So the run went off quite well yesterday, aside from a few hiccups.  We had some last minute entrants show up just as we were going to start, so when the blackhawks did the flyover at 0600 on the dot, we were still inside.  But we finally started about 0607, and the bird circled around again to do a flyover for us.  They had the US flag strung up in the bay door, and it looked perfect!  They then hovered over the gate, so as the runners were stretching out the first leg, the chopper was just about overhead.  Really cool–not many marathons can include that kind of spectacle!

The turnout was a little less than we hoped for, but that’s a result of some mission stuff, and that we held the event on a Saturday, rather than Sunday.  Supposedly, we would have had a lot more runners from the other task forces in KFOR if we had held it today.  But we had a pretty good showing all the same.  I think the super cool t-shirts Grandma’s hooked us up with helped.

I feel pretty good for having notched my first marathon.  Our fastest finisher came in about an hour ahead of me, at 3:43.  I came in under 5 hours (4:49:38), but this course had its significant disadvantages.  While I’ve never run Grandma’s in Duluth, it sounds as though that course is mostly downhill.  What we ran yesterday had significant amounts of ascent as well as descent, and due to some confusion on the course layout, we ended up running 26.7 miles instead of 26.2.  So we got an extra half  mile for our money too!

The weather was perfect for the first lap, but I got a little sun-burned on the second.  So now its back to work, and focusing on getting home!

Got to spend time on Radio Klokot again today…pretty good show.  It’s always a little tough to tell how we played out, since we don’t get any phone calls or emails during the show.  And the power went out just before the end of the show, but Jolena was a gracious interviewer as always.  We started a little late since PSYOPS came out to film a commercial.  So between being on the radio and now on a billboard, I feel like I’m beginning to start a celebrity career over here!

This is a quick snapshot of us outside the radio show.  Weather fluctuates lately from really nice like you see it here, to thunderstorms in the evening.  Chief is looking at traffic behind us, but the other snap we had was out of focus!  He also thought the roses were really big, so we tried to catch one here.

So this past weekend was a busy one, but we had the very cool organization “Serving our Troops” come visit us in Kosovo.  They brought very tasty food that they grilled up for us, including some of the best steaks we’ve had since getting here, and they hooked us up with VTC connection back to our families in MN.  I put some pictures on our bn website, so there’s some cool stuff to see there.  Martin Zellar even came with the crew, and played for us.  I got to make cappuccino for Zellar the next morning, but that was the least I could do after all this crew brought for us.  Made for a very cool day, but almost makes it harder to be gone in some ways.  Going to be very good to be back, that’s for sure!

So I’m either really ambitious, or a little foolish, or perhaps a little of both! But today marks two-months until the marathon I’m organizing in partnership with Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth. We will hold a marathon here (that yours truly is setting up), exactly 7 hours prior to the famed marathon up north. Sounds like they’re going to hook us up with some custom t-shirts, and that our times will be posted on their website and post-race publication. Pretty cool!

And that marks two things for me; my first full marathon (a goal I had for myself to complete last year), and pretty much the last major event I should have to do before handing over the reigns to my replacement. Can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to it!

It’s weird to finally picture that getting back home just might be a reality in the near future. Time has gone quickly at times; not so quickly at others. But I’m starting to be a little nostalgic for the last time I came home from Kosovo. Of course, that time I was only in country six months, so this is a bit longer stint, but it was a very happy day all the same. Kinda felt surreal–in a very good way–for the first few weeks back. Mom was still alive then, and she and I had just discovered a friendship and fondness for each other we didn’t think we’d ever be able to experience in our lifetimes. (That of course was a credit to her finally leaving ‘the cult’, as I like to call it–you might have seen their rogue sect on tv recently with the raid of the polygamist ranch in Texas. Not that Mom was part of that nut-job bunch, but I take some glee in associating the two organizations!) But thinking about how good it was to get home before just makes the thought all the sweeter of getting back this time around.

