Home Sweet Home

Just wanted to put one final post up on the blog. Words cannot describe how great it is to be back home with Christen and the kids. I flew out of Iraq on September 2nd, spent 3 long days in Kuwait and then flew out of Kuwait City on Septmber 5th. We flew from Kuwait to Shannon, Ireland for a brief 2 hour lay over and then flew from Ireland to Atlanta, GA. Total flight time was a little under 18 hours. We landed in Atlanta at 6am on Sunday Septmber 6th, then drove 1.5 hours south to Ft. Benning where we had a few briefings and then proceeded to turn in our weapon and all the gear that was issued to us for the deployment. I was finished with the turn in around 11am. I then signed out, caught a shuttle back to the Atlanta airport and took a 4pm flight back to San Antonio. And by 5:30pm that day I was hugging Christen in the San Antonio airport ... followed by the best kiss of all time.

I have posted some pics below of my journey. Thanks to everyone for calling and wishing us well after my safe return home. Still trying to get caught up and get back into the flow of things so I apologize if we haven't returned everyone's calls just yet.

Well, thank you all for reading and following the blog over these last 7 months. It has been quite and adventure and I am glad I could share it with you all. But that's it for now ... this is CPT Cuniowski ... over and out!

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C-17 pulling up at the air strip in Mosul. Never thought I would be so relieved to see an airplane landing, but this one was our ticket back home. This monster flew us out of the combat zone in Iraq and into Kuwait.

All of us lining up waiting to boiard the plane in full battle armor in the 120 degree Iraqi heat.



Patiently waiting in line to board the plane.

Kuwait a.k.a. "Tent City". Nothing by field tents as far as the eye can see. Housing for all the troops moving in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Kuwait is the central staging area and anyone traveling to Iraq or Afghanistan or back home to the U.S. stops here.

Day# 183 - The Replacements Are Here

Wow, I hadn't realized it has been nearly two weeks since I last updated the blog. We have been busy lately finishing up things as we prepare to head back home. I didn't seem real until yesterday when our replacements arrived here in Mosul. It was a great moment as I watched the doc replacing me step off the C-130 and onto the tarmac at the airfield. I haven't felt that good in over 6 months.

It has been 183 days seen I left Christen and the kids early in the morning on the 28th of February. And now with each passing day the excitement continues to build. It has gone from months ... to weeks ... and now finally to days until I'll be returning back home to San Antonio. As of right now I am scheduled to fly out of Iraq next Thursday, September 3rd. I'll spend 1 day in Kuwait, and then fly from Kuwait to Ft. Benning in Georgia on September 5th. And if things go smoothly I should be back home in Texas by September 7th. I'll keep you all updated as I prepare for the long journey back to America.

Day# 169 - ER Staff

Posted below is a group picture of everyone in the ER here in Mosul. Our section is made up of 11 males and 5 females. 1 ER doc, 1 Family Medicine doc, 6 nurses, and 8 medics. Even though we all come from different hospitals in various locations throught out the U.S., we have become one big happy family, and thankfully we all get along really well. We are also known around the base for our amazing Cornhole playing skills, hence the two Cornhole boards in the front of the picture. For those of you not familar with the great American past-time known as Cornhole stay tuned in. I'll save the Cornhole stories for another post.

Day# 167 - Happy Anniversary Sweetie

Today marks the ninth year since Christen and I got married on that memorable summer day in Northampton, MA. Amazing how fast it has flown by ... next year will be the big ten year wedding anniversary and I will have to start planning for something big, especially since I am missing out on this year's. In fact, this is the first anniversary that Christen and I have been apart. It is suprising that despite medical school, residency, Army assignments, and my crazy work schedule this is the first, and hopefully last anniversary we are not together.

Some of you may remember that the start of our weekend wedding celebration didn't exactly go as planned. Our car broke down driving from Boston to Northampton the day of the rehearsal dinner, we had a monsoon of a thunderstorm that night, the rain carried over into the next morning, and somebody's mom had a monster hangover after deciding that shots of Captain Morgan's Rum was her new favorite beverage. Now most brides would have been flipping out at this point but Christen took it all in stride. And her positive outlook on life is what got us both through that day. And in the end the clouds parted, the sun came out, the hangovers subsided, and everything came together perfectly as we celebrated the joining of our lives with our family and friends. And on that beautiful summer evening in Western Massachusetts we made a promise to each other ... a promise to love each other forever, to see each other through the good times and the bad, and to never forget how blessed we are to have found the one we want to spend the rest of our lives with.

These last nine years have resembled the start of that weekend in many ways. We have been through major life decisions, career changes, job relocations, pregnancies, births, deaths, heart surgeries, military deployments, and long distance relationships. And during these times when things looked pretty grim we just hunkered down, focused on the positive things in our life, and always remembered those promises we made to each other so long ago . And in the end it has always worked out for the best ... but I don't think if I could have done it without her by my side.

With only 25 days left until we are reunited I feel like this chapter of our life is coming to an end, and a new one is about to begin. And the best part is I get to spend it with you. Love you sweetie ... always and forever.

Day# 155 - 37 Days and Counting

The theme continues as there has not been much going on here lately. Aside from the occassional earthquake and rocket attacks things have been pretty chill. The clock continues to tick and the days are slowly passing by, although at times it seems painfully slow. But August is less than 24 hours away and that means I am one month closer to going home.

Tough guys - myself and three of the ER medics standing proud

A little grumpy after getting woken up at 2am for a training exercise.

Day# 148 - 43 Days and Counting

Nothing much going on last few days over here in Iraq. We are into the dog days of summer over with noon time temps hitting the 115-120 degree range in the sun. Even at night, the temps stay in the high 80's to low 90's. Most of us try to find a cool place to hide out and avoid the heat when we are not seeing patients. Things are quiet on the battelfield as well. Our troops are still not doing any patrols out in the city and from what I hear the Iraqi Army is doing a fairly good job at maintaining the peace. Hopefully it will stay the way until September. As of right now I am scheduled to fly back to the states on Saturday September 5th ... 43 more days and counting!!!

Sunset has become my favorite part of the day because it means another day has come and gone ... and I am one more day closer to getting home to Christen and the kids.

Day# 144 - Cigar Extravaganza

A little over a week ago I received six packages in the mail and after looking at the return address I realized I had no idea who the person was. Inside the boxes were cigars ... lots of cigars ... probably around 200 cigars or so. After making a few phone calls I finally found out that the person who sent the cigars was a friend of a friend of a friend, who had found out that me and the boys like to enjoy a cigar from time to time over here in Iraq. Well, it turns out this person spread the word to a few of his buddies who then proceeded to send him cigars. He then compiled them and sent them all to me. The cigars came from people all across the U.S. and even Canada.

Their timing was perfect because this past Saturday my unit gathered for a dinner to celebrate the approaching half way point of the deployment (the doctors and nurses are switching out at 6 months but the majority of the unit is staying for 12-15 months). I wanted to share these cigars with the rest of the guys, and besids there were way too many for me to smoke before I left. So I set up the cigars on some tables and let people pick and choose what they wanted. Everybody loved it and it was a great opportunity to initiate some new members into the cigar smoking club.

I have includedsome pictures below and just wanted to thank all the guys from CigarAficianado.com and CigarOutcast.com for their tremendous genorousity. This was a really big morale booster for our soldiers over here and a great reminder of how great a nation we are fighting for.