Day 50

50 days done! Another milestone, I suppose. But, let me set the stage for you so you can try and picture from where I'm typing tonight.  I'm in a plywood cubby hole. This cubby hole is about one of twenty in a small tent where the air conditioning is struggling to blow warm air. I'm hot, I'm exhausted, and sweat is dripping down my chest and back, from within my 2 layers of uniform. The girl next to me is clearly trying to Skype with her parents but due to the large quantity of people in this tent and the fact we are in the middle of nowhere, all I hear is: "Hello? Hello? Mom! Hello? Hello? Dad!"  Anyway, it took nearly 10 minutes JUST to log into Blogger and I have a 30min limit on this machine so here's to blazing fast fingers tonight.  So here it goes...and it needs to be fast because I am a bit cranky...and tired. :-)

First off, let's back up to last night when I said "Goodnight." I headed on back to that partially full 500-man tent. That tent was jam-packed now. Turns out, 150 soldiers showed up yesterday and a lot of their gear was on my rack. I made my presence known...quietly...and went to take a shower and when I returned...it was gone. To the showers...there were 10 conex boxes (metal rectagular boxes like you see on semi's) that inside, are toilets, sinks, and showers. That's totally normal over here and where I'll shower in a bit tonight. Well, with this huge influx of soldiers, the base executed poor-planning 101 and 7 of the 10 were out of order and/or water. Not good. So, I stood outside for a shower and when I did get one, it was a nasty mess in there. I got my shower done as quick as possible and returned to my rack. Outside, obviously someone ticked off the Sergeant Major because about 10 soldiers were doing pushups in their body armor in the black of night. Anyway, I finally got situated and somehow fell asleep...those soldiers still had the lights on and were being...well...you 18-19 year-old soldiers. I started counting down from 100.....about 10 times....

Good morning! We had to get up around 5am because at 6, we needed to head back out to the flight line. Yep, another flight. This time, we were heading west in Oz to Theme Park #2...via helicopter this time. Canada runs flights called "Molson Air" so that was our ride. About 15min later, we touched down in Theme Park #2. It was around this time that some disturbing texts started coming in to my phone. I hadn't seen the news but apparently, some suicide bomber hit again and my family was worried. I hadn't heard about it so I had no idea. I sent a text to Dorothy to let everyone know I was fine and had arrived at my next destination. The morning was filled with a lot of education about the whole operation in this part of the country. I was amazed at what I did NOT know. It was very eye-opening. After a few briefs, we were taken out and shown the very new "theme park."  I won't bore you with the rest of the day here. Mid-afternoon, we took another Molson Air flight to "theme park #3" where I'm at now. This place is tiny...super tiny. Maybe a mile around. It's paired up next door to the "Oz National Army."  (hehehehe) On the way in, right after I hopped off the helicopter, I stopped for a quick photo op with a very young soldier. It will probably be one of my best photos of my entire deployment because of what it represents. We, as a united fighting force here in Oz, are going through great lengths to build a relationship with this Army, train them up, and turn the security of their country back over to them. Standing side by side one of them was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  If you're on Facebook, I hope to have this photo up in about 24 hours. Of course, it won't be here since then, I wouldn't be anonymous, now would I?!?! Anyway, I stopped and talked to the soldiers standing the gate watch then I made my way into the base.  After getting situated, we made our way over to the bazaar where shockingly, they were selling rugs! Go figure! I did walk in one vendor who was selling paintings. I was tempted, I must admit. There was this one watercolor on canvas that looked just like those mountains outside my main base. He wanted 80 dollars...I passed. "I'm going to keep looking," I decided.

Dinner..editing photos from today on my computer where they are trapped...and now I'm here...talking to you. Back in Kansas, everyone is showing up at my parents for the pre-Memorial Day cookout. Oh, how I wish I was home with everyone. I am finding now...for sure...Sundays are my hardest days. Sundays are typically slower than others and it's the day back home where we lazily wake up, lazily have breakfast, go to church together, and just spend quality time with each other. Dorothy and I never work Sundays so it's always ours. So, my mind goes there in a major way and at times, I get pretty down-in-the-dumps...I won't lie. I really, really, REALLY miss them.  No doubt, today is the toughest day of the week.  Luckily, my girls' bear still sits all snuggled up in my pocket.  I still am carrying it and will NOT stop. I don't know how some people do so many deployments. I also don't understand how some people don't communicate with home hardly at all when they can. For me, when I get to each "theme park," one of my top unspoken priorities is to know where the tent is that has the computers in it. Other folks...well, they couldn't care less.

To you all, please have a wonderful Memorial Day. If you have a flag pole, proper etiquette on this day is to lower it to half-staff at sunrise, then raise it to full staff at Noon. Tomorrow is the day we honor those who have left us and have served our country. Honor them. Better yet, be different and fly your flag 365 days a year. Every time you look at it, you'll be reminded of those serving while you rest in freedom.  I will never look at freedom the same way again after being over here.  I cherish it so much and will never, ever take for granted what I have...because so many others...thousands upon thousands...have given the ultimate sacrifice.

Goodnight, everyone, and Happy Memorial Day.