The Dude in the Desert blog has officially moved to Magazine BLU.

You’ll find him here.

Last evening I landed at ATL Intl airport and walked around trying to find a place to plug in and use the free WiFi, but of course the place was packed full of people traveling for the weekend…so no dice…instead I found a place at the bar where they served cold beer…had a couple tall ones before heading to my gate …of course, the plane coming in was delayed so we all sat around doing nothing…after the 45 minute delay we got on board and I instantly passed out in my seat—window seat in the emergency exit row—so I had plenty of leg room and nobody would have to wake me up to use the toilet or whatever…it was a good 2 hour nap…got to Philly around 2330 and by the time I got thru all the baggage crap I was tired as hell—it was about 0545 according to my clock…up for about 24 hours straight—minus the unproductive naps on the flights….anyhoo, I caught a shuttle bus to the nearest hotel and got a room for the night…kind of a ghetto hotel, close to the airport and not well kept, and it was still $75 a night…oh well, thanks, Uncle Sam…so I got some well-needed rest—check out time wasn’t until 1200, so I slept in until I woke up on my own—no alarm clock…I got my stuff together, went downstairs to see an airport shuttle waiting for people, so I threw my bags in the van and checked out real quick…. Got to the airport to see a few Air Force guys in uniform all walking towards the door… I asked if they were heading to Ft. Dix for training, and sure enough, those were my new classmates/roommates/battle buddies for the next month…we took the 1-hour van ride and arrived here around 1330 hrs…this is probably the nicest looking Army post I have seen…the housing looks nice, the buildings look new, the whole base is in great shape—green grass, full trees, flowers, etc…anyhoo, this is gonna be much better than the Ft. Bragg experience…first off, it’s only one month instead of three, and we are in actual hard barracks with only 9 people sharing a room—there are 6 bunk beds set up in here, so hopefully nobody will pick the top bunk on my bed…we’ll see…the training is set up strictly for us Air Force people—not 1200 mixed Army, Navy, Air Force like we had at Bragg—so that alone is much better…also, we are allowed to wander the base/post area (base/post are because Ft. Dix is attached to McGuire Air Force Base) after our duty day ends—at Bragg we were confined to the tent city area…things are lookin up…one of the other mechanics that will be going to another fire base/FOB in Afghanistan is in the same room as me…we have talked a little and he is prior Army so he already knows exactly what to expect here, and since I have been thru this before we should be able to get thru this pretty easy and we’ll be able to help out the younger guys that are here with us…he’s stationed at Eielson Air Base in Alaska and is the other TSgt that is on the same “team” as me…the barracks here are very big… we are on the 3rd floor and there seems to be about 25 rooms on each floor… the rooms are big enough for 6 bunk beds and 12 wall lockers with plenty of room to move around in your bed/locker area…the AC is nice and cool, there are shades over the windows, and the bathrooms/latrines are pretty OK too…it is open bay (prison style) showers, which kinda sucks, but whatever…I am used to that from living in Honduras—I used those kinds of showers for 2 years, I think I can handle it for a month…well, that’s about all for now—oh yeah, I have internet here in my bunk…it’s a wireless signal from some MWR server and it’s kinda slow, but hey, it’s also kinda free…I cannot complain about it at all…so, I should be able to keep in touch on a daily basis thru emails and my writings….tomorrow or later tonight I am gonna try to find a phone joint so I can have use of my cell phone….of course, as soon as I get phone service I will be calling….ok, talk to you all soon
OOL
B

and so begins the second trip to Afghanistan to work with the Army …of course, it starts out with more problems than you can shake a stick at–the main ones being somewhat typical… I have known about this deployment for a few months, but as I prepare to start my out-processing I find out that I have to leave 3 weeks earlier than planned …the pre-deployment training dates have changed from what I was originally told…great, all out-processing at my base has to be done in 4 days, then all out-processing at Aviano has to be done in 4 days of the following week—including M16 qualification (which takes an entire day)… so, I run around my base trying to get everything signed off, written up, gear issued, and take care of my unfinished business in my own shop…as I am figuring out what to give to whom and who to see about what, I get issued a traffic citation for a baby doll hanging from the bumper of my Jeep…the daughter of my recently returned-from-Iraq airman decided she didn’t want her baby doll anymore and threw it in a bonfire at a bbq/party one night…well, I took that half burned baby out of the fire and hung it from the bumper of my Jeep—not in a crude way—it was hanging by the hand, as if hitching a ride, or doing some rock climbing—mom didn’t find it very humorous when she was here, but I thought it was just funny…anyhoo—I was told by an Army MP that it was against AR regulation, something, something, blah blah….I said “roger that” and left… I was parked at my