Appreciation for My Family...

Good Evening,

I just want to write a quick note to recognize the devotion and support that Karen and Karis has shown me over this last year. It has been a long year and this deployment was especially tough on us. Over the last 8 years, we have had to live with the shadow of the military hovering over our family just waiting to pull me out of my life. I have been gone a lot over those 8 years and it has been harder on Karen and Karis than it has been on me.

Karen, has kept the home front going and has ensured that my abscence had as little adverse impact on Karis as possible. Karen has recently accepted a position of an English/Literature teacher for our local Jr. High School. As a result, she has had to give up her Kindermusik business and she will have to stop teaching piano lessons. These have been tough decisions for her to make. The one constant in our household has always been filled with music and filled with children coming in and out. I have enjoyed that very much. The music will be less prominent in our home, however, we will have Karis to make sweet music on the piano and the violin. So, I want to recognize my wife and my daughter for putting up with this lifestyle that I have devoted myself to. I have always had two families, my wife and daughter and the other my brothers and sisters in arms. I have treasured the memories of my military life and I praise the Lord for the opportunities that the Army has provided me. But I think the time has come for me to step aside.

I am looking at retirement within the year that I return. I will be eligible for promotion to Lt. Colonel in 2011, but if I accept that position, I would be obligated to 3 more years. I just don't think that I have that in me. The rank of Lt. Colonel is very difficult to achieve as we only have one slot available for it and I am the next in line to receive it, but I think Mike Roscoe would be a better candidate for that position as he still has 10 years of service left. So, I am hopeful that he will get promoted and carry our rather young profession forward. He is an awesome representative for the Physician Assistant profession and we will all be proud to have him as the senior PA in the State of Indiana.

I look forward to returning home and setting new goals. I am also excited to be able to spend time with Karis as I have not been able to spend as much time with her as I would have liked. She is growing up so fast. I don't want to miss anymore of her youth.

So, tonight I want to thank Karen and Karis for hanging in there and for supporting me through this deployment and for enduring the last 8 years. It takes a special person to be a part of a military family.

Well, I pray that you are all well.

God Bless

Jeff

Adjusting to Home...

Good Evening,
I hope you are all well. Well, we are in the process of finishing up our mission here. We are all packing our personal goods and preparing them to be shipped back to the states. We are mostly going to mail our personal goods back ourselves through the mail system as if we have the Army ship our goods back we will not receive them for up to three months. I don’t think my Tupperware full of tuna salad would taste too well after being in a shipping container for that long.

Tonight, I wanted to talk a little bit about the transition back home. A couple of family members wrote and asked about what they should expect when their loved one returns home.
The reuniting of the family after a deployment is always exciting but it is also stressful. The truth is that major adjustments have to be made once a soldier returns to his/her family. While your husband or wife was deployed you have had to adjust your day to day activities to compensate for those things that were to be left undone by your spouse’s absence. Frankly, you have developed your own routine and have been doing very well by yourself because you had to. When your spouse returns you may feel that he or she is now stepping into your space. You may feel crowded and feel that your routine is being disrupted. This is normal. Believe me your returning spouse will feel a little left out as he/she has not been into your routine for over a year and so that will be a huge adjustment as well.

Went I went home for leave, I felt a little in the way, as Karen and Karis had their own routine and they had activities that were scheduled. I was like a third wheel and this may sound strange but I felt more comfortable being back here with my friends.

Now, this feeling is the real truth when soldiers deploy. We spend a great amount of time with each other and we develop an incredibly close bond. Once we are pulled from this environment and put back into the normal world of civilian life, the adjustment becomes very difficult. There is a de-programming process that will take place and this process can be stressful.

Some advice I would give for you to help the process are to make sure that you allow your returning spouse a little time to reacclimatize. Don’t plan any big trips or rush around to see relatives right away. This is a mistake as a returning soldier simply wants to take a break and mentally prepare for his/her return to civilian life.

Unfortunately, mental health issues are very common among returning soldiers. The sad fact is that 1/3 of all suicides among soldiers are done within the first three months of a person return from a deployment. Another unfortunate truth is that a soldier returning from a deployment is 3 times more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident within the first three months of returning from deployment.

Why does this happen. The suicide rate is disturbing and the etiology of this phenomenon is certainly mulit-factoral, yet a few reasons can be identified.

