Daddy's TDY trip to Afghanistan

We arrived home from all of our travels on Monday night January 4th and Bill was leaving for his TDY (temporary duty) trip to Afghanistan very early Friday morning. As some of you know, we were supposed to go right from Las Vegas to Orlando for a week at Disney World. Bill was supposed to run the marathon there January 10th. When the word initially came down that the key leaders' PDSS trip (pre-deployment site survey) would likely begin on the 8th, we were disappointed. What was the best course of action? Still go to Disney? We would have had 3 days before Bill would have had to leave. Cancel all together and tell Drew that not only was Daddy going to Afghanistan but we also weren't going to see Mickey? We initially thought we would go and Bill would just leave early but then came a tentative plan for the PDSS that had them leaving on the 3rd. Playing the "What if" game with this new set of possible circumstances we determined that it was best to just cancel on Disney World for January. It's not much of a family vacation when 1/3 of the family is going to miss half of the trip. Instead, we decided that we'll plan to go to Disneyland (drivable and more flexible) in the block leave period just a couple of weeks before he deploys at the end of March.

Fortunately we had booked our hotel through a military-related website, so all they required to cancel without penalty was a copy of the deployment orders. With US Airways, we hoped we would get a refund of Bill's ticket and credit for Drew's and mine. We called to cancel and submitted a refund request electronically with a request to call us so we could fax in the deployment orders. Just a few days later we received three separate credits in the amount of our airline tickets from US Airways...no questions asked. No copy of the deployment orders necessary. No nothing. Just our money back without even the tiniest of hassles. We were very grateful for that.

The night after we returned from Vegas Bill and I gave Drew his Daddy Doll and explained to him that Daddy had to go work somewhere else, something we've told him before when Daddy has had field training exercises. We showed him on the globe where Afghanistan was and explained how many airplanes Daddy would have to take to get there. Drew seemed to understand (as much as a 4 year old can) and he took the Daddy Doll right to bed with him and it has hardly left his side since. Here he is the next morning.

Daddy and Drew the night before Daddy had to get up VERY early to start his journey to Kuwait and ultimately Afghanistan.

While Daddy was away we kept busy with lots of Mommy and Drew time, and playing with our friends.

Here's Drew at the park waiting for our friends to arrive.

Drew helping Mommy make cookies

Drew enjoying a blizzard at an afternoon "Sundae Monday" playdate

Drew watering our new herb garden that he helped Daddy plant while I was at a meeting. He waters it every morning and is very proud of how well he's taking care of the "green things" that are starting to grow.

Sliding on the playground before our FRG meeting

Opening a new Trio building set that I decided to reward him with for his extraordinarily good behavior (Also, I was growing a little bored of building the same thing over and over with the one Trio set Drew got for Christmas so I thought I'd add a little extra to our building creations).

Drew painting a ceramic football at a friend's birthday party

Thanks to our friend Steve, Drew had a sleepover with his friend Danny and I was able to get out for a night with my friends too.

Kimmi & me

Drew was a complete angel while Bill was away. He talked about missing Daddy and giving him lots of hugs and kisses when he got home and we wrote him emails. He only had one "I Want My Daddy" meltdown, which broke my heart (Mama shed some tears too) but that also sort of relieved me because I don't want him to feel like he's got to hold his emotions in.

We resolved the tears with some extra snuggling, shooting Daddy an email, a quick read of "My Daddy is a Soldier," and putting Drew's Army PT shirt on over his pajamas. Before my last kiss to him that night I snapped this quick picture with my phone. It has quickly become one of my favorite pictures of Drew EVER.

Bill safely returned from Afghanistan earlier this week with plenty of pictures of his travels to show us. Overall, we're pretty pleased with the facilities at the FOB (forward operating base) he is headed to (will try to share some pictures in a later post). We are hopeful that the WiFi network on the FOB will provide a strong signal to Bill's living area so that we will be able to webcam with Daddy in his room.

Drew was thrilled with Daddy's return but had plenty of questions about where he'd been and why he had to go there. So, we decided it was best to bring up the full year deployment with him now. He seemed to take this information in stride, but we recognize he doesn't really understand what "Daddy's going to be gone for a whole year" means. At least now we have opened the dialogue with him and we expect it will be an ongoing conversation over the next few months.

Here's a couple pictures of Bill and Drew since he's been back.

