Troop Weblog

Christmas visit by the SECDEF

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Thank you to everyone who has sent wishes for a Merry Christmas this way, especially: family, old friends from New Jersey and Texas, new friends in Virginia, and the students, teachers, faculty and staff at North Warren.

Here's two pictures of Rich, my roomate, with Secretary Rumsfeld who visited our Camp yesterday. You can read Rich's account at his website.

Track Santa

Michelle found the following while watching a spot on Santa on the Biography Channel:

You can log in to NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) on Christmas Eve and see where Santa is--betcha didn't know the Military keeps track of these things.
Apparently, Rudolph's nose sends off an infra red signal that they track with satellites. They also have a file of "declassified" pictures of Santa and other assorted Santa sighting related material.

Merry Christmas!!!

QOTD

"It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its Mighty Founder was a child Himself."
-Charles Dickens

"Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee, no example sway thee, no persuasion move thee to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so thou shalt live jollily, for a good conscience is a continual Christmas."
-Benjamin Franklin

"The Christmas spirit of peace, hope, and love is the spirit Americans carry with them all year round, everywhere we go... The tree that lights up our country must be seen all the way to heaven... Its lights fill the air with a spirit of hope, and joy from the heart of America."
Ronald Reagan

Some Moving Tributes

One of my soldiers sent me the following link.
Until Then
It's a moving tribute to the soldiers serving throughout the world. Make sure you turn up the sound as the slide show includes the music Homeward Bound from The Road Home by The Choirs of Brigham Young University.

The Folks that made that have other tributes at their site, GCS Distributing.

Each of the Tributes is done very well with excellent pictures and set to beautiful scores. They may take a little while to download but they are worth the wait. I encourage you to check them all out, but you might want to secure a box of Kleenex and a friend first.

Direct links to thier tributes are:
We Support You, OIF I Tribute
To Our Parents, Vietnam Veterans Tribute
9-11, This one takes you back to that day we'll never forget
Unitl Then, Soldiers fighting the Global War on Terrorism
Freedom Isn't Free, Korean War Tribute

Fake Tree & Real Sunset: Both Bringing us Some Cheer

More Christmas Cheer.
It was hard to get a good photo of the Tree the night of the Lighting Ceremony, but here's a nice shot:

And here's a little of Mother Nature's Cheer.
This tiny miracle put a smile on everyone's face on the way to dinner last night.

Let it Snow!

OK, flurries might be more accurate, but there are definitely little white flakes floating around! This is so exciting!! It is really getting me in the Christmas spirit!

I have one more exam and a paper to turn in, so I am about halfway through finals...I can't WAIT until Wednesday when this is all over!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

The Official Start of Christmas in Iraq

While I have been, not so quietly ushering in the holiday season, the Commanding General officialy kicked it off Thursday night with a Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Rich and I were clearly in the festive mood.

As you can see from Margaret and SFC Julien it's contagious!

One Down, Three to Go!

Well, I had my first final today and it went Ok. It is hard to speculate, but at least it didn't leave me panic stricken. And now I will never have to worry about contracts again...until I take the bar that is. The other good news is that although contracts is not all that interesting to me, my professor for that class was definitely my favorite this semester and I got him again next semester for property!

Well...I'm off to eat lunch and study for Criminal Law! Thanks for all your encouragement everyone!!!!

PS---Congratulations to Matt for being elected class president and Lauren for landing an awesome new job! Way to go guys!

Hello Pippi !

Meet Pippi. Isn't she the cutest?

Pippi's parents are Kristen and Dwight. Dwight is a first year law student with Michelle at Washington and Lee.

Whitney and Toby are anxious for their first play-date.

Puppy Stories

Michelle sent me the following news from the home front:

"You know how we are always wondering what kind of dog Toby is? Well today my suspicions were definitely confirmed that he is mixed with some sort of bird hunting dog. I was sitting in the kitchen and Whitney was sleeping in family room. I look up and Toby was totally STALKING Whitney...almost like a cat! His tail was sticking straight out behind him and he was walking SUPER slow, picking up his paws one at a time and putting them back down ever so carefully...he was completely SILENT on the hardwood floor and sort of crouching down. Then all the sudden he pounced and tackled her!!!! Ok...maybe it isn't coming across as funny as it really was...but I thought it was damn cute!

"Then I was in the office printing some stuff and I found Whitney standing IN Dan's closet covered in clothes just sniffing his shirts.
How sweet and sad is that? I guess she misses her daddy."

Daddy misses her and the rest of the Troop too.
69 Days to go!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

As the un-official morale officer for my office I have already begun to spread Christmas Cheer. Luckily my sidekick, "Charlie the Christmas Pup" (he barks Christmas Carols), made it to Iraq in one piece.

Our first target was Travene:

As you can see she is clearly full of the Christmas Spirit joining, us for a picture after a rousing chorus of Santa Clause is Coming to Town.