Well, the blogging has been pretty hit or miss lately. It has been a combination of the MWR lab being closed for painting, being busy with work stuff (always a drag on my myriad number of hobbies), and lack of motivation. March is going to be the toughest month of the deployment. Everyday there is a new milestone for something that should or shouldn't have happened due to the extension. For instance, we should currently have our "left seat" training complete with our replacements. That is where we do the work and they ride along and take notes. Our "right seat" training should have started by now, which is where our replacements do the work and we watch over their shoulders. For us admin pukes, it is pretty simple because our replacements were to be active duty and probably don't need a Nat'l Guard unit telling them how to do their jobs. It was more of an update for anything special they need to know about being in theater. Friday, March 9th, was our original TOA (transfer of authority) date and we would have been outta dodge shortly after that. Each day that goes by we talk about how different things would be if we were going home and not spending another 4 months here. SFC Kerchal went so far as to say we may actually have all died in a mortar attack, and are currently in purgatory. Every time our new TOA date comes around we'll find out we are getting extended and never get to leave. I've been having nightmares ever since.
Once we get through March things will get better. We should have an idea of our new TOA date by the end of the month, and essentially April 1st will be sort of like December 1st. Time to start thinking/planning/working on getting out of here. Right now we are in limbo which isn't much fun. One of the Brigade staff officers used to always say that this deployment isn't a sprint, it is a marathon. He now says that is isn't a marathon, it is a death march. We have depicted this on our big white board with stick figures representing each month. Right now our stick figure guy is crawling along the ground. In April he will start to get up off the ground. May and June he will be heading towards the light. July he will be back on his feet. August he will be celebrating with his friends and family. So, we'll make it through some how.
I was planning on doing a post on my new helicopter today but I forgot my flash drive with the pictures. After consulting with the Dan the Man, I've named her Irene. I am still figuring out how to fly her, and things are going pretty slow right now. I found a flight instructor on the 'net (really!) and he is giving me some tips. Once I get the hang of it I'll do a more detailed post of me and my bird. I am done with Radd's ground school and am moving on to hovering right now. I had a little bit of a hard landing the other day and bent an important piece, but my Crew Chief (SFC Kerchal) and I did some maintenance and she is back up in the air. Good times.
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Here's a story for you and a chance to reminisce a little. (Allow me to apologize ahead of time - I'm long winded!)
As you've probably heard, we got a good blizzard/snowstorm last week. It brought back memories of the trip we made a year to Camp Shelby for the send off ceremony and the night we left there to drive back to Jackson. There were storms and tornado warnings, while "The Good Life" was getting hammered with a snow storm.
We got back into Omaha and made the trip down the interstate before making our final turn to get home. By "get home", I mean we live 2 1/2 miles off of the highway. No matter which direction we went, we could only get within a mile and a half of our house....as nothing else had been plowed open. When you live in the country, or at least in the Raymond area, they only open the roads a mile off the highway. So, if you can make it to the first mile, you're good to go. If not, you're SOL. Of course, we drove my "go cart" (Toyota) and not the Jeep.
So we drive around the section and try another route, snowed shut, can't do it. We go back around another direction, the road is plowed but only to one lane, we get to the corner, hasn't been plowed, can't make it. At this time we turn around and decide if we're going to be stranded, we better get a 12 pack of beer and head over to the in-laws. Course they might be able to open the road for us with their 4 wheel drive or tractor. It's now been almost 2 1/2 hours since we landed.
Luckily we run into my father-in-law along the way, park our car and hop into his truck. He gets us to our house and drops Doug off. I stay w/ them and head back to their place while Doug opens up the driveway. By this time, the rest of the neighbors are out with their tractors and plows making a path to the "main" road. By the time it was all said and done, I think we finally made it home about 8:30 that night!
Yep, that whole trip to Mississippi one year ago was, in every sense of the word, a trip! Remember all the chaos people had w/ their hotels? We ended up staying in Laurel (just north of Hattiesburg). We checked into our "suite" only to find a man hiding out in the bathroom smoking a cigarette!!! Here I thought we'd gone into someone else's room but it turned out to be one of their employees - or shall a say "former" employee.
Now there was some good things about that trip as well...the night they had the bands, the barbeque and beer garden, etc. Most memorable was the ceremony and the rain that came with it, and spending our last days with Spc. Beans down by the ocean.
Just think, that was all a year ago...and here we are one year later. March 2007 brings a myriad of emotions for a lot of people as you can't help but think about where we should be right now and where we're not. Shelby seems like it was yesterday, and yet Christmas 2006 was so long ago.
Now we're faced with a few extra months and you wonder how we'll get through them? The same way we already have, one day at a time.
Looking back I can laugh about that week in Mississippi, and I can look forward to what tomorrow will bring.
Don't let the man get you down!
Ma Beans
Still thinking about you and praying.
Sack,
We gotta' get something figured out on this blog thing bud. Any chance on working up a different blog site or anything? Feel like you're just hanging out there in no mans land with no one watching. You got faithful readers wonding what you're up to. Damn the man. Don't let him hold you down brother.
Can't wait to hear more about the chopper and the flights of Irene.
Stay smart, stay safe.
Ol'Buddy B
Hi,
Haven't heard from you in a few days, so hope all is well. I did read that our Minnesota Gov. Pawlenty took a trip to Iraq last week and said he was quite impressed with the work you all have been doing. So that was good to hear.
Just got back from visiting my parents out of state and on the airplane on the way home a couple soldiers were sitting across from me. One was watching a movie on a portable DVD player. The airline stewardess gave them an extra sandwich and then said that she liked the work they were doing. So that was good to hear! Suppose they were heading home on a furlough.
God bless.
Chaplain Luken's Uncle's girlfriend
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