A Little Perspective

Those of you who have read my blog for awhile know that I struggle with some anger issues...anger at George Bush, George Bush supporters, society in general....and the list goes on. I posted a George Bush joke last week that I removed after my wife took me to task stating she thought it was a little over the top for a blog read by family and friends. I tend to get wrapped up in my own little world that is powered by concern for the safety of my sons as they serve in Iraq. When this whole process started Jan and I talked about the dangers of living in this box and letting it dominate our lives. I know that's a danger and I've let it happen to me repeatedly. Every once in awhile, however, something happens that gives you a little perspective. For me it was two pieces of news. The first was about the husband of an Augusta County Teacher. This teacher has been Seth and Eli's coach, teacher and friend. Last week, her 34 year old husband was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Their battle is beginning and I can not fathom the pain and fear they are facing. The second piece of news came when we learned that the daughter of a friend and former colleague of Jan's committed suicide. She had two children - a daughter and a son. About ten years ago the son committed suicide. Again, I can't begin to imagine the pain.
A little perspective is a good thing. My sons are healthy and doing something good. I watched a video the other day of a news show from Washington, DC that a reporter sent to me. It was the news report from Woodstock when the Guard was deployed to Iraq. Seth and I were interviewed. I spoke then about my pride in my sons, who have seen something larger....something bigger than themselves. They were learning about duty and obligation and sacrifice. Even though I would prefer to have Seth and Eli home, life is good. I am content thanks to a little perspective.
Eli traveled to Baghdad this week but is now back at Al Asad. He was a day late returning due to sand storms and Seth is apparently dealing with the same storms keeping him outside the wire a little longer than planned.

Back in the the saddle....

An email from Eli:

Dear friends and family,

I returned to Al Asad this morning at 5:00am my time to a not so welcome homecoming....the door was locked and so I knocked, but that did not wake up my snoozing roommate, so I pounded on the door. After not seeing each other for two weeks Seth opened the door and said, "why'd you have to knock so loud, probably woke up the whole base," and with that he jumped back in bed and fell back asleep. I wrote a quick e-mail to my family and one to Katy (I could not talk to Katy as she was at work) and then I jumped in bed and attempted to sleep some despite my internal clock being all out of whack.
I woke up at 11:00am and went to lunch with Seth and some of the guys with the platoon. I was prepared to be given a hard time by everyone for getting an additional 10 days at home for leave, but instead everyone was genuinely concerned about how I was and if I was feeling better after having kidney stones. I am sure once everyone is satisfied that I am feeling better I will hear all about my long vacation. It was good to see everyone (2 guys had babies while I was gone) and it is good to get back in the swing of things. I will go back out in just a couple days for a three day mission.
Other then the goodbyes, the traveling and the adjustment to the change in time zones are the worst parts of leave. From the time I left my house in North Carolina to the time I stepped foot on Al Asad I spent over 60 hours traveling! Dad drove me to the Greensboro Airport (Katy is full throttle into her graduate program and could not miss school....she met her cadaver the day I left so dad kept giving her a hard time that she was losing a husband but gaining a cadaver) and from there I flew to Atlanta, then on to Germany, from Germany I flew to Kuwait City. Once we got to Kuwait City we rode a bus to a base in Ali Saleem where we stayed the night. We then got bussed to the air field and once we boarded the C-130 (a miserable aircraft to fly in) we were told instead of making the 2 hour flight to Al Asad we would be first flying to Qatar to drop off soldiers (10 soldiers from the Japanese Army) and pick up some soldiers, over 6 hours of flying on the dreaded bird! We were picking up soldiers from Qatar who had been given a pass there...Qatar is a small little peninsula country that borders Saudi Arabia to one side, and the rest is bordered by the Persian Gulf.
It was a lot of traveling (about 24 hours in all with the extended C-130 trip) and I am fighting jet lag but will be back at work tomorrow as I have to be at the motor pool for briefings. The end is in sight and I am staying focused on that. It was great to see all of you (everyone I got to see) and I look forward to seeing everyone in May when I get back! Take care!
Love,
Eli

Twins reunited!

We had a brief email from Eli this evening that he had returned to Al Asad. It was 5:00 AM their time and he had just endured a 5 hour flight on a C130....not Eli's favorite mode of transportation.

Most of the way back....

Spoke with Eli this evening. He's arrived in Kuwait and is hoping to fly into Iraq in the morning. When they leave Iraq, they fly out with full battle rattle and weapons. The equipment and weapons are turned in before leaving Kuwait. When they return from leave they are reissued their equipment and weapons in Kuwait before returning to Iraq. Eli has retrieved his equipment and weapons and is now ready just to get back and get this over with. Our motto has been, keep your head up and your eyes on the horizon.....seems the horizon is getting closer and closer!

