Oh the weather outside is frightful...

So.. I haven't written in awhile... I should have probably looked to see when the last time I actually wrote was.... This week, right after Christmas we had a huge blizzard. We got close to 10 inches of snow, which I guess is unheard of. They have said it gets as cold as it is, but not this much snow... We have had A LOT of issue all around the Camp. Heater units are going out, only blowing out cold air, when it's barely getting above 32 degrees during the day.. and at night it gets into the teens. And it's very frigid.  We have been having  A LOT Of issues with pipes freezing. The bathroom I use by my tent has been closed for 3 or 4 days now, and the showers... well lets just say a lot of us are lucky to be able to shower every other day. It could be worse... So I'm not trying to complain.. just let everyone know what we are going through. Where I work, we no longer have usable bathrooms and now have porta potty's. What's really funny, is that the blue liquid is frozen.. .I've never seen it frozen before.

Christmas was another normal work day for the most part. My boss and I ended up watch A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation and A Charlie Brown Christmas... Most other Soliders had the day off, so you could hear them outside enjoying the day. On that day, I ran a 5K race that I helped set up and run, and ended up placing 2nd for the females, running a 22:37. Not to bad for 3.1 miles. I'm not sure what place I came in overall.. but there were close to 150 participates. It was a great turn out and for placing I got a $50 Amazon gift card and a Battalion Commanders Coin.

Speaking of coins... Maybe people don't know a whole lot about coins, but you get coins for doing good things. So far I have gotten 4 total. I received one from a Civil Affairs team here, for helping them with some PPE to go on a mission. The had helped out with The Blue Mosque, and in order to go inside you had to take off your boots, but I had given them over boots, from a supply that i had, and they were able to go into the Mosque without taking off their boots. The Blue Mosque is something VERY huge in Mazar-i-sharif, and people from all over Afghanistan come to see it. My friend from the Civil Affairs team gave me a CD of pictures. I will post them on Facebook... It's VERY pretty. My 2nd Coin was from the post office girls I work with. It's a great coin! It has a honey badger on it :) The third was from the race. And recently I got another one from the 1 Sustainment Brigade Command Sergeant Major. Which is a pretty big deal. Still not 100% sure why I got it, because I said, are you sure I deserve this, I'm just doing my job. And he said, isn't that why everyone gets one. It was pretty weird.

Travis is back in Iowa enjoying time with his friends and family. He seems to be enjoying himself, but always makes sure to tell me he misses me. It's nice to hear, but hard at the same time. I get very mad at myself for choosing to be away from him. If I could do it again, I totally wouldn't. Having a combat patch is not worth being away from the person you love. People say distance makes the heart grow founder or something like that... it's true, I miss him more and more every day. And we are very lucky to be able to have the communication that we do, but it is still VERY hard. We both have VERY different schedules and everyone knows how social of a person he is. Which doesn't  always help especially when I want to talk to him, but its just something that we have to work through. He will leave for Alabama sometime after New Years and I think he jumps right into the first phase of flight school right when he gets back. We are hoping everything works out and he is able to come back for my Welcome home in July. We will see...

This past Saturday I hit 18 weeks of being gone... And on Christmas eve... we broke 200... We hit 199 days left. And today we (the people I work with) were talking about how we are 45 days away from being half way done.. BUT if they don't pass the budget by the first... some of us could be leaving here soon. Sometimes I pray that, that happens. The only thing that would stink would be not having a job. I have a good skill set and I feel I would be able to get a job quit quickly.

Oh.. I am learning to crochet.. I've only made a handful of things. I'm great at making scarves! haha... and learned how to make a beard!!! So all I have to do know is figure out how to make a beanie, and then.... Epic things will happen!! I posted a few pictures on facebook. THere was a beanie laying around and i just attached a beard... Looks pretty sweet :)

Well.. I need to go pick up my laundry.. So until next time!

Road Trip to BAF

So... I went on a visit to Bagram Air Force Base.... not because I wanted to, because I was told. I had to go meet the Mortuary Affairs (MA) Team and our higher up MA people. Our higher ups, didn't even know I was going to show up... And well.. everything we went through only took about an hour. So... it was a worthless trip.

