i am not in the US but...

i couldnt leave Kosovo with out sharing this picture. i refer to this scene as one of two things "cow on a leash" or "walking the cow". terrible that i find humor in this because the cow is likely the most valuable possession this man owns, but anyway, didnt want to leave this place without sharing. for real this time, next post will be from "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." USA.

Soon to be over!!

The adventure commonly referred to as KFOR 12 will soon be over. Our replacements have arrived and we are in the process of pulling away from our missions and allowing KFOR 13 to take over. All in all the KFOR 12 mobilization has been a good one. I have had an opprotunity to meet, work with, and befriend many great people and soldiers. Following 11 years in the ADA (air defense artillery) this mission provided a nice change of pace. I was doing things that i had never done before, with people who had never worked with before in a place that i had never imagined or planned on going. The people that i worked and the place (Kosovo) in which i worked are the two things that i learned the most about.

The place: Kosovo is fledgeling democarcy attempting to take flight. It has its set backs, but really what newly formed country found success quickly. There is crime and corruption, smuggling and crocked government employees, high school graduates with nothing to look forward to, struggling economy and sky high unemployment rate. Yeah, so. That could describe and town in almost any region of the United States. Yes, people are and things are done different in Kosovo. Does that make them wrong. I dont think so. The people here are doing what they have to do to get by and provide for their families. I cant say that if placed in the same situation that i would act much differently.

The people were great. Yes, there were plenty of bitches, gripes, and complaints but whinning was something that was a bit tougher to come by. the difference you ask. BGCs are the everyday things, mainly directed at the way big army or big organizations work in general. such as, we are not allowed to change light bulbs when they burn out. you have to call the light bulb replacement team and schedule them. computer issues where popular as well as the food. computers are machines and machines do what they want some times. the food issue i see like this. you put people some place and they eat at the same place at the same time and have relatively the same options day in and day out, over time there will be complaints. in all reality in a few months you would probably find that most people that lived on CBS (Camp Bondsteel) would have few BGCs about the food. Ok, got off track the people. The army has a formula, which to my knowledge isnt written anywhere but goes pretty much like this.

(people + same job + 7 days a week + confined areas + varying amounts of pressure = good friends or i never want to see you again enemy) well i have to say that i have made it through another mobilization and cant say that i have reached the i never want to see you again stage with anyone that i work with. dont get me wrong, i recognize that some of the people i work with i need to deal with in doses, but for the most part i have built good relationships with many people i didnt know at all or knew very little prior to KFOR 12 and i plan on remaining in contact with them in the future.

with that mess of words on the page i will conclude this post. i dont plan to add another until i am on US soil. with that said. Signing off from Kosovo. 1LT Jay G. Sheldon

The Army's Birthday

As mentioned numerous times before in my blog the Army likes to run to commemorate holidays and today was no different. On the morning of the Army's 235 Birthday we ran a 5k. This was an extra special 5k for me as it marked the first run over 1 mile that I have been able to participate in since the end of March when I hurt my knee playing basketball. It is also the beginning to my marathon training plan that hopefully concludes with finishing my first marathon in Bismarck on Sept. 18th. I have attached a picture of the t-shirt we received today as well as the t-shirt from the Memorial March.

The weather has been nice, very summer like, temps in the mid 80s to low 90s. There isnt much wind in Kosovo so the humidity has been extremely high following a few weeks with nearly daily rainfall. The humidity will likely fade soon as the rain has stopped and the temps continue to be high.

Not long to go at this point either. Getting more excited with each passing day. Ready to spend time with my family and friends.

Take care.

Memorial March

On 06JUN10 over 400 multi-national Soldiers gathered on Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo in honor of fallen comrades from each nation. The event was in conjunction with the 3rd Annual Memorial March held in Bismarck, ND. Participants included US, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Danish, and Swiss Soldiers from around Kosovo. The 6KM march was led by CW2 Kevin Mehrer, the father of SPC Curtis Mehrer, a 1-188th ADA (SECFOR) North Dakota National Guard that was killed in combat while serving in Afghanistan. Below are links for sites that have pictures and video of the events in Bismarck and Kosovo. Enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfor/sets/72157624216079092/ http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000149708245#!/notes/north-dakota-national-guard/news-release-memorial-march-honors-all-service-members/406431242839 http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=40612 http://www.kxnet.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=583254 http://www.ndguard.ngb.army.mil/news/Pages/MemorialMarchHonorsAllServiceMembers.aspx

Closing In

With the arrival of June the end is in sight. We continue to work as normal but you can see and feel the excitement around camp. The weather has been pretty nice. There seems to be a chance of rain almost everyday. If it does rain it is usually not very much. The however to that is that soon it is expected to get pretty hot. rain then hot equals humidity. that should be fun. all and all things are going pretty well.

i was in Skopje, Macedonia (FYROM) yesterday and hope to have some pics posted soon. I had been there once before but didnt get around to see much. Until then.

