Spring seems to be coming to central Texas. We have a couple days in the 70s, thunderstorms and warm sun. I continue to check off boxes to complete my in-processing. By this time, next week will have everything done. Once my new orders come in, they will be ready to start my out-processing into the Orlando CBWTU. They are telling me that then once Orlando accepts me; I will go there, spend about a week in-processing then go home for surgery and recovery. Anything I have said sound redundant, overkill?
They put another Soldier in my housing area yesterday. There are three sleeping rooms with a common area with bathroom, vanity and kitchen. Seems like a nice person, will see how it goes.
Washington DC continues to ignore the people and march to their own drum. Here are the latest Rasmussen polls.
• Daily presidential tracking -21, 22% strongly approve, 42% strongly disapprove Of his job performance
• 53% oppose to health care plan
• 57% predict the health care plan will hurt the economy
The health care bill continues to be a huge government takes over of our country. They continue to use the same over 2000 page albatross, adding a little vague language to try to show they included the Republicans. The Democrats want to run every part of our lives; this is one case showing that. Of my three representatives in Washington, two are Republican Rep. Mica, Senator LeMieux and one Democrat Senator Nelson. Rep. Mica is committed to not letting this bill go through; Senator LeMieux at this point is committed also. Senator Nelson continues to spew the Democratic talking points. I do not believe he is listening to his constituents, that he is hearing to vote for it.
I have sent numerous emails to all three about the health care bill, jobs bill, climate change bill, and the stimulus bill. Rep. Mica and Senator LeMieux continue to give me responses stating they do not support these bills and why, and vote that way. Senator Nelson replies with bragging on what he is doing and the Democratic talking points, never giving straight answers to my questions and requests. He continues to vote party lines.
All I request is to stop deficit spending, pay for what you spend, decrease government, and stop earmarks (pork, bribes). Senator Nelson has a bribe in the health care bill. I am really watching the jobs bill today; it is reported to add over 100 billion to the debt. I want to help the jobless and do not mind, but just pay for it! I will support any of my representatives 110% if they would just be responsible, stop debt spending and listen to us! In addition, I have told them that.
I believe we have let Washington take control of us. We have let them concentrate on their re-elections and not represent us. They, both parties, put earmarks in bills to put money in their states, which is good, but only goes to buy votes. They hide unpopular bills in bigger bills to get their way against the people’s wishes.
Two things we could do to stop most of this, term limits and line item veto for the President. However, both of these will be hard to do because it upsets their gravy train. We have too many lawyers, attorneys and others that have never run a business where they have to operate under the laws we do or make a profit. The President keeps attacking the Health Insurance Companies about making record profits, raising their rates just to make money. According to Yahoo Finance August of 2009 hospitals have a profit margin of 3.6% and healthcare plans 3.3% ranking them in the 80 of the top 100 industries. Brewers make 25.9%, software companies 22.7% and Cigarettes 17.4% just to name a few of the top industries. So do those terrible criminal Insurance companies sound so bad? This shows that Washington knows nothing about running a business and distorts facts to push their agenda. In addition, the worst part, the main news media does not report the distorted facts because they are in bed with the Democrats.
Lets look at some more facts, what did the President promise to do when he became President.
• He would not sign any bills with earmarks. That did not last.
• He would not have lobbyist in his White House again that did not last.
• The health care bill debate would be on C-Span.
• He would reach across the isle to the Republicans that has not happened. The President and Democrats kept the Republicans out of any development of bills until they lost the super majority with Brown elected to the Massachusetts Senate seat when Kennedy died. Then all of a sudden, President wants to meet and talk with Republicans.
• He would not raise any kind of tax on the middle class, what are Cap and Trade and Health Care going to do. Any taxes raised on corporations will be passed onto the consumer, middle, the lower class and us.
