Deployment Journal-27 Aug-2 Sep 07

27 Aug 07: There really wasn’t much to report today. It was a boring day. There were lots of coffee runs being made. There was another Fallen Comrade ceremony today though.

**Meal of the day was a burger.

28 Aug 07: Today was another slow one for me. It picked up for a little bit but then slowed back down. I imagine things are probably going to be this way until the group from Lakenheath leaves. The most exciting thing that happened today was the guys having water gun fights. They’ve had them sent over and even ordered some rather large ones off line and they just go around shooting each other. I guess it helps pass the time.

**Meal of the day was chicken strips and a grilled cheese sandwich.

29 Aug 07: Today was a decent day. We’re not very busy today but the bosses did buy pizza from all of us so that was a nice gesture for all the hard work we’ve been doing. I got a package from Chris today too. For those who really know me, you know I don’t do fruits or veggies but I’ve been trying to find ways to get some kind of the good stuff besides having to take my daily vitamin. Well, I saw these vegetable chips in a magazine that I wanted to try and I asked Chris to see if he could find them and he did and sent them over. He also sent a lot of magazines to help me pass the time. Thank you Honey.

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut. That’s going to be 2 days in a row because that’s what we normally do on our day off.

30 Aug 07: I had another nice day off. I was actually able to sleep in until 1830 which was a real treat for me. Of course, that was still before my alarm was set to go off and I got woken up again but it was better than the past 4 + months. Kelly and I did our normal BX run and I picked up some cute little stuffed animals for the kids. I need to start mailing stuff home. The rest of the night, I just laid in bed and watched movies. I watched Flags of Our Fathers, Gone in Sixty Seconds and Twister.

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut… again.

31 Aug 07: Today was a great busy day. I worked all the way up until the time Michelle came in. It definitely made the night fly by. I wish every day could be like that! It’s starting to get colder at night. I don’t like the cold. I wish it would stay warm. I can only imagine what it’s going to be like when we leave. Well, it’s our 6th wedding anniversary today and again, we’re apart for another important day. I hate missing out on stuff. Chris and the kids are going to stay with Uncle Geno, Aunt Holly and his grandparents for the weekend. It’s a 3 1/2 hour drive. He’s got the DVD player all set up so the kids should do just fine. They have horses so I can only imagine what a good time they’re going to have. I’m so glad they’re getting a chance to do that on this nice long weekend for them.

**Meal of the day was a burger.

01 Sep 07:  Since it’s officially the 1st of September, we can now say that we go home next month!!!  I can’t wait to finally get there.  I’m enjoying my time here the best I can but of course I am anxious to get home.  Today was nice.  I was able to go in late because I hadn’t gone home early yet.  I can’t go early because of my daily report so BK was nice enough to let me come in late tonight.  I got the best night of sleep I’ve had yet and it was fantastic!!  I felt absolutely wonderful to get such great sleep.  I wish every night could be like that!  I had to play a little bit of catch up when I got to work but that’s okay.  It made the night just fly by.  It was a PT day too so I was there from just before midnight to 0530.  Talk about your short day!  It’s the simple things that amuse me over here too.  I noticed that the fan Huff gave me had my hair all wrapped up in the blades so I took it apart and got all my hair out.  LOL  That kept me busy for about 30 minutes.  It’s amazing what will occupy your time in a place like this.  I have a feeling I’m going to be worn out when I get back home to all my “wifely” and “motherly” duties!

**Meal of the day was some pasta with chicken. 

02 Sep 07:  I am tired today.  They’re still doing the construction and today they were drilling holes in the metal frame of the building that they’re constructing and it made my teeth hurt.  It was loud enough that it woke Kelly up and that never happens!  Each day that passes, I am looking forward more and more to these guys from Lakenheath leaving.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to miss some of them but there’s a handful of them that are just completely disrespectful.  It irritates me to the point where I’m afraid I’m going to step into something that’s not my battle.  I feel for these kids if they ever PCS to another base.  I think they would end up getting paperwork very shortly after getting there for talking back.  I guess I’m just one of those that is known not to put up with it because they don’t ever try to pull that with me.  Anyway, enough about that.  We have to come in an hour and a half early tomorrow so we can be presented with our Afghani medals and they’re also having a going away BBQ.  It’s going to be a long day but it will be nice to get another medal.  They’re trying to get us even more.  We’ve dropped more bombs in our time here than the B-1s did during their rotation so we definitely continue to make history.  I also received a card today from Cousin Rayne and it was a very beautiful, patriotic card.  She sent a puzzle piece that she found from one of the puzzles she mailed me.  I got a giggle out of that one!  Here’s another airpower summary about what we’re doing over here.  http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123066688

