Ready for Action!

It's back with a new heart, and oh man does this thing go!

I have a mac, therefore I make movies

iMovie might be a bit cheesy, but man it's easy to make movies! This is the first one I made of our fun with Jakob after I got home from deployment. I hope you enjoy it.

HOME!

Yesterday the last of the A-10 guys came home from deployment including me! Our flight stopped in Romania for a few hours for crew change and to refuel and restock the plane. The group that came home a few days before us got stuck in Romania when the plane decided to break, so many of us were nervous the junk we were flying on was going to do the same. You know how the Government is famous for selling out to the lowest bidder? Well troop transport is no different... It wasn't Delta for sure...

Anyways, It's soooo great to be back home, and being greeted by Sarah and Jakob when we got off the plane made all the suck the past 2 month brought fade away. Nate and Jessica Crandall were there too, and Jessica took a few pictures of the big homecoming.

Here is Jakob in his cool shirt prepping for the big reunion.



Not quite Navy guy and Nurse in New York, but it I liked that kiss!

Jakob took a moment to realize who this dude was kissing Mommy, then I got a big hug from him, and he wouldn't let me put him down again. Every day I'm amazed at how much this little person changes. When Sarah came home from deployment, she was a stranger and it took a few days for him to warm up with her. But now that he's older and understands most of our words, he remembered who I was the whole time, and would wave at our family picture whenever he walked by it.

Our little family back together!

Kyrgyzstan...

I'm not in Afghanistan anymore!

Kyrgyzstan is beautiful, and has a weird blend of Asian influence with soviet dominance. The people look like a hybrid of Asian/Arabic/Russian, they speak Russian. I think. And the base we are at is only 7 miles from China! In the little trinket shop I saw a chess set where the players
were the red army vs. Nazi Germany!

This is what overlooks the tent i'm living in for the next couple of hours.

Never thought I could say that i've been to Kyrgyzstan or seen the Himalaya’s. Pretty cool.

My top 10 cars wishlist

With being in Afghanistan, I have lots and lots of time sometimes to sit in a truck and ponder what I'd rather be sitting in. So i've compiled a list of the 10 dream cars I'd like to own someday.

10. BMW E30 M3 Sport Evo.This incredible car is #10 only because I would need to farm some unobtanium to be able to afford one. The best of the best M3 model.

9. BMW E46 TouringPractical, and reliable and good looking. This would win out any SUV in my book. The later facelift model with the Mtechnic package looks great especially in dark grey.

8. BMW E46 M3csl What a car, and it's at home at the Nurburgring! The M3csl was produced in late 2003 for the european market. CSL stands for "Coupe Sport Lightweight" and was first used on the 3.0 CSL homologation special in 1971. Major differences between the standard M3 and this monster is the carbon fiber roof, new bumpers and trunk, recaro bucket seats, swede steering wheel and a few motor tweaks, most notably that glorious intake manifold.

Probably the coolest sounding intake noise from the factory. E30 M3's with carbon airbox's still sound better, but this is one sexy OEM machine.
oops. If I ever own one, I hope to not have it end up like this one. At least it died a noble death at the Nurburgring... Passengers walked away.

7. Lotus Exige 240sColin Chapman, founder of Lotus Cars said "Add horsepower to go fast in the straights, add lightness to go fast everywhere." Perfect.
This is also Sarah's dream car (besides a VW beetle with a 911 badge on it) so it might be a strong contender some day when Jakob doesn't need a car seat!

6. BMW E46 M3

The E46 M3 can look fantastic with just a couple of mods. I'd like one in Alpine white, or obnoxious Pheonix Yellow.

5. BMW E30 M3 Unlike the later E36 and E46 M3s, the original E30 M3's main purpose in life was to win races on the track, not the street. It got the job done. Beginning with an off-the-floor 3 Series coupe, BMW gave its Motorsport division free rein to build a winner. After experimenting with several different engine combinations, BMW Motorsport settled on the M10 block as the starting point for its S14 plant. The original M3's head design was essentially a sawed-off 2.3-liter version of the 3.5-liter inline six unit from the M5/M6 line. A forged crank, improved oil flow and stout internals filled the short block. A Bosch Motronic injection system fed the four-valve head, the engine ultimately cranking out a respectable 192 bhp at 6750 rpm. It was linked to a close-ratio, five-speed dogleg gearbox hooked to a limited-slip diff. Sure this is a picture of a DTM car, but it's just too awesome not to post. I'd take one in alpine white please.

