Counting down the Days

Not much new and exciting going on out here. It has gotten a little bit colder, but not much. Temp is in the low to mid 70's during the day, and the 40's at night. I expected a little more rain, but there hasn't been much. I finished my college classes up. They went pretty smoothly overall. Hopefully I will follow up on that when I get home. Last week, I told you about meeting the football players, particularly about the guy behind me having a picture of Brian "The Boz" Bosworth getting trucked by Bo Jackson. I ended up bumping into the guy the other day and asked him how it went, and he said The Boz was really cool about it, and signed the picture "Bo Knows The Boz". Our relief should be getting here in a month to do turnover. It's all down hill from there.

Update on Dave
: The newest on Dave, is they moved him from ICU to a regular room, and are on there way to moving him to a rehabilitation center in either Philly or Richmond. He is still in a coma, but has shown improvements. In the accident he had injured his jaw and had to have it wired shut. Lately, he has been breaking the wires. They think it might be from yawning, but they aren't sure. They also said it appears his eyes are tracking movements, but they aren't sure if he sees people or just a shadow of them. His therapist asked him to kiss a picture of his daughter, and he did. They did an EEG which did show some slight improvements. They are planning to do an MRI which should shed more light. It has been awhile since they have done one. Last time, they were having trouble distinguishing blood from actual damage.

Kuwait Stinks!

Seriously. It smells terrible. Hard to describe other than reporting the need to breathe through the mouth.

Anyway, today we got a visit from some former football players. It was quite the motley crew. The group seemed to be comprised mostly of great college players that somewhat flopped in the NFL. The tour is officially called The Tostitos Salute to the Troops Bowl tour.

They were split of in groups of 2-3. I set out to get some autographs and maybe a couple pictures. I was wearing my Eagles t-shirt.

The first table I came to was Brain "The Boz" Bosworth and Tony Casillas. Tony, from the Cowboys, immediately began to blast on me for the Eagles shirt, and spoke of how Dallas was going to smash the Eagles next weekend. The Boz seemed kind of weird. He was talking about "we" gotta get paybacks for last year. I thought he only played for the Seahawks, but I might be wrong, so I just nodded and smiled. He was pretty intimidating sitting down with a smile, so I can just imagine how he was on the field. The guy behind me in line had 3 pictures of The Boz getting trucked by Bo Jackson, he wanted him to sign. If you know the circumstances of that, you'd know why I didn't hang around to see how it went.

The next table was Tommy Bowden and Bruce Smith. They were both pretty quiet, didn't say a whole lot. Little bit of small talk. Bruce Smith, by far the best NFl'er there, was sure to remind everybody that he was the odd man out in this crew by wearing his Canton Ohio polo shirt.

The third table was Joe Washington and Barry Switzer. Joe Washington played with the Skins, and Switzer coached the Cowboys, so again, I caught a bunch of crap from those two. Coach Switzer just looked at me, and then turned to Joe and said "God I hated the Vet". Joe agreed and talked about how one time he saw the Redskins mascot get beat up by Philly fans. He also asked if it was true about the judge in the basement. Switzer said it was the most intimidating place he ever went. Joe said he was living in Baltimore now and asked where I lived. I told him Delaware, and he asked me if I had ever heard of W.L. Gore. I told him that my Mom worked there. He talked about how impressed he was with the company as he had done some work with them in the past. He also noted that they made him the best pair of football spikes he had ever played in.

The last table was Tee Martin, Rocket Ismail and Ty Detmer. Ty, the lone Eagles fan out of the group welcomed me with open arms. He quarterbacked for the Eagles for a few years, and for the most part did pretty well. I told him about the crap I was catching from the other players, and so he told me to ask coach Switzer about the 1996 game when the Eagles beat the Cowboys, ending a 5 years drought vs. the Cowboys. Switzer was fired the next season. Switzer didn't hear us, but it was fun anyway. Ty said he loves watching the tape of the interception at the end of the game that Troy Vincent ran back for a touchdown. He said he loves when they pan to Jerry Jones. He said the look on his face is priceless.

The Rocket and Tee Martin didn't really say much, but were both pleasant.

Overall it was pretty cool. As I guess most experience when meeting celebrities, I wish I was able to hang around and talk to them a little more, but it was good just to see they were taking the time out to come here for a visit.

