Leavin on a jet plane.....

I am finally done. Bags are packed room is cleaned out. Leaving here sometime this afternoon depending on weather. The unfortunate side of my camp is it is a dirt/gravel runway soooo.... when it rains alot like it did all night last night the runway gets a little soft. Needless to say I really hope that the sun dries the place out... what am i talking about of course the sun will dry it out. I never thought I could experience humidity in a place such as this. I was way wrong lol apparently this place being where its at all the water runs into it making it humid at times. I am so ready to be home though. But at the same time we finally started doing some good here. We finally got together with the army unit we were supposed to be supporting the whole time I was here, and helped them find alot of stuff which hopefully saved lives. Well I may or may not have internet before I get totally home so I will leave for now but will try to keep it up when I t return back to the got ol U.S. of A.

Faux Burgers..... bleh

Ok so I know that I am in afghanistan and i know that the food isn't going to be gourmet.... that being said, I really don't like veggie burgers or what ever the hell these things are. Iam pretty sure it used to be beef, or at least a meat based product. Now I just don't know. I eat one and within minutes I have crazy stomach cramps and cant stand the smell of myself. Unfortunatly for me i slept through lunch. We were up really early this morning and were flying through breakfast. So when I got back I was burning some stuff on to a disk and passed out face down on the bed for an hour or so. I woke up and it was well past lunch time, so I took my laundry in to get cleaned and went to what we affectionatly call the "Fat Shack". Which usually has a wide assortment of things not healthy... hence the nickname. I got a bacon cheese burger and fries.... they are seasoned, not like Red Robin Steak fries but they are better than normal fries. Although these had obviously been sitting out for a while. On the way there I saw the internet guru's and seeing as my internet had run out today i asked if they did a pro-rate for just a few days. They said yes.. So lucky me I will have the internet for the next few days for about a dollar a day. It was a nice little suprise. Its saturday afternoon and I leave my camp here in two and a half to three days, depending on flights out. I am ready to come home. Eat a fat steak and drink a beer.... although I think more than all of that I want some normal milk and cheese and some really good pizza. Kind of a dair freak, god forbid I become lactose intolerant. Well I at least feel sorry for everyone else around me becuase i will refuse to stop eating it. Well there really isnt' alot else going on in my life so I will sign off for now. Need to start strategizing with my suitcases as to how I am going to pack the most efficiently.

She's goin down....

Well been a couple days since I posted anything. We have been busy, which is good. We have finally gotten integrated with the military... only took 3 months to do so. I think alot of that had to do with our military liason not quite doing his job. We had a sit down with him last week and told him how we were feeling as far as him not doing his job and that he should let us do more. Low and behold the next week we are doing stuff that is actually important. Its baby steps but its at least in the right direction. The unit we are working for is stoked to have us and the fact that they can sit up with us and watch our video and see our perspective on things really makes them happy.
On similar note a couple days ago we were flying and had two of our three aircraft flying at the same time. Well just as they were getting ready to land them one of the biggest sandstorms I have been through blew through... they were recording 70+ mph winds and sand all over the place. Amazingly enough both planes landed safely on the runway. Fast forward a few days and I was flying a mission today... beautiful day, hardly any clouds, no big winds, having the "perfect" day.... well until my warning lights started lighting up and heads up display was doing circles and loops, which is basicall a video game like look at what the plane is doing. It dropped about 1000 ft. in a matter of seconds.... destroyed... it was crazy. I really have no idea as to what happend, I did look at the sensor reading when we first started to look crazy and the winds up at altitude were posting 128 kts. Which is crazy fast and strong. If that is what it really was I must have found the worlds smalles tornado becuase the guys that were on the ground said that nothing seemed out of the ordinary... either the winds or one of the pigeons in the area (save that story other time) was getting its revenge on me. Not to mention that myself and this particular aircraft really didn't get along that well... I pretty much hated that plane. And I made sure to let it know all the time. So as much as I didn't like seeing us crash a plane I was really really happy it was that one. It had given us so many problems it was ridiculous, it spent more time on the table getting repaired than it did flying. Well enough for now. I think I am going to try and get a nap in. Been up since before I wanted to and had a fairly adrenaline filled day.