shop for about 20 minutes when a cop came in to my office and asked if I had my driver’s license and ID card… I said “yeah, I have it, but I’m not driving”… he was obviously NOT the person that made the decision to issue the citation…he was clearly embarrassed to be the one writing me a ticket for a baby doll hanging on my bumper…so, the next day as I run around trying to get things taken care of so I can leave for 7 months, I have to go talk to the first sgt about this ticket….he didn’t even care about the ticket—he was more concerned that the MP who initially talked to me said I was “borderline disrespectful”…I had no idea what he was talking about… the 1st sgt admitted that he knows how the AF and Army have different definitions of respectfulness…so, as long as I believed I was acting appropriately then he was all good with everything ….although, he did want to give me a heads up about other things ….he told me he had been hearing my name a lot in the command building…which is usually not a good thing unless you are that super troop that is winning every award out there…now, I have no idea why my name would be popping up a lot in that building…I was a little curious, but he said he didn’t have any details on anything, just he heard my name in a few different conversations recently…his advice was to step back and take a look at my actions and see if there might be something I need to change….well, I have decided I ain’t changing anything because I don’t feel I am doing anything wrong, and I am also leaving for 7 months…so, that was over, now time to talk with the new chief about the whole ticket thing… again the emphasis was on the level of respect showed to the MP…again, I felt as if I had acted properly—done—well, with that subject anyway…we talked about 485684 things but mainly about placing a Master Sgt over vehicle maintenance while I am deployed…whatever, I am not gonna be there so I don’t really have any say in anything anyway…so, with all this action going on I had to have a shop meeting with the guys to explain all this stuff…then the next morning the chief decided to have a shop meeting with us to explain the exact same thing I just talked about…all the while I am still trying to get everything straight before I leave…I had a few personal things to handle along with this madness at work…someone to pay my bills, someone to watch the cats, someone to take care of my bike, someone to check my mail, take care of my house, the Jeep, etc,etc … last time I went none of that mattered—I got rid of everything and packed a few boxes to keep at my friend’s house…now I have lots of responsibilities to cover while I am gone…nothing new, just one third of the time to make it all happen….ok, so got all that done, drove out on Monday morning to get things done at Aviano ….oh yeah, the last Friday at home station I had to do a Physical Fitness Test—scored an EXCELLENT—for the first time ever…that was pretty awesome—it felt good….ok, so up to Aviano….I get up there and there is no room on base, so I have to roll downtown to a local hotel…nothing bad, but they are definitely not star quality palces…the bare basics…a bed, small shower, toilet, sink, tv, closet….and the “double/full” bed is actually two twin beds pushed together with a large sheet/blanket set on them…whatever, it was a place to sleep…. So I get in Monday night, hook up with a couple of my boys and have couple brewskies while BSing about the good ol days in Hondo…Tuesday morning I got up nice and early, fresh and ready, to go learn all about the M16 and shoot some targets to qualify on the weapon…well, of course, the class is long and boring—same thing we go thru every single year of our military lives…but this time was different… when we went out to fire we had to shoot a few qualifying rounds with the gas mask on…I have fired like that before but it wasn’t ever part of the actual qualification firing… oh yeah, I also have a broken rib—not really broken, but the formerly mention airman that recently return from Iraq was being a “Debbie Downer” last Friday night at Rudy’s house for my going away BBQ/party…. So, as he was sitting on the cooler just being lame, I decided to liven things up and I straight up, full on, tackled him off the cooler on to the ground and we ended up wrasslin around a little… well, the next morning I woke up with some serious pain in my rib cage—I’ve actually had the same exact pain before and it was a torn muscle between the ribs….anyway, it is some harsh pain, but I decided not to tell anyone because it could cause me to be taken off of this deployment…first of all, I am ready to get away from Darby for a while because things there are starting to piss me off, and also I don’t want to be that guy that has to be replaced with a short notice deployer that might have a family or something…anyhoo… laying down, getting up, driving, running, walking, breathing, and anything else causes me to whence and groan in pain….so this M16 firing was hell…we have to fire with our body armor on, lying on the ground using a sandbag as a prop to hold the weapon up, then lie on the ground without the sandbags and use our elbows as support, then kneeling and then bending over a barricade ….well, every single position was absolute pain—you know how the doc asks for a scale of 1-10 pain rate to figure out how serious you are hurting… well, this pain rate was about 8.5…. I have lots of