Falling Behind

Wow, not having access to a reliable computer and internet connection as really left me behind.  I still need to update all three of my followers with the last week and a half.  I'll do that soon as well.

Landed in Afghanistan

Well, I'm in Kabul.  I'm at the Kabul International Airport.  I'm not sure when I'm going to get to NKC.  The roads are black so they can only drive during certain times.  Therefore, until they can get a truck up here, myself and the other guys I came with are hanging out in an Alaska tent.  (I'll post pictures as soon as I can for those that aren't sure what that means.)  It could be worse.  It could be a WHOLE lot better, but it could be worse.  There's... umm..... there's heat!!  That's a positive.

The plane I was trying to make out of Kuwait was leaving early.  We had to be in the tent at 0330 for role call.  Mike and I decided to stay up all night rather than risk sleeping through the alarms so we hung out at the MWR, got some McDonalds around 1:30, drank a lot of coffee.  We made the flight though.  We got into Bagram a few hours later and I was afraid I might be in Bagram for a few days.  I'd heard of that happening a lot lately, mostly due to weather.  Fortunately, there was a flight just a few hours later.  I made it onto that and after a 15 minute hop over a mountain landed in Kabul.

It's colder than Kuwait was.  It's not too bad though.

I really just want to get to the base.  This transient thing sucks.  I just want to be able to finally set my bags down, unpack them and not even think about them anymore.

I'm tired, so this is a boring post.  As I said, I'll get some pictures.  Maybe after I sleep I'll get more humor back too.

Oh, and this is the wonderful homemade lunch I have to look forward to every day.  And no, there is no microwave.  That's straight cold boyardee.  I'm starting to question the defense budget cuts. 

Yay

This is what I woke up to this morning.  Good times.  I'm really glad I have some nice boots.  I watched a couple guys in gym shoes take a nice dive while walking.  Yesterday it was cold.  Today it's slightly warmer and snowy.  That means slush.  And that equals nasty. 

I wonder if I'll update this blog so often once I get to afghan.  Food for thought.

Death by powerpoint

Apparently that's the docket for the day.  On the bright side, they read every word on every slide to me like it's a bedtime story so I don't even have to waste energy or brain power reading those long words like D-E-N-T-I-S----- oh crap, he starded another long word.... forgot what that last word was...

Monday Morning

Another beautiful army morning.  I didn't realize it was possible to cut bacon so thin you could see right through it.  I'm not sure what's on the docket today but I'm sure it'll be every bit as thrilling as one might expect from training briefings.

I really want to just get over to the desert and get this thing started.

Day 1 of CRC at Camp Atterbury

The included pictures shows what I've been doing for about 8 hours so far today.  I probably have at least an hour left.  If any of you Boeing people are complaining of the annual training, they have nothing on the army.  This is ridiculous.

On the bright side, food's free...

It begins

I'm about to get on my flight on my way to indianapolis.  Saying goodbye was hard.  I hope this gets easier at some point.

Mobile test

Testing mobile upload

Bart's a retard

I don't believe I really have to expand on that for anyone that knows who I'm talking about.

Getting Closer

It's February 6th.  In 5 days I'm supposed to be on a plane away from here.  The reality of it all is beginning to sink in and it sucks.  I haven't even left yet and I miss my boys already.  On the bright side, I think we found a place for the family to move to that won't be out in the boondocks like the current residence is.

I keep thinking I should have just taken the whole week off.  There's still so much to do and I'll have Thursday to try to get everything done.  I want Friday as open as possible.

This had better end up being worth it.  If it's not it's going to be a year of suck for nothing.

Blog Creation

Today is 3 February 2012.  In 8 days I fly out of SEATAC airport to begin my 5 day training course in Indianapolis.  On 17 Feb I'll be flying via military aircraft to Kuwait and a couple of days later to my destination in Afghanistan.  Hopefully I'll be able to find the time and commitment to post regularly.  Most of my updates will be mobile uploads for the first week.  After that I'm not sure what my net access will be like.  The plan is to purchase a laptop by sometime in April, so unless I can get consistent access to the site from elsewhere, there might be a gap in updates between late Feb and sometime in April.

Feel free to follow along, comment and email me.  I've never been away from my boys for long and maybe this avenue will provide me a way to tell them how much I'm thinking about them while also helping them feel a link to me across the geographical gap.  I'm both nervous and excited about this opportunity.  Though I have little idea what to expect from the time I leave here.

I expect that some days over there will be better than others.  Therefore, in the event this blog ever gets used as a venting session of my frustrations, please forgive the content if it becomes less than P.C.