GRENADE SIMULATOR (the beginning)

Some of the information given here may seem choppy or inconclusive. This is a “running blog” and a continuation of a much greater story. You are encouraged to go to the main web-site to catch-up or read previous blogs. These blogs tell the story of Christian I (100% DAV, homeschooling pastor-dad with M.S.) and Christian II (son 3 years old-T1 diabetic)-BOTH TRYING TO RAISE MONEY FOR SERVICE DOGS!

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Christian I – Good morning. I’m led to write about SSG (Staff Sergeant) X again. As I mentioned before “I bear him no malice now”. However in the field I couldn’t stand him. I just can’t stop thinking about those famous words “Kawsn kept cha head dawn” (Translated, “Carlson, keep your head down”) every time a vehicle passed by.

Part of me also feels bad because I can remember several missions where the platoon was on the move and he tried that “punchy” business you know; that foolish micro managing, and everybody and the platoon sergeant came down hard on him in front of everyone. I can remember one time the movement was actually stopped in the middle of the forest, and everyone was called to circle around, and SSSG X was yelled at and “smoked up” for being such a bonehead.

However, there was another  time where he actually was my hero. The platoon sergeant was trying to get rid of him for a while, so he came up with a mission for me and SSG X. It was crazy, we could have been captured, but it turned out to be very, very cool. Good training!

The objective was simple. SSG X and I were to sneak through the wire at a weak point, destroy as many vehicles as possible (by taking a camouflage paint stick and drawing a very big star with a circle around it – sometimes five feet wide), to booby trap as many port a potties as we could, tie up some people, and cause any other type of trouble possible. Really good training!

This was an OPFOR mission, and the “enemy” were POGS again, this time communications soldiers, about 2000 of them; all intense, buried behind Constantino wire and our job was to teach them to fortify- by acting as the enemy-  and defend their camp. I believe a little description is in order of the surrounding environment.

The time is about 2300 hours, and I can’t believe they paired me off alone with this man. It was a full on again and basically no cloud cover. SSG X and I were all camouflaged up and were ready to go, but we left the capots (helmets) on and put our uniforms on so that they were not inside out (you will recall from our last blogs that the POGS complained that they “could not see us” so we had to reverse our uniform tops-we cheated- there were only two of us against 2000. I was wrong- I caved. LOL. ), so that we could blend in with the enemy.

The only other difference from the last mission was that I had a rather large machine gun with me (S.A.W – squad assault weapon).  It’s important for you to remember that we had many grenade simulators and that my machine gun had a 250 round drum and I had a spare with me also.  And….. I’m going to have to stop there, because this blog is getting too long.

It’s another really cool mission. I will tell you that at least one person is physically marked for life because of me! Stay tuned. Was it me? Come back tomorrow to find out.

Today is my daughter’s birthday! We have several things planned to celebrate, and I have to go so that I can get to them! LOL. I will not say anything more about my health today, except that it is a good training day! LOL.

Christian II – It’s also a good training day for little Christian. His numbers were very high and he required a site change. You see, the site is where the insulin is delivered for his pump, through a tube, and into a needle in his backside. This is his site, sometimes however (for a million reasons) it doesn’t work either the site was bumped and the needle bent, inhibiting the insulin for getting delivered, or his body creates an abscess which blocks the insulin from getting through.

I don’t think so many of my friends understand this whole diabetic healthcare system is a “house of cards” – just waiting to fall. We need that dog! I know you’ll help us. Just pray that others would help too because sadly there are too few.

God bless you friend... :)

HERE IS A COPY OF A FAIR BANNER THAT WE MADE LAST MONTH...(MIXED EMOTIONS)...

 

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Busy Day

Some of the information given here may seem choppy or inconclusive. This is a “running blog” and a continuation of a much greater story. You are encouraged to go to the main web-site to catch-up or read previous blogs. These blogs tell the story of Christian I (100% DAV, homeschooling pastor-dad with M.S.) and Christian II (son 3 years old-T1 diabetic)-BOTH TRYING TO RAISE MONEY FOR SERVICE DOGS - TO SAVE OUR LIVES!

