Greetings from Germany!

Well I got an unexpected tasking a few days ago. I was tasked with escorting a medevac Soldier to Landstuhl, Germany. Clearly, this is a horrible tasking...

So the Soldier finally got manifested on a flight last night, after spending a couple of days in the hospital at KAF. The trip from KAF to Germany was long and exhausting. But it was a pretty cool experience to see first hand the pretty awesome process that is the medevac process. Luckily for our Soldiers, the military has this down to a science.

When we left KAF we stopped at 2 others FOBs before heading to Bagram. Those flight were on C-130s. Not my most favorite aircraft. Luckily, this one was fitted for medevac, so we weren't crammed in there like my last ride on a C-130. At Bagram we transferred over to a C-17. This C-17 pretty much looked like a hospital on the inside.

We arrived at Ramstein air base here in Germany some time this morning. I'm pretty sure all together I was traveling for more than 14 hours but it really is a blur. I know I took off and landed at least 4 times last night. Germany, of course was a sight for sore eyes. And stepping off the plane this morning and breathing fresh air was definitely a welcome experience. They then transferred the full plane of medevac patients to busses, so we could set off for the hospital. The servicemembers who do this are very efficient, and I was impressed when I watched 4 petite females lift a male who had to weigh around 250 pounds up onto a bus like it was nothing.

After getting the person I was escorting all settled into the hospital, it was time for me to go find my room where I would be staying. Landstuhl is pretty much where all medevacs go out of theater. Again they have it down to a science here. It makes me feel good knowing that all the servicemembers being medevaced out of theater are being so well taken care of. They have a lodging facility right next to the hospital, and those who don't have to be admitted as an inpatient get to stay here instead of depressing hospital rooms. I know that this goes a long way to helping their morale and getting them well enough to fly home.

I don't really have anything to do while I'm here, but it is still nice to be out of Afghanistan for a while. I went and visited the Soldier I escorted up at the hospital and she is already starting to look so much better. I will most likely be here until Sunday. Once she gets on the plane to go back to hawaii, then I can try to get a flight back to Afghanistan. I'm really in no hurry, but I know it will be so much better for her to get home and heal there.

I only have one pic that I took on the C-130. I really wanted to take a pic of the inside of the "flying hospital" but I didn't want to invade anyone's privacy. So you will have to settle for one of me. I'll try to get some pics of Germany while I'm here.

Unlucky with bicycles in Afghanistan...

So, as I have said before, I now have a bike.  It really does come in handy and cuts down on my commute time to and from work.  For some reason, I still walk everywhere else.  It would probably be smarter if I biked everywhere, as it is really hot and the bike gets me out of the heat quicker, but I don't.  It may be weird, but I feel like I am "cheating" on the bike.  Like I'm not working as hard as I would be walking.  Which can't be true, because biking is a pretty good workout.  One that I like so much, that I sent on a stationary bike inside the gym and pedal away on almost daily.  But, I digress.

So, as I was saying, I have a bike.  Since I got the bike, I haven't had very good luck with it.  The first couple of days I was riding it, the tires needed air.  So I fixed that problem.  The other day, as I was riding to work, the chain fell off.  Now this use to happen a lot to my bike when I was a kid, but it wasn't until it happened to my bike in Afghanistan that I realized, I don't know how to put the chain back on a back.  My mom always did that for me.  So I walked the bike the rest of the way to work.  I got a lot of weird looks from people driving by and riding by on their bikes.  They were all kind of staring at me like they didn't think I knew the actual purpose of a bike, as I was walking next to it.  Later that day, one of the other Captains in the company put the chain back on for me, and showed me how to do it in the process.

Which brings me to last night.  I walked out of the office to go get my bike and ride home.  I got to the bike and took the keys off my backpack.  As I went to unlock the lock, I realized that the key to the lock wasn't on the key ring.  I looked all around on the ground, and retraced my steps back into the building.  I figured it had to be there somewhere.  I couldn't find it.  I went back in my office and searched all over the floor for it there.  No luck.  I even tried my BJA's key to his lock, thinking that these were Afghan locks and maybe all the keys were the same.  Fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to look at it, the Afghan locks have unique keys and can't be opened with just any other Afghan key.  So, I did the only thing that I could do.  I walked home.

