Brian Writes

Today was a really good day. Mostly because it’s Saturday and tomorrow I have my 4.5 hour weekend where I don’t have to start work until noon. But I also got out of work and back to my room about 45 minutes early because our late night brief was cancelled. Yippee! So I guess this weekend I have a 5.25 hour weekend. Sweet! On top of all that, when I got into my room, my phone rang and I found I had mail to pick up. Brian wrote me a letter. This makes it official- Brian, who is in the middle of Beast at West Point- has communicated more with me than Dale, who… I guess nothing’s really changed there.

But it was great to get Brian’s letter. He is doing really well. It sounds like he is over the frustration he voiced to Nate over his first phone call that I didn’t inform him that the cadre have a tendency to yell a lot. Really though, if you aren’t going to do any of your own research before something like that, you deserve a surprise or two. I was amazed by how fast it got here. He wrote me his last entry on 26 July and got it in the mail that same day. I picked it up here on the 31 July. It was still 30 July in New York when it arrived here. That’s pretty impressive. It must have been on the first thing smoking. I’m sure he has a slight advantage with his position in NY. He made me chuckle with comments about doing wall sits as people tried reciting knowledge and having the laundry system mess up only the laundry that you really need back- things that I don’t miss at all about West Point!

He made me laugh again with his closing comments. First, “We are wrapping up our 4th week tonight so that is awesome, I’m so close to my laptop, I can almost taste it.” And second, “I can’t wait for Beast to be over. I never thought I would be so excited to see the end of summer.” While his second comment is very fitting, with regards to his first comment, I think Cadets MacArthur and Eisenhower would contend that being a plebe at West Point is now a complete joke.

But I am very proud of him. He really is almost there. I would argue that he has the hardest part of his summer behind him. By now he is catching onto the game. In the letter I sent him I explained that cadre are people too and they don’t like doing stupid things like standing outside 15 minutes before the sun comes up at 0445 just like anyone else.

And Dale, you don’t have to write me a letter, but if you could spare a few minutes to write me an email with what’s going on in your life, it would be great to hear from you. If not, maybe you can get a day or two of vacation while I am home on R&R.

That’s all from my neck of the woods. I hope everyone is well. I love you!

-Mark

Email to Angie

(Dear All,
The below message started as a Facebook message to Angie. It grew too long and Facebook wouldn’t let me type any further so I started to type it up for an email. Then I decided I wanted everyone to know how awesome Angie is and so I brought it over here to the blog. So it’s really an email to Angie, but you can check this one out. When you get a chance, make sure you let Angie know how awesome she is!)

My Baby Dear, My ba baby der!

Hey there beautiful. The one with the pretty eyes and the disarming smile. The soft touch and the warm lips. The huge heart and the brains to boot!

You are the highlight of my day. The love of my life. You are perfect in absolutely every way. I just wanted to let you know that even when I am tired you make me warm and grin on the inside. I could never love anyone else like I love you. My love for you is complete. It is unending. It is overflowing. You are the reason I laugh and the reason I love. Every day I am a better person because you are in my life.

I thank God every day for having you as a part of my life. I am so fortunate and so blessed. Haha. And it just crossed my mind that this note might make you cry. Sorry about that. Know that I love you and that even though I am not physically there, these are the thoughts and prayers that I am sending you now and always. And that with these thoughts and prayers I also imagine myself next to you and wrapping my arms tightly around you and protecting you from everything I can. I know you don’t like it sometimes, but that’s what I do. I’m a protector. I’m like a papa bear. I’m doing it right now.

