New Fun News!!

I found out on the 21st of December that I (accompanied by Karly) will be heading to Okinawa Japan departing on the 2nd of January. Talk about a short suspense. It'll be fun, I'm looking forward to going.

Life is good

I'm sure Karly will post pictures so I will not even try.

The answer to yesterday's riddle is Jon and Sharon, our good friends from Ames got engaged on the 7th. I find it interesting that he picked the anniversary of Pearl Harbor to do it but I'm not thinking that was the reason.

Anywho, on with our lives. IACH (Irwin Army Community Hospital) Holiday ball was last night. It was a blast. I wasn't sure what the primary attire was going to be since the invitiation said "uniform optional". I was thinking that is was going to be like those rediculous high school or college formals where the guys where grungy clothes or at the most a sports coat/suit and no tie but then I got to talking and found out that it's a little more formal than that. So I then figured most people would be wearing suits. I however decided that if I got it I should wear it so I pulled out the Mess Blues. When we arrived at COL Smith's house for the pre-ball social I was pleased to find that over half of the military folk at that were wearing the Mess Dress and the other's had on their Blues so I was not even close to being in the minority. Then we get to the ball and suits were the minority as most people wore either Blues or Mess Blues. It was really neat.

Karly and I sat at the head table. It was the Fort Riley MEDCOM Commander Colonel Smith, DENTAC Commander Colonel Grimes, MEDCOM Company Commander DPT Deschamps, myself representing VETCOM, and Brigadier General Yarbrough from 1st Division (talk about a ribbon rack).

To make a long story short I love the military customs, uniforms and just in general the Army. (this is now a shameless plug)

Holy Cow!!!
There be an engagement. Not unexpected but not expected quite yet. Hmmmm there seems to be precedence for that amongst us older near professional school finishing types.
No further comment.

Back in Texas

I just can't get away. I like this state during these fall/winter months. It's cool and comfortable. But I'm looking forward to getting back to Home with Karly. 0430 is really early.

The last couple months or so

I wish I could update more often but alas it is difficult now that I have a full time job. I will obviously continue to update on my TDY's.
Last week Karly and I had the fortune to enjoy most of 5 days at Fort Leavenworth Kansas. It's a beautiful old post which is small but has a lot of money. Thus the streets are lined with fancy old style lamps and all of the required barricades around the buildings since 9/11 have been replaced with nice looking fences and other reasonable security devices instead of the ugly concrete barricades. The main street down Leavenworth is similar to a nice old fashioned downtown minus the brick street.
I'd like to point out how much I think the majority of the population misses out on a lot of the United States neatest and most well preserved historic places by not either being in the military or visiting the installations. Sure it can be annoying going through the gates and security checks but in the end you get to some incredible places. Of course you don't get the full feel unless your in the military and able to stay at those places but what can we say, not everyone is cut out to protect our freedoms.
I will try to post a little more for the next few days while I'm traveling.

PLEASE if you have any questions or stories you want me to tell, let me know.

Spuds MeKitty

September 2002 - October 12, 2006
He was my pet, my buddy, my friend. He always was there for me when I had a bad day or good he would come and sit on my lap and greet me like a dog at the door. He loved playing with my toes in the bed and begging us for food. He was born with back problems and lived a life in pain but we did all that we could to make him a part of the family. He lived his last days outside where he loved to be.

So I just found out that the laptop power cable that they gave me for my work computer does not have the ability to plug into this laptop. Therefore I get to work quickly and use only batteries for this trip and then complain when I return to post.

I'm in Leavenworth!!! That's right I said I'm in Leavenworth. Not the penetentiary though. Fort Leavenworth is the HQ of my District so we're up here for training and to give a brief.

Have I mentioned I love the Army. Lodging here is great. I look forward to Karly getting here tomorrow.

Wow, what a month!

There's a reason I haven't updated very much. There's been sooo much going on that I've been in a kind of fog trying to figure everything out.

I think the last thing I posted was just after getting here at Fort Riley. Shortly thereafter I inprocessed up at Fort Leavenworth which is my District Headquarters. Those military folk out there will understand how unusual that process is since inprocessing usually happens at the post to which you are assigned, but for us we go to District. I have no idea why.

Then I came back down here and had a couple of days at home to get some major renovations done on the house. Currently Karly has been doing a wonderful job of continuing the upgrades and the house is really coming together. It won't be too long before we have the entire upstairs finally finished (per se) and ready to move on to the downstairs. All we have left is drywalling the new opening, some painting, putting up trim around the entire upstairs to make the ceilings look like they belong with the walls, and replacing windows. Then we have to do the attic which will take a serious cleaning, a new window, and a whole bunch of pink panther so we can keep the heat in the house over the winter. The attic space could probably be used for a room if we wanted to spend the money to finish it, but for now it's not on the list. We may, however, put in some duct work and create zone heating/cooling based out of the attic.

Then on to downstairs. That'll be the fun work (right). We have to replace all the carpeting, paint the walls, raise the ceiling back up to its glorious 9 foot level, do some molding, lay some laminate, and replace the windows. When all is said and done we will have an absolutely amazing house.

Then we move on to the yard and shed. Currently the shed is a 4 door pole barn with a 25x25 shop area. There are no doors on the stall fronts so in the plans is adding garage doors. The yard has little to no landscaping around the house. They put in rocks around the deck and a couple of big rocks on either side of the driveway but that's about it. So we have some work to do.

And that's just what is going on with the house. I haven't even mentioned my work.

I have three missions: Food Security/Safety and biosecurity, Government owned animals (Military Working Dogs, Caisson Horses, TSA dogs), and Privatly owned animals (Fluffy). Any one of these missions would be all that most officers in the Army have to deal with, but in vet services they expect more out of us and so they pack our lives full of way more than humanly possible. The absolute only way to excel in all of the areas is to have great management skills and a strong ability to delegate and trust that your staff is doing everything they need to do.

The last two weeks have been extremely hectic because my clinic manager (NCOIC) tore through his Achilles tendon, was rushed to surgery and then left the clinic for a couple of weeks on convalescent leave. Thus the technician and I had to fill in the hole and keep things running. Needless to say that was not easy.

On the happy side, within the next two weeks I will have another credential under my belt. I will at that point be credentialed by the military as a 3006 Commercial Sanitary Inspection Auditor. A.K.A. I will be able to go and audit commercial food production facilities and make sure that they are acceptable sources for military procurement.

I really enjoy the branch side of my job. I love doing the sanitary inspections and facility inspections. I have fun teaching people about food security and public health. Life would be great if I could do all of my mission and not have to spend so much time in the office. Getting out is the best part of my job.

All in all, life is good. No matter what the world throws at you, maintaining that knowledge that everything has its reason and purpose allows you to live the game of life without stressing about the little stuff. Remember that whatever happens today, the sun will rise tomorrow; whatever happens this week, next week is just around the corner; whatever happens this month, brings you ever closer to the holidays; whatever happens this year, next year will be another chance.

