Merry Christmas & Other News

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM TURKEY! ! ! !

It has been over a month since I posted - so I have a lot of news. Things are slowly getting more organized at our house. We are having a big Christmas Eve party that's kind of forcing us to clean up quickly. 17 adults and 10 kids are coming...that we know of. Possibly as many as 15 more people. We didn't bring any Christmas decorations but the house actually looks pretty good. Pomegranate martinis will be the theme drink. We will take plenty of drinks...I mean pictures.

Speaking of pictures. Hopefully, soon I will be able to post more. We may not get Internet access at home for a while - if ever. But since the home computer is up, I will be trying to find time to put some pictures on disc and move them to the blog at the library. The only pictures I can access at the library are the ones that happen to be in our gmail. But it's been a while since I posted - so here are some photos from a trip we took in November to Anavarza castle within an hour of Incirlik. It's interesting to visit Turkish archaeological sites. There's no one around to say "...don't touch that." Most sites have never even been excavated, as is the case with this one. Now it may not look like we are high up in some of these photos so I downloaded this one below from off the net to show you how high up we climbed:

A quick description of Anzavara Castle from Mehmet Birbiri who writes a column called "Ask Mehmet" (clever ain't he) in the Incirlik newspaper:

"We have so many historical sites in our neighborhood, but very few know about Anavarza Castle, one of the most striking historic cities, which served as the capital of the kingdom of Armenia Minor for centuries. Anavarza was built by the Assyrians in the ninth century B.C. Built on a sheer rock ridge, Anavarza Castle is actually two structures; an outer fortification and an inner castle. Both overlook the ruins of a Roman city by the same name. Your first view of the castle may be daunting. While driving through the village by the castle, the structure can be seen at the top of the ridge several hundred feet above you. The castle can only be reached by climbing. What first appears to be a route fit only for a mountain goat quickly reveals itself to
be accessible because many steps were carved into the rocks. Still, it takes approximately 20 minutes to make the climb. Just a little way up the ridge you will see the ruin of an ancient amphitheater on your left. Climbing higher still, you see what looks a little like a street map. The actual city of Anavarza was swallowed by the great earthquake of 525 B.C. and has not been excavated to this day. What you are seeing are roofs of buildings and streets that outline a small city buried almost 10 feet below the ground. Once you are near the top of the outer castle wall, you will have a superb view of the countryside to the west. On a clear day
you can see several of the nearby towns and even Snake, Black, Tumlu and Kozan castles a few miles away. Reaching the top, you come to the main wall of the outer fortifications complete with intersecting rooms and underground chambers. For the more adventurous, try walking along the top of the wall. You can almost feel what it was like to be a sentry on that wall hundreds of years ago. This is also a great place for a picnic. As you look north from the main wall, you can see how the ridge narrows and rises with the main castle in the distance. Between you and the main castle are the ruins of an 11th century Armenian castle. Continuing up the gradual rise toward the castle, you will reach a dry moat leading to a tunnel-type building and another dry moat. Watch your guide carefully because he knows all the steps and handholds possible. You may tour and climb the castle by yourself or get one of the villagers who will ask you if you need a guide. If you decide to have a guide, ask how much it will cost before starting the tour. In every direction is a sheer drop of several hundred feet. My advice when visiting castles, ruins and ancient sites; either walk or look, but don’t do both at the same time. Around the right side of the second moat and through a tunnel is the main part of the castle. Fortified on the west and north ends, it is marked by two horseshoe like towers. This part of Anavarza is in relatively good condition. On your way down, the guide should take you along a slightly different route to show you the burial crypts."

Below, we are climbing to the top:

Below, you can see Karen and I having just completed the 15 minute climb up to the top of the mountain where the castle is. That's our friend Corina Gestring just entering the castle. Corina and her husband Ken were kind enough to let us go with them and get off base for a day. The guy is a local Turk. They try to tag along and get paid for being pseudo tour guides. Karen had just found out she was pregnant the day before this trip.

Below, preggo Karen looking fine at the top of the castle:

A black and white of Karen and I at the top:

Climbing inside a tower:

It's surprising to find sheep way up there when you get to the top. As you can see, they are very sure-footed and walk the stairs and edges without problems:

Baby news! We did have our first ultrasound and we were able to see an image of the baby and see the baby's heart beating. We still don't know the sex. We have another appointment on 7 January. We know we will be going to Landstuhl in Germany in mid June. I will try to get there in June as well. Karen is currently due 18 July. And the great news is Caroline Haley plans to try to come out and stay with Karen. Also, Karen's boss from Edward's NAF, Tom, has offered to put us up in his home in Germany and maybe even take us to Paris. Karen is excited.

Work is a whirlwind. There are only five mental health techs here including me. I will lose 3 of them between Feb and June with three new ones coming in. Wes Williams is leaving us for Canon Air Force Base (AFB) in New Mexico. His replacement will be Jennifer Hoag from Korea. Then we lose Seana Creech who is getting out. Her replacement will be Kanisha Carson from The Azores. I was Kanisha's supervisor back at Sheppard in 1999 and look forward to seeing her again. Then we lose Joe Thompson to Eilson in Alaska and gain a SrA Thompson from Ramstein in Germany. A Thompson for a Thompson! We also found out last week that our Mental Health Officer-In-Charge (OIC), Captain Edwards, has been promoted to Major. In 2006 she was passed over for promotion but they left one of her performance evaluations out - so she appealed the decision and just found out the Air force agreed and her promotion actually took effect Dec 1st but she is waiting for Congress to take some sort of action before she can wear the rank. And our Psychologist, Captain Henry, recently completed a short humanitarian assignment to The Congo. Our group is a GREAT bunch of people and it is going to be hard seeing us all get broken up.

