Traveling can even help you find things

I have arrived in Paris, after three airports and a bus ride I Amin Europe and although getting around on my own is interesting I am figuring it out.



This is by far the most unique way to go on vacation, a helicopter ride a c17 cargo plan, a bus ride and two commercial airlines just to get to Europe and now a train ride to meet up with my sisters in the morning. Plus figuring out where I am going to stay tonight, yikes! But it is excitement and fun that is well worth it, so long as I don't get too lost haha. Oh yeah add on there the first time I have worn real civilian clothes in over six months, I forgot wasn't wearing a button fly the last three times I have gone to the bathroom. But it is fun I wouldn't trade and much needed.

Already I am figuring out that traveling around a lone isn't so bad (although it is harder to take pictures of yourself, but that's ok because I am still pretty nasty from my travels so I don't need pictures just yet.

Traveling is good for other things as well, like finding sd cards that have been lost for months. I assumed they were gone for good but they were just in my wallet change purse which I haven't opened in months either. It is great to have them since I plan on taking lost of pictures. All in all a pretty successful beginning and now the real adventures begin, me trying to maneuver the train stations.


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Location:Paris, France

My load is a lot lighter without an extra 35 lbs

Today I started my journey for r and r, and trust me this vacation is much needed. It started out with me suppose to have a flight at 1400 or there about but when I got to the office and we checked the flights that helicopter had been cancelled. Needless to say I wasn't all that happy, I wondered how I would get to bagram to fly out. But, luckily I went and checked the flights coming in and leaving, there was one coming to take one of the generals out so I checked with his staff to try and get on it and they took putty on me and gave me a ride. I got to Kuwait in record time it is normally a two day ordeal but this time I got here in about 12 hours.

The different part about this travel from all the others is once I got to bagram I could leave my weapon and my vest so I'm not carrying that around. It is different weird almost to be walking around so "light". I go out to walk around and I feel like I have forgotten something. For six months every day I have had a 9mm strapped to me so to walk around or get up in the morning and not pick it up is different, something to get use to. It is a nice break though, because it is a lot of responsibility as well as the vest being a lot of extra weight to lug around everywhere.



Honestly though this start to r and r has helped me drop more than just physical loads to carry. This is the frost vacation since I joined the army that i didn't bring any work with me, that doesn't mean that I won't probably get an email or two but I did not set out to bring any with me, it is refreshing and honestly a bit weird feeling. Also it is a huge stress reliever just walking away with a backpack And nothing else. Knowing that I can just take a break. It is funny because no matter how stressful or unstressful your job is, being here for so long and having no escape is wearing. I never would have imagined it to be that way, but no weekends away, no going home and just relaxing it is exhausting. Not to mention when you put a large number of people in a very small space there is drama, because others want to believe that they know everything that is going on in your life even when they know nothing.

So all that to say I completely understand the need for r and r and I am going to live this r and r up to the fullest.


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Location:Afgahnistan

Something's just make you stop and reflect.

I write about my travels some here, heck the last post was all about them, but mostly it is how I am annoyed or where I have to sleep. I try and stay away about my thoughts about actually traveling, partially because I don't want people to think I am one of the soldiers who goes out and gets in fire fights, but I am also not a soldier who only sits behind my desk at my one FOB and never leaves, I have seen at least a few different places. Lately I have been traveling more regularly. The first time I went "outside the wire," that is the military term for when you leave a camp or FOB, I was extremely nervous, I didn't know what to expect. Really every time I go out I get more vigilant but the nervousness has really passed.

It is a different experience, traveling, especially for me because I am relying on others to get me around since I don't have a unit or a movement team. Therefore when I go out I am putting my trust in people I don't know anything about, good thing with things like that I am a pretty trusting person. But mostly, it comes down to having a peace about being here. If God brought me to it he'll bring me through it some how. Some people see this as naive I think because they don't understand how I don't worry about traveling. I'm not naive to the safety risks I'm just at peace about them. (funny I worry about everything else but I don't worry about the big stuff).

