New Bike

As promised, here's a picture of my new baby.  It can also be referred to as a Cannondale CAAD 10 5.  Think I've put about 35-40 miles on in since I got it Wednesday afternoon.  It rides like a dream.  The only thing left is for my shoes to come in, get the clamps installed on them, and then get the final adjustments/fit and finish done so the bike is adjusted to my requirements.  Had to special order the shoes.  It must be hard to believe that they didn't have US size 14/UK 59 in stock.  Let's just say that I don't have the typical bike riding frame... Hopefully they come in Saturday so I can get everything set and start putting some real miles on.  Feels good to be back on a bike.  Wish I wouldn't have gotten out of it for so long.

My new baby leaning against my other baby.  Don't worry Jeep, you're still my favorite.

Other than the new bike, not a lot going on.  I finally start my captain's course this Monday.  It's been nice not working for the last month but it's starting to get old.  Once the class starts, I'll finally have something to fill up most of my day beyond my master's class, bike riding, and TV.

Later.

Settling In...Again

I made it to Virginia (Hopewell, VA to be exact) and am pretty well settled in.  I'll be here until late August and than it's off to a currently unknown duty station.  I'll find that out in a month or two. 

This area of Virginia is...interesting.  A lot different from Clarksville/Hopkinsville which were growing a lot despite the struggling economy in the rest of the country.  Then I get here and it looks like the economy has hit this place like a ton of bricks.  Driven around a lot to try and get familiar with everything that's around here and there's not that much being built.  Lots of areas that are looking pretty run down.  Hopefully, now the economy looks to be recovering, albeit pretty slowly, this place will start to get built back up. 

I started my Masters in Logistics and Supply Chain Management through Embry Riddle Aeronautical University last week.  First class in the chute is Theory and Application of Managerial Communications.  Being a leader in the Army, I should be able to put this class to good use when I get to my next unit and start being in charge of Soldiers again.

Last week I also reported to the school house here at Ft. Lee to start my captain's course.  Signed in on Tuesday, March 20 and they told me to inprocess Ft. Lee and be back at 7 am on April 2.  Although it's nice to get two weeks to inprocess, it took me a total of about five hours spread over three days to do it.  Only reason it took three days was because you could only do certain things on certain days.  Otherwise, I would've been done on Tuesday.  Finished up on Friday so I will be taking advantage of the next week off.  With that said, I'm getting kinda bored and am definitely getting ready for school to start.

To fill in some free time while I'm here (allegedly we're done each day at about 3 pm), I'm trying to get back into biking.  Went to buy a bike last week but the one I wanted wasn't in stock so they had to order it.  Hopefully I will get it by mid week this week and I get a chance to put some miles on it before I start school next week.  It's a really nice bike, a Cannondale CAAD10 5.  Nice, nice, nice bike.  Great for riding roads and capable or being a good triathlon bike if I decide to progress to that.  I'll put up a picture when I get it. 

Time to rock out some school work and than go for a run.

Later.

Soldiers' Memorial

In a sign that fallen Soldiers are never forgotten, the unit that replacement mine downrange constructed a pretty awesome memorial in honor of the five Heroes.  I had a lot of doubts about the unit, but this goes above and beyond anything I ever thought they were possible of doing.  You can check out the stories at the links below.  One is a video, ones an article.

Memorial to Fallen Soldiers Dedicated (Article)

CSSB Memorial (Video)

Really happy they did these Heroes justice.

Later.

Movin' On

To start this update, a couple belated shout outs.  First Happy Bday to my dad and mom.  Their birthdays were February 28th and March 2nd, respectively.  Second, my dad retired from John Deere after 37 years of 'hard' work.  Hard is in quotes because he claims to work hard but than listening to his stories, it seems like he sits around and talks most of the day while.  Congrats and enjoy so very well deserved time off. 

Well, it's time for me to move to my next duty station.  And after a day of loading up the Jeep and a Uhaul trailer, three things are for sure.  1) I love my Jeep.  But that's never been in question.  2) I should've gotten a bigger Uhaul.  Tight squeeze once I got everything packed in both.  3) Starting tomorrow morning, I will be on my way to Ft. Lee, VA to attend the Combined Logistics Captain's Career Course (abbreviated CLC3, said Click-3).  So yes, after four long years I am leaving the Ft. Campbell area for good.  Threw the 'for good' in there since I'm taking a year's vacation to a desert again.  Supposedly upon completion of the course, we are guaranteed not to return to the place you came from.  We'll see.  In four years, I have deployed twice.  This school will hopefully act as a well deserved break.  Recharge the batteries while I'm there and than maybe get one more deployment under the belt.  We'll see where I end up at and where they are in the deployment/training cycle.

I'll be at Ft. Lee for about five months and than move again to a destination yet to be determined.  During the second month we're in school, our branch managers (the people who decide where you get assigned to next) will come down and visit us.  Shortly afterwards, we get our orders for our follow on assignment.  Can't wait to find out.  My top choices are anywhere in Europe (might be kinda hard with downsizing going on over there again), Ft. Lewis, WA, or Ft. Carson, CO.

That's it for now.  I'll send out a mass text or call when I get to Ft. Lee on Friday. 

Later.

