Back in the groove

Flew last night for the first time since I have been back in country, went well had a good flight. I flew night time to reset my NVS and now I am going back to days where I will remain till something needs to be fixed on another shift. I got to bed last night around midnight and low and behold the repair men are here at 06:00 to fix our air conditioner, lucky us. No big deal though because I am off today so that I can get back on shift tomorrow my show time will be 06:00 and I hate it. I never liked getting up to an alarm clock but I have no choice so I will just have to suck it up.

I have my work cut out for me over these next three months trying to get this gunnery off the ground. Not to mention planning the first gunnery for once we get home and the biggest challenge for that one will be the fact that 50% of the people that we have here will be gone to other units. You see once we get home many of the people that are here with me will be going to other units because they have been in Savannah over 6 years and it’s time for them to go. Not that they want to go it’s just that many of them have been here since flight school and they need to track and go to other units which will make them more diversified and help them to get promoted.

The weather here is so different since I left we have thunderstorms almost every afternoon kind of like we do in Savannah. This is the end of our hot months here and starting next month it will start to get a little cooler, thank you baby Jesus. It is not that I don’t like warm weather it’s just that I hate 110 degree and higher weather, especially when I have to wear a flight suit that covers me from head to toe. So like I said I look forward to the cooler weather that is coming our way.

As for our mission here we are still just as busy as we were when I left for mid tour, the natives are still pretty restless and they are getting into trouble on a daily basis. We try to help them with their troubles each and every day as best we can so they never have troubles again. As much as I can’t wait to leave this country and got home to my family it scares me to think that we may cut and run next summer and throw away all of the progress that we have worked so hard to accomplish. I hope that this does not happen and I hope that all of the lives lost and I mean all the lives are not for nothing.

Well as for me I am doing pretty well my moral is high and like I have said before the light is on. I look forward to all of the little hurtles that we have in our future like the replacing units equipment showing up and the advanced party showing up and whatever else happens that says Rob you will be home before you know it. I hope to see Barry somehow before I get out of here he is part of the unit that will be replacing us except he is going to a different FOB as of right now, but who knows. Time will tell and it’s been my experience in the Army that everything is subject to change at any time. I think I was lucky to be stationed here at Salerno from all I have heard from all of my friends from other FOBs we have it so much nicer here between hard buildings and our chow hall and all of the other things that make this place more like a Korea tour and not a combat tour. Don’t get me wrong there has been plenty of combat it’s just that our digs are pretty nice. Well I need to get this posted so I can begin my day and get some needed stuff done before I hit the ground running tomorrow so till next time, night all

Back At Salerno

I am back in the Stan and I am looking at that dimly lit light at the end of my tunnel. I hope that the time continues to fly past and that I am able to have an uneventful tour. My time at home was the best time I have had in many years and I truly think that this was just the start of something wonderful. All the family on both sides seem to be doing well and Marie and the Kids are doing great. Saying goodbye this time was a little harder than last time and I will only be gone just short of 4 months. I left on a Saturday and I got back to my room in Afghanistan on that next Friday. The trip was painful to say the least, trying to live for a week out of a small back pack meant for three days at best was more than I wanted to deal with. The worst place I got stuck was Ali Al Salem in Kuwait the temperature was in the 120s and the blowing dust was awful. I took a shower one night at 22:00 and by the time I walked to my tent I was covered with dust and my hair was filthy, it was horrible. I wanted to take some pictures there but I did not want my camera to get ruined so unfortunately there will be no pictures of that place from this trip.

Our new Task Force SIP showed up today someone that I have worked with before and things should be good. Our last SIP was involved in a really bad shoot and as the AMC on the flight he was removed from the position and sent back to the states to retire. He will not be missed, not by me anyway. I have much work to get done between now and when we redeploy in regards to our aerial gunnery I need to qualify as many pilots as I can using gun videos and the gunnery range ten miles to our west. Should not be to hard most of our pilots should have more than enough engagements to facilitate completing a gunnery.

The weather here at Salerno has been pretty nice it is so much better than what I just came through, not as much dust and the temperature is so much nicer than down south. My room is just the way I left it with just a little more dust here and there. But my room is cold and my friends are all here and I can’t ask for more than that. We have a lot of new faces around here with the 4-4 guys coming in and trying to get them all trained up for their mission over at Sharana. They will be staying here till all of the life support is in place for them to move to their FOB. They are building new buildings and taxi ways for them at Sharana so they have places to live and parking for their aircraft. A couple of them I have worked with before, but they are all really great guys and I am happy to see them showing up to help lighten our work load. Well at this point I am just rambling on so I think I will close this post for now but I promise many more and I hope more often as this month progresses, night all

Back to the Stan

Back to the Stan, well for starters I had the time of my life at home with the family. It was nice to see everyone and I had a wonderful time catching up with them all. Marie drove me to Savannah airport yesterday and I flew to Atlanta where I spent the night. I was a little upset to say the least that even after I called Atlanta to make sure that I would not miss my connecting flight, I miss my connecting flight and end up spending the night in Atlanta, alone. But today I am sitting here in the Delta sky lounge waiting on my 18:00 departure making my first post to my blog and I hope to be able to make many more before I come back to Savannah.

I was walking from the ticketing counter to my gate and ran into a really nice older gentleman that was going to Paris and we began to talk and one thing lead to another and he brought me into the Sky Lounge as a guest. I talked to him till he had to go to his gate for his flight and I traded info with him and he tried to give me 100 dollars for next month’s internet bill. I declined and told him to try and find another Soldier out in the airport that was wearing stripes and give the money to them he seemed even more thankful for what it is that all of us who wear this uniform are all about. His name is Randy and he is a doctor and he totally gets it. I was so impressed with how much we had in common as far as political views and politics. He asked me to try to keep in touch and drop him a line when I get home to let him know I made it home safe. Then he thanked me one more time for my service to his great country and he walked off. All I can say is times have changed and I think people have a much higher opinion for our troops these days and it shows every time I am out in uniform.

Well as for my next post I will try to get on in Ali-Asaliem but who knows. If I can’t I will make my next post from my little room in Salerno, till then, night all

Mid Tour

Home on mid tour having a great time and wishing that this time would last forever. But at least when I get back to the Stan I will see that dimly lit light at the end of the tunnel and it will continue to get brighter and brighter until I come home for good in November. A few weeks after I get back to the Stan there will be no more mid tour leaves and I am hoping to have more time to myself to put more post on here. Till I am back in the Stan, night all