Firstly, every soldiers experience in Iraq and Afghanistan is unique and so trying to identify one reason for increased suicide rate upon returning home is difficult. But there are some commonalities that we can look at. When in a war zone, especially for those who are on combat missions, a bond between friends becomes unbreakable. So, when a buddy loses his/her life the resulting emotional effect is devastating to those who served with him/her. While deployed, soldiers find ways to cope with these tragedies as they are all going through the experience together. A soldier feels like he has a purpose, he feels needed, he feels like he’s important to his friends.Once a soldier returns home, suddenly he doesn’t feel as integrated into his civilian life as he was in his military life. He feels alone and empty and even though he has family around him who loves him, he still feels alone. It may not make sense to you now but please try to understand the emotional pressures of coming from this environment back to the quiet peaceful life of home.

I would encourage any spouse to be aware of the emotional needs of your loved ones. Allow him/her some time to decompress and be ready to talk when he/she is ready to talk. It will take some time for the both of you to readjust to this reintegration. But if you give it time and have some patience your life will find its flow again.

The driving aspect of returning to home is interesting. Many of our soldiers spend a great deal of time driving and going place to place in a convoy. These convoys are extremely dangerous. It is rare that a convoy completes its mission without at least taking fire and all too often they are hit by mortars, rockets, and roadside bombs. Soldiers have to drive very aggressively here. If a vehicle is slowing down or even stops in front of their vehicle they are instructed to run that vehicle off the road. The enemy uses car bombs with great effectiveness. Soldiers become incredibly paranoid and jumpy at anything that looks even a little unusual. A paper bag lying on the side of the road can be concealing an explosive device. So when a soldier, returns home he has a great adjustment in re-learning how to drive defensively and safely again. A soldier’s returning to the road tends to swerve from one lane to another without provocation if he perceives that something just doesn’t seem right. Of course, you may see nothing of concern but to a soldier, a car parked improperly is a matter of great concern. So, you may do well to encourage your spouse to let you drive for a while when you return home until he gets used to the rules of the road again.

Another problem that you may face is something that Claire talked about in her letter to us. Often times when a spouse returns from theater, he has a difficult time with intimacy. I don’t simply mean sexually, but intimacy in the sense of sharing important feelings. I think that soldiers learn to suppress their feelings of fear and doubt. I think they think that these feelings betray them on some level and so they don’t allow them in. You will most certainly have times when you will want to sit and have an intimate discussion with him. Be patient. Be quick to listen and slow to interrupt. Sometimes your attentive ear will allow him to open up without fear of judgment.

Finally, I want to address the topic of depression. I am not sure that a person can come back from the mess of any war and not have some mental health deficits. Depression is a common problem among the entire population of the U.S. But the problem is even more acute among those who have returned from deployment.

Depression is not always easy to diagnose, however, there are few signs that you can look for that might aid you in understanding your spouse’s emotional status. Depression can be characterized by: Lack of sleep or sleeping too much, increase or decrease appetite, anhedonia or lack of interest in doing anything, spending an unusual amount of time alone, and/or lack of personal hygiene. These are only a few of the symptoms. The truth is that you know your spouse better than anyone and you would be the one person who would notice these changes regardless of how slight they maybe. When you spouse returns, I would encourage you to encourage him/her to enroll in one of the local Veteran’s Administration Hospitals and obtain an initial screening. Even if your spouse feels that nothing is wrong, it is still important to receive an evaluation. Often times mental health issues don’t present until later. An initial screening would provide a base line that can be used for comparison for later evaluations if needed.

To conclude, I would like to thank you for the love you have shown your loved one while he/she was deployed. It is true that when a soldier deploys, his/her family deploys with them. Deployment affects the entire family. It is my prayer that when your loved one returns home that your transition will be smooth. If there are any problems please be quick to seek help. Also, contact your Family Readiness Group and start a relationship with other family members who have experienced the same journey that you have just finished.

You are all loved so much by those of us who have had to go forward and we all understand that you are the true foundation in which we stand. Thank you for your love and for your support.

God Bless You All,

Jeff

Mass Casualty and 65th Annversary of D-Day

Good Evening,

I want to update everyone on what has been going on. Yesterday we had a post wide mass casualty drill. My job was to go out to the triage area out at the gate where patients were being brought in from off post. I was an evaluator for our EMS (ambulance) services. The role that EMS has in a mass casualty is to coordinate and mobilize injured patients to the next higher echelon of care. As you can imagine when an incident occurs and there are dozens of injuries, the basic triage of the injured and the timely transport of each patient to the hospital is essential.

