Thank You For Your Support

Howdy all, whats happening?

One more week down and closer to coming home. Time does go by faster here than when I was in Ft Sill. I guess its because I keep busy here with work and corresponding with all of the people that supports me and the rest of my unit. I have written more letters and cards than I have ever and I love doing it. My handwriting is not the best so I have done a few with the computer so I can use spell check and make it look good. Over all I just want to say thanks and I will try to respond to everyone s fast as I can if you send me a letter or care package (I do like care packages :-)). It is just amazing the support that we get for doing our job for our country. Thank you!!

Now the good stuff. This week I started my Christmas shopping for people back home. I am not going to tell you what I bought but the items I have bought are cool I think. I am trying to get it done early here because selection can be limited around the holiday time I have herd so I start now so there is a selection. My mother-in-law would be so proud of me. She starts shopping for the holidays the day after Christmas and we are never allowed in the part of the basement where she hides them. The one thing I don't have to do is hide them, I'm in Iraq.....Hello!!

I hope everyone has had a great week and I will post again next week with more from Iraq and the life of a man called Zirbes.

Till Later,

Dan

Here I am Again

I'm back and ready to BLOG again.

I want to thank Sarah for keeping everyone updated in my internet absence. As you all know I am an internet junky and I am so happy to have internet finally. Now down to the business of blogging.

I have been in country now for 1 month and the time has actually gone by fast. I work a 6 on 1 off 10 hour day schedule that keeps me busy most of the time. On my days off I have gone to the PX and to the Turkish Cafe here on post. It is more like a room that has a window that you order food from and it is Turkish food. It is better that a kick in the pants though. I have also decked out my room with fun lights that Sarah has sent me. I have beer mug, Hawaiian shirts, chili pepper, flip flop, margarita, and bobber lights lighting my room. It makes it a little more fun to be in. My roommate and I call it "Club J-Dan". People like to come over because it is cooler than their rooms. Well, as you can tell I have internet now and that was no fun to set up. You have to have a degree from MIT to figure it all out, but we got it up and running and now I can communicate with the world again. I missed all of you.

Now I have received some mail from some of you. I got a letter from my Grandma. She is so cute and I love hearing from her. She is not on the computer so she gets to read my crappy hand writing. That's ok though because I love writing her. I also got a letter from my Aunt Dee Dee, my Mother-in-Law Pat, and friend Christina. I do love mail call and seeing my name on the board. I have also received packages form my Parents and The Lions club in Mound. A co-worker of Sarah's, Jewel, gave them my name and they sent me a very nice box of treats and other items that I shared with the members of my platoon. It was cool to have other people take notice that I haven’t met but cared enough to send something.

I just want to say thank you for all of the support and prayers that I have received since I’ve been deployed. My step-mom Kathryn says that they say my name every Sunday at their church and that makes me feel good and at the same time I feel that they shouldn't make a big deal of it because I just doing what I signed up to do. Either way I'm glad that there is such great support of all of the troops including me. I'm just shy you know......NOT!

This is the most I've typed in a while and my fingers are getting tired so I will end it here. Monday is my reset day so I will use that day to update you on all of my news and happenings of the week. Take care and I will talk to all of you later.

Dan

Fun in the Sun?

Dan still doesn't have his own internet access. We've ordered the satellite dish and it's on its way from the UK to Dan. (Shipping was $700.00!!!) It should arrive any day now. We've talked almost every day on the phone. He likes to hear about what is happening back here. He has called his room there home a few times, and it makes me a little sad since home is back here with all of us, but really, what else can you call it when you're going to be there for at least a year?

He's gone shopping at the bazaar on post and bought a few movies. He's been shopping at the post exchange, and ordered a few things online. He's enjoyed having ice cream from Baskin and Robbins.

He says his bike ride to work is about 10 minutes. For security reasons, he can't talk about what he does each day, but there are lots of other things to chat about. My mom got a chance to talk to him over Labor Day weekend and she really enjoyed it. The connection was good and had fun asking him questions about life over there.

He has enjoyed getting mail from all of you, so keep sending him letters! Hopefully the next entry will be from Dan.

In The Army Now

Hello again! Dan asked me to update his blog for him. He's still working on getting reliable and steady internet access in Iraq.

Dan went to a bazaar while still in Kuwait and bought a few items from the approved vendors. He had a good time and saw lots of very unique items. He called and asked if I wanted a hookah pipe. I don't even know what that is!

He is doing well and now working each day. He had a little bicycle accident and flew over the handlebars, with full gear on, but he only scratched up his hands. I've mailed him a new pillow and fun string lights with beer mugs, chili peppers, and Hawaiian shirts on them. He wants to hang them outside his door.

Dan says that he keeps very hydrated. They have bottled water and Crystal Light available everywhere. He's also been getting his daily fix of coffee from Green Bean, a gourmet coffee house on post.

