Al Udeid

I'm so annoyed, I can't download any pictures because I have the wrong chip, and none of the rec computers allow us to you USB ports to download stuff. All of this security stuff. Oh ya, I'm in AlUdeid Qatar, what a crazy few days! The plane ride sucked to Shannon Ireland, very uncomfortable. the thing I didn't take into consideration was that everyone on the plane had two to three carryons.
We were only in Shannon for an hour and a half, from what I saw it looked very green and beautiful. in the hour and a half we were there, people were scrambling for the guiness at the bar, it was funny it's 9 flipping thirty in the morning. Even when I did drink I never liked guiness, tasted too much like molasses. The second flight was much better, I knocked out for about four hours.
When we were about to land I noticed the light patterns were all different on the ground, yep we are landing on some different turf for sure. We land and that's when it got crazy. We had to check in, sign in, listen to briefings, watch videos on how the body armor works, then we started getting issued everything. It reminded me of bootcamp and the first day of two a days for football-football for when we are getting our armor reminded me of fitting on our shoulder pads, but the shoulder pads were much lighter. I gotta admit I was struggling, My brain was totally fried from the jet lag and they were barking out orders, sign this, fill this, rush, rush, rush. I was very slow, Mike Abeto told me I had to speed it up, normally I would've gotten defensive but he was right. Time to put my A game on, but when your jet lagged, nothings working quite right. We then had to wait 40 minutes for a bus to take us to get our linens, then they throw us in a tent and we find a rack. Like I said, a lot of this reminded me of bootcamp but when you've done it before, it's not as bad as what other people may think.


I woke up at 830 and went outside. People have told me of the brightness before and they aren't joking. the sun here is intense, totally flat, no sense of direction, tents and other buildings that are tan with no other distinguishable features. I'm in "the sandbox". The Dining facility, or D fac, is pretty good, open 24 hrs a day, a wide variety of food. Every type of drink you can imagine, all in cans, no fountain types. I am starting my water thing, oh man the temptation is crazy. It's all free and I can't touch it. I really think water only will help me lose weight. Very few people have guts here. So what is the purpose of Al Udeid? It is a transit station, that is, everyone gets sent there, gets their armor and weapons, and then gets shipped to their location. It's a safe base, Qatar is a Muslim state, but they are our friends, and are one of the richest countries in the world. We pay them a lot of money to use their bases. It is also used for a morale location. Troops from all over the region get three day passes to de-program. there is a pool here, and they get a ration of three beers a day, plus computers, phones, ggod food, and the exchange. To us air force pikes, it seems like another day at the office, but to soldiers outside of the wire that have had no showers, getting shot at, stressed to the max, Al Udeid is heaven. I had to walk to the main exchange to get a cord adapter, 10 minute walk there, man I got so sunburned on my face. I gonna go, I could write more about it but what's the point? Were leaving tomorrow to our true destination, but this was a good barometer on how a lot of Sather will be set up. Once I can get some pictures downloaded, this will all seem more interesting