tattoos, piercings, and have had my finger completely ripped off and sewn back on—this pain was at the top of the list in my lifetime of painful events…so, I was firing as fast as I could so I could get back in the standing position to alleviate the blinding pain….but after all was said and done, I actually fired an expert score – we only fire 50 shots for qualification in the Air Force—that’s after 50 rounds of zeroing and practice—44 out of 50 rounds hit the center of the targets…that means I just earned another ribbon for myself—Expert Marksmanship ribbon….so, after acing my PT test and firing “expert” on M16, I think I am totally ready to go play Army for a while…back to the out-processing nightmare….this is now 2.5 days before I am supposed to get on a plane for training in Jersey and I still don’t even have orders…..orders are a necessity when trying to go anywhere in the military—they tell everyone where you are going and what you need to get there…so, trying to do this without orders takes a lot of explaining and begging and sweet talking…I managed to get my medical clearance—which took most of one whole day running around the entire base…then I got set up with an appointment to get plane tickets—again, some serious begging and sweet talking was need to accomplish this without orders…finally the last afternoon of time I got hooked up with all the gear I am required to take with me to training…well, almost all the gear…they recently found out that their process of issuing and transferring a weapon within Italy has all kinds of red tape and paperwork associated with it…so, it takes about a month to get the weapon shipped anywhere…well, I just fired with this same weapon on Tuesday and it is supposed to go to Jersey with me Friday… ain’t happenin…so, the guys in our deployment section did some begging and pleading and ended up calling me Thursday after duty hours with a person to find when I get to Jersey that will hook me up with a loaner weapon to use while in training…this will be channeled up and down the chain for sure…someone will have to answer all the bosses on why this situation arose… not much I can do about it, but it’s got my name all over it… again, I will be gone for 7 months so hopefully by the time I get back this will have blown over and there will be some other big issue on the hotplate …ok, so, during this whole week, after duty hours when I can’t get anything else done, I have been hanging out with all my friends that I hadn’t seen in 5-6-7 years… it was good to catch up and chill for a few days…. So, finally at 1700 hrs on Thursday I get my actual printed out orders to take with me…Friday morning, get up, repack all my gear, lighten the load by removing extra doubles and triples of whatever items, and hit the road for the drive to Venice airport…the airport action went surprisingly smooth…I am sitting on the plane with a complimentary bottle of wine, a full belly, and some music on the MP3 player right now, as I type this….flying into Atlanta, then up to Philly, where I will get a hotel for the night, and then report to training tomorrow afternoon…. I will post this as soon as I have some internet access … love you and miss you all …hopefully I’ll talk to you soon…and I will do my best to keep this up to date
OOL
B

well, it’s starting … I have begun my out processing from home station .. I have to finish everything this week– found out that my Combat Skills Training (CST) dates are actually this month and not next month …I thought I still had a few more weeks, but nope…2 weeks till I start the class… at Ft. Dix, NJ…that alone is enough to try to get out of this deployment…oh well, we gotta do what we gotta do right?? and I have found info that it will be the exact same training that I did at Ft. Bragg–not a big surprise, but still, I was hoping for something different…at least this time will be in actual hard barracks instead of tents–at least that’s what I am being told right now…I have also been talking with some of the guys our team will be replacing… found out that the place I am going is about 100km northeast of my last Afghanistan residence…closer to Pakistan, higher in the mountains, and in a more dangerous area– AWESOME (please note the sarcasm).. also, this time I will be working strictly with Special Forces– no PRT, no infantry, no civil affairs– straight up catching bad guys–I won’t necessarily be doing any of the chasing and catching, I will be working on their vehicles, and sometimes going out on missions…I have heard from my counterpart that we will be in hard barracks, I will have my own room, there is internet in the rooms, and there are a couple phones to use…mail is pretty much nonexistant, no BX/PX to buy anything, and a very small vehicle maintenance shop– I am expecting the same thing I had last time with a lot less people and a few less ammenities…I head to Aviano next week to do the mandatory checklist of things we have to accomplish before the training–which covers most of the mandator checklist items…things haven’t changed much in the past 2-3 years…of course, these types of deployments are the exception, not the rule, for the Air Force, so I kinda understand…at least this time there is a lot more info on reporting to the training and info about our assignments… ok, gotta cook some dinner– more to come .. now sure how much access I will have to the internet while in training, but I will try to keep you all up to date with the activities
