of my duties to identify the shortages and filter the needs versus the wants of all the soldiers my section supports. Believe it or not that is the easy part; the tough part is all the paperwork it takes to submit the request on up the chain for the final approval. I had to write three Memorandums of justification per item that I am requesting and had 72 hours to get it done as I was given a very short suspense. I identified five major areas where we could use a little help; printers, monitors, phones, switches and uninterrupted power supplies. Along with the memos, I also needed three quotes. You would think no problem with the internet and all, but there is a catch, all three quotes need to be from Iraqi vendors; the US is trying to stimulate the economy over here. This has been an interesting challenge, but nothing that couldn’t be solved through email; it only took me about three weeks to get what I needed. Now the process moves forward, oh, did I mention that I shouldn’t expect to see all this equipment until a month or two before our rotation here ends. The process takes that long to get approved, so basically we are setting up our counterparts.
Our first big project here was to get the motor pool reconnected to the network. The motor pool is about 350 feet away from the nearest network switch and CAT5 pretty much loses its signal strength after 300 feet. The unit before us had them connected via CAT5 using a pair gain modems. They suspended the CAT5 from the double HAS over to the motor pool, probably about a 450 foot run. Shortly before they left they took their modems back and the cable got cut; thus they lost connectivity. LT Grupe tried some magic with his wireless CAISE system, but it just wasn’t working so we had to do it the old fashion way. My guys worked with the motor pool to get them to use one of their forklifts to break up the ground for a trench. My guys trenched the 300 plus feet, secured some PVC piping and ran a new line of CAT5. I had some spare switches that LT Grupe worked some magic on, and with the help of some of his CAISE HDSL modems, we were able to get the motor pool back up and running (see pictures of us trenching).
This little endeavor, along with another similar project coming up goes to show just how important and how much we rely on technology for our jobs. I won’t say to do our jobs, because we can still perform the tasks that we need to get done, but for sure technology makes them easier and us more efficient. I have heard soldiers say that their jobs are not as glorious as being out there on the front lines kicking in doors, but it is because of all of our specialties that makes our Army the best in the world….you just go ahead and ask someone how important their email is to them or their phone service, and I think they all will say that they “can’t live without it.” Whether it is for business or MWR, the internet is coveted by everyone, and it is my team’s job to make sure it stays up and running.
On 18SEP our Task Force suffered the first casualties of our deployment. A Chinook helicopter carrying 7 soldiers from Kuwait to Iraq crashed. The soldiers killed were mostly from Texas and Oklahoma. When something tragic like this happens, the Base goes under what is call “COMMS BLACK OUT” and nobody is allowed to communicate with anyone back home. This is out of respect for the families affected and to allow for proper notification. So if you hear of anything or see anything on TV, just be patient, I will send something out as soon as the ban is lifted, usually within 72 hours. It is one of my jobs to advice the commander on how to ensure that essential means of communication stay active while trying to minimize the use of those considered less essential.
During this blog posting, I ran the Air Force Half Marathon, the Army 10 miler and the Navy 5k. I placed in the top 10 of all races, and yes there were more ten runners in each race!
On 4 October in honor of Duck opener back home, I purchased some pellet guns in the morning and then SPC Wiering and I went out hunting around 1800. I have some pictures and a little video footage of that adventure.
This week I also broke down and bought a bike for $50 bones….actually a bike is the best way to get around on this side of the base. If I hadn’t mentioned already, the base is basically divided in two East side (Blue) and the West Side (Green), colors representing Air force and Army. There is a road that circles the perimeter called Victory loop and we are not allowed to run or bike on this road, therefore we are restricted to our sides of the base. We can go to the “otherside” if we want, we just need to take a bus or drive one of our NTVs (NonTactical Vehicle) over there. On the East side is where you will find the Olympic size pool and the movie theater, go figure!!
Not too many pictures this time around, I will have some more, so check back often to see what I’m up to.
As always, enjoy the pics.