I did get to have some Green Bean Coffee, which we have at Camp Marmal. It was nice to just sit and enjoy it. There PX wasn't anything fancy, nor was there bazaar. So we (I was with another guy in my unit), ended up just hanging out at the MACP (mortuary affairs collection point). We actually spent the night there too.

I expeirenced my first IDF (Indirect Fire). It landed about a football field away from us. So we hung out in a bunker for about an hour. It hit a water buffalo (no one was hurt), and there was water all over that particular area.

I ended up sleeping on a couch... Well.. I didn't sleep much because the building was right by the flight line, so aircraft were constantly leaving.

The personnel at the airport are idiots too. I called at 10 pm, that night to see if there were any flights out in the morning... The guy said the only one was at 1015. Well I asked if it was show time or the actual flight left. He said show time was then. Which is just a time they tell you to show up before the plan comes in... Well it turned out 1015 was the flight time NOT the show time, AND another flight had gone out earlier that morning. So... we thought we were screwed, but another flight went out later that afternoon so we made it back.

I ended up sleeping 1130 hours that night and it was the greatest feeling ever!!

Well... that's all for now... :)

The Dust Bowl...

Well, my unit has made it to Afghanistan... Everyone is here, but we had to send someone home early because the death of his 4 year old son. Please keep him in your prayers. He's not coming back over here with us.

I'm living in a tent with 4 other females. We are all getting along very well. Myself and one other of the females work on Camp Pratt and the others work on Camp Marmal. Camp Marmal is the bigger base that houses all the other foreign nationals that are here. Camp Marmal is run mostly by Germans.. and I tell you what, those German men are pretty handsome!!! :)

Camp Pratt is still being built so there isn't much over here. But the journey to Camp Marmal is only about 20 minutes and we take shuttle buses to and from. The Mongolians are in charge of letting people in and out of Camp Marmal. They're all really nice and I always wave and they wave back. There are a lot of local Afghans that work all around Pratt. I've been told that most of them hate the Taliban because the Taliban killed their families. I think it's great the the Government is helping them get work. They are very hard workers and work 12+ hours a day.

It' gets dark around 530/6 pm and gets light around 6 am. It's starting to get chilly out there too. We have some mountains right outside our tents and they are so pretty to see. I'm hoping to post pictures sometime soon!

I will write more again soon... I am trying to have a skype date :)

Leaving on a jet plane....

Well... we don't have much more time here in "The Great Place".... but from what our advanced party, that is already over there, has told us... "The Great Place" is a lot greater then where we are heading... I mean, it's Afghanistan... what did they expect? I'm not expecting anything fancy... So far, where we are going, they have said is a HUGE dust bowl... If you walk to the showers, which is just a tent with water (No place to change clothes or anything) you walk back and it's just peer dust... And that's really it. We will just be sleeping there... But still... walk to the showers in dust... walk back in dust... Will I be dirty for a year? Yuck... Not excited about that.

Also, they said there is a really small gym, and one of the guys said it sucks, well its better then no gym at all. We also have a dining facility and I guess that's all that there is. So... YAY! I'm excited... I'm hoping for the best, because that's what I need to do, otherwise 9 months will go by way to slowly.

I think the hardest part about our deployment is that we are going to miss out on all the holidays. The unit were replacing left in January so they got lucky... But hopefully, like I said, it will fly by and we will be home before we know it. I still am not sure about the internet. The advanced party has also said its not the greatest. So.. .we will see. Whenever I find out what I will be doing, I should have internet for my job.

All prayers are welcome and I thank you all for them. This will be my last post for awhile, until I am all settled in.

Keep prayer :)

Another day....

I came to the MWR building today to finish my christmas shopping! My dad is SERIOUSLY the hardest person to shop for! I've been looking for at least the past half hour for something that he told me he wanted and I can't find it... Oh well... I'm going to my brother as the last resort! :\ yes it is nerve wrecking.

I pulled guard duty yesterday from 8 until 1615 (415 PM). We are getting ready for an exercise and there are these special computers that have to be guarded at all times. So we have split up all the times into 8 hour and 15 minute shifts. Mine wasn't so bad and I did push ups every 1/2 hour which made the time go by really quick.

