Thirty-Two and a Half Hours

April 29, 2006

Two years ago today was the best day of our lives.

How we spent our first anniversary . . .


Last year, shortly after we found out that this deployment was possible, we booked an anniversary trip to Orlando, Florida. We went to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Downtown Disney, City Walk, sat by the pool and had a blast.


And now, we are here - our second anniversary . . .

A half a world apart, BUT our anniversary is 32 and 1/2 hours long thanks to the time zone difference! Hey, you have to look a the silver lining, right?

"But you just smile and take my hand,

You've been there you understand

It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true."

Speed Bumps and Flat Tires

Just wanted to say HEYYYYYY!!!

Well, the official critique of the Coke is complete, and Josh has decided that he really does not like the way it tastes in Afghanistan. He has since started drinking Dr. Pepper. Though he told me that he is trying to cut back all together on his soda consumption.

The following was shared both on the phone (Tuesday) and in an IM (thankfully he wrote it all to me as well, so that I could post it easier to the blog) . . .

"We saw a lot of the country in the last couple of days - some great people and even camels! This country is amazing. If they could get it all together, they could make a killing in tourism. It has everything people could want warm temperatures, big sky views, alp-type mountains.

We have spent a lot of time in the truck. (The men in the truck) and I had a good time. We went through a lot of little towns. Nobody has traffic lights, but villages have speed bumps. We decided speed bumps were like traffic lights. If you were from a small town, you wouldn't say my town has one traffic light, you would say I'm from a one bump town. Ha Ha. If you were from a three or four bump town you were from like Homer on the 281 side. And if you were a really big town you had bumps and a traffic circle!

We got a flat tire due to all the bumps. Ha Ha. You haven't changed a tire, until you have changed a humvee tire in 90 plus heat, in full body armor, helmet, and in a combat zone. What a trip! Of course, we all know how mechanically inclined I am, but I did it! However, I really held my butt cheeks tight the whole time going back to the fob, hoping that it didn't fall off. It is amazing how much people around here trust me. Ha Ha.

The trucks around here around here are called jingle trucks and they load them down until the cargo is as high as the truck. We even saw busses carying cars on top of them. I do not know how they get them up or down because they have no cranes.

I will be sleeping in my bed tonight with my blanket! My packages arrived today. Woohoo. I love everything . . . "

Josh said the children are out of control and that at the same time, it brings waves of emotions. "It's wonderful to see them so excited to see you and be so happy when you give them candy or food. At the same time, it is heartwrenching when you see their reaction to a bottle of water, something that we take for granted. The other day we stocked up on snack items, like rice krispie treats and stuff, and these two kids were practically hitting each other trying to get them all. They love it when we give them candy. They are all starting to go back to school, but not for the start of a school year -- actually going back to school, like they are re-opening."

Josh said that they do have some ideas for what the local people could use. His platoon is hoping to adopt a nearby village - purchasing their items to help them financially and finding out what they can use that the platoon could provide them with. Once they have established all of that, he will share the list of items.

He also sent the following picture Friday morning . . .

This is his ride...

On Friday morning, he signed on to IM - always a pleasant 5:30 a.m. wake-up call. It was actually the first conversation that we had were we really didn't talk a lot about Afghanistan or the deployment, but rather I caught him up on the happenings around here. It was wonderful! We just talked, sort of like he was away on a business trip. Ha Ha Ha!

ABC's Person of the Week

For those of you who watch ABC World News with Charles Gibson, you may have seen these clips already in the Person of the Week. The following two links take you to videos of two individuals who were recognized for their efforts in honoring our soldiers.

This one might help explain the blue star flags that you see in people's windows...
Person of the Week: Rod Robeson

This one is very touching and has been circulating through several e-mails recently...
Person of the Week: Bert Brady

Wish I May, Wish I Might...

About 9 hours after the last post, Josh wrote me on IM. It was so wonderful to chat with him. He seems to be doing well, but anxious to get into their permanent housing (see the quote below). He shared the following pictures, along with the following commentary... Another soldier took these and Josh is driving the truck that you see in the pictures.

"Yes, I am driving it. haha Aren't I doing a great job? You can't tell, but the roads are super tiny."

This is one of our soldiers and one the of the South Carolina soldiers.

Water for the kids . . .

Here are some different things that Josh shared when we were chatting...

In response Rich Brown's latest comment about "the mud not always being mud"... "I know what you mean, I was out and saw lots of different kinds of poop!"

In response to asking how he was doing... "There are moments when it seems all very overwhelming, but you try and go about your day as normal as possible, without thinking too much about the possibilities and you try not to think too much about the time..."

About life in Camp Phoenix... "Oh my gosh, the SC guys still have not left yet and (it is) so annoying, plus they are sleeping in what is supposed to be my bed!!" (I think there was some emphasis on "my bed".)

