Day 205

The room next to me is the room I checked into a Day 1. Today, Day 205, I am next door and forever changed. While only separated by a few inches of drywall and 2x4's, thousands and thousands of miles were traveled between these two rooms and countless experiences gained. Tomorrow, after I've been able to get a good night sleep and gather my thoughts, I'll write about the last 40+ hours. I now sit at stop #2 on the way home. Since I last wrote, I have traveled from Kuwait to Germany (5 1/2 hours), Germany to Baltimore (8 1/2 hours), Baltimore to Charlotte (1 hour), then 1 1/2 hours to my current location which is my last stop before being reunited with my family only a few short days away. For now, though, I've been up for about 47 hours straight which should facilitate me resetting my body's clock to United States time as I expect to be asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow in a few minutes. Like I said, I'll write more tomorrow. I will say this, though...it was nice to take a shower in my bare feet tonight. First time since I was last here...over 6 months ago. Still...coming back to the USA hasn't hit me...and it won't...until I hand over that little bear in my uniform pocket to Tin Man and Scarecrow and embrace Dorothy. Mile 99...yep, I'm right there. Just a few more steps...

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 204

"Oh, General Patton, why must you wake me every morning at 6am?" Well, I suppose it's better than F-15 Strike Eagles taking off and the occasional rocket attacks that woke me up back in Afghanistan. So I slept in to 6:30am...I know...living dangerously. I made my way over to the decompression tent and caught up on some e-mail and benefited yet again from the Keurig coffee maker and Wolfgang Puck's blend. (my espresso pot is packed away) I headed off to my last breakfast in Kuwait and just barely made it in before they locked the doors. Afterward, the next thing up on my agenda for the day was the final travel brief but first, I took up the ex-Marine now Navy chaplain on his offer for the Sunday morning service. I think I was only 1 of about 6 in there but it was good to be there. Shortly after that, I headed back to my tent to grab all my baggage and head over to the main hangar/tent for our final brief and have me and my luggage weighed. It was PACKED! All of a sudden, we had Army personnel on Navy ground....wuz up wit that? Well, it turns out that they will fill the flight to the United States and leave no one behind or seat unfilled. Yea, I'm definitely good with that. "Bring us ALL home, I say." So as the hangar filled with soldiers, sailors, and their gear, we had a seat and listened to the instructions about weighing our bags, customs forms, and the schedule for TONIGHT.

Afterward, I went and watched another movie to pass the time..."The Adjustment Bureau" this time, starring Matt Damon. Pretty good flick. After that, it was lunch and more downtime to kill.

OK..confession time. I wrote this blog post in the middle of the afternoon, Kuwait time...morning for you. A cool feature of Blogger is, though, that I can schedule the post to go up when I dictate...I actually use that feature all of the time. Well, in interest of operational security and never talking about future movements before they happen, this post will go up later tonight when I will lack the ability to write. I'd hate to miss a post, right? Right. So, by the time you read this, I will be on my way HOME. Most likely, if you read this timely, I'll be in the air somewhere between here and the U. S. of A. A lot of travel will happen on one day...nearly 17 hours of in-air time and four different flights...all bringing me to my processing station which is the final stop before my trip home to Kansas. Hopefully, you'll get a Day 205 post which will tell the tale...hopefully some photos, too, of the journey. I'll have my iPhone ready. Remember the plane shots on my way out here? We'll see what I can get.

So that's it for today...much will have happened before you read this and I (and many others) will be in uniform, on a packed commercial (but chartered) flight, heading for America...appropriately named the "Freedom Flight."

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 203

It was a rough day in Kabul today. If you haven't seen the news yet, a suicide bomber in a vehicle hit one of our convoys and killed at least 13 Americans. Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan and about a 15min helo ride south of where I was. I have friends there and luckily, have heard from all of them. The loaded suicide vehicles are not uncommon for charging entry points at bases are uncommon to ram a convoy. To take that many lives in a convoy, the blast had to be significant as most of our armored vehicles don't hold that many people. Please keep the families in your prayers who most likely, just had two uniformed service-members knock on their door and deliver the most feared news.

Back here in Kuwait, this morning stayed busy. It started at 8am with another travel brief, but specific to the place we are headed for out-processing Stateside. I had a feeling that most would be heading to Norfolk and San Diego as those are big Navy hubs in the world. I was right. There are only 6 or 7 of us heading to my location in Mississippi. That's a great thing! Less folks to process through = more efficiency in pushing us through. During that brief, I met another Navy reservist who also is from my area, is going to the same processing site, and is flying back to the same airport! RATS! I'm not going to get that plane to myself on the final trip home! The funny part? His first name is the same as mine! So, I'll be sure to forewarn him that there may be signs or shouts where he may think someone is shouting out for him! Funny, eh?! He's a young guy and I think, only him mom and dad will be there to pick him up. I tell ya...what are the chances of THIS happening?! Flippin' hilarious, I tell ya!

