LIfe is good.

I finally finished most of the projects here at Bagram and I am ready to get down range and start construction on some new projects. The only project left here is to build a rack for the server computers to sit on so they not taking up as much space in the office. I was just informed that I am going to be going down range to start construction on 4 buildings. Two of the buildings for living space and the other two for office space.

Today's project was to build a loft storage over the S-6 (COMMO) shop. The old Russian buildings have 12-14 foot ceilings and so they wanted to be able to store the boxes and cases of things out of the way. Well what better way than to be able to put it up over your head. So I built a loft 7 feet off the ground and that left 6 foot 5 inches of space on the lower level. And 5 foot of storage on the top level. I was told that it would probably take me 6 days. When I said one and a half to two days is all I needed, they laughed. I guess I too was misestimating, it took me less than one day. I also, since I had time, reset a door that was not plumb and thus rubbed the tile floor after it was opened half way.

It is amazing how fast things get done when I am not micro managed and supervised into submission. It looks like the talk with the Colonel paid off. I have noticed that things are going much smoother now that I am left to do things at my pace as long as I meet the dead lines given.

I am looking forward to constructing these buildings that need to be built. It is a good way to pass the time and leave something for the next unit once they get here to replace us. I am also looking forward to going home for a few weeks in September. It is the end of racing season and it would be great if I could get a few races in before the season ends. I want to drive my MX-5 and see if I still have what it takes to kick some butt on the track. My friend Adam has the car and he has placed 1st in every race he entered with my car. I can only hope to do as well once I get to race my car again.

Having dinner with the Governor

We were visited by five Governors from the home, Governor Rick Perry from Texas and Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota were among them. I was able to shake hands with both of them and thank them for coming. It was a great experience to say the least. I will admit I was taken aback by an article I was handed yesterday by one of the CPT’s that I work with. The article was about Governor Pawlenty. It wrote about how he had out smarted his Democrat controlled state House and Senate, and cut the budget despite the fact that the bills that were sent him to sign were the typical Liberal “Tax the small business and spend on the lazy.” He did not just reduce the rate of growth, but, actually decrease the spending in relation to the previous budget. I have gained a new found respect for at least one politician.

Anyway, it seems that the Alamo Forward was a big hit. I was approached by my Colonel and he said he has received hundreds of compliments on the building and how nicely it turned out. I have been asked by a few other Commanders to build some projects for them as well. It looks like I am going to be busy for a long time to come.

It was nice to see and hear our governor. He gave a short speech and then had dinner with us. Of course the dinner was a Texas Style gathering. We had steak and chicken with all kinds of sides to go along. It turned out really nice. The event was only supposed to last about 2 hours but it ran close to 4 before it was finally over. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

The Alamo (Fwd) is almost finished

It is now the final day of the project. I will have to have it done by tomorrow morning. It is starting to look GREAT and I am happy and sad at the same time. It is kind of like seeing your kid go off to college. You are glad he is gone but you miss him. I finally got the electrical part of it set up. It is not up to code as of yet, but, it will be once my breaker panel arrives. I had a friend of mine pick me up an outdoor panel from home and mail it to me. For now, the entire system is running on an extension cord or two. I still have to hook up the wall outlets and the light in the storage room. Once that is done, I am going to put in the insulation and put on the outside walls and that will be the end of the project.

The Facade is done. The "T" patch, which is what we ware on our shoulder to identify what unit we are with, is made of 3/4 inch ply wood with the actually "T" being cut out of 1/2 inch ply wood and secured to the background. And the letters are cut out of 1/2 inch ply wood and individually secured to the silhouette with finishing nails.


I am looking forward to starting the next project. It appears that I am going to be going down range to build an office for one of the teams that is currently living in tents and have no place to do their work. It is a newly established Forward Operating Base (FOB).

Of course, this one will not be anything more than an office building so it is going to be pretty straight forward. 4 outer walls, a few inner walls and a hallway. Hope fully it is not going to interfere with my leave dates. I hope to be done with it before I get to go home on leave. I would hate to leave it half finished and have to return to it a month later. But, sometimes that is just how it has to be.

The sad thing is, that once I get back from leave, I will have only a few weeks to go, before the deployment ends all together. I still have not decided if I want to stay and help the next unit with their transition or if I am just going to go home with my unit and retire. It is another tough choice, since I have been in the military for almost 22 years now and have grown to like it. Retired, WOW, damn, I am getting old. Never thought that would happen. Honestly never really thought I would live long enough to say, "I am retired." Kind of scary.

