On the Road Again

I realized that I had let this blog go by the wayside during the busy times out here and I dont want to make that mistake again. That is why I am all of a sudden making a flurry of posts to try and not only catch everyone up but really show whats going on out here.

The past few missions I have gone on have been pretty exciting and interesting to say the least. We went on one mission maybe a week or so ago and were at this secure compound close to one of the rivers, which one I dont remember, and an IED went off about 1000 meters away. We could hear the explosion and it took out a random civilian car and injured 2 people. The quick reaction force from the FOB responded out there and helped handle the situation. We just went about our business no problem at all. A few days later we got hit with indirect fire again, like I described in a previous post, but like always they were inaccurate and ineffective. The rockets didnt even make it to any of the areas that soldiers are at and some were shot out of midair by the IRAMs. Speaking of the IRAM system, when they do the test fires to make sure they are functioning correctly, they are so loud and obnoxious you can hear them from all over the base. I guess I would rather deal with the noise than not have them work, right?

The last mission we went on took us to the Police Headquarters. It was really interesting because we are trying to get them situated like an American police unit would be. The PRT has brought in computers and all kinds of technology for them to use that it was very interesting to see. They are in the early stages of applying ballistics technology to link weapons to crimes, dna technology is being studies jointly with the professors at the university, and they finally have software to start fingerprinting not only all the inmates they already have in custody but also all the other citizens. Whats weird is that when two people have the same name, they refer to them based on their parents names as a means of individualization. It was neat to see those tools being established and the satisfaction of the PRT members that they are making a difference. While we were there the 3 soldiers and myself that were the security detail had a lot of fun. When the PRT go into a meeting of some sort, in this instance with a police general, the other 2 stand outside and guard the door. Well a soldier and I stood outside for about an hour and a half and tried communicating with the Iraqi Police guards the whole time. It was hilarious. It could have been a scene from a comedy movie where people try to talk to each other in 2 very different languages and have no idea what on another is saying except for the hand and arm signals we passed and could barely make sense of. We all were laughing at each other and trying to talk. I took a bunch of pictures and after I would take one they all wanted to see what it looked like and for me to take more. They also want me to print them and bring some back so they can have them. My soldier uses dip which is a form of chewing tobacco. He went to put some in his mouth and then convinced one of the Iraqis to try it. That was hilarious because the guy had no idea what he was doing and he had it all in his teeth and everything. All the Iraqis were laughing at him until he finally spit it out. After that, I convinced one of the guys to trade patches with me so I gave him a 4ID patch for his Ministry of Interior patch. We had a good time.

The best part about all of the Iraqi soldiers is their strong desire to be just like us. Whenever we go somewhere it is each to see how they are trying to be like the American soldiers that had been there before. The gear they wear and buy is to copy what we look like. US soldiers all wear knee-pads but most of the time they are annoying and uncomfortable so they fall down to our shins. When the Iraqis see this they go out and buy knee-pads and wear them around their shins. They think they are shin guards and thats what they are for because they see ours like that. Some of them wear armor and they go out and buy pouches to put on their vest to look like us, but they have nothing in the pouches they just want to wear pouches. They all wear boots that are tan and they tuck in their laces because they see that is what we wear and what we do. It really is interesting how much they just want to try and live up to us and what we do professionally. That is one of the most interesting things I have learned. The Iraqi Army soldiers especially want to be just like us. The Lieutenant wants to talk to me, and only me. He wants the same respect that my guys give me, and he gets it because that is the only way to officially be able to train them the way they need to learn in order for them to take over and us to leave. So far it has been a very enlightening experience being here.

Of course, pictures to follow:

CONGRATS

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Yesterday morning / early afternoon my amazing girlfriend graduated from DeSales University! She graduated cum laude which is pretty awesome in my opinion and now officially has her RN degree. I guess she wont be a practicing nurse until she takes the boards in June but in my book she is a nurse now. My nurse!

Im so proud of all the hard work and dedication over the past few years you have put into achieving a goal you set for yourself. It is a testament to the extra effort you have put into your studies especially the last 2 years without having me around to support you from your side but only from a distance. I am really proud of you for being able to handle all of the stress you have in addition to the fact that you only get to see your boyfriend monthly, if that, and now not really at all.