So, we set up a large triage area and I evaluated the appropriateness of how patients were categorized. Obviously the more seriously injured (immediate) are stabilized and have priority of care. The more stable patients are categorized as delayed or minimal. These patients can actually be diverted to another facility for care so as to not burden our ER. We also have patients that are categorized as Expectant. These are patient’s who may still be living, but will have little chance of surviving even with immediate care. Unfortunately, these patients are left mostly unattended while patients who have a chance to make it can receive necessary care.

Our post wide exercise went well. We had good coordination with the Air Force medical team and our ambulance section was very efficient. By the time, our EMS arrived on scene, they had patients triaged and had the first load of injured on there way to the hospital in 12 minutes.
We had some problems with our medics losing focus on what injuries were essential to treat at the scene and what injuries could be left for the hospital staff to address. It is easy to want to start treating an open wound that has been bleeding profusely but if we forget to focus on establishing a good airway for that patient then it really won’t matter what we do to the open wound, the patient will not have a good outcome.

But overall our guys did well. We certainly could have done a little better job at coordinating the location of where the injured were being sent. The immediate all went to the ER, but we had about 18-20 injured soldiers who were sent to the Phipp’s TMC and they were unaware of these patients coming in. So, as you can imagine, they were jumping through hoops to accommodate this influx of patients. Travis handled that area for us and he was able to move them through fairly quickly.

During the exercise, we were notified that a young boy about 8 years old was coming in from one of the local villages. He was working on a cement mixer. He was on a platform pouring sand into the mixer when he fell and landed on the edge of some concrete blocks. He had a large laceration over his lumbar spine and he had no feeling from his waist down. We stopped our exercise and pushed him forward immediately. As we took that boy from the back of the ambulance and transported him inside, my heart ached. I simply cannot imagine my child living in a world where she is not allowed to go to school but instead sent out at such a young age to work in the blazing hot sun doing work that most adults in America wouldn’t do. I have really learned to appreciate the life that the Lord has given to us in the United States. At some point, we have to use our blessings to help others out of this type of life.

Anyway, the day ended with word that one of our Air Force guys was hit with a roadside bomb. The hospital worked on him for five hours and used every unit of blood that we had but it wasn’t enough. Just another tragic outcome to this senseless conflict.

As I returned to my room last night, I was thinking about this young man and the price he paid. I have to wonder what we are doing wrong. We pride ourselves as a society that we are enlightened and that we have matured, yet we still cannot manage to deal with disagreement without sending our young people to go forth into war and to give their lives. Is this really the best we can do? I don’t care what religious faith a nation believes in or what political differences we have, is war still the only way to handle our differences? I would like to think we are better than that. I pray for peace.

Today, is the 65th anniversary of D-Day. I am still amazed at what those who hit those beaches at Normady did. They showed incredible bravery and resolve to keep moving forward under such circumstances. I have such admiration for those who sacrificed so much.

Anyway, the clinic is running well and our medics are doing great. I realize the very special group of kids that these soldiers are and I am very aware of the incredible memories that I will have as a result of this experience. It is amazing that the Lord has provided a 43 year old man to have such an adventure.

By the way, most of you guys know Leslie and Mary. They are our state’s medical coordinators and they are awesome. Well, Leslie will be deployed to here and will relieve us as we pull out of country. It was really nice to hear from them. The friendship that I have with them has been an amazing blessing for me. Mary’s daughter is still in high school and her husband is getting ready to be deployed, so I pray that she can avoid a deployment for another year.

Leslie will be deploying with John, her boyfriend, and so that will make their time much more tolerable. I am excited about seeing them both very soon.

Well, I again want to thank everyone for checking in and for your encouragement. May the Lord bless and keep you all safe. Please take time to pray for others and discover the amazing blessings that the Lord will bestow when you lift others up in prayer.

God bless,

Jeff

Requested Relationship Advice...

Good Evening My Friends,
Well tonight will be a more unusual blog as I will address a readers question that was asked of me earlier in the week. But before I do that I would like to talk about another topic of discussion that will surely be the talk of the upcoming news cycle.

