Home Sweet Home, really this time!

Finally home! Time to relax.....not! We have a lot of things to do now, unpack the bags and the box I sent home from Kuwait, a ton of laundry, setting up the new wireless printer (which isn't happening as well as I thought it would!), oil changes for the cars, taking Shayna's car to a repair shop (she was hit by another driver the day before leaving for Wisconsin), etc. etc. etc. We are really happy to be home, although we were really happy to have the opportunity to see all, and I mean all, of our family and friends! It was exhausting for Shayna. On the way back across America I asked her what was the first thing she was going to do when we got home and she said she wanted to lock herself in the room to get away from me for about an hour, and then laughed. I guess I can be annoying sometimes, well probably a majority of times! haha. We are doing great, and no she didn't lock herself in the room.

The first picture is of Mike, Suzanne, Herb and Shayna. We went over to Mike's for a couple of drinks and some good food, it was really nice seeing them again. Mike and I played soccer together from the 4th grade on through high school. Herb and I have been friends going on 20+ years, still close.

The second picture is of me getting my tattoo. It looks like it hurt a lot, but it really didn't I was hamming it up for the photo! I told a lot of you I was going to do it, and it's done. It's an American flag in green and black (the colors of our IR flag on the uniform) and it says, "Home of the Free because of the Brave". It is dedicated to all of the US and Coalition fighters that have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. That fact hit closer to home this past week when one of my cousins friends lost their life in Kandahar. My thoughts are with his family, I'm really sorry that it happened.

The third picture is of Mohinder our Bengal cat. I cleared out a huge area for him in the Explorer, complete with a blanket and two pillows from home. He couldn't care less about all the room, the first two days he spent with his head jammed in the floor board near Shayna's feet! The third and fourth travel day he came around and started to explore the Explorer more and even tried to help drive, not a good thing while driving through a snow storm in Colorado!

The fourth and last picture is of my dad (Bob), mom (Teresa) and their neighbors, Bill and Monica (yes that's their real names and no there were no cigars present!). We went to a Northern Kentucky University basketball game and watched it from a private viewing box from my dad's company. It was fantastic.

I'm glad all of the trips are over and I'm almost looking forward to going back to work. I can't believe I said that! We have a great group at the hospital at NAS Lemoore, should be a good last two years in the Navy. Take care and I'll update again in a week or two.

Dave

Home Sweet Home, again!

Well we are now in Northern Kentucky! The pictures above were taken last week when we were in Cleveland. The first is of Shayna in front of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she was freezing and didn't like the picture, but I obviously did! The bottom left picture is taken on the deck in front of the Hall of Fame, Cleveland is in the background, and the bottom right is us in front of the Christmas tree set up in the lobby of the Marriott in Warrensville, OH. It's been a great trip so far. We've seen a lot of family and it has been fantastic. Grandma and Aunt Dianne are doing well in Cleveland as well as my Mom, Uncle Rich, Aunt Kathy, Grandma Fulks, Ryan, Shannon, Missy, Ty and their children. Ty and Missy's son Chad really wants to join the Navy as an officer, using the Naval Academy as his avenue to success! I'm really proud of him, and I get the feeling he is going to achieve his goal, that would be fantastic.

My Mom and Dad, Bob and Teresa are looking good and feeling good! We are staying at their place and it's as comfortable as usual. We had a good party last night with Teresa's side of the family, so I didn't run this morning! It was nice to see Dennis, Linda, Wanda, Rick, Eric, Randy, Tony, Sharon, Rob, Bill, Melinda, Amy, Josh, and everyone else. Shayna did another 2 miles in the pool at Silver Lake fitness center and it was flawless as usual.

I feel sorry for the guys back in Kandahar, I guess that it's starting to heat up again and get busy. As in previous messages that can be a good and bad thing for them. Good because time flies and bad because people are getting injured. Hang in there, you'll be home soon.

Well that about wraps it up for this week. More visiting to come this week and then we're hitting the road for the final time on Friday for the 3.5 day drive back to real HOME! woohoo. Take care.

I revamped the countdown clock to show the number of days to the Navy retirement. The Navy has been great to me, but everything must end, only 650+ days to go!

Dave

Home Sweet Home

Home sweet home, well almost! It took a total of 43 hours of travel from Kandahar to Lemoore, CA. Three days after arriving in Lemoore, I picked up the new Explorer and drove 34 hours to Wisconsin to see my honey! The picture on the top left is the first meal we had at the Sundara spa in the Wisconsin Dells, fantastic, even though we really had no idea what we were eating! haha. The menu was written in "fancy words" and I'm from Kentucky! The picture on the top right is of me and Shayna having a glass of red wine, I had my Hugh Heffner robe on. The bottom left picture is of me and Shayna visiting some of her family, it is our official first picture of us after me seeing her for the first time in 8 months, great day!

