Day 86

I just love how on holidays, I set the alarm 1 1/2 to 2 hours EARLIER when I could sleep in. Such is the life of a runner. Always worth it, though. Today, the sister event to the Peachtree 10K kicked off at 6am but as before, I live on the other side of the base so up early enough to have a bite to eat and to run to the other side. Once I got there, it was crawling with runners and reps from Harley Davidson and FedEx, the two main corporate sponsors of the race. I picked up my number and listened to the pre-race announcements and guidance that around noon today, we should head to the flightline for some special guests on base and a mass re-enlistment by "someone."

At 6am, we were off! Luckily, the wind was practically non-existent...very rare for this base. No blowing crud in my eyes or anything. We headed out and in true "me" fashion, stopped to take a few pics here and there. I wanted to capture how different it is here to show folks back home. I gotta say...I'm really looking forward to running races again minus the barbed wire and T-Walls (shown left to right in this photo). Gotta love the t-walls, though...those rockets the Taliban fire at our base won't go through those. Some have even bounced off of them. So back to the race...I certainly didn't run it like a race. I was all about enjoying the running 'company', snapping a few pics, and making it last. I did about 9min miles and finished around 53 minutes. I quickly made it over to the t-shirts and picked mine up. After that, I signed the race banner which ended getting strung up on the deck (see below). I dedicated the race to all of my trail running friends back in "Kansas" and wrote that on the banner. Great way to kick off the 4th! (still weird that back home, it was still Sunday night!)

I made my way back to the office just a few blocks away and answered a few e-mails, had an iced lemonade (thanks, Sir Charles!), and uploaded my photos. Once that was done, I loaded up box of care package things and headed on back to my room, picking up about 4 soldiers on the way. Anytime I have an empty vehicle, I try to pick soldiers up. This group hailed from Fort Carson, Colorado. Not much was said in the short trip except for a hearty "Happy 4th" and "Be safe!" as I dropped them off. Back at the room, I cleaned up and headed back to the office. Once lunchtime rolled around, I headed to the flightline to find out who the mystery guests were.

Today marks the 235th anniversary of our nation and going with that theme, 235 soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen were going to re-enlist or reaffirm their oath. (cake at right was at front of room and was HUGE!!!) To lead them in this was THE boss here in Afghanistan...General David Petraeus! HIs time is very limited as commander as he is about to retire and take over the CIA Director job. Along with him, three senators showed up, Senator John McCain (a retired 23 year Navy veteran/pilot/Vietnam POW), Senator Joe Lieberman, and Senator Lindsey Graham. It was pretty clear from the get-go that Senator McCain was the lead senator. He had a seat on the stage with the General and the others were in the front row on the floor. The ceremony had the national anthem, a salute to every state (even 50 flags were along the side of the room), the re-enlistment, and songs played for every service. The 1st Calvary orchestra provided all the music. Also, both General Petraeus and  Senator McCain spoke to the troops. Below is Senator McCain while he was talking to the troops. All in all, it was a great afternoon. Only one regret...I wish I would've shoved myself towards the senator and shook his hand and had a photo op. Oh well, I did sit in a F-15E Strike Eagle a few days ago. :-)

Senator John McCain and General David Petraeus

I swung by the Exchange afterwards where they've been building that deck. The word was that there would be plenty of festivities going on. It was a dud...nothing....nada. I asked someone who would know, and nothing along the lines of a musical act was coming in tonight. I headed on back to the office and uploaded some more photos and ended up not leaving the office until after 7pm. It was very good time spent as I talked to Dorothy, Tin Man and Scarecrow, both of my brothers and their wives.. It was great. I figured my late return to my room was no big deal if I could have some good calls with my brothers.

Back in my room, I continued my addiction to Adorama TV. Adorama is a photography retailer in New York City. Basically, Adorama TV has many, many 3 to 11min videos that go over how to do different things with DSLR cameras like the one that should be here any day. I watched the ones about shooting lightning, fireworks, about viewing angle and my favorite, "street photography." Street photography is almost more relational and social than the technical side of photography. It's about taking those closeups of complete strangers you meet on the street. I think I'd love to gain some confidence and do this. I really can't wait to start putting into practice all I'm learning through these videos. I take notes during each one so I can put into practice the suggestions when the time comes. The more I learn about photography and the different styles, the more excited I get about diving head first into this.

I was thinking...I can't wait to get home and reveal everything anonymous. The day I can introduce you to Dorothy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow will be cool day. Looking forward to it! For now, Day 87 beckons and my eyelids can barely stay upright. Time for bed!

Goodnight, everyone!