A trip West

As part of our mission there are sometimes trips that need to be made around Kosovo. Recently i was fortunate to be asked to go on a trip to western Kosovo. During the trip we made a point of doing a cultural awareness tour (site seeing). the place that we visited was Patriarchate of Pec. an extremely old and historic monastery of the Serbian Orthodox religion. I have pasted a couple of other websites that you can visit to learn more. the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchate_of_Peć

http://www.kosovo.net/epatrijarsija.html

the recently elected Arch Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church is scheduled to be enthroned at this location sometime in the fall. this is a huge deal in kosovo. kosovo and Serbia don't have a great relationship and generally speaking the majority (95%) Albanian Muslim population and the minority (4%) Serbian orthodox population don't always see eye to eye.

notice the elderly woman wearing all black in one of the pictures. she is from what i understand the care taker of the monastery compound. she has been such for quite a while and gave an excellent tour and explanation of its history. something else you may notice is the difference of the pics on the websites and those i posted. they are doing tons of work in preparation for the enthronement event this fall.

the weather has improved here. the rain has temporarily subsided and we are told the summer will be hot and humid. that should be fun. all and all things are going well and we have recently went under the 90 day mark, but no one is really keeping track. i hope that everyone is having a great spring, all of the farmers are having a safe and productive springs work, and that all of the students and teachers are anxious in anticipation of summer break. take care

jay

one last thing, you may have noticed the different military uniforms. there were Italian, Finnish, French, Slovenian, US, and Swedish soldiers on our tour.

Happy Easter

It has been a while since i have made it to church services here (due to many reasons, mostly i have been lazy). so today, i thought, would be the perfect day to resurrect the routine of attending. it something that i need to be better about and really hope to make a regular event once i get home.

the weather here has remained beautiful. i have made spring official by washing and packing away all of the cold weather clothing that we were issued (hats, gloves, undershirts, and jackets). by doing so i am trying to make the point that no matter what Mother Nature does with the weather i will only present myself outdoors in spring/summer attire. okay, dumb idea, but you know someone has to put a foot down and let her know that this crazy back and forth weather changing is uncalled for. enough is enough, we get it, WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL (Al Gore is -HAHA global warming/climate control???), point made. Nice weather, Please.

Happy Easter to all.

Jay

lots of miles

this week was a long one (about 38 miles worth). did a finnish road march on 13mar10 (20miles), the st. pats day run (3.1miles) and today, 21mar10, was on a 4 man team that planned to participate in the 26 mile (made it 15miles and stopped due to foot and back injuries within our team) heavy (35lbs) division of the Bataan March held on Camp Bondsteel. that is it until the Easter 5k.

otherwise things here are going well. the weather has turned back to spring. we will spring ahead on the clock on 28mar10. couple weeks later than in the states. the only other news i have is that my ncaa bracket has officially be destroyed. my ND pride was cheering for UNI and Coach Jacobson, but my picks reflected what i thought would happen, should have stayed true to the ND pride. oh well, now i can jump on the UNI wagon. Hope everyone is doing well. Take care. 4 months to go.

jay

not coming home early

those of you from ND may have heard that some soldiers from kosovo will be coming home early. i am not one of them.

Just when you thought...

winter in Kosovo was over, Mother Nature kicks you in the teeth. Now i am the one jealous of everyone in ND. I think this is the first time that the weather here has been worse than the weather there. After nearly 2 full weeks of mid-40s to 50s it has snowed again. The forecast says more snow and temps back into the 20s for the next 10 days or so. sweet.

anyway other then that not much going on here. days are getting longer and you can tell that spring is near. the citizens of Kosovo are taking to the streets to voice their dis-pleasures about anything and everything. that is the way they do things. when there not happy or that just want to be heard they gather up some like minded individuals and hit the streets. mind you, usually only for an hour or two, and only when weather permits. they are expressing their views and exercising their rights. that is part of why we are here. oh the beauty of a fledgling democracy. now if we could just figure out how to get people to support the actual economy rather then the black market, keep the electricity flowing continuously and implement the biggest spring clean-up project ever we could leave Kosovo in pretty good shape. however, to accomplish all of that could take some time and i plan on being home sometime next summer. i will make my contribution while i am here and Kosovo will have to survive with out me after that. jk.

hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather back in ND and take the opportunity to thaw, history tells that Mother Nature might kick you in the teeth again before winter is all said and done.

take care.

jay

the pic is Mt. Duke, it is not that far from Camp Bondsteel. If we are lucky you can actually completely see it 3 or 4 days a week.

