waiting.....

So we are waiting for our Iraqi unit to come back from their initial training south of here. It will be exciting when they actually arrive because we will have daily interaction as advisors to their unit. In the mean time we have been settling in after spending a lot of time with the outgoing team. It was great to hang out with new faces and have people to run with. They left three days ago and we are on our own now which is a bit scary (not really!) The past few days we have been getting into our new rooms ready and doing some serious spring cleaning. It is very dusty here. Actually that is the interesting part about Iraq (especially northern Iraq) It is not sandy at all. When most Americans think of Iraq they think of sand and camels like the pictures I put up of Kuwait but it is not like that at all. There is grass here and quite a bit of water, at least right now there is because the summer heat has not actually hit yet! Where I live we have a little American compound that is right in the middle of an Iraqi Army compound. When I go out running I stay inside the Iraqi compound BUT I am required to carry my 9M with me whenever I leave the gates of the US compound. Which means that I go running with my 9M.....it has been an interesting obstacle that I am learning to overcome. Of course there are a lot of things that I am adapting to but the worst is missing family and friends. I don't think that I will ever get used to not being able to call when I just need to say hello......

On that note I am still VERY VERY lucky, we have it much better then a lot of the soldiers that were here before me did. 

I hope that everyone is well and please feel free to just drop me an email and say HELLO. It helps! (mickeyld@yahoo.com in case you don't have it)

Oh yeah the pics are of the donkey's that live here! They are awesome and they LOVE to eat those honey buns!!