The Stang

Some of you have been asking how the "The Stang," "Old Blue," or the "Blue Dragon" has been. Well I retired her from full-time commission last year after about 7 years of faithful service as my only mode of transportation and sinse then she has been sleeping up in the hi-desert at the Hodgson's garage. I finaly got a chance to work on her and to my amazement I have been driving around on a bent and very badly broken upper control arm for the last 7 years (this part basicaly keeps the front wheel on). Needless to say, I counted my blessings and fixed it right away. Here are some pics.

First, the car:

And here is the control arm:

Ryan and Nicole's Wedding

At the end of August Amanda and I took a trip up to Washington for our friend Ryan and our cousin Nicole's wedding. It was a great trip, we flew up to Seattle and visited with Amanda Kennard for a day, which was awesome. Then we drove througn the Cascades to Twisp for the wedding. They had the ceremony and the recption at the families beautiful little cabin by the river. Here are some pics.

Chatzski our new dog

Last night we added a new addition to our home. After years of your dog jokes we finally have a real life dog. Chatzski is a female Boston Terrier. She is totally adorable and very inquisitive. She is only 3 months old and weighs less than 5 pounds. She is too cute. Here are some pictures:

New Jobs

This month has been a big month of change. Chris started a new design job as an Art director at an advertising firm called VitroRobertson in downtown San Diego. He has been really busy, his first two weeks there, but has really enjoyed the creative opportunities are now available to him.
Amanda got a job in the Poway Unified School District as a school psychologist. She will be starting sometime around the middle of August. She cannot wait.

Amanda Graduated!

Finally after being in school the last 20 years of her 25 year-old life, Amanda is finished with school. She graduated with her Masters Degree in Educational Psychology, an Educational Specialist Degree in School Psychology and a Pupil Personnel Services Credential. It's been a long road, but definately worth every step. We will be having a granduation party/BBQ to celebrate on June 24th, at Crystal Sands, 31551 Flying Cloud Dr. Laguna Niguel, CA, click on the map below for directions. Thank you to all our family and friends who supported her.

Click on the images to view them larger.

Click on map to view larger.

Shane In Afghanistan: Part 2

Hey everyone. Well, it's been a while since I've sent out an update to everyone, so tonight I figured 'why not'. It's a good question, I think. When I asked it to myself, I couldn't come up with a good answer to further procrastinate writing this. Thus, here I am, writing the e-mail that you're about to read (or lightly scan). Let me start off by saying THANK YOU to everyone that's e-mailed me, giving me encouraging words, updating me on your life, and/or telling me they won't have their wedding if I'm not able to come home (brother Brian, props for the commitment). If I haven't responded to you yet, I deeply apologize from the bottom of my heart, and I am still working my way up through the responses. So, even if it's two months later, it will still be there, that I can promise. Ok, onto my update.

Since my last e-mail, a few big things have happened. The first one, I got promoted from Second to First Lieutenant. Nothing better than an 18 months mandatory promotion. I earned every one of those months too. The pay increase is definitely nice. I have attached a picture of this 'monumentous' event in my young army career.

Second, I found out that half of the Apache helicopter unit that is attached to our Aviation Coalition Task Force is from none other than Boise, Idaho, my home town Guard unit. And, for those of you from Idaho, what's better than being able to catch up on Idaho talk, and be able to discuss how big the areas getting and how much we hate most of the Californians moving to the state. And potatoes.

Third, and most important, I grew a mustache. It looks rather disturbing, but I figured what better time in my life than when I'm in combat, where I'm not trying to impress anyone, get a date, or model. Although I never try to model, but that's beside the point. Apparently, officers are highly encouraged not to have a mustache, so there was a lot of pressure from my boss, and his boss, etc. LT Matlock's mustache actually became a big issue for some reason, which I thought was ridiculous, because we're in war and there are a lot more issues at hand here in Afghanistan than me getting an 'in regulation' mustache. So, I kept it to show peope I'm not going to get bullied...and because I wanted to prove that I really WOULD look good with one.

