I am happily married to a beautiful, sexy woman. Julie is the love of my life.

We first met in the seventh grade when her family moved to Texas. I’ve had a crush on her ever since, despite the initial rejection over 30 years ago.

Back in the seventh grade I would try to walk her home, even though it was at least one mile out of my way. (I never told her that, I always said I was going to my grandparent’s house near her neighborhood.) About halfway between St. Monica School and her house was a little convenience store called H&H. All the kids who walked that route usually stopped there for Dr Pepper, those nasty tubes of colored sugar we all used to love, and other crap that kids ate in the 70s.

One time I got her alone, away from the other kids. She was sitting on H&H’s front window ledge. I sat down next to her and cautiously asked her if she would “go with me”. Honestly, I didn’t really know what that meant, but some of my friends were “going with” girls, so I assumed it was important.

She said, “I can’t.” Now I was prepared for laughter, NO!, maybe even an OK. But “I can’t” left me dumbfounded. I staggered away, my ego devastated.

She claims to this day that she doesn’t remember the event, but it is etched in my memory forever. It took me another twenty-five years to work up the courage to ask her again.

This time she said yes and we’ve been happily married ever since.

Some things are worth waiting for.

Out.

Let's show the Marines in Iraq that America supports them!

US Marine Colonel Simcock, the commander of USMC Regimental Combat Team (RCT) 6 in Iraq, is asking for 6,000 positive emails to his Marines. That's one email for each Marine in his RCT command. COL Simcock is concerned about the effect of the negative barrage that those Marines are getting through the electronic media. So far, they've only mustered 2,000 emails. That's a crying shame compared to the amount of crap I get daily in email. This is a legitimate request. It's not one of the “little Johnny wants to break the world's record in Christmas cards” situations. It takes only 30 seconds of your time. Here's the email address:

RCT-6lettersfromh@gcemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil

If you're reading this email, then you can probably click on the address, type a few words, and then hit 'send' to be all done. It doesn't have to be the Gettysburg Address. Something as simple as "Hello, Marine. We thank you for what you're doing. You are in a noble task. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Best wishes & get home soon." is more than sufficient.

An excerpt from an interview with the Colonel:

GRIM: Is there anything that you and your Marines need that we could send you?
COL SIMCOCK: (Chuckles.) I'll tell you what, the one thing that all Marines want to know about—and that includes me and everyone within Regimental Combat Team 6—we want to know that the American public is behind us. We believe that the actions that we're taking over here are very, very important to America. We're fighting a group of people that, if they could, would take away the freedoms that America enjoys. If anyone—you know, just sit down, jot us—throw us an e-mail, write us a letter, let us know that the American public is behind us. Because we watch the news just like everyone else. It's broadcast over here in our chow halls and the weight rooms, and we watch that stuff, and we're a little bit concerned sometimes that America really doesn't know what's going on over here, and we get sometimes concerns that the American public isn't behind us and doesn't see the importance of what's going on. So that's something I think that all Marines, soldiers and sailors would like to hear from back home, that in fact, yes, they think what we're doing over here is important and they are in fact behind us.

I just got a care package from the Prestoncrest Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas. I don't know how they got my name and address, but it was a very pleasant surprise.

God bless America!

Children learn the art of rug making by practicing on small novelty rugs. This one was made by children in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan. I paid $20.

This afternoon we met with General Shah Aga to discuss some budget issues. After the meeting, he offered to take us to see some sights, as a sort of going away gift for Vic.

First we went to the tomb of Mohammed Zahir Shah, the last Shah of Afghanistan. The tomb is undergoing renovation, and you can still see rocket holes in the ceiling. Hard to tell who shot the rockets, since that part of Kabul was fought on by the Soviets, Dostum, Massoud, and the Taliban. Zahir Shah is considered the “Father of Afghanistan” and only recently died in July 2007.

Then we went to Bala Haizar. You can see all of Kabul and all the way to Logar Province. The ruins of the ancient British fort are still visible, as are rusting hulks of Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Out.

I got some great pictures today.

As part of my in-brief, we visited the ANA Central Work Shop (CWS). The commander of CWS is General Jawid. CWS is supposed to be the ANA central vehicle maintenance facility. Our tour guide was Captain Allen Kelly, USAF. The site where CWS now sits was originally an ordnance depot built by the occupying British in the mid 1800s. The US is rebuilding and renovating the compound. Many of the original buildings are being refaced and fitted with electricity, plumbing, etc. Most of the buildings need the floors raised because the original dirt floors are lower than the outside ground, causing water to settle inside during rains and the winter.

It was a clear day so I got some good pics of the mountains surrounding Kabul, very close to CWS.

Having been shelled by the Soviets, Taliban, and US, during excavation the workers have to be extremely careful about turning up old ordnance and/or unexploded munitions. This morning, for example, the workers found a cannonball, probably over 100 years old. They have to leave it in place until Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams can inspect and dispose of it because it could still contain explosive materials.

As part of the clean up, contractors removed truckloads of debris. Some of it had not been moved for years. In one old warehouse, they found some antique brass British cannons. Some of the cannon had regimental crests still on them. Captain Kelly did some research and was able to identify the regiment as that of Field Marshal Lord Frederick Sleigh Roberts. Lord Roberts was one of the most successful British commanders in Afghanistan, having defeated the Muhammad Yakub Khan, the Afghan emir, and later became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army.

On the way back to Eggers we passed through downtown Kabul. I got some great street scene pics from our vehicle. This new camera is fantastic.

After lunch, thank Allah, we visited the slaughter house. Like the sewing factory, operating a slaughter house isn’t usually considered a military core competency, but it works for the Afghans. First we had chai with the commander, General Zaref. General Zaref is a friendly old warrior with a comb-over and the longest, bushiest eyebrows I’ve ever seen. The slaughter house purchases cows, goats and sheep daily. They butcher the animals and transport the meat to military units in and around Kabul. Because there is no refrigeration or refrigerated trucks, the slaughter house operates every day. We’re working on modernizing their facilities, but these things take time. Specifically, the Czech Republic has agreed to modernize the slaughter house. At one time the Iranians promised to help, but all they did was paint some broken refrigeration units and put a big sign over the entrance boasting about their assistance to the people of Afghanistan. I put the slaughter house pics in a separate photobucket album so the weak-stomached can avoid them if desired.

Out.