These are facts, the promises can be viewed in his own words on you tube. Now for a little opinion, if ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, AP, and the other news media had not been in bed with President Obama’s campaign and reported his background, beliefs and history as a state and federal representative he may not have been elected president. Those main street media just let him say anything he wanted, did no fact checking or research like they do for other candidates. They forced Senator McCain to verify his citizenship, but not Obama. He was probably born in Hawaii, but we do not know because he has never released his original birth certificate and has spent millions of dollars to keep it hidden. If there is nothing to hide, why not release it, it may not be that he was born elsewhere, but something is not right and he wants hidden. Where is the transparency, another thing he promised?
Let me know what you think.
Randy
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
DEPLOYMENT THOUGHTS
Another rainy day in Ft. Hood, Texas. I have now been here a month, not sure how much longer I will be here.
I spent 20 lovely months in Iraq, and have many good memories both in country and at home. One of the biggest successes and life changers was my wonderful wife Robyn received her surgery February of 2009, it was a long journey for her as she went through many appointments and calls to finally get it set up. She has now lost over 140 pounds and is adjusting to her new life.
My daughters also reached milestones while I was gone. Rachel graduated from high school and has started college at Daytona Beach State College and is doing an outstanding job. Randi graduated from Paramedic School and is still working for EVAC as a Paramedic. She also is doing an outstanding job, getting many compliments from other Paramedics, nurses and hospital staff on her patient care, compassion and dedication. She worked full time nights as an EMT and attended Paramedic school during the day, this was very hard but paid off. RaDonna graduated from Nursing School and is working at Florida Hospital Flagler in the emergency department. She is also doing an outstanding job and getting many complements. She is currently pursuing her BSN which is great, I waited way too long to do that. I cannot express in words how proud I am of my family! They have done a great job in my absence. Maybe being so busy has helped them cope and not miss me so much.
Robyn’s mother Margaret moved in with us before I deployed. She has been a real blessing to Robyn and the girls while I have been gone. It has been a pleasure having her there.
My sister Susie has had an exciting time while I have been gone. Last year she had open heart surgery, and had 4 vessels replaced. She is doing well now, retired from KTA and adjusting to not working. I think as soon as her body adjusts to not working nights and crazy shifts she will do great.
I has been my honor and privilege to serve my country in Iraq. I have also been humbled by the dedication, commitment and sacrifice by the Soldiers, Marines and Sailors who go outside the wire everyday serving their country and fighting the insurgents. It has been quite an experience serving the sick and injured military, civilian contractors and local people. I have participated in making a difference in their lives and Soldiers home to their loved ones.
It was a valuable experience for me getting to work at three different bases. The time I spent in Mosul was the most dangerous for our hospital. COB Diamondback and COB Marez received rocket fire many times during our stay there. We had the one attack Christmas day 2008 where a rocket landed in our living area and killed one of our FST physicians and wounded two others. COB Speicher where I spent my time with the 47th CSH received rockets several times during my stay but it is so big they all landed in a open area until just before we left, and one hit next to the ladies shower and wounded three of our nurses. They were minor wounds, could have been much more deadly. Luckily they use old rockets and cannot aim them very well.
I made many friends during this time and I am sure our friendship will last a lifetime. Each hospital united a group of Soldiers into a unique bond. I will not try to name anyone because I will miss someone and do not want to upset someone. I don’t know if sometime down the road that we might have a reunion, many of these Soldiers are in Florida yet and many are spread over the country. For the 345th, we had Soldiers from 44 States filling our unit. With the 47th, we had nurses from all most all the major posts in the States and Germany.
I really planned on being home now, with my feet kicked up on leave, getting acquainted again with my family and getting ready to go back to work at the ED. But since I fell in December and hurt my shoulder, I am still at Ft. Hood awaiting paperwork assigning me to the CBWTU so I can go home and get my shoulder fixed and recover there. They are saying it will take four to six months for my should to heal and get released back to full duty. Since this happened in Iraq, in this program I will get fixed and recover on orders, getting paid by the Army.
