My boys

Well my boys are trying to get along. Look, we got them to pose together!!!!!

Puppy parenting continues to be fun....and challenging.

Running is coming along:

Monday- 10 miles- 82min

Tuesday- off

Wednesday- 19 miles- 3hrs (16 running- 3 walking cool down)

I know I need to do more of these steady longish runs. 90min-2 hours+ really works well for me when done on a regular basis. I need to get my yoga routine going again too. At least I am doing regular pull ups and back kayaking again. I already have shed some weight and am feeling fitter. Some races coming up soon:

Sept 22-Odyssey 40- as kind of an aided training run

Oct 7th- Towpath marathon- as a fitness test

Oct 28th- Marine Corps marathon- for a new PR???

Nov 17th- JFK 50mile- please please let me be fit enough to break 7hrs again!!!

Dec 8th-Hellgate 100K- for an experience

I will be off to Chicago to begin my prosthetics program for a 4 day mini-course at the beginning of October. Really looking forward to getting that rolling.

Great article today in the Washington Post on the new Amputee center being dedicated today at Walter Reed. Money well spent!

Perspective

Monday- 5 miles- easy jog (stiff)
Tuesday- 12 miles- 1:32 w/ 6x 100m striders in the last mile

I suppose I am as moody as the next guy, but some days I can just get in a funk. The little things tend to tick me off, and I am eager to bite someones head off. Of course I am pretty non confrontation so usually don't do so, but think about it just the same. Usually a good run will take it all out of me, but last night I was still off the "peace and love happy train" even after what was a fine run. I am still bothered by the fact that I am not very fit or fast currently. Why do I have to press pretty good to merely maintain 7:45 pace? Part of the reason is that I simply have been out of touch with my true running pace for a good number of years. I have been (prior to coming to Egypt) running almost exclusively trails which are by nature slower, and not measured. And if a trail is supposedly measured or marked, 9 times out of 10 it is inaccurate anyway. So now that I am running a set measured course the reality of my lack of speed is even more alarming.

I think too, that the reality of the huge life changes about to take place for me is starting to settle in. In July I will be returning back to the USA, leaving the Army, moving with my wife from Arlington, VA to Richmond, buying a new car, finding a new job, starting a new job (both my wife and I), adding a dog to our household/life's. That is a decent amount of change I suppose. And I am, like most people who are runners and very schedule/ritual driven. I (gasp) fear change!

Maybe I am just really getting tired of being away from home....

Studies have shown that the maximal time for a soldier to be deployed and remain optimally mentally alert and on task is 7 months. (Thus the US Marines do 7 month deployments- smart ones them, The Army is more about budget...and 12 month deployments means less money spent on mobilization) although I did take a month of leave back in the states...It has now been 9 months since I left last June.

Blah, that is about all I have to say....except, then I remember perspective:

This is Misha a soldier from the Republic of Georgia (one of the few "Coalition Force" Nations) and a former USSR territory that is now an independent country that has troops in Iraq. Misha's vehicle was hit with an IED killing the other 4 soldiers (Americans) in it. He survived with injuries that included the loss of one eye, one arm, a destroyed knee, fractured femur, fractured tibia, nerve damaged ankle, and an incredibly destroyed right hand/arm that was miraculously rebuilt using a nerve from his left leg, bone from his left hip, muscle from the right side of his stomachs "six pack", and skin from his left thigh. Luckily Misha was allowed to come to Walter Reed for 8 months of surgeries, recuperation and physical rehabilitation. (Say what you want about Walter Reed's administration...but the medical care is as good if not better than any place in the world.)