**Meal of the day was some ham.

Deployment Journal-20-26 Aug 07

20 Aug 07:  Today was another slow day so I decided that I needed to do something so I didn’t fall asleep at my desk.  As I’ve mentioned before, they burn everything here.  I have a burn box in my office and once a day, we take it out to our barrels and burn the stuff in it.  Well last night, they were doing some spring cleaning out in the area and they had a ton of stuff to burn.  There was one poor airman out there burning 8 boxes of junk by himself so I decided to help him.  It took 4 1/2 hours to burn all of that stuff and it was such a nice break from just sitting at my desk waiting for paperwork to come in.  I could definitely do that more often!  I think I may have found a little pyro in me.    Also today, more of us in the news:  http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123065295  My baby boy started Pre K today too and was really excited about it.  There’s pictures on our website.  Chris said he just walked right in and was very happy about being in his “big boy class”.  I’m so proud but still so sad that I missed it. 

**Meal of the day was a pork chop and some rice.

21 Aug 07:  I am not feeling very well today.  I have had a headache for the last 4 days.  My neck is rather sore also.  I’m guessing that I probably have another sinus infection.  I wish I knew why I was so prone to those because it is really annoying.  I feel fine otherwise.  I’m just a little tired.  I couldn’t turn my mind off last night and I was downloading some more music so I just couldn’t sleep.  I’m sure part of that was because I needed to unwind after our walk home.  It’s great to be walking again.  I want to lose the remainder of the weight I wanted to take off while I was here.  I’m doing very well so far.  I got a package from Christine today!  Christine, thank you so much!  You are such a sweetheart.  I know you read this every day so in case I can’t get on the site, you’ll know from reading this that I got it!    Christine sent me snacks, earring backings, chapstick, lotion and a beautiful paisley print journal!  I loved all if it!  You made my day Christine!    (((BIG HUGS to you)))

**Meal of the day was a turkey sandwich.

22 Aug 07:  I am still not feeling very well.  My headache is still here so I think I may end up going to the hospital for sick call in the morning.  I’ve taken every pain reliever and pill for headache relief known to man and nothing is working so I’m almost positive it’s a sinus infection.  I’m just looking forward to my day off again.  I think we’re going to stay up and hit the BX and stuff in the morning when they open versus the evening so we don’t have to get up for anything.  I got another package from Grandma Louise today.  She sent me some more magazines and another nice card.  Thank you so much!  I’ve had fun with a little friend for most of the evening.  Leah found this cute moth and she’d been playing with him and she brought him in to my office.  I wanted to get a picture of it so I went to hold it to take the shot and he just sat still with me so he’s been in my office camped out on my computer monitor for about 4 hours now and he’s quite content.  It’s amazing what a little thing like a neat looking moth can just brighten my mood.  I smile every time I look over at him.  (Of course, every once in a while when he flutters and I forget he’s there, it scares me!)  When I had him on my hand, I took a picture of him head on and it looked like he smiled at me.  I put the pictures in the gallery.

**Meal of the day was a salami sandwich.

23 Aug 07:  I had a nice day off today.  For once, I didn’t sleep through the whole thing.  I watched 3 movies:  300, Wild Hogs and You, Me and Dupree.  It was nice to watch some happy movies (minus 300) for a change and stay awake.  Kelly and I did the BX thing and had Pizza Hut out there in the “courtyard”.  It was just very nice, relaxful and restful.  I also did go to sick call this morning when I got off of work because my headache got worse.  I was surprised to find out that it was not a sinus infection and was actually a migrane.  The doc said he was surprised that I walked around that long with it before coming in especially since I’ve been walking 5 miles a day.  He gave me some meds that have at least dulled it a little.

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut.

24 Aug 07:  Today was a great but boring day.  We had to come in early because the commander was coming out to present awards.  I got the award that I mentioned winning last week and that was very nice.  We were all also presented with NATO medals for our service in Afghanistan and received a nice certificate to go with it.  I posted the pictures of the certificates, the medal itself and me being presented with them in the gallery.  The criteria for the medal was this:

Criteria: Awarded to all U.S. Armed Forces’ personnel having served with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan as members of units or staffs in the Joint Operations Area in the country. The area of eligibility is delineated by the political boundaries of the International Security Assistance Force. The service must be 30 days – either continuous or accumulated – from July 31, 2006, to a future date yet-to-be determined.