It is difficult to be so close to home yet so far away. God gives us challenges for us to grow. Guess I am getting a class in patience. Couple things that help here and was such a blessing in Iraq is the internet and Skype. Being able to communicate with my family most everyday was instrumental in keeping in touch with my family and friends.
I will continue to attend mandatory briefings and appointments while waiting for acceptance into CBWTU, patiently, and look forward in getting home. I am thankful for the experiences I have had over the last 21 months and look forward in the future.
The prayers and support from family, friends, church and work have been and continue to be priceless. Thank you all so much!
Randy
I spent 20 lovely months in Iraq, and have many good memories both in country and at home. One of the biggest successes and life changers was my wonderful wife Robyn received her surgery February of 2009, it was a long journey for her as she went through many appointments and calls to finally get it set up. She has now lost over 140 pounds and is adjusting to her new life.
My daughters also reached milestones while I was gone. Rachel graduated from high school and has started college at Daytona Beach State College and is doing an outstanding job. Randi graduated from Paramedic School and is still working for EVAC as a Paramedic. She also is doing an outstanding job, getting many compliments from other Paramedics, nurses and hospital staff on her patient care, compassion and dedication. She worked full time nights as an EMT and attended Paramedic school during the day, this was very hard but paid off. RaDonna graduated from Nursing School and is working at Florida Hospital Flagler in the emergency department. She is also doing an outstanding job and getting many complements. She is currently pursuing her BSN which is great, I waited way too long to do that. I cannot express in words how proud I am of my family! They have done a great job in my absence. Maybe being so busy has helped them cope and not miss me so much.
Robyn’s mother Margaret moved in with us before I deployed. She has been a real blessing to Robyn and the girls while I have been gone. It has been a pleasure having her there.
My sister Susie has had an exciting time while I have been gone. Last year she had open heart surgery, and had 4 vessels replaced. She is doing well now, retired from KTA and adjusting to not working. I think as soon as her body adjusts to not working nights and crazy shifts she will do great.
I has been my honor and privilege to serve my country in Iraq. I have also been humbled by the dedication, commitment and sacrifice by the Soldiers, Marines and Sailors who go outside the wire everyday serving their country and fighting the insurgents. It has been quite an experience serving the sick and injured military, civilian contractors and local people. I have participated in making a difference in their lives and Soldiers home to their loved ones.
It was a valuable experience for me getting to work at three different bases. The time I spent in Mosul was the most dangerous for our hospital. COB Diamondback and COB Marez received rocket fire many times during our stay there. We had the one attack Christmas day 2008 where a rocket landed in our living area and killed one of our FST physicians and wounded two others. COB Speicher where I spent my time with the 47th CSH received rockets several times during my stay but it is so big they all landed in a open area until just before we left, and one hit next to the ladies shower and wounded three of our nurses. They were minor wounds, could have been much more deadly. Luckily they use old rockets and cannot aim them very well.
I made many friends during this time and I am sure our friendship will last a lifetime. Each hospital united a group of Soldiers into a unique bond. I will not try to name anyone because I will miss someone and do not want to upset someone. I don’t know if sometime down the road that we might have a reunion, many of these Soldiers are in Florida yet and many are spread over the country. For the 345th, we had Soldiers from 44 States filling our unit. With the 47th, we had nurses from all most all the major posts in the States and Germany.
I really planned on being home now, with my feet kicked up on leave, getting acquainted again with my family and getting ready to go back to work at the ED. But since I fell in December and hurt my shoulder, I am still at Ft. Hood awaiting paperwork assigning me to the CBWTU so I can go home and get my shoulder fixed and recover there. They are saying it will take four to six months for my should to heal and get released back to full duty. Since this happened in Iraq, in this program I will get fixed and recover on orders, getting paid by the Army.
It is difficult to be so close to home yet so far away. God gives us challenges for us to grow. Guess I am getting a class in patience. Couple things that help here and was such a blessing in Iraq is the internet and Skype. Being able to communicate with my family most everyday was instrumental in keeping in touch with my family and friends.
