Chris and Travis on our way home from FOB Bernstein. That damn kevlar never sits on my head right. 

FOB Bernstein

This is me in a conference room on FOB Bernstein. It is located east of where I am at now. We could actually see the country east of the country I am in. Three of us had to go over there to do what we do. Nice place but we have it a lot better than they do. They are from a National Guard unit from Tennessee. It was hard to talk to them with their southern accent. Well we got what we needed and had to fly back. The picture above this one is of myself and my friend Travis. He is a reserve CID Agent. He and I went to school at Fort Leonard Wood last year. He is a Sheriffs Deputy in Florida. Good guy and I trust him to watch my back. Funny story. Myself, Travis and another Agent named Paul had to sleep in this room, as you can tell I had to sleep on a cot. Better than sleeping on the floor but damn those things hurt. Anyway, we had to call at 10:00 pm for our flight home the next day. Well Paul called at 10:00 pm and found out that the phones are down until midnight. All three of us were exhuasted from the days activities, so Paul came back into our room and said 1-2-3 not it, I quickly yelled not it, like I always do, well Travis was not as fast as I was, so he had to stay up until midnight to call for our ride. At midnight he called to confirm our flight, well the phones were busy until 12:30 until he finally got through. He called and as soon as someone answered the , the phone went down again. He said screw it and came to bed. Travis is about 225 pounds, 6' 2" tall and broad at the shoulders. He does not fit on the cots. Of course I think that is the funniest thing since Rhea fell down the stairs in Hawaii. These are Travis' words, "I can not sleep on my stomach because my arms go numb and it hurts. I can not sleep on my side because the cot will tip and my knees hit the sides of the cot frame". So Travis sleeps on his back and damn can that man snore. OH MY GOD! The first time he woke me up was at 2:30 am, I got up and walked over to his cot and had to shake him becuase he couldn't here me yelling at him over his snoring. So he rolled over, I went and tried the phones again but to no avail. Meanwhile Paul is cussing up a storm becuase of Travis who is already asleep by the time I come back and still snoring. I lay down and no more than ten minutes later Travis is snoring again so loud that I can not fall a sleep. This time he is on his side facing me under the table so everything is louder. Damn he is killing me. So instead of getting up, Paul and I are screaming at him. Any way, Travis kept us up most of the night, and to top it off when we got up in the morning Travis was mad at us because we kept waking him up. What kind of sh@# is that. So at 1:00 pm later that day, we get a phone call saying the helicopters are leaving early and to get out to the flight line. So we grab everything we have, run out to the flight line and sit there for three hours waiting for the helicopters who got re-routed on the way to pick us up. Well we made him about 5:00 pm yesterday. We all had a good time telling our stories of being away. I guess these are the stories I will remember forever. Not the cases I have worked or the people I interview, just the friends I have made.