Sunday, June 29, 2008
Mended Wings
I was not going to post anymore but then I read THIS. A Clarion county kid 19 years old got blown up here about a month ago. His Mom keeps her blog here. They are trying to raise money here. I could not help to pass this along as my life here is heaven compared to what she and her son are now going through in TX. While I am still down about the below things I know I have nothing to complain about when young soldiers like this leave Afghanistan the way they do.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
BLOG Finale
Well I thought about not posting or saying anything anymore about my Mom and Dad but I am over my limits and am now going to unleash. What I am about to write and post for the world to see is my raw views, and feelings after 25 some odd years of dealing with this crap.
I sit here tonight typing maybe as depressed and down as I have been since being on this deployment. Its not because I miss Michelle, its not because I have had some health issues and stress that challenge me daily, its not because I worry about my sister and her issues, its not because every time I hear 2 or 3 jets take off I know people are going to probably die, its not because I know I will probably have to see more American covered caskets roll by knowing only may be a head or legs are in the caskets, its not because I see little Afghan kids wave at me when I drive on the other side of the base knowing they have little chance for many of the normal things many Americans take for granted, and its not because I am away from my friends and family whom I love very much; it is because I have two parents who, for whatever reason, will not move on in their lives.
I am proud to be a Joswiak and a Davies. Proud to have two parents who are extremely talented and skilled in their own ways. Proud to be from Pittsburgh where they are from and where they had me. Proud to be raised by them learning right from wrong, good from bad, love, compassion, dedication, hard work, humor, spirituality, and so on. Proud to know that the life I lead is one they can be proud of. And proud to say that I always have and will always try to honor them as it is written.
But tonight I am utterly disgusted and will not honor their hostility towards each other. The truth is that when your second marriage to each other started to fail you also lost sight of your role as parents because you were at each other’s throats so much. Fast forward 8 years later and now Robin has her issues and a little baby girl is stuck in the middle of it all. Robin has made her choices but if there are two people in this world she needs now more than ever it is you two. Let me say this one more time YOU WERE AND ARE BOTH WRONG!!!!!!!!
Mom you need to let go of your anger and bitterness. Dad you need to stop cursing people and instead pray for them. Robin needs you two and so does Emma. Your continued strife and possible legal issues solve nothing. Grow up, move on, and leave me out of it. I have exhausted talking, suggesting, caring, and trying to mediate. I am done for the time being.
I am leading my own life and doing ok I suppose. I was hoping that coming to Afghanistan would allow me to escape these issues but obviously that has not occurred. With that being said I am no longer writing in this blog because it has turned into and led to more bickering between my parents. I am also not calling either of them or corresponding electronically until I get back to Germany. Rob is taking himself out of the equation in hopes that the parents he loves will come to their senses, quit saying God this and God that for God is probably not happy with either of you . Its time for the focus to be on Robin and Emma.
I want to thank everyone for reading my posts and encourage you to email me if you need to know anything. psujozz@yahoo.com I want to take this last month to myself. Michelle will be the only one I talk with. I need to just let go of everything so that I can leave this forsaken land the same way I came to it. Thanks again everyone and take care.
Sincerely,
Robert Herbert Joswiak
I sit here tonight typing maybe as depressed and down as I have been since being on this deployment. Its not because I miss Michelle, its not because I have had some health issues and stress that challenge me daily, its not because I worry about my sister and her issues, its not because every time I hear 2 or 3 jets take off I know people are going to probably die, its not because I know I will probably have to see more American covered caskets roll by knowing only may be a head or legs are in the caskets, its not because I see little Afghan kids wave at me when I drive on the other side of the base knowing they have little chance for many of the normal things many Americans take for granted, and its not because I am away from my friends and family whom I love very much; it is because I have two parents who, for whatever reason, will not move on in their lives.
I am proud to be a Joswiak and a Davies. Proud to have two parents who are extremely talented and skilled in their own ways. Proud to be from Pittsburgh where they are from and where they had me. Proud to be raised by them learning right from wrong, good from bad, love, compassion, dedication, hard work, humor, spirituality, and so on. Proud to know that the life I lead is one they can be proud of. And proud to say that I always have and will always try to honor them as it is written.
But tonight I am utterly disgusted and will not honor their hostility towards each other. The truth is that when your second marriage to each other started to fail you also lost sight of your role as parents because you were at each other’s throats so much. Fast forward 8 years later and now Robin has her issues and a little baby girl is stuck in the middle of it all. Robin has made her choices but if there are two people in this world she needs now more than ever it is you two. Let me say this one more time YOU WERE AND ARE BOTH WRONG!!!!!!!!
Mom you need to let go of your anger and bitterness. Dad you need to stop cursing people and instead pray for them. Robin needs you two and so does Emma. Your continued strife and possible legal issues solve nothing. Grow up, move on, and leave me out of it. I have exhausted talking, suggesting, caring, and trying to mediate. I am done for the time being.
I am leading my own life and doing ok I suppose. I was hoping that coming to Afghanistan would allow me to escape these issues but obviously that has not occurred. With that being said I am no longer writing in this blog because it has turned into and led to more bickering between my parents. I am also not calling either of them or corresponding electronically until I get back to Germany. Rob is taking himself out of the equation in hopes that the parents he loves will come to their senses, quit saying God this and God that for God is probably not happy with either of you . Its time for the focus to be on Robin and Emma.
I want to thank everyone for reading my posts and encourage you to email me if you need to know anything. psujozz@yahoo.com I want to take this last month to myself. Michelle will be the only one I talk with. I need to just let go of everything so that I can leave this forsaken land the same way I came to it. Thanks again everyone and take care.
Sincerely,
Robert Herbert Joswiak
DAY 154: 28 JUN 08
Well today’s going away was short and sweet for me. The chili made by the reservist I mentioned was good from what I hear. I could not eat it because it had jalapenos in it. None the less I was there maybe 1.5 hours and then came back and slept for 4 hours.
I got up early today to shoot some videos for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We did game intros for the jumbo-tron using Air Force members form the 911th Airlift Reserve Wing there in Pittsburgh. It was awesome to be able to speak some Pittsburghese and hear similar mentalities. Boy are Pittsburghers very much alike. It’s very crazy to think about.
Anyway I am sad to see the first part of my crew go. With the exception of the 2 Marines who overlap the AF crews half way between, I am the only one staying back for the last 3 weeks from the news office. We are getting a bunch of Pizza and snacks tonight, cleaning the station and maybe watching a movie. I look for it to be some real fun and will take pictures of the event.
I am officially in operation Stealth Mode. Monday I start the morning show which means I will be into work around 5:30AM or 9 PM EST. I will probably head to the gym each day around 1 or 2 PM and then call it a day. The least I have to do with the new crew the better. Its nothing against them but the sooner they get use to not having me the easier it will be once I am gone. The girl replacing me is a Public Affairs airman, which means she is a writer and will stay in the print office and work on the magazine.
I have to work on some paperwork tomorrow and hand in on Monday to get my flight arrangements out of here. Even once I know when I am leaving I cannot post it here. I will try to be as general about it, but either way I should be back to Germany the third week of July.
For whatever reason the Pentagon Channel did not post our newscast from yesterday. It has been real windy here so maybe the feed was not good enough. I should know something on that by Monday.
Last but not least I want to publicly say that I will not longer be taking sides between my Mother and Father. While I do lean one way or another in certain areas, it is time for me to rid myself of the situation. Hopefully Robin can get better and take Emma to see my Dad more often. Being in Afghanistan (or Germany for that matter) I can do nothing to help any of the stuff they complain about so I am done with it. The funny part is that both Darryl and Shelly tell them to not say certain things to me, and yet it continues. Never did I think the day would come that those two would really be the ones I side with, but there it is. I love you both but have no need to be in between anymore. Either some type of adult, simplistic relationship will forge itself allowing certain things to be worked out, or your thoughts and feelings about each other will fester and bounce around in your own minds. Either way I am done.
Well I got to head to work so everyone continue to enjoy their weekend. Michelle leaves today for Germany so I will be anxious to call her at our place in Germany once she hopefully arrives safe sometime tomorrow. Good day.
I got up early today to shoot some videos for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We did game intros for the jumbo-tron using Air Force members form the 911th Airlift Reserve Wing there in Pittsburgh. It was awesome to be able to speak some Pittsburghese and hear similar mentalities. Boy are Pittsburghers very much alike. It’s very crazy to think about.
Anyway I am sad to see the first part of my crew go. With the exception of the 2 Marines who overlap the AF crews half way between, I am the only one staying back for the last 3 weeks from the news office. We are getting a bunch of Pizza and snacks tonight, cleaning the station and maybe watching a movie. I look for it to be some real fun and will take pictures of the event.
I am officially in operation Stealth Mode. Monday I start the morning show which means I will be into work around 5:30AM or 9 PM EST. I will probably head to the gym each day around 1 or 2 PM and then call it a day. The least I have to do with the new crew the better. Its nothing against them but the sooner they get use to not having me the easier it will be once I am gone. The girl replacing me is a Public Affairs airman, which means she is a writer and will stay in the print office and work on the magazine.
I have to work on some paperwork tomorrow and hand in on Monday to get my flight arrangements out of here. Even once I know when I am leaving I cannot post it here. I will try to be as general about it, but either way I should be back to Germany the third week of July.
For whatever reason the Pentagon Channel did not post our newscast from yesterday. It has been real windy here so maybe the feed was not good enough. I should know something on that by Monday.
Last but not least I want to publicly say that I will not longer be taking sides between my Mother and Father. While I do lean one way or another in certain areas, it is time for me to rid myself of the situation. Hopefully Robin can get better and take Emma to see my Dad more often. Being in Afghanistan (or Germany for that matter) I can do nothing to help any of the stuff they complain about so I am done with it. The funny part is that both Darryl and Shelly tell them to not say certain things to me, and yet it continues. Never did I think the day would come that those two would really be the ones I side with, but there it is. I love you both but have no need to be in between anymore. Either some type of adult, simplistic relationship will forge itself allowing certain things to be worked out, or your thoughts and feelings about each other will fester and bounce around in your own minds. Either way I am done.
Well I got to head to work so everyone continue to enjoy their weekend. Michelle leaves today for Germany so I will be anxious to call her at our place in Germany once she hopefully arrives safe sometime tomorrow. Good day.
Friday, June 27, 2008
DAY 153: 27 JUN 08
Well another good Air Force day. I am not usually as cheesy and happy about being an Airman but today I walked away proud.
So this morning I went in and got ready to anchor only before having to go to yet another fallen comrade ceremony. 4 American flag covered caskets roll by as I salute and its like a knife into your heart for the first one and a little turn for each subsequent one.
I went back up and anchored and did a terrible job. My mind was just not there, but while I have developed some type of immunity to those ceremonies, at my core they still shake me.
Well then for lunch we got to meet with a 3 Star General who is basically in charge of all of the Airman who are filling ILO (In lieu of) taskings for the Army, like me. It was a small group and boy did some issues come up about various problems we have. I introduced myself and only asked about the crappy combat skills training that I got at Ft. Dix. He was super nice and made me feel proud to be an Airman.
I have promised myself that I will not go off on an Army tangent here but this is exactly why the Air Force is the supreme service in my view. Our leaders make a concerted effort to hear issues from the people doing the work. Not from some report a lieutenant hands over because they are too good to talk to a private (low ranking enlisted person). I came back from the lunch and saw this one guy that has the same exact job as me in the Army and asked him if he would ever be able to meet, greet, and have lunch with an Army 3 Star. He said “O hello no.”
Anyway I had a good lunch and then came back to work and sent the feed up. I am actually writing quite early today because I want to post this, go do the sports show, and then relax.
So we are having this BBQ tomorrow and this one Master sergeant reservist who works with us thinks she is the stuff because she works for AFN. I never have got that because until I am freaking Brian Williams or John Stewart, I am a nobody. Anyway she sends out an email saying to pick stuff up from the dining facility tonight so she can cook and serve 140 people, most of whom she invited.
Now first of all this is a going away for OUR people. Second of all we do not need the Army (101st Airborne Division) barging in on us as they do a good enough job of that without invitation. Instead of having a unit meeting and seeing what everyone thinks, she just went ahead and decided to invite all of her ‘friends’ (AKA smoking buddies).
Well apparently there was some backlash as people were pissed about people from outside of our unit being invited. I could care less because at this juncture I will go, watch, eat, and not say a word. I did however fire a funny comment to our station commander saying that I invited some of my local national Afghan friends who would be hungry for some BBQ after cleaning the toilets. He laughed and walked out of the room knowing that the general consensus was a going away should be some thing intimate for us and genuine to those who are leaving. O well I am sure my after action report of this fiasco will be just as entertaining as the preview.
Now onto the tight rope walking of Dad’s dirty laundry policy. I see that after a little hiatus dad posted only to be followed by Mom’s daily post. Well let’s take care of the White Elephant in the room. It is my view that no matter feelings for the other person, a mother, father, grandmother, grandfather should be able to see their son, daughter, grandson, or granddaughter. (Unless the law has dictated otherwise for good reason) While Robin should be the main point of contact here, since it is her child, I DO think Mom should find some way for Dad to see Emma. Judge Wapner rules in favor of the plaintiff.
If I were home I would try to help the situation, but at this point I can only hope and pray that Robin gets healthy and makes an effort to see Dad and take Emma with her. I will say no more on this matter as I am in Afghanistan and can do absolutely 100% nothing about it.
Well as far as reenlisting if I were offered the Pentagon Channel it would be mighty enticing to say the least. I am not sure about the deploy ability of that slot but reaching, what I feel is the height of military broadcasting, would be awesome! Also only being 4 hours from PGH and 3 from NJ, would make it hard to pass up. O yeah I would then qualify for this new GI Bill they just passed today.
I am trying to track down the details on it but it would REALLY help me in trying to get a PhD or Law degree. Anyway I guess that’s it for today. Word is our replacements may not be here until late, late July but I will remain hopeful until the official word comes down. Everyone have a great weekend and as always thanks for reading.
