How do you know a deployment is getting close? Words like “Family time,” half days,” etc start getting pushed about.

• Best thing I have heard in a while, "On the sand, or on the sea, if you want to live, drink your pee." Thanks Man, Woman, Wild! #

• Finally back home! I love the Alaskan Wilderness, just not the "work" portion that takes the fun out of it. #

• The word for next week: FLEXIBILITY, not Frustration. Remember that, me! #

• Smoke from the fires! Its gonna be raining ash soon. Something is always falling from the sky here. http://yfrog.com/mry3iaj #
• I guess moose need baths too. http://yfrog.com/5hahkj #

• Watched Army Wives, very realistic. A SPC just reduced a dislocation w/o pain meds and a CPT did after care (slinging Injury) IN WHAT ARMY!? #
• Yea, same show that the army deployed an entire division ( incl. Garrison commander) in a week. My wife hates it when I watch w/ her… Lol #
• RT @wilw Yep, this about covers it: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/5/1/. It's GCI Customer Support! Thanks Wil! (and I only get 8Mb) #
• Nothing like landing on a lush green fields at 6500 feet and seeing Dall Sheep, glaciers, beautiful peaks, and smelling the cold Arctic Air. #
• I love the Remote iPhone app. If it would only control more than just iTunes. Playing music from upstairs mac downstairs using iPhone. #
• It is sad that there is so little worth watching on TV that my 47" LCD sits turned off, while we pump music through the house instead. #

Thought I would share a few pictures from my flight the other day. These were taken at about 6500 feet when we landed on a little plateau. The area had a herd of Dall Sheep on it, but they ran down the mountainside out of view before I could get any pictures.

• Little Girls and Slumber Parties…… AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! #
• Alaskan Life: Sitting downtown in mid-July to watch a parade, IN SWEATERS. #
• It's Eskimo Elvis!! http://yfrog.com/jum1mhj #
• Midnight rainbow from the other night http://yfrog.com/i3hhpj #

Back to the war zone for a third time in what will be 5 years by the time this tour is over.

I do know when and where, but I will leave it at that for now.

Today I flew. And I do mean flew. Over six hours of continuous flight. We were doing specialized High Altitude training. The flight included learning how to fly and maneuver around high mountain peaks, glaciers, and in the high winds of big mountain ranges. I have to admit, placing one wheel down on a high craggy peak of a mountain that can’t be reached by conventional means is always fun, and the views are magnificent.

However, after that much flying in the cold (think sub freezing) and in the bouncy, noisy, crew seat of a helicopter, I am pretty wiped. However, I figured I would share some of the views I saw today. The things we see flying through the remote mountain peaks a glaciers are awesome, and you can’t help but think about how few people have ever set sights on such things or been to such places.