24 December 2007, It's been an interesting month. The ice storms that raged through Oklahoma put us without power for 7 days before the electric company got it back up. By the third day we had gone out and bought a generator. I spent a couple of days cutting up the downed trees and have to move all the branches to the curb or brush pile. The power's been back up for a week now but was flickering Saturday as the wind was pushing snow in the state. We had driven down the highway and noticed that the lines were blowing quite a bit. OG&E came back out and tethered the power lines to make them more stable and to avoid any further damage. Most of the snow melted yesterday, but on this eve of Christmas, on the north side of buildings and houses we still have a little snow left.
Last year I had a White Christmas in Afghanistan. I am blessed to be home this Christmas with my family. We are having our Italian dinner with family at the in-laws tonight and then Christmas day out at our place.
May your day be blessed and your travels safe. Merry Christmas.

04 December 2007, Well, I just keep changing uniforms. Yesterday ended my week on the streets and today I'm in the classroom getting Army training. The weekend went pretty good. I worked a car accident Sunday morning. I always have issues trying to figure out how someone has an injury accident in the middle of a residential street at 1030 in the morning on a Sunday, but someone made it happen. The driver of the vehicle hit a parked car. I spoke with the owner of the parked car asking him for his identification and insurance information. This is required for the accident report as well as the guy getting his car fixed by the other driver. Well, he was Hispanic, which isn't a problem for me. He tells me he doesn't speak English, still not a problem. I'm not fluent in Spanish but I am capable of getting vital information and relaying some commands. I asked him for his identification in Spanish, surely this will work, right? No, he still doesn't understand me. [As an officer I deal with a lot of Hispanic people on a daily basis. My views on the illegal immigration in this country are simple. I understand why you would want to come here to live, but if you came here because of what we offer don't try to change it to be what you came from, you left for a reason. I don't understand that small population of male immigrants who just seem to want to work enough to buy beer and stay drunk, why bother exerting this much energy to come here when you could do that where you came from?] I turn around and exclaim, "How can you not understand English or Spanish?" Well, I'm finally able to get things done and move on to my next call.
Be safe and have a great day.

02 December 2007. Well, things are going good here. Mrs. Dub is glad to have me home for the holidays this year. I worked Thanksgiving Day so we have our big meal that evening after work. Mrs. Dub's family on her mother's side is Italian and one of the Thanksgiving traditions is to make canoli shells the day after Thanksgiving. They've been doing it for years. Mrs. Dub was in the middle of it from start to finish this year. I was in it for most of it. The family made over 300 shells this time. The shells stay good all year and each family will take a number of shells and fill them when ready to share with friends. I'm really looking forward to Christmas because being a part of an Italian family means the Christmas dinner is Italian. I really do love it.
I'm hoping to resolve the Internet problem at home in January. The dial up is just so slow I hardly ever even bother getting on it anymore. You noticed? Sorry. We stay busy enough at work that I don't normally have time to mess with it there either. Speaking of plans for the new year, I have submitted my package to continue my bachelor's degree. If all goes well I'll start classes on January 14th. I need to pick up the pace as my little brother is in Ft Worth Texas and is working on his school too. He applied for Ft. Worth Police Dept and is now just waiting to here back from them. Keep your fingers crossed.
We put up the Christmas tree and I decorated it yesterday. This year we have a 9 foot pre-lit tree. It's bright enough that I'm afraid we will be attracting ships in the night or causing planes to land in the back pasture. There's been some traditions where people hang the Christmas tree upside down from the ceiling. Mrs. Dub suggested that, but I'm not sure how that would work, it looks cool, but I don't think so, (at least this year).
Well, I better take off for now. Be safe and have a great day.

16 NOVEMBER 2007

HAPPY CENTENNIAL

OKLAHOMA

Yes, it's finally here. It's been an exciting week with the finale tonight at the Oklahoma City Ford Center. The list of stars at this event makes you think we are hosting the American Music Awards instead of celebrating our statehood.
The start of the week had me volunteering with Mrs. Dub to work a conference downtown for two days and our reward was a night at the Cowboy Hall of Fame for dinner. The entertainment during that meal was a 45 minute concert from Blake Shelton followed by another 45 minutes with Vince Gill. We managed second table out from center stage and had a great time. Because of Mrs. Dub we managed to get 3 tickets to tonight's event and we are so lucky. It's been a great week, but with all that's gone into it, I may skip our bi-centennial and just watch it from home.
Life as a cop has been keeping me busy. I've had so many accidents to work lately that I feel I'm getting swamped. I went to back officers on an alarm call yesterday. The first officer on the scene noticed an open door in the back and as soon as the second officer got there they went in. As I came into sight of the back door I saw both officers lunging out of sight and then running into the front room. I raced into the house ready for anything and startled both of them. They had opened an interior door and let out a cat, now they were chasing it to put it back. Good grief.
Well, gotta get back to it. Odat, do an extra big Happy Dance Friday, be safe and have a great day.

08 November 2007, The Big Event is finally here. Actually, November has been full of big events, I'm almost ready to get the month over. Miss Dub turned 14 years old last week. I know, I should have blogged then. Tonight is her school play, "Into the Woods". She's been in several plays before, but what makes this one big, is I'm finally here to see it. Yes, the military has seen to it that I have missed her other roles. What other roles has she played? Well, there was the Evil Step-Mother for Cinderella in "Into the Woods", the Queen of Hearts in "The Trial of Alice in Wonderland" and now the Wicked Witch in "Into the Woods". Does anyone else see a pattern arising out of her roles? She just mentioned she was a dalmatian in 101 Dalmatians, but that was in kindergarten, and she was still likable then.
Next week marks the 100 year centennial for the State of Oklahoma. We have plans to attend a couple of the events. If all goes well, I'll get some pictures posted.
Work and military are keeping me busy, we had drill this last weekend and I had to teach a couple of classes.
Too much more I could report about, but I'll stop for now. Be safe and have a great day.

27 October 2007. Well, I spent 7 days at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas drawing new equipment and getting trained up on it. We got back Thursday afternoon. I went to a part time job, this is a job the we get paid on our days off to provide security for while wearing our police uniforms. I work one regularly every other Friday for 11 hours. It's not hard work at all. During the summers one of my favorite part time jobs is working security for the Oklahoma Red Hawks Triple A baseball games. I love baseball and being paid to watch it is certainly a bonus. I missed this season due to getting back late in the season.
Today we spent all day at Mrs. Dub's grandparents house were we were having an estate sale. Her grandfather died a couple of years ago and her grandmother was finally placed in assisted living for health reasons. We have spent many hours getting the house ready for a sale and we finally went for it today. The weather couldn't have been better. A perfect day to be outside.
We will be over there for a little while longer tomorrow. Everyone is doing fine and Miss Dub brought home all A's on her report card. I'll be nice to her for a day or so, then back to the educational grindstone for her too.
Well, we need to figure out what to have for dinner. Be safe and have a great day.

14 October 2007. What a busy week. I finished up my set at work on last Tuesday. Wednesday my neighbor Rich and I worked on getting one of three tractors and one of two brush-hogs to work so I could cut my pasture area. We finally got there and I managed to get about a third of it cut before I had to quit for the evening. Thursday I went to the armory to work. Friday was at one of my part time jobs. Saturday was spent at the armory as my first day as Acting 1SG. Drill went pretty good. Things are still out of kilter since the Brigade is preparing to mobilize and ship off to train up for the Iraq mission. That finally brings us to today, Sunday. Today I am working with the OCPD ERT (emergency response team) setting up security along the route for the Oklahoma Centennial Parade in downtown OKC. We are now just a month away from our state finally being 100 years old.
Well, I better get back to the grindstone. Be safe and have a great day.

