Dust storm

Just another day (hence the name of the blog).  However, today it was REALLY dusty.  The dust started a little before lunch time and continued...  I went to the PX and got a folding chair so that I would have somewhere to sit in my room.  I also decided that I should get a face cover, it can be used to keep dust out of your eyes and ears and also help keep the sun off of your head and neck.  I figured that it was a good investment.

Besides that nothing new and nothing out of the ordinary, I hope that everyone back in the states is doing well!  I miss you guys.

Care Package

My wife, mother, and mother-in-law have all asked me what I wanted mailed to me.  I DO NOT want cookies or brownies or any sweets!!  I am trying to get back into shape and eat healthier.  Also according to General Order 1B, there is to be no pornography (this includes Maxim and other similar magazines) and no alcohol.

Im am researching websites that make care packages for military.  Here is what I found so far:

http://www.healthytroops.com/

That seems like a fairly good webiste.  All of the other websites give a lot of the stuff that is better for people in the trenches, that dont have access to a PX.  But healthytroops.com, they give protein mix and vitamin packs.  I have access to vitamins here and I also brought my own.  However the protein that they have is very limited. and expensive.  Muscle milk is some of the better tasting that I have had.  I have also had body fortress, the vanilla was good, but the chocolate was HORRIBLE!

Also Chewy bars are good!  They are great for after a workout or a little pick-me-up when you cant get to the chow hall.

Maybe a good cigar or two also... It'll be good to celebrate once we get stuff done.

PLEASE DON'T FEEL OBLIGATED TO SEND ME ANYTHING!  I DO HAVE ACCESS TO THE ESSENTIALS AND THEN SOME.  I am sitting in my bed right now typing this...

I will not be posting my mailing address.  If you would like to get my temporary mailing address, you will need to speak to my wife.

day 3?

I think it is day 3...

Whatever, my alarm went off at 5:30, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth.  I came back and saw that Mary was on Skype so we talked for about 40 minutes or so.  That was nice, even though it was bedtime for her.  After we got off the phone I showered and we all went to breakfast.  I had hard-boiled eggs, Turkey Sausage, rice, low-fat milk, and soymilk.  We went to work and got cracking.  For lunch I had two Turkey sandwiches on Wheat with pickles, green peppers and lettuce.  It was really good!  I also had Soymilk to drink again.  I grabbed a diet pepsi, I took it back to work to put in the fridge.  I also noticed that they have non-alcoholic beer in the chow halls, it doesn't even seem worth it.

If I stay up to talk to Mary, then I will be up until atleast 11.  And that is just to start talking.  So if I stay up until midnight on the phone, go to bed, get up at 6 (that is 6 hours of sleep) then I can go work out for an hour, get back at 7, shower, get breakfast to go, and then walk to work... That should get me there in plenty of time.  If I had protein mix, then I could drink that and cut a step out of my morning and save time.  The PX has a limited supply of protein mix so I might have to order it online.  Maybe I will go to the PX buy a small amount of the bad tasting stuff and then get online and order the good stuff.

We are supplied unlimited amounts of water in liter bottles, and I think I have drank 4 or 5 today and also atleast a pot of coffee and the milk and soymilk with my meals

Dinner is soon, and then I am going to workout real quick, shower and wait to talk to Mary.

Since I have arrived there hasn't been too much work to accomplish.  I gave some input on layout and a few other things and made a couple of adjustments.  The food has been ok...  I have been trying to eat a healthy-ish diet.  However, if they run out of the chicken breast then Im stuck with a grilled cheese, a slice of roast beef or something similar to that.  Then when it comes to green vegetables, Im not a fan of many of them... I like green beans, asparagus, and lettuce.  So then I make a salad, but the only thing to put on it is hard boiled egg and pepper, which makes for kind of a bland salad.  For breakfast I get hard boiled eggs and some sort of meat.  I drank the milk once, but all they have is whole milk.  Im not snacking, and Im drinking a ton of water.  I went to the PX to pick-up some protein mix, but it cost almost double what it costs in the states, so I held off on it for now.

