Deployment Journal-15-21 Oct 07

15 Oct 07:  Today has been a LONG day.  We got off work at 0400 to take a nap before our outprocessing.  We got up at 0830 to go turn in our weapons which took forever.  The outprocessing that was supposedly scheduled for 1230 was never scheduled so we just ran around and did all of our stuff individually which ended up working better.  After we got done, we went over to Pizza Hut to grab lunch and it was so strange walking to the BX without a weapon on.  As it turns out, I’m kind of “famous” around here as the boys say.  I guess there’s some chief and captain running around here complaining about some girl that had the nerve to put butterflies on her weapon and they all just had to laugh because they knew that was me.  Oh well.  I didn’t think it was a big deal to make sure that I always knew my weapon from everyone else’s.  There is nothing that states that you can’t do that.  Oh well.  If they change the rule, I’ll be long gone so I could care less.  It just kills me how something silly like that can get people in an uproar.  It is so nice to know that we’re all done.  We have our tickets out of here and now we’re just waiting for our time to leave.  We’re still working which kind of sucks but I don’t have internet in my room anymore so that really makes for a boring day.  If it were up to me though, I’d just sleep the rest of the time away.

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut for lunch and some chicken tenders for dinner.

19 Oct 07:  I don’t have much time but I just wanted to let whoever still reads this know that we’re out on our way out of here.  We’ll have to spend 3 days at a different location but then we’ll be back early next week!  Love you all and can’t wait to see you soon!!

Deployment Journal-8-14 Oct 07

08 Oct 07:   Time keeps ticking by. I was realizing something the other day on the bus ride into work. For the longest time, there was no real conversation on the bus. It was like the ride to hell every day and we all put our earphones in so we didn’t have to hear each other any longer than our already long 12 hour shift. Now, I notice that our guys don’t do that as much and we all chat with the new guys. It sure is a different feeling around here these days. I’m being sent home early tonight because we have to go do our medical outprocessing but like most places, they don’t take into consideration those of us who work nights and the only time available to go is from 1100-1400. So, Kelly and I are getting up at noon to head over and then there’s a pizza party in Camp Cunningham for us folks from DM. People are just so excited and we’re not spending as much time at work anymore since there’s not too much for us to do anymore. We only do 30mm and flare these days. The guys from Seymour Johnson do the rest as they should since we’re outgoing.

**Meal of the day was chili mac and some chicken nuggets.

09 Oct 07:  So I’m now medically cleared to go and I was even able to turn in my ammo today.  Of course now I run around with a weapon but no ammo but oh well.  Not like we ever need it here.  My weapon is a lot lighter now.  Anyway, that was rough getting up so early but I was released to go back to my room for the day after chow so it’s not too bad.  I’ve been trying to think of all the stuff I need to do to get out of here.  I changed out my linen so I could wash my personal stuff and put the bases linen on so I could turn it in after I sleep in this horrible bed for the last night.  I consolidated some more stuff and started a “give away” pile.  I think the last thing I’ll do is take the pictures and cards down off my wall that have kept me company while I’ve been over here.  It really feels like this is finally almost over.

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

10 Oct 07:  Today has to be the worst day I’ve had since I’ve been here.  I’ve just had enough of this garbage.  People are in bad moods just Mt. Home was when they were leaving and we all thought that they should be happy since they were leaving.  I spilled coffee all over myself which obviously wasn’t the worst of things.  However, I was woken up at noon again today and I just need to get sleep and it’s driving me nuts.  Tomorrow is my night off so I’m to the point that if someone wakes me up on my day off, I will be giving them a piece of my mind.  I hate that it’s come down to that but I just can’t take it anymore.  I’m so sleep deprived, it’s not even funny.  We had a kid get in trouble the other night because the vice group commander found him asleep in his bobtail on the flightline.  It’s been a rough couple of days for us.  Anyway, as I was typing this, I got thirsty and remembered that I had put a Diet Coke in the freezer when I came in so it would be cold.  Well, I forgot about it and just my luck, it exploded.  However, because of that little thing, I ended up getting a good laugh.  BK decided to take a picture while I was out looking for an ice scraper (I’ll put the pic on the website later).  The Seymour guys that always mess with me came by and saw me scraping out the freezer and decided to make their comments about knowing my place and things of that nature.  They knew they could get away with it because I have a sense of humor but I don’t think they expected me to chase them.  It was hilarious to see 3 grown men running in different directions from me outside the building.  That kept up for quite a while.  I’d go back to scraping and one of them would be brave enough to come back in and make another comment and the chasing would start again.  That was just what I needed to put me in a better mood.

