Long Days and Sleepless Nights ...

We heard from the lad yesterday. He seemed to be in good spirits, but tired. That seems to be the name of the game these days. He said that they are doing up to 15 hour patrols on a regular basis. Since he is on the night side and starts his shift at 1800 hrs, sleep (at least at night) has been at a premium. The lack of sleep means that staying awake behind the wheel in the "wee hours" is tough. More than once he has been awakened by a team member while on patrol. That would be bad if Kyle was just one of the guys in the Humvee. It is significantly worse as he is the driver. He mentioned that some truck teams, not his of course, have been known to find a quiet place out of the view of Choppers and F-16's to catch a few Z-z-z-z-z-z's.

He mentioned that the nights are REALLY cold - in the 30's. Trundling about at night means that he is spending lots of his work hours in the "freezer." As a hedge against the cold, he said that he had heard of truck teams using an incendiary grenade as fire starter for a palm tree. Whatever it takes ;-)

There has been a change in eating policy as well. It used to be that they were allowed to put in for "meals to go" when they took these extended patrols. That was THEN. NOW they are not allowed to receive the "meals to go" (probably because the motor pool got tired of cleaning up the messes in the Humvee's). Fifteen hours without food means that everyone on his team is losing weight. Lets see now ... sleep deprivation ... food deprivation ... don't we have a name for that?

He now has a new roommate. His former roommate was not his favorite person in the platoon. But that individual took leave stateside and when he came back, he found Josh M. sleeping in his bunk. H-m-m-m-m-m ... Kyle is loving it. Josh has been Kyle's close friend since Kyle was stationed in Colorado.

A little sad news ... Kyle had received several AT&T phone cards (like a couple thousand minutes worth). He was set! Then he went to the phone bank the other day only to discover that the AT&T phones had been removed. Can you believe it? He did mention how grateful he is to his church family and extended family for remembering him as he serves in Iraq. He has been showered with love!

A Few of My Favorite Things ...

Given the fac that this is just post Christmas, the song mentioned in the title of this blog just seems appropriate. These are two aspects of Kyle's deployment that mean a lot to him. The Left is his truck ... that's what keeps his safe. Can you say, "Pimp my ride"?

The cutie on the right is a little puppy Kyle found and took back to his CHU. I don't know how long he had the dog, but I know that his Facebook status today said that "Kyle is missing his Duece." Duece is the puppies name.

The Name of the Lord is to be Praised ...

Throughout the last year I have discovered that the rising and setting of the sun has a powerful and profound affect on me. That reminds me of a passage of scripture ... Ps 113:33 "From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,the name of the LORD is to be praised." (NIV)

Amen!

Practice Makes Perfect ...

I know, I know ... practice makes permanent. In truth perfect practice makes perfect. And for that reason, our soldier is drilling regularly. Or are they staging this for the camera? If we have this right, Kle is on the left in the left shot and on the right of the tree in the right photo.

Take a Load Off ...

Even a soldier needs a break from time to time. Carring lots of gear for long shifts deserves a breather now and then. By the way, the soldier on the right in "Battle Rattle" is Kyle. The "peaceful" soldier on the ground is not (looks a little like him though).

Facebook - The New Intel Tool ...

Momma was doing a counter intel op this AM under the guise of social networking. As we explored cell by cell she encountered a young man resembling Kyle on the web. Further investigation confirmed that this was no impostor, or even a double agent (Can you tell I'm watching "24" while I write this post? So much intrigue ... So few good guys).

The person who's "online" dot was glowing was in fact our favorite soldier, taking a few minutes before heading to bed for some much needed shut eye. After a 15 hour shift, most anyone would be ready for bed. Gratefully he took a few minutes to chat online with mom. Along with chatting with his mother, Kyle was also able to post some pics on his face book page. He didn't have lots of information to update us, but the photos tell the story. I think I will do several posts with photo's and brief descriptions. Enjoy!

More to come ...

Time Presses On ...

You may have guessed by the growing infrequency in blog posts, that the calls from Iraq have slowed. If you guessed that, you would be right. Kyle is doing exclusively night patrols now which puts his clock hard to reconcile with home. It is difficult to find a time when he is off and awake, that we back home will be available and together (this would refer to mother and me). With the infrequency of his calls, the joy with seeing a "995" area code on the caller ID only increases.

The most recent call came with news of Kyle almost rolling their Humvee (or did I tell you about this?). As he tells the story, he had to back the truck up and managed to get the right rear over the edge of a 3 ft. deep ditch. When he hit the brakes, the rig rocked up, giving all occupants a rush of adrenaline. Ever so gently Kyle nursed the truck out of the ditch and down the road. As he has shared on several occasions, the up armored Humvees are profoundly prone to rollover.

Other news included his renewed commitment to Physical Training. His platoon recently had a PT test. Nearly every member of the platoon failed one of the components on the test. He mentioned that his own test was less than a raving success. Half way into his two mile run he had to pull to the side of the track in order to clear his mind - and by mind I mean intestines. Oh happy day!

The longer he spends on deployment (132 days down, 207 to go) the more he thinks about his return. It is sounding like he will probably not re-up at the end of his contract. As he is thinking through his options (now 2 years hence), he has decided to complete his "Fire Technology" training, as well as exploring some correspondence work on a "Criminal Justice" degree. This would put him in good stead as a "public safety" officer (like the community to the north of us). These are police officers who double as firefighters (or vise versa). This fits Kyle SOOOO well. We'll see ... More to come ...