19 September 2007, it's been a busy week and now the month is almost over. I just got up this morning and while Mrs and Miss Dub are still in bed, I thought I should take a moment and update. We moved 200 bails of hay this last week as we prepare for winter. I have what's left of two large branches from a pecan tree in our driveway. I'm hoping to get it split today and put up out of the way. The weather seems nice today, so I'm hoping to get a lot of the outdoor chores done.
Work news - I quit one of my part time jobs. This was the one that went from Wednesday night 830 to Thursday morning 830. We can't seem to get paid in a more consistent pattern. I finally got check #3 yesterday, after waiting 5 weeks. Check #1 was 3 weeks, and check #2 was 5 1/2 weeks. I am owed one more check and we are at 2 weeks right now.
Army news - Lt M has taken over command of B Company, formally known as the M.I. Company. The 1SG has been picked up by the 179th INF BN as a 1SG for the upcoming deployment to Iraq. His plans are to retire upon completion of this mission. With that, the 1SG slot became open for B Co. and I've been selected to fill the slot. I'll be an 'acting' 1SG until I can get my school done. That would be the school that got canceled twice this summer when we were returning home.
Miss Dub got her progress report this week and her lowest grade was a 94. We are definitely to proud of her, but give her more grief than anything because we known she's capable of doing much better. We did break down and buy her some Prisma Colored Pencils for her art class and her teacher told us that was great. She's working hard at being "the witch" for the school play, Into the Woods. We've had an hour here and an hour there that we have sat down and played the new X-Box 360 HALO-3. It's pretty good and we are enjoying it. I am trying to keep it in small dosages.
Well, it's time to start the day of relaxation with running some errands and doing chores, I fed the horses and goats this morning to allow both of them to sleep in. Be safe and have a great day.

19 September 2007, Well, we had our first drill this last weekend, keeping me busy from Friday through Sunday when we had our "Welcome Back" ceremony. Starting this next month, I'll be drilling back in Oklahoma City.
Work has been fun. Today we went to a house because the 8 year old boy refused to go to school. I had to see the parents who were allowing a boy to run the house. We explained to the parents the subtle differences between discipline and abuse and assured the parents that they could wallop away as long as they didn't cross that line. The 8 year old's response was to pick up a chair and throw it. This prompted us to assist the young lad into a pair of handcuffs and placing him in the back of a police car. Then he was driven to the school and dropped off. He had a much different attitude after we talked too him. His 11 year old brother decided to go peacefully.
Monday, I bought a newer truck. We have been looking since I got back. I've been driving my 1994 for 10 years and it was time to upgrade. Now, I didn't get the crew cab 3/4 ton I would like, but it's a 2001 extended cab Chevy and in very good shape. I took it today and put some new tires on it.
Well, be safe and have a great day.

09 September 2007. It's been a good weekend. The Culligan Man came out and fixed the plumbing on Friday, around 1030 that morning. I took the day off and relaxed. I picked Miss Dub up after school took her shopping for pajama's and a new toilet. The old toilet was still leaking so we decided to just replace it. Miss Dub went to a pajama party Friday night at the church.
Saturday I was back at work but it was a nice day and we managed to listen to the Oklahoma Sooner's game on the radio in between calls. Later that evening my Oklahoma State Cowboys wrapped up a wonderful evening with another win over a Florida team, sorry Empress Bee and Sarge Charlie.
Today was another good day at work. Then around 3 this afternoon, we encountered a man who had been diagnosed with mental health issues and also decided to get a meth fix. Well, it didn't fix anything. The car he was riding in swerved across the road and hit a large curb when he frightened his girlfriend who was driving. He became paranoid that everyone was trying to kill him and that we weren't the real police. Look, here's my badge, here's my name plate. I have the pretty black and white car. Well, I finally talked him into the backseat.....of my partner's car. Every time Sgt G wanted to get out of the car to talk "Mike" was thinking we were going to blow the car up with him in it. At one point, Sgt G got out of the car and I told him, "on the count of three, we both run from the car". Of course, we didn't do this, "Mike" was prepared to kick out the window and I had stopped him 3 times from doing just that. We finally managed to get him to the crisis center where they wouldn't take him until he went to the regular hospital first to get cleared medically. We had to call for a second shift officer to finish things up as it was time for us to be off the clock. Overtime is a dirty word in the department unless you can justify it.
We had another wonderful dinner at home that Mrs. Dub prepared, chicken and mushrooms over orzo pasta. She's been working on her cooking, Robin Miller, Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee are helping. We brought up the fact that I haven't had a hamburger helper in 3 months.
Questions about my rifle. It's a DPMS AR-15 M4. It's the civilian model in the essence of being a semi-auto one trigger pull, one bullet down-range. I really don't need a 3 round burst or full auto, they're fun to shoot but not practical. I'm hoping to get to the range next week to get the sights adjusted and zeroed.
Well, be safe and have a great day.
Well, be safe and have a great day.

06 Sept 2007, Good Day, Bad Day. Well, I thought I was having a good day. I called the gun store and finally, my rifle had come in. It's only been 4 months since it was supposed to be in my hands. Now I have an M4 just like the one I deployed with, minus the cool tools to put on it, (don't tell Mrs. Dub yet, but I plan to get some). That was the good part of the day.
We came home after a long day at work and had dinner. Then we ran to Mrs. Dub's grandmother's house where we did some packing and brought a car load home with us. We are in the process of selling the house and contents inside as Grandma V is living in assisted living now. We enter our garage.....the Bad day......I see a stream of water coming from the front of the garage to the driveway. I follow it up to the water softener and begin feeling of the PEX water lines connected, when all of a sudden.....the pipes burst and begin shooting water everywhere. Mrs. Dub quickly runs to the breaker box, (I was very impressed with her quick action) and I turn the shut off valve on the softener. The copper elbows had virtually disintegrated right before my eyes. This is the second plumbing job since I've been home that is requiring PEX tubing and crimping. I'm seeing a pattern in which I may need to spend $150 to buy the crimping tools and components to fix this myself and then any new plumbing problems I can also fix. A house call by a plumber runs the same $150 but I have to pay it each time. Guess I'll be taking some time off in the morning.
I'm also at 98% on Miss Dub's bathroom, but the toilet tank has sprung a leak again, so we may just replace the entire toilet with a new, not sure if she's worth it. I did see a 5 gallon paint bucket for $6 and she could just empty it each night.
Be safe and have a great day.

04 September 2007, I am definitely getting behind in every aspect of my life. My apologies to everyone. Not so much that I haven't been blogging, but that I haven't been reading other blogs. I hate not keeping up with everyone I've come to know. Maybe I need another deployment so I'll have more time? Yeah, bad idea.
The last two weeks have flown, and we have been busy around here. On top of that, Mrs. Dub had her birthday last Friday. I meant to try and get on the system to make the grand announcement, but as she said, it isn't a milestone one. The next milestone will be in two more years when she turns .........my computer won't let me type out her age. I knew she would mess it up while I was gone, oh well, it's in two more years.
Things are keeping me hopping, just when I get one thing started, something else pops up and needs immediate attention. There just isn't anyway to get ahead.
Mrs. Dub is doing fine at work, heck, I don't know, maybe she is blogging better than me, I haven't read hers in a while either. Miss Dub is back in school and just got the part of the Witch in the school play "Into the Woods". We think she might have been born to play this part. Overall, she's doing well, just wanting to test the boundaries to see what she can get away with, funny thing is, the boundaries never moved and were left right were they were on any other given day. Maybe she'll pick up on that sometime in the near future. Probably not, teenagers know everything and parents and deaf and dumb, well, I am deaf, sorta.
I hope to have more for you tomorrow. I must make time.
Be safe and have a great day.

