FRIDAY, June 11th.

Day 397 of CPT Patti's deployment.

We had a brief phone call yesterday. As usual the connection was very poor. But I sensed that she was not in the highest of spirits.

I asked her about it...and she allowed as how difficult it is to keep a positive state of mind amidst the near universal expressions that "we are going to be extended again."

Another extension seems unlikely to me (given PRESENT circumstances). I asked her where this opinion was coming from.

"Everyone is quoting General Myers from his meeting with the 1AD families the other day."

As if readers of this site need reminding that a comment taken out of context is a dangerous and misleading thing, General Myers did say "never say never". But, as John showed us in his addendum to that post, GEN Myers also "said it would take extraordinary events in Iraq before he would bring that recommendation to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld."

If being the keeper of this site has any side benefit it is a rather facile knowledge on many of the issues surrounding Operation Iraqi Freedom, 1st Armored Division and events affecting both. Thus, it was nice to be able to quickly take my darling wife through the context of General Myers remarks, and reframe her thoughts in a positive direction.

This is the first item today that reminds us how potent and dangerous it can be to traffic in uninformed opinion.