Tent Living [Part 1]

Hey everyone, Matt here this time. It's been months and months since I've written my own post on this blog, and I think it's time that I finally catch you all up on what's been going on over here for the past 8 months. I'll try to break the posts up into interesting categories over the next few weeks. I have quite a few photos to share, most of which are of Blackhawks, and I look forward to sharing them with you.

For this first post I'm going to show you what my living spaces have been during this deployment. Things have gone from not-so-great to it's-so-bad-it's-funny, but they've finally settled at a point where I can honestly say that I have more than I ever could have expected.

This first photo is from my original bed after arriving to Afghanistan. I only occupied this from mid-July until mid-August when we moved away from where the rest of the brigade was located and out to our remote site to set up medevac operations. As you can see, I had a top bunk. I didn't mind living here and the month went by very quickly. The worst part was that there was not much space due to packed tents (they're still packed, a lot of people have lived like this the entire deployment).

After leaving MES for our remote site in Meymaneh, I found myself in a huge tent known as a DRASH tent. Here's what the outside of it looks like:

These are actually very high quality tents that came from the Air Force. When we arrived to Meymaneh there were three of them set up, two of which were designated for our use. At this point we thought we had it made as we had a lot more space, but instead of beds we were downgraded to cots. Here's what my space looked like (most people had two cots -- one to keep their stuff off the ground, and one to sleep on).

The DRASH tents were nice but they weren't a long-term solution. The generators that came with them and corresponding HVAC units were excellent machines, but we had no one to service them or fix them when they broke. The result was a few weeks without air conditioning, but at least the nights were fairly cool.

Some time in October we moved into tents that were built for us by local Afghans. The contract was part of an "Afghan First" initiative which, from what I understand, is a program designed to pour money into the local economy by awarding contracts to local contractors using locally made products and materials. The idea is probably a good one, but these tents were a several hundred thousand dollar disaster. Nevertheless, they would become our home for the next four months.

Check back in a few days for more details on the places I've lived so far...

Dog Video - Joella's New Obsession

Really, she wants to watch it over and over... The obsession started when we let her watch videos of puppies and my mom found this one. She's mad at me as I type because I stopped the video to post this. Guess I gotta go!

Watched this twice, HAD to post it

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Married to the Military

Well, I married this guy 4 years ago :) Below is a picture from the day we got engaged. I had NO idea what I was getting into, but am sure glad I decided to accept the proposal!


Here's part of Matt's e-mail to me today. It pretty much wraps up our life in the last 4 years.
~~~
Hey babe --

Happy anniversary! Four years! In some ways it seems like yesterday, in others it feels like it was decades ago. I guess time is weird like that. We have done a lot of things in the past four years...it's pretty incredible when you look back on all of them. 4 years ago you were working at Deere and I was getting ready for LDAC (Leadership Development and Assessment Course) that summer. You moved us while I was at LDAC and I came home to our awesome little apartment in Huxley. I finished up my last semester of school, branched MS (Medical Service Corps), and became a gold bar recruiter. I also had my flight physical denied, then later approved so I could put in my flight packet. I went off to BOLC (Basic Officer Leaders Course) just before our 1 year anniversary and spent the spring/summer traveling while you stayed back.

We met up again to go to Rucker. We got Chaz, and then I went to SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), and you went to Iowa. Then we built a book shelf and for Christmas we went to Iowa together and bought Kaeda. We came back south and went to the bowl game that year with both families and both dogs. Then you got pregnant. We spent our second anniversary with no champagne and I was just starting to fly. Later that year I finished BWS (Basic Warfighting Skills) and started on SERE detail. While on SERE detail Joella came along. A few weeks later I started flying blackhawks, and then we went home for Christmas with a little thing and two dogs.

Not too much later we had our third anniversary, I was graduating flight school and we were moving to Ft. Hood. We lived in a hotel for a while. Then we found a home and barely got it. I worked long days and then we went back to Iowa for leave. A week or so later I cried when I said good bye to you and Joella as I deployed to Afghanistan. You sent me a lot of boxes, managed ticket sales, and I flew every once in a while. We thought I was coming back in October for leave but instead I got a new platoon leader. Then I came home on leave in January as you were starting up your business(es). Then we went to colorado together with my family. After that we were in CF and hung out with friends, went snow shoeing, and cross country skiing. Then we said good bye again and again I cried. Now I'm back here and you're back there and we're celebrating our 4th anniversary apart, the second time...
~~~

Wow, I read the book Married to the Military a few years ago, but I sure hadn't put it in this perspective before. I wouldn't change it though - we signed up for this life and are doing the best to live it fully. Love this guy, and love the relationship that we have :) Separation and deployment have just made it stronger so far!

