Deployment Journal-24-30 Sep 07

24 Sep 07:  We are almost into October and I am getting so excited I can barely stand it.  I’ve been getting to take it easy the last few days and I’m sure it will continue like this.  I have been able to go on the early bus after my report is done.  Soon the new guys will be able to QC their own stuff and I won’t have very much left to do.  I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy that but I think it’s going to be a nice break.  I was able to get 10 hours of sleep last night that I didn’t realize I desperately needed until I woke up this morning completely refreshed and raring to go!

**Meal of the day was some Easy Mac.

25 Sep 07:  Today is another fun learning day with the new guys.  I’m hoping they figure it all out soon.  I’m still just kind of hanging back.  I’m here for questions but that’s about it.  I’m not ready to give up my computer yet though.  If I didn’t have people to chat with, time would slowly tick by.  We had a briefing today about the customs requirements for packing our stuff out of here and I’m excited to think that I can start packing those things away that I am not using and most likely won’t the rest of my time here!  It’s getting closer.  We were in the news again.  http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123069381

**Meal of the day was a burger.

27 Sep 07:  Sorry, I’m a few days behind.  I haven’t had much to post about.  There hasn’t been much going on at all.  I’m officially not even at my desk anymore.  I packed a bag to go home in the mobility bin last night too so I’ve got a lot of stuff cleared out of my room and that felt so good to do.  I enjoyed my day off but my back is sore again from all the packing and laying in bed watching movies.  I haven’t been getting much sleep either.  Oh well.  Three more weeks and I won’t have to even think about this place again.

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut.

28 Sep 07:  Today was a good day.  I’m not needed in my office anymore so I took an extended lunch this evening and went to chow with Kelly (she doesn’t normally go but it’s Leah’s night off and I said we were going LOL).  Anyway, after that, she had to get something from her room so we stopped by the dorms and then even made a little detour on the way back to get some coffee.  We were gone almost 2 hours and it was a nice break from sitting around at work doing nothing.  We are in the middle of our 100% inventory so that’s not fun at all and I was playing a little bit of catch up but after that, I was all done.  I’m just trying to stay away from all these sick people.  All the new guys have the same “Bagram crud” like we did when we got here and I’m just hoping not to catch it and bring it home with me.  If I do, hopefully I can just drink it away!  LOL  Just kidding.  Anyway, that’s about all for now.  Hopefully I’ll have something interesting to post about soon.

**Meal of the day was shrimp.

29 Sep 07:  Another boring day in the land of Afghanistan.  I did a few things at work today but not much.  I did however clean out my desk and I’m taking everything back to my room to pack up.  The only thing I’ve left is my food.  I figure nothing is sacred around here and someone took something out of my desk that I needed so that was the last straw.  Oh well.  I’ll be happy to pack up one more storage container to send home.  The less I have to carry home, the better!    Most importantly, today, Happy Birthday Mom!!!!  I am so glad I got to talk to you!!  They’re vacationing in Pismo Beach right now and I am jealous!!  I’m so glad you had such a great day and that I was able to call you.  Enjoy your dinner!

**Meal of the day was baked chicken and mac and cheese.

30 Sep 07:  Today was a busy day.  We’re playing clean up after our 100% inventory and it’s not fun but it did make my night go by fast.  We had some excitement at work tonight.  Unfortunately, as usual, I can’t talk about it but eventually when I get home I can.  I have to sing for a promotion ceremony tomorrow so I’m leaving early so I can get some sleep.  I have to get up at 1430.

**Meal of the day was chili mac and fries.

Deployment Journal-17-23 Sep 07

17 Sep 07:  Today was a bit of a rough day.  It’s always so hard to say goodbye to those great friends you meet along the way.  Seeing all of them go today just put me in a mood.  I got over it but that is my biggest heartache with the military is making friends and then having to go separate ways.  I made some more great friends and I know that we’ll still keep in touch but just like everyone else, they have left footprints in my heart as well.  Ah the life of a military member.

**Meal of the day was a hot dog. 

18 Sep 07:  Things are starting to fall into their groove here with the new base.  They’ve got a lot of funny people so that might speed things up for a few days.  I miss the Lakenheath guys though that’s for sure.  Four months is a long time to spend with them for them to just up and leave.  Other than that, that’s all I have for today.  I’m so ready for my day off again so I can lay in bed and do nothing.

