sgtdub

2012-01-30T07:18:00.000-08:00

30 January 2012,

Sarge Charlie – He was an American Soldier when our Nation despised them. He came home from Vietnam to be looked down upon, called names and criticized, when all he did was serve his country. I was fortunate to get to know the Sarge through blogging since 2006 and it was my goal to get to meet him one day. I’m very sad that I won’t have that opportunity to do it in person. I truly respected and honored the man very much. Sarge Charlie brought a fresh outlook on the politics affecting us over the last few years and put a smile on our face. I have seen many bloggers disagree with Sarge over various issues or points he brings up, but regardless, he respected the other persons views and vice versa. Thank you Charlie for your service, your wisdom, and for making a difference in many people’s lives. May God great you as an old friend and a new neighbor. Rest in Peace.

2011-11-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

9 November 2011,
Due to circumstances I took my leave early and am back home in Oklahoma for a couple of weeks. All is well with me, Mrs Dub and Miss Dub. It's been a whirl-wind of events since I got off the airplane and got back with the family. With Miss Dub as a senior this year in high school, we are taking this opportunity to visit some college campuses and let her get a feel for what and where she wants to attend.
Things in Afghanistan have been busy with my unit spread all over, the commander and I have been in a constant state of travel it seems. Life would be much simpler if I had them all under one roof. But then again, life would be much simpler if we were stationed in Hawaii or Italy instead of Afghanistan too. I keep telling the military Hawaii is primed for another attack and we should be on the front lines. I'm willing to sit on a surf board and keep a look out for attacking submarines.
Gotta get back to the rat race here and I'm sure I will be somewhat ready to get back to Afghanistan where I can take a break. Be safe and have a great day!

2011-09-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

25 September 2011

It's been a busy month, we have had several key people take their leave this month which allows the rest of us to pick up the slack. With that, I've managed to get to travel quite a bit throughout Laghman Province and back to Bagram, all of course business, hehe. I made my first venture through Jalalabad by convoy last week, it was amazing. By air you can see that it is one of the most advanced cities in Afghanistan. It is good to still see small children wave and smile as you go by. I remember traveling through the city and hearing one of the soldiers over the headset say he saw a person taking a picture as we drove by. Yes, in one sense this could be a tense moment as you don't know why he's taking a picture, but then again, since both the soldier in front of me and I were both taking pictures of them as we drove by I tend to think it's just curiosity. Heck, we took pictures of our vehicles when we got them, they're huge! This one is one of my favorites, it's a MATV.

I like it because I know that it happens to come in black with a light bar on top as a law enforcement package.

Well, better get going for now, be safe and have a great day.

2011-09-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

9/11/2011
It was ten years ago today. I had just gotten off work from the night shift as a police officer, taken my daughter to school and was just going to bed when my wife called me and told me to turn on the news. Within minutes I had guardsmen, my soldiers, calling me and asking what we needed to do. I told them then, get ready. I too went out to my garage and pulled together all of my military gear, pulled out my clothes and packed. I did not expect a call to come on that day, but I wanted to make the gesture, to show my commitment that I was ready. That call came two years later, the 45th Infantry BDE was training at Ft. Carson heading to Afghanistan in the largest deployment for the Thunderbirds since Korea.
In 2006, for the 5 year anniversary I again was in Afghanistan serving on my second tour, The 1-180th Infantry Battalion from the 45th was called up to deploy with the 41st IBCT from Oregon.
And now, 10 years later, on this day, I write to you from a forward operating base, FOB Gamberi, Afghanistan. This war has had a toll on all of us. We have had too many losses just in this deployment so far. I will say to you now, I am proud of my commitment to the Oklahoma National Guard, the State of Oklahoma and the United States of America. I wear this uniform to pay tribute to those who died on that morning ten years ago, their families, to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who have sacrificed their lives for our safety and to their families who feel the void in their lives now. I WILL NEVER FORGET.

2011-08-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

24 August 2011,

Nothing brings a smile to your face like a jingle truck.

In one week's time from now, my beautiful wife of 19 years, and 8 months will be another year older, I think she'll be 29, again. But of all that time, and with 3 deployments and a trip to New Orleans, this will be the first birthday of hers I will absolutely not be home for. I still say that I made it for her birthday in 2006 even though I was one week late. There are no plans to surprise this time but I did manage to get her a gift on time, thanks Amazon.

My relocation to FOB Gamberi in Laghman Province has occurred and I finally have Internet again. Not the most reliable, but I am able to Skype with the family and that's a huge win in my world. I just got back from Kalagush where I have some of my soldiers, and I took a couple of pictures.

(of course, this picture doesn't represent how I feel, or does it?)

The mountain range surrounding this place is magnificent.

Be safe and have a great day!

2011-08-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

11 August 2o11,

* * * CAUTION: This post is my venting. * * *

I can say without a doubt, this has been the most miserable deployment I've been on. Even my time in New Orleans, just days after Hurricane Katrina, was more enjoyable. I'm already doing the jobs of two full time E-8s and now they want to move me to another camp to take on more responsibilities. I'm not fully functioning at the two I'm doing now. In fact, I will probably be getting my hateful call from Division tomorrow about a tasking they gave me. Life sucks.

I have promised my family and myself, this will be the last deployment. I'm tired of the BS. Tomorrow I will have been in the military 17 years. Although I have had ups and downs like anyone does with any job, this last year has all been down. I feel lied to and betrayed by this brigade. It's very sad. On the 13th, I become eligible to re-enlist again. For 16 years the plan has always been getting a minimum of 24 years, which means I would enlist one more time for six more years. Well, they have done a fantastic job of changing my mind over the last six months. I could still re-enlist for 3 years and get a bonus. I need 2 more years to get my 20, which has always been the goal, but I'm wondering if it's even worth my time to do that. I'm just tired.
For anyone reading this post, don't worry about me, don't feel you need to make some comment, just be safe and have a great day for yourself.

2011-08-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

8 August 2011,
So far the month of August has not been kind to us. We lost 4 of our own in a weeks time in 3 separate attacks. Our prayers go out to the families as well as the comrades left behind struggling during this time.
I have been very busy as of late fulfilling the roles of the First Sergeant as well as the other hat I wear in country. My unit is officially scattered to the four winds here and it's interesting how we are getting things done with a lot of coordination.
With the assistance of some folks back home, I think I have Mrs Dub and Miss Dub convinced to meet me on my R & R time. I'm glad as this year away holds very big milestones in our family and being away has been difficult.
The first big event is Mrs Dub and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, (16 of which I was actually home for). For our 10th anniversary we re-newed our vows in Las Vegas with the ceremony being officiated by Elvis. It was a blast. So, for the 20th I'll have to add some extra WOW to the mix. Our second milestone is Miss Dub turns 18 and will graduate High School in May. All signs point to me being home to see this event, which has been a very big issue in our household. I screw that up and I might as well stay here in Afghanistan.
Be safe and have a great day!

2011-07-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

28 July 2011,
It's 7:10 am and I just want to go back to bed for a while. Our b-hut stays dark so unless someone opens the front door you don't know it's daylight out yet. Do you think the war would miss me if I slept in?
I have a sign of relief as my school work is done for the summer session. I have a couple of weeks before the fall session starts. I'm thinking about taking 9 hours, but I haven't completely decided if that's a good idea or not. I had dropped one of my summer classes due to technical difficulties, so 3 classes may be too much. My goal was to finish my degree while I was here but that does seem far reaching now. I just need to get a hold of the university and see how close I'm getting.
There certainly isn't anything exciting to report, and for here that's good news. Be safe and have a great day!

2011-07-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

19 July 2011,
Have you ever tried to log on to one of your many different pages and as you sit and type your log-in you forget what your password is? I've had to create a spreadsheet to capture all mine, you know that number one rule by everyone not to do, but its the only way to ensure you have it in case your memory fails. Now where did I put that spreadsheet?
Life continues here in Bagram, more wind brings more dust. The temperature here has been better than at home. Yesterday, it was only 90 degrees, felt very nice. Today it was back up to 96-98, but a lot of wind. I see my friends and family putting pictures up on Facebook showing the car temperature, looks miserable. So who as posted the highest car temp yet? That should be a contest.
If you remember I decided to take two college courses this summer. The one class I'm doing pretty good in considering I'm in a war zone. The other class has been a battle. We are six weeks down in a eight week course and Sunday I finally got my school book. Yeah, exciting. Of course, this book is the second one I have bought for the course as the first one ended up in in Prairie, Mississippi. I hope they are enjoying it.
Well, better get back to the homework. Be safe and have a great day!

2011-07-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

08 July 2011,
It's Friday night in Afghanistan, yeah, I know, not really a big deal. I haven't been to work out in the last week. I need to get back to it. Who would have thought I would come to a war zone and be busy? Uncle Sam I guess.
I can't believe NASA is sending it's last shuttle out. I heard the news about how they were doing job fairs and offering retraining. Really?

HR Rep doing hiring: So, you don't show a lot of experience

in this line of work, what did you use to do?

NASA employee: I was a rocket scientist

HR Rep: Sure you were

We had a IDF (indirect fire) tonight, we actually heard a 'boom' and then the sirens went off. Not sure what it was or were, Bagram is about 15 square miles so it's large. All our folks are ok.
Could have been the real thing or could have been a connex being dropped on the airstrip, not sure yet.
Well, bed time here, be safe and have a great day!

2011-07-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

6 July 2011,
I had an exciting morning as I got to take my first ever Black Hawk helicopter trip across eastern Afghanistan. Mrs. Dub has asked me to never let her know before hand about such trips so I didn't tell her till this evening. It only lasted two and half hours but we covered a lot of ground and I accomplished my mission. I certainly didn't do my hearing any favors even though I wore my military issued hearing protection, I was more deaf than normal for the hours to follow getting off the bird.
I took a bunch of pictures, going east the landscape has more green, trees, grass, fields. It made it a fantastic trip. Next time I will have to clean the windows on the doors so that the pictures come out better and do some justification to the scenery.
I'll try to get some of the better ones loaded tomorrow. It's been a long day and I'm exhausted. Be safe and have a great day!

2011-06-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

30 June 2011,
Well, another day down in Afghanistan. I'm spreading myself thin (for a guy my size that's an accomplishment) with the two hats I wear here plus my school work. Luckily I haven't been under any great pressures yet. The weather was much nicer today, cooler today and we had less dust.
My admin SGT, SGT D, has taken over for the XO in getting me in shape. I've followed her to several different classes during the last couple of weeks and she finally found one that took everything I had and almost more. Kickboxing. Luckily we did drills and I didn't have to step in the center, even though a couple of guys stated they wanted to spar with me. I'm not crazy about the crazy guy looking me up and down. By the end of the class I was drenched and wondering if I could make it back to my room without assistance. I will have to go again because it's what I need, but I'm wondering if I should be concerned.
Ms. Dub had her second date with a new boy back home. I know, you're sitting there reading this and going "ah, that's so sweet". But in my head I'm saying "why am I here and not home where I can scare the hell out of that boy!" Yes, I've envisioned now for several years re-enacting the scene from Bad Boys II at the front door with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Making a clear statement to the young man what I expect out of him.
I'm thinking about my leave later in the deployment and possibly following the trail of the 45th Infantry Division as it made its way through Europe, seeing all the WWII memorials and sites. Just something I'm considering.
Be safe and have a great day!

2011-06-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

28 June 2011,
Life is good, the sun was visible and by noon we could make out the mountains surrounding Bagram Airfield. The last 3 days have been solid dust, grounding rotor wing flights and coating everything. I've never liked Bagram for the simple fact it didn't have enough vegetation surrounding it to keep it less dusty ( not sure about grammar on that one).
My admin Sgt took myself and 2 other soldiers to the gym for a Body for Life workout, one hour of aerobics. Well, I'm transferring that Sgt to another base now, I ache everywhere. The good news is I'm loosing weight again. Since the beginning of this deployment I'm down 12 lbs. If I exercised I could be alot more or is that less? Things are running smoothly for now. We have taken over for the 2/34th out of Iowa and they will soon be heading home. They did a good job.
Mrs Dub is running her first ever 5k on 9 July, so I'm going to run one here too, there is an official 5k on 4 July so I might do that one. I received my first piece of mail today, I mailed to it myself but it contained my Scentsy warmer. Hey, my room smells better!
I'm going to have to shop for a new camera. Miss Dub gave me hers but alas, she took the memory card out and I can't find another one that size. Yes honey, I'm going to spend some money, but I'll keep it reasonable. Not much else to report.
Be safe and have a great day.

2011-06-23T10:17:00.001-07:00

23 June 2011,
Life in Bagram. When you have limited opportunities to do things and you have 30,000 + people living in a confined area, well, it makes life interesting. I know I need to go to the gym which is across the street from my office. However, just slightly larger than a single tennis court I estimate no less than 100 people attempting to get on the next piece of equipment at any given time of the day (that I'm up). I can only imagine that at 03:00 in the morning you will still find a large number of folks in there.
The sun gets up around 04:00 in the morning and sets around 8pm. I knew this from my previous deployments but am still amazed when you go to the showers at 05:00 in the morning and it looks like 10 am already.
I did manage to get started on homework, completing two assignments and turning one in. I hope to continue this trend and get caught up quickly. Still waiting on my other book.
I'm hoping to get cable news ran into our office so I can see what's going on. I spend about 15 minutes in the DFAC (dining facility) but the volume is off and it's not enough time to determine what's going on in the world. President Obama's speech does directly affect us but to what extent is hard to say. They, (you know, 'them') can no longer surprise me. I laugh at the comment I made a couple months ago to my soldiers about how I couldn't guarantee that we would even be going to Afghanistan let alone where in Afghanistan they would be and even before we left the states two of our Battalions were pulled for Operation New Dawn in Kuwait. I didn't have any inside information, just know how to read the tea leaves.
Not much else to report at the moment, I'm waiting on Mrs Dub so we can skype. Isn't it the coolest. Each deployment just improves on certain issues,(and dissolves on others).
Be safe and have a great day!

