The last Saturday off... ahhhhhh...

Ohhhhhh what a fantastic feeling to know it's just around the corner... that time... the time to head back home.  It's probably one of the most relaxing feelings you can possibly know!  :)  Soon I will be sitting somewhere... with no responsibilities to worry about... drinking a beer by the pool.  What an awesome thought!  I've been gone 6 months and a week now, and yet it still feels like yesterday (to some degree at least).  It certainly hasn't felt like 6 months.  It may have felt longer to those at home who have been waiting for all of us for all this time, though. 

So... as I have been planning to do... the following is going to be a "somewhat" chronological depiction of the time here in pictures.  Some of these pics I'm sure you've seen before, but many you haven't.  So do enjoy my final blog post from the desert land of Iraq. :)

There I was... the first couple days in the desert... and what did I discover???  SKYPE!  What an awesome communication tool!  It truly keeps you as close as humanly possible across the thousands of miles between one another.

These are just a couple pictures from our times on Skype over the past 6 months.  There were some fun times here with those at work as well... A1C Phillips and SrA Kyles... just a couple of our fine young Airmen here. :) 

There was of course the living space here... mine as I call it... a POD.  The official acronym for the living areas are CHUs.  Believe it or not... I don't even know what the C in CHU means.  Combined or Collective... Housing Units.  Or... PODs. :)

Early on in the deployment Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan, and Jim Lovell came to pay us a visit and speak for us here at Joint Base Balad.  It was definitely a monumental event for all in attendance!  We were certainly a captive audience to say the least.  What do you say Billy Marshall?  "Why I say... That was a fun time Sgt. Latshaw... yes... yes it was."  And it certainly was just that... an AWESOME time!!!! :)  Meeting the first Americans in space and to walk on the moon doesn't happen every day you know!

Then there was the Trace Adkins concert on November 2nd.  A grand time was had by all.  He put on a fabulous show for us, and as you can see from the picture he was quite personable... and TALL! LOL  He stands about 6' 6" or so.  Thanks again Trace!

Then there came the holidays... I don't have any pictures from Turkey Day, so I will move into the Christmas pics momentarily.  I'm having an issue getting my Charlie Brown Christmas tree to upload... but I'm not giving up yet!  LOL  I have a few other pictures to throw in here in the meantime. :)

Smile, laugh, kill... I wanted my picture with these 3 rocks for the longest time... then finally I got someone to take it one day when I had my camera at work with me. 

That was a fun one... there are a couple others later on that I thought were pretty fun to be a part of as well.  Fun is never really a bad thing to have you know, and this is one place it's really important to include it in your daily routine.  Otherwise, you're liable to just go crazy! Arrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!! Ha ha hee hee hoo hoo!!!!

Then what do you end up doing?  You take your picture with a Christmas tree that has a RADAR on top in place of an angel!!!! YIKES!!!  Now who wouldn't laugh about THAT? :) 

They did a good job with this poor old tree... which was real by the way.  The needles all over the command post would definitely make one agree. LOL  At first it looked more like a sad old evergreen bush that was already half in the grave, but our hard-

working Airmen made it come together as best as they could. Not bad I must say! Christmas morning was very nice... I held onto my Christmas gifts until then, too!  It wasn't an easy thing to do, either!  I had lots of them!  It was so worth waiting for, though.  It also just so happened to be on my day off, which made it that much more enjoyable!  The gifts were plentiful!  The blanket came well before Christmas, and it was just in time, too!  I was soooooo cold before it arrived.  I even got to try on a couple "non-military" clothing items that were sent to me as well!!!!  Now THAT felt GREAT!!!!  Good times indeed!!!  It was really nice to have a little bit of home in my pod for Christmas.  I am very thankful for all the wonderful gifts and treats I received from everyone. Thank you so much! :)

The holidays came and went as quickly as all the other days here, though, and soon it was January already!  January meant the NFL playoffs, and the Steelers were rollin' in them!!!  As you all know it didn't end well for my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, as they were defeated in the Super Bowl by 6 points by the Green Bay Packers, but it was one hell of a ride they gave us once again!  As quickly as January came it was gone as well... it was a fairly cool month... but nothing compared to an Idaho winter!  February felt even colder to me honestly... at least the first part of it.   There was even a day I saw a few snowflakes or sleet mixed in with the rain.  This was the damage 4 straight days of rain caused here.  It was like this EVERYWHERE, too!!!  As you can see Mike was sizing up whether or not he would be able to make it across the "river". :)

