OK whoever asked this hasn't been reading the blog very thoroughly. The only computers we have access to are government computers and they do not allow downloading. Unfortunately, it may be a while before anyone sees pregnant Karen pictures. We will get them up as soon as we are able. And also, we have very limited telephone access - if you don't hear from us it's not because we aren't thinking about you. We miss everyone! Happy 4th of July ! ! ! !
I like to check Mike Anderson's Saint Louis media site every now and them. When i was younger there was a time I thought I would work in radio all my life. Although I'm glad it didn't work out that way, I sure had fun working for KIX 104FM from 1987-1990. Mike runs a web site in St. Louis that covers St. Louis media news. I e-mail Mike every now and then. When I e-mailed him from turkey he actually put a small blurb up about me on his web site. I can' figure out how to link to a specific date on his site but his site is: http://stlmedia.net/ and the feature he did on me is on 02-24-1008. He put a photo up of me that I can't copy over - but here is the story:
02-24-08 Got a great weekend email ... from former KIX104 Promotions Assistant Pat Dwyer. Kind of a wild man back then (I remember the altercation he got into with the soon-to-be Mayor of Maplewood over a bumper sticker incident), Pat's become an Air Force success story. He's married, and he and his wife, Karen, are about to become parents in the next few months; Pat will become Master Sergeant Dwyer in the next few days and he's a just a few years away from retiring from an honorable Air Force career as a senior non-commissioned officer. Read about his military time here. On AF retirement, Pat and Karen want to come home to St. Louis and he intends to go into accounting, a degree toward which he's been working while in service. When young Mr. Dwyer left KIX, he left a vacancy that was never adequately filled...he was missed. I'm glad to see that it was clearly the AF's gain. Say hi here.
BABY KATIE NEWS: Karen has now felt Katie "doing something" in there. I ask, "Did you feel her kick or was it movement?" Karen says, "She's doing something!"
Thanks to all the recent e-mails/comments from Jackie Rangen, Gittan Grondahl, Tracy Breece, Jeff Pixler, Mom, Kori Smyth, and probably many I am forgetting. I only have 15 minutes left before my time here is up. Besdies Karen needs to be off for "high tea."
Find me on Facebook. It's a great way to stay connected to all your friends and family everywhere simultaneously. Some of you need to get your pictures on there (Mom, Jan, and Jeff).
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.
In the words of OMB: "Time flies when you're having fun."
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.
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