Egghead Salad Sandwich

Our Trip to Aggieland!

2008-11-09T17:48:00.001-08:00

Cindy and I took a great trip this weekend. We were invited by my cousin David and his wife Patricia to spend the weekend with them and watch the Texas A&M vs Oklahoma football game. What a weekend. It was non-stop, but we had so much fun.

We arrived Friday around dinner time, and had a wonderful dinner at their home. We visited for a while, waiting for the appropriate time for the first event, Midnight Yell. Texas A&M is a bit different from other schools. They don’t cheer, they yell! Friday at midnight we were all in the stadium. The yell leaders (5 guys, no girls) led us, the students, and the Corps of Cadets in the different yells. Each yell had a story and tradition behind it. The clothes the yell leaders wore, the shirt the torch corporal wore, and the movements the yell leaders made when telling stories, all had historical significance and were steeped in tradition.

We made it home around 1:30am and got to bed to rest up for the next day.

Saturday was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. By the way, for those of you Yankees stuck in autumn or winter weather, it was a wonderful 80 degrees yesterday. Anyway, we had a nice breakfast out on the patio and then drove to campus. David and Patricia spent hours showing us around and explaining the significance and tradition of almost everything there. We visited the bonfire memorial. Some of you may remember in 1999, while building the stack for their traditional bonfire, the stack shifted, fell, and killed 12 students working on it that night. They haven’t had a bonfire since. In the place where the bonfire was held, they’ve put a memorial for those who died. It was a very impressive spot.

Each of the doorways you see are for one of the fallen. Each is a memorial. They are also placed in such a way that if you stand in the portal, facing out, you will face towards the home town of the person who’s memorial it is. It was very special.

We headed over to the Corps dorms and watched the Fighting Texas Aggie Band forming up. They marched off for the stadium and we headed over to watch them arrive.

We looked around a bit more, then headed for the stadium. We stopped outside to look at the burial spot for all the previous mascots. Years ago, a stray dog wandered onto campus and would bark when reveille was played. They cadets took the dog in, named it reveille and it became their mascot. As each Reveille has passed away, they were buried outside the stadium with their heads placed so they could see the scoreboard. When they expanded the stadium they erected a wall between the Reveilles and the scoreboard. There was an uproar about that so they placed an additional scoreboard outside the stadium so that the Reveilles could still see the score every game.

We went into the stadium and got to our seats. As we watched the people filing in, we saw probably the most famous of the Aggie fans. Apparently he shows up to quite a few home games. The 41st President of the United States, George Bush.

Everyone filed in and it was time for the game. Saturday was a “maroon out” where all the fans wore maroon. Cindy and I actually stopped on the way to buy some Aggie shirts so we’d fit in. Try to imagine 85,000 all wearing maroon. It was impressive.

We enjoyed the game quite a bit, even though the Aggies lost by a large margin. Here’s some of the action.

At half time, the Fighting Texas Aggie Band played for us. They were very impressive with the formations they made while playing and marching.

You may have noticed in the band pictures that some of the students wore shoes and some boots. In the Corps of Cadets, the seniors get to wear the boots. They are known as “Senior Boots”. They are custom made and quite expensive, but they mean a great deal to the cadets.

After half time we watched the rest of the game, and although we lost, we still had a good time. After the game, as we were walking back to the car, we stopped by the Cadet Center. As a fund raiser they have sold bricks that are placed outside the center for former students. We found the brick that meant the most to me. My Grandfather was an Aggie, class of 1929.

All in all, Cindy and I had a wonderful time this weekend. We are hoping to return the favor by having David and Patricia out to Louisiana to enjoy Mardi Gras with us.

Good News All Around

2008-10-29T16:09:00.001-07:00

Well, it’s been an interesting week! Last Tuesday we sent Melissa off to Brazil. It was an emotional day for us all. I think it was worse on Cindy than anyone. But, we got her off. We were told that we would only hear from the MTC if there was a problem. I did a little math and figured that Melissa should land about 3:30am our time. So I predicted, and told Cindy, that she would wake up about then wondering if Melissa was ok. Sure enough, I felt Cindy get out of bed about 3:30 am and go head for the computer. She was up the rest of the night. No news was good news so we figured she must be OK. The next day, we received an email from the MTC saying that our missionary had arrived safely, had a companion, and was now working for the Lord. Today we received our first email from Melissa (Sorry, Sister Ortolani). It was great. Very emotional for us just to read it. I know Cindy forwarded it out, so you have probably all read it. We are so proud of her for choosing to serve the Lord in this way. We know she’ll be blessed for this.

Monday was another good day for us. I received an email at work that my retirement has been approved. Happy day. Tuesday, I received about 50 different forms and clearance letters that need to be completed before leaving. Also, a copy of my retirement orders, stating that I will be released from active duty as of 30 September 2009, retired effective 1 October 2009. I filled out one of the worksheets, did the backwards counting and determined that my last day of work, and my retirement ceremony, will be on 10 July 2009. We are very much looking forward to it all. It’s very exciting. It’s also hard to believe that the last 20 years have gone by so quickly. Seems like not that long ago I was a young 2nd Lieutenant in EWO school. Now, here it is, 20 years later, my military career coming to a successful end. Cindy and I both know that retiring is the right thing for us to do at this time. We also know that we’ve loved the Air Force and wouldn’t trade the last 20 years for anything. We are looking forward to moving back to Utah and being close to our family again.

We had big fun on the Bayou!

2008-10-13T09:21:00.001-07:00

As most of you know, Melissa is spending a few weeks with us before leaving for Brazil. We’re having fun with her down here. Anyway, she wanted to see New Orleans before she left, so we went down there this weekend.

We left home on Friday afternoon and drove to Covington and checked into our hotel. It’s a fairly long drive, so we didn’t get there until about 7:30 or so. Not a problem. After dumping our stuff in our room, we took a drive over the 30 mile bridge across Lake Pontchartrain and into New Orleans, and Bourbon Street.

As you can imagine, Bourbon Street on a Friday night is something to see. I think Melissa had a good time.

We had a great dinner, enjoying the local Cajun cuisine, then we wandered Bourbon Street for a bit, then back to the hotel.

The next day we headed back to New Orleans. Once there we stopped off at the Metairie Cemetery. It was pretty cool. Melissa liked all the mausoleums.

After that, we headed to the Bayou. We’d signed up for an airboat tour of the swamp. It was a lot of fun. The swamp has it’s own eerie beauty that’s difficult to describe. Maybe the pics will help.

Here is a picture of the type of boat we were on. That was another group that went out when we did.

It was a bit loud at times, depending on how fast we were going. The ride was fun and the breeze kept us cool. The drivers sure knew their stuff. I would have been totally lost in the maze of waterways in the swamp, but they all seemed to know exactly where they were going.

We toured the swamp, saw the flora and fauna. Of course, there were my favorites, the gators. Here are some pics.

Yeah, I love the alligators. After we’d been out a while, we came across this huge gator. 13 feet long. Although, you’ll see from the pics, he was quite friendly.

For some reason, our guide liked to feed them all marshmallows. They seemed to really like them!

On our way back we saw this pretty cool cemetery. I guess even folks on the bayou need them too.

We had a great day. On our way back, we made a little detour to see the Baton Rouge temple. It’s one of the smaller temples. Reminded me a lot of the Bismarck temple in North Dakota.

We had a great time. It’s a long drive between New Orleans and Shreveport. We didn’t get home until after midnight. It was well worth it. Hope ya’ll enjoyed your summer. I hear it snowed yesterday in Utah. It’s still warm down here. Ya’ll come out and visit sometime!

Calling all Liberals

2008-10-05T07:33:00.001-07:00

Hey Ya’ll. Just stumbled upon this great video! This guy has a great knack for putting the truth out there in a way that’s very easy to understand. Watch and enjoy. Vote McCain/Palin!

Austin

2008-09-02T10:04:00.001-07:00

We were invited to my Aunt Pat's house for the Labor Day weekend. It was something that we've been looking forward to for a while. We drove out on Saturday morning and arrived at her house that afternoon. We went out to the new home of my cousin Deb and her husband Ron. We did some catching up, then went to Saturday Mass with them. That was an interesting service. Then home again for dinner. Delicious chicken fajitas. Man they were good.

The next day (Saturday) we headed out to Lake Austin. Pat took us out to look at my Grandmother's old place on the lake. I really miss that place. It's sad it's not in the family any more. But, we got to West Lake Beach and all had a great time. Here are some pics of the afternoon.

Cindy found these awesome mayflies (there were thousands of them out there). She wanted a picture taken with them. She stirred them up and I shot the picture. Too bad you can't see the bugs, they are surrounding her.

On the right here is a picture of them a bit close-up. They didn't bother us, but there were a ton of them out there.

This pic below is a shot of the lake from the park. I remember when most of the far side of the lake was just trees. Now there are so many houses over there it's not really the same lake anymore. I mean, I loved being out there and it brought back a lot of memories, but it was just so different than what I remembered.

It was a great day, and we had most of the family out there with us. The funny thing was that this was supposed to be a retirement party for my cousin Martha's husband Larry. The sad thing was they were unable to make it to that lake that day. A few days prior, Larry had fallen off a ladder and shattered his arm, so he was at home suffering the pain associated with that. We missed them.

This is a photo of me and my Aunt Pat. She's my Dad's sister. She is so much fun to hang out with. Cindy and I stayed with her when we were there in Austin.

Following are just some pics we took out at the lake. It was a blast.

We were going to stay all day and drive home on Monday. We were keeping an eye on hurricane Gustav, however, and decided to leave on Sunday instead. I think it was a good move. Even as late as we were driving (we got home around midnight), there was still quite a bit of traffic coming out of Louisiana and every motel we passed had a parking packed with cars. Glad we have a nice house here that's stocked with our food storage and ready for the coming storm.

Quick Update

2008-08-09T17:08:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since I've written here, I've been a bit busy.

As many of you know, I was chosen to return to Iraq for 6 months next year. I had only one reason that I didn't want to return to Iraq. It would be at a time so close to my retirement from the Air Force that it would hinder my ability to find a post-Air Force job. So, my boss and I talked it over and he decided to see if he could get me out of the deployment. It worked, and I am not going to Iraq. Cindy and I are both very happy about that as you can imagine.

Other than that excitement, it's pretty quiet around here. We're are both busy with our church callings, Cindy in the Primary and me in the Bishopric. I am also working on my MBA, still. I am currently taking two classes. I have three others left, then a final and I'm done! Can't wait.

We are also preparing for our trip to Utah in a couple of days. Can't wait for that either. We are looking forward to the Fail Family Reunion, and then will spend some time relaxing, doing a little pre-house hunting, and maybe a little job hunting while we're at it.

Of course, the biggest event will be when Melissa goes through the Temple for her first time. We are extremely excited about that and really can't wait for the big day. It's going to be a family event to remember.

4th of July in New Orleans

2008-07-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya'll. Cindy and I decided that we wanted to see more of the state of Louisiana before we left and regretted not seeing it all. So, with a 4 day weekend for the holiday, we decided to see some of the southern part of the state.

We drove down to Lafayette on Friday morning. It was a very pleasant drive. We got set up on the motel and then drove on into New Orleans. What a great town.

We got into New Orleans and then drove around looking for a place to park. It was crazy crowded for the holiday. Anyway, we parked and started walking. We ended up eating dinner there on Bourbon Street. We enjoyed a bit of Jambalaya. We spent some more time looking around then went to the riverfront to set up for the fireworks.

The fireworks was set up as "dueling barges". Two barges in the river, both shooting fireworks at the same time. It was a pretty cool, if very short, fireworks display.

After the fireworks, we grabbed a quick slice of pizza (which was awesome) and then spent a long time trying to get out of town due to the traffic.

Saturday, we went back to New Orleans and went down to the lower 9th Ward, the sight of all the Katrina flooding. While there were still some houses abandoned and boarded up, there was a lot of rebuilding going on and things are looking better than before.

While we were in town, we also visited one of the New Orleans cemeteries where everything is above ground. It was actually pretty cool.

After our sight seeing, we went back downtown to Bourbon street and had some lunch. It was great. More Jambalaya with andouille sausage and alligator sausage. Delicious!

Sunday was my day really. We went to Avery Island, home of Tabasco hot sauce! It's something I've been wanting to do for some time now. It was great. We got to tour the factory (no one was working at the time, though), sampled some of the sauces and other things. Believe it or not, they have Tabasco cola and two flavors of Tabasco ice cream. How weird is that? After the tour and the shopping, we took a tour of the Jungle Gardens. The inventor of Tabasco is also a conservationist and put aside 250 acres as a wildlife refuge and gardens. It was very beautiful. Below are some photos from the island.

As you can see, it was quite beautiful there. Of course, it wouldn't have been Louisiana without some of these critters all over the place.

The interesting thing about all of this was that there was no barrier between us and the alligators. Just a couple of warning signs. We were a bit surprised at one point. We were looking at some birds and taking pictures. As we stepped off the steps of the stand we were on, one of the alligators that we hadn't seen before was sunning himself at the waters edge. As we walked about 20 feet away from him, he quickly ran into the water and turned to watch us go. We had no idea he was there so when there was this flurry of activity and splashing water, well we both jumped pretty high. He was just a little guy, probably 2 to 3 feet long, so this was one of those cases where I truly believe he was more afraid of us than we were of him.

All in all it was a very good weekend. We had a blast. It just cemented in our minds how much we are going to miss Louisiana when we leave.

Recife Brazil!

2008-07-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

Melissa received her mission call today. Recife Brazil! She sounded very excited this afternoon when she opened her call and said "I'm going to Brazil!" Cindy and I are both very excited. She will leave for the Sao Paulo Brazil MTC on October 22. This is very exciting. we are also looking forward to our trip to Utah this August. We want to go to the Temple with Melissa, and of course the Fail Family Reunion. Look forward to seeing ya'll then.

Melissa's Decision

2008-06-27T15:35:00.001-07:00

Well, Melissa has decided to go on a mission. We are very excited about it all. It's something we've been hoping she would choose to do for some time now. It's all very exciting and I know Melissa can't talk about anything else (and I don't blame her). We are anxiously awaiting her mission call, which should come next Wednesday! Can't wait.

Cindy and I are planning on going "down south" for the long 4th of July weekend. We are going to head down to Lafayette, Louisiana and that will be our base of operations for the weekend. We will head out to New Orleans for the fireworks, and just to look around. We are also going to Avery Island, home of Tabasco hot sauces. Don't know what else we're going to do or see while we're there. Lots of good food though, I'm sure. I'll have a bunch of pics and stories for the blog after that trip I'm sure.

No Microsoft!

2008-05-13T18:59:00.001-07:00

So, I started having a bit of trouble with my laptop when I was in Iraq. It was just acting funny sometimes. So, I tried to keep it limping along for a while, but it wasn't optimal. Well a few weeks ago Cindy wanted to use the laptop and called me at work to say it wouldn't boot up. What a pain.

So, I come home from work and sure enough, it wouldn't start up. I tried everything I could think of (which admittedly isn't much) but couldn't get it to work. So what's the next option? Re-load Windows and start fresh. Luckily I'd already backed up everything so that wasn't a problem. So, I reload Windows and the computer starts working again. It was a pain, though, having to track down all the hardware drivers and such, loading them, getting everything working again. But, the computer was running again.

Well, it lasted for a couple of days, then it crashed again! So, I take it to a computer place here in town that Melissa hed used once before. They spent a couple of days on it, said it had been hacked into (most likely that happened in Iraq) so they cleaned it up and got it running again. I brought it home and downloaded a new anti-virus, anti-spyware program and loaded it. Again, the computer worked about 2 days. I took it back in and they said that since I had it on the internet "unprotected" for the 3 minutes it took to download the anti-virus that I would have to pay for them to fix it again. I was not happy with that, as you can imagine, so I took the laptop and went home.