2nd flight

Well, we are delayed by two hours. I pray I will be able to sleep on the plane. I have a few "happy pills" that I hope will help. We didn't have to report till 5 so we went to the movie theatre. The ladies saw the movie with Ashton Kutchner and I saw the Green Hornet with Seth Rogan. It was pretty funny, it did the trick but in reality I would have waited till this came out on DVD if I was home. Now we are waiting, part of me feels I should be calling a bunch of people but I honestly don't feel like saying the same info over and over again. I will say one final goodbye to the family right before we leave. So you're probably asking what I am going to do over there. I will be a shift supervisor for the night for the passenger terminal. We are next to Bagdad International Airport. We get people onto the planes, a lot like what you see at a regular air port. It involves paperwork, procedures, safety pro cautions, and computer data entry. It's not a macho-type job but we are all part of a team. My buddy Scott gives me a hard time about it but here is the thing. We all make the same money regardless of job. An electronic technician makes as much as a cook, a intel specialist makes as much as we do. You can have a pretty low Adsvab score to get in but the reason it is appealing to reservists is the two week tech school. What you get is an interesting anomaly, not very bright people on the active side but people on the reservist side that have very good civilian jobs and are very smart, because of the 2 week school. On the reserve side, we also seem to have a lot of individuals that work for law enforcement or the correctional system, probably because of the pay and you do not need a degree. There is only one other school teacher in the unit besides myself. As a shift leader I will be making sure training gets done, will be in charge of missing baggage, and writing LOE's. Hopefully part of that job description is not getting yelled at by chiefs and officers. But if I can deal with yelling parents and demanding administrators then I should be able to handle the terminal haha.
I have some goals I want to get accomplished while I'm here:
1. Work out every day: nothi g else to do during off time. Naturally I have always enjoyed it, dating back to playing high school football. But over the years, especially after marriage and family, things get in the way. I am in a great situation where nothing should get in the way. I have all of the P90 X workouts downloaded on the iPad. They're hell but they are the best results period. I want to lose 30 lbs but the key here is body fat percentage.
2. Get closer to the lord: I became born again about two years ago after being astray for 22. It's been great but as a human, I still sin every day. One of the biggest misconceptions is if you are a Christian, you don't sin, and if you do, you are a hypocrite. That's so not true, but now I really do not want to do all of the things that use to get me in trouble. Now I have a great opportunity to get into reading the bible, I definitely enjoy reading it more now that I am an adult and a history teacher. I want to get with the chaplains on the base, so what they got. Who knows, maybe I can show what I have learned to some of my comrades over there. :)
3. Only drinking water: nothing else period! This is going to be very difficult for me. Though I quit drinking beer three years ago I love my diet pepsi. I expect to get some caffeine withdrawal. Th e only true way to see if my workouts are effective is to drink pure H2O.
4. Catch up on some reading. I just got a 1000 page Stephen king book and want to read a few history books. I remember when I was student teaching and my mentor teacher Dave talked about all the books he's read. I never could understand how he got the time. I naturally love to read.
5. Learn as much about my job as I can: this should be easy being that we are working 72 hrs a week.

There you have it, I'm going to get ready for the flight, by for now

Norfolk Virginia

Didn't do much today. Went to the exchange to eat get a buzz cut and shop a little. I really enjoyed being here during my last annual tour, it really brought back memories with the navy. Norfolk is a huge navy base, with tons of ships and tons of training schools. There is a tremendous amount of officers here, you really have to be alert, ready to salute. The last time I was here I talked to quite a few navy comrades, and even took a tour of a guided missile cruiser. Many things have not really change since I was in 21 years ago. One thing that has are the navy work uniform. They have become so soft! When I was in we wore dungarees, they looked very stupid. Bell bottom pants, some goofy denim material, and the goofy sailor cup hat. Our rank was stenciled and spray-painted on, can you believe that? Now they get to wear a blue version of what we wear with a ball cap. We bitched so much back in the day and it only took 20 hrs to change them. Ya I'm a hater, hahaha. Later went jogging and trying to figure out my ipad. That's it, tomorrow is the point of no return.

