Almost Christmas!

Wow, its hard to believe I've been here for around 90 days already. In just a couple more weeks, I get to come home on my R&R leave for a couple of weeks, and then its back to finish the tour.

On one hand, this tour has been pretty easy in the respect that there is not a whole lot of combat stress. With my job being completely inside the camp, I haven't had to worry about my safety much. The only time I had to put on my ballistic vest and helmet was to go to the range the other day to make sure my pistol still worked! On the other hand, it has been tough to be away from the family with all that is going on; the boys are getting big, Erin's new building, her move into Pond Creek, my parents moving into town, and her parent's new house. Without the support of our families and friends, I don't know how we would make it through this.

I have had a switch of jobs recently. I was the Deputy Mayor of one of the sub-camps (think suburb) and now I work in the Department of Public Works, or the engineering section. Why is it I'm always accused of being an engineer??? They brought me in as the Operations Officer and the Terrain Manager. My job is first to coordinate all the efforts of the section in order to keep our boss up to date on what everyone is doing. This has required building some spreadsheets and helping to build some computer databases in order to track the over 200 ongoing projects we have going on, from contracts to clean buildings to major construction of $25 million dollar buildings. The Terrain Manager part of the job is probably most challenging, because we have to balance current requests with future needs of land use, and the future isn't a crystal clear picture. Also, the US Forces redeploying from here in Dec of 2011 requires a lot of coordination to try to put the right tenants in the right piece of land. I am enjoying the challange, though. I get along pretty well with my new boss and there is always plenty to do.

One of the benefits of being here over the holidays is all of the people that come to visit. On Thanksgiving, a band called Brokedown Cadillac came with 6 Hooters Girls and put on a concert. Cole sent me a Beanie Baby iguana (Iggy) to take pictures with, so I have pictures with the band and the girls, all while I'm holding Iggy. Also during that show, GEN Odinero came to tape a "Go Army - Beat Navy" spot for the Army-Navy game. I managed to get my picture with him and Iggy as well. Kid Rock, Carlos Mencia, and singer Jessie James came a few days later, and while I didn't get a picture with Iggy and them, I took a picture with Iggy at the concert. This weekend we had the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen, Anna Kournikova, tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, comedian Dave Attell, and Billy Ray Cyrus. I got an awesome picture of me and the Chairman and his wife with Iggy, and her little pal Pierre. A friend of hers gave her Pierre a few years ago and it has always gone with her wherever she goes. Taking pictures with Iggy has been a lot of fun, and the boys really enjoy seeing the pictures at home.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone for all of the support, whether it has been prayers, care packages, letters, or just good thoughts. It makes everything worthwhile. Merry Christmas to everyone!