NO NEWSCAST AVAILABLE TODAY WILL POST TOMORROW
So while I went and did the sports show and waited for the embed code to come up I found out some real gruesome stuff about the 4 that went past me today. This is a sick world. The enemy here is VERY real. Good night
So this morning I went in and got ready to anchor only before having to go to yet another fallen comrade ceremony. 4 American flag covered caskets roll by as I salute and its like a knife into your heart for the first one and a little turn for each subsequent one.
I went back up and anchored and did a terrible job. My mind was just not there, but while I have developed some type of immunity to those ceremonies, at my core they still shake me.
Well then for lunch we got to meet with a 3 Star General who is basically in charge of all of the Airman who are filling ILO (In lieu of) taskings for the Army, like me. It was a small group and boy did some issues come up about various problems we have. I introduced myself and only asked about the crappy combat skills training that I got at Ft. Dix. He was super nice and made me feel proud to be an Airman.
I have promised myself that I will not go off on an Army tangent here but this is exactly why the Air Force is the supreme service in my view. Our leaders make a concerted effort to hear issues from the people doing the work. Not from some report a lieutenant hands over because they are too good to talk to a private (low ranking enlisted person). I came back from the lunch and saw this one guy that has the same exact job as me in the Army and asked him if he would ever be able to meet, greet, and have lunch with an Army 3 Star. He said “O hello no.”
Anyway I had a good lunch and then came back to work and sent the feed up. I am actually writing quite early today because I want to post this, go do the sports show, and then relax.
So we are having this BBQ tomorrow and this one Master sergeant reservist who works with us thinks she is the stuff because she works for AFN. I never have got that because until I am freaking Brian Williams or John Stewart, I am a nobody. Anyway she sends out an email saying to pick stuff up from the dining facility tonight so she can cook and serve 140 people, most of whom she invited.
Now first of all this is a going away for OUR people. Second of all we do not need the Army (101st Airborne Division) barging in on us as they do a good enough job of that without invitation. Instead of having a unit meeting and seeing what everyone thinks, she just went ahead and decided to invite all of her ‘friends’ (AKA smoking buddies).
Well apparently there was some backlash as people were pissed about people from outside of our unit being invited. I could care less because at this juncture I will go, watch, eat, and not say a word. I did however fire a funny comment to our station commander saying that I invited some of my local national Afghan friends who would be hungry for some BBQ after cleaning the toilets. He laughed and walked out of the room knowing that the general consensus was a going away should be some thing intimate for us and genuine to those who are leaving. O well I am sure my after action report of this fiasco will be just as entertaining as the preview.
Now onto the tight rope walking of Dad’s dirty laundry policy. I see that after a little hiatus dad posted only to be followed by Mom’s daily post. Well let’s take care of the White Elephant in the room. It is my view that no matter feelings for the other person, a mother, father, grandmother, grandfather should be able to see their son, daughter, grandson, or granddaughter. (Unless the law has dictated otherwise for good reason) While Robin should be the main point of contact here, since it is her child, I DO think Mom should find some way for Dad to see Emma. Judge Wapner rules in favor of the plaintiff.
If I were home I would try to help the situation, but at this point I can only hope and pray that Robin gets healthy and makes an effort to see Dad and take Emma with her. I will say no more on this matter as I am in Afghanistan and can do absolutely 100% nothing about it.
Well as far as reenlisting if I were offered the Pentagon Channel it would be mighty enticing to say the least. I am not sure about the deploy ability of that slot but reaching, what I feel is the height of military broadcasting, would be awesome! Also only being 4 hours from PGH and 3 from NJ, would make it hard to pass up. O yeah I would then qualify for this new GI Bill they just passed today.
I am trying to track down the details on it but it would REALLY help me in trying to get a PhD or Law degree. Anyway I guess that’s it for today. Word is our replacements may not be here until late, late July but I will remain hopeful until the official word comes down. Everyone have a great weekend and as always thanks for reading.
NO NEWSCAST AVAILABLE TODAY WILL POST TOMORROW
So while I went and did the sports show and waited for the embed code to come up I found out some real gruesome stuff about the 4 that went past me today. This is a sick world. The enemy here is VERY real. Good night
Thursday, June 26, 2008
DAY 152: 26 JUN 08
Well today did not start off well as Michelle and I kind of got into it early this morning when I was not sleeping well. It was totally my fault as I miss her so much I jumped about basically nothing. I called her when she was on her way to work and got a little bit of the cold shoulder. Everything will be fine I just need to get through these 20 odd days or so.
On the up note things at work went well today. I went in and anchored the newscast which you can see at the bottom. Then I had my radio show from 10:30 to 2:30 at which point I took the time to clean the studio and put ALL of the CDs away. Aside from music CDs we have production CDs that have music, and other elements that we use to produce commercial/ ad spots. Its more announcements because obviously we do not have product spots which are annoying anyway (satellite radio does not have them and that is it's main angle). Anyway I got all of them away and some even rearranged as well. With the new crew coming in this weekend I figured it would be a nice thing to do. We are having what is called a GI party on Saturday night where we all get together at work and clean. We are going to get some pizza and probably watch a movie as well.
I want to side step here for a moment and mention something that I rarely talk about. For those who do not know after I graduated college I started working for long time running top 40 station B 94 in Pittsburgh. Not as a DJ but as a sales person. It was after some training and guidance from the late Mr. Bob Zimmerman, that I would try to do broadcast sales instead of broadcasting itself. Well I worked there almost 3 months that summer, and never sold one spot (advertisement), but in my defense also saw them switch from top 40 to Rock because they were getting Howard Stern. I remember having a meeting with this executive from WYSP in Philadelphia who was there to pump us up to sell Howard Stern, telling me he is main stream and all of this BS. I disagreed and voiced my opinion as usual. Anyway the situation went flop totally. I think there were at least 4 of us who quit by September, Stern left for satellite radio the following spring, the stations ratings hit an all time low, and management after everyone tried telling them, brought back B 94 a couple of years later. Pittsburghers do not like change and this was the main reason. I also found that my boss, who was a nice guy but full of BS about our product and its rates, is now a general manager for a little group of stations in West Virginia.
Basically broadcasting is not broadcasting any more but narrow casting as Mr. Zimmerman said. With corporate conglomerates ruling most sales industries, no sales person can make a decent wage anymore selling air time. Not to mention the listener/ viewership is so segmented now it is crazy. Think about how many niche channels and stations you have now a days. The days of having 3 channels and everyone watching the same stuff are over. Because of that all advertisings, salaries, and even fame are skewed within this industry of broadcasting which I love. Eventually we will all have TVs with computers in them and the internet and television programming will almost be one. We are half way there.
I mention all of this because as I sat there sorting CDs today in the studio, I had to admit to myself that even though I am in Afghanistan, I am in a much better place in my life than I was in Pittsburgh PA the summer of 2004. I feel like I found a broadcasting cove with what I am doing. I am very thankful for my life right now but just miss Michelle so much right now.
So anyway while I am on air I notice that the same full bag of garbage is sitting in the print office where I was originally assigned at the beginning of this deployment. My direct supervisor was pissed because it was there for 3 days with no signs of anyone taking it out. After I put a song on I went into the news room and started acting like a news reporter live on the scene of this ‘Garbage stand off.’ Basically all of these guys did not want to take it out so it sat there for 3 days. Well after my show my supervisor told me he wanted me to do my live reporting impression so we could produce it as a joke and send it to them in order to motivate them to take out the garbage. Absolutely hilarious in my opinion. Thank God for YouTube…
Well they ended up taking it out!
Promotion rates for E7 and E6 came out today and the few people whose name I was looking for were not on the list. I was very surprised because I thought my supervisor in Germany would have made it after getting a purple heart last year in Iraq. O well what can you do but try next year. They release the names and scores pertinent to me around August 15th. Hopefully once I get back and test for E 5 (Staff Sergeant) I will know sometime by October.
Making Staff for me is not about being a sergeant (the jump from Airman to Sergeant is HUGE) as is it about having more options for assignments once it comes time to reenlist (assuming I decide to do that). Anyway that was the big news today.
I need to go eat and then call Michelle so that’s it for today. I hope you enjoy the prank news reporting and real newscast. Today is our version of dirty jobs so if you like the tv show then you make like our version. Ok take care and thanks for reading.
On the up note things at work went well today. I went in and anchored the newscast which you can see at the bottom. Then I had my radio show from 10:30 to 2:30 at which point I took the time to clean the studio and put ALL of the CDs away. Aside from music CDs we have production CDs that have music, and other elements that we use to produce commercial/ ad spots. Its more announcements because obviously we do not have product spots which are annoying anyway (satellite radio does not have them and that is it's main angle). Anyway I got all of them away and some even rearranged as well. With the new crew coming in this weekend I figured it would be a nice thing to do. We are having what is called a GI party on Saturday night where we all get together at work and clean. We are going to get some pizza and probably watch a movie as well.
I want to side step here for a moment and mention something that I rarely talk about. For those who do not know after I graduated college I started working for long time running top 40 station B 94 in Pittsburgh. Not as a DJ but as a sales person. It was after some training and guidance from the late Mr. Bob Zimmerman, that I would try to do broadcast sales instead of broadcasting itself. Well I worked there almost 3 months that summer, and never sold one spot (advertisement), but in my defense also saw them switch from top 40 to Rock because they were getting Howard Stern. I remember having a meeting with this executive from WYSP in Philadelphia who was there to pump us up to sell Howard Stern, telling me he is main stream and all of this BS. I disagreed and voiced my opinion as usual. Anyway the situation went flop totally. I think there were at least 4 of us who quit by September, Stern left for satellite radio the following spring, the stations ratings hit an all time low, and management after everyone tried telling them, brought back B 94 a couple of years later. Pittsburghers do not like change and this was the main reason. I also found that my boss, who was a nice guy but full of BS about our product and its rates, is now a general manager for a little group of stations in West Virginia.
Basically broadcasting is not broadcasting any more but narrow casting as Mr. Zimmerman said. With corporate conglomerates ruling most sales industries, no sales person can make a decent wage anymore selling air time. Not to mention the listener/ viewership is so segmented now it is crazy. Think about how many niche channels and stations you have now a days. The days of having 3 channels and everyone watching the same stuff are over. Because of that all advertisings, salaries, and even fame are skewed within this industry of broadcasting which I love. Eventually we will all have TVs with computers in them and the internet and television programming will almost be one. We are half way there.
I mention all of this because as I sat there sorting CDs today in the studio, I had to admit to myself that even though I am in Afghanistan, I am in a much better place in my life than I was in Pittsburgh PA the summer of 2004. I feel like I found a broadcasting cove with what I am doing. I am very thankful for my life right now but just miss Michelle so much right now.
So anyway while I am on air I notice that the same full bag of garbage is sitting in the print office where I was originally assigned at the beginning of this deployment. My direct supervisor was pissed because it was there for 3 days with no signs of anyone taking it out. After I put a song on I went into the news room and started acting like a news reporter live on the scene of this ‘Garbage stand off.’ Basically all of these guys did not want to take it out so it sat there for 3 days. Well after my show my supervisor told me he wanted me to do my live reporting impression so we could produce it as a joke and send it to them in order to motivate them to take out the garbage. Absolutely hilarious in my opinion. Thank God for YouTube…
Well they ended up taking it out!
Promotion rates for E7 and E6 came out today and the few people whose name I was looking for were not on the list. I was very surprised because I thought my supervisor in Germany would have made it after getting a purple heart last year in Iraq. O well what can you do but try next year. They release the names and scores pertinent to me around August 15th. Hopefully once I get back and test for E 5 (Staff Sergeant) I will know sometime by October.
Making Staff for me is not about being a sergeant (the jump from Airman to Sergeant is HUGE) as is it about having more options for assignments once it comes time to reenlist (assuming I decide to do that). Anyway that was the big news today.
I need to go eat and then call Michelle so that’s it for today. I hope you enjoy the prank news reporting and real newscast. Today is our version of dirty jobs so if you like the tv show then you make like our version. Ok take care and thanks for reading.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
DAY 151: 25 JUN 08
Felt like crap today after work so I took a 4 hour nap. Woke up feeling even worse but after some soup and a rare aspirin for me, I am feeling ok. Germany is playing Turkey in the Euro Cup 2008 Semi Finals and boy do I wish I were back in Germany for that. I also found out I would be missing my favorite Chicken festival near us in Germany. O well I will be back soon enough.
Michelle flys out this weekend but got some bad news today. Her grandma fell early this morning and broke her hip. She is strong and healthy enough though that she is having a partial hip replacement today. I hope that goes well.
Replacements get here this weekend sometime as my crew leaves early next week. They got here early January so it is time to go for them. Thanks it for tonight. I anchor tomorrow so I will be sure to post that. Take care.
Michelle flys out this weekend but got some bad news today. Her grandma fell early this morning and broke her hip. She is strong and healthy enough though that she is having a partial hip replacement today. I hope that goes well.
Replacements get here this weekend sometime as my crew leaves early next week. They got here early January so it is time to go for them. Thanks it for tonight. I anchor tomorrow so I will be sure to post that. Take care.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
DAY 150: 24 JUN 08
Well nothing major to report. We saw the first guy off today which means the rest of the first crew is soon to leave. We have a farewell this weekend and a little cook out. Work pace is good right now but for some reason I am sleeping 7 to 9 PM and then 1 to 7AM.
Anyway talked to Michelle and my Mom on the webcam tonight which was nice. It seems Robin is a place that is trying to help her. I will have more on that as it materializes. I also talked to an old college buddy. Nice to reminisce but kind of old hat in other ways.
It looks like this new GI Bill is getting passed which will really give me incentive to reenlist once back in Germany. What would be ideal is to get the Pentagon Channel as my next assignment and be in the DC area allowing me to get home MUCH more often.
Well its after 1AM so I need to hit the hay. I am anchoring on Thursday and Friday so we shall see. O last but not least I promise not to mention any more bathroom or bathroom related stories. I will think of those as classified much like some of the war stuff I never talk about. Good night.