[Posted and edited courtesy of Karly. Haha....now your bad spelling and grammar in posts doesn't have to bother me in published form. ]

Nobody played

The answer to the quiz from the other day is the Chinese Water deer. Native to China this small deer averaging less than 50 pounds is one of the very first cervids. The distinguishing characteristic of this deer is it's lack of antlers on the males. Instead of antlers the male deer of this species have tusks, that's right, tusks. Their upper K-9 teeth grow out into large tusks which they use for fighting and determining the dominant males.

Other than that all is well in San Antonio. Karly will be arriving tomorrow. YAY!!!

Interesting

I was just looking at some of my archived pictures from past travels when I ran across one of the most interesting creatures that I have photographed. I don't know if I should ID this for you all or make it a challenge picture. I think I'll do the latter and you can tell me (though I think the name of the animal is in the file name but try not to cheat). Anyway, if you look at the lower jaw of this animal you'll see why its unusual.

Class has been a whole lot of fun!!!

Stuff's an junks
Happy Paul!!!
Life is good. Last week is over, and Karly's coming soon. YAY!!!
For the last 10 weeks we've averaged 1 homework assignment per week (huge responsibility). This last week I had 5 assignments and we had to prepare our first commanders brief. Needless to say I'm very glad the week is over. I also was assigned to run PT yesterday. That was fun.
We were all extremely sore from Cpt. K's PT on wed. which was killer so I decided to spend a little longer with warm up and stretching than usual but then we played 45min of Ultimate Frisbee. Keep in mind it's dark out while we're playing but we overcame the hazzard of having a high speed disk flying through the dark air by purchasing a cool disk with 2 LED's. It was not by any means a regulation disk but we could see it so it worked well. Some might say, oh playing frisbee, that's easy. Let me tell you, it ain't easy, especially when you've got a highly competitive group of in shape vets on the field. So far every time we've played a sport someone has gotten injured (usually a rolled ankle) but we always have a couple people who have the wind knocked out of them or get hit in the face... but it's great fun and a great workout. If you don't know about Ultimate, look the sport up, it's awesome.

New Countdown

Click Here to get this from FreeFlashToys.com!

Holy, Holy, Holy

Lord God almighty. Praise the Lord for all he has done for my family, Karly and I.

Apparently a large hole was created in an upstairs wall at Karly and my new house in KS (thus the holy pun, wink, wink). We decided shortly after we purchased our new house that creating a master bedroom upstairs was a good idea. So we made a large hole for french doors to be placed between one of the rooms which had no closet and what was probably the former master bedroom thus making a bedroom/sitting room combo. The french doors will allow closure of the sitting room for heating and cooling purposes and to decrease noise while still allowing visual access and slight auditory access for a young family with a baby.

Now that the hole will be made and the framing put in we can proceed to carpet the upstairs so we can finally move in up there (yay). Not that it makes too much of a difference to me yet since I'm still in Texas but I'm very happy.

Last but not least we are signed up to have all of the windows in the house replaced with energy efficient tax deductible windows. The cost is pretty steep but I have very little doubt that the return in terms of lower bills, and resale will more than make up for the cost. Not to mention they will look better and it'll be nice to have windows that open upstairs.

Getting Closer

I have shown significant improvement every time I take the DAPFT. That's the point though, it's diagnostic so you can find out how you're doing. The story of my getting back in shape starts back in January after the wedding.

At Karly and my wedding I will admittedly say that I was significantly overweight. It was the first time im my life that I had surpassed the 200 mark on some scales and I wasn't happy about that. So starting three days after the wedding things were changing. Some of it was necessity, some happenstance.

It started with my ICU block. Four weeks of intensive stress and standing pretty much the entire 12 hour shifts. I was down to about 190 by the end of January.

Then I went to my active duty training. I had to workout because I needed to take my first DAPFT before leaving. At the end of the five weeks I was at 191, SU 42, PU 33, 2M run 20:43 of which none of these numbers are passing. Passing scores for my age are SU 50, PU 40, and 2M run 16:36.

Then came graduation. That was not good for my belly. By the middle of May I was back up to 195. But I was working out and doing my best to diet for the couple weeks prior to OBLC.

When I arrived at OBLC I weighed in at 190. The first DAPFT had SU 46, PU 42, 2M run 19:36. Yay I made significant improvement and passed the push up event. I didn't make weight yet at that particular moment but a couple of weeks later I weighed in at 178 which put me under the standard weight by 1# which makes me perfectly in compliance with army height weight standards.

Yesterday we didn't do height/weight but the DAPFT had some good results. I did 55 sit ups, 46 push ups, and a 18:10 on the 2M run. Hey, that means I passed 2 of three yay. I also improved my run time by 1:26 which is huge.

So I still have to work on the run but as the pattern shows, I will completely pass my APFT at Fort Riley. Then all I have to do is work for that 300.

On to buisness

Necropsy, necropsy, necropsy
What a lovely topic and wet lab to come back to. Nothing like cutting up dead animals to get you back on track. I shall spare you the details.

Tomorrow we start the day with a DAPFT. Have I mentioned I don't like running very much. I have to complete the 2 mile run tomorrow in under 16:36 which will be the challenge, especially since my knee is starting to get very painful. I may see a doctor about the knee soon, perhaps next week. I have a prior injury which was diagnosed as crushed cartillage in the knee, I can't remember wether it was one or both meniscuses but I'm guessing that the prior injury is related to my current pain which keeps getting worse. Oh well it will either get fixed and get better or be a chronic problem leading to a profile. Either way would be ok.

Karly's back in Kansas now and will be there till she comes back down here. If you really feel like helping her unpack, I'm sure she would take all the help she could get.

