Life Through Johnny's Eyes

A South Carolina flag waving proudly during one of the many dust storms.

Yup, that's a scorpion! Johnny said even the locals were scared of it!

Johnny and Charlie Daniels after a concert by the Charlie Daniels Band.

(Sorry for the wacko coloring here.) Here is the little desert lizard that Johnny chased around his room one night. As you can see, the tail-less lizard lost!

Deployment and Johnny Update

Johnny is doing awesome. We've hit the 6 month mark and y'all, I'm about out of patience with this deployment and I know Johnny is too. The weather has primarily been fairly chilly there and out of nowhere, it turned HOT one day last week and he's been sweating every since. All Johnny can do is laugh right now because he knows that it is just a taste of what is yet to come...say...mid-July. OH MAN. Let's just say there is a good possibility that 90 degrees will seem cool compared to the temperatures they'll be living in.

He is staying extremely busy with work which is a good thing because it doesn't give him much down time to be homesick or realize how crappy the circumstances really are, yet it keeps him pretty stressed out and annoyed most of the time as well.

His biggest complaint is really just that he can't get away from everyone. He is completely surrounded all of the time 24/7 with the same people. He tries to take a break from work and goes to the gym to work out and the same people are there, he goes and eats and there they all are again, he takes a shower and it's the same people in the bath area....you get the idea. Besides locking himself in his room all day, which typically just leaves him homesick and lonely and he never really has the opportunity to do that anyways, he is always surrounded by the same people. He tried to get me to understand the feeling by making me imagine going into work in the morning and then NEVER LEAVING for a year. Thinking about that literally makes my chest tighten up immediately. SO - I think besides that one aspect....he is doing awesome....and even with that he is handling it all really well.

He has remained an amazing husband even while halfway across the world at war. He makes every effort to call every day if he can, even if it is just to say hi and I love you. We're not naive to think that this distance, the stress of being at war and the amount of time he's gone couldn't affect our marriage....but we are doing everything we can to stay connected, and committed to keeping our marriage strong and focused on God, and remain crazy, madly, deeply in love.

He should hopefully be heading home around the first part of May for his 2-week R&R. We couldn't be more excited! The thought of seeing him for the first time in 7 months literally brings tears to my eyes. I hope our two weeks together will renew us enough to make it through the remaining 5 months. I just want this deployment to be over. Enough is enough already!

Here are a few pictures of my studly soldier...Enjoy!

This picture was pre-promotion to Captain!

The white stuff on the ground is C4...they packed it in
there by hand and are getting ready to blow stuff up!

A Big Promotion!

My man got promoted to CAPTAIN yesterday!!!


Major General Oates happened to be visiting their base in Iraq yesterday and performed an impromptu official ceremony to promote Johnny! It was quite an honor for him to be promoted not only by a Major General, but also a fellow Ranger!



I am so excited for him and proud of all that he has accomplished in his 3 years in the Army. He is an excellent leader and truly loves to serve our country.

Good Samaritan

Y'all will not believe this story!

Here's some background info so you can fully appreciate this story. Sisters - I will try to keep this to a "Reader's Digest" version since I know how much you llooovvvveeee my drawn out stories, but I can't make any promises...you know how carried away I get sometimes :)

The story begins one cold December night long ago....just kidding...haha. I couldn't resist!

So anyways, I sent Johnny several boxes filled with wrapped Christmas gifts throughout the month of December. One box never made it to him. Clearly, I have been distraught about this and have truly lost faith in my local United States Postal Service. I don't care that they offer me tracking and insurance against loss or damage (read that in a very quick, mumbled voice like how the post office people say it) EVERY time I mail something, it is their job to mail things from point A to point B effectively. I had so many cute manly gifts that I knew Johnny would love in this box but because I didn't purchase the tracking or insurance against loss or damage, there was NO WAY for me to figure out where in the heck this box of goodies was.

Fast forward 5 weeks to today. :) This is where the story gets good people. Don't fall asleep on me yet.

I checked out my Myspace account this morning, not sure why, I don't really even use the thing, but low and behold I had a new friend request AND a message. This was a big day. "Patti" from Kansas wanted to be my friend. Well normally, I don't accept friend requests from people I don't know, but her message to me said, "We have your care package with Christmas gifts. Call me at __________." It was like a ransom note. You bet your butt I hit accept and then promptly emailed her about 15 times.

She said her husband's name is Johnny Webb and they just retired out of the Army 2 years ago but stayed in Kansas where he was stationed, and get this - he use to live in Georgia too. I can't make this stuff up people - this is real life. She said she has no clue how or why the package got sent to them and at first she was pretty annoyed that her husband got a box of gifts from "some woman in Georgia". haha. She said they tried finding my telephone number, but never had any luck. It was my super cute gift tags on each present that I had made with me and Johnny's wedding pictures on them that helped her find me on Myspace. Can you believe it??!! She's shipping the box back to me tomorrow morning. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

The moral of this story is that if a package gets lost in the mail, you'd better pray it ends up in Patti's hands because she will find you and get it back to you! No, no no. Just kidding. I'm really just happy to know that there are still good people out there who are honest and kind. And I'm SO RELIEVED that those gifts WILL eventually make it to Johnny!

Rainy Day

Hi Friends!

What a cold, yucky day today is here in Savannah. Last week we were having 80 degree days, and tomorrow it's suppose to be in the 30s.....Savannah is so weird!