First the budget; our Battalion has a shortage of automation equipment over here and it is one of my duties to identify the shortages and filter the needs versus the wants of all the soldiers my section supports. Believe it or not that is the easy part; the tough part is all the paperwork it takes to submit the request on up the chain for the final approval. I had to write three Memorandums of justification per item that I am requesting and had 72 hours to get it done as I was given a very short suspense. I identified five major areas where we could use a little help; printers, monitors, phones, switches and uninterrupted power supplies. Along with the memos, I also needed three quotes. You would think no problem with the internet and all, but there is a catch, all three quotes need to be from Iraqi vendors; the US is trying to stimulate the economy over here. This has been an interesting challenge, but nothing that couldn’t be solved through email; it only took me about three weeks to get what I needed. Now the process moves forward, oh, did I mention that I shouldn’t expect to see all this equipment until a month or two before our rotation here ends. The process takes that long to get approved, so basically we are setting up our counterparts.
Our first big project here was to get the motor pool reconnected to the network. The motor pool is about 350 feet away from the nearest network switch and CAT5 pretty much loses its signal strength after 300 feet. The unit before us had them connected via CAT5 using a pair gain modems. They suspended the CAT5 from the double HAS over to the motor pool, probably about a 450 foot run. Shortly before they left they took their modems back and the cable got cut; thus they lost connectivity. LT Grupe tried some magic with his wireless CAISE system, but it just wasn’t working so we had to do it the old fashion way. My guys worked with the motor pool to get them to use one of their forklifts to break up the ground for a trench. My guys trenched the 300 plus feet, secured some PVC piping and ran a new line of CAT5. I had some spare switches that LT Grupe worked some magic on, and with the help of some of his CAISE HDSL modems, we were able to get the motor pool back up and running (see pictures of us trenching).
This little endeavor, along with another similar project coming up goes to show just how important and how much we rely on technology for our jobs. I won’t say to do our jobs, because we can still perform the tasks that we need to get done, but for sure technology makes them easier and us more efficient. I have heard soldiers say that their jobs are not as glorious as being out there on the front lines kicking in doors, but it is because of all of our specialties that makes our Army the best in the world….you just go ahead and ask someone how important their email is to them or their phone service, and I think they all will say that they “can’t live without it.” Whether it is for business or MWR, the internet is coveted by everyone, and it is my team’s job to make sure it stays up and running.
On 18SEP our Task Force suffered the first casualties of our deployment. A Chinook helicopter carrying 7 soldiers from Kuwait to Iraq crashed. The soldiers killed were mostly from Texas and Oklahoma. When something tragic like this happens, the Base goes under what is call “COMMS BLACK OUT” and nobody is allowed to communicate with anyone back home. This is out of respect for the families affected and to allow for proper notification. So if you hear of anything or see anything on TV, just be patient, I will send something out as soon as the ban is lifted, usually within 72 hours. It is one of my jobs to advice the commander on how to ensure that essential means of communication stay active while trying to minimize the use of those considered less essential.
During this blog posting, I ran the Air Force Half Marathon, the Army 10 miler and the Navy 5k. I placed in the top 10 of all races, and yes there were more ten runners in each race!
On 4 October in honor of Duck opener back home, I purchased some pellet guns in the morning and then SPC Wiering and I went out hunting around 1800. I have some pictures and a little video footage of that adventure.
This week I also broke down and bought a bike for $50 bones….actually a bike is the best way to get around on this side of the base. If I hadn’t mentioned already, the base is basically divided in two East side (Blue) and the West Side (Green), colors representing Air force and Army. There is a road that circles the perimeter called Victory loop and we are not allowed to run or bike on this road, therefore we are restricted to our sides of the base. We can go to the “otherside” if we want, we just need to take a bus or drive one of our NTVs (NonTactical Vehicle) over there. On the East side is where you will find the Olympic size pool and the movie theater, go figure!!
Not too many pictures this time around, I will have some more, so check back often to see what I’m up to.
