The heat was well worth putting up with when car 122 came around. About 90% of the cars in the parade brought forth a cheer and clapping; the other 10% didn’t deserve them. Some Civic theatre had reproduced the famous V-J kiss moment. That was definitely one of my favorites. The 10% that didn’t deserve it was a group of thugs that had souped up cars blaring incredibly inappropriate sexually explicit music.   There was one more falling into this category.. and the events that unfolded around it were AWESOME. 

Car 122 was a van with words written in big letter on the side.  “Bell County Democrats”  *cricket* *cricket*

Seriously.. silence fell over the entire crowd as they passed by.   There were even a few ‘boos’ from the crowd.  The floats were so close together that I was still hearing the boos of the next group about 10 feet away to the left of us when the crowd erupted in cheering.

What was everyone cheering about?

Someone had put them back to back.. the next float was “Central Texas Tea Party”   

God Bless Texas… It’s great to be home

I do have a new address. The unit that I am attached to is headed home, so I have to use the “general purpose” address for the camp, which is somewhat slower, but that is ok.

Steven Rushing
TCS
Camp Dwyer
APO, AE 09373

Easy enough?

Here are my travels so far:

7 June to 22 June:
Commercial from Norfolk to Dulles
Commercial from Dulles to Doha
Commercial from Doha to Kuwait City
C-17 from Kuwait to Kandahar, Afghanistan

C-130 from Kandahar to Bastian

53 from Bastian to Dwyer

53 from Dwyer to Delhi
Osprey from Delhi to Geronimo

Osprey from Geronimo to Dwyer

53 from Dwyer to Marjeh
53 from Marjeh to Bastian
C-130 from Bastian to Dwyer

That is some traveling! The 53 helicopter spits out hydraulic oil like crazy. I totally ruined a pair of pants from all the oil. All of this traveling after the commercial flights had to be done in full battle rattle, including flak vest with plates and kevlar helmet. It is far from comfortable. And talk about LOUD! Even with properly inserted ear plugs, the helicopters are deafening! The crews really know their job though and are incredibly professional.

So I was traveling with a buddy the whole way along. He is the WPPL expert (wireless point to point link – a big line of sight radio) and I was to soak up everything I could as he taught marines. His name is Rob and he is just the nicest guy you can imagine. He was born in Texas but has lived in Georgia most of his life and totally has the southern charm down, distinctly different than the south-west charm you see in Texas.

This is Rob and I am pretty sure we are in an Osprey in this picture.

This was at one of the smaller FOBs (Forward Operating Base). They had the cutest little Afghani kittens. We would be in the middle of a lesson and the class would screech to a halt because they would be doing something cute and demand attention. I have never been a cat person, but you just had to fall in love with such gentle creatures in such a harsh environment far from home.

This is looking out the back end of one of the birds. They all fly with the back end and side doors open and manned with gunners. If you look closely, you will see a square compound of some sort on the ground. There are hundreds of these out in the desert, the vast vast majority of which are deserted. I don’t know their story, but imagine them to be amazing. Probably more interesting in my mind than in reality.

Here is a picture of Rob “reading”. He totally posed and asked me to take this picture for him.

I am not posing at all, just reading my book, waiting for a chopper and clueless to the world around me. He said he got 5 shots before I noticed.

You may not know what that is just by looking at it, but it is the “piss wall”, the only place to “go number one” on one of the smaller FOBs I visited. You “go number two” in a bag and burn it, seriously. I had the particular displeasure of walking by the “wall” when a female was utilizing it. It was actually more modest than a male using it, as she had an “extender” of sorts, but it was still disconcerting. It was very uncomfortable using it out in the open. There were only 5-7 females on this FOB of fewer than 200 dudes. They walked around convoy style, never leaving each other alone. If you look close enough, you will see bottles of hand sanitizer on the sand bag walls.

This particular day they sent a whole flight just for me and Rob. Seriously, just me and him on the whole bird, besides crew. Talk about making us feel important!

This is the sign you see as you exit the flight line and enter Camp Dwyer, the place I live. I used the stock pictures of the planes and helicopters above because there are strict rules against taking pictures of the flight line. Anything else is fair game though, including pictures while you are actually on the birds.

And this is the tent I live in with 10 other guys. I get a bunk to myself, and a 5 x 8 foot area next to it, enclosed in blanket walls. It is plenty comfortable, more than I expected.

Thanks to the several of you who have left me messages on the number I left for you to call. In case you missed it, it is under the address a couple of posts ago. I really appreciate the messages! Sorry I haven’t answered the phone much though. I actually am working 12 hours a day, every day. No days off, probably for a long time. We just don’t have enough people for a better schedule.

I am somewhat miserable, missing my most wonderful wife and adorable little girls. I am managing though. Until next time!

For those interested in exactly where I am, here is the readout of my gps/Google Maps:

I flew in on a Blackhawk and today get to fly on an Osprey, a lifelong dream since reading Hammerheads as a teenager. Will update when I can!

My new address will be:

Rushing, Steven M SWAN/WPPL FSR
RCT-1 HQ Co. S6/COMM
UNIT 40145
FPO, AP 96427-0145

And a phone number where you can catch me if I am on Skype or leave me a message if I am not:

(254) 231-4269

Will update when I get to my final destination and a more reliable connection.

Has anyone seen the Neverending Story? Remember toward the end when the Child-like Empress is pleading with Bastian to help them by making a wish or something like that?

