Merry Christmas!

We're getting much closer to Phil leaving his FOB to start his journey home. We have heard a few stories of what it's like to travel back home, and I hope Phil's journey is swift!

Another of his team members who is still in the Western part of the country is also headed home this week and I wish him the best in his travels, too. His wife is incredible! They have two girls in college and one son in high school. She keeps everyone going!

Although, I know that I am very lucky to have Phil home during the Christmas and holiday season, I know many, many families who are without their loved ones this Christmas. I hope that you take some time during this week to reflect on those soldiers who are not at home. Their families have an empty place at the table and presents unopened under the tree and are waiting for their soldier to come home safe and sound. Many prayers to those of you in this place. You're on my heart and my mind.

Merry Christmas!

Cooling down!

It's been way too long since either of us have given you an update...not much has been happening with Phil. Just working a lot! Sounds like he's met some pretty interesting people. I can't wait for him to be home to share his experiences with us even more.

The weather has started cooling off. Their temperatures rival ours here in the Midwest. They've had some snow already, too. Although, not quite as much as what dumped on us last week!

Phil will be home in a few weeks for leave, then he'll be back to his FOB for a few more months. We're definitely on the downhill slide. Bring it on!

Greetings from the North

Hello everyone,

I have a decent internet connection right now, so I thought I would stop in and try and add a short post to the blog.

The new unit I'm with seems to really understand the concept of mentoring the Afghans and winning the hearts and minds of the local populice, so that is very good to see. We are doing a lot of good things up here for the Afghan people, and they seem to be appreciative of that. Whenever we go downtown to mentor our police counterparts we go on foot patrols through the city to talk with the locals and of course buy some local food. Everyone we've met so far has been very friendly, one local baker even gave us a free sample of what looked like a donut hole that you would get an an Indian resturant.

I was fortunate enough to have lunch at a Generals house a couple days ago. It was a meal fit for a king. The Afghans certainly know how to entertain. We started off with fresh fruit from the area. Then they brought out this calzone looking thing that had fried onions, tomatoes, and meat in it. Then came the lamb kabobs, about 9 per person... and of course the typical nan with rice and lamb meat. The best though was this ravioli looking dish. It was fancy ravioli noodles filled with meat and topped with a tomato sauce and yogurt. Afghan yogurt is far different from ours though. They let their yogurt ferment for a long time becuase they like the sour taste. It's different, but pretty good.

Other than that I'm just waiting for the snow to start flying. This hot weather is getting very old.

Take care,

Phil

Southern Afghanistsan

And a few more...

Southern Afghanistan

Here are a few pics as promised in the previous post.

Phil is the guy on the left with the moustache. He's hard to recognize! He has removed it more recently...

Phil has said to me many times that he feels like he's living in the Old Testament or at least seeing what it must have looked like during Bible times. Apparently this area gets pretty green during the spring - not so much this time of year!

This load is one of MANY that Phil has seen. You'll have to ask him the stories, but this is a small load compared to some he has seen, including cars on top of buses! I don't know how this truck doesn't tip over.

Phil is finally "home"

Phil has finally arrived at his new (and hopefully final) location in Afghanistan. We hope he will stay here for the rest of the deployment. He was pretty excited to have his own room, about three times the size of the closet he was in at the last location, but he thinks it may n ot last long with new troops coming in.

If you'd like his address, please click here to email me and I'll be happy to get it to you!

Phil's initial report of the location is that it's pretty. He's hoping to get some pics to me. When that happens, you can bet I'll post them here for you to see, too. It's the agricultural hub of Afghanistan, which must mean that there are plants and maybe even some water!

Phil said that he will ask around about the humanitarian assistance potential - and if it's a possibility, I'll put together some sort of information and you are welcome to participate in collecting supplies if you are interested.

Hopefully Phil will have the opportunity to write a post in the near future...until then, I'll post a few pics from a trip they took to southern Afghanistan on a day that the thermometer maxed out at 125!

Humanitarian Assistance 6 - What You Can Do

Thanks for stopping by! We hope you enjoy the pictures. If you go to the first post of Humanitarian Assistance you'll find Phil's description of their trip (I probably should have done them backwards, but it's too late now!).

A number of people have already asked me if we can send Phil more school supplies. Yes, we can. Phil is very willing to work with the necessary people on his end to distribute anything we send. Our church and a few families will be collecting more supplies for Phil and his team, if you would like to participate, please email me.

-Jolene

Humanitarian Assistance 5

Humanitarian Assistance 4

Humanitarian Assistance 3

Humanitarian Assistance 2

Humanitarian Assistance

This is an excerpt from an email Phil sent this week. I will attach the photos for you to enjoy!

