15 to 60 Days, MPH, etc.

Time! What a strange and elusive element that manages each and every one of us.


• Eight (8) plus months of time to get me home to my wife, family and friends.

• Fifteen (15 ) days to be surrounded by loved ones either personally or over the phone.

• Sixty (60) days to finish this tour off and return back to American soil. One would think 4 years (tours) should be enough, we’ll see!

Anyway, with a blink of an eye, 15 days have come and gone. To recap; a wonderful warm and loving reception by my family and friends. There's not enough to say about good friends and family. I love them all dearly.

• Whitten's, thank you for all that you do and being the friends you are to me and my family. Without you, this time away would be much harder than it already is.

• Family; you are truly awesome, each and every one of you. Brothers , sister's, son's, daughter, son in law, daughters in law, niece's, great niece's, nephew’s, nephew in law's, the whole batch of you. No one is left out of this message. It is to all of you and for all of you! Mom, Dad – I miss you each and every day.

• Blog friends of my wife; Thank you! Thank you for keeping my wife strong along this journey.

Time! So elusive – I hate you and love you! What a relationship! Please make the days pass at lightning speed until I once again return. Slow down those days spent loving my sacred time with my friends and family. Watch over me, watch over my family and friends, keep their spirits high, their goals focused and their purpose meaningful.



I have enjoyed every minute home and every episode of the Twilight Zone yesterday during the all day marathon. Soon, I will drop back into my Twilight Zone, only to return stronger and more thankful than the last.



Next year brings us all much promise. I hope each and every one of us reaches our full promise for the year and have a chance to recap together the good, the bad and the comical. Laugh much and smile often; the person on the receiving end needs it more than you! Spend time together as time is what it is! Love always, R2

7/1/2010 - Started out with a BANG!

Sorta!  At least last night it did!  While sitting at work around 10:00pm because that's what we do in Kandahar.  Work! The local Taliban launched a series of rockets, probably pre-positioned on delayed timers because that's how they roll.  After the three alarms and the "ALL CLEAR" sounded, we made our way to our rooms to try and get some well deserved rest.  Yeah right!  I laid in bed thinking about all the work, the recent events, the upcoming events, the phone calls, the email, the workload a strategy on how to stay focused to get as much done as I can and keep my sanity.  Finally about 12:30am, I dose off for a nap.  4:30am rolls around, I force myself to lay in bed and try to rest.  At 5:30 I finally lose that battle and make my way to the shower.  After the shower, I make my way to the dinning facility.  Should I sit and eat or get a box to go?  Box to go!  Let's get this day started since I spent all night thinking through it and laying out my plan in my head.  Off we go!  While sitting at my desk I open my email to see what could possibly have happened in the few hours I've been away!  What's that, the vendor did not show.  Another vendor is not responding to calls or email, whose that on the phone?  Hold on!  I send out a few "Let me get your attention emails", more phone calls, more email, vendors are starting to show up like they do everyday!  Firefighting is on!  Let's get it!!!!  Take a deep breath and realize the whole day is out of my control.  Why?  Because I'm allowing it to be!  Got to stop that as quickly as possible.  Hold that call, I'm with someone and already doing 5 things.  The flames die down, the smoke begins to clear.  Now is a good chance to break away and go to the gym!  I get in a 3 mile run, do a hundred or so sit ups and head back to the room for a shower.  I feel better!  However comma!  I walk down the hall towel around my waist and take a nice shower controlling my breathing and head back to the room to get dressed.  Oh yeah!  time-line, it's now about 6:30pm.  Jeff and I usually do PT around 4:30pm or 5:00pm.  This breaks up the day and gets us fresh for another few hours of evening work.  Anyway, I head back to the room, towel around my waist and grab the door handle to the room!  Yep!  Locked like Fort Knox!  One of our roommates, I'll call him LT Lazy Ass because at any given time during the day, he's in the room.  He's knows our routine, evening PT, shower and head back out!  Do you think he might have taken 10 seconds to walk 74 feet down the hall to see if I was in the shower.  Oh No!! Let's just lock the door!  So for about 35 minutes I stand in the hall waiting for someone to walk in so I can ask them to go to billeting to get someone to open the door.  Score, I get a neighbor at the other end of the building to do my deed!  He and the housing runner arrives with the key!  Oops, the runner says!  I have the spare key for room 7, your in room 1.  He's a pretty sharp pencil!  I say, yeah, this is a problem.  I guess you'll be right back!  Yes Sir, right back!  Another 10 minutes pass and we have entry!  I get dressed and yes, the stress level is back up to 100% by this time.  I walk over to the chow hall and get dinner to go!  Stay calm, I tell myself.  You just learned a valuable lesson.  Take your key with you and remember always to "never" seek out LT Lazy Ass when it's my turn to leave the room.  Make sure it's all locked up.  Nice and tight!  Karma!  Finally back to the office a little after 7:00pm.  Email is full again, phone rings!  SSG can you get me some gravel for Saturday?  Of course, let me look into this and rush something through.  About 8:00pm almost as a well rehearsed play!  The siren blows, we all hit the floor for a couple minutes and recover.  Just a couple minutes later, the siren blows again.  On the floor we go!  Almost like football tryouts!  Up, down, up, down!  Of course, we all make the best of it and share our thoughts as to why the rockets are flying.  Unhappy vendors for slow pay issues, vendors making their point for us to award more contracts, etc.  We do a few more things and then blow out at 10:00pm.  Calling it an early night so we can get re-charged for tomorrow.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to share on the events of my day!  As you crawl through this mess and as I write about, I draw one conclusion.  You can't make this stuff up!  It's real and in full color! 

