Greetings from the Republic of Kosovo!

The difference between here and Germany is much more than I can express using the "night and day" or "different planet" cliches, so I'll try to capture that in this blog with pictures and some kind of description.

We departed our military hotel in Kaiserslautern at 6am and loaded up our massive amounts of gear into the airport much to the chagrin of Lufthansa personnel:



But I have to say that Selena at the counter was an absolute angel in getting us through the tangles and we got on the flight to Vienna and then to Pristina, Kosovo which is about an hour's drive to the base. Amazingly enough, all our gear made it in tact and once through customs we (with the help of some soldiers) got it loaded into a base truck:



Our personal bags went into a van:



and we hopped on board the lastest state of the art tour bus:



Inside the bus we met our gracious hostess - Renee' - who gave us a welcome and rundown of things to come:



There was another band from L.A. there with us. We'll be playing the same venues but at different times. Good bunch of guys (and a female singer), of course.

Unfortunately it was dark as we were passing thru the towns and countryside so we didn't get a good look at it yet. Hope to soon.

After getting our badges to be on base, we then went to meet the commanding General for a short meet and greet. The General and most of the American contingent here are Missouri National Guard so we immediately had a lot of home to talk about. (For those of you that don't know, my hometown is Kansas City, MO and Thom comes from the St Louis area). I wasn't allowed to take pictures at the "ceremony" but suffice it to say the General was exceedingly gracious at welcoming us.

Here we are in front of the General's area:



It sounds like not many bands get down here as the all the glory goes to playing in Iraq and the Middle East (don't know what that glory is!), but they were all very thankful for our presence. The General gave us each plaques and special dog tags with The Soldiers Creed and Army Values on them. Thom and I each got Missouri National Guard pins as well. It was all very very touching.

Here's a later composite pic of our gifts:



Back at our "quarters" we found an ethernet connection coming through the heating device and with Renee's help we got connected. I even got to do a live video chat with my lovely wife and cool step son Gabe. ( For some reason that connection isn't working now so I'm currently at the base "coffee shop" which has wifi.)

Here's Thom and John enjoying your comments from the blog. Keep 'em comin'!!



Its about time for lunch. We are here until Jan 2 so I plan to give a more detailed report of this base, its mission on another blog.

I'd like to leave you with the engravings on our new dog tags:

ARMY VALUES
Loyalty: Bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the Army, your unit, and other Soldiers

DUTY: Fulfill your obligations

RESPECT: Treat people as they should be treated

SELFLESS SERVICE: Put the welfare of the Nation, the Army and your subordinates before your own

HONOR: Live up to all the Army Values

INTEGRITY: Do what's right, legally and morally

PERSONAL COURAGE: Face fear, danger or adversity (physical or moral)



THE SOLDIERS'S CREED:

I am an American Soldier
I am a Warrior and a member of a team
I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values
I will always place the mission first
I will never accept defeat
I will never quit
I will never leave a fallen comrade
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills
I always maintain my arms, my equipment, and myself
I am an expert and I am a professional
I stand ready to deploy, engage and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life
I am an American Soldier



We love and miss you all,
Jerry