All I know

Daniel dings in occasionally. The only news I have is that they are pulling 10 hour patrols daily.

When did we stop being of value?

If all the world is a stage and we are but players, apparently some have more important roles than others, and some have inadvertent roles. This sickens me, that potentially other's lives are offered up to the god of jihad without their active participation or agreement

Hot off the press

Official word - post no mail of any sort after September 15th. He said they probably wouldn't get it, or it would be delivered to Germany months later.

Two links and some narrative

Why the avocado? I don't know. It's just a cheerful, summery picture.

I post this thinking, "A ha! I finally found something I can definitely attribute to Daniel." I'm probably wrong, but it's good news anyway so I'll post for your edification.

Here also is a picture with who I think is Daniel (with the antenna), reflected in another soldier's glasses.

Daniel called this morning, hungry and tired. OK so normal and I was glad to hear from him. He said there were a couple of issues that may prevent him from being in much contact for a while. It was nice to hear his voice.

He is planning out some really exciting things for the time he is simply a civilian again. He and a couple of buddies are going to Japan so Daniel can show it off. He is trying to dust off some of his Japanese skills and heft a couple of Kanji just to prove he can.

A visit, apparently

Daniel said they had found some pictures on Yahoo news of recent events. Hm, a visit from General Patreus, apparently.

The link to pictures is an "Iraq + Stryker" search string, so there may be other newsworthy pictures as well. I reference the entire search string because I don't know most of the soldiers pictured, but maybe you do!

Say what???

We can't send anything with alcohol in it because of the Islamic sensibilities, but apparently we are overly cautious

More good signs of hope

I read the news nowdays with an eye for military advances all over the Middle East with the hope that Daniel will not be requested to revisit. The news out of Iraq although guarded, is good and the focus on securing Afghanistan again looks hopeful as well. I was happy to read this report this morning