Also in February there was a very special event that I was able to attend.  We had a guest speaker who is not only an accomplished author and a religious man... but he is a Vietnam veteran and a hero by just about any standard.  His name is Mr. Dave Roever, and he certainly did not disappoint!  :)

February was a month of knowing the time here was getting close to the end.  And as Februrary came to a close... there were things that had to happen.  Well... for me it was getting those all important pictures to remember the time by before it was too late.  Rolling into March the thoughts were really homeward bound!  Once you get into those last couple weeks it really starts to sink in.  It's almost over... and soon we will all be seeing our loved ones and enjoying the luxuries that being in the great U.S. of A.  has to offer!  I give a special thanks to my dear wife for being more supportive during the past 6 months than anyone could possibly ask for.  I also thank all my readers, followers, friends, family, and anyone else I've failed to mention for all the awesome support you've all provided to me and all of my comrades.

This won't be my final blog by any means.  I will certainly continue to blog in the future as it's not only enjoyable but highly therapeutic. :)  These last 2 pictures are our T-Walls in the Kingpin compound.  Farewell Kingpin!!!  Parting is truly such sweet sorrow, and I can say I've enjoyed my time here.  It's definitely been a learning experience and at times even fun! :)

Peace, Love, and Poker

P.S.... since I started putting this whole thing together... I have left Iraq and am currently in Qatar! :)

Winding down...

It was another nice Tuesday morning for sleeping in.  :)  As my time here in the desert comes to a close I have to think back to all the things I've done in my 6 months (now 6 months plus) over here.  I can remember the day I got off the plane like it was yesterday.  It was the middle of the night, and it was HOT!  That was early September... yet it seems not so long ago. 

Now it's early (almost mid) March, and it's almost time to leave.  It's certainly not going to be hot like it was when I first arrived here.  In fact, according to the weather forecast it's going to be COLD if anything... which I'm quite certain is rather rare for this part of the world by this time of year.  I was anticipating temperatures up into the 80s around now, but it hasn't happened except for maybe a couple days in the past 2 weeks where it got up to around 80ish... which was gorgeous by the way!  It's to be only a high of 64 on Thursday and remain in the 60s through the weekend with lows dipping below 40 even!  Oh... and by the way... I'm so not complaining!  That's my kind of weather for sure! 

As you can see I've not been able to post my blog with my pics yet... but it's coming soon to a post near you!  It's nearly impossible to try and do it on the internet connection I'm currently using.  I'm lucky I can even get PokerStars to work or Skype in here.  Lately, however, it has been much better than in the past.  That's a good thing considering I've paid $59.99 a month for it!!!  It was the one luxury here I decided to give myself (along with several coffees and teas per day) during my time here.  I didn't really spend money on anything else, so to me it was worth the investment for the little conveniences. 

You can tell everyone at work is ready to go.  We're all tired... exhausted even.  It's to be expected.  I have been somewhat refreshed the past couple weeks for whatever reason.  It's not like I've been going to bed any earlier.  On the contrary, I've been hitting the sack after 11 PM just about every night of late.  Last night I was up past midnight even!  Of course, I got to sleep until 9 this morning, which felt FANTASTIC!  :)

I get to see my dear wifey on the 24th for the first time since August 30th.  I can't wait!!!  Then in April I'm traveling out her way, and we're going to visit my family for a week and then spending another week together as well.  That's going to be wonderful!  I'm really looking forward to it.  The break is going to be great... and very refreshing.  I'm going to do my best not to go overboard with living life when I get home.  I plan on continuing my running and working out on a regular basis from the first day back, too.  I don't want to lose what I've gained fitness wise here.  I want to continue to build on it.  :)

And that I will do... the only one who can stop me is me...

Peace, Love, and Poker

The next to last day off has arrived....

Yes... it's true!!!!  The time has almost arrived!!!  It's really gone by so fast... it's quite surreal!  :)  We had a dust storm for the ages this week.  It was insane!  I've never seen so much dust/sand in the air before.  It sure made breathing LOADS of fun!!!  But it passed, and it's been gorgeous outside yesterday and so far this morning.  :) 

This week went by very quickly... as have all the others here.  It's just the nature of it I suppose.  I couldn't see 6 months going by this fast if I even tried to imagine it, but I'm certainly not complaining.  Our replacements got here the beginning of this week, and we've been going full speed ahead to get them trained up to do the mission we've been doing so well since the beginning of September.  They are picking it up fast, and I would have to say they're going to keep it going without a glitch!!!

