Through all of the ups and downs, stops and starts, the do-overs and the delights, I would choose you again. You are the best part of me and the favorite part of my day (not to mention my nights!).

As I said before, I am taking this blog in a new and more personal direction. I have been writing more frequently and hope to share some snippets occasionally. I am also going to use this space to journal my experiences and not-so-deep thoughts. With any luck, I won't bore everyone (the two people who have read this blog) to death. Maybe just to sleep, or to tears...

For those who (like me) are fans of Kyle's photography, check out her photoblogs. You can find the links in my blogroll.

Well, I am finally returning to this blog. It has been a long time and many things have happened since my last (rather cryptic) post. I will try to fill you in over the next few days.

I have started and stopped a few blogs since 2006, none of which have lasted long. Kyle has gotten into her photography in a big way (along with her writing-which she keeps rather close to her breast) and now has a couple of photoblogs up and running. Check out the links on my blogroll. With her focus now elsewhere I am going to take this blog in a new and more personal direction. Well, not too personal...

The nutshell: Our big news from '06 was that we were being moved from Germany early to build up a new unit at Fort Riley. That almost worked-Kyle's command signed her up to deploy instead. Nice of them, eh? So I was forced to PCS (permanent change of station) alone, leaving her in Germany and facing a non-flying deployment) to Kansas knowing that I would deploy within the coming year. This would have placed us on opposing cycles with very little opportunity to see each other for two years or more.

Needless to say we fought like cats and dogs to get out of that. I tried to deploy with her unit, to no avail. In the end, I can only say that God stepped in. A couple of weeks before her unit was scheduled to deploy their orders were canceled! After much rejoicing we found out that her orders to come to Kansas had been deleted due to her impending deployment. More bad news. Her commander was very impressed with her skills, so much so that he wanted to keep her as long as possible. Good for him, bad for us! In the end, what saved us was the fact that the Army is very short of senior captains (those who have had the appropriate level of military education).

The only way to get her out of Germany was to request the Captain's Career Course. The Army being short as it was (and still is) immediately PCS'ed her to the course. Once in the course she was able to request to join her husband at his duty station. There were a few more roadblocks, but she eventually did manage to join me at Fort Riley. Exactly six weeks before we both deployed to the desert.

As of this writing we are still deployed, but we are only a couple of miles apart and able to see each other occasionally. More important is the fact that we are on the same deployment cycle, which means we will get back to the states at the same time. It's not easy, but that is life in the Army these days. "Family First"is just lip service. The Army as an organization is so stretched that deployment readiness is the end all and be all of life. Families are an inconvenience to commanders at all levels as they try to wring the most out of each soldier before the soldier has had enough and leaves for civilian life. It is truly a vicious cycle, and I hope that things settle down soon...