AFG is where u will find me

Well its coming to that point where most of the people that worked with me the first half of the deployment are now returning home. My particular unit is the highest level for Marine Aviation and our Commanding General decided to have all E-6 and above stay a year. It at first was a very tough pill to swallow and honestly it was hard news to break to the wife who has been the everything while I'm away. We have a very amazingly strong marriage that is allowing us to look at the positives and move forward regardless if we agree with this decision. I'm looking forward to September… why? Because October is next. Everyday I'm here I'm one day closer to coming home when I get 2 weeks off in December to spend it with my beautiful wife  and kids. We plan on surprising my son and taking him to Disney World. Its funny if you ever ask my son if he could go anywhere it would be Disney World. Its so enjoyable to hear him speak of it like it's a magical
place. Besides that we are just going to do everything on the fly for my leave. Here things are in for a change at my Forward Operating Base. With all these new people of course there will be all these new rules, and then in about 2 months everyone will stop following them. I've got the lunch and dinner menu pretty much memorized. They always have a line where they have a variation of different meals they serve. They seem to heavily cater to an Indian or Pilipino menu as most of the TCN's (Third Country Nationals) that work on our base. For the most part I get the same thing every day for lunch. 1 Grilled Chicken breast which I go to the sandwich bar for a wrap, 2 pieces of provolone cheese, lettuce and if I'm lucky diced tomatoes.  Then I slide down the line and get Red jello. I don't know what flavor it is, its just red. On really good days its Orange. This is a very good day when they have orange jello. I then get bottled water. That has
been my lunch for the past 2 months, day in day out. For Dinner same thing, a line that serves different variations. And then they have the special. The special has been the same since I got here. Its Mongolian. You get your choice of peppers, lettuce, pineapple sometimes, shrimp, steak, chicken, rice or noodles. You can as much or as little as you want. Then they throw it on the grill. I get 2 spoon full of garlic powder, a little bit of soy sauce and then some sweet and shower. This has pretty much been dinner except for on Wednesday nights when they have Cesar Salad which is amazing.  That's my lunch and dinner! I know most people can't eat the same thing over and over. But me I can, but I'm going to never want monogolian once I leave here ever. Sorry Wifey lol… I've watched my daughter grow before my eyes. She is now crawling. My wife got a video of it, and it is what makes life worth it….. I hope you all are well.

Is it fate? luck? or chance?

It's so crazy how life takes you to different places and seems to purposely put you in places to meet people that have some sort of connection to you. A few months ago I was in my office and I'm responsible for giving airfield driver licenses to anyone one who has a need to drive on our airfield. I have given the class to over a thousand people. So one day 2 civilian contractors show up and they start giving me their information so I can set them up for the class. One looks at me and says… "Are you Jason Deppen Brother"? My brother Jason passed a few years back. I actually looked at him in disbelief and said "What did you say"? And he asked me again. I said yes but he passed a few years back. He said yes I was very good friends with him, we use to hang out and always have a few beers. It was so crazy that here I am thousands of miles away and the chance this guy would walk into my office and happens to know my brother. Then I told him well
I had went to his funeral and I was the only Marine in Dress Blues and he said he remembered seeing me….. Ok I'll chalk it up to chance, 1 time that I would have this personal of a connection to anyone that would walk right into my office in the middle of nowhere Afghanistan. Then yesterday I'm sitting in my office and 3 2ndLt's walked in. 2 male, 1 female. I introduce myself and they are actually awaiting a seat at flight school in Pensacola, FL and volunteered to come out to Afghanistan for 3 months prior to starting. My Major set up their trip here to our Forward Operating Base from the main base to check out the different aviation assets we have. So I'm talking with them and the female 2ndLt looks at me and says "Your Uncle wouldn't be Brian Deppen from New London Ohio would it"? I mean had she said anyone else in the world I wouldn't have been as amazed. But my uncle is a farmer in New London Ohio, has live there his entire life,
runs and operates a farm called "Deppen Farms" that has been in my family for generations. But turns out here father and my uncle have known each other for a very long time. I can't think of a bigger needle in a hay stack then that. That is now 2 of them. It's crazy how fate, chance, luck can take you to the ends of the earth and you run into people that are connected to you. And when I say the ends of the earth, I mean it. I'm so far in the middle of nowhere in a desert, people don't even inhabit anywhere within miles of where I'm at. It makes me laugh. Well now that I'm done with that crazy thought. Let me tell you what my life has been like. My last Corporal that worked for me who looked just like Farva from Super Troopers, so his call sign became Farva has left back to the land of the Big PX. I'm happy this has happened, 1 it is a mile stone in my journey for myself to return to my 1 and only and my 2 mini me's and second his
replacement his full of MOTIVATION! He's so motivated that working with him is like night and day compared to the other guy. He is 23, from the Seattle Washington area. Got married on 1 July, has a baby on the way due March 2012. I had to think of a call sign for him, and with his home area being what it is, the call sign "Tree Hugger" seems to be sticking. His far from it, but it's funny and he likes it. He looks just like the movie actor Jimmy Smits. I will attach a photo of Farva and Tree Huger smoking a nice Cuban cigar celebrating Farva's last night which I'm in each one. I will let you guess which is Farva and which is Tree Hugger (Jimmy Smits stunt double).