I think I covered a lot of ground with that story.  Folks, it's been awhile since I've updated my blog!  I apologize for that, but also recognized, I just have not had the time.  It's already 11:30pm and I'm probably an hour away from falling asleep.  Once I get done here, I've got to take 30 minutes or so just to unwind!

Jeff and I are learning alot about our skill and others are now looking to us for answers.  Jeff spends alot of time researching the FAR and case studies to confirm what are the best options available to get things done.  Steps that are efficient, legal and ethical.  I continue to try and set the pace in managing large projects and do contracting.  Folks ask our opinion, seek our advice and ask our thoughts on a regular basis.  I'm sure I can speak for both of us!  The pressure to get things done is always high, but the feeling of being asked to do the things we do and provide advice and recommendations, speak volumes for what have and will continue to do while deployed.

Anyway, before I start to ramble on!  Let me do a quick spell check and hit the post button!

I love and miss everyone and hope everyone can stand in the hall one day with a towel and the thought of "How the hell did I allow this to happen"?

Later!

6/20/10 - Father's Day in Afghanistan

Being deployed certainly comes with a price.  We have talked about this previously, however!  Being apart from your family on holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, special events, etc. is still a bummer!  I've been at work since about 6:00am on this Sunday/Fathers Day and it's now 6:00pm.  All day as I'm working through the endless pile of things to do, I'm thinking of each one of my kids, their faces, expressions, laughter, angry moments and reflect on how I miss them.  We're all grown up and doing what we do and if home, it would probably be me and my wonderful wife out and about doing something.  The kids calling and saying "Happy Fathers Day".  Kids, you don't know how much that means to me and how much it means to your Mom when you tell her "Happy Mothers Day" or just a simple out of the blue "I Love You"!

Mom and I truly blessed with each one of you!  Yes, even though we have our moments, you are loved beyond measure.  I'm proud of each one of you for the choices you have made and the choices you will make.  Each one of you will continue to do great things and conquer the world or at least your piece of it!  I love you and thank you each for all the joy you bring me each day!  You are my strength each and every day!

Just as a side note and a general update. 

The last couple of weeks are of course busy for me at work.  The local Taliban have not launched rockets our way for several days.  This of course is a good thing.  However, it makes everyone a little nervous as though they are saving up!  In the upcoming weeks Kandahar City, which is outside our base, will have some increased activity.  We have troops rolling in everyday and occupying several locations near the city.  We anticipate activities to increase.  All will be good as our base is strongly fortified and difficult to penetrate.  I look at these young soldiers, some that barely look old enough to drive and they are faced with some serious challenges.  In charge of other soldiers, equipment, the security of their missions and the safety of the friendly local Afghan people.  All in the name of freedom.  I say this because many of the young men (and older ones too) are fathers.  I just hope they are thought of as my kids think of me!  For those that are not, I ask that
everyone simply say a "Happy Fathers Day" in their honor. 

The living conditions out in the field where most of these units are positioned remind me of the day back in Desert  Shield/Storm.  I did my time in a GP medium with 16 other soldiers, eating MRE's, showering bird-style with bottles of water, washing clothes by hand in buckets for over ten months.  My time here at Kandahar is an office, a sheltered building with a bed and access to dining facilities.  In the scheme of things, comparably, it's not so bad!  I just hope that what I am doing to get these soldiers the things they need in the field improve their situation in some way!

There is more work to be done and plenty of it!  I'll try to get another update out soon!  In the meantime, I hope everyone stays well!  

With mounds and mounds of love! 

R2