**Meal of the day was Burger King.

19 Sep 07:  It’s another day where I’m so looking forward to my day off.  Things have just been rough and I need some good solid sleep.  Things have been so hard worrying about Chris is handling things with the death of Mel.  He went to the memorial ceremony yesterday and that was hard for him and also hard for me.  I don’t want him to have to go through anything else without me there.  That poor man has had enough.  Today, I went down the street where we used to go hang out on “the roof” and raided their movies so I have something to do tomorrow on my day off.  We’re supposed to be meeting Smitty and Johnny and grabbing coffee with them before they finally get out of this place.  I’m really going to miss those two.  They were a riot and if you saw the pictures in the gallery, you can see it just looking at those.  Now that the next base is here and getting settled, it’s definitely time to go.  It’s making us that much more anxious because we’re training them and phasing ourselves out.  Thankfully that will be more time off for us because there won’t be as big of a need to be around once we get them trained.  I don’t have too much to train them on so it won’t take too long to get my guys up to speed.

**Meal of the day was pizza (I have GOT to stop eating like this!  LOL).

20 Sep 07:  I had another nice relaxing day off.  I did the same thing I’ve been doing and that’s laying in bed and watching movies after doing our running around.  I had to try to sleep during the night because I went to the Bazaar with BK that next morning to get some goodies for his wife.  He told me I “had” to go with him because I sent her pictures of the stuff they have there and she sent him a shopping list.  Ha ha!  He wasn’t really mad, it was just fun for him to tease me.  It was nice to get out and do something different.

**Meal of the day was some Ramen.

21 Sep 07:  This was, by far, the busiest day that I’ve had here yet.  I worked from the time I came in until 0630 (almost my entire 12 hour shift).  It was nice to be busy but Seymour Johnson has some ridiculous practices and it’s going to get really old, really fast.  They’re doing the same thing that Lakenheath did when they got in here and it’s a complete knee jerk reaction and I hope they realize that it doesn’t work just like they did.  The way we have been doing things for the last 5 + months has worked just fine.  It’s going to be interesting for the next week or so until they get settled.  Also, one of the guys that left early took home a tool in his pocket so all of us that stayed to work a full shift got stuck until almost 0900 looking for the stupid thing that we knew was in his pocket.  Day shift supervision would not let us leave.  So, you had me, Control (office job), supervision (office job) and the gate guards, all people who rarely go in the bomb dump, running around in the bomb dump trying to find a tool that we knew wasn’t there.Right now, Michelle has me training our guys and then we’re phasing ourselves out.  It’s going to make for a boring last month but at least we’re on the down hill slide!

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

22 Sep 07:  It was another lovely day in the land of Afghanistan.  Ha ha!  Just kidding.  I actually went to the DFAC to eat today for the first time in 3 months.  Normally someone brings food back for me but I absolutely have nothing going on so I went myself.  Also, I guess the new guys were pretty much told to leave us (as in DM, not the girls) alone so Leah had to eat by herself the other night and I didn’t want that to happen to her again so I will be going with her from now on.  It was a nice change to get a break and get out of the shop.  When I came in toady, Michelle told me that the new guys day shift was going to pass on to the night shift and that I was just to stand back and chat with her while they did it.  Thankfully this means that I can start leaving a little early and get in more gym time.  It will be nice to kind of step back and get to enjoy some down time.  I am pretty sure I need it after the day I had yesterday.  Hopefully I can surpass my weight loss goal because of them being here and taking over.  I have 3 pounds to go!!

**Meal of the day was some bacon and eggs.

23 Sep 07:  I saw the coolest thing today and it made my night!  Leah and I were headed to chow and she stopped in the middle of the road and told me to look back at the fence.  There was a huge owl sitting there and I just watched in awe.  Those that know me, know how much I enjoy birds and I could have sat there all night and just watched it sitting there.  She backed up so we could try to get a better look at it but it flew away and even with my bad eyesight, I could see it for quite a ways as it flew.  What a beautiful creature!  On our way back from chow, we saw it again further down the road.  We came back to the shop to grab my camera in case it didn’t spook so easy that time but still, it flew away so I was unable to get a picture but it made both of our nights to get to see it.  It was massive!!  I looked it up online and I’m guessing that it was a Eurasian Eagle-Owl (Bubo Bubo) but I’m not sure since it was dark.  I can only hope it’s still out when it’s a little lighter out.

