Ethiopian Floods

There has been quite a bit of rain the past few weeks in Eastern Africa. I caught a glimpse of something moving along the crawl of Fox News a few days ago, so I decided I should write something about it. The Combined Joint Task Force that I am apart of deployed some teams down to Ethiopia to put up tents to provide temporary shelter and deliver food and water. There are also medical teams that will travel down there to provide care and treatment in hopes to prevent any kind of outbreak from the massive amount of death the flooding has caused. Preliminary estimates from Ethiopian sources state that over 400 people are dead and there are hundreds of others that are missing and presumed dead.

The problems from the rain arise from the fact that many people build their homes in dried up riverbeds. These locations are the only plots of land that are flat and free of the huge rocks that are found just about everywhere. Most of the time these places are dry and remain dry except during the rainy season, which is usually October through January. These rains caught everyone by surprise and sent flash floods through the riverbeds displacing thousands and killing hundreds.

We are all hopeful that the aid we provide will help the Ethiopians through this crisis and prevent any disease outbreaks or further death from this recent tragedy.

The Latest And Greatest

There isn't too much new going on out my way. I'm counting down the days until I'm back stateside. I'm going to miss the PAL Championships which are the first Olympic Qualifiers, but I'm hoping to be able to participate in the Armed Forces Championships as well as the USAs and Golden Gloves. With training and dedication I'll be able to earn one of the 8 spots for the Olympic Trials. I'm expecting a workout from a friend that works at the Air Force Academy to help me lose weight but maintain strength and speed. I'm hoping that if I get to go to the Air Force Camp I'll show up at 183 pounds and be able to cut the weight before the Box Offs. If I don't get to go to camp then I'll try to make USA and Golden Gloves tournaments by regional qualifiers.

Really that's about all that's going on out here, hopefully I'll have some interesting news in the coming weeks so that I don't have to post about nothing again.