As always, enjoy the pics.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Well I made it to Iraq
I touched down safely in Iraq on the 25th of August as most of you have probably figured out by now. We were greeted by our TORCH party personnel at the airport, to include my guy I sent STRATAIR, SGT Murphy or as I call him, M5; it was good to see him! I have been affectionately nicknaming all my soldiers; M5 got his because I have two SGT Murphys in my section, one is a SGT E5, the other is a SFC E7, so as you can guess the other SFC Murphy is M7 or I just call them by their number. In blogs to come, you will learn more about my crew.
We arrived late, so that evening we stayed in transient housing, or short term lodging. We slept 8 to a building with the bunks being bunk beds. Everyone found their gear, a bed, and then ran off to the shower. This was the first night in 2 weeks we all got to sleep on a mattress vs. a cot, it was a nice change. The next morning we all needed to be ready by 0900 to go receive our housing in-brief so that we can get our room assignment on the West side. Grupe managed to secure a seat on the ADVON flight so we remained partners in crime and are roommates for the deployment. For the deployment we will be living in CHUs; Containerized Housing Units, check out the pictures.
The next few days we spent getting settled into our rooms and meeting our counterparts. I met the soldiers of the 412th ASB, the unit we are replacing. They are a good crew and did a lot of stuff improving the BN AO (Battalion Area of Operations) with wiring projects and the addition of switching cabinets.
On 28AUG, we were informed that our RIP TOA (Relief In Place & Transfer Of Authority) was bumped up a week sooner. This expedited our training timeline significantly and the rush was on to start setting up all the accounts in our name. We have Toby Hanna, the Army Depot where we bring computer systems to get fixed, COMSEC account, the DRMO, where we dispose of hazardous materials and most importantly our IMO (Information Management Officer) training, this gives us the right to administer and manage the BN network. CPT H and his soldiers gave us the tour of Balad and my AO; all the places I have customers to support.
Of course Grupe and I found time to run and signed up to run a half marathon on 31AUG, the Rock ‘n Roll Virginia Beach half Marathon. This was my first and we ran it in 1:38.44, finished in the top 20. Had we started at the front of the pack instead of lining up in the back, I think we would have placed in the top 10, securing medals…oh well there will be plenty more races, overall this was a Great Run!
The following days I spent getting acclimated to my new job, learning all I can from CPT H and taking in the new sites, sounds and smells of Iraq.
All around me there are things flying, like Black Hawks, Apaches, Chinooks, F16s, C130s and a whole slew of other types of aircraft; it is loud. I think it would be the equivalent of living right on the runway of the MSP Airport. Here is the sound of the F16s taking off, they do this constantly, ALL day long. At night they look like rockets with their afterburners, pretty cool, I'll try to get a video...
(I distorted the Video for OPSEC reasons)The smell, dirt and diesel all day long; if you ever did any landscaping and order up a nice load of pulverized black dirt, after they dump it, there is that fine dirt in the air, not only can you see it, but you can smell and even taste it, throw in a little diesel and that is what it smells like here.
It is 4SEP and still pretty hot here, 120s or so…and our bathrooms on the most part are Port-o-Potties…let me tell you, there is nothing more soothing than sitting on a nice hot toilet to take care of business, only sometimes it gets real hot and you have to ease yourself down on the seat, sort of like when you are stepping into a real hot Jacuzzi, you have to take it nice and slow, but when you get there, it feels good!!! LOL
Today, 5SEP I ran the 5k freedom run, and took 5th place overall with a time of 22:18. I sure felt good on this run and I am thinking no way it was only a 5k, so the next morning I had Grupe run the course with, he didn’t run the race-choose to sleep in, and it was a little long, about a 1/3 of a mile long, it was actually 3.4 miles. I still have not got a medal here in Iraq, but I am working on it.
Well we had our first dust storm of the deployment, check out the pictures, I missed most of it as I was in my office working, but one of my soldiers snapped a few picks from on top of our HAS (Hardened Aviation Shelter).
