KABUL, Afghanistan --
(These words are my own thoughts and they are from the heart.)

When the C-17 landed in Afghanistan 169 days ago I was anxious, but prepared. I was struggling through some fatigue from the journey, but mostly I was stoked to be here.

I had said my goodbyes; all of them easier than expected except one. The final day with my husband, I cried. The tears came often and out of nowhere. Goodbyes are not new to us. We just celebrated our second wedding anniversary, and we can count the number of days spent together on our combined fingers and toes. We believe in what we are doing; we are both U.S. Air Force officers, and know that our time together is coming. The Big Dude above wouldn't separate us by thousands of miles if we didn't have a distinct and important purpose in our respective assignments.

Why was this goodbye different? We chuckled as we commuted our rental SUV, packed beyond the point of visibility, around our Nation's capital. We left Dupont Circle for JB Andrews to pick up my weapons and frantically complete a last minute shopping list of chocolates for my soon-to-be Afghan Air Force counterparts, PT socks, hand sanitizer, and a travel mug. We dropped off newly acquired Christmas gifts at my husband's never-before-seen residence that he, and our two 90-pound dogs, would be moving into the following week, and finally...the airport. We laughed because he had never seen me cry that much. He joked that he could add up all of my angry, sad, joyful, and exhaustion-filled tears that he had witnessed, and the amount would never exceed the number of tears that I shed that day; all those tears for no single reason. I laughed through my soaked and salty cheeks as I repeated, "What is going on?! Get it together, Jess!"

Almost six months has passed since I first set foot on the ground of Kabul, Afghanistan. The tears barely ever fall, I'm still regularly struggling through fatigue, and I'm still stoked to be here! In the first half of my deployment, I have experienced some incredible things. Some days are just hard. Some days remind me of why I believe in our mission and what my distinct and important purpose is in this assignment.

My duty is to serve as the Chief of Public Affairs of NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan and the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing, and serve as the air advisor to the Afghan Air Force department of public affairs. Hopefully my 365 days served in Afghanistan will be spent supporting and accomplishing our unit's mission:

The 438th AEW mission is to set the conditions for a professional, fully independent and operationally-capable Afghan Air Force that meets the security requirements of Afghanistan today and tomorrow.

As a public affairs officer, I get to have a very unique bird's-eye view of the mission. I sit through meetings, A LOT of meetings, where the big decisions are made. They aren't always easy decisions and the news delivered is usually of an extreme emotion, one way or the other. I get to serve as a member of the commander's special staff, and offer council about how the topic at hand may affect our members, and our supporters back home. I get to fly in helos, get greasy in the maintenance hangar, see the excitement in faces as a new plan or program is mastered, watch the sweat drip off a firefighter's eyebrow after exiting a burning building, and unfortunately choke back tears as a hero is transported home.

I hope to share, with you, daily life in Afghanistan as I am privileged to experience it. I hope you'll join the journey.

Check out the Facebook Note HERE