Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

...If you can call a concrete building in the middle of the desert "home."
I got back to my base today and am now wading through the 92 work emails that I received while gone for 7 days. War is Hell.

New Hoove Crew Member

Congratulations Mike and Heather!
I just got this email:

Happy Birthday to Maxwell Robert Aguilar!
Baby Max had his birthday on Tuesday at 9:47 AM EST at the Roy L. Schneider Hospital, St. Thomas, VI. Baby Max weighed 7 pounds and 12 ounces and 20.5 inches in length. Baby Max and family are doing well and checked out of the hospital yesterday with flying colors. Mom and Dad are still looking for the instruction manual for the little guy!
All our best,
Mike, Heather, and Max

Welcome to the New Parents club!

Still Alive

Sorry blogging and email returning has been slow. I'm still on that mission off-post because it is taking longer than we thought to get this done. I've been working 16-hour days for the past week to finish this mission and haven't had time to make it over to this internet cafe to check email. I should be home in a few days, though. Really.
Anyhow, I'm still alive and kicking. Met some great reservist soldiers here trying hard to do the right thing for soldiers and get them where they need to go quickly and efficiently. It's nice to run into people like that. One of them was SGT Roberts, a paramedic from Italy, Texas. He pronounced his hometown "It-ly," so I knew he was from Texas.
Here's one for Rick... I ran into a kid (a soldier, but still a kid) at this post who was talking major smack about his Halo2 prowess. I told him that I'd give him the first Halo lesson for free, but then i was going to have to start charging. Well, I met him after hours for a game and he schooled me. Over and over and over again. I didn't win one single match against him. It was almost humbling. :-)

Bathtime at the Grandparents

Bathtime at the Grandparents
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

My new favorite picture.
Sarema and Hunter went up to visit the grandparents (my parents) and my sister this weekend. Dad sent me a(nother) picture from bath time. Let's just say that it made my day to see Hunter smiling so big.
I'm on a mission away from my normal home camp for the next few days. I don't have regular access to my computer, so blogging my be light this week.

One in a Million RV

RV
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

I miss our RV (I pronounce it "erv") back home. We drove all the way out to Illinois in 2003 and 2004 and were supposed to go to Montana this past summer. Of course, I spent the summer at Fort Carson instead.
We passed this RV the other day. It was obviously an American RV and was the only one I've seen in Kuwait so far.
I miss my erv.

No package, yet

Sarema sent me a care package with photos and skydiving magazines two weeks ago. It still hasn't arrived here, yet. :-(
I'll post here when it does.
update My first package of the war arrived on Sunday, 23 Oct. Full of pistachios, photos and magazines. Thanks, babe!

Modern Warfare and 24

modern warfare
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

The face of modern warfare... at least for us REMFs. Laptops, headphones, DVD players, and books. That's what we have to entertain ourselves. Here, LTC Vienneau, Jim, Dave, and I are reading/working on our laptops and just finishing up watching the first season of 24 on DVD. Sarema bought the DVD set for me before I left for Fort Carson. A couple years ago, I saw bits and pieces of the 1st and 2nd seasons, but didn't watch it religiously until halfway through the third season when Sarema and I bought a ReplayTV Digital Video Recorder. Sarema joined me and we really got into the fourth season last year.
The ending for season one was harsh and unexpected, just like all the other plot twists in the show. I love plot twists, so I give the first season two thumbs up. I bought the second season at the PX a couple weeks ago, so after Dave, Jim, and I rest up... season 2 is on!
(for those of you who are interested, Jim is really reading War & Peace)

Network

While we are waiting for the wireless internet to be completed in our barracks (it's taking FOREVER), I decided to take some spare equipment and have my soldiers network the three buildings that our unit lives in. This internal network is for soldiers to share files (pictures, songs, movies) and to play XboX or Playstation network games. It's also good training for my guys to build and administer a gigabit network from scratch.
It should be up and running today or tomorrow. Let the Halo2 tournament begin!

Melinda, Sierra, and the Wooldridges

Two families
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

As promised, here's a photo of Tony's wife Melinda, their daughter Sierra, me, Sarema, and Hunter. This picture was taken a few days before I left for Kuwait. Melinda and Sierra were on a visit to California while Tony was in Afghanistan. (look at Hunter checking out the girls already)

I'm back

Sorry about the blogging lapse for the last week or so. There wasn't really anything worth blogging about and I was pretty busy with work. I have a bunch of new photos to put up, so stay tuned.
Speaking of pictures, I really like the pics Sarema put up for week 28. There's a "Gerber baby" picture, one of Bear licking Hunter (shown here), and a collage of the Sears portraits. All are great.

Dinner with Tony G

Tony_G
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

A couple of nights ago I got the chance to have dinner with Tony, a blackhawk pilot who was once one of my ROTC students. I still keep in touch with him and his wife Melinda. As a matter of fact, Melinda dropped by to visit Sarema and me while I was on leave between Fort Carson and Kuwait (I'll post a picture of that visit later).
Tony was on his way back to Afghanistan from two weeks of leave in the states. I was up at the airport working on a database and was able to see him during his layover.
It's nice to run into old friends over here. As I often say, "It's a small army."

