I have had quite a few people ask me questions on the following topics, so I thought I'd write a quick update on both to maybe answer some questions. I can't be all that clear on either one for public internet reasons, but I'll try to get to the points.
#1 What is Austin up to
Austin left Colorado on Feb 18 for Georgia where he spent a week doing a whole lot of repeat work. He left Georgia Feb 25 and called me about 26 hours later from Kuwait. He then called me Monday, which I missed, and said he had arrived at the main area of Afghanistan. He will be there for a short amount of time doing some in country training, then he will go out into his permanent location to relieve the current guys. I do not know where his permanent location will be, and he will likely travel around a lot and just be at that location every few days. I do not have an address yet and won't have one until he gets there. He is sleeping in a 100 man tent right now but has luckily snagged the top bunk above his for all his gear in hopes to have a little bit of space to himself. He is frustrated so far and pretty homesick, but optimistic that once he gets started on his job things will get better for him. The internet where he is right now is horrible and costs $10 for 10 hours. The phone system is equally bad. We are hoping that communication will be easier once he gets to his final place, otherwise this could be pretty frustrating for both of us. We were a little spoiled with the internet and phones in Iraq. I send him an email every night about what William was up to for the day and he has read them, but he hasn't responded. He said he just has short bouts of successful connection for now, so he hasn't had the opportunity to do much emailing on his own.
Some people have asked about sending care packages. Last deployment I sent him a package every Monday. How ambitious of me! This time my goal is to send one once a month. It gets pricey, buying stuff to fill the boxes, but most of all its time consuming. Shopping, packing, then waiting in line - took a good deal of time. If you would like me to include things for you in my monthly packages that would be fine or if you'd like to send your own packages that'd be fine too. (or neither, hey its your choice!) If you have something specific you want to send him, or would like me to buy to send him, that works or if you need ideas I can help out some. Other than packages, he enjoys getting cards and letters too which are much easier to manage. And even if he is unable to respond to emails, I know he enjoys receiving them. He has trouble expressing his gratitude (duh, he's a man) but I do know that it means a great deal to him when he hears from people. So anything you want to do would be greatly appreciated.
#2 When I went to that elusive place that day where I thought I might need new clothes...what was the outcome? Well, I went into it knowing that it was essentially a step backwards for me. It was appaeling for a lot of reasons, that being one of them. It is hard to communicate that you WANT a step backwards without sounding bad...so that was tricky. 50% of the decision makers wanted to meet me again, 50% were concerned that I would quickly be bored and move on. I would quickly be bored, but I wouldn't move on. That apparently was too much of a risk.
I have mixed feelings at this point. I do want a slower pace of things. I also know that I am surrounded by people who know me, know my situation, can read my emotions, etc. Other than the key leaders I am in a great environment of people and that's a hard thing to walk away from. We are all finding ourselves in that predicament, actually, and if we could all walk away together that would be ideal. At least 3 of us :) I have not pursued anything else as my parameters are pretty specific. Location, time, etc. I don't have the luxury of widening those 2 categories unfortunately. So, while I am still stuck in some ways I do think that there are a lot of things about my current situation that are good for me.
Not the most exciting blog, but honestly - I feel like a broken record on these 2 things lately and there may be more of you who were curious and hadn't asked. So, thought I'd share.
Ok, I'll write something a LITTLE more fun too. Guess what happens next Friday??????
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