Another Month

Well this month seem to have flown right by me which is a great thing. Its been very hot, it got up to 128 here this month. 2 days ago my new Corporal that will work for me the rest of the deployment got here. He is motivated about joining the whole "Nation Building" (War) thing we are doing here. That's the new thing to say, Nation Building. When I think of Nation Building I think of a peaceful event where people show up to some place and start a new civilization. I guess to a certain extent we are doing that. We are creating buildings that never existed before, We are attempting to convince the locals that there is something better than harvesting drugs, We are assisting them in creating a Army out of well nothing. I have hope it will all work, hope that someday maybe they will decide blowing each other up or attempting to do so to us "Nation Builders" up. I hope someday they will say Thank You America for making us a more independent country and
showing us the better path. Then that other thought creeps into my mind. Do they really trust us? Hmmmm... Do we trust them? I think that is a 50/50 split. Personally and this will not sound nice, I don't. I really want to, but I don't currently. Will that change by the end of my deployment? I'm not sure as my personal interaction with the Afghan military is limited. Will they reject the progress and sacrifice we have made? I hope not. As I hope those that gave the ultimate sacrifice will not have been in vain. Other than that I now have something I look forward to here. 1st is Fridays. We have started "Flight Suit" Fridays. Next is my Sunday Carmel Frappuccino that I now look forward to. They build a coffee place here called Green Beans. My lovely wife and father in-law got me gift cards to it, and by the time I use them up I will be very close to October! Speaking of my wife, she is truly an amazing women for everything she's done. To those that read
this, which maybe 4 or 5 lol Thank you for showing interest in my life through this challenging time. Until next time, signing off from a country with a future that is unknown...

Stay on Board

I hear the sound of the blades on the chopper cutting through the air as it gets closer and closer. A soul has already left to that higher place and the other is fighting to stay on board. I close my eyes to pray for the families. I first pray for those that had already left us, thinking that it is so unfair that you were taken from your family so abruptly. My mind then quickly switches to think of the those still battling to stay on board, the doctors and nurses attempt everything within their power to keep you here with us trying to give you the one thing you deserve most….time. You slowly slip away and your spirit rises to the sky above looking back down on your loved ones. So many are left with so many questions…..Why? Who would do such a thing? ….. Those questions can never have an answer that will be satisfied by those that are asking it. The knocks on the door are sure to follow. The devastation, heart break, tears, anger, frustration will
come next. I hope that all of those thoughts of those here wishing you the strength to carry on will be felt. It won't be easy and it will feel that you have an insurmountable mountain to climb…. The journey to return to some sort of normalcy will take you and your loved ones sometime to return to. I hope and pray that trip to that spot in your life will come soon. We are all sorry for the loss of your loved ones….