I hope you have a great weekend at your two celebrations. I will be thinking of you often. Please enjoy yourself a little for me. Have a drink, give someone a hug, make a smart ass remark to your dad, make your mom church pinch you. PS I’m glad you are going to hang out with your peers tonight. That makes me happy. I hope that it’s good to see them and that there are lots of smiles and hugs there too. You guys are all so awesome and so so close to being done. Only 3 more weeks and you start your very last academic semester. I’ve said it before, but I will say it once more. I am so incredibly proud of you Angela Marie. You impress me so regularly it’s incredible. In case you haven’t reflected on it yet, I would like to remind you that you saved a woman’s life yesterday. Your skills and intuition (gut) are developed beyond your years. You have a sense for being a great PT. And while it will take some time, there is no doubt that greatness will absolutely come to you as a PT! And did I mention that you are almost a doctor? You’re almost a doctor! It’s gona be Dr. Angie to me soon.

I love you and I miss you. Can’t wait to talk to you next.
XOXO
Your, Mark

Surprise Phone Call

Yesterday afternoon I received a wonderful surprise phone call from Mark. Man, was it wonderful to hear his voice! He started with "Hey baby, its me!" and oddly enough I had to take a minute to think of who was calling. I'm just not used to phone calls and hearing his voice!

 He has been feeling much better over the last few days and all signs of the previous sickness is gone. His room mates have all moved out as well. One guy Mark was not to fond of since the random stranger moved his bed when he wasn't around from the bottom bunk to the top. So he is happy to be back on the bottom bunk! In addition, he also got to say farewell to the kid who didn't wake up to his alarm clock any time it went off. So he is back to having some peace and quiet in his room when he wants it.

Our conversation was not too long since he had family he wanted to call as well and their phone call time is limited to a half hour due to the limited amount of phones on post. It was plenty of enough time to take a sigh of relief, smile and enjoy hearing his voice, and know that he has high morale and is safe.

Love,
Angie

Getting Better

Just a little update on how Mark is feeling:

On Friday afternoon the MD put Mark on 24 hour rest- basically take it easy and stay home from work. Let his body get some recovery time in. If not for that- Mark works 7 days a week and who knows how long he could have done that with whatever sickness he has. His plan was to sleep a lot and drink a lot of water since the doctor said it was likely dehydration that was causing all the symptoms.

I talked with Mark this morning. The headaches are gone, the stomach aches have subsided, and in general he feels fine. There is one exception though- he still has diarrhea. Lovely, I know. He's been back to the MD today since his symptoms  all haven't subsided and they changed their original diagnosis of dehydration to a gastro-intestinal bug of some sort. Time is the only cure- let his body keep pushing it out of his system. Until then, Mark states that his normal walk to work is exhausting. By the time he gets to work he is so tired- which never bothered him before.

Here's hoping his body lets him bounce back to his 100% soon!

Love
Ang

Sick In Afghanistan

Hello Everyone,
I have been so blessed to hear from Mark on a regular basis. It makes my heart worry a little less. Phone calls are minimal, but we have set up daily chat sessions on Google Talk. I know we won't always be able to talk this much, but we are enjoying our good fortune while it lasts!

Mark came to our chat date a little earlier than normal. He said he had to leave work early because he was feeling pretty sick. He felt cold, felt like he was going to vomit several times, and had a pretty bad headaches. For Mark to be sick takes a lot. For him to feel cold in the middle of the desert takes a lot more!

He's off to bed early tonight and we are hoping he feels better in the morning! I'll be sending some pedia-light and Ibuprofen his way just in case it should happen again.

Love,
Ang

Coldest Day Yet

Dear Friends,

So before I got to Afghanistan I asked myself if one could really even tell a difference between 110 and 105 degrees. Well, let me say with certainty that there is a difference between 110 and 103! That was the high today, the coldest it has been since I got here and boy, was it nice today. I didn’t even sweat waiting in line for dinner- that’s a big step up! It may have also had something to do with the sandstorm. The sun was half blocked as well. Either way, I don't really care. It was a nice day and it did a lot to raise morale! Hope all are well. Talk to you soon.

