It could be worse

[Ngtflyr]

I just got told Wed that I get to spend the holidays in Iraq, instead of with my family. I am going instead of someone else that was slated to go, won't go into the reason why. Guess I can't complain too much, it will be the first Christmas away in my 23 yrs in the AF. Guess I will appreciate the next one more. I leave Saturday and get back in Feb sometime. It will be my last trip for the AF as I retire in June and will have to get a real job then. Just want to say thanks for all on this site for the support for the military ya'll demonstrate. I am only going for 3 months and will be relatively safe, don't know how the Army and Marine guys do it for one year plus in harms way. It's getting more and more ugly over there, guess I will find out how bad it really is. When I was over in Qatar last year this time things looked a hell of a lot more hopeful than they do now. I will be in a HQ job so will have internet access and will be monitoring the site during my down time.