Anyway, other than that, there is nothing going on.  It was a sad day though and I only mention it because you’ll probably see it before long anyway.  http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/24/afghan.britain/index.html  I got mail today too.  Rachel, postcard #5 finally showed up today!  Now I can finally read them!  I also got a letter from Melinda and Grandma and Grandpa Bechetti!  Thank you all so much for the mail and for thinking of me!

**Meal of the day was Subway.

25 Aug 07:  Today is just one of those lonely, blah type of days.  My headaches still have not gone away.  The meds the doc gave me last for a little while or at least dull it and then it just keeps coming back worse every time.  I guess I’m going to have to go back eventually but I just don’t want to.  Something’s got to give though because I don’t know how much more of that I can stand.  I didn’t sleep well today either because they’re still doing construction across the street and they’re putting up some kind of building and when they were putting up the metal frame, all I heard was metal scraping across medal.  That was a lovely sound.  There was another Fallen Comrade ceremony today so that always makes for a sad day.  Other than that, there’s not much else to report.  I’m just looking forward to going to PT early today and then going to sleep.

**Meal of the day was a turkey sandwich.

26 Aug 07:  Today has been interesting.  This morning when I got off of work, I got to talking with this really nice girl that lives in my building.  Turns out that she works flight mediciene and we were talking about my headaches and a couple of other medical issues I have.  Well, she was concerned enough about a spot that I had on my face that she told me she was going to talk to the flight doc about me and wanted me to come in.  Flight mediciene is usually reserved for pilots and stuff but she didn’t want me to have to go back to the hospital.  So, I got up early and went over there without makeup on so the doc could take a look at my face.  I had what started as a zit 3 months ago that still hadn’t gone away.  Turns out that it was a bacterial infection that he assumes I picked up from walking to and from work.  He said they test the dirt here and said it’s pretty gross the stuff that just flies around in the air here.  Yuck!  He also said that he thinks my headaches are being caused by my malaryia meds so he switched me to a different kind to see how that works.  He gave me a couple other various meds for normal deployment health issues and it was really nice to just walk in and have someone take the time to really look into what’s going on with me just because one of his staff members asked him to.   Hopefully that will be the last time that I need to see a doctor for a while.  He has also referred me to his friend that’s a physical therapist because my back has gotten worse and just getting up on the table, my right hip popped.  He said he could physically see how far out of alignment my body is.  Ugh, it’s always something.  I guess that’s just the way my life goes.  Overall, it was a pretty good day even though I’m a little tired.  We did have another Fallen Comrade ceremony this morning though and the thought of that always makes me sad.

**Meal of the day was pot roast and rice.

Deployment Journal-13-19 Aug 07

13 Aug 07:  Today was another busy, busy day.  I’m definitely enjoying all this work.  I actually feel useful for a change.  Still nothing I can talk about but someday, maybe some of you will hear.  Miles went to the doctor today and just got more stuff for his inhaler and some Vicks.  I’m glad it wasn’t something more than that.  That’s about all I have to report for today.

**Meal of the day was a burger.

15 Aug 07:  Sorry I didn’t post yesterday but I was just too busy.  I even had to stay late at work to make sure that I got everything passed on correctly.  We’ve had a very hectic couple of days but thankfully things have slowed down.  I can’t think of anything to really share because what I wan’t to, I can’t and I am just so beyond exhausted that it’s hard for me to even form complete sentences right now.  Yesterday was the worst day I’ve had at work in my almost 13 years.  I was glad that it was over.  I’m looking forward to my day off tomorrow.  It will be another fun filled day of sleep.  Good news is that we did make the news although, the article was weak.  Hopefully there will be more to come.  http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/15/afghanistan.offensive/index.html

**Meal of the day was a pork chop and some rice.

16 Aug 07:  Today was a rough day off.  I got woken up by someone completely inconsiderate of others and I’ve decided that I’m done trying to be quiet.  Sadly, my not being quiet is still quieter than some of them in that room.  I tried to get sleep but it didn’t work out very well.  I just got naps.

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut.