The lone rogue post

Yes, this has what the blog has evolved into. Lone rogue posts. Whether it be lack of motivation or excitement, I just haven't had much to write about I guess. Things here are good. We are now considering ourselves on the "home stretch" as we near the last 70-80 days left here. The consensus around here, for the most part, has been "can't wait to get out of here". Believe it or not, there is actually a waiting list of guys who came out here with me, who would like to stay another year. I think the economy plays a part in most of those guys decision to extend another year. Maybe they don't have a job to go back to, or this one pays a little more, either way, to each his own I guess. Not this guy though. Actually, I'm the only guy on this mission that didn't volunteer for it. I guess technically, by joining the Navy I did, but everyone else said, "Please send me on this mission", while I was the recipient of "You are hereby ordered". So yeah, no extensions for me.

The weather continues to be the same over the last month and a half. Low 50's with the occasional shower. It may dip into the 40's before I leaves here, and I'm sure we'll get some more rain as well. I'm sure none of you in the states feel bad considering the snow and what not.

College is going. I have 2 research papers due next week. 5-8 pages each. One is on Learning Environments, and the other on the Tokyo Sarin gas attacks a few years back. I can't procrastinate on those like I have on most of my other assignments. Overall the classes are going great though. Once those papers are in the classes will be done. I haven't looked into next semester yet.

I got to talk to my Mom on Skype the other day. It seemed like she enjoyed it. She happened to stop by my house while I was talking to Christina. You know I snapped a picture right:



I'm pretty sure my Mom wont be as "excited" as Christina was about me posting her picture on the blog, but at least I didn't put it next to some creepy guy like I did Christina's.

Updates!

Once again I find myself apologizing for the sporatic posts. It's just that boring out here, that there isn't much to report. I will take this oppurtunity to update some of my previous posts. More or less answer the questions my Mom asks when I call home.

Dave and Brian
Brian's funeral was last Saturday. There was quite a bit of local news coverage in the Scranton area. Using google you can find articles and newscasts if you wish to read more. He was buried next to his Mother who coincidentally died in auto accident at the same age as Brian, 37.

Dave has been in Bethesda since the Sunday after the accident. His parents have been there since then as well. A few days ago he was finally taken off life support and is now breathing on his own. Family reports he has attempted to squeeze their hands. While these are good signs, he is still unconscious and the nuerologist cautions not to get too excited as full recovery from his type of brain injury will take a miracle. A group on facebook has been started called "Voices of Dave Morgan". The woman who started it is a family friend who has been taking care of Daves 4 year old daughter while he was here. The group is a place for people to leave messages for Dave, and she in turn reads them to him when she visits.

College
The online courses have been moving along. It's more work than I hoped it would be. I have a research paper due this week, and two more 3 weeks later. Hopefully I can find the motivation to crank them out for a decent grade. Other than that, nothing really exciting about school.

Losing weight
Not a whole lot has changed in this category either. I'm down to 185lbs from the 220lbs when I left Delaware. The last month and a half / last 5-10lbs are being quite difficult. I have 3 months left out here, so I guess I need to kick it in to high gear down the home stretch if I want to reach my goal.

That about wraps this installment up. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgivng!

Rough Week

I had been asleep for about an hour last Thursday when one of my guys woke me up and said he heard a rumor that one of our vehicles was in an accident. While I assumed it was minor, I got in uniform and went into work to see what was going on. The office was eerily empty. The only person in the office, our dispatcher, sat in silence. He didn't have to say anything, I knew it wasn't good. I told him if any calls came for this base, Camp Buehring, I would handle them until everyone got back from the accident, so they could concentrate on what was going on there. I then called my supervisor to let him know I was holding things down here. He then gave me the news I was denying. While traveling to Camp Virginia for a routine patrol, a car passing a convoy on the wrong side of the road, came through a blind hill and struck their vehicle head on. MA2 Brian Patton had been killed and MA2 Dave Morgan was in the fight of his life. I rounded up what troops were left here to give them the news. Unfortunately, work still had to be done, I ended up working from 9am that morning until 8am the next. It's been a long week.

U.S. Navy Reserve Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian M. Patton called his wife from Kuwait on Wednesday night and told her he missed her. It was their wedding anniversary, and they talked about a trip to Hawaii they planned to take when his deployment was complete.

Within an hour, Petty Officer Patton was dead.