I am doing very well here. Life is very busy, and I still haven't had a full day off since I've arrived. It's 10-16 hours a day, 7 days a week. I am working with British, Dutch, and Australian aircraft along with our American aircraft. I have a large mission during this year, and I've enjoyed how much I've learned in this process. I have been taught a lot about leadership by my Platoon Sergeant who is attached to me from a reserve unit. I am continually learning how to be a better leader and officer from his knowledge. He was a former First Sergeant on Active duty (only a few of you military people know what that means) and he is really the first person that I know I will be able to point to later on in my career as someone that has helped shape the type of military leader I want to be. I've flown quite a few times, ran a couple ranges, was a convoy commander, led a quick reaction force fuel/ammunition supply team, and have had to deal with some tough issues on what I know was right vs the popular choice and a lot of pressure to agree with that popular choice.

I am also currently in a weekly bible study with some of my good friends from Watertown and it has been a continued blessing having them here. We are all crazy busy, so we don't get to just hang out much, but just an encouraging work or joking around a little when we see each other is helping this deployment go by quickly. I found out that I will be able to take my leave in June, which I can't wait for. I will get to see my whole family, my Grandma, some cousins, and my girlfriend in Houston for my little brother's wedding. I knew he'd beat me to the punch, but it's still weird to think it's almost here. His wife is going to be a great addition to the Matlock family.

That's it from here. Thanks again for all your prayers and support. I wish you all the best and can't wait to see you down the road.

God Bless,

Shane

PS. The pictures of me are at my promotion, one with my Platoon Sergeant, Master Sergeant Soloff before a mission, and then me with one of my soldiers during our mission outside Kandahar Air Field. Also, if you squint real hard, you can see the early beginnings of the mustache.

Ghetto

So this is how ghetto our town is; The other day Amanda and I noticed that the already ugly pink house down the street form us had a nice new addition. Some one had tagged the entire house and it wasn't just some street thug it was some kind of local politition! You know your twon is ghetto when the athority figures are using spray paint.

Shane In Afghanistan: Part 1

Here's the latest e-mail from Shane, that I received last Thursday:

Well, for those of you I haven't contacted since my last e-mail, I am here in Kandahar, safe and sound. I got in about a week and a half ago, and we have hit the ground running. We actually made it here in reasonably good time...we stopped in Ireland, Turkey, Khurgistan (sp?), Bagram, then finally here, and it only took three and a half days. For those of you who are/were in the military, that is record time.

I told you in my last e-mail that being deployed wouldn't hit me until I set foot on the ground in Kandahar. Not true. It honestly has seemed normal being here. I am in a large air base with excellent security, and it's mostly military forces everywhere. Given, a lot of them are British, Australian, Romanian, or Canadian, but it still doesn't seem like deployment. Life in an aviation unit is easy, as they say, and I would have to agree with them. Though the 'hero'/alpha-male part of me feels like I should be out there, in the thick of the fight, I really do have to thank God for the safety that a lot of us are able to have out here, and pray for the safety of those (some good friends) that don't get that luxury. Yesterday was the first day I actually woke up to the fact that I'm in Afghanistan, a foreign country, with a lot of people that don't want us around. "Why yesterday Shane? What happened that made you wake up to that realization" is what you might ask. "Wel
l, let me tell you" I'd probably say. I flew around all of yesterday in a black hawk helicopter, which was the first time I was 'outside the wire' as they say. My platoon is split between 4 locations, and I had to go visit the other three yesterday.
Realization 1) I love flying, I could do it all day, everyday...especially when we scaled the snow-capped mountains. AMAZING, esp. when we kept the doors open so I could look out the side.
Realization 2) What a different culture it is here. There are herds of sheep and camel everywhere. It could be by a decent sized city, or literally out in the middle of nowhere. Almost everything is made out of an Adobe hut(or whatever that stuff is called) and it's all sand and dirt. Every little are, you see women walking with shawls (sp?), and every town we flew over had one women in all red...Scarlett Letter theme coming into play??? It really feels like I took a time machine (a Delorean maybe, with a flux capacitor) and flew over people living in bible times. I saw old Alexander the Great ruins...I believe this area is around where he stopped and turned around, instead of invading China. Unbelievable.

