Some of my pictures

Here are some of my pictures. The upload speeds aren't great here, so I had to upload smaller sizes than I would have liked.

(click on the below picture for more pictures)

First 2 weeks of IA

Smurfy....

I thought this picture of Logan is classic and wanted to share it with everyone. He's eating the cookies that we made with my sisters girls for Valentine's Day. Everyone got to choose their frosting color and Logan, of course, got blue.

In the NARMY Now!

So if you want to see what all of us Sailders are doing down here in South Cacalaca, do a Google search for NARMY (a play on Navy and Army). There are a ton of blogs and photos. We're going through basic Army training on weapons, convoys, IEDs and the like. One of the main things that we are learning is how to deal with Army procedures, language and lack of coordination/efficiency.

HOO AHH
Which is a basic Army term used constantly meaning everything and anything except "no."

Super Duper Tuesday

Bruin has started Tae Kwon Do classes on Tuesday nights . He absolutely loves it and is waiting to be able to get a uniform like the older kids. He has now started referring to "super duper Tuesday" because that is the day he has his class. There have not been many other kids his age there yet, but hopefully more people will start coming as the weather gets better and he will be able to make some more friends his age.

Here he is learning how to punch on "billy bob" the dummy.

Note: this was actually posted by Kathy

Bumbo, Bumbo, Bumbo....

I forgot how much I love this seat. Dlyan just had his 2 month check up on last Tuesday and he is growing like a weed. He weighed in at 13lbs 9oz. When we got back I figured he might be ready for the bumbo and he seems to like it. This was his Valentine's Day outfit....which he soon pooped all over. Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day.

All dressed up and waiting to go

Things are getting better. We get to shoot. A lot. And we get to shoot even more tomorrow. I did pretty good on the pistol, I got two perfect scores, a feat unmatched in our class of 64. Though a good deal of them have never shot before. The food seems to be getting better, or I lowered my expectations so low that it now exceeds them. Either way, I'm actually looking forward to Djibouti for the food. Our Platoon has mostly Djibouti people in it, the new lawyer, AOPS, COMSTA OIC, and plenty of enlisted folks. We're all pretty laid back and having a decent time dealing with the knowledge that we will have almost zero chance to use anything that we are learning here. Of course, it's better to not have to go to a place that requires you to use guns and body armor on a regular basis.

Here I am in our battle rattle, which we wear most of the day. I have a huge increase in appreciation for what the soldiers and Marines patrolling the streets of Bahgdad go through. Just walking around in this gear is hard, actually patrolling and fighting with your life on the line is ridiculous.

And here's the piece of space where I get to sleep with 30 or so other guys in a bunk house.

I miss Kathy and the boys a ton. It's nice to be able to talk to them on the phone, but I'd rather play with them and go with Bruin to Karate class, while keeping Logan occupied while Dylan spits up. I thank God every day for giving me such a wonderful wife and boisterous boys.

ARMY CHOW

Mmmmm...
The army chow is sooo good here it is making me want to go to Djibouti as soon as possible! Serve yourself instant mashed potatoes with an ice cream scoop and cheese sauce melting in a steamerpot...

Navy Processing...

Well I'm nearly through Navy Mobilization Processing. It never ceases to amaze me how easily the military crams 4 hours of work into a week. On Monday we spent an hour or so listening to the basic briefs on where fire exits are, points of contact, basic info. Then we filled out several forms, all with the same basic info, name, address, contact info, etc. The Navy has piles of computer programs, and none of them talk to each other, so you get to enter the same info, over and over again. Then we got fitted for desert cammies. They're the same size as the woodland cammies I was wearing to class, but I guess it was fun to stand in line to try on the desert ones to prove that they were the same size. The next morning we sat in line for 3 hours so they could review my medical record 3 times to verify that I had everything completed and fill out the same health survey I filled out a month ago. I did get the Small Pox vaccine, which I couldn't get when I was in close contact to Kathy and baby Dylan, so at least it didn't feel like an utter waste of time. It's a good thing I'm at the start of the alphabet, the poor X, Y Z folks at the end of the line had to wait until after lunch to even get in line. Wednesday we had an FFSC brief at 1300. "Deployment is hard on families. Make sure your finances are in order. Here's some numbers to call if you want help." Stretched out for an hour or so. Thursday I put on a gas mask and then breathed in a bag. Also included, an hour of standing in line - yeah! We had to sign up for time slots to spread it out over the day, but everyone just showed up at 9 and stood in line. Then today we did our travel claims, and this afternoon we get our uniforms. Tomorrow we get on a bus and go to FT Jackson for 3 weeks of guns, grass, dirt, barracks style housing and fun! When they first started this processing, all of it was combined into a two week sprint, where the fittings and stuff we mixed in with the training. Much more efficient, but some mistakes were made due to the compressed schedule. So in standard Navy zero-defect mentality, two weeks have been drawn out to 4. Oh well, it could be worse, I could be in the Army.

Having the boys call me Monday and ask if I was coming home that night was painful. This deployment will ensure that when I'm job hunting this fall I avoid anything with major travel commitments.