Anyway talked to Michelle and my Mom on the webcam tonight which was nice. It seems Robin is a place that is trying to help her. I will have more on that as it materializes. I also talked to an old college buddy. Nice to reminisce but kind of old hat in other ways.
It looks like this new GI Bill is getting passed which will really give me incentive to reenlist once back in Germany. What would be ideal is to get the Pentagon Channel as my next assignment and be in the DC area allowing me to get home MUCH more often.
Well its after 1AM so I need to hit the hay. I am anchoring on Thursday and Friday so we shall see. O last but not least I promise not to mention any more bathroom or bathroom related stories. I will think of those as classified much like some of the war stuff I never talk about. Good night.
Monday, June 23, 2008
DAY 149: 23 JUN 08
I apologize up front for not posting over the weekend. I will say though that going from day 144 to day 149 is very motivating as that means I am at 30 days left! That’s assuming we leave here right on 179 so we shall see.
Well I rested quite a bit on Saturday and also studied for E 5 which I will test for within 60 days of retuning to Germany. Sunday I was up some weird hours shooting these Ultimate Fighters who came to Bagram and then they watched a live fight with service members which was broadcast live from Las Vegas on Spike TV. They cut live to the service members like one time during the broadcast. I ended up making a package out of it because yet again the Army has little expertise in how to run public affairs (or at least the 101st airborne division - In my humble opinion). They truly are soldiers first and everything else second which explains their lack of attention to detail which is pounded into your head as an Airman. It seems in today’s day and age the Army and Air Force are really butting heads even at the highest levels of command. Anyway today was a good day which I will write about at length.
Well for starters I had to finish this UFC package which I was up until midnight working on anyway. I changed the script last minute this morning and added a few more shots to bring the standard up to at least an acceptable level according to my own quality demands. Then at about 11:30 the day picked up as the St. Louis Rams Cheerleaders came into the studio.
Its not so much that I find every cheerleader hot or whatever, its just the fact that I get to interview and meet them before all of the people on base go see them tonight. They are actually performing right now on base for probably a packed house. They asked me if I was going to watch them and I said yes, as I usually do, but after my mid evening nap I was just not in the mood to walk down there plus I was long overdue for this post. They signed autographs, posed for that picture and voiced a few liners which I will get to in a second. In short a guy like me has to realize how lucky he is to be paid to interview people like them when everyone else on base has to take their own time to go see them. Its days like this I thank God that I have it so good.
Well Mondays are usually a good day anyway because the ‘New Hampshire Radio Child’, SGT Mark Decker, comes in as a volunteer to do the afternoon show on Mondays. He follows me at 2:30 which usually means we talk from 1:30 until I am done on air at 2:30. Let’s go over some background of Mr. Decker. He is 32 years old, been in the Army about 8 years, is married to a Mexican-American woman 10 years his senior who has 5 kids (only 2 still left in the nest) , and is trying to adopt their 5 year old bi-racial child (6th kid) but cannot because he is never home due to deployments to get the paperwork squared away. The child was born in an extra martial affair to a fellow Army couple back at his base in the States, so he and his wife decided to take the child but have yet to finalize the paperwork. His wife has extensive health issues, and they both have struggled money wise in their life. The guy has a job in the Army he really does not like and a supervisor who does not like him for his uniqueness and slightly off center intelligence. (Mark and I pictured below)
Well let me tell you this guy LOVES radio. You know life is good when a guy who works 7 days a week and gets only 6 extra hours off a week comes over to your job and volunteers to go on air. He does have radio experience from his home state of New Hampshire which makes for a very funny and unique show. I love talking to him because while you could not pay me enough to be in his shoes, his outlook is unparalleled to the point that he literally inspires me.
So today Chris shows up at the studios with this spray bottle of stuff that is supposedly able to keep you up for a total of 80 hours. It’s a vitamin spray that you spray below your tongue and hold for 30 seconds. His wife sent it to him, as sometimes in order to do the show he has to stay up to lengths of 30 hours because he works a night shift. Anyway he is all happy about this and shows me the daily nutritional value which included 3333% of vitamin B 12 among others. I am a little leery of it but figure why not. While I do antagonize him once in a while I am always sincere and in this case it meant doing some sprays. He said 5 at a time are the suggestion, but again I was leery so I only did 3.
It had one hell of a tart taste for which I could not hold so I swallowed it immediately, and then chased it with some water. Well about 10 minutes later I felt the need to move my bowels which seemed to come out of nowhere. While I had just ate lunch I was surprised at this development. I asked him if he had experienced any gastro intestinal changes since employing this spray to which he replied not really.
‘Mark watch the board (what we use to play music on air) I need to use the restroom’ I quickly said. So I go downstairs and out to the metal container we call a bathroom. Now usually I would not go into great detail about this but after my situation almost 2 weeks ago I have to report the polar opposite.
I do not know what that spray did but I sat down and released an absolute crowd pleaser. (That term comes from the book ‘What’s your Poo Telling You’ which we have in the news room and is a MUST read). I cannot remember the last time I released such a barge of that caliber. Anyway at that point I thought to myself where the hell was this spray a couple weeks back when my system seemed to be on strike? None the less I finished up, washed my hands, and went back to the studio almost stunned from the excursion.
When I got back I of course had to share the experience with Mark because 1. He gave me that damn spray which I theorize helped lead to such an award winning movement and 2. The things he and I talk about run the gambit from God, Politics, the military, and yes even the occasional poo. (Hey you come here for 6 months and subject yourself to strict rules, work all of the time, and the same routine and see what types of things you are talking about or thinking about. This post is very uncouth but my aim here is to give you a real life deployment experience and not sugar coat things which would is worse than being a little disgusting in my view.)
Now I knew the cheerleaders were coming in today so I asked my supervisor if I could go live with Mark for the first hour of his show. It was OKed so I was excited. When these sports related people come in I usually have them voice a liner saying ‘Hey we are _______ and you are listening to Rob and Steve on the Sports Zone here in Afghanistan’. We play them during our show Friday nights which helps make the show a little more reputable. We did the same thing at my student radio station at PSU. Anyway so I have the cheerleaders voice one for Chris. Once he goes live at 2:30 I run into the other studio and produce the 15 second liner with Nelly’s song Pimp Juice as the bed. I tell Chris I am going to surprise him live on air.
When I come back into the studio I notice a real bad smell so I ask him if he has flatulence to which he replies yes and adds that maybe there is something about that spray. I open the window and tell him I cannot deal with that if he does it again. Its almost time for us to go live together so I can debut his liner so we get ready.
So at about 3 PM we go live and just as I am about to talk I smell what I would label as level 9 potency. It hit me like a ton of bricks to the point where I was having trouble breathing and in turn talking while live on air! I have no other option but to laugh and ask him if he broke wind while live! He starts laughing and replies yes at which point I composed myself, thanked him for volunteering his time and then played his liner which he absolutely got a kick out of.
As soon as we play the next song and are off of the air I get some air freshener in the next room and bomb him. I ask him what his deal is and he replies that yes maybe there is something about that spray and that he had been doing more sprays when I was not in the studio. At this point he is really laughing and I just reply that I will not be able to work under these conditions.
I go back into the news room and do some work. I see the one Staff Sergeant (Jason) who is always ticking and tacking me but is my friend and lives next to me here in the B hut. He is leaving soon so I say let’s get a picture. Well as we walk out into the hallway, since he has heard about Mark's raiding of the radio studio he opens the door to say something to Mark at which point I say ‘I would not’. Before I could finish my sentence the gas hit Jason like a wall of stench. Mark had continued dowsing the radio studio in the time that I left. Jason quickly shut the door and then we got the picture seen below.
I had a decent dinner tonight and then caught a nap which made me feel good. Last week was very tiring so I think I am still catching up. We are having a cook out this weekend to say goodbye to the first portion of our crew as they leave next week and their replacements are due in this weekend. I am a little sad to see them go but know my time to leave nears.
I thank God each day as we had another fallen comrade ceremony this past weekend. It was for a Polish troop. This month is the first time since both wars have been going on that Afghanistan’s death toll is higher than Iraq’s.
Anyway that’s about it. I need to head back to work for a bit. I hope this post made you laugh a little and know that I am hanging in there. I will try to post more regularly than a 5 day gap. Take care and as always thanks for reading.
Well I rested quite a bit on Saturday and also studied for E 5 which I will test for within 60 days of retuning to Germany. Sunday I was up some weird hours shooting these Ultimate Fighters who came to Bagram and then they watched a live fight with service members which was broadcast live from Las Vegas on Spike TV. They cut live to the service members like one time during the broadcast. I ended up making a package out of it because yet again the Army has little expertise in how to run public affairs (or at least the 101st airborne division - In my humble opinion). They truly are soldiers first and everything else second which explains their lack of attention to detail which is pounded into your head as an Airman. It seems in today’s day and age the Army and Air Force are really butting heads even at the highest levels of command. Anyway today was a good day which I will write about at length.
Well for starters I had to finish this UFC package which I was up until midnight working on anyway. I changed the script last minute this morning and added a few more shots to bring the standard up to at least an acceptable level according to my own quality demands. Then at about 11:30 the day picked up as the St. Louis Rams Cheerleaders came into the studio.
Its not so much that I find every cheerleader hot or whatever, its just the fact that I get to interview and meet them before all of the people on base go see them tonight. They are actually performing right now on base for probably a packed house. They asked me if I was going to watch them and I said yes, as I usually do, but after my mid evening nap I was just not in the mood to walk down there plus I was long overdue for this post. They signed autographs, posed for that picture and voiced a few liners which I will get to in a second. In short a guy like me has to realize how lucky he is to be paid to interview people like them when everyone else on base has to take their own time to go see them. Its days like this I thank God that I have it so good.
Well Mondays are usually a good day anyway because the ‘New Hampshire Radio Child’, SGT Mark Decker, comes in as a volunteer to do the afternoon show on Mondays. He follows me at 2:30 which usually means we talk from 1:30 until I am done on air at 2:30. Let’s go over some background of Mr. Decker. He is 32 years old, been in the Army about 8 years, is married to a Mexican-American woman 10 years his senior who has 5 kids (only 2 still left in the nest) , and is trying to adopt their 5 year old bi-racial child (6th kid) but cannot because he is never home due to deployments to get the paperwork squared away. The child was born in an extra martial affair to a fellow Army couple back at his base in the States, so he and his wife decided to take the child but have yet to finalize the paperwork. His wife has extensive health issues, and they both have struggled money wise in their life. The guy has a job in the Army he really does not like and a supervisor who does not like him for his uniqueness and slightly off center intelligence. (Mark and I pictured below)
Well let me tell you this guy LOVES radio. You know life is good when a guy who works 7 days a week and gets only 6 extra hours off a week comes over to your job and volunteers to go on air. He does have radio experience from his home state of New Hampshire which makes for a very funny and unique show. I love talking to him because while you could not pay me enough to be in his shoes, his outlook is unparalleled to the point that he literally inspires me.
So today Chris shows up at the studios with this spray bottle of stuff that is supposedly able to keep you up for a total of 80 hours. It’s a vitamin spray that you spray below your tongue and hold for 30 seconds. His wife sent it to him, as sometimes in order to do the show he has to stay up to lengths of 30 hours because he works a night shift. Anyway he is all happy about this and shows me the daily nutritional value which included 3333% of vitamin B 12 among others. I am a little leery of it but figure why not. While I do antagonize him once in a while I am always sincere and in this case it meant doing some sprays. He said 5 at a time are the suggestion, but again I was leery so I only did 3.
It had one hell of a tart taste for which I could not hold so I swallowed it immediately, and then chased it with some water. Well about 10 minutes later I felt the need to move my bowels which seemed to come out of nowhere. While I had just ate lunch I was surprised at this development. I asked him if he had experienced any gastro intestinal changes since employing this spray to which he replied not really.
‘Mark watch the board (what we use to play music on air) I need to use the restroom’ I quickly said. So I go downstairs and out to the metal container we call a bathroom. Now usually I would not go into great detail about this but after my situation almost 2 weeks ago I have to report the polar opposite.
I do not know what that spray did but I sat down and released an absolute crowd pleaser. (That term comes from the book ‘What’s your Poo Telling You’ which we have in the news room and is a MUST read). I cannot remember the last time I released such a barge of that caliber. Anyway at that point I thought to myself where the hell was this spray a couple weeks back when my system seemed to be on strike? None the less I finished up, washed my hands, and went back to the studio almost stunned from the excursion.
When I got back I of course had to share the experience with Mark because 1. He gave me that damn spray which I theorize helped lead to such an award winning movement and 2. The things he and I talk about run the gambit from God, Politics, the military, and yes even the occasional poo. (Hey you come here for 6 months and subject yourself to strict rules, work all of the time, and the same routine and see what types of things you are talking about or thinking about. This post is very uncouth but my aim here is to give you a real life deployment experience and not sugar coat things which would is worse than being a little disgusting in my view.)
Now I knew the cheerleaders were coming in today so I asked my supervisor if I could go live with Mark for the first hour of his show. It was OKed so I was excited. When these sports related people come in I usually have them voice a liner saying ‘Hey we are _______ and you are listening to Rob and Steve on the Sports Zone here in Afghanistan’. We play them during our show Friday nights which helps make the show a little more reputable. We did the same thing at my student radio station at PSU. Anyway so I have the cheerleaders voice one for Chris. Once he goes live at 2:30 I run into the other studio and produce the 15 second liner with Nelly’s song Pimp Juice as the bed. I tell Chris I am going to surprise him live on air.
When I come back into the studio I notice a real bad smell so I ask him if he has flatulence to which he replies yes and adds that maybe there is something about that spray. I open the window and tell him I cannot deal with that if he does it again. Its almost time for us to go live together so I can debut his liner so we get ready.
So at about 3 PM we go live and just as I am about to talk I smell what I would label as level 9 potency. It hit me like a ton of bricks to the point where I was having trouble breathing and in turn talking while live on air! I have no other option but to laugh and ask him if he broke wind while live! He starts laughing and replies yes at which point I composed myself, thanked him for volunteering his time and then played his liner which he absolutely got a kick out of.