5+2=7

Yes, I can do math.
Those numbers are what I had to do for my unfortunate "leave on emergency". Five days with Karly and 2 days traveling. I love American Airlines by the way. I don't know who all has heard the story of our initial issue trying to get me to Wisconsin on Thursday. So I shall tell the saga here.
Day1 Tuesday: Karly calls with the bad news on her grandmother (this was the morning she hadn't passed on yet). I go and talk to LTC Grahm about what I should do and she sets me up for leave on emergency. That afternoon I discuss with the rest of the permanent party people what the options are on getting plane tickets for berevement after looking for tickets online and seeing prices like $650-750. The wonderfull NCO's get cracking and I go back to class. Five minutes later I get pulled out of class as one of the NCO's found a "great deal" with Southwest. What they found was $400 leaving on Thursday and returning on Tuesday. I was interested but since we still had no info on when the funeral was going to be it was hard to book. So we got a "reservation" which I needed to confirm by midnight.
I got home and found out that Grandma went extremely quickly when taken off of the respirator. There was a moment of silence and then we again began struggling with getting tickets for reasonable prices as the date of the service wouldn't be set until the next day. This posed a problem since the ticket price was only good till midnight and since the service estimate of time was "could be as early as Friday or as late as Monday". Since no official date could be arranged Karly and I decided to definitely get me there on Thursday and leave at the earliest on Tuesday.
Next we started looking at ticket prices and couldn't find anything else for the $400 range which left on Thursday. If I traveled on Friday it would be 350 but that would be too late so we started contemplating the Southwest ticket into Midway.
Then Karly looked at the map (ouch). It's about a 4 hour drive to Midway from Belleville, Wisconsin. Back to the drawing board.
We then started looking at flying into the area nearby my parents on Thursday and then they could pick me up and get me to Rockford to meet Karly. Hooray we find better deals especially into Decatur, IL of all places and Springfield, IL. Peoria and Bloomington were very expensive to fly into on that short notice.
Then We decide to start making phone calls to airlines and try to get a good deal that way. This began around 8:30pm. Karly starts with Continental and United and I get to try American and Southwest. We're on a goal to have me leave on Thursday and return on Tuesday or Wednesday. I hang up with Karly and get calling.
1st try American Airlines. I call the 800 number and go through the menu. So I decide to keep looking online while holding to talk to a representative. Finally after 20 minutes I get through to a gentleman with a low comforting southern drawl. At first I mention flying into Decatur because we had seen good prices online for that and wanted to know if we could get berevement for even cheaper. So he starts going through prices for there and nearby airports. I hear numbers below $400 so I'm thinking this could be a good option. Then I ask if there can be a military discount on top of the berevement and he says back to me "are you active duty" I say yes so he say's I think you're going to get a better deal with just the active military rate I repeat rate. Apparently, American Airlines has a rate for active duty military. It's independent of time so you could book the ticket 4 hours ahead of 4 months and it would be the same price. They have certain flights and a select number of seats to sell at the military rate so when they're full you're S O L on that day and have to pick another day (first come first serve).
I get the rate to Bloomington and it is good so I said well let's just try to Madison and it's even better so we go to book it and it's full on thursday (crap now where to go) so I ask about Milwaukee. Hey, that's even cheaper yet the voice over the phone says. I ask for availability and he says we can get you in on Thursday(great) how about leaving, he gives me two options 0545 on Tuesday or 0545 on Wednesday. I was initially thinking Tuesday would be ok but then recalled that the funeral could still be on Monday and that would be pushing it to get back from Waterloo on the night of the funeral and drive early in the morning the rest of the way. So I decide that Wednesday will be the best.
So in summary:
Flight out on Thursday(great)
Flight back at 0545 on Wednesday(OOOOOH dark thirty that's gonna hurt)
COST you wonder
With taxes and airport fees the total was $236.20
Let's do the math, first look price $750-final price $236 for a savings of over $500.
Have I mentioned that I love American Airlines.
AMERICAN AIRLINES is the BEST!!!:)

Shakespear (sp?)

To blog or not to blog? What a silly question. Certainly tis nobler to blog thy stories and maketh room for more. Aye, there's the rub, for in thy blogging dost thou find that thy stories are removed or perhaps only by releasing have thou made more room for scrutiny. What of this shall I say, that opening up your life through blog becomest habitual? If thou spreadest all thy life in print then dost thou actually have a life or is it none more than a series of perpetual typing.

Take thou not leave from blogging as to do so would be nought but succuming to the vassalry of the masses. As all have hearts and minds which yield fruitful thought and feeling, let it be known to the public. But be wary of what thou speweth as thine enemy lurketh nearby always cognisent of thy misgivings and trials, and willing and wanting to envelop thou in their miscreant ways.

Back to reality. (backdate to the 8th)

I have to return to Texas tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to leaving my wife once again but I know that I need to in order to complete my initial training and start my career.

I made it

I made it in yesterday without too much trouble. There was a 1 hour delay at O'hare which is par for the course. When we arrived at O'hare the Captain came over the intercom and said "stay in your seats with your seatbelts buckled until we tell you otherwise" and repeated it multiple times fairly forcefully/ So like good obiedient people we did as he said since we had no clue what was going on. So about 45sec after we stopped some TSA agents boarded the plane walked past me toward the back. They left a couple of seconds later with two in front of and one behind a passenger who was on the plane . Shortly after that the young man of about 18 was handcuffed. I have no idea what happened or why but it is kind of scary.

After that was the delay and then the happy. We spent the night at Beth and Josh's and this morning went to the New Glarus brewery to pick up some really good beer and then on the windy roads through Wisconsin to get to Iowa and then on to Cedar Falls where we are now.

The funeral is in the morning.

Reshaped and ready to fly!

I decided that my beret needed to be reshaped this evening. I want it to look good for the funeral on Saturday so I did the whole warm water, shave and shape. The cool thing about the beret is when you put it on after getting it wet, it fits absolutely perfect and looks great. But then you have to leave it on until it dries so it holds form (2-3 hours whew). That isn't fun but it's how you do it. Anyway, Karly's never been around when I've just shaped a beret so I took some pictures. What's unfortunate is that after it dries, being wool, it requires constant tugging to keep it correct and then when it gets really humid it seems to schrivel up (boo). So to make a long story short, I am still preferential to the patrol cap but since there is a commanders order to wear the beret on Sam Houston I must comply. I also have to have it ready and looking good because it is authorized for wear with the class A, B, ACU, DCU, and BDU.

So here's one of the pictures.

I WANT YOU for the US Army!!

A very Very sad day

I recieved word about ten this morning that Karly's grandmother had reached the terminal stage of renal failure. Grandma passed her spirit on to our Lord and savior this afternoon.

I will be joining Karly later this week

Grandma had a beautiful wonderful vibrant spirit and she will be missed by this world.

Castles on Ft Sam Houston and Nearby

Here we go, I finally got one to work. I just started using the Xanga picture server thingy and they keep showing up as broken links until I publish then edit the post (weird). Anyway, this is a castle just off of the old post at Ft Sam. It's outside the gates but it's quite a single family residence.

I just don't get it. I think I told the program to use the same size for this picture as the last but it shows up smaller. Ayway, this is the Pershing house. If you can't tell it's quite the place. The two story porch is consistent across the majority of the older on post quarters (that's where the officers live). In case you hadn't guessed this house is the quarters for a very important person on post. It's the commander of the US Army North (5th army).

So I found an interesting site

I just had to post about this website because it has brought memories back to high school when I was getting good grades without much work and had time to actually read and discuss some of the more "brainy" things in life. I think I'm going to spend some quality time on this site and read some of the essays and stuff. The site is The Friesian School it is based on the Friesian school of the 1800s which was a philosophy school in southern Germany which was founded for the purpose of a philosophical revolution. Today this site seems to be just more of an amalgamation of intersting articles about interesting topics.

The other day I read an article on the site titled Zero Divided by Zero which started my mind gargling mathematical principles in a way which it hasn't really done in about 4-6 years (yikes). Philosophy is cool. If you look at the diagram in the article it really explains the theory well.

More pictures from the field!!
Protecting the FOB is a challening job. Especially when all you have to do it with is blanks.

Oh, my does running with a litter hurt. When you do enough carries consecutively with 180-220 pound people who are wearing LBE and carrying M-16's you start to get woosy from extreme muscle fatigue.

2nd Platoon group picture. We called this our militant picture with all of our weapons pointed at the sky in a not so usual carry position.

The hot rod of the Army. It's the Stryker (hooah). This one's a medical (duh see the big red cross) stryker. They are a wheeled armored vehicle kind of like a tank but they move a lot faster and smoother.


