Wow out of the blue

I got this email from the Doctor I meet in the airport last tour when I was on my mid tour break, what a really nice American. I think I will try to stay in touch with him, he seems extremely sincere in all he says, I find it really refreshing that this country still has folks out there like him.

Hi Rob,

Wow, I thought (and was hoping) that you were finally home for good the last time we wrote.  Thank God that you are ok and going home soon!  I cannot even begin to tell you how much respect and admiration I have for you and your fellow soldiers.  God bless you and all of them and THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY!!

I am doing well and working hard in my medical practice.  I am going to hire another doctor (that will make 3 besides me) and open a new office (that will be # 4) soon and that takes a lot of planning.  I have a very good staff which makes it much easier to do my job and to take care of my patients.

I have been traveling to Europe a lot, specifically Romania, where I have a girlfriend and also I have "adopted" a little 11 year old girl over there.  I will leave her there, rather than bring her to the US at this time, but I am supporting her to go to a good school in Bucharest and I have a nanny taking care of her.  I will also go to Mykonos with Elena (my girlfriend) and to Prague.

My Mom just turned 80 years old and we all celebrated her birthday last weekend.  She is wonderful and even works in my office one day a week.

I have to go as they are calling me for surgery.  Please keep in touch with me and let me know as soon as you arrive back in the US.  I would love to invite you and your family to visit me here in Atlanta....my treat!  Just let me know if you want to do this.  I will be leaving for Romania on July 26 and return on August 25, but I will have my iPad with me so I always am available thru email.

Rob, please stay safe and thank you very much from the bottom of my heart for all that you (and your fellow soldiers) do for all of us here in the US to keep our wonderful country free and safe!!

All my best,

Randy

Pretty cool, well I leave the Stan tomorrow at 2300 hours and I can't wait to get the heck out of here. Girls I will see you soon and I love you three all to much, night all

Just got extended

We just got extended for another day here at KAF. We are still scheduled to get out of manis on the 15th which will have us getting home on the 15th at 9:30 PM. I think we got extended here because Manis does not have the life support to house transients for more than 40 hours. It all fine with me I can't wait to see my girls in five days, I miss them more than they will ever know. 

Two more days at KAF

Well the four of us have been sitting here in our room waiting for the FOB attack to be over, big voice has been going off for the last two hours apparently we are in the middle of a ground attack and we are all being told to remain in our rooms. Leave it to the Taliban to screw me out of lunch, by the time we get the all clear message I am sure the chow hall will be done with lunch. Oh well tonight at 2000 we manifest for our 11 July flight to Manis. I hope we are scheduled to leave at 0001 on the 11th that will be one less day I have to spend here in this dusty inferno. I will keep you posted...

9:20 PM 15 July

This is when we are being told we will have our welcome home ceremony on Hunter Army Airfield in the hanger. Hopefully we will not have any delays with aircraft or maintenance. 

4th of July

Well just another extremely hot day in Kandahar Mike Carman and I spent most of it in doors. Tomorrow I will get up at 0230 so I can go and lay out all my stuff for the customs folks to look at. I also need to add my last tough box that has my computer and camera gear in it. It will be going home in a sensitive items container so it should be just fine. Well it's getting lat and I just wanted to make a quick post to update what's going on with me, night all

It's HOT

Kandahar is probably 20 degrees hotter than Wolverine and it is taking its tool on me. You just can't seem to drink enough water to keep from getting a head ache. I can't wait to get out of this God forsaken country and back to the states. I think Robby left today for his trip to South America and I am so happy for him, it should be an amazing adventure. I will be home to welcome home home from his trip and I look forward to it. I can't wait to be welcomed home from my Girls I miss them so much and I can hardly wait to see the three of them.