In one of his recent packages, I filled the remaining space with candy and I told him that he may not like the candy, but it is probably something that they could give to the children... "Oh that is so good. Oh my gosh, the kids are wild and come from everywhere when you drive by. This kid came running from a quarter mile away just to get to the side of the road in time to wave at us."

About the dirt...

Josh: no matter how hard i try my white keys (computer keyboard) are starting to get a little dingy because i am always dirty

Josh: i am excited b/c tonight is shower night
Josh: and new uniform night
Darci: when did you last shower?
Josh: four days ago at least - yuck
Darci: EWWW
Josh: lol
Darci: worse than ft bragg
Josh: i know and this place is way dirtier

Just before Josh signed off, he wrote the following... "I think about you all the time except when I am dodging donkeys and russian taxis."

Today is pretty significant as well -- the 19th!! Another month down, we are up to three!!

No News Is . . . ?

The Army folks tell you, "No news is good news." Well, I have started thinking that "no news is NO fun!" I talked to Josh over a week ago and we last chatted on IM on Saturday. I hear from different spouses of the other soldiers sharing the excitement of being able to talk to their loved one, but the dissappointment at the short length in the call. I keep reminding myself that as soon as he can call, he will, and if he can't call, then he is busy and time is flying by for him. Trying to remind myself of that, at least, and hoping that time is flying by for Josh.

Trisha shared the following pictures with me. Her husband is also in the company.

This first picture is of children in Afghanistan waiting to pick-up school supplies. I am unsure of the exact location of where this was taken.

This is driving through Afghanistan . . .



This is some of the unit (at least I assume that it our unit) out in the sand/mountains/dirt of Afghanistan . . .

I just recieved some other pictures from another soldier's wife. Once I have time to sort through them this weekend, I will post some of those as well. Hopefully, I will have heard from Josh and will be able to share an update from him as well.

Dodging Ditches and Running Through Mud Puddles

Josh tried writing me online yesterday (Sunday) and left me this message while I was away...

"We were so busy today. I am so dirty. Another soldier took some pictures and video today that I downloaded to my computer, but I am pooped and do not have the patience to deal with the slowness of downloading it all. We we were up at 4:00 today and finished at around 3:00 this afternoon - I am super tired, but a very successful day. It is amazing to drive here - one minute I am on a four lane highway and the next, I am dodging ditches and running through mud puddles."

From Sand-land...

Josh sent some pictures via e-mail and we had the chance to chat online Saturday morning. This is the inside of the plane that they flew in from Kuwait to Kabul. A bit rustic to say the least. He said the seats are on pallets and roll on and off the the plane.


Josh said the following two photos were take at about 4 am, but who knows what time their bodies were functioning at. This is on the second plane to Kabul after their mid-point stop.




While we were chatting online, he shared the following...

The mountains here are huge with lots of snow on them, but it is difficult to get a picture of them because there is so much smog.

Right now, our whole platoon is in one hut. Once all the south carolina people move back home, we will inherit two eight person huts, so we have to move one more time It is so much better than where we were before. We have access to showers and we are close to everything. The huts are clean too.

Coke... the can is an arabic and a little smaller.

We have our own fire house here complete with a huge airport-type fire truck and a regular american type pumper truck. It is really funny to see. It is staffed by air force fire fighters.

It's really warm here. Sunny and warm. We even have the AC on.

He said that the pictures I posted the other day look similar to what he is seeing, but not the same, though it gives you a good idea. It has been raining there and the sun just came out for the first time the other day.

He is learning of different things that are needed in the area for the local people, and will share that in the near future.

This is from an e-mail that he sent his Dad, which he forwarded on...

We have seen some incredible things and smell some weird smells. We have seen a lot of evidence of the Soviet invasion - lots of trenches, outposts, and tanks. We see other NATO forces - Italians, Germans, Romanians, Croatians, and of course, the British and French.

Josh and I had a chance to catch each other up on the happenings in each of our corner of the world. He really has no concept of time right now. He continues to still think that it is January. He said his body hasn't adjusted at all to the time change and tends to lie in bed wide awake in the middle of the night. Hopefully, sooner than later, he will adjust to the change.

27th Brigade Combat Team

Trisha sent me some You Tube links that feature the 27th Brigade Combat Team.

This video is of the Send-Off Ceremony at Ft. Bragg. Don't look too closely for Josh - he was on traffic duty for the ceremony. Captain Merrill, the unit's CO (Commanding Officer), speaks at the end of the video.

This video is a photo montage of the 27th BCT while at the Patriot FOB during training. Quite moving, to say the least! Just to forewarn you - a lot of the photos are of training missions on the range and therefore show a lot of weapons.

Life Begins at Camp Phoenix

Below are bits and pieces of an e-mail that I recieved this morning at 2:40 a.m. (11:10 a.m. in Afghanistan) from Josh...

. . . (Another Soldier) and I went on a walk around the FOB this morning. It really is not as bad as I thought. Obviously, we found the computers, but we also found the post office, laundry, PX, the gym - which is very nice, real showers, and where we will be living when we move, which is a palace compared to what we are living in now. It will be a few more days until we are in our huts. I do have access to Coke which is really nice and the food is good. I went running in the gym today on the treadmill and watched of all things the TODAY show, can you believe it? They show it live in the dining hall, and then they must replay it . . .