After that travel brief, we had our one workshop, mandated by the Chief of Naval Operations. There was about 8 of us...all Navy officers of almost the same rank. The conversations rotated around reintegration, coping with stress, our different experiences while deployed, and expectations when we arrive home. It's true...I have a picture in my mind what homecoming will be like on that day and the days and weeks following. So does Dorothy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow. I guess we all just need to communicate and work together. We also talked about the cheers and thank-you's that we'll hear and how that makes us feel. Like the others, it feels "weird" and undeserving. To me, the "heroes" are on the frontlines and the ultimate heroes have sacrificed their lives. But, since less than half of 1% of our country is serving right now (yes, 0.45% of the U.S. population is in uniform), I can see how folks do show their appreciation to anyone in uniform and I/we do appreciate it! We just don't know how to react because we simply don't feel like we deserve it. Make sense? So please, show your appreciation and never stop...it is appreciated but just know, we really have no idea how to respond. Me? I usually just shake your hand, smile and nod my head. Doesn't feel right to say "You're welcome." Anyway, it was good to share with others and listen to what the others had to say.

For the rest of the day, it was relaxing and watching a few flicks. Tonight, I'm doing another load of laundry and getting myself squared away for my eventual departure. One last travel brief is coming up tomorrow morning where we'll bring all of our luggage in to have it weighed. They need the cumulative weight of every person and gear to properly load the jet out of here. So with that, friends, Day 203 is a wrap. Onward to 204...

Oops...."Happy Birthday, Dorothy. I hope you enjoyed your short and sweet "Happy Birthday" video I sent you this morning. I hope you had a wonderful day!"

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 202

One day closer to home and the day I got to shed a LOT of gear. If you remember back to my first few weeks of this deployment, I was issued a lot of gear including my body armor...about 3 seabags worth of "stuff." Today at 8am, I was in the first of 3 groups to haul their gear out of their tents and bring them over to the entrance of the main tent. At 8am, we were briefed that as soon as the big roller door went up, we'd all walk in and be told how the gear drop would go then we'd come out and get our gear. The door went up and about 70-100 sailors broke out in thunderous applause. We were totally shocked as we walked through them all. It reminded me of the night we boarded the plane to leave the United States. Remember that? All of those Boy Scouts and VFW members were out there to send us off. It was really cool today and I'll admit, it felt darn good. Like I was telling Dorothy earlier, we don't look for thanks or anything and haven't heard any kind of applause since that night we boarded that plane, but to be thanked in applause like that from fellow sailors who are deployed themselves is pretty darn cool. The gear drop went well and in under an hour, we were done. I also got rid of all my Army uniforms except for my favorite pair, the ones I'll wear on the flights home.

Afterwards, I watched another movie, had a catnap, then was back for our admin brief at 1:30pm. Talks from the Chaplain and others regarding future travel were covered. I picked up a command t-shirt and coin afterwards. For the rest of the day, I just hung out and relaxed. Not much to speak of. Tonight at 7pm, the Chaplain invited us out to the Memorial Garden for "Holy Smokes," as he called it. Cigars for all and a time to just unwind. I'm no smoker but I figured I'd give it a puff. Afterall, the Chaplain said smoking isn't a sin, it's a vice! True dat! So I did and after a few puffs, it was confirmed why I never took up smoking...yuck! Still, some good downtime to relax with the others. Tomorrow, we have more briefs on travel to our processing site Stateside following by a workshop to "talk" about our deployment. I'm not sure what this workshop entails but it is CNO-mandated. (Chief of Naval Operations) I'm curious to see what it's all about. Not much for the rest of the day after that. Sunday will be busy, though. :-) With that, Day 202 is history. Time for a shower and bed.

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 201

One thing is for sure: I have no intention of getting to Day 210. Just sayin'...

So I set my alarm for 6:30am this morning...just so I could leisurely get my shave and breakfast with plenty of time before the 8am weapons cleaning. Nope...didn't happen. Instead, I awoke at 6am to reveille and General Patton's song...yes, "Patton's Own" 3rd Army is here. Oh my my...the Navy may have taken me back but the Army still keeps it coming! Back to that shave...first time in 201 days that I got away with going ONE day with no shave. The travel stuff got me that little nugget of goodness. It was nice to have a super smooth shave as a result. It's the small things, ya know?!