 

Have you ever wondered about how companies control food production so that there is no chemical, biological, or physical contamination?
Have you ever had dreams about analyzing production lines?
Have you ever thought about how much bleach you have to put into water to adequately kill bacteria, or what temperature the food needs to be cooked to to do the same?
If you've answered yes to any of these lovely questions than maybe, just maybe you should join the US Army Veterinary Corps!!!!
It's an adventure in practice. Not only do we get to take care of the traditional roles of veterinarians like kitties and puppies and horses and cows, but we also get to have fun with auditing food production lines, inspecting grocery stores and restaurants, taste testing MRE's and other sumptious rations, and playing with the nice little war dogs who just love to bite.
If you're still interested then I need to talk to you and get you in.

All kidding aside, I LOVE MY JOB. Even though I haven't actually started yet, what we do as army vet's is awesome and fun.

The maids are definitely trying to earn a tip, definitely!!!
I walk into my room tonight and I take a look around and say to myself somethings wrong here. Then I notice, that my shoes are missing from their usual spot. So I search the room and find the boots in the other room by the closet/pantry. Then I notice that the camera bags have been hung on the doorknob so I was wondering what else they did. I went in to use the bathroom and when I was washing my hands I looked over to get a cup afterwards because I was thirsty. Well there was only one of my glass glasses left where there were three this morning. Hmmm, I thought, I bet they washed them, and sure enough out by the coffee pot (which was also cleaned). So all in all I really like the maid service here at Sam Houston.

On another note. My wealth of useless information has started to have a little use. In discussing food safety and food micro I evidently made it quite apparent to the class and to the subject matter expert (WO3) that I was after a little more information about the topic than my colleagues.

Anyway, today was fun though I felt like I ate too much since going to the DFac for breakfast and lunch and later tonight we're celebrating Cpt. Pfanenstiehl's (sp. formerly Tidd) birthday by going out for fermented grain tea and dough circles with tomato puree, shredded processed milk, and slow and fast twitch fibers with various other flavorings.

The long haul has begun. BOOOOO!!!
Karly left this morning at about 9AM to head back to Kansas for the night and tomorrow she'll be heading back to Iowa. The long haul unfortunately means I won't seen my lovely wonderful beautiful sweet wife for about a month. I know, I know, I should count myself lucky that it's only a month and that I'm not heading to theater but I don't care how long the time is, wether it's 2 weeks or 2 years, it still isn't fun. (BTW Karly says hi!!!)
So on to the pictures. This is a beginning of the tribute to my first couple of months as a veterinarian. Yes that's right these are pictures from the first few months of my life as a veterinarian. NO I am definitely not a normal veterinarian and nor have I really had any desire to be a "normal" vet dating back to my second year of veterinary school. Since then I have persued more of a preventative medicine and herd health slant on vet med. The whole fixing broken animals just doesn't do it for me. I digress.

The first picture is of myself on the left and two buddies after a nice 2 hour session of learning buddy carries. These are the carries that you would use to evacuate a soldier (or anyone) out of harms way without the use of a litter, gurney, or some kind of wheeled object. Needless to say we got extremely dirty that day and guess what else. There were absolutely NO showers after this day. We were in the field and the streams were dried up so all we had was a sink (which was nice) to be able to shave and wash our face (thank God for that one).

The second picture is myself (though I don't look like me to me, the glasses throw me off). But that's me with my coffee cup (canteen cup) full of coffee and my trusty M-16 by my side.

Third picture: wandering in the wilderness. Actually it wasn't soo much wilderness in my opinion. There were way tooo many trails for driving and hiking which were well marked on our maps, and the vegetation wasn't very dense so doing land navigation on this 3k by 2k course was in my opinion very easy. Though with only a map and compass to go by there were quite a few people who took quite a long time to get their four points in the daylight and another four after dark (9% illumination). Here's my time to boast and say that I got all 8 points correct and on the night land navigation which started at 8:30PM I was back in bed by 9:45PM (the last group came in at 12:45AM) and we had to go all the way to the farthest end of the course.

And the last picture is of the lovely and wonderful combatives instruction. Yes a veterinarian needs to know how to defend himself when doing hand to hand combat.

By the way, I didn't bring my good camera or any other camera to the field so these are all pictures from my buddies so feel free to use them as you please.

 

As per request of my mother here's some new pictures.
This is Karly and I post graduation. The chopper is in front of the AMEDD center and school.

These are pictures of our new room on post. It's good to be an officer. The room is a two room suite with a couch...you can see what it has to offer.

The last picture is during graduation. The guest speaker is at the podium and Maj. Nazarro our class advisor is standing behind him.
Graduation was fun but it's good to move on to my next five weeks of death by powerpoint.

 

Sooooo. I have no idea if anyone is even reading this blog anymore. I love having visitors but since I really don't get comments from anyone I have to wonder if I should even keep this one going or just consolidate into my clone blog which I do get comments on. So if you want me to keep updating this one let me know please!!!
Thanks,
This blogs manager

Good news

My grandfather is starting to get better. No thanks to the doctors and hospital who tried to starve him to death. But he's doing better now which is great. I won't get into much detail about what's going on with grandpas case but I will ask for him to be in your prayers.

On another note. I received the schedule for the Vet track portion of my training. It looks like I'm in for 5 weeks of the worst death by powerpoint that I have ever had. There is a week in the middle where we do some surgery and practical stuff but overall we'll be spending most of our time in the classroom looking at slides about food and handwashing...

The best note of all is that Karly is currently in Norman, OK on the way down here. That means that all of our stuff was delivered to our house this morning allowing Karly to get away and drive the first leg of the trip at a reasonable hour. She's only got 7 hours left of driving to get here. YAY!!!!

Last news, I have a test tomorrow. It seems the military uses the community college version of test review and teaching. aka I'll teach you everything during the class and tell you it's all important, then the day before the test I'll give you a review which outlines almost exactly what's going to be on the test because we want you all to succeede. I guess it's true that in the military anything other than excellent is not enough so they can't make it extremely hard or no one would be able to make rank.

Fun fun fun!! I'll be an OBC graduate on Friday. YAY!!!

Happy day of rest

Yesterday was pretty dull. I didn't really do much of anything which kind of felt good but I also felt cooped up. So this morning I left the room bright and early and walked up to the chapel. I took pictures since I thought it would be fun to have some pictures of the area. The first picture is the gift chapel which was given to Fort Sam Houston by the people of San Antonio. It was finished in 1911. The second is the outside of the gift chapel and the third is a painting in the chapel.

Good morning everybody!!!

It's good to be able to sleep comfortably for a whole night through. I was extremely tired last night and at about nine o'clock I seriously couldn't stay awake to say good night to Karly. The next thing I knew Karly was calling me again, this time at 7:45AM. Wow was I out of it. So I must speak for Karly now as she's in Kansas at our house doing cleaning and figuring out stuff but has no internet yet so I'm the only contact. If you need/want to talk to her and don't have her phone number, email me, identify yourself and perhaps give me a reason and I will give you contact info.
It looks like our stuff is going to be arriving on Tuesday and Karly is planning on leaving to come down here shortly thereafter.
Life just keeps getting more interesting.

