Thursday, October 29, 2009

Suspended

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Journal 19-25 Oct

19 Oct 09

Bible Reading: I Kings 22b – II Kings 2

TAPA 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrenders his British army at Yorktown, Virginia, effectively ending the Revolutionary War. “Out of this rabble has risen a people who defy kings.”

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: BBQ Ribs, cole slaw, fruit salad, V-8, diet coke

Supper: Taco salad, V-8, cranberry juice

20 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Kings 3-4

TAPA 1803, The U.S. Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Chili over rice, bean salad, jello, V-8, diet coke

Supper: Vegetable salad, Pulled pork sandwich, grapes, V-8, diet pepsi

21 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Kings 5-7

TAPA 1797, The Navy frigate USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides,” is launched in Boston.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Tuna wrap, bean salad, fruit salad, V-8, diet pepsi

Supper: BBQ rib salad, Mac/Cheese, grapes, Cranberry juice, pineapple juice

22 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Kings 8-9

TAPA 1836, Sam Houston is inaugurated as president of the Republic of Texas.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Spaghetti/meat balls, corn, garlic bread, cherry pie, OJ, diet pepsi

Supper: Salmon, rice, steamed veggies, grapes, AJ, CJ

23 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Kings 10-12

TAPA 1864, Union forces prevail in the Battle of Westport, near Kansas City, Missouri, one of the largest Civil War engagements west of the Mississippi. I have had many meals at that site, now crowded with shops, restaurants and bars.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Sausage/egg bagel, waffle, melon

Lunch: Tuna wrap, chili beans, apple, banana, plum

Supper: Crab cakes, 4 oz. steak, green beans, potato/carrot salad, apple

24 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Kings 13-15

TAPA 1781, In Philadelphia, Congress hears a report of the American victory at Yorktown and processes to a nearby church to give thanks. (Guess there wasn’t separation of church and state, yet, huh?)

1861, The first transcontinental telegraph message is sent from San Francisco to President Lincoln in Washington, D.C.

Breakfast: Oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Rotisserie chicken, green beans, corn, sweet potatoes, grapes, diet pepsi

Supper: Chicken enchilada, Refried beans, mexirice, fruit salad, cranberry juice, apple juice

25 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Kings 16-18A

TAPA 1812, Captain Stephen Decatur becomes a national hero when his ship, the USS United States, defeats the British frigate Macedonian of the Moroccan coast.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: 3 egg omelet w peppers, jalapenos, cheddar, biscuit w gravy, grapefruit juice, coffee

Lunch: Chicken wrap, bean salad, diet coke

Supper: Jambalaya over rice, grapes, Snapple

Chapel service: Prayer hour with Brent Sanders. One of the soldiers started snoring loudly about 14 minutes into the very monotonatic prayer.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Journal 12-18 October 2009

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12 Oct 09
Bible Reading: I Kings 4-7
TAPA 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and landed at San Salvador, Bahamas.
2000, In Yemen, al-Qaeda suicide bombers in a small boat ram into the destroyer USS Cole, killing 17 sailors. I visited survivors at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Virginia later that Fall while on a Joint Doctrine Working Group meeting for USSTRATCOM. There were lots of cards, letters and stuffed animals and flowers in every room.
Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching
Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee
Lunch: Tuna salad wrap, fruit salad, V-8, diet coke
Supper: Taco salad, strawberries, V-8, diet pepsi

13 Oct 09
Bible Reading: I Kings 8-10
TAPA 1775, The Continental Congress authorizes an American naval force. Happy Birthday, Navy!
1903, the Boston Americans beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 to win the first World Series prevailing 5 games to 3, best of seven, but must win by two??
Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching
Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee
Lunch: Turkey bacon wrap, fruit salad, V-8, diet pepsi
Supper: NY Strip (6 oz), Fried Scallops, broccoli, grapes, Navy Birthday Cake! Iced Tea
Helped Amanda Pete with Threat Finance Brief today.

14 Oct 09
Bible Reading: I Kings 11-12; Pay heed to the lesson of Rehoboam who forsook the counsel of the wise elders for that of young whippersnappers.
TAPA 1644, William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, is born in London.
1947, Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. He liked Beamon’s chewing gum. At least that’s what I remember from “The Right Stuff.”
Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching
Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee
Lunch: Chicken wrap, Shrimp salad, V-8, diet pepsi
Supper: Fried chicken, peas/mushrooms, sweet potatoes, ice cream w strawberries, V-8, diet coke, chicken machado, squid Filipino, rice
Maj Andy Knight lost his 9mm pistol today.

