My First year long adventure out of the country!
By: Mark D. Hannsz
Day 1, July 30, 2008:
I could not sleep last. I wanted to rest but all I could think, when will I get to see my girls again and will Punk be all right with out me? I finally fell asleep around 3 am. Punk woke me at 5:30 am and we were a whirlwind to the airport. Once at the airport my Punk was confused as to what to do, she finally decided to just drop me at the curb and roll on. I know this was hard for her but she had no idea how hard this was going to be on me. I missed my girls already. After saying good-bye to my wife, I approached the curbside check in and was greeted by a smiling fellow who told me I was flagged by the loving TSA and would be required to go through all the wonderful frisking and luggage rummaging they like to do. OH JOY! Anyway, I survived this cruel punishment all in the name of preventing terrorism. I arrived at my terminal and gate with out problems. They allowed us to board and my adventure into the unknown had begun. Unknown to me there were several others on my flight from the area who were headed on the same adventure. Our flight parted without incident. As we became airborne, I began my ritual of falling fast asleep only to wake 10-15 minutes before landing at DC’s Dulles airport. The landing was smooth and we parted from the plane.
I retrieved my luggage without incident and made my way to the pre-determined meeting area. When I arrived another 20-30 officers from all over greeted me. I did notice however, the southern contingent was of greater numbers. After a little while of waiting for other flights to arrive, we were escorted to a large tour bus where we loaded up and headed to the National Conference Center in Lansdowne, VA.
The ride was nice and scenic. We arrived and were greeted by several of the CPI employees. We were quickly hustled into action. We were led to a large conference room where we dropped our bags and headed into registration. We were being processed, pulled out of lines to take a driving test, being introduced to people, sent to interviews, and visiting with psychiatrist. Wow what a day. They did finish us off pretty quick. We were assigned our rooms and sent on our way till the next morning.
Day 2-8 July 31- August 8
The last 7 days have been a whirlwind, we have done everything you from physical agility to shooting, driving, eating, sleeping…It has been nuts! We have done our physical agility testing which I breezed through, shocking myself. Yea Me! Anyway, this class has bonded extremely well and become very cohesive. My loving wife “Punk showed up on Wednesday Thanks to some help from Very special people. Thank you Will and Denies Mangum, John and Renee Kloffenstien. Punk had the unfortunate duty of doing some of my Laundry while I was in class because it was darn near impossible to get a machine when we got out of class. The complex we were at, The National Conference center in Lansdowne, Va. Is amazing, this place will house 1800 guest. This place is a maze….
So we finished all of our training, we lost a few on the way but it was by their choice not CPI’s. Speaking of CPI, This is an amazing company. The staff of CPI has treated everyone of us as the professional Police Officers we are and their company motto is “We do not have problems, we only have solutions!” What an amazing concept! Oh yea, I also found out the 77 Officers were chosen from a pool of 458 applicants.
During class one day, I spoke with my Chief, Rob! You have to Love the Boy from California. Rob calls just to check on me, want to talk about a spirit lifter. Man I am really going to miss the opportunity to work for this man. Therefore, I send Rob an email letting him know that I had completed my training and had indeed been offered a contract for Kosovo. Rob replies I knew they would! Damn, I love this person. I hope that one day when I get back I will have the opportunity to work for Rob.
While Punk was with me we went on a tour of Washington Dc provided to us by CPI. Well where to start with this adventure? We loaded up on our bus that was late, and then we began our journey! We got to Dc and our bus broke down in the middle of the road. Therefore, we unload, and begin to walk. We walked about a mile, during this time we walked by the Washington monument, Dang that things big. Anyway, we run across another tour bus and our tour guide or something like that and we end up loading up on a bus full with senior citizens who were on tour them selves. They were excited to lend a hand to a bunch of stranded Police Officers. So we make it to the Capitol and are greeted by the Capitol Police, Rita our HR lady is married to a Captain with Capitol Police so we got the Special behind the scenes tour. Should have seen the looks on people’s faces as we walked right through places they were not allowed to go, that was pretty cool. So we finish our tour of the capitol and head down to meet our replacement bus. Oh by the way it broke down on the way to get us. What the hell, why not, let’s walk! So we take off on foot and guess where we end up. Yep! The Police Officers Memorial! I always wanted to go there and by dumb luck here I was, standing in the presents of the names of the officers of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA that gave the ultimate sacrifice for the common good of the general public in there respected areas! What an Honor for me! Veterans of war will understand this better!