As soon as we play the next song and are off of the air I get some air freshener in the next room and bomb him. I ask him what his deal is and he replies that yes maybe there is something about that spray and that he had been doing more sprays when I was not in the studio. At this point he is really laughing and I just reply that I will not be able to work under these conditions.
I go back into the news room and do some work. I see the one Staff Sergeant (Jason) who is always ticking and tacking me but is my friend and lives next to me here in the B hut. He is leaving soon so I say let’s get a picture. Well as we walk out into the hallway, since he has heard about Mark's raiding of the radio studio he opens the door to say something to Mark at which point I say ‘I would not’. Before I could finish my sentence the gas hit Jason like a wall of stench. Mark had continued dowsing the radio studio in the time that I left. Jason quickly shut the door and then we got the picture seen below.
I had a decent dinner tonight and then caught a nap which made me feel good. Last week was very tiring so I think I am still catching up. We are having a cook out this weekend to say goodbye to the first portion of our crew as they leave next week and their replacements are due in this weekend. I am a little sad to see them go but know my time to leave nears.
I thank God each day as we had another fallen comrade ceremony this past weekend. It was for a Polish troop. This month is the first time since both wars have been going on that Afghanistan’s death toll is higher than Iraq’s.
Anyway that’s about it. I need to head back to work for a bit. I hope this post made you laugh a little and know that I am hanging in there. I will try to post more regularly than a 5 day gap. Take care and as always thanks for reading.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
DAY 145: 19 JUN 08
OK where do I begin? Well for starters I am in a much better mood, mindset, and manner. I will back track to Saturday and then hop my way back to today.
Saturday night I went out to a remote part of base that is only allowed to those who work there. Since I was ‘working’ there that night I was allowed. Some could debate that its kind of off base but its still inside the fence so... None the less I went out late to shoot a bomb building piece. A night turn crew builds the bombs that they load on planes. So I go out there and have a ball doing this story as some of the crew were reservists on a 40 day stint so they were elated to have me there. In the mean time I am shooting the story and the one older reservist master sergeant walks over to me and says hey we got some stuff in the area so be aware. I cannot go into full detail as to what he said or what he told me to watch out for but lets just say war stuff. So as I continue to shoot video I have in the back of my mind that I may actually see some crap while ON BASE. Anyway so as I am talking to the one Staff Sergeant he tells me that they are scared out there building at night as there is a real live threat. I on the other hand live and work exactly caddy corner as far away on base as possible. I then proceed to tell him about my trips off base and all of a sudden he is amazed.
At that point it hit me. How much we as service members go off base and risk our asses is all relative. You could do it once or 200 times and you just never know. Each branch of the service and each job within those branches are different so it just all depends. So looking back on the news room discussions about who goes off, and who doesn’t, and who is scared and who isn’t: just rolled right off of my back. I came here, having been doing my job both on base and off when needed and pray that I return safe next month. I may have only been off about 12 times or 13 times but to me the number does not matter. 1 to 200 is the same as it only takes 1 time to hit an IED and meet the Big Man. Now on the other hand you will never ever hear me brag about being mister war because that would be an utter exaggeration and BS and an insult to the guys who have been out 200 times. There must be a balance.
Anyway I must be honest about something here. The night I went out there I was hot and sweating all day so I decided to wear my flight suit. It’s the big brown jump suit you have seen me in pictures wearing. My reasons for doing this included the heat, the possibility of getting dirty, being near the fight line where many workers wear it, and just flat out wanting too. Now technically it is only for use when we go off base in convoys since it is fire retardant but I figured its late at night, no big deal. When I was leaving the office I saw our station commander and out of respect and consideration asked him if I could wear it as I told him where I was going and he said no problem. That ended up kind of saving me.
Before I left that night I did a stand up where I talked about the story and then said goodbye. Well today they aired the story, which you can see in the newscast below, and the one staff sergeant who is on me about all the little things comes in and says “And you were wearing your flight suit because?” I replied that I had permission and that I thought I might get dirty. Now technically I was right but he knew I was walking the tight rope on that one. I went and asked my direct supervisor and he said he did not care but the on camera stand up was what brought it up. None the less this tick for tack game is what later gave way in the week.
Sunday I slept in and then went to work. I stayed up all that night doing my laundry and watching Rocco and Tiger battle it out. Of course at about 5:30AM our time Monday morning Tiger hits the putt on 18 to send it to a 18 hole playoff the next day. I came back got like 2 hours of sleep and got to work at about 9:10AM. I was tired as well all day and conked out at 9PM Monday night before waking up and making it to work at about yet again 9:10AM.
Tuesday brought with it some uproar. My routine is to go in at about 9 AM do some stuff and then go live on air at 10:30 to 2:30. Once I come off air it is my job to send the feed up which entails calling Atlanta and make sure they get us locked in on the satellite to receive our feed. That’s how we get it back to the states. After that I usually produce radio news, check my email, work on spots or other news pieces. Well this week they are training the one marine, who I at first had run ins with, on how to produce/ edit the daily newscast so he can show the next crew. Well it is a hard task and takes time but not almost 6 hours like it took his first day. None the less by 2:30 the feed was not ready and I was getting mad because I got dragged into it when my sole responsibility is to take the tape and get it rolling on the machine that sends it via satellite. Here we are all bickering about it, all stressed out, so finally I ask Atlanta what other time they can take our feed and agree to doing it later. 30 minutes later they finally get the feed onto tape good and one of the other guys sent it up at 5 PM. Once that was done everyone left and I kept working as this has been a long ass week for me.
So there I am all pissed off because the one Staff Sergeant who I get along with 90% of the time, but its always ticking and tacking me, leaves once the newscast is done to go to the gym at about 3 PM. As I am writing a script the E 8, our station commander strolls in and asks how I am and all. Now he is a real nice guy and I am always very upbeat in my conversation with him so he immediately notices my demeanor and asks what’s up. BAD TIMING. Unfortunately for me he did not realize that it was Rob blowing off steam to his first name versus SrA to SMSgt. None the less I make a few brief comments and they end up making my supervisor look bad for not handling it between he and I. My bad. Later that night we get an email from my/ our supervisor about having to be at work daily from 8 to 4:30 daily.
Next day I come in and am working on my story and ask the one SSgt who leaves daily at 3 to send the feed up. He says yeah I might as well since I have to be here until 4:30. And then the major uproar ensued! He and the marine (its funny how they work together on me but then knock heads later in the same day) just start going off on me about how I jumped my chain of command, and need to get out of the Air Force, and all of this. I made a few rebuttals but they were pissed because while yes I did not use my chain of command directly, and am wrong, I made them have to hang around longer than they prefer. I will say they do go to the gym and do come back but not much is done on the back side of that coming back.
What really sucked though was my direct supervisor, who I absolutely love working for, felt betrayed and like he made no progress with me about the whole chain of command thing. Then he made the comment that really took me down. He said I have never had such a problem with someone not getting the two simplest things in the military down: being on time and the chain of command. Now I will plead guilty on my allegiance to the latter but being on time when I am AT WORK ALL OF THE TIME really hurt me. We all work a ton of hours and a flexible schedule so this one made me feel like a piece of _____. By the time this barrage was over it was about time for me to head to the studio for my show.
I literally sat in the studio the whole 4 hours and thought about all of the stuff that was said to me and how I felt about myself. I was defeated in so many ways at that point I cannot relate. I finished the show and went into the news room clearly rejected. As I waited for the one marine to get off of the computer that we share the E 6 came in and said hey what the heck is a matter you look like hell. I replied with something very weak and uncharacteristic at which point he said lets go talk in my office.
We talked for probably a good 30 minutes and man was it good. I got it all off of my chest and was able to refocus. He explained so much to me, gave me so much advice, and really set me straight. Whether I like it or not I must yield to the chain of command and will. I commend him for being a good NCO but more intuitively, being able to understand ROB.
I got a great night’s sleep last night, got up got a shower, shaved, checked my personal email, and then went to work and had a killer day. I am refocused and ready to knock out these last 35 days or so. I cannot predict the future but if I had to say there was a turning point in my AF career that conversation yesterday very well may have been it.
Everyone was in a good mood today and things went real smooth. 3 of us agreed to see how much we could bench press and today was the day. I promised 175 and delivered while the one big SSgt, who can get at least 205 up, was not feeling well so had some troubles today. Finally the guy that gave me the great talk put up about 210. He got 205 with no issues so I will give him 210. The amazing part is that he only weighs about 150 or so. I am about 162 so 175 is good for me but 150ish putting up 205 is impressive.
On a future note I am doing a story at the hospital on base tomorrow along with a profile of a Oakland Raiders Cheerleader who is deployed here as a service member. Don’t worry Michelle I find you more attractive and hers are fake anyway. I should not type that because I have only seen a picture of her and the fake part is news room conjecture which we all know is just a bunch of deployed males shooting their mouths off.
I am not sure if anyone saw it but it looks like that new GI Bill is going to be passed. I have yet to get the final details but depending upon the incentives, the odds of me reenlisting may have just gone up. If I do another enlistment I get the GI Bill and that would allow me enough time to finish my masters on the AF’s dime. Then I am set to get a PhD or God forbid a law degree! WORLD LOOK OUT!
Anyway enjoy the newscast with my bomb building story. Everyone have a great night and thanks for reading.
Saturday night I went out to a remote part of base that is only allowed to those who work there. Since I was ‘working’ there that night I was allowed. Some could debate that its kind of off base but its still inside the fence so... None the less I went out late to shoot a bomb building piece. A night turn crew builds the bombs that they load on planes. So I go out there and have a ball doing this story as some of the crew were reservists on a 40 day stint so they were elated to have me there. In the mean time I am shooting the story and the one older reservist master sergeant walks over to me and says hey we got some stuff in the area so be aware. I cannot go into full detail as to what he said or what he told me to watch out for but lets just say war stuff. So as I continue to shoot video I have in the back of my mind that I may actually see some crap while ON BASE. Anyway so as I am talking to the one Staff Sergeant he tells me that they are scared out there building at night as there is a real live threat. I on the other hand live and work exactly caddy corner as far away on base as possible. I then proceed to tell him about my trips off base and all of a sudden he is amazed.
At that point it hit me. How much we as service members go off base and risk our asses is all relative. You could do it once or 200 times and you just never know. Each branch of the service and each job within those branches are different so it just all depends. So looking back on the news room discussions about who goes off, and who doesn’t, and who is scared and who isn’t: just rolled right off of my back. I came here, having been doing my job both on base and off when needed and pray that I return safe next month. I may have only been off about 12 times or 13 times but to me the number does not matter. 1 to 200 is the same as it only takes 1 time to hit an IED and meet the Big Man. Now on the other hand you will never ever hear me brag about being mister war because that would be an utter exaggeration and BS and an insult to the guys who have been out 200 times. There must be a balance.
Anyway I must be honest about something here. The night I went out there I was hot and sweating all day so I decided to wear my flight suit. It’s the big brown jump suit you have seen me in pictures wearing. My reasons for doing this included the heat, the possibility of getting dirty, being near the fight line where many workers wear it, and just flat out wanting too. Now technically it is only for use when we go off base in convoys since it is fire retardant but I figured its late at night, no big deal. When I was leaving the office I saw our station commander and out of respect and consideration asked him if I could wear it as I told him where I was going and he said no problem. That ended up kind of saving me.
Before I left that night I did a stand up where I talked about the story and then said goodbye. Well today they aired the story, which you can see in the newscast below, and the one staff sergeant who is on me about all the little things comes in and says “And you were wearing your flight suit because?” I replied that I had permission and that I thought I might get dirty. Now technically I was right but he knew I was walking the tight rope on that one. I went and asked my direct supervisor and he said he did not care but the on camera stand up was what brought it up. None the less this tick for tack game is what later gave way in the week.
Sunday I slept in and then went to work. I stayed up all that night doing my laundry and watching Rocco and Tiger battle it out. Of course at about 5:30AM our time Monday morning Tiger hits the putt on 18 to send it to a 18 hole playoff the next day. I came back got like 2 hours of sleep and got to work at about 9:10AM. I was tired as well all day and conked out at 9PM Monday night before waking up and making it to work at about yet again 9:10AM.
Tuesday brought with it some uproar. My routine is to go in at about 9 AM do some stuff and then go live on air at 10:30 to 2:30. Once I come off air it is my job to send the feed up which entails calling Atlanta and make sure they get us locked in on the satellite to receive our feed. That’s how we get it back to the states. After that I usually produce radio news, check my email, work on spots or other news pieces. Well this week they are training the one marine, who I at first had run ins with, on how to produce/ edit the daily newscast so he can show the next crew. Well it is a hard task and takes time but not almost 6 hours like it took his first day. None the less by 2:30 the feed was not ready and I was getting mad because I got dragged into it when my sole responsibility is to take the tape and get it rolling on the machine that sends it via satellite. Here we are all bickering about it, all stressed out, so finally I ask Atlanta what other time they can take our feed and agree to doing it later. 30 minutes later they finally get the feed onto tape good and one of the other guys sent it up at 5 PM. Once that was done everyone left and I kept working as this has been a long ass week for me.
So there I am all pissed off because the one Staff Sergeant who I get along with 90% of the time, but its always ticking and tacking me, leaves once the newscast is done to go to the gym at about 3 PM. As I am writing a script the E 8, our station commander strolls in and asks how I am and all. Now he is a real nice guy and I am always very upbeat in my conversation with him so he immediately notices my demeanor and asks what’s up. BAD TIMING. Unfortunately for me he did not realize that it was Rob blowing off steam to his first name versus SrA to SMSgt. None the less I make a few brief comments and they end up making my supervisor look bad for not handling it between he and I. My bad. Later that night we get an email from my/ our supervisor about having to be at work daily from 8 to 4:30 daily.