I have to say this has been a great experience for me... and although I'm VERY glad it's coming to an end I would definitely do it over again.  It's been well worth the time invested.  Of course the savings in my bank account doesn't hurt any, either!  :) 

A little later on today I'll try and post some of my pictures from throughout the deployment.  Some of them may have been on an earlier post, but I wanted to kind of do an online scrapbook of sorts of my time here.  So that's my plan for later on... I may end up with a few more pictures to post before these last days wind down, but the ones I have will give a good depiction of the time spent here.  :)

So... I wish everyone an AWESOME weekend!!!  I don't personally have a "weekend" so to speak, but I'll be back to that very soon.  :)

Peace, Love, and Poker

Happy Saturday!!!!

Yes... it's my favorite day of the week here again.  It's one of my last days off, too! :)  Of course, how can I not enjoy that???  Tonight is our end of tour party at 6 o'clock, and that's an AWESOME feeling!  I'm a little tired because I don't think I slept very well.  You see... I took the blanket off my bed to get it ready to be packed up today.  Well, I was cold all night!  I have the original blanket that was on the bed when I got here.  I'll put that one back on later. 

I've really enjoyed my time here, and I'm absolutely ready to go home now.  I thought the days would start to drag now that we're nearing the end, but they are still flying by just as quickly as ever.  Soon, I will hit the U.S. and have my car out of it's hiding place again and be able to slowly get back to normal life.  I'm sure that will take some adjusting.  I've been walking around everywhere on this base for almost 6 months, so actually DRIVING will be so much different... and soooooo enjoyable!  :)

I am going to try and get several pictures of different people and things the next few days, and I will be doing a "deployment in review" post which will be mostly in pictures.  I hope all my fine readers enjoy it.  I will have a few pictures you've seen already, and there will be many you haven't seen yet. 

I haven't really been able to think of much to blog about, though.  This writer's block is killing me!  I'll be back to write some more later... hopefully I have some fresh new ideas! :)

I saw a little kitten just a few minutes ago... and I felt so bad for the little guy.  He was meowing at me and looked really scared. :(  I don't know where the cats on base come from, but I'm sure his poor future is bleak here.  I want to go pick him up, but I'm sure it's not safe.  He was really looking scared.  I wish I could just take the little guy home with me.  Now I'm feeling bad... he was so adorable, too.  He looked so much like my little Crosby when he was just a wee little kitten. :(

The party was really cool.  We had a pretty nice awards thing... then our commander talked for awhile... then the group commander... the reality of it is setting in now... WE'RE GETTING OUTTA HERE SOON!!!  :)  I probably ate more today for one day than I have in a very long time, but that's ok since it's Saturday and my day off.  :)  With only 2 weeks left... you gotta enjoy what's left of it while you can.  I took a couple more pictures today, too.  Hopefully I will get them uploaded to a blog post soon.  I have some others I still need to get off my camera as well.  There is still plenty of time for me to do it... and if not here... when I get back home just the same.  I'll do my best, though.

Well... it's almost movie time... I'm finishing up a little poker action... an email to Anne Marie... and then I'm heading back to the room for the remainder of the night.  Just a couple more of these days off left... it's an amazing feeling. :)

Peace, Love, and Poker

Monday Monday... yes... it's really a song!

You really can't stop this day, just like the song says.  And that's just fine with me!  One more Monday is just about over and done with, and there aren't many remaining here for us.

Well... it's Tuesday morning now... this is kinda how it goes over here.  Monday was a blur as per usual.  I don't really have anything to blog about on my mind this morning, so it's going to be one of these random ones I post every so often. 

I found a sign posted outside the door, if you can really call a piece of paper a "sign", stating that there will be a bunk removed from the "pod" in the next couple weeks due to some transition thing.  Well... at 5:55 AM I totally misread the sign to say that they were going to be bringing one IN!  That was pretty damn stressful.  I couldn't possibly imagine another set of bunks in this already small space.  Taking one out, however, makes perfect sense!  It's still semi-stressful because I use that top bunk for storage.  Now I'm going to have to find somewhere else to put these items.  Luckily I'm planning on packing up the remainder of my things on Saturday, so hopefully they don't decide to come in before then. 

I'm stil pretty tired even though I slept quite a bit.  I'm actually debating a nap right now.  I don't know why 10 hours of sleep wouldn't be enough, but I am still pretty tired.  I'm wondering if I didn't sleep too long?  Although, I doubt that's true, you never can tell.  It could just be that I'm tired from almost 6 months of being deployed.  What a concept, huh???