Saturday August 9, 2008
Ok time clock starts now. We are packed and ready to go to the airport so we can board and head to Vienna, Austria! Never been there, HERE WE GO! Kick the tires and light the fires. Turn and burn and any other slang term you can think of! My nerves are shot; I am so excited, scared, nervous feeling guilty about leaving my wife and children behind. Did I mention I was nervous? Anyway we get there so early our ticket counter isn’t even open yet. We eventually get done; make it through security and to our gate. Now I have heard every horror story you can imagine about how uncomfortable I will be on this flight and every thing else. Great, an eight hour flight of misery, did I mention now I am so excited? Anyway we get there and I did what any smart traveler would do, I called ahead to request an isle seat! The ever so polite lady on the phone said I had one on both flights! Reality check at the gate! NOT! But there was a very helpful fellow who did get me hooked up as he stared up at me from behind his elevated platform counter. So now its time to board, this flying bus they are putting us on. We get in the plane and I get this 16-year-old kid flying by himself to go to his brothers wedding. This kid is so nervous he cannot be quiet. Therefore, I talked to him for a while and he finally fell asleep. Nice kid but wrapped tight! I am seated in my chair and think to myself, this is not half-bad, there are TV screens in the headrest of every seat. The cool thing is there are cameras on the under belly and the nose of the plane that you can view along with a flight locater that gives you ground speed, altitude, temp and all kinds of neat stuff. So I watched the take off from the nose then switched to the under cam and watch the world below grow smaller and smaller as we head 4500 miles far away. We landed in Vienna an hour early, Good wind I guess. So we are sitting at Starbucks chilling out. We land at 0540 hrs local time, 0040 your time. That’s perfect for me because I am used to being up at this time of day back home. Now I just have to get use to that big glowing orange ball in the sky! We are scheduled to leave here and fly to Pristina, Kosovo at 1350 hrs local time. This is an interesting place to be because I am now the foreigner…. Oh yea, kind of freaked me out to see the Austrian Police officer standing there with a Machine gun hanging off his right shoulder like it was no big deal. Wow! They would flip back home if we carried those.
Ok so I sat down at the Starbucks in one of those big fluffy chairs and I cratered for about two hours. Man that felt good, and no I was not the only one sleeping. There was not an open eye one in any of those chairs. So when I woke around 1245 hrs local time about 0545 Houston time, I began waking all of my fellow officers who were also enjoying a little sleep and we headed for gate c-61. We all went trough security without a hitch, well the security persons were making fun of the Americans because we were taking our shoes off and putting them in the X-Ray machine and apparently in Europe you don’t have to do this. Who knew! Anyway, the flight was about two hours and very smooth. When we landed I Kosovo, there were military and police everywhere. One of the best sites to me was a few of my classmates who had flown the day before had come out to help us with our transition. We loaded up in a huge U.N. bus and were driven to the 5 star Grand hotel. OMG, what a dive! No Ac, they turn the water off around 2200 hrs. Oh well. So we get unloaded and to our rooms, this city has come a long way from what I have seen from pictures. The people here drive like @#%&! They are a strange breed of drivers. Well it is 2145 hrs and I am going to try and sleep. Good night and I pray for God to bless each and every one of you!
Love Ya
Biggen!
