OVER & DONE; WELL-DONE

6-7AUG08. WED-THURS. I can hardly believe it, I'm finally done!!!!! I'm writing this blog from the comforts of my home. Will be on Leave (PAID VACATION) until 22SEP08. WoW!!! Departed from Gulfpost MS bright and early this morning for New Orleans, LA. Of course I now had to hand in my Medical, Dental and Service Record. So, it was kinda a repeat of the last few days.....Again. Still, after it was all said and done, I'm finally home enjoying it all; TV, Icem A/C, and the love of my family and friends. What we do from here is anyone's guess. At the moment, Terri has me fixing some computer gripes. Like I can remember the computer configuration after 1.5 years. This, combined with several major network items changed. Still, I gotta finish my Travel Claim for the Navy. My heart-felt thanks goes out to all those folks who have helped along the way. Jeff, Tom, Moni, Janet, Pat, Don, Sharon, and way too many to mention. Thank you all and God Bless.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

5AUG08. TUESDAY. Well, I believe I'm just about through with Medical and Dental. Tomorrow I will sit down with the Doctor for results of the Labs as well as a reveiw of all the paperwork. Also, this will be an opportunity to reveiw the "Personal" Records. The guys I'm doing this Demobilization Process with were Mobilized and went to Texas for 5-months. That was it. How would you like that deployment?? So, I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. I only hope it's not the headlamp of an oncomming train. Will update soonest. Doug

GULFPORT MISSISIPPI

4AUG08. MONDAY. Well, here I am in Gulfport. Got here around 11:00AM. Filled out some medical forms and was told to come back tomorrow at 6:00AM for labwork and other medical stuff. The guy running the show said I should be out of here around Thursday or Friday. And, I might be entitled to "Respite Leave" above and beyond the week or so that I may get. Either way, it's all good. Will update when I can. Doug

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO??

1-3AUG07. FRIDAY - SUNDAY. Ryan and I managed to get out of Fayettville, North Carolina around 11:00AM. So, we were onlty able to make it to Atlanta before we decided to call it quits. We messed around in the Pool and cooled off from the journey on the Road. The "Plan" was to hit the road again around 8:00AM puttting us in Pensacola around noon. Well, I coldn't sleep worth a darn. Managed to wake up around 3:30AM and couldn't get back to sleep. I got to thinking, why not leave around 4:00AM. That's what we did....Got into Pensacola around 7-8:00AM. Had the remainder of Saturday for decompress a little and shift some vehicles around. Sunday we had a Family get-together at my Brother in-law's house. Had a blast grilling, swimming, and doing nothing.... Will drive to Gulfport on Monday to "De-mobilize." Sadly, I havent seen a dentist in a year and a half. Will get that out of the way as well as see the Doctor. So, in the end, I know there will be a lot of waiting, lines, and the general military "Hurry-up and Wait". Will update when I can. Doug

BUST

31JULY08. THURSDAY. Today was such a bust. But, we made the best of it. Tried to hit the Aquarium only to find it was 117 miles from the sign which advertised it. Of course the sign was 42 miles away from the hotel. We decided the cancel the drive. Instead, we decided to hit the Civil War “Tour”. Sadly, this consisted of a bunch of markers along the roadside. We canceled this trip and decided to hit the Lake instead. After driving back and changing clothes, we hit the lake. Thunderstorms popped-up about an hour after we arrived at the lake. You guessed it, the closed the lake. So, we decided to hit the hotel and pack for our trip tomorrow. That’s the latest from North Carolina. Doug and Ryan