I am really sorry that I could not be there to spend this once in a lifetime experience with you and share in the moment. You were in my thoughts all day yesterday and today and I am always hoping the best for you. I was cheering to myself during the time that you were graduating and going up to receive your diploma. I know that this whole situation and experience we are in and working through right now is difficult. Its hard being apart to being with but half a world makes it that much harder. Just know that you are always on my mind. The littlest things remind me of you. I cant wait to congratulate you in person when I eventually get to come home on leave.

I love you sweetheart.

routine

well i certainly have not posted in way too long of a time period. i guess i have just been letting everything slip my mind lately and not taken the time to come up and post to tell everyone how things are going.

so far everything is going very well. all of the missions we have gone on and participated in have been successful to the point that our PRT members are getting done what they need to accomplish. the fact that they all come home in the same form that they went out in is a testament to our keeping them safe. so, therefore we are all working together to accomplish something here and hopefully work ourselves out of a job sometime very soon. we have been to probably 15 - 20 different location so far and have gone outside the wire almost 5 times a week. usually we have a few days we go in a row and then a day off and that pattern continues the whole time. even when we have a day off from missions our guys are kept very busy doing maintenance on the vehicles and cleaning weapons. im sure there is no more an intimidating image than that of us rolling around on the streets and parking in front of building with up-armored vehicles and mounted machine guns sticking out and scanning the area. not to mention when we walk around with all of our gear on carrying our M4 rifles. i cant even imagine what the united states would be like if instead of traffic lights we had cops at every single intersection. and at major crossroads on highways we had the army stationed with checkpoints verifying passes and stickers. traffic in the US is already bad, imagine all that on top of it and think about traffic jams and how long it would take to get to work!

for the most part our days are becoming routine and all of the guys are getting set into some sort of schedule so they can plan out their time wisely. for the most part everyday we have checks on our vehicles and equipment, we have a patrol and security brief, we have an intel update, and then we roll. when we come back we refuel, wash down the vehicles, and prep them for the next mission. after that soldiers have time to go to the gym, watch tv or movies, diddle around on the computer, go use the internet, but more often then not, napping is the priority.

right now we are still in tents and the living situation is not the best that i could be. we are all pretty cramped but i guess it could always be worse. the worst part about the tent is the temperature. it is so hot outside and so cold in the tent that the temperature change is so drastic it makes me get headaches. hopefully i dont get sick. i dont know why all the guys like it so cold it just isnt comfortable at all for me.

im going to put up a few picture with this post and try to do that from here on out so you can get a sense of what things are like and see what it is we see. i hope all is well back in the states!

Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Hopefully I get the chance to talk to my mom today but in any case I want to wish her a very Happy Mother's Day! I hope that you and dad get to spend a nice day together enjoying yourselves doing something fun and relaxing. I know you have been working very hard recently so you deserve to take some time off to yourself. Hopefully the knowledge that I am ok and everything is going well out here will make you feel a little relieved about the situation and allow you to relax some more. Also, I want to wish a Happy Mother's Day all friends and family that are Mom's, and thank them for their continued support and the love they have given and blessed me with over the years. I know many people are reading this blog so that they can keep track of how I am doing and how things are going and I want to thank all of you as well for making comments and showing me your support.

While along the lines of me being thankful, I want to thank all those very much who have sent care packages. Again, thank you mom for being so supportive to me but also to my platoon by sending toys and goodies for me to pass out to the guys. I really am lucky to have the support system that I have and it is amazing to be able to rely and lean on everyone back home especially with me half way around the world. I can really see just in the dynamic of my platoon that not everyone is as lucky and those that are as fortunate in some ways are not in others. I have everything I could ask for. Close Family Friends sending packages with hygiene products, a incredibly loving girlfriend to send me anything and everything I ask for, and family that will always be there for me.

So, now that I have adequately given a brief thanks to my mom and all those who are continually supporting me, let me describe a little bit about Mother's Day in Iraq.