It's hard being out here, seeing locals, and not having some sort of animosity towards them. To be completely honest, while we were flying, part of me was hoping that someone would shoot at us so I could see my door gunner cut them down where they stood. But then another part of me was hoping we would stay safe, nothing would happen, and these locals would find Jesus. The third part of me wondered 'when's lunch'. Too many mixed emotions/thoughts.

Well, that's it from the middle east. In a nutshell, I finally realize I'm here, I'm safe, and I'm staying very busy. These last two weeks have gone by quick, so I hope they continue to do so. Love you all, thanks for you continued prayers, and feel free to drop me a line, I will try to get back to you personally. That's right. Personally. Lucky you. :) God Bless y'all

Shane

Winter Finally Came!

Yes, Winter finally came. She was two months late and I was beginning to think I got stood-up, but She came and I have to say, we had a good time together.

So Amanda, Sam and I drove up to my families' house in Twin Peaks on Saturday night. When we got there they had about 4 inches of new snow and when we woke up the next morning there was another 6 inches! The plan was to head up to Snow Summit for the day. But shoveling the driveway and car out, putting chains on the truck, eating some food, fixing up the snowboards, meeting up with Darrell, renting extra gear, driving behind the slowest tourists ever and getting detoured around Big Bear Lake put us there just after 2:00. We realized when we got there that it was half price after 3:00, so we figured we would just walk over to the bottom of the hill and show Sam some stuff, since it was her first time. So we just messed around at the bottom of the hill for a couple hours, Darrell was helping Sam, and I was helping Amanda. We had a great time and we never bought a ticket (the lift lines were crowded and it was foggy at the top anyway). On Monday it was sunny and beautiful, so we headed up to Snow Valley (which actually got more snow than Big Bear) and did some more serious skiing and boarding. Jolene, David little and David (my Dad) joined us as well, and we had another great day. It was a pretty sweet President's Day weekend, and Sam did really well her first time boarding!
-Chris

Sunday at Snow Summit
Click on these images to see them larger


Monday Morning I got up early and took these shoots. To see more click here.


Moday at Snow Valley

Shane leaves for Afghanistan

Well, today at about 12 o'clock our friend Shane Thomas Matlock departed for Afghanistan. He will serve our country under the Army Transportation division for about the next year or so. It will be sad that we won't be able to see him for so long, but we are definitely going to have a big party when he returns. So keep Shane in your prayers and we will keep you updated as we hear things. Here is his departing e-mail:

Well, this is my first of hopefully many e-mails that I will be sending out, updating you on my deployment experience. I will be leaving in the next couple of days, so please be praying for my unit and our safe travels to Afghanistan. It's weird to think that this time is already here. I've known that I would be leaving this month for about a year now, and I knew that I would deploy the moment I signed a contract with ROTC. But it's finally here, and it still seems surreal. I don't think it will fully hit me until I actually set foot off the plane, onto the beautiful surroundings of Afghanistan (by beautiful, I mean repulsive). I've been trained for this moment for 4 years, one and a half of them active duty, and I'm ready to go and get it done. It will be such a great adventure in my life, if anything else.

It has been hard to say goodbye to those so close to me (all of you) but know that I have chosen this, and aside from the joking and sometimes complaining, that I am very proud of what I am about to do, and that my first thought over there will be to bring all of my soldiers back to their families safely, above my own safety. It's a weird thought, and being in the Army as a leader is so different than any other job in life, because we are all required to put those that we lead ahead of ourselves (unfortunately, that doesn't always happen). The nature of this type of leadership has helped me mature a lot in my life, and even in my walk with God, because that's the type of leadership He requires of all of us.

God has truly blessed me with a few amazing Christian men from my church here in Watertown that will be deployed with me. It is such a blessing to know that we will be together to help each other grow in Him and hold each other accountable in all things. I know that the military can be a lonely place for a Christian, and the fact that most of my closest friends that I've met in New York will be deployed with me truly shows God's hand at work in my (and their) life. Please pray that God's light will shine through us to those soldiers who are lost in the dark. Your prayers and encouragement mean more than you will ever know. You all mean the world to me.

Here is my address while I'm over there, if you ever feel like sending anything:


Matlock, Shane T.
TF Knighthawk E/2-10 AVN
APO AE 09355