What's on the way for 2008? More baby news! And hopefully more frequesnt postings. I also have to study for a big CLEP test, complete the Master Sergeant correspondence course, gain 30 online CEUs for my 08 CADAC recertification (drug counseling stuff), and hopefully start on the accounting degree. Once we actually get settled after the baby, we will have less than a year left at Incirlik.

And here is the big teaser for 08. I have a GREAT idea for another blog. It's a unique one. Stay tuned.

NOTE ON THE PICTURES: double click on a picture to get a better view!

Karen Dwyer is Pregnant !

Surprise! How's that for news out of Turkey? Karen was feeling a little off about a week ago. Then she felt queasy. So she took a home EPT test and we had two positives. This past Tuesday she completed a test at the Med Group and that confirmed it. Our first appointment is tomorrow, on Monday. We have talked to a lot of you on the phone. If we haven't, it's simply because we keep running out of time.

In the middle of all of this, our property was finally delivered...on the wrong day. It was supposed to be scheduled for 10 Oct. Then we were told it would be late and they finally scheduled for 12 Nov. That was rescheduled to 14 Nov and that was rescheduled to 15 Nov. So of course on 14 Nov, while I was at work and Karen was getting ready for work, one day before they were supposed to be there - they showed up at our door. The only problem was we had a house full of furniture with all of our stuff in it. "No problem Abla...," they told Karen. They then proceeded to throw all the temporary furniture into the car port while Karen to scrambled to get everything we owned out of the drawers. Clothes were flung, cats were flying, Turks were gobbling - it was chaos. But now our stuff is here....and Karen is pregnant. Yeah. We are very happy.

Names? How does Mehmet Dwyer sound? Sort of a tribute to our Turkish hosts? No, how about Dasher Dwyer since we like Christmas so much? That would be Dancer Dwyer if it is a female. Thanks to Ryan Smyth for the Dasher inspiration. But I think my neighbor here at Incirlik, Wes Williams, has come up with the ultimate male name - Darth Victorious Dwyer! OK, all kidding aside we are leaning towards Noah James for a boy and Katie for a female.

More news to come.

Our Property Has Arrived....NOT ! ! !

So we received a call from TMO (Transportation Management Office) saying your stuff arrived in Adana and we will have it delivered to Incirlik on Monday the 12th. Well all right! We were truly excited. Especially since they are more than 30 days late from the 10 October promised delivery date. But then they called back an hour later, "The Turkish Air Force won't let any carriers on base on Monday or Tuesday. We will have to reschedule for Wednesday the 14th." OK, so we'll just deal with it. Then they called back an hour after that, "The Turkish carrier has no availability on the 14th so we have to cancel and reschedule for the 15th." So perhaps we'll get it then. Oh, they also want to verify that I own a motorcycle. I told them, "No, but if you deliver one I am going to keep it." So we should get our stuff on the 15th...or at least we should get someone's stuff.

Karen started a part time job at the base library and I will start teaching guitar at the end of November.

Hi to The Haley's

Don't have a lot of time this week. Just wanted to say hi to Don & Donna, Matthew, and Caroline Haley. Don has been kind enough to print out some of these post and take them over to Papa Kuhns for us. Don, just wanted to let you know to look at the comments as well. looks like my mother is calling Jim to task on that last post.

Hopefully our stuff will be here by mid November we are now hearing.

Turkish, Armenian, and American Politics

If you have watched any news recently I am sure you have seen what passes for media now days refer to "The Armenian Genocide" resolution. This is a resolution in Congress that would acknowledge the death of Armenians around and after WWI as an act of genocide. You may have even seen reference to Turkey limiting access to Incirlik Air Base or kicking the Americans out of Incirlik if America allows the resolution out of committee. So let me say here and now that I don't believe this will happen. Has anyone been paying attention to the Democratically controlled Congress at all? Nancy Pelosi hasn't gotten one piece of legislation through Congress. Not one! Who is everyone kidding? Not that it matters anyway. Democrats such as Dick Murtha and others have already withdrawn their support commenting that (paraphrase), "...no one really knew what this resolution was all about." Now, I could point out that it seems silly to think that some of us are paid $0 by the US government and could tell you more about the political and strategic history of this issue than Mr. Murtha, Pelosi or their supporters - yet they are paid over $100,000 a year to know such things and still don't understand the most basic concepts of the region...oh wait, I just did point that out. The issue is not if someone believes genocide happened or not. For me, the issue is Congress has things it should be doing other than spending time attempting to sabotage over 100 years of diplomatic efforts and cultural influence just to analyze one of hundreds (if not thousands) of events of history to decide if they were genocide or not. It doesn't matter. It's history. It has also really bothered me that both sides seem to now be talking about how the whole issue could harm the troops in Iraq. This is true, but it is short-sighted to not be aware of how it would effect the thousands of Americans at Incirlik, Izmihir, Ankara, and Istanbul. Military members could literally loose every possession they own if forced to leave without notice. But it's especially short-sighted to be unaware of how such an event would affect NATO, the EU, the IMF, or the future of secular governments in the Muslim world. Anyway, mark my word, Nancy Pelosi hasn't passed one of her agenda items and this won't pass either.

What else is new? I now have signed a contract to start a second job at Incirlik as a guitar instructor! My coworker and next-door neighbor Wes is the current guitar instructor. I should be replacing him as he gets ready to return to the states. I'm a little nervous but looking forward to getting paid to do something I truly love. I haven't been able to do that since I drove the Zamboni or when I worked in radio. It should only be two nights a week for 2-3 hours.

Karen and I have been hanging low in the last two weeks or so. We keep busy on base walking. But money is going to be a little tight as we await the 09 raise, and MSgt pay raise. Still no car or household goods yet. The car has actually arrived in port. I'm hoping household goods will arrive in late October or at least by mid-November.

