Afghanistan????

Dec 25, 2008
Well it's official. I am in Afghanistan. I have to admit...I never thought that this time would come. First off I apologize for not writing anything until now. Things have been crazy around here. The last post I made was the day I flew out of Kyrgyzstan. The way the fog was coming back in I didn't think I was going to. We were the only one out of three flights that made it out. It was a 3 1/2 hr flight on a C-17. Pretty much everyone slept for the whole thing. It finally set in that I was going to Afghanistan when the pilot announced "prepare for landing". I don't know why but up until that moment it had not sunk in yet. I just kept blurting out at random times "holy crap...were going to Afghanistan". And now I'm here. A lot has happened since I got here. That was only ten days ago. I won't go through each day because that would just be too much. Little stories will pop up from blog to blog. Well I guess I could have started off by saying Merry Christmas. I didn't think it was going to be that depressing being away from home for Christmas. Oh but it was. All I could do was think of what I would be doing if I were home. I was able to go to the Christmas Eve service at the chapel here. It was both uplifting and a drag. It was nice listening to the choir sing songs and at the end having everyone sing silent night by candlelight. But at the same time...it isn't much fun doing that by yourself. I'm not going to lie. I have definitely taken my time with family and friends for granted. You think you have all the time in the world, but in all reality, it can be snatched away in a heartbeat. So for whoever is reading this be it family, friends, strangers, a mother, a father, a son or a daughter...whoever...cherish the time you have. I know I'm going to make more of it when I get back home. Enough of the serious sad stuff. My Christmas dinner was very nice. Turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, and apple pie for dessert. Not to shabby for being overseas. I even had a present to open this morning. A package I received from my good friends the Pettyjohns arrived yesterday so I saved it for this morning. Made it feel a little more like the real thing. Let's see what else is there. Oh. Today I saw something the I know my little bro in-law would have loved to see. Two Marine Harrier jets were flying around Kandahar. For anyone who doesn't know, those are the ones that can lift off of the ground like a helicopter and then take off like a jet. Pretty cool. He would have been in heaven if he could have seen that. I really need to start taking pictures. When you work on a flight line you get to see all kinds of cool stuff. Today was definitely one of those days. Another cool thing is having two Autralian guys working with us. That has to be my favortie accent. I don't know why but I just like it. Their's are so strong that I actually have problems understanding them sometimes. I was talking to one the other day and he was using all of the common slang that you hear in movies and stuff. He was saying things like "bloak" "out in the bush" and the best of all was when he called someone a "whanker" HAHA. It was great. Well I think i'm going to end this for now. My work schedule is getting better so I should be able to update this more often. The picture is of the C-17 flight. Until next time......