:: The Curran’s Blog ::

We had our first FPU class last night and had a pretty good turn out.  I had 17 people signed up prior to and had 12 of those 17 show up last night.  I’ve been in contact with one that didn’t show up and she will come to the makeup class on Saturday evening.  I’ve emailed the others and hopefully get them to show up as well.  We have a very diverse class.  I have Army, Navy, and Air force personnel as well as civilian contractors enrolled in the class.  Everyone has different experiences with money and it makes for good group discussions at the end of the night.  I feel really blessed to have the opportunity to do this here and I ask that all of you pray that this will help change lives. 

Things have been going well here, the days seem to drag by, but the weeks are flying. We are coming up on our 10th month here and there is now a light at the end of the tunnel! We have had some major improvements to our office, but we are unable to use the addition as of yet. The cashier cage and customer waiting area was completed by the Iraqi contractor, but now we are waiting on Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to run additional power to the addition. The power we have currently going to our trailer is not enough to support the additional load.

The temperature has been around 118, but I’m told that August is usually the hot month when the temps reach 130-140. To understand what this feels like, turn the hair dryer on high on the hot setting and hold it in your face. We are fortunate that we have office jobs and our A/C works extremely well. We only venture out in the hottest parts of the day to eat!

I am excited to be facilitating the first ever Financial Peace University (FPU) here at FOB Hammer. The first class is tonight and I hope that God uses this to touch the lives of all the participants. Thats about it for now.

And now for the rest of the story.  We flew back into Dallas and after we got the bags I hopped on the shuttle to go get the rental car.  I had previously booked and paid for the car through Priceline.  When I got to the counter the lady there was giving me a hard time because I showing her a Debit card (with a MasterCard Logo, by the way) and I did not have a return ticket.  I explained that I was a Soldier on leave from Iraq and that the government does not issue me a ticket for the plane ride back.  The company was National Rental car, I told her that Hertz didn’t give me a problem using a debit card and that the car was already paid for anyway, so I don’t know what the problem was.  She finally gave me the car.  I went back to Pickup Jamie and the kids and by that time Carol’s flight had arrived.  I had to make 2 trips because of all the luggage, but the Hotel wasn’t that far. 

We stayed in the Hotel Grand Sheraton, but it wasn’t as nice as the Comfort Suites that we stayed in while in Tyler.  We relaxed that day and got a good night sleep.  The next day we got a lazy start and made our way to Tyler to pickup Carol’s car from Tyler Auto Body.  We had a nice visit with my parents and went to Chinese for Dinner.  By the time we got back it was after 10:30 Pm and we were all tired again.  The next day we went and did Laundry (I know sounds like fun, huh?) and Jamie and Kimberly got mani and pedi’s while Carol and I slaved over the laundry.  We went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant (can’t remember the name) and it was really good.  We then drove around downtown Dallas trying to find Cold Stone Creamery and after much sight seeing we finally found an equivalent.  During the time at the Hotel we swam in the indoor/outdoor pool a few times and just relaxed.  The next morning was Sunday and it was time for Jamie, Carol and the kids to start their drive back to Virginia.  We had breakfast and said our goodbyes.

I had a little time before dad showed up and we left for the Nascar race at the Texas Motor Speedway.  I got us started going in the wrong direction, so that helped to add time onto our trip and then we hit the line of cars, miles before the exit.  We made it into the complex in time for the start of the race, but we decided if we ever do that again we will leave much earlier.  We had seats on the back stretch in the 2nd row.  It was such a rush as the cars go by doing 170+ MPH.  There weren’t many wrecks but we had a good time and both got sunburned.  The sun really zapped the energy out of us so we ate dinner and headed back to the hotel.  I had a lot of fun going to the race with dad and I think he enjoyed it also. 

The next morning we ate breakfast and got ready to go to the airport.  I turned in the car and after I signed back in dad was able to accompany me back past security to wait for me to board the plane.  We had a couple sandwiches compliments of the USO and I read Kimberly and Mikayla a book while being video taped at the USO reading room.  I had a good flight back to Kuwait with a row all to myself.  I ended up having to stay the night in Kuwait, but made it back to Iraq the next day.  We had a great time on leave and it didn’t go by as fast as I thought it would.  The rest is history and not very exciting.  I will write again with updates since I have been back to Iraq.  Until later…

So the flight from Dallas to Ontario was not bad, we had to change in Phoenix, but that went pretty smooth as well.  The hardest part was lugging around all of our luggage.  Once we got our luggage we went out to the curb to wait on the bus to take us to the car rental counter.  The bus came and Jamie and the girls got on, but there was no room for me and the 2 big suitcases.  I waited for the next bus, which luckily came very quickly.  I was pleasantly surprised with the level of professionalism and service that I received from Hertz.  Jamie had already booked and paid for the car through price-line when she bought our plane tickets.  We got a fairly new Chevy Malibu.  I have to tell you that I was very impressed with this new Malibu.  It had a lot of features that my higher priced VW has. 

