Salam Alechem!

We have claims once a week where locals come in and we pay them for damages we've caused (or in some cases, others have caused). This elder, one arm and one tooth, came in and was so nice, he was coming in to see about a claim from 3 yrs ago! I gave him some toys to take back to the children at his compound. He was so tickled when I showed him the paddle and slinky, it was cute.


Here's a pic of 'Team Rage'.... nice irony for a Civil Affairs team. =)














As I'm getting ready to go on R&R, I have all these apprehensions of leaving my team when we have all these things going on. I feel like I just got back and now leaving again, although my last trip wasn't exactly planned. But I think I've managed to line things up so they'll be quite busy while I'm gone and see what my life is like as the team leader.

Just followed up with the doc yesterday on my liver. Only bad news he gave me was I shouldn't drink while I'm on R&R. Then I told him I'd be in Ireland though! He said I'd probably be okay with just one or two... but if anyone asked he didn't tell me that. Ha! But seriously, I am feeling 100% better. I have been eating as good as I possibly can here and haven't taken any medications to tax my liver, not even motrin for headaches. I wish I had cheated and taken a motion sickness pill before my last helo ride though. It took everything in me not to throw up. Ugh, those are supposed to be fun!