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.