11SEP, this morning I ran the Patriot 5k with Grupe as we were a team carrying our BN Colors, if you ask him he will let you know it wasn’t one of his better runs as he just finished up some “paperwork” if you know what I mean when the race started. He didn’t catch up to me until the first mile and he looked in rough shape so I carried the colors to mile 1.5, handed them off to him where he carried I think maybe a mile or less, then I took them for the last mile or so. The top 3 teams received awards and we came in 5th, just missed again! Today also happens to be the infamous day, 5 years ago today is the reason we are here and coincidently today we were “Patched” which means we received our right shoulder, or combat patch. I have the history of the significance of this event under my "Some History" link. It is a big thing to me, not sure how others feel about it, but I feel more like I am part of the team, that I pulled my weight, that I now have that bond with my brothers and sisters in Arms…it is hard to explain, but I feel more accepted.
For the most part I am trying to get into a routine. I go for a run in the morning; I have been a good boy flossing my teeth every morning too, shower and off to breakfast. Usually start my day at 0530 and am into the office just before 0900. I go through the taskers from the night before and then check my email for new Help Desk Tickets. I am still putting out a lot of fires like, my printer doesn’t work, my radio lost its COMSEC, I need a new computer, can I get another computer drop in my office, I want AFN in my office, I can’t log onto my computer, I am locked out of my computer, can I get another phone line…you get the picture. I am trying to automate our Helpdesk procedures to help alleviate this. To do this I am trying to establish a share drive, plus we use Microsoft SharePoint here too. I have 2 networks I manage, a secure or secret network, and then the regular network like you all have at work. Each one has its only policies and protocols that must be enforced, so that means I have twice as much of a chance for something to go wrong. I will talk more about my job as things move on.
Since I have been running, I have lost 19 pounds, I am down from 167 to 148, and I have pretty much lost my belly, which is good. I am hoping to hit the gym starting 1OCT and my goal is to get back up to 160, I will keep you all posted. My poor feet have been taking a beating however, they are still trying to acclimate. I was setting a lot when I got here and my feet basically shed all their skin, just like a snake would. I am getting more use to the climate now and not sweating so much in my boots and my feet are slowing healing up, in another week or so, they will be better than new! It might be to the fact that it is starting to cool off here, it has to come to the point where 100 degrees fills like 60 back home. For a while I did not think there was such a thing as cold water here, hot or warm, but now I can feel traces of cold water when I first turn on the shower. I am not a real “Hot” shower taker, I like it warm and for a while I would just have to turn the cold water on, now I have to crack the hot just a little bit.
14SEP – the dust in the air today is horrible, it looks like an early spring morning back in Minnesota when the air is thick with dew, instead; here it is dirt. It sucks…(Can you tell which pictures they are??) Here is the Video I promised....
As always, enjoy the pics.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
So long Kuwait
Well my stay in Kuwait has come to pass. My main tasks there were to get acclimated to the time change and weather, plus fire my weapon to insure that it still works. Tasks related to my Army job was to get system administrative privileges, baseline some computers for the Kuwait network, set up a phone line and make sure my Commander could log into his computer and make calls from his phone – mission was accomplished.
In Kuwait we had to take combat showers because all water has to be shipped into Camp Buehring and each soldier is allowed 15 gallons of water per day. Here is how a combat shower works, you turn the water on, get wet, shut water off, lather up with soap, turn water on, rinse off, your done, get out – next!
While I was turning in my paperwork to get network access for my soldiers, I made small talk with one of the civilian Techs that works there and asked how much money he made, and he goes, “I am one of the lower paid guys year and my salary is $110K per year.” Not a bad gig, they do the same thing that I will be doing over the next 10 months. They are all contracted through ITT.
