First gift box arrives..

Yeah, the mail came today and finally something for me. One of the boxes that was stuffed with wonderful notes, cards and fantastic gifts was such a joy to unveil at work today. I am so happy to be the proud owner of two new polo shirts, brightly colored ~ thank you Caitlin! I am pleased as punch and was brought to tears with all of the lovely words of encouragement and love from my oh so many friends and relatives. Thank you John F. for the Sounders Scarf, it is awesome, and makes for a great decoration in my bland office. My boss loves all Seattle Sports and he had nothing from the Sounders yet, so we have added that team to the office decor, cool! Keep those cards and letters a coming, you only have to use a first class stamp, no extra postage necessary to mail overseas to an APO address. If you need my address, you will have to contact one of my family or friends, because I can't post it here, sorry! Going to watch "Memoirs or a Geisha" tonight ~ in celebration of Asian American History Month. What I find difficult though is that the voices and the mouths on television are about one minute off, making it difficult to follow. Only one of the other reminders that I am not in Kansas anymore.
Good night..

Cell block 6...not your Grandma's powder room..

(see steps leading to shower door)

bathroom jokes aside...can you imagine how interesting it must be to shower in CELL BLOCK 6. Yes, that is what I do daily, well almost daily. Imagine two containers (yes, the things you see driving down the highway being towed by an eighteen wheeler) stacked two high, the lower being the toilets, and the upper the showers. The toilet container stalls have block lettering on the wall behind the toilet paper that say WC1, WC2, WC3, etc. Water Closet? At least they flush and are clean; thanks to local nationals who clean twice daily these latrines. Sinks have running water, non-potable of course, but at least both hot and cold! I first visit this welcomed luxury before making my way around the corner and up the "scary" stairs (ones that you can see through, like on the outside of the air craft carrier, and you can see the water below you, scary!) to the shower area. Pick a CELL, any CELL. This place had to totally have been moved here from Leavenworth or Purdy? I select the CELL with the fewest woman already drying off, or stepping in. The rooms really have bars on the windows and the doors are solid steel. You kind of feel like you are in a meat locker. You are walking on slotted boards that are perfectly arranged above the concrete (or is it cement, Barb/Ted?) flooring that has a distinct dip in the center to drain the water). This too is a luxury considering that at other FOB's you are walking in 3" of stale gross water. Luckily there is non-potable hot and cold running water; whenever I have been up there, I have found plenty of both. One of my greatest fears coming here was the dreaded 3 min. shower restriction. But no one here seems to follow it. When you come out of the shower, you feel refreshed, and believe it or not the room where you get dressed is big and is air conditioned. This is awesome, because you don't work up a tremendous sweat before you leave the place, like other hot places I have been. There is decent lighting above the mirrors by the sinks. But the sinks are circled with rust, so you can imagine, although cleaned daily, this place is not your grandma's powder room.

Another day in the yard...

Day Three

I go back to the "yard" with Ed, and get to watch Xeni in action working side by side with the Afghan locals.

Ed is pictured here, if you know my friend Michael, you know Ed. They are clones.A big dust storm came up so I opted to go back with Ed to the office when he said he forgot some paperwork, what a wuss I am. But rightfully so. I was so glad I did, the weather really got bad.

Special Forces join for my big send off..

Skip and I just visited Alaska, and who did I run into on my way out of Seattle? None other....

Friends and family saw me off at Sea-Tac, Indianapolis, and DC. - 3 May 2010

Becky, Alaska Airlines Flight Crew Assistant and sister, was with me at Sea Tac and watched me depart for Camp Atterbury, IN.

Medic, escort, driver and number one great person stayed with me throughout my entire check out process in IN., Cory Hasik, and sent me off to Dulles, DC.

OH my Gosh, who said I was picking up one sea bag in Camp Atterbury? I ended up with three!

Neal Zimmerman, my "Stan's man" met me in DC and showed me around Leesburg, his home, and took me on a leisurely drive to Harper's Ferry for ice cream, which is down the street from where I graduated from college.

http://www.mitre.org/employment/employee_spotlight/neal_zimmerman.html




Dave, "Homeland Security" big top dog, collected me from Neal and walked me through security on to my gate. He also scanned my flight team to ensure my safety, onward to Kuwait City.

Nothing but "star" treatment for my long awaited departure.

Hey, when you are in DC, who do you expect to see? None other...

Surprise Aunt Tammie, here's some pink tulips for you, Caitlin joins in the send off to the sand...

What is in store for those troops...nothing but FUN. Surprise party for Tammie at the Swiss.

Sneaky Sharon worked the surprise from Dad's birthday party to my big send off. Thanks for sharing your evening dad!

What a crew: Skip, Tammie, Sharon and Tracy all toasting with iced tea the big trip to Bagram, AFB and what it has in store for Tammie is yet to see.

But the biggest surprise of the night was the fly in of my brother from Hawaii, he brought us lovely smelling leis and a whole lot of joy! Love you Steven.

Game On

Aimee and Suzie both used to work for MWR on base in marketing! Bernie their boss in background.

My employee, Andrew, joined in on the fun! The next day Pacific Edge Outfitters Staff cooked me up a BBQ luncheon, outdoor recreation style! Thanks guys, I'm gonna miss you.

The Personnel team surprised me with Sponge Bob, Square Pants sheets for my new rack.
XO and CMC both attended the luncheon, my camera didn't focus well!
My card was creative and said it all......we are all going to miss each other!
Chris Cation, USS Stennis Fun Boss, took the time to come say good-bye! I am usually sending him off and welcoming him home, it is his turn to worry about me.
Even Rear Admiral Symonds took the time to wish me well.


Alas, it is difficult to throw a party for a party planner, but afterall they are "recreators" so of course they did a fantastic job! Love you all, here are some photos I'd like to share with you and others.....

If I had settled down enough to give my prepared speech, it never would have been as good as the one that came from the remarks made by my buddies....

Mary this ones for you....

"For many years my co-workers have said in jest 'Tammie you should go on SURVIVOR' and I'd say 'No, I couldn't eat bugs'. And then they would remark, 'Tammie you'd be great on the American Race"\' and I'd say, have you seen my navigation skills? (Hee Hee, just ask Skip). One day, I even auditioned for the "Apprentice" (before it became the "Celebrity Apprentice" but alas Donald's Team couldn't see I had it in me; or they did and that is why they wouldn't take me (afterall that was when the contestants were really odd characters!) Hmmm.....so I thought, why go on a silly reality game show when only one person comes home a winner! ??

So, when I applied to go to Afghanistan, no one thought I was serious...

And I said, 'At least this way, if they do send me home, I will still have some money in my pocket, I won't be out the "leave" and I will have the most "reality" I could ever get....in a war zone...that is.'

Who knew no one else would apply? Only kidding, the competition was tough; so I heard later (who really knows?) and I was offered this great opportunity 4 months ago!

At the party, Mary mentions yet another time we were both competing over a year ago in the "Biggest Loser" on base; and we both lost a considerable amount of weight; Mary won, of course.

With that, I challenge you, Mary, and anyone else today to lose 20 lbs before my first R&R homecoming party in August -- let's get to losing that extra weight again-- I have 4 months of party favors to burn, and I need to get back into the gym, so Game On.