Sunsets and My Home Away From Home

As mentioned previously, the sunsets are phenomenal here. It probably has to do with all the dust/sand in the air and the natural gas that is burnt off only a few miles away. It reminds me of when I was a kid in sixth grade and Mount St Helens had erupted. The cloud of dust passed in front of the sun and gave the same appearance.




The ugly gray T-Walls that are everywhere to protect us.


My Gustav Klimt calendar hanging on the wall where I write down my mileage from running.


Yes, that is a stuffed animal and doll on my bed thanks to my Mom! The animal is a Scottie dog and the doll is a mermaid...to remind me of water?!

My Garden

My garden: one of my passions in life. I have tried but much to my angst, I have been unsuccessful at growing anything here. My Marigolds had a good start and were about 3” high and little by little, they died. I tried other flowers as well with no luck. I’ve given up, at least until October when it should cool down. The temperatures average in the shade at 110-115 degrees.

Luckily my very good friend, Robin, has done a phenomenal job caring for my garden at home. If it wasn’t for her, I’m sure my garden would be dead too! No offense, Hubby. You just don’t have a green thumb. I get a lot of grief from my next door neighbor and good friend, Carla, regarding the amount of time I spend staring at flowers in my garden. After my run in the morning, I would walk around the garden to check on any changes. Then after work, I would walk around the garden again…as if anything had changed. Another part of my Rainman tendencies. Prior to leaving, I asked Carla to make sure she gave my flowers some good staring care. She happily obliged. Brian has done a great job at sending me pictures every 10 days or so to show me the changes happening there. At least I can stare at pictures!

THANKS ROBE! My garden is BEAUTIFUL!

And thanks Carla for staring!


One of my favorites: Red Asiatic Lillies


Café Augé

Happy Hour

To help pass time and have something good to look forward to during the week, the Network Support Company started having a pseudo happy hour. Yes, we have lots of NA beer. We turn the lights off and play some 80’s music (this week it was AC/DC). Brian had even sent Corona necklaces that light up which he acquired at Cooper’s. It’s not quite the same but it is a good diversion.....at least for an hour.

All Gave Some….Some Gave All

The room was filled with Soldiers coming to pay their respects to the fallen. Red Bull Soldiers were everywhere but so were Soldiers from other units; identified by their patch. In the back of the room, there were tables set up for each fallen Soldier. Each table held a picture of the Soldier and an ammo can to send a note to the family. A video of pictures continued to play to give us a peek at these Soldiers in their lives both military and civilian.

We all sat or stood quietly, waiting for the service to begin. Similar to the service I attended previously, Soldiers got up and spoke about their friends. The stories brought laughter and tears and gave a picture of the wonderful attributes of these men.

A portion of Chaplain Lotzer’s remarks from tonight:


“Today is also a Time to Remember: You and I will never forget these brothers who gave their life. That is apparent in the tears shed here today. But what we choose to remember about our friends will indeed shape the men and women we will become and the legacies we will leave.

I encourage you to remember the heroism of the MPs the night of 16 July 2009, remember the professionalism of the first responders to this attack and the courage they showed, remember the dedicated medical professionals who fought so hard to do the impossible and save these lives.

I know I will always remember the terrible and holy privilege of being with SPC Wilcox and SPC Drevnick in their final moments, of holding their head and whispering that we are proud of them, that their parents and families love them…that God loves them and that this is not the end.

Yes choose to remember the best of SPC Wertish, SPC Wilcox, and SPC Drevnick and like LT Jergenson demonstrated, imitate those qualities in yourself. Make the memories of these men, both how they lived and how they died, a part of the legacy you leave behind.”

At the conclusion, the First Sergeant conducted roll call. I have been fortunate to get to know this man and I admired the strength that he conducted this mission.

Do not doubt the tragedy that hit us last week will only make us stronger and that much more of a force to reckon with.

Here is the website from tonight's memorial service http://www.theredbulls.org/article209.

Some of the pictures from the site.




Major General Nash leaving a coin.

Fallen Comrades

Last night our COB came under an indirect fire (IDF) attack and we lost three Soldiers from the MP Company.

When we gained accountability for our company, we breathed a sigh of relief only to have the mood turn extremely somber when we were told some of the MP Soldiers had been hit. The news began for a long night; one which I will never forget. The MPs work down the hall from us so we see them on a daily basis and have developed friendships with many of these Soldiers. I personally did not know these Soldiers but the sadness I felt for their company was immeasurable.

Within a few short hours, an angel flight was scheduled to take our fallen comrades away. We stood on the flight line to pay our respects and as a family of Soldiers, support each other.

I ask that you pray for the families of these Soldiers and for the continued safety of us that remain.

Lesson Learned

I fell on my run today. I was only a quarter mile into my normal route and I felt a line across my foot and down I went. I hit the ground hard enough so every bony prominence was scraped up. I looked for the said wire and gave up. I hurt too much to care and as I hobbled back to my trailer, I kept thinking …great, now I’ll get some staph infection from the nasty Iraqi dirt in my wounds. Luckily for me, my roommate is a nurse back home and after I cleaned out the wounds she bandaged them up. I can’t ever remember falling while running except for when I was a kid. Maybe I should wear my glasses while I run but I hate when they slip down my nose from being sweaty. This running thing has really lost its luster for me.