I'm Back

Another four days in the field. Another 2 stinky uniforms and about a hundred fire ant welts. I do love the field though. The only thing that would make it better and thereby reasonable to stay for long term would be a source of water to bathe in. If that were out there I would definitely vote to stay out there for the entire training time. I'm definitely a country boy at heart.
Karly's on her way to Kansas where she will spend the next couple of days waiting for the movers to arrive. She will then head down here for my graduation on the 21st in the afternoon.
More on the field. This was the AMEDD ftx where we had a lot of fun doing scenerio training and more team exercises like litter carrying. We had a lot of fun using blanks to defend ourselves while they simulated morters, fires and casualties which we had to evacuate and bring to level 1 aid and then further on to level 2... (they didn't decide who was going to die based on weight, I think more 200 lb guys died than lived). It was quite a workout.

I couldn't help but laugh at this picture. Enjoy!!!:) 

Entrance to Cascade caverns
My sweet wife kissing me somewhere in the San Antonio vacinity.
This is a great picture of the fault line which cascade cavern is located in. The black line which divides the top of the picture in half is the actual fault. I found this extreely fascinating. At the end of the line the 90 foot cascade waterfall is running. It's hard to see the water but trust me, it's there. 

Espada dam constructed in 1745 planned by the Fransiscans and built by the indians.
Mission San Jose. The arches to the right are the ruins of the convento (the priest HQ). The main chuch is to the left.




This be a large very old bald cypress. the bald cypress is called that because it is a conifer which loses it's needles in the winter. They are also known for their way of producing young cypress. They shoot up new trees from their roots. When the new tree pops up it's called a cypress knee. Not all knees will grow up into trees though.









A snake which was found on the way out of Cascade caverns.

 

We Bought A HOUSE!!!!

Yay!!!!

Busy Weekend
The fun started saturday morning when I woke up to the rain. I started getting ready for the day about 0700, typed on the computer and talked to Karly and my family. At about 0900 I went to pick up the rental car from the reputable company Enterprise which has an office on post. I left the building and it was still raining but I wanted to walk so I proceeded the 1.5 miles uphil toward the DFAC where the car was.
When I arrived it became plainly obvious that they didn't open till 10 even though their online hours began at 0900 so I waited under a shelter over at the DFAC. When I walked over to the office at about0955 they had opened the door a little early and 3 people had already gone in and were doing the paperwork. I got my papers and started working. The entire group before me and those in line behind me were all IET students so when I got up there and told him I was in a hurry because my wife was landing at 1035 and that I was a 26 year old officer he was much more cordial to me than the others. He gave me a free upgrade because the size of car I had reserved would have taken me to another lot on post and he said someone was going to have to get an upgrade and he would prefer me over a 21YO enlisted soldier.
So I got a nice 2005 Chevy Malibu and was off to pick up Karly who was at the baggage claim around the time I left Fort Sam.
I arrived at the airport and found my lovely wife in all of her cuteness and beauty. We headed back to the post hotel to drop off the luggage and get her through a shower.
After we cleaned up we went down to the river walk for lunch and then went to the alamo then had some coffee on the balcony of a restraunt overlooking the river and a walking bridge. Someone had glued a quarter to the third stair up on the walking bridge and that became quite a source of entertainment as countless people used countless measures to try and aquite it. We were also entertained by a number of house finches who had discovered that the door, that was behind us which led directly into the upstairs of the restaurant, had a large gap on its bottom side with no protection to keep animals... out. Thus they would fly onto the balcony, look at the door, decide if it was safe and quickly rush under into the safety of the restaurant where they would fly around and pick up crumbs off the tables. After that we went for a walk and had dinner at the Texas Land and Cattle steak house. Karly was introduced to her first lobster tail as we shared a surf and turf plate for dinner.
Sunday,
We started the day off at church for the "traditional protestant" service which is usually run by a lutheran minister but that day the methodist ran it. After church we discovered the Sunday brunch at the Fort Sam Houston club. The brunch was delicious however buffets are bad for the waistline so we had to watch what we ate. We then got in the car and headed to a cave which was actually part of a fault line. It was extremely interesting actually being inside a fault line and looking up seeing the split in the rocks above. At the end of the cave was a 90ft tall waterfall which was breathtaking. The waterfall is fed by a large amount of water seeping through the limestone. The guide said that if San Antonio were to have a long extended drought, the waterfall would continue to run as it was that day for 5-6 years without rain on the surface. After surfacing from that really wet cave (the wettest in texas) we headed out for the "cave with no name". That caves main point of entry was nothing but a 4 foot wide hole in the ground. But when you went into it the cave opened up into a very large series of halls. These halls in series were where the Guadalupe river once flowed and carved out the large caverns. After emerging from the second cave we attempted to find George Straight, Sandra Bullock, and Dennis Rodmans houses. We didn't actually find the right hill until the next morning when we found the gate to "The Dominion" where they all live. Humorously enough "THE DOMINION" overlooks FOB Colorado where we did our FTX the week before and I used George Straights pole light as a direction indicator during my night land navigation. That night we had dinner at a chinese place which served all you can ceat Crab legs. I think Crab legs are almost on the order of celery being a food which you actually burn calories eating. But if you're good at cracking crabs (like I am) you can eat a whole bunch of them at one sitting and only have moderatly sore hands.
Monday,
Happy Birthday to Karly, Happy birthday to Karly, Happy birthday dear Kaaaaarrrrrrlllllly, Happy birthday to you!!!!!
She said she had never been sung to for her birthday as much as my family did. We have a tradition (especially if your not at home) of bombarding the birthday girl/boy with as many songs as possible over and over throughout the day. Fun Fun Fun!!!!!!
For Karly's birthday we had fun. We actually did find "THE DOMINION" and then went to Guadalupe river State Park for a few hours of cuddling on a rock in a rapid in the middle of the river. Then found Katrina's New Orleans Restaurant (the restaurant came first). The food there was excellent. We then went to the mission trail and hit all four missions (minus the Alamo as it's not part of the National Park) in the afternoon. We then went up to Espada park and visited the oldest dam in Texas (which was built by the indians and designed by the Fransiscans). We then headed up to Groene, TX to the Gristmill restaurant for some really good ribs and a bottle of wine. This was a fitting end to a lovely birthday for Karly.
Independence Day!!!!
Last year Karly and I got engaged on the 4th at sunrise in the Ledges State Park. It was an amazing morning and I doubt the experience could ever be repeated. Fortunately my ploy was that we were going to take pictures of the sunrise from the cliff (Karly was smart though and knew there was something else in the works). So we had the camera and were able to document the moment very well. So back to the present. We decided on the fourth last year that we were going to have to watch the sunrise on the 4th for the rest of our lives no matter how many miles may be between us (sounds good to me). So we got up early and headed east on 10 out into the country to watch the sunrise. Guess what, the sun never rose (at least not visibly) but we were there watching from 10 min before time till 10 min after rise time but the cloud cover made it impossible to see. So we went to breakfast and split a helping of eggs benedict (yummy). We then spent the afternoon on the riverwalk. We went to the Imax theatre and saw the Alamo (which gave light to the story behind the Alamo (which unfortunately neigther of us knew very well)). We rode the river taxi around for a long time, took some pictures of the river wildlife (water moccasin, snapping turtle, and crawdaddy). Then we headed out to watch the firewoks at Richardson AFB which were pretty much rained out. We then headed home and went to bed.
The next morning wasn't fun as Karly had to head home.

In other news, Karly and I are now officially Home Owners.

