I'm Back!!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long hiatus but I thought that this spot had been removed from the military access list here at LSAA. It seems that I was wrong. (Yes, Captain Obvious strikes again!)

So, what I have been up to since late September? Well, let me tell you...

Late September/ early October: Visit to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Warrior, Kirkuk and K-1. I have two Soldiers who are on a Logistical Transition Team (LiT Team). Their mission is to help the Iraqi Army with logistics, especially maintenance but doing a little bit of everything. This is a picture of my chaplain assistant and I with the rest of the team. My CA is the only one smiling. Yes, we were "outside the wire" driving on the roads to get from FOB Warrior to K-1. It was only a 30 minute trip but it seemed longer as we looked for potential threats.

Late October: Lutheran Chaplains' Conference in Garmisch, Germany. With much work and walking, I was able to get temporary duty orders (TDY) to get to Germany for a professional development conference. The great thing about this was that I was outside the theater and this allowed Sara and her parents to fly over. It was great to get out of Iraq for a week. It was even better to see my wife! The hardest part: trying to figure out what the heck I was going to wear every day! Uniforms take a lot of that guesswork out. I was the envy of most everyone at LSAA because I figured out how to make this happen. God is certainly good.

Unfortunately, it was at this conference that I learned that my Grandma Vanderbilt passed away. She had experienced a heart attack and just never quite recovered. This was my greatest fear on this deployment: losing a family member and not being there. The good news is that I was with Sara and her parents and my chaplain brothers, which means I wasn't alone. I was with my secondary and tertiary family.

Me? An Author? One of the great things about being at LSAA is the opportunity that I have to train, that is: do PT. It was during one of my runs that I got a great idea for what may turn into a book on the subject of spiritual fitness. I don't want to give out too much information yet because it's just in the beginning stages. I will say that I have wanted to be an author for a few years but I never felt that I had anything meaningful to contribute. With some research, practice, and a lot hard work I may just accomplish this dream. I have plenty of time over here to write, I just don't have access to some of the resources that I would need to make this happen. Still, I'll do what I can. I'm really stoked and this is giving me a great creative outlet for my "down time."

I'm sure there are other things but it's hard to remember three months worth of stuff. Hopefully this will keep you up to speed for a little while as I begin to post more and more stuff.

EXCELSIOR!