We began our drive to Bakersfield, but of course we had to stop at In-N-Out Burger for a snack once we got out of the major LA area traffic.  We arrived in Bakersfield in time for dinner and met Rick, Jennie, and Jeremy at Spencer’s.  Dinner was good and then we headed back to the house.  The next day I went with Rick to install an HD Direct-TV receiver and a new IntelliControl, it only took about an hour and that gave us spending money for Disneyland and Poker!  That night Rick, J and I went to a Texas Hold-em tournament at one of Ricks friends’ place.  Don (my cousin) met us there later in the night and we all had a great time.  We had an open bar with a hostess and Lasagna was served for dinner.  It was a very classy event.  We got in rather late that night and crashed.  The next day Rick and I hung out while Jamie and Jennie went shopping.  Later that day Jeremy, Danny, and Jennie agreed to watch the kids while Rick, J, Judy, Jamie and I went out on a Walk-about.  This was something that Rick and I did while we were in Prague before the deployment.  We walked around and stopped into a bar or restaurant and had a drink at each one.  It was a fun night but we got a call that Mikayla was ready for her mommy, so we went back to the house.  We decided to go back to J’s house and play a family game of poker.  Shortly after arriving we realized that we were all pretty tired and wondered why we had decided to do this. 

The days are running together in my mind now but anyway I took Kimberly out on a date and of course she wanted to go eat at Burger King.  After we ate we went to go see “Horton Hears a Who”  She really enjoyed the movie, I just enjoyed spending time with her.  Jennie had a photographer come to the house and take pictures of all the grandkids together.  I did not envy that photographer and that was too many kids in one place for me.  I went and laid down until it was time to go eat dinner.  We went to a BJ’s Brewhouse.  There were a few problems with the service, but when the manager came out and found out I was on R&R from Iraq paid for my families’ dinners.  He also sent out a huge cookie desert with 8 scoops of ice cream on top for everyone at the table to share.  Since Jamie and the girls couldn’t have cookies he brought them each a Sundae.

The next morning we headed to Disneyland.  We had to take 2 cars since we would just go to the airport a couple of days later.  I rode with Rick and Jamie went to pick up her mom so she could go with us.  Thanks to Aunt Sharon we got in for free.  We had a great time at Disneyland and Mikayla loved all the characters.  She was not scared at all.  Kimberly had fun also and I think appreciated it more since she was older this time.  We took Mikayla on the Pirates of the Caribbean and she liked most of it, but there were a couple of times that she got scared.  Kimberly wanted to go on Splash Mountain and wanted me to sit in front with her.  We got totally soaked and I had our prepaid cell phone in my pocket and the water just ruined it.  I did not completely dry out the rest of the day.  We had a motel right across from the park so it was nice to not have to drive somewhere since we were all pretty tired. 

The next day we had decided that we would go to Seaworld in San Diego.  Rick called our room that morning and said that he was sick and was just going to go home.  We had a leisurely morning and made our way to Seaworld.  We didn’t get there until 1 pm, which was kind of late since the park closed at 6.  During the Seal and Otter show Mikayla kept trying to climb over the rail to get closer to them.  We ate pool side and had a private show with the Killer Whales, it was nice to be able to do something like that.  Kimberly and I played the carnival game where you have to throw a small ring and try and get it around a bottle top.  I got one on the bottle and Kimberly picked one of the biggest stuffed dogs available.  Once we left the park we got on the Pacific Coast Highway and stopped at the beach to show Mikayla.  She was a little scared of the ocean, but the weather was cold and I think that was the biggest problem.  We then headed to Aunt Linda’s.  We had to stop by target and pick up a box, so the stuffed dog could be mailed home.  We got there late but we had a short but nice visit.  We had to get up at about 3:45 in the morning to get ready to go to the airport.  Stay tuned for the next installment where you will find us back in Dallas.