Also, it appears as if some of this blog's fans (there are at least three besides my mother) have been complaining about my spelling! Remember, I only have one hour to get this in before they kick me off the computer. Once it's done - it's done and in the history books. So please forgive the spelling. Actually, today I did try to go back and correct a few that I missed.....just for my father-in-law, Jim Kuhns ! So hopefully my editor sitting there on West Avenue J-10 in Lancaster, California...will find it in his hart to furgiv my speelings.

A couple of photos I was able to pull out of our g-mail and place on the library computer. On the upper left is one of the Chuck Norris photos we had taken. We have one other that isn't quite so blurry. On the upper right is Karen and I at the Iftar dinner during Ramazon. Bottom left is the tea man at the Iftar dinner (27 Oct edit - OK evidently my page displays differently after I create it, so the order of the pics may be different than described but you can figure out who is who):

Mt. Nemrut, Chuck Norris, and Iftar

So much continues to happen. It's difficult to capture it all when I only have one or two hours a weekend to access to a computer I can post on. We continue to struggle with having a limited amount of clothing and personal belongings but still seem to find ways to find cool things to do and places to go. Let's start with Chuck Norris.

Karen and I got to shake Chuck Norris' hand and have our picture taken with him. Chuck had been in Iraq visiting the troops and came through Incirlik on the way back to Germany. He was very nice. We were at work in the 39th Medical group and they said Chuck Norris will be coming into the lobby around lunch time. I called Karen and she came up with the camera. There were only about 100 of us in the lobby when he came in. Chuck said he had been wanting to go back to Iraq and thank the troops again but he wanted to do a less formal tour and be able to go into work areas and shake every one's hand. So he said (paraphrase), "...so I only have a limited amount of time but I wanted everyone to know I am grateful for your service, we are thinking of you back home, we pray for you - and I hope to be able to shake each of your hands and you can get a picture if you want to. " They tried to make sure the Americans got to Chuck before the local Turks but I had to laugh when I saw our Med Group shoeshine guy, Jaf, third in line to get his picture with Chuck Norris. Chuck did serve in the Air Force and spent time at March Air Force Base. There is a whole cult thing that has built up around "how bad" or "how tough" Chuck Norris is. For example, "In fine print on the last page of the Guinness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Chuck Norris, and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone has ever gotten. " My favorite is, "Chuck Norris is so bad that at night the Boogie Man checks his closet for Chuck Norris." We did get one closeup shot of Chuck and somebody took a shot of Karen and I with some of my coworkers and Chuck. We hope to post if we ever get our computer and personal belongings.

As far as personal belongings we are now hearing that could be into November. We will be living out of our suitcases for three months!

Then came Mt Nemrut in the land referred to historically as Commagene; a spectacular must-do experience if you visit Turkey. We went on a Dulmus (small Turkish minibus) with a group of about ten and a tour guide. It was about a five hour drive east. Going east is interesting because a large part of south eastern Turkey is off limits to us due to instability with terrorism, Kurdish nationalists, and the PKK party. I noticed we seemed to be about 90 kilometers west of Diyarbikir, which is off limits. So it was cool to be going right up to that limit. What I like about Mt. Nemrut is that it corrects the idea people have that this continual east/west Asian/Europe conflict is a new idea. The statues at the top of Mt. Nemrut were built by King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene around 62 BC. I think part of what he saw himself as was someone who was able to bring together eastern and western ideas in peace. Ironically, Turkey still finds itself trying to fill the same role today. Here is the Wikipedia explanation: " Nemrut or Nemrud (Turkish: Nemrut Dağ or Nemrut Dağı, Kurdish: Çiyayê Nemrûd, Armenian: Նեմրութ Սար) is a 2,134 meters (7000 ft.) high mountain in eastern Turkey, 40km north of Kahta, near Adıyaman. At the top of Mt. Nemrut, King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene built his tomb-sanctuary along with huge statues (8-9 meters high) of himself, two lions and two eagles, and various Greek and Persian gods such as Hercules, Zeus-Oromasdes (associated with the Persian god Ahura Mazda), Tyche, and Apollo-Mithras in 62 BC. These statues were once seated, with names of each god inscribed on them. The heads of the statues are scattered throughout the site; the pattern of damage to the heads (notably to noses) suggests iconoclasm. There are stone slabs, with bas-relief figures on them, that are thought to have formed a large frieze. These stones display the ancestors of Antiochus, who were Macedonians and Persians both. This tomb contains stone carvings of gods, such as the head of an eagle. The same statues and ancestors found throughout the site can also be found on the tumulus at the site, which is 49 meters tall and 152 meters in diameter. The statues have the likeness of Greek facial features, in conjunction with Persian clothing and hairstyling. The western terrace contains a large slab with a lion, showing the arrangement of stars and the planets Jupiter, Mercury and Mars on July 7 62 BC, the possible time when construction began on this monument. The eastern portion is well preserved, being composed of several layers of rock, and there is evidence of a walled passageway linking the eastern and western terraces, from a path below at the foot of Mount Nemrut. Possible uses for this site might have included religious ceremonies, due to the astronomical and religious nature of the monument.
The arrangement of such statues is known by the term hierothesion. Similar arrangements have been found at Arsameia on Nymphaios at the hierothesion of the father of Antiochus, Mithridates I Callinicus. This tomb was excavated in 1881 by Karl Sester, an engineer from Germany. Subsequent excavations have failed to reveal the tomb of Antiochus. However, this is still believed to be the site of his burial. In 1987, Mt. Nemrut was made a World heritage site by UNESCO. Tourists typically visit Nemrut during June through August. The nearby town of Adıyaman is a popular place for car and bus trips to the site, and one can also travel by helicopter. The statues have not been restored to their original position, although this would not be difficult to do."