What can you do? I was fed up with the whole thing, so I decided to try going a whole new way. I got on the desktop computer and started looking around. I found what I was looking for, downloaded the .iso file, burned it to a CD and loaded it on the laptop. How awesome.

So, what did I get? I downloaded the latest distribution of Ubuntu Linux. The install was easy as could be, and quick. Much easier and quicker than loading Windows. It even found all my hardware and had it working when it initially booted up. No drivers to download or anything. Great. Best part about it is it was free. I was looking at prices and buying Windows Vista, Microsoft Office and a couple of other programs would have cost me close to $1,000. Ubuntu Linux is free, and it comes with other things needed, also for free. Open Office is a free office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, and database) that is the equivelant (and completely compatible with) Microsoft Office. It also came with Firefox web browser, which I was using in Windows anyway, so that was nice. And Gimp, which is a graphics/photo program like Photoshop.

The important thing is that my computer is now running very well. Much faster than with Windows. No hiccups so far. I still have a bit of a learning curve with Linux, but for basic computing (email, surfing, and my school and church work) I'm doing great.

New Calling

2008-04-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

So about a month or so ago, we had our Stake Conference. It was exciting because we knew that we were getting a new Stake Presidency. Of course, we had no idea who was going to be called. What a surprise to find out that our Bishop was called as one of the counselors in the Stake Presidency. Well, that obviously left us with a Bishopric to fill. That week I was called in to interview with members of the Stake Presidency. There were quite a few of us called in, so while I knew I was on the hook, I knew there were other people higher on the list. Cindy and I both felt that the new Bishop would probably be a good friend of ours who is a music professor at one of the local colleges. In fact, he and I kept teasing each other about which one of us would be the new Bishop.

This went on for several weeks, and we were all beginning to wonder if we were ever going to get a new Bishop. Eventually I got another call from the Stake Presidency asking for Myself and Cindy to come in on a Wednesday night. Cindy knew I was getting a calling, but I told her they were going to call her as Stake Relief Society President. She got a good laugh out of that. So we went in for our interview (coincidentally we were also able to renew our temple recommends at that same time, one stop shopping), and it turns out the calling was for me after all, and Ross Smith (the music professor) is the new Bishop and I am his first counselor. The second counselor is one of the Colonels on base, the Chief of Safety for 8th Air Force. In fact, his office is just upstairs from mine, and he comes down occasionally now and we shoot the breeze.

All in all I'm very excited about this calling. I've always enjoyed serving in Bishoprics. Yeah, it's a lot of work, but also a lot of blessings. Cindy's also happy about it. The workload has already increased even though we haven't really done anything yet. By that I mean that we were set apart two weeks ago, and last week was Conference, so we haven't even conducted a single Sacrament Meeting yet. Anyway, I've already helped people move, picked them up when their car was broken down, etc.

There was actually a funny story that came out of all of this, and what a small world it is. A couple of nights ago the Bishop called at about 9:30 pm. He said that some guy from Minnesota had been passing through Shreveport, began feeling bad (chest pains and such) and went to the hospital. He called his wife, who called their Bishop, who called our Bishop asking if someone could give him a blessing. Our Bishop was tied up so he called me. I grabbed another brother who lives down the street and we went downtown to the hospital. We got there and met the guy, talked to him for a bit, then found an empty room to give him a blessing. After the blessing and before we left I was giving him my phone number in case he needed anything else before he left town. I gave him the number and was giving him my name (spelling the last name of course) when he said "Ortolani huh? When I was in college I had a roommate named Kent Ortolani." I said "Hey, that's my brother." I don't know if I have the spelling right, but Shannon Crouder (Crowder? I don't know how to spell it) was Kent's roommate down in Provo. That was just pretty cool and it really makes you realize what a small world it is.

A little politics

2008-03-24T17:18:00.001-07:00

It's an election year, so I figure it's appropriate to talk a bit about politics. I won't go into the flap over Obama's pastor, I think his "sermons" speak for themselves. I won't talk about Hillary trying to pad her resume a bit, it's boring. What I do want to talk about is the political left's true colors. There are a couple of links in the next paragraph, follow them if you want the full story.

The left spends a great deal of time bad-mouthing America, the military, conservatives, and Christians, then with a quick "We support the troops and we're the real patriots", we're not supposed to question their patriotism or loyalty to this country. Well, just today I found an interesting story coming from Portland, Oregon. These protesters in Portland feel that it's appropriate for soldiers to shoot their officers. They also burned soldiers in effigy along with some other wonderful bits of good clean American fun.

In the past, liberal politicians and their supporters understood that they needed to slide towards the center politically in order to get elected. They know that if their true feelings and intentions were known, they would never get elected. This year, however, they feel that their hold on the White House is guaranteed and they're not afraid to show their true colors. Can we now question their patriotism, their support of the military, their commitment to this country? I think so.

Sorry I've been gone

2008-03-24T16:58:00.001-07:00

Hey ya'll. Sorry I've been missing here for so long. So many things happened that I just got out of the habit of writing here. But I'll catch you up on what's been happening.

On January 30th I went in for some Oral surgery. Sounds like fun huh? What they did was to chisel some bone out of my chin and graft it into my upper jaw. This was done to build up that area so they can implant some posts to put a new bridge in place. What a pain! Literally. So, I was down with that for about a week. At one point I thought I was feeling better and we decided to go to one of the Mardi Gras parades. I guess it was a little too much excitement for me. Later that night, my mouth suddenly filled with blood. I couldn't get it to stop bleeding. Cindy called the emergency number for the dental clinic and we ended up back at the clinic at about midnight (this was a Saturday night) getting something injected up in there that would stop the bleeding. Not a fun night.

After healing up a bit from the oral surgery, it was time for the real fun. Hernia surgery. A couple of years ago I noticed I had a bit of a hernia. So, I talked with the flight surgeon about it and he said that it wasn't that big of a deal, and if I didn't want surgery, it could wait. So, I waited. This last January when I went in for my annual flight physical, I talked with the doc about it and he checked it out and said I should have it taken care of. This doc is in our Ward and he told Cindy that Sunday that it was the biggest hernia he'd ever seen. The Dr. I went to downtown agreed.

So, on the 19th of February, I was in the hospital for that surgery. That was a big one and I was stuck at home for three weeks recovering. I don't know if ya'll have ever had surgery in the stomach area, but it's very painful and a long slow recovery. It was done as day surgery, so when I woke up Cindy brought me right home. I was put in a chair by the TV and spent the rest of the day there. That night, when it was time for bed, it took Cindy a long time to walk me up the 17 stairs and into the bedroom. Then she had to lift my legs into bed, and help me all night every time I had to roll over or go to the bathroom. Not too much fun. It was a long 3 weeks.

I've almost completely recovered from the hernia surgery now. I started back to the gym last week. Just running on the treadmill, nothing more than that. But things are coming along there. However, a couple of weeks ago, I was in for my annual dental checkup and they discovered that the bone graft in my upper jaw was loose. So, the next day (a week ago Friday) I was in the chair again and this time they numbed me up, pulled the bone out and cleaned it up, then screwed it into my upper jaw and then stitched it closed. I went in today and they removed the stitches. Things are looking good.

So, that's all that's been happening with me over the last couple of months. As you can see, it hasn't been exciting or fun. Lots of pain and lots of boredom. I should be complete with everything by August and that will be very exciting for me.

Pisa and Lucca

2008-02-10T18:39:00.001-08:00

We truly enjoyed Rome, but now it was time to head out and see the rest of Northern Italy. Our first stop was Pisa, famous for it's leaning tower. It was quite impressive to see that this tower, which is leaning quite far, is still standing, and has been standing as long as it has.

Look at those goofy tourists! It was actually funny to see so many people all along this walkway posing the same way! As crooked as the tower looks here, you can really see how "off" it is when you get up close.

After getting our look at the tower, we had some free time to do some shopping and have lunch. We found this neat little shop where they sold Pinocchio puppets. The man who wrote Pinocchio was originally from Pisa. Anyway, we found a nice puppet for Dylan and a book to go along with it. Hope he enjoys it.

We found a little restaurant and decided to have some pizza (in Pisa, what else do you have?). Didn't turn out so well. Actually my pizza was actually quite good. The restaurant was on a side street away from the tower.

I ordered the "Salami Picante", which we in the States know as "pepperoni". My pizza was good. Melissa ordered an olive pizza and got a cheese pizza with a few whole olives on top. Cindy ordered the "Popeye" pizza, and got a cheese pizza with what looked like a couple of handfuls of spinach thrown on the top. Ha Ha, I liked mine!

After lunch we were off to Lucca where we were going to spend the night. Lucca was the very cute little medieval town. We walked through the gates in the wall surrounding the city, and then into the town itself.

As you can see, it was very quaint. At one time the city had an old Roman arena. That has now been turned into a town "square", but as you can see, it is actually round.

We spent some time looking around the city, and found a church's tower that we were able to go up inside and see a better view of the entire city.

Lucca had some stores that both Cindy and I found quite attractive. For myself, of course, I liked the cheese shops. I'm a cheese freak so it was cool to see so many different cheeses together. Cindy liked the pastry shop.

It was a fun day, with quite a bit more traveling than sight-seeing, but we had a great time just the same.

Rome

2008-02-02T12:35:00.001-08:00

The Colosseum has to be the most iconic site in Rome. It is what people initially think about when they think of Rome, at least that's the case for me. So it was so cool to be able to actually see the Colosseum, live and in person. I know Melissa was just as excited as I was.

It really was an amazing sight. To me, it was incredible that it was still standing. It was built around 290 AD. What workmanship. We then got our tickets and went inside.

Walking out into the interior of the Colosseum for the first time was pretty awe inspiring. Not just because you were there seeing this incredible antiquity, but for the thoughts that went through my mind of the spectacles that were performed here. The many deaths that happened all for the entertainment of the masses. Incredible.

The planning and engineering in here were amazing. You can see that there are walkways and hallways all around down there.

This was all underneath the floor of the arena. This is where the gladiators and the animals were kept and moved around. There were about 60 trap doors in the floor where lions and other predators would be lifted up on elevators and then they would pop out of these trap doors to fight the gladiators. So, the gladiators would be fighting the animals, most likely getting killed, while the Romans would watch and cheer. Sad really.

After spending some time in the Colosseum, we then walked over to the forum. This was the Roman equivalent of downtown, with offices and shopping.

After the Colosseum and the Forum, it was time to do some other sight seeing. We had a chance to walk around Rome and see some of the back streets and less "touristy" spots.

We then ended up at the famous Trevi Fountain. Beautiful.

Melissa wanted to throw a coin in the fountain. Actually, as the tradition goes, you throw one coin in if you want to find love, two if you want to get married, and three if you want a divorce. Melissa threw in two!

After some time at the fountain, it was time to see what Rome was like at night. One of the first places our guide took us was to a local shopping mall. It was a lot like what you would expect in the states. However, there was a terrific crowd there and lots of noise. It took us some time to figure out what was happening. It turns out that someone was there for the debut of their new movie. Maybe you can recognize him in this picture.

Melissa was very excited to see Will Smith and tried to get close enough to get an autograph, but the crowd was just too big. It was an exciting surprise, though.

We then traveled around and saw some of the other Roman sights, like the Pantheon.

The Pantheon is an old Pagan temple that was converted to a Christian church after Constantine. It was a very impressive architectural piece. The dome has a 25 foot hole in the top. The interesting thing is that it never gets wet inside. When it rains, the water that comes through the hole evaporates before it gets to the floor. Interesting.

After the Pantheon, we did a little more shopping and saw some more of the incredible art that just seems to be laying around Rome.

And that was our two days in Rome. In my next post I'll discuss our next day, which included the famous tower in Pisa.

Crazy Eights

2008-01-30T21:12:00.001-08:00

As it turns out, I was tagged by Jen to do this crazy eights thing. Let's see how it goes.

8 things I am passionate about: (In no particular order)

1. Cindy, my beautiful wife

2. My kids

3. My Grandson

4. The Simpsons

5. Music

6. Photography

7. Conservatism

8. Making fun of liberals

8 things I want to do before I die:

1. Travel more. Take Cindy places I've been and she hasn't, and places neither of us have been.

2. Go an a mission.

3. Run a marathon

4. Have a book published

5. Earn my Doctorate

6. Retire!

8 Things I say often:

1. D'oh!

2. Stupid Gay Kitties! (whenever our cats do something dumb)

3. I love you.

4. Hey Baby

5. Excellent

6. I'm not even mad, that's amazing

8 Books I've read recently: (I'm not counting textbooks)1. Power to the People

2. Lisey's Story

3. The First American

4. General George Washington

5. Because They Hate

6. From Dawn to Decadence

7. The Spiritual Journey of George Washington

8. The A - Z of Creative Photography

8 Songs I could listen to over and over:

1. Anything by Led Zeppelin.

2. Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones

3. Low Spark of High Heel Boys - Traffic

4. Cross-Eyed Mary - Jethro Tull

5. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters - Elton John

6. Do You Feel Like We Do (live version) - Peter Frampton

7. Dark Side of The Moon (entire album) - Pink Floyd

8. Let it Be - The Beatles

8 Things I learned this past year

1. 7 Months is a long time to be deployed

2. Baghdad is a very exciting place to live

3. Preparing for retirement can be nerve-wracking, but exciting

4. I love Cindy more and more each year

5. It's tough getting older

6. I am capable of more than I thought possible

7. I love being a grandparent

8. I am actually looking forward to moving to Utah (It's been a long time since I felt that way).

Well that's it. Don't really have anyone to tag with this that Jen didn't already tag. I will be blogging more about Italy soon, look for it.

Throw Me Somethin' Mister!

2008-01-28T16:50:00.001-08:00

That is the traditional call at Mardi Gras. That is how you get the people to throw you some beads. Now, I'm not talking New Orleans Mardi Gras where you do something else to get beads. This is Shreveport and like the rest of Louisiana, Mardi Gras is big. Cindy and I went to the Krewe of Centaur parade Saturday and had a blast. I was flippin' cold, but we still had fun. I was able to snag 69 beads for myself. But Cindy put me to shame. She hauled in 82 necklaces. We also got some cups and such. It's a great time, yelling for beads as the floats go by, then working to catch as many as you can. Silly, I suppose, but still a whole lot of fun. Enjoy the pics.

People wait a long time for the parade, as you can see, some even set up their trailers. There's all sorts of warming fires and BBQs going on.

Even the news cameras are there to catch the action.

People really get into the spirit of the thing, wearing hats and costumes. A lot of fun.

Then the parade starts, and that's when it gets exciting.

To give you an idea, a quick count on this last picture shows that at this time Cindy had caught about 20 or so beads. By the time we left, she had over 80. It gets difficult to hold up all the weight after a while. We had a good time.

The Vatican

2008-01-28T16:31:00.001-08:00

OK, in the last two posts I gave you a quick overview of our trip. I thought now that I would go into a bit more depth on each part of the trip, and get a few more pictures put up. If I double up on some pictures that I've already put up, sorry about that, but I do that sometimes.

So, Rome was the first city we toured, and it was amazing. It's really the most fascinating city I've ever been in. Our ride from the airport to our hotel was breathtaking. Let's just say that I now understand why Italian Formula One drivers are so good. They learn to drive in Rome! Speed limits, traffic signals, lanes on the road; all simple suggestions, really. It was quite frightening. But fun.

Traffic is a problem for them also. On any given day, there are 4 million people in Rome, 2.5 million cars, and 850,000 scooters. There are only 250,000 parking places! As our guide said "Romans don't park their cars, we abandon them, then pray All Saints that we find them again!" Here's a shot of some parked scooters to give you an idea.