Today was a very long and tiring day to say the least. This morning we were up bright and early around 0500 to start preparations for the days missions. Typically this consists of getting all vehicles and gear ready to roll, loading up all weapons, doing pre-combat checks and inspections on personnel and equipment, making sure we have all communications programmed, getting chow, loading coolers with ice, water, and gatorade, and then giving a patrol brief. This concludes a few hours later at which point we go and pick up the specific PRT members that are the focus for the mission of the day. Today we got to the location right on time because we ran into a lot of Sunday traffic going through downtown Basra (pictures to come). We were there for an eventful 3 hours. During the time we were sitting waiting for the meeting to conclude, I decided not to go in but to stay in the street with the vehicles, it was quite exciting. My interpreter didn't get a chance to eat breakfast so he asked if he could walk down the street to a hole in the wall falafel joint. I went with him as his security element with one of my other soldiers because I wanted to walk around and talk to people, see what this little store was like, and try to make a positive American influence. First I must say, the falafel was delicious and my terp brought back one for everyone in my truck, a very generous gesture although 6 falafels cost him only 3 dollars. While in the store they were very talkative and gracious that we stopped by, taking pictures with us and of us, I got pictures of a bunch of Iraqi Police that were hanging out in the store drinking chai. It was very interesting and a great experience, every time we go back to that site I will be stopping by to say hi and grab some good local grub to eat. Hopefully I don't have any ill effects tomorrow in the latrine! After that we went back to the trucks to wait some more and we saw an incredible sight. 11 cows walked past us randomly, all by themselves, wild to say the least, in the middle of the road. Nobody even cared! Then to make it more incredible, they stopped and started eating trash off the sidewalk and off the street. Not grass mind you they were like scavengers eating trash, TRASH, that was just thrown in the streets and on the sidewalk and in the gutter. It was incredible I was dumbfounded. I got a picture of them too because I just could not even believe it. After that nothing really interesting happened while on the missions.

Later on this afternoon after we had already returned, debriefed, eaten lunch chow, and I had completed the plan for tomorrow an issue came up. I have a soldier whose wife is pregnant with their first child and we have been trying to get him home for the past week so he can be there for the birth. He is getting thrown around and given excuses left and right as to why they cant let him go and its really a shame to see they way the system is turning against the soldier. The Army always talks about how important the soldiers and their families are yet when something can be done that's simple and would not affect our ability to operate, they decide not to act. We have been trying to get his family and the doctor to send an appropriate red cross message that is worded in they way he needs to justify him going home but its not happening. Not to mention the case got more serious when her water broke over 24 hours ago and now she is high risk for infection and they will have to do an emergency operation. Its really hard because I don't understand what it is he is going through and as much as I try to explain the reasons for why he keeps getting denied the ability to get leave, it doesn't sit well with anyone. Its just one of the difficulties of being young and in charge of guys that not only are older but also are in completely different stages of their lives than I am. Luckily I have NCOs that support one another and I can rely on to be their for him but it just pains me knowing there is little to nothing I can do for him and to help out his situation.

Well I don't want to end on a negative note so I'll end with a joke ... please excuse the foul word at the end of it.

"An organization is like a tree full of monkeys, all on different limbs at different levels. Some monkeys are climbing up, some down. The monkeys on top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. The monkeys on the bottom look up and see nothing but butt-holes."

Description of Pictures

So I figured that my next post should be a description of the photos and explain what is going on in each of them since my parents decided to make comments on all of them and ask questions regarding the majority. I will start with the ones posted in Pictures 1 and end with the ones posted in Pictures 7. Hopefully I am able to answer the majority of questions and explain a little bit about whats going on and what it is.

Pictures 1:
There are 2 pictures with the airplane in them. That is the rundown airplane that we flew on all the way from Colorado to Kuwait. It made stops in Bangor, Maine and Shannon, Ireland before eventually landing in Kuwait. The 4 guys in the one picture are all E-6s or Staff Sergeants that are in my Platoon. The 2 pictures with the USO sign are from the concert we were able to attend while at Camp Beuhring that featured the Zac Brown Band. The pictures are slightly out of order I recognize that.