Another thing that made me think about my first trip here was my ipod material at the gym tonight. I was catching up on American RadioWorks episodes, and they had re-issued a broadcast first recorded in 2000 about Kosovo. In fact, the interviews were conducted during the same time frame I was here. What was different about this piece of journalism is that they sought out some of the Serbs that perpetrated the massacre at Cuska. To me, it seems like a long time ago, but to hear some of these stories about those brutal murders reminded me of how it felt to be here in 2000, when so much pain was fresh in the hearts of Albanian Kosovars. That pain won’t go away for many of these people, but its interesting to me to contrast those days against the recent independence celebrations. On the one hand, I can intellectually understand some of the anguish of Serbia, but one cannot overlook the horrible things that were done here by the hand of Serbia. On the other hand, there were reprisal killings and violence, so there aren’t really any blameless parties here. But I’m left wondering how any people can get to the point where they disdain the value of human life. I’m just glad things have been relatively calm while we’ve been here, and I guess I take some pride in the role we’ve played in keeping it that way.

Well, enough pontificating for now. As always, I trust this finds you well.

Ugh. Time off always goes too quickly. But now we’re safely back at beautiful Camp Bondsteel. Not much has changed, but I did miss out on a couple soap-opera type events, as is to be expected.

I’m going to keep this thought in mind as I get back to work… mmm…Guinness!

So I finally made it to R&R, and am enjoying the sites in Rome. In typical military fashion, they’ll let us take a break, but won’t make it easy! From the late bus ride out of camp, to the C-130 ride out of Prishtina, to the ridiculous briefings, to the civilian that almost made me miss my flight because he thought I needed yet another briefing….you get the idea.

It was after midnight when I eventually got to the hotel, even though I got up at 0600, so it was nice to have a king size bed to relax in with my beautiful bride.

Well, I’m holding up the show here…we’re about to go see the sites. So I’ll check in later!

mmmm…lunch beer!

So the last few days have been exciting to say the least. Probably the strangest was the other day when we were sitting outside the chow hall, enjoying the fine weather as we ate lunch, when we suddenly felt a blast. I didn’t remember EOD saying they were going to blow anything, but I figured that must have been what it was, because that’s just how it feels when EOD blows stuff up. I do say ‘feel’, because there was a definite shock wave, and we could see the windows on the building vibrate. We came to discover a few hours later that the blast was actually in Albania, some 90 miles away! I guess there was (past-tense intended) an old depot there that was responsible for disposing of communist-era munitions, as Albania works to become part of NATO. Not sure what went wrong, but that is the most impressive blast I’ve ever been near…and I wasn’t even close to it! If you check out youtube, you can probably find some rough clips of what happened.

In other news, things are getting a little tense up in Mitrovica, but you can Google the specific details on that stuff too. It’s just disappointing that some of the knuckleheads have resorted to violence. I get the impression they are trying to provoke UNMIK and/or KFOR to shoot one of their stupid asses, and escalate the situation into a real mess. Fortunately, all KFOR personnel are still accounted for.  The same is not true for one Ukranian police officer that lost his life due to injuries sustained from a grenade that detonated near him.  He was only 25, and although I never knew him (I don’t work with any of the police units), my heart goes out to his family.

To completely change the subject, we got a weather warning yesterday, saying we could receive some snow (I believe they called for two inches) in the middle of the night. Of course, that report was a little hard to believe, when the weather has been so good. In fact, I got a sunburn just a couple days ago when we ran the St. Patty’s half marathon (great success, by the way!). Anyway, when I racked out, it was raining like mad, so that made it easier to fall asleep. But when I looked out my door just now, I’d say there’s easily six inches of snow on the ground. Fortunately, I haven’t turned in any of my Gen III cool-guy gear, so I still have some snivel gear to wear out in the cold.

I’ll have to keep it short for now. I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since my last posting. I’ve been keeping busy, but with everything going on, it seemed like a good time to check in. Aside from it being just over a month since Kosovo declared independence, this is also the anniversary of the Iraq war. Sheriff Bush is of course saying how the war has been worth it. Since I’m on Title X orders right now (which means I’m an active duty soldier instead of a National Guard soldier at the moment), I’ll refrain from editorializing. I’ll just point out that he has only 307 days left in office, not that anybody’s counting or anything.

Ciao!

We’re still safe and doing well here in this new nation. Violence has been very minimal, unlike some of the protests up in Serbia. Sounds like they could use KFOR up there!! Anyway, we heard that the president had voiced some support for the declaration of Kosovo’s Assembly, and then later in the day we heard the official response from Secretary Rice that the US recognizes this new nation. CNN has some of the info.