15 Oct 09
Bible Reading: I Kings 13-14
TAPA 1860, Grace Bedell of Westfield, NY writes Abraham Lincoln, urging him to grow a beard. He did. And, on his way to the White House the next year, he stopped in Westfield, gave Grace a kiss, and thanked her for her advice.
Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching
Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee
Lunch: Turkey, dressing, corn, peas, V-8, diet coke
Got a couple nice letters from mom and a really nice one from Lora!
Supper: Chicken Parmesan, mixed veggies, garlic toast, V-8, diet coke, pecan pie!
SSG James and I had a meeting of the minds tonight. We butted heads, but I prevailed upon him the importance of the work I wanted him to do.

16 Oct 09
Bible Reading: I Kings 15-17
TAPA 1758, Lexicographer Noah Webster is born in West Hartford, CT. Oh, if you don’t know what ‘lexicographer’ means, look it up.
Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching
Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee
Lunch: I don’t remember
Supper: Steak, scallops, green beans, salad, triple strawberry ice cream, V-8, Cranberry juice

17 Oct 09
Bible Reading: I Kings 18-20
TAPA 1916, The USS Arizona is commissioned at the New York Naval Shipyard.
Breakfast: oatmeal w peaches & honey, coffee
Lunch: chicken machado and afghan flatbread, chicken enchilada, salad, V-8, diet coke
Met with CZ minister of finance/foreign affairs representative today. Discussed projects and corruption.
Supper: Pasta night! Grapes. V-8, cranberry juice
Texas beats OU in the ugliest game I’ve ever not actually watched – I got the play-by-play from Lora, Gary and Jesse via Skype/web cam hook up.

18 Oct 09
Bible Reading: I Kings 21-22a; Note in I Kings 21:27 how God saw Ahab humble himself and repent, even after all the evil Ahab and his wife Jezebel had done, and God relented from punishing Ahab at that time. Gives us all hope that all we need to do is humbly ask forgiveness, no matter what we have done, and God will hear us.
TAPA 1767, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon complete their survey of the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, the Mason-Dixon line.
1867, the United States takes possession of Alaska from Russia.
Chapel Service: 1Lt Paul Walker gave his first sermon today. Quite a heart-felt message based in I John 1.
Breakfast: three egg omelet (jalapenos, cheese, bell pepper), biscuit w gravy, honeydew melon, coffee, juice
Lunch: Chicken saute, tuna casserole, carrots, broccoli, jello, V-8, Snapple
Supper: TBD

Remembering Afghanistan’s Golden Age

NYT 18 Oct 09

WASHINGTON — From presidential confidants in the White House Situation Room to anchors on cable television to ruminators at the city’s think tanks, the view has settled in: Afghanistan is an ungovernable collection of tribes that has confounded every conqueror since Alexander the Great. Like a lot of received wisdom, it may well be correct.

But as President Obama debates whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan, and whether, more pointedly, he might be sending them down a black hole of civic hopelessness, American and Afghan scholars and diplomats say it is worth recalling four decades in the country’s recent history, from the 1930s to the 1970s, when there was a semblance of a national government and Kabul was known as “the Paris of Central Asia.”

Afghans and Americans alike describe the country in those days as a poor nation, but one that built national roads, stood up an army and defended its borders. As a monarchy and then a constitutional monarchy, there was relative stability and by the 1960s a brief era of modernity and democratic reform. Afghan women not only attended Kabul University, they did so in miniskirts. Visitors — tourists, hippies, Indians, Pakistanis, adventurers — were stunned by the beauty of the city’s gardens and the snow-capped mountains that surround the capital.
“I lived in Afghanistan when it was very governable, from 1964 to 1974,” said Thomas E. Gouttierre, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, who met recently in Kabul with Gen.Stanley A. McChrystal, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan. Mr. Gouttierre, who spent his decade in the country as a Peace Corps volunteer, a Fulbright scholar and the national basketball team’s coach, said, “I’ve always thought it was one of the most beautiful places in the world.”

Afghans today say that the view of their country as an ungovernable “graveyard of empires” is condescending and uninformed. “Unfortunately, we have a lot of overnight experts on Afghanistan right now,” said Said Tayeb Jawad, the Afghan ambassador to Washington. “You turn to any TV channel and they are experts on Afghan ethnicities, tribal issues and history without having been to Afghanistan or read one or two books.”

“Afghanistan,” Mr. Jawad asserted, “is less tribal than New York.”

Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-American and the former American ambassador to Afghanistan who grew up in Kabul and the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, said that calling a country ungovernable was a standard reaction when Americans do not want to engage in a conflict, like Iraq or the Balkans. The response, he said, is articulated as, “We were wrong to have the objectives that we had because this place is unhelpable, they’ve been at war for a thousand years, who the hell do we think we are that we can solve this problem?”

Mr. Khalilzad would be the first to acknowledge that Afghanistan was always fractious politically, and that there were assassinations and coups even during the era of relative peace. But the current downward spiral did not begin until 1978, when the prime minister, Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan, was killed in a Communist coup, setting off three decades of conflict.

In 1979, the Soviets invaded, occupied Afghanistan for the next decade and were finally driven out by American-backed mujahedeen fighters, some of whom went on to form theTaliban, an Islamic student militia, which took control in Kabul in 1996. The Taliban in turn were toppled by the Americans in 2001, but fighting continued.

And by the end of the 1970s, many of the educated elite had fled and resettled across Europe, Asia and the United States. Gone with them was the promise of those earlier decades, when Kabul solicited foreign aid from both Washington and Moscow that brought in electricity, dams and irrigation, and when a young Parliament was trying out a fledgling democracy.

“There was definitely what was developing to be a newer tradition of a more open society and trained people” in those earlier years, said Paula Newberg, director of Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, who was an adviser to President Hamid Karzai’s government in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2004.

J. Alexander Thier, an expert on Afghanistan at the United States Institute of Peace who lived in the country during the takeover by the Taliban in the 1990s, said that some Afghans returned to the country after 2002, but that many still lived abroad. He said he was not “incredibly optimistic” about Afghanistan after eight years of the current war, but that he supported robust reconstruction aid and American help to bolster regional governments throughout the country. “I lived in Afghanistan in the absolute darkest days, when if Afghanistan was ever going to break apart into separate states, it would have happened,” he said. Now, he said, “the alternatives are so much more bleak and dangerous for us that we do need to keep trying.”

Frederick W. Kagan, a military expert at the American Enterprise Institute, made a related point: “Our enemies,” he said, “believe that Afghanistan is governable in its current state, because that’s what they’re trying to do.”

For now, administration officials say that much of the debate in the Situation Room is centered on whether the United States should focus less on the weak central Afghan government or put more money and effort into the provinces, where warlords have traditionally ruled. “We shouldn’t worry so much about Karzai, we should worry about empowering the governors and getting better district chiefs and police chiefs,” said a senior State Department official.

“I think Afghanistan is governable,” the official said, “but the question is at what level?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For argument’s sake, let’s suppose NYC is actually more “tribal” than Afghanistan and that by extrapolation, the US is more tribal than NYC, as the honorable AFG AMB says. If I remember my math, if A is greater than B and B is greater than C, then A is greater than C by association, correct? So, if you accept that the US is more tribal than NYC and NYC is more tribal than AFG, then, US must be more tribal than AFG, correct?

So, why can’t the AFG government rule effectively outside Kabul if the US, being more tribal than AFG, and much larger geographically, can do so? AFG has been around for thousands of years. US – a couple hundred and some change.


I have some questions for the honorable Ambassador from AFG to the US:

What are your proposed solutions for the governance of your country?
What are your proposed solutions for the education of your people?
What are your proposed solutions to deal with the enemies of your country?
What are your proposed solutions to improve the infrastructure of your country?
What are your proposed solutions to deal with corruption at all levels within your country?
What are your proposed solutions to create a sense of nationalism within your country?

I quite agree with the senior State Department official quoted at the end of the Times’ article. I will add a caveat to his last question, though: AFG is governable, but at what level and what form will that government take?

Monday, October 12, 2009

Journal 05-11 Oct

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05 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Samuel 14-15

TAPA 1703, Theologian Jonathan Edwards is born in East Windsor, Connecticut

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Pastrami wrap, pineapple chunks, V-8, diet coke

Supper: Taco salad, buffalo wings, V-8, diet pepsi

06 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Samuel 16-18

TAPA 1866, In Indiana, brothers John and Simeon Reno stage the first robbery of a moving train in the United States.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Turkey wrap, fruit salad, V-8, Diet Coke

Supper: Chicken wings, chili beans, broccoli salad, V-8, diet pepsi

Box from Lora!: LS Shirts, wintersilks, Kabul Beauty School book

Box from Drugstore.com: liquid soap, deodorant, vitamins, alka-seltzer cold, papaya enzyme (protein digestion), waterpik flosser!

