Tom's Top 10 for 2011

Most of you generally take a little time to reflect on the previous year, that’s part of the deal when you’re counting down the days and hours before the New Year parties begin.  The lists run the gambit from greatest this or most incredible that, I’m doing it my way with a top-10 all my own.

Here we are in no particular order - The 2011 Top-10 odd things I love about my wife:

My very short wishlist

My Christmas Wish

There isn’t anything I need.  When I look at all that I have, beginning and ending with a family who loves me, I can only be thankful for the miracle they are to me.  While I miss them terribly and wish I could be home to see their smiles Christmas morning, I am confident the love and support we share will carry us all through.

There are some things I would ask for though, just a few this year:

Priceless gifts

Technology is a wonderful thing and even though it can deliver something as cool as the pictures you see here, it pales in comparison to our children.  What can I say, I have a soft spot for kids so when I get something as cool as the drawing you see here, I have to post it and share it with everyone.


I lost track of the cumulative months I've spent away from my family over the years but it's gestures like these that can give you a smile during the longest days when you're really missing home.

So a big thanks to our sever year-old patriot from South Carolina who asked his mom if she could send this to a Soldier because he didn't know any.  And yes, Soldiers like candy-canes but not too many because they could spoil your dinner.

Be Silent

I’m restless, irritable and feeling a little like being isolated for a while.  There’s so much noise in my head at the moment, barely any room for thought when I’m out in the world.

How To Live In A Drama Free Zone Using Duct Tape And A Tire Iron

Originally I thought to incorporate bailing wire into the title and content of this little rant but after thinking about it I realized there are far more applications for duct tape so that’s what we’ll work with today.  

Please take the following comments with a grain of salt but if the shoe fits then don’t be surprised when someone applies some of the tips contained herein to your person.  Having said that, I do not condone assault and battery, or any other related crime against another person, regardless of their level of stupidity.  In cases where another person’s stupidity begins to raise your blood pressure to the point of causing a “fight” reaction, simply remember that Darwinism will inevitably rectify the nuisance and you can maintain your good karma.  

A word of thanks to some great Americans from Michigan

Every once in a while you get that piece of mail that blows your mind in a good way.  While I absolutely love the cards my wife sends, not to mention her care packages, I got a fantastic surprise in the mail today from a very unexpected address.

Another method for living

I read something interesting a while back, “Miracles come in a moment.  Be ready and willing.”

I think there is something very simple yet profound in that phrase.  Makes me think about those Black Swans; a very simple yet difficult proposition that basically challenges us to live with our peripheral view wide open because the most potentially life-changing events exists there but only for a short time.

A Method of Living

Photo by Rinni

Every once in a while I’ll start writing with a theme or thought in mind and it starts to go all over the place.  This is one that I decided to dust off and post it in parts.  The notes were taken during my Greek vacation a couple of years ago.  The crux of it is about how I choose to walk the road.  It may seem that I’m making some judgments, and maybe I am, but it’s simply a method to put my pace into some context.  If you’re open-minded and confident then read on.

Finding My One

Every once in a while I attempt to write something other than a simple blog post.  I felt like pulling this one out of the attic to share with you, a poem I wrote for my wife during my last deployment.  It's not something you'd ever find published but it reminds me that she is always there with me, like the beat of my heart.

A Sci-Fi Rumble in the Jungle

Gabriel's Return by Steve Umstead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Power up your Oso-11 heavy assault rifle and join Evan Gabriel’s team as they face a new threat on an old battlefield in Steve Umstead’s second novel in the Evan Gabriel Trilogy, ‘Gabriel’s Return’.


Picking up the story six months after the conclusions of the first book, Umstead instills in you a false sense of security and normalcy so that he can leverage his plot and jerk the rug out from under you and his characters. This book is loaded with more than enough hi-tech action but Umstead finds balance and depth by presenting a more complex plot and delves much deeper into his characters.


Click here for the rest of the review!

What Lockout?

