The Queen of the Neuse River

Steph took the kids and her Dad out with some friends from church. Ava got to survey more of her kingdom. Guy looks pretty serious about driving the boat. Maybe he will be a sailor.

No pictures of the moustache yet. It is not coming in very well. It looks pretty cheesy....imagine Shawns graduation picture....without the Tina Turner hair cut. One of the Marines said it looked like a Moulestache....I got so angry I had to throw myself into a cold shower. I forgot how much that calms me down...thanks for reminding me Mom!!

There is an enormous share drive here that is full of movies. They call it the Morale drive. There is a fair amount of down time here so I get the chance to watch quite a few movies. I watched a movie called "Hard Candy" yesterday. I highly recommend it. Very creepy with a lot of twists and turns.

I started a new workout program yesterday called Crossfit. I am really sore. A lot more lower body stuff then I usually do. I am hoping that I can stick with it. It would be nice to go to the beach and not have a harpoon thrown at me. We will see how it goes.

Nothing else new. Just counting the days, listening to the rumors, watching the share drive, lifting weights, and waiting for the heat.

Keep the comments coming. I really enjoy them.

The Zoo

Stephanie took the kids to the NC Zoo last weekend. They had a really good time. Stephanie said that the silverback reminded her of me......I don't know if that is good or not. The Woman in the cart with Stephanie is Tracy. She is a great friend. She really helped Stephanie out while I was in Africa when Steph was pregnant and then when Ava was brand new. Tracy's husband Phil is out here with me. We are in different units so we don't see each other as Stephanie and Tracy do.

I particularly like the picture of the kids going down the slide together. Guy is such a good big brother. You can tell he would never shoot her with a BB gun (I'm looking at you Shawn).

Stephanie's Dad is down visiting in NC. Stephanie said Rick got a hook stuck in his leg when he was fishing. What does it say about me that I laughed when I heard that?

The big news out here is I am trying to grow a mustache. I will send pictures when it grows in more. Hopefully it will grow in as thick as the silver hair on my back.

Leave a comment...I really look forward to reading them!!!

Vikings Draft

I am hoping that the Vikings draft Percy Harvey. Looks like he is going to be a great return guy and our special teams are terrible so he has my vote. Anyone got any other prospects? Plus I've always liked the name Percy.

All is well out here....nothing too exciting. There is a hair band called Axe that is coming out here to perform. They had a song called " Rock 'n' Roll Party in the Street". I don't think I have ever heard of them before. It will be something to do.

The Horrors of War

Just wanted y'all to see some of the injustices that I have to endure while deployed. The Mini-Golf course is clearly substandard, there is barely enough ping pong tables, and only two foozeball tables. We are treated like animals.

The weather here continues to hold out. The heat hasn't kicked in yet. It stays in the 70's through the day and gets down to the chilly 60's at night.

In all seriousness, I really have NOTHING to complain about. The days are flying by.

Beatty Kids are Goofy

Colleen sent the picture of Megan. I got a good laugh out of it until I remembered that I have a daughter....then it wasn't quite as funny.

Stephanie and her girlfriend took the kids to a farm. The weather was really warm and they had a lot of fun. I am always amazed that Stephanie has the energy to get the kids out every weekend while she is taking two college courses. What can I say....I married up.

The picture of Ava tearing up that cheeseburger tickles me. It looks like something I would do. Not really the manners of a Princess, but when your hungry your hungry!

NFL USO Tour

A bunch of football players came out to see us. It was really cool. Jared Allen, Larry Fitzgerald, Will Witherspoon, and Danny Clark. They thanked us for our service and fielded some questions. Jared Aleen was asked which quarterback he liked hitting the most and he said "Peyton Manning....right in the back of his head!" I got a kick out of that. I waited for about an hour and a half to get this picture with them. I told them I wanted the 4th and one face. I guess Fitzgerald gets goofy on 4th and one because he knows they are going to run the ball. I asked Allen if EJ was going to be OK this year...he said he will be "balling out" this year. I think that means he will be ok. Allen is a really funny guy. A Marine asked who the players thought was going to be the best rookie coming out of the draft and Allen said "fuck rookies...they are trying to take our jobs" It was a lot of fun.

A Little Fun

The platoon got together today for some recreation time. We played volleyball and basketball. We had thrown some money together to try and buy some pizzas but the power went out….so no pizza. You would think we were in a combat zone or something….sheesh. Warehouse volleyball is a little different because you have to play off of the walls and ceiling. It was kind of like that scene in Top Gun...except everyone kept thier shirts on.....and we were inside....and none of us are Scientologists. It was pretty fun. Anything that breaks up the routine helps time go by faster and that is always good.

It is just starting to get hot here. I noticed this morning that I was sweating and the back of my neck was hot. I am not looking forward to it being sweltering hot with all this dust in the air. The hottest I’ve ever been was in Djibouti. There was a lot of humidity there so I’m hoping that the desert dry heat will be a cakewalk…..hopefully.

No pictures of me this time. Everyone is tired of me asking them to take a picture of me. So I took the picture this time.

My Fighting Position

I wanted to show y’all a picture of me on the front lines fighting the Global War on Terror. I know it’s chilling…..do not worry about me….I have been pushing though the agony of carpal tunnel syndrome.

It’s been a little while since I wrote so here we go. Besides the weather the biggest thing going on over here is rumors. There are constant rumors about what we are going to do, where we are going to do it, and when we will do it. It can wear you out after a while. I keep telling myself to ignore all the noise, but it can be difficult when you are bombarded with the stuff every day. The President going on TV and putting an end date on all of this makes you think that some kind of backward planning has to be taking place….but no one of any authority has put any real word out. But hey….that’s life in the Corps.

My platoon is starting to organize some events to build cohesion. One of the things that we are doing is breaking away from work once a week and teaching each other classes. It’s great fore me because this is my first tour in the air wing. There is a lot of stuff that goes on over here that doesn’t make sense to me. Being a MSgt I don’t ask too many questions…I just stand there and look hard and pretend that I know what people are talking about, it almost always works. For example, the Marine Corps is an organization that communicates through acronyms. The air wing has a whole new set that I am completely ignorant of. What complicates matters is there is really no where to go look the stuff up. Hopefully these classes will get me up to speed. I taught the first one this week on chemical agents….no one fell asleep so I consider that a success.

This weekend we are getting together at my warehouse to eat pizza and play volleyball. There is a Pizza Hut on base and we all threw some money in. We are going to have a three man volleyball tournament and the winners will get some kind of prize….I don’t know what the prize is yet but the whole thing should be fun.

I have some good news. Guy is doing excellent. He is really working hard at school. Steph tells me that he has been really focused about getting his homework done and he barely ever gets his name on the board for talking. I am bursting with pride at his effort. He has really stepped up as man of the house in my absence. I am so lucky to have such a great son. Ava, on the other hand, continues to rule with an iron fist.

Feel free to leave comments. It let's me know that I am not wasting my time.

By the way, can someone tell me who the hell is Sage Rosenfel?????