The day we need to go fire our weapons we had to get up at 0330. We left at 0400, drove an hour out into the desert to a range. While we were in route to the range we were briefed that we need to be careful not to shoot any camels as they kind of free-range out where we are going. If we were to shoot one, there is more paperwork involved with that incident verse a soldier getting shot. Apparently all these “organizations” have to come out and declare the value of the camel. In case you are interested, brown or black camels go for $8k a piece and white camels go for $100k a piece, why do you think white camels go for so much? If interested, send an email and I will tell you.
16AUG there was a “Victory in the Pacific” 5k race that a bunch of us Red Bulls participated in and wouldn’t you know that we had runners place in all the age categories(See the pictures) . I took 2nd in my age group with a 19:22 time and Grupe took third place. This was the start of my Medal collection… I am going to try and run all the 5k races, they usually have them on Holidays over here. We’ll see how many medals and T-shirts I can collect!
On 18AUG, a group of us decided to go and get haircuts. I can honestly say that the barber cut every single one, see this entries picture. I think I got finagled into this as the others did not get as close of a cut as I did, or it could be the fact that my hair is just not as thick as it used to be. We were all supposed to get a “high-fade” as seen in the pictures. We had a good time and good laugh watching everyone’s reaction to getting all their hair chopped off, I think It hurt me the worse as I am very protective of the hair I have. Now we will let the hair grow in and start growing mustaches, should be fun! The 18th of AUG is also the anniversary of my commissioning; I have been a commissioned officer for 6 years now.
I had heard rumors of a SPA on post, so I sent out to investigate and low and behold, I did find one, so I got myself a massage, 30 minutes for $21 bucks from a nice Filipino lady. The entire SPA is run by Filipinos, the do manicures, pedicures, and haircuts too. I think the massage also helped me beat the Kuwaiti krud. The entire base is powered by diesel generators, so it is loud, dirty and the air is just yucky. I run outside, about 40 miles a week and I am breathing in all that crap…so this is why I treated myself to a massage to help work all the toxins out of my body. After my massage, I stopped at Starbucks (yes, they are everywhere) for a caramel frappuccino.
On 23AUG I entered a CARDIO-STREND competition which consisted of the following events: 100 floors on the Stair-stepper, 5 miles on the Elliptical and 2 miles on the treadmill. I came in third place, but not without controversy. There was no doubt Grupe had first place wrapped up with his astonishing performance on the elliptical, 5 miles in 15 minutes. Second place was a surprise as I thought I had it in the bag, but out of nowhere Bibeau snuck by me and stole away the silver. Apparently the trick to the elliptical was keeping it on level one and just push through it, I on the other hand had mine set on level seven, and took 30 minutes to go 5 miles... cost me the gold. So to insure Bibeau’s silver, he says to me, “let’s run the two miles on treadmills next to each other.” I was like sure…later to find out he knew he had beat me by 10 minutes on the elliptical so all he needed to do was stay within 10minutes of me on the 2 mile. The order of the medal presentation went Bronze, Silver, and Gold; when I did not place, I knew something was wrong. After the presentations were complete, I went to the judges and demanding a recount, I mean a re-add of the times…and sure enough, I at least came in third, stripping SFC Saladin of his medal! It was all good and we had fun!
The next day Grupe and I decided to run a 12 miler as it would be our last run in Kuwait. This is my longest run since I ran the Twin Cities marathon back in 2001. I felt pretty good, so afterwards I treated myself one more time to a massage, actually I got the full package, a foot spa, manicure and 30 minute massage from Melvy, boy did I sleep well that evening. The next day I got up, finished packing and left for Iraq later that day on a C130 flying high, very hot and super sweaty, miserable hour and half flight.
As always, enjoy the pictures.
In Kuwait we had to take combat showers because all water has to be shipped into Camp Buehring and each soldier is allowed 15 gallons of water per day. Here is how a combat shower works, you turn the water on, get wet, shut water off, lather up with soap, turn water on, rinse off, your done, get out – next!
