Day 23

For some reason, I woke up at 2:30am. Before going back to sleep, I checked my e-mail and received the shocking news of Bin Laden's capture/kill at the hands at none other than U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6. I went right back to sleep and at 6am, I was in the classroom, ready to roll. Of course, the chatter in the room was far and away dominated by talk of Bin Laden's death. Still, the day began with a PowerPoint lecture on convoy operations. We grabbed some breakfast afterwards then got on our armor and headed out on the buses. On the way, we played Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" about three times. Nothing like a packed bus full of sailors in their body armor on a day like this and listening to that song.  It felt really good. Ironically, Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" came on the radio right after that and we cranked it up. On social networks, it was as if we were having an impromptu Veteran's Day or Military Appreciation Day from all the patriotic postings I was reading. It was nice to see all of that being thrown out there. Our destination was a mock-up area where we spent the better part of the day learning about IED's (improvised explosive devices). Enough said. Mid-afternoon, we headed on back to the classroom where we had one last lecture followed by the promised Transportation Brief.

On Day 1 here at my current location, they told us that on our third Monday, we would have this brief. It would review our future transportation dates/times. Sure enough, all of that information was disseminated. True to form on this blog, none of that information will be disclosed here. With the quantity of people here and how everyone has their own individual mission, there are many different travel arrangements. However, the bulk of us will be together...probably 60-70% of us. So now we know.

In the meantime, training is not yet complete. The next few days contain a dry run of the culminating convoy operation followed by the actual evolution the day after, complete with explosions, suicide bombers, and roadside bombs. While we were doing our IED training today, we could hear the explosions from our location. The other company did their evolution today.

I don't mean to be mushy or gut-wrenching but I have to be honest...Tin Man and Scarecrow have me totally wrapped around their fingers. My mood certainly took a turn south after the transportation brief today. It was no surprise to me but it was simply another dose of reality. I turned crabby fast and the very loud, boisterous fellow sailors in my barracks were driving me crazy. I waited until late in the dinner hour to make sure I had a table to myself and the galley would be mostly cleared out by the time I went down. I just had to get away from them. That worked and afterwards, I showered and called home to Kansas. As soon as I got them on the phone, I could barely talk. I could feel the tears welling up under my eyelids, too. Why? Because I know my days are limited for these nightly phone calls to pray with them and virtually tuck them into bed. Who knows what my level of connectivity is going to be coming up. I have no idea. Calls home daily is certainly not going to happen. Anyway, Scarecrow at one point asked "Daddy, are you yawning?" "No, I'm not yawning." "It sounds like it...or you're crying." Again, I stated "Nope, I'm not yawning but I could fall right to sleep." We prayed and said goodnight. Ugh...  I can't adequately explain it.... They have such power over me! Just their voices reach deep inside me and I melt. I am so thankful for my family.

Goodnight, friends.