Lack of Contact

Well, we've been home now for... almost two months, I guess.

In that time, I've seen Anderson once, talked to him about four times on the phone, seen White once (at Dave Liembach's funeral), and traded MySpace messages once with SSG Knight. Other than the folks I saw at Dave's funeral, I haven't seen, or talked to, anyone else from Bravo company.

Because Captain Pinson is a member at my church, I've seen him about three times. But other than that, no contact with anyone from the unit.

I've found that if I hear one of the songs SSG Knight used to play over the radio while we were on missions, I tend to space out for a bit. But other than that, I'm not really suffering any side effects from the deployment. Well, I do tend to get a bit more uptight if somebody doesn't do their job, or if they cover for someone else who isn't doing their job. But that's basically it.

Latest Creations

Well, since I've been home, I've been working my butt off. I've been getting the children to do their chores, cleaning up around the house, trying to get a bit ahead of the housecleaning, mowing the grass, keeping the yard up, etc etc.

I've also been playing computer games, looking for useful stuff online to share with the children at GCS and that sort of thing. In addition, I've been reading Terry Pratchett and various other non-fiction stuff.

The only thing I've really put any effort into has been carving. I've done several more swords. I'm working on making one for each of the children, and considering possibly carving some to auction on E-bay. I mean, what's there to lose? I enjoy doing it, and if they sell for more than the lumber I use, then it's like getting paid to do something I like.

So, here is a picture of the latest four creations, with a large carpenters hammer to show scale:













I've been experimenting with using a saw to cut out the hilts. Sometimes this works well and shortens the carving time to a bare couple of hours. Sometimes it leaves the hilt very weak, though, so I'm not sure I want to do it very much. I've worked on making smaller two-handed swords, and on making "Link" style swords on a child's scale, and on making single-edged blades, kind of vaguely like machete's.

Anyway, the kids all like their swords, although they don't seem to do much of anything organized with them, they seem to use them to run around for a few minutes and carve up the air, then they kind of give up and go do other stuff. Maybe it's because of the humidity here making things hot, or maybe they just aren't terribly physically fit. Either way, I'm having fun carving them swords, and they're all excited about having them.

I am now a teacher

I have accepted a postion with a local christian school, managing their IT infrastructure, and teaching computer classes for a year. It promises to be a challenging, and rewarding position.

I also saw that the Supreme Court yesterday somehow decided that POWs should have access to the US Federal Court System, which is only going to motivate us infantry soldiers to try harder to ensure that we don't take any prisoners. Very smart on the part of the government. Really good.

New meaning to Memorial Day

When we left Afghanistan, two soldiers in our company had signed up to extend their tour by 12 months.

One of those soldiers died in late May in a firefight. Yesterday, we buried him at a Veteran's Cemetary in Anderson, SC. Dave Leimbach got a horse-drawn caisson, a 21-gun salute, and an Honor Guard.

Dave Leimbach was a reserved guy. He didn't stand out, he struck me as kind of quirky, but he loved being a soldier. He was also saved, so I'm glad he died doing something he enjoyed and believed in, although I'm sorry for his wife's loss.

I still don't have a job, sadly. It looks like we've just transitioned from the early-fiscal-year flush where companies do lots of hiring, to the fiscally-slow, tight-budgetted latter half of the year where I will have lots of trouble finding a job. I look forward to seeing God's Will for my future.

Now I'm home

Well, now I'm home. Have been for almost 3 weeks now. No CIB, no purple heart, no great, exciting war stories...

I have, however, undertaken several projects around the house. I've started out by whipping the children into shape with regard to chores. They come home from school, they do their homework, then they do their chores, before they can do anything on the computer, the GameCube, or anything else fun. That has worked pretty well. In fact, yesterday they did their chores without me having to watch them every minute, and the two older children fought over whose turn it was to do the vacuuming.

With my wife's help, I've assembled an 8'x 10' metal storage building, on top of a floor we hand-built out of treated lumber. Those were both accomplishments she and I are quite pleased with.













In the process of building the outbuilding, I discovered my hair has thinned out on top quite a lot over the last year, and I'm well on my way to developing a SERIOUS bald spot. This was quite a shock.














The outbuilding holds lots of junk that was lying around the yard previously, so the yard and porch look MUCH nicer now. It's really good. Plus, of course, several things that were exposed to the weather before are now safely under shelter. Hopefully this will help keep them running (the lawnmower primarily, but the ladder and a golf bag as well).

Back at home

I'm home now, after a 7-day demobilization process at Ft. Bragg. Actually, I've been home for a few days now. I'm getting paid by the National Guard through the end of the month, so I have a little time to find a good job.

Wish me luck, pray for me, whatever works for you. (Prayer works for me)

overnight at KIA

So, finally today we were bussed out to Kabul International Airport, after a few days of waiting, and more days spent at Camp Phoenix than we really wanted.

Lets see, what all sort of interesting things have happened.

I've beaten SSG Billingsley at Cribbage repeatedly over the past few days. He hasn't won a match since before we left KAF. Several nights here I completely blanked him, sometimes even coming back from a 20 point deficit late in the game to beat him by 2 or 3 points. Cribbage really is a lot of fun once you get to know what's going on.

Anderson sang at Karaoke night at Camp Phoenix and that was moderately fun, I guess. I'm not one for public embarrassment, so I didn't. I did, however, buy a couple of really bright yellow towels that have Operation Enduring Freedom embroidered on them, as well as some small helicopters. I also bought a Green Beans coffee mug that says Afghanistan on it. Oh, and a locally made bowie-style knife at the bazaar, which was neat, because it had a lot more variety than the one in Kandahar.

Right now I'm at Kabul International Airport, because I got bumped from the flight that left earlier today. Allegedly the flight didn't have enough seats for the 20 of us who were left behind. SSG Billingsley snuck onto the flight anyway, and I contemplated doing the same, but decided to stay with Anderson, and other guys from Bravo Company.

Lunch and dinner at the Supreme chow hall on KIA was pretty good, and the accommodations here are MUCH nicer than at Camp Phoenix, so overall it's a win. Plus I'm one step closer to going home!