To give you an idea of how high up Mt. Nemrut is look at the highest point in this photo and that is where we went to. It is the peak that seems to come to a point:

I believe we stayed in Kahta were I took a couple of great photos of the local children playing underneath our window. We also saw a very old Roman bridge and several other sites of extreme interest. I just don't have time to go into all of them in detail. Mt Nemrut is 7,000 feet high. It can be a little scary going up some of the roads when they turn to gravel or dirt with no guard rail...but an unforgettable experience. It's hard to imagine people building these statues and a tumulus over 2,000 years ago at the top of this mountain:

The pictures are all borrowed off the internet as we still can't post ours.

We also found the nicer more progressive part of Adana when we went to the Iftar at Park Zirve. An Iftar is a large community dinner held during Ramazon at the end of the day's fast. Park Zirve, overlooks the lake at Adana and is truly one of the nicest restaurants I have been in. We ate outside and were entertained by Whirling Dervishes. I had hoped to put a nice pic of Park Zirve but I couldn't find one. Their web site is: http://www.parkzirve.com/ . And if you are wondering what a whirling dervish is here is a pic:

There is so much more to write, but I am out of time. Karen will probably be trying to return to work as cost are more than we thought they would be. I am playing in a fall softball league. And Karen is going to go back to Park Zirve this week for another Iftar with just the ladies.

Intersting Turkish Facts

Yes, it is true we now have a house. It also true that we may have to wait until the end of October before our household goods and car are here with us at Incirlik. So, we are comfortable - but we only have our suitcases, assorted dishes, and our papazon chair with us. Loaner furniture is provided but it is very small and cheap. Thus, the term "stick furniture." Karen and I barely fit on the same bed and the blankets we were given are only 5 feet long. We did manage to carpet the entire place for $300. I guess just a year ago the going price was $200. You can see how hard the US dollar is getting hit in Europe. Once we get our furniture things should really settle into a routine...and then we will have 19 months left before they pick it up again!

Computer access is still difficult to come by. It will probably be November before we can post any pictures. The only reason I have time to access the computer today is because they decided to shut the power off on base for 12 hours today. The Community Activity Center has a generator so here we are.

Ramadan, or Ramazon as the Turks pronounce it, started on Monday. I was awoken around 2am to the sound of drums being played through The Incirlik Village loudspeaker. The loudspeaker lives up to it's name. The drums are a reminder to everyone to get up and eat so they are prepared for the 12 hour fast. During fasting times the people have nothing to eat or drink - not even water. I have been reading a lot about Turkish history, the government, and modern Turkey. I read Ataturk: The biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey and The Turks Today, both by Andrew Mango. I also read a book about the last coup in 1980. Some interesting things about turkey you may not have known:
- The Turks are considered to have immigrated from somewhere in Mongolia
- Turkey is among several nations to have emerged from the former Ottoman Empire
- The Ottoman Empire included present day Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, etc
- Ataturk described Islam as a "superfluous strategic necessity"
- Ataturk admired western culture, especially German and French
- Ataturk mandated the wearing of European style hats in the 1920s/1930s
- Turkish government is mandated to be secular by design
- Turkey was able to remain neutral in WWII
- Turkey rescued many persecuted Jewish professionals from Germany
- The modern Turkish alphabet was created just 80 years ago and is ingeniously simple
- The Turkish military has overthrown the government 4 times since WWII
- The current Turkish President is a former Islamic scholar and not viewed well by Kemalists
- Kemalists are those that ascribe to Ataturk's original nationalist, statist, and secular goals
- Ataturk's born name is Mustafa Kemal
- A few weeks ago The Turkish High Command refused to salute the new Turkish President
- Turkey is the most strategically important piece of NATO; literally the "tip of the spear"
- Turkey is the bridge between Europe and Asia.
- Turkey has the second largest Armed Forces in NATO after the USA
- Turkey is the home of the fabulous Efes Beer product

And one local note: Incirlik is pronounced "injure-lick." The "c" in Turkish is pronounced with as a "j" like in the word "injure" or "gist." Apparently, Americans kept using the Turkish spelling which looks like " iNCiRLiK." So we started pronouncing the c as an "s" sound. Properly it is "injure-lick," which means a holder of figs or an area of figs.

We Have a House Now

On Tuesday of this week we were told that our house was ready. If you would like to see where we live go to google.com and click on "maps." Drag the map over to Turkey and find Adana which is in southern, central, Turkey. It's almost on the coast about 90 miles from the Syrian border. Put your cursor on Adana and zoom in. A lot of people use the zoom bar on the left of the map. A shortcut is to just use the wheel on your mouse. Each time you role one click on the wheel, you are zooming in or out one level. Don't turn the wheel to fast though or you will confuse google map. When you get close enough so that you can see the streets of Adana, you will see "Incirlik" off to the east of Adana. On the upper right corner of the map click on "hybrid" so that you can see the sattellite and street view at the same time. We are in the housing area on the southern tip of the base. We live on the cul-de-sac just north of the huge grass circle. I can't see it right now as I type because this computer does not allow multiple frames.

Although we have the house we are still waiting for many things. When we moved in the toilet didn't work, the washer didn't work, we had no phone, and we had no electricity in one bedroom until today. We now have a toilet, washer, and electricty, but still no phone. We bought one phone but all the directions were in Turkish and the display was in Turkish. So we took that back but the only other phone they had plugs into American 110 electrical outlets and there are only Turkish 220 outlets in the room with the only phone jack. So currently there is no phone to purchase unless we want the Turkish one. Hopefully we will get a cell or landline (or as my father Jim Kuhn's calls it - "a walk around phone"). We have temporary loan furniture, aka "stick furniture", until our stuff arrives in October.

Karen is keeping busy reading, doing aerobics, coordinating the house repairs, and getting the house ready. We have been to the mosque in Adana and have some pictures. Tomorrow we might get to go back into Adana with one of my coworkers to see the mall and some of the nicer areas. Probably no pictures until November or December. Once we get the computer we have to buy a Turkish modem and then get DSL access.

