Lifestyles of the Rich or Deployed...

Well, I have a few pictures from Chris of his new living situation.  They don't match what I had in my head based on description but that's because in my head there was one less wall!  LOL!  So here is a glimpse into this particular deployment.

Based on the bathroom travel bag, the last picture is Chris' locker.  I *believe* his bunk is the bottom bunk in the second picture but I'm not positive on that one.

Well, this is a preliminary glimpse into the living space he and his buddies have put together.  (In case you didn't know, this is a bay that holds 60 people.  They worked it up into a private area for 4 within this bay.  Pretty smart huh?)

Settling In

He is settling in and we are excited to say that we have an address to start sending some homey things to him.  His first box will have a couple birthday items in it, some snacks, and by his request--two wall clocks.  Doesn't the base have clocks around?  Well sure they do, but what they can't have is clocks set to local time AND the time zone your family is in next to each other.  Why not?  Well this is such a simple answer that so many of us forget about it...America covers more than one time zone...And then we throw in DST which not everywhere observes.  Yup, so he and his roomies are getting two clocks to hang above the projector screen in their "room" to show local vs home times.

Projector??  Oh, did I forget to mention I'm married to a nerd and he is part of the nerd squad too.  Commonly called Signal...They sure do like their tech-y toys!  Hopefully I can get some pictures up of his "room"  (a makeshift privacy attempt in a bay built for 60 people).  Of course I have to double check OPSEC and then get him to send me some...but barring issues with both of those things, I'm aiming for a week turn-around on this particular item.

Deployments and Skype

I was inspired to attempt a deployment blog by a wonderful military wife and mother that I respect immensely.  Its a wonderful way to remember the deployment's day-to-day effects on our family from my perspective.  This will give our family something to look back on and see how our first family deployment goes.

Tonight was our first foray into Skyping.  Alyssa was amazed at Papa being inside the computer and Papa got to see us nearly 1,200 miles away.  It was so fun to watch Alyssa (captivated for as long as a toddler can be--5 minutes tops) investigating the computer and how to interact with Papa in this new way!  We are still waiting for vocal conversations and so this video solution allows goodnight waving and kisses (and a nightly reminder to clean my laptop screen).

As we climbed onto the couch and opened up the program we got an incoming 'call' and after much tinkering and figuring out how in the world Skype works in its most basic form (I'm married to a tech guy...I don't need to be tech-y right??), we got video up on both ends, lighting in order to see everyone, and voice so Stroh good ask what I was wearing...Yeah, there is not much privacy in the military and much joking in the barracks.

The basics having been mastered, okay, practiced...We are now ready to take on this year-long deployment.  We will continue to work on our vocal conversing in hopes that we can get "Papa" and maybe even "Good Night" and "Love You" out of Alyssa before Papa comes home but for now we are excited to be able to wave, smile and kiss at Papa in the computer.  So here we go, 3 weeks into the deployment and less than a year to go!