Next day I come in and am working on my story and ask the one SSgt who leaves daily at 3 to send the feed up. He says yeah I might as well since I have to be here until 4:30. And then the major uproar ensued! He and the marine (its funny how they work together on me but then knock heads later in the same day) just start going off on me about how I jumped my chain of command, and need to get out of the Air Force, and all of this. I made a few rebuttals but they were pissed because while yes I did not use my chain of command directly, and am wrong, I made them have to hang around longer than they prefer. I will say they do go to the gym and do come back but not much is done on the back side of that coming back.
What really sucked though was my direct supervisor, who I absolutely love working for, felt betrayed and like he made no progress with me about the whole chain of command thing. Then he made the comment that really took me down. He said I have never had such a problem with someone not getting the two simplest things in the military down: being on time and the chain of command. Now I will plead guilty on my allegiance to the latter but being on time when I am AT WORK ALL OF THE TIME really hurt me. We all work a ton of hours and a flexible schedule so this one made me feel like a piece of _____. By the time this barrage was over it was about time for me to head to the studio for my show.
I literally sat in the studio the whole 4 hours and thought about all of the stuff that was said to me and how I felt about myself. I was defeated in so many ways at that point I cannot relate. I finished the show and went into the news room clearly rejected. As I waited for the one marine to get off of the computer that we share the E 6 came in and said hey what the heck is a matter you look like hell. I replied with something very weak and uncharacteristic at which point he said lets go talk in my office.
We talked for probably a good 30 minutes and man was it good. I got it all off of my chest and was able to refocus. He explained so much to me, gave me so much advice, and really set me straight. Whether I like it or not I must yield to the chain of command and will. I commend him for being a good NCO but more intuitively, being able to understand ROB.
I got a great night’s sleep last night, got up got a shower, shaved, checked my personal email, and then went to work and had a killer day. I am refocused and ready to knock out these last 35 days or so. I cannot predict the future but if I had to say there was a turning point in my AF career that conversation yesterday very well may have been it.
Everyone was in a good mood today and things went real smooth. 3 of us agreed to see how much we could bench press and today was the day. I promised 175 and delivered while the one big SSgt, who can get at least 205 up, was not feeling well so had some troubles today. Finally the guy that gave me the great talk put up about 210. He got 205 with no issues so I will give him 210. The amazing part is that he only weighs about 150 or so. I am about 162 so 175 is good for me but 150ish putting up 205 is impressive.
On a future note I am doing a story at the hospital on base tomorrow along with a profile of a Oakland Raiders Cheerleader who is deployed here as a service member. Don’t worry Michelle I find you more attractive and hers are fake anyway. I should not type that because I have only seen a picture of her and the fake part is news room conjecture which we all know is just a bunch of deployed males shooting their mouths off.
I am not sure if anyone saw it but it looks like that new GI Bill is going to be passed. I have yet to get the final details but depending upon the incentives, the odds of me reenlisting may have just gone up. If I do another enlistment I get the GI Bill and that would allow me enough time to finish my masters on the AF’s dime. Then I am set to get a PhD or God forbid a law degree! WORLD LOOK OUT!
Anyway enjoy the newscast with my bomb building story. Everyone have a great night and thanks for reading.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
DAY 144: 18 JUN 08
I am beat again today after not so much of a great day. I will try to post at length this weekend as I should have plenty of time Saturday. Too tired and scatter brained to say any more tonight.
Picture of what they call a little spider here. We trapped it in a ammo box Saturday night while I was on a shoot. I will talk about that more later.
Picture of what they call a little spider here. We trapped it in a ammo box Saturday night while I was on a shoot. I will talk about that more later.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
DAY 143: 17 JUN 08
Ehh I guess I am hitting yet again another wall hopefully my last. I just feel like I have a ways to go yet with the first part of our crew leaving July 2. Anyway there are people who are here for 15 months so I need to shut up. Speaking of soldiers…
Mom I am not a Soldier I am an Airman! Your father was a Sailor and the real hard asses are Marines. We all work towards the say goals and fight the same fight but we are VERY different. Anyway glad you enjoyed the last few posts and had a good weekend. I am again tired although I sacked in for 11.5 hours last night. I think I am just becoming tired/ worn down in general. I cannot wait to get back to Michelle. Although I have heard things at my work in Germany stink right now. We shall see how that goes.
That’s all I really have for today. I know I promised more but I want to get a shower and finish the 5 love languages book so I can give it back to a co worker. Good night for tonight.
Mom I am not a Soldier I am an Airman! Your father was a Sailor and the real hard asses are Marines. We all work towards the say goals and fight the same fight but we are VERY different. Anyway glad you enjoyed the last few posts and had a good weekend. I am again tired although I sacked in for 11.5 hours last night. I think I am just becoming tired/ worn down in general. I cannot wait to get back to Michelle. Although I have heard things at my work in Germany stink right now. We shall see how that goes.
That’s all I really have for today. I know I promised more but I want to get a shower and finish the 5 love languages book so I can give it back to a co worker. Good night for tonight.
Monday, June 16, 2008
DAY 142: 16 JUN 08
Well I am toast but pushing through so I can fall asleep around 9PM and get back on track. I stayed up all last night and watched Tiger hit that putt on 18 to send it to a sudden death match today. Now after doing my laundry all night I will not have the energy to watch Rocco try to beat Tiger. O well that’s life.
I am beat so this will be short on words and big on media. I will write a book tomorrow. The newscast has my piece in it about Brian Williams. You can see the pictures below as well. The last picture is of me in the field probably back in early March. I recently found it and thought you might enjoy. OK well I need to post this, go back to work and finish something and then hit the hay. Have a good night.
I am beat so this will be short on words and big on media. I will write a book tomorrow. The newscast has my piece in it about Brian Williams. You can see the pictures below as well. The last picture is of me in the field probably back in early March. I recently found it and thought you might enjoy. OK well I need to post this, go back to work and finish something and then hit the hay. Have a good night.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
DAY 141: 15 JUN 08
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY
I need to do laundry, make some calls, and watch the US Open so I will be brief tonight and long tomorrow. I talked to my Dad today and it was a nice conversation.
He reported that Zach’s wedding went well, was wonderful, and that Robin made it. While I could not be there this was the next best thing. Dad also reported that Uncle Ricky turned on the after burners which is a good sign as I remember my Dad doing the same thing when I graduated from PSU in 2004. We shall see if PSU strikes senior again next year at my wedding. And I hope next year we can repeat the experience in State College with Uncle Joe and Aunt Rhonda completing the full 6 siblings. Anyway Congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. Senft!
My sleep schedule is all off because I shot a bomb building piece last night and had some real fun. I have been going to bed at like 3 AM each day so we shall see what I am worth tomorrow. The Brian Williams piece and pictures will be posted tomorrow. I also found a good one of me in the field which I think you will enjoy. Ok well off to do laundry and enjoy watching local western PA boy Rocco Mediate beat Tiger in the US Open!
Dad I love you and just want to air my clean laundry by saying: Happy Father’s Day!
I need to do laundry, make some calls, and watch the US Open so I will be brief tonight and long tomorrow. I talked to my Dad today and it was a nice conversation.
He reported that Zach’s wedding went well, was wonderful, and that Robin made it. While I could not be there this was the next best thing. Dad also reported that Uncle Ricky turned on the after burners which is a good sign as I remember my Dad doing the same thing when I graduated from PSU in 2004. We shall see if PSU strikes senior again next year at my wedding. And I hope next year we can repeat the experience in State College with Uncle Joe and Aunt Rhonda completing the full 6 siblings. Anyway Congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. Senft!
My sleep schedule is all off because I shot a bomb building piece last night and had some real fun. I have been going to bed at like 3 AM each day so we shall see what I am worth tomorrow. The Brian Williams piece and pictures will be posted tomorrow. I also found a good one of me in the field which I think you will enjoy. Ok well off to do laundry and enjoy watching local western PA boy Rocco Mediate beat Tiger in the US Open!
Dad I love you and just want to air my clean laundry by saying: Happy Father’s Day!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
DAY 140: 14 JUN 08
Well Friday the 13th definitely was a night mare for some. I did not post yesterday because I was up until 4 AM my time or 7:30 PM your time. Death seems to be all around me and I hate it. Fallen comrade ceremonies and then NBC comes to focus on Afghanistan and the war and what happens? Tim Russert dies. I will start from the beginning.
I slept in yesterday until about 11AM my time as I was still recovering from my stomach ailment. I am happy to report that I am back to almost 100% there. I went into work and checked on a few things to get ready for the Brian Williams piece. We had an interesting debate in the news room about some military related stuff which I enjoyed. Sometimes I have to watch myself but none the less I had the guys laughing which ultimately keeps the morale up and my mind working. I set out to the entry control point (ECP) here on Bagram to wait for the arrival of Brian Williams and his team. It’s been hot as hell around here so right off of the bat I was sweating buckets. I met up with one of the Army Public Affairs soldiers and waited patiently. Shortly after 3 O’clock the 4 or 5 vehicle convoy pulled in and we rendezvous up to figure out the plan for the day. At that point it was to go get Brian and company into some form of billeting, do the interview with MG Schloesser and then find out where they would setup their studio live from.
I waited patiently for one of the soldiers to introduce me but it never happened. It’s not like I feel I need to be introduced but being from AFN and low ranking it puts me in a precarious situation. I do not want to over step my bounds but also needed to be frank about wanting to ask him a few questions and letting him know we are doing a piece on his being here. Anyway after I realized the Army was not going to do anything I decide to depend on the person I always depend on: Rob.
Mr. Williams moved closer to me and I stepped in and introduced myself, told him why I was there, thanked him for coming, and asked if he had time if we could do an interview. He was super nice and said absolutely yes. He grew up in NJ and went on about how his Dad was a captain in WWII and how he supports the troops and military. We broke conversation and they left as I took a few audio and video guys with me in the truck.
We drove over to the flight line where the interview with the general was to be. I pulled in got out and started getting ready. In the mean time I started BSing with the cameramen from NBC who had killer equipment. I commented to the guy that I felt like I was playing in the big leagues now. He shot back not to worry, but that his camera was a major league camera. Anyway after about 20 minutes the General and Brian came out and started the interview. They walked and talked and I got many of the shots I needed also making sure that I did not get into the NBC cameraman’s way. At one point one snapped at me ‘You got to get out of the shot’ and I did. After that it was not an issue. Unfortunately I screwed up the white balance on my camera which later ended up being a very miniscule issue. I was pissed at myself though as it’s a rookie mistake. Anyway after they were done I said to Brian 'Sir when can I interview you? He said there is no time better than the present. So as different people, mainly officers, walked up to get their picture with him I got ready for the interview.
I asked 2 questions and at the end if he wanted to add anything. It was awesome. He gave great answers and made it easy for me. I am truly impressed with him not only as a big time news anchor but as a human being. He is smooth, composed, on the ball, funny, and easy to be around. After I got done one of the camera men said wait let’s get you in the shot. They did an over my shoulder and over his shoulder so when you see the piece on Monday it looks like I had a guy running the camera with me. It meant a ton to me because now the interview seems more like you naturally see with the interview subject and the interviewee. Anyway after that I got my picture with him and said thank you. It was funny though because he asked where I was from and I replied Pittsburgh. He immediately went off about the Steelers in the 1970s and Jack Lambert. He asked me if it was true that he is a high school football coach and I quickly replied that no he is a PA game warden and that my dad and I ran into him in the woods once. He laughed and said no way. He also mentioned about Dwight White’s death which is sad in and of itself.
I left happy and very confident as it was a great experience up until that point. I got back to the studio around 5PM and digitized the video so that I could see how bad or good it was. It ended up not being too bad which made me feel a little better about my blunder. I did the sports show from 6:30 to 8:30 and then finished some odds and ends up late before watching some of the US Open.
I came back to my room to talk to Michelle before heading over to the newscast location as I wanted to get some footage of him going live. When I clicked on the internet I had noticed the headline about Tim Russert dyeing! I knew at that point it would be a different night than anticipated. I got over to the set at about 1 AM at which point Brian was preparing for the newscast somewhere else. The mode was somber and I was very quiet. I talked to some of the crew who were very receptive to me, and they told me he was just live talking about Tim about 30 minutes before. I guess he came on with Tom Brokaw and talked about Tim.
So then one of the crew turns to me about 30 minutes before they go live and says ‘Man 2 days of work shot because they changed the whole newscast to be about Mr. Russert’. While I can understand why they are doing this I can also understand the crew members frustration since they worked hard on coming all the way to Afghanistan to cover this stuff and then not even use almost 2 days worth of work and footage for that nights newscast. But hey that’s how the news business goes.
On a side note I could tell these people were dragging and sad about the situation of losing one of their coworkers. The one guy says hey do you know where any coffee is? I said let me find out. Now right off of the bat I know for damn sure if the Air Force were handling them being there, there would have been a table near that TV set with some finger food, pop, water, coffee, tea, and other little stuff. This is NBC and Brian Williams and we do have low ranking people who could knock this out but HELL NO with the Army. All they have is some bottles of water for these poor people. Pitiful display in my humble opinion by the 101st Airborne Division Public Affairs Office. None the less at this point I make my second blunder of the day. As the Lieutenant Colonel walks by me as I ask her if she knows where I can find any coffee. Not the best question to ask a LTC! (I once asked another LTC at Ft. Dix if he knew where we could get a light bulb for our tent when we were at the FOB in the middle of the pine barons in NJ in January) Anyway it was my bad but boy have I never seen officers with such lack of self esteem to need rank so much. I’ll say it once and say it again whether I am an E-1 or O-10 I am Rob Joswiak and my abilities, aspirations, outlook, personality, and character are not, nor will they ever be, dictated by my rank! I cannot say the same for many people in the military. Anyway she fires back NO but these NCO (Non commissioned officers) can help you!
They proceed to lay into me a bit and then go off about some other people at my work! I will not go into details about this as it is a little personal for some but just another example of the 101st’s arrogance and blindness in my view. I later find coffee and give one lady a coke I had. I did the best for them I could under the circumstances.
