Day 117

What can I say? It's Day 117. That little, tiny 4 month barrier teases at the doorstep. We're a good bit past halfway now and I'm creating milestones everywhere I look. I make them up so I'm constantly hitting something. The 120 day point (aka: 4 months), my advancement date on the 20th of this month, my 90 days/60 days/30 days to go points, the 1st days of the month, when my county fair is back in "Kansas," when the first day of school is, when major running events take place, when new personnel will show up, when MY relief shows up, when I check back into the Navy here in Afghanistan so they can put me on one of those C-17s and get me back on the Yellow Brick Road...all milestones. The key to survival truly is distraction...varied distraction. It makes the days vaporize in front of me. That doesn't mean time is moving quickly because it is not, but it gives me other things to distract me from just feeling sorry for myself because I miss HOME so bad. Tricky stuff!!!

So today...probably the busiest day yet. I've seen the coming storm for awhile and it appears that it's beginning. What storm? The storm of units scrambling to place major orders for items necessary for sustainment of their troops through the winter. Where I'm at, it gets down near zero degrees. Hard to believe when it was 97 flippin' degrees today. Things involving power generation (one of the major things I facilitate) and tents for troops to live in, eat in, and do just about anything in. Heck, in my short time here, I've pushed over $30 million through the pipeline...just me alone. I think I'll far surpass that in my 2nd half of time here. The best thing? I know what I'm doing, I have the answers they all want, and I know how to make it happen and happen efficiently. At one point, I had 3 soldiers standing at my desk today, completely confused on what to do next and once I was done with them, nothing could have made me happier than to hear: "It all makes sense now. Thank...You..." ...and so they went. The best parts of my job here are undoubtedly the times that I sit face-to-face with young soldiers and equip them with what they need to accomplish what their bosses are all over them for to get done. It gives me the "warm fuzzy" that my presence, while not a vacation in the sand, is serving a purpose. Without that, I'd be struggling far more inside than I already do.

This evening, all of our rooms were without power so I just hung around outside and didn't do much until power came back on and the A/C was pumping in my CHU again. Oh yea...I did go back to the chow hall and grabbed a cup of praline ice cream. I was hot, sticky, and like just plain yuck and that ice cream sounded too good not to go get. It's the only ice cream I'll eat here and is super good. I don't care for any other dessert out here...no cakes, cookies, or any other flavor of ice cream. Praline...that's where it's at!

As I was wrapping up this post, I came across a post that was put up online by a fellow sailor's wife. I must say...it really does sum up my life out here. The truest colors of people and friends have risen to the top and the opposite is also true. Such a great quote so I had to share it with you to close out today.

"There comes a time in your life, when you'll walk away from all the drama and people who created it. You'll surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living."

Goodnight, everyone.