Okay, so it’s been a while, but here we go. We are well over halfway done with our deployment, tied to the fact that I have yet to take leave just means that it’s only going to go downhill much faster from here. The deployment here hasn’t been too bad, besides the fact that I have not left the IZ since I’ve been here and I rarely get to leave the FOB. There is plenty to do here on Prosperity, so I’m not complaining too much.

I’m pretty much super-excited for leave though. I’ve got a fair amount planned out, one thing being a scuba diving trip to Panama City Beach. I’m going with a bunch of my Aunt’s friends from her church, so that’s going to be a lot of fun and I can’t wait. I want to buy a camera that’s good for underwater and post pictures up on my Facebook. I’m also pretty excited because I am going to buy a buoyancy compensator, a dive computer, and a regulator. I’ll hold off on the wetsuit because it’s only the Caribbean. Last time all I had was a shorty and was fine in that. I would’ve had no problem with just my bathing suit I’m sure. I will probably still use a shorty again, but we’ll see. I don’t need any of the extra buoyancy that a suit would give me! For anyone who reads this, I highly recommend it! It’s almost like flying in your dreams! Anyhow, I’m pretty excited about it, if you can’t tell.

The other planned event is my sister’s wedding, in which I’m a part of in two ways. One, I am one of the groomsman. Second, I’m supposed to perform their wedding song, which is quite a daunting task because I’m supposed to play the guitar for the song as well and I have to learn to play the song, which is very difficult for me! It is a good challenge and I am up to it. To go along with my learned Spanish skills, I will be performing the song in Spanish. The Peruvians love to hear me sing it simply because I am an American singing in Spanish. They eat it up. This will be a good time with family and friends and I’m looking forward to it. Plus, as a bonus, we are going to Six Flags Over Georgia the Saturday after my sister’s wedding, which will also be a blast. There may be some random visiting of friends in a couple of different places, we shall see.

This deployment has had it’s ups and downs, and it hasn’t been anywhere near as much fun as the first one, but it will definitely go down as a good deployment in my book. I think I have at least one more in me. I want to go to Afghanistan, so long as I don’t have to stay on the FOB all the time anyway. I hear there are far fewer contractors there too, that would be nice. Anyways, those are my thoughts about the current situation on the deployment. I’m wondering what is actually going to happen for the 4th of July, other than another 5K. We have those quite often here, so much it gets boring actually. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this post and I can’t wait to get home and see my family!

So it has been one crazy day after another. Most of my days are longer than 10 hours and we haven’t had a day off yet. Those are still in planning, which I can’t wait for. The biggest bane of my existence is the title of “Information Management Officer”, or IMO. That gives me about 90% of my workload so far and has been running me ragged. I’ve taken computers apart, worked on countless network problems, taken computers to get re-imaged (meaning wiped clean of all data and re-loaded with a basic data set needed for each computer), and moved so many computers around to try and meet the needs of my unit. Not to mention that I feel like I’m an Outlook pro by default because of having to deal with numerous issues with that. To compound it all, the network is slower than dial-up somedays, which means a good amount of sitting around waiting for things to load.

It has by no means been all bad though. One of the highlights of my day is when I get to go out and talk with the Peruvians and practice and learn more Spanish. I’ve gotten to be pretty good. I’m able to hold a fairly normal conversation for a good 15 minutes or so. I have a feeling by the time this deployment ends, I will be fluent. Another highlight is that I get to feed the fish every morning and afternoon. They always enjoy that. Whenever I walk up to the fish tank, they always start swimming towards the top and go into a frenzy. It’s fun to watch them go at it when the food falls into the tank. I don’t think I’ve ever seen goldfish swim that vivaciously.  I also look forward to the 2 hours of time I get before everybody else comes in. I come in at 6 and everybody else comes in at 8, so I spend that two hours catching up on my e-mails that I get every day and do some other menial tasks while nobody bothers me about a tech issue they have. Another highlight of my day is when I’m here for that 2 hours before everybody else, I turn on the TV so I can listen to AFN play music. It may not be the best music, but it’s awesome to just sit in my chair and listen while I do my work. I also get to put in requests so I can hear the songs I want, which is always a good time, especially when they say my name over the radio.

So it’s not all bad. There is most definitely some good. When my schedule slows down, I will figure out time for PT, reading and smoking my pipe, and playing table tennis, which is different from ping pong… but that’s a-whole-nother issue/blog altogether. I’m excited about finding a rhythm and working off that to schedule fun times for myself and my troops. But until then, that’s the way the cookie crumbles…

(MODERATOR’S NOTE:  A previous blog entry supports 2LT Larrew’s statement that being a unit IMO is a very demanding — and often thankless – job.)

What a trip! What a trip!!! I can’t imagine a better way to send off soldiers to war by having them spend a day in NYC. We were treated like royalty. I felt so appreciated by so many people it was nothing short of a morale miracle. The whole unit was so energized by it. Hats off to the SGM for making it happen. I can’t tell you how many times I was thanked for my service and the benefits we were given just because we wear this uniform. I tell you what, I have no problem wearing this uniform for the next several years if this is how I get treated in such a big city. I think the climax of the day was the Broadway production Spamalot. What a play! What a performance! Not only that, but during the play, they made tribute to us during an improvised portion of the show. We were also able to go up on stage after the show was over and meet all the actors and get our pictures with them and on Broadway. We were also allowed to exit the theater stage left, STAGE LEFT ON BROADWAY! How cool is that? All of you that didn’t get to go should be jealous All of those who read this and haven’t been to a show on Broadway, should go and see one as soon as they can. It will not be an experience soon forgotten. I would also suggest that you should visit the Roxy Deli during this trip. Their sandwiches are legendary for their size. They were taller than my glass, they were so big. All in all, I could not ask for a better trip for me and my soldiers. Thanks again to the SGM working so hard to coordinate it all.

You know, I have to say that leaving my family this time has been harder for me than last time. I guess it’s mostly because since then I’ve been working really hard to have a closer family. Ever since I moved up to TN in 2002, I can say that my relationship with my family has grown exponentially closer (which means that it starts out slower then grows at an increasingly faster rate as time goes by).  It’s awesome to see how much investing time pays off. It’s almost like investing money into a healthy stock market, except for my relationship with my family has grown upward and not in a downward spiral.

My Christmas was a most excellent time spent with my extended family, although not long enough. It was an emotionally charged atmosphere because everyone knew where I was going to be real soon. Hugs meant more and were more heartfelt, there were more “I love you”s, and an overall feeling of a real family environment. I am making the most of every moment, judiciously choosing where to spend my last few days.

At this current moment, I’m tired as I can be after being in a car for 18 hours, fighting traffic in D.C., Baltimore, and Delaware, driving from Columbus, GA to, what is essentially, Atlantic City, NJ with my parents, who want to see me get on the plane for when we go over to Iraq. The last deployment they didn’t even get to make it to Ft. Stewart, GA when we left in March 2003. I am currently laying in my bed, while my mom is fast asleep in her bed and my dad is on his computer chatting on facebook. We are staying at a beach house that is probably about 50 feet from the beach and two miles from Atlantic City. We are going to NYC tomorrow and I still have to look up what it is that we are actually going to do when we get up there. I will cherish these last few days that I will have with my parents because I love them deeply and strongly.

Yes, this time my departure from my family is proving to be much more difficult, but I can look forward to knowing that I will be back in time for Christmas next year, and that is one I absolutely love doing with my family. I will spend these last few days knowing full well that I will be back here just under a year from now, spending more time with my family in a happy reunion.