The fun started saturday morning when I woke up to the rain. I started getting ready for the day about 0700, typed on the computer and talked to Karly and my family. At about 0900 I went to pick up the rental car from the reputable company Enterprise which has an office on post. I left the building and it was still raining but I wanted to walk so I proceeded the 1.5 miles uphil toward the DFAC where the car was.
When I arrived it became plainly obvious that they didn't open till 10 even though their online hours began at 0900 so I waited under a shelter over at the DFAC. When I walked over to the office at about 0955 they had opened the door a little early and 3 people had already gone in and were doing the paperwork. I got my papers and started working. The entire group before me and those in line behind me were all IET students so when I got up there and told him I was in a hurry because my wife was landing at 1035 and that I was a 26 year old officer he was much more cordial to me than the others. He gave me a free upgrade because the size of car I had reserved would have taken me to another lot on post and he said someone was going to have to get an upgrade and he would prefer me over a 21YO enlisted soldier.
So I got a nice 2005 Chevy Malibu and was off to pick up Karly who was at the baggage claim around the time I left Fort Sam.
I arrived at the airport and found my lovely wife in all of her cuteness and beauty. We headed back to the post hotel to drop off the luggage and get her through a shower.
I will post more later.

A little explanation of the acronyms as per request of my sister.
CTT-Common task training
IET/AIT-Initial entry training/advanced individual training(AIT acronym being phased out)
Plt.-Platoon
SINGAR-radio
NBC-old acronym for nuclear, biologic, chemical
PT-physical training
For other acronyms the following is the official ABCA (acronym for army acronyms).
https://www2.arims.army.mil/abbreviation/mainpage.asp
I don't know how to make one of those fancy links so it's just the website.
There are some acronyms that just shouldn't be typed out as the acronym is way to long and technical and that's why we only use the acronym as a word eg. HMMWV- High mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle or for brevity Humvee. The SINGAR is another example of this and I won't even try to type it out.

Home sweet hotel. It won't be "home" until Karly gets here tomorrow. The last week was a lot of fun but really a lot of work. We basically did a weeks worth of the CTT that an IET soldier would learn and were given it in one day and tested the next. All I can say is holy cow were we pushing. We did M16, SINGAR, M9, 9 line Medevac, NBC training, day and night land navigation all in four days. Not to mention the leadership training course, GPS training, down chopper scenerio, and M9 range as well as learning to do weapons PT. It was a really hectic 4 days. But I managed to survive, get a go on all the tasks, make an expert level on the M9, and only got one blister. It was a lot of fun. I hit 100% of my points on the day and night land navigation and last night my partner and I even took 2 Plt. 1st Place on the nite run allowing me to get to bed by 2215 which was great since the time to complete the course ran until 0030 so I got to bed around 2 hours before the last person rolled in . I don't know that there's much more to say here other than this experience has made me realize how much I truly don't know or am unable to do when it comes to being a soldier. I now know how important the training we recieve is and no matter how hard it is to be away from my wife, if I am ever to be put in a position where I need to use these skills, I had better have the proper training and therefore I need to be away on occasion. The military is an amazing buisness.

I hope this finds you well. Things are going well here. Yesterday we did leadership training and NBC training. Today we did weapons PT, a road march, M9 live fire training, radio and medevac training, and learned how to strip the M16 and M9. We're up for land navigation tomorrow. This field thing is lots of fun though it would be much nicer if they were more private accomidations and if there were a better way to stay clean. I don't think I will have another chance to write. I'm doing this during my phone duty at 0230.
I think one of the nicest things I've found so far about this field exercise is seeing both the sunrise and the sunset for the last two days, and I'm sure today is going to be no different. It's a challenge to stay hydrated in the heat but with a camelpack and canteens I'm doing well. There is plenty of exercise going on both intentionally and inadvertently so my abs hurt. I think I will be extremely tired by friday not so much because of hard work but more a combination of the heat, exercise, and now having to split the night to do phone duty.
I give my best to all and I hope everyone is doing extremely well especially grandpa.

Ooh I forgot the fun of yesterday.

Last night was the CG reception for the HPSP OBC. I had the fortune to be able to meet BG Cates who is the chief of the veterinary corps. I picked his brain for a bit and even suggested a new idea which he actually liked. I also had the chance to meet and talk with the CG himself MG Weightman. It was actually fun being the individual who was not awestruck when the generals walked up to talk to us. It was however even more fun seeing the reactions from some of my colleagues when the general walked up and they were stunned into silence. That makes the tally up to three generals whom I have met in the last week of which two are active and one is retired.

Back to AMEDD museum!!

This morning was interesting and fun. I was able to sleep in till 0730 (that's really late). Then we had an appointment with the AMEDD museum at 1030 and had to drop off our duffels with some of our ftx gear at 1000.
The tour was great though we had to watch the same movie that the vetcorps group had watched two days prior. I did pay attention to the part of the tour which I could hear but the guide wasn't doing a very good job of sounding off or waiting until we were in an area to start talking (yes I know that is hard to do). But there is an amazing and growing collection of army medical memorabilia. One of the most interesting exhibits at the museum is its WWII ambulance train car. The train car was equipped with hospital beds, doctor beds, a kitchen, dining facility and other items necessary for long distance transport of sick or wounded patients.
The group with whom I rode to the museum this morning then decided to go to lunch at Godfathers pizza. The pizza was very good but I think it'll be the only pizza I should enjoy while I'm down here as it is extremely unhealthful.
Tomorrow I will go to church at 0800 and then pack to head out on our FTX.
On other news, anyone who reads this should keep my grandfather in their prayers as he had open heart surgery two days ago and is just today beginning the long road to recovery. They are going to take the ventillator off this evening and hopefully he will do well without it. And of course it's always good to keep in mind those who are spending countless hours nearby and that they are sleep deprived and need to be careful driving and doing their daily buisness. As long as were on a prayer list I think rain for Ames needs to be in the picture as Karly has been mentioning the lack of it on a regular basis and last but certainly not least we need to mention all of my colleagues who are serving our country in OIE, OEF and other deployments, that their missions allow their safe return and that all which still needs to be accomplished will be done well before the general public of the US gets their panties in a bunch and force the politicians to pull the Army out before there is stability.
Speaking of which I have a pet peeve which has come about even more since joining the military. I can't stand the people who complain about the US and the Army and the President and don't appreciate the sacrifice of the hundred and thousands of men and women who have given their lives and time so that those who complain have the freedom to do so. It seems obvious that they don't actually appreciate the freedoms which they live with and that they are certainly not willing to give any of their time, money or abilities so that others may enjoy even a hint of the freedoms which we have as US citizens. I am getting the feeling right now that the more time I spend working with the soldiers who are giving their lives to help others be free, the more I WILL NOT tolerate the individuals who slander and desecrate the sacrifice (ultimate or otherwise) which those soldiers are giving voluntarily.
Peace, love and happiness be to all who lay their eyes on these words.