Our first stop was the Vatican Museum. A completely amazing place! It was amazing to see how much art was in there. It was non stop. Here are a few pics to give you an idea.

Even the ceilings were incredible.

As we walked through the museum we just kept finding more and more fantastic art.

Eventually we made into a hall that was full of tapestries. These were made with such exquisite workmanship and detail. This hall was very dimly lit, to preserve the tapestries. However, with it so dark and not being able to use a flash, what you can't see is that much of the thread used in these tapestries is solid gold. Actual gold thread woven into the tapestries. Wow.

This is a picture of Cindy and Melissa by one of the tapestries to give you an idea of size. They were beautiful.

There were also some paintings on the ceiling. Now, when you look at these pictures (and when we saw them there) they look like 3 dimensional carvings or something. Not at all, they were just painted so well that they look 3 dimensional!

Once, again, even the ceiling was fantastic.

So, after going through the museum, we were shown into the Sistine Chapel. Famous for its ceiling painted by Michelangelo. It has recently been restored to clean off the centuries of soot from the burning of candles. It was incredible. The problem is that there were no pictures allowed. So, you'll have to google pics of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and imagine what it was like to be there. Sorry.

After that, we were on our way to St Peter's Basilica. Once again, it's nice to finally see something in person that you've seen in pictures or on TV so often.

But, inside the Basilica was awe inspiring. I don't know if I'd be able to attend church services in a place like that, because I'd be distracted by all the artwork and such. But it is definitely a beautiful chapel.

Like this mosaic tiled with 24k gold.

Or this statue by Michelangelo, "The Pieta", or The Pity. It shows when Mary lowered Jesus off the cross. Can you imagine this in your chapel?

The rest of the Chapel was amazing, and huge.

To give you an idea of the scale of this place. In the picture above, look at the strip of gold with the Latin writing. That is a tile mosaic. The gold is actual 24k gold tiles, and the letters are 6 feet tall. That's right, 6 feet tall!

And then, there was more art!

They even had a nativity inside the chapel. It was pretty cool. And then on our way out, we happened to bump into some of the Swiss Guard that are the security forces for the Vatican. They are the traditional guards for the Pope, and they can only be selected if they are born in Switzerland and have attended the Swiss Military Academy, and they are the best of the best, think Navy SEALS type guys. Their uniforms, as odd looking as they are, were actually designed by, yeah, you guessed it, Michelangelo!

We truly enjoyed our trip to Vatican City. I can't say enough about it. I was thoroughly blown away. It was a day I'll never forget. My next Italy post will be about the rest of Rome that we saw that day, including the Colosseum, which is very impressive.

Italy Part Two

2008-01-20T12:13:00.001-08:00

So, after our trip to the winery, which was fascinating by the way, we went to Florence to spend the night. The next day we looked all around Florence. This is where Michelangelo's David is. Beautiful sculpture.

What you see here is actually a copy that they have in the town square. The original was moved years ago to the Academy of Fine Arts. It's incredible to see these works of art that to this point you have only seen in pictures. After the Academy, we went to the Florence Cathedral. The bell tower was designed by Giotto, and the baptistry had the most amazing door I've ever seen.

A quick tour through the cathedral and then we were back into the town and over to the town square, called Signoria Square. The only town square I've ever been to with masterpiece sculptures all over.

Right off the square was the Uffizi Gallery, containing 1200 works of art. We weren't allowed any pictures inside, but it was filled with original Rembrandt's, Botticelli's, etc. It really was too involved to describe it all. Here is a link that you might find interesting, showing some of the Artists and their work that is held in the gallery. Uffizi Gallery

After the gallery, we spent some time shopping in Florence, world famous for its leather goods. They were impressive, and I fell in love with a leather jacket that was unlike anything I've ever seen before. However, the almost $1,500 price tag made me rethink the whole thing.

The next day we were off again, this time to Venice by way of Verona. Verona was a quaint little town that is home to Juliet's house. You may remember her from a little show called Romeo and Juliet. We were unable to actually see the place, since it was under renovation. Too bad. Apparently people cannot stop themselves from putting their graffiti all over the place. It's too bad. We did, however, have one of the best meals of the trip while in Verona. The three of us stopped in this little place for a quick bite, and it turned into this outstanding meal. It was great.

Verona was a pretty town, but unfortunately we weren't able to enjoy it as much as possible as it was very, very cold and rainy that day. So, we spent some time shopping, getting a sweater for me and a coat for Melissa. It was nice to be inside, and it was during that little shopping trip that I realized I had picked up enough Italian to carry out a very simple transaction completely in Italian. Not very impressive, but it was a victory for me.

We left Verona and the drove to Venice. What can I say about Venice except that it is, in all likelihood, the most romantic city in the world. And, as much as I hate to admit it, the only place in Italy that we broke down and ate at McDonalds (shhh, don't tell anyone). Anyway, we got to the hotel and went to our room. It was a maze just to find our room. But, the view out our bedroom window made it worth the trip.

Having two pretty ladies with me didn't hurt either.

Venice was very exciting and beautiful. Of course we saw Piazza San Marco, St Mark's Basilica, Doge's Palace etc. All very cool.

I will skip ahead a little bit here and tell something of a sad story. At least I think it's sad. St Mark's Square is lined with shops. Some very spendy shops actually. Our last night in Venice, we were looking for a place to eat. We wandered around the maze that is Venice and ended up right back at the square. All the stores were closed, which is the sad part, because we found a couple of stores we would have loved to shop in.

Sad. Anyway, after seeing the Doge's Palace, we took a bit of a side trip to two of the nearby islands. Murano, which is famous for its glass works, and Burano which is famous for it's lace and colorful houses.

The glass factory at Murano was interesting. They make all of their stuff by hand.

After watching them make the glass, we went to their showroom and spent our hard-earned money. We actually bought a glass and pitcher set that they are shipping to us. Can't wait until it arrives.

Burano was a fascinating place. Not so much because of the lace, which was neat, but because of the colorful way that they've painted their houses.

After our trip to the outer islands, we returned to Venice proper, ate dinner at a restaurant that had the worst service ever, then got ready to leave again the next day.

We left Venice headed for Assisi by way of Ravenna. How I wish we'd been able to see more of Ravenna, but it was just a short stop on the outskirts of the city to see another church. It was beautifully decorated with Mosaics. One of the most interesting to me was one depicting someone that you don't often see in religious art.

Of course, we couldn't leave Ravenna without at least a glance at the book to see who might be still there.

After Ravenna we traveled on to Assisi, which was a fascinating little town, and of course home to the church of St Francis of Assisi.

After seeing the church ( no pictures allowed, again) we went through the town. These little hillside towns have captivated me.

One of the funny things we noticed throughout the entire trip was the size of the cars. As you can see from the pictures above, Italy does not have nice wide American streets and almost no parking. To put this in perspective, there are 4,000,000 people in the city of Rome on a given day. There are 2.5 million cars and 850,000 scooters. There are 260,000 parking spots. So, as our guide said, "Romans don't park their cars. We abandon them, and pray All Saints that we find them again." Anyway, to help with that, many people drive very small cars that they can park anywhere. The Smart Cars are my favorites. Believe it or not, I think these cars are going to be sold in the States pretty soon. Scary.

After our night in Assisi, we drove back to Rome and had one more dinner together as a group. We had seen many wonderful sights and made some very good friends within the group. Our farewell dinner was very nice, very fun, but somewhat melancholy. Melissa did get a kiss on the cheek from a very handsome Italian waiter. I think she liked it. This last picture was taken at the dinner. It is the Ortolani family with our tour guide, Flavia.

After the dinner we had a night tour of Rome. We stopped again at the Vatican, and as you can see, the lights were on in the Pope's living quarters. Flavia said that meant he was still up. My guess was he was watching a DVD of the Da Vinci Code.

The next day we had a very early morning getting to the hotel. Up at 3:00 am. It was a very long day with a layover in Frankfurt, Germany and one on Houston. Our flight going into Frankfurt was a bit delayed, and everything was delayed on the ground there also. Thus, we ended up missing our flight our of Houston and had to wait for the next one. I think by the time we got home, we had been up for about 24 hours. As you can see from this picture of Melissa in Houston, it was a long day.

All in all it was a fantastic trip. One that we hope to repeat someday. Not the entire trip, but we would like to go to Ravenna and do some genealogy. Anyway, it was an unbelievable time and a great family vacation.

Italy

2008-01-19T18:15:00.001-08:00

Well, we've returned from Italy. I have only three letters to describe the whole thing. WOW! It was totally amazing. We all began to suffer from sensory overload. You couldn't turn around without seeing some incredible antiquity, ancient ruin, or fantastic art masterpiece. What a place.

We left Shreveport on the 7th of January, flying first to Dallas, then to Frankfurt, Germany, then on to Rome. It was a long day and we were all beat by the time we arrived at our hotel. Of course, getting from the airport to the hotel was an adventure in itself. Apparently the proper way to drive in Rome is to ignore all speed limits, traffic signs, lanes, other cars, etc. It was something of a nerve-wracking experience to say the least. But, we arrived at the Cicerone Hotel in one piece.

After some showers and quick naps, it was off to meet our tour guide and group. We were introduced to Flavia, our tour guide. She gave us some pointers and tips for the trip, then we all headed out to dinner at one of the local restaurants. I thought the dinner was quite nice, but Cindy and Melissa had other ideas about that.

The dinner was a good time to start getting to know the people in our travel group. We ended up having a great group. Since it was off-season, it was a smaller group, which was great. We all got along and had a great time together. Dinner was interesting. It started off with a champagne toast. The three of us toasted, but of course didn't drink. That's Melissa "toasting" with the glass. It was a large meal of several courses. The antipasto, I think, was what Cindy and Melissa had the most difficulty with. Prosciutto, as some of you may know, is raw, cured ham. It has quite a bite to it. Not my favorite either, but I was able to eat it OK. Cindy and Melissa, not so much.

We had a couple more courses, pasta of course, and then some type of pork covered with a delicious smokey cheese of some sort. Not what you would get when ordering at Olive Garden I'll tell you that. After the meal we were off to the hotel for a nice night's sleep.

The next morning we were up early and off and running. First stop was the Vatican. What an amazing place. I mean, besides being the headquarters of the Catholic Church, it is furnished with the most amazing art. We started with a tour of the Vatican museum. This is the most incredible art museum I have ever been in. Granted, that's not saying much, but really, it was beyond awe inspiring. Art on the walls, art on the ceilings, sculptures, tapestries. I will just put a few of the pictures I was able to get here. Actually, before doing that I want to say something about all of these pictures. Obviously there is no way to use a flash inside a museum, since the light damages the art. In fact, in the hall of tapestries, the lighting was so dark it was difficult to see sometimes. So, 99% of all the pictures I took on this trip were without flash. Take that into account please. So, here are some pictures of the artwork in the Vatican museum.

The ceiling in this hallway was simply incredible.

We were able to go inside the Sistine Chapel and see all of Michelangelo's painting on the ceiling. Unfortunately they wouldn't let us take pictures inside the chapel. Fortunately, I had snapped a picture or two before I realized we weren't supposed to. Oops. Here's the one I got, you might recognize it.

After the museum and the Sistine Chapel, we headed over to St. Peter's Basilica. Not only is it an amazing church, but Peter is buried there. What history.

And, of course, it was filled with amazing art. I can't imagine being able to concentrate on church with this all around me.

Then, in the middle of all this incredible artwork and tombs of Popes and such, there is the tomb of Peter himself. Huge monument (I guess you'd call it) over the tomb itself.

So, the Vatican was very impressive, as you can see.

The next stop on our tour was, what else, the Colosseum. It was amazing that something that old was still in such relatively good condition. I mean, I know we think the Barksdale historic housing is old because it was build in 1932. But, really, this thing was build in 79 AD.!

And, guess who we bumped into while we were there?

We then saw some of the other sights of the city, including the famed Trevi Fountain, the parliament building, the forum, and an old Italian friend you probably all know.

The next day was our first travel day. We left Rome early that morning and enjoyed our bus ride through the country. The bus was a very nice travel coach, quite comfortable particularly since we had a small group. Everyone had their own row, if they wanted it. We drove from Rome to Pisa, which I know you are all familiar with.

It is actually pretty incredible that this thing is still standing, particularly after all these years. Cindy and Melissa just had to do the tourist thing. They weren't the only ones, I assure you.

After Pisa it was off to the fascinating medieval town of Lucca, where we spent the night.

The next day we were up early again and traveling once more. This time to another cute little town that we all just loved, San Gimignano. We did some sight seeing there, then some shopping. Awesome place. After that it was off to Sienna. This put us in the heart of the Chianti wine region. So, on our way to Florence, we stopped at the Verrazzano castle winery. Once again, we didn't partake, but really enjoyed their balsamic vinegar.

Tuscany really is a truly beautiful part of the country.

Well, that was a quick overview of the first half of our trip. I will complete the second half of the trip tomorrow. As I said, I have 1,100 pictures of this trip. I will go into more detail on each of the towns and all the sights in subsequent posts. This is just a quick overview, and I promise I won't put all 1,100 pictures on the blog, just a few to give you a better idea of how incredible this country really is.

New Year's Resolution

2008-01-02T20:15:00.001-08:00

I know I've been quite delinquent lately in keeping this blog up-to-date. My resolution this year is to do a better job of posting regularly. Let's see how that works out.

The week before the Bomb Wing stopped flying for the holiday season, we gave them a total of 11 check rides. I couldn't believe it when we ended up disqualifying 8 crewmembers. It is a difficult thing to have to tell someone that they are no longer qualified to fly the aircraft. Something I've never had to do until now. For those of you who might not know, it's not the end of the world for them. They will just have to complete the additional training we've assigned them, fly a bit with an instructor to get up to speed, and then pass another check ride. Then they will be qualified again to fly and fight for the Air Force. It wasn't a pretty week.

We are all ready for our trip to Italy! Can't wait to get over there. Not looking forward to the jet lag, but other than that, it's going to be great. I've stocked up on memory cards for the new camera, so hopefully there will some good pics to post here when we return. As I said previously, I won't be taking my laptop with me (although Melissa says she still might take hers) so you probably won't hear from us until we get back.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Ortolani Update

2007-12-17T15:54:00.001-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated the blog, but it's getting crazy around here. Of course we are preparing for Christmas. We have the house decorated, though not as much as we usually do. It's going to be something of a subdued Christmas this year since our big gift is the Italy trip. We are looking forward to Melissa getting here on Wednesday. It'll be good to have her home again for a while.

I've been flying quite a bit lately. We are doing all the checkrides for the 2nd Bomb Wing's formal inspection that we will be doing in March. We have to get about 100 checkrides done before then, so I've been flying about twice a week doing that. They are all no-notice checkrides, which means the aircrew don't know they are getting a checkride until they show up to fly in the morning and we are there to greet them. It's been going well so far with only a few minor downgrades for the crewdogs.

Well, I'll try to keep this updated better than I have in the past. Certainly there will be some updates in the following weeks, then when we get back from Italy. We found out we are going to have to pack very light for this trip, so most likely won't be taking my computer with me, which means no updates while we're there. But we should have a pic or two to show off when we get back.

Happy Holidays to everyone. Hope ya'll have a grand time this year.

England Trip Part Two

2007-11-28T16:26:00.001-08:00

OK, so we had the opportunity to go to the town of Ely (not Nevada). As we got closer I could see the Ely cathedral. It was pretty big. Well, John Litecky was driving and as we got inot town, we were very close to all the buildings so I lost sight of the cathedral.

We parked in the "car park" and started to walk through the town.

As we turned a corner, my hand immediately covered my open mouth (it was jaw dropping). I stopped in my tracks. What I had thought from a distance as a pretty big building was the biggest church I have ever seen!