20 August 2007, Slacker? Me? Yes, it's true. More so than I wanted it to be. I start back to work tomorrow. My last 6 days off have been full. I worked a 2nd job on Wednesday evening from 830pm to 830am Thursday morning. I have decided to work this one for a few more sets of days off. This last week went a lot better having a 2 1/2 hour nap the afternoon before and sleeping for 3 hours afterwards. Recouped on Thursday, then worked another 11 hours during the day at another 2nd job.
Of course, Saturday Mrs. Dub had me booked up. We went to her grandmother's house to do some organizing for a future garage sale, then we went to a co-worker's house where two limbs from a 100 year old pecan tree had come crashing down. I didn't have to cut it up, but I did haul off a large load of it. Before arriving at the house to load the wood, Tropical Storm Erin had made it to Oklahoma. That's a pretty impressive storm. I was drenched by the time we had it loaded up, yes Miss Dub weathered most of it with helping load the trailer, with just a few minutes more, the rain came pouring down. We got it home and cleaned up. The storm decided to increase it's menace during the night. I was awoken by a drip of water on my forehead at 3am. A leak right above our bed and more importantly, right above me. I put some clothes on and went up into the attic. A PVC vent pipe from the bathroom was leaking around it's rubber seal on the roof and running down to the pipe till it hit the elbow then dripped right above me. I rummaged around in the garage looking for anything that might seal it from the inside as we were having 50 mph winds and heavy rain. I had bought two wax seals for the toilet in Miss Dub's bathroom. I took the extra back into the attic and began sealing the pipe with the wax, after all the wax seal is designed to seal out water around a toilet. Yipee, it worked! Mrs. Dub slept through the whole thing as she had taken a sleep aid earlier. We are so happy for her. Rain totals for Tropical Storm Erin in OKC went from 5-7 inches, causing massive flooding in the several parts of the metro area. Luckily, my phone never rang for call up from Guard or police.
I did manage to reach the 90% level on Miss Dub's bathroom. Hopefully, some time this week I will extend that to 100% and then take some after pictures.
Well, it's bedtime for me, I'll try to do better this week. Be safe and have a great day.

13 August 2007. It's Funday! and tomorrow is my Friday! Does life get any better than that? I just realized that yesterday was my military career anniversary of 13 years. How did I celebrate? Well, very unexpectedly, I had taken Sunday off from work so that I could attend a ceremony. Two of my NCO's lost their way while I was gone this past year. Seems they ended up in Officer's Candidate School and yesterday were pinned as Second Lieutenants. I was extremely proud of both of them. So on my anniversary, I had put on my military uniform and had a wonderful day.
This week has been busy at work but nothing too exciting.
We came into town to get Mrs. Dub's nails fixed so I'm stealing a little bit of time on the computer here, they have cable internet. Well, sorry this is so short, but I'm going to take a shot at getting to read some of your blogs today. Be safe and have a great day.

10 August 2007, Ah, Friday. Yipee. Of course, I get to work this weekend. See how positive I sound, "get to" instead of "have to". This just means that at least my scout car has a/c. The warranty company has "approved" the installation of a new outside unit, the company has received the parts and will be out tomorrow to replace the unit. This of course, will bring harmony back to our house.
Miss Dub starts back to school next Friday. Another Yipee! She just came in and read this. It didn't excite her as she isn't looking forward to High School level algebra. She's depending on me to help her with it, the kid is doomed. Ok, not exactly doomed.....actually I will take this opportunity to get a better grasp on the subject myself and then attempt to test out of it.
I am still working on Miss Dub's bathroom. Well, not exactly working, I haven't done anything since the a/c went out. I do have the toilet installed but have a leak in the tank, I believe it should be a simple fix.
Not much to report about work over the last two days, we had a homicide call this afternoon, I was in charge of the Crime Scene Log. Well, better go for now, be safe and have a great day.

08 August 2007. I saw that New Jersey and Brooklyn had a tornado. When we were training at Mississippi last year, people from Oregon would ask us what we did when tornadoes are approaching. Being from Oklahoma, we have our share. We told them we grab a beer, the video camera and head outside to watch it. This somehow, never seems to reassure people.
On the home front here, well, our air conditioner went out last Friday and as of today we are still without it. Summer has finally set in and we are expecting to break 100 this week. Now, typically we break that in late June, early July, but this has been a mild summer thus far, mild in temps, but high in the amount of rainfall we have had. I don't remember a time when we still had green grass growing in August without having a high water bill. We are working with the home warranty people so it's a slow process. We were told today that the entire a/c unit outside will be replaced, as soon as it's approved.
I started back to work yesterday. Yesterday's lesson. (Wade, pay attention). When you are pulling a trailer with your semi, and your trailer has a height of 13 feet and 6 inches, you can NOT pass under a bridge that is only 11 feet and 11 inches. You can peel the roof of your trailer off like a sardine can, but you can pass under it. That was 2 hours.
If I had written this yesterday, I might have saved someone a headache. Today's lesson, if you are pulling a trailer that you have caused to be taller than 13 feet because you were too lazy to pull up the jack stands, then you still can't pass under a bridge that is less than 12 feet. Yep, that's right, two days in a row I have worked accidents involving semi's and bridges.
Well, time to go for now, be safe and have a great day.

04 August 2007, It's the weekend. Just think, not to long ago I didn't even have weekends. Now I get two a month. (I still work the other two). Miss Dub went to spend the night with at a friends house, so Mrs Dub and I went out to dinner. We went to the Rib Crib, and afterwards walked through Lowe's. My kind of date.
Mrs. Dub said she wants to go to the Farmer's Market this morning, maybe check out some garage sales. Later this afternoon we are going to her office pool party. It's so good to be back home and have things back to normal. I've heard Mrs. Dub refer to it as being in a rut, but that's because nothing has changed in her routine that much. It's once again a new world for me and simple things like going to the grocery store with her are fun. Of course, I'm still wanting to pick up too many food items on impulse buying, but I'm getting better.
Wednesday started my days off. I had Miss Dub up at 6:30 a.m. and we had the horses saddled up to ride. I'm still working on getting my "seat" when it comes to riding. At one point the horse and I were doing close to "60 mph", Miss Dub told me we had broken into a trot. Well, it felt like 60.
Guess it's time to feed the horses and the goats, be safe and have a great day.

30 July 2007. Well, it's been harder than I thought. Too many other things getting in the way of blogging and reading blogs. Luckily I finished one of the things Saturday night. No, not the bathroom, the last Harry Potter book, and an excellent book it was.
The bathroom is coming along, I finished laying the tile last night. My fingertips were sore from using the tile nippers to custom fit some of the tile. Ouch. Once I get the grout done it's just a matter of putting in the new vanity, shower door and hooking everything back up. Mrs. Dub then wants to give our bathroom a splash of color by repainting. She says that'll hold her for a bit. I might get to start working on the fence right after that and then maybe start mapping out the kitchen renovation.
What's happened at work this week.
Today's lesson is this: Always make sure the screen door is latched when there's a pit bull on the other side of it.
Lesson 2: If you watched Chris Rock's video about "How not to get beat by the Police", it's not just for entertainment, it's also valuable information. No, I didn't beat anybody, but the lesson's are still there. Never, have the cops come when you have an angry woman on your hands. The words, "He's got weed!" were used several times during our 30 minutes with this couple. Nobody was arrested today, but it would be wish if this young man moved in the middle of the night, like tonight, otherwise......
I've managed to avoid turtles this week. I also have not understood why cops "hide" behind objects when they want to run "radar" and catch speeders. Now, first, let me say that Oklahoma City does not have a quota set for officers to write a certain number of tickets....I can write as many as I want. I like to park in wide open parking lots that adjoins the street. I like to be visible by several blocks from either direction. That way, when I still catch you doing 41 mph in a 25 mph zone and you're only one block away from me, well, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
Yesterday, around 4 p.m. we had an alarm going off on a residential house. Officers, including me, responded. We found a trash can laid over against the back of the house and a broken window over the kitchen sink. Another officer and myself climb through the window. The younger, more fit officer made it look pretty smooth. Then it was my turn. I make it through the window and am now kinda stuck with my knees in the sink. I have to roll around a bit to unwedge myself. Yeah, glad it wasn't important or anything.
Well, better go for now, be safe and have a great day.

