My Replacement

Well I heard yesterday that I have a replacement. He was tasked short-notice to come here after my original replacement became medically disqualified. This guy is coming from St Louis and he didn't sound excited to be coming here to Balad. He was set to retire next year and was getting ready to ease into retirement. But I've emailed with him and let him know that it's a great way to end a career in the military. It is the center of the military's presence here in Iraq and the position will use every bit of his experience to effectively make contributions. So hopefully, it will be a positive time for him. He is due to be here on the 10th of Sep and my flight out is scheduled for the 12th. So we'll see how the travel arrangements go since many people leave here and spent time in either Qatar, Frankfurt, Shannon Ireland, or Norfolk, or Baltimore before they connect you to flights to your base or city. Some people are spending 22 hours on a plane just to get to the US mainland. So this should be interesting.

Well, everyone here has concerns for the people on the Gulf coast. We are watching the news reports about New Orleans and Gulfport and we can't believe that actually happened. I'm asking that you direct your prayers toward these folks in all of these areas since they really need the power of prayer to help them. Then the reports of the Baghdad protests and subsequent deaths just makes you cringe. I was in Baghdad today and saw the masses in the streets. An unbelieveable amount of people. But I was in some high level US leadership meetings that are great to attend to but no cameras were allowed, unless you were the official press corp. But it was something to remember. That is that.