Leaving

This will probably be my last blog for about 2 months. If I get a chance to write inbetween my traveling home or while on vacation, I will take the opportunity. I give up my easy access to the internet today and I plan on the next few weeks being hectic. Mostly I think it will be boring, but I pray it goes by fast.

I'm excited to get down to Kuwait and out of harms way. It has been a long year and I expect to be back here within another year, but I hope not. If everything works out I will be home in time for Valentines day which will be a pleasant reward. We lef the day before Valentines day last year.

Muslims and Mormons Flying Aid to Southern Asia

Click on the title for a link to the story release. It is great to know that Christians and Muslims are working together to provide aid and welfare. I think by combining efforts, these groups can accomplish more than they would have individually.

Bored

I haven't been doing much the last several days. Our replacements are here and that is such a nice feeling. I'm trying not to say things like "We are so glad to see you!" That is what they said last year when we showed up and it was really annoying. I am glad to be going home, but I don't want to rub it in.

I read in an article yesterday that a guy is suing Fear Factor because he watched people eat blended rats on the show and he got sick and felt light headed. 2.5 million dollars is what he is asking. Hello? Now we aren't responsible for what we choose to watch, it is the networks fault? I thought it was worth a laugh and I hope that is all the attention it gets from the courts.

Here is an article on the lawsuit.

Good News

With all the news of troops getting extended, I was pleased to hear the possible chance that I will be returning a couple of weeks earlier than planned. Definately wasn't something I expected and I won't rely on it happening, but I'm still pretty excited.

I found another geocache site a couple of days ago. It was on top of an old MiG simulator building. There is a lot of debris outside the building from equipment torn out from inside. I'm looking forward to getting back to the states to do some more Geocaching. I'm sure there are some more interesting sites on this base that I haven't seen yet, but options for new cache sites are getting limited and the older cache sites are getting taken over by development projects.

I'm Dreaming of a Wet Christmas

Wow! Merry Christmas everyone. It started raining sometime last night just after midnight and now it is 5 pm and still raining like a champ. There are puddles everywhere and we are finding out that our so called waterproofed tent is not water proof. We spent a long time over the summer trying to figure out a way from water coming in on the floor of the tent and it works for its purpose. What we didn't expect was water seeping in through the wood. Since our wood floor goes outside, it soaks up the water and creates a damp floor because the wood is wet.

It has been a nice holiday though and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of my kids opening their presents.

Questions from the troops

Rumsfeld visited Mosul today and I'm sure there are people out there that will say that troops were forced to keep their questions positive after the question that came from Kuwait. Well my opinion is that it is the difference between troops that are in Iraq and really knows what it is like and troops in Kuwait who only know what it is like through the media.

One of my favorite questions was "why doesn't the media do more reports are the humanitarian and reconstruction efforts that take place everyday?" That is what I would like to see since I know about many of them personally but have never seen anything about it on the public news channels. I have come to think it is reverse propaganda, which is really sad that a lot of people don't realize the obvious agenda of the media.

Imagine if it were breaking news when ever an American citizen died in a car crash caused by DUI and a huge emphasis was placed on how tragic it was and how each family was effected. The effect would be a public outcry to crack down on drinking and driving. That is what we have about the situation in Iraq. You focus on every death in an intimate way.

My point is not that soldiers shouldn't be honored for their sacrifice, I think it is great the amount of support soldiers receive from Americans. My point is that the true veterans of this war understand the real threat and see the purpose of their sacrifice first hand and would really like to share that with the world; but the press just won't let them. Off my soapbox :)

I have a true love for the Iraqi people and pray that we can accomplish our mission of bringing freedom and a better life to these people.

Little Taste of Hawaii

I received a package today from my Uncle in Hawaii. It contained 3 cans of macadamia nuts covered in garlic and onion. Oh were they good and fattening. I don't really think I have eaten them before, at least not whole and not without a cookie involved. I definately have a lot of holiday snacks to eat, I wish I could share them with my wife though.

Christmas in Iraq

Each day is getting closer and closer to Christmas and it hasn't been to bad. It has been relatively quiet in our area and we just had a cold snap. It gets down to 30 during the night and around 50 during the day. I have received lots of Christmas cards from friends and family and several boxes with holiday goodies and ornaments. Unfortunately I can't display them all because I don't have the room. I have a living and work area that I share with another person that is only 16 ft by 16 ft. We have done a great job setting it up though so it is really comfortable, but it makes you stir crazy after being here a year.

I put up some lighted garland on the front of my tent sent by my parents and we have a little tree to hang the homemade ornaments that I received. It all helps it make it feel a lot more like Christmas which is a pleasure. The greatest Christmas present is just knowing that our replacements will be here soon and we will get to go home.