CPT Boston just moved into the room next to mine, I really feel bad for him as well. Today he went to see the General and he was relieved from command and will be forced out of the Army shortly after we get back to Savannah. CPT Boston was the commander of the Path Finder company that was attached to Task Force Viper. Their primary mission was PR (personal recovery) and they were really great at what they did. The night we had an MC-12 go down they were the first team put on the crash site and they were the last ones out. I flew over six hours that night flying security for them while they did their job. When we In filled them the enemy was all over the crash site and even though the enemy out numbered his team three to one his ten man team took the crash site and did what they were trained to do. They striped the aircraft of all sensitive items and recovered the four Heroes, a job in itself that takes a certain kind of man to deal with that level of stress. The entire time they were on the ground for over seven hours we operated in the first level of the stack. We would have the F16s come down for show of force when we would break for gas. It was a long night and his guys executed their mission like true professionals, considering most of his guys are just a little older than Robby they will always have my respect. It was nice to know that if I had to crash land somewhere out side the wire Boston's guys would be there ASAP and help to get me out. And now he is being fired for Hazing which I am not to sure really took place, but this Army that we now work in has changed so much you always have to be so politically correct that it just drives most of us crazy. He commands infantry soldiers that have to follow orders right now or people could die, and some folks just don't get that. That's why I personally don't think it's a good idea to have an infantry company working for an Aviation task force. We are pilots and we just don't get it, I wish him the best in all he does and I hope he does well in his future.

Well it's getting pretty late and tomorrow I need to get up and pack so I can move into the VIP quarters   Where I will wait for the Boss and Mike Carman to show up. I hope to find some Internet tomorrow so I can post these post, night all

FEB Complete

I think I was a good witness for the prosecuting attorney and I am pretty sure Jeff will never fly an Apache ever again. I can't even imagine what that feeling would be like, I have grown pretty fond of this amazing machine and to be told I will never fly it again would be really hard to take. I think Jeff truly thinks what he has done is not a big deal, when in fact he put many people in grave danger and I am sure that is how the board members will see it too.

Enough on all of that, I had dinner at TGI Fridays tonight, not exactly what you would expect state side but I thought it was great. It's nice to go into a restaurant and have someone bring you your food and drink. Seven months on the chow hall going through a line for the same old crappy food gets old pretty quick. I think that might be why I like eating out so much when I am at home, but Shirley rest assured I can't wait to try all of your recipes, and I know they will be amazing just like you.   

Now I have just eleven more days to spend here at Kandahar with just enough cloths to last thirteen more days till I am home. I can't wait to get home and see the Girls and spend some quality time with them. I come over here and I see things so much different with such clarity. Why do I have problems with things that are obviously important to me when I am at home. Life is not that difficult, one day at a time and do the right thing, it's not that tough. Well once again I am getting pretty tired today started at 0500 and did not end at the court house till1900, 14 hours later. I hope time passes quickly and I am home till then I will try to keep you all posted I just need to find some free wifi somewhere, night all

Day two at KAF

Well tomorrow I will testify at Jeff Crownover's FEB, not something I am looking forward to as it will most Likely end his aviation career. Not that he did not have it coming he made some really bad decisions over here and he is pretty reckless in his actions in the Apache. But none the less it's not something I am looking forward to being a part of. 

As for KAF, this place is like it's on city, I got on the blue line bus and 40 minutes later I got to the boardwalk. This place is huge! The boardwalk has all sorts of restaurant with all sorts of shopping as well I was able to waste a fare amount of time there. Tomorrow after the FEB I am going to try to find some Internet so I can try to FaceTime with the girls and make these post to my blog. I will keep you posted, but I am still tracking that main body 2 will be wheels up KAF on the 11th of July. I am keeping my fingers crossed.....  

First night in Kandahar

Well I have arrived on the first leg of my journey home. I have no Internet so I will have to post these later but I wanted to keep up on what was going on. I met with Tony Born this afternoon, he was on the schedule to fly so it was a short visit. However he seemed to be in pretty good spirits, I don't know if I could be that way seeing how everyone who leaves Afghanistan comes through here and he is not out of here till the end of AUG. Tomorrow I have but one mission and that is to find the Kandahar Court House. I should be able to do that but this place is huge so it may take me some time. Today for lunch I went to a Italian restaurant and had some home made pizza it was not worth the fifteen bucks I spent on it but it was the first meal I have had that did not come from the chow hall. Well I am getting pretty tired so I think I am going to try to get some sleep, night all