Pictures 2:
The rugby ball were in a crate for sale in the Ireland Airport, I figured they were pretty Irish so I took a picture of them. The dogs in that picture were "Soldier Greeter" dogs. The Bangor airport is a big refueling terminal for flights going in and out of theater and the USO there hires greeters. These dogs belonged to a couple that were there greeting us. They were very playful and raised everybody's spirits. The license place is of the bus that got us to Camp Beuhring, it said Kuwait on it so I took a picture, plus it turned out pretty neat with the shadow. The other picture is obviously of my weapon with the M320 Grenade Launcher attached to it.

Pictures 3:
Here you see a picture of me and also of the Paladins that I control. Since the other Platoon pushed out to a different location, I am in control of all 4 M109A6 Paladins and their support vehicles. The other picture of me is while I am inside the MRAP simulator that I described in an earlier post. The Tabasco sauce was on every table in the DFAC and I thought it was funny that all the writing was in Arabic. The final picture of an enlarged jersey barrier was along the road we took to get out to the Artillery Range. The graphics on the barrier were pretty funny so I took the picture while on a moving bus.

Pictures 4:
Here you can see the Paladins loaded up on the 18 wheelers that we used to bring them to and from the range and how they were transported out to Basra. Also that is a picture of the drivers, they were oh so willing to be photographed. The tower is the observation post that the observers called for fire from. The picture of the 3 LTs include myself, LT Huth the HHB XO, and LT Pivito a LT from Alpha BTRY 3-29.

Pictures 5:
Now for the camels. I was able to get up close and personal with the camels and they were very calm and it wasn't a problem at all. Here you can see a baby and also the Bedouin with his travel camel. He did not speak English at all and I described that whole situation earlier. Camels are pretty cool and it was neat to see them in person, an arms length away, and not just at the zoo. The other picture is of the FDC crew that we took out to the range with us. It includes my chief, computer operator, radio operator, and myself.

Pictures 6:
These pictures include more of the men that are in my Platoon. There are 2 different gun crews and I am in the picture with one of them and my Platoon Sergeant (the bald white guy) is in the other picture. In addition we have a range control vehicle which was funny because the range control people were all Americans that come over and do short stints. They are just as difficult to work with as the ones at Fort Carson. Their truck was pretty neat though. The other picture is of me and 3 technicians that work at Camp Beuhring. They came out to support us in case we had any mechanical issues they were already on site.

Pictures 7:
The first picture is of the tent that housed about 60 of us. It was cramped and not good hygienically having us all that close together breathing and spreading germs. A lot of people got sick including me. That is part of the process I guess and what everyone has to deal with. The middle picture is of the actual MRAP simulator with the vehicle inverted to simulate a rollover. We had to climb out after they spun it a few times. The final picture with all the HMMWVs in it is of all the vehicles we trained on while in Kuwait. Every picture posted is from Kuwait. I just wanted everyone to get a chance to see what an Up-Armored HMMWV looks like with its turret.

Pictures 7

Pictures 6

Pictures 5

Pictures 4

Pictures 3

Pictures 2

Pictures 1

Welcome to Basra

I knew my welcome to Basra would not be a relatively "warm" one since we are in this country fighting a war but I did not figure in the least that I would be forced to get used to IDF as soon as the first night in country. IDF stands for in-direct fire and what the means is we got hit with a rocket and mortar attack. To make the situation more interesting, I was in the shower when it happened. Now I dont want anyone to panic or worry, the rocket was a dud and landed in no mans land between the fenced border and where the actual COB is located and the mortar was shot out of mid-air by out IRAM system. Nothing at all happened, but it still was a quick realization that tension still exists and we all have to be on our toes at all times. As it turns out, other than in a bunker or a hardened building, the shower is actually the next best place to be because of the steel and wood roof that houses the sink, shower, and toilet stalls. Lucky me. It was pretty funny to tell you the truth because myself and one of my Staff Sergeants were in the showers and we hear the rocket launch and then explode and I said out loud, "was that a rocket attack on the FOB?" Then he replied "Yep." I just shrugged my shoulders and said "wow thats pretty cool, the first day we are here and we are already getting attacked." Then of course my Platoon Sergeant came running into the structure yelling for me to find out if I was scared and nervous so he could laugh at me. It was a good way to start off the deployment in Iraq especially after the fact that we got delayed a day and a half leaving Kuwait to even get here!