Was asked (told) I was going to Bagram Saturday with the S2 (Major Violand) at his request to attend an Intelligence sharing conference with him.

When asked whether I had any restrictions along those lines, I whimpered, “I promised my wife that I would not leave the FOB any more than I absolutely had to…” I am going.

07 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Samuel 19-21

TAPA 2001, U.S. troops launch Operation Enduring Freedom, the campaign to destroy terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w peach yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Chicken enchilada, chicken quesadilla, fruit salad, pecan pie, V-8, diet coke

Supper: Beef stew over noodles, steamed cauliflower, collard greens, V-8, diet pepsi

08 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Samuel 22-23

TAPA 1918, Alvin York almost singlehandedly kills two dozen German soldiers and captures 132 prisoners in France’s Argonne Forest.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Buffalo wings, cheese enchilada, carrots, fruit salad, V-8, diet pepsi

Supper: Jambalaya, corn, pecan pie, cranberry juice, pineapple juice

09 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Samuel 24 – I Kings 1a

TAPA 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, in Boston, and Thomas Watson, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, hold the first telephone conversation over outdoor wires.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Cheeseburger w sautéed mushrooms and onions, chili beans, fruit salad, pecan pie, V-8, diet coke

Two bouts of diarrhea, trip to medic for Immodium and Pepto Bismol. Hope I am not still sick in the morning when I take a helo ride!

Supper: Crab cakes, green beans, rice, grapes, V-8, diet pepsi

10 Oct 09

What a wonderful way to start the day: No diarrhea!

Bible Reading: I Kings 1b - 3

TAPA 1845, The U.S. Naval Academy opens in Annapolis, Maryland, with 56 students.

Breakfast: Oatmeal, coffee

Just after breakfast, I boarded an up-armored HumVee with full “battle-rattle” (Kevlar helmet and Individual body armor – all 53 pounds of it.) The four of us, Major David Violand, Sgt Kimberly Zelton, Specialist Howell and I drove across the street to the helicopter boarding area. We waited a few minutes, weighed our baggage and ourselves, and then boarded the helo. All 14 of us got situated, there were others, and were told we were to take a 30 second flight to the refueling station, disembark, refuel, then head to Bagram. That we did. Once in the air, we were told we were all on the wrong bird. So, we turned around and exchanged passengers and baggage with another helo, same model, Sikorsky S-61, Russian. Then, we got as far as FOB Airborne, where we had to land, refuel that bird then onto Bagram. There were several firsts for me during that two hour period:

First time I ever flew backward

First time I ever flew sideways

First time I ever flew on two helicopters in the same day

First time I ever refueled two helicopters in the same day

First time I ever was in Wardak province (FOB Airborne)

I made sure Major Violand knew about all these “firsts.”

While attending the National Intelligence sharing conference in the Jirga Center at Bagram Air Base, an Afghani Police chief was telling a joke. All the Afghanis (and the interpreter) laughed. Then, when the interpreter finished the retelling in English, all we English-speakers laughed – at which point I leaned over to Major Violand and uttered, “That’s the first time I ever laughed at an Afghani joke.” The rest of the conference was not so funny.

I spent the evening with the Task Force Paladin, ORSA director and some 82nd Airborne Division Analysts talking shop. Then, again the next morning. Got some Burger King, Dairy Queen and Popeye’s while there. Even though there are thousands of people at Bagram, they are mostly transient, therefore, without a real mission. The place has no heart, no soul. I felt very alone there and could not wait to get back to Shank (words I never thought I would utter.)

Lunch: Beef/chicken fajita meat, cheese enchilada, salad, mexicorn, mexirice, soda

Supper: Whopper, Chicken Sandwich, Strawberry Shake (Burger King and ‘Diary’ Queen – the locals mispelled Dairy)

11 Oct 09

Bible Reading: I Kings 4-7

TAPA 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev open two days of arms-control talks in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Breakfast: two eggs over hard (that’s the only way they make them at Bagram) biscuit, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, bread/raisin pudding, coffee, GJ Juice

Lunch: Popeye’s 3 piece meal: spicy!

Flight back to Shank was quite welcome. Took only one helo, and no refueling stops, to get there, this time!

