Job change- Platoon Leader

Hello All,

Mark sent an e-mail a few days ago.

Hey Guys,

I hope you are doing well. I've got some good news! I am going to be taking a platoon here in just a short while. I will be going to the 170th Military Police Company, our company out of Fort Lewis. At first I was a little upset because one of my buddies outranks me by a few months and he needs a platoon too. And so while I don't agree with the decision, he was pegged for another assignment (not a platoon). After a day of some prayer and focus, I have accepted the decision and I am now very grateful for the incredible opportunity to lead some great American Soldiers in combat. It is a huge honor and I cannot wait to lead them to the end of our deployment and back home. I am well prepared to take this platoon, I am excited that the platoon sergeant that I will be working with is another really good leader and will have a lot to teach me and take good care of me. Please wish me luck. Talk to you all soon.

Love, Mark

His job has changed (yes again), and he will likely have this job for the remainder of the deployment. He will now be the Platoon Leader for the 170th MP company. It is another company stationed within the city of Kandahar. He will be working in an area known as the Provincial Reserve. I don't know much about the area and Mark has not been able to share much with me about it. From what I understand, Mark will be mentoring the commander of the Afghan National Police station in this particular part of Kandahar. In addition to mentoring the commander, Mark will be overseeing and taking care of 40(ish) American soldiers that make up the 170th.

The battalion attempts to send out a newsletter regularly. The last one I received was in November. With that being said each company writes an update about what they have been doing. The 170th's November update highlighted this:

Local villagers stated that they were happy and grateful for the presence of U.S. Soldiers of the 170th. Primarily, due to the fact that they were unable to maintain their crops based on the overwhelming Taliban forces threatening their families. The presence of the 170th provided security and safety for the Local Nationals to conduct normal, daily routines without the constant fear and threat of the Taliban, which greatly improved their way of life.

I hope and pray that Mark and the men and women he will be leading of the 170th can continue to make a difference in the Afghan peoples lives. And that they continue to help make the Afghan National Police self sufficient and successful at protecting their own country.

Being a platoon leader has been a dream job of Mark's since 8th grade. He has always wanted to lead soldiers. That has been the answer I have gotten every time I asked over the last 7 years why he joined the military and went to West Point. I am glad he has finally getting his turn to lead soldiers and I know that he will do an amazing job. In the meantime, Mark and I will be adjusting to a new communication schedule. I know he will have longer and busier days ahead of him and will communicate back home when he can. We are hoping for at least an e-mail once a week. Fingers crossed. As always, please keep him in your prayers as he makes this transition into a new job.

With love,

Angie

15 Days of complete bliss

Why do all good things have to come to an end? Sadly, Mark's R&R time back in the states is over. Neither of us really had words to even describe the feelings and emotions of how wonderful it was because there really are no words to describe it. It was just perfect.

Mark's flight in to Milwaukee on the 2nd couldn't have gone any smoother. Both our parents drove down to the airport with me and as a big group we went out for dinner at a wonderful Italian Restaurant in Milwaukee. After that, the parents headed back to Sheboygan and Mark and I off to Waukesha. There, I had 3.5 days of classes and Mark and I were living in a nearby hotel for the few days. The first couple days were rough on him- sleeping wise. He definitely had some jet lag which really didn't fully resolve until Friday night. While in Waukesha, however, he did have the chance to meet up with the 3rd graders writing to him from Brown Deer. He loved every minute of the visit and brought in some Afghan money for the kids to see.

On Thursday afternoon, Mark and I met with my brother, Steve, for lunch in Milwaukee since my brother was in town on a job interview. It was nice to be able to see him and we enjoyed the bit of time together. After lunch, Mark and I made our way back home to Sheboygan for "Christmas" after picking up Mark's oldest brother Nate, and his wife and child (Lindsay and Riley) from the airport. Mark's second oldest brother, Dale, and his girl friend Sarah also arrived into Sheboygan later that evening. Almost everyone was home for the holiday- but Mark's youngest brother, Brian, couldn't get away from West Point. If any one understands that, though, it is Mark. Brian was definitely in our thoughts throughout the weekend. We exchanged presents, had a big holiday meal, and just enjoyed the weekend together with everyone home. It was a full house to say the least, but it was wonderful! So great to have all of the family around.

Saturday afternoon we snuck away some time to the beach where it was FREEZING, but we both were having Lake Michigan withdrawal and wanted to snap a few photos in hopes of getting a good one for the house. I think we were pretty successful!

Later that day we headed over to my parents house for Christmas there as well. Dinner, gift exchanges, and in the evening GAME NIGHT with both Kloibers and Lambs (which always brings lots of laughs).

On Sunday, we went to church, enjoyed the Packer game, and that evening caught a flight back to WA. We made it home to Yelm and it sure did feel awesome to have both each other and all our belongings in one house! That has been a long awaited dream between Mark and I. In June we will finally get the even LONGER awaited dream of finally being able to live together in the same house for longer than 1.5 months together. We enjoyed our time together out here. Mark was a great cooking helper and he definitely got some good food while he was home. He also got his fix of seeing rain, rain, and more rain! Something that in the beginning of the week he was super happy to see, but by the end of the week he was happy to see the sun peak its head out for a few hours.