Happy Fathers Day

Well first let me say Happy Fathers Day.... while I am not yet a father (to my knowledge), i would like to express my thanks to those men who are. I was able to call my dad and talk to him for a little while which was nice. He was happy that I am coming home soon. I know that its been rough on him and the whole family me being gone all the time. But i am glad that he has been around to see it. I know he is proud of my accomplishments and that I have turned out ok. I know that I was a little difficult growing up and am probably the reason he went grey as early as he did. So in kind of a reflection for dad today I will tell a couple stories that will stick with me for the rest of my life. The first one being I have only seen my dad cry twice.... he is a true mans man. Works in the woods driving a log truck, putting in crazy long days up at 2-3 in the morning and at home by 5-6 at night just to provide for us, I have had a good life growing up. I don't think that I was ever without something that I needed/wanted (within reason). If you didn't know myself and my little sister were adopted, but even though I have known my whole life that I was I have never felt as though i was not loved as part of the biological family. My dad and his brother were adopted as well. Well back to my stories, only seen him cry twice..... even after he had a tree fall on his leg and he was in walking cast for quite a while I never heard/saw him cry. The day I graduated HS, my parents were toward the front row so i could look out and see them all... My mom, dad, sister and grandma. Sister was only 9 so she was doing her thing probably bored out of her skull wanting to go home and watch the Spice Girls Movie for the millionth time. My mom and grandma were both there smiling. And then I looked at my dad.... He was sitting there very stoic.... just watching taking in everything that was going on. He looked at me and I saw him brush his face. I didn't think anything of it at first... then after the ceremony I was saying goodbye to my classmates becuase I was leaving in 2 days unkown when I would see most if any again. And I went up to my dad he gave me a huge hug and he was choked up and .... crying. He said that he wanted me to know how proud he was of me.... I lost it. i was doing good up till that point but I started crying. I tear up now as I sit here typing, becuase it meant so much to hear that. And this was not too long after he was given the clear from the doctor after a bout with Melenoma, so it was really nice to hear that from him. The second story was when I dropped the bombshell that I had joined the army. I was 23 was at home for my birthday dinner over memorial day weekend 2003. I was scared shitless to tell them. Becuase at this point Afghanistan had been going on for almost 2 years and Iraq had just kicked off 2 months prior. We had just finished dinner and we were eating dessert, I said " I have something to tell you guys" I had the paperwork in my back pocket... for proof becuase I knew they wouldn't beleive me. I told them my mom was so upset she left the room and was crying. My sister ran up stairs crying she was 14 now as she ran upstairs she yelled to me "great now you are going to get shot and killed!". My dad sat there at the table mulling it over in his head... he didn't say anything for a few minutes.... he turned to me and said...." son, you know you could die right?" Yes..." you know you might have to kill someone right?" Yes.... well you have my blessing, I don't like it but I am damn proud of you for doing this.... I know it was hard for him and everyone but I have 3 deployments plus this contract under my belt and knock on wood I have made it home each time with a few close calls but I have come home none the less.
So I will end here today, but I have been thinking alot today and i just want you to know dad that I love you and am very thankful to have you as my father.

Found it.....