I think I will finish my coffee and bring up PokerStars and play for a little while.  I might even head outside to the pavilion.  It's still really nice outside again today.  My bed, however, is more comfy! LOL 

There is one thing I have on my mind from yesterday.  I went to the dining facility to get breakfast, and the guy at the door told me I can no longer bring my coffee in.  "It's a new rule."  What the hell???  Is this not the dumbest thing you've ever heard???  They even serve coffee in there!!!!  I mean seriously... COME ON!!!  It's not like a restaurant where you're actually PURCHASING the beverage.  Everything is FREE!  So what the hell reason could you possibly have for not allowing someone to bring a coffee cup into the facility?  Perhaps they think there's a bomb in the Green Beans Coffee cup???  Who the hell knows... after all you can't get a cup of coffee from a Starbucks in an airport (in plain view of the security guards) and take it through the gates.  Nobody knew the reason... so one can only speculate.  I've heard a couple rumors, but I don't know for sure.  I would take my commander's idea probably above the rest.  He says he thinks it's because some individuals get their dirty coffee mugs/cups up under the spout of the coffee pot there and get their grubby dirty coffee nasties on it.  That halfway makes sense at least.  Someone else thought it was because 2 people spilled Grean Beans coffees in the morning, but that wouldn't prevent someone from spilling the UNCOVERED DFAC coffee just the same!  DUH!!!  DUMB DUMB DUMB no matter how you look at it.  I hate stupid rules!!!

Happy Tuesday... I have absolutely nothing else on my mind this morning. 

Peace, Love, and Poker

.....Hmmmm.... Part 2.

I'm having fun with this... so I decided to do a second one... this one is a little bit different, and it's something I didn't seriously think about until yesterday after being here 5 1/2 months.  *sigh*

Our scheduled workday is 0640-1900 (basically 7AM-7PM... vice versa for night shift).  Yes... that equates to just a little over 12 hours a day.  Everyone has one day off per week and one day where they work just 4 1/2 hours (which only started a few weeks ago).  So... going with the current setup... one works on average about 66 hours/week. 

Now comes the fun part... an average "shift" as far as doing the job out on scope is 4 hours.  Some folks sit 8 hours in a day if they work a double shift on another's day off.  In my position we split it differently and work one 6 hour shift on the other 2 people's days off.  Doesn't that make one ask a very reasonable and burning question?  "Why in the world do you need to be there 12 hours when your shift is only 4 hours long (on a normal day)?"  It's ironic that this is the very question I presented to myself (in my mind) yesterday after not really thinking about it for the first 25 weeks!  There's no real reason to make everyone sit here doing mostly nothing for the majority of the rest of their day... and believe me... it's a LOT of NOTHING!!! 

Here are just a few of the things people do in the time they're not sitting out on scope... The biggest one and most necessary is going to eat meals.  That one you really can't help regardless.  The next one that I think is pretty important is going to work out.  Now... in my opinion if you were only working an 8 hour day you would have plenty of time to work out on your own time rather than during the workday without having to give up precious sleep time or time spent talking with family, spouse, etc.  There is one more area that is relatively productive that folks use the time for... and that's doing schoolwork.  Those 3 areas are rather important... and again... would be done in one's personal time if they had more of it (say another 4 hours) available each day. 

Now we come to all the tons of hours of WASTED time... and there is A LOT!  The biggest time waster for people here... Video games!  Some of our folks sit and play video games almost the ENTIRE DAY!  Next comes two things that are pretty close to one another... watching TV and playing on the computer (which can include games, email, blogs (like this one), web surfing, shopping, and so on and so on.  The computer one is where I spend what's left of my day after I have taken care of the top paragraph's things (minus schoolwork since I didn't take any classes here).  Some spend it on the telephone calling home or wherever else... which in moderation can be productive but not when you spend almost your whole day camped out at the phones (not to mention you're not supposed to in the first place for more than 30 minutes at a time).  All of these things above would be done on a person's own individual time if that time were available. 

So... again I pose a question for you all to ponder... why the need to put people here 12 hours a day when they're not WORKING most of it anyway???  What does it really prove?  I know I can't put an answer to it.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, we didn't even get our first full day off until after 2 months here.  Go figure...  Something definitely needs fixing if you ask me.  It's too late for this time around, but it's not too late for the next or the one after that, etc.  I've done the research... working 12 hours a day and/or over 60 hours a week IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH!!!! 

The day off and the 4 1/2 hour day definitely are a HUGE boost toward recovery throughout the week... imagine if you had a day off and only had to spend 8 hours at work...

Peace, Love, and Poker

Things that make you go hmmmm....

