Life on the Vine

A Brief Foreward:   In the past three weeks I've worked with our local VA hospital to surprise our Hometown Hero, who will fly with the USAF Thunderbirds at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base's upcoming Air Show.  Attended my last Military Affairs Committee event, which highlighted the Navy and Marine Corps facility located on DM.  Lined up a final Airman for an on-court 'Hero of the Game' recognition at the University of Arizona Basketball game.  Did three read aheads for Wing leadership, who were attending off-base community events.  And conducted my final civic leader tour, which was for military leadership and community leaders from Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. As all of this has been happening, I've been doing a lot of reflecting because yesterday was my final out at DM.  Actually, my final out working for the Department of Defense.  I'm just one month shy of 22 years.  Next Monday I'll in-process my new job with the U.S. Department of...

If all goes according to plan I will be heading home next week.  On the same flight as me will be our G3 (Operations) Movements NCO, SSG Lovato.  Who is redeploying after a year+ deployment.  We (the Public Affairs Office) wanted to give him a special farewell gift...something for him to remember us by.  So we got creative.  Below is one of the pictures we took.  It's not actually the one we gave him but it's the one I happen to have in my personal e-mail account.  We titled it "What do you mean our movement request was denied?"  We made signs with destinations like Thailand, Margaritaville, EuroDisney, Hollywood, and New York City. We had Sunday off here for Memorial Day.  Regarding our work week...Fridays and Saturdays are our weekends and Sundays are our Mondays.  Thus our holiday being on Sunday.  Well, on Sunday we had a really nice BBQ with steak, chicken, homemade macaroni and cheese, baked beans, a veggie and fruit tray,...

Sorry it's been a while since I posted a blog.  Time is going by quickly here as my time is starting to wind down.  I've been staying pretty busy in the evenings with my exercise classes and walks.  Also, I got pretty sick a few weeks ago.  I was referring to it as "the situation." It took about a week and a half before I started feeling better. It is starting to warm up here in Baghdad.  I have stopped wearing jeans!  This morning it was almost 90 degrees at 7:30 and yesterday it got up to at least 106 degrees.  I know this is only a preview of what July and August will be like.  When we travel we have to wear long sleeve shirts.  Knowing this and knowing I would be redeploying in early June I purchased a thin cotton shirt that rolls up into a short-sleeve shirt.  I'm hoping it will help make my trip on the C-130 a bit more bearable.  That may be wishful thinking.   I have sent two boxes home and have cleaned my r...

Wanted to post a blog just so everyone knows that I'm still here and doing well.  I've gotten back into the daily routine of a 7-day work week and have actually started a new routine too, a heart healthy one!  :) I'll get to the healthy one in a minute but one of my standing routines for the last 13 weeks has been facilitating a women's Bible study at the Combat Support Hospital chapel.  The study is called "Live Fearlessly: A study in the book of Joshua" by Lenya Heitzig and Penny Rose.  The study is the same one the ladies at Calvary Chapel O'Fallon, Mo., are doing right now.  If I hadn't deployed I would have been going through the study with them.   Well, I was praying before I came over about my desire to participate in a women's Bible study and maybe find a group of ladies interested in doing the Joshua study with me.  Tommy order copies of the study and had them sent over, and our chaplain, Daniel Middlebrooks, was all for the study,...

Things couldn't have gone smoother with my return from R&R.  I arrived back in the IZ the morning of Palm Sunday, even got to attend service that evening.  We had a wonderful sunrise service yesterday for Easter.  I'll see if I can get some photos to share here.    As for my return from R&R probably the one thing I was looking the least forward to was the possibility of having to stay overnight in Kuwait.  Our flight landed in Kuwait at 5 p.m., and we were greeted by a local team that takes care of all the transportation of Gulf Region Division employees to and from the airport.  They also help get us manifested on the military flights that are traveling into Iraq. When the team picked us up they asked if we wanted to get out that night.  There was a midnight flight.  Well, we were all for that and after getting to the air base and picking up our protective gear, we only had to wait a few hours for our flight.nnThe flight was...