The 37-year-old Nanticoke man was killed just after midnight Thursday in a head-on crash with a civilian vehicle near a military base in Kuwait, his family said Friday.

Petty Officer Patton was traveling in an SUV when a civilian contractor in a pickup truck crashed into his vehicle while trying to pass a military convoy, according to his wife, Amy Hynoski Patton.

She said her husband called about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, their ninth wedding anniversary, and the two spoke about buying plane tickets for an upcoming trip to Hawaii with their son.

"When he was hanging up, he said, 'I miss you.' I said, 'Good, I'm glad," she said. -Times-Tribune


Yesterday a memorial service was held for Brian. It was a great one. Standing room only. Brian was one of those people who always let it be known he was in the room. Loud and boisterous, tell it how it is. Never held back punches, was quick witted, and always made you laugh. Things wont be the same without him here. Quick story, I didn't spend much time with Brian and Dave in Ft. Lewis, but when we came back to Ft. Lewis from our week home before going to Kuwait, I was sitting in the airport by myself, when Brian, Dave and two other shipmates came up to me and invited me to go tour downtown Seattle with them. I was really excited that they asked me. I saw them, and knew they were going. I didn't want to impose, so I played as if I didn't know they were there. I even forced them to rent a larger car. Since I came they needed more space. Not once did they think twice about me joining them, and we ended up having a great time.



As for Dave, the news hasn't been the best either. It took two hours to get Dave out of the vehicle and to a hospital for medical attention. Among a plethora of injuries, Dave had a punctured and a collapsed lung. How he made it this far only God knows. He was flown to Germany later that night, and then to Bethesda on Sunday. There they found Dave suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury, with Mid-Brain damage. His right pupil is dilated and unresponsive. Today they will be putting in a trachea tube and a peg tube. Here is what the doctor told his parents yesterday:

Davids condition with his head injury the recovery doesn't usually happen. He very well could be in a vegetative state but miracles have happened and there is no reason to give up hope. Dave has made some strides toward the positive side. they stopped his meds that keep him in a coma to see what would happen and he started moving his right side. then they put it back on. he has been coughing and his eyelids flicker. he moves his left foot in pain when they pull out his dressing.

I think miracles have gotten Dave this far along, so I have no reason to not believe they wont continue to happen. Please keep Dave, his family, and Brian's family in your thoughts and prayers. Dave is by far, one of the hardest working and generous human beings I have never met. No matter how big or small, Dave put everyone and everything before himself. I don't think he took a day off since we've been here, and not once has he ever complained. Actually, he does it all with the biggest smile you could imagine. Again, please keep him in your prayers.

Dave and his Daughter


Luzerne County News:
 


Brain, Dave and I

Same old

My apologies for not updating this as of late. Really hasn't been much excitement going on to report. Still trying to get back into a groove after my time spent on R&R I guess. The base has been fairly quiet and we haven't been getting many calls (knock on wood). I started taking a few online college classes this week. I'm taking them with the American Military University. My major is in Homeland Security. It seemed like a great idea when I signed up for them, but now that they have started, I'm realizing I forgot how much work is involved. I assumed online classes were easier and required less time, but so far I have been getting a healthy amount of assignments. I'm taking two classes, one is just an introduction to online learning, which I thought was going to be the least work, but is the most, and the other is entitled "Weapons of Mass Destruction Incident Command". Overall, they seem to be interesting classes. The college accepted most of the credits I earned prior to joining the Navy, so I have about two years left to get my degree if I stick to it after I get off deployment.

In other news, my roommate moved out. No, not because I smell funny, because he was able to score his own personal trailer. My roommate is the criminal investigator here, which is an E-7 position and E-7's get their own trailer. Although he is an E-6, since he holds an E-7 position, he gets the room. So I was pretty pumped because this meant I would have my own room, right? Wrong. I had my own room for about 3 days before someone realized I was living by myself. There was another room that had three guys in it, so they moved one of those guys in with me. He is my assistant watch commander, so I know the guy pretty well, and so far he has been a pretty good roommate, so not that bad. My own room would have been sweet though.

Qatar Pics

Few more pics from Qatar I got from the guy I went with.


C-130 Flight on the way back up north.


My battle buddy and I on the C-130 flight back to Camp.


Smoking Sheesha from a Hookah at a restaurant in the Old Souq.


Me sleeping in our 10 man room while on R&R.


Sleeping on the C-130 on our way to Qatar.