Days 146 - 164

Feb 25 - Mar 14. Okay folks, now we're talking really short. Beanie touches down in Phoenix two weeks from Monday. She departs FOB Fenty around the 25th, flies to Bagram to await air transportation to Kuwait City. From Kuwait City, she catches the freedom bird, in this case a Boeing 777 Delta Flight 0159, nonstop to Atlanta, GA. She goes from Atlanta to Ft Benning on Sunday for out processing first thing Monday morning, heads back to Atlanta to catch Delta Flight 1031 to Phoenix early Monday evening. If I've finished the back nine by then, I'll pick her up and take her to Subway for dinner. Hey, I know how to romance a girl!!!

Beanie & I chat almost every day now. She's been picking up a few trinkets at the local bazaar. She sent home a pretty cool map of Afghanistan which I have hung in my office with all my Beanie photos and other regalia. My coworkers have called in my Beanie Shrine. They're probably right. It's really starting to warm up (temperature) in Afghanistan. The hook there is you don't slip into a your favorite cut offs. There are many Afghan men working on the base, so the general rule is to maintain some degree of modesty so shorts, halter tops, etc are not acceptable garb - but, like I told Beanie, she can wear mukluks for two weeks!!

She is working issues with her replacement. The Navy LT that was originally slated to replace her is no longer coming and the new replacement has presented some scheduling conflicts. Her arrival in country is very close to Beanie's departure date so there are some issues about if, where, and when Beanie can provide her some OJT to get her going. Knowing the Bean, she's got everything pretty much on auto-pilot, so the major challenges are going to be centered around data calls from the higher-ups.

We've had lots of folks ask what we're going to do when she gets home and the answer is, we're not sure. We both recognize the challenges associated with significant change (though this will be much better than the Obama change), so we're going to just take it slow. She has some down time coming to her, so she'll be off work for a week or two - maybe more if she likes. We do have one short trip planned. I will be in Boston 9-14 Apr so Beanie is coming along with me. It should be a nice little get away and hopefully Boston will have some decent spring weather - something less than 8" of snow.

As this end to this adventure approaches, the value and appreciation of your support, emails, package, and cards really comes to light. Six months ago when this thing started it was hard for me to see how it would go. I had no doubt Beanie would do great things, but I wasn't sure how we could all stay linked and involved given all the challenges. In hind sight, we all did pretty good. Thanks!!