Yes I’m back.  Not so sure if I am happy to be back, but I am back at FOB Hammer none the less.  I had a great R&R and it was very difficult saying goodbye.  I left FOB Hammer and went to Liberty a few days ahead of when I was actually supposed to fly to Kuwait.  It gave me a few days to decompress and not worry about work, before starting vacation, it was nice but I became bored very quickly with not much to do there.  I report to BIAP at 2200 on the 17th and was manifested for a flight at 0900 the next morning.  I slept on the floor (not as comfortable as it sounds) while I waited for the flight.  It took about 1 1/2 hours to get to Kuwait.  In Kuwait we did some final processing and were given our flight time.   From Kuwait we had a 5 hour flight to Germany where the plane was refueled and restocked.  The flight crew also changed, that took about 2 hours for all that to occur.  We had almost a 10 hour flight from Germany to Dallas.

Upon arriving in Dallas we deplaned and walked a long way to where we got our briefing.  The whole time below us everybody in the airport was cheering and clapping for us.  After the briefing we came out where there were people waiting to hug us and shake our hands.  It was nice, but the main people I wanted to see was Jamie and the kids.  They were there waiting on me as were my mom and dad.  It was such a good feeling to see them all.  I was worried about whether Mikayla would want to come to me, but she had no problem coming right to me.  All the great people at the airport gave us free things and made us feel like heroes. 

Carol (my mother-in-law) was flying to CA the next morning so we went to find a hotel for her to stay in.  We tried the Hyatt first but they wanted $250 for a night.  We drove to the Marriott and an associate manager there gave me her rate of $49 for a room, the current military rate was $129!  Once we got her settled we went to go eat breakfast at IHOP.  I was a little shocked that they did not have Sweet tea, since Texas is considered part of the south!  After breakfast we drove towards Tyler with a pit stop at the Cracker Barrel in Lindale, where we were pleasantly ambushed by a Welcome Home Soldier’s Group.  There were veterans waving flags and people ready with a Hug and “Thank You”  I was very overwhelmed.  It also happened to be the 5th anniversary of when we came into Iraq, so there were 3 news crews ready to interview me on camera.  I was on the 5, 6, 10, and 11  o’clock news! 

We had a good visit in Tyler even with the accident that I had in Carol’s (my mother-in-law) car.  There was not that much damage and it was still drive-able, but more about the outcome of that later.  By design we ate out every night that we were there.  We went to Outback for my birthday and Texas Roadhouse for Kimberly’s birthday.  We went to the Zoo, drove through a wild animal safari which Mikayla absolutely loved, did a lot of shopping and Kimberly and Grammy went and played mini-golf together.  We stayed at a Comfort Suites and I highly recommend it.  They had an indoor pool that Kimberly and I used a few times.  Mikayla did not like it at first but once I got her used to the water she had a ball in her floating dinosaur or whatever it was.  We also got to spend time with Papa and Granny which was great.  Now back to the vehicle issue.  Since the accident was my fault I was just going to pay for it rather than have the insurance pay for it.  I figured since it was just a new bumper cap that it wouldn’t be over $1000.  Dad knows the owners of Tyler Auto Body so we went and got an estimate of $588.  I was pleasantly surprised.  When I went to drop the car of I was told that they would not let me pay for it because Dad does so much for their mom and because I am serving here in Iraq.  I was completely shocked and was again overwhelmed by the generosity of these wonderful people.

 Tyler is very pretty, but there is so much traffic that it is not someplace I think I would like to live.  They do have an abundance of restaurants to choose from, but a lot of them are packed during dinner every night.  You really have to plan to avoid the masses!  Dad took us back to Dallas to fly out to California.  I will write about the rest of our trip in the next post, soon to follow.

I have really been lagging on this blog.  I recently took over the paying agent functions from one of the Finance Soldiers that belong to 3rd BDE.  He will be redeploying ahead of the rest of his unit to make sure that all their finance issues are resolved once they get back.  On top of the daily disbursing job that I had I now have 38 funded Paying Agents with over 10 Million out.  A Paying Agent is a unit representative that is trained by me who pays money out for various projects.  The come to me with the correct paperwork and I advance them cash.  Once they make all the payments they come back to me with all the neccessary paperwork and any remaining cash to clear.  I am now a lot busier than I was, but it is not so bad.

Because of the increased traffic in my office I moved from one end of the trailer to the other.  It was the office that I was first in when I got here, but since it was across from the cash cage I moved to be closer to the cash cage.  My office now is much bigger and I like it a lot better.  I wish I would have stayed in here to begin with.  Postal received an all well drive polaris that we share.  It is nice to have some means of transportation besides our feet again.  We don’t need it often, but it sure is handy when we do. 

Jamie and I just celebrated (separately) our 12 year anniversary.  We will have a real celebration when I am there on leave later in this month.  I am getting so excited about my leave, it is hard to remain focused on work!  It will have been 2 years since I was in the states last and the first time that I have seen my parents new home.  We will spend time in TX and CA.  I got a video of Kimberly and Mikayla playing outside.  Mikayla was walking around like a pro, she would stumble and fall, but pick herself right back up and keep on moving.  It was neat to see the determination on her face.  I am so blessed to have 2 of the most beautiful girls in the world.