This is my very favorite picture right now. It's not fun being away from Karly but we're doing well with the seperation.
A picture of Wayne and I and then Karly drinking really big beer's at the Bayernstube in Gibson City IL during Helen's graduation party.
The most boring tour ever!!!Today we had the "opportunity" to visity the Veterinary food diagnostics lab here at Ft. Sam. The actual food inspection process is kind of fun but the aftermath which comes here for testing I found to be rather dry. Or perhaps it was the presentation which was dry, either way the tour was not extremely enjoyable. The triumphant finale was going to the diagnostic lab and seeing leptospira and rabies (on microscopes), and a nice bat display. Other than that it was quite difficult to not only hear but to pay attention to the presenters.On the brighter side, this morning was fun. We went over to Lackland and visited the MWD kennel and VTF. They house a lot of dogs there and do most of the training on that site. We were privledged to a demonstration prior to our tour.I'm hoping the interest level I have for this course picks up when we head to our FTX. I'm guessing that just being outside again and doing things in the field will be a whole lot more fun than our daily "death by powerpoint" sessions. 

This morning marked a most interesting experience. It was kind of a shock and awe kind of times.
I woke up at 0600 and was planning on walking to church at the main chapel on post. I headed off at about 0700. I arrived at the chapel for the service which was listed as "protestant traditional". There were about 50 people there of which there were quite a few veterinarians. I was informed that the chaplain was a lutheran. His name is Chaplain James Benson. He had a very interesting sermon which was by no means what I expected from a lutheran pastor but it was good nonetheless.
After the service was over as I was walking out I was asked by a lady wether I would be jogging or walking back to the hotel. I said casually that I was hoping to find a ride back. She volunteered shortly thereafter. I met her outside of the chapel and we were walking toward the car and she said her husband was just dropping of some newspapers for recycling and we'd meet him in just a second.
We walked up to the car and I was introduced as was he. His name is Floyd Baker. His wife decided to jump up into the rumble seat of their little S10 pickup and let me have the passenger seat. So I got in and just started chatting. When he dropped me off he gave me his best and said that they hoped to see me at all of the services while I'm on post and he wants to meet Karly. I was just happy to make a new friend here in San Antonio.
Shortly after that is when my shock and awe kicked in. As I walked around the back of the truck to head up to the hotel I just casually glanced down at the bumper and was surprised to see two stars. I was at that point thinking naw it can't be. So I headed up to my room here and looked up Floyd Baker on AKO and lo and behold the wonderful gentleman who gave me a ride home and wants to see me again was none other than retired Major General Floyd W. Baker. Wow. I have since then just been in kind of an awe state.
I find it to be a wonderful thing that someone who has been in such an influential position in the military would be so kind and generous. It definitely shows the integrity of the person behind the position and how we are all in then end just people.

Stole this one from Karly.

40 Things you'd Never Think to ask...

1. Have you ever been questioned by the cops?

Only for being pulled over for a traffic violation

2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters?

Nope, I like to see the action ahead

3. When is the last time you've been sledding?

Oh, it was something like Feb. 2005 with Karly at the disc golf course.

4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?

I like sleeping with my wife, wink, wink.

5. Do you believe in ghosts?

Yes, I’ve had some first hand experience.

6. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?

Yes.

7. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?

Who is Jennifer Aniston? I’d have to go with Angelina but I personally think she’s a butterface.

8. Can you honestly say you know ANYTHING about politics?

I know a little just because I have to. Playing politics is the life of military.

9. Do you know how to play poker?

Yep

10. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?

I don’t remember ever doing anything that dumb.

11. What is your favorite commercial?

The one’s for the US Army. If you’re 18 and need a job go sign up.

12. Do you like to cuddle?

Yep but I haven’t got enough of it lately.

13. If you're driving in the middle of the night, and no one is at sight, would you speed?

I’m not a huge speeding at night person. My vision isn’t as good and most of my experience at getting pulled over has been at night when I didn’t see the cop. So the answer is not much.

14. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you?

Perhaps but if I did I wouldn’t put it here would I.

15. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?

Who cares.

16. How often do you remember your dream?

Occasionally I’ll remember them for a couple of hours after I wake up.

17. Can you name 5 songs by The Beatles?

Yep.

18. What's the one thing on your mind?

My wife.

19. Do you believe in love at first sight?

Not truly love, but attraction that can lead to love. That’s what I had with Karly.

20. What talent do you wish you had?

I think it would be cool to do magic tricks.

21. Do You like Sushi?

I love sushi.

23. What do you wear to bed?

Shorts and a shirt.

24. Have you ever been caught stealing?

That would assume that I have stolen something so no.

25. Rock or Rap?

Rock

26. If you could be seen with one famous person, who would it be?

George Bush

27. Do you know anyone in jail?

Yep

28. Have you ever sang in front of the mirror?

Sure

29. What food do you find disgusting?

Pickled pigs feet

30. Did you ever play, "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours?"

Nope I was a good little boy.

31. Who is your biggest fan?

Karly for sure.

32. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew?

Yes I have.

34. If you could live anywhere where would you live?

I think I would like to have a house and some land in Brasil or at least South America somewhere.

36. Your best quality?

My sense of humor and easy going attitude according to Karly.

37. Best feature?

My eyes again according to Karly.

38. When was the last time you smoked pot?

That’s just a dumb question. Answering this with a yes would be incriminating and foolish.

39. Have you ever spent the night with a person of the opposite sex?

Yep and I’m on the phone with her right now.

40. Do you miss high school?

Not at all. High school was retarded and petty.

Ok so here's the deal. A lot of what I'm doing here and for the rest of my career will be considered classified or confidential information. That means I won't tell and you won't ask. Thus I will not be posting much about exactly what who, what, where, when, why or how we're doing thing. But I can post some things which have past so as soon as I have a way to download pictures from my phone I will add some color to my posts again.

Things are extremely busy down here. We generaly have a wake up call at about 0500 and get home about 1900, and with wakeup at 0500 you must get to sleep early or sleep deprevation will be iminent. So blogging will be intermittent here. But on weekends I have much more free time.

Here's something I got from Karly and felt like filling out. It was written last night so things are a little offf for today but whatever.

1.) Where were you when the ball dropped for 2006?
The Basil in Ames, IA where I was kissing my new wife.
2.) How did you get the idea for your myspace name?
I don’t have a myspace name
3) What are you listening to right now?
My wife on the phone
4.) Has the death of a celebrity ever made you cry?
Ronald Regan there is nothing more emotional than a state funeral.
5.) What color underwear are you wearing?
Grey
6.) Do you live in a zoo?
If you consider soldiers animals than the answer is yes.
7.) What did you do this morning?
DAPFT at 0445
8.) this question is missing
9.) Where do you work?
Wherever the US Army has me.
10) What ended your last relationship?
I got sick of dealing with vegetarians.
11) What are the last two digits of your phone number?
15
12.) What was the last concert you attended?
Maynard Fergusson and the Big Bop Nuevo Band.
13.) Who was with you?
My wife and my inlaws at least I think they were inlaws already then but I’m not sure when the concert was actually.
14.) What was the last movie you watched?
Blazing Saddles
15.) What do you dislike at the moment?
PETA
16.) What food do you crave right now?
Meat
17.) Did you dream last night?
It had to do with me and my wife and that’s all you get to know.
18.) What was the last TV show you watched?
Fox news
19.) What is your favorite piece of jewelry?
My wedding band.
20.) Name someone on your Top 8 who is just like you?
What is top 8? Is that like a chaunukah thing with those little tops that they spin or something?
21.) What is the last thing you ate?
Ritz crackers
22.) We seem to have another missing question...
23.) Who last IMed you?
Karly
24.) Are you on any medication?
Nope
25.) What side of the bed do you sleep on?
The side that my wife isn’t on which on occasion isn’t so much as a side as an inch but then I push her back over and she says sorry and I say I just wanted to get close to you or some dialogue which I don’t remember in the morning because I never really woke up.
26.) What color shirt are you wearing?
White
27) what color is your razor?
silver
28.) What is your favorite frozen treat?