Jerry Clements

Jerry Clements
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

Jerry "Big Jer" Clements stopped by my camp and we had lunch a couple days ago. He and I were in the same artillery battalion back in California a few years ago. In the picture, he is on the left and I'm on the right.
Big Jer is the guy who is responsible for making sure that his entire MP brigade gets safely through Kuwait and into Iraq.
Seems like a lot of artillery guys are pulling MP missions these days. Good luck, Jerry.

Pictures

Sarema just put up two weeks worth of pictures on Hunter's website (second link down on the right side). My favorite picture is of my big black lab, Ranger, giving Hunter a big, wet, sloppy kiss.

More Care Package Thoughts

Last week, I wrote about care packages. Here's some more thoughts on the subject...
If you to want to monetarily help out soldiers in this war, you can donate to the USO or the Red Cross. Both those organizations are over here in force, doing some serious "heavy lifting" to support the troops.
If you really insist on sending me something (it's ok to insist on it) then a hand-written note, a card, or a home-baked brownie would be nice. I also have an Amazon.com wish list if you don't feel like shipping anything youself. Be careful to follow the APO shipping rules. My shipping address is off to the right of this blog.
Thanks again for all the support you've given Sarema and me.

Updates

Some updates from previous posts:
Sarema's surgery: she's recovering nicely.
Wireless internet access in my barracks: Not yet. Supposedly it'll be done in 2 weeks.
It's not nearly as hot here as it was a month ago.
No, I didn't get the tattoo before I left for Kuwait.
When I left California, Hunter was only able to lock his knees to stand up with help and could not roll over. Now he can roll over on his own, sit up by himself for a short period of time, and is eating solid foods with his two new teeth.

My Name is Baggins, Bilbo Baggins

Bilbo Baggins the FOBbit. As you know, a Forward Operating Base or FOB (pronounced "Fahb", rhymes with "Bob") is where troops live in Iraq. Soldiers who arrive at the FOB, stay on the FOB, never go on patrol, and never leave the FOB until it's time to go home 365 days later are called "FOBbits."
Every war has its derogatory name for soldiers who don't serve on the front lines. WWII and Korea gave us "pogues" and Vietnam gave us "REMFs" or "Rear Echelon Mo Frackies" (hey, this is a PG-13 blog). This war gave us "FOBbit".
Well, the problem is that being a FOBbit would be a step up for me. I'm probably more in the REMF / pogue category because I don't even live on a FOB. Nothing about this base is "Forward".
Oh, and it's not so hot anymore. These days, the temperature doesn't climb over 105 for more than a couple hours each day. It should be downright comfy in a month.

Loco Representis

Jim and "The Boots"
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

Jim is the craziest lawyer I've ever met. The Army sponsored a 10-mile run today at one of the northern Kuwait camps; Jim and two lieutenants decided to run in it (I passed on the offer, of course). Jim and the boys drove up to the camp last night so that they could be fresh and ready to run at 0600 this morning. I know what you're thinking, but a 10 mile run is not the crazy part.
Here's the crazy part: Jim forgot to bring his running shoes with him last night. He was in uniform when he travelled to the camp, so the only footwear he had was his desert combat boots, made by Belleville (they deserve a plug). Even though he had no running shoes, Jim decided to run the 10 miles anyhow... in boots. IN BOOTS.
I've never run more than 2 or 3 miles in boots and that was when i was 20 years old in Airborne School. I've run ten milers and a half marathon before, but not in boots, for Pete's sake. His feet were not even torn to shreds like mine would have been.
Jim is hard core. Hard like woodpecker lips. I don't know if he's the best lawyer in the world, but I do know he's the craziest.

Care Packages

Some of the people who write me or leave comments on the blog ask if I need anything in the way of care packages. I really appreciate people looking out for my needs and it's great to have so many people in my life who care. The fact is, though, that I have 2 decent-sized PXs here and I can get almost any store-bought item that I need.
There are troops in this war who aren't so lucky. They're stationed in Iraq on Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) with few creature comforts and constant danger. Those are the guys and girls that need help. If you are in the mood to send a care package, check out AnySoldier.com or Soldier's Angels. Either one is a worthy cause to help out the troops that really need it.
However, if you want to do something to help me directly, I saw a phrase a few days ago on a website that real stuck with me: "The best way to support American's troops in the Middle East is to support the famlies they left behind." I couldn't agree more.
You can help me best by helping out my wife and my 6-month old son. Sarema ended up with the hardest job in this deployment by far. Call her and offer to bring her a meal so she doesn't have to cook or offer to watch Hunter while she takes a nap or goes to the store. Making sure she's taken care of is what would help me most.
I really appreciate all the support we're getting from friends and family. It's very humbling. Thank you.