Love, Mark

Mark's First Post

Hey All,

I hope you are doing well. This is my first post on here. I have finally gotten around to doing it. Angie has done a great job getting this thing set up and moving my emails onto here as posts. I guess we can say this is about par for the course as far as Angie doing the lion's share of the work. Some things don't change. I love you, Babe.

And before I continue let me just say that Angie does it better than I do because I have just wasted five minutes trying to figure out how to get what I wrote in word onto this stupid blog. grrr. Ok. The trick, FYI, is click "Edit Html." Whatever that means. (Ang, thanks for the tip, not.)

My folks sent me an email that include Brian’s first letter home. They scanned it for me. His letter just made me crack up. It sounds like he is doing pretty well. Morale seems high. And I am happy to hear that he is feeling well about sticking it out through the end of Beast. Anybody can do it if it’s something you want to do it. You just have to want it enough to stick through the stupid stuff- standing along walls for hours waiting for pee tests, etc. He’ll be good. And plus, like I discussed with my mom, after I left, West Point got a lot easier.

Alright so I just had an idea to write what I’m sick of and what I’m grateful for. I’ll do this every month or so and see how the list changes throughout the year. This might get fun, this might repeat for 2 or 3 months and I’ll quit. We'll see. So enjoy it while it lasts.

First, things I’m sick of: (and I think some of these might just be opposites of what follows.)
I am sick of sweating, walking outside and getting hit with a wall of hot air, sand (on and in everything, in my eyes, mouth, and lungs when I run), working every day, having to talk to Angie at really retarded times in the morning before work so that it’s night time by her. That’s about it. Not too bad.

Alright I think it’s time for a list of things that I am grateful for in the US that I miss (not family and friends, etc.):
I miss tap water, grass, green, rain, being cold, my car, looking for flights on Orbitz, making phone calls at will, hearing Spanish, checking the refrigerator for food, sleeping in on the weekend, (rephrase- having a day off), Burn Notice (I’m sure Brian is feeling my pain here), wearing some of my favorite cloths (Wisconsin shirt, brewers shirt, etc. (If you want to know the rest just of my favorite cloths, just check out Angie on a Saturday), Water (lake, river, ocean, anything would be nice), and beer.

Things that I like about it here:
-This chicken salad, which is basically like chicken in a deviled-egg-tasting sauce. Yum! (Alright this list is getting hard to write.) Ok. I like that I am able to talk with Angie, Family, and post things on blogs at night. Not everyone who is deployed can do that. I still have my health and my faith and trust in God is complete like it has never been before. (It's pretty awesome, you should try it.) I have my family and those I love are all healthy and safe. I’m gona stop now because that’s really all that matters and I am grateful for all these things.

If you're reading this, I hope all is well with you and I am probably thinking about you regularly. If not, it's probably because you aren't writing me emails or on Facebook and I have forgotten about you. I'm kidding, but I would love to hear from you.

Oh and P.S. This isn't directed at anyone, but please dont get the passenger window on my car broken into. I appreciate little things like that.

P.P.S. I'm not in a mood to edit so I hope nothing was too poorly written.

Take care. I love you all.
Regards, Mark

Water

Living in the desert you naturally need to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated. Mark said when he is indoors not doing much he drinks about six 500 mL bottles. When he is outdoors and running around it is about ten. They cannot drink the tap water in Afghanistan so all the water is brought in on large pallets in big boxes. Today he shared with me the cost of one bottle of water  which averages $2.18. That's $13-$20 of water that he is drinking daily! He doesn't have to pay for any of it, thank goodness. But shipping in water must be a large expense to the military. I wonder how many bottles of water they go through a day on Kandahar Air Field?

Mark continues to be doing well. He enjoyed the first care package I sent him which was filled with an assortment of Red, White, and Blue themed items such as squirt guns, patriotic rice krispy bars, home made pies sealed in canning jars (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry/raspberry and apple). I also included a few memorable stories that I collected at the deployment party. He has gotten a good laugh at the few I sent- so mission accomplished!

Love,
Ang