23 July 2007, Well, how many have given up their blogs this weekend to start and finish their Harry Potter and the Hallows of Death? I am not one of them. I "pre-order" my copy several months ago on Amazon. However though, my card expired this month too, and I didn't update my account soon enough that when it tried to make the transaction, it failed. So, I had to order it again, rather than go into one of the stores. It should be here today. We did manage to watch The Order of the Phoenix last night. I am disappointed in the fact that they have to skim so much of the storyline and leave so much more out just to make time restraints. I know they filmed more and yet they never add that additional footage into the DVD release either. Mrs. Dub left the movie last night asking a lot of questions because she hasn't read books 5 or 6.
We have been very busy during this set of days off, we now have two new baby goats, the girl, named 'Alice' and the boy named 'Jasper'. Two characters from the book series "The Twilight", I believe. I managed to finish the knock-down texture in Miss Dub's bathroom and have the floor ready for tile. We should be able to put on a couple coats of paint today. A side project that Mrs. Dub had me doing was turning the linen closest in the hallway into a DVD library. We put the final coat of paint on it yesterday and should be able to put the movies in their new home today.
We've managed several other projects too over this set of days off. Last night we took the time off to go see the movie, and today we are headed to the Cowboy Hall of Fame here in Oklahoma City. There are several new exhibits as this is the 100th birthday of actor John Wayne as well as the centennial of Oklahoma.
Well, better go for now, big day, be safe and have a great day.

18 July 2007, Ah, my first week at work is over. I have the pictures now I promised you from last week. SSG B and I were riding together on Thursday of last week. This next event is the closest I've come to being in danger since leaving Afghanistan. We saw him trying to cross the street and it appeared to us he needed some help. Help was the last thing he wanted. I approached him and started to offer assistance when he turned and lunged towards me. I quickly stepped back and pulled out my baton. My survival instincts now on high alert, I approach him again. Now, he is upset with us. The turtle just wants to be left alone. Yep, turtle.

He didn't like me very much, and I was only trying to help. That's not me flipping him either, that's him jumping. Everything else went pretty good. I'm rusty on calling in my reports, and I finally got the book I needed to work on the new paperwork for traffic accidents. I'll write more tomorrow, first day off and I've got a lot to do. Be safe and have a great day.

16 July 2007, Well, I was hoping to have updated a lot more during this set. I have one great story to tell, but I'm waiting for the other officer to send me the photos. During the last 7 days, this one incident has probably been the closest I've been to being injured, and no.....it wasn't a clothes line. Of course, Mrs. Dub and Wade would probably refer back to Reno 911. Now, my Army Lt. M has seen me in bicycle shorts and he believes it's one of the most memorable sights he's ever had. I do worry about him sometimes.
This weeks theme at work has been "domestics". Gentlemen, take notes. The Bible warns you about angry women, Chris Rock warns you about angry women, Lorena Bobbitt warns you about angry women. The key to a happy and success marriage takes no more than two words, "Yes, dear." Now, as Mrs. Dub mentioned, she does suffer from OCD, hehehe. Deep down inside me lurks an evil person, one who loves to exploit weaknesses. I just want to slap people sometimes when they make the statement, "You know what really bothers me....." These are words that just bring a warm glow to my heart. Well, I don't intentionally try to get on Mrs. Dub's nerves, but it isn't that hard. I was perfectly fine with leaving the boxes as they were in the garage, out of the way, and as I needed to get something out, get it and then put it up. Mrs. Dub had to have them in the house, "just put them in the spare bedroom, that'll be fine". Now, every time she walked by the room, there they were. Now, I packed them neatly the first time. And I packed them based on what I didn't need at that moment. So the boxes do have some rhyme and reason to them, it just when you have to pack it, unpack it, pack it again, inspect it before the post master, repack it again, you just get to the point you throw it in there. Used toothpicks?, how about a box of toothpicks opening up during shipping. Yeah, she is mean, isn't she, I mean, "Yes dear."
The driving course was great, and I had a lot of fun after the first lap around the track. I rode with two different officers for two days and was on my own Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Tomorrow is my Friday, yippee!, then I'm off for 6 days. Well, better get going for now. Be safe and have a great day.

10 July 2007, My first day back to work. Well, I had 4 felony arrests, how's that for a first day back? Of course, my day wasn't too bad. I couldn't do anything until I had qualified with my Glock 17 9mm pistol. I had to be at work at 7, and the range doesn't open till 8. Hmm, guess we have time for breakfast. I say we, because I had an FTO, (Field Training Officer), this is just so the department feels comfortable about putting me back out on the street. (I'm not sure they felt comfortable about it before I left, hehe). I shot 42 rounds out of 50 into the target, with two off the paper. Out of that 10 were left-handed. This was a new course of fire for me too, but I will be getting back out there and be practicing more. We then started our calls. After a false alarm on a business we responded to a bank reporting a man attempting to cash a stolen check. Besides the check he just found on the ground, he also "just found" a cell phone that was also reported stolen by the same person. We went to jail. I had to stop by the 911 center and thank the dispatchers for the packages they had sent to me while in Afghanistan. Our last call of the day was a police LT. following a reported stolen car. As we approached the 3 suspects bailed out and ran. We managed to get in front of one and caused him to change directions. I jumped out of the car and headed towards him. He was at least 60 yards ahead of me. Either my intimidating presence or just him feeling I might collapse if I chased him, but either way, he stopped when I told him to and I had him in custody quickly. I'm glad I didn't have to run. With several officers on the scene, Air One spotted the other two suspects and all three were taken into custody. We found a 12 gauge shotgun and bolt action rifle with scope in the back seat.
Tomorrow I have to go to Law Enforcement Driving Tactics. Yeah, this is going to be a great day. Drive hard and fast. I told them if they wanted to learn how to drive they needed to go to Afghanistan or Iraq. I'll let you know how it goes. Be safe and have a great day.

08 July 2007, or at least I think it is. I tried earlier this week to upgrade my dial-up connection and broke the whole darn thing. Not even Miss Dub could figure it out. Well, tonight, we sat down and were going over our bills, doesn't everyone love doing that? Of course, we did this and then went to bed. My brain wouldn't shut down so I got up and messed with the internet connection, just enough that I wanted to burn the computer down where it stands. Well, I'm not sure if I fixed anything or not, but I did manage to get on, so I'll update before it shuts down on me.
I did break down and called a plumber. I'm ok with PVC and copper. Apparently though, I have what's called PEX tubing and connections due to the well water. The plumber told me that it's difficult to mix PEX with anything else and that just one crimper for the binding rings runs $100. Now I know and can probably start doing it myself as I could have bought the connections and crimper for what he charged. We had it finished in 1 1/2 hours and as soon as he left I had the fiberglass shower stall back in place. We are staying with the fiberglass stall for now in her bathroom. I framed in my existing door to close off the wall and started the sheet rock.
I made Miss Dub groom the horses on Friday, and on Saturday, we saddled them up and rode for a short time. I don't have my seat yet so I just walked the horse around. Later, the Equine Dentist came by and re-floated their teeth. It is amazing the difference I saw when he came out during my leave in September.
I should be picking up my scout car tomorrow and getting it ready to go back to work on Tuesday. Yikes, my time is already up? That stinks. Mrs. Dub is upset that the goatee has to come off now. I could definitely stay home and be a full-time rancher/farmer on my 5 acres if she made more money, and then I could keep the goatee. However, she seems to think she is the one that needs to stay home, so I don't know how we would manage that.
Not much else to report at the moment. Hopefully, I can get some sleep now. Be safe and have a great day.

07 July 2007, Well, I've been home for three weeks now. And it's rained the entire time. We got a break yesterday but are expecting more today and the rest of this week. It's so soggy out here right now that we have postponed our 4th of July party out here because I can't get a dock built for the front yard. I've seen firework shows cancelled because it was too dry but never because it was too wet, till this year. But you know what, I'm home and everything is great.

We started on Miss Dub's bathroom this weekend.
We are going to replace just about everything and give it a spruce up along with a fresh coat of paint for the bedroom.