In Memory of Grandpa Don.

God Bless.

Independence Day

Yesterday, 17FEB10, Kosovo celebrated the 2nd Anniv. of its independence. It is a pretty delicate situation still. Serb a is not willing to let go of Kosovo and there in lies the problem. Serbia is obviously mostly Serbian, with a small Albanian population. Kosovo is majority Albanian with a small Serbian population and they have disagreed about this area of land called Kosovo for some 800 years or so. Thus, as you can imagine, the Albanians in Kosovo love their independence from Serbia, and Serbians, generally speaking dont even recognize Kosovo as an independent state. Which in the end is why KFOR is around, peacekeeping. I was kind of lucky you could say to have had the chance to get out and about a little yesterday and experience the large Alb. population enjoying the holiday. I have attached a couple of pictures. You will see lots of US flags in the picture(s) you will also see the red flags that are Albanian, the blue is Kosovo, and there were some others, mainly Germany and the UK. Currently Kosovo hasn't established too many traditions for there independence so what they do is crowd the streets by foot or vehicle, drape or place flags anywhere and everywhere, honk their horns, bang on some drums and light off fireworks. I have attached a link to another sight, Johnny and the Lars. they are a couple of guys that documented the the 1st anniv. enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2giaNrlIaKI

oh yeah, how could i have forgotten. the Bill Clinton statue and the fake McDonald's. He is a hero in Kosovo and nearest "real" McDonald's is in Skopje, FYROM (Macedonia)

Tick Tock Tick Tock

That is the sound that i have heard in my head since getting back from r&r. You may be thinking, how awful that must be. Well, this makes for certain I am a glass half full guy, that is not the case. The absence of the Tick Tock Tick Tock, now that would be bad. As long as i hear that sound i know i am getting closer to being home. I dont even want to get into what it means if that sound stops. Anyway, things here are going pretty well. We continue do the things we do and everything has remained calm. the weather has been nice. it has snowed and melted three times since i have been back. it will probably be gone tomorrow. some of you may be hearing that we are coming home early. well that is not 100% true. some people will be coming home a little yearly, however, i am not one of them. that is ok, because i never expected to be. if something were to change with that, be assured that i would post something about it. elsie, eve, and gil have progessed back into a busy routine the past few weeks adding some activities into the mix. they have enrolled at the YMCA where eve and gil are doing itty bitty baseball and will do soccer when they finish their current session of gymnastics, they will also be taking swimming lessons starting later this month. they had their first "baseball practice" last week and both enjoyed it. elsie said they listened and participated, and that the coaches worked great with the small group of kids. take care to everyone

Leaving Home

10 days, it isnt much time, but it was time i wouldnt give back for anything but more of it. this R&R started not much different from the last, busy.

we headed to dickinson first to attend the beauitiful prayer service for a friends, Brian and Kelly Garr's mom, Roberta Senn, she put up a great fight against cancer, very similar to my Aunt Susan. obviously not the circumstances that you want to see friends, but was good to see them and others.

that weekend we headed to Fargo and visited Grandpa Don, the McLeans, and Aunt Donna and Dave and brother in law Elliot. The kids got to hit the pool and waterslide at the hotel. Then it was off to MN to a family gathering with the Aasen side. it was the 10th anniv. of the gathering but my first time attending. again able to see and visit with many aunts, uncles and cousins that i havent seen in too long. Eve and Gil enjoyed some new and old cousins and some outdoor winter activities at the lodge.

Upon returning from the east it was party time for Eve. She had quite the bday week, first at school on Firday, then Monday with grandparents, and finally again on Friday, the girls only party with cousins. Elsie, once again put on quite a show. while the girls were partying, gil and i did some boy shopping, he found a couple of new monster trucks. i learned how to play wii tennis and bowling, eve is a good teacher, and is also pretty competitive. i handed elsie a pretty brutal lesson on the tennis court, but she returned the favor in numerous games of bowling. i wanted to play until i won, but soon realized that we didnt have that much time. that was a tough pill to swallow.

during the final four days i watched eve and gil at gymnastics, dropped eve off at school a couple of times, went with gil to his school, took gil and visited todd and scott while they were at work, went sledding and fort building after some fresh snow fell, and watched numerous movies with kids, and in between all of that was able to spend time with elsie as she performed her favorite past times, house hunting and watching grey's anatomy. saying goodbye to all of those things doesnt get easier no matter how many times you do it. elsie dropped my off this morning and i am currently in germany waiting to continue.

as you can tell, even without plans, there was plenty to keep busy.

it was great to see everyone, although the time to visit never seems long enough. already looking forward to being home around august.

Take Care

Jay

Waiting

In Germany, waiting for flight. Be home later tonight. Excitement is building with each slowly passing second.

Jay