Karis Around the World...

Good Everything Everyone,
Well we are all busy packing up our gear and getting ready for our movement back home. I am so excited. As I was going through my stuff, I notice an external hard drive that I had brought with me but had not really used much since I have been here. I spent some time looking at some photos that I had stored and my heart was filled with joy. As many of you know, Karen, Karis, and I travel frequently. As I browsed these images, I felt a great sense of gratitude to the Lord for giving us the opportunity to allow our family to travel so much. I have always wanted to ensure that Karis is exposed to a variety of cultures. I am so proud of her. She is truly colored blind when it comes to her view of people of differing cultures and customs. So, tonight I would like to show some photos of our daugther as she moved along her path of adventure.

1. Karis and her American Girl dolls

2. Skating

3. Trouble Makers

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1. Karis skating solo

2. Miriam and Karis at ballet class

3. Karis school. There are no walls in her school

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1. Getting ready for her dance recital

2. Karis playing her violin at the local fair

3. Last summer's softball season

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1. Christmas

2. Mt. Ranier, Washington State

3. Capitol Building, Washington D.C.

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1. Lincoln's Memorial: Karis, Karen, and our neice, Juliana
2. President Lyndon Johnson and President Kennedy's Air Force One, Seattle, Washington
3. Inside Air Force One

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1. The famous Pike's Market Place. Home of the thrown fish. The movie, Sleepless in Seattle was filmed here

2. Showing off her muscles on a harbor cruise on Puget Sound

3. Mt. St. Helens

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1. Karis at Cannon Beach, Oregon. This is where the Lewis and Clark westward expedition ended

2. Astoria, Washington. This school is where they filmed Kindergarten Cop. The movies Short Circuit, Free Willy, and the Goonies were also filmed in this small but quaint little town.
3. Totem Poll in Olympia, Washington

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1. Butchart Gardens Vancouver Island, Canada

2. Bronze horse and Karis at Butchart Gardens

3. The Cascade Mountains in the background

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1. Karen and Karis at the stream that flows over Multnoma Falls, Oregon

2. Cabin that we stayed in while in Washington, State. Located on North Ft. Lewis

3. This lake was just out behind our cabin in Washington

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1. Ehsan and Seddigah and Karis in Colorado at Rocky Mountain National Park. Ehsan is a physician that I used to work with. We were vacationing together.

2. Estes Park city limits, Colorado

3. Karis at Grand Canyon

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1. Karen and Karis at Ceaser's Palace, Las Vegas.

2. Ghost Town, Chloride, Arizona

3. Navy Peer, Chicago

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1. Karis at the Hoover Dam

2. American Girl Doll Store

3. I believe this is at the Children's Museum in St. Louis

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1. Zion National Park, Utah

2. Red clay desert, Arizona

3. Karis at Medieval Times, Schaumburg, Illinois

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1. Polynesian dancers, Moorea

2. Karis on Moorea. This is the peir that was connected to our village where we stayed

3. Karis and I at Cook's Bay, Moorea. Both movies of the Muntiny on the Bounty were filmed in this bay.

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1. Karis in Tahiti with her little buddy, Lambie

2. In the background is the mountain that I described in the book, 'Hannah KaReese and the Island of Moorea'

3. This is a real chocolate moose at a chocolate store outside Portland, Maine

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1. Karen and Karis, Kennebunkport, Maine, home of George H.W. Bush

2. In the background is Portland's Two Lights, Lighthouse in Maine

3. We are in Portsmouth, New Hampshire getting ready for a harbour cruise

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1. Portland, Maine

2. Karis with her cousin Juliana and her husband Adam. This is at the Kentucky Derby

3. Karen and Karis feeding a tiger at an indian reservation in North Carolina

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1. Cruising the Thames River in London, England. The Two Tower's Bridge is in the background

2. Karis in Amsterdam, Holland with a 'living' statue

3. Smoky Mountains National Park

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1. The cobblestone streets of Brussels, Belgium

2. This is a windmill in Holland. It is still in use

3. This is the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzards. We got to meet the real Enos while we were there

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1. A Romanesque structue in Trier, Germany. This beautiful city was once the vacationing site of the Roman emporers. Many of the stuctures her have noticeable Roman influences

2. Covered bridge at Conner's Prarie, Indiana

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1. The Atomium built for the 1958 World's Fair, Brussels, Belgium

2. A real Native American thatched home. Also in Conner's Prarie, Indiana

3. Karis first time at Disney World. She loved it when she was 4, but when we returned when she was 9, she found MGM, Epcot Center, and Animal Kingdom to be more her age.

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1, Spiderman at MGM, Florida

2-3. Disney World on a rainy day

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1. This is a mountain outside of Calgary, Canada

2. This is Karen, Karis, and our Nephew, Josua. He is a Captain in the Airforce in Montana. This is a photo of Montana's Plains. Prarie dogs were everywhere

3. Karen and Karis in the natural hot springs of Banff, Canada. The water is heated by underground Lava that is bubbling deep below a mountain that is in Banff

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1. Karis at Spruce Meadows Equestrian Park in Calgary, Canada

2. Karis horseback riding near, Canmore, Canada

3. Karis at the Olympic Park, Calgary, Canada. Home of the 1998 Winter Olympics

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1. The actual bobsled from the movie 'Cool Runnings' They filmed it here in the Olympic Park, Calgary

2. Karis on Lake, Louise, Canada

3. Karis on an Iceberg cruise in Alaska

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1. Standing outside a general store near Talkeetna, Alaska

2. This is 4 time Iditarod Winner, Martin Buser's sled

3. The town of Talkeetna, Alaska. This is the base camp for climbing Mt. McKinley

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1. This is Karis with Martin Buser. He had us over to his house and gave Karen, Karis, and myself an exclusive tour. He is a very nice man. We met his two sons and all of his mushing dogs. It was a major highlight of our trip.

2. Finally, this is in Seward, Alaska.

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Well, thank you for allowing me to share my photo's. I pray that you are all doing well. I will be seeing you all very soon.

God Bless,

Jeff

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