So onto better news. Let me describe what it is that I am doing here in Basra, Iraq and what my sole mission will be for the next year. I am the Platoon Leader for a PRT patrol. PRT stands for Provincial Reconstruction Team. The PRT is made up of DOD Army COLs and US State Department personnel. They can be teams that consist of up to 6 guys and I am their personal security detail and escort anywhere and everywhere they go. Pretty much the way things work is that the State Department has identified jobs that need to be done in and around Basra and people that need to be aided and assisted in doing their jobs. There are close to 100 different things that the PRT does and when they need to do anything, I am the guy that takes them there. A lot of them sound like they will be pretty interesting and exciting so I am looking forward to the job that I will be doing not to mention the fact that it will keep us very busy and make time go by quickly. Tomorrow I roll outside the wire for the first time (I cant say where Im going) and Im really excited to get out there and see what it is I will really be doing. They have given us about a week to takeover from the unit we are replacing and do combined missions with them so that we can ease into everything. Originally we were hoping for a longer turnover period of time but I guess we will have to do the best we can. It is pretty ironic how Peter works for the State Department and with the relationship the family has with the Clinton's, I now too am indirectly working for them both.

I was hoping to have internet in my living space but the living conditions are a lot worse than what we were expecting. We are living in massive 80 man tents that are subdivided into 10 x 8 man sections. There is no internet but at least we do have twin beds and dressers to unpack into. There is not internet or phone lines so I am still forced to go to kiosks and centralized locations to use both. That is really annoying. Until I can get internet on my computer I wont be able to put up pictures and paint a better picture of what its like here. Soon I will however sign over for my official fleet of vehicles which will consist of 6 HMMWVs (M1151s) and 3 MRAPs (which kind is TBD). That will be pretty cool! So as of now we have a lot going on and a lot more to come. All of my guys are doing well with the exception of the living conditions and the fact that supplies out here are very limited. We are all excited to start doing what we came here for and now that we are in Basra it is very soon before we take everything over and start showing our worth.

Leaving on a Jetplane

Tomorrow is officially my last day in Kuwait. Im excited to finally get out of here and move on to the destination that we will be based out of for the duration of my tour. It will be nice to figure out some sort of living situation whether its temporary or not so I can unpack some things and we can all get ourselves situated. I finally got an address to where I will be and how you all can send letters and packages. Below is the format you need to get it to me in Basra.

1LT Raymar, Aaron
HHB 3-29 FA
Unit # 104
COB Basra, IZ
APO AE 09374

I talked to someone in the USO here in Kuwait that knows one of the people that works at the USO in Basra and they said the facilities are pretty good. Hopefully its just as decent as what we have here in Kuwait. Im sure you all will be reading about it in a few days time when I get boots on the ground and regain my bearings. This is what we came here to do so we are all anxious to get over there and find out what is needed of us. I know the first few days will just be an adjustment and we will be meeting up with leaders in the unit we are replacing. That process will take time.

I want to officially congratulate Abby on her pinning because I know that was today and Im very sorry that I cant be there with you and your family. I hope my parents being there is a sign that Im thinking about you and we all are proud and support you and everything you have accomplished. I love you very much sweetheart.

Waiting Game

There hasnt been much going on lately here in Kuwait. 3-29 officially left a few days ago and 1-68 has slowly been leaving as well. The way they have these flights scheduled really does not have much of a method to their madness but rather just luck of the draw. I know we are at least scheduled to fly out on the 19th so we are just playing the waiting game until that date comes around.

Last night we actually had a concert here. The Zac Brown Band kicked off their USO tour here in Kuwait and are headed up to play at all the big FOBs in Iraq soon. That was a lot of fun because it was a part of the outside world that is natural to all of us and they came here to bring us a piece of America. I had only heard a few of their songs before the concert but they were really good in both the country and rock music that they played. They did a rendition of "The Devil Goes Down to Georgia" that was awesome and I really like that song so that was neat. It was just a great treat.

