As we say in the Army - I have 2 days and a wake-up till I'm back in Des Moines.  Of course we have another 5 days of doing massive paperwork called SRC (no idea what the acronym means) once back at Camp Dodge.

Well the last two weeks up here in Minnesota have been good even as they have been tiring.  Long days and short nights have been the order for the days yet in spite of it the moral of the soldiers seems to be fairly good.  There are always frustrations no matter where you are however, it seems a soldier has the ability to rise above better than others.

My days have been filled with counseling’s and going out on lanes with various companies.  Yet don't worry I haven't gotten out of doing Sunday services! The lanes have been realistic convoy lanes testing each of us on our battle drills on how to react and cope with an IED explosion, VBIED (Vehicle Borne IED's) and even how to interact with Afghani locals.  It has been very realistic even to having actual translators playing alone. 

Today I was able to get out to the ranges where some of the companies are qualifying at the range on their weapon.  Again while I'm not firing a weapon it's great time to talk and interact with the soldiers - I find that I do most of my ministry when I'm 'hanging' out and a soldier comes up and says "Hey Chaplain since you're here can I talk to you for a minute?"  Ministry of presence is key to bringing God to these awesome men and women.

Since I just found out that our evening briefing with the Commander has been cancelled I am going to finish this up and hit my rack for a bit before chow.  This has been a long day already as I didn't get to bed till almost midnight and then we had a 'fun' company run at 0500 this morning!  I say anything that is mandatory and has the word run in it by definition can't be fun :-)  But I made it and now don't have to worry about PT for the rest of the day.

I'm attaching a picture of my assistant - he's a great guy and am looking forward to seeing how God will use us in the lives of the soldiers in this Battalion.  We covet your prayers as always!