The past few days

Thursday I went to maleef (coffee and tea with the Shieks).  There are some pictures from it farther down the page.

Friday was my final run before the 10K.  I decided to do a trial 10K, I ran it in 59 minutes and 56 Seconds.  I was happy with that time.  My goals for the 10K were to run it in under an hour and run the entire thing.  I only had two or three weeks of preparation.  With my trial run I walked twice for a total of about 2ish minutes.

Saturday, I went to work and worked on a few things there.  At about 7:30ish, my Superintendent told me that the General was coming at 1300 to do my reenlistment.  A reenlistment may be done by any commissioned officer, from any US military branch of service.  It just happened that one of the Captains we know, knew a General on base and called in a favor for me.  It was an Air force Brigadier General (1-star).  He was a very laid back and cool guy.  When he got to work, he sat down with me and got to know me a little bit.  Afterwards, we did the reenlistment ceremony.  Basically all you need is a flag, an officer, an enlisted person, and an oath.  There were a couple of pictures taken, they are on the slide show farther down the page.

The Oath:

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

After the ceremony, I told him about what we do at work, and showed him some of the capabilities.  After that, he said his goodbyes and then awarded me with a coin.  If you are counting, that is my third coin for this deployment, and my second from a General.

Sunday (today) I got up early and went to go run the 10K.  It was supposed to be the Veterans Serving Veterans 10K, but I think they changed that name... Either way it was a 10K (6.22 miles).  We aren't aloud to run outside with headphones on, so I took some speakers and put them in my camelback and plugged that into my iPod, it works great!  I can't take credit for the idea, I stole it from my buddy in Korea, Thanks VV.  I got many compliments on it while we running.  I finished in 140th place (out of probably 250 or 300).  I didn't walk at all and my time was 54 minutes and 48 seconds.  That is about 8:48/ mile.  I was pretty happy with my time.

Back home:  Mary is doing the MS 150 bike ride.  75 miles one day and 75 miles the next...  That is much much much much much much more than I want to bike in my life.  I haven't talked to her, due to her poor cell signal.  But I did get a text and she said she was tired, but it was going well.  Since she is gone, my parents came up to watch Maddox for the weekend.  They brought there two little dogs, and I know Maddox and my Macy (my dog) liked that!  Unfortunately, when Mary asked them to watch MDX, Mary didn't realize that it was their Anniversary weekend (34 years of marriage).  They were still willing to do it, they get to spend time with their granddaughter... who would pass that up?  My dad also took care of a few things around the house: fixed the mower (it wasn't broken), mowed, drove my car, and who knows what else he found to fix.  Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad, 34 down... a lifetime to go.  Thank you for teaching me how to love another person.

Tomorrow (Monday), is Mason's birthday.  That is my older brother, who lives in Little Rock with his wife and two dogs.  He just got back from Afghanistan a few weeks ago, and we are all thankful that he made it home safely.  Mason and I have brothers for over 24 years (thats how old I am, he is turning 27).  When we were little we got along great, as we got older and went to different schools, we argued more and more.  Then he left for the Air force, and we became friends again.  Some of the greatest memories I have of him are actually violent ones, but we still love each other in the end.  One time we were moving all of the deck furniture into the garage because a hurricane was coming, and he started yelling at me for one reason or another.  Afterwards, he felt really bad and asked me to keep helping him, of course I did (Dad would have killed us if that shit wasn't put away).  One time, I wanted to cut a piece of cake, but Mason wanted to cut it also.  I was holding the blade of the knife by the handle and he grabbed it by the blade... Well believe it or not, the blade ended up stabbing him.  Sorry Mason.  Back when we shared a room, it was time to go to bed one night, and I took a belt and hit him with it.  I don't remember why I did it, I do remember jumping in bed and telling him to be quite because I didn't want to get in trouble.  Sorry for that one also Mason.  There last memory I will leave you with: we were standing in the kitchen horsing around, and pushing each other.  He caught me off balance, and pushed harder than he had been pushing, I flew back a few feet, fell on the ground and hit my head on the door to a cabinet.  Before I hit the ground I was laughing about it, and Mason was lunging to catch me.  He didn't catch me and he felt bad that it happened.  But hey, we are brothers, its what we do.  Mason, I wish you a happy birthday, drink a beer for me, and I'll talk to you later!

That is all for now from hot and sunny Iraq, I miss and love you all!