2011-06-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

22 June 2011,
It sounded like a good idea when I came up with it, take two more classes towards my bachelor's degree this summer while I was deployed. Well, I'm in to the third week of class and still waiting on one of my school books to catch up with me here in Afghanistan. I was finally able to make contact with the instructors and they are willing to work with me, that's good. We will see how it goes because I need to take 3 more classes this fall.
Just got off Skype with Mrs. Dub. She's ready for me to be home. I'm ready to be home. Taking 3-4 months to pre-mob wore me down. So many soldiers I've talked to would have rather spent more time in Afghanistan than what we did on train up. I know training is important, believe me, but with so many deployments so far, I think we are capable. I guess I'm just complaining some. Hey, it happens.
Well, I better try ready some of my homework and make a dent in it. Be safe and have a great day.

2011-06-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

20 June 2011,
Last night I got to sleep on my new mattress! Now I know that's not always an exciting event, but the one I had in my b-hut was spring based and wrapped around me like a hammock. When I rolled over the entire b-hut knew it. The new ones are said to only last about 3 months but it's a memory foam style and very firm. We have six rooms in our b-hut with each soldier getting about 70 sq ft of floor space. Soldiers are allowed to do what they want with their room, such as many make their bed into a bunk bed and put a desk under it. My bed sits about 40 inches off the ground so I'm not that high up and I still have plenty of storage room underneath. I lucked out in having a homemade shelf unit and clothes rack. It was entertaining to watch the soldiers get their rooms. Much like a pot luck dinner or dirty Santa. The billeting manager would take the lock off the door and what ever was inside is what the soldier got. One room had two light switches hard mounted connecting to a string of Christmas lights strung on the ceiling. Some had fans, extension cords, shelving, rugs. Our A/C isn't working as well as it could but it's not bad. What I hate the most about Bagram is the dust. There is very little vegetation surrounding Bagram so the dust just blows everywhere. I also hate the gravel.
Mrs Dub said this deployment I could actually take a trip during my R&R leave to where ever I wanted. Based on my position my leave will be either too close to now or too close to the end of our rotation and the emotional roller coaster we go thru on saying hello/goodbye can be exhausting. I can't talk her and Miss Dub into meeting me anywhere as she really doesn't want to fly across the ocean without me. So if you had a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world where would you go? At 45 am I too old to backpack across Europe? Maybe visit my cousin in Alaska? New Zealand? Two weeks in Ireland? The decisions are tough. Going home would be the easiest but this is an excellent opportunity.
Well, give me some suggestions
Be safe and have a great day!

2011-06-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

18 June 2011,
Well, after two weeks, I'm finally in Afghanistan again and finally have an Internet connection of my own. We are at Bagram Airfield and in the 120 days of wind. Now Bagram is in a basin surrounded by mountains and due to the lack of irrigation there is very little vegetation to help keep down the dust. I've seen the Kentucky Agriculture Team here on base and I'm pretty certain Oklahoma has a team or had a team here too. Time to get them busy on growing grass or shrubs or something to get this dust down. Of course, who wants to plant grass in one of the most mined countries in the world?
Our schedule is naturally hectic as 2-34th is ready to get out of here and we need them to stay long enough to a proper hand-off. My unit has brought with us a volunteer group from 1-34th out of Minnesota so we are getting some good treatment having fellow Red Bulls with us. I actually have a couple of my organic soldiers who have deployed with the Red Bulls in the past. It is a small world. I actually came across one soldier today who was organic to 2-34 but had a Oregon National Guard combat patch also. I found out he deployed with Oregon on the same mission I did back in 2006.
Mrs Dub is doing well and is in training for that 5k run coming up. Her trainer/friend/pain coordinator has also signed her up for a half marathon. Good luck honey! I haven't gotten into a routine yet for exercising but I'm walking everywhere and Bagram is a big base!
Once I figure out my camera situation I'll start posting pictures.
Be safe and have a great day!
P.S. It was 20 years ago today that Mrs Dub and I had our very first date. I was 2o minutes late but brought her a rose. I miss you babe, and I love you.

2011-06-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

6 June 2011, Well, on this date the world knows it as D-Day. For my company it's know as R&R day. We received a pass and I am in southern Mississippi with my family and some of my soldiers relaxing, enjoying being barefoot and a Coke.
We got back from the Joint Readiness Training Center at Ft. Polk last week. The training was good but the lack of cell phone and wireless support out in the sticks made it impossible to try to update anything. Although the environment was so much better than the last time I was here three weeks is a long time with "basic" services. My aircard for my internet was worthless. I was able to get outside the box a couple of times but never long enough to get anything written.
We were able to conclude training there just in the nick of time, having enjoyed fair weather and the himidity and heat didn't arrive the last two days. The last couple of days back in Camp Shelby certainly got hotter.
Mrs. and Ms. Dub are great and I'm enjoying having them near. Four days is going to go by fast but I will cerish every second of it.
Be safe and have a great day.

2011-05-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

8 May 2011,
I have found myself stuck in Louisiana. Now, I like the state just fine, it's the Joint Readiness Training Facility (JRTC) that I'm referring to. JRTC is a validation process that light infantry brigades go through every 7-10 years. My last time here was in 2001. Things have changed to a large degree. Last time we slept under vehicles, in vehicles, on vehicles, under trees, just about anywhere you wouldn't get stepped on. Fort Polk has set up dedicated Forward Operating Bases (FOB) that have headquarters, sleeping quarters, shower trailers, and a dining hall. Now, I haven't been impressed with the dining facility and if the last two days are indicators, it won't get any better. But having A/C in offices and sleeping quarters makes for a much better experience. Everyone is in good spirits but everyone is also ready to get on with our mission and stop 'wasting time'.
The family is good or so they tell me. Mrs. Dub is still working towards completing her first 5K run for a charity event which I think is next month.
The FOB doesn't have internet and we are far enough out that my aircard doesn't work so I've managed to sneak onto post for a couple of minutes to update you.
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there and I hope you had a wonderful day.
Be safe and have a wonderful day.

2011-04-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

22 April 2011,
Yes, it is definitely the paperwork, my old job I got to draw with markers. A big change. No one has yelled at me so I'm doing an ok job.
Tomorrow we take the entire brigade out for a 5 mile road march. yeah. It's one of those exciting events, ( I would liken it to some other event you might know of and dread even watching it but I won't in fear of offending someone out there who might like it).
Yesterday was a day of meanness. I was setting everyone up for pranks. We had to do a logistic sync meeting to determine where we were on our equipment maintenance and the major asked how many rifles we had. "84" was the answer. How many have been technically inspected? "83" was the answer. Where's the other one? We're still looking for it Sir. For moment in time it was priceless.
Miss Dub finally finished her play last night. She was the Stage Director. (I think). She said she felt like a First Sergeant too, having to manage people, step up when they didn't, find solutions to problems you didn't anticipate, etc. Overall, she seemed very happy with the performance of her team.
Mrs. Dub is working towards running her first 5k soon. She's been working out with one of the other wives from our company. Keep in mind, I've only seen her run one other time. Now I need to get busy so she doesn't put me to shame.
Well, I better get back to work. Be safe and have a great day.
Happy Easter, remember why this day is special and that Jesus had risen.

2011-04-19T03:00:00.000-07:00

19 April 2011,
It's 0500 hrs (5 a.m. for the civilian population) and I'm already 2 hours into my day. The Brigade's CSM decided he needed a formation at 0400. We thought it was for a unpleasant experience. Turned out he just wanted to see if he could get the entire brigade together in one spot on time. Heck, it made since and worked, how'd that happen?
So, I headed to the office, why bother trying to go back to sleep now. With no one else in the office except the night CQ I can finally have a moment to relax, catch up on the blog and finally read a couple of articles in the Army Times I bought two weeks ago. My days here are full with report after report, I'm not digging the whole admin life of a First Sergeant, I enjoyed doing my job and only having to worry about a section rather than a whole company, its more complex, but it has its rewards. Luckily my commander, CPT S found a way to bring on a admin sergeant and that's working out great!
Miss Dub did a presentation back home on the cultural background of Afghanistan, looks like she was actually listening to me when I rambled on. She's doing great and it's a real bonus when others in attendance send me messages telling me how wonderful she is as a person and as a speaker. I love her and her mother very much and miss them both.
Well, enough free time I guess, I have stacks of papers on my desk that require my attention, but I'll finish this last article in the paper first. Be safe and have a great day.

2011-04-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

06 Apr 2011, Well, after 4 wonderful days at home with my beautiful family I am back to work getting ready for another trip the Stan. Mrs Dub didn't feel well so we did nothing but rent and watch movies at the house and just enjoyed our time together. I have given considerable thought to just purchasing a large acreage north of Kabul and building a bed and breakfast, maybe even a Dub Ranch. The obvious problem would be convincing the family this would be a good idea. Miss Dub takes her ACT this weekend, wish her good luck, I need her to score great so she can get lots of scholarship money. Both the girls are doing well, and I miss them a lot. The days here have been busy and long. I still need to do my laundry since the IG and JAG both said I couldn't make privates do it for me. Be safe and have a great day.

2011-03-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

17 March 2011,
We've been in Mississippi for almost a week now. Yes, the "at sea-level" low lands, marshes and swamps is the ideal training environment for 6,000 feet elevation in mountain warfare. They'll never know what hit them. This is the same place we trained out of in 2006 so I'm quite familiar with the scenery. The gang is still scattered with the four winds. The weather today was absolutely beautiful with a light breeze and temps at around 80, the humidity didn't seem bad or maybe it isn't warm enough yet.
Right now a lot of training by power point, but in the coming months we'll get plenty of hands-on training to go along with it. As usual I pack more than allowed but still not enough to accomplish everything I feel I need. I'm taking plenty of notes during the day on things I want to get done for my troops. I'm spending most of my time on this computer when we aren't training. The ideas are coming together slowly so maybe in 18 months or so I'll have a handle on what I'm doing. Like I usually say, "If you want to know what I'm doing come back tomorrow and I'll tell you what I did." Until then it's a surprise even to me.
The family says they are good, we figured out Skype and that's cool to be able to see them as well as talk to them.
Better get back to work, be safe and have a great day!

2011-03-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

06 March 2011,
Well, another day done in Gruberstan. (that's it eastern Oklahoma). I've been working out with my executive officer doing Cross-Fit. It's an amazing workout to say the least. Today was just 9 minutes long after a warm-up, but I was exhausted. Last night was the only workout I've missed in the last week. I'm watching what I eat too, this is different in that I used to eat with my eyes closed, lol. No, I'm acutally eating less and a little smarter. I've cut down my intact of Coke, just one a day, (I go with the 64oz so it lasts longer). Just kidding.
Mrs. Dub and Miss Dub had their huge family fun day at the armory and she said it was a big success. Hot dogs, cotton candy, cup cakes, ballons, clowns, a huge bouncy obstacle course. Wish I was a kid and in town.
Changes everyday make for an interesting time here, I cringe at having to print anything in fear that as soon as the ink dries it's out-of-date and the new one replaces it. At times it feels like I'm spinnng my wheels and not getting anything accomplished.
Well, better get back to it. Be safe and have a great day.

2011-02-28T19:10:00.000-08:00

28 February 2011,
Well, we have finished our second day of "pre-mobilization training", or should I say we have been here two days now. Either way I miss home and I miss my family. I feel like the paperwork I will have will engulf me but I'll take it one at a time and hopefully get it right. We started off yesterday morning with 65 degrees and this morning with 35 degrees. Gotta love Oklahoma. My office is a unused dining facility attached to our barracks. Hey, I have lots of room.
Miss Dub said she had to dissect a sheep's brain at school today. I asked her if she knew what the sheep had been thinking and she replied, " probably that he should have taken the gig with the Easter pageant." That was funny.
She was the costume manager for the school musical and it was pretty good. The First Territorial Saloon.
All is well, be safe and have a great day.

2011-02-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

20 Feb 2011,
Well, the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had their farewell ceremony this last Wednesday at the Oklahoma City Arena and Cox Convention Center. Once again, we will be heading to Afghanistan. I really do need another travel agent setting up my trips. Why can't I conduct operations in Hawaii, New Zealand, Italy? Regardless, I will go on orders next week and begin training.
Miss Dub went to her first drama/monologue competition and took first place in poetry! We were so excited for her. She now qualifies for regional. We went and saw her perform her semi-finals round and I was impressed with all of the competitors I saw and really like three, Miss Dub was one of them.
Mrs Dub is doing good, at least she is putting on a strong face. I think the deployments are getting easier for us to deal with. By that I mean we know what to expect, when to expect it and how things are laid out.
For me, this deployment will be much different in that I will be going as the First Sergeant for my company rather than going in my MOS job.
I will be posting more frequently so family and friends can be updated on my status.
Be safe and have a great day!

