PLAYING IN THE SANDBOX

Well, I'm here.  The sandbox is full of sand.  Lots of sand .  The sand is everywhere.  You can't get away from it.  It is the air.  The sky looks like fog all the time.  Everywhere you go there is sand.  It is not like the sand at the beach, it is very fine, like powder.  It is everywhere.  So you get used to it.

I have been here for three days now and I am starting to learn my way around.  You walk everywhere.  I will be getting lots of exercise.  Maybe I will be able to loose some of that extra weight that I have put on.   My wife says that I cannot come until I loose 20 lbs.  I don't think that is going to be a problem.  The food is OK but it will get old fast.  I have already started eating lots of salad.  Breakfast is the best meal of the day.  They have lots of fruit in many varieties.  I am enjoying that.  You can get good deserts at every meal too.  Ice Cream, cake cookies and pie.  I will have to be careful.

I have started modifying my room.  I have a desk and shelves built in and I have installed a rod to hang clothes on.  I need an Auburn Flag.  That and some pictures.  I plan on getting carpet this week.  I have a source for that now.  Its all about who you know.

We are surrounded by mountains, and they are beautiful.  I will take some pictures and post them soon.  I can only take pictures from some locations.  Can't show anything on the base with respect to the flight line (runway).

Work is going slow.  Trying to get computers and phones hooked up.  It doesn't help that the office moved into a new location the day before I got here.  I worked a late night concrete pour lase night, didn't get into the "hut" until 11:30 PM.  Makes for a long day.  I am just now getting used to the new hours.  I was dubbed the "inspector General" by the plant manager of one of the three concrete plants on base.  I was introduced by one of the other construction inspectors as their boss and he said "You must be the inspector general".  He is from Pakistan.  His name was Fazel.

I am getting along with the new coworkers well, so that is good.  Over all this job is going to be OK.

Well, I will step out of the sandbox and try to get some rest.  Type to you soon.

J

IN THE SAND SPILLED SAND AROUND THE EDGES:

I just left the sand spilled around the edge of the sandbox.  I just left Dubai.  I am in route to Bagram Airbase (AKA the Sandbox).  This last week has been a lot of waiting and I am ready to begin this journey.  I miss my wife and kids so much already.  It finally hit me last night at the hotel in Dubai.  This is really happening. Boy Scout camp is about to start. 

I have about a two and a half hour flight to Bagram.  The flight is not very crowded so I can spread out, unlike the flight from Atlanta.  There were only three available seats on the entire plane. 

As I said, it hit me last night at the hotel.  I was in my room and could not sleep, so I went for a walk.  It was about 1am local time and nothing was open to get something to eat or drink and there were only a few people around.  I was thinking about what Kelley and Conor said to me before I left.  “Thank you for doing this for our family.  That kind of hit home.  I thought they would be just the opposite.  “Why are you doing this to our family?”  It gave me a little peace that maybe this was the right thing to do for our family, and that GOD had a hand in this.  Small things come out in very profound ways.  It reminds me how much Kelley and the kids mean to me.

I have to tell you about one thing that happened on the flight from Atlanta to Dubai.  We had been flying for several hours and it was dark on the plane when a very large man that was sitting a few rows behind me got up to go to the restroom.  He got to my row and stopped and started to weave and rock back and fourth and then he fell into my lap and then onto the floor.  He had passed out on my lap.  Did I say he was a very large man?  I didn’t know what to think.  I reached over and grabbed his knee, the first thing I could reach.  I shook him and he woke up.  He sat there for a minute and then got up and sat in another guy’s seat.  It scared that guy and he went and got a flight attendant to get him out of his seat.  All this while most people were asleep.  It helped break up the flight. 

I met a man on the flight from Panama City to Atlanta who was very interesting.  He was unemployed for eleven months.  He just recently started working.  It was interesting talking about our lives being similar and what he did while unemployed being similar to what I did.  He has been married 26 years just like me and is a Baptist just like me.  Funny how GOD puts people in your life when you need them.  It was good to talk to someone that has gone through what I have and survived.  I am giving him my blog address. I hope he follows me.

I know one thing, I already miss my wife’s cooking.  The food in transit stinks.  I hope it gets better.  I just had a croissant with bitter orange preserves on it.  Awful!

Well I guess I will go for now.  I already have a number of stories to share with you in the coming blog posts, so keep up. 

By now!

The sandbox is getting closer.

It is Wednesday afternoon and I am finished my first day of training at Tyndall Air Force Base.  It was a day of waiting in line and getting CAC cards, Chemical suits and gas masks and canteens.  A lot of waiting and not much doing.  I was warned that this was the way it would be.    Tomorrow should be about the same.  The one good thing is that as of Tuesday, I am gainfully employed with Trinetics International.  This is a really BIG deal.  I haven't worked in about 7 months.

I have talked with the family this afternoon and they seem to be doing well.  I worry about them the most.  as many of you know, Kelley and I talk many times during the day and this is going to be a HUGE adjustment for the both of us.  I also talk with the kids at least every day and That will take some getting used to as well.  I know that we will all adjust, but it will be tough at first.

I keep getting bits and pieces of information about what exactly I will be doing, where I will live, sleep, shower, etc.  That will be an adjustment as well.  Back to Jake's statement "going to Boy Scout camp for a year".  I just said the Boy Scout pledge in my head.

I have now met the three other people that are going over with me.  Two men and one woman.  All seem nice and easy to get along with.  It will make it better to have others to talk with.

As the title of this post says, I am getting closer to the sandbox.  I am ready for this part to get here.  All this waiting around is for the birds.

I guess I will step out of the sandbox for now.  I am thinking of all of you.  WAR EAGLE!

Getting ready to go to the sandbox.

It is Saturday night, three days till I leave. I started packing my bags today and I realized very quickly that I cannot take everything I want to. I am allowed two bags weighing 50 lbs. each. I don't think I will be able to get everything I will need for a year in two bags. Jake keeps saying I am going to Boy Scout camp for a year.

I have been told that I will have a 7' x 7' room and that it is about 150 yards from the showers and bathrooms. I can't wait. My room has a bed in it and that is all. I guess I will have to commandeer some building materials and build some furniture.

There are so many unknowns at this time. I can't wait to see this place. In case I have not said I will be at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan.

I know I am rambling, but that is what I will be dong alot.

I am getting out of the sandbox for now (even though I am really not in it yet). I will be back soon.