Other than that my days have mostly been dedicated to going to the gym, playing volleyball, watching movies or tv shows, and sleeping. Throw in going to the cafeteria to eat and thats daily life. Tomorrow we are going to do some drivers and orientation training on the MRAP and that will be followed by volleyball. I have decided that if their is no court set up already in Basra, my PLT and I will build one. Ill use the gift cards I got from people to buy the net and poles and balls off amazon and create an awesome competitive arena. It good because it works teamwork and allows people to take their agression and frustration out athletically rather than in other ways.

We are all itching to get out of here and move on to start doing what we came here to do in Iraq. I met the COL that I will be responsible for protecting and he seems like a very likable and down to earth kind of guy which will mesh very well with my platoon and our personalities. A few more days and I will finally be in country!

New Beginnings

Today I officially am no long part of 3-29FA and have become a Silver Lion with 1-68AR. My Platoon Sergeant and I met with the Commander and he actually did a stint with 3-29 a few months back so its good that he knows where we are coming from and the training that we have already done. I also met the COL that will be the head of the PRT cell we will pull security for. He seems like a fairly laid back and relaxed guy for being a full bird COL. We also heard about what to expect for our living situation and it may not be as desirably as we had all hoped. The Brigade size element our battalion is replacing is currently staying in all of the nice facilities and they dont actually leave Basra until mid July. Therefore, we are getting pushed out to a different area that is pretty much a tent city with trailers for showers, sinks, and bathrooms. Oh well I guess I just need to accept it and deal with the suck of the situation. Hopefully they have Internet I can get in my room and I dont have to go to a centralized location like I have to do here in Kuwait. I am also just getting over being really sick, with what I dont know, but it has really affected me the past few days. I didnt get much sleep and I felt like complete crap but its starting to get better so thats a good sign.

Its kinda weird right now because as much as I cant wait to get on with this experience it sucks that I wont be working with any of the LTs I have come to know and become friends with. They all start heading up within the next few days and I will be here in Kuwait until the 19th. I am not worried at all about meeting new guys to spend time with not to mention I get along really well with all the guys in my Platoon its just a new beginning and time to start over to say the least.

Oh, and by the way, I had to go out and run another M4/M16 rifle range the other day and everything was going really well until me got the worst natural event I have ever been a part of. The dust storm that hit us was like a fog over a lake in the early morning. It came out of nowhere with 50 mph winds and kicked up dust and sand everywhere. It was completely miserable. I was laying in the prone position trying to fire on my target and the sand hitting my eyes hurt so bad I was crying. It was hard to breathe with all that sand rushing into your mouth and up your nose and when I get back I was literally digging sand out of my ears. It was just incredible and it was so bad that range control forced us to stop shooting and shut down the range. I couldnt even believe it but at least it was something new to experience right. Not every experience will be good but it was still neat to feel what its like living out here.

Getting Hot

You know its hot outside when that hand sanitizer that is attached to all the porta-pottys comes out as hot as the water you use every time you shave in the morning. The last few days it has gotten to the high 90s and even eclipsed the 100 degree mark I think a few times. Sometimes its not too bad when there is a nice breeze that cools you off but otherwise its a hot wind that swirls the sand into your face and eyes, thats not fun at all.

Yesterday I had to run an M4 Range. To try and describe the chaos that preceded that actual running of the range would be like trying to verbally explain to someone how to navigate a maze without looking at a diagram of the actual maze. First of all, every time a range is run there are 2 people in charge, the OIC and the RSO. The OIC is the officer in charge and is responsible for doing all the planning and preparation, writing the order, and delegating responsibility. The RSO is the range safety officer who is responsible for safety on the range, making sure everybody is doing their job and soldiers are conducting their activities to standard, making sure water and gatorade and ice and MREs have been packed up, and ensuring their are constant radio communication between OIC, RSO, and Range Control. I was supposed to be the RSO. Our Battalion Commander ripped apart the other LT and had him up all night the night before writing and rewriting his order because he was being very picky with what he wanted except the problem was, nobody up at Battalion supported the range and gave any time of guidance or instruction as to what the intent was. It made things so much more difficult than necessary. In the end, the range was conducted but there were a ton of hiccups and it was much more stressful than it needed to be.

