To Whom It May Concern

"Boots in the sand"

QUITE busy as of late, hence the lack of posting to my blog, for that I apologize, here's what has been going on, in order to keep you up to date.

My unit's impending deployment to Iraq appears to be starting around August 15th. This will be the start of about 3 months of training up/gearing up, then we should be "boots in the sand" (in Iraq) around the 10th of November. From the day we arrive in Iraq, it will be 365 days in country, then we will come home.

This was a little frustrating to say the least, because once again, the wedding is going to be postponed. We are getting married in a civil ceremony in front of a judge here in Omaha in July, but we had planned on a regular wedding ceremony in September of 2006, after I was to return from Iraq. Well, now it appears I will not be back from Iraq until November of 2006, so the regular ceremony will probably be late August or early September of 2007.

Belly should be done with Marine Combat Training around June 15th, then we are going to push very hard to get her home for at least a month on Recruiter's Assistance so we can get married, move to a cheaper apartment (for storing our stuff mostly), get all our finances in order, and just spend some time together, because we won't be able to for 15 months (at least... because if she gets deployed while I'm gone it will be for even longer).

We had a drill this past weekend, where we got the information as to when we will be in Iraq, along with our pre-deployment packets (yikes, a LOT of reading and studying on my own over the next three months, don't know if everyone is going to study up, but I want to be a step up, including knowing how to say a few key phrases in Arabic). We had our PT test, I scored a 300 (max). 76 pushups in 2 minutes, 100 situps in 2 minutes, and ran the 2 mile in 12:52, into a really strong head wind for the first mile, which turned into a stiff crosswind in the second mile. I'm disappointed though, I still have that pain in my chest and it's hindering my ability to improve on my run. I know I'm getting older but dammit I am also close to 30 lbs lighter than I was 3 years ago, when I was running 2 miles in 11:30. I'm going to get a full physical next week. If the general practitioner cannot find out what is causing the pain, I'm going to ask for a referral to a heart/lung/chest specialist.

Getting belly home might be tricky, if they don't offer her recruiter's assistance I'm going to make an appeal, based on our situation, to try and get at least a week of emergency leave for her. I would have to think that, given the circumstances, it would get approved. Bah, there is SO much to do though, getting the credit card put on hold with a very low interest rate, turning off a cell phone (actually that will get done when I'm done training at Ft. Riley, because I'll still be using my phone there), going to Performance Dodge in Lincoln and pricing my SRT-4 ACR and setting it up to order it.

Oh, yes, about the car. This car is normally about $21,600 but according to our battalion commander, the manufacturers are offering 3 to 5,000 off to troops overseas who order direct, and for no charge they ship the car direct to the dealer of your choice. Also, NO SALES TAX if you order while overseas, that is going to save me probably 1500 to 1800 also. With no destination fee for the car, that's a lot of money I'm saving, it will more than pay for getting the Mopar Stage 3 performance package added to the vehicle. Stock SRT-4 is 230 hp, 250 lb ft torque. With the Stage 3 upgrade, and on high octane fuel, that is raised to 355 hp and 375 lb ft of torque. Heh heh, needless to say, I should be waving bye to any unsuspecting Mustang or Camaro I meet. Ah, well, I'm still somewhat young aren't I? : ) Dooon't worry, I'll take it easy with this car, because I want it to last. I'll have a secondary car I'll build at the farm for work/winter driving, probably a Dodge Shadow or something like that.

Anyways, we have so much going on. When belly gets home, we are going to also go up to her parents and spend a weekend there. The worst case scenario would be if everything was denied and belly wasn't able to come home. If that happens, I'll get a marriage license in whatever state she is training in and we will go get married there, I'll travel there and spend a week in a hotel, she gets her nights off, so we can at least get that time together before I go. It really means a lot to her and I to get some 'we' time before I go over, because to be honest, you never know what might happen, so you have to live as much of your life in the time that you do have... you never know.

Current Lyrical Ramblings

Just fade away, please let me stay
Caught in your way, I can live forever here
How can I believe when this cloud hangs over me
You're a part of me that I don't wanna see

-Forget it, Breaking Benjamin