Greetings everyone,

We were fortunate enough to do a humanitarian assistance mission yesterday so I thought I would email out some photos. We delivered some school supplies and some food to a semi remote village. Somehow in the translation the village thought that this was going to be a big food drop, so when we got to the village there were wheel barrows lining the main street.

Unfortunately for them, we didn't even have enough school supplies for all the kids. So the village elder helped us give out the supplies to the most needy families.

Most of the pictures are self-explanatory, but I'll give you a background on some of them. The little guy riding in the truck with us was the son of the one of the Afghan police officers. His dad was actually the public affairs person for their department, so I asked him if he knew how to take pictures too. He said yes, so I asked him where his camera was. He said his dad had it, so I let him borrow my SLR to see what he could do. Hence the picture of me looking all goofy.

The picture of the older man being mugged is what happens when you have stuff to hand out to children. He was handing out No. 2 pencils, that's how little these people have, kids were practically crawling up his leg to get a pencil.

We had two boxes of crayons to hand out as well. So they broke them down and handed one crayon to each child, and they were going just as crazy to have one crayon as they were for the pencils.

They all seemed like pretty good kids. One of them tried, unsuccessfully, to convert me to Islam, but you have to give him props for his effort.

Take Care,

Phil

Election

Greetings everyone!

I'm giving this blog thing a try, I won't be able to add to it all the time, but I have a few spare minutes today and I just happen to be at a location working with the State Department so I can actually access my blog.

The big thing on everyone's mind lately has no doubt been the Afghanistan elections. Well, that and Brett Favre playing for the Vikings.... but I don't have any insider information on that subject, so we'll go ahead and focus on the first topic. I'm very happy to say that the elections in the western region of Afghanistan were a big success. The west had the highest turn out and lowest violence per capita of anywhere in Afghanistan. The local police and army did a good job, now hopefully the local populace will start having more faith in their police force.

Other than the elections the biggest thing we have going on here is growing pains. The Army is switching up how it does business here in Afghanistan, so everyone is trying to figure out how that is going to work and where everyone needs to be. I know a lot of you have been asking for an address and appreciate your enthusiasm. I'm hoping that within the next week or two the Army will finally figure out where they want to put me for good, so until then it's probably best to just hold off on mail. I would hate for your package or letter to get lost in this chinese jigsaw puzzle they call the postal system over here. I've had mail come in as fast as 7 days, and as slow as 4 weeks, so to play it safe I'll wait until I figure out where I'm going and then you can all send me all the cookies you want. :)

Take care everyone

New Author!

Phil and I have been discussing some blog ideas for him and I think we're going to have him do the reports from across the pond himself. I think it will be much more interesting to hear his perspective, rather than mine! Check back soon for words from The Man!

Living in the Limelight

As the guys settle into their jobs, the paparazzi have appeared to detail their every move! Click here to see just how quickly they are becoming famous.

Phil has been able to call and email more often than I had expected. That could always change, but it's good to hear from him. He's had the chance to see some of the terrain and he commented to me about one location, "I imagine that this is what it was like in Biblical times." He said that other than the motorcycles, everything else seemed to be still in Biblical time.

Phil's new room!

Phil just called. He is moving into a new room! He said it's about seven feet by seven feet, but he was excited to have his own room. The past few months he has roomed with as few as one guy to as many as 324! So a room to himself is a luxury!

His job has picked up a bit this week. He seems to be enjoying it. They have been out a few times to check on how the mentoring groups have been doing.

The weather is hot, low 100s. But Phil said it's not as hot as Kuwait. Although, things could change as August creeps up! They guys are in desert conditions but there are some small mountains. If Phil finds a fast enough internet connection I think he'll send some pics.

Phil also sent me his address. If any of you would it, please email me. For security purposes, I cannot post it online, but I would be happy to send it your way.

It sounds like they may be moving in a couple months, but I'll keep you updated!

He's there!

Phil called this morning. He finally arrived at the location a couple of days ago and has started working in his new position.

They had a few changes and a few extras, so Phil is currently working as a supply person. We'll see how things progress as they face some changes in the upcoming months!

Phil sounded good. I think that he will be busy. I am hoping to share more information as I learn more about where he is at and what he is doing!

Waiting game

I talked to Phil yesterday and they were still waiting on transportation to their "final" location. No word yet on when they would be heading out.

To celebrate the Fourth of July, Phil said that they had a huge cake in the Chow Hall (about 4 feet long!). He also mentioned that the food was good at the place they were at. It's always good to hear that!

When I hear more information, I'll be sure to let you know that he is doing okay!

Final Destination

Phil has finally made it to Afghanistan. I have not heard from him directly, but from two other wives whose husbands called. Rumor has it the guys are jet lagged and still grungy. It sounds like the accommodations aren't too good at this particular location either. Baby wipes and hand sanitizer will be in my first care package to Phil.

In the next few days the team will head out of the location they are at right now to their "final" destination.