A New York Times news alert popped up on my iPad today with a breaking story.  Normally when those pop up I get a little nervous since it’s usually bad news and I am in Afghanistan after all, the center for the media’s constant doom and gloom coverage…but that’s another story.

No, this story had to do with the National Basketball Association players union turning down a deal likely resulting in a cancelled season.  Something else written in there about it being the owners last offer, the union decertifying, blah, blah, blah.

A gift for the hard days

We all run into hard times, sometimes for a day and sometimes much longer.  Every so often I have them and seem to always find inspiration, generally from those around me.  Sometimes however, it's just not enough but there were some words I discovered during a deployment to Iraq that seem to pull me out of the most severe cases of the doldrums.  This gift of words is a succinct reminder that tells us that we can and must take charge of our lives at the worst of times.  Tuck this away when that rainy day feels like a storm pouring down on you and find the inspiration to get up and fight.

Looking at the numbers

AP Photo

Here’s where I normally write a few paragraphs on my hope for a good outcome at the weekly Michigan game.  It’s usually laden with jabs at rivals, a little statistical insight on opponents and confidence that our head coach will lead the team to overcome.

Next steps - sorting out the aftermath at PSU

Bob Wojnowski, Detroit News

I regularly follow Detroit News columnist Bob Wojnowski for his wit and humorous approach to covering the sports stories from my home state and around the country.  I also spend a little time bantering with some of his colleagues on Twitter and e-mail because they are good, fun people.


Today, like many in the past week is not a day for banter or jokes.  Bob's words in his weekly column express what a lot of sports fans are feeling at the moment; confusion, outrage, sadness, and many other things that are about 180 degrees from the things we normally feel about the sports and teams we love.  

Whether you talk to Angilique Chengelis, Jamie Samuelsen, or the Free Press' Michael Rosenberg, sports is not the topic in most of our minds with the aftershocks of this awful situation at PSU still waiting for resolution, which may be far off.  More than anything, most of us feel awful about what happened to these kids and don't know what to do about it, but celebrating a weekly game seems far off the mark.  


I'd share with you some of Bob's thoughts on the subject because today I just can't find words of my own to add.  I think, like Michael Rosenberg wrote today, there is so much positive that can be done to make a difference in the wake of this horrific series of events, but first we have to address the remaining issues of today and get the right perspective.  
Columnists | Protest all you want, but Joe Paterno's not the victim | The Detroit News

Board intervenes, charts right path

AP Photo

The Penn State University board of trustees made a difficult and conscious decision to do the right thing in light of one of the worst scandals in sports history by firing their long-standing and revered head football coach, Joe Paterno.

PSU scandal reveals true colors

AP Photo

You see the true colors come out in people in the midst of institutional crisis and with only a handful of days passed since the initial breaking reports centering on former Penn State football coordinator Jerry Sandusky’s horrendous acts on children, the colors seem to run the spectrum.

A sickening lesson in sports

The story from State College, Pa. gets worse as the clock ticks and if the charges of a cover-up by Penn State University officials wasn’t itself disgusting, the way some on the sports beat are covering this story places the exclamation point on one of the most horrendous stories in more than a decade. 

Why I Came Back: Reason Six

For six weeks I've shared the thoughts and insights behind my decision to come back to Afghanistan for another consecutive tour.  True, I miss my family like crazy but there were so many things that pulled me back and after talking to my wife we both realized that it was something that needed doing.  

Reason 6:  The Leader

Five Really Cool Things

With November finally here I have about two months to spend a little time thinking about how best to spend my two-week break with the family.  Normally a mid-tour leave from Afghanistan consists of a trip to Europe or some other exotic place but when the kids are in school it makes sense to stay close to home.  Fortunately there seems to be plenty to do in the Pacific Northwest so I’m doing my homework and trying to plot a course of action.  I’ve got some pretty good ideas but I’ll certainly take any suggestions you might have to offer.