Moving on, I am kind of sad because I missed getting to spend this past weekend with Abby and my family. I wish I could have been home for Passover and spent time with everyone that came into town. I dont want to say that I am homesick because thats not what it is, its more the fact that I miss getting to talk to Abby every night and hear from my parents every few day, I miss going out and doing things with Craig or just watching TV, I miss the normalcy of life back in Colorado. Driving my truck, going out to eat or cooking a dinner feast, it all seems so foreign to me and I havent even been gone that long. Hopefully the Passover Seder went well and everyone enjoyed themselves. Just know I miss you all and wish I could have been there too.

Chaotic To Say The Least

I guess I need to start off from where I left off with the last post and then continue into the events of the last few days. The RVTT, Reconfigurable Vehicle Tactical Trainer, was a pretty good simulation that we were able to use while here in Kuwait. Its main benefit is the emphasis it puts on communication because all 4 vehicles that are part of the convoy are separated into different rooms. You go through the simulator as an entire patrol with 5 guys in a HMMWV in 4 isolated rooms to stress communication as well as command and control. It just helped us practice as a group. It was nice to be in the A/C but the mile walk there and back in our full gear sucked really bad. The heat makes carrying all of that weight so much worse especially when your sweat is dripping down into your eyes under your helmet.

Yesterday we went through an MRAP egress trainer which was awesome. MRAPs are the new vehicles that the Army brought over here to Iraq because they are supposed to handle the roads and IED explosions better than HMMWVs even though they are all really just as good as one another. Anyways, the egress trainer is a machine we go through to practice rollover drills and how to get out of the vehicle if it flips over or onto its side. It was like a contained roller coaster that you need to get out of upside down. It made me really want to go to Six Flags and at the same time reminded me that I shouldnt have eaten right before especially when we were suspended upside down just by the wait belt! After that we spent all afternoon down in the motor pool getting the guns ready to roll out to the range and making sure that all our equipment was set and ready to go for today.

Calibration and firing today could be its own post all in itself. Today was a complete disaster and a total wast of time. First off there was a whole timeline for how the day was supposed to play out put out yesterday, it had us getting up at 0300 this morning in order to load the vehicles up onto 18 wheelers because in order to fire live artillery in Kuwait we had to go over 2 hours away. The 18 wheelers were supposed to show up at 0400, they didnt get here until 0800. 4 hours late and I guess everyone in the middle east blames tardiness on "In Shalah" or "God Willing" but to me thats crap when they come late like that. That was really aggravating because we got off to a late start. My mood got a lot better when on the way out to the range driving in the bus we past 2 goat herders with huge herds as well as a ton of camels. I got a lot of pictures of camels and they were pretty neat to see just wandering the desert. It is a whole different world out here I dont know how the Bedouins survive out in the desert and in the heat with just camels all over the place. Then when we got to the firing point there were so many camels it was like ants on an ant hill. They were everywhere and myself and 4 other lieutenants had to try and go talk to all these herders to get them to move their camels off the impact area. Those communications didnt go well at all it was like we were trying to play pictionary with someone who had no idea what we were saying at all. It was pretty funny actually, we must have seemed so stupid. Then we took his picture with his main camel and that came out awesome! I cant wait till I can post my pictures up and everyone can see. The rest of the day was just very long and boring and tiring and tedious. We only shot 40 rounds and it took forever. After about an 18 hour day I am ready to take a shower and get some sleep.

Thank you to everyone that is following this and making comments. I love reading them and getting a chance to see who is following along and keeping up with this experience. Like I said I will try to get pictures up as soon as I can get Internet on my personal computer. Sending my best to everyone back home!

Dust Storm

So the other night when I finally got a chance to make the first post from here in the beautiful desert of Kuwait, I walked into the free internet cafe and it was nice and warm outside with a clear sky. When I left it was a completely different story. I coulnt see further than 5 feet in front of me and had no idea where I was on the FOB of ours. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the sand was kicking up into my face, into my nose and mouth, and everywhere else it could possibly go. But I guess I couldnt get enough of the sand that night becuase then I took my guys out to the volleyball court the next day to have a little morale boost during PT. Of course I was dominant and schooled them all on how to play like a champion. The best part about being a LT and outranking them is that I get to be the judge and make all the close calls, which of course went in favor of my team!