At 8am, we cleaned our weapons and officially turned them in. After that, we were free for the day. I spent it doing not much of anything. Some Skyping, lots of internet stuff, watching tons of movie trailers on my iPad, and even watching some 80s hair band music videos on YouTube...namely Cinderella's "Coming Home" which I bought for 99 cents tonight. It'll be my "wheels up" song when my "Freedom Flight" gets here as I leave Kuwait, bound for the U.S. of A. I also watched some YouTube videos of returning service-members surprising their spouses and kids. Yea, I was searching out that tug on my heartstrings and I sure did find some! I did find a really good one that I have to share. Here it is (and for those of you reading this post via e-mail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFLBR87naoU&noredirect=1):
The look on the little girl's face when she turns and sees her dad is what got me...couldn't help it!

Tomorrow at 8am is our gear drop. AMEN to that! I'm shedding a LOT of stuff...3 seabags worth of stuff I do not need and they can have back. After that, more free time and I believe we have an admin brief later in the day. For now, I think I'll take the smiles that this video brought and get my shower and head on to bed. Patton is waiting at 6am. :-)

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 200

12:30am and the alarm goes off. Why? It's time to get back on the Yellow Brick Road and put Oz in my rear view mirror. By this time, I was totally packed and had cleaned my room yet again so I'd leave it in perfect condition for the next person. The admin guy in my office met me at 1am and we were off to the terminal to meet a few other fellow sailors and found out right away, that the flight wouldn't be taking off for about 4 or 5 more hours. But, where else were we to go?! I had tried to sleep in my room but I swear, I was like a kid on Christmas Eve...not too much sleep at all. So, a lot of sitting around, palletizing all of our seabags and gear for the trip aboard the C-17, and a little catnap. Eventually, the call came and we were on a bus and rolling across the flightline to a waiting C-17...my chariot out of Afghanistan...finally.

After a short wait as cargo was loaded, we walked aboard and found our seats along the outer walls facing in. As I sat there, I still hadn't yet decided what song I wanted to listen to as the wheels left the earth. I finally decided on Toby Keith's "American Soldier." Yea, I'm a sailor but it still applies. So, as the engines fired up and we started to roll, I cranked it up and silently inserted "sailor" in the place of "soldier" in the song and heck, it worked! I could feel the wheels leave the tarmac and as they did, I snapped a screen shot of my phone just to prove it...precisely at 6:12am local time I left Afghanistan...hopefully, forever. For the next hour or so, I switched the tunes to Passion 2011. I was just in one of those worship kind of moods.

We climbed and climbed quick. I had watched countless C-17s take off from our airfield and always dreamed of being on one so I knew exactly what we looked like from the ground and how it has to climb fast to clear the mountains that surround the airfield. Oh yea, now that Afghanistan is in my past, I can tell you where I was: Bagram Air Field. It is the major airfield for the entire country and boasts over 40,000 in population, of which barely 15,000 are U.S. military. Tons and tons of contractors from around the world and local nationals working on base. Anyway, I tried to sleep and did just a few times but I always did it in a way that my neck was killing me. I just couldn't get comfortable in my First Class accommodations! About an hour into the flight, I stood up and walked over to the tiny 6" peephole and snapped this photo of what I saw. Not much but still kinda cool. After a few hours, we arrived in Kuwait...stop #1. We could feel the heat as soon as we touched down. At elevation in C-17, it was cold and we all had our jackets on. Quickly, those were all shed as the heat poured into the wide open space of the C-17. We boarded a bus and headed on over to the holding camp where we needed to catch the 2hr shuttle to the Navy's camp where they welcome us back, take our weapon and gear, and give us much-needed "decompression" time.

Well, we missed the shuttle by about 15 minutes. It was 9:15am local...we picked up 1 1/2  hours from Afghanistan and now we're 7hrs ahead of the East Coast vs. 8 1/2. The next shuttle? 6:30pm! ugh... But, just like the Navy has been doing great for us, they did it again. They rounded  up two Suburbans and we overstuffed them with people and gear and made the trek immediately. Interesting trip, too. I'm so used to going no faster than 15mph on base that doing 90mph took a little bit getting used to. No speed limits and wide open highways. It also felt really weird to be in a normal vehicle...on a highway, and not be worried about a rocket attack or small arms fire. We were no longer in a war zone but our minds have been for so many months so it just took a little bit getting used to. Once at the base, we had our weapons taken immediately and briefed about what was going to happen. But first, this is what I walked into and you know what they say about first impressions:

Bottom line from their commander: "Your job here is to relax and rest. Nothing more." OK!! We don't even have to wear a uniform anymore. Anything is acceptable. In fact, I'm wearing running shorts and my red tech tee from the Air Force Marathon back on September 17th. AND, no weapon strapped to my leg!!! WOO HOO!!!! So I got my rack made up with linens they provided and spent the day just doing this, that, and the other. I did two loads of laundry (amazing how good that felt...to do my own laundry....yea, I know I'm a bit off my rocker but I enjoyed it!), sent some e-mails, rested a bit, walked around a bit, and even ran into a fellow Supply Officer friend of mine who I used to serve with. Small world! He's going to give me the tour of the base tomorrow.