He did not know any English at all and the first word the poor guy learned was PAIN! All he could do was sit in his bed and cry. I still can't imagine what those first few weeks on the wards of Walter Reed must have been like not being able to communicate and going in for repeated bouts of surgery (he had 24-28 total, I lost count) and feeling loopy from pain meds. Misha's wife was 7 months pregnant when he was injured and thus could not be flown in to see him. Sadly she lost the baby in a late miscarriage. Eventually she came to stay with Misha and together they learned enough English to get by. For the first 2 months I treated him I would call the Georgian Embassy in DC and ask a man named Gocha to translate for me..... "tell Misha I want him to try to sit up today, wait a few seconds and then let me help him try to stand up...it is important" Then I would hold the phone to Misha's ear (as he had no usable hands to do so himself) When it looked like he was no longer listening I would take the phone back and ask..... "does he understand?" It was a long slow process, but look at him now! He emailed me recently and sent these pictures. Looks like he's having fun on some natural water slide.


The human body (and spirit) have amazing recuperative powers. I helped Misha on a daily basis for months, but I think I got more out of it than he did.

Flags of Our Fathers

I just watched the movie Flags of our Fathers and Wow is all I have got to say. Maybe I am just a softy or maybe war movies affect me more because I have worn a uniform, I don't know. But, if you want to let a few tears role out take in this film. It is brilliantly graphic like Saving Private Ryan and touching like We were soldiers once and young, and tells it the way that I view it. Soldiers don't fight to spread freedom, they fight for each other. I have had the honor of working with my own generations war wounded and even been a long on VIP tours of the capital and the Pentagon. On both occasions I went to help those with amputations get on/off buses and negotiate curbs, stairs, ect. Nothing made me feel so uncomfortable as having huge crowds of people break into applause when we entered rooms on each tour. I am nothing special for sure and was along only to assist so I naturally felt odd, yet the guys I was assisting were just as uncomfortable with all the well wishing and HERO touting. Many many of the men and women I helped with rehab told me they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My generation's war is not fought like previous ones. I treated soldiers who were blown up in their vehicles when driving in a long convoy. Their jobs were often as simple and as far away from a war fighter as you'd think one could get; like supply clerk, and truck gasoline refueler. These days we in the US Army never fight anyone straight up. We are simply too good, we have too much money, too fantastic of equipment, ect, ect. What gets us these days is unmanned, often unsophisticated improvised explosive devices (IED's) cowardly hidden where our troops travel. It is certainly not any less tragic. Perhaps even more so.

Watching a movie about previous wars has always made me think that my generation has got it good. And when you look at the staggering death toll numbers, you certainly can make the case that we do. Yet today, our battle practices and protective equipment is so much better, and our medical care and injured evacuation so many light years ahead of what it used to be, that the numbers killed has remained low. However, in Iraq for every one killed there are 9 severely injured. That means 28,000 and counting. And that is a big ugly number.

While I worked at Walter Reed I always felt a little bit guilty. Here I was working everyday with those that had been injured in "theater" (Iraq / Afghanistan) when I had never been. I even resisted getting and wearing the new army ACU uniform as it was mainly used by those who had been in the war. Initially it was like a badge of honor, and I did not want to wear it if I had not earned it. But, understand that the Army is a huge corporation one million strong with soldiers currently in over 120 different nations. We go where we are told. Currently I am in the Sinai, Egypt on a peace keeping mission. I am in the middle east. I am in an area where in the last 3 years 130 people have died at the had of Terrorists IED's and suicide bombs, but I am NOT in IRAQ. I feel pretty damn fortunate, but, I still have a little bit of guilt. Believe it or not, we have about 30 physical therapist serving in theater currently.

In a related topic, it has been interesting to read about all the hoopla with Walter Reed lately. And I am impressed with the big responses including the presidents today. I hope the problem gets fixed, but I can tell you the problem was not created by the latest General who got fired. He had been there only 6 months. The problem has existed for 4 years. To fix it you need to hire more people to process the paperwork and insure things are getting done (and not getting lost) , not fire people.

ahhh anyway, wasn't it Rodney King who said: "Can't we all just get along?" I like to hope so, but honestly, I don't think we can.