Weirdly Calm...

I'm sitting here in the airport, waiting to fly out...and I'm amazingly calm.

When I was younger, big and little events like this had a tendency to make my stomach do somersaults...not so anymore...at least not for this trip. This entire process, from initial interest to now has all been relatively easy. Everyone at my home office has been extremely supportive with this process and the same goes for everyone at the deployment center.

It is weird knowing that I'm deploying to Afghanistan but I'm calm about it.

Makes me feel like this is the right decision. I know that it is going to be difficult...on me, my family, my boys...but I still feel good about it. We'll see if my feelings change as time goes on.

The work could be pretty taxing...I'll be working between 64 and 70 hours per week; 7 days a week. But, I'm not going for the nightlife...so I may as well work as much as possible.

People have asked about safety. Are we concerned? I am I going into a war zone?
We are concerned, it would be unwise to not be a little concerned. Before agreeing to go, I met with a number of people at my office who have deployed, some more than once, and they all said that they felt really safe during their deployment. I'm going as a civilian, not as a soldier. I'll be stationed at a base in the green zone that is all inhabited by other civilian employees with the Corps of Engineers. Of course, this doesn't mean that things are totally safe...I/we still have to be vigilant....but from what I understand, it is a relatively nice place...not in a war zone.

I'll see when I get there.

For my birthday, in preparation for this deployment, Kristi bought me a kindle. I'm so excited that I'll finally have time to read for pleasure again. I've been so busy with work, school and family that personal reading hasn't happened in a long time. I love my kindle!

So far I've ready the first 2 books in the Lee Child, Jack Reacher series. There are 13 books...I may try to know them all out while I'm over there. Last night I started reading Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes, as it was supposed to be one of the best books that has come out in the last few years...I've decided to hold off on it since it is a book about the Vietnam War...I'll come back to it later. Instead, I started Ravens by George Dawes Green. It is starting out pretty well...and I'm so happy that I get to read again.

I'm accepting recommendations if anyone has any book recommendations. So far, on my Kindle, I have:
Shatter by Michael Robotham
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
Drood by Dan Simmons
I'd know you anywhere by Laura Lippman
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
The Passage by Justin Cronin

Let me know if you have any required reading beyond what is listed here...I'll have the time. Keep in touch by email or through this blog, I'll have regular access to both while I'm over their...in theory.