As I was laying in bed last night, I suddenly remembered that the lock I bought came with 2 keys.  And while I thought about throwing that extra key away, because I don't need to carry around 2 keys, I didn't.  I threw it into the bottom of my sock drawer.  So now I was armed with the key that could unlock the bike, and I would be back in business.  Since my bike was locked up at the office, I had to walk to work this morning.  Of course when I got to work, my other key was sitting on my desk waiting for me.  My BJA found it on the ground under his bike.  So, now I'm back to having 2 keys again....

It's time for new pants....

It's that time during this deployment when I can no longer put off getting a smaller size pair of pants.  So, tomorrow I will be getting an appointment to DX a couple pair of pants, so the Army can issue me some smaller ones.  Apparently losing 32 pounds, means that one also must get new pants, if they want them to stay up.  Luckily, a belt is part of the uniform.  Although, my belt goes around my waist about almost 1.5 times, so it might also be time to get a new belt...

Sadly, I'm pretty sure these pants fit me when I came to Afghanistan 6 Months ago...

Getting caught up

I have had some pictures that I was going to post for a while now.  Unfortunately, the internet is extremely slow here and I have been too lazy to upload the pics.  My paralegals guilted me into today, so this blog will mostly be pictures.

The first couple pictures are about a month old.  The Frog was in our office a couple days before I went on R&R.  I kept trying to catch him to put him outside, but he would keep jumping away from me and hiding.  And as soon I would go back to working, he would come back out and sit there and stare at me.

The next 2 pictures are from my flight from KAF to Kuwait.  Most people fly on a C-17 out of KAF to Kuwait.  That is only about a 3 hours flight.  Unfortunately for me, when I was trying to leave on R&R, the C-17s were broken.  So I got put on a C-130.  On a C-130, the flight time is a little over 6 hours.  There were over 50 of us on that plane, and we were packed in there like sardines.  It was definitely the most uncomfortable I have ever been for a 6 hour period.  Imagine being a plane for 6 hours, but your seat is made of cargo netting, and you are elbow to elbow with the people on each side of you, and if all that isn't enough, your knees are in between the person's leg who is sitting facing you.  If it wasn't the beginning of my R&R, I probably would have cared a lot more.  Luckily, coming back from R&R, I was on a C-17 and there were only about 30 of us.  The plane holds more than a 100.

The next picture is of my old boss's going away ceremony, which coincided with the 4th of July, hence the american decorations.

The last few were taken today.  Today was PFC Fitzgerald's promotion to Specialist.  So now she is officially SPC Fitzgerald.  It has been a long time coming and something that she worked extremely hard for. We are all very proud of her for achieving her goal.  COL Campanella, the division SJA came to her ceremony along with some other paralegals from Division.  We all took a photo after the ceremony, that is the last one.

This frog tormented me for hours

The 6 hour C-130 ride from KAF to Kuwait to start my R&R.  If you can't tell, we are jammed in there

Trying not to let being packed in like a sardine for 6 hours ruin my mood

BJA's going away award ceremony

PFC Fitzgerald's last lunch as a PFC

SPC Fitzgerald's promotion order being published

Getting her new rank!

It's Official!!!

Wings Legal and a few from Division

Yeah for water in Afghanistan...

After coming home 2 days in a row to no running water, I was very happy to come home to find the water was back on.  When I left this morning, it was still off.  I couldn't take another bottled water/baby wipe shower, so last night, I wandered into another "neighborhood" to find a working a shower.  Even though my showers are pretty gross, it was nice to be able to take a shower in them tonight.  I much prefer the grossness I'm used to instead of someone else's new grossness.

The problem with the water is bound to happen again, as it has been happening a lot lately.  Apparently, they are diverting the poo pond to a new location, and in doing so they keep contaminating the water that is used for the showers and latrines.  I try not to think about that while I'm showering.  Although they say that they fix the problem by hyper-chlorinating the water.  But, I really try not to think about it.

I have a bike now.  My BJA that left, gave me his bike.  It makes my commute to and from work a lot quicker.  It's also a pretty good workout.  I ride the stationary bikes at the gym almost daily, but I had forgotten how much work it is to actually move a bike carrying your own body weight.  Of course once I put  a little more air in the tires, the ride got a little easier.

The Joys of Afghanistan...