2011-02-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

Feb 5, 2011
Again with the long break between posts, my apologies. Things are hectic as always. Mrs. Dub transitioned into a new job at the beginning of the year. She has been very happy everyday at work and after work. Her last job, although she loved it was a heavy load of stress on her. The Oklahoma National Guard is headed back to Afghanistan and I'll be going with them again. Yeah for me, right? I don't mind and the family is almost good with it. Our biggest issue is Miss Dub will be a senior in high school next year and more than anything else has always stated she wanted me to be at her graduation. Hopefully I will be.
As I get closer to train up with the Army, I will be posting more frequently. One of my goals on this deployment will be to continue with my college courses and maybe even be able to graduate myself next year. Just think, it will only have taken 28 years to get it done.
Be safe and have great day.

2010-11-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

Nov 3, 2010

Busy, busy, busy. Between work, Army, school and family, we are also trying to finish the painting of the outside of our house. We made good progress last weekend replacing trim and soffet on the west side. One more end and we'll be done.

This weekend marks the final salute to Vietnam Veterans in our Operation Oklahoma campaign. Governor Henry declared 2010 a salute to these heroes who never received a proper welcome home for their service and sacrifices made during that conflict. To Sarge Charlie and any other veterans who served, I say, "THANK YOU AND WELCOME HOME".

Miss Dub will celebrate her 17th birthday this week. Good grief! What happened to macaroni glued to plates in kindergarten? She's a junior this year in high school and we are starting to look at colleges now. Time moves to swiftly.

I'm doing as well as I can. I would say I was starting to fall apart physically, but that would be lie. I'm just finally getting around to getting myself fixed. I had ear surgery a couple of weeks ago to repair a hole in my eardrum. While the surgeon was there he also did a little reconstruction on the bone chain. I had an MRI done on the left knee and am waiting for a date for surgery to repair it. Hopefully they don't find any surprises when they get in.

Well, I'd better get back to doing homework, something about theories and research utilization, blah blah blah. Really, I think I'm learning something. Only 15 more hours and I can be done with that!

Be safe and have a wonderful day.

2010-09-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

20 September 2010
First time visitor to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Luckily I have no idea where the prison is. I'm up here for some Army training. I must say, I never pictured Fort Leavenworth as nice as it is. The girls would love the area around it with the barns and farm homes and even the buildings on post themselves.
It's been a busy summer and going into fall hasn't slowed down yet. Miss Dub is driving herself to school, Mrs. Dub is taking a class too, and I'm taking another six hours towards that far away bachelors degree. It's getting closer though, after this semester only about 9 hours left.
Time for bed unfortunately, we are up earlier tomorrow morning. Be safe and have a great day.

2010-08-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

August 1, 2010
Yes, I know it's been a long time. Yesterday I finished my paper for school, still working on that 26 year bachelor's degree, and only 15 hours left. The bad news is that now I have to stop, for now.
With a pending deployment coming up I need to concentrate on getting things around the house done, and there's always a lot to do. Between work, school, guard and family it's been a busy summer so far. Miss Dub goes back to school in two weeks. She's had a busy summer too. Her idea of summer was staying up late into the early morning hours and sleeping in till mid afternoon. However, we didn't let that happen too much. We told her to find a job or she'd spend much of her time volunteering to help others. She's done a good job, spending one week as a youth counselor at the Military Kid's Camp, packing food boxes for families in need and helping out where she could. Kid's Camp was a true experience for her, no air conditioning in the barracks, being outdoors most of the day, and truly helping other kids proved to be both punishing and rewarding for her. (But she's considering doing it again next year).
Mrs. Dub has been good, she's taken over the Family Readiness Group as the leader for my unit and just got a promotion at her job. We now have to refer to her as "the Director".
I've been pushed by the military to get myself back in shape. I hate exercise, but I know I have been out of shape for some time and over the last six weeks, I have lost 10 pounds. Mrs. Dub has been working out with me so she works as my drill sergeant. Our goal is to make the whole family more healthy by exercise and eating better. I miss my chili cheese dogs for breakfast, gotta love Coit's.
Well, we are headed out to church right now, be safe and have a wonderful weekend.

2010-05-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

14 May 2010,
Well, I'm into my 5th day of special assignment. Tornadoes came through the city Monday and we have been out here helping the citizens and keeping out the rift raft. It's been a busy year so far. Last week I managed to finally finish both my classes for college. We got our alert notice for deploying to Afghanistan again next year so a lot is happening to get ready for that. This will be trip number 3. I should look at investing in some property this time, 100 acres of mine-free land, yeehaw!
Miss Dub is almost finished with her sophomore year of high school. She hasn't admitted it yet, but I believe it has been harder than she expected. She's in that age where she doesn't want to listen to any advice we have for her. We have told her that she would have to get a job this summer instead of lounging around the house playing on the Internet and phone. She has finally filled out an application for a retail store. I had to lie and say I was 16 to get a job when I was only 15 1/2, I was ready to have my own money.
Mrs Dub is fine. She has taken over the Family Readiness Group for our company and is working to get it up and running. She's been wonderful in the position. She's ready for this week to be over so I will get home at a decent hour. We are only working 12 hours but she's use to 10 hours and having me home in time for a decent hour dinner. I made her watch 2012 Monday before the storms came through. In hindsight that wasn't a good idea, and she let me know. Well, better get back to keeping people safe, you do the same and have a great day.

2010-03-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

15 March 2010,
Ah, the last day off before I head back to work for another set of days on. Last Tuesday I experienced for only the second time in my 13 years of law enforcement a traffic stop initiated by the violator. Yes, while traveling on I-44 Interstate I got behind a vehicle that was going a bit faster than the posted speed limit. He noticed me in his rear view mirror and changed lanes. Obviously he was unaware of my intentions to change lanes anyway as I was about to exit off of I-40. As soon as I changed lanes and was again behind him he turned on his flashers and began to pull onto the shoulder. Well, I had the notion of what he was doing and just to make sure he wasn't braking down I pulled off onto the shoulder also and turned on my emergency lights. I walked up to the drivers door and he was already gathering his state driver's license and insurance forms. I asked him if everything was alright and he stated, " I know I was speeding". I said yes he was and since he was aware of it to slow down and then got back in my car. I think I left him a bit puzzled but I insist that regardless to how many tickets I might write, if I can change the driving mentality if just while I'm present I've done my job.
Mrs. Dub was complaining Sunday about Daylight Savings Time, commenting on how much she hates it and hates losing that hour of sleep. I had to remind her that since we stayed in bed till almost 10 am, that I didn't think she lost any of it. I don't think she agrees.
I took both of the girls to the gun range today. Miss Dub has been chomping at the bit to go and shoot. I can even get her to clean my guns with less hassle than feeding the horses. I brought the whole armament of the pistols, shotgun and AR-15's. This was their first time with the rifles and shotguns. We got some practice in on the paper targets and then I turned them loose on the steel targets. Everyone loves these as you get the "tink" sound when you hit the target. Later in the afternoon we went and saw the new "Alice in Wonderland", 3D of course. Johnny Depp has the problem of overacting so I didn't understand some of what he said but I thought the whole movie was great.
Be safe and have a great day.

2010-02-23T20:07:00.000-08:00

23 Feb 2010,
I'm ready to be done with college, especially since I've been working at it ever so slowly over the last 26 years. I attempted to take 9 hours this semester but within the first week I realized one class was going to be too much and dropped it. I am managing the two other classes without too much extra work. The goal is to stay on course and I can finally have my bachelor's degree by May of 2011. That will mean at least 6 hours over the summer and 9 hours for each semester next year to reach that mark. We will see.
The family is doing great, Miss Dub is managing high school ok, she played one of the nasty princesses in a school play tonight. Mrs Dub believes she is being typecast as a villain all the time, let's see, there was the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, a witch in Into the Woods, a cranky crazy grandma in The Sweet By and By, do you see any stereotyping?
Not much else to report right now, be safe and have a great day.

2010-01-31T10:21:00.001-08:00

31 January, 2010,
I must say I enjoy the winter snow storms much more when I'm at home with the family. For fear of sounding like my last post, I can't remember the last time we had two significant snow storms in the same season. After a 1/2" of ice we received 5" of snow.
The Oklahoma National Guard has announced we are yet again in the window of another deployment. My travel agent has no imagination whatsoever, and I'm looking at going back to my second home, Afghanistan. Now of course, nothing is set in stone and we are simply preparing as if....... ( for those who are easily fooled....)
We are headed into town to have dinner with Mrs. Dub's parents so be safe and have a great day.

2010-01-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

01 Jan 2010,

Happy New Year!

Well, I must say the last week of 2009 was certainly interesting. Mrs. Dub thought we should all post our experience on Christmas Eve in the family. At the police department I had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, don't ask why, it's not worth saying. Anyway, as with every other Christmas I wanted a white one. Boy did I get it. Because the weather was suppose to get worse on Christmas Eve I took Mrs. Dub to work that morning. She called me at noon to say they had released everyone for the holiday and the bad weather. By 10 am it had begun snowing sideways with wind gusts up to 60 mph. I picked Mrs. Dub up from work and she rode with me the remainder of my shift. Since it was the holiday we were suppose to be able to come in as soon as the next shift broke out of line up. The snow got so bad that the next shift got snowed in the parking lot at the station and we were told not to come in. This was fine since I my self was stuck in a snow drift in the McDonald's parking lot and had been there for an hour and a half. Over the course of 4 hours in this one drift I managed to move my vehicle in a half circle and finally found myself up against the curb of the drive thru window. I finally found some traction and slowly made my way thru the drive backwards. This was working until I backed into the next snow drift which was much deeper and it was there we stayed until the wrecker finally made it to us. After two pulls through the snow I made it to the main street where we headed for the highway. At least up there the plows should have been working. We got on the highway and drove a half mile before a semi truck and trailer, a pickup, a Toyota corolla and a suv had the entire width of the highway blocked. I parked far enough away to avoid getting stuck again and walked up to the vehicles. I finally managed to get two of the vehicles moved and advised the semi and the pickup that wreckers and sand trucks were on their way. They were only a hundred yards away from gas stations if things got worse and there was no need for me to stay any longer with them. It was already 630 pm and we were going to leave at 4. I made my way around them and drove another half mile when we found the 50-75 car pile up. I didn't get close because I didn't want to get caught in the middle of this. There was no way for me to make my way to the front to determine what was wrong so I turned around on the highway and with lights going drove the wrong way back to the next exit and got off. We finally made our way to the location of two other officers who had abandoned their vehicle and walked almost a mile to a gas station. I picked up one that lived out in the same direction as us and made our way to his house. 20 miles later we dropped him off at his house and we started winding our way out of his neighborhood when we hit our 4th drift of the day and was stuck for another 2 hours while waiting for a wrecker. It was now 10 pm on Christmas Eve and Mrs. Dub and I were in a police car trying to get home. Ms. Dub had been home alone since 7am. We were able to get within 3 miles before it was no longer possible to go any further. With 6'-7' snow drifts covering the last 2 lane highway to our house we weren't going home and Ms. Dub was spending Christmas Eve home alone. We had to turn around and found a friend's house who put us up for the night. Mrs. Dub cried, I was just too exhausted. I got about 3 hours of sleep before I had to start all over again on Christmas Day. Mrs. Dub stayed there while I went to work. I ended up getting stuck in a snow drift again for about an hour that morning. If there had been a dealership open I would have traded in the Ford Crown Victoria for a 4 wheel drive. It was worthless in these weather conditions. Mrs. Dub finally made it home around noon and had a short walk to complete the trip. I made it home after work around 5 pm.

In other news, the Oklahoma National Guard announced once again that we were being considered for another deployment in support of OEF, possibly meaning Afghanistan sometime around May of 2011. Let the games begin.

2009-12-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

09 Dec 09,
Well, I survived Boston and ANCOC and made it back home. Being the giving person that I am, I brought home a cold (crud) that I shared with my wife. Today she is still sick. I'm sorry honey, next time I'll bring back a thimble or tee shirt. We were able to have some time off during the course and got to see some of the history of the Revolutionary War. It was amazing. Back in 1989 I visited a friend in the Washington D.C. area and wanted to climb the Washington Monument, however, it was closed at the time. In Boston, we made it to the Bunker Hill and we noticed they had a monument very similar to the one in Washington. I didn't hesitate to start my climb up those 294 steps to the top. About midway, I realized I was much younger in 1989.

I've got one more assignment for school this semester and it's a research paper on any terrorist event and analyzing the Incident Command System. I would much rather turn in the paper I wrote a couple of weeks ago for my military class, it's really close to the same topic, just not enough that I could pass it off. I'm certainly ready to be done with this semester, however, I must trudge on as I will only have 30 more hours to complete to finish that 26 year bachelors degree journey.
Our family gift this year is a Wii. Yep, we bought one for the exercise. Miss Dub has been on it the most, although I'm a close 2nd. I'm sneaking in and trying to beat the high scores to keep her motivated. Speaking of Miss Dub, she went for her driver's license test on Monday and passed with a 97. Some how she has it in her head that she can drive now. Be alert on and around HWY 152.
I suppose I better get back to the paper, be safe and have a great day.

2009-11-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

10 Nov 09,
Well, I'm on my 3rd day of being in Devens, Mass. for Army training. I have to complete two weeks of Senior Leaders Course in order to hopefully get my promotion to 1SG. The weather so far has been beautiful with daytime temps in the 60's. This weekend we get to "research" the local area to include Boston and next week we are doing the Freedom Trail. I'm excited to see some of the history that made this country and knowing what sacrifices our founding fathers were ready and did make for us to be able to wake up free. My biggest problem getting adjusted to the Northeast is the fact that it's completely dark before 5 pm. Good grief. But really, if that's my biggest problem I guess things aren't that bad. If I'm close to any of my friends in the blog world, please let me know, I would love to say hi. Of course, it's up to you since I don't know where the heck I am. Be safe and have a great day.