Days continue into Nights

It's been a while since I updated you. Things here have continued to go. Some days are better than others. Certain days I day dream of spending time with beautiful wife and amazing children…. I think about what they're doing and where there going, are they happy? Are they sad? The changes to my children's development are one of the things that I miss most along with spending quality time with my wife. I just have come to accept that I can't change that and I'm grateful I have such an amazing wife that is being mom and day in my absence. I miss laying in my king size bed next to my wife sharing the funny things that happened that day. Now a lot of all of this is shared through email. My wife sends me pictures and does a great job of keeping me updated on my daughter and son. At work things are going, some days are better than others. Every day that goes by where we don't lose one of our brother or sister service members is good and I'm
grateful for their safety. I will say I will not forget coming into work sitting in front of my computer and my Corporal told me that he heard OBL had been killed. I honestly was in disbelief and went to cnn.com and right there before my eyes it said it. I hope that it brings some closure to all the families that he has negatively affected during his life span. Will it change anything? I honestly feel that some other scumbag will take his place and hopefully his predecessor won't stick around as long as he did. You hope that it will disrupt this organization that never seems short on people willing to send their message of hate. Then again it's been over 10 years and we don't seem to be running out of people to put out of their misery or those that want to go out and kill innocent people. You just wonder how someone gets involved in an organization that will eventually put them in a position to not be there for their family. I don't care
what your views are, but as a Man I think that is the most important thing to be there to influence, support and love your family. Yet these extremist buy into what they are selling and are willing to go out and strap bombs or drive bomb laden vehicles into innocent men and women. I hope for change and pray for peace…. I hope you will do the same.

Eyes of Hope

Well it's been a while since I've updated my blog. I feel I have the routine of the job down. Sometimes I can't believe that I'm in Afghanistan. It's almost like I put it out of my mind that I'm here. Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet some native people to this country. It's crazy, on base there are tons and tons of what we call TCN's. Which means Third Country Nationals, they work in the Dining facilities, laundry, the list goes on and on. It seems that most are from the Philippines and India. They all seem to be very happy with their employment and it makes you even feel better that they are so happy to be here, so it keeps you upbeat. So back to what the locals I meet. They were working on a construction project and I took a box of pop tarts over to give to them. At first they didn't see that I had them, but as soon as I started handing them out they came running up to me. 2 of them wanted two and it worked out perfectly that I
had enough. I then took some pics with them. When I meet these men they seemed so nice and hopeful for their country. I hope and pray that this country will eventually settle into some time of normalcy to where the people of this country can live peaceful and not in fear. I personally don't believe this country will ever have the absolute freedoms that we are privileged to have, however I hope its better. I've attached a picture of the gentlemen I meet. I've also attached a photo that made my week. This handsome young man is my son. When I see that my kids are happy, it makes it all worth it. Its truly something how your world changes when you have kids…..I'm so blessed.

Good and Bad Days

Some days are good and some days are bad. The good days are quite, uneventful and drag by to the point where you have to keep checking your watch. The good days make you think about home and you wonder about every little detail of those you love and think about what they are doing. The bad days on the other hand come in like a hurricane and end the same way. We coordinate Medevac so our office is the direct coordination with them coming in and the hospital. We call the hospital and let them know the information they need. Every time I call I seem to talk to the same guy that runs the section and we sometimes for a minute will talk about the extent of what they are coming in or going out for, and I honestly feel for him that he is witness to so much. He and I have physically only met once. But sometimes we talk more times than I'd like given the reason I'm calling him during a given day. Every time I call it is for one reason and one reason only.
The bad days go by fast however I'm hopeful and optimistic that more good days are ahead…..