Day 30 – First By the end of my deployment I slept through rocket attacks and all the other sounds that went living in a combat zone for months on end, but the first night as I tired as I was I could not sleep. I remember laying in my bunk with a blanket and […]
Fear and Trust
Day 29 – Unite I was only shot at one time in all my missions outside the wire in Afghanistan. That was more than enough for me. I was afraid to go back to the school where I was shot at, but my job did not ask me how I felt. Afraid or not afraid, […]
Wake-Up and Skype
Day 28 – Wake The days I looked forward to the most were the mornings I would pull myself out of bed at 0530, walk to the morale tent, and Skype with either my parents or my husband. Most days I would miraculously wake up minutes before my alarm would go off. (In a tent […]
Free from Afghanistan
Day 27 – Free When I was deployed to Afghanistan I was given a break in the middle to go somewhere. While most people went home to the states, you had the choice to go anywhere. My husband and I wanted to take this opportunity to do something fun together and he choose New Zealand […]
Site Visits
When I was deployed it was my job to go to the various construction projects we were in charge of throughout the province of Kapisa, Afghanistan. Our team’s goal was to go to each project once a month. For a majority of our projects, we did this, but there were a few projects that were […]
Easter in Afghanistan
Day 25 – Enjoy One of my favorite memories from being deployed was Easter Sunday. My mom sent me an Easter basket full of goodies. Bunny ears, candies, eggs, and a few extra things. I had a plan, get up early, and hide eggs in the office for a little bit of fun. We didn’t […]
Dare to believe
Day 24 – Dare I did not think I could do what the military was asking me to do. I could not believe that somehow I was not only supposed to go to a foreign country but also interact with the people in a culture I did not understand and danger seemed to be at […]
Looking Back At Military Life
Did you know a year ago this month I went from holding the title of Captain and served my last day in the Air Force? It is easy to look back at military life and reflect on all the things that have happened in this past year. Time has flown by. It is still unreal […]
Training for War: Unmet Expectations
I didn’t really know what to expect when I left for training for war to deploy to Afghanistan. And then when I left training I thought I knew what to expect when I got to Afghanistan. But I found out my expectations from training and reality were not the same. The Journey Begins I left […]
Honor, Duty, Sacrafice: Giving It All
When I think of honor I think of all those men and women who gave their life while serving their country. Some people have lost their lives in war, others in training missions, and others in experiments gone wrong. But all gave their lives for their country. All gave some, some gave all One of […]