Christmas 2011

 Well kids, it's time for another not so regular blog update.  Maybe a new year's resolution should be to update this blog more regularly. 

Christmas has come and gone.  Luckily, I was able to make it home this year.  It was incredible to be able to spend the holiday with my family this year.  Even better was the weather in Iowa.  When I got home on Friday there was an inch or two of snow on the ground but by Christmas it had almost all melted away due to the 40, yes 40, plus degree weather.  Good enough weather for some family football and soccer to take place after a late breakfast.  Thanks for the presents this year, most of them are already in use at my apartment

The highlight of Christmas was when my dad open his gift from me.  I decided to honor my dad's service in Vietnam by building a joint shadow box with his awards and mine in.  It most definitely was not on his Christmas list and he never expected to ever receive such a gift.  (Side note: Vietnam vets hardly ever get recognized for the sacrifices they made during their service.  Polar opposite of how today's Iraq and Afghanistan vets are treated.  Next time you see a Vietnam veteran, stop and thank them.  They deserve it as much (probably more) than today's vets do.) 

More important then Christmas (yeah, hard to believe there's anything much more important than Christmas) was that my sister Jill finally decided to have her baby.  She enjoyed the suspense so much that she didn't have Megan Belle until December 17th instead of December 1st when the doctors said she was due.  But Mom, Dad, and Megan are all doing great and, as you can see below, Megan is adorable.

Don't know when I'll make it home again.  In early March I'll be moving to the Ft. Lee, VA area to attend my captain's career course.  I'll only be there for five months but still have to move all my stuff with me.  Somebody in big Army didn't think that decision through very well, but whatever, I'm just ready to move on with my career.  During the second month I'm at Ft. Lee, I'll learn where I'm going after school.  My top two choices are Italy and Germany.  I would love to be able to travel Europe for a couple years.  And some people might really enjoy visiting me while I'm over there too!

That's it for now.  Later!

Christmas 2011 family pictures.  The Shields family keeps getting bigger.  There will be another addition in late March when my second niece, Lia, will be born.

Megan meet Frosty.  Frosty meet Megan Belle.

Opening presents takes a lot out of everybody.  Ryan and Jack both needed a nap after an exciting day of presents.  Notice the snow on the deck.  It was the first snow I've seen in over two years.

I stopped in Cedar Rapids on the way home from Clarksville to meet Megan for the first time.  The outcome agreed upon is that she is cute and tiny and that  I'm adorable and large.

The shadow box I made for Dad.  I had the flag flown at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan in front of the Regional Command (Southwest) Headquarters.  The awards on the left half are Dad's the ones on the right are mine. 

Settling In

Well, it was a very long and trying year in Afghanistan.  However, it is finally over.  On October 19th (2 days later then originally planned so two units could fly home at the same time and save the government some money) we touched down back at Hanger 3 aboard Ft Campbell, KY.  Mom and Dad where there to greet me home and it was incredible to see some friendly faces beyond the ones I had spent the last 366 days with.  In case you didn't get any pictures from Mom earlier, I have included some here as well.

Me walking from the plane to Hanger 3 for the Welcome Home Ceremony on October 19, 2011.

Mom and me during the brief family time portion of the Welcome Home Ceremony.

Overall, my unit did an amazing job supporting all the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coalition Forces in Regional Command (Southwest).  (Afghanistan is broken down into six regional commands.  Each one is commanded by a two star general and reports directly to NATO's International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF))  My section ended up planning over 100 convoys pushing mission essential equipment between three Regional Commands.  We moved 35,000 tons of equipment over 300,000 miles.  A great accomplishment considering a lot of the those miles were driven over open dessert terrain.   We could not have done it with out the more then 600 Soldiers in our battalion who completed all these missions and made the battalion headquarters successful. 

Our battalion lost five great Americans while we were deployed.  Four to IEDs and one in a vehicle rollover.  Not a day has gone by since we lost the first two on January 29, 2011; two on August 25, 2011; one on August 29, 2011; that I haven't thought about them.  I will never forget the ultimate sacrifices they and their families made for a very grateful country.  Gone but never forgotten. 

Not sure what I'll be doing for the next couple months.  I do know I will be home for Turkey Day and Christmas this year.  And I know I'll be going to the Combined Logistics Captain's Career Course (CLC3 - abbreviation is pronounced "Click-3" if you hear me say that) in March at Ft Lee.  Other than, not really sure.  Looks like I'll spend just enough time in Clarksville to get good and settled in and then it will be time to start moving.

Can't wait to see everybody in a couple weeks!

Almost Home

On Wednesday, we officially transferred all of our responsibilities to our replacements.  We are now just sitting around waiting for our flight out of Camp Leatherneck and, subsequently, from Manas back to Fort Campbell.  Our flights were delayed a couple days so we could fly back home with another unit from Ft. Campbell.  Right now, we're on pace to spend exactly 365 days deployed.  Cutting it awfully close to having to get paid extra money for being here longer then a year.  So, with the new flights, here is the new countdown.

Also, for updates about when we're supposed to get back to Ft. Campbell, check out:
http://www.campbell.army.mil/campbell/directorates/DPTMS/Pages/flights.aspx

See you in a few!