First flight

I can't believe I am in Norfolk. Crazy!! It was a ver smooth day for all the flying we did. It started at 5 am, woke up an hour early. Didn't sleep very well. Then I'm about to eat breakfast when my taxi ride shows up 20 min early. Figures!! My heart was heavy all morning, just sad. I was pleasantly surprised to see the commander and chief Ehlers showed up to see us off. It was a very cool gesture. I've always been impressed with their leadership style, they're stand up guys, call you by your first name, and don't make emotional decisions. It's a simple fact that when people like you they will want to do what you tell them in terms of leadership. I hear there are a few issues with the shift I'm taking over for where I've been pondering how to deal with it as a leader. I just need to be myself. The first flight was smooth and we found out for the second flight that we got bumped up to first class. That's awesome!! I have never been in first class. It was great, the seats, even though just a few inches different, made a big difference. The dinner was great, it was a nice surprise. We got a shuttle to the navy terminal to check our bags in. I could see the female Navy TDY's that worked at the terminal were still rough and unprofessional. It's amusing, I was there for annual tour in 2008 and these TDY's were there because of medical issues or pregnant. As a pax representative you are supposed to be friendly, courteous and professional. Nope! And today nope! If any of my guys at Sather act like that I'll put a foot up their ---! Anyway we got our room, definitely not air force standards, like I said if I knew about the air force 20 years earlier...
Now I got the jet lag kicking in, 130 am and I'm not tired. Talked to Gina and we were discussing my Jenna. She had called me earlier and was balling. This is two days in a row now she has cried hysterically because I'm gone. it's weird, it's nice to know she cares, it reinforces that we have a very strong bond. I worry if we will have this bond when she becomes a teenager. I just cannot put into enough words how much I love my little daughter. It breaks my heart, especially with the intensity of her anguish. Gina thinks we may have to get some professional help. I hope it's just a phase, I recommended we put up a four month calendar and X out each day. I have a video phone and I think it will be huge in keeping us bonded. Hopefully it'll work over there. It' so bizarre, thinking that I have not worked since Dec 17. I'm so used to always working, usually having worked two jobs half of my adult life. So our flight doesn't leave until we'd at 1900. I guess I'll sleep in, eat, jog around the navy piers and see the awesome ships, and get my hair buzzed. After that I have no idea! Cheers!

Last day of pre-Sather

Today was a rough day. I had to say goodbye to Gina, Chelsea, and Jenna. We had such a great weekend, we hung out at the room Friday, and went to Knotts Berry Farm Saturday. it was a blast, not only seeing the girls love the rides but I really was getting into them as well. I haven't been there in 30 years. Montezuma's revenge was the big thing back then, now it is a side attraction. Some of those rides had some seriou G's going. We then capped it off with dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. The last two weeks I have been eatin whatever comes to mind, knowing I won't be eating many of my favorite platters in a while. Killed it with Caesar salad, tequila pasta, and chicken chipotle pizza. Perfect! Today, crappy! I'm not the kind of dude that shows sadness very well. It's just hard for me to cry when people are around. I said goodbye, of course my wife and kids are crying. It didn't hit me until the car started to pull away. It is incredibly depressing, I have had a real hard time wrapping my brain around being away from them until the summer. When I was in bootcamp I was isolated 9 weeks, when I went on my mini west pac I was gone 10weeks, and when I was at Camp Zama it was for 6weeks. This is about 18 weeks. I'm just bummed and annoyed that I have to do this deployment right now. Besides putting my life on hold I have had to spend a considerable amount of money getting all the things needed to make the deployment as tolerable as possible. Just to make something clear, the purpose of this blog is to describe not only what I see but what I feel as well. Please know my overall feelings here, I am very much aware of the greater sacrifices many servicemen are going through then what I will endure, soldiers going outside the wire, facing grave danger, with 9-12 month deployments instead of the 18 weeks that I'm doing. I am aware of the men who have lost their lives or suffered through horrific injuries. I am also aware of the people who busted their a--es making Sather AB more safe then before 2007. I feel honored to serve for my country and it isn't just empty words. Being a history teacher and well versed in the government systems of many countries, what we have here is so precious and worth risking your life for. I am a part of history, part of what will be talked about in history books as Operation New Dawn. I am aware of all of this, yet there will be days I'm not really feeling it, that I'm bummed or angry or annoyed. Don't judge me as being selfish, wimpy, or ungratefull, I just may be having a low moment. I have explained my general thoughts on the whole thing, and those will not change. I'm going to finish up my packing, I thought I was going to see my childhood friend Mike who lives in nearby Murrietta, but he never called. probably fo the better, not really feel in social right now. I'll write more tomorrow, wow, the next time I will be in this status it'll be summer!

