FACEBOOKERS ANONYMOUS

I initially didn't like this blog, or facebook or anything where I needed to get too far outside of my comfort zone, trusting technology...this fad that has taken root and I am sure is somehow a pathologically addictive mechanism of the CONTROLLERS. I think THEY do it with sequencial colors or sub-audible beeps and tones combined with some chemicals that they expose us to somehow, I haven't figured it out yet...continue, ad nauseam, the paranoid rant...

Now I really, really like this stuff, all these people from the past right there at your fingertips, "Hi, good to see you on facebook, the last time we spoke was 7th grade, how's life treating you...stay in touch..." and I do! It is amazing.

This blog is fun, too. I couldn't imagine putting it all out there before, but now it is fun and...? Just fun, I guess. I do it because Rachel insists I blog every other time...we take turns and secretly because I want people to hear me. It is a bite sized update...it is like how people that never talk but live near each other, adjacent farms, neighborhoods...just wave to each other and pass each other in the grocery, getting that "live feed update"...kids growing, healthy, sick, new pet, car, fence,...this is just more informative...blah blah blah

I am going to look into this more thoroughly, what is the purpose and scope...I have been just coasting, it's fun...but WHY?
Mike



Well we will be home soon, I am trying to stay tuned in here on mission and not get too distracted by HOME.

More Drawings!

Michael wasn't kidding when he said I was drawing up a storm. His cousin, Darlene, has been giving me critiques via Facebook. It's been giving me a kind of drive to draw as close to everyday as possible. I haven't felt inspired to draw in awhile, but this project has really given me new purpose with it.This first one is a couple of exercises she recommended, and they're my interpretation of her instructions. One was to draw an object inside of a box. For some reason the first mental image that came to mind was to draw a kind of "see through" box around the object instead of literally putting an object inside of a box and drawing it. After I finished I realized I might have made the idea more abstract than it needed to be. The ink drawing next to it is with Micron pens. The idea was to make a kind of "scheme" with the lines regarding shading and closeness of some of the objects. So the thicker, closer together lines are the dark shading while the thin, wide set lines are lighter shading.

This one is based off of a photograph of Darlene in her younger years after her baby girl was born. I love this picture, especially the faces. At first I was going to focus on the faces, but really liked how the baby's foot was caught in her shirt. It reminds me of the old paintings of Mary with baby Jesus. Michael even said, "You should put a halo around their heads and just focus on the heads." He agreed, though, that the leg and foot were a nice addition.

This is of Michael's hand with his watch and compass all in one. Next to his hand is a honey badger. We discovered honey badgers one night while looking at YouTube videos. We were talking about badgers, typed it into YouTube and the honey badger came up. These badgers take on lions, eat poisonous snakes, and run and run and run during the day. They also constantly eat. There's one video where a badger gets bitten in the face while killing a poisonous snake for food. He starts eating it, passes out for two hours from the venom, and then wakes back up only to begin eating again! Here's the link to this video. Essentially they're completely fearless. After watching these videos I told Michael if he were an animal he'd be a honey badger because he's that fearless.

This is of my feet while I was lounging in bed and had them crossed. I actually drew this really fast and Michael commented saying, "Feet are easy for you to draw." Michael mentioned my award in his most recent post. It's not the 5th highest, he got his numbers mixed up. It's the 15th, I believe. A link that goes into the order of precedence can be found here. It's airforce and army combined. A link to the history of the general commendation medal can be found here and specifically the joint commendation medal here.

I'm pretty happy for my award. I feel like I did work worthy of earning it (as the first sergeant said himself). It can be rather disheartening to see people get awards that are far above the actual work level they did. Several people were upset with that situation, but it's important to keep things in perspective. I can claim my award with a clear conscience and that's what's important. I went on between 400 - 500 missions during my deployment and wrote 75 awards, about 60 of which were given during the end of tour award ceremony. I also did the platoon sergeant's job when it came to his paperwork, etc. for about two months of the deployment. So I'm happy with the award and level of work I did. I grew as a medic, soldier, and person from this deployment so I'm happy with the end result in myself more than any award. As that's the reward that lasts a lifetime.

We hope all of you are doing well and we love you. Stay safe. TTFN.

R.

Joint Service Commendation Medal

Rachel received ANOTHER medal during this deployment, the JCOM. It is for among other things"...exceptionally meritorious service..." I know there are other people that have received the same award and higher but I think that our 1SG summed it up best when he said, "SPC Woolley, you actually earned and deserve this medal". He should know, so do I. I won't ruin it for Rachel, I will let her post a picture and give you all the details but it is significantly impressive, I think that it is the 10th highest award in the Army. Hooah.

