Getting Settled Back Home

Okay, so I've slacked off big time on this blog! I started out in May last year (2011) blogging once a week, I figured that would be a realistic frequency during deployment. However, once things got going and I found lots of other things to compete for my time, I decided that a better goal would be to post once a month. In the end, I kept it up for the most part, but there were definitely a couple of gaps:/

My most recent gap is due to the fact that I just got home 2 weeks ago! This picture below is the beautiful view of the sunrise I saw on the way in to BWI. It was quite a site after a 14hr flight from Kuwait!



My last month of deployment, January, went very well as I wrapped things up at the Warrior Transition Program in Kuwait and completed my turnover with my relief. If you've followed my blog or talked with me about my deployment, you know that I had hoped to spend more of my deployment in Afghanistan, but I thank God for the opportunity to impact the lives of Sailors who were transitioning through WTP after tough deployments. Many came from combat trauma hospitals, detainee/detention facilities, and special operations commands, and almost all experienced some sort of combat action. By the way, let's keep praying for those still deployed in harms way.

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So what have I been up to since I've been back home? Well of course I didn't even get out of the airport without a quick visit to my favorite AMERICAN burger joint...mmm...




One thing that both Julie and I were concerned and prayerful about was the way that our one year old daughter would respond to me, her dad, who she knew mostly through Skype...well, here's a pic of our reunion in the Norfolk airport...


Thank God for Skype! It took Tierzah about 5 minutes to warm up to me and over the last two weeks she has totally developed an attachment to her dear ole dad, which I love:) I'm convinced that she's buttering me up for a pony, a car, or a boyfriend:/

So this was our airport family reunion pic:) so awesome to have my girls back in my arms!




Julie and I had a chance to go on our first date in months, so naturally we went shooting:) haha! Don't yell at me, mom, it was her idea! That's right, I have the best wife ever...and she's a pretty good shot too:)




We've been having a blast since I've been home, and Julie continues to dazzle me with all of her knew and exciting gourmet dishes that she's been perfecting. Her latest experiment, which blew me away (no pun intended after the shooting range pic), was homemade sushi rolls! So good!




Besides eating like a king, I've also been doing a little shopping...




...cruiser or crotch rocket? Hmmm...




...I'll have to let you know how that turns out next month;)

Next month, Yes, that's right, I'm going to continue Chaplain Chronicles at a steady pace of one post per month! :)

Next month I'll share how things have been going as I get aquatinted with my knew role and responsibilities at the Ministry Center here in Norfolk.

May God bless you and yours!


-Posted from my iPhone

Home Next Month

Well, it's been about two months since my last post, so I suppose this is long overdue. I'm not gonna lie, I hit a bit of an emotional rough patch a few weeks after my R&R. Things got better as I settled back into a routine, but it was tough.

I'm so thankful for all of the good people that I work with, and for the love from so many back home. I think having a good support network can make or break any deployment.

Julie and I have once again realized that our marriage has depths that we never could have imagined, and perhaps never would have known if not for these deployments. Being apart from your spouse is difficult to say the least, but God is faithful and when we are weak, He remains strong. This truth has become an anchor for Julie and I during these times apart. We've learned to support and encourage one another, but to ultimately look to Christ for our daily needs.

I've been keeping busy here in Kuwait at the Warrior Transition Program. We've processed almost every Sailor leaving Iraq as operations there come to an end, and we continue to process Sailors leaving from Afghanistan. In counseling with them I'm reminded again and again of the sacrifices so many men and women of the armed forces make for the cause of freedom. Next time you see one of them, look them in the eye and thank them for their service.

So what else have I been up to?



We had a little Thanksgiving 5k run to make room for turkey and gravy, but we didn't have turkey...


...that's right, Thanksgiving BBQ! I must say, this might be my new Thanksgiving tradition:) It was a blast and the ribs were A-MA-ZING!



Also, I learned about a wood hobby shop here on the base which provides all the lumber and power tools you need to build whatever you can dream up. Awesome! So I started with a fairly simple project, a cutting board for the house. Not too shabby:)



This was just a cool pic from a drive to a neighboring camp here in Kuwait. Not exactly a winter wonderland:/ But hey, maybe I'll be home time to see some snow:)

So I have about six more weeks out here, then back to Norfolk. I'm trying not to "watch the water boil," but I'm pretty excited to get home to my beautiful wife and precious baby girl!

