Godspeed Pete Henning

Yes, Pete is gone. ("Destroyed...by the Empire.") But he wasn't blown up, like Alderaan. He merely flew out yesterday, rather, off to Washington D.C. to begin his Rheumatology Fellowship at Walter Reed. I'll never forgive him for it, frankly, leaving me and Gwen like this. Leaving us alone, Pete-less, in this big scary Europe. How dare he? After all we've been through. We feel abandoned.

It was a bummer, to be sure, to see Pete go. We've had lots of fun in the past three years in Europe (and other places), and during the past six years total since I first met the guy. My first memory of him was him cracking some joke about gall bladders at lunch when we were interns. I don't remember what he said, just his midwest accent and goofy smile. This guy is alright I thought, alright indeed.

Cut away to six years later and we've been around the world together, from the best places to the worst (Speaking of, I'll never forget what an awesome sight old Pete Henning was that first night at FOB Falcon in Baghdad when I first arrived after completing what were probably the two most stressful weeks of my life. Whoa - listen to me - something tells me I'll be telling that story 40 years from now while I wear a hat covered in war pins, but still, it's true. Anyway, it was like something out of movie; I just finished riding a blackhawk over Baghdad war skies wondering if a rocket was screaming toward me the entire time, and then an hour later Pete and I are cracking jokes in some shitty dorm room on some shitty FOB in some shitty country and everything was just a little better, just because he was there. Good stuff this "friends" thing, I'm telling you. ) We've had a lot of fun from our trio with George days in residency to our early European exploration to our seasoned veteran traveling.

Anyway, all that said, I won't ruin a perfectly good post with sappy stories of fun times or anything, but I will say it's sad to see friends leave. Nothing profound there, just a fact.

Oh I'll see Pete Henning again, pleny of times, make no mistake. But will I ever live near him again? Who knows.

And with that, let's do this. What eveyrone came to see. What everyone NEEDS to see. The Pose montage.

...there's gonna be a MON-TAGE....


In chronological order...


Insurgent's worst nightmare, March 2006

(It took us about five minutes upon getting together at FOB Falcon to start playing with our gear, our weapons, and the camera. About 200 meters away from this shot, across walls that is, there was a damn war going on - it was a mixed Shiite, Sunni neighborhood. And about 800 meters away in the other direction, some feral dogs were on the prowl looking for a fight....)




Baghdad, FOB Falcon, Fall 2006, and the picture that launched "The Pose" for many trips to come.

(Yup, this one started it all. Taken by my PA Jeff. I don't know what the hell brought it up, the idea. This picture was months after the one above, and after my leave from Iraq. We were probably a month away from leaving country at this point, maybe less. I think it was October.)



Berlin, before New Year's, 2006

(Now it's starting to become a trend. The temperature was probably in the 30's this day - I think Eryn took this picture. This was part of our back-from-Iraq drinking binge New Year's extravaganza. Frankly it's kind of fuzzy.)



Berlin, drunken New Year's Eve 2007

(Now we're cooking with gas. And booze. This was just after getting out of the cab which we took from a Spanish Restaurant where we ate dinner (and where we were scowled at mightily I might add by the Germans, simply because of how Pete was dressed and because we were drunk and maybe a tad loud - but come on people, it was New Year's!) Anyway, it's around 11 pm New Year's Eve when this shot was taken. It was cold as hell but I didn't care or feel it at that moment, I mean look at me I'm sauced. After this picture our group (six in all) trekked around to find the Brandenburg Gate and the center of New Year's festivities. I remember, maybe a half hour after this photo, Pete went looking for a short cut through some woods and coming back a few minutes later with no new secret path, just a large cut on his face from a low branch. Good times.)





Chamonix, Winter 2007

(Taken by Libby. Not the best snow in the world that trip, but you just can't beat the scenery of the Alps. Just can't. Oh wait, it's not a Pose either. How'd this get in here?)




Bermuda, George's Wedding weekend, May 2007

(Spring time and love is in the air. George and Cristin. Me and Pete. The Bermuda shorts make this one an instant classic. There's another shot like this one (we always took a few) where I'm about to fall and both Pete and I are in stitches. Maybe I'll put it up one day...)





George's Wedding Day, Bermuda, May 2007

(We couldn't resist the opportunity to take one of these babies in our suits and in perhaps with the best scenery of any of these shots. This one might be my favorite - this or drunken Berlin.)






George's Wedding night, Bermuda, May 2007

(No pose here, either, just a few too many and a camera sitting around. )



Dublin, Ireland, 2007

(Ireland was a great trip. This shot is taken at the University, and the statue behind us is of some "crusty dean" who wouldn't admit women. Apparently after he died, they got right in. There's more to that story, but that's all I can remember for now. I think this is the first shot since the original where I go left arm on torso - I'm still figuring out which side works best to hold Pete.)



Croatia, the first trip, August 2007

(Pete really nailed the tender aspect of the mock kiss in this one, kind of like Bermuda in suits. (He's getting good at it by now, just look at him screw it up royally back in Berlin for contrast purposes.) This was taken in Mali Losinj, a place I could honestly live and just one town over from my grandfather's village, Veli Losinj.)




Barcelona, October 2007

(I'm pretty sure I can still hear John Lesher cackling as this shot was taken. This was taken at the end of a long bike tour which rocked. My favorite part is the outline of the guidebook in Pete's pocket- either that or it's his bony ass.)



Croatia, the second trip, on the walls of Dubrovnik, June 2008

(Back in Croatia, first time we tried this shot with dueling hats (with brims). It made it a little tricky, but by this point we're pros so it was no big deal. I'm back with right arm to torso now. I think I finally settled on that side as my preferred "Power Base" for these pictures.)







And finally our swan song, Paris, July, 2008

(It started to rain right before we shot this. It's as if Paris, and to a larger extent Europe, knew we were saying goodbye...)


And there it is. Until I hold Pete in my arms again, and there's a camera around to document it.

Until we meet again Pete Henning.