**Meal of the day was a burger and hot dog.

11 Oct 07:  Today was another milestone for Kelly and I.  It was our LAST day off!    We outprocess on Monday and get to turn in our weapons and it’s pretty much all downhill from there.  I feel like a zombie running around here lately but I know that sleep is around the corner.  Hopefully Chris doesn’t think I look like I’ve aged 10 years since I’ve been here because I feel like I have!

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut.

12 Oct 07:  Nothing interesting to report today.  Tomorrow will be another nice day since we get to turn in our body armor.  They’re going to palletize it so we don’t have to carry it to Manas.  That stuff is heavy.  The customs inspection of our personal items went well yesterday and they didn’t have to take anything that was in with my stuff so that was good.  That was just one more thing down before we could get out of here.  The guys that replaced me in my shop were given the briefing that they need to get the letter done so they can start filing documents themselves instead of me doing it because we probably wouldn’t be working much longer.  It will be nice to have some time off to start getting all our personal stuff together.

**Meal of the day was breakfast.  I had a biscuit and gravy, bacon and some hard boiled eggs.

14 Oct 07:  I was going to post about yesterday but I seriously don’t remember yesterday.  Days are just a blur at this point but that’s good.  Tomorrow is going to be a long day.  We have weapons turn in and then our “Combat Push” which is our outprocessing.  It’s all downhill from there.  I had a busy evening today too which was great.  Kelly and I took the bosses home again and then went to the BX so I could get another foot locker to mail home.  When we got back, they were going to send poor Mike out to load 2 cans of 30mm brass into their tube carriers by himself.  So, Kelly and I went out to help him.  I got nice and dirty which was a nice change from sitting at my desk.  When we got back, I needed to take the butterflies and dragon off my weapon and get it cleaned to turn in tomorrow.  Then it was chow time and after that I had to cut some shipments for our stuff going back to DM.  It’s now 0300 so that killed most of my night.  Hopefully we can get some sleep before weapons turn in at 0930 and our Combat Push at 1230.  We come in a little after midnight tomorrow and then we’ll have Tuesday off and then start day shift on Wednesday.

**Meal of the day was veal and potatoes.

Deployment Journal-1-7 Oct 07

01 Oct 07: Whoo hoo! Today is finally October!!! We can officially say we’re leaving here THIS MONTH!! I cannot wait. I am sooooo ready to go! Anyway, we had a nice day today. It didn’t start out too nice but it ended up being just fine. I had to get up at 1430 this afternoon to go sing for the promotion ceremony. Well I got all the way down the flightline to where they said it was but they had changed the location and not told me so I had to walk all the way back down to the other end (it’s almost a mile each way). Anyway, I got there and found out that they were trying to make me sing the Air Force song at the end of the ceremony as well and I told them I would not do it. Normally, I’m not one to say no but it really irritated me that they just assumed I would do that. Had it been something I had done in the past, that would have been no problem but I’d never done it before and I like to practice. I used to practice all the time before singing the National Anthem. Anyway, I was up there and ready to sing and just as I started, the mic didn’t work. Thankfully I have “pipes” and didn’t have to worry about it. I just put the mic down at my side and kept on just like I did the first time that happened. They said they heard me in the back so it was all good. The general thanked me in his speech so that was nice to again be recognized by him even though I’m quite certain he does not remember me. Thankfully Colonel Sutterfield was there and I know that he remembers me because he waved at me when he came in the hangar. I still did well despite all of the extra crap that almost happened to me. Thank God I have that talent but it just made it all the more nerve wracking for me and I hate that. I’m nervous enough already before I sing. Anyway, once we got into work, Kelly and I drove the bosses home because we needed to go pick up foot lockers so we could pack some more stuff up and needed a truck to get them to our rooms. So, we went to the BX and picked up our stuff. I needed to get a long sleeve shirt to wear under my uniform because it is getting very cold here at night. We got pizza and coffee too while we were there and I picked up something I had made for the kids. We drove back to the “dorms” and dropped off our stuff and then went out to work. That took an hour and a half off my day. Then going to chow took another hour and a half and I will be leaving on the early truck again since I had to get up early for the ceremony. I am really tired at this point. If you haven’t checked out the pictures from “Mustache Madness” on my website gallery, you need to go see them. Silly boys!!