Monday August 11, 2008
Hello, I slept well last night considering. The bed at the Grand is one you would expect to find stored in a barn in abandoned area in a very rural area of nowhere. With no A/C, you sleep with the window open and a fan on. The problem with that I the people of Kosovo apparently think they must honk their God forsaken horns as much as possible and they cannot pull up to a red light without a drag race, not made at them for that but dang go home and go to bed… I was thinking about several things last night in my world of seclusion. The main thing that concerned me was the fact that everywhere I walked yesterday after arriving I was keenly aware that everyone was staring at me. Ok Cops you will understand this, I was so on edge and tempted to say “what the hell are you looking at?) That really freaked me out. Later when I was seated at a table with Uncle Matt Comfort, Uncle Larry and Tommy Brown I asked about the folks watching me, Uncle Matt said “You are a Big Boy and very Intimidating to these people, and you are new! Don’t sweat it, they are just looking, they have a tendency to stare anyway.” Ok, that made me feel better! So I woke up at about 0430 local time and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I called Punk and the Girls goodnight. It really is hard to be away from my girls but the outcome of what I am doing is going to benefit my entire family. I have spoken with several of the officers who are not new to the mission and they say to keep constant communication with the family and you will be fine! Hope so. Ok, gotta run, see you when we get done with processing this morning. Oh yea, the third leg of our group is flying in today. I am going to try and catch a ride to the airport and greet them. It is very important to see friendly faces when you arrive here.
Ok so I am back a little early, actually, I have not left yet, getting up at 0430 hrs will screw up your timing, so I took advantage of the time, went out, and watched Kosovo wake up. I sat and watched as people started getting out wiping the sleep from their eyes. It was interesting to watch the people motoring around, the quiet street coming to life like small stream with rain, at first just a trickle, then a mad rush. Ok time to go.
We walked over to the CPI house where we met the in country staff, they explained the medical, time sheets and all that other good HR stuff. Then we went to the armory and got our weapons along with inner and outer vest, gun belts, and all the riot gear you would want. Oh joy, another 80 Lbs to lug around. Oh well!
We went to lunch after leaving the CPI house. We walked to a little sidewalk café/Pizzeria. The pizza was flat and small but it’s hard to screw up melted cheese and a crust I guess. After lunch, we headed back to the GRAND. I went to my room and washed my face then back down to the beautiful U.N. bus that awaited us. We were driven to the U.N. compound where we began our U.N.M.I.K (United Nations Mission in Kosovo). We had to fill out forms that I think we have filled out about forty times but hey, I am being paid for this whether I am here or on the streets. So we filled out the on line forms and had our mug shots taken. Now we sit and wait for the rest of the group to finish and then we will continue with the adventure!
Well the time is now 1700 hrs local time and I just talked with Punk for a minute to say hi, she sounded distressed. I understand, she is at home with 4 kids and I am 5000 miles away. However, I can always be home in 24 hrs… anyway; I now have my official U.N.M.I.K. ID card. Now I can move freely through barriers and check points with out any problems…something I forgot to mention earlier was that the CPI staff in Kosovo is no different from the staff in the states, if you need and they can get it you got it! It’s amazing how nice these folks are.
When we completed the U.N.M.I.K. processing we went back to the hotel, I went to my room, stripped out off my extremely warm uniform, and went to sleep. Did I mention this at 1630 hrs local time? Well I woke up at about 2000 hrs and thought great, never going to sleep tonight. Wrong, went and ate some dinner, then back in bed by 2230 and lights out until the most used horns in the world started at 0530 hrs.
Wednesday August 13, 2008
Ok the Horney people are at it again! Anyway, I take my time this morning getting showered and shaved then off to breakfast. Uncle Matt (he is a mentor that my friend Brad ask to watch over me and assist me while he was out of the country. Same with Uncle Larry!)so after breakfast there are two groups outside the hotel and I am standing there waiting for the U.N. bus to show up visiting with the new arrivals. Well I saw this pretty white bus pull up to the light and I think to my self, the guy in that window is in my group! OH CRAP! So thank God I am still running! Here we go, 30 lbs back pack and I am chasing a bus in Kosovo! I am sure this was a great scene for some. Not me! Anyway the bus stops I get on and of course I have o go to the back of the bus and get ribbed all the way to my seat then a few made a special trip down the isle to take another poke. (Damn Like being with Rick and Jimmy! If I knew that I would have never left!) so we get to the U.N. base and unload. We walk across this compound to a building and we sit and wait because they operate on there own time.