While I was turning in my paperwork to get network access for my soldiers, I made small talk with one of the civilian Techs that works there and asked how much money he made, and he goes, “I am one of the lower paid guys year and my salary is $110K per year.” Not a bad gig, they do the same thing that I will be doing over the next 10 months. They are all contracted through ITT.
The day we need to go fire our weapons we had to get up at 0330. We left at 0400, drove an hour out into the desert to a range. While we were in route to the range we were briefed that we need to be careful not to shoot any camels as they kind of free-range out where we are going. If we were to shoot one, there is more paperwork involved with that incident verse a soldier getting shot. Apparently all these “organizations” have to come out and declare the value of the camel. In case you are interested, brown or black camels go for $8k a piece and white camels go for $100k a piece, why do you think white camels go for so much? If interested, send an email and I will tell you.
16AUG there was a “Victory in the Pacific” 5k race that a bunch of us Red Bulls participated in and wouldn’t you know that we had runners place in all the age categories(See the pictures) . I took 2nd in my age group with a 19:22 time and Grupe took third place. This was the start of my Medal collection… I am going to try and run all the 5k races, they usually have them on Holidays over here. We’ll see how many medals and T-shirts I can collect!
On 18AUG, a group of us decided to go and get haircuts. I can honestly say that the barber cut every single one, see this entries picture. I think I got finagled into this as the others did not get as close of a cut as I did, or it could be the fact that my hair is just not as thick as it used to be. We were all supposed to get a “high-fade” as seen in the pictures. We had a good time and good laugh watching everyone’s reaction to getting all their hair chopped off, I think It hurt me the worse as I am very protective of the hair I have. Now we will let the hair grow in and start growing mustaches, should be fun! The 18th of AUG is also the anniversary of my commissioning; I have been a commissioned officer for 6 years now.
I had heard rumors of a SPA on post, so I sent out to investigate and low and behold, I did find one, so I got myself a massage, 30 minutes for $21 bucks from a nice Filipino lady. The entire SPA is run by Filipinos, the do manicures, pedicures, and haircuts too. I think the massage also helped me beat the Kuwaiti krud. The entire base is powered by diesel generators, so it is loud, dirty and the air is just yucky. I run outside, about 40 miles a week and I am breathing in all that crap…so this is why I treated myself to a massage to help work all the toxins out of my body. After my massage, I stopped at Starbucks (yes, they are everywhere) for a caramel frappuccino.
On 23AUG I entered a CARDIO-STREND competition which consisted of the following events: 100 floors on the Stair-stepper, 5 miles on the Elliptical and 2 miles on the treadmill. I came in third place, but not without controversy. There was no doubt Grupe had first place wrapped up with his astonishing performance on the elliptical, 5 miles in 15 minutes. Second place was a surprise as I thought I had it in the bag, but out of nowhere Bibeau snuck by me and stole away the silver. Apparently the trick to the elliptical was keeping it on level one and just push through it, I on the other hand had mine set on level seven, and took 30 minutes to go 5 miles... cost me the gold. So to insure Bibeau’s silver, he says to me, “let’s run the two miles on treadmills next to each other.” I was like sure…later to find out he knew he had beat me by 10 minutes on the elliptical so all he needed to do was stay within 10minutes of me on the 2 mile. The order of the medal presentation went Bronze, Silver, and Gold; when I did not place, I knew something was wrong. After the presentations were complete, I went to the judges and demanding a recount, I mean a re-add of the times…and sure enough, I at least came in third, stripping SFC Saladin of his medal! It was all good and we had fun!
The next day Grupe and I decided to run a 12 miler as it would be our last run in Kuwait. This is my longest run since I ran the Twin Cities marathon back in 2001. I felt pretty good, so afterwards I treated myself one more time to a massage, actually I got the full package, a foot spa, manicure and 30 minute massage from Melvy, boy did I sleep well that evening. The next day I got up, finished packing and left for Iraq later that day on a C130 flying high, very hot and super sweaty, miserable hour and half flight.
As always, enjoy the pictures.
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