PET PAL Rough Start - Did Kaeda Make the Cut?

Well, either way, we know who's going to be a future Pet Pals volunteer!!!

Last time I left off talking about how right off the bat Kaeda "barked her bark that catapults her entire body about 3 feet horizontally." Well, immediately following, she ran toward the door and slipped out of her new color (royal blue to match the program colors). First time wearing it, so it wasn't sized right. Well, the silly dog didn't realize she couldn't run out the window, and you guessed it -SMACK! She shook her head and sneezed it off. I thought CERTAINLY this is going to be bad news bears...

I calmly went over and got things under control. Just then the nice lady with the Pet Pals shirt (Diane) came down the stairs to get me. WHEW, that wasn't just a test! I thought for sure it was part of the test and we were done for...

Kaeda went up the elevator and spent about half an hour getting petted, giving hugs, playing, getting treats, getting crowded, experiencing new things, wheelchairs, loud noises, etc. Kaeda sure knows how to put on the charm. They LOVED her. This dog thinks everything in the world exists to please her. She has some major cat-like characteristics and almost bats at things like tape measures, hoses, etc. Well, the playful and wiggly personality shined brightly and the eval team was glad to welcome her to the Pet Pals team.

Wahoo!

About 30 seconds after getting out the door Kaeda barked at a kid across the driveway (I'm not hiding anything --I was sure to let them know she'll do much better with adults than kids she doesn't know...). Go figure though!

And some pics to show off her colors (actually I'M the one who is supposed to wear the shirt, but you get the idea).

Update: went to our first visit at the Cedar Valley Hospice Home tonight. Kaeda was a bit obnoxious as expected. Hopefully she settles down a bit over time. We have some practicing to do, that's for sure but not so bad for her first time... hopefully the people we visited enjoyed her. They seemed to!

p.s. I'm not sure on the minimum age for volunteers but you better bet that as soon as Joella's up for it, she's headed out for the visits too!

Thank YOU, READERS!!!

Those of you who know me best know that I get extremely motivated about something right away and my big dreams are great, but do they always happen? I get on board with an idea or purpose easily, but is it all just talk?

Don Miller posted an idea recently that stuck with me. "...when we talk about our work, we give ourselves the feeling that we are working on something when truthfully, we aren’t." So true!

I hope that blogging doesn't turn into me typing about a good cause instead of actually doing something about it. Instead, maybe it will motivate me to execute the idea since I know readers might be wondering about it.

I posted a few weeks ago that I "would love to make visiting different places with therapy dogs a part of my normal week... Maybe blogging about it will hold me to it. Feel free to ask how it's coming... :)"

THANK YOU, READERS!

Because a few of you followed up with me, I DID something about it - I'm pursuing Pet Pals locally. They are a non-profit org. that visits several locations in the area. Even people without pets can get involved by taking animals from the Cedar Bend Humane Society. The dogs don't have to be quite as well behaved as the Delta Society, so I figured it might be a good place to start. I did the paperwork, made the vet appointment, went to the training, "read" the manual, got together our visiting backpack full of all the necessary goods, and went to Kaeda's temperament test this morning.



Kadea can be a little bit obnoxious, so I wasn't too hopeful for how she'd do. Things got off to a rough start when Kaeda got caught off guard by a man in a wheelchair. He came out of nowhere and she barked her bark that catapults her entire body about 3 feet horizontally. Great, I thought.... we might as well just go home. Check back later this week to hear more about it...

Have you Heard of It?

I'm trying to get an idea here of our audience... If you read this, please help me out here. It will be anonymous (as far as I know -- I'm not that techy).

• If you have heard of Norwex before (before hearing about it from me) and know anything about how great the products are, please click the "funny" box down at the bottom of the post.

• If you have only heard about Norwex because I have been blabbing away about it lately, please click the "interesting" box at the bottom of the post.

• If you have never heard about Norwex other than this post, please click the "cute!" box. And check out the website while you're at it -- cool stuff!

That's all! Easy as that. Thanks so much for your help :)

Also, a disclaimer for you all (err. "ya'll" I should practice for TX, right?) I haven't really explained all this, but we're working on getting a separate website going so I don't have to annoy friends and family over and over about how much I love Norwex :) I might do it anyway, but this should help!