2009-11-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

04 November 09,

Well, today was the day. My little baby girl, who used to be cute and adorable turned 16 today. Happy Sweet 16 Miss Dub. As a father, I explained to her many birthdays ago, that it was my responsibility to embarrass her as much as possible, with unconditional love of course.

Last night we took her to our favorite Mexican restaurant where she was serenaded by the employees while standing on a chair wearing a sombrero.

We started her day with attempting to decorate her room this morning while she was sleeping and then woke her up with silly string in bed.

We took her to school and this afternoon when we picked her up we had shoe polished the vehicle and made her drive us home.

While she was at youth church we got the cake ready and at the end of services lit the candles and brought it in. Over all she seemed to have had a good day.

And this last picture is of her and her new "friend". I slipped into the background and decided to call this one "I'm always watching"

Be safe and have a great day.

2009-10-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

Oct 26, 2009,
Has it been awhile? Mrs Dub has been on me to get this updated. In my mind, I certainly bit off a lot this fall. I finished the welding class and had fun, even if I'm not great at it, but I do know that with practice I will get better. And with 600 linear feet of fence to put up, I'm gonna get the practice. My online classes for regular school are still going on and it's a chore keeping up with them.
The family is good and we went to a Halloween party this last weekend. Miss Dub turns 16 in just under two weeks, yikes! Mrs. Dub is happy that I finally finished the bathroom, and it's 100% done minus any decor she wants to put up and the crown molding (which was an after thought anyway and shouldn't count against me). It turned out pretty good. As of right now, I'm suppose to head up to Mass. in November for more Army training but this one was only two weeks long and I'll be back before Thanksgiving.
I definitely need to get back in touch with everyone and see how you are doing. I hope all is well. Be safe and have a great day.

2009-09-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

10 September 09,
Well, I relinquished my laptop to Best Buy in order to have some much needed repairs made. Of course, it was terrible timing, but then again, whens a good time to loose your computer? I'm just glad I took out the coverage on it.
Internet classes are in full swing, and I'd rather be sitting in a classroom. It's much easier to determine what is expected of you from an instructor standing in front of you. I received two letters last week stating I wasn't participating in the online class. I knew I had done the two assignments and sent my instructor an email and received a confirmation from him on the assignments, what was I missing? A one line sentence posted on the discussion board saying I had read and understood the course curriculum. Well, I got fixed and even had to have a chat with the school advisor about it. Oops.
Mrs. Dub has been home the last two days with a sore shoulder, neck and back. I wish there was something I could do to make it better.
Miss Dub is doing well in her sophomore year of high school so far. Support, support support, that's what she needs.
Well, it's almost time to head home from a part time job. Be safe and have a great day.

2009-08-31T07:13:00.000-07:00

31 August 09,
First, Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife, Mrs Dub. Being a gentleman, I won't disclose how old she is now, but she certainly doesn't even come close to looking her age. She made it perfectly clear she didn't want a party, especially for such a monumental occasion. So, for once, I'm going to listen to her and not throw a party. Instead, I've been working to wrap up a some projects around the house.
The weather is absolutely gorgeous today and should be all week. We have had the windows opened since Friday night and I love it.
I have to go paint the ceiling in the bathroom now, then take two on-line tests for class. Be safe and have a great day.

2009-08-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

22 August 09, Ah, it's been a busy last couple of weeks. Let's start with the auxiliary bicycle patrol. Last week we were riding along the river front and got to the end of the trail where we crossed over a bridge and was coming back down to continue the trail. We had to cross a pair of railroad tracks and as fate would have it two trains were making their way towards us. In a blink I was transported to the time of my youth, watching Evel Knievel doing death defying feats. I was energized and began racing my bicycle towards the crossing. The trains were only 75 to 100 feet away but I had to try. I crossed over feeling the adrenaline racing through my veins. The guy walking in front of the trains just laughed and waved.
I finally got enrolled in a welding class at one of the local Vo-techs and I also enrolled in 6 hours towards my bachelors. Mrs. Dub is hoping I still make time to get the projects around the house done. I think I should be able to as long as I don't goof off too much.
This will have to do for now, be safe and have a great day.

2009-08-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

01 August 2009
A day outside. Today we spent most of the day working on the land. The farrier came this morning and we got all the horses feet trimmed. Miss Dub's horse acted up and I ended up getting hit with a fence panel, luckily I didn't do any damage to the fence panel. We went into town and rented a tractor with a front end loader and a box blade. The City was clearing the ditches a month ago and I got a couple tons of dirt dropped in the yard to level out some spots. I saved almost $200 on buying dirt.
I moved dirt, moved the horse shed, level out the old turn out stall lanes, made a protective barrier around the brush pile, started a fire in the brush pile (this is always fun, fire good). I hope to finish up some more projects tomorrow after church. Mrs. Dub says she took some pictures and we'll get them posted tomorrow.
Be safe and have a great day.

2009-07-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

23 Jul 09,
Well, Internet Explorer keeps telling me I have issues and shuts down when I try to open my blog, somehow I got on this time. The 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team is just finishing up our last couple of days at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.
The first week was miserably hot, seeing 105 while wearing all our Army gear. The final week the temperatures dropped down almost 15 degrees and we even saw some rain. But then again, we are the Thunderbirds and we always see rain when we train. I remember the Afghans loved us because they had been in a draught until we arrived, then the rains came.
I'm still the Acting First Sergeant and I'm still awaiting a slot in a school before I can get my promotion.
Miss Dub is at Falls Creek Baptist Assembly this week which has left Mrs. Dub at home all by herself. I'm glad I get back tomorrow. Of course, two weeks is nothing anymore when I've done 6 months, 1 year, 1 1/2 years, but it makes me appreciate what I have and what I'm doing it for.
I hope each and every one of you is doing well.
Be safe and have a great day.

2009-06-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

23 June 09, Well, I had intended to update a little more during the vacation, however, once Miss Dub discovered my roaming Internet with my AT&T air card, I have only been able to admire my laptop from a far. I finally have it long enough to try and update ya’ll on where we’ve been.

We left Memphis, Tennessee and drove to and drove to Nashville where we toured the Belle-Meade Plantation. Mrs. Dub loves the old plantation houses, and this one was similar to Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage.

We left Tennessee and went to the Biltmore Estates. A very impressive home except it appears the staff needed 1/2 the house, so I'm not sure why you would need 259 rooms. We then drove to Shelby, North Carolina where we met up with Wade and TC for an early dinner. Our visit was brief as we were trying to get to Charleston, North Carolina that evening. It was good to see them and since they have stopped by Oklahoma twice to see us, we were glad to be able to return the favor.

We arrived in Charleston late and stayed at a very nice hotel that overlooked the Harbor. The hotel overlooked it, not our room, unfortunately.

We walked around the historical part of Charles Towne and then made it across the bridge where we caught a ferry ride to Ft. Sumter. Mrs. Dub is interested in learning and seeing more about the Civil War and we figured, why not start at the beginning.

We then drove that afternoon to Savannah, Georgia. We ate dinner on River Street and took a tour of historic Savannah on a trolley. It’s definitely the way to start and then from there you determine which sites interest you the most. We took our picture here at the Forsyth Park

I better not try for any more photos, be safe and have a great day.

2009-06-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

19 June 09,

Day 3 of the vacation. We left Oklahoma on Wednesday and drove to Memphis.

Graceland out front.

The girls having lunch.

On the steps of the Peabody Place in downtown Memphis.

Miss Dub had heard of albums/records, but didn't know what a 45 was.

We spent Thursday in Memphis, going to Graceland first and then headed downtown. Downtown we walked on Beale Street, obviously it's designed for night time attractions rather than early afternoon as it's mostly bars. However, we did enjoy it. From Beale Street we walked over to the Peabody Place mall, had an ice cream and then walked through the Peabody Hotel. Now, this was the first time I had heard of it, but apparently the Peabody Hotel has ducks that swim in the indoor fountain. A Duck Master parades the ducks from their own private suite upstairs down to the fountain at 10 a.m. and then marches them back upstairs at 5 p.m. and this is quite the sight. It was 3 when we went through and nobody felt like hanging around for another 2 hours so we loaded up and got back on I-40 east. We are currently in Nashville where we will hit just a couple of places before trying for North Carolina. We came to Nashville last year and visited Andrew Jackson's Estate, the Hermitage, as well as getting to go to the old Grand Ole Opry. Mrs. Dub would like to see the Belle Meade Plantation and we might stop at the Country Music Hall of Fame today. (Wade, you should get a phone today very soon, hope you're home).

2009-05-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

31 May 2009,
IS THE DUB CLAN COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU?

That's right! We are finally going to take that trip we have been putting off for far too long. As of right now, we are looking at going through Memphis, Birmingham, Savannah, and Charlotte with the return trip either going more north or south to cover a different area. Our objective is to visit several Civil War sites with Fort Sumter being the final most eastern point ( I think the ocean comes next, but I'm not for sure).
If you know a site that we need to see or if you just need us to stop by and say hi, give us a shout. No Wade, I haven't blocked any calls and haven't showed any missed calls either.

Ms. Dub feels this would also be an excellent time for her to get some massive drive time, what do you think? 10 hours behind the wheel as a student driver........yeah, me either.

Let's go over my To-Do List for today..

Slide down a pole at a fire station. Check.
Sit in the shade and surf the net. Check.
Break up domestic calls. Check.

Looks like I'm done for the day, do you think my Lieutenant will still make me stay till 5?

Check.

Be safe and have a great day.

2009-05-22T06:26:00.000-07:00

22 May 2009,
Well, the youngest Dub just got her Driver's Permit this week. She took 10 hours of classroom instructions this last week and Wednesday morning, my first day off I took her down to the DMV and she took her written test. Now one of the reasons we moved out to the "country" was because I wanted back roads my little girl could practice on. So when we had a straight run to go to and plenty of daylight and no traffic we let her practice driving. Up till Wednesday morning, she was always reluctant. Kiss that goodbye, I can't get her out of the driver's seat. Hee hee, wait till she gets her license, then I'll just send her to the store and I can stay home.
The entire family will have 3 days off this weekend and we have chosen to paint the outside of the house and the shed. If you were wondering what you could do this weekend, just give me a shout and I'll give you directions. If we get enough people, we can start digging post holes for the pipe fence.
With this being Memorial Day weekend, a local contest was offered to veterans for landscape work. Mrs Dub decided to enter me and had to write an essay. She told me last night she posted it on her blog.
Well, not much else to report at the moment, be safe and have a great day.

2009-05-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

06 May 09,

Ah, sunshine, but apparently only for a day. As usual, I am staying busier than a beaver in a petrified forest, and making as much progress. In April, we went to the Oklahoma National Guard Military Ball. The Guard has been keeping me busy and I sometimes catch myself wondering if I'm working for the Guard full-time and the Police Dept part-time. I'm sure the Police Dept is wondering the same thing. I certainly can't say anything bad about either. The Dept has shown true support towards all of their employees serving in the military. At some point I'm going to have to get back to concentrating on my career there.
Last month I got to ride on bicycle patrol twice. We pick an area in our division that we want a little more presence in and then just work in that area. On bicycles, we are able to interact with the neighbors, business owners and people we pull over for running stop signs. Yes, nothing says being embarrassed as being written a traffic ticket from a bicycle cop. The looks we get as people drive by and see a mountain bike parked behind a car on the road and a cop in shorts. Hey, I can't knock it, I need the exercise.
Be safe and have a great day.

2009-04-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

27 April 2009,
Does anyone else think this administration is releasing the prisoners at Gitmo so they have room for America's real threat, U.S. Veterans?

2009-04-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

24 April 2009,

Not sure how much longer I can hold out, being on the run from the authorities can be exhausting. I've dived into a local internet cafe, I'm sure I only have a few moments to jot down some comments and then I will have to leave, another town, another state. This guy I met in at the bus station said he could get me some good "clean" documents that I might be able to cross into Canada with, it's that or try crossing into Mexico, either way, it's a long trip to France. Ok, let me start from the beginning........

Apparently, two weeks ago, Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano identified me and about 400,000 returning veterans as "individuals needing to be watched" as we could be considered possible terrorists to this country. It's strange being on this side of the hunt. Knowing that in just a few days after that announcement the FBI would release their new list of "Most Wanted" I had to make a break for it before I was black bagged in my own home in the middle of the night. I grabbed the twenty dollars I had hidden in the sock drawer, my Gerber multi-tool and a couple of MRE's. There was no time to say goodbye to the family. I was an optimist and always believed in hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. I had no idea....none......that the worst would be me on the run. My problem, I don't have a mythical one-armed man or a molecular reconstruction that will clear my name. France, yes, France, it seems highly unlikely, almost unfathomable, but France is now more conservative that the U.S. So, for now, it's France that I'm trying to get to, until we get things turned around here. If anyone gets a chance to check the Most wanted, leave me a message and let me know if I'm on it yet.