I say "final" because it could all change in the next couple months as the Army does some restructuring.

I have attached a few pictures of the mountains in Kyrgyzstan that Phil sent me. Take a close look! He said they were beautiful.

And what's an email from Phil without something goofy? Here they are trying on some traditional dress at a shop on base in Kyrgyzstan.

Phil has arrived!

Just got a phone call from Phil-they are not to Afghanistan yet, but in Kyrgyzstan. He said that it is really filthy where they are at and he hopes to be moving on soon. He said they didn't even take showers it was so gross. He described the location as "like in the movie Borat". Sounds like they are at an old Russian camp of sorts. He said that none of the buildings have windows.

To get to their current location, they travelled for 25 hours straight (with 4 stops before their final stop in Kyrgyzstan). Considering, the rugged location and the long travel, Phil sounded good.

No news yet

Just thought I'd let you know that we have not heard news quite yet of the guys arrival. We may not hear for a few days, but I will post as soon as I hear a qualified confirmation.

Milestones!

After some last minute drama today (plans changed multiple times in a very short time), the guys left Fort Riley and are finally on their way to Afghanistan. It's the first big milestone in the countdown. Check training off of the "to do" list!

Phil called me from their first stop just a little bit ago. He was so happy! A group of about 100 people, called the Pease Greeters, were there to welcome their plane in. They cheered for the Soldiers as they got off the plane, they shook their hands and talked with them, and fed them snacks.

Phil said it was really amazing. When they got off the plane they heard a roar from the Pease Greeters because they were cheering so loudly. He said there were so many people that he didn't even think he was able to shake all of their hands!

They even handed out phone cards. It sounds like they really took care of them. To think 100 people came to an airport at 9:30pm on a Saturday night to take care of people they don't even know is really amazing. What a great reminder that America is worth fighting for!

On your marks...get set...Go!

Phil is on his last leg of pre-deployment training. Technically, they graduated last week, but they still have some classes to do this week. Then we're off to home.

We don't know much about where Phil will be placed, or even when he will be getting there.

Rest assured, I will let you know when he arrives safely. When I get an address I'll let you know, too. I have a feeling it's going to be awhile.

I'll keep you posted on any of his progress and what he's experiencing as best as I can. We don't know about internet access yet, or I'd have him post directly so you get his experiences first hand. We will do what we can to keep you informed!

Long weekend

The Iron Badgers are enjoying a long weekend to celebrate Memorial Day. Most of the men are spending time with their families. I hope that the weekend is slow and relaxing for them!

Already I have been getting to know many of the wives and I feel close to them, but nothing can replace our husbands. I'm glad so many are able to enjoy the weekend together.

It's funny how much sweeter time is when you know it is limited.

Brass Burn

Has it really been 10 days since my last post? Yikes!

The first part of May has flown by. Phil has continued with training. This week they had some long days. In 48 hours, the guys had only about six hours of sleep. I haven't had the chance to talk with Phil much because of their crazy schedule.

A few days ago, they were out shooting and Phil got a burn on his neck from a bullet casing. He calls it a brass burn. It sounded painful to me.

This week, one of the guys on the team had a family member pass away. Our thoughts and prayers go to his family. It was a sad reminder that life goes on, even while they train. Even while they are deployed.

Long days, short nights

Phil and the guys have been working some long days. They are really getting into some pretty heavy training. Sharpening their skills.

They've had a few short nights so they can qualify on a number of night exercises. One night it was driving tests. Another night they were on the range working on night shooting (is that the right term? I'm really not sure!).

Mornings they do PT (also known as working out or exercising for those of us who are civilians) and then head off to do work some more.

We are getting closer to sending him off to Afghanistan. By the time our guys leave, they will be ready to step into their positions and get to work!

Challenge for You!

I wish I had more to share with you. Not a whole lot has changed. Phil had a full week. Long days, lots of learning.

Rather than bore you with details similar to the previous post, I thought I might challenge you.

I am embarrassed to admit that I am ignorant to what is going on beyond my comfortable, safe world.

With the news of Phil's deployment, I began to realize just how clueless I am. I started reading and soaking up information. It's been really interesting to discuss the political and cultural horizons in Afghanistan. Not only have I been discussing it with Phil, but also with some of the other wives whose husbands are with Phil.

My challenge to you is to take a few minutes to do some research on a different part of the world . I don't care if it's Afghanistan. Just pick a place you hear about in the news and learn a bit more about the people of that country and their culture; what they do to make a living; what their political make-up is; what do they do for fun; what is their literacy rate; what do they eat...the lessons are endless.

As I read more about Afghanistan and its people, I am shocked by the turmoil in their recent past. I was surprised to learn what life was like before the Russians invaded 30 years ago and then in the early 1990s, the Taliban, and after the fall of the Taliban reign. I have hope for their future.