I will continue to attend mandatory briefings and appointments while waiting for acceptance into CBWTU, patiently, and look forward in getting home. I am thankful for the experiences I have had over the last 21 months and look forward in the future.
The prayers and support from family, friends, church and work have been and continue to be priceless. Thank you all so much!
Randy
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
SNOWY DAY IN FT. HOOD
Greetings, I have been gone too long. It is hard to get time to blog when traveling and limited internet. I am sitting in my room at Ft. Hood today, watching the snow, yes watching the snow outside. It is a heavy wet snow. The ground is warm enough that the roads are wet, slosh in low areas and snow on the grass and trees. Actually quite beautiful if I was up North, not what you expect in South Central Texas. The Post has closed down except for essential services. The DFAC (dinning facility) close to me is only about 1 ½ blocks away, walked there for lunch.
I did not get to make any of my appointments today or see the people I needed to, should not have any real impact. Will be a full day tomorrow trying to be where I need to for Wednesday and make up for today.
Bloomberg is reporting Consumer Confidence is down to a 10 month low of 46, it was expected to be 55 at this point. Stocks fell and Treasuries gained after the confidence report also showed attitudes about current conditions fell to the lowest level in 27 years and the outlook for wages dimmed. I am so glad we keep spending billions of dollars to fix all this.
Climate Change, or the Global Warming Farce! It seems Al Gore and his pet making him rich project continues to run aground. A big Climate Scientist has recanted his paper on rising ocean levels. Seems he has now found mistakes in his calculations. Senator Inhofe is calling for Al Gore to come back and testify about his film and accusations. It seems that since all the emails came out showing that many of the studies were flawed, they have to re-look at their figures and admit they don’t really know what is going on. Especially when you look at the record winter the North half of the planet is having. Of course their answer is that Global Warming causes increase in the winter precipitation, yea right. Continue to write, call, or email your congressman and senator to vote against any climate change bills currently in the system. These are only tax and control bills to further put us under government control.
Health Care: President Obama has put out his version of the Health Care Bill, it is more taxing, still has abortion funding and cost will be about one trillion dollars. There should be no funding for abortion by federal funds, nada!! Any taxes or fees will be passed on to consumers so this will tax all people, which is against what President Obama promised. This bill needs to be put in the shredder and start over. All the earmarks, pork, favors, bribes, etc need to be taken out. Several simple things could be done to reform health care, TORT reform, no cap on coverage, no cancellations and no pre-existing conditions. Portability from state to state for policies. We cannot take out the business side of health care, insurance companies, hospitals, physicians, clinics need to be allowed to make a profit. The government does not know how to make a profit, they only know how to spend. Call, write, email your congressman and senators and tell them not to support this bill but to start over.
Want to make jobs, bring economy back? Stop deficit spending! Stop taxing! Call, write, email your congressman and senators, tell them to STOP THE SPENDING! We cannot run our house or business the way the government is. They should take the money that has not been spent in the stimulus bill and put it back, and not use the TARP money that is almost all repaid for anything! We could strengthen the dollar and bring the economy back if they would stop spending and show restraint. We have plenty of government programs, more likely too many! We need less government, less taxes, and people, businesses, corporations will spend more money and create jobs. All the president and congress want to do is spend money and grow government. We need to let them know we want them to stop and will vote any of them out that don’t! We need term limits, stop career politicians!!! It was unfortunate that Senator Kennedy and Representative Murtha passed away this year. I know it was very sad to their families. But we all start dying the day we are born. Now new people are coming into the seats they held for so long. We, I say again We need to change politicians, and change the way they do business. If we show them we are serious we can bring this country back to prosperity.