Please pray for me and my family as we will be apart for the rest of this Holiday Season, and we will be sure to pray for you and yours.

God Bless!

Back to Kuwait After R&R

If you've been keeping up, you know that I had my two weeks of R&R this month. This a short break in a long deployment which can be awesome and terrible all at the same time. Awesome because its an opportunity for service members and their families to catch their breath in the middle of a deployment, terrible because it's SO hard to come home after several months knowing that you have to turn around and complete several more months.

People have different theories about the timing of ones R&R, whether it's better to take it in the beginning, middle, or end of deployment. Certainly each option has pros and cons. Julie and I elected to take two weeks just past our halfway point. No particular reason, it just worked out with our vacation reservations.

We had an Awesome time, but after 15 amazing days at home the fun must come to an end. Honestly, its pretty tough so far and I'm just in the airport waiting to fly out to Kuwait:/ I'm sure that once Julie and I slip back into our daily routines the time will fly...we hope:)

I certainly feel more refreshed and energized to get back to work in Kuwait. Seeing Julie and my daughter, Tierzah definitely helped to recharge my batteries. It's gonna be tough but I only have four months left and then Julie and I will be looking at a long deployment free stretch:)

So what did we do on this awesome amazing two week R&R? Glad you asked...I have pictures!

This was our hotel/resort at National Harbor, across the River from D.C.



View of D.C. (Washington Monument center-top) from National Harbor



View of Woodrow Wilson Bridge from National Harbor.



Sushi in Old Town Alexandria.



And of course we rented a Harley for the day...more pics to come on Julie's Facebook:) That was SO much fun!



Took a river tour of D.C.



Gave Tierzah a $400 chew toy. She liked it. Thanks Otter!



Jogged along the Potomac River with Julie:)



Had our first family photo shoot in Baltimore.



Had my first tea party with Tierzah!



Saw rain for the first time in 6 months.



Went to see Les Mis at the Kennedy Center! Amazing!



So you can see we stayed pretty busy, but we cherished every moment and had a blast!

I thank God for my beautiful family and pray He brings me safely home to them.

Stay tuned for November's post. I'll let you know how Julie and I are doing in the second half of the deployment:)

Blessings!

Location:Atlanta

Another Month in Kuwait

Greetings,

    Despite my best efforts to blog more regularly, its been about 5 weeks since my last post. Part of the reason, or at least part of my excuse is that I have been assigned the position of Public Affairs Officer for Navy Central Forward Headquarters Kuwait (NFHK). This billet requires me to do a lot of article writing for the command newsletter and some ghost writing for our Officer in Charge. It's a rewarding job in a lot of ways, but it also saps my energy for blogging. See...that's a good excuse, right?

    I'm excited to share a few highlights from this past month. If you read my post from August, you know that I had the opportunity to travel to Afghanistan. While I didn't do much traveling this month, it has still been event filled. 

    I had the privilege of baptizing one of our Sailors, GM2 Todd Drury. Todd has been regularly attending the weekly church services that we do here at Camp Arifjan and last month he approached me with the desire to be baptized. In the following weeks we organized an informal baptism ceremony for Petty Officer Drury at the local base Chapel.

Several members from the command came out to witness the event, including both the Officer in Charge and the Command Master Chief for NAVCENT Forward Headquarters Kuwait.

Deployments can be a great opportunity for both Sailors and their families to reconnect with, or even discover for the first time, their own spirituality. Having your own faith or spiritual practice can go a long way towards helping you cope with those unique and extraodinary challenges that you are sure to face during deployments.

In other news, I FINALLY got up with the sun to run my first 5k of the deployment...

    MWR hosted a 5k run on September 10th to kick off a series of events in remembrance of 9/11. This picture below was just before the run. I base firefighter is preparing to raise the flag for morning colors.

    Seen below, yours truly. A lonely Sailor in the midst of Army folk:/ I did however find a fellow Shipmate to take this photo:) So far, I've lost 15 pounds on this deployment!!

    I had so much fun on the 9/10 5k that I ran another 5k at a neighboring base on 9/11. Got a very cool t-shirt for 23 minutes of pain.

    If you remember from my previous posts, I've been playing on the base soccer team for the past few months, which has been AWESOME, and I offered to assume the responsibilities of manager/coach when the old guy leaves. This will finally be happening next week and our team is right in the middle of a base-wide soccer tournament, so that will certainly be keeping me busy. 