It has been way too easy for me to sit back and ignore the people we share our world with. Bring what you found back to share with us if you'd like.

Quick Update

I don't have much to report this time around. But, I haven't posted in a few days and I wanted to keep you informed as much as possible.

Phil has been working away this week learning language, culture and tactical strategy. The days have changed from the first couple weeks where things moved at a slow pace. Now the guys have packed days!

It's a relief to know that they are being kept busy. There is nothing worse than sitting around. Full days just seem to move by more quickly.

I also want to send out a thank you to all of you for keeping Phil in your thoughts and prayers. Already I am overwhelmed with the kindness of our friends and families who are always asking about how Phil is doing and what he is up to. And to those who have helped us out so far. It's a humbling experience for me...and we're only a few weeks in!

Thank you.

Salam!

Phil finally started his first "real" training last week after all of the in-processing and moving into the barracks.

His first class was to begin learning about Afghanistan culture and language. Phil and his team will be learning Dari, which is also known as a Persian dialect and one of the main languages spoken in Afghanistan. Phil really liked the primary teacher, an Afghanistan native.

Almost 40 letters make up the Dari alphabet. Because of the slightly larger alphabet, it's a bit tricky to translate into English, Phil said. There are multiple equivalents to our "s" and "z" which create a bit of a challenge!

Marching right along

Phil is getting along well at training. He has been issued a lot of his gear and has spent some time putting it all together this week.

The guys went on a road march with their vests with the armored plates in them this week. The vests weigh about 40 pounds with the Sappi (that's what the plates are called). That 40 pounds is for the plates alone. They didn't even have to wear rucks or any additional gear attached to the vests this time around!

I imagine it made for a good workout. At least it would have for me.

I now have an address for Phil for the next couple months until they head to Afghanistan. If you'd like it, let me a comment with your contact info and I'd be happy to send it your way!

Pic of the guys at training, courtesy of one of the guys Phil is with!

Phi is in place!

Phil is now in place for his training. For the next couple of weeks he will be doing "in-processing". It's a whole host of things including ensuring he is healthy to be deployed, he will be issued all sorts of gear, he will have to pass a physical training test, and they begin briefings.

The team will begin to learn about the Afghan people, about their culture and lifestyles. They will learn some of the language. They will also learn the strategies the U.S. Military is using to train the Afghan military and police, which is what this team is being sent to do. It is an exit strategy for the United States to eventually transition out of Afghanistan.

Field training exercises will also be in the mix, and I have a feeling that it will be Phil's favorite part. Just a hunch.

The guys are getting along well. They had some friendly competition for exercise yesterday. They played Ultimate Football (similar to ultimate frisbee). NCOs vs Officers...the Officers won...maybe the NCOs will get them next week!

Send-off Ceremony

The embedded training team (ETT) that Phil is a part of was given an official send-off ceremony last week. It was a sight to see.


The drill floor was packed with family, friends and other soldiers. Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor, Barbara Lawton, was one of the guests of honor (see pic below with Phil) and gave a heartfelt speech.


The team of 16 men is lead by a man I have confidence in. His personality appears to be similar to that of Phil's - laid back and good humored, but focused and determined when there is a job to do. When he speaks, he's easy to listen to and he's real. I'm glad Phil is working for him and with the other men on the team. These men each bring unique assets and have diverse backgrounds and experiences to create a well-rounded group.



Our niece, Kayla, was pretty amazed by the American Flag that served as the backdrop to the event. It was impressive and really set the tone. What a flag to be fighting for!



Here are some snapshots of the day.

Final Countdown

In a few days, Phil will be on his way to training for a couple of months. After training, the group will return to home for about a week and then it's off to Afghanistan. Each training team from Wisconsin that has gone on this project has been split up due to the Army's needs. So right now, we're not exactly sure where Phil will end up, but we do know that he will likely begin in a location closer to Iran than to Pakistan, in the western part of Afghanistan.

When in country, Phil will not have regular access to the internet. He will likely have a type of phone access that sounds pretty reasonably priced. When he calls home, I will be sure to post information from him!

Due to the sensitive nature of military operations, we will not be posting dates, times, or locations. This is to protect our soldiers, not to exclude you! If you have questions during Phil's deployment, please feel free to send them my way and I will do my best to answer them.

I'll leave you with a few photos of Phil from his last day of work with the 641st TCB. Enjoy!

Operation: Pharewell Phil

Thanks for the great turnout at the Operation: Pharewell Phil party!

Wear your camo!

The party planning committee has decided that wearing camouflage on Friday night would be entirely acceptable. Keep in mind this is not a formal affair, however, if you do choose to wearing your camo wedding gown or kilt, we won't look down on you! Check out the ideas below to get your ideas going. See you Friday night in your camo!