 

Thank you for coming! If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know :-)

(BigCarlsonFamily@gmail.com)

Christian II -  Little man is fine!  His blood sugar and keytones are back to normal.  Please don't get tired of the "roller coaster" of numbers. This Ts the life that we live! Hopefully, it's not too much of a roller coaster. Otherwise, my son will be an excellent candidate for heart disease, organ failure, or an early death in his mid-too-late 20s. A service dog will definitely help us to prolong Christian's life and greatly enhance its quality.

Christian is doing this new thing now! As you know, Christian sits on my lap in the wheelchair…alot.  Today, while I was whizzing back around the block from my office… he put out his little arms and said, “Weee….”!  Lol    I almost cried.  Then he said, “To the Trinity….and beyond!” (remember the Buzzlightyear blog?).  It was a special moment for me as well when I realized that this old chair could bring somebody some happiness! Thank you God for letting me see that…  If you see me with Christian II on my lap….zooming around the neighborhood,and you see his little arms out…you’ll know what he’s saying…….and also that I am near to tears.  Haha

Christian I - today is a very busy day. We just started our home schooling year this week, tomorrow is my daughter Grace’s birthday, and we had about 40 books to package up and send out for our eBay store! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all! I love it, but you would be a little freaked out! All these children are running around with school materials, packaging supplies, dirty diapers, coffee for dad, and the list goes on and on – LOL. Please pray for my wife! That poor woman deserves a medal! Ha ha…

I didn't receive any feedback regarding stories that you want me to write about. I know that some people are reading this blog. Please let me know what you want me to write about – just pick any topic! I know that it's difficult to get any response, but I am just trying to give you what you like - if you're interested LOL!

The mystery veteran guest who joined us last night for dinner was a very cool dude! This was his first day off in two weeks, and he decided to come over and cook gourmet pasta for the whole family! He also played the guitar around the outdoor fireplace for me and my children while we sang together.

I know that some might thinking “who cares”. But it was such a blessing, I had to share it with you. I can't mention his name. But in Vietnam, this soldier saved the lives of 15 or so Marines that would have been annihilated by the enemy. He received several bullet wounds. Very outstanding story.  Good training! Remember, I was feeling miserable yesterday! I asked God, "why should I press on with the day?", And He answered me with in Vietnam veteran. I love it when He does that!

If you are the praying type (and I know many of you are) please say a little prayer for my veteran guest. We will just say that he would like to sleep through the night more than two hours at a time. I've also told him about Jesus quite a bit, and there seems to be something good happening there.

And IF you are saying to yourself, "Man, this blog is boring" then tell me what to write about! I would rather be a blessing to you and put a smile on your face!

God bless you friend... :)

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Finale !!

Some of the information given here may seem choppy or inconclusive.  This is a “running blog” and a continuation of a much greater story.  You are encouraged to go to the main web-site to catch-up or read previous blogs.  These blogs tell the story of Christian I  (100% DAV, homeschooling pastor-dad with M.S.)  and Christian II (son 3 years old -T1 diabetic)-BOTH TRYING TO RAISE MONEY FOR SERVICE DOGS!

 

Thank you for coming! If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know :-)

BigCarlsonFamily@gmail.com

Christian I - (This Army narrative began back in the “flashback??” Blog from last week.) Presently, we were being held captive by the POGS, and we had them going for quite some time with a completely fabricated story about how "my buddy -needed his pills to survive". If you remember, we were there for the purpose of training these non-infantrymen (POGS) to handle a real-time combat situation! We were lying (acting), but this was the standard operating procedure during this type of training scenario.

So did they let us go? I remember that for about 2 min. they seriously thought about it -LOL. Now here is where our second character comes in.  SPC Ackley could not contain himself any longer! When he saw the command sergeant major scratching his head, and believing this nonsense – he just lost it. He started chuckling with this belly laugh, where his whole body jiggled. That set off a chain reaction, and SSG X and myself (also on the verge of laughing) completely lost it!