Things are going pretty well...I am still keeping my schedule as full as possible, but I am trying to leave some free time for the gym in the afternoons after work. Working out has such a big impact on my life. I not only have more energy, but my mind feels refreshed and I actually crave healthier foods when I work out. I'm overall a pretty good eater...I'm one of "those people" who crave salads on a weekly basis and sometimes for dinner I'll just have a big ol' bowl of brussel sprouts! Don't get me wrong, I also crave McDonald's cheeseburgers and fries every once in awhile, but after I work out, the last thing I want to do is fill my body with grease and fat. So it's basically a win, win! Exercising is not a new year's resolution or anything, it's basically what I have to do to keep sane during this deployment!!

I am doing this new women's bible study on Saturdays and it is by far one of the coolest things I have ever done! I'll write more about it soon. Y'all will all think, "Oh, that is just so neat. I want to do something like that too." And then you can start it at your church and have as much fun every Saturday as I'm having!

Johnny is doing well. Today is the three month mark....only 9-10 months left...we're a quarter of the way done! Hallelujah! I hope these next three months fly by because then we'll be half way done and the rest is all downhill from there. He is super busy in his new position as S4 up at Battalion Headquarters (HHC). He is learning a lot and really fine-tuning his leadership skills. He has some awesome mentors there who are teaching him a lot whether they realize it or not.

Johnny also had his 3 year anniversary with the Army last Tuesday. It is kind of a milestone in his career because when he got his commission, he was required to be in the Army for at least 3 years, and then he could get out if he wanted and do Reserves for three. Well, isn't it convenient he is deployed and couldn't get out even if he wanted to! haha! Sneaky Army! You know, Army life definitely has negative aspects to it, but there are a lot of great benefits that come with it as well. Johnny is an awesome soldier and he loves what he does. It'll be an exciting ride to say the least to see where the Army takes us next!

Pictures from Iraq

Here are a few pictures Johnny just sent me today. You can click on the picture to make it bigger. I have Johnny's address as well, so if would like it just let me know, I'd be happy to give it to you!

He was very excited about seeing the camels. Apparently they just roam around like deer do here.

This is where Johnny will be living for the next year. He is roommates with one of his buddy's from the company and they have fixed up their little trailer to resemble something simliar to a dorm room, complete with a South Carolina flag and everything! The black, wooden looking crosses to the left of the door are holders they built for their Flack Vest (bullet-proof vest) and Kevlar Helmet. They were probably working on spray painting them which is why they are outside.


Here Johnny is at the range shooting a MK-19, it's basically an automatic grenade launcher.

Moving Forward - Deployment Update

Only 356 days left!

It has been a long week, but it's getting easier every day. Johnny and I said our goodbye around one o'clock in the morning last Tuesday. They flew into Shannon, Ireland where they had a 4 hour layover and then they arrived in Kuwait at 1:45 a.m. (our time) last Wednesday morning. Ireland is one of Johnny's favorite places, so he loved being there...even if it was just the airport! He even got to eat fish and chips, cooked in a Guinness beer batter! It was the closest thing to a real Guinness he could have! He woke up from that dream world once they landed in Kuwait and all he saw was sand for miles and miles. I think it finally sank in that he was actually deployed at that point.

While J was eating fish and chips, that first 24 hours for me was easily the worst day of my life. I literally felt like it was all a dream (in a nightmarish-kind of way). I could not comprehend what was truly going on. It was the weirdest thing to look around on post (what we call the Army base) last Monday night and see all these soldiers in full uniform, flack vest, Kevlar helmet, machine gun - the works - waiting to load the buses. It's the stuff you see in movies. And it's my life. I just couldn't believe what was going on. Well, I believe it now, but unfortunately I haven't woken up from that nightmare yet. Thankfully my mom came into town to keep me company and help keep me going last week. I don't know what I would've done without her.

So far, I have been able to talk to Johnny every day since he left. Sometimes it's a 2 minute conversation, other days we will talk for almost 30 minutes! It might be the fact that we he just finished Ranger School where we could only communicate through hand-written letters, but it's amazing how just hearing his voice for 5 seconds a day helps SO MUCH. I'm very grateful for the time we get to talk. He won't have email access until he gets up to Iraq. And we aren't allowed to mail anything to him until after November 15 for security reasons. But I will be sure to get his mailing address to those who want it so you can send Christmas cards. I'm not sure if I'll actually post it on the blog (for security reasons again) but I'll talk to Johnny about it and see what thinks.

He is doing well. He misses home tremendously, but I think it's easier for him to accept his current situation because this is his job. He has been training for this the entire time he's been in the Army, almost 3 years now....everything leading up to this point. He is an excellent soldier, and awesome leader and we can't forget...a RANGER!!

Here are some pictures from that awful night last week. Don't let the smiles fool you in these pictures - it was a miserable, nauseating night - I had been crying for about 3 days straight prior to dropping him off and was fighting the urge to throw up....I just can't NOT smile when a camera is visible. I think it's a genetic condition...I was born with it.

Fake Smiles....100%. There was nothing happy about that night.



This is Johnny's good buddy Jerry Billings. He just got back from his latest tour in Iraq and will probably be seeing Johnny over there sometime in February or March when he goes back.



I didn't want to let go of him.

YUK

I hate goodbyes. yuk. How do tell the love of your life goodbye for year? yuk.

Thank you to everyone for all the love and support you have shown Johnny and I during this gross thing called deployment. yuk.

I'll write more this week once my eyes dry up a little bit and I stop dry-heaving.