So here are a few of my ideas on things to do on leave:

Reviewing Low Town

Low Town by Daniel Polansky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Meet the Warden of Low Town, a pure survivor in this post-apocalyptic world where plague decimated the population, likely setting the stage for a war that took even more lives on both sides. From a struggling street orphan to battlefield leader, he ascends to the top in a special operations investigative unit charged with maintaining order by any means necessary. Eventually the laws of gravity and women initiate the Warden’s fall from grace, leaving him back on the streets of Low Town, where he reinvents his identity using the tools he has learned as a survivor.

Back to their roots; bad news for Purdue

Maybe it was the opponent more than anything that left such a bitter taste in my mouth after the Wolverines lost their first game, a game I felt they could win up until the last minutes.  I was hoping for a repeat of the Notre Dame final performance, it just didn’t happen.  It was such a bad feeling all I could think about was the next opportunity to win a big rivalry game.  Don’t get me wrong; losing stinks no matter the opponent, it’s just far worse when it comes at the hands of a rival.  

Why I Came Back: Reason Five

Coming back to Afghanistan was a voluntary choice that has left some wondering why another back to back deployment.  I have to think that my inner circle had no trouble understanding my reasons.   From the outset of this latest adventure I decided that the key to continue driving hard through the 12 months would be to take the time to reflect on why I came back.

Reason Number 5:  The Voices

Reviewing Good Omens

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was my book of the year for 2010 and a fantastic gift from my wife. I read it while on deployment in Afghanistan so the humour worked wonders for my morale. One of the wittiest fiction reads I've had in a while; fast-paced and impossible to put down and here's why---

Taking back your vote - one ad at a time

Could a new trend in politics be emerging?  Could candidates actually be looking to reduce the billions they spend each cycle? 

DVIDS - Video - 2011 Mission Afghanistan Games

Video story of US Forces competing in the 2011 US Forces CrossFit competition at the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Produced by Air Force Staff Sgt. Mary Dever.

DVIDS - Video - 2011 Mission Afghanistan Games

My Top Five Vacation Spots

I have to say from the outset that I didn’t consider Alaska for this list for no other reason than our nation’s largest state is really home to me.  I would certainly recommend it to anyone with the opportunity to go but please, don’t do the cruise and think you’ve experienced what the state has to offer.  No, the list before you covers a few of the places I’ve visited and found remarkable for a plethora of reasons unique to each.  I’m not a travel agent but I’d be happy to give you a point in the right direction if any of them strike your curiosity.

Book Review Posted

Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The 1%

AP Photo

There's been a lot of hubub in the media with this Occupy Wall street movement, which appears to be a whole lot of folks upset over how taxes are dispersed through the federal government's multitude of entitlement programs.  I'm on deployment so it's tough for me to say who these people really are but folks back home characterize them as the "entitled" who want to solidify their spot in line to continue siphoning money that our country doesn't have.

Seriously, I'm awake now

When did the puck drop?  I must have been sleeping or something because the Tigers were destroying the American League enroute to a pennant, the Wolverines were about to win the Rose Bowl and a Big Ten Championship, and the Lions were about to win the Superbowl. 

It was a euphoric dream in part because of how things have gone the last couple of years for most of the teams I love.  Then some Spartan was standing over my bunk slapping me awake (didn’t even get a flag) and it was all gone.  To make matters worse I wake up to realize it’s a bye week for Michigan and the Tigers are done until April. 

Time to move on Michigan

Detroit Free Press Photo

It’s almost time to move on from talking about suspensions and personal fouls, and fortunately it seems the Wolverines have despite the press.  It’s been such a focus I wonder if the Schawrtz-Harbaugh handshake didn’t exacerbate the story line.  At any rate Wolverine nation – our beloved team got outplayed by a better team last Saturday, flags be damned.  It just happened to be one of those teams Brady Hoke circles on his big calendar.  To put the exclamation point on it, Gholston did get a one-game suspension and of course it came from outside the program.  Time to move on for the last shot at redemption this season and to prove that Michigan is back to being Michigan.

On to Purdue?

