Home At Last

Home At Last
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

After leaving Kuwait a week ago, I stopped for various lengths of time in Germany, Maine, Colorado, Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Luis Obispo before making it home to Morro Bay this afternoon.
Sarema snapped this picture of me enjoying a Sierra Nevada on my porch for the first time in a year.
I'm glad to finally be home, but it's all very overwhelming right now and I am going to try to gradually adjust to my new life as Hunter's dad.
It's good to be home.

"Daddy"

Hunter called me "Daddy" over the phone this morning for the first time. That's about the coolest thing ever. I can't wait to see him (and Sarema) in person Saturday night.

Fort Carson

I'm here at Fort Carson, the same place I spent last summer preparing to go to Kuwait. In true Army fashion, we're squeezing 2 days of stuff into 5 days. I can't wait to fly to Sacramento on Saturday night and see Sarema and Hunter.
Thanks for all the nice wishes, everybody.

American Soil

American soil at last.
I'm sitting here in the Bangor, Maine airport terminal. We just came off the plane for a 2-hour layover and were greeted by about 60 folks ranging in age from 6 to 60. The all lined up and shook our hands, thanking us for serving. I responded by thanking them for coming out to support the troops. Five years into the global war on terrorism, it's nice to see that at least for some people, "supporting the troops" is more than a passing fad. Hundreds of thousands of troops have come home through this airport and here they still are, greeting and thanking us.
This has been a truly humbling experience. We don't hesitate for a second to lay down our life for our country and her citizens. It's nice to see some of them say, "thanks."
Oh, and a nice gentlemen bought me a beer in the airport bar, too. I can't tell you how good it is to be back in the USA.

Bye Bye Kuwait

Bye Bye Kuwait
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

After all this time, it has finally arrived: my last day in Kuwait. As Dennis Miller used to say, "That's the news, folks. And I am OUTTA HERE!"

A Couple More Days

Persian Gulf
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

Our exact departure time from here is classified, as are all large troop movements, so I can't post exactly when I'm leaving without getting hammered. I think it's safe to say that I'm leaving before the end of the weekend and should be in Colorado before Tuesday morning. I'll try to blog once I hit the ground and let everyone know that I'm back in the western hemisphere.
I spent the morning doing more packing and mailing stuff home (to the tune of $110). Everything I have here is now either going on the plane with me or into the dumpster when I leave.
Just a couple more days until I'm outta here...
the picture of Dave, Jim, and me was taken this week on the same trip where I picked up the dishdasha. If you look closely, you can see downtown Kuwait City on the horizon in the background.

Rob of Arabia

Rob of Arabia
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

Some of us went out to a couple local Kuwaiti sites today and I picked up a dishdasha (robe) and shmagh (headdress) as a memento of my time here. This is how most of the Kuwaiti men dress, although their dishdasha are usually pressed and mine was straight out of the box. The Kuwaiti men usually just wear a white cotton undershirt and white drawers underneath. Sandals complete the outfit and it's surprisingly cool while wearing it. The shmagh is a pain in the butt to get it looking correct, but I got pretty close. I have no idea how it stays on your head when the desert winds kick up, though.
By the way, most of the Kuwaiti women wear a black abaya and hijab. (I don't have a picture because it's rude to take one without asking) About half of the women cover their entire head except the eyes and the other half expose just their face. There is no law that women cover up here, those that do choose to do so (or are influenced by something other than the law). From what I can tell, it's not about males oppressing them, it's about most of the women choosing to dress modestly. Just like most women in the US don't head out to the market in stiletto heels, a miniskirt, and a tube top. The women here are just at a different place on the modesty scale.

Looking forward to being a Dad again

Venice_BW
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

We're running down to less than one week left here. I'm really looking forward to being a Dad and a husband again. This picture was taken in Venice before the cruise and I thought it looked cooler in black and white.
Soon. I'm leaving soon.

