If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say

I haven't really had a whole lot to say lately...mostly on purpose.  I'm trying to stick with the old saying, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."  I can be silent no longer.

How do I answer when someone back home asks "how's it going?"  Here's the conversation that rolls through my head when I'm asked that question:
"Hey, Aaron, how's it going?"
"Ah, not too bad.  I looked inside a blown up truck today.  Saw the blood splatter and bone chips still stuck to the walls.  Other than that, ya know, going great.  How's it going for you?"

Of course that's not what I say or what I write back in the email.  No one really wants to know the real answers to some of the standard questions thrown out there.  Trust me, you do not want to hear about it.  (Note: if you've asked me this question please don't think this is directed at you...it's not)

I am growing more and more disgusted with this horrible place as the days go by.  It saddens me that I feel this way.  Shouldn't I still believe in why we're here?  Let me answer that one for you....I don't!  These people don't want us here.  They will never be what we want them to be.  How much longer will we have a presence here?  How many more Marines, soldiers, sailors, or airmen are going to be hurt or killed before we're out of this mess?  Too long and too many, I'm afraid.  I wish I at least knew the name's of the guys in that truck.

I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanted to read about.  I needed to vent.

Heidi

It never ceases to amaze me how lucky I am to be married to the woman that I am.  I have three little ones that amplify that for me.  Every time I read about or hear a story about the heart my children have I think about how they got it from their mother.

I was not able to spend Heidi's very first Mother's Day with her and baby K-K.  I was busy invading Iraq.  Now, here I sit again, unable to spend her special day with her, in Afghanistan this time.  Most wives wouldn't put up with husbands like me.

My babies' mama.  The bearer of my children.  There's not another person out there that I'd rather be with.  She is an awesome friend, wife, and mother.  I don't tell her that often enough.

Mrs. Conger Was Not Too Happy

Mrs. Conger was not too happy to hear that I'd recently been traveling the Afghan countryside.  She knew that I was going to be off Dwyer but she did not know of my final destination, or how I was getting there.  When she asked how I was getting there I was completely honest with what I did tell her.  I told her that I would be flying to the Marjeh area.  What I purposefully left out was the convoy to the patrol base that I was going to be working from for a few days.  It was one of those times I felt the need to not speak the entire truth.  I knew that Heidi would worry more than normal if she knew I was out and about in trucks.

All went well and was quiet.  I experienced the Afghan countryside in and around the Marjeh area.  I wish I could post a lot more pictures, but I cannot do so on this forum due to operational security concerns.

 

This was the first convoy that I was a part of since the invasion of Iraq, just over 8 years ago.  This time I was in a fully armored MRAP and a MATV.  Both of those trucks can take a walloping and everyone still walks away.  They are truly amazing vehicles.

All said and done it was good to get out for a bit.  I do not like sitting behind a desk.  It definitely broke up the monotony of daily routine out here.  I know that if were up to Heidi I would stay put for the next six months!  The risk was definitely worth it though.  The purpose of the trip was to assist the grunts in their job of hunting down the enemy.  I helped give them some pretty cool tools to be able to do what they do a little better.

Please Don't Send Gummy Rings

I do love these things, but please do not send me gummy rings.  The daytime temperatures are now over a hundred degrees.  It's higher than that inside the metal shipping containers our mail is stored in.

I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to try it as is.

Also please no Skittles.  Those will be immediately thrown away.

I know, my love, it's the thought that counts!

Same Moon

I've been in Afghanistan for a month now.  Hard to believe.

Heidi's blog last week included a picture of the moon.

Every night I walk from work back to my can under the same moon.

You can't really tell in my picture (my $90 Fujifilm camera isn't quite like Heidi's), but way in the background it's the same moon a couple of nights after she took her picture.

It's the one thing that we can share in common.  It's about the only commonality between Afghanistan and Indiana.  Some nights it makes me feel a little closer to home.  Other nights it reminds me of just how far away I really am.