Today, Wichita, Kansas physician George Tiller was shot to death as he entered his church this morning. Dr. Tiller has been known over the years as one of the few physicians who still performed late-term abortions. His clinic has been the site of many protests over the years. Well, today someone took it upon himself to end this man’s life. My input on this issue is this. I hate abortion. I don’t hate much in this world but abortion is an absolute abhorrent act. I wish nothing more than to see this practice stopped. However, what is equally appalling is for an individual to take another person’s life, period. As Christian’s we have very deeply held beliefs and we honor these beliefs by submitting ourselves to Lord and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
At no time, does the Holy Spirit guide us to murder. We must face the increasing degradation of our society with prayer and submission to Christ, not with violence and hatred. We have tried that in some of our more shameful past acts and it simply doesn’t work and it is not the direction in which the Lord has led us. I pray for this physician’s soul as he had obviously not repented for his sinful behavior. I also pray for the misguided soul who took this man’s life. We are better than this non-sense and I pray for Godly intervention to the entire abortion issue.

Now, on to other things. I have been incredibly blessed with this blog. I have a fairly large number of faithful readers and I receive dozens of emails every week from readers that I have never met. I love the feedback. I have determined that some of you are insane and are incredibly well humored. I have received letters from school teachers and factory workers. I have had letters from college students and elementary school children. I had one 5th grade young lady who asked me ‘how many grandchildren I had.’ I have written to her parents and asked for her to be grounded. :0). I have had people ask me if Brandon Buchmeier is actually Brandon the ‘Physical Fascination’ Bishop the professional wrestler. Well, yes he is and no, I will not give out his email address. I have had three marriage proposals but they were from Travis’ 81 y.o. aunt. Travis, please tell her that she is beautiful, but I am married.

But this week, I had an interesting letter from a young lady named Claire who wrote to me and asked me for advice on a situation. She said it was o.k. to answer on my blog as she thought that her problem is not uncommon. I told her that I would honor her wish, but made it very clear to her that I am not an expert in the subject she wanted me to address. Here is her question:

‘Jeff,
Good Morning,
I have a problem that I would like your advice on. My fiancé and I have been engaged for almost two years. We were engaged a few months before he deployed to Iraq, with his National Guard Unit. He returned about five months ago, and he has been completely detached from me. I have done my best to understand the adjustment difficulties that soldiers have when they come home, but he has been having a real difficult time with any conversation that pertains to getting married. He has always been a little stand offish when we talked about getting married, but since he has returned, he is absolutely uncomfortable talking about our marriage. He says that he wants to marry me but his actions make me doubt his resolve. What should I do about this? I was hoping that you could shed some light on this problem as you are a deployed soldier and I know that you are a medical officer and have probably dealt with this issue before. Could you give any advice? I love him very much but I want to make sure the man I want to marry loves me and is marrying me for life. Thank you for your blog, we both read it at every posting and love your insight and humor.’
Thank you, Claire.

Wow!! I have to say Claire that I am completely honored that you would come to me about this issue. I must put in a disclaimer though. I am not a relationship expert. If you ask my wife she would tell you that my idea of a romantic date is dinner at Montana Mikes followed by carefully guided tours of Menard's and Best Buy. ;o).

But in all seriousness, your problem is not unique. Soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan face a difficult transition back home. We create bonds with other soldiers that are so deep and intimate that it is difficult to describe. When a soldier returns home they have to rediscover their purpose in their civilian life. I do not know what experiences that your fiancé had in Iraq, but I would venture to say that he would do well to get involved in some counseling to help him deal with unaddressed issues relating to his deployment.

I would like to ask, ‘does your fiancé love you?’ Have you addressed your concerns with him? Or do you walk on eggshells when the topic of marriage comes up?

As you know, if you have been following my blog, my initial response to any problem is to recommend that you submit your concerns to the Lord. I believe that God understands our relationship problems and he is truly the place to start when seeking guidance. God has a plan for your life and I believe that he puts people in your life for a reason. Be honest with Him about your feelings and seek His guidance.

As far as the relationship aspect goes let me give you my limited opinion on the matter. Men and woman approach relationships in a completely different manner. Men tend to be impulsive and appear to be less emotionally involved with the relationship in general. We really like the comfort of having a woman care for us and love us, but we are really bad, often times, at verbalizing and expressing our love in return. It doesn’t mean that we don’t love you but we tend to express our love differently. Some men show their love by providing for the family and doing things for their wife like keeping the car maintained and mowing the lawn. It is a fairly primitive way to express love, but men really have a desire to show a woman that they are of value and that they can take care of their family. I admit that this approach marginalizes the emotional aspect of a relationship, but their heart is in the right place. Unfortunately, this type of expression rarely fulfills the emotional needs of a woman.

