Hello All,
33% represents my completion rate of my current tour. That's right...been here almost exactly 4 months. The precise date of my 4 month mark coincidently coincides with the 10 year anniversary of my father's death.
Hard to believe it has been ten years. My dad was a great man. Few people can say that they made a difference in the world...he did. Dad ran his own successful business (yes, he did build that), employed people, raised a family along with my mother, mentored 1000s of young people through the church, served the community, served his country, and made his own plum wine (ok, that didn't change the world but I always thought is was pretty cool). Turns out, he was a good friend too and I miss him.
So, let's celebrate his life and not his death.
So, 4 months gone, 8 months to go. August is almost over and September seems like it is over but hasn't even started yet. I will be off the island almost continuously after the first week of September. I leave on the 9th for a week long conference in Garmish, Germany, which is about an hour and a half outside of Munich (love that city!). Straight from Germany, I will travel to the capital of Jordan, Amman, for another week long conference. After that, back to Bahrain for a couple of days before I fly back to Hometown, USA, to be by my wife's side for her procedure. I will not be back in Bahrain until the 2nd of Oct, at which point I will be 30 days from the half way mark.
Oh, I thought of a couple of more things I like about Bahrain...playing Texas Holdem' every Friday night and smoking a cigar every morning. I smoke with the guy I sit next to at work who also enjoys cigars. It is funny that the 3 months between Djibouti and Bahrain, I didn't smoke any. Once back in the states, I'm sure I will revert back to one a month. I just don't have anyone to smoke cigars with back home and it is not something I really do by myself.
Well, not much else going on. Guess that is a good time to close for the week.
School has started or will start soon (depending on where you live). Watch out for the kids.
Michael
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
You seem to complain a lot about Bahrain....
What is there to like?
Hello all,
Yes I do complain about Bahrain a lot. I looked deep within and came up with a few positive things to say.
1. Most everyone you encounter out in town speaks English unlike Djibouti and Germany.
2. The base is very secure and has a modern infrastructure with plenty of services.
3. Manama (capital of Bahrain where I am) is a modern city with many restaurants and malls. If you want to spend $5000 on a Kate Spade handbag, you can do that here. Take that Djibouti.
4. Gas is cheap at $.25 a gallon.
5. That is really all I could think of.
Many of you probably still can't get your head around a 1 year assignment and being away from family that long. Many people I work with are regular active duty Marines and for them, this is a "permanent change of station" or PCS for them. The active duty types get ship somewhere about every three years. You may find yourself at Camp Lejeune for 3 years and then moved to the deserts of California. They don't really have much of a choice where they go....needs of the Marine Corps are the first priority.
Why am I telling you this. Well, active duty Marines can choose to come here for 2 years and bring their family or they can choose 1 year orders and come here by myself. Most choose the latter so my situation is no different then many of my peers.
Honestly, if I were active duty and had to make the choice, I would not want my family out here. Germany...absolutely. Here...absolutely not. There is just nothing here. Its hot, there is no history like in Europe, no cultural things like art museums, no sports like soccer or F1 (they do host an F1 race here but nobody goes to it) and the landscape is pretty barren. There I go complaining again...
The kids would be miserable here as would Jodi. Jodi would be much happier tooling around Stuttgart on her Vespa.
The first time I was in Djibouti, I said I never ever wanted to go back. Well, I did and the second time was a pretty darn good tour. Bahrain is my new favorite place to never ever want to come back to.
Thankfully, I have a routine throughout the week that keeps me focused and busy. The time is going fast and the environment that surrounds me is of little consequence.
Until next week...
Michael
Hello all,
Yes I do complain about Bahrain a lot. I looked deep within and came up with a few positive things to say.
1. Most everyone you encounter out in town speaks English unlike Djibouti and Germany.
2. The base is very secure and has a modern infrastructure with plenty of services.
3. Manama (capital of Bahrain where I am) is a modern city with many restaurants and malls. If you want to spend $5000 on a Kate Spade handbag, you can do that here. Take that Djibouti.
4. Gas is cheap at $.25 a gallon.
5. That is really all I could think of.
Many of you probably still can't get your head around a 1 year assignment and being away from family that long. Many people I work with are regular active duty Marines and for them, this is a "permanent change of station" or PCS for them. The active duty types get ship somewhere about every three years. You may find yourself at Camp Lejeune for 3 years and then moved to the deserts of California. They don't really have much of a choice where they go....needs of the Marine Corps are the first priority.
