Deployment Events

By now most of you know that this deployment is (finally!) almost over! Many people have asked me, "So, did it fly by, in retrospect?" The answer to that question is a resounding no - I think that when all is normal, 7 months are actually a short amount of time, but when you really stop and think about it, a lot can happen in seven months. I've been thinking about that a lot recently, just reflecting on the deployment, so I wanted to recap it here for those of you just "joining" the blog or for my fellow fans of history recaps!

Things that have happened (both in the world and in our lives) since Greg deployed, and that we have shared together through email/phone conversations....remember these?

September 2009:
~ Greg leaves
~ Serena Williams is fined for profanities during the U.S. Open
~ Kanye West upstages Taylor Swift at the VMA Awards
~ Patrick Swayze dies

  October 2009: 
~ Caroline is born!
~My birthday
~Olympics are given to Rio in 2016
~ David Letterman announces he's creepy on air
~ Helium "Balloon Boy" incident occurs in Colorado
~ Virginia and New Jersey unseat Democratic governors
~ Halloween

November 2009:
~ The Yanks beat the Phils in the World Series
~ Fort Hood Shooting
~ Oprah announces she'll go off air
~ Caroline makes her first of four cross-country flights of the deployment
~ Thanksgiving
~ Tiger Woods crashes his SUV into a fire hydrant, jumpstarting his fall from grace

December 2009:
~ Obama orders 30,000 troops into Afghanistan
~ "Operation Cobra's Anger" begins in Now Zad, a Taliban stronghold, and is conducted by 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines (Greg's unit)
~ undercover suicide bomber kills CIA operatives in Afghanistan, prompting a call for "revenge"
~ Christmas
~ "Underwear Bomber" attempts plane attack on Christmas Day
~ "Avatar" is released to theaters, and would soon break the record for highest grossing film of all time

January 2010:
~ New Year's Day
~ My MBA program begins
~ Earthquake strikes Port-au-Prince, Haiti
~ Ben Bernanke voted by Senate to a second term as Fed chairman


February 2010:
~ Vancouver Olympics
~ Grammy Awards
~ Valentine's Day
~ New Orleans Saints beat the Colts to win their first Superbowl
~ Earthquake strikes Chile, igniting more fears in Southern California about the impending "Big One"
~ Toyota recalls over 8 million vehicles worldwide for gas pedal malfunctions

March 2010:
~ Our 2nd Anniversary

~ Rocky turns 2
~ Greg's Birthday
~ Academy Awards
~ Caroline makes her first international trip, to Mustique
~ March Madness
~ Health Care Reform Bill
~ (Greg's personal favorite): VP Joe Biden says a profanity to President Obama at a press conference while the microphone is still on

April 2010:
~Easter
~Greg meets Caroline for the first time and sees his wife and dog after 7 months!

So now if we could just make these next couple of weeks fly - unfortunately time is dragging! Hopefully it will pick up the pace soon!