We are winding down and it is hard to concentrate on the here and now when we can practically smell home form here. We are not home until we are home.
Some how Rachel has convinced me to take her aid-bag and one of her duffle bags home in our connex so that means on customs day I get to unpack, inventory and pack HER things, she must be part Jedi...I know that she would do the same for me though, if the table were turned. I can just see the customs inspector now when I pull out her hotpink kimono or undergear...she assures me that that was all in the OTHER box or bag. I can still see the customs dude in Kuwait when we came home on leave and I was carrying Rachel's OTHER bag because I was traveling light, she wasn't. When her high-heels fell out with a bra he and I looked at the pile, our eyes meet, looked back down and he goes "I don't even want to know". I will keep you posted once we are inspected this time.
Rachel has been sketching/drawing up a storm, which seems to make her happy. I have been bestowed the appellation, nom de guerre of The Royal Pencil Sharpener.
I have gotten for myself a keeper, a good wife.
When we get home we intend to drive South to see some family then over to AZ to see some more family and friends.
I think that it is starting to warm up here again.
M

Art Projects

So I've finished a few of my art projects I decided to undertake while here. One of them was the cranes, which is the second picture. The drawing is one of Michael I did a few days ago. I've been conversing via Facebook with Mike's cousin Darlene. She's a professional artist/teacher and got me inspired to draw regularly again. I'll post more from my sketch book as I fill its pages. It's kind of nice to just sit down and draw every few days. I haven't been able to do it everyday just yet, but about every 3 seems to be the case.

Things are slowing down even more. It's pretty nice. The one thing I'm not really looking forward to is the 0500 formations every morning that comes with being back in the states. Oh well...I'm working on getting placed at Madigan, which should be good. I'm looking forward to being in a hospital again. I've got a rather large school undertaking that's getting ready to happen once we return.

All in all we're doing pretty well. I'm enjoying my down time with Michael. I think I've shifted the items around in our room about five times since we've started packing and getting our boxes to the conex to be shipped in a couple of weeks. Michael finds it a bit compulsive, but can't complain since every time I do move the "furniture" around I also clean like a maniac. Hard to imagine for my parents, I'm sure.

Life is good. We got some beautiful birthday/anniversary cards from my dad and Kris today. They made us smile. It's nice to know people you love are thinking about you. It's so strange being here knowing that the rest of the world is carrying on while you're in this little microcosm of a place focusing on completing a mission. The Super Bowl has been going on and the only reason I know is because they've allowed the soldiers a two beer limit yesterday (Sunday) and today (Monday) in celebration. Mike and I didn't partake as we feel weapons, a combat zone, and alcohol don't exactly mix very well...especially when you've been alcohol free for the better part of a year and your tolerance is way down.

It's hard to believe that soon we'll be back in the states. It was hard to believe I'd finally get here because a year seems so long in some ways. Certain parts of the deployment just moved like molasses and others just flew by. Now we're at the home stretch and I'm so excited as well as a little sad. We've spent the first year of our marriage here and our first home was this little 10'x14' box. I've grown really fond of it. Don't get me wrong, it will be really nice to be in a house and have room to spread out, but this whole experience was very good for us.

Well, I need to try and get some sleep. We love all of you. TTFN.

R.

Pro-mask

or protective mask or gas-mask...a big black strappy thing we wear on our face to protect us from bio-chemical agents. It has several filters that make breathing a whole lot more challenging. You sound and look kind of like Darth Vader wearing this thing.

To clarify what Rachel just wrote about me running with a gas-mask on...since I think that is the first time that she has mentioned it. Since we have returned from mid-tour leave, where I got pneumonia, my run time has suffered getting over the crud. So to more fully engage my intercostals and diaphram I started running wearing this cruel, black, suffocating, face-octopus for my 2s and 3s and squats and chin-ups...brutal but effective. It did cut almost 90 seconds off of my run time.

Back when I was in the Marine Corps, PT or chores wearing a pro-mask was for special occasions like corrective training or group punishment. It was also used to boost an individual's, MY, motivation, which would seem counter-productive but I can assure you from intimate personal experience that it worked with wicked elegance.

Just a quick back-brief. "Squirrel!..."

Stasis

Hello everyone! It's my turn to blog again and I have no idea what to write about as nothing's really going on. Things are just slowly but surely winding down. I think the hardest part about this phase is waiting. All of these briefings, all of the forms to fill out, all of the online questionaires, etc. Everywhere you go it's "hurry up and wait." One very frustrating part of the Army is that aspect. Get everyone together super early and then wait for the main briefing only to realize half of the people gathered weren't even needed for the briefing. So you just waited an hour for something you didn't even have to go to in the first place. I'm also ready to be back so that I can keep continuing with my classes. I've got a bunch of science/lab courses I want to start once we're settled in. We're on the waitlist for a house on post, and I'm praying one will be ready by the time we get there so we don't have to be aimlessly waiting for one to open up.