Also I tried uploading some pictures and the bandwidth is so low that I haven't been able to as of yet...  But I do keep trying!

I did get to meet a couple of people that were here for a USO tour and had a few pictures taken with them.

Arrival

I arrived Friday evening here at Victory.  Two of the comm Sgts picked me up.  We went and got my room, got some food and went to the BX (I needed a pillow).  Then I went back to my room and unpacked and got settle in.  I also ordered wireless internet ($65/ month), a little pricey, but I want to stay in contact with people.

I got to see Mary and Maddox on Skype last night before I went to bed!

If you are wondering I am 7 hours ahead of Eastern time.  Well it is time to meet up with everyone and go to breakfast and then work.  Ill try to upload some pictures, I was having trouble getting it to work.

Wednesday??

In all my travels, I was robbed.  This kind of thievery cant be happening, I wont put up with it anymore!

I was robbed of Wednesday the 22nd of March in the year of our Lord 2009.  All day Thursday, I kept thinking it was Wednesday... turns out that I was wrong.

I feel so empty inside without that day.  Im just kidding but really, that is a mind blow when you lose a day like that!

Travel

0 hour

Mary and Maddox took me to the base with all of my gear.  We went to pick-up my weapon and my ride to the airport met us there.  I said goodbye to my two favorite ladies, got my weapon, and then started across the water.  We got to the airport, and checked my bags.  Then I went to the 'Norfolk Varsity Grill' to grab a rum and coke before I went through security (don't you judge me, I wont be drinking for at least the next 6 and half months).

Me in the bar at ORF

hour 1

Going through security:

The people in front of me were apparently new to the FAA regulations and didn't have a clue about what to do.  Meanwhile I was taking off my boots, getting my computer out of my bag, and looking for  metal in my pockets.  As I was walking through the metal detector I realized that I still had my dog tags on (Im not used to wearing them), but there was no problem with that.

hour 2

I then looked close at my boarding pass and realized that there wasn't a seat number on it.  I guess that Southwest has open seating...Who knew?

I then went to the USS Norfolk restaurant and got an order of potato wedges.  They were delicious!  We boarded late and landed late... Luckily, I had a long layover in Baltimore.

Hour 4

It was a good thing that I had a long layover in Baltimore.  I had to pick up all of my bags, and then lug them across the entire airport.  I got to the Air Mobility Command (AMC) terminal and they told me that I couldnt check-in yet.  I was with a Captain from the same area as me and we were going to the same place.  We decided to get some lunch while we waited

Hour 6

I to check into my flight, as I was waiting in line I started wondering if I could combine my three bags into just two, I was able to do it Yay!  My awesome wife made chocolate peanut butter chip cookies for me to take to make friends.  I offered the lady at the check-in counter one to start her off on a good foot.  She didn't want one... Oh well.

Hour 7

After check-in the Captain and I went to the USO.  I ended up running into one of my friends from Korea there, she was heading TDY to Germany.  We talked for probably 30 minutes or so, and then she said that she had to go check-in.  I stayed in the USO trying to get the internet to work on my computer (I couldn't get it for some reason).

Hour 8

My friend from Korea and I went to an airport restaurant.  I forget the name of it, but I had an awesome Bacon cheeseburger and fries (delicious last American meal).

Hour 9

We went back to the USO and I was able to get my internet to work.  I sent Mary one last e-mail from the states.  Then it was time to go through security again.  It was all people from our flight, I gave out a few more of Mary's cookies (they were a huge hit!).

Hour 11

I got through security, refilled my water bottle, and watched the sun set, It was beautiful.  Then it got dark and started thundering and lightning, I was worried that they might delay our flight, but they didn't.  The guy that I was seated next to was an army doctor, a really cool guy.  I told him that I was reading 'Deception Point' by Dan Brown (the guy that wrote 'Da Vinci Code').  He told me that if I liked that then I should read 'Angels and Demons'.