And now the rest of the world is choosing positions. Serbia, Russia, and China don’t support the move, but there’s not much surprise there. And even some of the EU nations have concerns, such as Greece, Romania, and Spain. But many other nations have announced official support, or an indication that they will do so soon, such as UK, France, and Germany.  Even within Kosovo, not everyone supports the declaration, such as the Serb community in Mitrovica.  I certainly don’t blame them; they consider themselves Serbian by birth, language and culture, and to have Kosovo declare must feel as though the rug has been yanked from underneath them.

In the end, I just hope this continues to be a peaceful process, and that all citizens of Kosovo benefit from this decision. I read some of the wording of the declaration, and I found the choice of phrasing to be very thoughtful and conciliatory. I hope the minority communities here feel the same, and that they are protected in this process.

But the KFOR soldiers continue to do an outstanding job, and there continues to be an attitude of safety and security here.

That is Albanian for ‘happy independence’, or something very close to that. I saw it all over the place today on banners strung above the roadways. If you’ve been watching the news, perhaps you already know that the Kosovo Parliament signed a declaration of independence today. Truly an historic moment, and I have some mixed emotions about it. I got the chance to see some of the reaction first hand, since I got to spend time on two different radio shows today. First, I spent time on an Albanian radio station close to Bondsteel. The small town there was bursting with energy; loud music playing, smiling people walking the streets waving to each other, firecrackers exploding…a peaceful celebration was in the works. Of course, KFOR is impartial in this process, and as a soldier, I cannot take sides. But as a person, it was all I could do to keep from being swept up by the emotion. Our hosts at the station were very kind, and had special food arranged for us. Of course, I had to refrain from showing my support of their bid for independence. It has been a long time that many of the people here have been seeking this declaration, and I can see the joy in their faces that the day has arrived. And as an American, its very tough not to feel proud of their struggle for independence. So the radio show went very well, but about halfway, the power died unfortunately. So we spent time with our gracious hosts, but then had to press on to our next appointment.

A short drive away, past many Albanian flags and much horn-honking, we found ourselves in an entirely different mood. Our next show was on a Serbian radio station, and the conversation was much more somber and apprehensive. I can certainly see the Serb point of view; what happens now? Will the world recognize this declaration? Will Belgrade no longer be able to provide support? How safe will they be now? Fortunately, today seems to have been quiet in terms of violence, or other stupid acts. I trust this will continue over the next few days, and that those who are celebrating enjoy their happiness without disrespecting those who are very worried about the future. Ironically, the power died just before we finished that show as well.

Myself, I am very curious what will happen next. It was good to see that the choice for a Kosovar flag was designed with an inclusive approach; a blue background with an outline in the shape of Kosovo, with six gold stars to represent the six major ethnic communities.

I swiped a small picture from the AP; I hope they don’t mind (the flag’s backwards anyways!). Anyway, I find this approach reassuring, and I am hopeful that this bodes well for the future. In my opinion, this new nation must be mindful of all of its constituent ethnicities. People may not always like each other, but discrimination and bloodshed is not the answer.

Regardless of how one feels about whether a declaration of independence was the right choice to make or not, it is an exciting time to be here. I never thought I would see the day personally. When I left in 2000, it seemed there were only talks of elections and such, and there was so much to be accomplished if this was ever to become its own country. And there’s still much work to be done, but the emotion in the air is palpable.

I’ll have to stop there for now, but I’ll update with more soon.

So it’s a little crisp this morning, which made the 5k a little brisk…I usually enjoy running more when its cold out, but today I just couldn’t quite seem to get the lead out.  Don’t if I didn’t rest enough, or didn’t drink enough water, or ran too hard on Tuesday…but still finished 7th.  Pretty much the exact same time as the Jingle Bell Jog.  Same top finishers, except Athman wasn’t there today, so that’s probably why I finished seven instead of eight!  Another person no one seemed to see there was the BC, so I think we’re gonna have to give him some grief!  Anyway, I’ll try to get some snapshots of the run posted today.

I trust today finds you well, and if isn’t a romantic Valentine’s Day, at least its another day closer to home!