17 Aug 07:  I am still trying to recover from my complete lack of sleep from yesterday and it’s rough.  All I want to do is go back to my room and sleep.  I got a couple of packages today so that was awesome.  I got a package from the Bunco gals with snacks, candy, magazines, books, cute little butterfly hair clips and another nice card.  I also got a package from Theresa who I “met” through the captain!  She sent some shampoo, conditioner, a loofah, toothpaste and toothbrushes!  Thank you ladies so much!  It was a rather sad day here in Afghanistan though.  We have had lots of more Fallen Comrade ceremonies which is always heartbreaking.  Tonight, they called for an emergency blood drive at the hospital for a certain blood type which just happened to be mine so I headed up there to do my duty.  They had more than enough donors so I did not end up having to give blood but I did get put on the list for future circumstances where they might need to do that again.  The thought of what might have happened for them to have to do a quick emergency drive like that though scares me.  Please keep those guys out in the field in your prayers.  They finally put an article on the Air Force site about why we’ve been so busy the last couple of weeks.  We’ve been building bombs like crazy to support the mission mentioned here:  http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123064955

**Meal of the day was shrimp and a baked potato.

18 Aug 07:  I finally got some great sleep.  I guess this just goes in cycles for me.  I sleep good for a couple of weeks and then horrible for a couple and then back on.  Obviously I enjoy when I sleep well.  Yesterday on the way home from work we heard a sound that reminded me how different life is here.  We get stopped on the road on the way home every day while they are doing mine clearing operations.  We just stop the bus and sit there and wait because we don’t have any other choice.  Well, someone had a stereo system in their vehicle and that’s just not something you hear every day here.  It was rather strange and made me realize just how different life away from home is.  As if I didn’t know that already, it’s just that every once in a while, something like that will happen to remind me.  It’s funny to think that here, I can sleep through explosions, loud aircraft taking off, construction outside our building, etc.  It may be too quiet in my house to sleep when I get back.  We have another whole group of Guard folks which is annoying because just as the last group finally starting learning how to flush a toilet, they left and now we have a bunch of new slobs.  It really gets annoying.  Just once, I’d like to just go into the bathroom and not have to flush first.  It’s the simple things I miss.  I might just go sit in my bathroom and enjoy the cleanliness of it!  I guess it could be worse.  I could be having to use port-o-johns.  Yuck!  Today it seems that things are back to normal at work which isn’t the best thing.  It’s hard to go from busting our butts non-stop to the complete opposite.  A nice steady pace would be great.  Kelly and I are supposed to start walking to and from work again today so I’m really looking forward to that.  The first day is always rough though and I’ve been having problems with my feet over here but I’m going to try to tough it out.

**Meal of the day was fried chicken and my favorite cheesy mashed potatoes.  It’s the only time I get REAL cheese.  I have been dying for cheese!

19 Aug 07:  Today is the slowest day yet on this trip.  Things are definitely back to normal.  I slept last night but I didn’t sleep well so it’s going to be rough to get through the next 5 hours.  I was able to get a lot of letters written today so if you’ve been expecting one or a thank you card from me, they’re probably on their way finally.  I forgot to mention yesterday that I rescued a praying mantis from by the front door so he didn’t get stepped on.  Well he was back tonight and Leah picked him up and brought him in the shop and I took some pictures of him.  I was glad she did because yesterday I wanted to but I was the one holding him so I wouldn’t have been able to do both.  She was just giggling because it crawled up the back of her neck and was running all over her head.  It was pretty funny.  It looked as though the little thing posed for me!  Ha ha!  More of us in the news:  http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123065082

**Meal of the day a salami sandwich.

Deployment Journal-6-12 Aug 07

06 Aug 07: Well we’re back at the busy days again so I am not getting my day off tomorrow. I doubt this one is going to be made up to us either. That’s alright though. I think we’re going to switch our day off to Thursday anyway so that will all work out in the end. I have been extremely busy tonight. I usually post about 1 a.m. but it’s almost 3 now and I’m finally posting. This night has just flown by and I’m sure the next few will be no different. We were in the news again today. http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123063444 Go A-10s!

**Meal of the day was some dinky chicken nuggets. Ha ha!

07 Aug 07: I forgot to mention some things yesterday. When we were walking in to work, the A-10s were taking off and I always like to stop and watch them since that’s why I’m here. Well, we were right at the end of the runway on the road when the first one came over and that was cool in itself. Then, the 2nd one came and it was really low and banked right in front of us and it was so low that we could see all the ammo that it was carrying. I know it’s probably cheesy to other Air Force people but stuff like that excites me. It reminds me why I’m here doing what I’m doing and it really made my day. Apparently, also the last package I received from Chris didn’t get mentioned in my journal and since my husband said he had a bone to pick with me over it, I guess I’ll mention it (even though I swear I did and it appears a week of my journal is missing)! Ha ha! Miles picked out a mini photo frame and that thing is too cool! It’s a key chain and it just scrolls through pictures. I charge it at night and let it sit on my desk all day so I can see my loved ones! Anyway, today was a little busy for a while and now it’s slow again. We did, in fact, switch our day off to Thursday but I still don’t think we’ll get it off this week. I’m just trying to stay awake. I still have a long day ahead of me. I get off work at 7 a.m. and then have the change of command practice at 9:45 a.m. so I’m going to be sleepy tomorrow.