I wish you could've seen how embarrassed they all were! A skinny little command sergeant major got so angry that he walked up to SPC Ackley (who was a 225 pound gorilla – but still tied up), flipped him over and put his combat boot on the back of Ackley’s neck! I remember him saying something like, "you think that's funny white boy?". Good training!

I also remember, when that little man turned around and saw the rest of us infantrymen glaring at him, he quickly -but uprightly- left the area. After "the show" was over, I think they just wanted to show how strong they were by keeping this there for a few more hours – dirty pool man. Soon, those guards that were trying so hard to keep us as prisoners – opened the gates, and just walked away leaving us there. "I guess that means we can go", I said.

After every mission, we have what's called an AAR (After Action Report). During this time there is no more role-playing. The leaders of the soldiers that we are training up assemble together with our platoon, and we go over every movement, observation, and make all sorts of prescriptive remarks. It only took about an hour. But, I remember the part that had everybody rocking was when Mabry and I reported on the activities from the night before. Honestly, it was so much fun as they called the soldiers in charge of those 50 caliber machine guns, and reamed them out! (The POGS were all so clueless!) Good training!

After everything was finished, and we were free to go, we walked back about 300 yards, over the area where Mabry and I crawled through just the night before (really cool feeling) – and the platoon disappeared into the wood line…

 WEAPONS MAINTENANCE  ... DOWN TIME ...

 

This mission was very special to me because there were many things I learned that changed the way I operated as a soldier but, there are many more noteworthy things from the Infantry that I could I write about (as I’m sure most veterans could) - Please give me feedback on this blog, even one word showing the topic about what you want me to write about (military, childhood, city, Trinity, sales, Jesus…you pick). FYI- I feel miserable today and have a military friend coming over for dinner (who will not let me cancel). GOOD TRAINING! Sixteen years later and I’m still training! Praise God! I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Christian II – Little man is sitting on my lap again, but today he’s miserable also. He’s still smiling and playing but he was screaming through the night with high blood sugar and moderate keytones. Simon (the service dog) definitely could have helped. Please pray for my son.

God bless you friend... :)

IT IS A "THUMBS DOWN" DAY ...

 

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Captured !!

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Christian II – Today is Christian’s birthday! Hold your horses lol!  August 5^th is his real birthday, but in the diabetic world, today is considered his “other” special birthday. Two years ago, Christian was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. He was 1 year old! Please thank God with us! We made it through the most difficult and challenging age to have the disease. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t difficult and challenging now LOL ! It just means that this age group is viewed as being the most problematic because the child is so young.

This morning Christian is doing well, and this after a night of high blood sugar and high keytones. He’s’ sitting on my lap again as I write this blog (Actually as Ethan types this blog for me) and he is the coolest three year old ever! We snapped off a couple of pictures this morning that just made me smile. Hopefully they will make you smile as well.

 

Christian I - (This Army narrative began back in the FLASHBACK?? BLOG)…..As I mentioned last time, we were captured, and this was totally expected. It’s pretty standard to separate the officers from the enlisted men, but these POGS had some other strange, ridiculous way of separating all of us that I couldn’t understand (and neither could they when we had the review of their performance). Good training!

They lumped me together with Spc. (Specialist) Ackley. (Who was a rather large awesome individual who may end up reading this blog- so I better be nice or he’ll kick my butt – LOL) Another key individual in this story will remain nameless. We will call him Staff Sergeant (SSG) X. There were a smattering of other individuals with us, but for the most part they were just onlookers.

SSG. X and I were thrown into the holding area together. I could not stand SSG. X.  I trained with this man all week.  He was a good soldier and a good leader, but where he was leading I’m not sure! The most irritating thing about this man was an obvious speech impediment.

This combined with the fact that he was punchy, inexperienced, and my superior didn’t make things any easier. One particular thing I will never forget is what he would say during every mission when we would see a vehicle on a road somewhere. It sounded like, “Kaawsen…kept cha head dawn!”. Translated – “Carlson, keep your head down”.