Heading Back to Iraq.......for $82

I delivered Eli to the Greensboro Airport this morning after a tearful goodbye with Katy. We left their house at 7:00 AM and arrived at the airport for check-in, breakfast at Dunkin' Doughnuts and time to just sit at the gate and chat for a while. Because Eli didn't use his original ticket out of Richmond on the 12th he was forced to pay $82 to get from Greensboro to Atlanta where the Army will take over his transportation. It's up in the air if he'll get reimbursed by the Army for this out of pocket expense and on the surface it seems terrible that he has to pay to return to Iraq. On the other hand, if someone had told him on the 12th that he could pay $82 for an additional ten days at home, I'm sure he would have thought that a bargain. It's all how you look at it! Before I got home to Virginia, Eli called from Atlanta with the news that he's booked for a flight out of the country this evening. He's hopeful that within 24 hours he'll be back in his room with his second favorite roommate.

Georges' Legacy....

As Little Georges's term in office winds down, he is rightly concerned about his legacy. That's the reason for his sudden interest in assisting the peace talks between the Palestinians and the Isralis. Little George's legacy will include the damage he has done to our military. Repeated tours of duty have created a continuing strain on our military personnel and equipment that will take decades to correct. A couple of recent articles have caught my attention in this area. First, the number of high school graduates enlisting in the Army has fallen significantly. The Army's goal is 90 percent high school graduates, which it hasn't met since 2004. Each year since, the number of recruits with at least a high school diploma has steadily declined. National Priorities Project, a research group that analyzes federal data, found that only 71 percent of Army recruits graduated from high school in the 2007 budget year. Additionally, soldiers listed as high quality recruits, meaning a high school graduate and who scored in the top half of the Army's qualification test, has fallen from 61% in 2004 to 45% today. The Department of Defense is planning to increase the size of the military to help alleviate the strain of repeated deployments....the obvious question is where are these recruits going to come from and what what quality they will be.
A second article noted that the Virginia National Guard is having trouble filling Chaplain spots. They only have 8 of 19 spots filled and this is part of a national trend. Overall the National Guard has only 350 of 700 Chaplain spots filled.....Guess even ministers get tired of all the deployments.
And a final, sad situation: The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy. Much is asked of our soldiers and little is given in return. We thank them for their duty, but provide little in the way of ongoing support. As Little George presides over an economy quickly heading into a depression he continues to support tax cuts for corporations and the rich while cutting budgets of institutions that could provide a safety net for our returning veterns.
Little George has a legacy.....it's just not the one he would like to have.

Medic for a day

We had an early morning phone call from Seth. I don't know if it's related to Eli's absence or not, but on Seth's last mission he filled in as the medic. They are short on medics and since Seth is an EMT he was pressed into service. What Seth learned is that Eli has the easiest job in the world. Instead of driving, Seth sat in the jump seat in the back, napping, reading and generally enjoying the trip. I guess it's a great job unless you're called upon to do your job.
I was watching an episode of "Mash" last night and the story could have been about the war in Iraq. Hawkeye was incensed to find that doctors at home were taking advantage of the war to earn exorbitant fees. They were reading x-rays for the army and charging $5 per x-ray. Some of the doctors were earning as much as $2000 a month reading x-rays. Hawkeye was furious that some people were profiting from the war.....Imagine how he would feel about the Iraq war. Some things never change!

A Clean Bill of Health

Jan and I visited Eli and Katy at their home in North Carolina this weekend. Eli visited the urologist on Friday and was given a clean bill of health. The kidney stone has passed. I wanted to take a picture of Eli holding a giant rock with a caption "This is how big it felt!" Alas, as with most of my creative ideas, I didn't follow through. We did learn that Eli is not alone in his battle against kidney stones...apparently this is a problem with soldiers in Iraq.
The following is from an article by James Parker that I found on the Internet:
It was stated that kidney stones are uncommon in the people under the age group of 30 however, the studies have proved that the soldiers in the Iraq most of them in their 20s have an increased risk of developing kidney stones due to their unique lifestyle. Since 1991, Linda Massey, professor of human nutrition at WSU Spokane, has studied the effects of variables such as milk, meat, soy protein, caffeine, salt and vitamin C on the formation of kidney stones.