Supper: Spaghetti w meat sauce, Italian sausage, corn, fruit salad, V-8, diet coke

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Journal 28Sep - 04Oct

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28 Sep 09

Bible Reading: I Samuel 23-25

TAPA: 1781, American and French troops begin a siege of the British at Yorktown, Virginia. (I have walked through that battlefield…)

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Tuna salad wrap, broccoli salad, fruit salad, V-8, diet coke

Supper: Taco salad, Grapes, V-8

29 Sep 09

Bible Reading: I Samuel 26-28

TAPA: 1780, Patriots under General Francis Marion (aka, “Swamp Fox”) surprise loyalist forces on Black Mingo Creek, South Carolina.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Turkey wrap, fruit salad, V-8

Supper: Italian sausage, meatballs, corn, broccoli, grapes, V-8

30 Sep 09

Bible Reading: I Samuel 29-31

TAPA: 1949, The fifteen-month-long Berlin Airlift comes to an end. During that time, American and British planes made more than 277,000 flights delivering some 23 million tons of food, coal, medicine and other supplies after Stalin had closed all roads and train tracks leading into the free Western part of the city.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Tuna salad wrap, broccoli salad, fruit salad, V-8, Snapple

Supper: Chicken enchiladas (2 small), chili beans w cheddar & onions, cole slaw, V-8, Gatorade

SSG James said that I mentally stimulate him, that I make him think. I thanked him, but not after the joking quip: “You know, that’s actually kinda disturbing…” To which he said, “Why you always gotta be like that?” (He’s a large man of color from Tennessee and a hip-hop way of talking.)

01 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Samuel 1-4

TAPA: 1811, The first steamboat to travel down the Mississippi River, the New Orleans, reaches its namesake city after a month-long trip from Pittsburgh. (The New Orleans just happened to be built by Nicholas Roosevelt, Theodore’s great uncle.)

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Salmon, broccoli, peas/mushrooms, V-8, diet coke

Supper: chicken enchilada, corn dog, pulled pork, V-8, Snapple

02 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Samuel 5-8

TAPA: 1780, In Tappan, New York, British major John Andre is hanged as a spy after he is captured carrying papers for traitor Benedict Arnold.

1835, The Texas Revolution against Mexico begins as American settlers resist Mexican troops at Gonzales.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Lunch: Tuna salad wrap, Fruit salad, V-8, diet coke

Supper: Steak & shrimp, corn on cob, green beans, V-8, Snapple

I received word from Rich Callas of the Newport Booz Allen Hamilton office that Mark Perry, an office colleague, died of a suspected heart attack while on business travel in Hawaii. He was in his hotel room and discovered after his wife, Cindy, was unable to reach him and had another colleague on the same trip go to his hotel and make inquiries. Mark was a good guy. Very helpful. Very intelligent. He knew a lot about American History and was an avid Civil War buff, as is his wife. He leaves behind 3 children, including a son who flew home from Iraq for the funeral. Mark Perry, dead at 51.

I used this occasion to remind Jordan and Jaclyn how fragile and short life is; that every day is a gift. We should end each day on good terms with everyone within our sphere.

03 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Samuel 9-11

TAPA: 1904, Mary Mcleod Bethune opens the Daytona Literacy and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls.

Workout: 60 mins on elliptical (5 miles); sit ups, stretching

Breakfast: Protein Shake, oatmeal w mixed berry yogurt, coffee

Massage: $30 (with $10 tip)

Lunch: Chicken wrap, fruit salad, V-8, Diet Pepsi

Supper: Roast chicken breast, peas, steamed mixed veggies, grapes, V-8, gatorade

04 Oct 09

Bible Reading: II Samuel 12-13

TAPA: 1927, Carving begins on Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Chapel Service: Philippians 3:1-16; v. 13 sums it up for me: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” I have the choice, just as Paul did, to put aside old/bad habits and take hold of new/good ones. It really is a choice. Sometimes, oftentimes, not an easy one.

Breakfast: three egg omelet (jalapenos, cheese, bell pepper), biscuit w gravy, French toast sticks, coffee

Lunch: Tuna salad wrap, fruit salad, V-8, Diet Pepsi

Supper: Pulled chicken sandwich, 3 deviled egg halves, chicken salad, onion rings, V-8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

At the request (urging) of someone very near and dear to my heart (Lora), I will aim to write more about what goes on during my day, to include, especially, humorous anecdotes, which almost always occur, daily, around here.

This week at a glance (since I won’t necessarily be able to remember/capture details of events had I written sooner afterward than now):

The incoming Brigade leadership visited this week. I met with the S2 OIC (Intelligence Officer in Charge) for 173rd Airborne. He likes what I have already been sending them as far as analysis products and wants me to review the Brigade campaign plan for their deployment from an operations analysis perspective, to wit, ensure the metrics they have set are, indeed measurable and have a timeline associated with them. No matter to them that I am a submariner looking at an Airborne Brigade campaign plan.