2009-04-10T05:10:00.000-07:00

10 April 09,
Well, I didn't intend on taking a month off between postings, but my procrastination set in and since the medical field hasn't developed a medication for that yet......
I have noticed several blogging friends have been taking sabbaticals from the posting and I am certainly one who understands. I usually only share what my time has been like and every once and a while my opinion on the topic of the day, while I see much more effort being put into the content and context of what you say.
I have been staying very busy working between the police department and the National Guard. Good grief, I could use a couple more of me. I did manage to get the yard mowed yesterday before the winds picked up to 35-40 mph and several fires broke out from Texas to Kansas. I can't recall a time when I have heard of entire communities being evacuated although with my training I know it's to be expected. Reports last night where that the damages associated with the fires who exceed those of the May 3 tornadoes we had in 1999.
Mrs. Dub mentioned to me that a new television channel needs to be started that only reports good news. You can't turn on any of today's programs without falling into despair from the stories out there. Either we are as bad off as they are reporting, or it is some one's desire to lead us to believe such things so that when they offer the "solution" we buy into it hook, line and sinker.
Well, remember the outcome of your day rests solely on you. You can't control what happens, just how you respond to it.
Be safe and have a great day.

2009-03-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

17 March 2009,

Fool Me Once, Shame on You

Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me

Wall Street, now AIG. And you know what their not even the ones to blame. They are acting as is their nature, only thinking of themselves. What did you expect. I think Groucho Marx said it best, "If you looks like an idiot and talks like an idiot, don't be fooled, it's an idiot."

The problem isn't with these people, the problem is with Congress, they have proven they are incapable of making the right decisions for this country. They are running this country into the ground. They have no clue what goes on outside their own little world. America, I say it's time to start looking at replacing every single Congress person that has voted yes on giving money to people and companies who have proven irresponsible in managing it. The time is now.

2009-03-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

09 March 09
Happy Monday to all! I spent the weekend "playing" Army again, at least that's what Mrs. Dub says. All is well, we are about to go get some chicken fried steak, taters and green beans for dinner.

Here's a great video we wanted to share. I hope you like it.

Be safe and have a great day.

2009-03-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

02 March 2009,

I hate to admit it, but I was wrong and Al Gore was right. Yes, it seems global warming is real. Al Gore has been selling his Carbon Credits for a few years now, and as usual, the east coast and west coast led the way. I live in the Heartland of America, and we have not purchased our Carbon Credits from Al Gore's company and it shows. Today, the east coast and west coast are being pounded by heavy snow storms, enjoying all the benefits of winter, and the Midwest and Oklahoma are having to suffer from our obvious uncaring attitude towards the environment and will be expecting temperatures in the 60's, 70's and even one day in the 80's this week. I plan to make the call this week to these guys and get my carbon credits today. Al Gore has signed on Vince Offer with ShamWow to help sell his carbon credits. What are you waiting on?
The family had a good weekend and I spent part of it painting the kitchen in the house we used to live in. The realtor who sold us this house purchased our old one in order to make the transaction go through and a year later sold that house to.....my in-laws. yep, you can just imagine that every time a question arises about the old house, I get the call. It's a good thing I love my in-laws.
Besides putting two coats of paint on the walls, we put up the border around the top and I moved a couple of outlets. Of course, this leads to Angela and I wanting to get started on our house, and especially our kitchen. We are both anxious but don't want to jump too quickly. I need one of HGTV's or DIY's crews to come out and help with the project, especially with the cost. I think our next big purchase for the house will be a safe room. The tornadoes that hit Oklahoma in February missed us but we realize that we need something in place that gives us peace of mind and security for the family.
Be safe and have a great day.

2009-02-16T08:37:00.000-08:00

16 Feb 2009,

BREAKING NEWS

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Sgt Dub Breaking News, I'm your blog-host, Sgt Dub. Our first story comes out of California where 7 time Tour de France bicyclist Lance Armstrong has had his bicycle stolen. This is the 2nd such incident in California where a celebrity has had their bike stolen and offered a reward for it's safe return. You may remember the first such incident in 1985 when this individual had the same problem.

Yes, offering a reward only promotes theft of property rather than deter it. Lance, you probably should have gotten on the news and made this statement instead, "Guess what, you just stole a one of kind, unmistakable bicycle and whoever gets caught with it will go to jail, you won't be able to pawn it, you won't be able to ride it, you won't be able to sell it unless that person likes hiding their treasures, here is a picture of it, take a good look America, if you get caught in possession of this bicycle you will be arrested, tried and sentenced to go to jail. Have a nice day."

(disclaimer: Mrs Dub actually made this observation and I felt it was funny enough to elaborate.)

DTV

Our 2nd story is a technological sensation we haven't seen since December 31, 1999. That's right not since our fear that computers would discover the rollover from 1999 to 2000 and think it was 1900, realize they hadn't been invented and would just shut themselves down; the switch from analog to digital has this nation in a frenzy. Yes, so much so that the President wanted to put off the change to allow people the chance to make sure they could survive. Why, just today I saw one of our stations scrolling the statement across the television, "if you have cable or satellite you should be ok" I should be ok? They aren't certain? Oklahoma City has of course, opted to make the change tomorrow as previously scheduled and will move on with their lives. If this is my last blog you will now it's because my computer must have been analog and I no longer have reception.

This concludes our breaking news and we bring you back to your normal broadcasting.

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day weekend. I took the girls to the PBR. Yes, nothing says I love you like watching someone ride a bull. Both Angela and Shelby went Saturday night and then Angela and I went back to watch the Sunday finals. Oklahoma's own Ryan Dirteater was 1.5 seconds from winning the whole thing, of course, on the back of a 2,000 lb bull, that's a long time. When I was 18, my dad offered to send me to a bull riding school, I respectfully declined. I have always loved the Rodeo and had hoped one day to participate in the Elks Rodeo in my hometown of Woodward, OK, but in something less dangerous. If I had my agility back I think I would make a good clown.

Be safe and have a great day.

2009-02-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

05 Feb 09,
Well, I think the entire family is finely on the healing side of life. It seems a bug has gone through the entire family. Poor Angela, she got the worst of it being sick from Sunday afternoon through today. She still doesn't sound that great but she's finally better. Monday was my day off and I spent the entire day taking care of them and ended up taking off two more days this week to help them out.
For my birthday, Angela, on her own, decided I needed a Blu-Ray DVD player to go with our new TV. Of course, she needed me to go and pick it out since she knew she didn't have a clue about them. Her got me to the store by saying she wanted to buy a movie. Now my issue is running the audio from the Blu-Ray to my old Sony Dream System DVD surround sound system using a fiber optic cable. I was able to get the front speakers done but need to figure out the entire surround sound problem or I will be forced to buy a new theater system to support the Blu-Ray.
My Army ID card expired and I had to wait almost 2 hours before getting my new one. I then got to spend two hours tonight registering that card on my computer so I could use it to log into my army account. Good grief! This was painful.
Sorry if this sounds boring, I'll try to do better soon. Be safe and have a great day.

2009-01-25T06:22:00.001-08:00

25 January 09,
Well, it's a cold cloudy day in OKC, and I'm at work. At least the wind isn't blowing. I'm half way through my work week and ready for days off. I can't tell if I'm trying to get sick or what, I've had two times this week where I have had the headache, achy joints, chills and fever but it has only lasted about 12 hours each time.
We are expecting ice and rain on Monday and Tuesday and I'm suppose to be at the gun range on Wednesday for ERT training. 2 days ago it was 73 degrees. Welcome to Oklahoma. I'm actually ready for some snow.
Not much else to report at the moment. Be safe and have a great day.

2009-01-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

21 Jan 09,
Which bothers me most?
President Obama nominated Timothy Geithner for the Treasury Secretary. Now, it should be common sense that if you are nominated for such a job you will be checked out. I can't decide what bothers me most, that he chose to not pay his taxes for several years or that he told the Congressional Panel that it was because he uses Turbo Tax to file with. Is this the guy I want having control over our financial situation. The Dub's here are basically a middle class family, and I know enough to pay at $150 to have a CPA do my taxes.
We haven't started the kitchen renovation yet, it's just getting a good grip on what we want which takes a little more effort. But we are both ready to put the first hole in the wall, Angela love the demolition part of it.
Not much else to report at the moment, back to work this week and we had a busy day. Be safe and have a great day.

2009-01-16T06:15:00.000-08:00

16 January 2008

Yes, I know, long gaps between posting again. This is normal once I get home, and work at getting everything back to normal. I completed one full set at work and am almost back in to full swing there. I got my 2008 Ford Crown Vic back and it only had 9,000 miles on it It will still take a little while to get everything I work with back into the car.

After almost a full year of talking about it, we finally bought a new TV. We picked up the Samsung 46" LCD. We have really enjoyed watching movies on it, but tv hasn't been as nice. So, this morning, I am waiting for the arrival of the Dish satellite man to come and upgrade our package to HD. The door bell just rang! It's him! It's the Dish man! Here with my new HD picture.

Anyway, he's working on the tv so now I can concentrate on this until it's up, then of course, even Angela will lose my attention for a bit. Just kidding dear......

Angela and Shelby are doing fine and both are back to work and school. We have a 3 day weekend coming up and are trying to come up with fun things to do as a family. However, what can you come up with that a 15 year old girl will think is fun while having to hang our with her parents. Well, we are wanting to go to the 39th International Finals Rodeo held right here in OKC on Saturday night. We have the Home and Garden Show this weekend which highlights everything HGTV-ish. There's the 'Ship-wrecked' display at the Omni Center which has artifacts and treasures recovered from lost or sunken ships over the last 150 years.]
Be safe and have a great weekend.

2008-12-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

29 December 08,
Guess you haven't heard from me in a few days, ok, a little more than a week, but as many of you are, it's been busy around here getting back to a normal state in Oklahoma. First, let me tell you how the trip home was.
Angela, flew from Oklahoma City to Tuscon with a plane change in Denver. She has come down with a case of "I hate flying and if anything goes wrong you'll never here the end of it" syndrome. So, she wanted the shortest flight possible. Normally, I would have sent her through Dallas and if I had paid more attention to the weather, I would have, but Denver was 20 minutes shorter. She tells of a medical emergency on the plane while flying from OKC to DEN where a lady was having a diabetic seizure and for some reason, the "flight attendants" where unable to deal with the situation in a calm manner, and opted for screaming, jumping over seats and passengers and leaving everyone with the "we're gonna die" feeling. She lands safely, de-boards, re boards her new plane and continues her flight to Tucson. When she lands in Arizona it is discovered that a plane crashed on the Denver tarmac just after she left. I'm getting the shaking finger in my face. I explain to her that if the plane in Denver was on the ground it's not a plane crash, it's a bus with flaps. Think of Greyhound with the under storage doors open.....
Ok, she's ok and after lunch with some guys from my class we headed home on the highway. Yes, she's wonderful for flying to me just to sit in a car for the next 900 miles. Well, we decided to take our time getting home and stopped several times along the way to see various sites. Sunday evening we were in Amarillo, Texas having dinner at 9:30 p.m. and finally decided to push on and get home that night instead of getting a hotel and finishing the journey the next morning. It's only 3 more hours.....right.........
We left Amarillo with a 1/2 a tank of gas, in the Ford Expedition and by the time I hit the Oklahoma border line, I don't look at anything except the signs telling me I'm getting closer. Only 14 miles left when we turn off of I-40, I notice the "low" fuel light come on, I say it "came" on because I just saw it, was it on longer without my notice.......? I tell Angela and she laughs and makes the statement, "Wouldn't it be funny if we ran out of gas so close to home" Now I figure if it just came on, I'm good for roughly 30 miles, and I only have 1/2 that to go, it's 1:15 a.m and 10 degrees outside not including any windchill factors, Angela's been complaining that the heat isn't getting on her feet and they are cold.
We start up this hill, chug, chug, she laughs and hits me on the arm, stop fooling around,
"I'm not" as I pull to the right shoulder to let 2 semi's pass,
I've got a median break and if I can get turned around, I'll be facing downhill, and will be able to backtrack to the gas station,
The SUV stalls and the engine dies, I'm forcing the turn but can't keep it on the road,
I'm know on the shoulder, tilting sideways and we come to a complete stop. "$#@^*!!"
Ok, all is not lost as we have Road Side Assistant with our phone company, yes, the same phone company with the worst customer service of them all, but complete coverage. I call, she gets our location and says she'll call back with more information. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, there she is.....
"I'm having problems getting someone, I'll call you back in a few minutes and keep you advised"
Angela is not in a good mood and is even colder now, "Why don't you call the police?"
Hmmm, why don't I call the police, the thought runs through my mind......Oh yeah, 1. I'm a guy, 2. I am the police. I give her the phone and tell her to call. She won't. Roadside assistance calls back almost 45 minutes later and tells me they can't find anyone. I hang up and dial the police, I'm transferred to El Reno PD and within 5 minutes I have a patrol car pull up behind me. I think it's the one I called and begin to get out, making sure my hands are in plain sight. "Get back in the vehicle!", I hear through the loud speaker. I get back in and not so mumble say something about the officer to Angela. He can't see my license plate so he creeps up to the back of the car and reads the tag to dispatch then comes up to my window. I explain the situation and I see the other patrol car pulling around, this is the one I was expecting. The first one, from another city walks back to the second one. I lean over and tell Angela, "I'm waiting for them to start laughing at me", "Why would they laugh?", "Because, I'm a cop". I watch them in the side mirror, "THERE IT IS!", as I see them both laughing. Ok, with that out of the way, they take Angela into town and she buys 2 gallons of gas, brings it back and we drive back into town to get some more then make it home by 3:30 a.m.
Had we spent the night in Texas, I would have gotten gas before leaving, well, it's me, what do you expect? Besides, I'm always good for an unforgettable trip.
It was great being home for Christmas and we are spending a lot of time together. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you have a wonderful New Year. Be safe and have a great day.