    Last but not least, we had our change of charge yesterday for Captain Warnock, our OIC. He was relieved by Captain Garcia. I was mostly involved in the Public Affairs side of things; setting up videography/photography, creating the press release for the military, posting pics on the command Facebook page, and other miscellaneous things. Good times. 

  

   

   So all-in-all I guess you could say its been a pretty good month:) Still staying busy and trying to make sure that I use my time here wisely. I'm pretty excited to be well into the month of September since my wife has arranged a lovely vacation at the Wyndham Resort in National Harbor for my R&R at the beginning of October. This will be a two week half-time in my deployment for my wife and I to catch our breath and just enjoy each others company. Obviously I'm REALLY looking forward to that:)

    I owe a big THANKS to so many of you, my friends and family, who continue to support Julie and I during this times of separation. This certainly is one of the more safe and comfortable deployments that I have ever been on, but it is never easy to be away from the woman I love.

    Keep in touch, God bless you all.

Staying Busy

Well, it's been a while. If you hadn't guessed yet from the title, my excuse is that I've been staying busy. No complaints though, anyone who's been through deployments knows that the best way to make the time fly is to stay busy.

Let me share with you a few highlights from last month. First of all, I actually had a chance to travel to Afghanistan!! It was only for a week, but it was an awesome opportunity. 

For those of you who have been keeping up, you know that I'm currently stationed in Kuwait as a Chaplain on staff with the Warrior Transition Program. The WTP is where all of the Navy personnel transition home from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait. Well, it turns out that that General Patraeus' Flag Writer is a Navy Senior Chief, and if you've been watching the news, you know that the General just had his change of command a few weeks ago. So, this Senior Chief was going to have to fly with him back to DC, then come back to Kuwait to go through WTP. Instead of doing that, I took the program to him.

The trip was certainly an epic journey. I left Camp Arifjan, where I am currently stationed, at around 1700 to go to the nearby air base and wait for a flight. I was able to get a seat on a C-130 the next day. While it was nice to catch a flight after less than 24 hours, it was not quite first class. To travel in theatre on a C-130 we have to wear our armored vests and helmets, about 45 lbs worth of sweat provoking gear. In the 120+ degree heat, we sat on the tarmac inside the no AC belly of the aircraft, motors running, waiting for over an hour. Hot, pouring sweat...most uncomfortable I've been since Marine Corps Boot Camp, Paris Island.

We arrived in Kandahar, AFG that evening where I slept on a bench outside until my next flight to Bogram which was scheduled to leave around 0300. It was delayed due to a rocket attack, which I saw and heard, no biggie, thankfully nobody was injured:)

THEN, I spent another 2 nights in Bogram on this lovely luggage rack in the helo terminal...

Finally, three days after leaving Kuwait, I arrived at my destination, ISAF HQ in Kabul, Afghanistan. Whew. Oh wait, I forgot the quick helicopter ride from Bogram to Kabul...Awesome! ~ 60's Rock music playing in the background.

And of course, a short car ride to my final destination...

Seatbelts? Why? Anyways, Once I got there, things immediately started looking up. They put me in VIP berthing where I had a nice comforter, mattress, pillow, and even my own bathroom!!

I had a great time while at ISAF HQ and had some great ministry opportunities with the Sailors there. I even had a chance to witness the change of command with General Petraeus, who is the new Director of the CIA, and USMC General Allen. Nice.

The trip home was more of the same, waiting around for flights, not really sleeping, and learning lots of patience and humility...

So, needless to say, I was pretty excited to be back at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait in my nice cozy tent. However, I'm always looking for another adventure:)

I suppose the next news-worthy item is the base soccer team, of which I am now a member.

We're a pretty good team with lots of talent, and about every other week we play a local national team, or teams from other local commands. The team manager and coach is a Petty Officer that I work with at the WTP. A couple weeks ago he asked me if I would consider taking over the team when he leaves in September, and today I finally agreed. Should be a good time:)

Last but not least, COFFEE!!! As any good Sailor should, I take my coffee seriously. Our command here sells T-shirts each week to classes coming through the program. With those proceeds we decided to purchase 2 nice Keurig coffee machines for staff and re-deployers to use. They are AMAZING!! We call them "The Twins."

Well, thats all for now, plus I have to leave a little to talk about in my next post, whcih will hopefully be sooner than next month;)

Thanks for tuning in. Until nex time, take care and God Bless!

One Month Down...