OOL
B

Spencer and Jazz made it in today — Mom and Dad come in Wednesday … it’s gonna be another busy 2 weeks … Hawaii Connie has been here about a month and it’s been pretty laid back since she had so much time to spend…this net couple weeks with the fam is gonna be a whirlwind of trains, boats, walking and craziness…today we already checked out a couple little sights to see–Vicopisano, a little town close by with a castle on top of the hill…and a watch tower area way up on a sheer cliff, overlooking the Tuscan countryside…both very close to the hosue and both very beautiful…now Spencer and Jazz are passed out after their long plane ride–tomorrow’s plan is for me to work all day while they go to Florence with Hawaii Connie…and after regular Air Force work I have to work at the Italian carnival that is currently set up on the base…it’s a yearly thing for the base and the locals to come together in fun and games–our main goal (us working) is to make lots of money…this food booth fund raiser project basically pays for our squadron Christmas/Holiday party…last year they made something like $24,000…so I am working all day tomorrow at real work, then working from 1700-2400 hrs at the food booth…but, that means I get Wednesday off and that’s when the parents fly in, so it worked out pretty good…the latest in the Afghanistan trip is that we are trying to figure out how/where to get tool boxes to take with us …being stationed at a small fire base is something the Air Force doesn’t usually do…we go to big bases with a flight line, a supply system, continuity, and stability…at these bases there are established vehicle maintenance shops with tools and equipment that stays at the base forever–well, at least for many many years, until we close the whole operation down and move soemwhere else…well, these little fire bases are always considered “temporary”…5 months or 5 years–it’s still temporary…with that, the Air Force doesn’t want to purchase stuff that would be permanently assigned to one location…they want us to buy a tool box at our own base, take it with us, then bring it back–that’s an extra 100lbs and an extra “bag” to carry from our home location to the north east coast, then all over Afghanistan, then back home when we leave…my guess is that this will cost more than buying new equipment, leaving it in place, and just giving it to the locals when we pull out–one tool box with all needed tools left in place- approx $10,000.00….a new tool box for each mechanic, airline fees for carrying everywhere, replacing any broken/lost tools along the way- my guess is around $50,000.00…but I’m not the finance guru of this whole operation…whatever… I guess I’ll make it happen when it gets time to go… OK… tha’ts about all for now … I gotta get some grub… love you and miss you all
OOL
B

ok, so I guess I’ll start writing again …it’s been a long time, but now I am gearing up to head back to Afghanistan again this fall–this time it’s a 6 month tour….another month of Army training at Ft. Dix, NJ….basically the same stuff I went thru at Ft. Bragg back in 07–I guess they cut out a lot of the BS and are focusing on the main skills needed for combat….I found out I will be sent out to a Fire Base–kinda like a FOB but smaller, and I will be working with Special Forces teams…of course, my main mission is to be a mechanic…from what I am hearing I will be working on Humm-vees and ATVs(all terrain vehicles) like 4-wheelers…this trip should be very interesting as well…more “in the thick of it” type duty…although, I am told we do not go out on missions unless we volunteer–that’s a good thing, but I have a feeling if I think the team needs me outside the wire I will volunteer with enthusiasm…that’s just part of being on a team…so, as I start my process of preparing to leave Italy I will keep you all informed on the happenings…love you and miss you all…talk to you soon
OOL
B

well, where to start …I got some new pipes on Black Betty — now she actually sounds like a real bike, and looks like a custom chopper… I LOVE it ..I have been able to go riding only a few times, but those few times were great … cruising around Pisa is just awesome and ALL the locals stare at it–either because it’s too noisy and bothers them, or because they appreciate the awesomeness of pure American power…either way it turns heads…I also tested for promotion last week… I feel pretty good about it, but I won’t know anything for sure until June–that’s when the results come out and the time of official announcement of the selected promotees …now, if I did make it, that will mean some big changes for my future…to accept the new stripe I will have to extend my enlistment so I have 2 years of retainability from the promotion date…that also means I will have more than 12 months left in the Air Force when it comes time for me to leave Italy…which means they will give me an assignment, most likely to the US…that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I was planning my whole future around the fact that I would be stationed here until I retired…that also means a few more months till I can head to my island and live the easy life…in other news, I got word from headquarters that I am slotted to head back to Afghanistan–Kabul this time…it doesn’t seem like very long ago that I was leaving Bargram, but by the time I actually go it will have been over 18 months since I departed the trash pile that is