Its been a while....

I am truly surprised at how long it has been since I last contributed to this blog!! A lot of things have happened and a lot of experiences had, but I am happy to be writing again.

I have been away from Bagram for a few days for not the first time and I am reminded every single time, how easy it is in Bagram to forget what the other soldiers on the ground are enduring everyday...and how different this deployment is from my last one.

Last time, it was not uncommon for me to be days, even a week without a shower, and if I did get one, most times it was cold and with very little water pressure. This time (with the execption of one trip) I have enjoyed a shower when I have wanted one...things like that matter a great deal to many who are on the ground doing the fighting every single day.

As I sit in the MWR building at one of our larger firebases away from Bagram, my mind reverts back to the simple mindset I had when I was here in '04 - '05...mission oriented, task oriented - fight the fight and go home...this time however, I have many more responsibilities to keep in mind and many more things to juggle.

I have gotten my share of missions and have made up for past slights...but I find myself realizing that war is a young man's game...and as many of the soldiers I once lead remind me often - I am not getting any younger! I look forward to the days that I can get back to running in my yard with my son and Sadie while Emily looks on, I look forward to getting back to work - responding to calls and getting involved with things back on the PD, I look forward to going to church with Emily and Asher and joining Em's family, I look forward to Thursday nights at my parents house with my Mom playing with little man and my Dad and I either enjoying a beer or a glass of scotch and a cigar on the back deck, I look forward to my In-laws watching Asher for a little while so Em and I can take the motorcycle out for a ride and enjoy it, I look forward to hearing the little, funny things that Asher says when he gets a thought in his head...these things and all the other great, wonderful, awesome things that we get to do as a family, a couple and with our friends are what I look forward to when this is over.

The last thing being out here does is make me think long and hard about what I am going to do when I get home and get to the end of my enlistment...do I stay or do I go?...because I do not want to leave my family and friends again...I need to become a more stable presence at home for Em and Asher, I need to be more invested in my career and I need to show people that I am not going to just drop everything and leave at the sound of battle trumpets anymore...

To everyone that has helped my family and I in anyway, THANK.YOU. To my family and Em's family - THANK.YOU. To all my co-workers that have been so great about bringing my family dinners on a weekly basis - THANK.YOU. These are things that no one ever wants to ask for, to have to depend on others for, but all of you have stepped up and really shown my family and I love - and that is something that will never be nor could ever be forgotten...and that I will fight for, forever.

~Jake