Why am I telling you this. Well, active duty Marines can choose to come here for 2 years and bring their family or they can choose 1 year orders and come here by myself. Most choose the latter so my situation is no different then many of my peers.
Honestly, if I were active duty and had to make the choice, I would not want my family out here. Germany...absolutely. Here...absolutely not. There is just nothing here. Its hot, there is no history like in Europe, no cultural things like art museums, no sports like soccer or F1 (they do host an F1 race here but nobody goes to it) and the landscape is pretty barren. There I go complaining again...
The kids would be miserable here as would Jodi. Jodi would be much happier tooling around Stuttgart on her Vespa.
The first time I was in Djibouti, I said I never ever wanted to go back. Well, I did and the second time was a pretty darn good tour. Bahrain is my new favorite place to never ever want to come back to.
Thankfully, I have a routine throughout the week that keeps me focused and busy. The time is going fast and the environment that surrounds me is of little consequence.
Until next week...
Michael
Monday, August 6, 2012
What the hell??
Hello All,
So, I was at the small base grocery store this weekend and I needed some fish. I grabbed a bag of frozen salmon and checked that package to see if it was farm raised or wild caught. On the back of the package it read: "Alaskan Salmon, wild caught, processed in China." I thought to myself, "what the hell, we catch salmon in Alaska and send it to China to be cleaned and packaged?" That just doesn't seem right. Guess it must be cheaper for the company that processes the fish. Probably one of those deals that it is work that "Americans don't want to do".
At any rate, I have decided to take a hard look at where the things I buy are made. I am happy to say that the guns and bourbon I buy are all made in America. Moving forward, I am going to try to buy American made products. So, do the economy a favor and buy a gun made by Colt, Ruger, Smith & Wesson, or Winchester. I will probably stick with the Germans for my autos, though.
We have also received a very, very large shipment of Girl Scout cookies on base. There are cases of them everywhere for the taking. If you ever ask the Girl Scout selling cookies if you can just donate money to have cookies sent to US service people, I can tell you that yes you can and they do get shipped out to us.
I also believe that I am cursed. I cannot sleep past 5:30 AM. I don't even have to get up until at least 6 AM. I wish I could sleep in on the weekends but it is just not happening for me. Probably a combination of the construction of starting around that time and the fact I usually go to bed by 9 PM. By 5:30, I have already gotten 8 1/2 hours of sleep.
Work is going well and my new job keeps me busy the whole day. I was a little under tasked with my last billet which made for some long, so what empty days. I am also taking Arabic language classes on Tues and Thurs during lunch. Will probably lean enough to say a few friendly phrases. I have never been good at learning new languages and this is one of the hardest ones out there.
Lots of talk about Syria and Iran in these parts. This region of the world has long been a powder keg looking for a match.
Until next time,
Michael
So, I was at the small base grocery store this weekend and I needed some fish. I grabbed a bag of frozen salmon and checked that package to see if it was farm raised or wild caught. On the back of the package it read: "Alaskan Salmon, wild caught, processed in China." I thought to myself, "what the hell, we catch salmon in Alaska and send it to China to be cleaned and packaged?" That just doesn't seem right. Guess it must be cheaper for the company that processes the fish. Probably one of those deals that it is work that "Americans don't want to do".
At any rate, I have decided to take a hard look at where the things I buy are made. I am happy to say that the guns and bourbon I buy are all made in America. Moving forward, I am going to try to buy American made products. So, do the economy a favor and buy a gun made by Colt, Ruger, Smith & Wesson, or Winchester. I will probably stick with the Germans for my autos, though.
We have also received a very, very large shipment of Girl Scout cookies on base. There are cases of them everywhere for the taking. If you ever ask the Girl Scout selling cookies if you can just donate money to have cookies sent to US service people, I can tell you that yes you can and they do get shipped out to us.
I also believe that I am cursed. I cannot sleep past 5:30 AM. I don't even have to get up until at least 6 AM. I wish I could sleep in on the weekends but it is just not happening for me. Probably a combination of the construction of starting around that time and the fact I usually go to bed by 9 PM. By 5:30, I have already gotten 8 1/2 hours of sleep.
Work is going well and my new job keeps me busy the whole day. I was a little under tasked with my last billet which made for some long, so what empty days. I am also taking Arabic language classes on Tues and Thurs during lunch. Will probably lean enough to say a few friendly phrases. I have never been good at learning new languages and this is one of the hardest ones out there.
Lots of talk about Syria and Iran in these parts. This region of the world has long been a powder keg looking for a match.
Until next time,
Michael
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