New Year's Day 2013

Hit the New Year at midnight and then somehow, my body decided I needed to be up at 05:00 a.m. even though I have the day off.  Happy New Year and best hopes to all for a better year in 2013

Sunrise Kandahar, Afghanistan

Happy 2012.....we all hope for a better year

2012 arrived with the expected fanfare and hopes for the new year. Today is also my daughter's 16th Birthday, and another reason to celebrate.

Enclosed is a picture taken of the early dawn outside my home and the words from " Morning Has Broken ", a song perfromed by Cat Stevens that my Dad has always loved.

Hope all enjoy a good year and that we all are better off as the year progresses. Patriots Football is on today also and our hopes for another run at the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots !!

Morning Has Broken - Cat Stevens

Morning has broken
Like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird

Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing
Fresh from the world

Sweet, the rain's new fall
Sunlit from heaven
Like the first dew fall
On the first grass

Praise for the sweetness
Of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness
Where His feet pass

Mine is the sunlight
Mine is the morning
Born of the one light
Eden say play

Praise with elation
Praise ev'ry morning
God's recreation of the new day

Morning has broken
Like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird

Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing
Fresh from the world

Happy New Year 2012 - Rock out the old year with Styx

It would be helpful to have a crystal ball which could tell us about the future and allow us to be better prepared for what is to be.

We have to take it one day at a time as that is the only way it is given to us. Rock out the old year with " Crystal Ball " by STYX.

All my hopes & prayers for a better year in 2012.

Random Notes / New Year's Day / Kandahar

Today is New Year's Day and it is good to be able to report all is well. Here in AFGHN, things can be hazardous and any day where you can report all is well is a GOOD day.

I spent New Year's Eve getting rest as I have been nursing a sore wing. New Year's Eve has always been "ameteur night" and I have been happy to let others go out & kick the gong around...

Jan.1st marks the start of a new year and clearing one more hurdle towards completion of my time here and return to Boston.

In Boston, they are preparing for a double whammy of snow - Snow fall on New Year's Eve & more Snow on Saturday....I will not miss it as here it is cold but we don't have snow....they can save that for the people up north.....Fenway Park will host a outdoor hockey game with the Boston Bruins vs.Philadelphia Flyers - a true winter classic that harkens me to the days of playing pond hockey as a lad....

Spoke with family & friends back home - all are concerned for me as I am here (worry) and for them back home, there is a lack of visibilty on what we really deal with....We are safe & well protected but like any sane man, I am aware that danger is only one mistake away, which was what cost people their lives yesterday in Eastern AFGHN......

It is a small world here but a varied community with people from all over the world. This is a NATO Base and that means we have people from the USA, England, Canada, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Bosnia, Macadonia, India, Nepal, the Phillipines and likely a few others that I may have missed. Each country adds a different and varied flavor...I have found that the people I meet are interesting and each has something to share.

I have had to carve out my own routine here and it is because if you don't, things will be harder to schedule. Like many work places, they will find work for you and not be cognizant that you need a break to catch your breath, get a bite to eat, and even go outside to get some fresh air ( or a good cigar)

All is well, we are blessed and we are grateful for all the support we have from home. I pray each day and ask for God's blessing and the protection of his Angels. We are far from home, and are keenly aware that only a moment of complacency will kill.......if not from hostile fire, from a vehicle or other large moving object.

Wishes of good health, happiness and safety to all at home & here and especially to our Warfighters who are at the tip of the spear.....May God's angels be with them and bring them home safely in 2010.