East Lansing Aftermath

It’s been an interesting week as a Wolverine fan watching the media coverage in the wake of a disappointing loss last week in East Lansing.  Despite being an ocean away in land-locked Afghanistan, I've been able to follow most everything thanks to the Freep and Detroit News online.  

Best of all, and this is a shout out, to the UMGoBlog on Twitter.  Not only does the crew at UMGoBlog hook me up with some food for thought throughout the week, but on game days I can follow along.  Many thanks for standing up to the Spartan media handlers and keeping the tweets flowing last week.

Let’s begin with the ugly. 

Five More Little Things

It’s time to share with you the weekly list of some little things that make a difference on deployment.  The last two weeks have focused on some of the positives you only get while deployed.  This week I’m going back to a few of the things I’m really looking forward to having when I get back.  While there is nothing more special than having your family with you, these are a few of the little things I certainly appreciate more now that I’m without them.

Why I Came Back: Reason 4

When I think about what drove me to come back here there are several things that come to mind but number four is a driving force for coming back and for most everything I’ve been able to do over the last 19 years.  Even when I’m in the zone, this single consideration is always at the fore of my mind.

Reason Number 4:  The Team

Rough day for this fan

Detroit News Photo

I could have avoided the television and internet over the last 24 hours and went about my day in complete bliss.  Last night was a big night for this fan, landlocked in Afghanistan and completely at the mercy of the American Forces Network for live/taped sports and ESPN.com and twitter for the latest scores and stats.  Not a good statistical day for the two biggest games on my slate, Michigan – Michigan State football, and Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.

A case for Verlander

Photo By:  Julian H. Gonzolez (Detroit Free Press)  

You can talk stats until you’re blue in the face and let’s be honest, a CPA could make a case for more than a dozen guys in each league where it concerns the statistical duel for Most Valuable Player.  It’s really simple, Justin Verlander is the 2011 American League Most Valuable Player.

Hype? Wolverines have their first test

It has to say something when the AP and a whole bunch of college football coaches rank your program number 11 or 12 in the country but I haven’t bought into all the hub-a-baloo.  The Wolverines looked solid against lesser teams with a much improved defense and a sometimes dynamic offense that brought them back against Notre Dame and completely overpowered Minnesota.  Still, an objective viewer could see the chinks in the armor.

Five Additional Things

Like every deployment I find the occasion to take a moment and reflect on the little things I miss and the little things I’m grateful for while far from home.  Because they’re not big things you don’t dwell on any of them and they’re easy to overlook so thinking on them helps me exercise my curious side.

So this week I have five additional things I’m grateful to have here in Afghanistan:

Why I Came Back – Reason 3

A couple of weeks ago I decided to put fingers to keyboard and revisit the reasons that compelled me to volunteer for this third consecutive deployment.  If nothing else it serves to help me see a larger view of why I am here.  Each is enough to satisfy the question in my mind, why.  The thing is, when you get so ‘in the zone’ with the pace of the work here your reasons for doing it get lost and I think it’s important, for me at least, to take a step back and remember.

There are several, but for now let’s focus on Reason 3:

Pumpkin Patch at Picha Farm

Rinni here, sharing some pumpkin patch pics and fun!

Rows and rows of lovely pumpkins!

30 Days in Afghanistan: Part Two -- On the hunt for IEDs

Reporter Jeff Van Sant shares his month with I Corps Soldiers in Part two of this five part series:
30 Days in Afghanistan: Part Two -- On the hunt for IEDs

30 Days in Afghanistan: Part One 'The box of death'

A great piece of work below by one of our embedded reporters, Jeff Van Sant from Q13 in Seattle-Tacoma. Jeff spent a month with the I Corps out of Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington on his very first embed in Afghanistan. Very impressive work for an 'old school' story telling journalist. Give it a look and follow is series: 30 Days in Afghanistan.