The Ely Cathedral. At 537 feet, Ely is the fourth longest of the English cathedrals (Winchester is the longest at 547 feet). The west tower, which can be seen from miles around, is 215 feet high. There has been a church in Ely since AD 673. The original church was destroyed by the Danes and the Ely cathedral was built by the Normans between 1081 and 1189.

It was amazing. As we walked in the doors, it was one long open building, floor to ceiling.

This is a picture of the octagon. On February 22nd, 1322 the central tower collapsed. It's width of 74 feet was too big to support a stone vault and so it was built of wood and covered in lead. The octagon's internal height is 142 feet and it's total weight is 400 tons. It took 18 years to build! It reminded me of a kaleidoscope, and as most of you know, I love kaleidoscopes. It was beautiful.

I didn't want to use my camera flash inside so I had a hard time getting some pictures. So, I hope you enjoy the few that I did get.

The 13th and 14th centuries saw the rise of the cult of the virgin Mary. And chapels in her honor were added to many churches and cathedrals, including Ely. We entered what was called "The Lady Chapel". It was completed in 1349. At one time it was colored and had stained glass and painted statues in the niches. It was all destroyed, as you can see in the pictures below, in the 16th century during the reformation. The Puritans rejected all forms of religious decoration.

If you look closely you can see the damage. Figures have been defaced and there are now empty pedestals where the statues stood. As I thought about these broken stones, I was actually quite sad. I thought about our 11th article of faith; "We claim the privilege of worshipping all mighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." So, the history of this beautiful building has been destroyed because the Puritans had no tolerance for others' beliefs.

Can I tell you how awesome it was to see this building and everything in it and around it and know that it was older than our own country?

The north and south choir aisles are full of memorials. We found some interesting names, stories, and very old dates.

Bishop Hugh Northwold, died in 1254.

This guy's obituary that was carved into the sarcophogas said he was from the family "Stewart" and had some wonderful adventures and stuff he'd been involved in. In all actuality it was all lies. Apparently his real name was "Stywart", meaning "one who works with pigs", and his obituary was his way of trying to make his life seem much more impressive.

We also spent some time just wandering around the town. Here are some pictures of what we saw.

We had a great time in Ely. The next post will be about our visit to Cambridge.

Cindy's Post

2007-11-11T16:03:00.000-08:00

Tonight I thought I'd do something a little different. I'm having a guest blogger. I've asked Cindy to write this particular post so we could all hear her perspective on what happened.

This is a picture of the new British outer wear I bought on the trip.

If you had asked me 25 years ago where I would be in November of 2007, I would have imagined my life somewhat different.

David has had the opportunity to visit countries all over the world. I, however, have not. Well about 4 weeks ago he said, "Hey, a few of us from the office are going to England TDY. How would you feel about going with me?" I hesitated at first. I couldn't imagine how much that would cost us. OK, so here I am, 2 days after our trip still wanting to pinch myself. I went to England!

The trip over "the pond" was a new one for me as well. Riding in economy was an experience in and of itself. Sitting so close to the people next to you made for an entertaining flight. Your elbows at your side even while you are trying to eat. I couldn't help but giggle. It reminded me of the comedian Brian Regan and his routine about flight. All squished elbows at your side, eating a cold fish head and a turnip with a spork. I couldn't do it every day, but it made for some good entertainment for a bit.

Well, flying in to Heathrow Airport, I could see London Bridge and the Thames River. It made my heart skip a beat. I was so excited!

After getting our luggage and going though customs we had to wait for our bus to RAF Mildenhall. There was a group of high school students outside. A lot of them wearing I ♥ NY t-shirts. I couldn't decide if they were Americans coming to England or British just coming back from New York. I decided to go outside and listen. They were so quiet. It took me a minute to figure it out. They were quiet, reserved, British high school students. I was amazed! Also . . . They all sounded like Harry Potter. It was awesome. Everything was different. The taxis, the emergency vehicles. And . . . they drove on the opposite side of the car on the opposite side of the street!

The guys & girl, David, John, Chris, and Rhonda had to work during the days and I, being who I am, was very scared of exploring on my own. Didn't dare leave the base on my own. So I just walked around the base everyday, waiting for the crew to finish up. Each night we drove to one of the surrounding communities to eat dinner, usually in one of the many pubs (there were so many!).

On one of these trips, I noticed a very old overgrown cemetery. The headstones were thin, crooked, and placed in no fashion at all.

So I talked the guys into stopping so that I could take some pictures and names and dates. We found our way in and as we walked around reading names and dates, we realized it was newer than any of us thought. Some of the headstones were from 1978 or 1956 etc. The way it looked, I expected it to have dates form the 15, 16, or 1700s. But most were from the 1800s and 1900s. So as I looked around to see the scattered headstones my thought was "They must have tossed the bodies over the stone wall and buried them where they landed." And . . . No one has come back to take care of the grounds.

We ate at the Golden Boar pub. David had the Bangers and Mash, which basically was sausage and mashed potatoes. I went the safe route I thought, and had vegetable curry. Curry is huge in England! Since India was a British colony for so long, there is a lot of Indian influence in England.

Driving around the town was also really cool in and of itself. The buildings were so old and so small. A few of the homes had thatched roofs. The thatch was covered with chicken wire. Once again, I was amazed!

Night two. John, who had lived in England a few years ago, told us of an old mill that had been turned into a restaurant. He said "If you guys want to go, I can take you and drop you off tonight. It's kind of expensive, but very nice, and great food." When I asked how much, he said "I think about $40 per person." Kind of expensive, but we thought "What the heck, we're in England and we may not ever be back." The restaurant was called Tuddenham Mill, which as you would suspect, is in the town of Tuddenham. http://www.tuddenhammill.co.uk/

John made the reservations for us and when we arrived we were the only ones there for most of our meal. They sat us in a lounge on a couch, took our drink orders and brought out veggie chips.

The waitress handed us printed menus for that evening. 3 courses and we each had to choose which item we wanted in each course. Right before our first course was ready, she took us upstairs to the dining room. The atmosphere was nice. Old building, tables in black set so beautifully. Old water wheel encased in glass in the middle of the room. David's first course was three slices of smoked pigeon breast on a roasted fig, grape and Aspall cider chutney, and beetroot and red pepper remoulade.

For my first course I had beef tomato, salsify and spring onion terrine with beetroot and horseradish pesto, and nettle and lavender sabyon. On my plate there were 3 tiny stems, each with 2 tiny leaves. One stem was even smaller and it was purple, the others were green. I said to David, "Am I supposed to eat these or look at them?" I decided that they must be edible because thy had their own spot on the plate. So, hoping that the kitchen help wasn't watching and laughing, I ate one of the stems. Having never tasted watercress, I imagine that's what it was like. Not too bad, so I ate the other two stems. The tomato/potato layer was very good. Very small, like an hors D'oeuvres, but very tasty. The julienned beets were not so good. Very tangy.

My second course was Tandoori marinated pork (yes, meat) filet with coconut, lime leaf and sweet chili sticky rice, and a water chestnut, bean sprout and bok choi stir fry. We shared a dessert, also very yummy. Banana and toffee crumble, vanilla waffle and maple syrup ice cream.

Well, we decided that in England they let you just relax for as long as you want. After several minutes after our dessert, we had to finally ask for our bill. As we were taking care of the bill at the table with "THE MACHINE", as the waitress referred to it (a portable credit card machine) I asked the waitress, who's name was Pip, how old the mill was. She said "Well I'm not sure, but it's older than Domesday." I looked at David and he shrugged. After she left I said "What the heck? . . . Domesday?" Thinking . . . the end of the world. What? We had to look it up when we got back to our room. Domesday was a great land survey from 1086, commissioned by William the Conqueror to assess the extent of the land and resources being owned in England at the time, and the extent of the taxes he could raise. The mill was in the Domesday book! So the mill was older than 900 years. Amazing.

So, back to the dinner. John was wrong on the $40 per person. I think he meant to say £40 per person, which meant our bill ended up being about $160. Wow! The grounds were beautiful, the waterway leading up to the mill had 8-10 swans in it. They had these lights on the lake that changed colors. So, as we watched out the window while we ate, the swans changed from red to orange to yellow to blue to green to purple. It was beautiful! We took a taxi back to the base.

As I explored every day and night, I wished that I had paid more attention to world history. I was glad that David had his computer with him. I had to look stuff up every night.

OK, this is getting longer than I thought it would. I'll end here for today and finish this up tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Cindy

In England

2007-11-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

We are actually in England now. What a day today was! We arrived at the Shreveport airport at about 8:30 Saturday morning. We had a bit a of a wait for our flight and while we were waiting, Cindy pointed out one of the passengers to me. It was Harold Ramis (He played Egon in Ghostbusters with Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray). Apparently he is in Shreveport working on a movie with Jack Black.

We flew to Dallas for a short layover then it was on to Chicago. We were able to watch The Simpsons movie while we were flying. Funny movie! We had a 3 hour layover in Chicago and ate at Wolfgang Puck's. Very good food. We shopped around a bit, then got back on the plane (same one) and then flew the 7 hours to London. Long flight and a first for Cindy. She's never been on a plane that long. This is a good warm up trip for our Italy trip. We landed in London at 6 am. We're fighting jet lag pretty hard right now.

After getting through immigrations and customs and retrieving our bags, we were waiting for the shuttle bus that would take us to RAF Mildenhall. While we were waiting Cindy went outside to take a picture of the taxi cabs. She came back in smiling and said "They all sound like Harry Potter out there." Don't know why, but it struck me as very funny. It was about a 2 hour drive to the base from the airport and we napped as much as we could. We checked into our rooms and then it was time to go hit the "town". We found this really cool, old cemetery. We took some pictures and I'd post them here, but it turns out we forgot to bring the USB cord for the camera. We won't be able to post the photos until we get back, but we'll keep you up to date anyway. After looking around the town, we went to dinner at a pub called "The Golden Boar". We took pictures and everything. Then when we went in, it turned out that they had quit serving food for the day. So, we drove to another little village and ended up eating at "The Olde Bull" pub. Great food! I had the bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes). It was great. Melissa, you would have loved the potatoes. Cindy had the vegetable curry. We all had a great time.

After dinner we came back to base, hit the BX to stock up our refrigerators and now we're home for the night. We (the inspection team) start the inspection tomorrow morning and Cindy is going to explore the base and find out what kind of tours are available. WE are very happy to be here, and I am personally thrilled that Cindy was able to join me on this trip. Even though I'll be working during the day, it will give Cindy and opportunity to explore a little on her own, and we get to go to town each night and eat dinner together.

Cindy's Birthday Present

2007-10-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

It was an interesting confluence of events and some awesome timing have led to an interesting present for Cindy's upcoming birthday. I know it's early to be getting a present already, and your probably wondering why I'm putting it in my blog if Cindy might see it. Well, the fact of the matter is that it isn't a surprise. We just finalized the plans today. At the beginning of November (3rd through the 9th to be exact) Cindy will be accompanying me on a TDY to England. I'll be doing a Staff Assistance Visit to RAF Mildenhall (a British Air Force Base with U.S. Air Force personnel) and we've arranged for Cindy to come along. Mildenhall is in Suffolk, about 45 minutes from London. We are very excited about this trip. I figure it's a good warm-up for our trip to Italy in January since Cindy's never been overseas before. We'll definitely have a bunch of pics to post after that trip.

A Visit By The Folks

2007-09-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad and their (and our) good friends the Bastians came out to Louisiana for a few days. It was a great visit. They arrived Monday afternoon. They had been driving all over the country on their way here. As Dad said, they came to Louisiana by way of Vermont. Really, they and the Bastians had been sightseeing across the country on their way to a fighter squadron reunion in Rome, New York. Then, the dropped by Louisiana.

As I said, we had a great time. We spent Monday evening just visiting and catching up. Then on Tuesday we rented an SUV so all 6 of us could fit in the same vehicle, and drove to Mansfield to visit the Civil War battlefield and museum they have down there. It was very interesting for us all, particularly the three military guys. Dad, Delmar, Cindy and I also had a good time looking for doodlebugs (or ant lions as they are apparently known in Utah) around the battlefield.

After Mansfield, we loaded up and drove in to Natchitoches. There we did a little window shopping. As we were walking around the downpour started. We ended up seeking sanctuary from the storm inside this very old catholic church. It was actually pretty cool. It was quite old, being built in the late 1800s. The stained glass was cool. It was interesting. We then went to The Landing, which is a awsome restaurant there in Natchitoches. Oh, what a lunch we had. We all started off with an appetizer of fried green tomatoes. Delicious. Then on to the main courses. Delmar and I both enjoyed bowls of chicken and alligator sausage gumbo. I have to say that I am going to miss the wonderful Cajun food down here when we leave.

Wednesday started a little later and much more relaxed. We went to the 8th Air Force museum here on the base. We all enjoyed the exhibits inside the building. Then, when we went out to tour the static display aircraft, the gals sat on benches in the shade while the guys walk around the airplanes. What an interesting walk it was. There were so many different aircraft dating from the second world war to the present and one of us (Dad, Delmar or I) had a story to tell about each aircraft there. What a fun walk. We then drove to the Libby glass factory outlet store so the gals could do some shopping. We ended the day with dinner at Ralph and Kacoo's. Again more wonderful Cajun food! Delicious.

All in all it was a wonderful visit. We all had a great time and it's really been a long time since I'd spent that amount of time with Wanda and Delmar. We were both very happy to have them visit us down here.

I'll put the word out here again for all our family. Wel have plenty of room down here and love to show off Louisiana, so feel free to drop us a line and let us know you're coming down for a visit.

The Real Work Begins Again

2007-09-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

So, my real important work is soon to begin again. I registered today for two classes in my masters program. Classes start on October first. Not really looking forward to taking two classes at the same time, it makes my horribly busy, but I want to get finished. I only have 8 more classes left. Well, actually seven classes and then the "comprehensive final", which is most likely going to be my thesis as opposed to an actual test. In fact, it would most likely be the submittal of a business plan, since this is a business degree.

The classes I'm taking this semester are Management Information Systems and Cross-Cultural Managment. Sounds exciting doesn't it? Actually the Information Systems class I think is going to be quite interesting. I just hope they don't keep me too busy. It does make for some long nights, as Molly can attest as I was in the middle of finals one semester when she traveled with us on our way to Louisiana. She might remember me being up til all hours working on my laptop while she and Cindy both slept. Not fun. But I survived. I am looking forward to being done, getting my degree, and being able to put it on my resume before I begin seriously looking for post-Air Force employment.

Well, back to work!

Finally at Rest!

2007-09-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

Well, we made the big trip and now we're back home. Hopefully for good this time. I need a rest!

It was an interesting and very fun trip. It was quite long, though, and sometimes it felt as if I was spending the bulk of my time behind the wheel. Our first stop was in Wichita Falls, Texas. We were hoping to see some old friends of ours from Minot. It wasn't to be. After checking in to the motel, we decided to get a bite to eat before heading out for the evening. Had a wonderful dinner (really, it was). However, almost as soon as we got to the truck, I started to feel a bit funny. Before we were even back to the room, I was sick! Very sick! It was ugly. The only thing we could think of was food poisoning. So, no visit to any friends that night, and a long night of laying in bed watching TV. No fun.

Our next day was much more uneventful as we drove to Albuquerque, New Mexico. A much nicer day, but I was still feeling just a bit under the whole day. The next day was our first big stop. We met Melissa and her boyfriend Pete in Las Vegas. It was great to see Melissa of course, and nice to meet Pete. He's a great guy. We ended up staying at the Excalibur and going out to see the town.

Here are a couple of pictures of us in front of the hotel.