Bagram Air Base…I am totally not looking forward to going back, but it’s my job and that’s what we do…this time will be with an Air Force unit and I will be working in vehicle maintenance with a very small chance that I would ever head outside the wire…that’s a good thing…I enjoyed it while I was doing it, but it’s not something I long to do again…although, I am still waiting on clarification of the position–if I get promoted I might not be able to fill the slot…it is for a wrench turner, not a superintendent …we’ll see about that one…oh yeah, I also got to witness and help clean up the destruction that a flood causes…my buddy Jeff lives in a group of government leased houses…there are 7 homes in a sort of townhouse set-up …well, this is where we BBQ, drink, play Rock Band and generally hang out on the weekends…a few weeks ago we had a torrential downpour and the streets of Livorno were totally flooded…cars stuck and stalled all over the place …well, all seven of these houses have a below-ground-level garage and basement…all seven completely flooded…Jeff called me Friday afternoon when he opened his garage and found his motorcycle, 4-wheeler, and small dirt bike under water … well, the 4-wheeler was actually floating because of the oversized tires…he asked if he could use our shop-vac from the shop… I told him to go ahead and grab it, but it was useless…a shop-vac is meant to clean up small spills, not empty a swimming pool…all of the families ended up going to the base to spend the night because the flooding knocked out all the electricity and there was no running water…Sat morning Jeff called to see if I could come over in the Jeep and help carry out the massive amounts of garbage that used to be books, pictures, documents, keepsakes, and other random items that people keep in their garage or basements…I headed over pronto…it was unreal…there were contractors from the base with large water trucks sucking up the 3-5 feet of water that was sitting in everyone’s house …when I got to Jeff’s the place was a wreck…everything was completely soaked and most of it ruined…it was terrible to see his wife going thru old wedding photos, pics of grandma that had passed away, certificates of whatever, kids toys and baby clothes–all going into the large black trash bags…I brought over a case of Corona and a case of Bud Light Lime–Jeff had been looking for it so I thought that would be a nice surprise for him …Jeff didn’t seem too upset about the whole thing … he just popped open a beer and said “what are ya gonna do?” …and we started cleaning …in these houses there are 4 Air Force and 3 Army families … thru the day a whole bunch of people showed up to help out with cleaning and organizing and trash gathering…of all the people, there were only 3 Army people that showed up–one was complaining about it being his day off, and another was bitching because he thought he was gonna miss the movie on base that evening…I could not believe what I saw…there were about 25-30 AF people and 3 Army guys–complaining about being there…it was a true sign of how the AF takes care of their people…all the AF guys, including myself, helped out all 7 families and we did everything we could to get the families back into a livable house…I spent all day and night there, and worked my ass off…I felt really sorry for everyone involved…it took all those people about a week to get their houses back to normal…it was nice to be back in Jeff’s basement drinking and playing Rock Band last night …I even got to sleep on my futon down there…I have also been out snowboarding a few times this month…the mountain was super icy last time we went .. it was a beautiful clear sunny day, but it was so cold that even the powder in the treed areas was frozen solid … that makes for a bad day if you fall a couple times …and I did fall a couple times .. it hurt…it hurt bad …it’s like falling on straight concrete, but cold, so it hurts even more…but, we did have a great time …we made it over to parts of the mountain we had never experienced…that place is HUGE …miles and miles of trails…we spent about 7 hours there and still didn’t hit all the open trails…I didn’t come away with any disabling injuries, but I felt it for the next few days …anyhoo…things are better in the work arena…we are back on regular work shifts, and the shop is nice and clean…we are actually starting to get more vehicles out than in…the bosses are happy and they are pretty much leaving us alone…we also got a couple guys back from the desert and they will all be back in the shop working next week…that should help us get those trucks fixed…some other great info — mom, dad, bro and niece all got plane tickets to come see me in June…that is awesome… we are planning a trip to the Shetland Islands in Scotland since that’s where my mom’s relatives are from…that should be a great trip… I can pick up some awesome Glen Scotch while I’m there too…it’s gonna be a busy summer, but I am looking forward to it…on to my fanancial dilemma—I tried to order something on line and got an email that my card had been declined…then I tried to use it to buy something on base…declined again…I go to the ATM–declined…so I called my bank to find out that my card had been cut-off, canceled, put on hold, etc…the reason being someone stole a credit card processing machine from either WalMart or Target and everyone who had used that store in the past year had their cards cancelled…I guess the machine keeps every card number in it’s memory and can be accessed to use those card numbers…crazy…so, my card was sent to AK’s house and she emailed me to let me know she forwarded it that same day…not that I am hurting without the card, but it does make things a little more difficult…now I have to cash a check at the BX, take $$ to the bank and convert it into Euro…just a hassle that the whole debit card is there to aleviate…I guess I should have the card early in the week…well, I guess that’s about all for now…I am gonna hit the sack early tonight so I can go out and cruise Black Betty all day tomorrow…the weather today was awesome and tomorrow should be the same…I love you and miss you all… talk to you soon
