From sand to snow...

Well, it was quite a transition going from the desert back to my home state that had a nice layer of white stuff pretty much everywhere. It was great to see. The travel process to get home wasn't so easy...being in a group of a couple of hundred soldiers made it interesting to say the least. It took three days to get home, and I did land at MSP by 6pm on Christmas Eve. It was great. My oldest daughter said it was like a Hallmark moment - Dad coming home from a war zone on Christmas Eve, the family meeting at the gate, lots of tears and hugs. It was very special, even if I was so tired from lack of sleep, I felt half incoherent. At that moment, sleep didn't matter...I'll never forget the feeling of coming home.

We had at least 8" of snow at home, and Christmas day brought some light flurries and no wind. It was beautiful to see the snowfall. Had a wonderful time seeing relatives, visiting folks at the farm and South Dakota as well. Went to the movies, saw a couple good films. I must say, I had the urge to stand at the beginning of the film and wait for the national anthem, like soldiers do in the theater at Balad. Had a chance to go ice skating at the John Rose Oval in Roseville...pretty neat place to skate. The kids and I skate on the large outside oval, and there's small hockey games going on in the center part. It was warm that day; we had a good time. Nice to put on the skates again. I'll get back to playing hockey again next winter. I enjoyed my extra time with my daughter Stef while she was out of school. I took her with on some needed shopping trips. We stopped in to see the folks at my DNR fisheries office, to say hi and let them know how things are going...they like to see Stef every once in awhile, too. I had to visit our DNR enforcement office in St. Paul, to update my laptop that they are allowing me to use while deployed. Once Stef started school after the break, I spoke to her class about what I'm doing in Iraq. I was very impressed, those 3rd grade hands were up asking questions continuously for about 45 minutes. It was fun, especially seeing my daughters face in the middle of the group smiling at me. I also spoke to my older daughters class (she teaches at St Micheal-Albertville High school). Another great group of students and teachers with lots of questions...I felt honored that they were interested, and are very supportive of our efforts over here.

It was a little odd feeling, coming home from something like this, there were moments I wasn't quite sure how I should feel. It felt like I'd never left, but yet I had this powerful feeling that I knew I had to go back and finish the job we'd started...all of my friends are still there. It was great to know that for me and my family, we started the final part, part 3. It felt good to see 2008 on the calendar, and know that we come home this summer. Yahoo!!

The return trip wasn't quite so pleasant though. There wasn't a break in Kuwait at all. We had a day to adjust and do some other paperwork on the way home to MN, but this time we got off the bus at our temporary base again at 1:15am. We thought they give us until noon to catch a nap, eat, etc., but they ran us right into the next formation, attended some briefings, and grabbed our bags and were on the cargo plane and on our way. I left MSP at 8:30 am on the 9th and walked out the back end of the cargo plane at Balad, Iraq 11am on the 11th. It was cold (to us) in Kuwait - it was 50 degrees and raining most of the night. When we got here to Iraq it was 30 degrees and (are you sitting down?)a rain and SNOW mix...I couldn't believe it!! If I had been more awake, I might have fainted. As we gathered our bags, and rode the bus back to our side of the base, you could see snow collecting on patches of the dirt, along sidewalk areas, etc. Even better, it snowed in Baghdad!! First time in about 60 years! Some of the local Iraqi's that were interviewed (Stars and Stripes paper) said they did not remember it ever snowing there before. So I've been telling everyone from somewhere else, that "when the MN Nat Guard goes into battle, we like to bring a little of our own weather along for the trip."

After getting adjusted, and a light case of the flu, I'm back to work. I was able to fly two missions before I returned to the Brigade office again. I'm helping to build our missions on the computer, that we will then fly. It all comes back to me, as I hear of some increased 'activity' with our aircraft, as to why we are here. We are doing something noble and right, and we are slowly winning the hearts and minds of the people. Again, I'll say how grateful I am for the troop surge last fall. I know the brave ground troops have uncovered a lot of extra weapons that would have been used as IED's, other bombs, and items fired at aircraft. So we'll keep doing our jobs, as safe as we can, and keep marching toward the end of our 'all expense paid beach vacation'. January seems to be as active for the insurgents as any month. My December count of mortar attacks was 12, up until I left on the 21st. I assume there were more after I left to total the usual 15-19 that I experience while here. It has been cold here(Iraq cold) down to 28 degrees at night and about 40 during the day. I'm hoping that we can get to -30 degrees to freeze out some of these insurgents in their man-dresses. A little hypothermia would do them some good.

Not much else for now, still seeing large flocks of crows and flocks of white pigeons over Baghdad. Some of them have left quite an impression on our aircraft (literally). Be safe and alert at home, please. Thanks so much for your prayers and support... God Bless.