Tom moves closer to Pakistan's Border

Hitting the road again, so one more entry before I go.

I've been trying to get close to the Pakistan border, south to the Kandahar region and east toward Jalalabad. I have opportunities to do two of the three before my embed is over- but I have to move fast.

Good Lord- a chopper just flew so low overhead the building shook. You'd think I'd be used to that by now.

Today was sort of a housekeeping day. I mostly slept, but I also got some laundry done and a couple of interviews shot.

There's something else I've been meaning to get to. I've been having trouble keeping up with people and news back home, and I don't really know what's going on with the website and my blog, but my wife sent me a few comments from it that stopped me in my tracks the other day. Here's one:

Hey Tom, 
I think you are doing a great thing out there. Keep up the good work. You have no idea how many people who have loved ones out there are getting a little peace of mind. P.S. Tell my brother (CSM Mark Bowman) that we love him and "stay safe"! :) 
Thank you again and praying for all of you!    Kelly Bowman

Kelly might be interested to know that I've been spending a lot of time with her brother. In fact, he was on the road with me on the trip with the two Generals, as part of Gen. Huber's Command Team. Command Sergeant Major Mark Bowman's kind of a big deal around here. He's an amazing guy, and I'm sure Kelly's very proud. She should be. When I sat down for a one-on-one with the General at FOB Ghazni, it was Bowman I asked to tag along. Just Bowman. He's the kind of guy you want to have around-- a hard-core soldier with a sharp intellect and a calm demeanor. In Chicago, he's a teacher.

Here's another, and this one really got to me. I sums up in a nutshell what I'm doing here.

I have a 26 year-old son in camp phoenix, my oldest child. Your blog shows me his reality thru his eyes, and brings him home just a little bit. Of course if he knew I was reading it he'd worry, so we won't tell him. Thanks for putting your life on the line to bring us this report. I will look every day for your words. Julia dahlstrom

See, here's the thing: There's a war over here-- and whether you agree with it or not, it's happening, it's underway. If you don't want your countrymen in harm's way in Afghanistan- great-- neither do I. I don't want anyone in harm's way anywhere. But there are men and women from our city and state who have answered the call of our nation, are doing the bidding of the government you elected. Don't say you didn't ask for this-- didn't ask them to-- you did. What happens over here happens in your name, whether you currently approve or not.

If I wanted to get into the politics of this, I would have embedded in Washington. I wanted to let people know what's happening in Afghanistan, so here I am.

Am I having a good time? Do I like it over here? Do I miss my wife? Do I hate making her worry? Do I worry?

I'm sure you can figure out the answers. The bottom line is, as I keep saying, this is a huge story. It's a local story. How the US media is not doing more to cover it I do not understand. What I can tell you is that I have seen some things since coming over here that would blow your mind. Tomorrow I head downrange again expecting to see a few more.

Julia's email moved me almost to tears, because Julia understands. I came over here to bring her son home, just a little bit.