DesertTan

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Leave the funniest comment!

Hey everyone! Well, we've been gone from home for almost a year now, and it was about this same time last year that we were all partying it up and getting ready to say goodbye. Now, there's just about 10 days until kickoff and we're under 70 days remaining in country, so what could be better than that? Ok, ok, so we could already be home, but we're not, so we've got our Buckeye attire ready and anxiously await the opener and the day that days remaining nears zero!
Nothing really new goes on over here, the temperature should be starting to drop, and might even get below 100 by the time we leave.
Today I got to meet with the leader of the guys coming in to replace us. He is just visiting to gather information about projects, the office setup, network lines, computers, personal satellites, etc... all of the stuff that no one did for us! They should have a pretty easy transition taking over our function. They'll be here a couple of weeks after they get here for transition and then we're outta here!
Physical therapy is coming along pretty well, I'm still not back to 100%, but working on it 6 nights a week. I met with a Physical Therapist earlier this week and he was kind of shocked at how quickly I've regained range of motion and strength. He said there's no need for me to come back to see him unless I have any problems.
Well, since there's not much new here right now, I do have one idea that's going to require all of you to be 'creative'... You see the thermometer picture below, let's see who can come up with the best or funniest caption for it. For example, try answering this - "How hot is it? It's soooo hot..." Leave a comment with your creeeeeative response!
See you all soon!!!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Back from Germany



Hey guys and gals! Well, I got back to the wonderful land of Iraq last week. As you can see from the thermometer, it's a bit warm right now. Germany was a great time and a great opportunity to have my shoulder fixed up. The other picture was me in the Blackhawk flying over Iraq back to my base. I'm still doing Physical Therapy and I don't notice much improvement day to day, so I hope over the long run it starts to be more apparent.

I met quite a few interesting people in Germany. A couple of WWII vets, a retired couple that are now historians studying the war and searching for artifacts and stuff in the woods. It's really interesting to hear about the events that went on right where you stood. So, I've taken an interest in reading about the war, biographies and I have a white paper that this historian wrote. It's really shocking to see the terrain that was used for a war like that. Nothing like what we have here. Now, the enemy isn't wearing a uniform, nor can we see them. It's very different and neat to read about, especially the Battle of the Bulge on the German / Luxembourg border. Today, you don't even need to show ID to cross this border! I told a few people that I learned more in a day traveling about WWII than I did in all of my prior education! Maybe because I listened? Nah!

Work was pretty slow while I was gone but has picked up since I've been back. I guess that's a positive thing since we're on the downhill stretch now, with only 3 months left to go. They've started planning for us to exit the country and our replacements are already at the Mob site training to come over here. So, that's exciting for us.

I'm still scheduled to be home, relaxing on the couch by early November. With plenty of time before kickoff on the 18th! (Ohio State vs. Michigan - for those of you that don't follow the Buckeyes) If anyone knows someone that has or will have tickets for this, I would be indebted to you to allow me to buy them! Seriously, I'll take as many as I can get so that I can share them with other guys coming home with me. With just a month until the first kickoff, we're all getting ramped up to watch the games!

Well, take care everyone and I'll see you soon! - jason