I’m not playing! I was plagued with this man, and those words continue to show up even now in my dreams sometimes. But I was a very different man back then, and being the loving individual that I am now, I bear the old fellow no malice… LOL. GET OUT OF MY DREAMS! LOL

I gained a new appreciation for SSG X on that day. SSG X and I were tied up next to each other, but we were able to speak. Pay close attention to this account- It was awesome.

I hated this guy, right? Suddenly SSG X says, “Just play along,” and starts choking and moaning! “What’s going on with this guy?” I thought. SSG X motioned towards the POG guard and it was like ESP or something. I knew he was faking it! So I played along as best I could.

“His pills,” I shouted. “His pills! He needs his pills!” So over came several POGS trying to figure out what to do. After like ten minutes of playing this game and lying through my teeth, (Remember, for the purpose of training!) … this short skinny black man comes over… I had no idea of what to expect.

I found myself face to face with their CSM (Command Sergeant Major). This was one of the head honchos! Honestly, this man could of ended my military career and had me thrown in jail!  I would have never done this in the infantry world, but since this was a big show, might as well go all the way, right?

So for about half an hour SSG X was moaning and choking and I was putting on the best show in the world… trying to get them to let us go back to the woods to “get his pills”. “Don’t worry” I said, “we’ll come back” – Good training! LOL

I’ve got to end the blog here. Today was supposed to be the last day, but my son is telling me it is getting too long. So did they let us go back to the wood-line? I’ll tell you tomorrow. Today is our first day of homeschooling all the children – so if you have any conception of what it is like dealing with seven children, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how my day is going! LOL. This Dad-commander is having a great day bossing everyone around in his mobile throne!

God bless you friend... :)

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Capture the Flag

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Christian I – …As you recall, the clouds broke open and the sun shone forth very early in the morning and several black birds (Blackhawks) descended from the sky in all their glory (If you don’t know what’s going on, this is a narrative that began in the FLASHBACK?? blog from last week).

(These blogs are meant to keep you engaged in the lives of Christian I and my three year old son Christian II – who desperately need donations for service dogs!) We had landed, the wire that I cut was thrown aside and the non-infantry men (POGS) were caught completely by surprise. Understandably, a lot of hasty decisions were made at that time! For the record, I remained blameless of all accusations that were made at that time.

As usual, a little description is in order. This was a suicide training mission. There were nearly 20 of us against 5000 POGS. We knew that we would be captured and we would continue to train them up with our role being P.O.W.’s (this will be the final segment - completing the narrative which will be given tomorrow). Being captured was not a good thing at all. Of course, you feel like “You just lost the game”.

But, there’s another reason why I made sure I was never captured before (unless otherwise ordered). When the POGS capture you, it’s like Christmas for them or something. You see, Infantry men carry all sorts of special goodies that they don’t get to play with. When they capture us, they strip our sensitive items (expensive stuff) from us, and they take whatever else they want. Sometimes we get it back and sometimes we don’t.

Seriously, it would be pretty hard for them not to give a rifle back, but many of my boys have had all sorts of stuff taken from them and have never seen it again, especially for these OPFOR missions. We take all sorts of stuff with us, (Personally, I had a twelve inch serrated Bowie, Rambo style survival knife on my hip). Please keep this in mind.

So, as we were bounding forward, remember that most of the POGS were unprepared or in their underwear or something. So those little buzzers that go off when a person gets shot… were not going off! So my boys were yelling “You’re dead! You’re dead! Sit down!” and the POGS would yell back, “No I’m not. You didn’t shoot me!” You could feel the tension building. It was madness! Good training!

There was no respect for rank or for any other reason. People were getting beaten up, butt stroked (Knocked aside with a rifle)… and just mobbed on! BUT, I didn’t do anything wrong LOL. After 1LT Cardone and I grabbed their unit flag and captured their communications tent, we saw that there were about 100 POGGIES waiting outside for us. We very calmly and professionally relinquished our weapons.