OOL
B

so this week was pretty rough– I almost got fired …of course, I am in the Air Force and they can’t just “fire” you in the typical sense…however they can take you from your current position and make you do something else if you’re not doing your job the right way …well, I wasn’t doing my job right–lucky or me we are the only mechanics here and they can’t really fire us…there are only 3 of us in the shop and the trucks seem to be just breaking down left and right…so, I was focusing all of our attention on turning wrenches so the shop looked like shit…the floors were dirty–really dirty, the tools weren’t put away, the paperwork had slipped, and the shop was in general disarray..plus, I happened to come in late on the day this all started…my boss was walking around the outside of the shop at 0715 and I came in late…he was pissed…so, we were not to work on any trucks for the day, we are on 12 hour shifts until further notice and the shop needed to be in inspection order that day…so, we worked all day on the shop and got it back in order…my priorities are based on my past 17 years of experience in the AF–FIX TRUCKS…of the shop is overflowing with broken vehicles, we work on them, everything else gets put on hold…now, don’t misunderstand, I know the shop is supposed to be cleaned up and I know I wasn’t enforcing the rules of every shop in the AF…but I didn’t think it was that big of a deal… my boss, and the rest of the people on this base are all Munitions guys–they deal with bombs all day, every day…they do everything by the book without question…I know this is important, and it is necessary when dealing with explosives…the problem is that they expect us to be as anal as they are– well, that isn’t how Vehicle Maintenance rolls…anyhoo…I have go back to making sure ALL shop jobs are being accomplished instead of just turning wrenches… that’s how the military works and, as they say, the job isn’t done until the paperwork is done–and in our case, shop clean up is part of the job….so, whatever, we’ll be working 12’s and keeping the shop straight and fixing trucks…the week wasn’t too bad, even tho I did nothing but work, eat dinner, and sleep…Friday was a Commander’s Call and promotion ceremony, so the promotees bought some beer and we hung out at the club on base for a little bit in the afternoon…then we decided to head to Jeff’s house to party it up for the night and then we would all leave from there to go snowboarding…of course, we all woke up later than planned and we didn’t get to the slopes until around 1130…the parking lots were completely packed and there were lots of ticket cops walking around–a few cars had parking tickets, but I don’t think people here really care…it tooks us a while to find parking, but luckily we both have 4×4 vehicles and we found a nice snowbank to park on… my Jeep was leaned to the side so much that I pretty much just fell out when I opened the door…it was a good day of boarding –the snow was nice and sft, but not wet, the sun was shining and the sky was clear…Jeff and Rudy are just learning–I am teaching them, and they are doing pretty good for it only being their second day on the mountain…we all had a good time — the new guys got a lot more enjoyment today because they weren’t falling as much and they didn’t hurt as much…again, the ride there and the ride home sucked…2 hours of crap roads is not fun…but, the boarding on the mountain is all worth it…ok, well it’s late, I am wore out and the Superbowl party is tomorrow night–oh yeah, we get a “down day” Monday because the Superbowl doesn’t come on until midnight here…so, I am gonna get some sleep to be prepared for tomorrow night’s festivities…party at Jeff’s house, BBQ, some Rock Band, and betting–Rudy told everyone to bring lots of one dollar bills…they want to bet on EVERYTHING…the next pass, the yardage of the next run, the possible fumbles, who’s getting the ball, whatever… ok…love you and miss you all, I will talk to you again soon
OOL
B