A white U.N. truck pulls up and I notice Her Majesties flag on his shirt! This bald headed feller gets out and it took about 20 seconds for all of him to get out! This guy stands up straight and I LOOKED UP TO SAY HI! DAMN THIS GUY WAS HUGH! 6’ 9”…WOW! His name is Martin and he is in charge of the English testing! This is a three-part test that test reading comp, listening, note taking, and report writing. A Nigerian fellow who makes fun of his own English gives the instruction. we all passed! Tomorrow we shoot and then we drive on Friday. Oh, they had people come in and talk to us about different positions and I am very interested in being a tactical medic! They will completely train you and get you EMT certified internationally. You hold a regular job until you are called out. Then you assemble and go to the targeted area! You receive tactical training, including MP-5, M-4, grenade launcher and medical training all free!
Will be investigating that a little more! Anyway I am supposed to try and connect with punk and the girls but the damn Wi-Fi is down or something! I will be contacting you in the morning baby! Love you!
Wednesday August 13, 2008
Ok, Its official, I can read write and comprehend the English language! Wow thanks for that! Today was semi boring, we went to class at 0900 then we listen to people telling us things for the fourth or fifth time! OK we got it! Anyway, when they finished we headed to the range. One important issue they covered prior to going was, DO NOT GO OUTSIDE THE BARRIER OF THE RANGE! Why you ask? Well apparently the have not de-mined the area yet! Apparently where our range is use to be a Serbian army anti-air craft weapon zone that we the USA bombed the hell out of them! It was cool as we drove to see the bomb craters and imagine the power that little bomb had! So we get to the range for the shoot known as 10 shots in a pizza box. Just imagine having to shoot five rounds from 5 meters 15 ft and 5 rounds from 7meters 21 ft. man I was stressing, Not! Apparently, they have people who fail this. So we shoot then we load back up on the bus and head back to the U.N. compound where we are cut loose at approximately 1500 hrs and told the bus will pick us up at 1700 hrs, 2 hours to sit in the hot direct sun! Fortunately for me my friend Brad was back, I called him, and he came to get me. We then went to the dive(Grand hotel) and loaded all my stuff up in his ride and headed to his apartment. After settling in and trying to unload all my stuff we went to dinner with a German officer named Marcel, and a US officer named Larry Kitchens (Uncle Larry) at a place called PAJAE. An Albanian owns this restaurant from Brooklyn. The food was incredible. After dinner we headed back to the luxury of an apartment the size of my bedroom back Home. Not kidding! When we got home I called Punk then cratered!
Thursday August 14, 2008
0700 hrs I woke up to find we had no electricity or water! Great! So I got up and took a towel bath and got ready for my day. Brad dropped me at the grand in time to catch the bus and off we went, for our drivers license testing. The Albanian instructor Sammy was quit entertaining. We had to do the parallel parking, backing and a road test, while on the road Sammy asked me if I was in a hurry, I said no sir, just doing the speed limit, oh ok. When we finished we were allowed to leave until 1400 hrs. ok it’s a 1100 hrs and we have three hours to do what? So here, I sit updating my journal. I hope this is giving you all a good perspective of what I am doing. More later, Love ya. Mark
Friday August 15, 2008
Well we went to dinner last night at a Mexican restaurant and the food wasn’t bad, it wasn’t Rancho Grande or the Satellite but it was good. The on thing I have noticed about food here is it taste fresh, its hard to explain but every thing is natural here, they don’t use all the preservatives they do back home. I am not finding it hard to adjust to the area, but I am having difficulties with the locals. A very nice gentleman stopped me on the street the other day and he began speaking to me in Albanian, I could not even begin to tell you what he said. So when he was done I tried to explain to him that I don’t speak his language and asked if he spoke English. He did not understand a thing I said. So he patted me on the shoulder and waved good bye with a smile. I think he was being kind but who knows. I woke up late this morning, last night was a little rough. The power went off while I was talking to Punk and it was rather warm last night with no air. Today Brad and I are moving to our new apartment. It is a very nice two bedroom; the problem is they do not believe in large bedrooms, or beds. Oh well have to adjust, Bathrooms are very small too. They leave enough room for the door to clear the toilet and that is it. Anyway back at PTC, not sure what it stands for but I am here. We had Criminal code this morning and it is based on the European style of Policing, maybe when I get done I will move my family to Germany and be a German police officer. We are on a break so I figured I would catch up. I will return to my writing soon!