13 Things About Heidi

13 years together, almost 11 in marriage.  9 different vehicles, an apartment and a house.  3 different universities.  8 jobs between the two of us.  Me to Iraq twice, currently in Afghanistan.  My favorite - the 3 beautiful, smart, funny offspring we share together.

Heidi and I have shared a lot of things together.  Here are just 13 quick things that you may or may not know about her.

1.)    Heidi is the most creative person I’ve ever met.  She’s also the most thoughtful.  She has the ability to turn the simplest idea into some pretty fancy luggage tags.  When she does something like this, it has not only a practical use, but it has a deeper, special meaning.

2.)    Heidi has a serious problem…her obsession with Burt’s Bees chapstick is beyond ridiculous.  I would rather listen to all the mean things she says while she’s in labor than have her around without her chapstick…sorry, not just chapstick, but Burt’s Bees.

3.)    If it were not for the Garmin GPS I’m not sure Heidi would know how to navigate any
where.

4.)    I may have had several speeding tickets, but I’ve never tried to run over a tree in the middle of the road…in a Dodge Neon.

5.)    Heidi can rarely sit down and watch a movie in it’s entirety.  She either falls asleep 20 minutes into it, or she is grading papers or folding laundry or anything else besides watching.

6.)    Heidi has not been officially diagnosed, but in my professional opinion she becomes narcoleptic between the hours of 8-930 pm.  It stops after 930 because she’s usually already passed out by then.

7.)    Heidi is a terrific teacher.  She has helped dozens of her students become published poets.   (She is twice published herself, by the way.)  She started a poetry coffeehouse and a Veteran’s Day program at school.  She is impacting the lives of America’s youth in and out of the classroom, teaching them not only hyperboles, participle phrases, and Shakespeare, but some life lessons along the way.

8.)    Heidi will not try new foods…especially if that food once upon a time lived in any type of water.

9.)    Heidi will never be allowed to clean behind the refrigerator without my permission and my presence.  She didn’t understand that you can’t just shove the thing back against the wall without first making sure you’re not going to crush the power cord, resulting in a huge black spark up the wall, a tripped breaker, a trip to the gas station to get ice, a lot of research to find someone that carried a replacement power cable, a $75 replacement power cable, and who knows how much time spent replacing a stupid power cable that was crushed when she just shoved the thing against the wall.

10.) Heidi rarely will take a mid-day nap.  This is usually to my benefit on Sunday afternoons.  After all, someone has to watch the kids.

11.) She is a wonderful mother of three beautiful children.  Those three kids are beautiful not only on the outside, but on the inside as well, of which Heidi has had a huge part in developing.  They do not yet realize how fortunate they are to have the mom that they do.  One day they will.

12.) Heidi has no idea how blessed her husband is for having her.  She is not told often enough how much she is loved and appreciated.   I have put her through a lot in the decade we’ve been married.  There’s no one out there that I’d rather spend the rest of my life with.  Maybe that wasn't really a fact about Heidi, but still wanted to throw it in there.

13.) Heidi knows how to play the piano, although she doesn't play it often enough.

Bonus:  Okay, I did almost accidentally push Heidi into a pool of like 20 sharks on our honeymoon.  It’s only because she was partially leaning over the edge to get a closer look and when I grabbed her she about jumped in.  Heidi definitely screamed.  Would you believe that out of all the people there I was the only one who laughed?  I still laugh.  They were only nurse sharks.

Groundhog Day

Every day is like Groundhog Day.  Especially out here.  You no longer have a meaning for "Monday" or "Tuesday" or the other five days.  Seven days a week, every day being the same as the previous.

Today I saw Reagan through some Facebook pictures.  I love seeing pictures of my girls.  As much as it's good to see them, it makes me miss them that much more.  I see how quickly they are growing up without me being there.  They are transforming from my little girls to little people, and I can only see it through photographs.  That's hard to take as a parent, especially when it was my choice to do this.

My sister sent me a message saying she's been thinking about me and that she misses me.  That quick line came at a much needed time...it's been a long couple of days.  Only a little over 200 more to go...