It's A Boy!

Today Emily went in for a sonogram which would narrow the list of potential names by 50%.  In a testament to man's ingenuity and God's unfathomable generosity, I was able to watch the procedure on the internet in real time from the other side of the planet.  The connection wasn't great.  And I had no idea how to interpret the blurry mass on my screen, but in a small way I got to be there.  And for that I'm grateful.

Things were sketchy at first.  Apparently when the umbilical cord gets in the way, interpreting the differentiating parts can be difficult, and initially the sonogramist was convinced it was a girl.  I'ts a girl! Everyone celebrated!  Then, after some deliberation, and the discovery of some additional compelling evidence, we had a reversal on that decision.  The professional assured us that it is indeed a boy, without doubt (or with less doubt than there was when it was a girl).  It's a boy! Everyone celebrated!

I really wasn't leaning one way or another.  Though to be honest, I always imagined that girl diapers are much less pleasant to change with all the hiding places that need to be cleaned.  So I'm happy I dodged that bullet.  After all, the baby will be born in June and I won't be home until September.  So I will owe Emily four solid months of diaper changing when I arrive.  Not to mention 12 months of dog-feeding, carpet-cleaning, dish-washing, laundry-doing, oil-changing, grass-mowing, house-fixing and anything else you can think of that she will do on her own for a year.  When you factor in missing an entire pregnancy, I should probably add another couple months to that, just to be safe.

Now taking suggestions for boy names in the comment section below.

Thought the third deployment would be easier...

Then I found out about this...

Yep. Three days after I got on a plane to leave the country for a year, we discovered that Emily was indeed pregnant.  She even sent me the pee-stick to prove it.  I have it displayed in my room like a proud dad would put up the most recent crayon drawing.  We waited until Thanksgiving day for the big reveal to be sure things were going smoothly, so if you're just finding out, you're not far behind.  Emily's 1st sonogram was not long ago and so far everything looks normal; it has two of the things that it's supposed to have two of, and one of each thing that it's supposed to have one of.  Hopefully not a sign of things to come, it was uncooperative during the exam and would not position itself to allow us an early guess at the gender.  We'll know that before Christmas probably.

Here's what we do know.  At the time this post was published, Emily had just reached thirteen weeks.  Don't get me started on the whole pregnancy calculating thing.  Apparently not everyone tracks the pertinent information as well as Emily does and so the natal community prefers to just throw in a couple extra weeks for good measure.  But anyway, thirteen weeks.  For those doing the math in their head right now, I left the country about nine weeks ago, so relax.  Anyway, the official due date is June 1st, 2012.  I've already submitted my request to take my two weeks of leave at the beginning of June.  Please pray for a problem-free pregnancy, and that my request can be filled based on what's available.  I have to miss the next six months of growth; I can't imagine how disappointed I would be to miss the birthday, but we know that's a real possibility, especially with the unexplained inability to accurately predict how long that thing needs to cook.

So how are we feeling?  Well... We were both surprised and I will admit this was not in our five year plan.  (It wasn't really in Emily's 30 year plan :-).  But we also have to admit that we're not steering this ship, and through decisions we obviously made, and God's providence, here we find ourselves.  Friends who know us well will understand that we're both still adjusting to the news, but there's no getting around the excitement to see what the two of us have created with God's blessing.  Emily was able to spend the busiest shopping day of the year with her mom checking out cribs and baby things, and through nervous laughter she will tell you that she's looking forward to meeting this thing as much as I am.

So, that's about all the news that's fit to print.  Please pray for us.  It's gonna be a long year.  But coming home will be so sweet.

Feel free to comment below.  I read them all.

- Jeff

How's The Food?

Everyone always wants to know what the food is like in Afghanistan.  Are we eating M.R.E.'s and granola bars everyday? Is the chow hall any good?  The truth is, the chow has it's good days and it's bad days, but overall I leave each meal pretty satisfied.  Even if it's not restaurant quality food, the convenience of having every meal prepared for you, with a rather large selection of main, side, and dessert items, is something that makes Emily wish she could trade places me for the next 11 months.  

By far my favorite meal of the day is breakfast.  And I get to eat it twice a day!  Right now, and probably for most of the coming year, I'm on a night schedule.  I wake up at about 5pm and get to work at 6pm.  I "work" (I use the term loosely because I actually enjoy my job), until 6am, then I get to sleep usually around 9am before doing it all over again.  The chow hall, or DFAC in Army talk (short for Dining Facility) is open 24 hours to accommodate people who work nights like me.  After serving dinner in the evenings, they serve dinner leftovers and breakfast food for the midnight meal.  Then around 5 am they start serving breakfast again.  So that's two chances for fried eggs (medium), hashbrowns, bacon, sausage (links or patties), toast, french toast sticks with strawberries, oatmeal, grits, fruit, yogurt, and pretty much anything you could want at breakfast.

The great thing about breakfast is that you can always be sure you're going to get something you like.  Dinner on the other hand (like lunch, during which I am sleeping on most days), can be hit or miss.  There are always a few items to choose from but, sometimes you get a bland meatloaf and nothing else looks that good.  So I just use the meat as a vehicle for the Heinz57 or the BBQ sauce. Emily likes to tell people, while some guys are "@&$-men", or "8o0p-men", her husband is a sauce man.  Condiments make everything better.  But every once in a while (every Friday night actually), the chow hall pulls out the big guns and this is what we get...

