Thanksgiving - and I mean it!

Like many people, I have much to be thankful for. This year it is especially so. This past year has seen some things sad, some things dangerous, some things irritating, and things strange. But it has also visited me with new friends, some fun things, some funny things, and with being a part of history.

I am home with my family and will return to work in a week. I am thankful for both my family and my job.

I am thankful for all the support I received this past year from friends, family and even strangers or acquaintances - everyone has been a great help.

I am just plain thankful.

A well earned rest

At least that is how I am thinking of it. I am taking the family to the Caribbean for a week. Yeah, I know, I get back from more sand than I ever wanted to see, and I am no fan of heat either.

But a warm beach with the family enjoying it - maybe a tropical drink too - is a bit different than choking my way through a dust storm in 117 degree heat in Interceptor Body Armor...

Gratuitous Iraq Aviation Photo of the Day

......and we have landed!

[click to enlarge]

Did I Miss the Memo?

Now that Major(P) John is back we can post about less important things. I have a rant.

Did I miss a memo or something? When did we start standing for God Bless America?

When I was in DC last June we went to a baseball game (it wasn't' my idea). They played the National Anthem, of course and some of the people stood up and stood still, some put their hands over their hearts, and a very few of us actually sang along. I was pretty upset at the lack of respect for our National Anthem.

Immediately afterwards, they played God Bless America. Now I'll grant you, that is a better song and easier to sing along with, but MORE people stood up, more stood still and FAR more sang along. Some even put their hands over their hearts.

Why am I bringing this up, five months later? We had a memorial service at church yesterday which included a Veterans' Day service. At the end they sang God Bless America and everyone stood up!

Maybe it's me. I'm I crazy? Have we always been standing for God Bless America?

Even if we are, it isn't the National Anthem. I think we should treat the National Anthem with MORE respect.

Near Miss of April 6th

OK, It has been long enough to show these: This was next door on April 6th...

A "partial dud", thank goodness.

Yea for Me Day!

That is what I facetiously call Veteran's Day. I always say it is my one day each year where I say "good for me." It means an awful lot this year, as I have now been home from OIF for all of 48 hours.

One reason I was glad to get back before today was that my children's school does a Veteran's Day assembly, and the kids can have us drop by classrooms and answer questions afterwards. I was joined by two gentlemen from earlier conflicts:

The kids questions ranged from slightly goofy to fairly well asked. I was glad to be able to do my part in answering them.

On a more serious note, I think I now rank somewhere in the middle of the family military pantheon. None of us comes close to Jack Devore Dunn, an astonishingly heroic flyer in WWII. And, of course, I still have my favorite veteran to thank:

Thanks, Dad!

Home

I'm Home.

More to follow later - I'm just enjoying it right now...

Copyright problems??????

Inner Prop's Take on the Election

New President, historic election, we knew that. Now let's see what we didn't know. What's going to come of this?

What do you think?

I put some of my opinions on Illini6, but let me sum up here:

I'm nervous.

Everybody calm down!

Headed Home

Sometime over the next couple of days, I will be landing in the good old US of A. I am sooooo ready to come home!

Once I get home and settled a bit, I will post the appropriate thank yous and deep thoughts on the whole deployment.

But for now, it is travel time!

Update #2 - Stuck in Kuwait

I'm stuck in a camp I had never been to before - I might be here a few more days, and I am not happy about it. There isn't a lot to do - sure, it is better than Iraq, sort of. But we have been herded into large transient tents and having a cot with 50 other guys in the same tent just isn't what I am looking for at this stage of the game.

I guess I am getting a bit crabby, as I am not as well rested as I thought I might be, and therre is nothing for us here. I want to get the stateside part over with and go Home.

The last two times I redeployed, it went faster than this. I wish I even knew who I should be upset with...