Hour 12

We took off, we had a long flight... I dont know how long.  But I think I only slept for about an hour and halfor so of the flight.  They showed three movies: 'Ink Heart' 'Quantum of Solace' and 'Madagascar'.  I didnt want to watch 'Ink Hear' because it sounded stupid.  But I couldnt sleep, so I did watch it and it was stupid.  I slept through the end of Ink Heart and the openeing of 'Quantum of Solace' but when I woke up and realized it was on, I couldnt get my headphones to work, so I missed pretty much all of it, and I watched some up 'Madagascar'.  The food was alright on the flight.  I had the BBQ beef with mashed potatoes.  Later they served a continental breakfast, that wasn't even subpar.  It had a quaker chewy bar, yogurt, and a gross looking pastry.

Hour...

Looking back on it, I dont have a clue what hour we were in at this point.  We landed in Germany and went to the USO there.  It was pretty nice.  They had free internet, coffee and drinks.  We were there for about an hour or so, then they told us to go back through security, so that took another 45 minutes or so.  Then we sat in the terminal for another 45ish minutes.  That wasnt too bad of a wait, there was a little boy (a week younger than Maddox) that was near me playing and it was cute to watch him, although, it did make me miss Maddox.  We boarded and took off again, this flight was about an hour and half I think.  I had a really bad headache by the time we took off.  I think it  was from a combination of not sleeping and being a little dehydrated.  I took some tylenol and  chugged some water.  I also slept almost the flight.  We landed in Italy, and man was it beautiful.  As we were approaching we could see snow tipped mountains, fields and even wind farms!  The Yellow ribbon club at Avaino had hot dogs and chips for us.  They also had a couple of carts full of books for us to take.  I was going to check the carts to see if they had 'Angels and Demons', but before I could look, the Doctor that I was sitting next to brought the book up to me.  I stood there and read it for about 40 minutes or so, it seems pretty good so far.  We re-boarded and took off for Al Udeid.  Nothing too exciting happened on this flight, the meal was pretty good though, it was some sort of chicken and Asian noodles.

We landed at 11:00ish PM local time so about 4 in the afternoon Eastern time (the day after I left).  Us lower ranking folk had to get all of the luggage out of the belly of the aircraft.   A little tip: if you are over 5'5" dont volunteer to be in the plane!  After that we in-processed and got our tent assignments.  I made my bed and then went to the WiFi area to try and chat with Mary.  It was about 7:30 in the evening Eastern time by now (for those keeping track, I was around 34ish hours of travel at this point).  I talked to mary for some time and then went to wash up and get ready for bed (around 4:30 AM Local time).

(I have pictures of the sunset and me in the USO writing an e-mail.  but I cant hook my computer up right now).

Introduction

So, after 4 training temporary duties (TDY) and one that was cancelled, doing and redoing every Computer Based Training (CBT) there is atleast 3 or 4 times, and countless delays... It looks like Im actually going, leaving on a jet a plane.  I have two personal bags packed, one bag of gear, a carry-on, and Ill pick-up a weapon of some sort tomorrow then leave for God only knows how long.

This is a picture of my bags

I will do my best to keep everyone posted on my travels and trials and tribulations along the way.

For now I leave you with a list of upcoming happy events (that I will miss)!!:

Leaving for my deployment

Getting into country

Getting to work

3rd wedding Anniversary (5/5)

Niece Taylor's Birthday (5/8)

Mike E's Birthday (5/12)

Re-enlistment

Re-enlistment bonus

Re-enlistment bonus saving/spending

Mom and Dad's Anniversary (5/31)

Mason's Birthday (6/1)

Marc and Kris's Anniversary (6/6)

Nephew Anderson's Birthday (6/7)

Independence day (7/4)

Mike and Emily's Anniversary (7/4)

Greg and Leslie's Anniversary (8/4)

Dad's Birthday (8/17)

Maddox's Birthday (8/30)

Mary's Birthday (9/12)

Mason and Jennie's Anniversary (10/8)

Halloween (10/31)

Jennie's Birthday (11/10) [I hope to be home by this one]

The preceding list was only of immediate family events.  If I forgot you, sorry!  Please let me know!