Hey one and all, I’ve been derelict in my duties with respect to keeping my BLOG up to date.  So, here’s a nice long blog to fill in all the blanks.

First, I have to thank all of my wonderful friends and family members who have kept me stocked up on photos from home, coffee, skittles chewing gum, medicine and gossip.   A special shout out to my “West Coast” relatives, who for whatever reason, have stayed in contact with me since I first joined the Army 25 years ago.  Hi Aunt Yvonne!!!

My last post was June, so I will detail some of my experiences here starting with Army work.

I shifted gears from working on an Intelligence Team to Operations.  I run all the operations for our two detachments.  The main focal point is the planning required to meet all the criteria to get us home.  This requires collecting a lot of forms, coordinating with various departments and making sure we meet all of our hard dates/times.  Right now, I expect to be home before the end of the year.

I went home on leave in July and it was a good time.  I saw my son and daughter and my lovely wife.  I didn’t know it, but my wife became a Christian in my absence.  Prior to that, she was a practicing Hindu.  She says she has found peace with God and her life has become more meaningful.

During leave, we went to the beach, Disney World, and my son and I spent a lot of time together riding on the motorcycle.  I think the beach by-far, was everyone’s favorite place.  We also had one big get-together and everyone showed up and behaved!  Overall, leave was awesome and I hated to come back.

Upon my return to AF, the First Sergeant went on leave and I took over as Acting First Sergeant.   It meant a lot more hours and I had to concentrate on Soldier issues.   I learned a lot about managing people and how to get things done Army Style.  For the 3 or so weeks he was gone, life was certainly very hectic and the hours very long, but, it did make August go by without nary a blink.

I have been tasked to work on a database project now and my civilian job directly correlates since it is a data migration/synchronization and integration issue.  I will integrate data from several sources to create one system of record that will be used all over.

My spare time (ha ha):

I spend almost every evening chatting with my wife online with the web cam.  The connection here is poor and very slow but it’s worth it.  I get to see my daughter on the cam on occasion.  Sometimes it is for a few minutes and other times, I get maybe an hour.

I also try to get a back massage once per week.  At $20/hour, you can’t go wrong, but they are definitely not well-trained.

I am teaching myself Java programming.  I’ve been hacking around in Java for a long time, but I finally have wrapped my arms around the idiosyncrasies of Java and plan to use it with my job once I get back.

Speaking of Jobs, I have been in contact with several of my colleagues back at BearingPoint.  I am looking forward to my imminent return to work and I will never take a latte for granted again!!

Things I am looking forward to when I get back (just a short list):

• Family
• Motorcycle
• My car - Any car to drive for that matter
• USDA Prime Steaks
• Half and Half for my coffee
• Hot bath
• My bed
• Homemade macaroni and cheese
• Walmart:  I get more than one choice of Shampoo and soap

Things I will gladly leave behind:

• Military Showers
• Bottled water:  Cannot drink from the tap here.
• My uniform
• The dust, it is fine like talcum powder and it gets everywhere and in your eyes.
• The PX (post exchange store)
• I guess I should end it now, before they come and haul me away

Also, before I go, a special hello to JR, who has just went to Iraq.  May God watch over you!