Last Tuesday, I also had a job interview with Apple Physical Therapy. It is a privately owned outpatient orthopedic clinic in WA with roughly 22 locations- their newest opening up this summer in Yelm! It was wonderful to come home and share the excitement with Mark that the interview went well- extremely LONG (9:30 AM-4PM ), but well. I received a phone call back the following day from the CEO and it sounded like if I could start tomorrow I would have a job- no problem at any clinic they had openings at. However, since I can't start until after May when I take my boards exam- the CEO and I will be in contact monthly and see what locations are available as graduation approaches. It is definitely a wonderful situation to be in and I was so glad I got to share my excitement with Mark first hand.

We also took a little mini vacation to a rented cabin/house near Mt. Rainier National Park in hopes of being able to doing some snowshoeing. The cabin was absolutely beautiful and so peaceful, but sadly the avalanche risk was a bit too high for the National Park to even open up the road up to the Mt. Rainier snow shoe area. So, unfortunately we didn't get in the hiking/snowshoeing that we were hoping for. However, it was a beautiful cabin, and we got to just spend some quality time together away from all distractions.

We met up with friends to watch the Packer game and had them over earlier in the week for a dinner date. Both were very fun and it was great to introduce Mark to the one of two friends that I have out here in WA. They got along great and Mark said he is looking forward to getting to spend some of the time this summer with them. I can't wait! On Sunday we got to go to our new church together- Unity of Olympia and I am very grateful to have a Unity church nearby. We also got to take part in something called Operation Love or "Op Love." Basically, it is a loosely formed group of photographers nationwide that donate their time and twenty five 4x6 prints put into a little album for free to deployed military families. Our photographer, Jeffery Ott, took our photos on Sunday. He was absolutely wonderful to work with and took some fabulous photos of us. The album will get sent to Mark in Afghanistan.

Then of course, Monday had to come. The day was very bittersweet. It was a wonderful last day together, but we both knew at 8pm that night we would have to make the drive back to the airport and say a tearful goodbye again.

The countdown is back on until June when he gets home for good and this goodbye was just another one of those milestones that had to be completed until he can be home for good. The time together couldn't have been any more perfect, but then again maybe its because I couldn't have a more perfect husband to share my life with.

Love,

Angie

R&R time has finally arrived!

He's HOME!!!!! We made it to R&R (Mark's 2 weeks of leave from Afghanistan). It's been 197 days since we have last been in each others arms and it feels awesome! We have both been on cloud nine since he arrived in Milwaukee this morning at 10:30AM. As you read this, you may ask why on Earth I'm writing a blog--- but I had to do something while he is catching up on some sleep. He had a long trip.

First Embrace and Kiss

He started his journey from Kandahar airfield on the 31st, flew to Kuwait, then to Shannon Ireland, onto GA this morning, and into Milwaukee. The journey took 50 hours- but he said it was all worth it. I was expecting him to be pretty stinky when he got in, but he actually wasn't too bad. He said he found some showers at the base in Kuwait which he thinks definitely helped.

Both of our families were at the airport for the reuniting. We weren't expecting him in until 2:20 today, but I was woken up this morning at 7:22 to a phone call from Marky saying he was getting on a plane home to MKE from Atlanta. From that moment, I was busy trying to get a hold of Mark's parents (who were already at the airport early that morning to drop Brian off for his flight back to West Point). Unfortunately, they didn't hear their cell phone ring the several times I tried and got the news back in Sheboygan. Which means they made the hour drive back and forth from the airport back to back. Luckily I caught my parents before they went to church. I was grateful I didn't have to find them in the middle of mass to get them to the airport with me. Halfway down to Milwaukee we got a phone call from Mark saying their plane was going to be an hour delayed in its arrival due to some problems with the plane. It took the time crunch off and we had a more leisurely drive to the airport.

Us with the sign I had made

After he arrived in there were hugs, kisses, tears, and photos. I don't know how many times I uttered to Mark when he arrived that "I don't think it has hit me yet that you are really here and home." We then went to Buca di Beppos with the families for some lunch. There, sadly, the waitress accidentally dropped 2 LARGE glasses of ice water on Tom, Mark's dad. It was like it happened in slow motion and all the waitress could say was "I'm so sorry, I have no idea how that happened." Meanwhile- the rest of us just had to hold back our smirks and laughs. We ate a wonderful lunch, enjoyed catching up, and then Mark and I were on our way to Waukesha while our parents headed back to Sheboygan.

On the way to Waukesha, we had to stop at Zales so I could get my wedding band inspected for its annual 6 month check and Mark decided he wanted to stay in the car. When I got back he had a surprise for me. A card that he wrote that was absolutely wonderful. It was then that the waterworks turned on full force and I said to him "Ok-- its hit me- you really are home!" It was a wonderful moment.

We will now have 15 days together. It will be absolutely wonderful I"m sure. Until Thursday we will be in Waukesha (I have a 3.5 day class at Carroll). Mark is hoping to stop in and see Ms. B's 3rd grade class in uniform in Brown Deer over this time and to catch up on some much needed sleep. Thursday afternoon we are picking up Mark's brother Nate, his wife Lindsay, and Mark's 2.5 year old niece Riley from the airport and will be driving back to Sheboygan for a wonderful family weekend together. We have some more Christmas to celebrate- but are mainly looking forward to some family time together. On the 9th Mark and I will be flying out to our house in WA and we will see if we can fit in some skiing and snow shoeing.

Thats all for the update! Its been a wonderful day--- the best day I've had since summer and it feels great to get hugs and kisses again from the wonderful man I am so fortunate to call my husband.

Love

Angie