**Meal of the day was veal and potatoes.

Deployment Journal-10-16 Sep 07

10 Sep 07: Today has definitely been a trying day. Mondays are the worst day for me because Michelle is off that day and so it’s party time in our office and I spent the first 30 minutes cleaning up after the slobs that decided to destroy it all day. I was promised before I left for the day yesterday that would not happen because there was to be someone in here who wouldn’t let people hang out. Well, apparently that did not happen. Anyway, someone decided it was cool to steal the chair that the guy that works for me sits in so he could play cards. Pissed me off to say the least. Some people just have no respect. Anyway, good news is that Kenny’s new CD comes out tomorrow so I will be at the BX first thing when it opens hoping that they got it here. I will be so excited. I pre-ordered it but if they have it here, I’m going to get it so I have it right away and then send the other one to my mom! I also got 3 packages today which was great! Shawn sent me some trail mix and some lemonade mix. Thank you so much Shawn!! I also got 2 packages from Chris. I needed some new PJs so he ordered them for me and put them in the box with some other goodies. He sent me more of my favorite chips (TGI Fridays Quesadilla chips) and some more little microwave meals for those times I get hungry and don’t make it to chow. Thank you Honey! We were in the news again: http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123067440

**Meal of the day was a burger.

11 Sep 07: Today is a big day for all service members and all Americans. Never forget what happened 6 years ago on this day. It’s the reason I am where I am and I know I’ll never forget. It is a very sullen day around here. They had a ceremony this evening to remember those who lost their lives. On a lighter note, I received an awesome package from my friend Wendy today. She sent me some granola bars, some Crystal Light, an adorable angel pin with pilots wings on it’s chest, some adorable hand soaps with flowers and stuff inside of them, some handmade washcloths, one of which had the Air Force emblem in it. I knew she was making some stuff for me but I was in no way prepared for my favorite item of all out of that package. She made me a beautiful blanket that has the Air Force seal on it and I could not believe my eyes when I pulled that thing out of the bag! Wow! Wendy you really out did yourself. It is absolutely gorgeous! I will get some pictures when I get back to my room as it is going straight on my bed. Thank you so much!

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut.

12 Sep 07: Today is a sad day back at my home station. There was an active duty death there on base from Chris’ squadron and I knew them as well. Gabe, my civilian friend here, also found out that his grandfather died so there’s nothing else that’s important enough to write about today. I will write with more info on the individual from DM tomorrow as I find out more details. Please think of his wife and his kids. Chris is also having a hard time with this as well. It was the guy’s birthday.

13 Sep 07: I would have thought a day off would have done me some good but not this week. I am just tired and a little stressed out. Lakenheath is pretty much out of here so it’s just us for now and our PT’s been postponed but days off are still on as of now. I’m just anxious for Seymour Johnson to get here so we can start training them and then it will be time for us to get out of here. We are all ready. Talking to some of the other guys from different shops up there on the flightline, that is the general consensus of all of us that have been here for over 5 months now. It’s time to go.

**I just had a bagel today. I did not feel much like eating.

14 Sep 07: Today was another boring day. It’s pretty much just us DM folks. The next crew is due in soon. It’s pretty quiet around here. The most exciting thing that happened today was trying to chase and catch mice in our building. There are quite a few of them and although they’re cute, they don’t need to be in this building eating our food and pooping all over the place. LOL They were chasing each other around and hopping all over each other. Kelly caught one of them in a cup and it jumped out and she screamed and that had me cracking up. I got a picture of one of them and put it in the gallery. That’s pretty sad when that’s the highlight of your day.

**Meal of the day was a steak.

15 Sep 07: Despite starting the day with computer problems at work again, it was a pretty exciting day. First of all, when I arrived, my Kenny CD was here!! Whoo hooo! I was super excited to see that! Then, the “Shady J” guys are here and I got to see some old friends. Two of the guys that came over, I knew from Korea and the one I was most excited about was from DM (KT, before you ask, it’s Bacon *wink*). I was so happy to see him. Those guys showing up just makes it that much more real that we are actually getting out of here some time soon! It was a huge weight lifted and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

**Meal of the day was spaghetti.

16 Sep 07:  It was pretty nice to get a chance to chat with new people.  Things really get stagnant here after a while and new people remind you how to get out of that rut.  They’re all so excited and ready to get to work.  The rest of us are just counting the days.  I received another package today from Rayne.  She sent more of my favorite snack, popcorn and Ramen (she asked me what I needed and I mentioned the snack and the Ramen).  I also got a nice giggle at the Halloween garland she threw in on top.  It looked so much like a boa that I had to throw it around my neck like one and get a picture for her.  I had everyone that opened my office door shaking their heads and laughing.  I’ll post the picture tomorrow.