4. BMW M CoupeThe Mcoupe was designed in a shed by BMW engineers who thought the Z3 was dull. Once they created their frankenstein sled, they pitched it to BMW, who suprisingly bought it! In a world all european cars have a rival (think 3series, A4, C class) this thing was so far out there that Audi and Mercedes didn't even bother waiving a stick at it. It's hideously ugly and unbelievable beautiful at the same time. I remember as a kid this was the first car I dreamed of owning some day when I read about it in my Dad's Car and Driver magazines.

3. BMW E30 325ix This AWD version of the normal E30 handles snow like a champ. While all those tards in front wheel drive SUV's are stuck on the side of the road, this little car will drive right past. Totally practical and quite affordable, this car is so high on my dream list only because there is a good chance I might own one someday. I'd love a sedan with a 5 speed.

2. BMW Euro E28 M5 The chrome bumpers, the big headlamps. Perfect. Sure the new M5's have more power and handle way better with more comforts, but this is the origional bavarian bruiser and nothing has been better since. I'll take one in Polaris silver without the ugly M technic body kit, but this alpine white one above looks quite nice as well. I've included 3 pictures just because it looks sooo nice!

1. BMW E3. Euro 3.0SiI've always liked things outside the norm. I really would like to daily drive a nice classic car, but not one of the normal 60's american muscle. This car was nicknamed the Baader Meinhof Wagon in the 70's because the German terrorist cell loved to steal these beamers due to them being easy to break into, hotwire and could outrun the Polezei. Not only is this car fantastic looking, it comes with a cool history and isn't a car you'd see every day; so that is why it is my number one dream car.

Race Car Driver

Sarah says that Jakob's favorite thing to do at the bowling alley is to drive the car! I can't wait to put this guy in a go cart!

my Trip to Afghanistan

I'm currently Deployed to Afghanistan. Last week i made a big long post about it, and the internet went down right as i was trying to send it! so this will probably be the shorter version with more pictures and less words.

We left on the weekend, so Jakob and Sarah got to see me off. This was during the peak of our German summer, so it was a blazing 90 degree's and jakob wanted some cool water. Even though he has his sippy cup that is always fully stocked, it's much more fun to drink out of the big boy's water

Here are our bags all ready to go, now it was just a sit and wait game.

This was our mode of transportation. It was a pretty sweet ride and being able to stretch out was much nicer than being cooped up in a chair the whole time. We also got to fly straight into afghanistan instead of stopping off in qatar or Manas.

Like I said, way nice to move around and spread out! Here we are playing a game of spades on a Jammer.

And our in flight meel was classic PB&J made on the top of a Light-all.

This is our group's first glimpse of Kandahar Air Field.

We had to be in our IBA gear to get off the plane. We were all shuffled into the "welcome" building, which also happened to be the building Al-Queda used as their last stand when we were taking back the airport in 2003 or so. This building looked like it had been through hell.

Here is my room, or POD. Everybody throws up blankets to create a small hole of privacy, commonly called "spank tanks." My personal little space is the one on the right closest to the door. This is a rare oportunity with the lights on. 2 of us work 8pm-8am, one works midnight-noon, one works 8am-8pm, and 2 work noon-midnight, so there is never a time when it's polite to turn the lights on.

Here is my space with the lights on

And more normally with just my little lamp on

Here is where I work, looks exciting doesn't it?

Here is the HAMS, it's a pain in the ass to back trailers in this tight spot. Amazing how some people have been here for almost 4 months, working out of the HAMS every day, and still can't back a trailer! oh to be able to pull the girl card...

And this little guy is why we are here. It's pretty cool to load a plane, and it actually comes back with empty pilons. When Sarah was in Iraq, our F16's only dropped 4 bombs the whole time. 1 was a dud, 1 was dropped to blow up the dud, and 2 were dropped for "training." Out here were dropping more than that on a busy night!

Well that's all for now!