Just wanted to let everyone know I have started the lengthy process of returning to Iraq. With travel stretching across two days, taking things in steps is really the best way for me to get through the process. Step 1 is hardest particularly because it involves saying good-bye to Tom and getting mentally ready for the separation and returning to Iraq. Step 1 ends when I make it to D.C. Step 2 is my 12+ hour flight to Kuwait (fortunately traveling east is faster...my flight home on the 17th was 14 hours long) and then getting transportation to the air base. Step 3 is probably an over night in Kuwait and hopefully a flight into Baghdad the next day. Then once I get to Baghdad I still have to get transportation across town to the IZ...Step 4. My time home went by extremely fast. I took it easy and spent a lot of time at the house. It is the first time I've had this much time off and been home. Usually when I take leave it is because I'm traveling somewhere or there is ...

This will be my last post for a few weeks. And it's going to be short and sweet. I'm heading home tomorrow for some rest and relaxation with my honey and fuzzy kids. I should be back in Iraq in early April. It's been a busy few days. Yesterday we had a St. Patrick's Day parade around GRD compound. GRD is being supported by the 416 th Engineer Command right now and many of the Soldiers are from the Chicago area. We were "adopted" by Chicago's South Side Irish Parade committee and a group called ComPadres . They sent us tons of fun St. Patty's Day paraphernalia . PAO did a float for the parade. We also got some great media coverage. A Reuters photographer covered the morning 5K and 10K walk/run races and a visit to the hospital to give wounded warriors some of the donated items. We also had a reporter from AFP (a French version of the Associated Press) cover the parade. The link below will take you to the resulting article. Enjoy the photos...

Last week I traveled across town to Victory Base Complex to attend a day of orientation briefings on Multi-National Force - Iraq. While the Gulf Region Division has roots to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, GRD is considered a major subordinate command of MNFI. The training was held in Al Faw Palace, which is the headquarters of MNFI . The palace is extremely beautiful and the pictures I'm attaching do not do it justice. I thought about bringing my own camera that day but I decided to leave it because truthfully I didn't think we'd be allowed to take pictures in the palace. Well, I was wrong, but fortunately one of our branch chiefs, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, brought his and he took a few pictures for me. If I get a chance to go again I'll be sure to take my camera. The lighting inside the building is really tricky for a point-and-shoot camera so please forgive the blurry aspects of the photos. Al Faw Palace was one of eight palaces u...

Several weeks ago I received a box from my Aunt Almeda. Inside were about 14 little black fabric pouches that sealed with Velcro. I could tell that my aunt had made them. They were pretty cool. Inside were chocolates, hand sanitizer, beef jerky, and chap stick. All stuffed by my Grandpa and Uncle Paul. I added a few things to the pouches, some alcohol swabs and Crystal Light powder to flavor water. My family's intent was for me to find some soldiers to give the care bags to. Occasionally there are units of soldiers that pull up in front of our headquarters building, either taking a break, grabbing some coffee or waiting to pick up VIPs. After I got the pouches I started praying that the Lord would bring along the perfect unit who I could give the gifts to. Well, Monday I was on my way into the office in the morning (note my wet hair in one of the pictures) and I saw a group of vehicles parked outside on the main road. I guessed by the vehicles that they were military police and...

Last week I helped "stir the pot" as a traditional dish called "Hereesah" was made at the GRD compound. I'm told that during the first two months of the Islamic lunar calendar it is tradition to prepare and cook Hereesah. Its main ingredients are barley and meat cooked together in a large pot until all the ingredients resemble a creamy smooth texture...think oatmeal but a little stringy. Adding to the oatmeal analogy is the fact that the dish is garnished with sugar, cinnamon and butter. The food is then distributed to the "community" as an act of sharing and solidarity. Tradition is that everyone takes part in the preparation by stirring the pot and making a wish. For the last two years the dish has been prepared at GRD HQ in the International Zone. They prepare the dish to symbolize unity between GRD and Iraq. I heard it described that like the ingredients of Hereesh being melted together in one pot that the differences in Iraq would be melted ...

The Gulf Region Division is headquarters for three districts, Gulf Region South, Central and North. When I was in Iraq the first time (November 2004 - March 2005), I was the Public Affairs Officer for the district in the north. One thing about being at the Division level is there are less opportunities to travel, which my husband and family probably don't mind in the slightest. The least amount of traveling I do the better. But that means I have to live vicariously through others. In January employees from the Gulf Region South district took some toys and soccer balls to students attending Dar Al-Amal, a hearing-impaired school in Basra. The school’s headmaster, Wafaa Mohammed, said, “Today is very special for them. The kids are very happy to see you. We get very few such visits and your kind gesture means a lot to them. It tells them they are important and people really care.” The 28-year-old facility has eight classrooms where 25 teachers instruct 130 hearing-impaired stu...