Now, women, approach relationships with their heart and whereas, you desire a man who will provide family stability financially, you also desire a husband who will show his love in a more intimate and physical manner. A woman wants to hear that her husband loves her and values her as a partner in their relationship. A woman wants to know that she can trust her husband and that his heart aches to be with you. Women want to know that their man is completely devoted to them and they need to be comforted that their husband will hold them in a place of honor. These are entirely appropriate expectations. Unfortunately, men, many times, simply don’t get it.

I would advise you to address your concerns with him in a loving and honest manner. I would suggest that you try to get him to go to counseling with you before you get married and try to identify coping mechanisms as they relate to marriage and try to find out what concerns or apprehensions that he may have as it relates to marriage.

I have to be honest with you. I said earlier that men appear to approach a relationship with less emotion. Please note that I said, ‘appear’ In a man’s mind and in his heart he may very well be madly and passionately in love with you. It is just that his is not speaking your love language. Often times men are unaware that they are not meeting your emotional needs and if confronted some men will do their best to change their behavior. I have been in relationships where I was clearly aloof to the feelings of my girlfriend and had I been aware that I was not on the same path with her emotions, I would have done anything to change my behavior and make it work. I believe that any loving relationship where much has been invested and deep emotions have been shared, should be given a chance to work out the problems. But those problems need to be addressed and if your fiancé is unaware of your feelings then he may not know that he is being emotionally apathetic.

I am married to an incredibly loving woman who has devoted her life to me and our family. I admit that I have not always appreciated her love and devotion. I tend to involve myself in so many projects that I barely have time to get any one project completed. I really show my love by doing things for the family, when in reality all my wife is wanting is conversation and time devoted to her. We don’t always speak the same language of love. I am still a work in progress.

I believe that men, need to approach their relationship with their girlfriends or wives by seeking Godly, wisdom. I believe that the Lord molds men to understand that their wife is a treasured gift. A Godly man does not hesitate to verbally express his love. A Godly man understands the incredible gift that the Lord has given him in his wife and he is quick to let his wife know how important she is to him. Often times, Claire, men need rethink their approach to their relationship with their wife or girlfriend. Unfortunately, men, often times don’t get the importance of expressing their love until it is too late. Women will tolerate an unemotional and an ungodly man for so long and then they cut their losses. I have learned that when a woman has given up on a relationship she turns her heart off and tries to emotionally sever ties with the very man that she once loved. When a man, finally sees the error of his ways, it is often too late and the resulting destruction of the relationship is devastating to him. It is not that he doesn’t love you; he just needs to learn how to speak your love language.

You both need to identify those things that make each other feel loved. For you, your may feel loved if your husband would verbally affirm his love for you. For him, he may feel loved by you verbalizing, acknowledging, and appreciating the hard work that he does for the family. It is simply a matter of adjusting the manner in which we show our love.

There is a book called ‘The Five Languages of Love’ written by Gary Chapman. In his book, he attempts to help couples identify those things that your spouse or loved one can do to make each other feel loved. I would recommend that you buy a copy for yourself and one for your husband. Dr. Chapman does a great job in communicating to men those things that women truly desire in order to feel loved an appreciated. He also provides women guidance on how men think and what makes them feel loved.

In conclusion, Claire, I would say that your fiancé has to address any baggage that he may have as a result of his military deployment. He also needs to hear from you that you love him and that you want to work on your relationship. He needs to know how you are feeling and what your desire in your relationship. Whereas, you may spend a great deal of time on the emotional aspect of your relationship, he may not think about it at all. In his mind, he may feel that the relationship is fine and he may not understand your concerns. But be honest and sit him down and share your feelings. If he loves you and wants to make the relationship work he will do as you ask. Please avoid approaching this problem with ultimatums. Try not to tell him that if he doesn’t change then you will end your relationship. This type of approach is hurtful and does little to improve a relationship. Additionally, if your relationship doesn’t improve and ultimately fails, please allow it to end on its own merits. Often times a woman will stay in a relationship up to a point but she will end it if she finds someone else. If you are pushed to the point where you desire a relationship with someone else who is willing to meet your needs; please have the courtesy and integrity to end your relationship first. No one wants to be left with the impression that their loved one left them for someone else. It leaves the person humiliated and hurt and it is shows contempt for the man's emotional feelings. These are wounds that could last a lifetime. I would advise men to do the same.