Ok so its lunchtime and I am sitting here thinking about the last session. A Turkish officer gave a use of force briefing to us based on U.N.M.I.K. sop. During this briefing there were several of the U.S. Officers who were extremely rude and I was personal embarrassed by the way they treated this officer and represented the United States Contingent. These guys showed arrogance and lack of respect for this man who is struggling with his English but is doing his best. This person did not write the policies, his job is to inform us of these policies. These arrogant ass people are trying to be funny or make him feel less important than them. I guess it makes them feel good; it just pissed me off royally. Its not the first time this one guy in particular has done this. I guess it’s the ugly American syndrome that the warned us about when we were in Virginia! Some people just cannot get over themselves. I really want to go and apologize to the Officer for their actions, Damn them! Keep your opinions to yourself or discuss them later in private asshole. Back home we are all officers so why should it be any different here. We are all officers, we are here for the same reason, and some of them are here because they were told to go by the countries or by their agencies. We volunteered so be considerate. Sorry I am using this to vent!
We have four more days until we will deploy, are first MSA ( Monthly subsidiary allowance) is on Monday and then deploy to our jobs and regions on Tuesday. I cannot wait to get to work and get out of these classrooms. I will be part of Facility Management Unit to begin with and I am going to put in for Tactical Med Unit. With this I will be trained and certified internationally as an EMT and will receive MP-5 training and tactics. All of these skills will help me back home if I so desire to return to law enforcement or something in the medical field! I will be back later to write more!
Ok so the rest of the day was uneventful, after class, I caught a cab to the CPI house with Roy and I was able to log on and talk to Nanna and Pudge. Then I called Punk and visited with her for a while. Brad came by and picked me up and we moved to our new apartment in Dragadon. Its very nice and is located centrally. I can walk to my office in about 10 minutes, I can walk everywhere I need to go in under 20 minuets. If I am required to go further I can take a U.N. vehicle. So I spent the night unpacking, washing and folding clothes, and the typical things you do when you move. My bed is a medal frame ribbed bed with a mattress that is less than 4 inches thick, COMFY! So I got to a depression point today missing my wife and kids. I added 20 euro to my phone account and I burned up 14 of them calling missy today. Its going to take some time to adjust, I do not want to ever not miss them if you know what I mean.
Saturday August 16, 2008
Ok another day another dollar ( euro) whatever! So I woke and found Brad was not home. I was a little concerned so I called. Apparently these doors have a dual locking system and I locked him out last night, OOOPS! Brad had gone to a contingent get together with the Italians and when he got home he was locked out, so fortunately he has a friend who lives around the corner. So he went and slept there last night.
I got up around 0600 and made coffee, then I watched the Olympics for a little bit in French. I caught about every 50th word. I ate breakfast then got redy for work. I headed out for my morning stroll to the dive to catch the bus. I met up with Roy Kirk who lives in my building and w walked together. It was a beautiful morning for a walk. We arrived at the dive and mingled with our groups then head to PTC (Police training center). It’s Saturday so things are a little laid back. We have had to briefings this morning and no one could understand a thing they said.
We just completed our third briefing and the one we could understand. It is really hard to stay awake when you are sitting in a dark room and someone is speaking in a monotone voice. Thank God, for people poking you in the ribs, to wake you up, I hope today will be a short day so I can go to the CPI house and call the girls. One more briefing and off to lunch, think I will have the tuna salad with vinegar, yummy! The rest of the day was uneventful, I did get to visit with my girls, their attention span is short so I have to enjoy the first reaction they give me because after that they are interested in whatever else is going on, Pudge and Momma seem to enjoy talking to the Daddy in the computer!