Thanks

Lots of people have dropped by to leave comments in the post below thanking me for my service over here. First off, my service over here has been easy compared to my wife's service to her country taking care of an infant 24x7 by herself for 16 months. She's had the roughest job and she's the one who deserves all the praise.
Secondly, I've become a softie in my old age and got a little choked up reading all of them together. Thanks to mom, Terry & Jocie, Kim, Joel, Mickey's mom, and Kim's Anonymous Friends x 3.
I'm privileged enough to be allowed to serve this great country and reading some of those words from her citizens does my soul good.
Thanks.
Seven days and a wakeup.

Single Digit Midget

9 days until I leave this desert
43 days since I've seen Sarema and Hunter
90 days since I turned into a double digit midget
217 days since my feet have touched American soil
337 days since I've seen my house and my dogs
435 days - or 14.5 months - since I left civilian life for active duty
Forever is how long it seems like I've been gone

Redskins Cheerleaders

Redskins Cheerleaders
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

The nice girls from the Washington Redskins Cheerleading squad came all the way over here to visit us troops in Kuwait. I thought the least I could do was show up and support them.

Happy Birthday, Sarema

Tickles
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

Happy Birthday to the best thing that ever happened to me. You've been more than I could have ever hoped for in wife and a mother to my son. I can't wait to leave this dusty, windy, and hot desert to return to our beach house and be with you.
this picture of Sarema tickling (aka "I'm... Gonna... Get you...") Hunter was taken on our way back from Delos island in Greece.

Peachtree Run

To celebrate the Fourth of July, Jim and I got up at 4 am to run in Time Group 12 of the Peachtree Road Race.
(despite starting at 5am, the temp was over 100 for the race)
The Peachtree Road Race is the largest and arguably the most famous 10 kilometer running event in the world, boasting over 55,000 participants each year. It takes place on July 4th in Atlanta, Georgia, and is hosted by the Atlanta Track Club. The past two years, they have added three overseas Time Groups: 10 (Baghdad), 11 (Kabul, Afghanistan) and 12 (Kuwait), with the 55,000 runners in Atlanta making up Time Groups 1-9.
I trained up for the 10K run much the same way I trained up for the Santa Barbara Half Marathon with Rick and Terry... that is, I didn't do squat for three months. This wasn't my fastest time by a long shot, but at least I stayed under an hour.
I'm a little sore this morning, but otherwise OK. Jim runs five miles every other day, so he's as right as rain.
Our shirts are almost the same as the one pictured (click on it for a larger version)... except ours are sand-colored tan. Go figure.

Happy Birthday Rick

Rick's Snowboarding Bachelor Party
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

...and Happy Birthday America!
Both were born on the Fourth of July. Rick served his country, too, as have most of my friends. It's ironic how much freedom we had to give up in order to serve the cause of defending others' freedoms. Somebody has to do it, I suppose it might as well be me.
Rick chose to serve in the Air Force, but I rarely hold that against him. (lies, all lies)
This picture is from Rick's bachelor party at Tahoe last year. from right to left, it's Justin, Rick, and me. Cali doesn't know this, but Rick purposely guided their wedding plans so that we could have a bachelor party in the wintertime with snowboarding, gambling, and drinking. Well, I guess you can do two of those in the summertime, but the snowboarding part was key.
If you check out my flickr website, you can see my favorite picture of Rick. It's his birthday, so I'm not going to post that picture here... out of respect for his special day.
here's a little hint: we made buttons out of my favorite picture and all the participants at his bachelor party wore them.

Sarema's Version of the Cruise

Lost-In-Venice
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

In case you haven't already seen them, sarema has put up two new pages with her pictures and thoughts on the cruise. (she's working on more)
Venice
Greece and Turkey
My favorite picture that she took is on the right. I'm navigating and Hunter's sacked out. That's Venice in a nutshell.

Kids off to school

Just waved goodbye to five of my soldiers heading off to school in the states. They're leaving Kuwait three weeks early in order to attend a school and then will meet up with us at Fort Carson. The plan is to all return to California together.
Three weeks to go. That just sounds beautiful.
While most everyone else in the company has run out of stuff to do, I seem to be taking on more stuff the closer we get. I now have to plan the major move of an entire cabinet of servers while keeping the applications on them running. It has to happen before we leave. That's going to be a neat trick.
"hey rocky, watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat!"