Vince Vaughn

I believe the computer problems are fixed. The internet here is running very well now and everything looks to be back to normal. It has been 4 days since I wrote on this blog but it seems like yesterday. Time is flying by and things are getting done over here. We've had some great successes with using our awesome military power over the past few days and if you saw Fox News sometime on weds you might have seen some video of an attack that we did with our Predator. It clearly shows some guys carrying mortar tubes and setting up and shooting at our base. They got some shots off before we took care of them. They got exactly what they deserved.

The actor Vince Vaughn is here for a day or so. The picture today is the setup staged photograph session he would allow. I thought it was kind of odd that he dictated how the meet and greet would go. I was like he was afraid of things around here. Nice guy though. We talked alot before and after the photo thing but he is here for the premiere of his latest movie "The Wedding Crashers". But I don't know why he would not let people take photos when he was just standing around. Before the show, the General and I were up on our roof top talking and having a cigar when Vince pops up and sits down and just shoots the bull with us. Nice enough guy though, very tall. He’s just weird on the photos. Oh well.

My replacement saga continues. First off, the last word I got was that he was gonna be here on the 10th of Sept. Then on Fri, 2 Sep, he emails me and says that he can't make the 10th but that he was trying to push his report back to the 26th to take care of things. I immediately sent an email to the people in the know about replacements, and I asked them if they knew anything about the extension of my replacement. So with the 4 day weekend back in the US, I thought when everyone returned to work on Tues the 6th, someone should have replied back to me by now, but nope. So my flight that is scheduled to leave on the 12th probably will not happen. In fact, it was funny...kinda, yesterday, the 7th, I show up at work and there is a travel itinerary on my desk to leave with all of my buddies that night. I can't leave without doing a face to face in brief with my replacement with all of the things going on here. So I told them to push it back while I try and figure out what is going on with the swap out. But it was tough to see all of my buddies leave. It was a big tease. I kept the piece of paper just in case I just wanted to stow away later in the night. It was odd seeing most of the people I've worked here leave. To see them just go into the night is strangely uncomfortable. It's like you've become great friends with everyone because all we do is work and then you wake up the next morning and they are gone. We've spent all this time together, thru the good results of our hard work and thru the bad results of insurgent successes. We laughed at all hours of the day and night, and even saw complete terror in these faces; they probably even saw it in mine. But I am very happy to see them go away from this war zone. They all did tremendous work and I know that they will never forget their time at Balad AB. I'm sure I'll stay in touch with some of them for a long time. And as I was talking with the General last night, he said that it was tough to see his friends leave. He will watch 3 of these rotations before he gets to leave. He's here for a year. The new people bring that new energy and enthusiasm we all had when we arrived. They are already running with the ball here. There is no let up and I can tell my energy is not what these guys have right now, I'm tired and need a break, but I have 3 more weeks, tops. That is that.