A Georgia Girl in Germany

I know the holidays are difficult times to be away from loved ones, but that care packages really help out when individuals are deployed. In that vein, if anyone’s interested in sending goodies to folks downrange, below are a few addresses and suggestions that have come my way. Feel free to spread holiday cheer with these individuals...the kids and I will be sending them goodies as well, but I know there are plenty of others whom they work with who they can share with as well.

Mailing stuff to deployed locations is pretty inexpensive as it is treated as domestic mail. You can even sometimes get postage for free as there are exemptions for care packages to U.S. soldiers abroad.

Of course, care packages are appreciated year-round, too.

If any of you want to make a young Soldier's day, send goodies (especially Tasty Kake stuff!) to a young Army Specialist who works with detainees in Baghdad.
SPC James Rafetto
TF 31, S-3
APO AE 09342

Here’s a lady who works with Army nurses, and would appreciate girly stuff, cosmetics, cotton balls (she actually would love that), nail polish (they can paint their toenails!), makeup remover, Neutrogena cleanser, L'Oreal eye cream, SPF Oil of Olay day cream, etc.
MAJ(P) Mary Connell
TF 31, S-3
APO AE 09342

My dear friend, Holly, moved from Germany to Qatar a few months ago. Fortunately, she and her husband are deployed together, although mission requirements sometimes have them apart. But, she terribly misses her dog. Knowing her, you can send the same type of stuff as listed above for MAJ Connell.
LTC Holly Silkman
CENTCOM, ATTN: CFH - CCPA
APO, AE 09365

If you’re interested in sending items to school children in Iraq, here’s a recent West Point graduate (JohnPaul, I don’t know his last name) who’s working to make a difference in his part of the world, and a letter he sent out that was forwarded and found its way to my in-box. He’s asking for items to be mailed his way by Dec. 15 so he can consolidate everything and distribute by New Year’s.

As we are working on projects with the people here in the rural magistrate of Rashidiya, the situation has been improving dramatically. We've gone from an average of 15 instances of enemy contact/week to less than one. My personal pet-project is the improvement of the local schools, and I am determined to make a significant improvement before I have to leave. Now, we don't just pour your tax-payer's money to improve these schools. A lot of the process involves making the government in Baghdad aware of the problems and situation and eliciting aid from the Ministry of Education, which is becoming more and more a functional organization. Through them, and aided in part by U.S. dollars, we have made improvements ranging from a new paint job to a whole new wing of a school. Now that we've made some headway, I've been looking into finding ways to better supply the local schools with the essentials (paper, pens, pencils, etc.).

I've gone around and asked the school teachers/principals and this is what they need most:
-Normal sized notebooks
-Pencils
-Pencil sharpeners
-Erasers
-Folders
-Script paper (that's the stuff we used when learning to write cursive with a dashed line between the lines to designate the lower-case letters. This stuff is seriously in short supply here)
-Small, inexpensive backpacks (we've used these to make ready-to-go packs for the kids)

Also, for the teachers:
-Dictionaries
-Organizers (don't need too many of these)
-Anything else you teachers out there can think up

And some additional stuff for the kids (obviously, school supplies are paramount to this stuff):
-Soccer balls (with a pump or two thrown in)
-Beanie babies are always a hit
-Non-perishable candy (I'll generally give this to the parents/teachers to give out)
-Anything else you can think of that doesn't require batteries

-Send packages to the following address:
CPT James A Sink
A BTRY, 2-12 FA, 4/2 ID
Unit: 6001
APO, AE 09378

Really, I can't think of a better way to make the Christmas packages you send here worthwhile. I need LOTS of this stuff, so whatever you can send is good.

Even if you can only send a care package to one of the individuals listed above, know that you’re sending cheer to someone who is away from family and loved ones during the holidays and that what you send will make a world of difference halfway around the world.

