LAWDAWGS - Luke Shaffer

answers to avery's ?

well, in case any of you were wondering the answers to avery's questions here they are. yes, the police station is small. all 15 of us live in an area about the size of your garage. it's tight and will take some getting used to but we'll make it happen. we sleep in really big bunckbeds, there are 4 levels. you could fit all five members of your family in them. i finally got a pillow passing through a city in iraq called, al asad, it means "the lion". it is nice to have and i definitely sleep better now. if we get shot at we have BIG concret walls and bunckers to get behind. and if you remember all of those big strong guys you met the day we left; they help take care of me and we all fight back together. we practice everyday, just to make sure we can see you again. the trip over was easily the longest trip i have ever taken. almost two and a half weeks just to get here. boy, were we tired. thank you for the questions and I LOVE YOU too. i hope you are having fun this summer. :-)
The days are definitely flying by and for the most part we don't have a lot of down time. Since we never leave work it never really feels like we go to sleep. It just feels like really long naps in the middle of a really long work day.
I usually have a lot of meeting with the police chief, the mayor, city council members, business owner and many others throughout the day. the rest of the team spends a lot of time training and working with the different departments within the police department. all in all the team is doing an awesome job. It looks like we are gonna be able to help improve the departments structure and their way of life.
i hope all of you are doing well and thank you very much for the love and support it helps in getting through day. will post again in a couple of day, take care
love
luke

we have arrived

1000 22 July 2008 We are finally here! the trip was very long but that was to be expected. We hit about 6 different cities (caring all that heavy gear every step of the way) and had to make our own arrangements for just about everything. It was a true sink or swim kind of deal. All-in-all the team is great and we have started the RIP (relief in place) with the team we are replacing . Boy were they happy to see us. After seeing this place I can't understand why :-). We have been here now about 4 days and so far just myself and the staff members have made it down to the poli ce station we will be living in. It's going to be tight! living small is the name of the game. I have met my Iraqi counter part and I can tell this will be an interesting experiance to say the least. The analogy commonly used is "hearding cat's." There's really no better way to explain it, there's just somany moving parts. Only time will tell. Well I hope all of you are doing well and having a great summer. We are trying to do the same :-). talk to you soon luke