This week, one of the female staff sergeants was going back to her dorm-tent with her pink 2 foot diameter exercise ball under one arm and a bottle of water in the other. When she rounded the corner, a LTCOL (Lieutenant Colonel) was just coming the other way. (Note: Army must salute officers no matter what either is wearing. I have not asked about birthday suits, though.) Needless to say, she did not really have time to drop everything and render a salute. Instead of just saying Hoo-Rah! Carry on, Soldier, seeing she was obviously encumbered, the LTCOL says Just forget it, you probably don’t want to “effing” salute me anyway and even when she did put her gear on the ground, come to attention and salute, her merely took her name and reported her to the First Sergeant. Meanwhile, soldiers are dying every week around here from IEDs, corrupt Afghan National Police, separated from families (this female soldier has 2 or 3 kids and is a single mom) and this LTCOL has the gall to make a big deal out of whether he got saluted by a soldier with stuff in both hands?!? Talk about insecurity…

On a lighter note, I am rewriting the lyrics to “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to tell the story of certain aspects of life and operations around here. More to follow.

Friday night, I shared the evening meal with Joe the Seal and Jack the COIC (analyst). Joe was telling the story about a time when he was in college and he and his buddies were at the convenience store stocking up on football watching ingestables. All the guys grabbed their 6, 12, 24 packs, except for Joe, who arrived at the cashier with a tub of ice cream and that chocolate sauce that hardens on the ice cream, you know? The fellows all looked at him and quipped, “Hey Joe, are you turning into a girl? Is there something you need to get off your chest?” To which I added, “Yeah, your hair. What? Were you having your man-period or something? Feeling a little confused? Was it one of those times when you weren’t sure who looked better: SGT Fuller (a balding, Charlie Chaplin look alike, sans moustache) or SGT Zelton (a gazelle of a woman who was most recently labeled “Hottest chick on the FOB”)?” Jack spewed whatever was in his craw at the time: it was Friday night, so it could have been surf or turf. Joe, tried to look hurt and shocked, also busted a gut drawing the attention of other tables in our orbit.

There were other, much funnier events, I am just not recalling them, presently.

A typical day has me up around 4:30-5 when I talk with Lora for 30-60 minutes on Skype (oh thank Heaven for VoIP!) By 6, I am in the Brigade Intelligence Support Element Fusion Center where I spend 30-60 minutes preparing for the day, catching up on overnight emails/taskers and then head to the gym. 60 Minutes on the elliptical (usually around 5 miles) and sit-ups/stretching to cool down before the highlight of my day: O A T M E A L W I T H F R U I T Y O G H U R T ! ! ! That’s how they spell yogurt over here. Rich Gonzalez makes fun of my six-days-a-week breakfast selection, to which I usually respond with something like, “We old guys like our food as liquidinous as possible – as little chewing necessary. Taste? Schmaste! At this point, I am merely eating to live.” (all said with my best Yiddish accent.) Then he usually spews his ShMuffin back onto his plate. (McDonalds = McMuffin; Shank = ShMuffin.) Breakfast is out of the way in under 60 seconds, most mornings. Back to the BISE Fusion Center for some Tassimachine made coffee. Oh yeah, another highlight of my day. And in the afternoons, I make Lattes! Work til 1130, then lunch! (Since you already know my menu, I will not repeat here, except for the aforementioned oatmeal.) Back to the BISE for another 4 hours and the latte, then dinner! Actually, lately, I leave around 4:30PM for the MWR Call Center, from whence I call Lora on the much better connected SPAWAR run computers. The Gonzalez boys grab me around 5:30 for the evening meal. We chat about the day, what’s going on at home, why Rich makes gay Freudian slips all the time. Back to the BISE for a couple hours, prepare for the 8PM meeting, have the 8PM meeting, then head back to B-Hut #27 for some quiet time, at least until Jerry the foghorn tunes up his apno-snoring box, which I actually feel more than hear. Jerry is an older, DOD civilian with the USAID project. Oh, he’s not the oldest guy out here: there is evidently an Army Captain (O3) who first joined in N I N E T E E N S I X T Y S E V E N ! ! ! He fought in Viet Nam and rejoined to come over here. Perhaps he just wanted to get away from his wife. Anyway, that’s a typical day for me. I will keep you apprised of any changes…