Shayna is doing fantastic with her external fixation devices off of her legs, she is now swimming around 2.5 miles 4 times a week, awesome. I am still running and trying not to gain back all of the weight that I lost while deployed, it's definitely a challenge with all of the holiday foods surrounding me! I'm still not smoking and hopefully that holds out also.

My cousin Adrianna in Cleveland is thinking about joining the Air Force. She has been fantastic through my Iraq and Afghanistan deployments. She is constantly sending me messages and keeping me informed of what was going on back home. She is interested in being a Biologist, and is great with animals. I will support her through her decisions and am very proud of her of even entertaining the idea of serving her country. See you soon Adrianna!

I got a call from Keith in Kandahar the day before Thanksgiving, it sounds like things are heating up for those guys over there and I feel bad for not being there with them, well I feel bad at least for a minute or two! haha. Hang in there guys, you have a fantastic surgical team, kick butt!

We are hitting the road again on Monday morning for Cleveland to see family and friends, and then off to Cincy to see the rest of the family and friends. I can't wait. I'll be updating this again next weekend and hopefully every weekend thereafter. Take care and I'll be seeing everyone soon!

Travel Time

Well I figured that the trip from Kuwait to Lemoore should take a total of 42 hours, we’ll see! I’m writing this from Kuwait International Airport at 2354 local time(1500 EST). So far the whole warrior transition program has been really well organized and a breeze to get through. Although we were staying in tents and had to walk to the showers outside, it was a great experience. If the people who organize and run the WTP ran the Navy, I’d be staying in another 10 years!

Have I said that I cannot wait to get home? Well I can’t! haha. I’m pretty tired right now and can’t wait to get on that plane and feel the wheels come off of the ground. I’ve noticed one thing about Kuwait, the roads on the way to the airport were all nicely paved. As soon as we got to the spot to depart the bus, dirt again! I wonder why. I’m sick of dirt by the way. I think that we have a 6 hour flight to Germany and then an 8 hour flight to Baltimore. I wonder who is going to be hammered once we are able to finally drink a beer or two or ten! I’ll probably only have one in Germany and then one in Baltimore, we’ll see.

I’ve met up with several people I trained with in Fort Jackson this past week. It was nice to see them again and hear their stories. Josh was in Kabul and in charge of training the Afghan Police up there, he said that it was very interesting. Saw a couple of pictures he had and it definitely looks like a third world country. I never did get to go out into town, and I didn’t want to either! I was fine being a “fobbit”, a FOB is a Forward Operating Base, and a fobbit is someone who never leaves the FOB.

Now I’m writing from the plane trip from Baltimore to Salt Lake and then finally to Fresno. It was a 34 hour trip from Kandahar to Baltimore. After the 9 hour flight from Germany to Baltimore I had to sprint to the gate to catch the flight to Fresno, I missed it by 35 seconds or so. I watched the plane back up. It turned out to be a nice rest stop though. I got a room at the Sheraton and relaxed, it was a beautiful night! Like I said before, I’m writing while on the flight, in flight Wi-Fi rocks! I should be home in Hanford around 1300 or so this afternoon, can’t wait. People have been really nice, upon check in to the hotel last night, the manager bought us a couple beers each. This morning at the airport I had breakfast and some lady paid for it for me, absolutely amazing! I feel for the guys who returned from Vietnam who were greeted with spit, thank you to those who served during that “police action”. Take care and I’ll keep writing every week or so about Shayna and I if anyone is interested.

The picture this week is after we ran the Marine Corps 5K to celebrate their birthday. I ran it in 23 minutes, not too bad. I’ll be running a 4 mile race with Larry, Shayna’s dad, the day before Thanksgiving, should be a lot of fun.

Shayna I love and miss you very much, see you in about a week. Take care everyone.

Dave

On the road again

We are in transit once again. We arrived in Kuwait around 0300 on 8 NOV 09. We immediately went to bed and got up around 0800. I finally was able to run outside again, and did 7 miles on a nice flat surface, without dirt and rocks, woohoo! At 1300 on 9 NOV 09 we turned in our weapons, it was like getting rid of a bad friend, it feels great not carrying around a piece of metal everywhere. I’m getting up at 0430 on 10 NOV to run the Marine Corps 5K, in celebration of the Corps’ birthday, should be fun, I think I’ll be getting another t-shirt for you Shayna, gotta love the t’s!