This door opens into my home office, so it goes away and I can use the wall space.

We are pulling up this vinyl flooring and will replace with 6" x 6" sage green tiles.

Mrs. Dub is ready for me to finish this project up so I can start on the kitchen, we have big plans for it, just haven't figured out how we are going to pay for it. I'll keep you posted.

Miss Dub has agreed to allow the public to name the soon to be born goats. Now the possibility of having two kids exists, so she will pick the top two boy and girl names to be used, so go over to her site and cast your vote.

Be safe and have a great day.

28 June 2007, Two days in a row! I woke up this morning at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep, so at 5am I figured I would check the computer. It does run a little faster at this time in the morning, and I was able to post a comment.
Yesterday was an exciting day, as Wade from Life Song blog and his wife, TC, were in OKC after dropping off a shipment in Tulsa. They are putting in the mileage across the country. Wade and TC are the first bloggers I have been able to meet. They live in North Carolina when not on the road. They are the first in a long line of bloggers I hope to meet.


For my little 5 acres, we managed to avoid rain all day yesterday. I meet Mrs. Dub in the city after dropping Miss Dub off at church and we had dinner with her parents. I have a great set of in-laws.
I don't have to return to the police department till July 10th, but I think we are all ready for me to start back up. I have to catch up on all the training I have missed in the last 15 months as well as go to the gun range.

Miss Dub is excited about the baby goat coming soon, and I'll see if she's interested in a naming contest. Well, I'll end this for now. Be safe and have a great day.

27 June 2007, Wednesday morning. I was excited Monday night when we retired for the evening. The place had finally dried out and I was looking forward to working outside Tuesday. Well, we woke up Tuesday morning to having about 2 inches of rain over night and it continued to rain all day. Our neighbors on the block to our east have to cross a low spot which crosses over a break in the pond. The water was rushing over it and several people just parked their cars until the water receded.
Sunday morning I had 2100 feet of 3" pipe delivered to the house. I'm hope to get started on the pipe and cable fence soon. We are still shopping around for a barn and tractor. I've decided on the barn, but we are waiting until I get back to work full-time and see how our expenses look before buying anything.
In other news our female goat, Bella, is expecting to deliver a kid any day now. yeah.
Being home with the family has been wonderful. Things are almost normal again, with the exception of I haven't returned to work yet. That will start on July 10th. Today was my last day of paid leave by the military.
If you get the chance, go by and cheer up Mrs. Dub, she would rather be home than at work.
Be safe and have a great day.

21 June 2007, Well, I haven't been updating like I should be. Most of you understand, and I appreciate that. So far the one thing I am not ready for is grocery shopping. I enter the store and am like a kid in a candy shop. Can I have that? What about this? Way to many choices for me at the moment. Everything else is going really well. Miss Dub is at camp this week so Mrs. Dub and I have been having a couple of date nights. hehe.
Being back home has been wonderful. The weather is certainly unusual for this time of year in Oklahoma and it's amazing how parts of the country are in floods and other parts are in droughts. We need to spread this out.
My dial up connection at home is certainly an issue for me. I have tried to read several of my regular blogs but can't get the comment section to work for me. I'm looking at some options that will hopefully pan out soon.
Well, be safe and have a great day.

15 June 2007, Happy Dance Friday! And a great day for dancing it is. I've been home now since Sunday. I'll go over the highlights for the last week.
Sunday, of course, we arrived here back in Oklahoma City, but 45 minutes earlier than we were expected so most of the families hadn't arrived yet. This did give us time to find our bags and get them situated before the great reunions began. As I had now been up for the last 24 hours, we went to breakfast and then I crashed in bed for 3-4 hours.
Monday. I took it easy until we headed out to Cattlemen's for dinner. I had around 20 friends and families there and it was good to see everyone.
Tuesday. We took Miss Dub to her piano lessons and then headed to Durant in Southern Oklahoma. We were given a two day pass before we had to be back at the armory to finish turning in equipment and final paperwork. We stayed at our cousin's house, had dinner and then stopped off at the Choctaw Nation Casino. After an hour there, I walked out breaking even, though at one point I was ahead by $60. I also missed Wade and TC who were driving through OKC at some point that day.
Wednesday. I spent most of it at drill and then loaded up the family and came home.
Thursday. Just drove around OKC, looking at tractors and having lunch. I haven't started on any projects yet, but the plans are in motion.
Friday. I am the only one out of bed so far, but it's time to feed the horses. As soon as I locate my camera, I'll post some pictures from this week.
Be safe and have a great day.

10 June 2007, I'm home! And in the usual Army standard, 45 minutes early. You would think that would be a good thing, except for the 65 soldiers arriving, maybe 6 families had shown up by the time we got there, so as the families finally started making it there, they realized they were late, but all is good.
We had a great reunion at the airport and then went for breakfast. We have been up for the last 24 hours, the Army planned stuff for us for each hour of the night before so we couldn't go to sleep. After breakfast we came home were I took a nap of about 3-4 hours. Miss Dub and I are planning on seeing a play tonight at the Civic Center called "Wicked" Originally, I wasn't going to be home and the two tickets we have were for Mrs and Miss. We haven't been able to secure a third ticket so Mrs. Dub is going to let us go.
I have a headache from hades from lack of sleep, but all is wonderful. I'll post more and start putting up pictures as soon as I get myself a little more organized back home.
Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes. Be safe and have a great day.

08 June 2007, ALMOST THERE!!
Well, I made it to Ft. Carson, Colorado on the 5th. As I last mentioned it took 55 hours to make it out of Afghanistan to Kuwait where we spent two days. Then flew out of Kuwait to Frankfurt-Hahn Germany where we stayed long enough to fuel up. Couldn't find Sanni anywhere. Next, we flew to Iceland, refueled, blew over Greenland, stopped in Indiana. Here we were met by Veterans and had our first chance of calling our families upon arriving in the beautiful United States. We finished up when we arrived in Colorado.
For the last three days we have been out-processing, briefings, medical, anything and everything. We are staying in the new barracks which resemble a prison compound to include a fence all the way around it. They have us out far enough that we have to take buses to come into the main base. (Sounds more like we might have something and are in quarantine)
I finally finished up all of our out-processing a couple of hours ago and found a cyber cafe.
The final flight will occur on Sunday and I should arrive at the Will Rogers Airport around noon. Yipee!
At one point yesterday, we almost turned on a Active Duty soldier as he was giving a briefing and told us we would be returning to our "weekend warrior" mode. The whole auditorium erupted as this guy hadn't seen a tour in a combat zone yet and many like myself have already had over 800 days of it since 911. This is still the mentality of some of the active components and from what I've seen we could go head to head with just about any active unit out there and shine well above what they could do. We bring so much more to the table(battlefield) with our civilian lives since we are more diversified in our backgrounds than just being trained in one job.
Anyway, it's wonderful being back and in less than 48 hours I will be home. I want to thank everyone of you for your prayers, blessings and friendships. You do mean a lot to me and my family.
Be safe and have a great day.

02 June 2007, if it can go wrong, it is.
Examples:
I buy a coke, have it in my sack, I swing my rifle to take it off and puncture my coke.
I've traveled 45 kilometers in 55 hours, and am still stuck in Afghanistan.
I have been without my baggage for three days now, it's in Kuwait.

I've adjusted the countdown, hopefully I won't have to do that too many more times, but with the government as my travel agent, who knows. Other than that, I'm doing really good, and will keep you in the loop as much as possible.
Be safe and have a great weekend.

01 June 2007, I'm in transit now, heading back to the U.S. I'm not able to give any more details than that, but will keep you informed as best I can. The only other thing I really need to do is change my countdown counter, as my seat for my school could not be confirmed and I'm not in the mood to mess with it any more. There's another school in August and I'll try to get a seat in that one.
Everything else is going well for the moment, minus any involvement by the U.S. Military. We are headed in the right direction and really, that's all that matters anyway. I could use Sanni or Sarge Charlie right now, as everything on this computer is in German.
Be safe and have a great day.