Vegas was an interesting town, and not really what I remembered from the last time I was there. It has become much less "family oriented" than before. Not that it was ever really family oriented, but it's now much less hospitable.

It didn't take us long to decide that we'd seen enough of Vegas, so the next day we were off for California! We stayed with my sister Nikki and her family in Simi Valley. It was great! We got to do a lot of catching up and we went to Magic Mountain to ride all the roller coasters, hit Hollywood and the beach. We also squeezed in a little 4-wheeling just for fun.

After a few full days of activity, we wound down with a great meal at an Italian restaurant across the street from Universal Studios. Great food and atmosphere!

John and Nikki

Melissa and Pete

Cindy and David.

So, after some time in California, it was time to head for Utah and the Fail Family Reunion. We were lucky enough that Jen and Dylan were able to go with us. We rented a trailer from Hill AFB and we all scrunched in. It was fun!

We played a little golf. And we hung out at the campground, enjoying each other's company and having fun. Here are some pics.

So, the fun was over and it was time to go home, almost. The night before we left, we were up at 1:00 am taking Cindy to the Emergency room at Lakeview Hospital with a bit of bronchitis and an Asthma attack. We were there for about 2 and 1/2 hours, so you can imagine we didn't get much sleep that night. Driving the next day was very exhausting. But, we drove to Salina, Kansas that night and then home to Louisiana the next day. It was a very long and tiring trip, but it was so much fun. We loved seeing the all the family and getting some time to spend with our kids and grandson. Wish we could see them all more often!

Back home and on the road again!

2007-08-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally made it home from Baghdad! I arrived in Shreveport at 10:00 pm on the 15th of August. Of course, Cindy was there to meet me. It was a great reunion after being gone for 7 months. It's a great feeling to be back home. I'll always remember my time in Iraq; the people I worked with, and of course the war, but I love being home again.

And, I'm on the road again. Well, I should say that we are on the road again. Cindy and I are taking a trip to see family along with a good portion of the Southwest. We are traveling to Albuquerque for a night on our way to Las Vegas. We are going to meet Melissa (and her boyfriend Pete) there and sightsee for a couple of days. Then all 4 of us are off to Simi Valley, CA to see my sister Nikki and her family. Can't wait. It's been about 20 years since I've been to California to see her. About 4 days there and then up to Salt Lake City to visit with my parents and kids, and of course our Grandson! We will also be attending Cindy's annual family reunion, which will be a lot of fun. Then it's back to Shreveport and back to work.

My first step when I get back to work is, believe it or not, go TDY. Three of us are going to Minot to do some currency flying. That will be great since I haven't flown since January! Can't wait to get back in the jet.

Have more to come after that. Keep checking back as I will be blogging during the trip and hopefully adding some pics of our adventures as we go.

The End of an Era

2007-08-05T05:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday night was an ending for JCCS-1. Last night the squadron officially said goodbye to it's first wave of Air Force EWOs (and one Intel guy). Last night myself, Stoli, Foggy, and Dozer were all awarded our medals and the CAG said the official goodbyes. We each said our words and then the rest of the squadron came up and shook our hands. We are now only a few days away from beginning our trip home. In fact, the number of days until we get home are now counted in single digits! What a great feeling. That's the sweet part.

The bitter part is that we are only a few days away from beginning our trip home. I know, I know, that's the same thing I said was the sweet part! It's all one and the same. Although I am very excited to go home (and wouldn't stay for all of King Midas' gold) I also hate to leave. The people I have been working with here have been great. We have had a lot of fun, we've worked hard together, we've even come under fire together. They have all been hard-working, competent, focused professionals here to do the job, save soldiers lives, and win the war. It is difficult to leave them. They are also great friends. I've worked with the Navy before and it's always a pleasure. So, to my fellow warriors at JCCS-1 I wish you fair winds and following seas.

This deployment has been one of the most professionally satisfying of my entire career. I have found over the years that my combat deployments are much more satisfying than normal day-to-day ops at home. This particular deployment, being much closer to the fighting than ever before, has been the best of the best. That may be difficult for many of you who have never been in combat situations before, or who have never served in the military, to understand. But I know there are some out there who do understand it. One reason for the satisfaction is that, for those of us who have made the military a career, it's a chance to actually do the job that we spend such a large amount of our lives training and practicing for. For example, I have accumulated over 2,500 flight hours in the course of my career. Only about 250 of those hours have been under fire in combat. The other reason these combat deployments are so satisfying is that you have much more immediate feedback on the effectiveness of the work you do. In combat flying, you can fly your mission and when you land back at base and debrief, many times you have the bomb damage assessment already available to you. Instant feedback knowing that the target(s) you were assigned were destroyed. Here in Baghdad, it's been reading the daily reports of the IEDs and how often lives were saved because of the work we do here. It's a great feeling.

We should be leaving here in only 4 days. We'll spend a few days in Kuwait, turning in equipment and decompressing before going home to our families. Then we'll be on our way. As you can imagine, after 6 months away, going home is just about the only thing on my mind. I think Cindy mentioned something the other day about how she thought it might be pleasant for me to come home. Actually she's very excited, and who can blame her. As usual, she's had to deal with many things since I've been gone. We've burned our share of electrons calling back and forth, sending emails, faxing documents, etc all so she could do those many things that I would normally take care of. She's done a fantastic job as always.

I look forward to seeing you all again when I get back. If I don't get a chance to post here again before I leave, I'd like to thank everyone who read my blog while I was over here. It was my first attempt at blogging and I enjoyed it immensely. In fact, I enjoyed it enough that I fully plan to continue this blog (though under a different name) when I return home, so keep checking back. Obviously the content will change some, but I hope to keep it an interesting mix of what's happening with Cindy and I (and the rest of our family) and maybe some commentary on current events. Thanks again.

A Night That Will Live In Infamy!

2007-07-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

War is a funny thing sometimes. Occasionally it will take you quite some time before you realize who your enemy really is. I think we at JCCS-1 have now discovered the true enemy. The real enemy over here in Iraq? Rats! Big, huge, vicious rats.

There had been rumors floating around the squadron about a large rat-like creature that was said to be haunting the building at night. I had never seen it, and, it seemed, no one else had really seen it either. The stories were most often told about someone else seeing this mythical creature. "Oh, yeah, Oscar told me the other day that one of the Admin folks saw him yesterday." OK, so I mentally filed these stories away in the same folder as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Over time, the legend continued to grow.

As fate would have it, the legends were true! Friday night was my night to stand the watch. We have to maintain 24 hour security over our building, so each night some lucky soul gets to stand the watch from 10:00 pm until someone comes in the next morning. Normally around 8:00 am. So, Friday night was my night. I came in around 8:00 pm to get set up (I bring in some movies and stuff to keep me occupied) and was informed that yesterday Kuz and the Master Chief had killed the rat! Apparently it was big, too. As the story unfolded, it was said the beast was the size of a dingo, with large razor sharp fangs that dripped blood. OK, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but they did say it was the size of a small dog. Well, that made me feel better. I wouldn't have to worry about the rat that night.

Well, about 30 minutes later Cluster said "Hey, I just heard trap snap, I think we got another rat!". That was true. As I looked behind the kitchen door, there was another rat, wiggling and twitching in the trap. Great! Guess who's standing the watch, and therefore responsible for getting rid of the corpse! So, I decided to let him just hang out there for a while until I was positive he was dead. Picked him up and disposed of him. Not pleasant. But, hey, two down in two days, we must be winning the war!

Well, Saturday nights are much welcomed down time here for us. We all pitch in and order up some pizza from the Pizza Hut trailer and then we put in a DVD and watch it on the big screen while we eat. Good times. We were all quite engrossed in our movie, eating our pizza, when the night's calm was shattered by a startled scream! V.D. had gone over to the table to get another piece of pizza and, you guessed it, a friendly rat was sitting in the box, eating our pizza! Seeing the rat there startled V.D who yelled, thus startling the rat, who ran and hid behind some file cabinets. All right, they attacked our pizza, it was time to take the gloves off! So, we paused the movie, turned on the lights and went on the attack! We couldn't get the rat to come out from behind the file cabinets so our Deputy Commander (a Navy Captain, equivalent to a full Colonel) came up with a brilliant plan. He grabbed one of the fire extinguishers and, aiming behind the file cabinet, fired off a long blast. Let this be a warning to you. If you shoot off a fire extinguisher inside and there's no fire; it makes a huge mess! But after several blasts of the extinguisher it worked. The rat took off at top speed and ran right into the kitchen. Aha! Foolish rat, now you are trapped! We slammed the door shut and sealed it off.

Three brave heroes then decided to finish the job. The ran into the kitchen (and of course we shut and sealed the door behind them) and set about chasing the rat. After a few minutes, Paste began laying odds on how long the rat would survive. I personally began laying odds on which man would perish in the mighty struggle within the kitchen. As it turned out, we were never able to catch that particular rat. Don't know if he made outside to safety or if he's still holed up in the kitchen. I am happy to report that all men made it safely back out of the kitchen.

So, now you know. The real enemy we're fighting over here are the big, huge, vicious, pizza stealing rats!

Almost There

2007-07-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

The pass down between myself and my replacement went well and is now complete. I am actually enjoying a day off today. Not quite sure what to do with myself, but it's nice to have no plans for once. The pass down went very smoothly with Tuna being quite anxious to take over the job and get me out of his way. Who am I to complain? So, as of yesterday, I am officially out of a job. I turned on my out of office reply on my email and am now unemployed! It's a good feeling after 6 months of pushing so hard every day.

Our travel arrangements are coming along also. We've been confirmed on our flight taking us back to the States. For me, that was the biggest hurdle. They are still working the arrangements to get us the rest of the way home, but as I look at it, if they get me to the east coast, well, I've got a government credit card, I can get myself the rest of the way home if I have to!

As you can imagine, I quite excited about getting home. This has been quite a long deployment for both Cindy and I. Not only has it physically been our longest deployment, but it has really felt longer. Time was always crawling by. But I think we are both ready for me to get home.

We have quite a trip planned after my return and we're hoping to see most everyone we can during that trip. It's going to be interesting as this will be our first "trailer trip" we've ever taken. We are renting a travel trailer and will be living out of that for two weeks. Our first couple of days will be getting us to Las Vegas where we will meet up with Melissa and her new boyfriend. We'll all spend a couple of days there to see the sights, then it's off to California for few days with Nikki and John. We are really looking forward to that! Then back up to Utah for some time with the family and the annual family reunion. It's going to be fun.

That's it for today. Not sure what I'm going to do now. Take a nap? Who knows, but whatever it is, it will be something I want to do for a change.

The Latest

2007-07-15T00:34:00.000-07:00

Although I've been cut off from my blog at work, I can still get to it sometimes here in my room. It's not the best connection so I have trouble uploading photos and such, but I can still post, so far.

Well, it seems that I might be able to start slowly winding down on my way out of Iraq. Still have a month before I'm actually home, but things are starting to move that way. My replacement, Major "Tuna" Fisher has finished his training and is anxious to get to work. Lucky me. We worked a little together this weekend, but will officially start our turn-over on Monday. It's going to be interesting to begin separating myself from this job that has been my entire life (long work days, 7 days a week) for the last 5 months. On one hand, I can't wait to get rid of the job, and on the other hand I'm losing a huge part of myself along with it. I'm sure I'll survive, but it will be an adjustment.

After the turn-over is complete I begin my preparations to leave Iraq and begin the process of returning to civilization. In the time I have left here in Iraq, I will be packing up many of the "extras" I have over here such as DVD movies, some of the books I've accumulated, extra uniforms that I won't be wearing in transit, and putting them together and shipping them home. I want to travel light on my way home. Other than that, I will be traveling around the base getting some of the pictures I've been to busy to take. Mainly, pictures of myself "around town". I realized the other day that, while I have pictures of most of the interesting sites around, none of those pictures include me. It's almost as if I was never here. So, I'm going to get some of those taken. I will also continue with working out, probably harder than before. Let's face it, Cindy hasn't seen me in 6 months I don't want to come back looking like the Michelin Man!

Our trip out should be somewhat interesting. I say "we" because there are 5 other Air Force officers traveling out at the same time. We all went through training together at Ft Jackson before deploying, and as a small contingent of Air Force people within a large Navy organization, we have remained close (as close as possible through email) throughout our time here. So, "The Fab Five plus Orto" will be leaving Iraq and heading for a base in Kuwait where we will go through the "Warrior Transition Program" (WTP). This is where we turn in our weapons and much of our equipment. We will have some medical screenings and attend some classes to help us re-integrate back into our families and society in general. It can be a big transition going from a combat zone to normal life back in the United States. After 4 days in WTP we will hop on a rotator flight that will take us to the East Coast and from there we will split up and catch our connecting flights back home. It will be an exciting day. It always is when coming home from a deployment.

It's getting very warm here lately. I've heard that the locals say that in August "The gates of hell" are opened up. Not looking forward to that time. All things considered, things are going well over here right now. I will try to post here more often now that I may have a bit more time available. Hopefully my Internet connection in my room will allow for that. I miss you all and am looking forward to seeing you all when I return.

Happy Independence Day!

2007-07-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a long time since I've posted here. It's been a busy time for me, plus I'm beginning to get that "short timer's" fever. My replacement gets here next week and we will be starting our turn over the week after that. Light at the end of the tunnel. So, it's been a while since I've updated this and I apologize for that.

I would like to wish all my friends, family and countrymen a happy Independence Day. What a great thing we celebrate this day. The founding of our country. I personally like to look at this day as another Thanksgiving day. A time to reflect and think of all that living in the United States gives to me. The freedoms and security afforded to us in this country. I hope as you are all enjoying the barbecues and fireworks that you take a minute (just a minute, have a good time today) to think about what we really have in our country.

Over here in Baghdad, July 4th is just another day. We are all at work and are attending our regular meetings. I do plan on having a hot dog and cheeseburger at the chow hall for lunch today, but we're hoping there won't be any "fireworks". I did get to see some very impressive sights the last two days. Yesterday, 3 July, there were a couple hundred troops who, due to their service in our military, we becoming naturalized citizens. Very cool. And this morning, on my way to a morning meeting at the palace, there were 500 troops all standing and raising their right hands and re-enlisting. 500 troops on one day, in a war zone, re-enlisting. Very impressive.

Have a great day. Have a burger and some potato salad for me!

Happy Birthday Dylan!

2007-06-25T00:52:00.000-07:00

I know this is a bit early since Dylan's birthday isn't until the 5th of July, but I wanted to make sure this was in on time.

For those who may not know, Dylan Evan Roundy is my Grandson. He is turning one year old and is just the coolest, cutest guy I know. As luck would have it, he's been giving his parents some trials lately with some sickness and teething. As you can see, he's standing, and as I understand, is trying to start walking. His mom tells me that he will take a few steps then "chicken out". All in good time Dylan, keep up the good work.

Here are some pictures of Dylan. Enjoy!

Here are a few of my favorites. Dylan in the hospital with his first big "owie". A pic of him with his mom, and one of him in his crib. He is always so happy and smiling so big.

They're great when they're asleep arent' they?

Happy Birthday Dylan! You are the greatest. I love you.

The Mad Max War

2007-06-17T02:36:00.000-07:00

Remember those cool Mad Max movies? Remember all those neat made from scratch vehicles all those post apocalyptic warriors road around in? Well, life here in Baghdad has been reminding me quite a bit of those movies. I sometimes feel that I'm inside a Mad Max movie. Due to the insugent situation over here and the danger of the IEDs out on the road we have had to modify our existing vehicles and develop many new types of vehicles to help protect us from those threats. So many of these vehicles, or modifications to vehicles, really remind me of those movies for some reason. Take a look for yourself and see what you think.