Oh, a quick note about the Turkish hospitality. We seem to like The Moonlight Cafe best out of the few restaurants outside the gate - althought they are all very good. We forgot to bring cash last night. I went upstairs and asked one of the boys if it was cash only. He didn't speak English well, so he went to get who we think is the owner and he said it was cash only. I explained to him that we forgot to bring cash but we would be back over the weekend. He said, "No, no - please sit. You pay next time you come." This time we sat on the third level which is essentially the roof. We had fun watching the local cats move in on the chickens behind the The Moonlight. They would just to start to get close enough to worry when these water bottles would come flying out of The Moonlight and another building. The cats would take off running only to repeat everything again in 20 minutes.

We are headed to dinner, Baskin Robbins (no Golden spoon unfortunately), and to see the movie Evan Almighty right now. A nice 5 mile walk so we are staying in shape! See you soon.

Into Incirlik Village

Karen and I ventured off base for the first time last weekend. We went to a very popular restaurant called The Moonlight Cafe in Incirlik Village, just outside the gate. The food was very good. We had chicken kabob, humus, bread, salad, and water melon for desert. We also had "The Special Tea" which is a must have if you eat there. Incirlik is rather small. Unfortunately, it will be a few months before we have our computer and can download our digital camera. But I did find this photo on the Internet to give you a feel of the flavor of The Village:

Credit to Fred Moore who has an excellent page on the net with detailed information about The Village at http://www.merhabaturkey.org/1MOOREFindex.html . I would disagree with Fred in just one area. You can most definitely get authentic Turkish food at The Moonlight Cafe. There were a few locals there when Karen and I ate there. Adana is a few miles further away with many more modern experiences we have yet to see.

Work is going well. I have not even gotten half way through inprocessing and they have me seeing patients already. My coworkers have had some very nice TDYs to Izmir, Ankara, Venice, and Istanbul. Maybe I will get one of those in the next two years.

Kori: if you read this - a coworker I have here is going to participate in a marathon in Istanbul. The cool thing about this one is it starts in Asia on one continent and goes across the bridge n Istanbul and ends in another continent - Europe. http://www.istanbulmarathon.org/

Karen and I wanted to let everyone know that we have very limited computer access. We are both on a computer today at the library. But that is a rare occurrence. Normally, we are only able to get on one of two computers at lodging and those have a 15 minute time limit. Most of that we use trying to pay bills back in the states. So if we aren't e-mailing you, it's simply because we can't access a computer.

Lancaster, San Diego, LA, Ramstein, Incirlik in 5 Days

Marehaba. What a journey! The whole trip is one blur but we certainly experienced a lot on the way and have some great memories. It has been a challenging trip. Karen and I can now truly say, "If we could pull this trip off we can do anything." Just to recap a few of the roadblocks we have overcome along the way:

• USAF Assignments Office: "You can not take your wife to Incirlik"
• Edwards Passport Coordinator: "Your wife will not receive your passport on time."
• Edwards AFB Vet: "Sorry we are rescheduling your appointment."
• Edwards AFB Vet: "Sorry we forgot about your second appointment."
• Point Loma Vet: "Sorry we canceled your appointment."
• Vehicle Processing Center: "Your car has too much gas, you must go have your tank drained to 1/4 tank."
• Vehicle Processing Center: "Your car is too dirty, you must go wash it."
• United Airlines: "We have no ticket for you and no reservation - and who is Julie Dwyer?"
• Air Mobility Command: "Your cat can't fly in that cage, he needs a bigger one and you have 3 hours to find one. He will have to fly in the cargo hold."
• Air Mobility Command: "Why is your health certificate not in Italian?"

The positive thing for us is we beat back every one of these obstacles. We truly saw a system, the military PCS or "permanent change of station" suffering from some minor infrastructure collapse, especially in the area of military veterinary services - but we never accepted no for an answer and we won at every single step. Now Karen is here with me in Incirlik, Slinky is with me in Incirlik, and our car is on the way.

It was great to be able to see all our San Diego friends one last time prior to leaving. Brent & Jackie, Brent's brother - Mark, Matt and Enrica, and Karen and I all went to the Padres game on Friday. I think that was the 3rd. Kori and Ryan were also there but sat one section below us. It was sold out as Bonds had a chance at tying Aaron's record. Fantastic game as the Padres came back to tie late and win it with a home run in the 9th or 10th (can't remember). The next day we all met for our last supper at Buca De Bepo in Mira Mesa. Then Karen and I finished packing at Matt and Enrica's. It seemed like it took forever and I think I still had to leave about 30 pounds of stuff at their house as we ran out of room. We finally were on our way to The Radisson at LAX with Matt, Enrica, and Slinky around 6PM. The four of us had a fabulous Last Supper - yes another one, except this one was well into the $200 range...but well worth it. So we went to sleep fat and happy.

Now, I thought about whether I should include this next bit. And Matt, you are not around to ask permission, so I am going to put it in here and hope you don't mind because it was so damn funny. Besides, I will be picking on myself shortly. We shared a room with Matt and Enrica. About 2:30 AM Matt start flinging the covers around. At first I thought he was just hot and was trying to get comfortable. But he kept flipping them all around and was wrestling around - then I saw him reach for the light. The light came on and Matt had this crazed look in his eyes with a sheet draped over his head like an Arab and his fingers pointed in the shape of a gun, like a kid playing cowboys and Indians. He looked at Karen and I and said, "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I dreamed were playing paintball."