2008-12-17T18:41:00.000-08:00

17 December 2008

Well, today we took our OPI test, this is a speaking test where we go through an interview over the phone. Amazingly I was able to converse for 20 minutes, talking about the weather, Sierra Vista, my family, baseball, the Seattle Super-Sonics coming to Oklahoma and becoming the Thunder, the OPEC was cutting production by 2 million barrels starting Jan 1, and I was able to ask him some questions too, all in Arabic. Now, please don't think I was fluent or sound anything like a native speaker, but the key is to be understood, I think I was. Now, on the last test we took I didn't feel that confident about my work and I received a 2, which is good, so I can just see me getting a 1 on this one, isn't that the ways it works?

Only 2 days and a wake up and Angela will be here in Arizona to have lunch with the group, see all the wonderful sights of Sierra Vista and then we are off on the road trip back to Oklahoma. Yes, she must really love me to "fly" here just to sit in a car for 15 hours. Yes, I'm so excited about this being over I could actually see the light...

Be safe and have a great day.

2008-12-11T19:25:00.000-08:00

11 December 2008,
Angela, aka Mrs. Dub, told me she wanted to fly out here to Arizona to ride back to Oklahoma with me next week. Before she could change her mind I went on-line and bought her plane ticket. She will fly in on the 20th and we will have lunch with some of the folks from my class, I'll give her a quick tour of Sierra Vista and then we will be on the road for Oklahoma. I'm ready. We talked briefly about letting Shelby come out too, but apparently strapping her to the roof of the Expedition is considered illegal in the State of Arizona, and New Mexico, but I think it's ok in Texas.
During this time of year I try to shop at locations that have the Salvation Army outside their business or Toys for Tots inside, remember that this is the time of year to help others, even though helping others can be done anytime of the year. As some people may tend to look at this time as a time of stress, take a minute and reflect on what blessings you have received this year and give thanks.
Be safe and have a great day.

2008-12-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

10 December 08,

Mammas, Don't let your babies grow to be cowboys.

This was a song from 1976 by Ed Bruce. Two years later it was recorded by Waylon and Willie. The song has been used in many movies and is one almost everyone has heard. The message is that moms should steer their boys to become lawyers and doctors instead of living alone as a cowboy.

I think it's time to change the message. The way I see it, the lack of cowboys and the increase of lawyers has been detrimental to this nation. I think it's time for mamma's to start raising their kids to be cowboys again. You see, cowboys know the difference between right and wrong, selfish and selfless and don't look for the almighty dollar sign over helping a neighbor, friend or stranger.

Be safe and have a great day.

2008-12-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

09 December 08,
10 Days and a wake up.
Well, I'm not getting to keep up with much in the world of news. I check Yahoo for headlines and found it amusing that liberals are upset with President Elect Obama. Let's see, he still has more than 40 days before he even takes office and they are already complaining. Well, let me think about this for a minute. In Illinois as a State Senator his biggest accomplishment was voting that he was present 94% of the time, but didn't vote on many if any issues. As a U.S. Senator, he started running for President before he even took his oath, so really not a chance of nailing down any stances on important issues there. So why was he elected as the next President? Oh yeah, because this was a historic moment and we wanted to show the world we could elected an African American as President. Now... since he's still African American, what on Earth could make Liberals upset already? Well, the article was naming group after group who expected President Elect Obama to put nothing but liberals inside his cabinet and he's yet to bring on even one. It's a wait and see moment that will last for the next 4 years and just over 40 days.
What else is on my mind? Well, lately I've been thinking about the country song, "Momma, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" Stay tuned for more.
Be safe and have a great day.

2008-12-07T09:10:00.001-08:00

07 December 2008,
Well, I don't think I've seen anything today or leading up to today about Pearl Harbor. I think it's important to remember those events that have shaped this country. Angela had the opportunity in 2006 to go to Pearl Harbor and she said it was a moving experience. On post at Fort Huachuca tonight, Aaron Tippen will hold a free concert. He has always shown his patriotic side since making it in country music and I expect it will be a good concert.
Linda at Are We There Yet asked an interesting question, one I myself have asked. "Where is my financial bailout check?" Yes, I was seriously considering writing a letter to every member of Congress giving them my total debt amount and telling them where to send my check. I mean, it's a considerably smaller debt than bailing out the banking or auto industries. I'm sure everyone has seen the blogs, and emails referring to what each American tax payer could get back if that money was put back in our hands instead of those who have (a)proven to be unaccountable and (b)proven to be irresponsible. Simply send the money back to the people and I would pay off my home mortgage. Yes, this would solve the mortgage problem because that would be paid off and with my mortgage payment back in my pocket I could also put that money back into the economy.
What do you think? Be safe and have a great day.

2008-12-04T20:28:00.000-08:00

4 December 2008,

Only 14 days and a wake up! Yee Haw!

Well, this rodeo is almost over and I'm ready to head back home. We are in the last days of class and starting to take more tests to determine how well we have done. I was hoping for something between the 2 and 3 range but will probably have to settle for the 1 to 1+ range, I hope. Our instructors told us today we wouldn't have any homework tonight, we just need to read 21 pages for tomorrow, hmmm, back in Oklahoma I would call that homework.
Thanksgiving was great and being back home was a lot of fun. We let Shelby aka Miss Dub drive some and I only got frustrated a couple of times. This spring we are sending her to driving school, I'll work with her till then. She's doing pretty good and I have no worries about her being on her own. Oh, Mrs. Dub told you about the GPS I'm going to have installed on the car. Well, of course, I'll have the same transmitter chips to put on any boys cars that might come to pick her up, plus an entire police force watching out for her. Yep, I don't have any worries about my daughter.
Well, be safe and have a great day.

2008-11-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

26 November 2008,
24 days and a wake up. Even better, I'm waiting at the Tucson Airport right now for a flight back to Oklahoma. Yep, the family has to put up with me for 4 whole days. This will actually be an opportunity for them to realize how quiet the house has been without me around making messes and starting new projects. Yes, that's right, in 25 days, I'm demolishing the kitchen. Hope Angela is ready. She's been patient about the new stove being in the garage and I figure it's time to bring in the house. The lighting isn't real good in the garage and so it's hard to tell when the meal is done.
We took three tests over yesterday and today. Let's just say I can recognize what language they are using, but not much further than that. It seems like I'm going backwards with this training, partially my fault, and more partially the instructors, but there's no point in going there. I've got a long ways to go but I'm still further in Arabic now, than I have every been with Spanish, so it works, it just needs some modifications.
Well, I really wanted to get on here to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, whether you celebrate it or not. I'll try to post at least once while I'm home and maybe add some pictures of the family too.
Be safe and have a great day.

2008-11-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

17 Nov 2008,

Well, I finally made it to Tombstone this weekend. I didn't stay long enough to watch the gunfight at the OK corral but I was able to watch 5 re-enactments at the Six Gun City Saloon. The actors were funny. I walked around and looked in most of the stores. I will have to go back and buy a CD I have been wanting for a while, Frankie Lane, Gunslinger Ballads. I first owned the album back when I was around 10. I remember most of the songs, Rawhide and Ghost Riders in the Sky being two of my favorites.

Here are some pictures to share with you.

Be safe and have a great day.

2008-11-14T02:27:00.001-08:00

14 November 2008,
Yeah, it's Friday! Odat's doing her Happy Friday Dance, and I am too. Yes, I know, I only had 3 days of school this week, but seriously, it was two more longer than it should have been. Just think, my other option would have been a year and a half away from the family. I'm glad this ride is almost over.
Yes, Angela aka Mrs. Dub has a list for me, and I'm ready to get started. I keep looking around this apartment and thinking, I should paint, I should take out that wall, etc.
Wouldn't the landlord be surprised when it was time to check out.
Hey! Remodeling party at my house in OK when I get back! Yep, I'm hoping we can tackle the kitchen to some degree. For some reason, Mrs. Dub thinks the double oven should go in the kitchen and not the garage. I think she's probably right.
I got a text from my brother this week. He is on his first set of days on riding solo. Yeah! I'll have to remember to give him a call this week on his days off and see how things are going. He sent me an email a couple of weeks ago and it included a newspaper article mentioning a call he had gotten, it didn't mention him so he's in the clear. I hate getting mentioned in the news, it's never very good.
Well, time to start my day, be safe and have a great Friday!

2008-11-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

November 12, 2008

Well, I 'm finally back to the normal routine of school back in Sierra Vista. I had some firsts this weekend. I headed up to Phoenix last Friday night to spend time with brother in law Billy and his wife Christine and many of their friends at the Phoenix International Raceway watching NASCAR. I got out to the camp site, they and some friends set up their RV's and stay the entire weekend. We watched the race on Saturday and and hung out at the SPEED Catina that night before heading back to the campsite. Sunday we made it in for the big race and I was ready for Earnhardt to win it all, as you know, he didn't, but he did come in 6th. Here's the bulk of the group on Saturday.

Before heading back to Sierra Vista I managed a wonderful detour by meeting Desert Ice and her kids. I had to call her three times to get my directions correct, and had to remind her once why they call me Wrong Way. We ate the the Chino Bandido Restaurant. Desert Ice and I have been working at finding the time to meet since I came up to AZ for my school, and I was happy to finally meet her.

There aren't too many ways to make this time better, unless you threw in my family. Well, gonna go for now, be safe and have a great day.

2008-11-11T06:30:00.000-08:00

Nov 11, 2008

In remembrance of the veterans that have come before me, and for those that come after me, I can only write the words from Lee Greenwood's song:

If tomorrow all the things were gone, I'd worked for all my life,

And I had to start again, With just my children and my wife,

I'd thank my lucky stars, To be living here today.

From the lakes of MinnesotaTo the hills of Tennessee,

Across the plains of Texas, From sea to shining sea,

From Detroit down to Houston, And New York to L.A.,

Where there's pride in every American heart, And it's time we stand and say:

That I'm proud to be an American, Where at least I know I'm free,

And I won't forget the men who died, Who gave that right to me,

And I gladly stand up next to you, And defend her still today,

'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land, God Bless the U.S.A.

And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free

And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me

And I'd gladly stand up next to you, And defend her still today

'Cause there aint' no doubt I love this land (love this land), God Bless the U.S.A.

2008-11-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

4 Nov 2008
Well, there is no doubt that today is a very important day. Yes, that's right, Shelby (aka Miss Dub) turned 15 today. Yikes! I woke up and my first thought was (I must be old). Yes, I managed to give her a call and wish her happy birthday in 3 different languages. I should have researched French before calling since she is learning that language in school. In 364 days, she will be driving unsupervised. Enjoy it while you can. I'm ready to get home and work with her on her driving skills.
In other news, I hear something is happening across the country, but I doubt it lives up to the hype of Miss Dub's birthday! Ok, so there's an election going on, remember this folks, if you don't vote, you can't complain. It's just like keeping the receipt to a purchase.
Not much else to report at the moment. Be safe and have a great day.

2008-11-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

3 Nov 2008,
Twas the night before elections and all through the land,
Not a person knew what would happen, especially CNN,
With McCain and Obama heading the ticket,
And both of them claiming they know how to fix it,
But alas, there are many who don't have a clue,
why they are voting, is one of them you,
At least I can say that if you read from my website
That you are above average intelligence.

Hey, it was on the fly.
So Mrs. Dub wanted me to tell you what movie I saw yesterday, fine I can do that.

أنا شهبت السينيما اسما حيح مدريسا موسكل

There, I hope that makes her happy, because I'm here to make her happy. She thinks it sounds strange that I went to see High School Musical 3. Ok, first, I'm without a doubt, a guy, but I do like musicals, as long as it's not Barbara Streisand. We both love Grease, Moulin Rouge and the first High School Musical. Two of which Mrs. Dub and I sing together from the soundtrack. As we seem to be in full disclosure, I will tell you know that I plan on seeing Madagascar 2 also. To balance these type of shows, I have seen Body of Lies, Appaloosa, and will see the new James Bond movie. What can we derive from all this.....I like movies and being in my apartment 16 hours of every day is boring. I'm also going to NASCAR this weekend, soo.......

NOt much else to report, be safe and have a great day.

2008-11-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

2 Nov 2008,
I have to say, I didn't mind Daylight Savings Time in Arizona at all, they don't follow the time change and I didn't loose any sleep. Ahhhh, and now I'm only an hour behind Oklahoma and my family.
We spent the day in Tucson yesterday visiting with Iraqi shop owners. We had intended to eat dinner at Ali-Baba's which is an Iranian restaurant but were invited to eat at the home of one of the people we met. He and his family came here from Iraq in 2004. THIS IS THE PART YOU NEED TO HEAR, because the media has taken its focus off of the war because it doesn't sit well with their agenda of taking our country. When you are sat down by an Iraqi man and he says, "I don't know what your political affiliation is, but President Bush was right to come into Iraq and remove Saddam." Maybe I have been affected by our own media to a degree, but I still seemed shocked when I see new American citizens coming from the Middle East saying they are registered Republicans, that President Bush was right, that terrorism is wrong and they can debate any American political point you want to talk about with them. We should love our country as much as they love it. I do, do you?
Well, I need to go for now, be safe and have a great day?

2008-11-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

1 November 2008,

49 days and a wake up! But I try not to focus on that, right..........!