As I get e-mails from Josh, I will share portions of them. Hopefully, when he has internet access on a regular basis, he will be able to post to this, or at least provide more frequent updates.

Moving right along... Afghanistan!

Josh's unit has arrived safely in Afghanistan. It was a bit of whirlwind. I woke up Tuesday, April 8 in the morning to an e-mail from another soldier's fiancee indicating that he called saying, "Guess what?...Afghanistan time: now!" This would have been roughly 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday here, but 2:30 p.m. in Afghanistan. I do not know that anyone was expecting it to happen that quickly. They weren't even in Kuwait two days. We had been given some idea of when it might happen, but obviously we knew to take it lightly. Safe to say, I had prepared for this move, but just not on Tuesday.

I waited (im)patiently to hear from Josh... an e-mail, call, anything. Sleeping on Tuesday was a bit difficult... waking up every hour to check e-mail and IM on the computer that sat next to my head and checking for missed calls on the house phone and cell phone that sat with the computer. Finally, at 1:55 p.m. our time on Wednesday, 10:25 p.m. Afghanistan time, Josh called! The phone reception was interesting - at times crystal clear and other times it sounded like morse code in the background.

Josh said several times how good the food was and that he actually enjoyed it. He does have access to a cooler with COKE when he goes for his meals. Are we surprised that this was discussed in the first call? Housing is temporary right now, but he said that it will be really nice once they are in their permanent location. He said the weather was pretty nice too, quite a bit cooler than Kuwait.

The whole transition has been eye opening from the minute they got off the plane in Afghanistan. Compounded with the fact that they traveled half way around the world between Saturday and Tuesday (hello, time change!) and sat through briefings all day on Wednesday, it has obviously been a very long five days for them.

Of course, it was an emotional call. Simply put, it is finally real, and with that comes a whole new wave of emotions, fears, worries and wonders. However, in true Josh fashion, he managed to make us laugh before we hung up the phone. It was shortly before 11 in Afghanistan, so Josh was heading off to bed. I told him to have a good night sleep and to get some good rest. His response was "you too... oh, but I guess you aren't going to bed just yet!" It's weird to think that when I talked to him today he was just going to bed, and as I am writing this today, it's already morning tomorrow where he is and that he is probably up and moving around.

I found this map online of Afghanistan, which might be helpful over the next few months...


Afghanistan runs along 34 degrees latitude (central location of country), which is equivalent to Columbia, SC or Los Angeles, CA in the United States. During DST, Josh is 8 1/2 hours ahead of us, otherwise he will be 9 1/2 hours ahead.

Message From Josh

Here is an excerpt of an e-mail that I received from Josh this morning. I thought you would enjoy hearing his words...

"We are alive and well in Kuwait. We got in early yesterday morning. It is very flat, dry, hot, and sandy here. haha. We were bussed to our camp after landing. It was quite the experience. Not really allowed to say where we are or what the camp is called, but suffice to say were are safe and in the middle of NOWHERE. It is actually really nice here. We have toilets, hot showers with curtains, and real sinks with hot and cold water. I have taken two showers since arriving. We still live in tents and cots, but it isn't bad. We have McDonalds can you believe it and Taco Bell, Panda, and Subway. The DFAC is good too, and all you can eat. They even have Coke, it tastes a little different, but still it is COKE. Life is not bad here. The only downfall is there are people here who are getting ready to go home too, and that is a little depressing to be around when you are just getting here. Not sure how much longer we will be here."

What is more important - coke or hot showers?

Where In The World Is Josh!?

At 5:10 a.m. on Saturday, April 5, my cell phone rang - it was Josh's ring! Just one last call before they boarded the plane to depart the United States.

Currently, they are here...

Josh left on Saturday morning en route to Kuwait. They arrived in Kuwait sometime on Sunday. I received a voicemail from Josh Sunday night around 6:00 p.m. indicating that they had arrived safely. To quote him, "it's a wonderland. The arches of McDonald's rise up in the middle of the desert and light up the night sky." Of course, where there is McDonald's, there is... Coke!

Prior to leaving Ft. Bragg, Josh volunteered for the baggage detail, which allowed him to load the bags on the plane! Josh loves to travel and anything to do with aircraft carriers, so he was thrilled with this opportunity. I believe from what he said, he even was able to get inside the plane to receive and stack the bags, which until then was uncharted territory for Josh.

While in Kuwait, he is seven hours ahead of us. He sounded very chipper for a day and 1/2 of traveling and it being around 1:00 a.m. Kuwait time when he called.

They are in-processing in Kuwait for an unknown period of time. Once they have completed that stage of the process, they will be heading to Afghanistan, which is approximately 1,300 miles away (air distance, point to point).

Eventually, they will be here...