It is seen that here the soldiers are more reliant on caffeine to keep them awake for long hour duty. The high intake of caffeine increases urinary calcium, which contributes to kidney stones formation. Iraq Soldiers are more prone to get dehydrated, the main reason for this dehydration has been stated to be long working in the hot climate in Iraq and the protective clothing that keeps their sweat from evaporating. Moreover, it has been seen that the soldiers here take fewer calories in comparison to what they burn. Even the intake of water and other fluids have been seen to be minimum that results in urinating quite often.

Iraq being more war prone area the soldiers here have really required to work quite hard. Hence, it becomes really difficult for them to guard themselves from Kidney stones. Taking more amount of caffeine and less amount of water leads to more concentrate and acidic urine that leads to formation of kidney stones gradually. In all it can be said that the soldiers in Iraq are on higher risk of developing kidney stones from other people due to their working conditions and atmosphere.

Eli will be returning to Iraq this week. He will leave home on Wednesday to fly to Atlanta and then on to Iraq. He's hopeful that his trip back will be as quick as Seth's. I will be traveling to North Carolina on Tuesday evening to take him to the airport on Wednesday. Katy will be unable to take Eli to the airport due to her graduate program at Elon. The picture above is Katy and Eli in front of McMichael Hall at Elon where Katy takes her physical therapy classes. Wednesday, Katy will be meeting her cadaver that she will be getting to know intimately over the next several months. All things considered I'm sure she would rather be taking Eli to the airport, but given her need to be at school I'll be filling in.
This next statement is made with the caution that in the military nothing is final until it's done..........that said, it looks like an early departure from Al Asad is in the works for the Virginia National Guard.....they are now planning to leave Iraq in the early weeks of April and Seth and Eli hope to be home by May. I know for Jan and myself, May can't come quick enough!

Email from Seth

Dear Family and Friends,
My journey home began last Saturday morning at the Richmond airport. After some very hard and tearful goodbyes I boarded the plane on the way to Atlanta. It was hard to say goodbye again, but I felt good in the knowledge that this would be my last time saying goodbye to the people that I love the most. These next couple months will be the final stage in this deployment, and I plan on making the most of my time and not wishing the days away.
After arriving in Atlanta I found out that I would be stuck in Atlanta for the night, and would be put up in a hotel. I had no complaints, it was a nice opportunity to get some more rest. I spent the afternoon laying around in the hotel and watching Brett Farve and the Packers take apart the Seattle Seahawks. The next day I was able to get a flight, and the evening of the 13th I headed overseas. We stopped first in Germany, and then in Kuwait at Ali Al Salem Air Base. We spent the night in Kuwait, then headed to Iraq the next day on a military cargo plane called a C-130. Military flights are not intended for comfort, they are simply meant to get as many soldiers to a destination as possible. It was a very uncomfortable flight, but luckily it only lasted about two hours. After returning to Iraq on Monday January 14th I found out that our Squad was short on people, and that I was needed to head out on a patrol on th e 16th. This meant a full day of work on the 15th, and then up early for a trip outside the wire on the Wednesday. I did not have much time to catch my breath, and am still trying to fully get back in the swing of things and get adjusted to this schedule.
I am missing my roommate, but have enjoyed seeing all my buddies again and catching up. It is good to be back, because I know that the end is in sight. Not much has changed over here, and our mission, and convoy tempo remains pretty much the same. The squads are still picking up about two to three patrols a week, and are typically still getting one day off a week.
Leave was a wonderful time, and I want to thank all of you that helped make it so enjoyable. To all of my family and friends that I had the pleasure of visiting with it was great to see you all, and spend quality time visiting. There are many of you that I did not get to see, and for that I apologize. Fifteen days is just not enough time to see everyone that I would of liked. For all of you, thank you for your continued prayers and support. I am happy to be back, and ready to get this time over with. Before we know it I will be back home to the family, friends, and the life that I love. I hope this e-mail finds you all doing well, and having a great week. Take care and I look forward to talking to you all very soon,
Lots of Love and Peace from the MiddleEast,
Seth

Back at Al Asad

Seth called me this morning....8 AM our time, 4 PM their time. He's arrived back at Al Asad after a fairly quick trip. Everything looks the same as when he left, just different dust. He'll get right back into the swing of things as he go out on a quick mission later this week. Eli still reports no progress on his stoney problem.

I remember this feeling...........