The POGS then proceeded to strip us of our materials. One good thing about rolling with the platoon leader (who was Ranger qualified) is that this man had a way of “stopping traffic” and only relinquishing materials to other officers that were present- (If at all). Therefore, I gave my materials to a bright shiny "butter bar" (Second lieutenant) and I didn’t have to worry about anyone stealing my gear! Strangely enough, the Ding Dongs allowed my bowie knife to remain on my hip - big mistake.

We were captured and separated. How can you leave a story there? That’s right. I’m going to stop here, because this blog is getting too long. I think the next blog – the last segment of this narrative – is the best! But I can’t tell you about it until tomorrow. By the way, I’m feeling much better today. I didn’t make it to church yesterday (which is right next door). It was another “clock” day for those of you that are reading my blogs. Good training!  

Christian II – Today little Christian is recovering. He’s all right, but I think he has somewhat of a “hangover” LOL. I allowed the children to watch some movies last night, and Christian was so fired up that he was just on fire (jumping off on furniture, drinking too much milk, etc. ). Don’t tell anybody though! I wouldn’t want people at church knowing that the family pastor was raising his children up to be party animals! LOL Today is a very good day so far, and I hope the same for you my friend.

God bless you friend... :)

 

 I still have the knife from the above mission...good thing they left it on my hip! :)

 

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Sundays

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We do not write entries on Sunday. It's the very least we can do for Someone who deserves everything. :-)
God bless you friend!

BLACKHAWK RIDE

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Christian I – …As I mentioned before, we got about forty minutes of sleep. Good training! We were all together now as a platoon and SFC Glenn woke us up, saying, “Let’s go! Let’s go! They’re coming!” (If you don’t know what’s going on, this is a continuation of an Army narrative that began with a blog called FLACHBACK??).

As usual, a little description is in order! The sun is about to come up and those annoying little birds (you know the ones I mean) are cheerfully breaking the morning silence. The problem is that everyone is exhausted from the various operations that went on the night before. All anyone knew was that this big black man was waving his arms, freaking everyone out and yelling. But, being the well-trained soldiers that we were, nobody said anything. Also, everybody was probably like me, and didn’t want to show how clueless and seemingly stupid they were. Ha Ha.

We fell in to a formation just outside the wood line and through the clearing we could see several black dots in the air. They were quickly increasing in size and in noise. No big deal, we rode in Blackhawk helicopters many times before but never before did we behold such a sight with no instruction at all. Good training! We left our rucksacks behind and donned our soft caps once again, bringing along our ammunition and grenade simulators with fresh face paint on. We boarded the aircraft.

It would of have been really great for them to close the doors so we could hear what was going on, but, the pilots were always trying to make us sick, and they usually always left them open. I had the privilege of riding with SFC Glenn and 1Lt (First Lieutenant) Cardone – the platoon leader and the platoon sergeant. They were sitting across from me and barking orders and telling us exactly what we needed to know.

THEY MIGHT AS WELL BE SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE – WE COULDN’T HEAR ANYTHING. It was so loud and the pilots were rocking back and forth just above the tree line (Remember, they were trying to make us sick)  The only words that were intelligible to me at the time were… “Make your way up the middle…Destroy as much as you can…Grab the flag…Don’t worry about dying..” What a morning – Good training!

After a few minutes we hit the ground and dismounted the vehicles. This is always a very clumsy time, because instead of climbing down ropes, you have grown men flopping out of the helicopter onto their bellies next to each other. Before I knew it, we jumped out of the door and the helicopters were gone. 1LT Cardone led the way towards the wires that I cut the night before.

I didn’t realize it, but the helicopters had landed exactly where Mabry and I had crawled the night before. So that meant that we were… “Oh no, did I cut all the wires?”. Now my platoon leader was rushing to pull the wires aside with the entire platoon following him. If I just left one wire uncut, the mission would fail, and we would die, because we were all out in the open. With the strength of ten men, 1 LT Cardone grabbed the wire and yanked it aside, and wouldn’t you know it, the wires flew open perfectly! YEE-HAW!