Tea Partiers, they are not bad people like the major news media would like us to think. They are everyday people from all walks of life who are tired of the way the politicians are running our country. They are not violent and only want to be heard. The Democrats are running scared and the only way the liberals know how to fight when they don’t want to defend there out of control policies and spending is to personally attack others.
Islamic Terrorist: We are in a battle for our lives, literally!! This battle is not going away. Unfortunately the current administration want to water down the issue, treat these terrorist like common criminals. The published account of the Ft. Hood shooting does not address the Muslim background of the shooter. The jihad act he took. They now have two interpreters hired by the DOD planning to poison food supply at a base. The Christmas underwear bomber, treated like a common thief, given Miranda Rights, stopped talking until his parents got him to cooperate. They will keep coming until they are stopped. We are their enemy because we are not Muslim and do not believe like them, we cannot befriend them.
We need to be strong, stick to our beliefs, understand what our founding fathers wanted and stick to the constitution. We need to stop holding our hands out to the government and expect them to take care of us. We have to be allowed to fail, we have to be responsible and take responsibility for our actions. We need to spend our monies on appropriate things, if we cannot afford something, save for it. It is not the governments responsibility to provide for us when we have not money left after getting huge plasma TV, latest cell phone, tattoos, gold all over, expensive car and cannot pay our bills or medical costs.
What do you think?
Randy
I did not get to make any of my appointments today or see the people I needed to, should not have any real impact. Will be a full day tomorrow trying to be where I need to for Wednesday and make up for today.
Bloomberg is reporting Consumer Confidence is down to a 10 month low of 46, it was expected to be 55 at this point. Stocks fell and Treasuries gained after the confidence report also showed attitudes about current conditions fell to the lowest level in 27 years and the outlook for wages dimmed. I am so glad we keep spending billions of dollars to fix all this.
Climate Change, or the Global Warming Farce! It seems Al Gore and his pet making him rich project continues to run aground. A big Climate Scientist has recanted his paper on rising ocean levels. Seems he has now found mistakes in his calculations. Senator Inhofe is calling for Al Gore to come back and testify about his film and accusations. It seems that since all the emails came out showing that many of the studies were flawed, they have to re-look at their figures and admit they don’t really know what is going on. Especially when you look at the record winter the North half of the planet is having. Of course their answer is that Global Warming causes increase in the winter precipitation, yea right. Continue to write, call, or email your congressman and senator to vote against any climate change bills currently in the system. These are only tax and control bills to further put us under government control.
Health Care: President Obama has put out his version of the Health Care Bill, it is more taxing, still has abortion funding and cost will be about one trillion dollars. There should be no funding for abortion by federal funds, nada!! Any taxes or fees will be passed on to consumers so this will tax all people, which is against what President Obama promised. This bill needs to be put in the shredder and start over. All the earmarks, pork, favors, bribes, etc need to be taken out. Several simple things could be done to reform health care, TORT reform, no cap on coverage, no cancellations and no pre-existing conditions. Portability from state to state for policies. We cannot take out the business side of health care, insurance companies, hospitals, physicians, clinics need to be allowed to make a profit. The government does not know how to make a profit, they only know how to spend. Call, write, email your congressman and senators and tell them not to support this bill but to start over.
Want to make jobs, bring economy back? Stop deficit spending! Stop taxing! Call, write, email your congressman and senators, tell them to STOP THE SPENDING! We cannot run our house or business the way the government is. They should take the money that has not been spent in the stimulus bill and put it back, and not use the TARP money that is almost all repaid for anything! We could strengthen the dollar and bring the economy back if they would stop spending and show restraint. We have plenty of government programs, more likely too many! We need less government, less taxes, and people, businesses, corporations will spend more money and create jobs. All the president and congress want to do is spend money and grow government. We need to let them know we want them to stop and will vote any of them out that don’t! We need term limits, stop career politicians!!! It was unfortunate that Senator Kennedy and Representative Murtha passed away this year. I know it was very sad to their families. But we all start dying the day we are born. Now new people are coming into the seats they held for so long. We, I say again We need to change politicians, and change the way they do business. If we show them we are serious we can bring this country back to prosperity.