My Military History

I am about five days from shipping out. I'm in the plush Ayres Hotel in Moreno Valley, Ca. by myself, my family is back in Arizona but are coming out friday to spend the last weekend with me. I have an incredible amount of downtime at the moment, so I'm starting this a little early, I may go do the loser-thing and see a movie by self, maybe Tron Legacy hahaha. But as I was doing my 40 minute jog I began to think about my military career. Funny to think of it as a career but the military has pretty much been a part of all my adult life. How did i get to this point, where at the age of 43, an age most people swap war stories and are long gone from the life, I am about to get deployed to the second most dangerous region on the planet? Well it all started......

....It all started in 1985, I was a senior in high school, not sure what the heck I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to join the air force ROTC to fly, but my grades weren't good enough. I wanted to go to college, but my dad did not have the money, but what I did know was I wanted to get out of Flagstaff. I was giving my buddy a ride when he said, "stop by my Navy recruiter, I want to drop something off." No problem, then he asked to meet him, I said no thanks. Of course he convinced me to do it, and my life was never the same. Those guys are the best salesman, with an array of diagrams, drawings, symbols, and well-placed key-words, I was soon hooked. I signed up to be a Nuclear engineer but then did something stupid, acquiring a criminal ticket, a misdemeanor, but enough to make the Navy say I was no longer eligible for their program. I was offered a few other jobs but they all seemed lame. They offered me a chance to get into a program where I could sign up for an on-the-job training with a skill I found interesting when I reported onboard my ship. The fine print was I would have to serve as a "deck-ape" for 1 1/2 to 2 years before I would get the opportunity. I took it, I blew a golden opportunity but had to make the most out of it. The decision to make the mistake I did changed the entire course of my life. Who knows what my life would've turned out like, I do know the nuclear program was an incredible opportunity. But if I did it I would've never met my wife and had my beautufull daughter, I wouldn't trade those two for any experience in the world.
The Navy was a lot of bad-timing/bad-luck. They stationed me on a ship that did not have the phalanx weapon system, capable of taking out missiles. No phalanx, no gulf travel, no westpacs, and no travelling to exotic places to see. All I could look forward to were trips up and down the west coast. Being a deck-ape was terrible work, we were the janitorial/maintnence version of the navy. We painted, painted, painted, primed, chipped off old paint, eliminate rust from metal, cleaned, sweep, cleaned some more, lifted, moved around, did I say paint? When we were out to see, on top of the work we spent up to 12 hrs per day on lookout watches, searching for ships or other masses that our ship needed to be aware of. We were subjected to incredibly harsh weather at times, I learned a whole new meaning of cold. I was incredibly determined to get the heck out of there. It involved having to do several thick correspondance courses and passing the ensuing tests. I decided to "strike" into being an operations specialist, or "OS". I saw it often in the movie Top Gun, the guys on the radar consiles in combat information center. A lot of technology, alot of excitement. I struck into OS in 14 months, one of the fastest times any deck-ape was ever able to get out of deck division on board the U.S.S. Duncan. Some guys just gave up, the extensive course work proving too much, and just stayed in deck, knowing that when they reached E-4 all they would be doing is bossing younger sailors around. OS soon turned out to be not what I expected. The excitement was few and far between, most of the time I would look at a blank radar screen, trying to stay awake. People didn't believe in second-hand smoke back then, and CIC often looked like a toxic wasteland. When we were in port, it was pretty kickback. Overall it was much better then Deck, but it was a job that would require me to be on a ship most of my career, so I didn't want to go that route. You didn't get to play around with the more high tech equipment until you got higher rank, and I was only an E-4 at the time. Getting higher rank would mean having to re-enlist, something I had no desire doing. For the record, I got to see Ensenada, San diego, San Francisco twice, Portland, Seattle three times, Port Angeles Washington, Victoria Canada,Van Couver Canada three times, Adak Alaska, Japan, Korea, and Hawaii twice. Even at a young age, I made it a point to go see the sights besides the watering hole or night clubs. The only one I didn't was Korea, I know I had fun, I just don't remember too many details, very fuzzy! hahaha. I got to go back there later and saw a lot of the sights it had to offer. Overall I met friends of a lifetime, a lot of learning, a lot of work, and a little fun in-between.