Sunday August 17,2008
Today was a relatively laid back, we had a couple of briefings and some instructors didn’t show up so the American contingent gave the brief. It basically consisted of you guys don’t really need to be concerned with these, they are a formality so here are the slides any questions? I got to talk with the girls again today and they were telling me about school and who their teachers are going to be. I am glad to hear Dixie’s teacher is a person from our church and she is very structured. I think this will be good for Speed. I found out they do have NASCAR on TV here. Its on late at night because its live but hey, what do ya do? I fell asleep on the couch and the breeze through the flat last night was so nice I just stayed there until 0600.
Monday August 18, 2008
What a beautiful sunrise!
This photo is at about 0600 hrs local time, 2300 hrs in Houston!
Today started out with a promise, we get our first MSA. As usual we meet at the dive and load up like cattel in a trailer headed to market, we arrived at PTC and unload and heard into the beautiful buildings!
Now, you may see a bunch of shipping containers stacked onto of each other with windows and AC but what these lovely buildings are is, PCT!
We begin class and first out of the box is sexual harassment, this was taught by a French officer named Pascal. Now normally I would think this is a boring class, I have been countless times, why now! Well let me tell you, add a French accent and some comedy and you have the funniest class I have ever attended. Next, he briefed us on HIV/AIDS and it was the second funniest class. Next, Mentor briefed us on UN property, then the big Britt came in and gave us a brief on the chain of command. These three briefs were supposed to go until 1200 hrs; we broke for lunch at 1030 hrs and have to return at 1300 hrs. Can you say LONG LUNCH? So I caught a ride from Martin to the TSS compound and registered my bank account with the finance department so I will get paid! Very important! We walked from there to the Blue PX (shopping center) and browsed for a few.
After leaving the PX I walked back to the PCT and began taking pictures along the way. I took pictures of some of the local cars and different things.
At the top is a VW bus with a little western Flare, then the ever popular scooter, and a UN shop!
I found it interesting as I walked alone the things you see when you walk. When you ride in a vehicle, you lose perspective of what is out side the window. Here you walk a lot, and you actually feel better. There are some many stairs to climb, and places to go, at then end of the day you are tired of walking but it is unavoidable. It makes you more aware of your surroundings.
A trash pile behind the building, just one of the many sites, did I mention you can find the bones of what you had for lunch out back! LOL!
Tuesday August 19, 2008
Ok not so bright and early today, I got up around 0700 and began my day, first day at work! I arrive at my new office and meet with Tim (Bulgarian) and Brad. Brad is our boss so I listen to Tim tell Brad he is headed up north to gate 1. Brad grins, turns and looks at me and tells Tim to take me with him. So down to the motor pool where we get an armored vehicle, a security man named Andre (German) and a worker(Serbian). We headed to Mitrovista to meet a water truck and a sewer sucker. We get there and fill the armored truck with diesel. Then the three vehicles begin the convoy to gate 1. It was like driving through the mountains of Colorado. It was beautiful. It is a 30-mile drive took an hour or so. We rounded a corner and there stood next to the road, the biggest Poland police officer I have ever in my life scene with an AK-47 and a MP-5 around his neck.
The security officer and driver said well we are here.
I exited the vehicle and began looking around. It was nothing more than 6 containers placed about. I saw Police officers of Kosovo, Poland, and Germany. They were all performing different task. So I follow Tim over to a stack of pipe, he grabbed one end and the Serbian worker grabbed the other. They walked over to the corner of the structure or cover and started looking at the downspout for the drainage. They were trying to figure out how to connect the square metal downspout to the round 3 in PVC pipe they were holding. They thought about this for a while then they moved to the trench they needed for the new pipe. So the worker then started digging a trench on an incline and it was very nice. It was about 6 inches deep all the way through. Yes a 6 inch deep incline for drainage. As I stood in disbelief and watched this I thought, you have to be kidding me. I thought the stories I had heard were just BS, but apparently not. So he completes his hole and then began cutting his pipe with a file. When he was half way through he scored the rest of the pipe around and tried to break the pipe with a pair of channel locks. Yes he broke the pipe, but not where he wanted to. He cracked the pipe about 12 to 15 inches. So not wanting to waist any material he decided to use it.. next he tried to plug the pipe back into the square pipe. Now he is perplexed. So he takes his handy channel lock pliers and began beating the hell out of the square tubing. Now he fits the plastic over the metal, oh wait he beat it closed and now if you have more than a small rain the water is going to back up in the pipe and overflow at the top. So he takes the plastic back off and then bends the metal back to open the spout. WOW!
