"Today, is the Day of Days"

Well, actually, tomorrow is the "Day of Days". (conjure up the image of the 101st on the eve of D-day in Band of Brothers and them reading the letter from General Eisenhower). Today, I have to pack up my computer and cell phone. Tomorrow, my unit flies for Kuwait for a few weeks of training prior to movement into Iraq. I've been in Georgia, in a hotel room awaiting tomorrow anxiously all week. We were done with everything we needed to do on Wednesday afternoon, and I've been sitting around since then. We aren't allowed to leave the 250 mile radius of post, but that doesn't affect me because I don't have a car. So what do you do when you are waiting to go to war and have no way out of your hotel room? You bum a ride from the other guy to the commissary for food and the PX for every little trinket you can think of i.e. waterproof case for hard drive and ipod, patches, name tapes. You also embark on a personal first. For me, I read an entire book in ONE DAY. Yes, a whole book. Not a comic book. Not a book with pictures. But an actual book, titled The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John C. Maxwell. It was a book given to me by a friend that is hard cover and takes up a bit of room in my pack so I sat down to read it. It took me all day (with a few breaks for food and to stretch out my body). For some of you, you may be thinking, "Too easy". But if you truly know me, you know I read as slow as a 3rd grader, but with a larger vocabulary. I completed my book and I am proud. Also, I recommend this book. It is definitely a good read and, despite the topic and the "duh" level of some of the info, it is all good and all the "yeah, that's obvious" turns to "ah, very true and very applicable".

Today. Today, I am making last chance phone calls to friends and family to say thanks for helping me get prepared for this little journey and for offering to take my wonderful wife out for various activities while I'm gone. I'm also writing this post because I don't know what the conditions are like in Kuwait and if I'll have any time to write again. It may be as much as 4 weeks before I can write again with any update as to my condition and experience. If I can write, I will, but don't expect much for a bit. I'll also email everyone when I get my postal address through the Army Post Office (APO). That'll be the address that you can send letters and what not.

Other than that, I am just anxious to get this show started so that it will end sooner. A little nervous, but otherwise still in denial as to what is about to happen. According to the C Co. commander, who I fall under, this is a normal feeling and it won't "get real" until I am at the airfield staging to get on the plane. He should know, this is his 3rd 1+year deployment in his 5 or 6 years of service.

I just want to thank everyone before I leave, for their overwhelming support. It makes this trip easier to know that there are people back home praying for my safe return and offering their time to take care of my family.

So my journey begins. I will write soon and post some photos for your enjoyment.

A New Journey

Today, the 22nd of October, I began a new journey. As some of you have followed me in the past when I started my life in the Army, I begin writing in this Blog again to let you know of a new experience in the Army; deployment to Iraq.

As some may already have noticed, it's been about 21 months since my last entry. I was surprised to find that my address was still accessible. In that last, almost 2 years, I have been married (June 10th, 2006), and promoted to Captain (December 2006). Since then the daily grind has been the norm.

In March of 2007, I was notified that the the unit that I am remotely assigned to for times of deployment and training, what the Army calls the Professional Filler System (PROFIS), was going to be taking me with them for their rotation to Iraq. I went with them to Ft Irwin, CA to the National Training Center (NTC) in April of 2007 in preparation for a July deployment; scratch that, an August deployment.... WAIT... no an October deployment for 15 months. As you can see, the Army has been toying with me and my family for the past 4 months. But here I am lying on the couch in my hotel room in Ft. Stewart, GA, getting the final training classes and equipment draw before getting on a plane at the end of the week for Kuwait.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous, but I have to tell you, I feel numb about the whole situation. Dee and I drove down together from KY yesterday, so we had our tearful good-bye this morning. I've been to conferences and other training so often in the last 6 months that I feel that I will be home in a month or so. Plus, 15 months is as long as I have been married. It is unfathomable what 15 months away from her and the rest of my family really amounts too.

A distraction, welcome and unwelcome in the same breath, is my father's battle with bladder cancer. He started chemotherapy last week and has been recovering from an attempted surgical procedure to remove the cancerous bladder, where they discovered the cancer had spread beyond the bladder itself.... thus the chemo. I can't even begin to imagine the stress that his health plus me leaving has put on both my mother and father. Because I'm trying to make sure that he is doing well, I have been able to bisect my energy to both situations, making my personal experience less stressful. Please keep my Dad in your prayers.

So, now I sit here, thinking of my wife, my parents, my family and my friends. I hope you all continue to follow me along this new journey in my life; posting replies and sending emails and the like. My promise to you is to try to keep you posted, as best to my ability (barring blackouts, and lack of access to Internet). I'll even try to post photos and videos as I am able and so long as the bandwidth allows me to.

Keep in touch we me here at the the blog or my email, which you'll get from my update announcement. And support cancer research either through your local organizations or the Lance Armstrong Foundation (the Live Strong yellow bracelets).