Day 112

And so today marks 16 weeks since I hugged my family goodbye. Luckily, it won't be 16 weeks until I see them. Yep...we're in double digits, folks...countdown, that is. Just barely, though. Today was a mixed bag so let's get the ugliness out of the way first.

It wasn't even mid-morning when the enlisted guy in my office got up, walked out and shut the door behind him. I knew what was up immediately. The senior officers clearly orchestrated this and wanted to have a private chat with me. I'm not going into the details but to say it was 2 against 1...me. It got me really upset and luckily, we were interrupted after about 15 minutes in. It was a losing conversation from the word "go." Have I mentioned I hate it here? Today, that fits. Enough of this tonight..it just gets me upset.

As lunch arrived, we had all pitched in for some Pizza Hut to say goodbye to one of our civilians across the hall. After lunch was our weekly staff meeting and then I headed out. No need to stay around an office when my work is complete. Running away from the problem? You better believe it. If confronting it would help, I would. It's a losing game all the way around.

Back in my room, I was feverishly following my hometown 100-mile race. So many friends in it and volunteering, I really wanted to be there. Even now as I type, it's mid-afternoon and many of my friends are approaching the 50-mile mark and I'm sitting here, ready for bed and writing 7000 miles away. I belong on those trails today, that's for sure. A few days back, the owner of the specialty running store in "Kansas" asked me if I'd like to record a secret message and he'd play it just before the start..not even the race director would know. I'm a finisher of this race and deeply involved in the local running community. So, I wrote down what I'd like to say yesterday and recorded it with my iPhone and sent it to him. It was that easy. If you're friends with me on Facebook, it's posted there. I can't post it here because once again, it would make this blog non-anonymous. Wish I could... but I can't.

As the evening approached, I grabbed a shuttle bus and headed back over to the other side of the base where I got in line to meet some celebrities as part of the USO Summer Troop Visit. After waiting in line for 2 hours, I shook hands, got my photo taken, and got autographs from Jon Stewart, 6'9" retired NBA star Karl Malone, and illusionist David Blaine. I'll tell ya what...Jon Stewart is both hilarious and short! 5'6" is tiny next to Karl Malone. Whether you like or dislike Jon Stewart (you probably love 'em or hate 'em), he's over here supporting and thanking the troops so I'll give him props for that. His way of pumping up the troops was awesome, too. Since I keep my blog kid-friendly, I can't share! :-)

Afterwards, I walked out of the huge tent to catch the bus back. Windy as heck out tonight! So as festivities were going on inside, outside was quite the different event going on...another fallen comrade and another casket rolling to the flight line for the long trip to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, en route to HOME. Ugh...it never gets easier, in case you're wondering. I'm so sick of fellow countrymen dying over here...and most Americans don't even know. I knew about this one earlier today because a sergeant I work with on my projects had to cancel our meeting because he was going to be involved in everything regarding this soldier's death, including the loading of the remains this evening onto the C-17, bound for Dover.

Well, tomorrow is Sunday, the day of the double-edged sword. Time off and too much time in my head. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Hopefully a good day...I could use one.

Goodnight, everyone.