It’s getting to be about that time.

The temperature is dropping, the dust storms have calmed, and I’m checking the weather in Germany and Iowa. Yes, it was nearly a year ago that Cindy and I packed outr gear and got on a plane to Iraq. And now it’s almost time to go back home.

It’s been a rough year, but as I shook hands with my replacement, it all started to seem a little better. It also helps that I am still, to date, able to say I know where all of the over a half-million dollars in military equipment is (which I will be soon signing over to my replacement), I am busily closing the doors on my buildings, all of my projects are complete, I just received my acceptance letter from the university I was trying to get into, and I just received notice that both me and Cindy are being considered for promotion to Sergeant First Class this coming Spring. And the manuscript is coming along nicely.

Very exciting.

Really, the only things I have to do in these final days are clean, prepare my paperwork for the return, do some writing (to which I am really getting into the Writer’s Digest prompts and competitions).

And as all of the stress starts to evaporate, I’m finding myself catching up on some much needed sleep.

Brad

Cindy and I meet David Morrell and Andy Harp