So this Sunday will mark one month for me here in Kuwait. So far, so good. As I mentioned in my last post, there are more than enough creature comforts on this base to keep service members satisfied during their stay. Granted, being without loved ones is difficult no matter where one is deployed, but as far as quality of life, this is hands down the best deployment I’ve ever had!

Now that I’ve been doing this job out here for a month I honestly feel like the work we’re doing out here is extremely valuable. If I haven’t told you yet, I’m part of the Care Team at the Warrior Transition Program here in Kuwait. As a Chaplain, my responsibilities revolve around providing pastoral care for IA sailors who are re-deploying (heading home) from Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. It’s a unique opportunity to meet sailors who have been doing everything from working in the post office to going on combat patrols.

My original orders involved leading the Mobile Support Team in Afghanistan. Basically, I would travel around to the forward operating bases and provide Chaplain coverage for those forward deployed service members. That all changed about three weeks before my deployment when I received new orders to the Warrior Transition Program here in Kuwait. Originally I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be out on the “front lines,” but again, now that I’ve been here I see the importance of this job as well.

So my wife encouraged me to share some pictures of life out here with all of you. I’ve included a few below to get things started and I’ll try to do better in the coming weeks and months.

This is my briefing tent where I do my workshops with re-deploying sailors. We get 10-20 sailors together and give them an opportunity to share their unique deployment experience, and also provide them with practical counsel for their return home.

Proudly representing the fighting spirit of the Navy! This is our flagpole outside of our main work tent. Since most IA sailors are imbedded with the Army, this gives them a little taste of Navy culture and pride.

Another dirty day in KuwaitJ This is a picture I took just outside of our main work tent. For those who have had the privilege of visiting the Middle East, you know that this scene is not too uncommon.

Well, that’s all for this time. I’ll try to get some more pics to share; maybe I can show you the head, the swimming pool, the gym, and some other points of interest.

Stay tuned…

Greetings from Kuwait

Here we are, day 4 of 270 here in VERY SUNNY Kuwait. Today's temps topped out at 115 with plenty of summer yet to come. I learned an interesting fact today; last summer temps soared to a staggering 150+ breaking previous records in Kuwait! Um...I didn't know it could get that hot on planet earth! I have melted a good pair of boots on a tarmac in Dijibouti, Africa, but it was a mere 130 that day.

So last time I posted we were just about to leave Ft Jackson, SC. The USO and several local vets showed up at the airport to see us off in true patriotic fashion. We were given everything from toothbrush to toilet paper to girl scout cookies...which reminds me, I have some melted Samoa's that need eating in my tent:) Anyways, it was incredibly humbling to have vets there who were amputee's just waiting to send us off. It's true what they say about the bond that develops among service members. After a while, it doesn't matter which branch you served in, what your job was, or what war you did or didn't participate in, there is a very special and unique comaraderie that develops when you serve in uniform.

This past week has been quite a whirlwind, let me try to briefly explain. We began loading buses at Ft Jackson around 0500 on Friday. From there we went straight to the airport where we left around 1100. After a brief layover in Maine, we hopped the pond and landed in Germany where we took on more fuel and hung out for a few hours. We landed in Kuwait around 2pm and by the time we get to our base and got turned loose it was around 630pm. After it was all over we had flown for over 12 hours, traveled by bus another 4 and had another 20 hours of layover, waiting, loading, unloading, and trying to catch some kind of sleep throughout. Yeah, I was jacked up for the first 72hrs in Kuwait.

The base I'm at now, Camp Arifjan, is pretty sweet. You should Google it. We have a Subway, Baskin Robins, KFC, a stinkin Harley Dealer, and OF COURSE my favorite- the Starbizz that I'm sitting in right now as I post this blog! Yeah, deployments have changed quite a bit since I was here in 2003. I definitely had visions of fasting in the wilderness, or at least some elaborate deployment weight loss program, but I was forced to rethink things after my second bag of heavily buttered popcorn which I thoroughly enjoyed during tonights showing of Pirates of the Carribean at the local base theatre. I can do this for 9 months.

This week I'm supposed to start working. As I type, we are receiving folks from both Iraq and Afghanistan who are on their way home from deployment. We'll take them through a series of briefs, workshops, and decompression techniques before they leave for the States. It sounds like a good opportunity to just love on some service members who have been through God knows what, and send them off with their heads held high. I'll definitely have to post this weekend and let you know how it all goes, so stay tuned.