31 May 2007, Ah, where to start? I had to give up my luxurious accommodations this morning and leave my connex. By 1300 hrs (1pm) I had moved into a very nice b-hut made out of plywood. This is a story I will expound on later, but not today. Things going the way they did, I decided to take a nap this afternoon. We watched Denzel Washington in 'DeJa Vu' this evening in the conference room. A really good movie. My only problem with Denzel is his absolute refusal to make a movie that doesn't require you to think. Why can't he make something like (at least once) like "Elf " or "Hot Fuzz". But it was certainly a good movie.
My internet did expire last night, so I'm in the office after hours using one of the other computers, so don't tell the government. Not much else to report from my end.
Be safe and have a great day.

30 May 2007, Well, another day down. I was awake by 0530, up by 0600. Went to the gym at 0900, worked out for a bit and then went back to my room. One of the interpreters brought lunch so we ate in the conference room.

I'm pretty sure that my internet will be up today or tomorrow, so I'm trying to knock this post out quickly. I won't be renewing my service, but I should be able to go to the office to update any other days. Here is a picture of my room as of 1600 hrs, (4pm).

Here's a group picture of my section and Lt R. Lt R is the Navy officer kneeling, SSgt G, SrA W & W and LT M.

Be safe and have a great day.

29 May 2007, My apologies for being so late with today's post. You don't want the truth, you can't handle the truth as to why I'm late. Ok, fine, I'm trying to finish up the fifth season of 24. Since I don't have a personal computer thanks to the Military transport system, and I certainly will be doing other things once I make it home, I want to finish it up here. Remember, each season is '24' hours long. As for packing, would you believe I'm almost finished? Well, try to, will ya.
We had a sand storm roll through this afternoon followed by a small rain storm, it made things more comfortable as we've had blazing sun and warm temps for the last week. Things went pretty good today, still working on some paperwork for soldiers.
Good news to report. That computer that was missing made it's way back to camp and into the supply sergeant's hands yesterday. It seems my dear friends and fellow soldiers, SFC J and MAJ G had also signed for it and took it with them when they went on the training mission of the border police in the Herat area. Dirty dogs, but everything is straightened out on that matter.
Not much else to report on my end for today, please stop shaking your head at my watching that show.
Be safe and have a great day.

28 May 2007, Memorial Day

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag. - Charles M. Province



In memory of those of Task Force Phoenix V, Afghanistan, who gave the ultimate sacrifice:

SGM McLoughlin

SFC Fuga

SSG Lindsey

MSG Deghand

2LT Lundell

SGT Nguyen

SGT Hughie

Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What should be the reward of such sacrifices?'...If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. - Samuel Adams



Before I went to Iraq, I looked at Memorial Day as a 3 day weekend, now I see it as a day that will honor these men who gave the ultimate sacrifice' - CSM Brunk Conley, 41 BCT, Task Force Phoenix V

27 May 2007, Well, I'm getting to sleep in till 0700 for the last couple of days, but that's the extent of my enjoying my time off. We are doing a lot of briefings for out-processing the country and they can't seem to be able to come up with a schedule and stick to it. I told my guys the first day to expect changes and not get wrapped up around any one plan of action put out. In this environment, you have to stay fluid. The packing is coming along ok. Not a whole lot else going on at the moment. I'll be more irregular in my posting in the coming weeks as things get closer to time.
Be safe and have a great Memorial Day Weekend.

25 May 2007, some people thought I might want to climb the Ghar again, hahahha. I was more polite than that, but not much. I decided today would be the day I would sleep in. Yep, I set my alarm for 0650. I was so excited last night going to bed. Sleep in by anywhere from an extra 45 minutes to an hour. Yippee. Then I wake at 0530 and stay awake, finally getting up at 0550. That stinks! Oh well, they call this war and everyone knows war is hell.
Today was spent finishing the LOE's for my Air Force personnel, going to an formation this afternoon, discovering that the Army has decided it was in their best interest to write off that projector from last week, and then turning around and wanting to know where a computer was. Yep, it's possible now that they might want to charge me for a computer that I have no idea of it's whereabouts and never have. It's amazing that I'm able to keep up with everything I was originally signed for, but after "taking over" for the 1SG in an unofficial capacity, I'm now being haunted by things that were never under my control. I'll try not to rant on this anymore.....today.
I gave a helping hand to Chaplin W this afternoon, and looking into his room, I asked when he was going to get started packing......hahahahahha. He looked at me and said he was in better shape than I was in that department, then I took him to my room, he admitted he was behind me at this point. Just a little gloating on my part, I'm sorry.
Well, I've got two more meetings to go to at the moment.
Be safe and have a great day.

You Are The Fool

You are a fascinating person who is way beyond the concerns of this world.Young at heart, you are blissfully unaware of any dangers ahead.You are a true wanderer - it has be difficult finding your place in this world.Full of confidence, you are likely to take a leap of faith. Your fortune: You are about to embark on a new phase in your life.This may mean changing locations, jobs, friends, or love status.You are open about what the future will bring, and free of worry.You have made your peace with fate, and you're ready to start down your new path.

What Tarot Card Are You?

I preferred the title "Court Jester" or "Joker", but they seem to be on the right track.

24 May 2007. Finally! As I mentioned yesterday, I have this last week mailed 200 lbs of stuff back home and everyone who stopped by my room kept asking when I was going to get busy. Well, I decided I needed to work on the room a little more. Now, I knew where I was in the scheme of things, but to the uneducated eye, it still looked a mess. rounded up all that was going to be thrown away and did so, then gathered everything being given away and boxed it up. Today, no less than 5 people have walked by and looked in while I was there and said it was a dramatic change and actually looked like I was moving in the right direction. Here it is now.Today I spent several hours working on Letters of Evaluation for my Air Force personnel. SSGT G helped me out quite a bit as Air Force forms are different from those of the Army. I have done two other LOE's when my other two where here but still required some help.
The weather has been beautiful the last 5 days with a small cold front coming in. The highs have been upper 70's, lower 80's with the evenings being just perfect.
There was an IED attack yesterday here in Kabul, killing one Afghan National Police Officer. I haven't heard very much else about the situation. This was about 3 km away from our camp, but I'm staying inside the wire.
Be safe and have a great day.

23 May 2007, Ok, so now I've mailed (4) 50lb boxes home. Now, Mrs. Dub isn't going to be excited by that at all. What I want to know is why does everyone who stops by my room ask me when I'm going to start packing? That doesn't sound good does it. Now, the M4 you saw on the box doesn't get shipped home, I just used it to show the size comparison of how big the boxes are.
However, Mrs. Dub did buy me one just like it, hehe.
After watching seasons 2,3 and on 4 now of "24" with Kiefer Sutherland, I've decided Mrs. Dub's Ford Expedition needs one of those cool slide out weapons tray in the back. Think I can talk her into it?
(LT M just stopped by my room as I was typing this, "you really need to start packing")
I got an email from one of my readers. Her brother is here in Afghanistan on his second tour too. He is working at helping collect school supplies, toys, shoes and clothing articles for the children in his area. I'm working on finding out where in Afghanistan he is working but if you want to purchase basic school supplies and ship them here, you can send them to:

Mervyn Roberts
A Co. 13th PSYOP BN
APO, AE 09354

I've mentioned it before, but education is the most powerful tool we can give the people here, that is true all over the world.
I just got back from dinner, and for dessert I had a Peanut Buster Parfait from Dairy Queen. Well, I better be off now.
Be safe and have a great day.

22 May 2007, Wow, only 9 more days in this month, where has it gone? I spent most of the day in the office, SGM T, the new OPS SGM had a few more questions for me and I don't mind helping out where I can. I did manage to get another black box mailed home today. Wondering what a black box is? Here's a picture.

The goal for tomorrow is to just take it as easy as possible. Now, I mentioned "tomorrow", I'm still in the Army, so every day stands on it's own, after tomorrow, I will see what happens the next day.