Tomorrow and the next day my platoon is going into another convoy simulator so we can practice our communication skills, reporting back to the base unit and the operations center, and our movement. It is all getting very repetitive but at least its a simulator indoors and that means there will be A/C. I much prefer that to having to wear all my gear in the increasingly hot Kuwaiti desert which is in the high 90s during the middle of the day. Besides the heat the only other annoying thing so far is the amount of time I have to go to the bathroom. I have been drinking so much water that not only do I have to go every other hour, but I have to get up in the middle of the night multiple times and go then too. It really sucks especially when Im sleeping like a rock, which doesnt happen very often because Im sandwiched by 2 guys that snore like friehgt trains. Oh well.

Kuwait

I made it to Kuwait safe and sound with very few problems. It is a very weird atmosphere here because this is more of a base than I thought. It is almost identical to NTC becuase there are permanent party stationed here that live and work for the year. In addition to the Army personnel there are American civilians here that run training and the security force protection detail is all contracted out. There are a lot of Kuwaitis that work on this base; which by the way is called Camp Buehring. There is a Starbucks, KFC, Pizza place, Donut shop, Green Beane Coffe, its actually really weird to have these things out here. The joke is that all the meat comes from camels and goats since they dont have any cows out in the Middle East! Communication is rough becuase the permanent party people tie up all the resources and are always out using the phones and computers which makes it hard to get on.

As it stands now, based on information I got a few hours ago, I am still going to COB Basra and will be there doing the supposed PRT mission. That is good news becuase we should have resources there. Well, there is a time limit on how long I can be on the computer so I will be back to post in a few days. Hopefully home is better than the sand box!

Unbelievable

Well, today has been unbelievable to say the least. Originally I thought the trip would go like this, Colorado Springs to Houston to Germany to Kuwait, but I was wrong and the actual trip is this, Colorado Springs to Maine to Ireland to Kuwait. Learning that was pretty interested but just wait, it gets better.

We landed in Maine to refuel, reload with supplies, and give everyone a few minutes to get off and stretch, well no no no much more happened in that time period. While everyone got off the plane to stretch and go to the bathroom the medics attended to 2 people that had gotten sick during the short flight from Colorado Springs to Maine. Apparently one guy got so sick that they had to call an ambulance and get official people to check him out. Mind you the ambulance is looking him over while everyone else has gotten back on the plane. 2 hours later they take him to the hospital. 1 hour after that they decide that he is going to go back to the springs to get healthy and fly out in a week and meet us there. That's all nice and fine until the crew and pilot then tell us that they have been working too long and need to take a break so they can rest. Now, 6 and a half hours later we are all supposed to rack out and sleep in the airport and wait until the crew is ready again to fly to Ireland.

I sincerely hope that the year does not follow this path, luckily the soldier that got ill is not one of mine and the only problem I am facing is annoyance and complacency.

The Night Before

So, I really didnt realize how hard this actually is going to be. I have been anxious all the way up until this point and now I am nervous and quite sad. I am really going to miss talking to Abby everynight and hearing from my parents how everthing is going back home in Watchung. I can't believe that the time has come for me to really gather all my things and get ready to get onto a plane and head half way around the world to a completely unkown destination. I know that everything will be ok and I am confident in what I know and how well I will perform but I still am nervous to go and embark on this journey.

This next year will really define me and what I do in the future. I just hope that after this experience I come out a better person with a ton more knowledge and I am looking forward to the opportunity to enhance myself and learn who I really am. Tomorrow is the beginning of my future.

Getting Ready to Go

I am starting this BLOG out on the first day that I really feel like it is time to go to war and kick off this experience. Everything that I own has been packed up and moved out of my apartment and put into storage. It is kind of sad to be sitting in an empty apartment filled with only stuff my roommate owns. I just feel like I really am getting ready to go because the sooner I leave the sooner I will be able to come home.