I have faith that you are wanting to make this relationship work and I believe that your fiancé loves you. He has some external stressors that are making him anxious and as a result he tends to pull back from any discussion about getting married. Help him to identify his concerns and reassure him that you are willing to work with him to make your relationship work.I pray that you find a solution to this problem.

I am honored that you asked me for advice, but, again, please understand that I am not an expert in relationships or in conflict resolution. I do pray that you find my response helpful to you. Please take some time to talk to your pastor about your concerns and be sure to talk to your fiancé. My guess is that he wants to marry you as much as you desire to marry him. I am confident that you will have a joyfully, fulfilling, marriage that will last a lifetime.

God Bless you, young lady and please keep me up to date on your progress.I will keep you in my prayers and I ask our readers to pray for you as well. There is tremendous power in prayer and I just know that the Lord will provide you guidance.

Have a great evening.
Jeff

Honoring the Fallen...

"I cherish the conversation that I had with my grandson, when he said, 'Grandpa are you a hero?' I said, 'No, but I served in the company of heroes.'

Major Richard Winters

Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

What can be said today that has not already been said about those who have given their lives in the course of their duty? I have spent much of my life in the Army and have always been in awe of those veteran's who came before me. I am profoundly grateful for men and women who say by their actions that 'my life is not as important as the life of my brother or sister'. Time and again in our country's honored past, soldiers, sailors, and airmen, have gone forth and did what many would not and could not do and that is to devote their life to a cause bigger than themselves.

I remember when I was stationed at Walter Reed in Washington D.C., I used to take the metro down to Arlington Cemetery and I would stroll through the seemingly endless rows of white. I would often times stop in front of one of the headstones and read the displayed name. Each headstone represented a person. That amazed me. It is so easy to look at the beauty of Arlington Cemetery and forget that each white stone is a shadow of a life that was given for me and for my family.

I have long appreciated these fallen soldiers and even more the loved ones who suffered the loss of their son, daughter, husband, wife, father, mother. While the rest of us are safe and enjoying the company of our family and friends, the families of the fallen have nothing but memories. It is a sad reality of war and conflict that those who go forth don't always come home.

In this conflict, we in the military have lost friends and we have had to observe and endure the horrors that come with war. It is often said and it is so very true, that 'no one prays for peace more than a soldier, because the soldier has to bear the darkest wounds of war.'


Well, today, I would like to say that I am so thankful for those who have come before us and who have given selfishly. I thank the family and friends of those who have lost loved ones and we want you to know that we suffer with your pain and we honor your spirit.


For families who have loved ones still in harms way, we understand your heart and we pray for peace. We are all working as a family here to bring everyone home safely. I would like to believe that we, as members in the military, are in the business of building peace. We labor for peace, we fight for peace, and we pray for peace. Please, let it be that not one more person should fall.


I want to thank you all for your support of us through out these last few years. We have had such a long and difficult path to tread since 9-11 and we are tired and we want to come home. Please pray that the Lord honors our desire for peace and when you go to bed tonight please take a moment to remember those who have gone on before us.

God Bless,

Jeff

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:13

A Quick Update...

