Been busy...

Well I apologize for not updating this in a while. I have been very busy here lately. We have been running at 110 MPH lately. On top of that, it has been getting much hotter. Only 115 during the day and in the low 80’s at night. A few days it has gotten up to over 120 in some areas here, and it is not even summer yet!! Well I had a good birthday. Got a small inflatable pool from my brother. I still have not set it up yet, as I am working on getting some chlorine. But, it will be very nice. My wife was about to buy the same one, but heard he got it, so she sent some other goodies instead. Thanks for the cookies honey, they were great! My mom sent some yummy chocolates from Costco. They got a little melted, but still were excellent. I thank everybody for the packages and letters of support. Every bit of mail that we receive here is great. We don’t have a PX, and the closest one is over an hour away, so the little snacks and amenities help greatly. The biggest thing we have been dealing with here lately is the heat. We are starting to get some what acclimated, but it is still very hot. When we walk outside, it feels like you just walked into a furnace. Plus add in all of our gear we wear, and that adds about 10 to 15 degrees. I’m sure there are some folks back in the states that work in factories or steel plants that can relate to the heat. It sure is not enjoyable. My hat goes off to all you hard working blue collar folks back home who bust your tails day in and day out in your jobs. We as soldiers respect you all and thank you for working hard and supporting us. I share all the letters and goodies I get with my squad, and I am trying to create a board to hang all the letters and supportive letters up so everyone here can see them. Oh yeah, the pictures above are of one of the Afghan Police stations that we are responsible for. I am meeting with some of the officers before a joint patrol. We are discussing the area, problems of the station, and things that have been improving. The run down building is a elementary school in one of my districts. These poor kids only go half days and most schools don't have buildings or furniture. We are working on identifying all of these and helping to rebuild them. It is really sad when kids back home take what they have for granted. Well, I gotta go take my squad for a run up a mountain. More later from the “sauna”. Russ