Life

  I found out a long time ago that Life is what happens when you are trying to make plans.
Every once in a while though I get reminded and it surprises me every time.
  So yesterday I had a doctors appointment to get my pacemaker checked.  Yeah....and all of a sudden the guys asks me "Has it been beeping?"  What kind of a question is that?
  Turns out that the battery in it was almost dead.  The doctor said I can do it today, change it out.  It takes 20 minutes and you will be home tonight.  Ok, I am already there and I did not want to but it seemed the easy way. lol  After while he comes back and says one of the leads is also fractured and they will have to replace it also.  Oh yeah, now we are spending the night.
  So I had it done, it took two hours under the knife.  It went ok, for a surgery.  Today before they let me come home, a nurse ripped the hell out of my skin on my shoulder and chest removing tape.  I finally got away from them though.
  Thank you Lord.

A Reason to Leave Afghanistan

  I got up for work on 2 November and was feeling really wierd.  I cannot even describe it.  I was feeling so bad that I got some friends to take me to the hosptial clinic. The only thing I remember is we got there and some officer kept arguing with me.  He wanted to know if I was retired military or not.  That is all I remember.
  I woke up on the 14th, in a hospital in Houston.  That is really all I know for sure.
  It seems that I was operated on in Afghanistan, sent to Landshtul, germany, then to Houston.  After the surgery, they put me in a medically induced coma to heal.  That is what they tell me anyway.  I know nothing about that.  All I do remember is the worst PTSD attack I have ever had, and I think it went on until I woke up.  They had me strapped down because I was violent.  I have written out what happened during that period, maybe I will post it, maybe not. It is crazy. 
  Anyway, I am healing and recovering from the surgery and everything.  It seems I had a blockage in my femoral artery that blew up.  It is very lucky for me that they seemed to know what they were doing.  Somehow they brought me back and very quickly fixed me up.  In another month or so I will need to find a job or try to go back overseas.  We will see how that goes.  So now I am in the states with a lot of free time on my hands. 

August 2010 - Traveling Some More

  I finally left Kandahar.  But then I immediately found myself on a flight to Mazar E Sharif.  That is located in the far north of Afghanistan, across the mountains.  I thought it might be cooler there, was I ever mistaken.  It is across the mountains, not in the mountains, and much hotter.
  The purpose for me going was to meet the military there, make contacts, and start preparations for setting up a regional support center.  I took a new employee with me.  She was supposed to stay up there.  It is a nice place and seems pretty quiet.  There are German, American, and Norwegian troops there.  They say you can actually get a beer at the german mess hall.  I did not get a chance to check it out though.
  After getting there, we got a ride with the Seabees tp Camp Span.  It is about an hour from Mazar E Sharif.  We then took a convoy in a Cougar. That is a style of MRAP that is very well armored.  We got there without any problems.
  The next day, the sergeant major took us to the building sites in his humvee.  I did not realize that it was outside the gates.  It was too late to change anything so I just crossed my fingers.  The company does not let us outside the gates without prior approval and arms.  All I had was my pocket knife.  It was uneventful and we saw what we needed to.
  After a couple of days wandering around we went back to Bagram.  I got a lot of pictures of the local people there and their markets.  I normally do not get to see the towns.