I wish you could have seen the look on the faces of the POGS (mechanics and cooks). Some of them ran out of their tents in their underwear swearing and cussing. They were so “ate- up” it wasn’t even funny. Those brand-new 50 Caliber machine guns that had just blared at us the night before, were just unmanned and collecting dust. It was a very embarrassing time for the 15^th MSB and for their 5000 United States soldiers. I think I just threw up in my mouth. LOL.

The blog is getting too long, and I need to stop here. Today Pastor Dad is feeling great and ready to break bread with my people tomorrow! Reliving these stories though is making me very aggressive. Ha ha. Please let me know your thoughts. I have a brain full of stories. And when I am done with this one, I can continue with the Military stories or I can write about childhood maladies, corporate sales, Trinity, drug dealing, or whatever. Let me know what you like.

Christian II – Christian’s blood sugar has been high all night, and there is evidence of “keytones” in his body, which is a pretty clear precursor to a situation that could become very bad. So please pray for him. On a lighter note, this doesn’t seem to be slowing him down! He’s jumping off of everything and saying, “To the Trinity and beyond”!

 

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN AT THE BEGINNING OF THAT TRAINING WEEK...

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Flashback II

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Christian I - …It’s a very hot night. We’ve just been singled out by SFC Glenn for this mission. Typically, for these type of operations, we go (full battle rattle). PV2 Mabry and I had our K-POT (Helmet), 80 pound rucksack, and heavy weapons with us (We both had machine guns-S.A.W). So, as I mentioned before, we had 300 yards in front of us in order to get to our objective and breach the wire so that the next morning my platoon could rush their perimeter and just rip the wire aside (Triple strand, about six feet high).  THAT’S ALL I KNEW AT THE TIME.I could barely see where these POGS where, or even where the wire was. It was very dark, and despite the fact that there was a full moon, there was also cloud cover overhead. We could feel the bugs and hear stuff around us, but that was about it. Being the motivated soldier that I was, I was ready to “Get me some POG”. J Mabry and I donned soft caps and offloaded our rucksacks and heavy weapons and left them with the rest of the squad. We started crawling-sweaty, tired, motivated, hungry, and basically blind. Good training!

Now when you low crawl, it’s basically like slithering on the ground like a snake, keeping your head literally against the ground, so as to provide as little presence as possible

We started underway, making the best of it. Honestly you couldn’t hear anything, except the cicadas and crickets. It seemed like a half hour had passed and the terrain had gotten… easier! Very cool. J Suddenly there was a roar of an engine and the brightest light in all creation barreled toward us and increased in size. I went from G. I. Joe … to a bunny rabbit P.E.Z candy dispenser. J Mabry, of course, was behind me… somewhere, but at this point he was the last thing on my mind. I broke from low crawling and hurled my body backwards not knowing how far but I soon discovered that I was on top of Mabry! Yes, ladies and gentleman, we had come to a small road.

Thanks to my cat-like skills, the pain tolerance of Mabry and the careless unsoldierly demeanor of the POG driver, we were undetected. We quickly scurried across the road only to be welcomed by the same wonderful terrain that we were eager to say good-bye to only moments before. Good training!

I can assure you it was a good hour of straight low-crawling with only the sound of my wormlike buddy slightly behind me but in hot pursuit. I need to pause to give you a bit more description. When we are on OPFOR missions, we were made to turn the top half of our uniform inside out so as to make it easier for the POGS to see us. Apparently during that last week they were complaining that they could not defend against us because our camouflage was “working too well”. This was a directive that came down from my commander, and so regardless if we thought it was a good idea or not … we followed orders. So now the “inside out “uniform (which is light-gray) is also soaked with salt water and now you can be confident that it is almost white.

After all that crawling the clouds momentarily broke and the full moon shone through. It must have been a beautiful sight but, Mabry and I wouldn’t know because our faces were buried in the mud (which is common practice for an infantryman that is exposed to light during an operation). Do you remember those 50 caliber machine guns? Well, we didn’t know about them at the time! :)   I smelt cigarette smoke and heard a guy scream, “Hey man, look over there!”.