Well, another day down

Today was an interesting day, to say the least. I have been having some issues with the BN XO. He treats us all like little children. He likes to micro manage every second of every ones day. I finally got fed up with it and blew up. I managed to control myself enough to not say anything wrong or disrespectful, but, I did later go to the Colonel and told him I was no longer enjoying my time here and am losing my motivation to work hard. I explained to him how I was feeling and why and he said he would take care of it. I also explained to him that I function best when left alone to my own devices. I explained to him that if he wants things done, just let me know what he wants done and step back so as to not get hurt as the tornado around me starts to form. He laughed and agreed with what I was saying. He has seen me in action and he did mention that I seemed to be losing a step here and there lately. Now he understands why. It seems that I am not the only one that has complained to him about the XO and his condescending attitude.

I was tasked with another project yesterday and I just finished it. I was tasked with building some picnic tables. I built 8 new picnic tables and fixed the 4 that were already there. The ones that were already there, are in bad shape, but, will do for now. Unfortunately, the wood is not treated and there is no way of getting any sealant for the wood so the sun and the rain just destroy white pine rather quickly. I am going to have to try to get some sort of wood sealant here from home before long. I was told that since it is considered hazardous material, it cannot be mailed and the military does not ship it either. I will think of something. Maybe I can bring it with me in checked baggage or something. Not sure yet.

The tables turned out great. I have received may complements from people that have seen them. Now everyone wants one for their area as well. I was just talking to some people and was wondering if I could maybe build some for sale and take the money and put it into the units MWR fund for when we get home. I have not yet gotten an answer as to whether or not it is legal. I do not want to go to jail or anything like that. I know I can get over $200 a table since it costs around $650 to get one built by the local contractor. I think we have spoiled the locals here with all the money that is being spread around, mostly because lumber is not cheap here. It is rather difficult to come by. Even on post it is now difficult to get. The lumber yard here is not empty. They have not received a lumber shipment in a long time. Usually they get a few truck loads a day.

I am really looking forward to getting to the states. If all goes well I will get to participate in a couple of Autocross events while I am home. That would really be great. It seems that my buddy has been kicking some butt with my car. He has consistantly placed 1st in his category every time he races. So I am looking forward to doing the same.

A new life joins the fray

While I was working on the Alamo Forward. I was surprised to see a little bird at my feet. It looked too tired to fly and so it tried to hop away. I can only figure that it was worn out from the flight it just took and did not know what to do, when I tried to pick it up. I finally managed to catch it and proceeded to the picnic table to let it rest and calm down. After a few minutes it started to calm down and I tried to give it some water. I would dip my pinky into the water and hold it over the little birds head. It, at first, did not move. I then put the dangling drop of water directly onto its beak and it gobbled it right up. So I did it again and again. After a few times, it started to reach up and get the drop of water right off of my pinky, as I was holding it over its little head. Then, out of nowhere, the mother bird came and sat on a branch directly over my arm. She was making a heck of a racket chirping and fluttering her wings and then PLOP. A large drop of POOP landed right on the back of my hand, in which I was holding the baby bird. I poured some water on it to clean it off and just kept feeding the baby more water, so the mother kept screaming at me. Then out of the blue, the baby started to chirp. The mother quit and moved up a few branches and just watched. It was the coolest thing. I was surrounded by a group of birds, just watching and on occasion chirping and getting a chirp in return from the little baby. After the baby was done drinking water, it just flew up onto one of the lower branches of the tree next to us and moved up the tree a few branches at a time and rejoined the rest of the birds that were up there. It made my day. I was really surprised how the rest of the birds interacted with what was going on. It was a real eye opener. Then I went back to the project I was working on, to complete the Alamo Forward. I will have it done by the 20th of the month. Or, at least, that is what I was told. Only time will tell.

As though there was not enough to do already

I decided to start school while I still had a chance. I know, you are saying, "Hell Sandor, when are you going to have time to do all this homework with your busy schedule and write to the blog and still get all the projects on the list, done?" Well, the only answer I can think of is that there are at least 3 hours left at night that are not really spoken for. I have been sleeping around 5 1/2 hours a night when I truly only need 2 to 2 1/2 hours to be functional so that is how it is going to fit into my routine. I only have school on Tuesday and Thursday nights for now. I am thinking of starting a second class that is on Monday and Wednesday nights too. I am not sure if I can handle that one right now. I will say this though. I am having a blast and the time is flying by like a jet at full throttle with the after burners.

I have now been cut off by the Class IV yard. Well, actually, truth be told, we all were cut off. It seems that they are having problems getting the supplies in fast enough to keep up with the demand. It looks like my building projects have motivated a few other units to start building and now there are new things popping up all over the post and the class IV yard was not able to keep up with the demand. They are now limiting the materials to outlying posts that are being formed to make room for the "Surge" that is not a "Surge." I did talk to my contact at the Class IV yard and he gave me a list of things that I can order and not have too many hurdles to go through to get. Those are things that they have plenty of on hand. Luckily, it includes most of the things that I need to finish the next 3 projects before I go down range to build an office for the unit that requested my assistance.