I had just returned from a board not long before hearing about the helicopter that was shot down and killed 31 people over here. I remember being shocked and saddened for the loss of life, as much as it is expected over here it is never something you want to hear about especially that many people. I'll be honest most of my information comes from the news or what others tell they they have read or seen so I don't fully know where they were going or what they were doing but most likely they were going to assist others who were in a fire fight. Which are not the type of helicopter rides I am getting on but still it gave me pause. Especially because only about three days later I was suppose to be out again, traveling via helicopter to the same region I was going to, very near the same area.

For the first time in a while I was actually nervous to travel, it didn't help that it became more difficult to get a ride down because a couple of the stopped sending their birds down there until the investigation was complete. They weren't flying those routes because they didn't know what happened. It really made me stop for a bit and think do I really want to work to get down there of our choppers aren't even flying down there. They quickly resumed routes but still it gave me pause for some concern.

But I thought about it and reminded myself that I am here to do a job a job where sometimes I am one of the only people who shows a soldier that someone cares and it is one that I feel is where I am suppose to be in. And I remembered all things are under God's control and his plan. Obviously I made it there and back and have even been on two other trips since then and every time I remind myself it is all in His control.


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Location:Afghanistan

Sleeping while I travel

I knows that I have talked about my travels before and will continue to type about them. Some will probably me more superficial posts and others more in-depth or deeper in thought at least. But I guess that is what this blog is all about right, what it is really like being over here from my perspective.

I do end up traveling a lot mostly because of the large area that myself and another attorney cover as well as the fact that you can't really control where people commit crimes, so I have become pretty comfortable getting from place to place, but, it never makes it easy or what I would call fun. Between convoys, helicopters and fix wing air craft, sleeping outside of military air terminals, and getting up at 0200 in order to walk with all my gear up to a mile in order to catch a flight it is exhausting and never something I really look forward to. The vest and helmet alone that I have to take and wear with me while traveling add at least an additional 35 lbs to my load, not to mention that I have to carry bedding with me. I am learning to travel light and I keep getting better at it.

I think though the worst part of travel is never know where you are going to sleep. I have slept on office floors, in single rooms that are reall just a big tent with plywood walls that don't go all the way up. Ihave slept in small three/four man rooms and then I have slept in tents housing over 100 soldiers. I well say this it makes me appreciate the room and accommodations I have here.






The worst is that I have found people, well at least the females, are not all so respectful of each other. I like music with the best of them but I always carry headphones with me, others are not so nice and late at night will blast their music regardless of who is around. Or they wake up in the morning and have no respect for others that don't have to get up as early as they do, and make noise and shine there lights all over with no consideration. Needless to say the amount of exhaustion increases dramatically when mixed with lack of sleep.



But on a positive note, I am learning to function on minimal sleep as well as learning to sleep in a variety of surroundings and noises. Other good things about traveling is that is does make me appreciate the accommodation I have at the camp I am at. Also i get to see a variety of things, and talk to a variety of people. Plus the more I travel the more familiar I become with the pilots and they watch out for me. The other day I was waiting for a flight and while there a crew chief came in to the terminal and said he was going to a FOB, I made a joke asking if they wanted to drop me off on the way. He laughed and the walked back out to the helicopter then about 5 minutes later he came back and said come on will drop you off. So all in all I can't complain a lot about travel but it is not the most fun part of my job.

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Location:Afghanistan

A princess?!?

The other day I was sitting out chilling outside, sitting In my chair in what has now been deemed my spot, and one of my friends was sitting outside as well playing angry birds. This is a pass time we do often each with out iPod/iPad, sometimes we even switch around, anyway, we were sitting there occasionally talking and he tells me, "you know you are a princess right."

I laughed and thought about and said "a princess, what is that suppose to mean." He said he couldn't really explain it I just was.

I responded "well at least I'm not a FOB queen." (for those that don't know FOB queens are the nicknames for those women who, get around)

He got very embarrassed for a moment and quickly shuddered out, "no, no, that is not what I was saying at all. I just meant you are a princess, not the primp and prep kind but your a princess."

It made me laugh and I knew he didn't mean it as a bad thing but more as a compliment/explanation of me and the way I make friends. It did make me wonder more what he meant exactly but, I wasn't dwelling on it. Then the other day I was traveling and I was watching the wizard of oz on my iPad, and it hit me, he was saying I am Dorothy.