Be safe and have a great day.

21 May 2007, Happy Monkey Monday/Funday! I managed to get two black boxes mailed today. I kept them around 50 lbs each as Mrs. Dub is getting practice with carrying all those feed bags for the horses. It looks like I'll have one more to finish things off, I hope. The lines in the post office were short as a lot of people have left already and had already taken care of this. Sometimes it pays off to procrastinate.
With that said, I didn't make it the gym today, and I'm not really motivated to go this evening. I will make an effort tomorrow though.
It's been a easy day all in all, and not really much to report.
Be safe and have a great day.

20 May 2007, Why didn't someone tell me it's already the 20th of the month, I better get busy packing! Actually, I'm doing.......ok....with my packing......I think. For some reason, people keep coming by and making the comment that they thought they were behind in packing till they saw my room. How should I take that?
The day has been good and I did make it to the gym today. LTC Y still wants us in the office to assist with any questions, training and such for the new Battalion that has come in to replace us. This is good to some degree, but it also puts more reliance on us instead of them making decisions for themselves. Now, I don't have a problem with going in the office. I am there every morning at 0630 and stay for several hours, then take off for a couple of hours, then return to the office for a couple more hours to see how they are doing. This gives them the opportunity to work out some issues, make notes, formulate questions and then I can work with them in solving the issues at hand. Plus it keeps me busy.
I haven't heard any more on my school yet, but at last word, it was back on. With the school in place my end date on the counter is accurate....today. I am always amused at people in the military that act "surprised" when something changes. I'm surprised when it doesn't.
Well, let me see if I can tackle something in my room. Be safe and have a great day.

19 May 2007. I stopped by Anndi's Luggage yesterday. Her post for Friday did me in. I have been blogging for 11 months now, and have read many posts that have brought a tear or two to my eyes. Anndi, bless her, made me full out cry, blubbering in my room. It was a beautiful poem that she found dedicated to the love between a father and daughter. I can see Miss Dub being of the same character as the daughter in the poem, as she has made me swell with pride many times, such as her open letter to a soldier that ended up in my hands by divine intervention. You can read it here.
I slept really good last night. First, I had to take a nap at 5pm and slept for two hours, then went to bed at 10pm and slept good till 6am this morning. I've been in the office a couple of times, answering questions, finishing up on small projects, paperwork. I'm still working on season 3 of "24" when I just decide to stop doing anything else.
It has been a beautiful day here, with small showers sweeping through the city every couple of hours, with blue skies following each storm.
Be safe and have a great day.

18 May 2007, Happy Dance Friday! Although, at this minute I don't feel like dancing. I began my day at 0400 this morning. By 0445 we were rolling out the front gate. Yes, I know, stay inside the wire. Well, I didn't. In my 20 months (both deployments) there was something I hadn't done till this morning. The Ghar. Yes, the dreaded mountain that people just feel they need to climb, for entertainment purposes. I didn't understand why until today. Now, I know I was right to start with and I have the blisters to prove it. It really wasn't that bad. I did actually enjoy most of it. I have very little fear of climbing anything, (with the exceptions of ladders). I've scaled the outside of buildings before, some minor cliff climbing, daylight and nighttime, those sort of things. I have never really liked coming down from heights with gravity as my sole means of control. I love rappelling down the side of cliffs and zip lining, but not today, not with this mountain. So enough rambling and on with the pictures.

The Ghar.

Those are our vehicles in the background, keep a look out for them in the following pictures.

Our goal is just past that point up there.

Still moving, now I didn't try any land speed records either.

About 3/4 of the way up, I'm tired, but still going.

The top is in sight.

Now, all I have to do is cross this and we have reached our destination. What would you do?
I found out why my assault pack was so heavy. I had a stow-away. Mr. Build-A-Bear wanted to climb the Ghar too.

The Oklahomans and their Centennial Flag.

And now with the State of Oklahoma Flag.

Ok, that was enough fun, let's get outta here.I'm back at camp and other than being completely worn out, I'm fine. Be safe and have a great day.

17 May 2007, 39 days and a wake up. Since my countdown decided to go on the blink, I guess I can do this manually. Today was a little more down time. I just made the final payment for the road we built and completed last week. The U.S. Government really does pay way to much for almost everything they touch, but the road and walk path are much nicer than anything they had before. While we were out yesterday, I noticed that the Jalalabad Road construction is moving along at a fast pace and is helping considerably. At some point Kabul needs to start looking at adding more roads and streets here.
Yesterday's Stars and Stripes paper did an article about the comparison of events in Ramadi, Iraq. Here are what they printed.
April 2006 April 2007
Bomb Explosions 334 28
Indirect Fire 129 12
Uncovered Weapons 11 136

I'm not sure if main stream media reported this or not, but sad news for people like Senator Reid, it's working. The story goes on to state that the tribal leaders, Iraqi police and coalition forces are working together and things are improving.
Not much else to report for now. Be safe and have a great day.

16 May 2007. This was my first official short day. Yep, I went in at 0630 this morning and just finished for the day at 1600. That's only 9 1/2 hours. I even had three minutes for a burger at lunch.

Now besides being inside a Humvee convoying on Jalalabad Highway while my vehicle was on fire, nothing else really happened. Did I catch your attention with that one? Not to worry, this was the driver's first trip outside the wire since getting here and he forgot to disengage the emergency brake and the brakes got hot enough to start a fire, we simply pulled over, (in the typical IED zone of that highway) grabbed a couple of fire extinguishers, put it out, waited a bit and pulled the vehicle back to the base. I had just enough time to grab a burger and eat it on the hood of the next Humvee so we could go back out. The second attempt was much more successful and we completed the mission without any more incidents.

I have a couple of wood projects lined up for tomorrow, some certificates to print up, and then get caught up on reading my favorite blogs, the latest chapters Miss Dub has written on her stories, and just relax. Somewhere in there, I do need to hit the gym too.

Well, be safe and have a great day.

15 May 2007, I'm having a better day, as I have completed the packing for the office and as of tomorrow will be working mainly out of my satellite office (my connex). I will have a few small things to finish up, but for the most part, the new guys have taken the controls and we are just watching over them. I picked up the box set of "24" seasons 1-5 last Friday and will see how many hours in a row I can watch before I collapse. I did manage to get 1 1/2 boxes of stuff out of my room, so I am making some progress there. Mrs. Dub is encouraging me to downsize my stuff coming home and I will make every effort to do so. I am reminded of Steve Martin in "The Jerk" when he finally moves out of his mansion. All I need is.....and.....and....that's all....except this....and.....














Everything else is going pretty good here. Be safe and have a great day.

14 May 2007, RANT ALERT! IT AIN'T PRETTY!
I'm having a bad day. Now before you worry, everything is fine here. I'm just pissed-off with our government at the moment. I'm taking it from two separate fronts from our own people. Some of you may know that last May we had to send much of our personal belonging by shipping containers by sea to Pakistan then by local contracted drivers to our base. Well, I realize that on "paper" Pakistan is our ally, I realize that "local" contractors from Pakistan to Kabul is the way to ship, but really, I don't trust either one any more than anyone else does. So, my personal items were stolen in transit. Did the contractor get his contract taken away? I doubt it. What did arrive finally got here in September while I was on leave. Then I have to wait this last 8 months for more government people to finalize all the paperwork. Now, I try to be as honest as possible and I gave fair assessments for the laptop and flat screen monitor as well as the other big ticket items the government allowed to be stolen while in their transportation mode. I finally get a letter stating that they have determined that my property is substantially worth much less than what I research to replace said items. This got my blood pressure up just a bit. On to today.
I have been working as the OPS NCO for about three weeks out of the last 15 months of this deployment. The OPS 1SG left in the last week of April to redeploy back home. I signed for all the equipment in the office. Well, going through the receipts I discover there are suppose to be "3" projectors, which for the last 12 months in country I have only ever seen 2. Now, they want me to pay for it. HA! Bring it on! They slapped me in the face with me having to wait 8months and then tell me you are only going to pay me a fraction of the cost due to wear and tear my computer might have suffered, and the monitor was 3 months old when I entrusted it to you. Now you think you are going to charge me "full price" for a projector that I've never seen. B.S. My suggestion would be you write it off, since it's supposedly been in the country for the last two years, it's not worth anything, but since we deal in fractions, I'll give you $50 for it. Where do I need to send the check?

