First Miles Down

Well I figured I needed to update everyone on how things have been going here in Iraq.

We flew into Joint Base Balad (JBB) from Kuwait back at the end of July.

Once we got on ground we started the Relief In Place (RIP) process. This process is how units change while they are in country and it culminates with a ceremony called Transfer of Authority (TOA) ceremony. Our TOA ceremony which is pictured below was in August.

Once done with the TOA ceremony you are pretty much on your own to accomplish the mission. We actually have two missions here on JBB the main one is running the Phipps Troop Medical Clinic and secondly we run an ambulance service.

So things here are going very well. I have included a picture of how we live. Imagine shipping containers made into rooms and stacked on top of each other with everything being surrounded by huge concrete walls. It sounds crazy but it actually is not that bad. Actually overall life in Balad is probably about as good as I expected.

The Marathon Begins

Well today is the first day of a long year. I am now at Camp Buehring in Kuwait and will be moving north soon. I had wished to post more about what was going on at Fort Lewis but not much happened. Once we got done with training we just waited around for our flight. I will mention a couple of good things that happened there. We got a lot of praise from the command for being one of the most disciplined units to come through the mobilization center. We were also the only unit out of three there to validate on time. It really speaks volumes about the people that I am deployed with.

Things should start to pick up now that we have arrived in Kuwait. Getting off the plane this time really was a shock to the system. All of the previous times I have flown into Kuwait we always landed in the middle of the night which is a little easier. This time though we landed in the heat of the day during a sand storm. Not the best welcome to our new home. Though most all of the soldiers took it very well. The heat here really is amazing. It is not only the hot sun that you have to deal with but the blistering wind and sand coming off the desert. It will take some time to get used to it. While we are here we will be finishing out all of the training that is required to move into Iraq but there will be quite a bit of down time. That downtime is really time to get acclimatized to the area. One nice thing we have this time that we didn't have last time is wireless internet that is not outrageously expensive. Being able to get online makes everything better. I will try and put some pictures up when i get another chance. I hope everyone is well.

Fort Lewis Washington

Well I have been in Washington for about a week and a half now and everything is going fine. The weather out here is nice cool in the mornings and pleasant all day. Though this is great now I am not looking forward to the change when we get to Kuwait. Training in the Georgia heat would be better for training because it would not be such a large change but we cant change things now. Things should start to pick up as we finish out our training here. I will be home for 2-5 July to visit before I leave to go and I cant wait to see everyone.

I will be updating this post with pictures and other news as things continue to move forward out here. I hope everyone is doing great back home.

Calm before the Storm

Lindsey and I were able to get away for a week to spend some time together. For those that don't know we went to Ocho Rios, Jamaica for the week before I was scheduled to start working at the unit. We had a wonderful time and some interesting experiences. It was really great to get away and be able to focus our energy and time on each other with no distractions. While we were there it rained a few days but it really didn't bother us. Though dealing with the crazy people selling stuff at Dunn's River Falls was an experience we both are fine not reliving. We got to have a photo shoot which was really neat. Everywhere you went there was always someone snapping a picture. We got to go sailing and ate some good food but most of all we spent as much time as possible together. Having been through a deployment before we both know that it can be taxing due to poor communication capabilities and the time difference so it was important to load up on memories before I left. We had a great time and many great memories for both of us to take into the next year.

Fort Stewart Training

In the beginning of April, I headed to Fort Stewart, GA for my first stint of training in preparation for my deployment to Iraq. This is the time when we refresh ourselves on what we call Army 101 which are all of the basic soldiering tasks. We spent a week in the classroom getting all of the mandatory briefings that you have to have before you deploy. Then we moved out into the field where we started the basic soldier skills. One of these was something called HEAT training which stands for HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer. This system is an up-armored HMMWV body mounted on a rotisserie so that they can flip you in any direction and then you have to get out of the vehicle. The soldiers had fun with this training but got good experience that I hope they never need. We also did mounted land navigation which is pretty much just land navigation in a vehicle. We went out on the muddy back roads of Fort Stewart in a brand new up-armored HMMWV with one of the trainers driving. I have never seen a HMMWV get stuck but I have the pictures to prove that it happened. We had to sit on the side of the road for a couple of hours while they got something big enough to pull it out of the ditch. As you can see from the pictures, it was buried up to the frame. We also spent time on the shooting range where I qualified with the M16 and the M9 pistol and familiarized myself on the M249 SAW and the M240B machine guns. I am proud to say I was the top qualifier for the company on the M16 rifle. This is a good thing because none of the soldiers like me being on top, so they will be motivated to surpass my standard when we do it again in a month. I am not going to let them have it though; I want the bragging rights.

Out of the Woodwork

Since I was notified of my second deployment I have been astonished by the amount of support coming from people in my life. It makes me feel so good to know that Lindsey is surrounded by people that will keep her going through this. I have said from the beginning that I am more worried about how my deployment will affect everyone around me than I am about doing my job over there. Our family and friends that made it through the last deployment have been through this before and are ready to help in any way. We also have gained the support of so many new people. New friends that we have made through work and through our new neighborhood have stepped up to help Lindsey through this time. I feel so blessed to have so many people in my life.