This is one of the ubiquitous Humvees. It probably doesn't look like the Humvees you're used to seeing. You can see that armor has been added to it and a protected cupola for the top gunner. The other appendages are used in other ways to help protect the troops.

Here are a couple of pictures of a "Stryker" vehicle. We have some Stryker Brigades out here. There's also the obligatory picture of myself in front of a Stryker to actually prove I am where I say I am. See Cindy, I'm all in one piece and have been eating probably too well!

Above are a few pictures of some of the vehicles used by the engineers when they are clearing routes or responding to IED reports.

Then there are the "normal" vehicles that you are probably used to seeing every day. Troop trucks, bulldozers, Semi tractors. All of them have been modified to help them survive over here.

I hope you enjoyed the photos of some of the more odd looking vehicles we have around here.

By the way. Summer is in full swing here. This last picture was taken today just 10 minutes ago at almost 3:00 pm today. Happy Father's Day. 124! Gotta love Summer in Iraq!

Woops!

2007-06-15T23:34:00.001-07:00

Ok, this is kind of a ps. I don't know what happened with the fonts on my last post, so sorry for how it looks. Probably makes it difficult to read. I've tried to fix it, to no avail. I'll work on it.

I'd again like to thank all those that visit my blog. I'm having a good time doing it, and I like to read the comments that people leave. Thanks!

And the war continues

2007-06-14T04:13:00.000-07:00

WHAM!!!! What was that? I look at the clock and it's 5:00 am (that's 0500 for you military types). Shaken from my deep sleep by what feels like the trailer bouncing off it's foundation. WHAM! again! It all sounds much closer than it's ever sounded before. WHAM, again, another one! OK, this is just a little too close for comfort. I pull myself out of bed and take a peek outside the door. Looking for the usual; smoke, fire, big holes where buildings used to be. Don't see anything and it seems kind of quiet, except for the birds chirping. The war doesn't seem to be bothering them at all. So, I crawl back in bed, and just before I'm about asleep again. Wham! Wham!! They sounded a little further away this time, so I just stay where I am and think to myself, "Would someone just go out and kill those guys, I'm trying to get some sleep!" Apparently they did, or the bad guys ran out of rockets because it stays quiet and I'm able to drift back to sleep for a couple of hours. In the "morning" after I woke up, I went for my daily run. I kept my eyes open, looking to see where the rounds might have hit. Didn't see anything in my little "neighborhood", so I don't know where they shots were fired.

This is beginning to be something of a normal occurrence around here. More so than it used to be. It seems as if lately the enemy is really pushing back hard. Just a day or two ago (not sure, because every day is Tuesday!) there were four rockets that hit rather close to the office. Really shook the place up. And maybe it's just my imagination, and this is all strictly conjecture on my part, but it seems as though the bad guys are pushing back against the surge. Maybe they know that if they start causing more destruction, maybe some more casualties, then the "Blame America first, let's capitulate to the enemy as fast as we can and maybe they'll start being nice to us" contingent in Congress might work harder to help them win this war. The enemy understands, I believe, that the Reid's and Pelosi's in this country are looking for anything they can get to convince the rest of us that losing this war is our only option. I think that the enemy also understands that getting Congress to force us out of Iraq is their only option for success. General Petraeus literally wrote the book on counter-insurgency warfare, has experience in this theater and has a good plan in place to stabilize the situation. The enemy understands this and knows they can't win against us militarily. So, they will win on the home front (sound familiar?). It's the same story as the 1960s and, again, the liberals in this country can't do enough to make sure we lose again.

OK, I went on a little rant with that. Sorry, sometimes I get sidetracked. But things are happening over here that point to some good things on the horizon. They aren't going to happen over night, and there will be some blood spilled on the way, sorry to say. But, I believe that if we're not turning the corner yet, the corner is in sight and we've got the turn signal on. Again, this is just my opinion based on what I'm observing over here. Anyway, as my rude morning wake up shows, the war is continuing, and we are continuing to take the fight to the enemy.

Progress being made

2007-06-05T22:52:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll. I know, I know, it's been a while since I posted here. Sorry about that. Sometimes it's difficult to find interesting things around here to blog about. Today I wanted to give you all an update on how the fight's going over here. I got a little snippet last night at one of the VTCs (Video Tele-Conference) I attend. This was the Force Protection VTC that happens once a week and involves not only those of us here in theater, but people at the Pentagon, NAVEODTECHDIV in Maryland, the FBI, NSA, etc etc. A lot of those alphabet agencies. Anyway, as we were getting ready to sign off, Colonel Hrdy (not a misprint, really, no vowels) wanted to give everyone an update on what was happening. He said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Don't necessarily believe what the media is telling you back in the States about what is going on over here. We are taking the fight to the insurgents. We are moving into places that we haven't been in for a long time and clearing them out. This is coming at the expense of more casualties, but it will pay off in the long run."

I don't know what the mainstream media is saying back in the States. I have no television over here, and even if I did we pretty much only get AFN (Armed Forces Network) which mainly consists of last year's episodes of regular shows and current sporting events. But I get the feeling that they are not really reporting what is going on over here. I believe they don't want any good news coming out of Iraq. Don't just believe me, here's a story from an embedded reporter that tells it like it is http://www.rightwingnews.com/mt331/2007/06/exclusive_to_right_wing_news_e_1.php.

Anyway, we are taking the fight to the enemy over here. With the surge, we have put many more troops on the streets, and we are doing a lot more "getting out in the field" and finding the enemy. That said, obviously with more troops coming in contact with more insurgents the casualty rate is going to rise. It's a terrible price to pay and I am in no way playing that down. But just maybe that's the price that has to be paid to help straighten this situation out.

I will be the first to admit that mistakes have been made in the way that this war has been handled. Personally I think that some of the very early decisions that were made were terrible decisions. One in particular was the decision to fire the entire Iraqi Army after the war. I understand that there was an immediate feeling that we should rid the infrastructure of all Baathists and Saddam loyalists. However, with the firing of the Army, there were now many thousands of highly trained, unemployed, and angry men in the country. Could it be a coincidence that the first IED attack occurred within a week of the Army being fired? Maybe, but I personally don't think so.

I've gone a little off track here, but this is all to say that though we never expected our overthrow of Saddam to end up in the occupation we currently have, it has turned out this way and we can't just leave it this way. The Iraqi people deserve better than that. We need to be here until the Iraqi government can stand on it's own and provide security for the people. The steps that have been taken lately, namely the surge of troops and the efforts to get those troops out among the people and off of the big bases is having the desired effect. Not as quickly as any of us would like, and it's coming at the cost of more casualties, which we also don't like. But good things are happening over here.

I'd like to thank everyone that's been visiting my blog. This has been a lot of fun for me and I certainly intend to continue blogging when I get home. Obviously on different subjects and hopefully in a much more interesting way than I have thus far. But, thanks for the visits, thanks for the comments (although more comments are always good), and to all my family and friends, thanks for your support and prayers. I really appreciate that you've all kept me in your thoughts. Thank you.

Baghdad Scenes

2007-05-31T07:11:00.000-07:00

I was thinking one day and decided that many of you might want to know what Baghdad itself looks like, instead of just the pictures of the base that I've posted so far. So, I have a few pictures of Baghdad that I'll post here. Hopefully ya'll will enjoy them.

This is a picture of part of the wall surrounding a base, along with a guard tower. It's wall's like these that separate us from the city of Baghdad.

This picture shows what the city looks like from the air. Not a lot of color is there? The houses and the roads and the dirt and the mud all seem to be the same color. I suppose it's easier that way. Doesn't make for much variety though.

This is a typical neighborhood. Not a lot of backyard space for a trampoline and a barbecue is there? Not much like it is back home.

Let's just say that used cars in Baghdad are not as in the sort of condition that you can usually find back in the States. Not really a lot left of this one.

Above are the famous crossed swords in the International Zone of the city. It's a parade ground lined with the helmets of Iranians captured during the war. The helmets are put in the ground so that the Iraqi soldiers would be walking or driving over the helmets of their enemies. Interesting symbology don't you think?

And last but not least, we have what's left of a couple of statues of Saddam. Like most dictators, he had statues of himself and his picture everywhere. What is it about dictators that they have to have their image absolutely everywhere? Must be an ego thing. I hope ya'll enjoyed this short tour of some of the city of Baghdad.

Memorial Day

2007-05-28T02:41:00.000-07:00

Today is Memorial Day. I know that most of you will probably be enjoying the day off from work and will be gathered together with friends and family and enjoying some recreation. I truly hope you have a great time. As you are celebrating, though, please remember what this day is really about. Honoring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to bring us all the freedom to enjoy a day off with family and friends. Throughout this country's history, many have made that sacrifice. Let's not forget them.

Spend a little time today and reflect on what they sacrificed for. Offer a prayer of thanks for the freedoms they ensured for you. For me, I figured the best way for me to honor them, given the circumstances, was to get up, come in to work, and continue the fight (albeit from behind a computer) that we are currently engaged in. It's not much, but it's the best I can do. Each day I get to my desk and read through the daily intelligence summaries and various "roundup" of yesterday's events. Every day I get to read of the killed and wounded, the bombs and the gunfire that have taken some more courageous soldiers. It isn't pleasant but it's a part of fighting this war against the terrorists. It's going to be a long war and it's going to take more lives to solidify the safety of our country. Many wonder what this war in Iraq has to do with securing our own country. It is all related to the war that was declared on our country on September 11, 2001. A lot of those bearing the brunt of the fighting over here are the young kids. Those that enlisted after 9-11. They joined knowing what they were fighting for. They are true heroes.

Today, besides honoring just those that have fallen, I also want to honor some who served with honor. First of all my Dad. Dad flew for the Air Force for twenty years. Flew a year in Vietnam as a Forward Air Controller. I learned a lot from him. He was, and is, a great example to me. Also my Grandfather. My Dad's Dad. I never knew him, he passed away before I got the chance. But I do have a picture of him hanging in my front hall, in his uniform from World War II. Though I never knew him I knew that he had served his country during wartime. Both men made an impression on me and as I serve, I try to live up to their great examples. Thank you both.

Once again, please enjoy this Memorial Day. Remember those that have served and who are serving now.

Tagged!

2007-05-27T01:04:00.000-07:00

So I was "tagged" by Jen the other day. As far as I can tell, being tagged means that I have to tell you 8 random things about myself that you might not know. Should be interesting. I'm not sure what there might be that people might not know, but I'll give it a try. Of course, these will be old news to you, Cindy, but then I guess that's to be expected. So here goes, 8 random things about me, in no particular order.

Hot tubs! I love hot tubs. Whenever we travel anywhere, I will only stay at a motel that has a hot tub. Something about all the hot water and bubbles and jets after a long day in the car. Very relaxing. A few years ago we purchased a small hot tub and set it up in our garage. This was in North Dakota so it had to be somewhere out of the winter wind. Anyway, I used that hot tub every single day that we had it set up. Even when it was 30 below outside. Couldn't get enough of it. Sadly, we haven't been able to get it set up since we moved to Louisisana. We have to have a patio put in first, and we just haven't gotten around to having anyone put the patio in.

Movies. This one is a bit odd, but hey, I'll bet people don't really know this about me (and I'll never hear the end of this once the guys at work get hold of this), but one of my favorite movies of all times is "My Fair Lady". Not sure why that is, but it's a show that really appeals to me. Probably for all the wrong reasons. Professor Higgins just cracks me up. He is always so superior to everyone and in many cases dismisses many people as if they were inanimate objects. I like that about him. Makes me laugh.

Louisiana. I've never been a person to enjoy being anywhere that has a combination of heat and humidity, but I love living in Louisiana for some reason. I had been dreading the move simply because of the heat and humidity issues down there. Then one day, before we moved, I just decided that I was going to be living down there, and it was going to be hot and humid so I had just better accept it. I did, and believe it or not, I think that attitude helped make the climate more bearable because last summer it didn't bother me at all. Yes, it was hot and humid, but it didn't get to me. It didn't stop me from going out and doing things. But I love Louisiana. I love the food! The wonderful spicy Cajun food. Some good gumbo or Jambalya with a bit of alligator sausage thrown in. Man, that is some good stuff. I like the culture of Louisisana, a combination of the old south, with it's plantations and such, mixed with the French influence, the creole input. It's all good. Our first Mardi Gras was a blast. So, you may not have known that before but I truly enjoy living in Louisiana.

Music. I love music. Most kinds of music. I still feel that "country music" is one of the great oxymorons of all time, but that's just my opinion. I thought everyone knew this about me, but was surprised to hear Mom say once, not long ago, "I thought you'd outgrown that." Nope, sorry to say, but I haven't. Cindy uses the term obsessed. She says I'm obsessed with music. I do enjoy it. Mostly what is termed as classic rock. Led Zeppelin, Rush, Queen, Aerosmith, The Who, Steely Dan. All the great bands from the sixties and seventies, before MTV ruined the music business for us all. I also love Jazz. Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington. Even some of the newer fusion jazz stuff is great. The Brecker Brothers, Spyro Gyra, The Yellowjackets. Classical has it's appeal also. Mozart, first and foremost, Bach, Beethoven. Jumping back to Louisiana for a second, I've even begun to enjoy the Zydeco they play down here. Lots of fun to listen to. To give you an idea, currently here in Iraq I have over 6,500 music tracks with me. Both on my laptop and on my MP3 player.

Like Jen mentioned in her blog, I am a deep sleeper. I never realized how deep until I got here to Iraq. There have been several times that while driving in to work in the morning, Stoli will ask what I thought of the big explosion that happened in the middle of the night. Nope! Don't know a thing about it. Must have slept through the whole thing!

Also like Jen, I love to be organized. I know Cindy's laughing at this already, but she knows what I'm talking about. I love the idea of being organized. Now, that being said, I do have a difficult time making the transition between liking to be organized, and actually being organized. Don't think that's ever going to happen. Although, if you look at my bedside table compared to Cindy's bedside table, well it's like the difference between an orderly, well maintained yard, and a jungle. Sorry Hon, but you know it's true.

Roadtrip! I love being on the road. Even better if it's with Cindy. I don't know what it is, but when the two of us get in the car for a long trip, it just makes me happy. Knowing we're going to be in the car together for a few days, staying in motels, eating on the road. It's just fun. We have a good time together.

This last one is something of a corollary to number 7. I don't drive far enough for Cindy. Cindy's idea of a good day on the road is to start driving early in the morning and stop driving late at night. Bah! I like to enjoy myself. It's a marathon, not a sprint, and on top of that it's not even a race. Get on the road by 8 am and stop in time to relax a bit in the motel before dinner. Hang out in the hot tub (remember those) and maybe watch a movie on TV before going to sleep. I like the trip, but I don't want the whole time to be spent on the road. That's just me though.

Well, that's 8 things. Don't know if that revealed anything to anyone that they didn't already know. Jen already Tagged Melissa and Cindy doesn't have a blog or I'd tag her. Maybe I can convince her to start one. Probably not though, I've been trying.

Everythings good here. All is well. Counting down the days until I leave. I'm down to 76 days remaining, but who's counting?

It's been a while

2007-05-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I really blogged anything here. I'm hoping to change that. It gets difficult because for those of us working at Headquarters, it is Groundhog Day. For anyone who may not get that reference, it simply means that each day is a repeat of the day before. Everyday is Tuesday around here, nothing ever changes. Well, I shouldn't say nothing, the food at the chow hall changes, on it's assigned rotation. I'm not complaining, just explaining why there aren't new exciting posts on my blog all the time.

