Gotta Love a Man in Uniform!

As many of you know my wonderful hubby Josh served in the Army Reserve and was deployed to Iraq waaaaaay back in 2003 through 2004, he has pics of the sky black with smoke because of the burning oil pipeline when our troops entered Baghdad, along with lots of other things that I am not comfortable sharing here...but even though I wish he had more pics of his own handsome self from when he was overseas, I will share some of my faves!
(note: I have shared a few of these pics on this blog a looooong time ago, but I am sharing them again! :D )

Driving one of many big lumbering Army trucks during one of many convoys up from Kuwait, North to Iraq ending in Balad where they set up shop. Needless to say we all know that even to this day convoys are extremly dangerous...I am glad that I didn't know at the time exactly what he was doing or where he was going! This was the first time in my life that I understood that Ignorance CAN be bliss! ;)

"Posh, Posh traveling life, the traveling life for me" -Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Nice accomodations right? Yeah, during a convoy heading North they set up cots between the front bumper of one truck and the back bumper of another...then erected a screen to try to keep the worst of the sand out of thier stuff...yeah didn't work very well, huh?! LOOK at how dirty he is with all that sand! Sweat+Sand+Cots+Hot weather = wonderful & comfy sleeping conditions .....or not!!!

The National Mascot of the Iraqi Desert...the Camel Spider....yuck huh?

Driving somewhere...yet again! I LOVE this pic of Josh and his buddy Dan, I can only imagine how valuable it was to have good friends while over there!

Josh's MOS, (Army-speak for his job) was a 91K, or for all you Non-army linguists he helped run the blood bank (there was only one in theater)! :D They recieved shipments of blood, shipped them out to all the hospitals (CASH's) and forward surgical units(similar to the one in the show MASH), kept track of who had how much and of what type, and also sent out emergency shipments when needed. Oh and yeah, that is a box of bags of human blood he is holding...just ONE being worth around $45,000...or so!

Back when Josh was over there, the soldiers lived in tents without access to a PX (or Military store)...I sent tons of food, mousetraps, washboard (yeah a washboard, they didn't have laundry facilities...Josh built the bldg they used for showers and laundry- yeah no showers either), portable fans (no A/C either...duh, TENT! Can you imagine? 125 degrees outside and you sleep in a tent? YUCK!!!), it was a crazy time! :D They eventually got a small PX, and even a weight room, but overall there wasn't much down time...and even when there WAS down time there wasn't much to DO!! So this is a pic of Josh whackin' a golf ball with a bunch of his buddies! :D


THIS would be one of the little beasties that are far too prevalent over there...it is also a cousin of the scorpion that decided to sneak into Josh's Tshirt while he was showering, and zapped him three times when he tried to put that shirt back on! Since they were basically across the street from a big CASH(Hospital) he smashed the little stinging offender, put it in a baggie, and walked over to the hospital. It hurt...ALOT, but he was OK. You see the small tan ones (like this standard desert scorpion pictured above) are nasty, but Josh was stung by a 'death stalker scorpion'...and Yes, that IS the actual name- it is a bit smaller and not brown but almost opaque and it is FAR more dangerous than the standard desert scorpion or those big black scary looking ones (Centurion scorpions)! And the younger they are the more potent the venom. Having been stung 3x the doctors couldn't believe that it was a death stalker scorpion because Josh wasn't having as violent a reaction as they thought he should...but then they discovered that he has also been bitten by a Rattlenake, Watermoccasin, Brown Recluse spider, and a Black Widow spider in his past service with the Army- and the Black Widow venom is similar so his body had the ability to fight the scorpion poison better. :D A bunch of Josh's friends started calling him "The Scorpion King"...so funny!

I will never forget so many moments of that time in our lives! A few of those moments that I can remember with perfect clarity:

*When Josh got the call that told him that his unit was being called up,

*That release of tension every time he called or emailed...which wasn't too often back then! (Maybe a dozen phone calls and twice that many emails)

*How proud I was, and still am, of him and his choice to serve our country!

*bursting into tears of happiness when he called me from New York at the airport after FINALLY getting back on US soil!!!

*and I can still replay the moment perfectly in my mind when he got off of the plane in Salt Lake City, I can't even explain that feeling! It was SO amazing to see and touch him again!

My Husband is the best! He joined the Army(...twice!) to help people, and now he is working hard in Medical School to soon be able to help people again as a physician. THANK YOU for all your years of service honey! I love you and am so proud of you.

You are MINE, all MINE, my one, my ONLY.....MY PRECIOUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS... ;)