Home Again

Well, I got home just over a week ago, so I've been lazy about posting here. But it's nice to be back home. What's even more remarkable is that now the air here in Las Vegas feels nice and clean. I guess that's what six months of being able to see the air you're breathing will do, though.

What I can't believe is how much Elizabeth has grown while I've been gone! Jenn did a good job of sending me pictures, and we were able to use webcams, but still, it was pretty surprising. Even more surprising was how much she's saying and doing that she wasn't doing six months ago.

The day I (finally) got home after over three days of travelling

Another pleasant surprise was that it took her very little time at all to warm up to me again. We figured it would take a while for her to get used to me. But inside of 12 hours she was wanting me to pick her up, and has been really happy with me being here ever since. That may be one of the best things about this entire homecoming, really.

It's Been Too Long

I'm sorry it's been a while since I last posted...anything, really. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. The good news is that I'm very, very close to getting home. Or at least to leaving here. Which certainly is NOT the same thing as getting home, but it's an important step.

In other news, we got into a car accident today. It was completely not our fault, and it really ended up with us trading paint with someone. So it wasn't that bad. In fact, we didn't even realize it had happened at first. I thought the guy driving had hit a curb, when in reality what I heard was the sound of some local plowing into the back of us. Then, he had the gall to act like it was because of something we'd done. At any rate, it looked like the offending individual was okay. Although I'm sure he'll try to figure out a way to get some money for it.

Only in this country could a person hit someone else with their car and then successfully claim a monetary compensation for it...

A Dream Realized

So, a couple of days ago I got to do something that is a deep-seated desire for almost every man ever born. Or at least those born within the past 100 years or so. Not everyone gets to do this thing, and it was a lot of fun.

I got to drive in traffic while using a siren.

And it was awesome.

I promise it was entirely justified, too. My use of the loudspeaker, not so much. But definitely the siren.


(Jenn, I know what you're saying to yourself right now. Stop it.)

Snowball Express

I recently came across an extremely important organization that does a ton of good. It’s called Snowball Express, and it’s a non-profit charity that is dedicated to giving emotional support to families (especially children) of service members who’ve died (in combat or otherwise) since September 11th, 2001.

You can read more about this here. One of the best things about it is that there’s only one full-time employee. Everyone else is volunteers. That makes it possible for the maximum amount of donations, monetary and otherwise, to go to the families’ benefit.

They receive all sorts of contribution from all types of sources, from individuals to corporations, airlines and people such as Gary Sinise.

As you read the stories of these families’ experiences and the joy that they’re able to reclaim after losing a parent and spouse, think about the little heroes all over our country. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard life quickly becomes for the kids who suddenly find themselves without a dad or mom.

For further reading, go to this link. There’s some mild fighter pilot language there, but the narrative is outstanding.

And I dare you not to tear up at least a little bit while you’re reading. I’d type more, but I seem to have something in my eye…



(Thanks to Fighter Pilot University and The Doofer Book)

Oh, how I love meetings...

You would think that being in a war would mean certain things. For one, you would think that things would be exciting (possibly even dangerous) all the time. For another, you would think that there wouldn’t be as many boring meetings as you get back home.

You would think that. And you would be wrong.

Obviously, exciting doesn’t always mean good. And in a war, exciting often means bad. So it’s okay when things aren’t exciting.

But what about when things are the exact opposite of exciting? Like when they’re like this…

Or this…



While most of what I do here is satisfying and, at times, fun and even exciting, there’s one thing that I dread every week. It’s one hour of suffering that is so grueling and painful, that every time I turn around, it seems like it’s upon me yet again.

It’s…the weekly CJ2 Video Teleconference!!

This is basically where representatives from each of the different regional commands around Afghanistan meet (in a virtual sense, of course) with the good folks here to discuss the previous week’s events, and talk about where things are going in the near term. My job here makes it so I have to go sit in as part of the peanut gallery and, generally, try to stay awake.

As one would expect from any good Coalition effort, there are several nationalities represented. Similarly, there is a varying degree of competence on the individual level. That’s not to say that Country X has smart people and Country Y doesn’t. Rather, certain individuals seem more capable than others. In fact, some have certain reputations for being either very capable, or so incapable as to cause confusion about how they even got on the right airplane to get here in the first place. Something else that’s interesting is how the less capable ones take up so much time saying so little, while the more capable ones can condense immense amounts of information into brief, cogent statements.

And then, there are the accents.

Again, in any multi-national setting, you have to expect varying skill at communicating in the common language (in this case, English). And people are generally pretty understanding of others’ difficulties. Conversely, I would think that when you have someone who’s trying to communicate in a language that is secondary to a good proportion of an audience, you would try to find the most capable speaker available. And most everyone else seems to get that. Except for the Italians. They seem to have decided to pick the person least able to make himself understood. This situation has resulted in our very own weekly episodes of “Allo Allo”.

Being here DOES sometimes make me wonder what happened to the Axis powers...

Perversely, although this provides for some good entertainment, it also makes his portion of the meeting almost incomprehensible and therefore the most frustrating.

A Good Day

Today's been a good day. First of all, I got to administer the oath of enlistment for an Air Force staff sergeant here who just signed up for a few more years. That was a first for me, and I was pleased he asked me to do it.

Secondly, I got to eat lunch with a real, no-kidding hero. A few weeks back, there was a big explosion here in town, right outside of where a lot of US people live and work. It was bad enough that people behind a blast wall and inside were injured as a result. Less fortunate were those who happened to be nearby when it the bomb went off.