Tea Partiers, they are not bad people like the major news media would like us to think. They are everyday people from all walks of life who are tired of the way the politicians are running our country. They are not violent and only want to be heard. The Democrats are running scared and the only way the liberals know how to fight when they don’t want to defend there out of control policies and spending is to personally attack others.
Islamic Terrorist: We are in a battle for our lives, literally!! This battle is not going away. Unfortunately the current administration want to water down the issue, treat these terrorist like common criminals. The published account of the Ft. Hood shooting does not address the Muslim background of the shooter. The jihad act he took. They now have two interpreters hired by the DOD planning to poison food supply at a base. The Christmas underwear bomber, treated like a common thief, given Miranda Rights, stopped talking until his parents got him to cooperate. They will keep coming until they are stopped. We are their enemy because we are not Muslim and do not believe like them, we cannot befriend them.
We need to be strong, stick to our beliefs, understand what our founding fathers wanted and stick to the constitution. We need to stop holding our hands out to the government and expect them to take care of us. We have to be allowed to fail, we have to be responsible and take responsibility for our actions. We need to spend our monies on appropriate things, if we cannot afford something, save for it. It is not the governments responsibility to provide for us when we have not money left after getting huge plasma TV, latest cell phone, tattoos, gold all over, expensive car and cannot pay our bills or medical costs.
What do you think?
Randy
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
FT. HOOD AND COUNTING
Well a lot has gone on since my last post. The main thing is that I am back in the USA! I left COB Speicher early morning January 27 and through many canceled flights and space A accommodations arrived Ft. Hood Saturday the 30th about noon. What a wonderful feeling being back.
Settled into my room, not bad, a room for two by myself, desk, bed, kitchenette, and bathroom. Eating at the DFAC, funny, maybe just because I was use to it, the food seems better in Iraq. Maybe I need counseling, LOL! Started out-processing Monday, everything going smoothly. As of Tuesday evening had most everything done except three things. I have hearing changes, so I have a follow up Friday, injured my shoulder when I fell in December, need an MRI, and ortho consult, the earliest appointment for MRI is February the 14th, not good. Will be working to find out how to get it sooner if they have cancellations. Really not wanting to stay that long, but if I have a serious problem need it taken care of on the Army’s time, not mine.
Since I am getting extra leave time for the long deployment, it takes 5 days to get a letter from HRC. So the earliest I would have left is Friday if the letter came. So depending on how the MRI turns out, I will be only a week or so longer. I really want to get home of course. It is a little frustrating having to wait so long for the ortho consult. There are about 4 of us here just starting to demob, there are about 8 demobing but broken, have health issues they are trying to get fixed to go home. The Army is really messing with some of them, they should be taken care of no questions asked.
One Soldier is 19 and has pre-cancerous cells in her cervix, since she is not 20 they won’t do anything. She has a family history of this type of cancer. Welcome to socialized medicine. Her civilian physician was going to remove them but she did not have time before she was deployed. Moreover, our Congressmen and President want this system for all of us.
Another Soldier has back injury, needs plate and screws, they are wanting to send him home and let the VA handle it, not fix him here. What a joke, of course it is cheaper that way because if he went to the VA, he would not be on orders, which means he would be on his own time. The VA would pay for the surgery but the recovery time would be on him. Cheaper for the government that way, welcome to socialized medicine!!
No TV or internet in my room. There is a day room with TV and cable. Have to go to the USO to use internet, they have wireless and pretty fast. Need to go to the PX and get a good book or two. I sent all my movies home or could watch some on my laptop. I am so tired at night. Going to bed about 9:30 to 10:00, wake up about 3 or 4 thinking of things. Other than that things going well.