So I watched more of these things while we were there and was so glad my father n law wasn’t there. He would have keeled over at this scene. It was frustrating for me, I can only imagine what a true contractor or engineer would have felt. So we head back to the big city in our little underpowered sardine can. We arrived back at the office around 1545 hrs and went to lunch. After lunch, we went back to the office and I needed to go to the PX so I walked over there. I arrived back at the office and it was time to go home. This is like being an investigator! Just a jab at my CID friends back home, I know you people work, sometimes.
So now, I am at my flat waiting for the cable/internet person to show up and typing this for yall. no show, Therefore, I believe I will go to the CPI house so I can email this so you won’t have some much to read at one time.
August 30, 2008
I am really sorry for those that are truly interested but my file became corrupt and I lost everything. Thanks to a friend back home who had to dig thru the recycle bend to help me retrieve what we could. So we lost ten days but as you can tell it wasn’t that big of a loss.
Today is Saturday and yes that means I am at work to do squat, I was awaken this morning by a call from my loving wife who has gone to Bryan for the weekend. That is to Bryan, not with Bryan, Least I hope not! LOL! Ok so anyway, the get to HAHAROMA crew (Hannsz, Harvard, Robertson, and Martin) (first two letters from each!) is meeting in Bryan with at the new home of Chad and Amanda, truly wish I was there but if I was I would probably be at work! Anyway, they are all up there havening some fun! This is good for my punk I think. Our friends seem to be keeping here going so she does not have time to be sitting around thinking about me being gone. Damn, I feel like the person in the movie who died and is talking about his wife but she does not know! (ok look, when you have this much time to think, you think about some off the wall stuff)
Sunday august 31 2008
Today is play day, I mean training day! Really that’s what I meant. Today is armored vehicle escort training. Ok so we meet at the main HQ at 0830 hrs and Jean-Pascal briefs us on the day’s activities. We are a three-vehicle element consisting of Lima (Leader) Papa (Protected) and Tango (tail). We roll out and start heading south to the Albanian border. We do our formation driving switching from one side of the road to the other and listening to Jean-Pascal talking on the radio in his French accent, no papa to the right. Come on Lima, to slow. Move as one unit. It was really funny to listen too. Now you know me and driving, and I had to have my tunes, so I brought my I-Pod and me and my crew were jamming! They really enjoyed the music and it drowned out the radio. Now you must consider there are two Russians, two Bulgarians, two Turks, one Frenchman and one big ole Texan. Communication was not exactly clear. It was very humorous. Moreover, when the others did not understand what the other was trying to say they would look at me. Hell, I did not understand him either.
So we stop for lunch in this valley, it’s the perfect post card photo. It was amazing, right in the middle of nowhere stands this Caribbean style café, there were medal frames and covered with large palm leaves. Jean-Pascal was telling us how wonderful the fish was and so of course that’s what I order..OK, Note to self!!!! When in a strange place do not expect to get fried or grilled fish like back home. Expect tem to gut the fish, then throw it in a fryer. Yes, notice I did not mention scaling it or filleting it, I said, gut it and fry it! So imagine my surprise when an entire fish, fried head and all shows up at the table. Well, lucky for me I did get mine first; I saw Ekrans and was relieved I did order that! Oh, did I tell ya, I was wrong! So mine comes and I think to myself, How hungry am I? Well, I ate it!
After lunch we loaded up and headed back. The rest of the day was uneventful except the valuable lesson of American driving instructors should be dispatched around the world to teach others to drive!