Labels: Christmas

The local Girl Scouts had their “He and Me” dance last weekend, and MacKenzie was excited that her dad is here now so he could take her. She picked out every last detail of her clothes: the dress, the shoes, my necklace, even how she wanted her hair fixed. I think she had a wonderful ensemble and looked stunning!

Matt said she danced with a group of friends more than she danced with him, although I think he got a few dances in. He took two video clips of her dancing a type of hand-jive jig with her friends, and I chuckled watching them simultaneously use both hands to put their hair back behind their ears at the end of the routine -- several times.

Labels: MacKenzie

Hard to believe Zachary is now 12 years old! I can’t be old enough to have a 12-year-old! Alas, he keeps telling me that I am, and I think he’s right on this one.

He had a pretty typical day, although we did treat him to dinner out at our favorite Italian restaurant. Afterward, we celebrated at home with cake and presents. Of course, he loved every bit of the celebration and grinned big as he tore through the wrapping paper on each of his presents.

I tried to convince him to make cupcakes this year since we leave tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving in London (and I didn’t want that much leftover cake waiting for us when we return). But he really wanted a cake, so that’s what we made. However, we compromised and cut the large cake in half to make two small cakes, so I can take one of them to work and share with my officemates and the MP’s who work 24-hours a day securing my building.

In typical fashion, Benjamin enjoyed the celebration as well. I think he’s old enough now to recognize that it wasn’t his turn to open presents, although he did quickly blow out one candle as I was lighting them (not sure how he managed to leave the others lit though -- that takes talent). Notice all the chocolate around his mouth -- he only ate the frosting off his slice of cake. Typical 4-year-old.

My mom keeps telling me that aliens are likely hovering nearby, ready to come replace my wonderful eldest son with a teenage clone. I’m not sure I’m ready for that -- I like Zachary pretty much the way he is and am not ready to have a teenage alien in my midst. The good news is that she also claims that the switch is only temporary (as in, just a few years). If it’s a necessary evil in his maturation process, hopefully it won’t last terribly long, and the aliens will return him to me in good condition.

Labels: Birthdays, Zachary

And puppy dog tails...that's what little boys are made of.

My nephew Andrew Cooper Quarnaccio was born Nov. 14 at 12:40 p.m. in Texas. He weighed 9 lbs 4 oz, and was 21 inches long. He has dark hair, which I've only seen in this one photo since his hair has been dutifully covered with the traditional infant skull cap in all others I've received.

Apparently Rachel did well when she met Andrew, and petted him during today's visit.

Leslie and Andrew are both doing great (both should come home from the hospital on Friday), David is the beaming dad, and Rachel is no longer a baby.

Labels: Birthdays

After sharing the touristy side of my visit to Moscow, I need to prove that I actually did work while there. We typically worked eight-hour days, plus another three hours of travel time to and from the airfield. I had my laptop with me and worked during some of the bus rides as well, which seemed to make the days even longer. But, it was a wonderful experience, especially since I really enjoy working the international air shows. Now that I’ve been to Moscow, I’ve completed my “Grand Slam” of the four largest international air shows: Farnborough, England, in 1996; Paris in 1997; Berlin in 2006; and Moscow in 2007. Of course, I'll never turn down an opportunity to work one of those venues again! I think Osh Kosh is the only remaining air show of comparable size, although I’m not sure how truly international it is.

Above is a view of the U.S. corral from the top of the C-17’s T-tail. If you look closely, you can see the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds packed between the fences. During the air show’s six days, there were well over 500,000 visitors...some reports claimed as many as 600,000!

When the B-52 Stratofortress arrived at Ramenskoye Airfield, the crew was met by retired Russian General-Lieutenant (three-star) Magomed Tolboyev. Even though a B-52 was on display at the 2003 air show, it was still significant that it was there this year since it was the premier Cold War bomber that was on alert 24-7 to launch against a possible Soviet attack. This significance wasn’t lost on Tolboyev, who made a toast with the B-52 crew. He is considered a national hero who has flown more than 60 types of military aircraft, including as a test pilot and research and development pilot. Some compare his living legend status to that of Chuck Yeager in the United States. The most unique aspect of the toast was that the glasses were placed on the ground before Tolboyev poured the cognac into them. He explained that this tradition recognizes the importance of the ground to flight -- essentially, what goes up will come down, and should come down safely to the ground.