At about 3:15 he came out and started the newscast. It got super quiet and everyone moved to the sides so his peripheral vision was not distracted. Brian was very quiet and different than earlier in the day as you can imagine. I got a bunch of good shoots as you will see in the piece that I should be able to post on Monday. After the newscast was done I left but I think they went live again for a special NBC Dateline.
By the time I got to bed it was like 4:30 AM here so I did not go into work today until 1 PM. I worked on the piece some and also have another shoot tonight. I just ultimately cannot get over the whole Tim Russert thing being so close to his coworkers when it happened and on Father’s day weekend as well.
I think of my Dad and his health at a time like this and just hope he makes sure his heart is good shape as it can happen to anyone at anytime. I would also like to add that while I am critical of the Army I have great respect for them and their people. I just think many times they do not think enough about a situation where as many times I think too much.
Either way everyone have a great weekend and look for some calls today if not tomorrow. I will post the video and pictures on Monday.
I slept in yesterday until about 11AM my time as I was still recovering from my stomach ailment. I am happy to report that I am back to almost 100% there. I went into work and checked on a few things to get ready for the Brian Williams piece. We had an interesting debate in the news room about some military related stuff which I enjoyed. Sometimes I have to watch myself but none the less I had the guys laughing which ultimately keeps the morale up and my mind working. I set out to the entry control point (ECP) here on Bagram to wait for the arrival of Brian Williams and his team. It’s been hot as hell around here so right off of the bat I was sweating buckets. I met up with one of the Army Public Affairs soldiers and waited patiently. Shortly after 3 O’clock the 4 or 5 vehicle convoy pulled in and we rendezvous up to figure out the plan for the day. At that point it was to go get Brian and company into some form of billeting, do the interview with MG Schloesser and then find out where they would setup their studio live from.
I waited patiently for one of the soldiers to introduce me but it never happened. It’s not like I feel I need to be introduced but being from AFN and low ranking it puts me in a precarious situation. I do not want to over step my bounds but also needed to be frank about wanting to ask him a few questions and letting him know we are doing a piece on his being here. Anyway after I realized the Army was not going to do anything I decide to depend on the person I always depend on: Rob.
Mr. Williams moved closer to me and I stepped in and introduced myself, told him why I was there, thanked him for coming, and asked if he had time if we could do an interview. He was super nice and said absolutely yes. He grew up in NJ and went on about how his Dad was a captain in WWII and how he supports the troops and military. We broke conversation and they left as I took a few audio and video guys with me in the truck.
We drove over to the flight line where the interview with the general was to be. I pulled in got out and started getting ready. In the mean time I started BSing with the cameramen from NBC who had killer equipment. I commented to the guy that I felt like I was playing in the big leagues now. He shot back not to worry, but that his camera was a major league camera. Anyway after about 20 minutes the General and Brian came out and started the interview. They walked and talked and I got many of the shots I needed also making sure that I did not get into the NBC cameraman’s way. At one point one snapped at me ‘You got to get out of the shot’ and I did. After that it was not an issue. Unfortunately I screwed up the white balance on my camera which later ended up being a very miniscule issue. I was pissed at myself though as it’s a rookie mistake. Anyway after they were done I said to Brian 'Sir when can I interview you? He said there is no time better than the present. So as different people, mainly officers, walked up to get their picture with him I got ready for the interview.
I asked 2 questions and at the end if he wanted to add anything. It was awesome. He gave great answers and made it easy for me. I am truly impressed with him not only as a big time news anchor but as a human being. He is smooth, composed, on the ball, funny, and easy to be around. After I got done one of the camera men said wait let’s get you in the shot. They did an over my shoulder and over his shoulder so when you see the piece on Monday it looks like I had a guy running the camera with me. It meant a ton to me because now the interview seems more like you naturally see with the interview subject and the interviewee. Anyway after that I got my picture with him and said thank you. It was funny though because he asked where I was from and I replied Pittsburgh. He immediately went off about the Steelers in the 1970s and Jack Lambert. He asked me if it was true that he is a high school football coach and I quickly replied that no he is a PA game warden and that my dad and I ran into him in the woods once. He laughed and said no way. He also mentioned about Dwight White’s death which is sad in and of itself.
I left happy and very confident as it was a great experience up until that point. I got back to the studio around 5PM and digitized the video so that I could see how bad or good it was. It ended up not being too bad which made me feel a little better about my blunder. I did the sports show from 6:30 to 8:30 and then finished some odds and ends up late before watching some of the US Open.
I came back to my room to talk to Michelle before heading over to the newscast location as I wanted to get some footage of him going live. When I clicked on the internet I had noticed the headline about Tim Russert dyeing! I knew at that point it would be a different night than anticipated. I got over to the set at about 1 AM at which point Brian was preparing for the newscast somewhere else. The mode was somber and I was very quiet. I talked to some of the crew who were very receptive to me, and they told me he was just live talking about Tim about 30 minutes before. I guess he came on with Tom Brokaw and talked about Tim.
So then one of the crew turns to me about 30 minutes before they go live and says ‘Man 2 days of work shot because they changed the whole newscast to be about Mr. Russert’. While I can understand why they are doing this I can also understand the crew members frustration since they worked hard on coming all the way to Afghanistan to cover this stuff and then not even use almost 2 days worth of work and footage for that nights newscast. But hey that’s how the news business goes.
On a side note I could tell these people were dragging and sad about the situation of losing one of their coworkers. The one guy says hey do you know where any coffee is? I said let me find out. Now right off of the bat I know for damn sure if the Air Force were handling them being there, there would have been a table near that TV set with some finger food, pop, water, coffee, tea, and other little stuff. This is NBC and Brian Williams and we do have low ranking people who could knock this out but HELL NO with the Army. All they have is some bottles of water for these poor people. Pitiful display in my humble opinion by the 101st Airborne Division Public Affairs Office. None the less at this point I make my second blunder of the day. As the Lieutenant Colonel walks by me as I ask her if she knows where I can find any coffee. Not the best question to ask a LTC! (I once asked another LTC at Ft. Dix if he knew where we could get a light bulb for our tent when we were at the FOB in the middle of the pine barons in NJ in January) Anyway it was my bad but boy have I never seen officers with such lack of self esteem to need rank so much. I’ll say it once and say it again whether I am an E-1 or O-10 I am Rob Joswiak and my abilities, aspirations, outlook, personality, and character are not, nor will they ever be, dictated by my rank! I cannot say the same for many people in the military. Anyway she fires back NO but these NCO (Non commissioned officers) can help you!
They proceed to lay into me a bit and then go off about some other people at my work! I will not go into details about this as it is a little personal for some but just another example of the 101st’s arrogance and blindness in my view. I later find coffee and give one lady a coke I had. I did the best for them I could under the circumstances.
At about 3:15 he came out and started the newscast. It got super quiet and everyone moved to the sides so his peripheral vision was not distracted. Brian was very quiet and different than earlier in the day as you can imagine. I got a bunch of good shoots as you will see in the piece that I should be able to post on Monday. After the newscast was done I left but I think they went live again for a special NBC Dateline.
By the time I got to bed it was like 4:30 AM here so I did not go into work today until 1 PM. I worked on the piece some and also have another shoot tonight. I just ultimately cannot get over the whole Tim Russert thing being so close to his coworkers when it happened and on Father’s day weekend as well.
I think of my Dad and his health at a time like this and just hope he makes sure his heart is good shape as it can happen to anyone at anytime. I would also like to add that while I am critical of the Army I have great respect for them and their people. I just think many times they do not think enough about a situation where as many times I think too much.
Either way everyone have a great weekend and look for some calls today if not tomorrow. I will post the video and pictures on Monday.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
DAY 138: 12 JUN 08
Anchored the TV newscast, did the mid day show, came home took a nap, and then woke up and went back to work. My stomach hurt most of the day but I think I passed whatever has been bothering me. I hope tomorrow everything is back to normal. Looks like the Brian Williams thing is on but I will not count on it until it happens. Look for a post late tomorrow night if not sometime on Saturday. Enjoy the newscast. And o yeah I am glad my severe pain and escapade made everyone laugh. I would not wish such an event on anyone.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
DAY 137: 11 JUN 08
******* WARNING THIS POST IS GRAPHIC AND GOES INTO DETAILS ABOUT DISGUSTING THINGS **************
Where do I begin…. Well let’s just say my stomach strikes again. I will start from the beginning. I got up yesterday and was not feeling to great stomach wise but had exlax so I figured I would be fine. That day at work we had the local Afghan guy that prints our magazine bring local food in for lunch. I have had Afghan food before so I know what to get and what not to get. Where I think I made my mistake was that I ate too much. I had the bread, a ton of rice, and some chicken (or what I tell myself is chicken) and a coke. I got about 2 or 3 plates worth as I figured it would give my system a good ‘push’. I also popped 1 exlax thinking that would be enough to motivate the troops. Well just as I finished my radio show around 2:30 yesterday the power went out in our building. So I finished up and then went back to my room to take a nap around 3 PM. I slept ok I guess but I could tell my stomach was not doing too great. I figured I just had a big movement coming so I thought nothing of it. I went back to work to finish some stuff up as the power was back on. Well at this point things started going south.
I decide its time to go to the bathroom so I go out back to the toilets, urinals, and sinks in the metal containers that we call bathrooms. I proceed to sit there for over an hour before deciding to go back to work. The pain was coming and going but definitely starting to build. I find a random soldier who I kind of know and bum a cigarette off of him. I will be honest in saying that since I turned 18 I have done my fair share of smoking but since being here I have almost absolutely quit. (I had 2 in Qatar with beer one night.) The air here is terrible and smoking is a terrible habit so I have decided to rid myself of it. One of those changes you realize and make while in Afghanistan. Anyway I bum a smoke off of him as I know my body and usually a smoke can rally the troops quite quick. So I light the Marlboro Red (yeah about as bad as you can get ) and smoke it. NOTHING! At this point I am really getting worried because while the cigarette made me feel less pain it did not do what I wanted. OK so back up to work.
I grab a bottle of water from the fridge, my weapon from the news room, and decide to head back to my room to get another exlax and try to go to the bathroom after that. Well on the walk from work towards my room, my stomach goes into absolute crazy mode. By this time everything had compacted itself in my lower abdomen and I was hurting. I decide to forget the exlax and just get to the nearest bathroom. Once there I proceed to go through unbearable pain for at least another 30 minutes. I am talking worse pain I have ever felt. So then I start sweating and getting even more nauseated when all of a sudden I throw up! I drank about 3 quarters of that bottle of water and my body sent it right back up along with a few remnants of lunch.
At this point I am in the most pain I have ever felt, sweating bad, and feeling so sick. I decide that after almost two hours I need to burry my pride and get help. Only problem is no one is around. So the next guy that walks in is a soldier and I poke my head out of the stall (which are only covered by plastic curtains) and say hey you need to go get my supervisor I am really sick! 5 minutes later Jason shows up and then gets TSgt Hoover and SSgt Pedro. Now mind you they find me basically naked in this stall looking like absolute hell. When I get real sick like this I like to be naked as I do not want anything touching my aching body. I know it’s not good practice in a public place like this but at that point my mind is going I am in so much pain. So they ask me to get dressed as they are going to drive me to the ER. I muster all the energy and control that I have, get dressed and plop into the SUV we have.
It’s now about 9:30PM and I am on my way to the hospital which is only a 4 minute drive mind you. About 1/3 of the way there my stomach drops yet again and I think it’s go time ala Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber after Jim Carrey puts the exlax in his coffee. I jump out of the car and run into a ditch! At this point my stomach feels like it’s going to explode. I jump back out of the ditch while my supervisor is absolutely dumb founded (he told me that today while all the other guys laughed and laughed). I then proceed to the nearest port-a-potty and again nothing happens. I make my way back to the SUV as my supervisor escorts me. He tells me today that I started to lose it mentally at this point. So back in the car and to the hospital. As we pull up I guess I tried getting out of the vehicle before they stopped but I really do not remember. I was in so much pain I was fading in and out. I mean I was ok but when you have never dealt with pain like this your body reacts weird I guess. So we get in there and luckily it’s like 10 PM so hardly any patients are there and they have plenty of people to help me.
I get on a bed and tell them what the deal is. The doctor comes over (Black female which I only mention because of the next part) and talks to me and then listened to my heart beat and the rest of my cavity down to my lower abdomen. Then she says ok take your shirt off. Shirt goes off. Then she says turn to your side and face the wall. At this point I think I knew what was coming but you are never truly prepared. At first I was having no part of it but then she was like you need to relax or I can’t do it. The pain was so bad I relaxed for 1 second and let her insert her finger. I grabbed the medical technician’s pants while she did it which kind of helped. Now let me tell you this is as embarrassing as it gets. One female doing that to me while the other cute medical technician kind of watches. Not a fun time. Anyway she says ‘ok’ and then I rolled back over.
Things start to look up…. They determine I am dehydrated so they put a needle in me which took two sticks. No biggie as the pain from the needle kind of took the stomach pain away. They draw blood and then give me drugs! Now many of you know unlike my sister drugs have never been my forte. Tylenol PMs knock me out let alone this stuff they gave me last night. Within 30 second I was feeling like a million bucks. They told me what it was but I forget. They ran lab work on my blood and then started making me drink these thick shots of stuff so they could do a CT scan on my stomach. I had to do one shot of this syrupy stuff every half hour for 2 hours, then have the scan. Well after the third one I felt like I was going to puke again so I went to the restroom. Low and behold I actually moved my bowels after almost 5 hours of being C_____ed. I do not like mention the C word but that’s what I was.
I ended up getting two backs of saline, the drugs, and something else, along with the CT scan. Everything came back negative which means I was just REALLY constipated. I ended up leaving the hospital at like 2:15 in the morning as they gave me some medicine to help me. Since then its been quite the opposite but after last night I will never ever complain about the Big D.
