Coffee Time

So, I figured you'd be interested to see my lunch crew. From left to right is CPT Volpe, CW2 Della Rossa, and SGT Rz. We usually have a crossword to do over coffee. Great guys to work with. I got lucky when I switched units to have these guys here.

BTW, if you want to do something nice for the soldiers in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, buy them a cup of coffee. Go to www.GreenBeans.com and click on the "cup of joe for a joe" link. It makes a difference for a soldier to get a free coffee, I'll tell you that.

Thanksgiving in Iraq

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Just one of many holidays spent here.

I wish I had pictures, but I didn't even think to bring my camera to the dining facility.

We had a grand spread for Thanksgiving lunch. Turkey, roast beef, ham, yams, stuffing, lots of different veggies, premium bread, and lots of desserts. Me, WO2 Della Rossa, CPT Volpe, and SGT Rzucidlo (Rz for short) always eat lunch together. They're my regular lunch crew up here. As we were enjoying overstuffing ourselves, we were all thankful that we had each other to spend the meal together. We lamented being away from our families, but we were just grateful to have someone to spend the holiday with.

And after that, we stuck to our routine and headed to Green Beans coffee afterwards to enjoy a machiato (free of charge thanks to Green Beans "Cup of joe for a Joe" program where people in the States buy a Soldier a $2 cup of coffee). We each brought some pumpkin or sweet potato pie with us to enjoy with our coffee, and it was just a nice time to relax. We laughed a lot, and thankfully, we got there before the crowd did, so we had a seat.

I miss everyone back home and wish I could be with my family for the holidays, but duty calls. I know that Abbie and the Boys aren't feeling well, but they're in my thoughts, prayers, and my heart all the time. I love you three!

I hope everyone's had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Enjoy Black Friday. And we'll talk soon.

The Jumpee

I bought this mini moon bounce before spring even hit and never inflated it. The boys saw it the other day so it became a full day event of what they call "The Jumpee". They bounced and bounced and then it became our pirate ship. Then it became home base so we would run around the whole yard (me of course chasing them) and they would dive into the Jumpee at full speed. Bear would go through the smaller slats yelling that he was stuck so I would roll him over. Then they decided that I had to get in with them and jump all over me!

The next day it was raining so we decided to go out anyway and have a slip and slide jumpee day. It was a shockingly cold rain so that lasted for one chase around the playground and then we were in for a hot bath. I'm sad to report that after the first two days "The Jumpee" gets no love now and will probably be deflated shortly. It was a good run while it lasted :-)

ABC's

Gone are the days when the boys would beg me to stop singing. Now they adore to listen to music and to dance and sing. We wake up often and have dance sessions to get us going. One day they both got up on step stools to dance with me it was so cute!

The latest song is of course their ABC's. Cooper for some reason has taken to SHOUTING his ABC's whereas Bear likes to rush through and skip letters to get to the end. Either way they crack me up.

iPod and The Grinch?

I found my iPod!!! I know you probably didn't realize I'd lost it but since finding it I've been so excited getting my workout music on there and fun songs to play for the boys. They've been wanting to play with it so I gave them each an earphone..... and well I'll just let the video do the talking..... I'll give you 3 guesses as to what song they love to hear! It's been a very popular song this year.


This picture was them totally FORCING a smile for me but I swear Cooper looks like he is The Grinch doesn't he?

Quotable

I was saying goodbye to our neighbor Enda and noticed Cooper had stormed off with his arms crossed. I asked him, "Cooper what are you doing over here? Don't you want to say goodbye to Edna?"

He shot me this horrible look and said, "No I had to walk away from you, you made me mad." Still not sure what I did :-)

Even better later that day I was trying to get them to clean up their playroom before taking a bath and Cooper said, "Momma please don't yell at me, you need to be respectful." Love it!

"It Can't Take Too Much More, Captain!"

Anyone that knows me well knows that I cut my own hair and have cut my own hair since 1993. In the intervening years, I've only had to pay for haircuts twice, both at an Army barber, once b/c my buddies said they were the best haircuts (NOT), and once last year at NTC when I came out of the field and looked like Bozo the Clown and with no way to cut my hair.

Back at Meade, I cut my hair every 10-14 days. It worked out well with the exception of the clippers being SUPER loud and working with heavy vibration. Probably b/c I was plugged into a power strip that ultimately plugged into a 220v outlet.

Ooooh, those sneaky bastards. Looking back, I realize it wasn't plugged into a 220v outlet, but was plugged into a step down transformer, which was plugged into a 220v outlet. The transformer, for those that don't know, steps the voltage down from 220v to 120v, the voltage the products from the US uses (everyone else in the world uses 220v AND the metric system...another shining example of Americans refusing to join the world community, but I digress).

