Off to Germany

It looks like I should be leaving for Germany in the early morning hours of the 23rd. At this time I'm not 100%. Either way I am leaving soon. I am excited to get out of here for a few days. I am ready for some cooler weather and a little relaxation. I will only be there for around 5 days or so, but it will be nice either way. I will put a post up when I get back to let you all know how things went. I won't be able to check my email for a few days so be patient until I get back.

I don't remember who I have told and who I haven't, about this little story. I don't think that I have told very many people. Some of you may know that Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey came to Iraq a couple of months ago. We heard about it after she had shown up, but we knew she would be coming back here to Balad, she didn't visit this post just passed through. We talked to all these different people, some that we thought would know about a VIP coming through, they said that they were not sure, but thought that she may be coming back that night. So my friend Chris and I, checked out two sets of NVGs had clip on power supplies, and staked out the area we thought that they would be coming through. This area was not far from out operations, but it was raining that night. So pathetically enough, we took the bus our company had, and sat there and waited for her to arrive. It took about two hours to realize we were insane to sit there to see if she was going to show up. We did not get to see her at all in person. Someone said she came back the following night. Either way a few people from our sister company in Alaska that are stationed here got to see Jessica and Nick and took some pictures. I think they are very nice. Here is one.

I Don't Like Walking

I was thinking when I was walking home tonight, about how much I have walked in the past 6+ months. It really sucks. If you think of it, I have walked more since I have been deployed than I have my entire life combined I swear. At an absolute minimum I walk at least 1 mile a day. It is approxiamately 800 meters from my trailer to our operations area. I most definitely do that everyday, maybe except for about 10-15 days since I have been here. Keep in mind for the 2 weeks I was in Kuwait, this walking was even worse, much further to go, where ever you wanted to go. Also on the days I fly, I am at least walking another 1/2 mile round trip to the aircraft, maybe further depending on which parking pad we are parked at. Plus you make trips to the chow hall, and to the bathrooms, pick up laundry. This is a lot of walking, none of which I'm happy to be doing. I do realize in this rant that this is good for my health, and I shouldn't be complaining so much. I'm not caring much about that right now. I should have bought a bike.

Biggest Regrets

I'm bored so I thought that I would make another post. I would have to say my biggest regret, concerning my little trip to Iraq, is not bringing my electric razor. Man, what an idiot I am. That thing would have been more than useful. I have no idea what was going through my mind when I decided not to bring it. The other thing, which I now actually have, is not gettting a coffee pot. I considered it pretty much the whole time I've been here, but I never bought one. Finally, my friend Ed got me a coffe pot when he was down in Kuwait. I guess he got sick of me bitching about not drinking coffee. So now that I have one, I drink it all the time. I've been missing out this whole time, on the enjoyment of a morning coffee(actually afternoon for me). Well there you go, I just took up a moment of your life with useless information.

New Post

Well my lovely sister tells me I need to update my posting. Not a whole lot has been going on. Except for the last few days I have been pretty busy. Between the last week in June and the first week of July, over about a 10 day period I flew over 20 hours. That is pretty good for what we've been doing lately. I went in to Abu Grahib the other night multiple times, taking people in to Baghdad International. I have been there a handful of times before, I'm just not sure that I actually told anyone. I had a pretty interesting flight the other night. I was flying with my friend Edward, we went through a phase of flight school together, and we pretty much went inadvertant IMC, which is a bad thing. IMC(Instrument Meterological Conditions), is basically when you are flying by the instruments of the aircraft cause you can't see outside. Like I have said before in my post dust storms move in rather quickly, and it did in this case we flew right in to one. We handled it well, and climbed above the dust layer and flew until it cleared. I'm looking forward to going to Germany in a couple of week for a simulator trip, that will be a nice relief, and I am counting the days until I get to go on leave, so I can see Tara.

Happy 4th of July

Well this is not exactly how I have spent my July 4ths in the past. I guess it could be worse, even though I can't think of anything at the moment. I have flown a lot in the last seven days, I have been pretty tired too. Long nights, and long missions. The picture is of the crew I flew with a couple of nights ago. We buy flags fly them on missions then send them to family memebers with a little certificate, it is kind of nice. If anyone is interested let me know. On a different note I do get to go to Germany for about 5 days in a couple of weeks. We are going to spend a few days up there doing some simulator training. It will be nice to get a couple of days back in society. Eat some real food, hopefully have a few beers. I will let you know how that goes.