The U.S. contingent had one aircraft that flew demonstrations during the show: the F-15 Eagle. I thought it was interesting how, after a few days, the Russian pilots changed their aerial demonstrations to match portions of the F-15’s -- showing that their aircraft could perform the same maneuvers. Of course, the Russian demonstration aircraft also showed off the edge-of-the-seat piloting capable with vectored thrust engines, which always leaves me in awe. Part of me thinks the Russians only fly those maneuvers to show that they can...not because the maneuvers are part of a normal flight profile.

These were the “crash phones” at the tent along the flight line where the demonstrations were managed. I don’t know for sure, but I can imagine that these are the same phones that every Soviet citizen had in their homes years ago when communist rule dictated that everyone have the same furnishings.

Here’s another view of the crowds interacting with the U.S. crews. Fortunately, we had a few translators who helped with international relations. At one point, I remember someone asking one of the B-52 pilots how much the bomber was worth. After answering, the gentleman apparently asked if he could purchase the bomber! Of course, it wasn’t for sale, but the dialogue caught the ear of a nearby reporter and led to this article: Excuse me, I'd like to buy your B-52.

This is the infamous Tupolev Tu-95 “Bear” strategic bomber, missile carrier and reconnaissance plane built by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It’s powered by four counter-rotating turboprop propeller engines, and remains the fastest propeller-driven aircraft to go into operational use. At the height of the Cold War, the bombers flew regular missions along the U.S. East Coast, as well as Pacific missions against U.S. forces in Alaska and Asia. Naturally, U.S. fighter aircraft would fly to intercept the Bear -- from such places as Alaska and Iceland. The Tu-95 was originally intended to drop nuclear weapons, but was later modified to perform a wide range of roles, such as the deployment of cruise missiles, maritime patrol, and even for use as a civilian airliner.

This aircraft is what many U.S. pilots refer to as the “B-1-ski” since it closely resembles the U.S. B-1 Lancer bomber. It’s actually a Tupolev Tu-160, nicknamed “Blackjack” by NATO, but known in Russia as the “White Swan.” It’s very similar to, but supposedly more complex and with more payload capacity than, the B-1. It was the last Soviet strategic bomber design and the heaviest combat aircraft ever built. It is capable of cruising at 1.9 Mach for hours.

One of the Russian aerial demonstrations was unique in that it included formation flying by two different airframes: the Sukhoi Su-27 “Russian Knights” and the MiG-29 "Strizhi" aircraft.

Other Russian aircraft that flew aerial demonstrations include the Mikoyan MiG-35 Fulcrum-F, the Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrum, the Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback (static display photo below), the Sukhoi Su-30 Flanker and the Mil Mi-28 Havoc helicopter.

There were quite a few Russian airframes on static display, many of which (to my untrained eye) seemed more useful for civil, commercial or recreational aviation. However, one exception was the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker.

Another exception was the Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback fighter-bomber and strike aircraft. The Su-34 also flew aerial demonstrations each day during the show.

The Patrouille de France, or the “The Cavaliers of The Sky,” aerial demonstration team also put on an awesome display of skill. We often ate lunch at the same time as the French demonstration pilots...one day Coney and I even shared a table with some of them. Notice the blue, white and red smoke of the French flag trailing the French Alphajets during their routine.



Interestingly, the French use trainer aircraft for their demonstration team, rather than operational aircraft like the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and U.S. Navy Blue Angels.

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that the “traditional Russian soda” is called kvas, and that it’s readily available in public places. This is one of the many water-buffalos I saw filled with the fermented rye bread water (no, it's not carbonated). The line of people standing between the kvas tank and the Coca-Cola umbrella were all waiting for kvas.