30 Days in Afghanistan: Part One 'The box of death'

Qubel Bay High School Renovation

                                                The link below will take you to a story near and dear to me and many at the NATO base here in Kabul, Afghanistan - and it certainly ties into my post last week: Why I Came Back - Reason 2. At any rate, this story was produced by our newest team member, Air Force Staff Sgt. Mary Dever, and we're very proud she took the time to cover something you'll rarely see in the commercial media.  Check it out and help spread the good work our troops are doing with their very limited free time

DVIDS - Video - Qubel Bay High School Renovation

Five Other Things

A little over a week ago I posted a list of the five little things I missed being away from home.  While there is no replacement for time with my wife and boys, the time off on the weekends, or the freedom of movement without fear of being blown up, there are some small benefits you learn to leverage on a deployment.

This week it’s the glass-half-full; five other things that are good you only have while being deployed.

Why I Came Back - Reason 2

In an effort to reflect on this second consecutive trip to Afghanistan and remind myself that what we're doing matters, I'm posting the reasons here.  Agree or don't, that's not the point because we can all banter on about the politics, the winning and losing, the cost, the sacrifice and whether or not it's been worth it.  A year ago it was simple, a discussion with my wife and a lot of soul searching and we decided I needed to be back.  Beyond all the motivations then I am weekly finding and experiencing things that reinforce my resolve.

Reason number 2 ( a pair):

Hey Michigan, One Game At A Time

I have to start by disclosing that I love the University of Michigan football program, particularly now with the coaching changes.  Now, on to the college football thoughts for the week.  

Why I Came Back - Reason 1

Maybe what I need to do is revisit this question from time to time because when I take a minute to think about why I cam back to Afghanistan I seem to come up with solid reasons.  It's just when you're caught up in the grind that you sometimes forget but it's important to remember, particularly when you volunteer for the assignment.  So starting today and as this tour winds along we'll look at all of the reasons.

Reason number 1 (actually three in one):

Five Little Things

I’ve had the privilege of serving my country on what is now my third consecutive deployment overseas; this time Afghanistan.  It truly is a privilege but with obvious sacrifices. 

Leading up to one of these missions you tend to be so busy getting ready and making sure your family is ready that you don’t really appreciate all the small things you’ll give up.  Even once you’re here it takes a while before it really sinks in because you’re going 100mph just trying to get integrated and into a routine.

The Leader-Coach

A first sergeant once told me, he used some of the top coaches in sports as role models in developing his own approach to leading Soldiers.  I chuckled at first but since then I've taken a look at some of the men I follow in sports and the consistency in message and approach between leaders from our formations and those in the dugouts, behind the bench and on the sidelines is amazing. 

"Social Welfare"

Got my blood up yesterday after reading an article in the New York Times.  I shared it with the Facebook crew and thought it sparked some interesting thoughts.  So I'll share it here and see what you think.

Zombie update from: Afghanistan

The following is a guest post I did this week after some encouragement from my wife and sister-in-law. The premise is that humans from around the world are under attack by Zombies. Was a fun drill in collaboration, sci-fi style!

Zombie update from: Afghanistan:

'via Blog this'

Welcome

Thanks for dropping by the Way-Station.  Though it's a new site for me I'm not a complete rookie with blogging.  In fact, I've been blogging on Wordpress for a while now but I found it was difficult for those outside the site to interact, let alone follow my blog.    At any rate I'm glad you dropped in to check out the site.  Gradually we'll add guest posts and hopefully cover lots of topics.  I'll post some older material, along with the new.  Over the course of days and weeks I hope to pick up the abysmal pace of my writing and interact more with the folks who read my material...but it's really about embarking on new paths through conversations with people like you.

The Title

I thought that since the old way stations likely saw so many different kinds of people it would be fitting for this site, especially since my hope is we interact with the full gamut of participants.  Yes, participants because if you see something that initiates some feeling I'd ask that you add a comment; long or short.  Ultimately it won't be me that makes this a regular destination, it will be you and those like you because you are far more interesting and much more broad in your experiences.

So thanks again for coming by and let's get started.