Milestones

Although I’ve tried to stop calendar watching for a while, I couldn’t help but check on my deployment progress today.

 

The biggest thing to note is that I have now been away from home for 180 days.  That’s significant because it’s the standard length of usual Navy deployments, and the longest consecutive period that I’ve been away from my family.  So I’m charting new waters here, to look at it nautically.  On the bright side, I’m not too far away from my R&R leave, so that little countdown is keeping me focused ahead, rather than how long I’ve been here.

 

Along with that key number, tomorrow also starts a new month, and the seventh-consecutive month of combat zone/tax-free pay, another new record for me.  At least this one is nicer to think about and sock money away in the bank.  Although, perhaps that extra money and the upcoming R&R leave might collide somehow… we’ll see.

 

And as a final note, October 1 is the end of daylight saving time here in Iraq.  I’ll get an extra hour of sleep tonight as we “fall back” to only 3 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.  And I’ll be sure to use that extra hour since I’m staying up late tonight to watch Navy vs. U-Conn.  Go Navy!