Happy Thursday wherever you are!!!  I started to do my usual blog... my day this... and my day that... but then I got to thinking... why not something different today?  There are things you see... that you just wonder... why the hell do people do that???  So that's what at least the first part of my blog post is about. 

It makes me think back to when I was much younger, and when I say much younger I'm talking early 20s (ish).  I'm thinking back to when I first went to Turkey over 15 years ago.  I can surely recall one major thing about the base populace... about 90% MALE.  Fast forward to Iraq now... it's the same thing here.  I don't have to worry about this issue... this lack of females that the desert has to offer.  However, I wonder how the majority of the single male population fares in this environment.  It's a very interesting question to pose.  At any given time you will see girl X hanging out with as many as 8-10 guys at once.  That's a rather unusual thing to see back in the U.S., where the population is MUCH closer to 50/50. 

Also, you have the issue of the "General Order" here, which is basically legislation to prevent any contact between males and females (at least in an intimate sense).  IMO, you really can't legislate that because it's human nature, and they will find a way to "make it happen" so to speak, but God knows it does it's job for the most part.  Again, it doesn't impact me whatsoever.  I'm quite happy to see my wife on Skype, and that is enough to make my day complete.  But... here's what I see... which for the most part makes me laugh. 

I was walking to work... and back from work... at 2 separate times yesterday... and for whatever reason these 2 particular instances stuck with me.  First, there was a girl sitting outside the female dorm on a bench, obviously waiting for someone (presumably a guy or mulitple guys) because eventually I did see 2 guys come up to her and her get up and leave with them.  This, by the way, is a quite regular occurence here, which is why it's so funny to me.  The second time it was a guy waiting on the very same bench later in the evening, which is obvious what he was waiting for.  LOL  Again... too funny!!! :)  You see... the younger guys tend to follow the girls around like little puppy dogs here... and of course it's because the availability of women is quite meager, which has led to the age old term "Desert Queen".  However... every once in awhile I see it the other way around still... like you would in the states... the girl following the guy around like a little puppy dog.  It definitely makes people watching that much more interesting... seeing the interaction between members of the opposite sex and the manner with which they interact in an environment of what I like to call "sexual prohibition".  Even married folks who end up deploying TOGETHER, civilians included, have to abide by these same rules. 

I guess my real question is this... can you legislate this... and I would say love... but it's certainly not love that would drive any such relationship, even if the two people believed in it to the Nth degree.  In an environment such as this it is not real whatsoever.  1.  You're in such a close proximity to one another that it's bound to bring you and that individual closer than you ever would have been in a normal, more "free", setting.  2.  The odds are tipped too far in favor of the fairer sex... enabling them to have the ultimate choice of whomever they want to "partner up" with... where the guys lack that ability simply because it's a numbers game.  So even if 2 people were to claim they were "in love" after meeting in a place such as this, once they get home the freedom of choice of one or both of them will inevitably lead to the end of such a relationship.  Again, it's a numbers game, and the numbers don't lie. 

Ok... so I've managed to ramble in a big circle.  What I'm presenting is basically a psychological argument here.  Again, let me make it clear that this has absolutely NOTHING to do with myself.  I love my wife... and we have done amazingly well together during this time apart compared to others I know.  It's just something that intrigues me, perhaps because I was stationed in Turkey before as a single person, and I started to wonder if I did a lot of those same things.  Now, you have to remember this, too.  There was no General Order in Turkey.  You could go in and out of whomever's room or home you so pleased... so it wasn't quite the same... but the "numbers" or "ratio" was indeed very much similar. 

My real point... which I am working my way toward here... is based on everything I've talked about so far.  I know what the General Order is in place, and it's only for one single reason despite whatever the powers that be might tell you.  It's to prevent pregnancy.  PERIOD!  That much is obvious.  Now... you will hear the stories... of how many military members commit suicide either during or after a deployment.  This is 6 months for us in my unit.  Army folks do up to 18 months!  Can you really expect people to go against what is completely and humanly natural... possibly even NECESSARY.. for that long without serious psychological consequences stemming from it eventually?  I would love to see a study done of this nature... and I'm sure there have been several over time... that could correlate the data.  Everyone gets stressed during deployments... but the real bottom line is WHAT do they REALLY stress over?  Is it honestly work?  Or does it go much much deeper into the psyche? 

Just imagine... if you were deployed for however long with your spouse... and you're not even hardly allowed to TOUCH them!  I'd say that could be pretty damned stressful if I were in their shoes.  Interesting debate isn't it???

Peace, Love, and Poker