I'm not sure if I will have internet access while I'm in Afghanistan. The rumor is that it cost $100 a month. I'm really trying to save my money while I"m gone... but I should have it where i'm working, I'm guessing. Who knows. I have my address! I think most of you have seen it... If you dont' want it and want it. Email me or text me. I dont want to post it on here.

Nothing else really exciting has been going on. It's staring to cool down and only gets into the upper 80's during the day. Maybe low 90's which is nice. In the morning its usually about 60 and wonderful!!!

I've heard my living arrangements for over seas. Sounds like I will be in a 10 person tent with 5 other girls. And they are all ones I get a long with! So hopefully the next year will be drama free... There are some girls here that I believe... are crazy... not just a little crazy... but bat shit crazy... Oh well.. I'm the 4th oldest out of all 13 of us.. So.. at 27 and being one of the oldest.. we have a lot of young girls...

I don't have much else to report... So... yup. Hopefully I can write again (if something super awesome happens) in the next few days.. But our exercise starts next week, so I will be busy with that... So who knows. Thanks for reading! :)

The North Fort

Well.. here I sit in my barracks at North Fort Hood... It's what I've been doing most of the time that I have been here. We seriously have not done hardly any training. First Army, said that we did so well on our pre-mobilization training that they have nothing for us. I wish we could just leave! But we can't.... So I sit and watch movies, workout, and sweat. Texas is hot. 

Our first day, we went through medical lanes where I got a small pox shot. I wish we wouldn't of had to get them. They're annoying to take care of. Everything else that day went well.. and since then yesterday was our first day of something to do (I believe because of Labor Day, and the post closed down Thursday at 3 pm). Yesterday we did an MRAP familiarization, which are the vehicles that we would travel in, if we were to go of the base in Afghanistan. And then in the afternoon we learned some Dari, which is the language spoken. All I can remember is, esteede sho, which means STOP. Yay! At least I know how to say that.

Tomorrow I have to go to the range to fire the 249, which is a light machine gun. I haven't shot one in 9 years, so it will be "sooo exciting". The last group that went to the range, they were out there from 6 am until 3 am! Crazy. I hope that doesn't happen to us, because I'm taking a class at 6 am on Saturday morning, I will get no sleep. I'm not 100% sure what else we have going on because it changes from day to day. 

I do have an address for where I am in Texas, but I'm not handing it out. Sorry everyone! I will post my Afghanistan one when I get it.  don't want to have to try and pack things to take over there from here! 

Well... Tomorrow I have to be somewhere at 5 in the morning so I'm going to try and get some sleep. Hopefully I can post more often, I just learned how to use my phone to tether internet to my computer! Great success! 

The Big Day

Well... tomorrow is the big day... I'm not quit sure how I feel about it. I didn't really have any feelings today about loading up all my gear onto the truck and watching it drive away... I'm sure tomorrow will be a bit different.. especially with all the emotions from everyone else going... The past few days have flown by, and now that I think of it.. the past 2 months Travis had been gone has flown by too. My cousin in law, who is pregnant said to me, 9 months fly by. I hope that she's right. I'm already excited to end this chapter of my life and start the next one with Travis.. I have a feeling a lot of good things will be happening in it! Kinda weird thinking tonight will be the last night in my own bed for the next yearish.....

Tonight I'm heading out for my last meal ;)  It's gonna be yummy thanks to Eddy and LJ Clark!

I'm thankful to be spending tonight with good friends :)

Preparing

Preparing for deployment has been pretty tough. A lot of longs days and hard training. The next month will be the busiest trying to get everything ready at home and making sure I have everything before I leave. Right now our going away Ceremony will be at Camp Dodge on the 28th of August, then we are off to Texas for some more training. Then it's off to the Stan.

 Travis left a week ago friday, so that's been rough too, but at least we will be gone at the same time. That's really good. It would be a lot harder if I had left first then when I got home he left or vis versa. I've had a lot of good friends keeping me busy too while Travis has been gone. They are life savers. I had no idea being away from him would be this hard. I miss him more and more everyday.

That's all for now. Short and sweet for my first post! Stay tuned for more updates from me!