It's been very cold here. Mike said January is the coldest month. What's strange is that it's only in the 40s and 50s, but it feels freezing because we've acclimated to 120 degree summers. It's been raining a lot, and rain over here brings about this mud that is indescribable. It's like clay and it makes a mess no matter how hard you try. If you step into it you'll sink to your mid-shins. It's that reason why they cover large areas with small rocks so that you don't sink into the mud.

I'm still researching up a storm and Mike and I spend our time watching lots of movies. Last night we watched "Time Traveler's Wife," which is based on a book. It's extremely sad near the end and so I was crying up a storm, and had to take some Mucinex D before bed so that I could breathe out of my nose while sleeping. My nose is still raw from all the tissues.

Michael's now wearing a long-sleeve PT shirt when he runs, which is incredible. Back at Lewis he was the guy running in summer PTs (short sleeve shirt and shorts) when there was three inches of snow on the ground and below freezing. They had to put a memo out about proper PT uniform in winter in Washington because of him. He's always the one who does something that makes people have to come up with a rule because they never thought someone would actually do what he pulled off.

He's also stopped running in his gas mask. And I quote his response to my question of if he was going to wear it for his run, "No! I will NOT be wearing that black, satanic object!" This from the guy who was thinking about running in a Lucha Libre mask. He's now officially stated he no longer wants one...of course this is ALWAYS subject to change.

All in all we're doing well. At least we're keeping each other in good humor despite the frustrations of getting out of here. Well, I need to get some stuff done, drink my tea, and relax on my day off. I hope all of you are happy, healthy, and safe. We love you. TTFN.

R.

Missions...

Rachel says that I am irritable lately...I think that it is just this specific mission...We are just as busy as ever and as we get closer to returning there is a sense of complacency that rises along with the urgency to not be complacent..uneasiness about what's next, what didn't we plan for and the anticipation. It is this annoying cautious vibe...We have all of these post-deployment assessments/hoops to clear and the endless checklists and redundant admin issues. The left hand doesn't know what the right is doing, in this case it is admin section and operations... The missions seem to be longer for me some how? Like my gear has gotten heavier or something. I have become impervious to motion-sickness thanks to these jerkish hot shot show-off blackhawk pilots wanting to "...make the guy in back (me) puke". It is probably 30-40 degrees cooler now than summer too? So the locals are all bundled up when we are out circulating and it is nerve wracking seeing all these bulky clothes, people naturally keep their hands in their pockets...blah blah...I imagine that that all makes perfectly NO sense to you but I can tell you about it all once we return if you want. Just ask me what happened on Dec 5 2009.

I was down South over the marshes recently and saw something that Rachel's Granddad and I talked about during mid-tour leave, oil refineries. When I asked about these big fires out in the desert I was told that they burn off all the natural gas here rather than let the foreign oil companies use it. If that is true, what a waste. I seem to remember her Granddad telling me they burn some part of it as a safety/release valve, but here they had a fire going up on top of the tower and then out over the wells too.

We have been here for nearly a year and I have been to the IZ, international zone, a hundred times but I finally got a photo under the Saddam Sabers. So I can check that off of my "life-list", JK.

Rachel has been studying children's education. Several of our friends back home have recently had a baby or are in the last tri-mester and it has got Rachel pre-nesting HARD. We have a strategy, a plan that I am trying my level best to abide by. We agreed that she should get her nursing degree out of the way before we proceed with the piglet(s). She is a rational, civilized person about all of this until we get a photo or an ultrasound of some happy, sad, screaming, smiling, sleeping pre-adult. THEN Rachel becomes a cooing, treacherous, plotting, compromising, pre-nesting, baby needful, maternal creature...I told her that we can get a cat, dog, goat, fish, monkey...pet to appease the craving but please, SOMEBODY, talk some rational sense into her or you may find yourself shopping for baby-shower gifts sooner than you'd expect or desire. HA!

I got a letter from my Mom, living up just inside the artic circle at minus 35, who thinks the internet is a passing fad and too much of a hassle. Like not being able to salt the icy roads because the bears and moose come out to quench their salt cravings isn't...Like having to tote a highpowered rifle around to fend of bear, wolf and wayward moose isn't a hassle or having to bundle up in several layers of clothing so you don't FREEZE to DEATH walking across the street to work isn't a hassle...or having to "import" everyday necessities like hygiene items and food, along intermittant internet and phone service. I think that we have it better here in Iraqistan sometimes, I have never shot a wolf that was scavenging in our dumpster here. She is amazing to me. She cracks me up. I love her.

Anyway, we hope to see and chat with you all soon, MIKE