The hero in question is a US Navy chief petty officer, who happens to be a SEAL and a medic. I won't go into all the details of what happened, but after getting blown across his office, the first thing he did was run outside to see how he could help. Thanks largely to his actions, one US person got the care she needed to live, and he helped treat another US person who, unfortunately, later died.

Only after everyone else was taken care of did he even realize that he was injured himself. Adrenaline is an amazing thing. Most notably, at no time following the event has he sought recognition (although he's certainly received it), and has remained humble. According to some of the guys I work with, for a SEAL to remain humble is almost unprecedented...

But seriously, I was honored to be able to meet him. The best part is that there are thousands of other Americans with his same attitude here in this country and elsewhere.

An Unforunate Choice

Amid all the pageantry of this year's Presidential inauguration, something was missed. The second time it was missed, it was missed by most media outlets. It shouldn't be overly surprising, given the subject matter, but it is disappointing.

The first time it was missed was by the President. As many people know, there are a lot of balls on Inauguration Day. Which makes sense, because people understandably want to celebrate the victory of their chosen candidate, or simply to reconnect with our country's democratic spirit. Indeed, Inauguration Day balls have become an important part of the day's events.

This year, President and Mrs. Obama had to attend several balls on that day. The best count I've seen is nine. There's no doubt that's a lot of events to attend in a very short time. Unfortunately, they missed one of the most important ones.

For the first time since it was established at President Eisenhower's 1953 inauguration, a newly-elected President has not attended The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball. This ball is solely to honor all the deceased and living recipients of the Medal of Honor. You can read about this here.

I don't know if this was an oversight, or intentional. I'd like to think it was an accident. But whether it was a conscious choice or the result of carelessness, it's disheartening.

This follows the news that a certain school district has decided that its children don't need Veterans' Day as a holiday. The rationale is that the children don't understand what the day is for, so why should the take it off? Heaven forbid the school should actually take a few minutes and teach those children what it means.

For too many people in our country, Memorial Day is just a good day for barbeques and sales. The most meaningful Memorial Day I've ever had (and will probably ever spend) was one where I did not engage in these traditional pursuits. Instead, Jenn and I took the time to honor those who gave their lives in World War II by visiting a small cemetary near Cambridge, England.

We are a nation that is increasingly polarized, albeit in a lop-sided manner. Too many Americans have absolutely no connection to someone, past or present, who has sacrificed for the good of their country or community. Similarly, we are not, contrary to popular thought, a nation at war. Our military is at war, but the realities and implactions of that war are entirely lost on most people.

If anyone deserved special recognition on Inauguration Day from our new President, it was those few men who earned this nation's highest military honor and actually lived to tell about it. The various entertainment and political establishment luminaries could have waited a few minutes.

Famous Former Inmates

This week there have been not one, but two escapees from the Zoo in the news. First and better known is the pilot of the US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson river. He graduated in 1973 and flew F-4s for Big Blue. Definitely a case of experience counting. I also just read today where he was the last person to leave that airplane, after having walked up and down the aisle twice, just to make sure everyone else made it.

Second, I'm sure everyone's heard by now of the genius who tried to fake his own death by jumping out of his plane (which failed), then almost getting eaten by gators, then being seen on video, and then REALLY trying to kill himself (which also failed). Well, thanks to Carrie Fogle's blog, I found out that none other but my friend Josh 'Razor' Fogle (also a USAFA grad) was scrambled to intercept the plane. Josh was sitting alert in New Orleans at the time the call went out. Anyway, I can only imagine what he was thinking when he looked over and saw a dark cockpit...

Finally, this is a different subject, but an Australian SAS soldier recently was given the Victoria Cross, which is the highest miltary decoration that a British Commonwealth military member can receive (similar to the US's Medal of Honor). He's the first Aussie in 40 years to receive it, and you can read more about it here.

UPDATE: If you go to this link, you can see video of the interview Razor did for Fox News. I have to laugh, because it seems like he desperately wants to laugh a couple of times, and that being interviewed is the last place he wants to be. That said, great job, man. Incidentally, Razor's the one who does most of the talking on the radio during the intercept.

Catch-up

Apologies to my loyal readership (all three of you). It's been a busy couple of weeks. There's not too much to say right now, but it's been a while since I posted any new pictures of Elizabeth on here, so here goes:

Apparently both Elizabeth and the dog were surprised by something

This is on the plane to Texas. It's not her first plane ride, but she seemed to enjoy it.

This is right before church.

Shake, Rattle and Roll

The last few days have represented a couple of firsts for yours truly. First, we got our first actual, no-kidding snow of the season (and therefore for me, period) here in town. Which was great at first, because it made everything nice and white and clean-looking.

Until today, when everything melted and now we're in a giant mud puddle.

More significantly for me, last night I experienced my first earthquake. At about 1:00 in the morning, I was reading in my bed, when I felt the mattress start shaking. In all honesty, my first thought was that the mice had decided it was time to strike, and that they had massed for an all-out assault.


But then I realized that couldn't be it, and I figured out what was going on. It also helped that the doors on my closet started banging. Then I looked over to the coat pegs where I keep my jacket and my dog tags to see the tags swinging freely. Then, I heard and felt our entire building start shaking.

Said hanging location

At this point I remembered that we live in what is essentially two storeys of metal shipping containers held together by thin beams and hope, and I began to wonder about the structure's stability. At any rate, I figured I was probably safer where I was than downstairs in my office, should the building decide to give up.

All told, it didn't last very long (maybe a minute or minute and a half, based on consensus), but it was pretty interesting for a non-Californian such as myself. I guess it was about a six on the Richter scale, and had started over 160 miles away, though, so that's something.