Sure enough I returned and ran into my friend and said, hey I think I am like Dorothy from the wizard of oz, And his response immediately was "yeah, like I said a princess."

I am not offended at all to be compared to Dorothy, and I knew he never meant to be offensive but I did at least in my head figure out what he was saying....

Dorothy is an independent girl who is happy and pretty much a joy to be around. She isn't afraid to stand up for those that she loves and she loves everyone she meets. She sees the best in them even when they don't see the good in themselves. She steps out and tries new things even when she is scared and she puts others ahead of herself.

Think about it, Dorothy stood up to the, witch when she wanted to take toto away, and she headed out on her own when she thought she was going to loose him. When she got to oz, and realized she wanted to go home she didn't sit down and wait she stood up and took the journey down the yellow brick road setting out alone. She met others along the way and knew that they had great qualities and asked them to come along, not for her but for them. (there is a whole lot more but you get my point I think). Anyway, there is no denying that those that she met along the way helped her and even rescued her, but, not because they had too, it was because they wanted to. They wanted to be her friend and help her just because of her personality, she wasn't helpless that is clear but she accepted help and was grateful for them. She was a princess but not a primp and prep princess she was a personality princess that others were drawn to for friendship.

Ok, all that being said I'm not suggesting that my friend thought that much into it, or even thought exactly that of me. And I am not saying I am those things or all the wonderful. I am not conceded at all, but, I'm just saying I'm not offended to be compared to Dorothy and I am ok with being a "princess". I know for a fact that I would not be where I am today if I didn't make friends who have helped me along during my journeys, the high times and the low times. Some of the lowest in recent years have been over here and I did meet my scarecrow, tin man, and lion (I won't call any of them cowardly), over here.

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I'm sorry I didn't write for so long!

When I started this blog I was realistic with myself that I knew I wouldn't write everyday, I was hoping once a week. When I first got here I had so much to write it was easy to keep things posted, then I got into a groove and finding or really making time to type became more difficult. But it was my laziness mostly that kept me from blogging more often but I at least got a few things up a month. Then some things happened here and I didn't want to blog, I was going through and have been going through a difficult time and honestly even now while I am nearing the end of it I still don't know what all to write about it but I am going to anyway because I know I need to. That is what this blog is about to remind me of everything that went on over here and to maybe help my family see what it is like or others.

So I am just at halfway through my deployment and I am vowing to do better, however don't expect a lot while I am on r and r because I intend to do a lot of relaxing!,


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Dorothy you are not in Kansas anymore

I haven't written in a while and it hasn't been because there hasn't been anything going on. Really it has been the opposite, so much going on yet stuff I don't really want to write about for several reasons. But slowly I will write about some if not most of stand other things I will keep to myself. Not because I can't write them but because it would not be the best thing to do.

Things have not or at least were not easy over here for a while. Not that it is ever easy being this far away from home with no family and no creature comforts but things were down right a nightmare for a while and it wasn't because I was stationed in a war zone. I was told I was too nice, that if I wanted to make it I needed to stop caring about people as much.this was after the battle I was fighting here that caused a lot of pain. (I'm not trying to be vague and information might come out slowly but right now I'd rather not share everything out of respect). Anyway I was told to stop being so nice, honestly I'm not even sure how to do this.

The statement did get me thinking, maybe I should not be so nice, or at least be more restrictive on who I am nice to. But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized nope I'm not going to change who I am or how I act because a group of people don't understand someone who is nice. I realized I was am surrounded by a bunch of people from the north and I am just a "simple Kentucky girl" to them. I realized I'm not in Kentucky anymore where people show respect to everyone by being nice and for the most part friendly.

I am not just a simple Kentucky girl, I have seen and done my share of different and new things learned a lot in my life and have a lot more to learn. I am honored though that a group of people do see me as a simple Kentucky girl, because even with the things I have seen and done, it means it hasn't taken me away from my roots. So I decided someone telling me I was too nice isn't going to take me away from who I am either. Who cares if everyone in a while someone takes advantage of my kindness or is crazy. You can't change those people but maybe I can have a positive impact on their life. All this is really to say some times difficult things occur and in the middle of it all, or at least at the end you can see true blessings in it. I am reminded that I like who I am and how I was raised, I could t imagine myself any other way!


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