Well I’m home now,

for the time being. I can’t say how long I’ll be home but just to say that I’m happy to be home. I didn’t expect to be home this soon in my deployment but I guess it beats being here during the summer. It’s hot here in Phoenix. The weather has been in the upper 70s lower 80s since I’ve got here. I also heard that it hasn’t rained since October 15th, 2005. So it’s been over 100 days since it’s rained here. It is definitely dryer here than it is in Baghdad, and hotter. I haven’t seen how hot Baghdad gets during the summer but I’m soon to find out. I’m sure Phoenix will beat it.

I’d like to post a little bit about my flight over here. It was a long flight, about 20 hours of flying. So it’s almost like a days worth. I suppose it’s much better than being on a boat for like 30 days. What’s one day of flying? I’m just glad I don’t get jet lag. My clock is a little messed up and I’ve had some problems sleeping but I’m sure that will go away pretty soon.

I was surprised and delighted when we arrived in Maine to the greetings of the Maine Troop Greeters. It’s the first time I’ve met this group of fine volunteers. They are so wonderful. After getting off the plane I heard the sounds of greetings while approaching the concourse. When I turned the corner I found a group of people welcoming us all home. They were on both sides of the line, shaking our hands and giving us hugs. How wonderful, especially the hugs from the grandmas. They are so special. There were some Moms there and I kind of wish there were some more young women there too! I’m sure the female soldiers were pleased with all the men, even though few of them were young. Doesn’t matter for the female soldiers anyway, they have plenty of young male soldiers to keep them company.

The Maine Troop Greeters provided us with cookies, muffins, doughnuts and all sorts of other goodies. They had a shrine of military memorabilia hung on the walls and in cases on display. They had a memorial to all the servicemen who have lots their lives during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. They welcomed us to use their mobile phones to call home or where ever we wanted. And the only thing they wanted was for us to sign a shirt that would be displayed for everyone to see. “Thank You for Everything, SGT Puebla” is what I wrote on the shirt. Everything was greatly appreciated. It was so wonderful to see how these people could give up their time to express their thanks and gratitude to our service. Whatever their political position was, they could put that aside to show their appreciation.

We were met to the same welcome in Texas as we were again greeted off the plane. Again, I got off the plane to sounds and cheers of people clapping their hands and yelling cheers of “Yeah!!!” These Texans, like the Mainers, were a great group of people. I could easily see that they appreciated everything we do. While the plane was taxiing into the terminal we were blessed by the Fire Department as they showered the plane from both sides as we passed through.