Today I woke up with the sun shining thru my bedroom balcony door…it was nice and pretty outside…not too cold and only a slight wind blowing thru the huge windmills out in the farms behind my house …so I decided it was time to take out Black Betty…had a shower, made some cappuccino, and got all my gear on…long johns, doubled up the socks, long sleeve shirt under the turtle neck, neck gaiter, and glove inserts…I was ready to roll…as I pulled the bike out of my garage I heard what sounded like Santa’s sleigh…bells–jingle bells…lots of jingle bells…I got out to the small dirt road that is my driveway and it was filled with sheep–tall skinny sheep–basically it’s a giant ball of dreadlocked, brown wool bouncing atop four long, skinny stick-legs…all of them had bells around their necks…it was a shepherd and his flock…behind my house is all farm area…grape and sunflower farms…no grazing or livestock farms, but for some reason this dude was walking his sheep thru this area…he had a cool looking Border Collie running around the animals, and what looked like a shotgun slung over his shoulder…something I would expect to see on a green rolling hill on the coastline of Ireland…it was cool… they didn’t seem to mind the sound of my bike…they all just filed thru and went out to the main road in front of my house…they turned in the direction I was planning to ride, so I took a left instead…it was quite the spectacle for me, but it seemed to be normal operating procedure for all the other cars and pedestrians caught in the flood of wooly waters…anyhoo… I went out on the road and cruised around for a few hours … I always try to go on some new back road thru the country side so I can just see what’s out there…a few times I have been “lost”, but it’s pretty easy to follow signs back towards Pisa or Pontedera…once I see either of those signs I know how to get back to my house …most of the places I go don’t have main roads or highways close by, so I just have to follow the signs to the next little town and hope I am going in the right direction…it’s fun tho…and it doesn’t really matter where I go as long as I am on my bike…I just need to make sure I start heading in the right direction before it gets too late… I don’t want to be out there when the sun goes down and the temp drops to 30…that would suck…so now I am home in front of the fireplace, sipping a Corona…today was a good day…talk to you all later
OOL
B

well, xmas has come and gone, it is the New Year … things in Italy are great .. the weather is kinda shitty, but it has made for some good snowboarding…over the past month or so I have only ridden Black Betty a couple of times…the rain and cold around here aren’t optimal for cruising a motorcycle…I guess I’ll just have to wait for the weather to clear up…a couple weeks ago I went snowboarding up at a mountain in the Appennines–a mountain chain that runs from north to south thru the center of Italy…the mountain is called Abetone…it was a great resort–rivaling any resort in Utah that I know of…the snow was great, the sun was shining, and there was plenty of fresh powder everywhere…I went with a few guys from the base…it was a good day on the mountain, but I was beat … the night before the trip I was up partying until about 0530 in the morning and then got up around 0730 to hit the road …this was my first time snowboarding in about 6 years …I was feeling rough the whole ride up–which took a little under 2 hours …but once I got on the lift and headed up the slopes I started feeling excitement and adrenaline pushing the hangover out the window…I was a little anxious about getting on the board after so much time, but as soon as I started down the run it felt like I had been riding the whole past 6 years …I guess it’s like riding a bike–you just don’t forget…I was ripping it up and flying down the hill just like I remember doing in Utah back in 2002…it was awesome …I was totally drained of energy but I kept riding all day long, only taking short breaks here and there…we all had a great time and decided we would be hittin the slopes on a regular basis this winter…after the lifts closed and the sun was setting we packed up all the gear and headed home … the ride home was horrible … I was driving and my passenger was sleeping …I was tired as hell and all the muscles I hadn’t used in 6 years were starting to ache …when we finally got home I was more drained than I remember being in a long, long time …it was a great day, but I was so happy to be home …I sat in a hot bath for about 20 minutes and went to bed …I didn’t even unload the gear from my Jeep…when I woke up in the morning I was completely sore all over …but there was an especially harsh shooting pain in my side…I looked at it in the mirror and there was a huge black and purple bruise …I don’t remember hitting my ribcage on anything, but I thought it might have been a tree branch that whacked me in the side while I was riding thru the forest areas…the bruise was about the size and shape of a bannana…after some further self-examination and internet searching I figured out I had torn a muscle…I had never experienced a torn muscle before so I had no idea what it felt like …well, now I have that experience…the bruising looks like a regular smack to the skin bruise, but there was a large hard lump under the whole thing …and any time I turned my torso it felt like someone was kicking me in the ribs…I suffered thru it for a few days and the pain subsided, but the bruise was still pretty nasty looking …after about 10-12 days it went away, but it was still there the following weekend when I went snowboarding again … this time it was with our whole squadron…some people had set up, and got approval, for a squadron ski/snowboard day–a duty day in the mountains…someone asked me about my snowboard instructor experience and asked me to teach a few people…so, that day I set up a mini-lesson to get people on their feet and learn some basics…it was fun … I taught about 15 people the first few steps in boarding …there were military guys, their wives, and a few kids …I spent about an hour with them on the bunny hill and got them all to a point where they could