I did have a bit of luck yesterday. I was actually in my room during the day for once (don't ask, it was an unpleasant flu bug) and heard the familiar boom of an explosion followed quickly by the shockwave hitting my trailer fairly hard. I thought "Hey, that's a close one!" and took a look out the door to see what I might see. Sure enough, there was the smoke cloud from the bomb. I grabbed my camera to try and catch it before it dissipated too much and just as I was getting ready to take the picture, another one went off. So, I was able to get a pretty good shot of that. I was chatting with Cindy on the computer that night (or was it the next morning? I don't know, it's all Tuesday!) and sent her the picture telling her that when I say they are close, I don't mean really close. Well, apparently she felt differently and thought they were too close for her comfort. Here's the picture, you judge for yourself.

On a separate note, I would like to say that I do spend some time on what is known as the "left side of the blogosphere". Why would I do anything as crazy as that? A couple of reasons. One is entertainment. There really are some wacky people over there with some very bizarre thoughts about the direction that this country should be going. Many, if not most, of them are outright socialists. Many of them still believe that 9-11 was and inside job perpetrated by the White House. Like I said, many of these people are crazy as loons (no offense to any real loons that might read this). So, the main reason I read some of this stuff is purely for the entertainment value. The second reason is that I feel, like Sun Tzu, that it's important to know your enemy. So, I admit to slumming sometimes on the wrong side of the internet tracks if you will.

One recurring theme that I come across is "supporting the troops". The prevailing attitude on the left is "support the troops, bring them home". The best way, according to them, to support the troops is to get them out of harms way as quick as possible. Bring them home and ensure they are never put in a position like that again. Hmmm. Interesting stance on the issue. My only question is, did any of these people ask the troops if that's how they want to be supported? Did anyone ask the troops if they feel these people are supporting them? I personally do not feel that they support the troops at all. I think they despise the troops. Sometimes someone on the left will slip up and let their true feelings come out. Most recently this has been done by Senator Kerry http://newsbusters.org/node/8741 and Rosie O'Donnell http://newsbusters.org/node/12823. This is how the left really feels about the troops, but they learned their lesson after suffering a backlash at their shabby treatment of the troops returning from the Vietnam war. So, the new thing is to say you're supporting the troops while at the same time stabbing them in the back. They also "support the troops" by pointing out every mistake made by anyone in the military and painting the rest of us with that same brush. They also make it a point to count, and post on their sites, every death here in this war. Some support.

Pulling the troops out of a conflict does not necessarily equate to support, particularly if the troops in question believe in what they are doing in the conflict. My analogy is to a football game, the Super Bowl, in fact. It's the beginning of the third quarter, your team is down by a touchdown, and they've suffered a few injuries. How do you support your team? By cheering them on and hoping to motivate them to win against the odds? Or do you tell them that they best course of action is for them to quit the game right now and go home so they don't suffer any more injuries, and it's a game that they can't win anyway. This is what we are getting over here. We are suffering casualties 0ver here, we've had some setbacks, but most of us believe in what we're doing over here. Even if it hasn't been managed as well as it could be, we know that should we leave now, the country of Iraq will most likely disintegrate into bloody chaos. We need to be here until the Iraqi Government can handle it's own security.

Do the troops want to be here? I haven't spoken with every one of them, so I can only give you my impression. I want to be here. Cindy may not want me here (for safety reasons only) and I don't like being away from home any more than the next guy, but I believe in what we are doing over here and I like what our unit is doing here. It's an important job. The morale here among the troops is high, even among those that are going out on the patrols every day. Granted, there is quite a bit of wear and tear on these guys, some on their second or third rotation. However, the recruiting and retention (read: reenlistment) rates for all branches of the military, including the Army, who is bearing the brunt of the casualties, are through the roof http://amyproctor.squarespace.com/blog/2007/5/11/military-recruitments-shockingly-high-despite-war.html. For the most part, the people that are here, want to be here. We want to finish the game with a win. Support us by cheering us on, not by pushing for us to accept defeat and leave with out tails between our legs.

Ok, that was my soapbox for the day. Don't be surprised to see a bit more of this from time to time. Spices things up and keeps life interesting.

New Blog Link

2007-05-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya'll,

I was online this morning doing the instant message thing with Cindy and Melissa and found out that Melissa has started a blog. I've put a link to it along with the rest of my blog links. She only has the first post so far, but it's got some great pics of her and her friends on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Looked like a lot of fun. Remember those college road trips?

This is a picture from Melissa's blog. For those of you who don't know Melissa, or maybe haven't seen her for a while, she's the blonde girl in the black shirt with some unknown guy's arm around her shoulder. He better be careful!

Just a little update on my progress. Last week was tough to make time for the gym, but I got in a couple of times. Haven't biked in years so it's taken me a little time to get used to it. However, as of this morning I've biked 76.8 miles. I'm now up to about 20 miles a day so that number should start building fast. It's not a bad way to exercise, just put on the headphones, crank up some good tunes, and start pedaling. It's fun.

Things are going well here. I've finally past the half-way point and am now on the downhill slide. As of today I have 81 days left until I'm on my way home, but who's counting? I'm still enjoying myself here. As you can see, though, the heat is starting up. I went "home" the other night and was hit by a heat wave as I opened my door. The air conditioner wasn't working. I put in a trouble call and the maintenance folks were there within the hour. Which is great. By the time they finally got the replacement a/c unit in, my room was just hitting 86 degrees. And that was at 11:00 pm! I'm not looking forward to the summer.

Happy Birthday Jen!

2007-05-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

Today, May 18th, is my daughter Jen's birthday. Jen is my oldest and the first to make me a Grandfather! Very exciting. This is a picture of Jen, her husband Troy, and their son (and my very cool grandson) Dylan.

Jen, Happy Birthday. Wish I could be there to celebrate it with you. You are a fantastic daughter and a great wife and mother. It has been great over the last few years to see you grow from a young high school kid into the woman you are today. I think I've told you this before, but motherhood really agrees with you. You keep getting more and more beautiful as time goes by. Happy Birthday and I'll see ya'll when I get back home. Love you.

New Goal (Thanks Rob!)

2007-05-15T03:41:00.000-07:00

So, I am perusing my blog the other day and notice that there is a comment from Rob Andrews there. Cool. He mentions that there was a guy he knows that was over here that set himself a goal of bicycling 10,000 k while he was here. Now, that sounded like a great idea to me. However, with only 90 days left in my mercifully short Air Force tour here, 10,000k sounded a little daunting to me. So, I considered the amount of time left and, well, let's face it, my advancing age, and determined that a good beginning goal would be 1,000 miles. So I have begun the task of cranking out 1,000 miles on the stationary bike before leaving in August. Now, I have other physical training I'm doing, so will only be biking every other day, and of course not working out on Sundays. So, that means I will be biking 25 miles a day each time I'm in there. I'm already behind. I started today and got a late start so only had time to bike 10 miles (about 20 minutes). So, Thursday I'll have to get an earlier start and get in 35 miles. So, this gives me something to shoot for, which will help the time pass as I have something to strive for besides just counting the days until I leave. Thanks for the idea Rob. I'll be keeping ya'll updated on how I'm doing as the days go by. Hopefully that won't be too embarrassing for me.

Africa Hot!

2007-05-10T06:03:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is here. It may only be the beginning of May, but Summer has hit Iraq with a vengeance. This whole week we have had highs over 100 degrees. No relief in sight. The lows are only dropping down to about 80 or so. I know it's early in the season and it's only going to get worse, but it's already really hot. It really affects many things. When you wash your hands, for instance. There is no such thing as cold water anymore. Everything that comes out of the tap is hot. there's no way around it.

All in all, things are going well here. I'm having a good time and they are taking pretty good care of me. You've all seen the pics of the area here, what my room looks like and such. Not a bad place to live (with the exception of the indirect fire). The food here is great! Kellogg, Brown and Root are the contractors handling the food service (and many other services) here in Iraq. I was very happy when I heard that because they were the contractors handling food service when I was deployed to Bosnia. I knew it would be good. The dining facilities (DFACs in Army Lingo) are basically cafeterias. There are various choices for each meal. For breakfast there is cold cereal available, there's a fresh fruit bar, and a pastry bar. In the hot line there are scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, omelettes to order, sausage, bacon, breakfast burritos, quiche, etc etc. You get the idea. Most everything people want for breakfast is available, and the food quality is great.

Lunches and dinners vary quite a bit. There is always a short order line available with cheeseburgers, hot dogs, corn dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries, onion rings, cheese steak sandwiches, the works. The main line has different things each day. Spaghetti, veal parmesan, salsbury steak, etc. One day a week they even have surf and turf! That's always a favorite. There is also a line for regular "cold" sandwiches. Turkey, ham, different cheeses, it's kind of like a mini-subway store. So, we are well cared for in the food department. They offer 4 meals a day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and mid-rats (midnight meal). The food is good enough that the saying is that while here you can join the 300 club. You will either be able to bench press 300 pound (if you spend your time in the gym) or weigh 300 pounds because of all the good food. I fall somewhere in the middle, I think. I hope!

The rest of the infrastructure is quite good also. The BX (the big one anyway, there are other smaller ones scattered about) is quite good. Not nearly as big was one back in the states, but it serves our purposes over here. Most everything you need or want is available. The basics of uniform items, pens, papers, cleaning supplies are here. They have a pretty full selection of music CDs and DVD movies. Electronics are in abundance including small music players to playstations, laptop computers and even plasma TVs. So, we are well supplied over here also.

We have several gyms around the base. Well, that's what I hear, not that I've spent any time in one. I need to get started but am having a tough time fitting it into my schedule. Don't worry, Cindy, I won't come home fat. I think if nothing else, the heat will take care of that.

Well, speaking of all that good food, it's almost time for dinner. I had the watch last night so was too tired to eat breakfast and slept through lunch. I'm hungry! Hope everyone back home is healthy and happy. I am healthy and happy over here. All is well.

My Daily Commute

2007-05-06T23:43:00.001-07:00

Hey Ya'll. This is going to be something of an odd post since it will be mostly pictures. One of the things that has really surprised me about Baghdad is how green it is and how much water is around. My morning commute is actually pretty nice. What I did the other day was have Stoli drive Trucky Jr and I took some photos. If you're like me, you have pictured Iraq as a wasteland of sand dunes. Granted, parts of the country are like that. But remember that the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are the cradle of civilization and "The Fertile Crescent". I remember reading about all of that in school, but apparently I'd forgotten. Hope you enjoy the pictures. This first picture is on the road just leaving my hootch. Notice the ditch full of bamboo on the left.

As we approach the paved road, there is a nice full tree line. The left side of the road there, as you are looking at it, is where the river is. Didn't think there would be this many trees in Baghdad. We have more trees here than there were in Minot! Although, for those of you who have lived in Minot, that won't surprise you. As you can see, the river is full of greenery. It's interesting because It reminds me of Moses being put in the river among the bullrushes. Don't know why that is. Maybe it's because we're in the Middle East and there's a river with reeds and stuff in it, but that's what it reminds me of.

The waterways surrounding the palace and the other houses and buildings in the area are pretty cool. As you can see here, they even built in some artificial waterfalls to make things look better. Kind of nice.

As you can see on the left here, we go through tons and tons of bottled water here, as you can imagine. We use bottled water for everything, including brushing our teeth because the tap water is just, well, untrustworthy. But we do drink lots of bottled water and with the heat coming up, we'll be drinking even more. We've received a bunch of packages of different flavoring additives that make a huge difference. Water that tastes like water gets old after a while.

Even away from the river, as in this picture here, there are still trees and such. There is no grass or shrubbery, so there is still nothing but dirt and rocks on the ground, but there are lots of trees and stuff. More than I ever imagined before I got here.

The Palace

2007-05-06T02:47:00.000-07:00

The Al Faw Palace. It's actually quite a fixture here on the base. Not only is it a very imposing feature, it's being used as a central office building for the Corps headquarters. So, I spent a portion of each week inside the palace either conducting business or attending meetings. It was one of Saddam's many palaces.

You can see that the palace is surrounded by a man-made lake. It is actually pretty nice. The lake has been stocked with many fish. As you can see from this picture

, there are quite a few and they are actually quite large. They are well cared for. It seems that almost every time I walk by, there is a small group of people feeding the fish. They know to "come running" when they see people looking over the fence. Pavlov at his best.

Once you walk into the palace and through the entryway, you are in the central rotunda. As you can see, it is fairly ornate. It's all marble and quite large. The design on the floor is the star used as the symbol of the Baath party. The two gentlemen to the left will give you a sense of scale. The palace is three stories tall, so it's quite impressive there in the rotunda.

In the rotunda, off to the side, is a chair, or throne, I'm not sure what it was used for. The history behind it is that it was given to Saddam by Yassar Arafat. It's all hand-carved wood, and the white decoration is mother of pearl. It's not very comfortable to sit in. I don't think I would even be able to last through one episode of The Simpsons!

I wish I could read the local language. I don't remember what this says exactly, but it's some grand quote that was attributed to Saddam. There is stuff like this all over the place. Saddam was pretty full of himself.

The thing that really struck me after looking around the palace for a while is something that you can't really see in the pictures. This palace is not put together very well. In fact I don't know that I've ever seen shoddier workmanship. There are very few places where the joints actually meet at a 90 degree angle. In the places that the marble has fallen away, it's apparent the the structure of the building is nothing more than dried mud, covered with a veneer of marble. The interesting thing about it is that I would think that when you are the tyrannical dictator of a country and are going to build a palace, you would "hire" the best craftsmen in the country. So, if this is the best they can do, it's no wonder the country's infrastructure is in such bad shape. There is a "mansion" on the lake at Camp Slayer that is being used for offices also. You cannot use the restrooms because the plumbing they put in can't handle solid waste. It's an interesting place.

Jambo!

2007-05-02T05:06:00.000-07:00

Edward, Obadia and me

Ndugu Yangu - My Friends

One of the greatest things about traveling around doing what we do for a living is the opportunity to meet different people. Not just people from different services and different parts of the county, but people from different countries and different cultures. Stoli and I have had the opportunity to make friends with some of the facility guards from Uganda. One in particular, Edward, has been trying teach us some swahili. These guys are great, and a lot of fun. We try to speak with them every day. Edward (the one we talk to the most) is a very outgoing, intelligent man with a great sense of humor. Stoli brought a map of Uganda one day and Edward was telling us about the different areas of the country and what they were known for. The Northern area has a war going on, the east is oil country, the west has manufacturing. There is a town in the south-central area that I suppose is where all the pretty girls are. He specifically pointed out that area and said "This is the town where you have to pay 20 cows for a wife." His companion today disputed that fact, but Edward was pretty insistent. We all had a good laugh.

Some of the phrases that they have passed on to us include, Jambo, which is something of an informal greeting. Nataka Twongei Kidogo, which means "I want to talk to you briefly". Mi namaliza chakyula, which means "I have finished eating". And one of my favorites, Kufa tutakafu wote, "If it means death, then we die together."

It is a lot of fun and very educational to be able to mix with these people from other countries, to learn of their culture and heritage, and to be here together working for a common goal.

By the way, Cindy, Edward told me today that we should take a vacation and visit Uganda. He said we'd really like the lakes, rivers and mountains. Something to think about.

61 Down, 105 to go!

2007-04-28T00:46:00.000-07:00

As any of you who have spent any amount of time away from home know, at some point you begin to count the days until you return. That happened for me a few days ago. I have been in-country now for 61 days. I have approximately 105 left to go. I say approximately because those return dates are not set in stone. It is more like they are set in recently mixed jello that you just put in the refrigerator, very fluid and changing. But, having that date sitting out there gives us something to shoot for and to plan around.

