Half Way Home

It has been a while since I have blogged. I would like to say that I have been to busy to but that would not be entirely true, although I have been very busy I could have posted. The last time I posted I was in Al Asad Iraq. I had a really good time at Al Asad. I made some really good friends there and worked hard. I enjoy working hard. I have always been kind of twisted that way. The time here goes by so much faster when you are working hard and stay busy. The down days are the most difficult and longest days for me. We had a couple of down days in Al Asad and  I had a very rough time. And yes I do blubber some times when I miss my family. You are not the only cry baby Shrek. I prayed, read scriptures, and leaned on my best friend Jill. With out those things I don't think that I could have done it. Other than those days I had the best time so far there at Al Asad. The most eventful day there at Al Asad  was when I was welding on the structure that we were building and my uniform caught fire. It caught fire to the cargo pocket on my right leg and burnt through the uniform and my underwear. I had some pretty good blistering on my right thigh. I had to go to the clinic and they cleaned up the burns and gave me some dressings and a prescription for some burn cream. The burns took about a month to heal up. The hazing from the coworkers was much worse than the burns were.

After Al Asad they sent me back to Ali Base Iraq. I was only there for about a week when the shipped me to Djibouti Africa. So far on this trip Djibouti has been the worse conditions that I have been in. When I say worse conditions I am talking about living conditions. Every where I have been has had a low threat level which means that I have been safe.  I have been very blessed in that way. This base here is a Naval base and the Navy operates much different than the Air Force. While hear we have to operate under their rules and regulations. I have been able to go off base a few times and experience the local culture. The poverty here is an eye opening experience. The first time I seen it I was shocked and depressed. There are very poor but yet must of the males are walking around with a cheek full of Khat which is a popular drug here among the locals. There where people sleeping on pieces of cardboard on  the floors of the local shops. I was able to go to a cheetah refuge which was amazing. They had cheetahs, zebras, hyenas, spider monkeys, and ostriches.  

The Deployment is over half over and I have now been gone for over four months. Prior to this the most time I have ever been away from my kids is two weeks. I can not wait to hold them in my arms again. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and it is going to be amazing when I walk off that plane to hug and kiss my wife and kids.