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut and I actually ate twice and had some lasagna later at chow too!

02 Oct 07: Boy was today interesting. It is definitely time to go. It’s getting cold here and we don’t have a whole lot of cold weather gear. It is Ramadan over here so for those of you who don’t know what that is or what it means, check out this link: http://www.bagram.afnews.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070918-001.jpg It’s interesting reading.

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

03 Oct 07: Thankfully, today was a quiet day. We needed that after the last couple of days. I’m more awake than normal since it’s the day before my day off. Also, we got to sign for our tickets home today so I know when I am leaving from “the hub” to head home and every one of us had a huge smile on our faces signing that piece of paperwork today. Kelly and I did our BX run already on Monday so we have no reason to get up tomorrow which is going to be nice. Hopefully the noisy girls in the room will keep it quiet for a change so I can actually enjoy sleeping in. I will be packing my foot locker up to go in the mobility bin as well so my room will be pretty much empty after tomorrow minus the stuff I’m either carrying or shipping. Oh what a great month this is!

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

04 Oct 07: So I thought I was going to be able to sleep on my day off but no suck luck. I finally had to get up and put a note on my door that said something along the lines of that I do not slam the door when they’re in there sleeping and that I would appreciate the same respect. The door slamming finally stopped. I still didn’t sleep very well though since I was woken up many, many times. Anyway, I did have something good happen and that I was able to use the restroom 3 times without having to flush first! It’s amazing how that has become such a treat for me. That definitely means it’s time to go. I got my footlocker packed and it just amazes me how much junk I can acquire over a 6 month period. I have no idea where all this stuff comes from but if it happens like it did last time, my stuff will make it back before I do and Chris is going to wonder the same thing.

**Meal of the day was coffee and pizza.

05 Oct 07:  Another day down.  You can definitely feel the excitement in the air with talk of packing, how many loads of laundry we have left to turn in, outprocessing, what we’re going to do when we get home, etc.  What was once a group of people who walked around barely looking up dreading every day, now is a group that smiles and waves at each other and wishes each other a good morning.  We’re happy to see each other again because we know the end is near.

**Meal of the day was chicken nuggets and a baked potato. 

06 Oct 07:  Today was my yearly walk for the Vasa Previa Foundation.  For those of you who don’t know what that is, I had a rare condition when I was pregnant with Miles.  He is what they consider to be a very lucky survivor and every year, we celebrate him by participating in a 5K walk.  Chris and the kids went on there walk in Tucson this morning and I will be walking home from work for my part.  It will be exciting to be walking this year in Afghanistan of all places and also very strange that I will be walking in PT uniform carrying a weapon.  What a neat opportunity though for me to be able to do that.  It will also be sad at the same time to be walking without Miles.  I’ve walked every year since he’s been born with him and it will be hard this year doing it without him.  The pictures from the kids walk are on the website and mine will be up when I get back to my room in the morning.

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut.  We all chipped in and had a shift pizza party.

07 Oct 07:  Today has been an okay day.  It was nice to walk home from work and then back to work again.  I forgot how much I liked that release of all the days garbage on the way home.  It’s just too cold here to do that as often.  Anyway, the trip home was interesting.  They are still doing demining operations here and on the walk, we heard a huge explosion which we got a kick out of.  That’s when you know you’ve been here too long.  When the sound of something blowing up doesn’t even frighten you at all anymore, it’s pretty much time to go.  I had quite a few of the guys walk with me which was nice.  It’s only ever been me and my family that has walked.  I was amazed this evening at chow when I ran into one of the guys that walked with us.  He showed me that he still had his bracelet on and I thought that was a sweet gesture.  He mentioned that it was for such a great cause that he didn’t want to take it off.  The pictures are on our website and should be posted on www.ivpf.org in the next day or two.  I was woken up early today by someone turning the lights in my room.  I still have no idea who or why but I was too tired and irritated to get out of bed to investigate.  I just put my sleeping mask on and went back to sleep for the 45 minutes I had left of sleep.  Stupid girls!  LOL  They had an interesting article in the news today about Bagram.  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071007/ap_on_re_as/afghan_six_years_later

**Meal of the day was a burger and I actually splurged a little and had a piece of cake.  It was so good but ugh, I felt so bad after eating it.