Now, 61 days may not sound like a lot, and it really isn't, but with these deployments our time doesn't start counting until we set foot in theater. In this case, when we landed in Kuwait on our way to Iraq. What this doesn't show is the time I had to spend away from home preparing for the deployment. First, we all spent two weeks in Ft. Jackson, South Carolina getting trained the Army way. Learning how to shoot our M-16s better, how to look for IEDs on the roadside, how to defend a convoy against insurgent attacks. That two weeks was followed by a week long class in Indian Head, Maryland at the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technical Division. That class was an in-depth look at the threats we'd be facing out here and how we were countering the threats. Basically learning what our jobs would be. So, adding the 21 days of training, I've been away now for a total of 82 days. When you look at it that way, it's a long time.

The time goes quickly, for the most part. We are working hard and having a good time. We spend a good portion of the day, while we're working, joking with each other and laughing. Our spirits and morale are high because we know that we are doing an important job and we are making a difference in this war. Our work is helping keep soldiers alive and it seems as if we are being successful. Wish we could save more, but we are engaged with a determined enemy.

On a more personal note, I appreciate all of you who have visited my blog. I'm having fun doing this, and it's great to see that people are taking a look, and leaving comments, those are great. As you can see by the counter on the right side of my blog, since I've started this blog, I have received over 800 hits! That is awesome. I never thought that many people would be interested in this. Thanks again. I hope I can keep this interesting for you all.

My Cindy Bear!

2007-04-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

Well, today I thought I'd introduce you all to my beautiful wife Cindy. Isn't she pretty? We've been married now for 18 years (19 in November) and our relationship keeps getting better. Cindy is my very best friend. We have so much fun when we are together. She really is my better half. She has worked very hard to put up with me during our marriage and I really appreciate all that she puts up with.

Pretty, isn't she?

And Silly!

Cindy with our Grandson Dylan.

One of the greatest things about Cindy is that she is so successful at that most difficult of careers, being the wife of a military officer. People think that serving in the military is difficult. Actually that's the easy part. We get told that we have to go somewhere to fight someone. We pack our bags, get on the plane and go. The military takes care of our housing and food and all of that. All we have to do is show up and do the job. The wives, on the other hand, have the difficult job. They are the ones sitting at home, thinking all is well, then the phone rings. "Hey honey, guess what? I'm going to Baghdad for 6 months. I leave in 3 weeks!"

I can't imagine all that goes through a wife's mind at that time. But certainly it starts to quickly shift gears. Suddenly she is going to be responsible for everything that happens for the next 6 months. Taking care of the house and kids, paying the bills, caring for the yard, fixing the cars, calling the plumber, etc. And at the end of the day, when their husbands call from half-way around the world, they make themselves sound as if "everything is going well, no problems, I'm not even tired right now, tell me all about what's happening over there." Of course, anything that can go wrong will, while we're deployed. The car breaks, the basement floods, the dog needs to be put to sleep. The wife takes care of the situation, then tells us about after it's no longer an issue. "Thanks for doing that, Cindy, now here's what I did today."

For the next 6 months (or however long the husband is deployed) the wife not only runs everything, but there is one other factor that must really fray the nerves. Every time the phone rings at an odd time or there is an unexpected knock on the door, they have to wonder if this is the time that they will open the door to see the commander and chaplain in their dress uniforms coming to inform them that they are now a widow. Here's a flag "on behalf of a grateful nation."

Then when the deployment is over, we come home and tell our war stories and show off our medals. Our wives simply melt back into the background, just happy that we're home safe. They don't ask for any credit for the huge job they did while we were gone. They are just glad that they are not alone anymore.

So, to Cindy, I love you, you are my hero. Thank you for all you do. You've given me the greatest 18 years of my life and I look forward spending the rest of eternity with you.

Fun at the range

2007-04-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

First of all, I want to mention a change I've made in the blog. Originally only "registered" users could leave comments. Well, I found out how to change that and now anyone can leave a comment. Please feel free to comment, I love reading them.

While we are "stuck" here at headquarters, we still want to maintain our hard earned warrior skills because, well, let's face it, around here you just never know when you might need it! So we decided to set up a regular trip to the shooting range. We went out last Monday, and have a "standing" appointment the first Saturday of each month. We break out our handguns (Baretta 9mm) and our rifles (M-16A2), tons and tons of ammo, and go out and have a good time. Being out here we're able to do a few things that aren't condoned while training back in the states. Mainly that involves shooting the M-16s on either 3 round burst setting, or, with the M-4 that's available, full auto. Good times.

Me at the range before shooting.Shooting is fun!

Where I live

2007-04-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd put in a few pictures to show everyone what it looks like over here, and how I'm living. Life here continues as normal. Well, as normal as life over here can be. Still hear/feel the occasional mortar round and fire fight. We're still working long hours. Long, but satisfying hours. I really like what I'm doing over here and like the people I'm working with.This is a picture of the trailer I live in. Two halves with one person living in each side (mine's the closest one) and a shared bathroom in the middle. We're lucky because a lot of guys are in "dry" trailers, where they live two to a room and have to go outside to other trailers to use the restroom and shower.

This is a picture of my room. It's not really messy, that's just my raincoat laying on the bed. It was a messy, rainy day when I took this picture.

And this is a pic of me at my desk, where it seems I spend all of my time. Like I said, though, it's a very fun work environment and our job is to keep the troops alive. Very satisfying work.

Hope all is going well for everyone back home. I'm doing fine and having a good time, but still would rather be home. Love you all.

2007-04-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya'll,

OK so I got a little ahead of myself. When I wrote my last post I really thought I would be able to get the video link onto the blog. The problem is that our connection out here is very tenuous and slow. I've been trying for the last couple of days to get the video clip uploaded to YouTube, but haven't been able to. I'll keep trying so be patient. Sorry for the teaser, but I really thought I'd be able to do it. Sorry.

Thanks everyone for visiting my blog! This is a lot of fun and I think being able to see the pictures and stuff is much more interesting than just the email. That doesn't mean I don't want anyone sending email, I still enjoy those and will answer anyone who writes to me. I just thing the blog is fun. Thanks again.

A little fun and excitement

2007-04-14T05:20:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday. Most of you are probably enjoying a well earned day off, cutting the grass and relaxing around the house. We're at work. But, it is Saturday so we are still trying to have some fun. We took a long lunch break and went to the Haji-mart to do a little shopping. It was a successful trip as I was able to get all 18 seasons of "The Simpsons" on DVD for just $30. They don't have those available in the states yet. So, after the shopping trip (that was the fun part) we decided to do a little sight seeing and photo taking. We eventually ended up on what we call "Signal hill jr." It's a hill that has a bunch of radio antennas and such on the top. We drove up there because it overlooks the city of Baghdad and we wanted the pictures. We got to the top and were shooting pics and taking some video. After a few minutes, "Hee-Haw" mentioned that we probably shouldnt' spend too much time up there because if we can see into the city, they can see us also. I agreed, but wanted to get just a bit more video. Sure enough, almost right away we hear the shot, and decide it's probably time to go (that was the excitement part). I've linked the video to my blog through You Tube. Follow the link if your interested. You can pretty clearly hear the shot, then me deciding it's time to go. Ah, life in combat.

Things are going pretty well besides that. Hope everyone at home is doing well. Kelly Belly, I am very proud of you and you will be in my prayers while your gone. You'll do great! Cindy, glad you got the chance to see Dylan. Thanks for the pictures. You look great. I love you and miss you tons. Melissa, good luck in school! You don't have many fun classes this semester, but you'll do fine.

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

2007-04-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

Woke up a bit early this morning. There was this very loud noise all around me. Sounded like I was trying to sleep inside a popcorn machine. As it turns out, sometimes they get some very big thunderstorms here in Iraq. When I got out of bed and looked outside, we were actually getting some small hail! The sky was scary dark. Looked like it does back home when it's threatening tornadoes. By the time we got out of breakfast, it was almost nighttime dard again outside. Very spooky. Looks like it's supposed to rain for the rest of the week.

You would think that living here in the desert, a rain storm would be a welcome relief. Not so much. As it turns out, the dirt here has some interesting qualities. There is a lot of clay and stuff in it. So, when it gets wet it turns into this very thick, very sticky kind of glop. Sticks to your boots, then attracts gravel. By the time you walk from the car to the chow hall or something, your boots weigh about 50 pounds (OK, I'm exaggerating, they only weigh about 49 pounds!). Then it gets tracked all over inside all the buildings. It's just a big chocolate mess. It did however cool things off a bit. That's a nice change.

Oh the humanity!

2007-04-09T01:45:00.000-07:00

"Fighting" a war from the staff is quite different than actually being on the battlefield. We have different things than bullets that we have to dodge. Around the office, what I try to dodge most of the time around here is email! My inbox is never empty. I normally average anywhere between 80 to 100 emails a day. For example, I left the office last night at about 10:00 pm. When I got into the office this morning at 8:30 am, I already had 15 emails waiting for me. Granted, most of these emails are informational only. I still have to read them all, glean the information out of them to see if they are relevant, then spread that information and file the emails and attached reports. It eats up much of my already long day.

The rest of my job isn't that bad. I spent a good deal of time with scheduling. I am responsible for the headquarters schedule. That's all the meetings and the watchbill. I also schedule all our VTCs (Video Teleconferences). That requires two things. Reserving the room and requesting the bandwidth so that we can have the VTC. The worst part of that is the constant changes to the schedule.

We are also very involved in the Electronic Warfare targeting process. We sift through the intel to see what the enemy is using to kill our troops and develop counters against that. Then, of course, the enemy shifts and we have to counter that. A never ending game of chess. I will say this about who we are fighting. They are smart, which makes our job tough. I think we're up to it. We've got a smart bunch of guys here with lots of Electronic Warfare experience.

But mainly, I'm the guy behind the scenes that makes the headquarters look as if it runs smoothly. It's a very challenging and rewarding job. I'm still having fun over here.

Added a few things

2007-04-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

I've decided to get some more work done on the blog. I've added a few links to some other bloggers. Jen's blog will link you to the Roundy Family blog where you can read all about what's happening with my daughter Jen and her husband, Troy, and of course my super-cool grandson Dylan! Stolli, Grease, and Barbie are all guys I'm working with over here in Baghdad. Those aren't their real names, of course, but I know them all by their "callsigns" and it's easier for me to refer to them that way. Following those links will give you some other perspectives and anecdotes about what's happening in the war over here. Hope you enjoy them.

Rocket Damage

2007-04-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya'll,

Well, the other day it seems we had a rocket attack. They are actually fairly common around here, but this one was close. It really rattled the windows in our office. So, of course, being trained military officers, we ran outside to see if we could see any more. As it turns out, the rocket landed in one of the living areas and hit a trailer. Luckily it was during the day, so no one was home and no one was hurt. We went by today and got some pics of the damge. Enjoy.

Uniforms!

2007-04-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

OK, so I'm trying to add some pictures, but I guess I have some more to learn. Give me some time. In the meanwhile I'll regale you with "Tales of the uniforms".

As you can see in my blog picture, I am currently wearing the Army's ACU, or Army Combat Uniform. As I was preparing to leave, all the instructions we (this applies to all Air Force people over here doing this job) were told that we would wear the ACUs. Now, these instructions came from Air Force A3 up at the Pentagon. So, even though I was issued Air Force DCUs (Desert Combat Uniforms) I only brought one along because we were told that we weren't allowed to wear the Army uniform on an Air Force base, so it would be wise to have one along just in case.

So, I show up at Camp MacCrady for the Army combat training. That's where we learned to shoot very well and other combat techniques. While there we were all issued the Army ACUs. I had already ordered the proper Air Force name tags and everything so I was set. We wore the ACUs during training and while in transit to Iraq. Everything was going well, or so I thought. When we graduated from the JCCS-1 class that we all have to take, The Deputy Commander of the 732 Expeditionary Squadron (the Air Force squadron that has Administrative control and Operational Control over us) came down to "welcome" us all to Iraq. I put that in quotes because what he really came down for was to mark his territory. He spent almost an hour showing us powerpoint slide after powerpoint slide showing us in no uncertain terms that we belonged to him. It was all so very impressive.

After his little spiel, he then went on to explain that we were all wearing the wrong uniform and that we were not allowed to wear the ACUs and had to wear the DCUs. We explained to him the situation, the instructions from the pentagon and the fact that all the Navy personnel we were working with were wearing the ACUs. He would have none of it. This even got as far as getting our local squadron commander (a Navy O-6) involved with our group commander in Balad (an Air Force O-6, or Colonel). They went round and round over the phone and it basically ended with the Navy Captain saying that if we wore DCUs he would send us home, and the Air Force Colonel saying that if we wore ACUs he'd send us home. There followed a flurry of emails between the Deputy and me (I'm the ranking Air Force guy at JCCS-1 Headquarters) telling me that we all needed to have our DCUs sent out, and in the mean time, we were to wear the one set of DCUs we had whenever we could.

We've been in contact with Mary at the Pentagon. She's the one that gave us the information about the uniforms to begin with. She, like us, feels that this guy is next to certifiable and shouldn't be in the position he's in. As it turns out, this guy is not only not a front line combat guy (he's a contracting officer) but he's not even an active duty guy. He's a reservist! So, this is what happens when you have a rear echelon type reservist put in charge of a bunch of actual warfighters. He's more concerned with the tiny little details instead of letting us do what we were originally told to do, and something that makes us much more effective in fighting the war.

So, before you think I'm just a big whiner, let me explain a bit. I personally don't care which uniform I wear. In the big scheme of things, I'm not going to go "outside the wire" so the camouflage protection offered by the Army uniform isn't really a factor. The Army uniform is a bit more functional in that it has many more pockets than the Air Force uniform (more like the flight suits I'm used to). What upsets us all about this is the way it's being done. This guy, who we will only see once a month or so when he comes down to welcome the newest Air Force guys in theater (and figuratively urinate on them to mark his territory) is threatening us with action if we wear the uniforms that we were told to wear, that our squadron mates are wearing, and that the Army trusts when we wear them. Oh well, the soap opera that is our lives. "like tons of desert sands through the hourglass, so are the day of our deployment". Or something like that.

Some pictures

2007-04-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

This is the Al Faw palace. One of Saddam's summer places.
This is me sitting in a chair that Arrafat gave to Saddam. The white is mother of pearl.
Sunset on the lake that Saddam had built for his palace and the homes of his friends. That is one of the houses. We use it as an office building now. We call this one "the juicer" because of the top.
This is a picture of myself and a good friend of mine, Major Mike Stoller. Don't try to figure out the sign he's holding, it's an inside joke for some of our Air Force buddies.

Learning the job

2007-04-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

My turnover is going well. It's kind of fast and furious with a lot to learn and remember. I think I'm getting it. I am working as the Operations Officer for JCCS-1. We are tasked with a portion of the anti-IED fight. The IEDs are the Improvised Explosive Devices that you hear so much about. The road side bombs. It's a Navy outfit, but they are beginning to get an influx of us Air Force people to help with the job. Not that the Navy hasn't been doing the job, they've been doing an outstanding job. But they could always use a few more hands to help out. This is a link to our website: http://www.nrotc.umn.edu/JCCS-1/ .

This is an important part of the war here and I feel a very rewarding one. We are saving lives. Our equipment and the training we give the troops actually has saved many lives. I like that. We are working hard at it also. Our average working day is anywhere from 12 to 15 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For all my family and friends; things are going great. As you can guess, I'm very busy, but I enjoy the work. When I get this all figured out, I'll post some photos here of the local area. You might be surprised what you see.

First Time Blogger

2007-03-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

I am new to blogging for bear with me while I get used to this.

I am an Air Force Electronic Warfare Officer currently stationed in Iraq. I won't be able to tell you much about what I do, but would like to pass on to everyone what's happening in Iraq.

I've been here about 4 weeks so far, and I like it. We do get the occasional mortar and/or rocket attack, but it's all indirect fire and relatively harmless (notice, I said relatively).

I'm hoping to be able to post here regualarly and give people a first hand account of how the war here is going. Hope you enjoy the blog.