(Originally emailed 11/14/2011) I couldn’t believe it – the short time Melody and I spent in DC getting ready for the deployment/processing site was coming to an end. Something else was almost as unbelievable – Sister Mary Danger was deploying to Afghanistan again as a contractor at the same time! Unfortunately, we wouldn’t work together or even on the same base. She was going to the south and I was headed to Kabul, but we’d see each other in DC before individually leaving f

Last Names Update We’ve departed Afghanistan and are making our way home. Along the way I saw a few more noteworthy names, some which made me laugh some which made me cringe. Two guys in particular had funny names when you say them after their rank. Major Comfort and Major Biggie are officers I saw during the last few weeks of the deployment. Funny ain’t it? I wonder how long they’ll remain at that rank before making Lieutenant Colonel. I hope its forever. There were mo

Friends, A few of you have asked me why my tour extension was denied. Believe me, I 've asked. I mean, who wouldn't want a Soldier with 20 yrs experience in the intelligence field staying to help get things up and running quickly? I certainly would. No one will/can say at what level the decision was made. It could've been our Battalion Cdr - who doesn't like undue attention (remember the Mouse that Roared update?), it could've been the incoming Battalion Cdr - who might

Guys, Hope I don’t overwhelm you with all these updates. We've had rainy weather the past week and our operations have shut down. I've some free time on my hands which I'm trying to put to good use. Larry When the weather started getting warmer we noticed a few changes near the office. First, the olive trees behind us, and all the weeds within, sprouted new green leaves and sprang to life. More song birds come to nest in the trees, fighting with the loud, grey winged crow

Yet another one... told you I had alot of stuff composed, just needed some finess. This topic has been on my mind forever, and should've been sent earlier... I'm certain some of you can relate to it.. in your individual way. The concept of time It’s been a more than a couple months since we’ve been in country and yet it seems like no time at all AND time immemorial. The concept of time has become so foreign to me that I often must look at the calendar to see what day/date i

Warning – mildly offensive material follows. Proceed with caution. A symbiotic relationship There seems to be a symbiotic relationship between the Afghan cleaning crew which takes care of our latrine and my colon. And I’m not the only one! You know how when a couple of women live together their menstrual cycles naturally get in sync. I never understood why, but it happens. Ladies? Can any of you offer an explanation? Well, it seems the 3 guys in our office have begun t

Everyone, I apologize in advance and give fair warning about the length of this update. It took me longer than expected to compose a fair and decent assessment of my team mates. Through this email I hope to give you an idea of my immediate group and the personalities which compose it. Enjoy! My Peeps Every army unit is composed of a group of individuals that together, make up the collective success or failure of the team based on their strengths, weaknesses, age, experience