Sleeping soundly after Daddy was able to read him stories for the first time in a week and a half. Definitely have to get some story-reading on video before Bill leaves in March.

Drew's Day in the Army!

The local VFW and Ladies' Auxiliary co-sponsored (with Fort Huachuca's Child and Youth Services) an event this past weekend called Operation Junior Heroes. It was designed as a mock deployment exercise for children of Soldiers. The "recruits" would in-process, be issued gear, be bussed to a field site, and tour the various locations within that field site, before returning back to a Welcome Home ceremony. Although we haven't told Drew yet that Daddy is going to Afghanistan at the end of March, we still thought this would be a very useful tool for us in helping him to understand some of what Daddy does when he isn't at home. Part of the intent of the program was to familiarize kids with the different settings that a Soldier might be in either during a field exercise or downrange in Iraq or Afghanistan to facilitate communication and understanding during times of separation. Although Drew was the youngest participant and there were parts of the operation that were a bit over his head, he truly loved the experience and Bill and I were glad to be able to share it with him. After returning home Drew told me "I like being in the Army with my Daddy. That's my favorite." My heart melted.


Here's a bunch of the pictures that I took from the day (it's a minor miracle I didn't need my extra camera battery).

We left our house at 0700 and started inprocessing at 0730. Here's Drew getting fingerprinted by SVPD as part of inprocessing. He was also issued a backpack that you'll see him wearing in the other pictures with all kinds of military kid resources and goodies.


Drew taking his "medicine" (M&M's). He also got "shots" that were really pens they got to keep.


Drew & Daddy waiting to board the bus


Drew and Dad following our squad leader after having arrived at the FTX site

Drew & Dad at the company tactical operations center (TOC) that also doubles as sleeping quarters for Bill and 1SG. They're sitting on Bill's cot--doesn't it look comfy? We got to see some of the battalion HQ tents too and see some of the computers and VTC equipment and such.

Mountains in the background of the FTX site

This was one of Drew's favorite parts of the day--sitting in "the big big truck."


Close up in the big truck--Drew could have used the steering wheel as a hula hoop.

Drew and Daddy listen to one of the sergeants explain the vehicle's GPS system

Drew wearing one of Dad's hats in the driver's seat of another vehicle

Drew getting his hands washed in preparation for chow

Drew & Dad in line in the chow tent

Drew enjoying some snacks in one of the eating tents

Drew at mail call

Drew with a very tasty-looking sloppy joe MRE

The Patriot Guard motorcycle escort for our bus as we approached the building for our "Welcome Home." Love the Patriot Guard--they do so much for our soldiers.

After we were welcomed back to the original site, there were still several other stations to visit. One station had a ton of different types of explosive devices and ammunition. Here's Drew holding a grenade.

Drew holding a big gun (an M4 maybe?)

Drew looking through the gun's sight

Drew waiting his turn on top of a truck. I love the expression on his face.

Drew on top of a vehicle looking through another gun's sight

Drew and Dad check out the UAV

Drew shooting targets with a paintball gun. He thought this was fantastic! Couldn't stop laughing.

Family shot

Drew's certificate for the day

Drew enjoying a welcome home goodie--of course he picked the cupcake with the blue frosting

The military police canine handlers were also at the site giving demonstrations and this is Bill's 1SG with an arm glove on being jumped on by the dog. This was Drew's other favorite part of the day. We watched the dogs for at least 30 minutes. On the way home he told me "Someday we will get a dog Mommy." Way to lay on the guilt kid!

Drew using his new MP canine poster as a telescope

Drew and Dad getting ready to say goodbye for a few more days

Hugs at the car

Like I said, we haven't yet talked to Drew about Daddy's deployment. Even at 5 months, it's too far out for Drew to really understand. We intend to start the conversation in January, probably when Daddy gets ready to go to Afghanistan for the week-long pre-deployment site survey. We bought a globe sphere puzzle for Christmas that we're hoping will help with the basic questions of where Daddy is going. We've been laying the groundwork in general terms with the various field exercises Bill has had, stressing how important a job Soldiers have, and that sometimes Soldiers have to go other places to help people. We know as the time gets closer that events like this one will be invaluable in communicating with Drew about Daddy's separation from us. I'm eternally grateful for all that the Army has put in place to help Soldiers and family members deal with the stresses of everyday military life and deployment separation. We truly feel the support of our Army family.