Lt Dave's Space

My wife just had a little girl. 15:59 7 lbs 2 oz, 19.5 inches long.  We are naming her Kenzington Nicole

 

I am teaching 3rd grade now, I was going to be teaching 6th Grade but 2 days before I was to return to school they switched me.  I am working on my Masters in Curriculum and Technology.  I baptized Boston 2 weeks ago. 

Well we were supposed to leave Ramadi on the 8th of June but we ended up flying out on the Chinooks a day earlier.  We went to the air field to wait for our turn to fly out about 9 pm.  A little before midnight I flew to TQ.  We got there just in time to go to Midnight chow.  We almost missed it because of having to get our bags and to check into our tent.  The groups that came after us weren't so lucky.  TQ had the best chow and it was the best chow hall that I have been to in Iraq.  We were just getting accountability of everyone to make sure that everyone arrived in TQ when 1SG Miller told us not to goto sleep that we were leaving for Kuwait in 3 hours.

We had to wake people up and tell them to get packed again we are going to Kuwait.  We were not suppose to goto Kuwait for 2 days.  Well we dragged our 3 bags down to the JACOT building and waited for a couple of ours for them to manifest us and then we waited again.  Some of us tried to get some breakfast and be back before the next roll call.  We waited around outside in the dirt and most people went back to sleep for a bit. 

Finally we get on a C-17 airplane.  It had 5 regular seats in the middle but there was absolutely no leg room and I had my black bag with me.  I tried to get an end seat but no luck I was the 2nd one from the aisle.  No leg movement for an hour and a half.  It almost killed my legs.  Not to mention we still had our IBA with the sappi plates in them. 

We flew into Ali Ah Salem and they took us by bus to the LSA to get checked in.  We had a bunch of briefings and then we went by bus to Camp Victory.  When we got there we were met by Capt. Martin.  We thought we were in for it; some one had put him in charge of getting the whole BCT in lodging at Camp Victory, Kuwait.  We got all of our bags sorted out and then had to put them back on the truck because our tents were about a mile down the road away from the 110th guys that were riding with us.  Capt Martin gave us our welcome to Camp Victory briefing and he tried to be funny was he was just cheesy.  We found the chow hall and it had some good food compared to what we are use to.  There was also a McDonalds, a Pizza Time, a Subway, a Green Bean Cafe, a donut place and a bunch of hajji/AAFES shops.  We were stuck there from the 8th the 13th of June.  They had a nice gym and the MWR building was great.  It had 3 different movies going on.  It had pool tables, foosball tables, ping pong tables, and lots of other stuff to keep us entertained for those many days.  They had a free internet as well as the pay cybercafé.  Inside the free internet place there were 3 DSN phones as well as AT&T ones.  I would wait in line for usually 20 minutes to get on the DSN phones so that I could call Tooele Army Depot for free and then they would connect me to my home phone to talk to my wife and kids.  E-7 and above were in one tent and the rest were in the other.  80 people were suppose to fit in a tent and so we soon got lots of new cot neighbors.  Soon we had 85 in our tent.  We had 3 different groups in the tent with us while we were waiting for our turn to go to the states.

In Ramadi there our no street lights and very few lights shining out from the buildings.  Nothing really happens at night because most people are asleep except for those on the night shift.  At night in Kuwait there are lots lights and lots of activity.  There are basket ball and sand volleyball games.  There are people hanging out under the pavilion by the fast food shops.  There is a line for midnight chow.  It’s usually 10-15 degrees hotter in Kuwait than in Iraq and so all the activity happens after sunset.  We had about 2 1/2 days of sandstorms.  It was funny because people were saying that they would rather take the really hot heat then the cooler sand storm temperatures.  Heat feels a lot better than being pelted horizontally by sand. 

Today was just like any other day here on the FOB.  I don't know of anything that happened today to make it special.  I hope everyone back home had a good Memorial Day.

 

Val had a birthday on the 24th.  I hope it was as good as could have been.  Next year it will be better I promise.  She told me she got my package 2 days before her birthday and she promised she wasn't going to peek.  I don't know if that happened or not, but she said she liked her presents I sent her. 

 

I can't believe that May is almost over with.  Someone today said that we only have one more Sunday here on the FOB and I had to think about that.  Hey you are right, wow where did the month of Sundays go?

 

Soon we will be out of this 110 degree weather and back in the nice cool weather of Utah.  No more dust storms, no more sand fleas, no more burn pit smoke, no more sewer pond smell.  The mountains of Utah, the lakes and rivers, and the familiar smells of summer time BBQs.

 

I guess it appears that when I go back to school in August, I will be teaching 6th grade.  Whoa 5th, then 4th, then 2nd, and now 6th grade.  It should be interesting teaching school and teaching about World History after I have spent a year in Iraq.  I was here for the constitution signing.  I was here for both elections.  I was here for the cabinet to be sworn in.  I was here in the worst part of Iraq and witnessed the good and the bad.

Today we had a formation to recognize all the people that have re-uped, those that have signed up for more years in the national guard.  We also took some battery leadership pictures. 

 

Wow its already Spring! It changed from Winter to Spring today. Well if you can call 100 degree temperatures Spring. 

 

Its Josie's Birthday and he has been in the guard for 20 years.

 

Less than a month and I will be home with my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its a lot cooler to ride around in the gator and have the wind flow on you then it is to ride around in a hot humvee that has been sitting out in the sun all day long.  Here are some pics of me with the gator. I need to get some pics of Josie and I in the gator.  Josie has a little too much fun driving the gator around especially up and down hills.  Soon advon will be completed and right seat ride will start. 

 

I can't wait spend the summer in Utah with my family instead of in Iraq with the heat, sand, dust and bugs!!

To all the mothers and wives out there, I hope you all had a good day yesterday!!!

I hope my mother and wife had a good day. I am sure that next year with all of us being home will be a lot better than this year.  All the anniversaries, birthdays and holidays that we missed will mean more to us and our families.

I can't believe that half the month is over already, we could be back in the states in a month.  It will weird to see other units come in and get ready to replace us, like its finally here and we aren't realizing that it is actually going to happen.

 

Around 38ish more days!