Chris deployment journal – Jun 08

1 Jun 08-Chris has graduated from his training finally and is now just hanging out in civilian clothes finally with his rent-a-car. LOL He’s a little lonely as can be expected. He was supposed to be home today for 10 days but they neglected to tell him that he had training in Kuwait too so he’s leaving this week for Kuwait for that training. There’s a little bit of confusion as to where he is going after that. They don’t really show him inbound so he’s not really sure what is going on but the big wigs are involved in it now so hopefully they will get to the bottom of it. He sent his card from the digital camera so hopefully I will be getting it in the mail tomorrow and I can post new pictures of what he’s been going through. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts as he’s about to take that long plane ride overseas!

10 Jun 08-This will be my last entry on this particular subject!  Chris is HOME!!  Can you believe it??  They canceled his deployment while he was on his way from Atlanta to Baltimore (his last stop before heading to Kuwait for more training).  I have no idea how something like that happens and I’m so upset that they put him through everything they did for nothing but it is so nice to have him home!!

Chris deployment journal – May 08

3 May 08-Chris, from as far as I can tell, has been having a good time at his training. It seems like they are going through so much and I have a new found respect for him and what he’s having to go through. I will definitely say that it was nowhere near as hard for me to go do what I did. There was no training involved except for the training we did here on the base. His training, however, looks like so much fun. I have made him a deployment photo album and posted a ton of pictures that he e-mailed home to me.

4 May 08-Chris leaves Ft. McCoy tomorrow to go to another base close by where he is now to do some serious field training. They will be living in tents and it will really feel like he’s deployed then. He will be so happy if he’s got some mail waiting for him when he returns. I know first hand how frustrating it is to feel settled, have to pack your stuff and move again, only to pack one more time to come back to where you’ve been. Please think of him while he’s out playing wargames in the field.

7 May 08-Sorry I haven’t been posting much info. I cannot tell you about the training that he is currently going through but it’s brutal for sure. He’s been pretty wiped out most days. As for here, life goes on. I’ve been busy working and taking care of the kids and doing my daily errands/chores. It’s surely a busier life for me these days but thankfully I’m handling it well. It will be a busy weekend for us. I’m taking the kids to the fair at Harmony’s school on Friday and then Saturday, they are honoring military families at the base park. There will be food, crafts, bounce houses, petting zoo, etc. It should be a fun day out for the kids. We’ve found our routine well and I’m so thankful things are not as hard as I thought they may be.

18 May 08-Chris is finally back at the base and doing his normal training if you want to call it that. He was supposed to have the day off today but they had some more slots for medical training so he is going to learn life saving and he will be able to do IVs after his training for the next 4 days. They had some days of nice weather and last night it was cold and raining again. He’s got 2 weeks left of his training and he shared a nice surprise with me. It looks like he’s coming home after his training for a week and a half. We’re still waiting on confirmation but we’re not telling the kids. We’re going to just surprise them. I’m going to tell them I’m picking a friend up from the airport! It is going to be so fun for them!

22 May 08-Sorry for the delay in posting about Chris’ training.  Thankfully he is almost home and he is counting the days.  However, we do have some bad news.  He will not be returning as he was previously told.  He has more training to do closer to where he’ll be in Iraq so he goes straight from Wisconsin to there.    I am so thankful that we did not tell the kids.  Chris has been doing some medical training and can now give IVs.  He asked if he could practice on me to which I replied, “Hell no!”  LOL  I’d love to help my man out but I don’t even like them when they’re necessary!  He is doing well though and I am so proud of him!

Chris deployment journal – April 08

25 Apr 08-Chris headed out this morning for Wisconsin for a month of training. He will be headed out to Iraq after that. As of 10 a.m. our time, he is waiting in Chicago for his connecting flight to Wisconsin. There are 4 of them traveling together and as they finished their lunch in the airport, they were waiting for the bill when the waitress approached them and pointed to a man across the way and told them that he had picked up their tab. It is so amazing when people respond to us in uniform that way. It’s the little things like that which makes us feel like we make a difference and people do really respect us for what we do.

Since Chris is not a chat/computer person, I will do my best to update here what I can that he tells me about his journey.

As of 1:30 p.m. our time, Chris made it to Wisconsin. They are really treating it like they’re in Iraq already. They are to be in uniform at all times, they’re living in Army barracks and that consists of an open bay with 14 people to each one. This is going to be very interesting for him not having lived that way since basic training 12 years ago so keep him in your thoughts. He will have his cell phone and be able to make calls the whole time he is there and he will try to find the computers on base today or tomorrow.

26 Apr 08-Chris finally got his luggage today thankfully because he had to march in the snow flurries this morning with no cold weather gear. This sure doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a fun experience for him. His classes are kind of sporadic so at least he gets some free time. He has a curfew there and everything. He did get his address today so for the next 4 weeks, you can send him mail at:

SSgt Christopher Naylor
602 TRG (P) Det 7 JSTO 08-3
1868 Regiment Avenue
Ft McCoy, WI 54656-5234

27 Apr 08-Chris sent me a picture of his tiny little space. Things will be like this for a while. He may have a little bit bigger space in Iraq but not much.

28 Apr 08-Today is Cody’s birthday and thankfully Chris was able to talk to him. We were also. I sent his mom an IM and asked her if he could call so the kids and I could wish him a happy birthday. Chris had most of the day off today and had training late in the day. They are doing training pretty sporadically. It isn’t making a whole lot of sense to me. He has to get up at 0500 for PT tomorrow and it has been snowing there so that is not going to be fun for him. He sounds like he’s in good spirits although it is very boring there.

I am home!!

Sorry it’s taken me so long to post an update but everyone should know by now that I am home.  Thank you so much for all of your love and support over the last almost 7 months.  I couldn’t have done it without you!!  Thank you!

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!!