Even though it was an “air show,” the Russians had this missile launcher on display. I suppose it was there to show that the Russians have the capability to launch missiles into the air against enemy aircraft. I didn’t see a sign indicating what type of launcher it was, but I imagine it was a relatively premier launcher.

Russian women are something else. I couldn’t believe how many women I saw walking around the air show wearing heels. And not just any heels, but high heels! And not just visitors, but also the female reporters who I worked with, the female police officers (who also wore super-mini-skirts as part of their uniforms!) and the females who worked with the aircraft! These two women simply stunned me -- I’m used to seeing women in jumpsuits like these ready to get dirty with a huge toolkit beside them. The heels seemed so out of place -- and not very functional!

At the end of the day, police officers on horseback rode between the displays as the crowds began to disperse.

Another thing that was unique about the Moscow Air Show, compared to the other international air shows, was the amount of trash littering the ground. We tried to keep the U.S. corral clean, but it proved to be a losing battle with the strong winds that were blowing across the flat land, especially when we ran out of trash bags by early afternoon. It was really bad on the three public days when the crowds were so large (during the initial three “trade days” it wasn’t as crowded since that’s when most of the business deals were conducted among industry representatives).

But each morning when we arrived back at the air field, the ground was clean, thanks to army conscripts who policed the area after everyone left. We saw them marching in formation as we left each day, getting ready for their evening tasks.

When we entered and left the airfield, we drove past a boneyard, of sorts, with old and aging aircraft. The Russian officials didn’t like that we took photos of these dilapidated aircraft, but we managed to snap off several photos nonetheless. I’m not an expert on Russian (or former Soviet) aircraft, but I’ve identified these aircraft as best I can.

Above is a Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack (definitely not air show display quality), and at right is a Tupolev Tu-144A.

These are the true “boneyard” photos: including a collection of aged fighters such as the Sukhoi Su-27 at left and the Sukhoi Su-28 below right.



A green and brown Sukhoi Su-25, among others.

A blue-patterned Sukhoi Su-34 and a green MiG-21.

A group of additional fighters bid us farewell as we left each day.

If you want to see more of the aircraft that were on display at the air show, check out this web site: airliners.net.

Labels: Russia, Travel

Moscow’s metro stations are extensive and exquisitely beautiful. I could have easily spent a day traveling the metro just to look at the different stations, some dating back to when the metro first opened in May 1935. My day would have been made easier by the fact that I can’t read Cyrillic...and would have probably ended up with me totally lost and turned around. So, I just looked in awe at the different stations I needed to travel through the few times I ventured underground.

This vestibule is in the Kievskaya station, which was completed in 1953 and was just down the street from our hotel. Each station, and each line in each station, has a completely different look, each uniquely decorated from a variety of more than 20 types of marble as well as many other natural stones and either sculptures, bas-reliefs, mosaics, paintings, stained glass panels or murals by some of the best artists of the time. Each station was truly an “underground palace,” and I can see why the metro itself is one of the main attractions of the city.

Three different lines came together at the Kievskaya station. We passed this detailed painting on our way to the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line.

This statue greeted us in the entrance to the Ismaylovsky Park station. As went deeper underground (below), even more statues greeted us. There were some stations that had statues guarding every column. I especially liked the stations filled with mosaic artwork and beautiful marble walls.



I really liked the multiple mosaics at the Kievskaya station, but we returned and exited this station from a different location, so I missed snapping a photo of them. This is one of the exits at the Kievskaya station -- still beautiful! I even bought a set of postcards with different stations in the Moscow Metro since my photos don’t do them justice, and since I only had a chance to see very few of the nearly 150 stations.