I thank God that I have medical coverage, great military medical professionals to help me along with wonderful coworkers who truly care. I might also add that I both flirted with the red head who helped me all night (I told her about Michelle and she was the one that gave me the phone) and called Michelle while I was flying in the sky on that stuff. I will be honest it was nice to have the drugs but I felt very out of control which is a feeling I do not like. I guess that’s why people get high because they like not having control. Not me… I like to think, work, smile, see, and enjoy life instead of being in that state. But with the pain I had boy did I need them!
I came back and slept in today. I went into work for a little and then came back and slept more. The guys asked me if I was ok today and once they saw that I was it was joke time. I was good about it as after last night I am just happy to be feeling good.
I was feeling pretty weak all day but feel ok now. We had some comedians in today as they are touring Afghanistan. One was from Pittsburgh so I went to see them tonight but did not stay. They were ok but I like more thought provoking comedy not dumb sex and stupidity comedy. Something that makes me think and laugh at the same time is what I consider genius comedy worthy of my time.
I guess that’s it for today. I will be watching more Euro cup tonight as I have truly become a big soccer fan. Having been around the World Cup in 2006 there is nothing like it. I would love to go to South Africa to see the USA play in the 2010 World Cup. We shall see.
Work wise I missed a shoot today but will be able to reschedule it. Also it looks like the Brian Williams thing is a go for Friday. I will let you guys know but you can read what he is doing in Kabul right now. Everyone have a great day and please do not take for granted the daily things in our life if you catch my drift!
Where do I begin…. Well let’s just say my stomach strikes again. I will start from the beginning. I got up yesterday and was not feeling to great stomach wise but had exlax so I figured I would be fine. That day at work we had the local Afghan guy that prints our magazine bring local food in for lunch. I have had Afghan food before so I know what to get and what not to get. Where I think I made my mistake was that I ate too much. I had the bread, a ton of rice, and some chicken (or what I tell myself is chicken) and a coke. I got about 2 or 3 plates worth as I figured it would give my system a good ‘push’. I also popped 1 exlax thinking that would be enough to motivate the troops. Well just as I finished my radio show around 2:30 yesterday the power went out in our building. So I finished up and then went back to my room to take a nap around 3 PM. I slept ok I guess but I could tell my stomach was not doing too great. I figured I just had a big movement coming so I thought nothing of it. I went back to work to finish some stuff up as the power was back on. Well at this point things started going south.
I decide its time to go to the bathroom so I go out back to the toilets, urinals, and sinks in the metal containers that we call bathrooms. I proceed to sit there for over an hour before deciding to go back to work. The pain was coming and going but definitely starting to build. I find a random soldier who I kind of know and bum a cigarette off of him. I will be honest in saying that since I turned 18 I have done my fair share of smoking but since being here I have almost absolutely quit. (I had 2 in Qatar with beer one night.) The air here is terrible and smoking is a terrible habit so I have decided to rid myself of it. One of those changes you realize and make while in Afghanistan. Anyway I bum a smoke off of him as I know my body and usually a smoke can rally the troops quite quick. So I light the Marlboro Red (yeah about as bad as you can get ) and smoke it. NOTHING! At this point I am really getting worried because while the cigarette made me feel less pain it did not do what I wanted. OK so back up to work.
I grab a bottle of water from the fridge, my weapon from the news room, and decide to head back to my room to get another exlax and try to go to the bathroom after that. Well on the walk from work towards my room, my stomach goes into absolute crazy mode. By this time everything had compacted itself in my lower abdomen and I was hurting. I decide to forget the exlax and just get to the nearest bathroom. Once there I proceed to go through unbearable pain for at least another 30 minutes. I am talking worse pain I have ever felt. So then I start sweating and getting even more nauseated when all of a sudden I throw up! I drank about 3 quarters of that bottle of water and my body sent it right back up along with a few remnants of lunch.
At this point I am in the most pain I have ever felt, sweating bad, and feeling so sick. I decide that after almost two hours I need to burry my pride and get help. Only problem is no one is around. So the next guy that walks in is a soldier and I poke my head out of the stall (which are only covered by plastic curtains) and say hey you need to go get my supervisor I am really sick! 5 minutes later Jason shows up and then gets TSgt Hoover and SSgt Pedro. Now mind you they find me basically naked in this stall looking like absolute hell. When I get real sick like this I like to be naked as I do not want anything touching my aching body. I know it’s not good practice in a public place like this but at that point my mind is going I am in so much pain. So they ask me to get dressed as they are going to drive me to the ER. I muster all the energy and control that I have, get dressed and plop into the SUV we have.
It’s now about 9:30PM and I am on my way to the hospital which is only a 4 minute drive mind you. About 1/3 of the way there my stomach drops yet again and I think it’s go time ala Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber after Jim Carrey puts the exlax in his coffee. I jump out of the car and run into a ditch! At this point my stomach feels like it’s going to explode. I jump back out of the ditch while my supervisor is absolutely dumb founded (he told me that today while all the other guys laughed and laughed). I then proceed to the nearest port-a-potty and again nothing happens. I make my way back to the SUV as my supervisor escorts me. He tells me today that I started to lose it mentally at this point. So back in the car and to the hospital. As we pull up I guess I tried getting out of the vehicle before they stopped but I really do not remember. I was in so much pain I was fading in and out. I mean I was ok but when you have never dealt with pain like this your body reacts weird I guess. So we get in there and luckily it’s like 10 PM so hardly any patients are there and they have plenty of people to help me.
I get on a bed and tell them what the deal is. The doctor comes over (Black female which I only mention because of the next part) and talks to me and then listened to my heart beat and the rest of my cavity down to my lower abdomen. Then she says ok take your shirt off. Shirt goes off. Then she says turn to your side and face the wall. At this point I think I knew what was coming but you are never truly prepared. At first I was having no part of it but then she was like you need to relax or I can’t do it. The pain was so bad I relaxed for 1 second and let her insert her finger. I grabbed the medical technician’s pants while she did it which kind of helped. Now let me tell you this is as embarrassing as it gets. One female doing that to me while the other cute medical technician kind of watches. Not a fun time. Anyway she says ‘ok’ and then I rolled back over.
Things start to look up…. They determine I am dehydrated so they put a needle in me which took two sticks. No biggie as the pain from the needle kind of took the stomach pain away. They draw blood and then give me drugs! Now many of you know unlike my sister drugs have never been my forte. Tylenol PMs knock me out let alone this stuff they gave me last night. Within 30 second I was feeling like a million bucks. They told me what it was but I forget. They ran lab work on my blood and then started making me drink these thick shots of stuff so they could do a CT scan on my stomach. I had to do one shot of this syrupy stuff every half hour for 2 hours, then have the scan. Well after the third one I felt like I was going to puke again so I went to the restroom. Low and behold I actually moved my bowels after almost 5 hours of being C_____ed. I do not like mention the C word but that’s what I was.
I ended up getting two backs of saline, the drugs, and something else, along with the CT scan. Everything came back negative which means I was just REALLY constipated. I ended up leaving the hospital at like 2:15 in the morning as they gave me some medicine to help me. Since then its been quite the opposite but after last night I will never ever complain about the Big D.
I thank God that I have medical coverage, great military medical professionals to help me along with wonderful coworkers who truly care. I might also add that I both flirted with the red head who helped me all night (I told her about Michelle and she was the one that gave me the phone) and called Michelle while I was flying in the sky on that stuff. I will be honest it was nice to have the drugs but I felt very out of control which is a feeling I do not like. I guess that’s why people get high because they like not having control. Not me… I like to think, work, smile, see, and enjoy life instead of being in that state. But with the pain I had boy did I need them!
I came back and slept in today. I went into work for a little and then came back and slept more. The guys asked me if I was ok today and once they saw that I was it was joke time. I was good about it as after last night I am just happy to be feeling good.
I was feeling pretty weak all day but feel ok now. We had some comedians in today as they are touring Afghanistan. One was from Pittsburgh so I went to see them tonight but did not stay. They were ok but I like more thought provoking comedy not dumb sex and stupidity comedy. Something that makes me think and laugh at the same time is what I consider genius comedy worthy of my time.
I guess that’s it for today. I will be watching more Euro cup tonight as I have truly become a big soccer fan. Having been around the World Cup in 2006 there is nothing like it. I would love to go to South Africa to see the USA play in the 2010 World Cup. We shall see.
Work wise I missed a shoot today but will be able to reschedule it. Also it looks like the Brian Williams thing is a go for Friday. I will let you guys know but you can read what he is doing in Kabul right now. Everyone have a great day and please do not take for granted the daily things in our life if you catch my drift!
Monday, June 9, 2008
DAY 135: 9 JUN 08
Well I was in a foul, semi-depressed state yesterday probably triggered by the fact that Michelle spent the weekend in NYC and the Jersey Shore, while her parents opened the pool and enjoyed the weather, my Dad and Shelly enjoyed Lake Pymatuning, and my Mom and Robin went to the pool. The whole time I am stuck in uniform, in just as hot, if not hotter weather away from my family and friends. None the less I snapped out of it today and had a decent one.
I have to report there has been some excitement around base. It seems some ‘locals’ have been getting frisky and trying to make their way onto base. Last week we had a little attack but I will not go into any more details other than to say; it was little.
On the news front; Brian Williams will be coming to Bagram to broadcast the Friday night Newscast live from here. The First Lady, Laura Bush was just here yesterday. I was on the air but still would not have gone to see her anyway. I am sorry that I have little interest in the person married to the most powerful person in the world. It seems like the media coverage is now starting to pick back up as Afghanistan is set to ask for $50 Billion dollars in aid over the next 5 years at a conference in Paris next week. Anyway I sent an email with permission asking to do a story about Brian Williams being here and the renewed media coverage. It may take me off base which drew some sarcastic commentary from a peer or two but none the less whatever pans out pans out. I should know more on this front tomorrow. My friend from California who works for NBC is trying to come out in July so we shall see how that works. Half of our crew rotates in early July as we rotate in late July. The guys are getting excited to leave as they have their fly dates. I am still at about 45 days out or so…. I guess that’s it for today.
I am sorry to those who I told I would call yesterday and never did. Also Dad I keep missing you on the phone but will get you one of these days. Yes Fombell is my home but I am technically a Pittsburgher as I was born there, lived in Allegheny County until 1992, you and Mom were born there, as were both of your parents…… Anyway Western Pennsylvania is my home from Conneaut Lake as far south as Mineral Beach as I have wonderful memories of every area in between including Fombell. (Odds are if I ever settle back in PA it will be in Happy Valley as that is the place to be!) Ok everyone have a great day.
I have to report there has been some excitement around base. It seems some ‘locals’ have been getting frisky and trying to make their way onto base. Last week we had a little attack but I will not go into any more details other than to say; it was little.
On the news front; Brian Williams will be coming to Bagram to broadcast the Friday night Newscast live from here. The First Lady, Laura Bush was just here yesterday. I was on the air but still would not have gone to see her anyway. I am sorry that I have little interest in the person married to the most powerful person in the world. It seems like the media coverage is now starting to pick back up as Afghanistan is set to ask for $50 Billion dollars in aid over the next 5 years at a conference in Paris next week. Anyway I sent an email with permission asking to do a story about Brian Williams being here and the renewed media coverage. It may take me off base which drew some sarcastic commentary from a peer or two but none the less whatever pans out pans out. I should know more on this front tomorrow. My friend from California who works for NBC is trying to come out in July so we shall see how that works. Half of our crew rotates in early July as we rotate in late July. The guys are getting excited to leave as they have their fly dates. I am still at about 45 days out or so…. I guess that’s it for today.
I am sorry to those who I told I would call yesterday and never did. Also Dad I keep missing you on the phone but will get you one of these days. Yes Fombell is my home but I am technically a Pittsburgher as I was born there, lived in Allegheny County until 1992, you and Mom were born there, as were both of your parents…… Anyway Western Pennsylvania is my home from Conneaut Lake as far south as Mineral Beach as I have wonderful memories of every area in between including Fombell. (Odds are if I ever settle back in PA it will be in Happy Valley as that is the place to be!) Ok everyone have a great day.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
DAY 133: 7 JUN 08
Well aside from my stomach things have been pretty good. I slept in today and really got the best sleep I have gotten since getting back from Qatar. Yesterday I got a haircut and dropped off that care package to the guy that works at the dining facility. I gave him gum, writing paper, and my old shoes. He was not there though so I have to try to find him to shake his hand at dinner tonight. The guys were getting on me about the length of my hair as the Air Force and Navy have the most liberal regulations when it comes to hair and I take full advantage. Only issue is that downrange everyone is in HOOOAH mode which means everyone keeps their hair shorter than usual. Everyone except me. But now that we are passing 100 degrees each day it’s just easier to have it shorter. I told Michelle I will grow it longer once fall sets in and I am in Germany.
Last night the sports show was good and fun as usual but unfortunately they kept having bad weather in Vicenza Italy where our signal is relayed so we kept getting cut off. It still was fun and we gave away the signed Tiger Woods driver and polo shirts as he sent them to us, Iraq, and a ship in the Persian Gulf. For those who do not know Tiger Woods late father Earl was a retired Lieutenant Colonel form the Army. So Tiger against any political worries does support the troops. This makes me feel good but makes my feelings on Tiger in general a push because he recently said no one cares about hockey anymore which is BS. Anyway it was a fun show and I look forward to playing our new liners next week. As you can see 7 FOOT 6 INCHES Shawn Bradley, who retired from the NBA recently, stands behind me in our TV studio today. I always wanted to meet him and see what 7 foot 6 looks like. Anyway I did not get to see him stand straight up as his head hit our ceiling. Still though you can see how tall he is! I told him about our church as he is a Mormon and he joked to me that Sidney Rigdon came back! I did not get it at first but then laughed. I have come to the conclusion that the Mormon Church does not even teacher the history of what occurred between the quorum of twelve and Sidney Rigdon (Joseph Smith’s first counselor) when Joseph Smith was murdered. For people who like history and are renowned for this lineage, and book keeping, it is ironic to me that they do not go over this part of their spiritual heritage. It would be like a Catholic not knowing Peter was the first Pope! It’s neat to think that from that debate in Illinois over 150 years ago to now two men could meet in Afghanistan and still stand on two sides of the debate! Anyway it was nice to meet him and the other NBA and WNBA players. They voiced a liner for our sport show which I always appreciate. Now onto a few odds and ends.