A relaxing Saturday, of sorts. I'm going to do some housework and then another guy from the class and I have made the decision to head to Tucson with one of our instructors. We will be going to several Arab owned shops and talking with the people there. I've done this once before with the entire class at the local mall here in SV. With just two of us, this could be overwhelming. Thursday and Friday were good days for me as I spent much of the class time learning on my own.

Mrs Dub went to her office Halloween party this week dressed as Gov. Sarah Palin, darn she looked good! Miss Dub went to school dressed as one of her cartoon characters she draws, which was a cross between goth and something else. Now, she'll probably correct me on that since I'm just an old fart.

Also today, I'm not sweating Oklahoma State's football game against Iowa State as much as I was last week's game against Texas. However, things are getting interesting in the Big 12 as Texas plays Texas Tech today and we play Texas Tech next week.

2008-10-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

25 October 2008,
What a day! I picked up a couple of the guys from class and we went to watch the Oklahoma State - Texas game at one of the sports grills. I was nervous before the game and would have probably preferred playing golf and finding out the score later. However, I stuck it out and what a game. I can say I was certainly proud of the game OSU put up and the game was certainly close enough. Now, if only Texas would get impartial refs....... Alas, we came up just short of doing what needed to be done, but I feel they are still certainly capable of finishing up this session very strong.
After the game we went and saw the movie Max Payne. I needed a pick me up movie so I just pretended everyone Max killed was a Texas Longhorn, not really. Actually I root for most of the Texas teams on a regular basis. Having been born in the Great State of Texas, it's my God given right. I'm just a big O State Cowboys fan.
Miss Dub just sent me a text message. She's at a youth lock-in at the church. Her message was, "I love you and what's your blood type?" Yeah, gotta love those kinds of texts. Hmmm. should I call back home? I just got off the phone with Mrs. Dub and she didn't mention anything requiring blood type so I'll relax for now.
Yes, I do plan on meeting a certain blogger and hopefully her family around Nov 10 or 11 if they are in town. One day, when I when the big lottery, I'm gonna throw a big blogger party and invite all those who have looked in on me from time to time. So stay current, hehe.

Be safe and have a great day.

2008-10-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

23 October 2008,
58 days and a wake up, or really close to that. I'm usually a more upbeat as you all know, so me moaning and complaining is really out of character, unless you really know me, and then I just do it to annoy people, hehe.
So let's look at some of the good things coming up, like November 4th. Ms. Dub will turn 15 years old, Yikes!
November 9th, NASCAR hits Phoenix, and my brother in law, his wife, and some of their friends have secured a spot on the infield and I was invited, Yeehaw!
I have my plane ticket for Thanksgiving to head back to Oklahoma. Yippee!
And finally, I get to be home before Christmas and spend some well deserved time with my family. Yeah!
So, what do you have to look forward too, today, tomorrow?
Be safe and have a great day!

2008-10-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

21 October 2008
Well, I should be blogging more, but really, I'm being drained of all living substances. There are two of us that have taken 1 to 2 hours a day during class to work on areas we know we need to work on and avoiding some of the more unproductive time of class. The instructors are seeing the results but are also pressured to keeping us in class. They gave us our scores from the OPI test and I received a 0+. This is acceptable and I've already made huge improvements in both my listening and speaking skills.
There's not really much to report from Sierra Vista, not a lot happens here. I've got my ticket to fly home for Thanksgiving and I'm ready to see the family again. Just think, after Thanksgiving, I'll only have a month left, that's great news.

انا ايىد ان ادهب الى مدينة موستانغ

Welcome to my first sentence typed in Arabic. I have been working on my writing and it's a lot easier since I don't have to search for the letters. What did I say? "I want to go to Mustang City." Of course, that's where the family is. Be safe and have a great day.

2008-10-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

12 October 2008
Sunday morning. I'm not doing much today. Last this last week it was decided that since the Active Duty personnel get Federal holidays off, that we should have them too. We have are speculation as to why, but hey, I'm a 14 hour drive from home so having Monday off really doesn't do anything for me other than let me spend an extra 8 hours sitting in my apartment, wheee. We did get Thanksgiving worked out and I'm ready to make plans to head back home for that time with my family.
Last night was the Benson Butterfield Stage Days Rodeo. I mentioned this to the class and had 5 people decide to head down there to watch, two of them had never seen a rodeo before and were amazed. Our two instructors were supposed to go with us but at the last moment backed out.
I enjoyed getting back and seeing a good rodeo, the beginning was an hour and half of kids events, including muttin bustin, dummy calf roping, boot scramble and more. A fellow classmate made the comment that fans of rodeos and Nascar seem to be more patriotic and God fearing than any other culture. This was solidified when the announcer mentioned that rodeo world would never allow God or our flag to be removed from the sport.
When I was asked what was so great about rodeo I had to explain. Anybody can go head to head with another person in a competition, I mean they are usually of equal size, but when you put a 180-200 lb man against a 1200 lb horse or a 2000 pound bull, that's a challenge.
Well, I better get back to doing nothing, be safe and have a great day.

2008-10-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

02 October 2008,
Tonight was the Vice Presidential Debate, if I heard right, this was only the 7th one ever as the VP usually doesn't bring much to a Presidential ticket. However, this may be the most important VP running in our history. Regardless to who wins, we will have a historic election. I haven't been impressed with Obama since he announced he was running for President even before he took his oath as a Senator. At least the Governor from Alaska can say she has been working for the last two years.
We also have the baseball playoffs, and my team is in the running, having beat Chicago yesterday and leading them 9-1. Go Dodgers!!
We all took our tests this last Tuesday and it will be another week or so before we know how we did. I ended up taking it second to last so I got to sit, pace, practice and wait all day before my time came. I don't want to speculate at all about how I did, but there's no doubt I'm a 0+ and might have made it to 1. I'll let you know when I find out.
Well, be safe and have a great day!

2008-09-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

28 September 08
This month and this weekend have gone by fast. We have class Saturday morning from 7 to 11. One of the instructors went to Tucson on Friday taking the car the instructors share so since I live close to them I said I could pick up the other one on Saturday morning at 6:40 am. I am awaken by my phone at 5:50 with the question, "Where are you, are you coming to get me?" I asked him what time he had, assuming it was possible my clock was wrong and I was sleeping so may not have read it right anyway. He comes back with, "Oh my goodness!, I could have slept another hour!" Yes, you could have. I went ahead and got dressed and picked him up as he was wanting to work with me for the upcoming test. Yes, I'm taking my first Oral Proficiency Interview on Tuesday and will have the results in a couple of weeks. The scale ranges from 0 to 5. From 3 to 5 you are able to converse on just about any topic with 4 and 5 speaking at almost near native dialect. The goal for the end of the school for me is a 3 across the board. So as I am half way through this now, I'm hoping for a solid 1.
Anyway, after class several of us decided to hang out together as we all go back to our individual apartments and sit by ourselves. We had a pretty good day just relaxing and talking about anything but Arabic.
I spent today mulling around the house getting housework done. Well, better go for now, be safe and have a great day.

2008-09-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

23 September 08
Well, there just isn't much to report. I went to school, still can't listen but can talk, can write, can read, just can't listen. Don't 3 out of 4 count?
I'm attempting to work on my Arabic back at my apartment, but really, how much of this can you take in one day. I traveled up to Phoenix for the weekend and enjoyed a relaxing time. I wish I had more to report for today, but unfortunately, I don't. Be safe and have a great day.

2008-09-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

17 September 08.

Arabic, Okie style. I'm working on my own rendition of what Arabic would sound like with a southern accent. Here's an example...

Kafa Halik? which translated is, "How are you?"

The same phrase down south would be, "Kafa Halik-yawl?" which is, "How are y'all?"

I finally put my finger on where I'm having my problem with syncing this language. Ask me a question in English and I can answer you in Arabic, ask me a question in Arabic and I have very little clue what you are talking about. Yeah, it's an issue. I'm getting better and trying to listen to various different media formats to develop my ear in order to understand what's being said, but it's all Greek to me....
Not really much else to say tonight, I'm hoping I sleep better than last night. I went to bed at 11, thought I would fall asleep to Jabra saying words in Arabic, an hour and a half later, I was still awake and Jabra was still talking on the Ipod. That didn't work. I tossed and turned for another half hour, figured I might as well get up. I did an hour of Rosetta Stone, again working on my Arabic, played some spider solitaire and finally by 3 a.m. I fell asleep. 630 comes awful early when that happens. I didn't have any problems staying awake during class, which was surprising, and now it's almost 11 tonight and I'm about to try and go to bed again. I think my problem was getting 9 hours of sleep the night before. I'm accustomed to getting an average of 6 hours a night, with a great day being when I can sleep in and get maybe 7-8, so 9 was probably too much. I liked it, but then again I like Mexican food too...
Well, be safe and have a great day.

2008-09-14T13:09:00.001-07:00

14 Sept 08

It's Sunday afternoon, I finished my house work a little while ago and have been downloading Arabic news stories and shows. I'm watching and listening to them so I can work on my listening skills. Obviously, this is a skill Mrs. Dub might appreciate....me listening. We have started having 4 hours of class on Saturdays and will continue that process for the remainder of the school. I think they have worked one Saturday out of each month for us to just be off. I know, it's hard to say I have it hard at all. Certainly, this is better than any math class I have ever had to take, and it has less homework than my ethics class last spring. As one of my classmates said, I know we are learning stuff, but it's hard to consider it as work.

Mrs. Dub reported the weather in Oklahoma has finally turned nice and she's glad she's able to open the house up with the windows. At the rate that time is passing, I will be home before I know it and I'm ready. I just want to make sure I've gotten everything out of the school as I can.

2008-09-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

10 Sept 08,
Ah, Wednesday, the week is half way done. I saw this picture at The Pioneer Woman's site and had to add it here. Have you ever had one of those days. Today wasn't it for me, but I couldn't wait with this one. Pioneer Woman has an amazing ability to capture remarkable shots with her cameras, as well as a great ability to tell stories. If you haven't seen her site before, go check it out.

Mrs. Dub said she's ready to have me back home and I couldn't agree more. I'm enjoying the training but I do miss my family and home. (I also have way too many chores at home that need attention).
About 90% of the time, Arabic has been fun, in fact, as an extra assignment, two of us went to the movies last night and saw Traitor. A good portion of it is in Arabic and picking up on what was being said was fun and new. I stopped at the store today and heard a woman tell her son to come to her in Arabic and I had to smile. I'm trying to use several different tools at home to help with my learning while at my apartment.
Miss Dub is enjoying school and despite her agony during the first two days of French, now loves it. She into reading stories in French and is 'wanting' to learn at this point. Like I said, I hope to pick back up on my French when I get home.
I know all this sounds boring, but there's not much else going on for me here. Be safe and have a great day.

2008-09-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

02 Sept 08

Here are some pictures from home.

Celebrating with a dinner out.

The In-laws, Mr. and Mrs. C with Miss Dub.

Miss Dub getting to go to the range on my trip back home in July.

This is her target, be careful.

I hope to make the rounds soon and see what everyone is up to. Be safe and have a great day.

2008-09-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

01 September 08

Well, it's been a good weekend and it's a shame it's over. I started with Friday night up in Phoenix with my brother in law Billy Joe and his wife Christine. BJ took me out to eat and then we stopped by a friend's house.

I meet Mark for the first time that night, but it's not the first interaction between us. Back when I was in Afghanistan this last tour, Mark helped Christine and BJ get the Greg Biffle #16 flag, autographed by the entire team including Rousch, the owner. Mark's front room is dedicated to NASCAR with pictures, memorbilia, car hoods, door skins, et al.

Come to find out, I was on that wall as well. After we got the flag in Afghanistan, we took a group picture and sent it back home. It got back to Mark and his family. Well, Friday night, they took that picture down and had me sign it, and then hung it on a better wall.

I was honored that they felt that strong about me and the military. Mark served 6 years active Army and we had a strong bond.

I got home Saturday, 'on time' curosity of American Airlines and had a wonderful time with my wife and daughter. We enjoyed good food and converstation, as well as spending money. We were awoken this morning at 4:30 a.m. by a phone call. THe Oklahoma City Police Emergency Response Team had been activiated, and they called me as they normally would. The only problem was that I am on active duty orders with the military. Darn it! Not sure if you remember, but back in March - April of this last year I helped write the emergency response plan in the event OKC had to take in evacuees from coastal storms. Well, as of this morning, OKC took in just about 2,000 of the folks from New Orleans ahead of Hurrican Gustav, and that plan that I helped write, was being put to the test today. I would love to have been there. I spoke with one of my sector partners who was also called in this morning. He said things were going well, he also said he leaves for Iraq next week with the Oklahoma Air National Guard. He will actually be back to work in OKC before I will, those Air Guard guys.....

I'm sitting in Dallas/Ft. Worth airport waiting on the final leg of this flight, luckily Gustav is moving slow and hasn't affected us here yet. It's amazing that two months are already down and only 4 months to go. I'm ready, but I still have more to learn back in Arizona, so I must keep moving forward and looking forward.

Be safe and have a great day.

2008-08-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

31 August 08
Many years ago my mother in law, Mrs. C, gave birth to my beautiful wife, Mrs. Dub. How old is she today. Well, we have been together for 17 years now, and she had to be of age to get married, so that must make her about 29....right?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. DUB!!!