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut.

Deployment Journal-3-9 Sep 07

03 Sep 07: Today was a great day! I was not excited to come in 2 hours early to be presented our Afghan campaign medals but I knew it would be cool to receive another ribbon. Well I got a huge surprise when I was presented with a commanders coin of excellence from the general! Michelle told me she knew about it and that she couldn’t have done it without me. That was truly an honor. The pictures didn’t come out very well but it’s still something I will treasure for a lifetime. The pictures are in the gallery. We also made the news again. http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123066707

**Meal of the day was bratwurst. We had a flight BBQ.

04 Sep 07: Today was a lonely, frustrating day. I did not get very much sleep due to the construction going on across the street. I was awake at 2 this afternoon and could not get back to sleep. My whole body aches and I’m assuming that it’s from tensing up as I fought furiously to get back to sleep. I just hope that I can get a good night of sleep tonight. I sure need it!

**Meal of the day was a burger, fries and some chicken strips.

05 Sep 07: It’s starting to feel more and more like groundhog day around this place. Some of the guys from Lakenheath have left already and we’re waiting for the guys from the next group to start rolling in. You can tell it’s getting near the end for some as people are starting to fall asleep more at work. I’ve been trying to get pictures of all of them sleeping so they can ad them to our slideshow for the deployment. Ha ha! I’m trying to load them but they disabled USBs at work again and the internet connection in my room is really slow. I will keep trying though.

**Meal of the day was chicken strips.

06 Sep 07: I had a nice relaxing day off. Kelly and I did all of our running around before we went to bed which was nice not to have to get up for anything. Of course, I woke up before my alarm… again. Oh well. I guess it’s just not meant for me to sleep in here. Six more weeks and I can get out of here! I watched movies all day. I watched Perfect Stranger, Failure To Launch (great movie!!), 50 First Dates and some quirky Jennifer Love Hewitt movie. It was actually pretty amusing.

**Meal of the day was Burger King.

07 Sep 07: It was nice to get back to work today but things were slow again. Some of the folks from the next base are in so that’s nice to see. The quicker they all get in here, the sooner it is that we go home. When I finally realized that we were down in single digit weeks, I started to get excited. I’m trying not to get too excited but I am definitely ready to get back home to my family and friends. It’s been fun but I’ve had more than enough. It’s to the point now where I try to make work for myself just so my night goes by a little faster. The more work I can do, the better for me. I am not one who just likes to sit around. I had a bunch of dollar bills and I finally rememberd to break out my Where’s George stamp and get them entered in on the site. I’m very curious to see how long it takes a bill to get from here back to the states. I was bored enough that I started clearing out my yahoo address book which is always a fun time because it puts me back in touch with old family and friends and that’s always great! I’m the type that everyone I meet leaves footprints in my heart and I take a piece of them with me. They are all so special to me and I have some lifelong friends and I like it that way.

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

08 Sep 07: It was so nice to get a great night of sleep last night. I woke up when my alarm went off and I was wide awake which almost never happens. Normally I have to drag my butt out of bed but not this morning. I actually didn’t have to flush the toilet for someone else when I got to the bathroom and that was an even bigger treat! How sad is that?? Anyway, today is kind of slow again so I’m just trying to do what I can to keep busy. I got coffee and a great meal today so it’s a good day. Since it’s after midnight here (and officially the 9th), that means we left home 5 months ago to head over here. Please continue to pray that the rest of my time goes by fast. I am so ready to come home. We were in the news again. http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123067321

**Meal of the day was two buscuits with cheese, eggs and bacon! YUMMY! (I also had a chocolate muffin. I treated myself today because I have officially lost 50 pounds now!! Ten more to go to my goal! Whoo hoo!)

09 Sep 07:  Today was actually a nice change.  I came into work and saw that I had absolutely nothing to do and definitely dreaded the day.  However, since football was on, it definitely livened up the place.  Just hearing the sounds of the game made me long to be home but it was nice to have something different.  I also got to talk to Chris and the kids for a long while and then was able to do the same with my mom as well and it’s always so great to talk to her.  She always lifts my spirits.  It’s like having another girlfriend!  One more week down…

**Meal of the day was chicken and rice.