make it down and ride the lift back up…it was time for me and the “already-learned” to hit the top…it was another awesome day of riding … again, it was sunny and the snow was great … around 2pm the snow started getting a little wet and mushy–it was a lot warmer than the first time we went …also, me and a couple other guys that are pretty good on the snow headed over to new parts of the mountain where we hadn’t ventured before …the whole mountain is really a big place with lots of different lifts and ticket houses…the way it works is you find where ever you want to start, buy a “mulit-pass”, and then you can go to any part of the mountain and ride any lift up there…it’s really nice…we hit about 15 different runs thru the day…once again it was starting to get colder and darker so it was time to roll out … this time I had plenty of sleep the night before, but I was still pretty tired…teaching is a taxing event, and then riding hard with good boarders is something that will wear you out too…so, we packed up the gear, filed in line–we had 3 cars–and headed down the icy roads…the road to get home is similar to what you would find in a backwoods mountain area reserved for logging or hunting–not the type of roads you would travel to find a large ski resort…winding, narrow, snow-covered, pot-holed roads with no room for passing or speeding…it’s a long ride after a hard day of “extreme sports”…but, once again, we made it home safe and sound, ready for a hot bath…I actually cracked a cold brewskie when I got home …the beer was good…then the hot hot water in the bath tub was awesome…I had a beer and a smoke while sitting in the tub thawing out…the day after the squadron trip I rolled up to Verona with Rico–one of my co-workers…the Verona convention center was the venue for a HUGE motorcycle expo…there were a bajillion bikes there … every kind of bike you could imagine …choppers, moto-x, crotch rockets, cruisers, 3-wheelers, and everything in between…it was awesome …and there were a bajillion kinds of people there too…including Hell’s Angels-Luxembourg Chapter, the Swiss Devils Motorcycle Club, kids, old people, hot women, party people, clean cut business men, Americans, Japanese, any and all Europeans, Russians, Africans, and whatever else you can imagine…beer was flowing, beautiful women draped themselves over motorcycles, loud music was in every corner, there was even a bar where there were girls stripping and spinning around poles…my boy Mike from Aviano met us there…we hung out there for about 4-5 hours and then decided to roll out … I rode with Mike back to Aviano…I spent the weekend with him….he found out a few weeks ago that his wife has breast cancer…their whole family went back to the US for her immediate surgery…lumpectomy, or whatever it’s called…Mike came back to request an early assignment out of Italy…his wife is in Texas going thru the pre-chemo/radiation preparations while he packs up the whole house and tries to get out of here…so I went up to hang with him before he actually leaves Italy .. .Mike was my boss in Utah back in 2000-2002, then we were in Hawaii together and we went dirt-biking together all the time, I taught him how to surf, he watched my apartment while I was in Qatar, blah, blah, blah… so me and him are pretty good friends…he has been down here a couple times to hang out and party, and I wanted to make sure I got to see him before he left Italy…who knows when I might see him again …we had a good weekend partying like rock stars…went out to a strip club while I was up there with a whole gang of people, including Michelle–a friend from way back, and Wig, another friend of mine who was in Hondo with me…I also got to hang out with my boy Meat who was in Hondo with me and Wig …he and his family just moved to Italy … he was in Korea for a year and his family was in Miami…he’s married to a Honduran girl from the island where I will retire–they have 3 boys together …the boys are cool kids …I ate dinner with them and hung out sipping some brewskies for a while…it was good to see him–haven’t seen him since 2004 but we talk on the e-mail all the time …so, it was a good weekend and I am glad I went up there …and now, back to the grind at work …well, for a few days anyway …last week was a 4-day work week, then this week was a 4-day work week for us too…we had what we call AMMO Call Friday…it’s basically a BBQ/party with a safety briefing and maybe some new people introductions and good-byes to the people leaving soon…after the AMMO Call that started at noon, a few of us headed over to Jeff’s house for some more beer and some Rock Band on the x-box or whatever it is…it was a good time but I was done by midnight…today I wanted to go riding but the weather is complete crap… rainy, foggy, cold, dreary…it’s all good, I spent the day cleaning house and doing laundry…maybe it will be better weather tomorrow so I can ride…a snowboarding trip is planned for next weekend so I am looking forward to that –I think we might hit a different mountain called Cimone…if it’s shitty out tomorrow maybe I will go into Livorno and try to set up a tattoo appointment … I visited a few places about a month ago and they all look like they do pretty good work, but they seem to be booked up pretty far in advance…each of the shops only have one dude working…he is the artist/owner/admin/clean-up crew…we’ll see… OK, well, I guess that’s about it for now…talk to you all later
OOL
B