I was visiting a blog from Boone North Carolina, near where I grew up, and enjoying the photos of the author's golden lab.

There is true value in the companionship of one's four legged friends.

Dachshunds are great animals. My mother has one that basically adopted my wife years ago and convinced my wife that she might tolerate a dog in the house if it were a little black wiener dog.

The dog belongs to her by the way. Me and the kids get to borrow her from time to time, but that dog and my wife - well - you know. She is a family dog though. She had me trained well before I came to Osan. She'd stand at the top of the stairs from the den and bark until I'd come up and fill her water bowl, let her outside, or sometimes she just wanted chicken out of the fridge.

Yep -- I miss the dog too. Lots of missing going on these days.

But lots of good ministry too. Yesterday was a day for getting lots accomplished. Met all my First Sgts, the Commander of the OSI unit I am serving (only one of my units) as well as many of his folks, and some counseling and so forth. Good day.

I was deeply moved, tried to hide it, but seeing a memorial picture in the OSI hallway of one of the men I buried brought back images of his small children sitting on chairs beside his young wife at Arlington.

We have to win. There is evil out there. We cannot afford to quit or fail. Liberty is a mighty powerful force for life but in too many ways it is also, because of human nature, a fragile thing and costly. Freedom is not free. Like anything worth anything in life, it take effort and sacrifice.

I miss my family, very much, but then I remember young men like this and his wife and children who I am sure would like to have him home too.

Then I remember why I'm here. Why we are all here.

Maybe one day, when work is done, I'll retire to Boone and have me another Dachshund and a cabin and maybe even a Golden Lab, but today - I've got work to do.

But if you want to visit a great blog site: here it is: Come enjoy the flavor of the mountains.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul-John Muir