My apologies to those reading today, I just needed to write this down, as I plan to send something similar to the powers that be. I hope to be my more pleasant self tomorrow.
Be safe and have a great day.

13 May 2007

Happy Mother's Day

to my mother in law, Nita and to my step mother Voneitta. I hope the day is wonderful for both of you.

12 May 2007, I have been tagged with several memes and two interviews. I must have angered the internet god, known as algore, he is also god of weather and earth. Forgive me for I am about to cheat at this.
10 Interesting, shocking or little known facts about myself. This meme tag came from Rock Solid. I was also tagged by Ron Simpson at The Cluttered Eclectic Mind for 8 things about me, 7 things about me by Ms. Fierce Shoes. As I am a self proclaimed rebel of sorts, I combine all of these and go with the highest number, which is 10.

1. I live by simple rules and philosophies. One is, "If you can't laugh at me, who can you laugh at?"
2. I didn't join the National Guard until I was 28, I attempted to join active duty during Desert Storm but was rejected due to my knee.
3. I actually do like having a neat and tidy area to be in, I just don't like doing the work to keep it that way.
4. Since the age of 5, all I ever wanted out of life was some land and horses, I achieved this in 2005. Now I want more of both.
5. I am a mad shopper when on orders as a soldier.
6. I was laughing the moment I hit the ground on this accident.

7. My signature in remodeling is to leave the project unfinished in some small way. 8. This drives Mrs. Dub crazy.
9. I like to wear shorts on the first heavy snow day of the year.
10.This is a picture of me, my 10 year old sister, 13 year old daughter and 38 year old brother.Now, I still owe the two interviews and will hopefully accomplish both of them tomorrow. If you remember Vadon coming to visit us a little while ago, and that he works for Build-A-Bear, well, he sent us some more bears this week, and had a few speical ones for LT. M, MAJ M, and myself. Looks like Sgt Dub back home may have an officer moving in.

I must get back to packing away the office so I can start on my stuff. Be safe this weekend and have a great day.

11 May 2007, It's Happy Dance Friday all over the world! Ok, maybe not everywhere, but today is going good for me so far. We worked last night from 9pm to 3am "remodeling" the office for the new guys to make it more suitable for them. Typically this doesn't happen until the old crew leaves, but why wait, if they are wanting to take over now, who am I to interfere with that plan. I was back at the office at 0815 this morning tidying up some. I told them I was going to stay out of the office for the most part during the next three days as I worked on packing 1-180th equipment and memorabilia and then working on my room. Now, since I'm only about 75 yards from the office, this isn't really a problem for anybody and if anything happens, I can be reached and in the office in just a matter of minutes. And, I have only been called once all day.

And what about me and my sign? It says, "Omar Khan Road" in English and Pashtu. At least, that's what it suppose to say. Sarge Charlie mentioned something about me being mean to the local children, I'm wondering if he heard something about that day, or is just grasping at straws? Hmmmm.

Be safe and have a great day.

10 May 2007, The week is almost over, yeah. Today was more of just plain running around, doing odds and ends, mainly because with all the new people in the office, some additional training going on in there too, there just isn't anywhere for me to sit and do my work. The new OPS Sergeant Major has been here for a week and has been picking my brain for some construction and demolition projects in the office and it's been decided we would start tonight around 2100 hrs. It will be a late night for me, but I've told the office I didn't plan on being around in the office much for the weekend as I prepare office equipment and my room for going home. This of course means I will attempt to sleep in, in the morning.

It's starting to look like my posts are getting a day behind. Today I will share pictures of our trip yesterday, just a couple, and so tomorrow I will share pictures of today. Yesterday, we went out on a foot patrol to a road construction project we had done for the village just outside our camp. Earlier this week I was given the assignment of making a sign to put up. Now, I can't take credit for the engraving as we have a nice laser engraver at BDE level and SPC B is in charge of all that. I cut out the sign, painted it, and carried it to the scene.

Follow Me!

A little to the left.

All dressed up.

The ribbon is cut.

09 May 2007, I'm running a little late today. I got back inside the wire at about 1830 hrs. Yes, I know that was a couple of hours ago. Mrs. Dub and Miss Dub got their Sgt Dub t-shirts in the mail. Mrs. Dub says I ordered the wrong size for her. Well, duh, I'm a guy. Anyway, after telling me the selection still wasn't big enough, I've just finished adding some more shirts to it. I'm hoping to expand the product line in the near future. I've also been told by some of my readers, that the link to find the store was hard to find, and after much prodding by you, I've added it's own link on the sidebar, it should be easier to find, look under "Go shopping".
So what have I been up to today? Well, I got the two signs finished and went to LTC Y and tried to give him the road sign for the dedication and opening ceremony for this afternoon. He asked me how it was going to get installed. I told him I didn't know since I had no idea where it was going to be placed. I was then sent to fix the problem and came to the conclusion that I had to go "outside the wire" with the patrol and put it up myself. I'll have pictures tomorrow of the trip and results. All went well, I got my mileage in for the day with that trip.
Mrs. Dub sent me pictures of our little homestead and it has been raining. I'm just glad we are at the top of the hill and not the bottom where the ponds are. Yikes! Looks like a few more things just got added to the honey-do list. French drains, leveling the yard, replacing our driveway.
Everything else is going well, be safe and have a great day.

08 May 2007, Let's do a comparison sample of two posts I could have done.
Number 1: I write this in the morning instead of evening like normal.

08 May 2007, I slept last night. Be safe and have a great day.

Number 2: Normal afternoon writings.

08 May 2007, Wish I had slept all day. Be safe and have a great day.

Which do you like?
Actually, it wasn't that bad. I'm rushing to get several things finished at once and when you rely on "others" to do their part, it gets hectic. The new guys that are here are doing a pretty good job so far. I'm impressed with the ones we received in the SECFOR. I'm coming close to taking a whole day off and get things organized, both in my room and the final bit of equipment that I need to get packed away for shipping home. My leaving here is still a little ways down the road, but will be here sooner than I can get ready, so as we say, "plan early, plan often"
In case you were not aware, the Taliban have kidnapped a french aid worker and 3 Afghans helping and have been holding them, demanding that the French 1,100 soldiers leave Afghanistan or they will be executed by beheading. The time frame was set for Monday, the day after French elections. The demand was to see a change in France's President and then an immediate pull-out of troops. Now, let me start off by saying that once again the insurgent supporting liberal media has not balked at this action one bit, an innocent person who is actually over here to help people, not involved in conflict at the slightest. Now, they do bark a little if it was a journalist, but really not that much, since that would be the ultimate story for a reporter anyway. But, I do have to laugh at all this too. The deadline came and went. Now, there was a change in the Presidency, duh! Chirac wasn't running, that was a given. However, Sarkozy is being described as an unapologetic pro-American supporter and conservative. Hurray for France!! Today on Al-Jazeera the Taliban announced they would allow France more time to get their country back in order and civilized before demanding the French troops leave. It seems France is in a state of riots right now and doesn't have time to worry about what the Taliban wants. I just laugh to myself. And what is one of the reasons France is up in arms at this moment? Apparently there was a reform bill going around attempting to lower the number of hours in a workweek from the already demanding 35 hours. ( I put in 17 just on Sunday, what was I thinking?) At the bottom of the report, the Taliban are claiming responsibility for the attack at Pol-e-Charki, but we expected that. As Sarge Charlie pointed out, another report is stating that the ANA soldier was mentally unstable and had received treatment a couple of times during the last year.
Be safe and have a great day.