But I topped Matt the next morning. We found ourselves running slightly behind going to LAX. Then we had a little difficulty finding the terminal and ended up one story above where we needed to be. If you know me, you know I like to be early and I was a little stressed that we might have to now turn around and back track to figure out how to get to the lower level where ticketing was. I could see the ticketing line and it was not short. Then I saw an escalator going down to where we needed to be. Now bear in mind that I had three 60 pound bags on one of those rental, metal baggage carts. It all happened so fast. This is the moment Enrica refers to as "when Patrick lost his mind." But my thinking at the time was that I would have just a narrow enough slant on the escalator that I could balance everything. That didn't happen. All three bags tumbled all the way down the escalator and landed at the bottom. About one second later, I realized when I got to the bottom I would have a 50 pound metal cart with no where to go and people coming behind me. So I lifted the metal cart and threw it over the baggage making a huge crash causing 30 Asians waiting at the bottom to all simultaneously turn their heads and stare for one second. It was like they looked, thought "crazy American", and all looked away again in unison. Luckily a United Airlines employee saw our plight and rushed us to the front of ticketing when she realized we were short on time. Then another roadblock -The United ticketing rep kept saying I had no ticket or reservation despite the fact that I had a ticket reservation and confirmation number in my hand and that I had confirmed at least three times in the past week including the day prior. The rep kept asking us "Who's Julie." She said we wouldn't get on the flight and the flight was sold out. Then she said she found our reservation but she claimed it was for a different day. Then she said she would switch our reservation to the flight we thought we were on. I know, she just said it was sold out right? Then she amazingly got us the exact same seats as were on the original reservation in my hand! Praise the lord! After that, the LA to Baltimore flight went well. The stewardesses never even knew a cat was on the flight. We spent the night in Baltimore and were able to eat at G & M where we had the best crab cake I ever had ( gandmcrabcakes.com ).

Air Mobility Command in Baltimore was an entirely different story. That wouldn't let Slinky fly in the Sherpa bag, said he didn't fit in the hard shell carrier, and made him fly in the cargo hold. He is still recovering from the stress but did well. At our layover in Germany, Karen's boss from Edwards, Tom Burkett met us there just to say hi for the brief half hour we were on the ground. Very nice of him.

So, we have now landed at Incirlik and are staying at temporary lodging with Slinky. We should get a house within three weeks. Right now we walk everywhere. About mile to work, to the dining hall, to The Turkish Inn. We received our temporary gate passes yesterday but haven't made it off base yet. We still need to apply for Karen's residency on Monday.

Updates may be infrequent until we get our computer in October. Thanks to all for e-mailing. Keep it up. We love messages.

The Dwyer's are In Turkey

The Dwyer's are in Turkey. More details to come later when I have time to post the story of the flight. Right now Blogger is having a hard time accepting posts - we'll see if this gets through.

Bye Bye Socal

This may be the last post for a while. The unaccompanied baggage movers come tomorrow and I will most likely ship the computer. This is a hard move. Less than two years in place and the move itself was completely unexpected. Lancaster is hardly our dream place to live but we are REALLY going to miss our house and back yard. And Slinky will miss it even more. This is what we are leaving behind in our back yard in this land where mosquitos can't grow:




We had a great time staying with Matt and Enrica Malone last weekend. Got to see Brent, Jackie, and Taylor. And also got to see Kori, Ryan, and Owen. We didn't get to Diego until late on Friday but everyone was able to gather and Ryan and Kori's on Saturday evening. Then Matt, Enrica, Karen, and I met the Smith family plus Kori's sister and mother Ryan in La Jolla Sunday afternoon before we drove back late Sunday night. Had a fabulous lunch and some adult beverages at The Tin Fish outside Petco Park on Sunday as well. Matt and Enrica also gave us the coolest good-bye gift. It had a photo album of all our time in San Diego from the beginning that included photos from everyone and one of Matt's custom CDs with San Diego 2001-2005 memories. We will see everyone one last time next week -l actually get to see a Padres game a week from tomorrow before we leave for Turkey. Maybe even see Bonds tie or break the record. Well I was going to post some pics but I realize they are all still loaded on the camera.

I probably won't post for a while but we can access our gmail and blog from any computer so as soon as we can access a computer in Turkey we will return. And remember, we WANT to hear from everyone via the blog and e-mail while we are over there. This will be our link to home, family, and friends. Take care and see you soon.

Passport Is In ! ! !

Thank you "Holly" from Missouri Congressman Todd Akin's office on Manchester Road in Ballwin Two Senator's offices tried working the issue. Friendly at first but not very good with the follow-through. Holly got it done in two days. When Karen and I get time we are going to write a letter to Congressman Akin to let him know what a fantastic job Holly did.

There is so much more to tell but so little time now days. Today we obtained the passport, got an oil change, car wash, rotated the tires, and separated every single thing in the house and garage into either: going to storeage for 27 months, being shipped to Turkey, or garage sale.

Circle of Friends

On a positive note: we get to see Brent & Jackie, Matt & Enrica, and Kori & Ryan in just a few days. Can't wait....

The US Passport and Background Check System

This is the update on the passport status. Last week, both of my Missouri Senator's said they would work this issue and request the passport be expedited. However this week they are unable to give me any status on the matter other than to say an e-mail was sent or a call was made. So today I also contacted my Missouri Federal Congressman's office, Todd Akin. "Holly" at the St. Charles office was very attentive and said to send everything to her via e-mail and she would work the issue in the morning. I am hoping the fact that she is local in St. Charles will help. The office sounded less frantic. This passport issue should concern everyone. the slowest part of the passport process is getting the background check done. Now think about this next part and think about it real hard.....the government can't complete a background check within 10 weeks for a military family like Karen and I who are being forced to move overseas as nonvolunteers - yet the Amnesty Bill was supposed to supply a one-day background check for 13,000,000 additional illegal immigrants. Get it? They never had any intent of complying with the background checks - it wasn't even a possibility. But we are American originals and we will persevere.

