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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.