262800 Minutes

Where has the time gone. Oh that’s right it has been here the whole time creeping by, driving me nuts. I can feel the second had on the clock move with every tick. Count out every minute of the day. And that is how I got the title to this blog. For you not paying attention there are 525,600 minutes in a year. So you cut that in half and you get…

Okay so you are all getting the point? I have been here 6 months. And what a fun 6 months it has been. Okay so fun might not be the right choice of wording. I am not saying it has all be terribly bad. I have been to worse places, and have spent harder times in my time in the ARMY. But still, 6 months out here has been a long time. But I am happy to say that we have less than 3 months left in this rotation. And even better news is that I have been told that we will get at least a year and a half back in the rear before we move on to Afghanistan. I was expecting at the most 12 months so that is good. But that time will come soon enough, so we shall leave it for later.

Since I have been in country 6 months, that means that Samantha is now 6 months old. I am shocked and amazed every time I see her on skype or in pictures and videos that Maria sends. She is getting so big so fast.
She is already 2 feet tall, or long. The pictures of her are from her first month of life and then now at 6 months. What a change.





















We are at about the point of time in which we need to all get away from each other. We still get the job done, but if you are around the same people every day you really start to hate everything about everyone. The smallest things set people off, and it almost feels like a lot of the people out here are really trying to mess with other people. Add to that the heat of the day and things can go bad quickly.
And speaking of the heat did I mention that it is getting hot out here. Yet we are all starting to really get accustomed to it. It does not feel nearly as bad as it did last month even though it is just as hot. Las night I went for a walk and thought “gee it is nice out here.” And it was 110. I knew that it was hot and I did break a sweat, but it was almost pleasant. And then last night in my room I turned off my fan because I was cold. I look over at my clock and it is 80 in my room. That is crazy. I am the kind of guy that likes it to be in the 50’s when I sleep. And I was cold in the 80’s. WOW!

On my blog about the sandstorm Rae asked “So when the sand storms come like that do you all have to go in? Do you know when sandstorms are coming?”

It all matters on what kind of storm it is. If it is a dust storm, it is hard to tell when they are coming in. The distant horizon is always hazy and dusty. So you really don’t see the dust coming in. But the sand storms like I pictured are much easier to see. The one that I took photos of I saw 8 miles in to a 10 mile loop. I had time to jog the last 2 miles back to my room find my camera, get a drink and then took the pics. But I got them at the last second. Right after I took the shots I closed my door and within about 20 seconds could hear the sand hitting my room. With both storms you try to stay inside as much as you can, but I think you all know that it is not always possible for us. Some days you just have to eat the sand. And I really do mean that. Today was a light dust storm and I walked my mile to and from chow through it. My food was wrapped, but the dust finds a way in. You kind of get used to it. I just hope it is not hurting my teeth too bad. I have only been stuck out once during a real bad sand storm. And we just kind of hunkered down. You put on goggles and a face wrap and hope it passes soon. But it can be really dangerous. The sand can cut your skin up some times.
The joys of the desert.


How is your running going? If you look at my Running to Disneyland you will notice that I am almost to California. Less then 20 miles to the border. I will be there soon.

Well for now that is all.

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