For the fourth time we said goodbye to Seth as he leaves to play his part in the "War on Terror." It doesn't get any easier to watch him walk away and board a plane. Standing in the Richmond airport watching Jan and Brittany cry my heart broke again. I held Seth, told him I loved him and whispered for him to be safe. I hope God heard that plea. Airports allow service member's families to go past security and wait with their soldiers at the gate. There was another soldier boarding the same plane and I watched as a mother and wife said their goodbyes and cried on his shoulder. As we sat with Seth a gentleman walked up, shook Seth's hand and quietly said "Thank you." Highs and lows......saying goodbye, seeing gratitude expressed. I don't believe in our President, but I certainly believe in my son, all our soldiers and the inherent goodness and gratitude of most Americans.
Seth left Atlanta last night around 6:00 PM and barring complications will probably be back at Al Asad by Wednesday. Sitting at home last night after talking to him on the phone one last time and saying goodbye I realized how much this affects me. For the last two weeks I've felt like all was right with my world. Today, the aches and pains have returned, real and imagined. A heart does feel pain.
I know Seth is happy that Eli has a few more days at home, but he will miss his brother. Seth said that most people that share housing at the base are happy when their roommate is out on a mission, preferring some quiet time alone in their room. He and Eli prefer to be together and miss each other when they're out on separate missions. Seth will be looking forward to the return of his roommate.
Eli update.....there isn't any. He's still sitting at home, suffering, drinking fluids and hoping to pass a stone. Stay tuned!

Off they go........well, not quite

Seth and Eli were scheduled to leave today from Richmond for their return to Iraq. We watched Seth walk down the runway and take off for Atlanta. The last we heard from Eli he was laying on the couch in Gibbsonville watching the football game. As Eli and Katy left home to meet us in Richmond, Eli was stricken with severe pains in his side. He had been having these pains throughout the week and this morning they hit with a vengeance. Katy and Eli took a detour to the hospital where a diagnosis of one large kidney stone was made. Eli was given pain medication and sent home with instructions to drink a lot of fluids in order to try and pass the stone. He's been given a reprieve and will be home for at least another week as he learns the meaning of intense pain. Stay tuned for more of the story.
Seth arrived in Atlanta to find that he will be spending the night there. He was given a voucher for a hotel and meal and told to report back to the airport tomorrow at noon to see what transportation can be arranged. He's not too terribly upset as this means he can watch the NFL playoff games today.....of course, he could have just stayed home another day and watched them in the comfort of his own house.

I've been teaching a class at Church on Wednesday nights called "The Gospel According to Andy." It's kind of theology lite.....we watch an episode of the old Andy Griffith show and discuss the moral lessons in light of the Bible. It's more a fellowship time than anything else. Last week's lesson was on Jumping to Conclusions and the episode dealt with Wally's Filling Station being robbed and the wrong person being accused. When I was preparing for the lesson I came across something I had seen before and thought I would use it in class. Perhaps some of you have seen this before.
It's time to elect a new leader. You have three candidates to chose from. Candidate A has had two extramarital affairs, consults with astrologists before making decisions, smokes heavily and drinks 8 - 10 martinis each evening. Candidate B sleeps until noon each day, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey each day. Candidate C is a strict vegetarian, drinks only the occasional beer, never cheated on his wife and is a decorated war hero.
Now the kicker here is that Candidate A is Franklin Roosevelt, Candidate B is Winston Churchill and Candidate C is Adolf Hitler!
I recently saw an addition to this...a Candidate D. Candidate D abused alcohol during his college and young adult years, went AWOL from the service, had three failed business ventures and only prospered because of family connections. Of course we're talking about my friend and yours...little George! I still marvel at the gullibility of the American voters. I guess if you wrap yourself in the flag and claim loudly enough that you're a Christian, that's enough for some folks. Whenever I see a car with a Bush-Cheney bumper sticker on it I want to ask the driver if they're embarrassed yet.

It's been a busy eight days.....so busy I haven't had time to update my blog! It's been one continuous party with lots of places to go, people to see and things to do! We have until next weekend to enjoy having the boys on American soil. Seth and Brittany have been staying at their home in Staunton, while Josh, Eli and Katy have been with us. This past weekend we traveled to Smith Mountain Lake for a couple of days with just the family. Eli and Katy left the lake today to spend the next week at their home in North Carolina while Katy begins her PT program at Elon. Josh and Lillian are returning to Baltimore and Williamsburg leaving Jan and I with an empty house. Seth and Brittany will still be in Staunton and we'll see some of them this week as he fits us into his busy schedule. Next weekend reality hits once again as the boys return to Iraq. Seth said today he's ready to get back and get this finished. He noted that the visit just doesn't seem normal as he knows he's returning to Iraq. It's hard to pretend that everything is normal and fun with that hanging over their heads.
The slideshow to the right has some pictures from our visit. Enjoy!