**Meal of the day was chicken and mashed potatoes.

08 Aug 07: Today is the day from hell! I am sooooo tired. I went to my practice this morning only to find out that it was rescheduled until tomorrow. I let the first sergeant know that I couldn’t stay up late like that for 2 days in a row so she excused me from it and I’ll just go to the actual event on Saturday. I’m so glad because I need some rest. We have slowed back down again and our days off are back and it’s official that Thursdays are my day off so I am looking forward to getting some good sleep tomorrow. We’re going to do our normal BX, laundry, post office thing but not “the roof”. We are all just worn out.

**Meal of the day was chicken cordon bleu.

09 Aug 07: I had a nice day off although I didn’t do anything again. I couldn’t stay awake but didn’t get very good sleep either. I’m exhausted today. I don’t know if I’m coming down with something or what but I was either too hot or too cold. There was no in between so that’s why I didn’t sleep well. Tomorrow will be exhausting too because I have that change of command ceremony in the morning.

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut.

10 Aug 07:  Today’s entry is very late.  It’s almost halfway through the 11th but it’s still the 10th for me since I haven’t gone to sleep.  I just got back from the change of command ceremony and it went great!  The colonel gave me a patch to go with my coin and told me that I gave him chills when I sang.  It was a hot one though and people in the formation were dropping like flies.  It’s nice that they still do this kind of thing over here.  Well it’s late and I really need to get some sleep so I can make it through tonight.  They’re letting me come in late though so that’s nice.  I really can use the sleep.

**Meal of the day was steak and a baked potato.

11 Aug 07:  Today has been an interesting day.  I had the change of command ceremony this morning nad as I said, it was nice.  I came in today to find a nice e-mail from the commander that took over and I will post it at the end of todays entry.  It is always nice to be recognized.  I got a package from Grandma Louise today with a very sweet card, magazine, some snacks and some candy.  What a wonderful lady!  It’s always so nice to get caught up on the every day normal lives of others because my life is not so normal at this point.   This is what the colonel e-mailed to me:

SSgt Naylor,

Thank you for singing the National Anthem at the 455 EMXG change of command ceremony today. I really appreciate you volunteering to sing at the ceremony.  You sounded great!  Best heard to date.  I trust you are using your singing ability in other venues. 

Thanks again,

Col S.

JON M. SUTTERFIELD, Col, USAF
Commander
455th Expeditionary Maintenance Group
Bagram AF, Afghanistan

How awesome is that?  It was definitely nice of him to sit down and take the time to find me on the global and send me a personal note.  I forwarded it to quite a few people.    I also found out that on my day off, we had a commanders call and I won a Knucklebuster award which amazed me.  I don’t get recognition for what I do like this in the states the major let me know about it when he saw me at the ceremony today.  I’ll take a picture of the award when I get it which may not be until later this month at the next commanders call but it will still be cool!

**Meal of the day was some kind of beef (not really sure what it was) and some stuffing.

12 Aug 07:  What a busy, busy day!  Wow!  I haven’t had a night fly by like this one yet!  That’s all I can say but it was great to be so busy and make time fly.  We just hit our 4 month mark here today.  Just over 2 left to go.  I talked to Chris and the kids today and my poor babies are sick.    They played on the water slide for 2 hours though so they’re not feeling that bad but they both have fevers.  I hate that he’s having to deal with that by himself.  On the way home from work yesterday morning, I was stopped by a civilian guy waiting at the terminal to tell me he liked the butterflies on my weapon.  I had to laugh because it definitely seems to be a conversation piece so I added some more butterflies to it.  I’ll have to take a picture of it but I imagine they’re probably thinking I’m quite the “girly girl” since I have butterflies on my rifle.  I’m sure the Army probably hates it when they see me but oh well.  Whatever I can do to amuse myself, I’m going to do regardless of who doesn’t like it. 

**Meal of the day was veal and mashed potatoes.