The lower left dish there is scallops.  I'm sure you can figure out the rest.  Did I mention it's all-you-can-eat?  You want to know how corporations make money off the war?  They offer all-you-can-eat meals like this one and then let me loose on it.  The government never saw it comin'.

Most of the people who work in chow hall are either contracted civilians out of the surrounding areas, or they are recruited by a company in India and shipped here.  I noticed early on that neither the Afghan group, nor the Indian group, were eating what everyone else was eating at the midnight meal.  I discovered that these guys were making their own food after midnight chow was all cleaned up.  One night, the guy to my right in the next picture (below) saw me glancing... ok staring, at his food.  I guess he had an extra bowl of it because he held one out for me and I gladly took and enjoyed the chicken, curry, vegetable, something I can't even describe.  It was so good.  I learned his name is Khalid, and he runs this local smorgasbord for the guys on his crew.  A few nights later I met one of the guys from the Indian crew who shared some of his Indian curry with me, and again, I was happy to partake.  They all eat together and pass around the stack of toasted tortillas (as a substitute for flat bread), and plain yogurt that for some weird reason goes so well with this food.  

Instantly I remembered one of my best friends in high school.  Gautam and I, usually with several others, would arrive at his house late at night, sometimes very late, and we could always count on Mr. & Mrs. (Dr. & Dr.) Jayaraman to be awake.  His mom wouldn't hesitate to cover the table with dishes that she had either prepared earlier that evening, or was just putting together as we arrived.  I think of it as my happy place.  Most nights in the chow hall at 1am, it's a lot like that, just enjoying food with amazingly generous people, sometimes with the Afghan Crew, sometimes with the Indians.  Again, it's not restaurant food, and it certainly doesn't stack up to what Mrs. J. used to cook, but it's so much more than what I expected to be eating in the mountains of Afganistan.

The United States is not the only country with troops on the ground here at FOB Shank.  Jordan (among other countries) has a presence here as well.  Their group is large enough that they have their own chow hall, and it's open to everyone.  Great news for me.  Most folks, well, at least I, try not to miss dinner here on Monday nights and the 1st & 3rd Wednesdays.  I took this picture with my iPhone.  I did not take this picture to use on my blog.  It's more of pocket reference for me.

While we're talking about food, check out this pizza.  There is a restaurant here on base which has been open for a while now, and is run by locals.  I haven't tried that one yet.  I'm sure I will soon, but this picture was taken at a pizza shop that opened just after we got here.  Again, it's inside the wire, and locally run.  We paid $12 for this pie with pineapple, ham, olives, and some spices which I couldn't identify, but really enjoyed.  My buddy Isaac Lamb and I split it last week.  I see myself heading back here for special occasions.  Anyone who wants to support these trips is welcome to send cash or check to Emily :-)

So thats the food situation.  If you have any other questions please leave them in the comment section below.  I will answer them right here.

If you know anyone who wants to get added to the mailing list, have them email me jgelzinis@gmail.com.

- Jeff

I Have Arrived

Welcome to the Afghan Update.  I started this blog on my last deployment to keep friends and family informed while I'm away.  Since I just arrived in Afghanistan for my third, year-long, all expenses paid vacation, I figured it was time to re-launch the site.

First things first.  If you want to receive an email notifying you whenever I update this blog, send me your email address and I'll add you to the list.  I'm not sure how often I'll get to post.  Last time I came close to publishing about once per month.  It should be at least as often this time, but I promise not to flood your inbox.

Here's what's happened so far.  On Tuesday, September 20th, I left Ft. Bragg on a chartered commercial jet with probably way more gear that I needed and a couple hundred of my closest friends.  We always joke about not being able to carry four ounces of shampoo while each of us are carrying an M9 pistol or an M4 rifle.  We stopped in Maine for fuel and got welcomed by the Maine Greeters.  I posted a short video of this on my Facebook page.  (Still not on Facebook?  Resistance is futile.)  From there we got gas again in Leipzig, Germany before landing at Manas Air Base in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Manas is a "gateway" stop the military uses before sending troops into a combat zone.  Video of this stop is also on Facebook.  Here, we do some last minute training about how to use our first-aid kits, how to survive a vehicle roll-over (they actually have a simulator that rolls upside down from which you have to egress), and get briefed on the local culture and climate we can expect.  Most people don't like this stop just because of the transient living and not wanting to unpack everything just for a couple days.  Others, including me, have no problem with it.  There is zero work to be done, and the chow hall is decent.  I would miss the flying, but would gladly serve my year there instead of in Afganistan.  One thing everyone talks about in Manas is that it's last time we get to enjoy real milk.  It's served in plastic a bottle, like you might find at a convenience store, they keep it very cold, and it's so much better than the shelf-stable, juice-box style, milk-type beverage we drink in the chow halls in Afganistan.  But, all good things...

On Sunday we got onto an Air Force C-17 (Google this if you haven't seen one.  They're impressive) and flew into Bagram Air Base in Eastern Afghanistan.  More transient living.  More training.  More inprocessing.  Unloading all our bags.  Reloading all our bags onto pallets.  Not sleeping much.  I've developed a cold by this point and join everyone else in no longer wanting to be traveling.  We finally get a flight scheduled out of Bagram and we're in the air for less than 30 minutes.  On Wednesday September 28th, (8 days of travel for those keeping track at home) we landed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shank and I got my first look at what will be my new home for the next year.  And that's about all you've missed so far.

More to follow about life at Shank.  Stay tuned and thanks for reading.  Feel free to leave comments in the section below for public discussion, but the best way to stay in touch with me is to email me directly.