We now had visibility, and just realized that we had stopped five feet in front of the Constantino wire! And two 50 caliber machine guns were fifteen feet on the other side of the wire. We were goners. Normal practice was for the POGS to shoot us (with lasers setting of buzzers we had on our bodies) and take us captive by force. Mabry and I must have looked like two white elephants out in the middle of the tall grass in the moonlight. They opened up those machine guns on us and the vibration was so incredibly strong that I could feel the hair on my face moving and tickling my cheeks. I very slowly turned my head to the side and the light was so bright that I was beholding something unnatural for that time of night, that’s for sure! J

Just when I thought the Lord was going to show up or something, they stopped firing. I could tell because the hair on my body stopped moving. I was having a lot of trouble at this point (Although Mabry didn’t know it and I never told him later). You see, the noise was so loud that all I could hear was a high pitched tone. So I did what I was trained to do in that situation. I LAID DOWN AND FROZE.

The POG must have thought that he was seeing things or whatever because he and the other machine gunner left the machine gun nest. I laid there like a deaf man for about twenty minutes. I’ve got to take my hat off to PV2 Mabry, because he lay there also. Something very interesting happened just then. I wasn’t sure what to do! I didn’t even know if I could hear properly. Just then there were enormous explosions and lights and gunplay coming from the other side of the POG camp. SFC Glenn didn’t tell me, but the rest of my platoon and squad created a diversion on the other side of the enemy’s camp so I could cut the wires! Not knowing this at the time, I thought it was a good chance to use this opportunity to snip the wires!

My hearing returned, the POGS were gone, a cloud came over our heads again, we were in the clear, and there was a great distraction going on elsewhere. It was go time! Good training…I grabbed those wire cutters, stood straight up and rushed the wire (Not hearing anyone around) and I snipped all the wires in about fifteen seconds. It was amazing. I flopped back down in the grass next to Mabry only to hear him whisper “Yes”!

I hate to leave Mabry and I in the grass, but this blog is getting too long. I wonder if we got back ok. Was the mission successful the following morning? I’d love to tell you about it. Some of my favorites gave me a nudge yesterday to finish the story. Please let me know if you want me to go on, and as a side note, this hero feels miserable today. L

I didn’t make it to my office, but I am having a great time telling this story to Ethan and he’s typing for me. By the way, Ethan also made it the National Bible Bee Competition that will happen in November- 73 place out of 1,193 gives him a ticket to go to Tennessee to compete some more. Good job Ethan!

Christian II - Yesterday Christian was over 600. Today our boy is doing just fine. Last night we stayed up late to celebrate Ethan’s accomplishment, and this gave us a great opportunity to watch Christian closely and to administer insulin accordingly. The boy is just the apple of my eye, and the sooner we could get him squared away with a service dog the better.

 God bless your friend…

OH MY GOSH...THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN (SELF PORTRAIT)  AFTER MABRY AND I OFFLOADED OUR MACHINE GUNS AND HIT THE TERRAIN FOR THE LONG CRAWL.....

 

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Over 600!!!

Thank you for coming! If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know :-)

(BigCarlsonFamily@gmail.com)

Christian II- today my son's blood sugar is not in very good standing. Christian is currently over 600, and we didn't see it coming. He's such a good boy that sometimes there are no indicators or shifts in his personality. As anyone knows that deals with type I diabetes, it can be very frustrating.

Since I have the chance to explain a few things here, I should take it. Therefore, it is important to understand that there are very few things to go off of when it comes to managing blood sugar. Many people think that if you deliver enough insulin when the child eats, they will be just fine. Honestly, we wish that were true.

The bottom line is that if Christian’s blood sugar is too high, for too long he can die. If this blood sugar gets too low he could pass out, go into a coma and die or never wake up. A service dog would greatly help in sensing if his numbers are about to go higher, or lower. At present, the only thing that we can do is prick his finger, and check his blood sugar every few hours and administer the insulin he needs.