So friends and supporters...it's Day 200 and I'm on my way home. I really couldn't be happier. It's hard to even tell you how it feels inside because even I don't really know. I'm happy to be heading home...yes. I'm humbled by the unbelievable outpouring of support from SO many people. I cannot wait to hold my family in my arms....of course! Still, though...I don't think it's truly hit me. I think that "hit" will start when I board the plane for the United States after my time here concludes and I finally set foot on U.S. soil and then arrive back in "Kansas." It's going to be like a slow IV drip of medication flowing into my body called "Coming Home." For now, though...I've had practically no sleep since I woke up at 5am on the morning of Day 199 so I must get a shower and get to my temporary rack inside of a very old, green, Army tent in this desert called Kuwait. I will sleep like a baby tonight and will enjoy no F-15s taking off and no incoming rockets by the Taliban. Tomorrow? Weapons cleaning and lots of "decompression" time.

Goodnight, everyone.

Day 199

Wow...it's Day 200 Eve! TWO HUNDRED DAYS...a very, very long journey that is not yet over. Tonight, I remain in Oz. This morning, I slept in and stayed away from just about everything as my duties here in this country have concluded. I cleaned my room, packed a little bit more and watched some TV. As lunch approached, I walked on over near where I get my hair cut and the internet folks are located who've been taking 70 bucks from me every month since May. They have a pretty good deal that when you're about to leave, they'll pro-rate your month and give you cold, hard cash back for the unused month. So, I told them when to cut it off and grabbed my cash then had some lunch just a few steps away....loaded baked potato today...oh so good. I'll miss having lunch here.      NOT!!! Anyway, I grabbed the base shuttle (in reality, it was a nasty, dirty 'ol bus) and made my way back to the Navy's office on the other side of base for the 3:30pm meeting. 3:30 because at 3pm, they update flight schedules for the next 12-24 hours. To fill the time before 3:30pm, I hung out at the Pat Tillman USO and just relaxed on a sofa, watching a movie. At 3:30pm, the 7 of us mustered, got our updated travel brief then were cut loose once again and back on the shuttle I went. Back on the other side in my room, packing and cleaning was wrapped up and a few calls back to Kansas. Beyond that...not much else. Oh yea...I've been smiling a LOT today. The time is drawing very near!

Given that Day 200 is just about here...clearly a landmark, I think it's time for some "happy thoughts"...like what I'm looking forward to. Let's see...  The obvious...Dorothy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow. No doubt. I am looking forward to growing many more friendships that have become more apparent during this journey and letting others go. I've seen the good, bad, and the ugly...a deployment to Afghanistan will do that. It's like the glass has been made clear and fogginess wiped away when it comes to relationships. I am truly blessed to have many good friends! I look forward to mud, stream crossings, and standing on a trail and hearing nothing but some rustling leaves and my breathing... God's creation...totally immersed in it for miles and miles. I look forward to walking through the yard in my bare feet, even if it is cold outside. I took it for granted before but won't again. In that yard, I look forward to seeing Old Glory and the Navy Jack flying every morning as I leave and as I return home every evening. I look forward to dates with my two little girls. Salad and breadsticks with Scarecrow and whatever Tin Man is in the mood for...of course, both want to head to the trails, too. :-)  I look forward to driving my car over 25 kilometers per hour and having a sound system in it that works. I look forward to returning to my home church and having men's breakfast once a month where we consume far more calories than should be allowed. I look forward to returning to my job as a civil servant where I will serve the poor and disabled, face to face. I look forward to falling asleep on the couch with Dorothy as we fool ourselves into thinking we can stay awake through the current episode of "House." I look forward to waking up at 3:30am, brewing my espresso, hitting the road at 4:30am for a run over the country roads with Mr. Moon and among the sleeping horses and cornfields. I look forward to the 2011-version of Wi-Fi instead of internet at the speed it was well over 10 years ago.  I look forward....to setting foot on United States soil. Free soil. The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave...because of those who wore, wear, and will wear in the future, the cloth of their nation. I will never forget Day 121 as over 40 caskets were loaded aboard two C-17s and my arm ached and wobbled as I held the longest salute of my life as every last one passed only a few feet in front of me. I was forever changed that evening and will think of it every day for the rest of my life as I wake up to Old Glory blowing in the wind outside my home. Lastly, I look forward to holding Dorothy's hand and pulling her in close. We will celebrate 19 years of marriage soon after my return and I can't imagine anyone else to share my life's journey with. "I love you, Babe! See you SOON!"

Goodnight, everyone.