I know, it’s creepy, me being 30 years old, but the Child-like Empress was something of a first love to me as a 6 or 7 year old. This scene always moved me, and when she calls him Bastian, she says his name funny, Bast EE an, rather than Baschan, the typical American pronunciation. So I pronounce Camp Bastian the way she did, just to throw people off. =)

I just found out I made the flight to Kandahar, so I need to pack up and take off. Have fun!

I leave tomorrow night for Kuwait out of Norfolk. I get to Kuwait Monday night, Kuwait time. The longest stretch in the air is DC to Qatar, just shy of 13 hours straight. Wish me luck and long life to my batteries. =)

Korean War Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Addendum to things I missed about the mainland:

Squirrels! They are so cute and fun to feed. They are little furry personalities and I know my little girls would love them.
Billboards! There aren’t any in Hawaii and I just saw my first “the end of the world is coming in May!” billboard yesterday. “We buy ugly houses” is fun too.

Last thing: I took some panoramas while I was there, hope you like them!

WWII Memorial

In front of the Washington Monument. Look west to see the Monument, and east to see the Capitol. You can zoom out with your mouse wheel to see the whole of the monument.

Emancipation Hall, US Capitol visitors center.

The center of the Mall. Again, W to see the Monument, and E to see the Capitol.

Emancipation Hall, Capitol Visitors Center

Edit: no, I don’t know why the pic is upside down. I am posting from my iPhone and will fix it as soon as I get to a computer

1. Parking spots are huge! I can park and hardly worry about opening my door and dinging the car next to me. Space is so precious in Hawaii that they put very little space between parking spots.
2. I can drive and drive forever. I visited with Russ (Märia’s dad) yesterday. We met in Augusta, which was roughly halfway. He bought dinner and we saw Pirates of the Caribbean, and we had a very nice visit. I actually drove down using all back roads and drove through a national forrest and it was quite pretty.
3. The trees are taller and greener here than in Hawaii, although there is far less botanical diversity. As I mentioned, driving through the forrest was very fun.
4. You can drive fast! Ok, I don’t mean that fast… The highest speed limit on O’ahu is 55mph and I can drive 63mph reliably without getting pulled over. The speed limit towards Russ was 70 and I was doing 80 and getting passed!
5. They sing like angels in church here. I think this might just be Georgia because the singing wasn’t as nice in Washington or Texas. Seriously, you have to visit Georgia just to here the singing in church. Today they focused on seminary graduates and graduation (basically just the end of high school for you non Mormon folk =) today, so lots of youth speakers. When the congregation joined the organ, it was more than worthy of the organ. The singing in Hawaii (and most other places I have been) is really kind of sad. You have 1% of the congregation who are showing off (whether they have something to show off or not) and maybe 10% who are singing from their heart and then just a lot of mumblers (thats me!). Today it seemed as if everyone was singing from their heart and everyone had a voice worthy of showcasing. The difference was stark. And then it got better when the youth choir sang.
6. Waffle House, Huddle House, The Olive Garden, Sonic, late-night Chinese delivery, etc. There are so many restaurants here that haven’t made the jump over the pond.
7. The stars! There are no stars to see on O’ahu because of the incredible night pollution. I can go out any night, drive 10 minutes out of town and see the clear band that is the Milky Way. It makes me wonder and a little sad because my telescope is at home.

So yeah, there are probably a few more that I am just not remembering right now. I miss my wonderful wife and little ones at home. I get to video chat with them, and sometimes it is great but today it was a bad picture and that makes me a little sad too.

Off to work tomorrow though! I hope to head off to Kuwait in a week. More on that next time.

I tucked them into bed afterwards, and I proceeded to crawl into mine. I hear Seporah sobbing, “Mommy! Mommy!” Of course I crawl back out to go see what the problem was. She’s shaking in her bed and said, “I close my eyes and see pictures of Jerusalem being destroyed.” …Whoops… Let’s retract that last story. I then retold the story to include a VERY happy ending with rainbows and butterflies. “Is that how it really happen?” “Yes Seporah, exactly like that. Now it’s time for bed.” And then tucked Jessie, Rapunzel, Bunny Rushing, Curious George, and Blankie Bear in with her, gave her a hug and kiss and said good night. Crossing my fingers that that would work. No such luck. About 2 minutes later I open my eyes again to see Seporah standing next to my bed. “I still close my eyes and see pictures of Jerusalem being destroyed.” She ended up sleeping with me last night.

Wednesday was “training”.

Today I got my physical and was again given a clean bill of health. Fasting blood draws, exam and turn and cough, the whole deal.

Can you tell I am tired and don’t care to write much or well? =)

Not much has happened so far, just lots of paperwork for benefits and such. Here are some pictures.

One nice thing about planes is that you get way up above the clouds and air/light pollution to really see the stars. I miss seeing the stars in Hawaii, as the light pollution is horrible. I think you can count the stars you can see from my house and not hit 100, it really is that bad. Märia and I and the girls were out the other day though and Märia and I saw a satellite shooting through the sky. I never looked it up, but it was too high over the horizon to have been the ISS. It was nice.

A picture of the Phoenix air traffic control tower, shamelessly stolen from the internet. I just thought it looked nice. Futuristic and representative of the “valley of the sun”.

I just finished reading the first 5 chapters of Everfound. It is a fun teen urban fantasy. I don’t know if I am using that term correctly, but I call all “modern” fantasy urban fantasy, as opposed to medieval fantasy (merlin and hobbits and dragons). I guess I will sign off and try to get some sleep. Hopefully I can upload this for you guys when I land!