Well, American Airlines has been on time and no problems. I flew out of Phoenix's Sky Harbor. I haven't been a lot of places, but that's certainly a big airport. We went to a nice dinner last night, went by the furniture store and picked out a new mattress and box springs. Ours came unstitched and was still under warranty. The store sent some one by the house last week and looked at the bed, told Mrs. Dub they don't make that one anymore and we would have to come pick out a new one. The store gave us a credit for the entire purchase amount of our last one towards the new one. We opted to upgrade and are waiting for it to be delivered to the house now. Not bad.

We are about to fix dinner tonight having birthday cake and presents. It's been another huge task getting Mrs. Dub a birthday present without her knowing anything. Of course, I walked in the kitchen this morning and say the receipt for her present sitting on the counter top and am almost certain she knows now. Oh well, She still hasn't figured out how I bought it. That was some tricky stuff.

Well, I hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend, be safe.

2008-08-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

27 August 08
Only 4 days till Mrs. Dub's birthday, but she probably doesn't want me to keep bringing it up, so just pretend I didn't mention it.
Well, you've been reading about me not enjoying this last week in Arabic. Some how, today, I felt in the back of my head that something was about to explode and I was getting very close to getting this. I hope so. Of course, with a 3 day weekend coming up, I'm sure it'll all disappear. I felt more comfortable today than I have since we got here. Here's hoping.
It looks like we are going to get out of class around noon on Friday. I already purchased my airline ticket for Saturday morning and have no interest in trying to find a Friday flight.
I'm sitting here watching the Sci-Fi channel and watching Ghost Hunters. The early episode just happened to be filmed about 18 miles from here, yep, Tombstone, at the Bird Cage. I've been to Tombstone one other time back in April and we arrived late in the day and didn't get to experience very much. I'm definitely hoping to visit it again and get more. And of course, now I'm going to make sure I visit the Bird Cage to run into a ghost. Eerie.
Well, I'm going to get back to the television, I know I should be studying, and I will before I go to bed. Be safe and have a great day.

2008-08-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

23 August 08,
Ah, the weekend. It was really nice NOT going to class today. Over all I'm still enjoying it, but we are definitely in the 'I hate this stuff' phase. It's only suppose to last a couple more weeks, then we'll love it again. We'll see.
On to politics. I try to stay under the radar on politics and don't sound off too much unless I feel it really is needed. I don't really have anything to say now about the upcoming Presidential race, except I'm wondering if anybody else has picked up on Senator Obama's announcement for his VP. At a time that the United States is involved on a war on terrorism did he make the right name selection? Who are we hunting? Osama bin Laden. Now we have the Democratic ticket of Obama and Biden? Really? Just a thought.
Labor Day weekend is coming up and so is Mrs. Dub's birthday. This time I have a planned trip back home, no surprises like two years ago when I came home from Afghanistan. I hope everybody enjoys this weekend. Be safe and have a great day.

2008-08-19T18:52:00.000-07:00

19 August 08,
Our lead instructor, Jabra, told us last week, that the upcoming couple of weeks would test us, that we would hate Arabic for that time period. Boy, he wasn't kidding! AAAGH! We've started story time. We are given stories in Arabic to read and speak. This part of the school has been different from our hands-on methods we have been using up to this point. We are currently sitting on 800 to 1000 words in Arabic, that we have been given. Now, I can give you many of them, I will say with all certainty, it's not close to 800, but I can sit there and say, yes, I mean,
'na'am', I've heard that word used before. Most of our instructions come in Arabic now, which means I know about half of what's being said and can get the gist of what they are telling us. I would like to know all of what they are saying and have a clear understanding, but that will take time. We are supposed to take our first test this week which will gauge where we are at as individuals in our learning. Yeah?
I bought my plane ticket to head home for Labor Day weekend, back to American Airlines. My part of the City back in Oklahoma has been seeing a lot of rain in the last couple of days, I read one report that they are looking at some flooding now. Our place is up high but we still see water standing in the yard. (Just one more thing I need to work on when I get back to Oklahoma)
Over to the right side of my page you should see the link for Keni Thomas. He was one of the performers who came to Afghanistan during Christmas with the USO. If you don't remember, he also served in the Army and was in Somalia, which was later made into the movie, Black Hawk Down. Since leaving the Army, he has worked as a motivational speaker, song writer and performer. His first CD was Flags of our Fathers, A Soldier's Story. His new CD is Gunslinger, I've heard a couple of tracks from it and will be looking to buy it soon.
Well, I need to get back to the studying. Have a great day.

2008-08-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

11 August 2008
Well, tomorrow makes 14 years in the Oklahoma National Guard. It's hard to believe. I have to say I'm pretty happy with where I'm at and what I'm doing. With two deployments, Katrina, and Arabic Language School, the military has given me a better quality of life than I could imagine having without it. Of course, I would rather be home with Mrs Dub and Miss Dub. But as any veteran or current military member will tell you, sacrifices have to be made to ensure we all have that better life.
This is a short post as it's time to head off to school now. Happy Monday, be safe and have a great day.

2008-08-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

05 August 08,
Ok, enough about Continental Airlines, even though I got back to Arizona 4 hours late. Mrs. Dub let me buy a Garmin GPS and we used it on our way to Ft. Worth. It really helped going through that maze down there. My brother was able to break away for lunch and then he took us back to the training center for the ceremony. He made a good point in that Ft. Worth has the resources to have the graduation at any of their municipality buildings but instead they had it in the training center. They did state this was the largest class they had had in a long while so it's possible they weren't anticipating the crowd that showed up. During the ceremony they walked across the stage where the Chief of Police handed them their badge and then once everyone had theirs they lined up in front of the stage and that's when I got to go forward. I was proud to have been asked to pin his badge on him. He got Saturday off and started in his FTO (field training officer program). He will be with an FTO for the next 4 months, changing shifts and sectors and applying all he has learned. Here are some pictures.

Be safe and have a great day!

2008-08-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

03 August 08,
I'll share more about my trip in another post. I wanted to dedicate this post to the folks at Continental Airlines. Now, this was my first experience with this airline company. I originally chose Continental out of necessity as it was the closest flight to what my time line needed to be. The price was comparable to the others. I arrived at the Tucson International Airport on Thursday afternoon and the first leg of my flight was running about 10 minutes late. Really, no big deal, I was headed home. We board the plane and fly to Houston, where I have to change flights. When I landed in Houston I looked at my ticket and thought my arrival time here was my departure time for the next leg. I raced across the airport and made it to the gate to discover my flight was in an hour. Ok, good, I didn't miss anything. I waited at the gate and they announced our flight was going to be about 30 minutes late. Um, ok, I can handle that. I called Mrs. Dub and informed her, she wasn't thrilled as it meant she would have to stay up a little longer, but was excited to have me home. Well, the flight ended up being about an hour and 1/2 late pushing me from arriving in Oklahoma City at 10:35 pm to 12:15 am. What was funny at the time we finally boarded was watching the commercial provided by Continental Airlines about how wonderful they are and how they have a great satisfaction rate from their customers, mainly us. I got a chuckle out of this and continued with my trip. I always assume something can go wrong and now and then isn't a bad thing.
We enjoy our weekend and now it's time for me to head back to Arizona for school. I arrive at the airport in Oklahoma City an hour and 1/2 before my flight, get to the gate and am notified that the our flight to Houston will be an hour late. Really?! Is this every flight with Continental? Well, since I'm heading back to Tucson and have given myself leeway, it'll work out. We finally get on the plane, which just came from Houston. The pilot makes an announcement as soon as we are all seated, "Folks, don't blame us for the delay, we are the new crew and have been waiting for this flight just as long as you have". Ok, I can live with that. Now, we finally take off from OKC and head to Houston. I'm watching the time and wondering which gate we will land at and how far it will be from where I need to be. The gates of course change when you have such a tardy flight like ours. I arrive at Houston, grab my next ticket and see that I need to be at the next gate. I get inside the terminal and realize that I only need to walk 30 yards to the next gate but that I'm looking like I'm about 10 minutes late. I think to myself, " Well, Continental hasn't had an on-time flight yet in my experience, so I have a good shot at this." Well, I found Continentals' only "on-time" flight and it was the one that left without me. Good Grief! How hard could this be? Well, I walk up to the employee behind the desk where my flight was suppose to be and talk with Alisa. I tell her I just arrived from Oklahoma City and that our flight was late because the flight from Houston was late. She confirms this and reschedules me for the 6:15 pm flight. So, that's where I've been for the last 3 hours. We had a lightening storm roll through which delayed some more flights. I still have 45 minutes before I'll know about my flight. I don't see where I'll try this airline again. I'll let you know if I make it out of here, and if you find yourself in the Houston Airport, look me up.
Be safe and have a great day.

2008-07-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

28 July 08,
Well, Wade called me on it, guess it's time to post. I really did have time this weekend as on Sunday all I did was watch the Eureka marathon on the SciFi channel. Talk about your do nothing weekend. I guess I'm saving it all up for this next weekend and I fly back to OKC on Thursday and drive down to Texas on Friday. It'll be a busy day but I wouldn't miss seeing my brother graduate the police academy and pinning his badge on him.
Class here is going pretty good. Well, I felt better today about it anyway. Come to find out we didn't have to learn the words as solid as we had been working the weeks before but just needed to be familiar with them and learn them over the course of the next 5 months. You could have told us that last week and I wouldn't have stressed about it so much.
Anyone else watching Nashville Star? We are down to the last two weeks. I still like Gabe and Melissa the best, it'll be interesting to see who gets kicked off tonight in the next 30 minutes. Who's your favorite?
Well, I'll post more later, be safe and have a great day!

2008-07-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

23 July 08,
Good Wednesday to everyone! We made it to the half way mark in the week. Hang in there, the weekend is getting closer. We have covered almost 200 words this week, and will spend the next two days just working with them, good, I don't know how many new words I can take at a time.
Mrs Dub and Miss Dub went to see Mama Mia today and the report back was it was great. Now, there is no doubt, period, in my manliness, but I do love a good musical. Now, don't give me an option of a musical and a Steven Segal or a Bruce Willis movie... Batman, Hellboy or Hancock, because the musical would come in second, but I'd still go see it afterwards.
I called home and talked with Miss Dub. Usually on the phone we always greet each other in Spanish. She answered and I started off with, 'Como esta?' She replied back with, 'I don't speak Spanish, I speak Arabic.' So I came back with in Arabic, 'Elfy macos wa waraka al a arf, bil macos cus waraka maruba.' She came back with in Spanish, 'Bien, et tu?" Ok, so it was probably funnier if you were there.......
What did I say? Pick up the scissors and paper off the floor, with the scissors, cut a square in the paper.
Be safe and have a great day.

2008-07-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

20 July 08,
Ah, the weekend is over. I know, who is ever happy to end a weekend? Well, the sooner the weekend is over, the sooner we start the next week, and the sooner I get home to Mrs. Dub and Miss Dub. Lt. M was popped into town on other business and we did get to have a couple of meals together, but mostly I just stayed in.
I have gone over my list of words a couple of times, and my numbers. Over all I'm feeling good about my recognition of most of the words, still fuzzy on the most recent ones. I'm not feeling good about my speaking them. Obviously, that's the main goal here. I'll get it, won't I?
Miss Dub had her wisdom teeth removed Friday and is doing better. Mrs. Dub has been taking care of her and then Nana and Papa came and got Miss Dub Sunday afternoon to let her spend the night with them. Poor Mrs. Dub is alone at the homestead, she never really likes that.
I talked with my brother this evening. He's down to two weeks left in the 7 month training at the police academy in Ft. Worth. He said last week was tough as they did scenario training and really put the stress on them before sending them off to their 'calls'. The good news is that he said he feels much more confident about himself and his training.
Well, that's enough for today, be safe and have a great day.

2008-07-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

16 July 08,
Ah, half way through the week. Today we were introduced to over 30 words by just playing Monopoly. Yes, I can say I've never seen Army training like this before. The interesting thing is that I have learned more Arabic in a week than I retained from a semester of Spanish.
Mrs. Dub got their Glamour Shot pictures. I can't wait to get some. I was able to view the photo album on line and they look great. As soon as I can, I'll get some posted. Mrs. Dub says we can't, blah blah something about copyright, I'll let you know they came from Glamor Shots, and heck, I paid for them, I can do what I want.
Some of the guys are talking about going to see The Dark Knight this week. Mrs. Dub likes to say I'm just on vacation and I'm out partying every night. Well, I'll have you know, it's not true, I didn't go out at all last night...... I may not have the grueling schedule I'm used to keeping but it's still work. Our instructors tell us that they have to keep us stress free and enjoying the class for us to be able to learn like we are. And trust me, at the end of each hour there are several of us holding our heads wondering how we can keep any of the information from seeping out.
I wish there was more exciting things to talk about, but I go to class and I come back to my apartment. Of course, if anybody is in town this weekend, the party is over here!
Be safe and have a great day.

2008-07-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

14 July 08,
Ok, it's Monday night, and that means Nashville Star. I have no idea who keeps voting for Coffey, but they apparently don't know what country music sounds like. Yes, he is a good singer as every one points out, but he belongs in a different arena. I definitely like Melissa and Gabe.
We had the weekend to rest our minds so I went up to Phoenix to visit with brother and sister in-laws. The brother in law had a birthday on Saturday and I finally got a chance to visit them and help him celebrate.
How's class? Well, the good news was even after two days off I retained at least 85% of what we learned last week and was able to follow the commands. Today we started our numbers from 11 to 10,000 and then learned another more words, mostly dealing with personal hygiene. I had about as much trouble today as I did our first day, but I feel confident that it will all come together as long as we keep working the way we are.
Well, that's about all for today, be safe and have a great day.