First I would like to mention that the reason I am wearing old people sunglasses in my pictures is because they are ballistic rated in case I would ever be in some time of explosion and also they are great for the Middle Eastern sun. You can make fun but they get the job done versus designer glasses that while may do fine in the Pittsburgh sun would not do much here. Also I talked about a crazy funny man from Mississippi that I met and well a friend sent me a picture of him and me. I thought I would include it. Its looks as if there is an outside chance that I may be home for Christmas. I want to take leave in conjunction with my upgrade training at Ft. Meade which is 3 weeks in and of itself. Thing is that the next class is not until January so I may be able to take leave before hand and be home for Christmas. I am not sure and will not have these issues worked out until I get back to Germany. I do know that the Penguins open the 2008 – 2009 NHL season in Sweden in October and I would like to go. Tickets are outrageous but I think I may make it happen. We shall see. I guess that’s it for today. I need to go find that Afghan guy, eat, and then come back and study for E 5 with the software I bought. I test as soon as I get back. Ok everyone have a great day.
PS: Tomorrow I will write about our 4 Star General Mosley and the Secretary of the Air Force getting fired!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
DAY 131 : 5 JUN 08
So yesterday I had every intention to post more but my stomach was giving me the opposite issue that it usually does. If you know me that well then you know what I am talking about. I forgot to mention that while in Qatar and we stopped at a local restaurant and ate their food. Anyway I think that messed my system up as I was feeling the effects yesterday. So today I still got up after little sleep last night, and watched most of the game. Once I saw that puck go in off of Fluery’s butt I turned off the TV and went and got a shower. I probably should not have but I knew they were done. I heard the last few seconds were nuts after they scored to make it 3 to 2. We have a young team though so I am not worried as I feel they will make it back to the finals again at least once more. The series did cost me some dough though as I had a friendly wager with a Detroit native. I had to do it to represent my team and city.
Works been pretty good. Our website is up and running and can be view here:
AFN Afghanistan website
Its got everything we do. I am happy its up before we left as it’s a big step in our mission. On another note:
*************** DO NOT SEND ANYMORE BOXES*****************
Starting this Saturday I am officially into sending stuff home mode. I do not need nor want anything else as all of you have been more than generous since I have been here. My room is already packed so I need to start the winding down process. I guess that’s about it for today. I am going to try to get a good nights sleep tonight. I got a few more pictures from a friends camera to post from Qatar tomorrow. Also we are giving away a signed Tiger Woods driver tomorrow on the sports show. It should be our best show yet so I am sure I will go over that tomorrow afterwards. Have a good day.
Works been pretty good. Our website is up and running and can be view here:
AFN Afghanistan website
Its got everything we do. I am happy its up before we left as it’s a big step in our mission. On another note:
*************** DO NOT SEND ANYMORE BOXES*****************
Starting this Saturday I am officially into sending stuff home mode. I do not need nor want anything else as all of you have been more than generous since I have been here. My room is already packed so I need to start the winding down process. I guess that’s about it for today. I am going to try to get a good nights sleep tonight. I got a few more pictures from a friends camera to post from Qatar tomorrow. Also we are giving away a signed Tiger Woods driver tomorrow on the sports show. It should be our best show yet so I am sure I will go over that tomorrow afterwards. Have a good day.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
DAY 129 : 3 JUN 08
Well let me start by getting the stuff at work out of the way. We finally got internet in the radio studio today and should have AFN tv in there tomorrow. AP radio news for the top of the house should be back tomorrow as well which will all make for great show information. I left my glasses somewhere in Qatar so I have to go have an eye exam and order another pair. Those ones were getting beat up anyway but it still bothers me that I lost them. I have to anchor tomorrow so look for the newscast on here tomorrow. This morning I got up to the surprise of the Pens going to a second OT! I rushed my shower and then got to work to watch the 3rd OT and the game winner! I still do not think they can win three straight against Detroit but that is an old team and a long series does benefit the Pens. Either way I will definitely be up to watch game 6. I went to get the flag today I had flown for my Dad but the idiot there messed it up a 3rd time now. One more time and I am talking to his supervisor. Anyway I am all settled in here at Bagram again and looking to mow through the home stretch. Now onto my trip.
As you can see I posted pictures below. I have so many pictures from this deployment it is crazy. I will try to show as many people once they see me as bandwidth and time do not allow me to post that many while here. So as you can see my crazy driver took us through the sand dunes of the Qatar desert not far from the Saudi Arabia desert. I have never been anywhere so hot in my life. I thought at least 3 times that he was going to roll the SUV. Anyway once we got there we hung out at that one beach location as seen below. The camel was so old but none the less you can see the pictures. The next day I took a trip to a local mall which was by far the nicest I had ever been too(fittingly named the Villagio). The following day I took the city tour. It was there that we went to many shops, a mall, a camel market, and the city itself. See if you are a true Qatar resident born and raised you get money from the government for all of the money they make on oil. Kind of like they have it in Alaska. So while the true local population is very little they are all very rich. Did I mention no taxes either? Then you have all of these immigrants coming to work because there are jobs and money. There were so many Philipino people it was nuts. But good for them. When off base I saw Bentleys, Mercedes, Land Rovers, Corvettes, Mustangs, and a ton of other sweet rides. The landscape was flat, hot, sand, and little grass. Tons of palm trees and basically just like you would imagine a desert area. When my Dad says Pennsylvania is blessed geographically and resourcefully he is exactly right. Hell(no pun intended) we even use to have a little oil ourselves (see first oil well in USA). Anyway most men have 4 wives there and they are dressed from head to toe. Some you can see their faces if the husband lets them go without the veil. I went down to the old area of town and saw the jewelry stores they call souqs. I ended up getting Michelle something but did not want to buy a ton of stuff. Mostly Pakistanis, who speak very good English I might add, pressure you into buying anything and everything. I got a picture there with the hawk which they use for racing and big money game. Horse racing is also huge there. Overall I had a good time and definitely got the rest and relaxation I needed. On the city tour our guide was a Catholic from Sri Lanka who said his ancestors were ‘offered favors’ (probably land and better status) for converting to Catholicism! Ah those Catholics and there ethical ways of getting people to come to Jesus. Exactly how he wanted it too! Anyway he just turned 24 and was a real nice guy. Very informative and I enjoyed talking to him. As you can see in the pictures the city is growing immensely. They are trying to get the summer Olympics in 2016 there. There were more buildings being built than were standing! Apparently Princess Diana and her love hub went there often before her assin I mean death. Well I guess that’s about it. I was not allowed to take pictures of the base as the Qatar government likes to keep the fact that we are there on the down low. Now onto another thought and paragraph just for Lee.
In one of my previous posts I mentioned about drinking three beers a night which were allotted to me. I was reminded that people from various sectors of my life are reading this blog. I do know this, but honestly would not post any different. I know both through personal experience, stories from other people, and teachings at church that alcohol for the most part is not good. I know it can ruin lives, lead to and give into temptation, and be a safety hazard when doing just about anything. But here is the way I look at it. If I as a 25 year old adult cannot control my consumption then what does that say about my self-discipline in general? I think it’s safe to say I got at least one drunk on both sides of the family tree somewhere in there if I go far back enough. So it could end upding me in and for a pure follower of Christ, does not need alcohol for its futile and temporary high or buzz is nothing for only the spiritual high is the best and natural high in this world. But let me say this: After 4 months in a war zone working 6, sometimes 7 days a week, away from family and friends, if 3 beers is what’s going to let me relax and be the worst thing I do then so be it. I have no issues telling anyone that this squared away airman, man, Pittsburgher, PSU alumn, brother, son, etc. can handle it and still conduct a fulfilling and dedicated life with Christ being number one. I know I came on this deployment for a reason but am only beginning to see the results.
I miss all of you and cherish every moment I have ever spent with any of you. I am slightly more liberal and in other ways more conservative after going through a deployment like this. I think I have changed but only for the good. Thank God I have not had to endure what some service members endure down here and that’s if they even return. My outlook on life is so positive now I cannot explain. And yes that does include a few beers every now and again. I will say though that in lieu of Zach’s wedding I am getting tired of missing family and friends stuff back home. I guess it’s the sacrifice for getting to see the world and do a job I absolutely love. But I do not love any of it as much as my friends and family. I miss going to church allot too. I think Michelle is going to benefit most from me being here as well since she is around me the most! Anyway I guess that’s about it for tonight. If you have any questions please ask or email me as I am sure I did not touch on everything that would come to mind given the pictures below. Qatar was nice… for the 5 days I was there. I will take FOMBELL PA 16123 over it any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Goodnight. LETS GO PENS!
As you can see I posted pictures below. I have so many pictures from this deployment it is crazy. I will try to show as many people once they see me as bandwidth and time do not allow me to post that many while here. So as you can see my crazy driver took us through the sand dunes of the Qatar desert not far from the Saudi Arabia desert. I have never been anywhere so hot in my life. I thought at least 3 times that he was going to roll the SUV. Anyway once we got there we hung out at that one beach location as seen below. The camel was so old but none the less you can see the pictures. The next day I took a trip to a local mall which was by far the nicest I had ever been too(fittingly named the Villagio). The following day I took the city tour. It was there that we went to many shops, a mall, a camel market, and the city itself. See if you are a true Qatar resident born and raised you get money from the government for all of the money they make on oil. Kind of like they have it in Alaska. So while the true local population is very little they are all very rich. Did I mention no taxes either? Then you have all of these immigrants coming to work because there are jobs and money. There were so many Philipino people it was nuts. But good for them. When off base I saw Bentleys, Mercedes, Land Rovers, Corvettes, Mustangs, and a ton of other sweet rides. The landscape was flat, hot, sand, and little grass. Tons of palm trees and basically just like you would imagine a desert area. When my Dad says Pennsylvania is blessed geographically and resourcefully he is exactly right. Hell(no pun intended) we even use to have a little oil ourselves (see first oil well in USA). Anyway most men have 4 wives there and they are dressed from head to toe. Some you can see their faces if the husband lets them go without the veil. I went down to the old area of town and saw the jewelry stores they call souqs. I ended up getting Michelle something but did not want to buy a ton of stuff. Mostly Pakistanis, who speak very good English I might add, pressure you into buying anything and everything. I got a picture there with the hawk which they use for racing and big money game. Horse racing is also huge there. Overall I had a good time and definitely got the rest and relaxation I needed. On the city tour our guide was a Catholic from Sri Lanka who said his ancestors were ‘offered favors’ (probably land and better status) for converting to Catholicism! Ah those Catholics and there ethical ways of getting people to come to Jesus. Exactly how he wanted it too! Anyway he just turned 24 and was a real nice guy. Very informative and I enjoyed talking to him. As you can see in the pictures the city is growing immensely. They are trying to get the summer Olympics in 2016 there. There were more buildings being built than were standing! Apparently Princess Diana and her love hub went there often before her assin I mean death. Well I guess that’s about it. I was not allowed to take pictures of the base as the Qatar government likes to keep the fact that we are there on the down low. Now onto another thought and paragraph just for Lee.
In one of my previous posts I mentioned about drinking three beers a night which were allotted to me. I was reminded that people from various sectors of my life are reading this blog. I do know this, but honestly would not post any different. I know both through personal experience, stories from other people, and teachings at church that alcohol for the most part is not good. I know it can ruin lives, lead to and give into temptation, and be a safety hazard when doing just about anything. But here is the way I look at it. If I as a 25 year old adult cannot control my consumption then what does that say about my self-discipline in general? I think it’s safe to say I got at least one drunk on both sides of the family tree somewhere in there if I go far back enough. So it could end upding me in and for a pure follower of Christ, does not need alcohol for its futile and temporary high or buzz is nothing for only the spiritual high is the best and natural high in this world. But let me say this: After 4 months in a war zone working 6, sometimes 7 days a week, away from family and friends, if 3 beers is what’s going to let me relax and be the worst thing I do then so be it. I have no issues telling anyone that this squared away airman, man, Pittsburgher, PSU alumn, brother, son, etc. can handle it and still conduct a fulfilling and dedicated life with Christ being number one. I know I came on this deployment for a reason but am only beginning to see the results.
I miss all of you and cherish every moment I have ever spent with any of you. I am slightly more liberal and in other ways more conservative after going through a deployment like this. I think I have changed but only for the good. Thank God I have not had to endure what some service members endure down here and that’s if they even return. My outlook on life is so positive now I cannot explain. And yes that does include a few beers every now and again. I will say though that in lieu of Zach’s wedding I am getting tired of missing family and friends stuff back home. I guess it’s the sacrifice for getting to see the world and do a job I absolutely love. But I do not love any of it as much as my friends and family. I miss going to church allot too. I think Michelle is going to benefit most from me being here as well since she is around me the most! Anyway I guess that’s about it for tonight. If you have any questions please ask or email me as I am sure I did not touch on everything that would come to mind given the pictures below. Qatar was nice… for the 5 days I was there. I will take FOMBELL PA 16123 over it any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Goodnight. LETS GO PENS!
Monday, June 2, 2008
DAY 128 : 2 JUN 08
OK well I really wanted to write a long post today but I did not get much sleep last night after traveling all day back to Afghanistan and I still have laundry to fold now. I promise a lengthy post tomorrow. I am safe back on Bagram and doing great. I have posted one picture as a teaser to the rest for which I will post tomorrow. Ok have a great day and look for a book tomorrow.
PS: I did not get up for either of the last 2 games and doubt I will tonight. Its so hard and throws my whole day off sleep wise. Plus if they lose I will be even more depressed but none the less LETS GO PENS!!!!
PS: I did not get up for either of the last 2 games and doubt I will tonight. Its so hard and throws my whole day off sleep wise. Plus if they lose I will be even more depressed but none the less LETS GO PENS!!!!
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