Packing and Good Byes

I found out earlier today that I'm leaving sometime tomorrow.  I have to call at 10pm tonight to find out when my flight down to Kuwait will be.  The way it works is flight information for the entire day isn't out until 10pm the day prior so my flight could be first thing in the morning or late tomorrow night.  Why should even going back home be simple?

Anyway, the good news is I'm leaving Iraq for good.  I've spent the previous week packing boxes to ship home and I sent the last one off this morning - a large footlocker-sized box with a bunch of stuff I've accumulated over the last 10 months.  I live a pretty simple lifestyle and still I managed to mail a bunch of things home so I wouldn't have to haul it back as luggage.  But, I'm now down to a couple of bags of Army stuff to turn in and be finished with and just one seabag for my stuff plus my carry-on backpack and computer.  The room feels pretty spartan now and a little empty.

Which finally brings me to my point - I'm having a hard time getting 100% excited about leaving here.  Oh sure, I'm quite happy and thrilled to be heading back home to see my family again - absolutely!  But, the past couple of days have been hard leaving folks who will continue to fight this fight for another six months.  I've never left a deployment early before and when I say good-bye to the people I've become close friends with here, it will be the last time I see them, likely forever.  Unlike in the Navy where there is a possibility of being stationed together again or at least passing somewhere, the Soldiers of 2SCR are on a completely different path than I have.  So, it is with very mixed emotions that I anticipate my flight tomorrow and yet feel a pull to spend a little more time here in the company of heroes.

I know my feelings of heartache will pass - they did when I left home to come out here last July and will again.  And I will be left with fond memories of serving with great people in a terrible place.  But tonight, there's a little sadness mixed in my joy.

Cheers, Pearl

Pearls Before Swine

Cheers, Pearl

Big Morning

I had a great morning today!  This might take a while to write up so you might want a cold drink to keep you company.

I received my end-of-tour award from the Regiment this morning.  During the presentation the Colonel said a number of humbling things about the work I've done here (really the work my people have done) and added that he'd found my blog and was reading it last night!  In addition to my work with the Regiment, he added that this blog was worth a read because it was insight from a man who was doing something completely out-of-normal and yet managed to keep the focus on the important people in the fight here - the average Soldiers.  Like I said, very humbling.  My audience for this blog was family and friends back home but it turns out I have incoming EWOs, desperate for information, as well as Regimental leadership reading my thoughts about being a stranger in a strange land.

Actually, I haven't been a stranger.  I told the folks here today watching me receive my award that I have never felt like a stranger with this unit.  They welcomed me right in as one of their own and made me feel every bit as much a Dragoon as if I had a U.S. Army ID card and had come over with them for the deployment (which I kinda did since we arrived in Iraq at the same time, but I think you understand my sentiment).  Life here for me has been about as good as it gets for a Sailor of One (to steal the old Army slogan) and I have been blessed to work with such men and women here in 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment.

I had two events that exemplify what I'm talking about not being a stranger here happen this morning.  First, after receiving my medal I was presented with my gold "combat" spurs.  In a cavalry unit, by serving with them in combat, one is entitled to wear gold spurs as a Cavalry Trooper.  When I first arrived I was told, "You are issued your horse, you buy your Stetson, but you earn your spurs."  Well, the Army issued me tons of equipment (I don't remember signing for a horse though but that was a pretty busy day way back at Fort Jackson - he he), I bought my Stetson right away, and today became a full-fledged cavalryman when spurs were strapped to my boots during the award ceremony.

"Order of the Gold Spur

Be it here known that

me

with Carbine and Sabre has followed the Cavalry

guidon to the very frontier of the free world and beyond to

Iraq in support of 

Operation IRAQI FREEDOM

and has demonstrated the Skill, Fitness, Discipline, Dash,

and Cunning of a United States Cavalry Trooper.

Therefore, this trooper is hereby entered on to the rolls of

"The Order of the Gold Spur"

and is authorized to wear gold spurs at all formal Cavalry Formations."

Second, after the formal awards were over, a couple of the staff sergeants came by my office to give me something special from them and tell me that I would be missed.  The Sniper tab they gave me to wear under my pocket flap (they are both snipers as you might guess) is a greater gift than any medal I've received.  It symbolizes acceptance from the guys who put it on the line every day and that, to me, means I've had the most successful tour of duty I could have hoped to have had here.  As excited as I am to be heading home, I will miss them dearly too.

Cheers, Pearl

Sweet Sixteen

My daughter turned sixteen today!  Hard to believe!  I called her first thing this morning (for her - it was early afternoon for me) to sing Happy Birthday off key just like we always do.  She laughed and said that my wife and son had sung decidedly ON key so it was nice to hear it sung "normally" from me.

As you might imagine, missing your child's sixteenth birthday really stinks and I would have much rather been there this morning in person.  But, this is the LAST birthday I'll miss - I should be home two weeks from tomorrow and then have all summer to reconnect and teach her how to drive a stick shift car.  When I was home on leave we went and got her learner's permit and had a few driving lessons then, but that was with my automatic.  Now, we get to step up to the varsity level and learn on a stick shift.

The car she's going to learn on is my old Ensign-mobile that I bought right when I graduated from college 19 years ago (this month) and we used regularly until 2003.  "Gus" (the car, well truck actually - all of our cars have names) has been on my brother-in-law's farm waiting for this special day.  We're going to pick him up this summer, get some work done, and then my sweet sixteen sweetie will have her first car!

Her big bash is this weekend and I know it will be just perfect.  Happy birthday Sweet Pea!  I'll be home to tell you in person before we know it!

Cheers, Pearl

Cinco de Mio

I know many of you are celebrating Cinco de Mayo today.  Heck, we even had some pretty good Mexican food at the DFAC for dinner tonight.  But in our house, we celebrate, as my wife puts it, Cinco de Mio because today is her birthday!

Normally, today is the beginning of a very hectic week for me.  Today is my wife's birthday; my daughter's is the 7th; my wedding anniversary is the 13th; and the weekend closest to the 13th is always Mother's Day.  You'd have thought I would have planned better than all that!  So, while it truly stinks to miss another birthday (I've lost count of how many), in some perverse way, being gone this week will be more relaxing than usual!

As you might guess, there have been plenty of times where the girls had dual birthday celebrations - but not tonight.  Tonight they will be gathering just for Elizabeth and for her only.  Next weekend my daughter will get the royal treatment and I think that's the best way to do it from now on.  Birthdays are very special days.  It marks the day we were allowed to experience some wonderful new person in our lives and I am especially thankful for Cinco de Mio!

Happy Birthday Babe!  I'll be home soon!

Cheers, Pearl