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Well we are 76 days away from coming home. We are all getting very excited. The mood around here is festive and we are all getting our gear ready for shipment home. Our medics are busy finishing up their college classes. It is amazing that we can actually have college classes on base where we are. The University of Maryland has a branch here and they offer classes. Their educational director came by earlier in the year and asked if Mike, Myself, Bryan, or Travis could teach the Anatomy and Physiology with Lab. But our schedule is so varied that we couldn't commit. So they flew in a lady from the states and she has done a great job in teaching our soldiers. I would like to go into teaching in the future. I had an offer a few years ago to teach at our local college in Danville, but my job and the Guard schedule wouldn't allow for it. I think I am going to work on my PhD soon. Mike is finishing his up while he has been here and the more I think about it, I think that I would enjoy the challenge.
We have recently been tasked to start a new clinic in Baghdad, so we may be losing a few soldiers for a couple of months.I would like to update you on the situation that happened in Baghdad a week ago or so. As you know we had two car bombs in Baghdad that killed a few of our troops and then one of our own soldiers went into the mental health clinic and killed four soldiers. The impact has been immediate. We have picked up their patient load as they are closed pending investigation.
I have really been troubled by some of the things that I have seen here. The pressure and stress here is at times are overwhelming and our situation is so unique that our civilian lives has nothing to compare it to.My concern is that these multiple deployments are taking its toll on our troops. The military really needs to take a look at how much a soldier can take. We have soldiers who are on their 4th and 5th deployments. All of us have paid a huge price since 9-11. I personally have not had a complete year home yet since 9-11. It is a very difficult situation and we are pushing soldiers to the breaking point. I am not sure what the solution is but perhaps we should consider activating the Selective Service program. We are so short of troops and the ones that we do have have been deployed multiple times. The Selective Service Program is there for a reason. It it is not there for war time needs then why have it?

Anyway, we pray for the families who lost their loved ones here. The unit manning that Mental Health Clinic is from Indiana although the Psychologist was from the active duty navy medicl corps.

I pray for this soldier who committed this awful crime. Everyone needs prayer even the most abhorrent among us. I truly believe that anyone and everyone can be redeemed. Praise the Lord that he has redeemed me. I don't know where I would be had he not guided my steps. I look back in awe at the chain of events, the people in my life, and situations that influenced my life. I am in medicine because of an amazing series of situations and whereas at the time I didn't understand, I have been able to step back and look at God's plan. God is so awesome.

I would like to send out a big thank you to our friend Dr. Perez. He is back home in Guam and yesterday we received a package that had some cool goodies for us. He sent the providers some beautiful Pacific Islander type shirts. We are going to get everyone together Sunday and get some pictures of us wearing them. We will send him a copy and I will post them on this blog. He also sent along some guitar strings for a couple of guys who play guitar. Dr. Perez is fine guitar player and I use to love hearing him playing and singing at night in our clinic when everything was quiet at the end of a busy day. He also forwarded some other much needed things. I know that he probably wouldn't want me to highlight his gifts as he is humble and gives much privately, but we have been so grateful for him that I want everyone to know the quality of this man. God Bless you, my friend.

I found out a few days ago that Karis was selected to attend our MATS program. The MATS program is for the district's gifted children. Currently there are only 5 girls and I believe two boys that have been selected in her grade and that is district wide. So, we are so proud of her. I credit my wife for Karis success as she is the one who ensures that Karis stays on top of her homework and she provides Karis with structure needed for success.

The students in MATS will be together through their entire school years up to graduation from high school. This program is designed as a college prep program and gives children an optimal environment to reach their educational goals.
It is amazing how much our children makes us proud. I have a love for my daughter that transcends all understanding. I absolutely am honored to be my girls father and I relish the role. She is such an honest and tender-hearted, young lady. She loves the Lord and she really is a wonderful Witness.

Well, I have droned on long enough. Things are going well here and we are all staying healthy. We have all become fitness freaks and I am so proud of our soldiers for physically taking care of themselves.God Bless you all and have a great week and thank you for checking in.
Jeff

Rising Star...

Good Evening,

We said goodbye to Mike Jones tonight. He flew out of here about a half of an hour ago. We will see him when we get home in 90 days or so. I can't wait. I have so many things to do when I get home. One of the things that I need to do is to visit friends and family. I would like to reconnect and thank those for supporting us while we were here.

Well, tonight I get to do some bragging. As many of you know, my daughter Karis is into the Arts. She plays violin and piano, she sings and figure skates and she is into theater in a big way. Well, yesterday she had an opening night of her current play. She has done so many plays that I have lost track but I received a newspaper clipping of the rehearsals. I would like to share them with you.

Above: Karis is on the left.

Above: Karis is in the middle.

As you can see, Karis is looking great, which is no real suprise as her dad is extremely handsome and he is a great singer (when I am in the shower.) ;0)

I am so proud of her. She has really found an interest in theater and the Arts. She is also quite athletic and plays tennis and softball as well as tumbling and ice skating.

I am so eager to get home and go see her perform again. As a father, my joy is made complete to see my child doing something she really enjoys.

Anyway, just a quick note to be a proud father. I pray that you are all well.

God Bless you all.

Jeff