When I got out, I still had three years of reserve duty on my contract. I had moved back to Flagstaff with an eventual plan to move to San Diego to attend college. I didn't know how I was going to do my reserve time with the Navy being in Flagstaff-no water!! A buddy of mine told me about the Army National Guard, there was a unit 10 miles from town. I hooked up with a recruiter and he told me I could be a truck driver, ammo specialist or administration specialist. I chose admin, not like it seemed like a great job. I didn't really care, I just wanted to be done with the reserves and put the military behind me forever. It's sad and kindof funny,but I rarely ever remember actually doing my job. It was a joke, a lot of sitting around, a lot of doing other mobilization requirements like M-16 firing/shoot I don't even remember the requirements. Just stupid busy work, a few field excercises which were sometimes cool. It was just a paycheck and a chance to see a few friends. Two opportunities however, stood out, Japan and Germany.
I signed up for the Japan trip in the spring of 92, it was perfect timing, being that I was waiting to get my hair-cutting license to cut hair, I had six weeks to kill. I worked at the post office at the army Base Camp Zama. It was one of the greatest times of my life, to be young, have money, and a lot of free time in Tokyo, one of the biggest cities in the world!
15 months later I went to Germany for three weeks. We were in Kaiserslautern near Ramstein Air Force base. Another vacation pretty much, the unit we were tasked with was not prepared to integrate us into their work schedule. I pretty much did 30 minutes of work per day and read a lot of books. It was a blast, many interesting, quirky adventures but was dampened by a severe lack of finances to really enjoy to the fullest. Germany proved to be a very history-filled, beautiful country.
I got out of the National guard in 1997 because I couldn't get promoted and after Germany, the only places we went to were Fort Huachaca and Flagstaff. Part of the problem with the promotion thingswas I had a six month break in service and a 1 year break in service, I really wish now I would not have done that. Around 2000 I started getting serious about finally completing a degree so I needed some school money. I thought, "I've been in two branches, lets make it three." Thats the beauty once you've been in one branch of service, it's fairly easy to switch around, just signing a bunch of papers. So in the fall I joined the Air Force Reserve. They offered me some real cool jobs, but they all required to attend their schools, which were from 2-10 months. I was cutting hair and had lost my clientelle before, I was not going to go through that garbage of building over because I was gone to a school for months. They had a two week school for a job called Transportation. It had to do with passenger/cargo processing. They joked it was half Southwest/half UPS. It could almost be considered the"deckapes" of the air force. Whatever, it was a check, college money, and the best chance to travel out of all the jobs.
I really wish I considered the Air Force earlier in my career, I would have definitely joined. I would have gone active duty and even did 20 yrs and retired. the facilities are better, the work is easier, and you actually learn how to do a job and how to progress in it. There has been a few bumps along the way, far from perfect, such as I was in Cargo section my first 2 1/2 years and it was fairly boring, and later on I had some issues with a certain supervisor and a certain support staff member that got in the way with my tech sergeant promotion, which then caused me to temporarily withdraw from caring about my job and work on college work during reserve weekends. I finally was promoted to Tech Sergeant in the fall of 2007 and it's been great ever since. I have received a ton of money for college, it has supplemented my limited teachers salary quite nicely, and I have been able to go to Atlanta, San Antonio, Alaska, San Francisco several times, Virginia, Guam, Japan, and Korea twice. I have no complaints but now, unfortunately, I have to pay back to my country the many benefits I have received. This is where I am at, and where I'm going to be soon is at Sather AB in Bagdad Iraq as a night shift supervisior until June. I will be in charge of about 8 people, that I am not afraid of. I have been a supervisor before, a leader many times as a crew leader, teacher, and football coach. I am not a total guru at the job, but it is a job that doesn't require much intellect. I am very detailed oriented and computer savvy so that'll help. I am naturally afraid of being in a place where people want to kill you, even if the majority of the population does not. You will get the opportunity to experience a little of where I'm going to be soon. VERY SOON