USAF Master Sergeant Induction Ceremony

My Air Force Master Sergeant Induction Ceremony was held on Friday at Club Muroc at Edwards Air Force Base. It was truly a first class event. The Med Group's own First Sergeant Compton put together the finest dinner/ceremony I have ever seen in my fifteen years. I think the group of Master Sergeant Selects I was a part of made it a nice event as well. It was the first time I had ever been a part of a small class that just gelled very quickly. We only had five days together but it just seemed like everyone was there to get it done and get it done right. So the class went smoothly and was relaxed and the dinner and induction ceremony was even better. Our guest speaker was Chief Master Sergeant Terry Reed, the Command Chief Master Sergeant for the Air Force Personnel Center. He truly hit a home run - one of the most inspirational speeches I have ever seen ANY Air Force member give from any rank, enlisted or officer. The class first met Chief Reed on Thursday morning when the Edwards Command Chief Master Sergeant brought Chief Reed out for a three mile formation run with my class. We ran a very tight, steady, formation run, complete with cadence and Jody calls . At the end, we moved off the trail and onto the track to walk a cool down lap in formation. Chief Reed moved out ahead of us and jogged backwards as he spoke to us, "This is what you do. You lead by example. You get out and do and and show others how its done..." It was really mesmerizing as he continued on in his laid back but captivating voice with the sun rising behind him and the Joshua tress in the distance. It seemed like a scene out of a movie. And the ceremony in the evening was just as inspiring. I must say I am glad Chief Lewis and Chief Soltis pushed us all into buying the mess dress. I was disgruntled at first because it was such a financial burden. But now I have it, I look good in it, and I look forward to using it again in Turkey.

Lot's of stuff still going on. Still trying to deal with the passport issue and saying goodbyes to many.

SNCOPE

Senior Noncomissioned Officer Professional Enhancement. Started this one week class yesterday. They kept us busy from 0700-8PM. Have to leave for morning work out now. Passport problems continue. Details later.......

Passports, Medical Issues, and a Baby

Karen found out on Friday that passports are running way behind. This is very bad news. Karen applied for her no-fee passport on May 25th. That gave us ten weeks to the day of departing Landscatter. We were told that passports were taking a LONG time to get back to applicants but that all the stories we were hearing on the news were about vacation-bound travelers applying for fee passports. We were told it should take about eight weeks. Well on Friday we discovered the lady who processes the passports at Edwards Air Force Base just received back the passports for early April applicants. This affects and complicates so many other issues. Can we get reimbursed for Karen's ticket on the commercial flight from LAX to Baltimore if Karen's passport doesn't come in on time? What about the military flight from Baltimore to Incirlik? Where does Karen live if she can't fly with me?

The Air Force needs to improve it's explanation of the passport process. While it is true that we knew of our assignment to Turkey in mid-April, it's also true that I had to fight with the Air Force for around 45 days to get them to understand I could take Karen with me. We did not receive orders until around 25 May. You have to have orders to apply for the passport. So we applied at our earliest opportunity, which was delayed by about 45 days by the Air Force due to Edwards Outbound Assignments not understanding their own rules and AFIs. And we knew that passports took a long time but we really didn't know it could take months - and no one in the Air Force ever told us that. Luckily, my sister-in-law, Carol Czjakowski, works for a company that takes passport photos and told us, because no one in the Air Force did. Tomorrow we are going to ask Carol about rushed passports and see if it's possible to pay extra to get 'em quick but I think even those take longer than the time we have left. Karen is also going to check with the lady at Edward's that processes passports on Monday and then we just have to adjust to whatever situation presents itself. It's really discouraging when you consider all the difficulties we are encountering just to be able to continue to live together as a husband and wife while we serve our country, yet we have several thousand immigrants a day walk into the USA border every day without any papers whatsoever. But we will adjust and press on.

So on top of all that, my father-in-law, Jim Kuhns, has had some serious medical issues going on. Happily, after a successful out-patient procedure last Monday he appears to have a positive prognosis. follow-up up on Monday.

And some good news to report: Our good friends, Brent and Jackie Rangen, had their first baby. Welcome to Earth, Taylor Lynn Rangen. First Kori and Ryan and now Brent and Jackie. Congrats to everyone. I would post pics of both beautiful babies but that seems a little personal without the mom and dads knowing. So just take my word. Both babies are knockouts and both have wonderful parents and a great life in San Diego to look forward to. We will be seeing both babies soon when we go to San Diego to say our last goodbye for two years.

Preparing for Turkey

We are now down to the wire. Only a short time left but we still have to deal with issues involving car storage, car shipment, auto insurance, driver's license, passports, airline tickets, cat transportation, vet issues, vacating and cleaning the house, temporary lodging before we leave Lancaster and when we arrive in Turkey, finding a cat sitter at Incirlik until housing is ready, possibly refinancing the car, getting new military uniforms, preparing for our three separate pick-ups of property, and getting a Turkish mail address - to name just a few things. We still have a few big social events coming up: (1) dinner with the Haley's, (2) Tom and Dave's July 4th party on the 30th, (3) my father-in-law's birthday on 1 July, and (4) getting to San Diego to see Kori & Ryan's baby and Brent & Jackie's baby. Jackie is probably in labor as I write this. But other than these social events, every minute of the day will be preparing for PCS (permanent change of station).

Also thought I would start a long term experiment. I added a page element on the right side towards the bottom called "People I Would Like to Find or Hear From." As I have mentioned before, one of the frustrating things I have found in moving so often is that I have really lost track of people I intended to keep in touch with my entire life - dating all the way back to childhood. And every time I move it seems like I gain a few more people I have lost touch with. In today's Internet age, there is really no reason to loose touch. So I am going to try to reconnect with people and maintain that contact. But I think it would be interesting to take it even a step further. Could I literally reconnect with "everyone" that has been a significant part of my life? I am going to find out. So I am starting with childhood. I am starting with the seven kids I used to play with the most between the ages of 4-10 when we lived at 1975 Keeven Lane in Florissant, Missouri. And I already have one reconnection! Actually the first one, Mike Morford, was kind of easy as we reconnected 2-3 years ago. This is a real case of "small world." Mike Morford, Todd Davis, and Scott Hudson not only played together but our lived in houses all adjacent to each other (a four corner type thing). Well, when I googled Mike Morford a couple years ago while working at The Naval Consolidated Brig at Miramar, I was living in Scripps Ranch in San Diego. We hadn't seen or heard from each other in like 30 years. Ironically, I discovered that Mike's first job out of college was working right in Scripps Ranch about a mile from where I was living. That's a small world. Mike is in northern Cali now but I was fortunate enough to be able to reach him before leaving for Turkey. Mike, I still hope to catch up with you sometime when we return stateside.