But there are too many other factors that affect his blood sugar (physical stress, mood, environmental conditions, sickness, and the list goes on). As a man, I absolutely hate the idea that my son's life depends on a "hit or miss" kind of situation. Simply said – if we catch them at the right time, and something is wrong, we can save his life. If for some reason (and there are many) we are not there at just the right time, then my boy is dead. I apologize for being so direct, but this is a truth that we all live with every day.  We need that dog…

When Christian wakes up, we will see where he is. Hopefully, tomorrow's entry will be a pleasant one.

Christian I- I really wanted to finish the story that I began yesterday! Honestly, that mission has so many other stories inside of it. It was fun reliving the past. But, I didn't get any feedback, at all. I'm not sure if this is something that people are interested in. Therefore, since these stories are so "near and dear to my heart" I will wait and see if anyone wants me to continue. :-)

I'm ecstatic! I made it to my office several days in a row! Although, yesterday, on the way home (around the block) I literally almost passed out. I think it was good training. :-) But I got a little concerned when I couldn't feel my arms, and there was a haze about me. I think it was because of the heat and the humidity, and also the ice vest that I was wearing – MELTED… L I hope my awesome neighbors are looking out the window next time – just in case. :-)

God bless your friend…

 

The below photo was taken only hours before my last entry took place!  :) Which one am I?  :)

 

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Flashback ??

Thank you for coming! If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know :-)

(BigCarlsonFamily@gmail.com)

Christian I - All right, so today I'm a part of something called OPFOR (or opposing force). My objective is to train up about 5000 POGS or (non-infantry soldiers). The training obstacle for today is for these soldiers to learn how to set up a perimeter around their base camp that cannot be easily breached. Sounds pretty simple right?

The time is about zero hundred hours (midnight). There are only about seven of us in the squad. The leader is Sgt. First Class (SFC) Glenn. We're still in Fort Hood Texas, actually in West Fort Hood out in the middle of nowhere! There is a completely full moon, and we have just arrived on-site to see if our trainees (5000 cooks and mechanics) have set up their perimeter properly for the night.

We've been training these people all week (of course sleeping in the woods all the time). In Texas, when you're in the field, wearing the old "Woodland" style camouflage – the pretty green, brown, and black quickly become colored white with sweat (salt water). Please keep this in mind!

Suddenly, while we are playing “the enemy” for these people, SFC Glenn calls for me, and also the lowest ranking private in the world (PV2 Mabry). I had no idea what SFC Glenn had on his mind.

Basically, we were to low crawl about 300 yards to their outer perimeter with wire cutters and cut their triple strand Constantino wire- in order to prepare for my platoon’s massive attack the following morning. Have you ever low crawled even a few feet? Well, I'm not taking my hat off to myself, but that young private that was with me, had his work cut out for him! Tallgrass, lots of rocks, snakes, bugs and mud – good training :-)

What we did not see (because of the night, and their cover and concealment from the wood-line) were a pair of 50 caliber machine guns covering their positions! Now I understand that this is only a training scenario. Some of you might be laughing, like “who cares?”. Others of you may be seasoned veterans and realize that even when a 50 caliber machine gun is firing blanks, if you are 20 feet in front of it, it is going to change your day. :-)

Obviously, this happened about 16 years ago! I'm in a wheelchair one hundred percent of the time, and I wouldn't be able to low crawl 300 yards or even 1 foot :-) BUT, I'm trying a different perspective on this blog - perhaps some of you enjoy these types of stories. Please let me know your feedback. I would love to finish this story or even write more like them. So please leave feedback!

I'm not in the habit of "leaving people hangin’", but I would really love to write this to satisfy the readers. So, I would like to know if you want stories from the past, and if so what kind stories. Or I can simply give you strictly updates from day to day. Regardless, I will always mention emergencies or anything imperative!

Christian II- Right now, he is sleeping on the couch in my office! It seems, that this heat has not only tuckered me out, but is very exhausting to everyone :-) The highlight of the day, was Christian playing with his 13-year-old brother! And his BIG brother was actually pretending and playing more than Christian was! It is absolutely hilarious to me. That's all I'm going to say about that, because I don't want Ethan to beat me up :-) just kidding :-)

God bless your friend…

 

 

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