Lotsa Work, and My (Belated) Veteran's Day Commentary

Greetings, Dear Readers...

Sorry for not posting in a while, but when the "new kids" arrived in town, they brought a crapload of problems with them. We'd had it pretty easy with the old brigade, which was settled in and running smoothly when we arrived. Their soldiers weren't perfect, but they didn't seem to commit a lot of serious crimes over here. That made for a boring, but perfectly acceptable situation. No more lazy Sundays watching TV and fishing lately, though, and there's no end in sight. Our office has been receiving RFAs (Requests For Assistance) from the CID office at the stateside post where our new unit is based at a prodigious rate (1-2 per day), and most of these RFAs require travel to an outlying FOB. Our "away game" schedule is beginning to resemble that of the Seattle Mariners.

Veteran's Day in the Sandbox reinforced how fortunate I am to have the very best family, friends, and colleagues possible. "How's that?" you may ask...Well, while there was a lot of nice sentiments expressed on TV shows, concerts, and I'm told places like Applebee's, Famous Dave's BBQ, Krispy Kreme Donuts, and others offered free meals to veterans and active duty folks. But while I've been deployed, y'all have treated me like EVERY day is Veteran's Day. I don't know if I've adequately expressed how much your support has meant to me, between the positive emails, letters, care packages, and phone conversations, but all of your efforts have really kept me sane and grounded during the tough times over here. I've definitely got it much easier than those of you that were engaged in active ground combat, but war is still hell, especially having to be so far away from home. By the way, in honor of Veteran's Day, our Mess Hall served free meals to everyone!