April 1st thru June 30th, I’ve logged 242.7 miles; 12 of which were in Kuwait. So, I’m behind my monthly goal of 100 miles to reach my 1000 miles. Luckily, my new shoes arrived so I’m not hurting in my knees and hips when I run. I never knew new shoes could make such a difference.

Recently, I’ve realized what a positive impact this deployment has had on me personally. I’ve learned to maximize the time I have. Take for example, I’ve wanted to learn how to play the guitar since I was in middle school but it took this deployment to finally pick it up. Initially, I thought I would have time to myself to do some things I never do at home. What was I thinking?!!! I have so little time to myself now yet I pick up my guitar at least every other day and practice for 10-15 minutes. Or the beautiful easel that Brian gave Lyndsey and I for Christmas a few years back that is on our main level of our house. I saw it every day yet, I hardly used it. I’ve knocked out 5 pastel drawings since I’ve been here.

Not having a TV is truly a blessing and I vow to watch less when I get home. There are too many other things in life to do instead of sitting in front of the tube. So now that I’ve learned my lesson, isn’t it time for me to go home?

PIE IN YOUR FACE!

We celebrated 4th of July on Sunday. Activities were planned throughout the day from sporting events to a barbeque and a parade.


One of the rock bands from the 34th Infantry Division.


Master Sergeant Klinkner walking by the volley ball courts.


We held a fundraiser for the Family Readiness Group. The Commanders and First Sergeants were good sports. I donated to the cause and got MAJ Riha.






Of course, the Boss Man turned around and got Sergeant Major Bartkey and myself!



The parade consisted of four floats. This one was submitted by the Corps of Engineers!


Our float!


We had some great island music blaring from the speakers and Sergeant First Class Pietcsh won the judges over with his island dance. We won first place but the next day, we were disqualified since we didn't have a red, white and blue theme.


The G1 Section's float.


Major Rosha, my partner in horse shoes. He's a lawyer and one funny guy. If only all lawyers could be like him! Even with his perfect form, we didn't win. I suck at horse shoes.

4TH OF JULY 2009!

0450 in the morning and we're glowing! We're running a 5k sponsored by YMCA. Some of the Soldiers decided to run in their body armor. I'm sure they'll wish they hadn't when they are 40! This run wasn't my personal best for a 5k but I knocked it out in 24:06.


My roommate and I before the race.


The Boss Man and SGT Heibel showing her patriotic spirit!


Another holiday gone by that didn’t feel like a holiday.

I love watching fireworks so it was disappointing to miss that tradition during the 4th. When I was a kid, my dad would make a great big bag of popcorn and pour it into a paper, grocery store bag. On the way to the viewing location, we would stop at the A&W Root Beer drive-in for some root beer. My first memory of watching fireworks was in Two Harbors near the football field and eating great popcorn and drinking frosty root beer.

I can’t remember the last time I have had either of these tasty treats since I left. It will certainly be on the to do list when I get home.

SHOUT OUT!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS DANI RAE!
I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!!!
LOVE,
Auntie Kristen

SHOUT OUT!

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. DON!
Can't wait to go "swooshing" down the slopes with ya!

Love,
Red

911 Plumber!

Just when I thought my job couldn’t get worse, I was notified last night that there was waste water spilling into a drainage ditch. ECO to the rescue! My day started out with a tour of a section of camp and began with looking under a man-hole cover.

I have to go back to when I first arrived. Since I was one of the few Soldiers from the Red Bulls to arrive, I had to work with our communication counterparts from 10th Mountain. I was asked to tour the COB with one of their officers who had been in charge of running fiber. I spent two hours looking in man-holes with fiber running through them. I remember after getting back from that excursion thinking I would never be able to get those two hours back in my life. My eyes glaze over when there is talk about networks….good thing I’m a Signal officer!

The man-hole this morning had much to be desired. The pump wasn’t working like it was suppose to and feces had spilt out over the top. NOW, I only wish I had been looking at fiber. The stench was bad and the sight wasn’t pretty. The sergeant, I was with, was going into detail about how to correct the problem and I’m thinking…I’m not a plumber! Next we looked at the ditch where waste water was accumulating. The sergeant was trying to tell me that it was fecal matter but it looked more like algae to me. However, I wasn’t about to get down and have a closer look at the water.

After my ECO duties, I had to follow-up on our Non Tactical Vehicle (NTV) (otherwise known as a truck) at the body shop. The other day my commander came back sweaty, in the heat of the day….the truck had died. It wasn’t turning over so we jumped it and while I was driving it back to our area, it died again. We jumped it a second time and drove it to the shop.

Auge’s How to Prepare for a Deployment:
Rule #4 If your car needs work, bring it to a garage where no one speaks English... Turn over your keys and pray.

When I arrived at the shop, Hider the Iraqi wasn’t there. He speaks the best English out of the bunch so I’m trying to get across to another Iraqi that the battery won’t hold a charge. He grabbed my keys and kept saying, “Tomorrow”. Like the rule, I prayed!

When I went back today to check the situation on the truck, I saw the truck buried behind others that had been brought in. Much to my surprise, the Iraqi started the vehicle and began moving vehicles out of the way for me to leave.

Auge’s How to Prepare for a Deployment.
Rule #5 Trust the people that don’t speak English. They just might surprise you!

One of the hardest things for me on this deployment has been trusting the workers that are inside our walls. Today was a good reminder that the majority of these people are just trying to scratch out a living like the rest of us and have dreams and desires of a better life.


I figured I would share pictures of my lovely morning with you!


The ditch in lovely Iraq.