Contact!

Over the weekend a wonderful thing happened.  I received an e-mail from my relief!  Whoo hoo - he's a real person!  We've exchanged a few more notes as I've tried to answer the many questions he (like everyone) had before he gets over here.  He's finishing up his mini boot camp in South Carolina the first part of this week (they added a few days from when I went through - ugh) and will head over to Kuwait toward the weekend.  Training in Kuwait, a short flight up here to Iraq, and he'll be just down the street attending the one week professional course on being an EWO.  And then...here!

"Griff" is another aviator so I don't think he'll have too much trouble fitting into the mold I've established for the Navy here in the Regiment.  He too has been busy deploying recently and I know he can't be too anxious about coming out here any more than I was nine months ago.  But, the consolation for having to be here is that he will be with an outstanding unit and a great bunch of Soldiers.  I told him I am certainly ready to head home, but leaving the guys and gals here will be bittersweet indeed.

19 days until the beginning of the end for me here!

Cheers, Pearl

Favorite Things

Earlier in the year, my wife was telling me that my daughter was up for promotion in JROTC (forgive me if I've told this story - I looked back and didn't see it but that doesn't mean I haven't mentioned this before).  When the year began, my daughter was a Sergeant and my wife was trying to remember the next rank (we're a Navy family after all and this Army stuff is confusing).  She was telling me that our daughter was up for "Sergeant Plus" or "Super Sergeant" or something!  (Staff Sergeant, by the way).

Well, today I got to do one of my favorite things and attend a promotion ceremony.  We promoted a Sergeant to Super Sergeant today!  (The Staff Sergeants here love the story I opened with and get a kick out of being called "Super Sergeant").  It is always a pleasure to watch someone get rewarded for working hard and the Regiment's latest Super Sergeant is a great guy who I expect will be a great leader.  He has a wonderful sense of humor, a likability that makes him easy to approach, but a professionalism that comes out just at the right moment.  The Army sure did a good thing today and I was proud to be there, wearing my cavalry Stetson and everything, to see it happen.

Cheers, Pearl

P.S. My daughter did make the next rank and is a Cadet Super Sergeant too!

April Fool's Day

Unfortunately, my April Fool's Day did not have a joke but rather a disappointment.  I found out today that I will be here an extra week longer than I originally expected.  In the grand scheme of things a week isn't that long, especially compared to my Army comrades who are here for 15 months - yech!  But still, it is disappointing to have a return date in mind and then have it changed, even by a week.  So, I will not make it home on my anniversary and I will miss one more Memphis Redbirds game (our minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals - we have quasi season tickets for ten games over the summer).  But, as I turned the page on the calendar at work today, I could say loudly and with an ear-to-ear grin, "My relief arrives THIS month!"

He's here in 25 days, I leave in 45 days, and I should be home just in time for school to get out and enjoy the beginning of the summer break with my family.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the University of Memphis beat Texas and is in the Final Four for the third time in school history!  We have a not-too-good record against UCLA in the tourney though, but I just feel it this year.  But regardless, we're one of the top four teams in the NATION!  Whoo hoo!  Go Tigers!

Cheers, Pearl

Mustache March - Final Week

Finally, Mustache March is over!  Well, there are a couple of more days in March but the show-and-tell competition at our monthly movie night is finished which means I can shave this thing off tomorrow.  I did win two "awards" though: Most Out Of Regulation, and Most Like Borat.  I think the judges were not entirely unbiased, but still, I did have the most full mustache of the bunch (partly I think because I didn't trim to the corners of my mouth per regulation - whatever.)  Regardless, it will be nice to be "me" again.

The other March news is, of course, March Madness and my Tigers are still tracking along with their third consecutive Elite Eight appearance.  The looked pretty good against Michigan State but the game Sunday against Texas is going to be tough.  Not only is Texas one heck of a team, but the game is in Houston, just a few hours from their campus so it is essentially an away game for us, even though we will be in the white uniforms as the higher seeded team.  I don't want to jinx the Tigers though, so I'll just add, "Go Tigers, Go!"

Only one more staff video night to go before I head home - whoo hoo!

Cheers, Pearl

Happy Easter

Here's week three of Mustache March.  I have to admit, having this thing is getting old and I'm definitely looking forward to April 1st when it can come off!  But, it is coming in pretty well and since I'm pushing beyond the boundaries of "within regulations" it looks even better than it otherwise would.  So far no one has called my on being outside regulations but I think that might be because the Army probably thinks we can still have beards and assumes the Navy Regs are more liberal than what they can have.  Sometimes it is good to be the odd duck!

I trust everyone back home had a good Easter.  We had our small gathering of Episcopalians/Anglicans this afternoon and walking back after the service, I was struck that here I was, in a predominantly Muslim country, celebrating the defining element of being a Christian.  I have celebrated holidays in other parts of the world before, including 4th of July while on a British Colony, but still, to be here in the Middle East on Easter Day gave me pause for reflection during and after the service.  I hope your Easter experience gave you pause as well.

Cheers, Pearl