Here are Yolanta and I during our subway ride en route to the “Vernisazh” market (Izmaylovo crafts market) at Izmaylovsky Park. We thought we were being very observant of the stops along our route so we wouldn’t miss our stop, especially since reading Cyrillic didn’t come naturally to us. Getting on the metro was easy since the Kievskaya station was next to our hotel, and the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line was a direct shot. However, we incorrectly got off the metro one stop too far, at Izmaylovskaya instead of Ismaylovsky Park, so we ended up walking about two kilometers along the Izmaylovsky Park back toward the market.

During that extended trek to the market, we passed the five-domed 1697 Intercession Cathedral (Pokrovsky Sobor).

The market was wonderful -- rich with sights and sounds to excite the senses. We had less than two hours to shop the first weekend, but ended up staying four hours on our second visit...which allowed for a much more relaxed shopping experience. During both days at the market, this group of ladies was performing the matreshka -- traditional Russian folk singing. I loved their costumes and headdresses!

One of the main reasons we went to the market was to search out intricately-carved wooden Father Christmas statues. Between the two of us, we were good business for Sonya (yes, that’s this vender’s name). Fortunately, we both felt we walked away with good deals from her. Of course, the more Santas we purchased, the better our deals.

I bought a few other Santas from this other vendor...and oooh’ed and aaah’ed at this large and gorgeous Santa. He was a little out of my price range, although still a steal when compared to the prices at the on-post bazaars back in Germany.

On our second visit to the market, we realized how large the market really is -- wow! It’s a sprawling area packed with attractive art and handmade crafts, including original matryoshkas (the stackable dolls), palekhs (black papier-maché or enameled wooden, lacquer-finished boxes named after the town east of Moscow where they originated, with intricate scenes painted on their lids), Khokhloma ware, religious relics, replica Faberge eggs, military souvenirs, and traditional costumes and clothing.



I tried on a few ushankas before settling on a faux-fur one for Benjamin over the much more expensive varieties of real fur, despite assurances from the vendor that the rabbit fur ushankas would provide much more warmth.

No, not all those bags contained my purchases, although I can honestly say about half of them were mine. My #1 purchases were wooden Santas, palekhs and matryoshkas.



As we left the market, we walked past a display of live bears. We were surprised, and somewhat appalled, to see them there. Nonetheless, I couldn’t resist snapping a few photos, especially when their tamer directed one to the top of the pole and climbed up there with it!

Labels: Russia, Travel

Benjamin told me last night that he didn’t want me to wake him up this morning because he wanted to wake himself up. Since it’s Saturday, I didn’t object to his request. However, after discovering the remnants of Mother Nature’s overnight mischief (and intermittent additions), each of the kids came into my room -- individually -- to alert me to the white blanket outside. MacKenzie even opened my blinds -- twice -- to make sure I saw the blinding snow with my own sleep-filled eyes.

After breakfast, Benjamin and MacKenzie decided to go outside and explore. Benjamin liked wearing his new snow pants and snow jacket, although he only wore his mittens for a few minutes (I think they are a little big still).

They were both intrigued by the slush forming in the birdbath outside our apartment. Benjamin really liked stirring it around to watch the sticks and other treasures he’s been depositing in it for the past few months.

They decided to head down to the playground to play with the snow there for a while. MacKenzie wanted to make a snowman, and Benjamin wanted to throw snowballs. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough snow to make much of a snowman, so “Frosty Junior” was small enough for her to carry back home (he stayed outside, of course). Benjamin enjoyed throwing a few snowballs at me, until I tossed one back...and he moved causing it to hit him in the neck. He didn’t like the cold on his skin! He’s going to have to learn to wear his mittens soon otherwise his hands won’t survive the winter! It’s kinda hard to play in the snow while keeping your hands warm in your jacket pockets.

This is already the third snow of the year, although only the first to stick around for any significant time. The first snow was three weeks ago, and the second was yesterday morning. I guess Mother Nature was just warming up...and probably still is. I have a feeling this winter is going to be cold and harsh...unlike the mild one we had last year.

Labels: Benjamin, MacKenzie