Hello World! I'm here.

Zachary Allen Dallmann joined everyone on January 8th, 2010 at 12:44pm. He weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 20 inches long.

HOLY COW!

So...I'm back now! I arrived officially in the United States 14th. The Company that I'm with went to Camp Atterbury, IN for 5 days. Do the math and I was back in WI on the 19th! You might have seen it on the news, we arrived in Oak Creek at the Delphi plant in the afternoon. Faith and my parents were there waiting. After a brief formation and listening to some big wigs speak, we got out of there and went to a friends house for a few beers. I've pretty much been going non-stop since getting back now. The first weekend was our friends Liz and Anthony's wedding (congrats to those two). Sunday was a recovery day for me...hadn't consumed that much in awhile! I've been slowing unpacking all my junk though the last few days. I promised Faith that the apartment would be back to "normal" before we headed up north for a week of relaxation.

So, since I'm home now and back in the US this will be my last blog update on this blog. Thank you all very much for your comments and support over the last 15 months. I appreciate everything you've said and done so, so much! You're all amazing friends.

Well, since I'm back, I'm sure that I'll be touching base with you all soon. Take care!

Jake

Happy 4th of July Everyone!

I got to see some fireworks today thanks to some pictures Faith's Mom sent me today from (I think) the show down in Chicago. Pretty amazing looking display.

I know I haven't updated this in awhile, but there's hasn't been to much going on...just getting ready to hopefully go home soon. We don't have exact dates for anything, so I can't say to much. We're just working hard to get our the unit replacing us trained in properly so that we can hand it off with no problems.

I don't know if any of you watch CNN often, but there was a special on the other night about up-armored humvees. They interviewed a couple of my 3rd Platoon guys...SGT Martens, SGT Slempkes, and a few other guys. SPC Castner was also mentioned, he's the soldier we lost at the very beginning of this tour. I only watched a little bit of it in the chow hall.

Well, I hope you are all doing well. Look forward to seeing you all soon.

Jake

Hello Everyone!

It's been a few weeks since I've posted on the blog so I thought I'd give everyone a little update. Even though we don't know exactly when we'll be home, things are winding down and our replacements should be here soon. Pretty much everyone is counting days at this point. Funny thing is, everyone's days are different because everyone has their guesses on when we're leaving and when we're getting home.

I can't say to much about who and when our replacements are arriving, but we know both for the most part...which is awesome. I now know how are replacements felt when we took over for them almost a year ago. It's such a great feeling to know that the end of all this is near and my real life can start again.

Faith moved into our new apartment in Kenosha last weekend. Even though we had wanted to buy a house right when I got back, we felt it best to just get an apartment for a year and take our time on finding the right house in the right location. It's our first home so we didn't want to rush into things to much. Dan and April Foecking and friends helped load up the truck for the move before both sets of our parents, my cousin Randy, his wife Erin, and our friend Tonya, helped unload the truck up in Kenosha. That's a Wisconsin style move...have friends and family help you...then you owe them for life! Once again, and I can't say it enough times...it's so great having such an amazing group of friends and such an unbelievable family to help Faith and I through this time in our lives!

Well, I'll see you all next month!
Jake

Hello Everyone!

First of all, I'm doing better and better over here. The main reason for that is it's obviously one day closer to me coming home, which is awesome! Faith and I are so excited. We were going to buy a house in Kenosha right before I got home, but decided to rent an apartment at first. With getting back to civilian life and getting started with work again, we don't need anymore stressors!

So, our Battalion is on the move now. We're moving to a different base in Kuwait...Camp Virginia. Supposedly the Kuwaiti's wanted us away from the civilian border traffic and crap...whatever. It's not bad because we've had to pack up a lot of our things for the move...that and send our totes and a couple of duffle bags with extra cold weather clothes and things home now too. It's good feeling sending things home! Even though we're definately down grading in living conditions, it's OK for the most part because we all see it as one more step to us going home.

Speaking of going home, it's less than 9 weeks away. It's approx. 69 days from today, not that we're counting at all! We don't know any specifics yet, but we've all got guesses and rumors that we're relying on heavily!

We're busy as all heck over here right now. With the peak of the troop surge, we're super busy getting equipment and food up north. It's getting hot as hell over here again too. The last two days I'm pretty sure it hit the 120 degree mark again (it's been over 100 this entire week). It sucks....but again, it's a reminder that we're going home soon!

I'll be sure to keep Faith and my parents updated on anything I hear as far as my return date. You all take care, enjoy the summer without me, cause I'll be back turning you all into alcoholics again soon! :) JK..kinda!

Later...Jake!

OK...I've been getting a ton of guff that I haven't updated this in a LONG time, so I guess I need to! Since last update a few things have happened.

First off, Faith and I went to Italy. We ended up meeting up in Venice. Her parents flew over with her, so we got to hang out with Bud and Dianne for two days while they started their Italy speed vacation. I'm not going to go into all the amazing things we got to see in each city, but you can bet with my hand dandy guide book and planning, we saw most of the amazing things to see! After Venice we took the train to Milan for three days. We then trained it down to Rome for four days, where we met my cousin Randy and his wife Erin. We saw all the amazing sights and took a load of pictures. After Rome, we went to Florence for three days. The statue of David was amazing, but I think we were all even more impressed by "The Prisoners"... unfinished statues by Michelangelo. We roamed around alot in Florence, but also went to the leaning tower of Pisa. My cousin, who is "uncomfortable" with heights climbed it and was very well acquainted with the railing while up there! I'm sure I'll be able to talk much more in detail about it all when I talk to each of you in person, but there is SO much to talk about, this would take forever. I think the most amazing part of the trip was getting to see Faith though. She looked amazing and the setting just made the vacation that much better.

I've been back from leave for about a month now, and I'm finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, everything will go as planned and we'll be home late July. I'm not going to get to excited though until I'm home and walking on US soil again.

Sorry again for not updating this for so long. I'll try to stay on this more over the next few months!

You all take care and I'll see you soon.

Jake

Hello!

Not much has been going on lately. I'm on "lock down" from long missions right now because of the leave coming up in 15 days. So, nothing exciting really is happening right now.

My sisters B-Day was yesterday, so Happy Birthday Darcey! It's the first year you're 29 for the rest of your life!

Other than not much...just getting ready for Italy. My sister-in-law Kristen and her boyfriend Dave got me a gift card for Barnes and Noble for Christmas, so I bought Rick Steve's Guides to Rome, Florence, and Venice. If you've seen EuroTrip, I'm going to be the guy with the guide books and the body pouch! I'm a dork, what can I say!

Well, take care of yourselves!

Jake