So far the WTP, Warrior Transition Program, has been surprisingly well coordinated, hard to believe being run by the Navy and everything. Haha. After the Marine run we come back and turn in our 2 seabags of gear that was never used, that will be a load off of our minds, literally. After the turn in I’ll be down to a 2/3 full seabag and a carry on, traveling light will be a welcome change. I’m at the point now that I throw away a pair of socks, underwear and t-shirt after each use, since everything has a wonderful light brown tint to it from the laundry in Kandahar.
I’m under the impression that our decompression classes start on Wednesday, and continue through Thursday and then we’re outta here. I love the feeling you get when the wheels leave the ground for the last time, it’s incredible. Everyone cheers and then settles in for two long legs of flight, but they go by really quick since we know we are on our way to see our loved ones. Can’t wait to see you hun.

I checked with the overseas sales office here today about my Explorer. It was built on the 2nd of November and was on the rail system for delivery on the 5th. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will be there by this weekend. It will be a nice drive to Wisconsin either way, but I’m really hoping to break in the Explorer with a nice, relaxing, long drive.

I know that these paragraphs are not in chronological order, but I’m doing random entries so stick with me! Haha. I finished the 5K (3.2 miles) in 23 minutes, I cut a minute off of my best time! I felt pretty good afterward. Today we have a small stress class and then our doctor’s appointments to go over any injuries sustained while deployed. For me it’s the left ankle and a possible hernia, we’ll see what happens. Tomorrow, the 12th, should be pretty much free and then we’re outta here! Woohoo. I should be able to write a short entry at one of our stops, at least I’ll try to. Take care and I’ll be seeing everyone soon! Shayna I love and miss you, everyone else take care!

Dave

Tradition

This is the last entry from "beautiful" Kandahar, really this time! There will be more entries to follow from the trip home. Very short entry this time, but needed to close this trip out. I don't know if it is an official tradition to have a cigar at the end of a deployment, but it has been the case on my three deployments. The first picture is of me having a stogie at the end of the Ramadi, Iraq deployment in 2007 and the second is of some of the 10 last survivors of our original group enjoying a stogie last night. Again it's been a challenging and rewarding experience here and I'll miss some things, but definately not enough to extend! haha. Shayna, I'm almost there and can't wait. Everyone else take care and I'll be in touch.

Dave

Zip, zilch, nada, zero.......

That’s about how many days I have left! Woohoo! After 36 amputations, 21 craniotomies, 12 appendectomies, 46 external fixations, and a multitude of other surgeries, it’s finally time to call it quits. I was involved in a total of 369 surgical cases, 79 of which I scrubbed and first assisted in, not bragging but I am damn proud of that! I have gone through the whole gambit of emotions, sadness, happiness, anger, jealousy, etc. I didn’t experience depression which is a good thing! The “can’t waits” still apply from the last entry, just getting a little stronger now. The emotion that I’m feeling the most right now is HAPPINESS!! I’ll be home on 13 NOV at 2100!!!! I can’t explain how ready I am to have the wheels touch down on American soil.

The picture this week is another group shot. This one is unique because it contains people from Napal, Canada, Denmark, Holland and of course the USA. I'm going to miss these guys, it was a fantastic collection of professionals from around the globe! I’ll be doing another entry from our next stop with plenty of more pictures I’m sure. I’m going to keep this blog going every week even after the deployment to keep in touch with family and friends as our life evolves! Take care.

Happy birthday to my brother Dan! Thanks for all of your help with Shayna’s travel plans and listening to me talk to you about the crap that has been going on here. Take care and I’ll be seeing you next year in Florida.

Shayna is doing well and can’t wait to go to the movies with me and some other things, I can’t wait either gorgeous! When I get home I’m going to pick up the new SUV and start driving form California to Wisconsin. The 2-3 day drive will give me a chance to get all of the bad things from my memory before I see Shayna, family and friends again. After Wisconsin we’re going to head toward Cleveland and see family there, then on to Northern Kentucky to see family and friends. Hopefully we’ll be able to have a big get together somewhere in KY where we all can catch up and tell “sea stories”! To complete the trip, Shayna and I are driving back to Wisconsin to pick up our cat and then to Cali for the final stop, at least for 2 years. If Shayna gets in the Air Force or Army there will be many more stops until she retires in 12-13 years. Looking forward to the travel babe and being the military dependent for once! Haha.

Hours worked:
1 NOV 09: 11 Hours
3 NOV 09: 10 Hours (LAST DAY!!!!!!)

# CAUSES OF SURGERY AS OF 6 NOV 09
116 GSW
132 IED
8 SVBIED
19 SUICIDE BOMBER
13 ROCKET ATTACK
49 NBI
7 MINE
9 AIR STRIKE (SAME PATIENT 9 SURGERIES)
7 MVA
1 GRENADE INJURY

Shayna I love and miss you very much, and will be seeing you in a couple of weeks, can’t wait! Everyone else take care and I’ll be seeing some of you soon.

Dave