Time is still moving pretty quickly here and the weather is heating up.  Highs have been in the upper 80’s to low 90’s already.  It will be quite an adjustment once I get back off leave.  It will probably be in the low 100’s by that time.  I hope that these air conditioners can handle the heat.  I hope to hear about the SFC promotion board towards the end of March and am hoping that I make it.  I probably won’t write again before I come back off leave so Until later…

Well they finished the construction on our office for the time being.  There is still more to do, but this was all added after the contract was approved. They now have to go through the process again to get a bid, get the contract adjusted etc.  It will probably be a couple of months before it is finished.  I am attaching pictures of before and after pictures.  Ultimately the overhang will be enclosed and it will be heated and cooled.  There will be a customer waiting area, and 2 cashier cages out under the overhang.  It will give us so much more room and allow us to function much better. 

Everything else is going well.  Today has been a beautiful day.  The sun has been shining and it was about 70′ish.  I plan to go hit some golf balls later.  That’s about it for now so Until later…

Today was a pretty good day.  We had a good church service on the Temptation of Jesus.  It was given by a guest pastor, he did a great job explaining how we could apply it to our daily lives.  I got to talk to mom, dad, and Deanna.  Papa and Granny, and Jamie and Kimberly.  I had the usual steak and shrimp on a Sunday.  I have 2 Soldiers in Liberty for the promotion board, hopefully they will do well.  We were told our construction on our trailer would begin by the end of last week, but that didn’t happen.  Maybe they will start this week.  I can’t think of anymore exciting news so until later…

We now have a new covered walkway going into the DFAC.  It is not paved, but at least it will keep the rain off of us while we are waiting in line.  It rained again a couple of days ago (alot) and created even more mud.  Our tent floor is a mess, but there is not much we can do until it dries out.  My NCO went on leave and we have another one here filling in. 

 I started my next class, “Introduction to Spreadsheets”.  This is a very easy class because I have been through both the beginner and advanced course already, but it wasn’t for college credit so I have to do it again.  I am learning or re-learning some things that I forgot, so it is not a total waste.  We are in a routine now and most days go by without a problem, but there are those days that are a problem all day long. 

We had 3 Soldiers move into our tent and we thought it was temporary, but they are going on 2 weeks now so I guess they are there to stay.  They have a lot of stuff with them and it just looks really messy.  The Postal guys still stay in their office so those were their beds that they never used.  I am just glad that we all have our own “rooms” that we can go into, close the blanket and have some privacy.  It is not a big room, but it is comfortable and I have everything I need except a toilet! 

We had to turn in our Hummvee a few weeks ago so we have been without a vehicle.  Most things are close and within walking distance so it is not that big of a deal, but some of the things are out there and we need a vehicle to pick things up with.  We do have a post shuttle bus now so that is how we have to get to and from the flight line now.  Other than that there is not much else going on.  Until later…

Sorry it has been so long since I have written I didn’t realize it had been 10 days.  I woke up this morning to rain, not hard more of a drizzle, but it looked like it had been at it for a while.  I made my way to the shower trailer (yeah we got rid of the tents) and got ready for work.  When I came back out it was SNOWING!  they were big wet flakes and of course nothing was sticking.  It was neat to see and would not have imagined that it snowed here this far south.  I spoke to an interpreter and he said that it is the first time it has snowed in this area (I don’t know how accurate he is). 

 Well it was not all fun and games because snow and rain don’t mix well with powdery dirt, it tends to make mud.  Mud sticks to our boot and then when we walk through the rocks we pickup rocks also, not much fun.  Our office floor is a mess, but it is all part of life here.  A couple of weeks ago we got some T walls around our trailer.  T walls are about 20 feet tall concrete barriers that are somewhat in the shape of a T.  They help protect against mortars, rockets or any type of explosion.  We have not had any here at this location yet, praise the Lord, but it is nice to know we have the added protection. 

The new work hours are nice.  It is so much better leaving the office around 1900 than it was 2100.  Lately I have just been getting a to go plate from the DFAC for dinner and taking it back to my “room” and watching TV while I eat.  Kinda makes it feel more like home!  We have only gotten 1 piece of mail all week!  I don’t know why the mail is moving so slow now, but it needs to speed up.  I signed up for Blockbuster online to have movies sent to see if they get here quick enough to make it worth it.  I can’t think of anything else to write right now so Until later…