The time difference is nine hours so we talk mostly while I'm at work. It's kind of funny because I'm eating breakfast and he's on his way to dinner. He says the food is good.

I'll close for now and let Dan update everyone when he gets time.

Thanks again for all your support.

Who Is That Masked Man?

Hi all and welcome to my BLOG.

I haven't written lately because of all of the training we have been doing as well as getting ready to move north from Kuwait. We do get some time to ourselves to wonder around and check things out. As you see in the picture, we do have a couple of creature comforts from home like a Burger King, Subway, Starbucks, and Baskins Robbins (My personal fave). The army does try to make it more homey on FOB's, so that you may forget for a little while that a war is going on around you. I will be leaving to go north to Iraq soon and then I'll have my own place to call home with my roomy. I have my next post after I get settled in there and I should have better access to Internet also.

Again, I thank all of you for your support and Sarah thanks all of you for being there for her during this time. Take care and I will talk to you all later.

Dan

Now This Is What I Call HOT!!!

Hello again everyone. I hoped you enjoyed Sarah's guest writing on the last post. It is a little tougher to get on the Internet here in Kuwait and I asked Sarah to do it for me and she did a wonderful job. She is a little more wordy than me but, I like her that way.

Now for the update............IT IS HOTTTTTTTTTT! Did I tell you it is hot? Well it's hot like an oven hot. But it is a dry heat (LOL). I am getting used to it already so now I just have to deal with the sand and other great things about the middle east.

As you see in my picture, my living arrangements here are cramped but cozy for now. We are in big tents and mine has about 40 guys in it. As I said earlier, the Internet sucks but, at least I can get on. They do have some things like home here in Kuwait, like there is a Subway, Burger King, Steak Escape, and a Starbucks all on post. I will try to take pictures so you all can see what they look like. The mess hall food is a lot better than in Oklahoma. Tonight I had Steak and Shrimp and it tasted like Steak and Shrimp, AMAZING!

Well, it's getting late here so I will let you all go. I will update when I can until I get to Iraq and to my own Internet connection.

Take care everyone and I'll see you in the funny pages.

Dan

Off to the Sandbox

Hey Everyone! I'm writing for Dan since he's now left for Kuwait and then on to Iraq. His leave went by so fast. He came home on July 23 and both of us left for Fort Sill, OK on August 1. During the 8 days he was home, we attended my brother's wedding, which was a huge success, had a ginormous BBQ at our house for family and friends, (I think we had at least 50 people over), ate at all of our favorite places, and celebrated our anniversary early. We also had guests come and stay with us from Germany. There was so much to do!

When we arrived in Lawton, OK, we rented a car and drove to OK City to see the memorial. It was a very somber visit. The memorial has been done really tastefully and truly honors the victims and survivors of the blast. We weren't able to see the museum, but we both want to go back so we can go through it. It chonicles the timeline of the blast, the investigation, the arrests, and the trial. We just arrived too late to see it. If Dan demobolizes at Fort Sill, then we'll go back. Dan sat on a bench and reflected on the last few months. He said that "this is why I'm going to Iraq. It may have been here, but terrorism is terrorism." I'm sure it was a poignant moment for him.

We came back to Lawton for dinner. We had steaks at a local steakhouse. They were so yummy! During dinner we heard about the bridge collapse and we were in shock! What a tragedy. We then drove back to the base and sat in the parking lot for awhile to talk before Dan had to check in at 10:00.

August 2 was the ceremony. It was 20 minutes long, but it was worth it to be there. All the top brass from the MN National Guard was there. I got to meet other people that Dan is deploying with. The Hawaii Family Readiness Group was there and they gave candy leis to all the soliders. It was really nice. People from MN were discouraged from coming to Fort Sill, but there were many people there from Hawaii.

Dan left for lunch and then we met up afterward. We couldn't leave the base, but he showed me around. Fort Sill is like a city of it's own. It huge! They have their own post office, bowling alley, bar, movie theater, etc. It's not a bad place to be. The weather is the only downside. The dewpoints were very high and the temps were in the 90s. The heat index was around 100 everyday I was there. I can't imagine marching with an extra 40 lbs of weight on me in this weather. Yikes!

We had our last dinner together at the Burger King on post. It was quick, but nice to spend any time we could together. I dropped him off at the barracks after dinner so he could attend some meetings. I went back to the hotel. Dan called about an hour later and I drove back to post. We spent time talking in the car and ended back at the Burger King for some coffee and soda. It was good to just be near each other.

I dropped him off for the last time at his barracks and we said goodbye. There were just a few tears and I went back to the hotel.

It was a whirlwind tour while he was home, but it was so good to see him and have him close. Just five more months, and he'll be back!

Dan will update again once he's settled.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.