Sleep that is. I finally got some well deserved sleep! I took a nap yesterday afternoon from 3 pm till 10 pm and woke up was awake for a couple hours and got back to sleep around 1 am and slept till after 6. My body had finally just had enough... granted I am still tired though. I can't stop yawning. So I only have 12 days left over here.... I am pretty excited. Very ready to be home. I feel like I have almost no time though when I do get back. I come home to a very busy 4th of July weekend. Seeing as I am just getting home there will be alot of visiting to do. Got a buddies 30th birthday to go to, parents and family to visit. Then I have to jump right in and try and figure out my national guard schedual. A lot of factors are going on there. I may or may not be doing jumps when I get back the second week of July. If I am I have to postpone my trip I want to do a week. If I am not I would like to know so I can do the trip and not feel as rushed..... So we shall see what happens. Also my parents are having their 40th wedding anniversary this year on the 17th of July. I was going to try and do something for them but my mom insisted that it just be low key. Which I suppose is fine, so that factors into it all too, weather or not I stick around for that or if I go down early and take them to dinner. I don't know.... Still trying to figure out if I want to ride the motorcycle accross country or take the truck. I think it will come down to if I find bike bags or not. So I guess I will have something to do tonight. So until next time stay classy... planet earth

Hello Sleep? Yeah this is Brendan.... please come over

So I am sitting here on my bed... yes on my bed. I would love to be laying in my bed but I am wide awake. This has been my life for the past week or so... I can't seem to sleep longer than two to three hours at a time. Now I don't really know why that is but its really really frustrating. And this really doesn't help my over active mind.... I am sitting here trying to figure out what I want to do when i get home. I have all these grandiose plans but on the same token I don't know what I will be doing for a job when i get home. So I can't just up and spend all the money now can I? I need to find a place to live, I would love to buy a house. I need to fix the truck, I would love to put more stuff on the truck. I want to go out and visit friends on the East Coast, do I fly? I would love to drive, and if I drive would I take the truck at 10 MPG or the bike with less room to carry stuff.... These are just a few of the things floating around in my head at the moment.
On a different note. I am in the National Guard, I joined the guard becuase I really wanted a H.A.L.O slot... I made it halfway there. I am on a Freefall team, but I have not been around enough to get a school slot. I need to get together with my team when I get home. I feel like there is a plan but I just don't know what it is, which is a big reason I got off of active duty in the first place. And my Evil Kenevil stunts on the bike earlier today are really starting tighten up.... And I really have no one to blame but myself for being a dumbass. Well I think I have ranted enough.

Just Like Riding a Bike!!!

Ok so after reading through some friends blogs and finally getting that bored I have decided to start one of my own. I also came to a slight epiphany today... the saying " Just like riding a bike". What happens when you go to ride said bike? Well you crash. I found this out not once but twice today. Apparently what I used to do and what I am capable of doing are two seperate items. I didn't hurt myself too bad, really just my pride and ego that were the most injured. I am sitting here in the beautiful country of Afghanistan and really I am just stuck on this base. Luckily its not super crowded and its not a tiny base so I do have some freedom to move around. Although cabin fever has set in many months ago... ok so I have only been here for 3 months but it set in none the less. I am set to go home in a couple weeks, and looking forward to it. Although I am not really sure what life has in store for me then. So for the mean time I will enjoy what I have and continue to get back on the bike. Although I have been put in time out by my co-workers... their excuse was that they don't want to have to explain to the boss why I am all laid up in the hospital. Its not like I am accident prone or anything... well ok so maybe a little. I am hoping that I can keep up on this blogging thing but who knows.
On a completly different note. I did get the crap scared out of me today. Sitting in the house and hear a noise of what sounds like an incoming rocket.... only this one was super loud. Kinda figured that it was game over, but soon after the first there was another and another and another... it almost sounded like a really low jet flying over our house. Ran out side and it was our side shooting rockets at who knows what but needless to say the heart rate was seriously up on that one. I have also found that I really don't like switching from night shifts to day shifts. I probably went to bed at 0230 and got woken up at 0430 from what I don't know. But I was wide awake. I haven't been back to sleep yet.... I do love sleep too. I am hoping to take a small nap today. But my dumbass drank an energy drink so I am going to have to wait for that to wear off before I try. Well until next time... keep riding that bike.