So, I get to FOB Falcon, and the first time I have to cut my hair, I plug in my clippers to the 120v-240v power strip that is plugged into the 220v outlet. Buuuuzzzzzzz. Same loud clippers, same heavy vibration. Okay. So, I start cutting. Then my clippers start smoking! I shut them off and sniff and by George, it is smoking. So I let them rest for about a minute, then turn them back on and start cutting again. Sniff, sniff...there's the smoke again. I suddenly realize that the power here is too great, and that I don't have a step down transformer to regulate the voltage. My poor clippers are getting over-juiced, and they can't handle it.

So I quickly cut my hair on the next pass, and as I make the last swipe on the back of my head, the blades seize up.

Um...uh oh.

I click the on-off button.

I get a hum, but no blade movement.

Hmm, this isn't good.

I let it sit, while I grab the battery powered finishing trimmer which I use on my neck. These trimmers aren't made for heavy duty work...the blade is about the size of my thumbnail. I finish up with these little trimmers.

That had me worried...I was afraid I was going to have to pull out the razors and shave my head completely b/c I would've only had half done.

I tried again later to turn on my clippers, but they're toast. I think the voltage just was too much for the motor to handle. And I had just bought those ones three months before...really nice moderately priced ones. Now I have to go find a friggin battery powered or cordless/rechargeable clipper so as to keep this from happening again. Grrr.

But what a funny story, don't you think?

Moved Units

So, before I left for leave in October, I was told I would be leaving the 1-113th FA to go to 1-252 CAB (Combined Arms Battalion) to be their Fire Support Officer (FSO). It was not welcome news, but I told myself to suspend judgment on it until I got to them and evaluated.

Well, I've been here since Oct. 24th. It's good. Not bad at all. There's a definite difference in mindset here with the grunts and tankers. I very well may enjoy this assignment.

Anyways, my new address is:

CPT James Monihan
FOB Falcon, 30th HBCT
HHC/ 1-252 CAB
APO, AE 09361

From the Air

Aaaand, I'm back for one more performance.

I've been meaning to post these pics. Abbie and I, when we were first talking about me going back into the Army, discussed me being a helicopter pilot. Some of her friends even said I was nuts and stupid (or something to that effect). Abbie's first job out of college was down in Alabama (specifically Fort Rucker) on a Blackhawk helicopter project. Needless to say, it didn't endear her to aviators, nor to helicopters in general (I think her project was trying to figure out why they crash...hmmm) which explains why she wasn't jumping with joy for me to be a pilot.

As we all know, I didn't go be a pilot. I stayed in the Field Artillery as an officer (versus resigning my commission and this big paycheck to be a warrant officer and fly birds for the rest of my life at a lower salary). The entire time I'd been in Iraq, I hadn't had a chance to fly. I didn't fly in on the birds b/c the unit we replaced wanted me on the ground so quickly that they sent a ground convoy to get me from the airport...while everyone else flew in on Chinooks (those are the big helicopters for the Army...with the twin rotors...a drop down ramp). So, when I went on leave in October, the way out was by helicopter...and it was during the day which meant I would be able to see.

It was fun. No wonder so many cadets want to be aviators...its fun, and glamorous, and you feel like you're on top of the world, and whoa, they have a lot of dials and switches and do-hickies in the cockpit. I sat in the front middle seat of the passenger compartment, so I got to see the pilots fly. No wonder its a yearlong basic training for pilots at glorious Fort Rucker. Would I go fly still? If the Army would give me the age waiver, and staying in the Army was in my family's best interests, hell yeah. With the nice day we had flying out, I got the below pics. I was really pleased with the first one. Enjoy.


The flight comes in for a landing at Meade.


Flying along towards the airport, we actually took a circuitous route to pick up other people going on leave from other bases...I think we hit four after I was picked up. This gives a view of the other bird and the Iraq landscape.


The other bird flying us out of Iraq, even if for a brief moment.

Quotable

He's on a roll today. I am opening a dozen young coconuts, draining the yummy juice and then cracking open the top to scoop out the meat. Cooper asked to help and I told him no I wanted to speed through it and it was pretty hard. He asked oh about 50 more times so I thought you know just give him a lid and see what happens. First off he got the meat off faster than I did! (That will teach me!) Then he says, "I think we just needed teamwork today. Yeah let's just do teamwork ok?"

Quotable

So this morning we are cleaning out the boys play room. We are making a two piles and trying to get organized. One pile is to give and the other is to keep. During the process I find this adorable night light I purchased from Pottery Barn before Cooper was born. It's a frog prince. It was broken :-( In a very bizarre fashion the metal piece does not appear to be twisted in any way but it will no longer fit the actual plug in part.

As I'm grumbling over it and trying to figure out how this could have happened Cooper says, "It's ok Momma I forgive you for breaking the frog prince!" I started laughing and said, "But I didn't break it one of you two did!" He replied, "No that's not possible but it's ok I really forgive you."