Things are looking up, have my MRI appointment Friday at 1800, then Ortho consult Monday at 1300. Will know then if I get to final out and come home!!! Thursday just hang around, make accountability formations and eat. Friday will be busy with hearing and MRI. If shoulder okay may be home weekend of the 13th.
Settled into my room, not bad, a room for two by myself, desk, bed, kitchenette, and bathroom. Eating at the DFAC, funny, maybe just because I was use to it, the food seems better in Iraq. Maybe I need counseling, LOL! Started out-processing Monday, everything going smoothly. As of Tuesday evening had most everything done except three things. I have hearing changes, so I have a follow up Friday, injured my shoulder when I fell in December, need an MRI, and ortho consult, the earliest appointment for MRI is February the 14th, not good. Will be working to find out how to get it sooner if they have cancellations. Really not wanting to stay that long, but if I have a serious problem need it taken care of on the Army’s time, not mine.
Since I am getting extra leave time for the long deployment, it takes 5 days to get a letter from HRC. So the earliest I would have left is Friday if the letter came. So depending on how the MRI turns out, I will be only a week or so longer. I really want to get home of course. It is a little frustrating having to wait so long for the ortho consult. There are about 4 of us here just starting to demob, there are about 8 demobing but broken, have health issues they are trying to get fixed to go home. The Army is really messing with some of them, they should be taken care of no questions asked.
One Soldier is 19 and has pre-cancerous cells in her cervix, since she is not 20 they won’t do anything. She has a family history of this type of cancer. Welcome to socialized medicine. Her civilian physician was going to remove them but she did not have time before she was deployed. Moreover, our Congressmen and President want this system for all of us.
Another Soldier has back injury, needs plate and screws, they are wanting to send him home and let the VA handle it, not fix him here. What a joke, of course it is cheaper that way because if he went to the VA, he would not be on orders, which means he would be on his own time. The VA would pay for the surgery but the recovery time would be on him. Cheaper for the government that way, welcome to socialized medicine!!
No TV or internet in my room. There is a day room with TV and cable. Have to go to the USO to use internet, they have wireless and pretty fast. Need to go to the PX and get a good book or two. I sent all my movies home or could watch some on my laptop. I am so tired at night. Going to bed about 9:30 to 10:00, wake up about 3 or 4 thinking of things. Other than that things going well.
Things are looking up, have my MRI appointment Friday at 1800, then Ortho consult Monday at 1300. Will know then if I get to final out and come home!!! Thursday just hang around, make accountability formations and eat. Friday will be busy with hearing and MRI. If shoulder okay may be home weekend of the 13th.
Friday, January 1, 2010
2010 HERE I COME!
2010 the start of a new year. My second New Years from home. 2009 had its ups and downs. For Robyn, she had her surgery and has lost over 120 pounds. She is doing so good. I know she has seen a big change in her life. She will reach her target weight in 2010 and should be able to maintain it.
Randi graduated as a paramedic, she has her own truck now and is doing great, very happy. RaDonna graduated nursing school and is working in the ED at Flagler. She is doing a great job. Rachel is taking classes trying to decide what she wants to be when she grows up.
They have done a great job without me these past almost 2 years. I know they all have sacrificed in my absence. I am not the only one sacrificing, the entire family does.
I will be home soon. Thankful that we only lost one Soldier during these past two years. I know MAJ Pryor will be remembered every Christmas by all those in Mosul Christmas 2009. I have been very fortunate, had a warm dry bed, hot meals, warm showers, and A/C in the summer and heat in the winter. There are still FOBs in Iraq were there is no running water. Have been able to communicate with my family almost at will by either email, freedom phone, SpaWare phones or Skype, with internet in my CHU at each COB. The highest time of 2009 was when Robyn go her surgery and made it through without any complications and my 18 day R&R at home.