One of the good things about Afghanistan, if there are any, is that with nothing better to do, I find myself at the gym a lot.  There is usually always time for a good workout.  Unfortunately, after a good work out, a good shower is not always guaranteed.

Tonight I got home from the office to find a sign on the door to the latrine and showers.  The note said something along the lines of, due to a major water leak, this facility will be without water for an undetermined amount of time.  Well isn't that lovely.  So, I had to make due with bottled water and baby wipes.  So when you go to take your next shower, be thankful for a couple of things.  1. you don't have to go outside to get to your bathroom (hopefully)  2. You don't have to wear shoes into the shower  3.  When you turn on the shower, water will actually come out  4. You can keep the water running during your shower and not take a combat shower (which consists of turn water on, get wet, turn water off, soap up, turn water on, rinse off, turn water off, and repeat)

Transition in Afghanistan...

Well it finally happened.  My boss left Kandahar today, and is on his way back to the States.  The transition from him to his replacement has been seamless, I think.  It is nice to change things up half way through, and get some new blood in the office.  I think the new faces will help get through the next 6 months.  I can already tell, things are going to be different...

Tomorrow morning I have a flying evaluation board or an FEB, as we love acronyms and abbreviations in the Army.  At an FEB, normally I present evidence as to why an aviator should no longer be allowed to fly for the Army.  Tomorrow is going to be a little different.  There are extenuating circumstances and the commander feels that this pilot should be given a second chance in another company.  So I will do my best to argue that she should be given that second chance and transferred to another company.  However, all of the witnesses will testify that shouldn't happen.  So, it should be an uphill battle.  So, I may get her wings without trying.  You never know what a board will do...

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone has a happy Independence Day, and gets to spend it doing something fun.  We had a BBQ today at the brigade which is always fun because it is food not cooked at a DFAC.  One good thing about the 4th of July on KAF is that everyone was grilling out today, and remarkably, for a small period of time the smells of all the unit cookouts drowned out the Poo Pond.

I have some pictures to upload, but I am too tired to add them tonight (as each picture takes forever to load), so look for them in another blog.

Getting back into the swing of things...

I've been back for a couple of days, and it is amazing what a little break and getting to see my husband has done for my morale.  I feel much better than I did before I went on R&R.  Hopefully it will stick around a little.  I'm over half way there!

I have a board coming up next week, so I have been preparing for that.  And I also have a Soldier who was put in pre-trial confinement while I was gone, so I also have that case to work on.  Those who don't like me travelling, just skip to the next paragraph.  The Soldier who was put in pre-trial is stationed out of Regional Command South-West, and that is where the crime took place and all the witnesses are.  So I will need to go out to Shindand Airbase to talk to witnesses and stuff, so I can more effectively work the case.  The good news is, the flight out to Shindand is on fixed wing and not rotary wing, so no helicopter ride for me.  It's a little weird that I don't like to ride in helicopters and yet I am assigned to an army aviation unit.

Other than that, I've been able to get back into my routine pretty easily.  I'm back to going to the gym.  Which is good, because even though we walked our butts off in Europe, I gained 4 pounds!  Since coming back here, I have already lost 3 of those pounds (which I probably sweated off), but I don't like to see the scale going in that direction.  I'm so close to my goal that I set coming into Afghanistan, that I'm starting to think that maybe I sold myself short on how much weight I could lose and maybe I need to adjust the goal.

I'm back

Sorry I didn't update while I was R&R, but I was kinda busy :)

I'm back now, so the updates will be more regular.  We have a lot of changes around the office.  We just got 2 new attorneys.  One is to replace MAJ Amamoo and the other is just an extra attorney that Division back in the rear decided to send us.  It's nice having new people around, something different.  Different is always good in Afghanistan, but never common.

While I was gone I had a Soldier placed in pre-trial confinement.  So I have come back to a little work.  But my paralegals did an awesome job of not letting me know that or bothering me with anything while I was gone, so that was much appreciated.  I did happen to find out while I was in Kuwait, as the escorts who escorted him to confinement were on my flight back to KAF and somehow it just randomly came up.

It has definitely become hotter in Afghanistan since I left a few weeks ago, but after you have been in the 120 degree heat of Kuwait, 100 degrees doesn't feel to hot.