So, this blog is still brand new. but I enjoy it and i think it will continue to grow, If you know of any of the people I am searching for, let me know - or let them know. Once I reconnect with these old friendships I will add more names.

Shuttle Landing at Edwards

Karen and I were able to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis land at Edwards Air Force Base yesterday. It was my third time seeing it land and Karen's first. I was glad Karen finally was able to see a landing - especially since we are leaving for Turkey soon. I think it was special to her since her father spent so many years building shuttles in Palmdale. For those in the Antelope Valley, it always seems funny to hear media say, "...the shuttle will leave Edwards to return home..." because for local residents the Antelope Valley is a shuttle's home.

I want to try to show some photos you normally don't see on the news. This landing was closed to the public, which gave us much more opportunity to get a good viewing spot. The best spot was over at the aeroclub - but Karen and I weren't in time to get there before they closed the road off. So we positioned ourselves on a high point overlooking main base. A lot of people always wonder how the shuttle seems to come from the north when it was obviously in orbit from the south. Below is a pic of the landing route onto the Edwards dry lake bed. Notice the shuttle actually loops around much as an approaching plane would. Karen and I were about a mile north-northwest of the runway on the dry lake bed:

Below, a worker test for some sort of interference that could disrupt communications:

Atlantis landing below. The best my camera can do from the distance we were at:

Atlantis down with parachute open:

Great pic from over by the aeroclub:

Everyone getting ready to head back to work or home:

This is the platform the shuttle will be loaded onto so it can be raised up on top of the 747 to fly it back east:

Blogger Video Upload

I'm trying out the new Video Upload feature on Blogger. It seems pretty cool. You simply add it as a page feature and position it where you would like on your page. I have positioned mine down at the bottom for now and labeled it "Grow Your Musical Appreciation." If you click on one of the four video stills, the video will open up at the top of the page. I plan to rotate some of the music I like through this every now and then. The one feature that could be improved is it only does one search for all four videos. You can list multiple search criteria but it will still simply grab the first through fourth videos from that Google search. I would like to be able to post four different search criteria and have it pull four different videos based on individual search criteria - not one search based on multiple search criteria simultaneously - confusing?

I launched this with four different versions of Jimi Hendrix Hear My Train A Coming. Some great stuff here. The video of Jimi playing acoustic 12-string is a unique look into Jimi's acoustic abilities. The last video is nine minutes of Jimi performing and playing on The Dick Cavett show. This includes the part where Cavett brings up Jimi's Woodstock version of The Star Spangled banner as controversial. Jimi replies, "I thought it was beautiful."

23 June 07 edit update: I just realized that this feature seems to change every time it is viewed. It seems to do a video search every single time it is viewed. This means the videos can change without my knowledge. so, for example, even though I mentioned the Dick Cavett clip it may disappear if the number of hits it received drops below the four other videos based on my search guidelines. I wish Google would add a locking feature. That way you could let them search each time as they currently do or lock in the videos you desired.

Time Flies

In the words of OMB: "Time flies when you're having fun."

In the words of Mick Jagger: "Don't let the world pass you by."

Time has been flying lately. It's been fun but Karen and I have to be careful not to blink - seems like everything is coming at us at a lightning pace right now. I could write all night but I am short on time. So here it is in bullet format:

• in April we found out we have Air Force orders for Incirlik Air Base
• it took 45 days for the Air force to completely understand I can take Karen with me
• I was selected for promotion to Master Sergeant in the AF; line number 3973
• as I prepared to outprocess Edwards AFB, I discovered I would need to attend a week-long PME class for Master Sergeant selects and fork out a few hundred bucks; unfortunately, money and time are scare resources right now
• my parents visited us in Lancaster for Father's Day weekend; just left today
• our great friends Ryan and Kori Smyth had their first baby today; Ryan wanted a unique name no one else would have but Kori said no to Santa Smith; welcome to Earth Owen Smith

My wife Karen and I with my mom and dad, Sherry and Jim Dwyer on Father's Day 2007:

Me, brother-in-law Randy Czajkowski, father-in-law Jim Kuhns, and my dad Jim Dwyer on Father's Day 2007:

Below, one of the first pics of Owen Smyth - kind of. At our 2007 Halloween party, Kori didn't know she was pregnant yet - but she actually was in this photo! Kori was a good sport tolerating all of us while she was not drinking. I don't know how she slept throught "2am Living Room Strobe Light Dancing" but she did. Below is my father-in-law as a one-eyed jack after he lost the vision in one eye - that's a dark sense of humor...at least in one eye. And notice that Kori and Ryan came to the party dressed as Patrick and Karen! Kori has Karen's hat on, fake boobs, and an apron that says "friends don't let friends drink white Zen." Ryan has a grey-haired wig, Air Force shirt, and Rolling Stones' pants on. Classic:

First Post

First Post. So why am I blogging? Well, I've always considered myself a writer...a frustrated writer without time. And an amatuer historian. Hopefully, I will find this forces me to take the time to write and I will get some enjoyment out of it as well. Plus, as I prepare to move to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, I expect to have a few comments about the adventures Karen and I encounter without violating any DoD rules. This should be a great way to keep track with friends and family we will be missing. As I get ready for my 18th move in 22 years, I'm finding contact with friends and family gets harder every year. So, please, help me change that. Read, comment, e-mail, enjoy...stay in touch.