There have been times that I get frustrated with the internet or phones, then have to kick myself and remember, this is not that bad for being in a combat zone. For the most part, I have handled being away from family pretty well. Whenever I sit and think about home and family, it is hard and tearful. My daily calls with Robyn are a life saver. I have not kept track of the days we have not talked, they have been few and far between. Usually due to “River City”, at Al Asad, when a Soldier from there was killed they would turn off the internet and phones until the family was notified, called River City, and other times when the internet would be down. The two biggest times I was down was the loss of MAJ Pryor and when I did not get picked up for LTC.
2010 will be a good year, I will be home, back with my family, friends, and work. There will be some adjustments at home for both Robyn and me, we have both been independent for 2 years and will have to get use to being right there together again. I don’t look for that to be much trouble. I will have about 50 days leave when I get home, should give me time to settle in before going back to work. I have changed some, maybe more than I think. You cannot do and see the things I have seen and not be changed. It would have been devastating had I not had the experiences with the Rescue Squad, EMS and the emergency Department.
I am happy, proud, humble and honored to have had the chance to serve my country and fellow Soldiers. Barring any major war, this should be my last deployment. But I want to be clear, the real heroes are the Soldiers and Marines that go outside the wire each day and brave the IEDs, homicide bombers and other dangers. This war is not clear cut like fighting the Germans or Japanese. This enemy does not wear a uniform and is hard to identify. No matter what anyone says, our military has done an outstanding job defending our country! And let no one say any different. We continue to have the greatest military in the world. All give some, some give all!!
Pray for our country, pray for our troops
Randy
P.S. Can’t wait to get home!!
Randi graduated as a paramedic, she has her own truck now and is doing great, very happy. RaDonna graduated nursing school and is working in the ED at Flagler. She is doing a great job. Rachel is taking classes trying to decide what she wants to be when she grows up.
They have done a great job without me these past almost 2 years. I know they all have sacrificed in my absence. I am not the only one sacrificing, the entire family does.
I will be home soon. Thankful that we only lost one Soldier during these past two years. I know MAJ Pryor will be remembered every Christmas by all those in Mosul Christmas 2009. I have been very fortunate, had a warm dry bed, hot meals, warm showers, and A/C in the summer and heat in the winter. There are still FOBs in Iraq were there is no running water. Have been able to communicate with my family almost at will by either email, freedom phone, SpaWare phones or Skype, with internet in my CHU at each COB. The highest time of 2009 was when Robyn go her surgery and made it through without any complications and my 18 day R&R at home.
There have been times that I get frustrated with the internet or phones, then have to kick myself and remember, this is not that bad for being in a combat zone. For the most part, I have handled being away from family pretty well. Whenever I sit and think about home and family, it is hard and tearful. My daily calls with Robyn are a life saver. I have not kept track of the days we have not talked, they have been few and far between. Usually due to “River City”, at Al Asad, when a Soldier from there was killed they would turn off the internet and phones until the family was notified, called River City, and other times when the internet would be down. The two biggest times I was down was the loss of MAJ Pryor and when I did not get picked up for LTC.
2010 will be a good year, I will be home, back with my family, friends, and work. There will be some adjustments at home for both Robyn and me, we have both been independent for 2 years and will have to get use to being right there together again. I don’t look for that to be much trouble. I will have about 50 days leave when I get home, should give me time to settle in before going back to work. I have changed some, maybe more than I think. You cannot do and see the things I have seen and not be changed. It would have been devastating had I not had the experiences with the Rescue Squad, EMS and the emergency Department.
I am happy, proud, humble and honored to have had the chance to serve my country and fellow Soldiers. Barring any major war, this should be my last deployment. But I want to be clear, the real heroes are the Soldiers and Marines that go outside the wire each day and brave the IEDs, homicide bombers and other dangers. This war is not clear cut like fighting the Germans or Japanese. This enemy does not wear a uniform and is hard to identify. No matter what anyone says, our military has done an outstanding job defending our country! And let no one say any different. We continue to have the greatest military in the world. All give some, some give all!!
Pray for our country, pray for our troops
Randy
P.S. Can’t wait to get home!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)