It is a dreary, windy and altogether blustery Monday morning as a Pacific storm wends its way through the Sacramento terrain, leaving slick roads and downed trees in its wake.

Darla and I were awakened at 5 a.m. this morning with a call from Jennifer. She was turning in her linens and thought that would be a good time to call and say her goodbyes. She is on bag duty this morning, charged with collecting and loading the baggage of the troops being deployed. I guess they looked around and saw a 5 foot, 120 pound soldier and said, "there's the perfect candidate to bust these heavy bags up and onto the plane".

Her unit was moved Sunday into a huge 120-person tent on the outskirts of Fort Bliss. The tent had double bunks and was close to the airport. She was up early this morning and was ready to load the bags into several vans leaving for the airport. Once there, it is her duty to get the bags loaded on the airplane and they are then leaving at ten-thirty for Kuwait. It is about a twenty-two-hour flight to Kuwait and with the time change they willl arrive early Wednesday morning. They will then convoy into Iraq and arrive in about two days. The convoys are large and slow as they include ground forces, air support and minesweepers. Jennifer has her flak jacket and M-16, but also the prayers of hundreds of friends and family and the armor of our Lord and Saviour as her shield. I am tremendously proud of her courage and commitment to the cause of our nation's protection. She and others like her are true American heroes.

Darla had one of her coworkers spouting off about America sticking it's nose in other people's business and how this is a war without a cause. Darla resonded that the families who lost loved ones in the tragedy of 9-11 would know what this war is about. I simply would have slapped the woman and walked away. Ignorance is not a pretty sight and Darla sees a lot of it in her chosen profession, social work, which is a calling for many bleeding heart liberals. She is a conservative Republican Christian in the midst of a liberal, Atheistic democracy. Free speech is a right, but so is self-respect.

Andy Rooney about got himself kicked off "60 minutes" for his recent diatribe about the human condition. He said that the most racist groups he knows are the NAACP, BET and the United Negro College Fund. He said that there would be an uproar in this country if someone were to found the NAAWP, WET or the United White Peoples College Fund. He also correctly pointed out that if a community is 70% Black and 70% of the people in jail are Black, that that is the law of probability and not racial profiling.

I talked to Dad and Shirley over the weekend and we have the Lyon Family Reunion on track for the weekend of March 19th in Las Vegas. Darla and I went ahead and booked our flights. We are arriving Thursday night and will stay over until Monday morning. I look forward to seeing everyone. When I told Jennifer, she said that she will have to pass, that she has something else going on that weekend. She, of course, will be in Iraq doing communications infrastructure work and defending our freedom and right to spend a weekend in Las Vegas.

Jennifer said that she should be in contact with us by Thursday and she will give me her address in Iraq. I will post that on the blog and send a letter to all of my family and friends. A letter, package, or an encouraging word would, I'm sure, be welcome.

Stay well and say a prayer for Jennifer and all of the brave soldiers defending our freedoms. Ciao.

P.S. I had a call from Jennifer at 1:45 this PM. She was in Newark, NJ where they were changing crew on th flight and will be non-stop to Kuwait from there. Jen told me that she had volunteered for the bag duty and as a result she was sitting in First Class of the Boeing 777. Anyone who has flown overseas in coach knows the painful process involved. Apparently there is some grumbling among the troops that are stuck in coach. Sometimes it pays to raise your hand. I can just imagine her little five-foot petite body curled up in one of those leather club chairs while some 220-pound soldier is stuck in a middle seat in coach. He should have offered to help with the bags, eh? She is in great spirits and looking forward to her duty.