Karly in the winter time. She turns into a popsicle.

29.) How many tattoos/piercing do you have?
None intentionally however I have had some accidental piercings but those healed over which is good.
30.) What are your favorite stores?
ebay
31.) Are you thirsty right now?
No I just drank some gatorade.
32.) Can you imagine yourself ever getting married?
I am married and I’d marry her again in a heartbeat.
33.) Who's someone you haven't seen in awhile?
My old friend Skip Gilfillan. I’ve been trying to get in touch with him for a long time with no success.
34.) What did you do last night?
Slept duh.
35.) Do you care what people think about you?
Nope
36.) Have you ever instigated trouble?
I’m nothing but a little angel. Sike (I had to use that really old slang term).
37.)Do you like your nose?
Unless it’s burnt and hurting, yes.
38.) What color is your bedroom?
White
39.) When was the last time you worked out?
This morning
40.) And another missing question! I think maybe someone doesn't know how to count...

41.) Do you like doggies?
I do like K-9’s
42.) Where do you live?
With my wife who lives in Iowa.
43.) Are you an aggressive driver?
I classify myself as offensively defensive.
44.) Who is your cell phone carrier?
Verizon
45.) Do you like the person who posted this last?
Yep I married her didn’t I.
46.) Do you know their Birthday?
Of course I do and I can prove it to but you didn’t ask that.
47.) What is the one thing you'd want to change most about your best friend?
Her fear of butterflies, moths, heights and singing solos.
48.) What color is your car?
Green
49.) What do you smell like right now?
I smell like I just got out of the shower because I did just get out of the shower.
50.) What is your favorite color?
Blue
51.) Do you like mustard?
Yep
52.)What do you tell yourself when times get hard?
God has a plan.
53.) Would you ever skydive?
Heck yes and I think I’ll go to airborne school to learn too.
54.)What do you sleep on?
A sheet on top of a mattress pad on top of a mattress.
55.)What character from a movie/TV most reminds you of yourself?
Jeff Corwin
56.)Have you ever bid for something on ebay?
Many times.
57.) What do you think of Angelina Jolie being pregnant?
I don’t care
58.)Do you enjoy giving hugs?
Yep, you want one? If you do please come to Texas and I will oblige.
59.)Would you consider yourself to be fashionable?
Not usually, of course the new ACU is the latest fashion for our US ARMY.
60.)Do you own a digital camera?
D70 baby yeah.
61.)What celebrities have you been compared to?
Owen Wilson, the guy who played angel on angel.
62.)Who is your favorite Star Wars character?
Yoda
63.)Does it annoy you when someone says they'll call but never do?
Yep
64.)What books, if any, have made you cry?
I don’t think there are any
66.) Are you a jealous person?
not usually
67.)Do you ever feel guilty after eating meat?
Hell no, meat is an essential part of every meal.
68.)If you were born the opposite sex what would your name be?
Bob
69.)Do you know anybody in jail?
Yes

Scary, terrific, wonderful, lonely... I want to go but I don't want to leave. I want to go so that I may return and not have to go again. But I don't want to go because I have to leave my wife, yet leaving my wife will allow her to do things like work and "get back into shape". Oh, Bother!! There is no option and it's obviously the only way that I can continue to be on the job path which I/we have chosen. Time will fly and then we will be in Kansas together.

Moving on, we got back from our 1500 mile trek down to the Shawnee National forest and back. We stopped in Normingtion/Hudson on the way down and on the way back up. We stayed in Greenville for the two nights in so. IL. I tried to break my leg on a rock at Burden falls in the forest. I was unsuccessful in breaking it but to this time it's still painful. We had a wonderful time down in the forest and were able to pass off the Cadillac to Mandy.

On sunday we were recruited to be part of the choir for the dedication of Redeemer Lutheran church in Greenville. It was a wonderful time and the sermon for the dedication was incredible. I hope to be able to post a transcript in the future.

For memorial day we returned to Bloomington to deliver flowers to the graves of our ancestors. On the morning of Memorial day we went to the parade and then the memorial service and then we delivered flowers. We had a great lunch at Schooners and then were off back to Ames.

It was a lot of driving and a lot of fun but very tiring. I have a feeling that that will be a synopsis of Karly and my life in the military that is a lot of driving a lot of fun but very tiring.

Here it is!! This is the house Karly and I have chosen. We will be sending all of our stuff down there while I'm at OBLC. There is a little bit of remodeling that needs to be done but overall it's ready to live in.


Year Built: 1900
Property Type: Residential/Farm
Beds: 4
Baths : 1.75

Structure (approx sq ft): 2108
Patio/Deck: Deck and Porch
Lot Acres (approx): 1.030
Lot Dimensions: 235x190
Main Level Sq Ft.: 1208.00
Second Floor Sq Ft: 900.00
Type of Garage: Detached
# of Grg Spaces: 4

Living Room: 14x14 Level: 1
Dining Room: 12x13 Level: 1
Kitchen:11x10 Level: 1
Bedroom 1:13x11 Level: 1
Bedroom 2: 11x10 Level: 2
Bedroom 3: 13x11 Level: 2
Bedroom 4: 15x12 Level:
Other: 13x11 Level: 2
Bath 1: 9x7 Level: 1
Den: 9x10 Level: 1
Style: Traditional
Stories: 2 Story

Meet Elvis and Ringo. These are two dogs who arecurrently serving our country in Iraq. I liked the picture of elvis with his ear down as he it shows his softer side. The pointy eared canine is Ringo and he's a proud dog.

Anyway, as my time winds down here at Ft. Bliss since I depart on Saturday I thought I'd share some of the interesting things I've learned while being here.

First, the acronyms. My goodness the acronyms there is nothing more to say about them than there's a bunch.

Second, the warrior ethos and the attitude of a well trained soldier are hard to beat. These men and women serving our country all have a story some happy some sad. There are soldiers who are here because they were called up by their government. They are serving proudly along side of the regular military. Without them we would be having a much harder time of things. There are soldiers whom I have met that need council. I have found myself in more than one situation where I was called on as a counsellor for a soldier who was having a hard time letting go of the war in Iraq, the men who fell at their hands and the men in our army who fell because of their orders. I have yet to hear a story of someone who was in the wrong but yet many still blame themselves. Next time you see a soldier think about what they might have gone through to protect you, your freedoms and the future of America.

Last, I have learned that I/we can be happy anywhere. No matter where you go in this world of ours there is positive to be seen, love to be shared and beauty to be seen. There are always things to do and if you can't seem to enjoy an area you probably are sulking from a predisposition which you imposed upon yourself before even arriving.