Christmas 2007

Sun. 6 Jan 08

Surprise! I know you are shocked to hear from me. I did make it home safely from Iraq, if you haven’t figured that out. I was not a casualty. It’s actually been 13-months from today since we returned to the States. (I’m enclosing a summary of our tour during Operation Iraqi Freedom 05 – 07 or as I say… “OIF4,” so I will not rehash it.)

I was supposed to be back in Baghdad three-weeks ago for my next tour, but due to the awesome success of the surge and the tremendous efforts of my counterparts, who are diligently serving in the capital city (which is the center of gravity of Iraq), we are delayed for a few more weeks. I was supposed to go back to the same place where we were last year, but again due to the changing and improving tactical situation on the ground, we are going to another location in Baghdad instead.

The good news is that I will not be gone for two Christmas seasons in a row. Instead, I’ll be gone for two spring plantings. (My homestead still looks terrible with thistles and crab grass wrestling with our Bermuda grass, but I did make a little progress with the landscaping on our little piece of Texas.)

Needless to say, it has been a hectic year as we prepared for our third combat tour in Iraq. This time we are scheduled for a 15-month tour instead of 12-months. I’ll try not to bore you with the details, but here is a quick summary. (I often give similar versions to the media in the press kits when they come with me to visit our aggressive training regimen.)

Since we returned from Iraq in December 2006, we took about 30-days of leave. So we didn't do much in January 2007. (I took Lois to Barbados for a week to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We had a great time touring the island and did some SCUBA diving. We flew Grandma Judy here, so Jasmine stayed home with her. They had their own adventures with grandma off-roading in the family van and hiking on West Fort Hood. I also seized the opportunity to take images on the sidelines of the 2007 Cotton Bowl game in Dallas, where Auburn beat Nebraska by a field goal.)

In February, we received our equipment: drew combat vehicles and a bunch of other equipment such as radios, etc. (We left our combat vehicles in Iraq for our replacements, so we needed to get reequipped.) We also qualified with our assortment of small arms weapons by firing tons of ammunition on Fort Hood small arms ranges.

In March, we continued small arms ranges and conducted patrol and platoon lane training. Our units (six battalions) spent three weeks in the field focusing on battle drills and conducting lane training on react to roadside bombs, react to sniper, conduct medical evacuation, conduct route clearance, etc.

In April we finished the platoon/patrol lane training and prepared for Raider Scrimmage by building five simulated Iraqi villages. From 16 April – 7 May, we conducted the brigade field training exercise. We rolled to North Fort Hood and occupied a base camp. Everything we did replicated conditions in Iraq. One battalion was the blue force and conducted operations like we would in Iraq for one week. One battalion role-played the Iraqi citizens, leadership in the villages (mayor, business leaders, farmers, vendors, etc.), Iraqi army and police and terrorist cells. One battalion provided observer controllers. Then the units rotated for three iterations. It was the best home station training event that many of us had ever seen.

From 8 May – 21 June, we conducted gunnery. Our M1A2 SEP Abrams Main Battle Tanks, M2A3 and M3A3 Bradley fighting vehicles, M109A6 Paladins (155mm self-propelled howitzers) and M1114 gun trucks conducted Tables I through Table XII qualifying as many crews as possible.

We continued to conduct collective training ever since gunnery ended as we did various live fire exercises. We also continued to field new equipment as it arrived. We drew our new individual equipment from Rapid Fielding Initiative. Many of our Soldiers attended their necessary Non-Commissioned Officer Education System courses as well.

The first full weekend in July, I spent a few leave days and traveled to a small town in Pennsylvania. I was the guest speaker at a function honoring veterans. There was a parade and concert at the fair grounds. A number of local musicians dazzled the crowd and two Soldiers gave speeches. A local Army National Guardsman was the other speaker. The hosts treated me like a king for the weekend. In the parade, I rode in a classic red convertible like the Grand Marshall at the Rose Bowl Parade. It was a nice event.

We deployed to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., 5 Aug – 10 Sep, to conduct a mission readiness exercise to evaluate the brigade from top to bottom before we return to combat in Iraq. (It was like the final exam before we complete our training regimen for the pending combat deployment.) The brigade and battalion staff officers and commanders (company through brigade) completed the Leader Training Program before the bulk of the troops and equipment arrived.

From 17 – 23 Aug, we conducted Situation Training Exercises by doing various training lanes in the Iraqi villages at NTC. Some of these lanes included medical trauma events and evacuation, check point operations, and patrolling. Included in the lane scenarios were events using the following battle drills: reacting to sniper, roadside bomb, car bomb, small arms fire and indirect fire attacks.

From 24 – 31 Aug, we conducted full spectrum operations in a counter insurgency environment. In addition to the same events in the Situation Training Exercises, our leaders engaged government, military, police and civil leaders in ten Iraqi villages as various terrorist cells also operated in the Ghazi Province, which replicates as many complexities of the Iraqi Theatre as possible. Essentially every element from the brigade headquarters to the smallest specialty squad was tested, stressed and evaluated to give us first class training opportunities before we deploy back to Iraq in a few weeks.

Here’s a quick story. When I was at NTC, I was chatting with an Iraqi woman. (She is a Caladean Christian that is hired to be a role-player. She immigrated to the U.S. in 2003 after Saddam’s regime fell and now lives in San Diego. During our rotation, she was the governor’s press secretary.) She asked me if I had been to Iraq.

I answered jokingly, “Yes, I’ve been there so often the last few years that I ought to buy a house.”

She replied, “You can buy mine.” She wasn’t joking.

Her answer surprised me, so I asked her where the house was located. She told me it was on the Tigris River in northern Baghdad. (I’ve seen many houses along the Tigris River in northern Baghdad. I’ve even been inside some of them. In that area, the houses are quite nice.) However, I declined her offer.

While we were in the sand box at NTC, we learned that our “Raider” Brigade deployment to Iraq was delayed for 90-days. Therefore, we have continued to train. In October – December, we conducted two more iterations of gunneries for our big guns and live fire exercises in urban terrain. We also took two three-week periods of block leave. So, during Thanksgiving and Christmas I took some leave. I stayed home and whittled away at my “honey do” list, but it has grown again.

Even during our training, we were sometimes called out to help the Fort Hood community. Fort Hood has what is called a Crisis Reaction Battalion. Four times during our watch, we were called out to help. In February, there was a big range fire that threatened some housing areas and the Post Exchange. We helped put the fire out. In March, there was a flood that swept away a young toddler from a residential backyard. Our Soldiers found the young boy, but tragically he was dead. We found his body about four miles down stream. In June, a young sergeant managed to get lost on the land navigation course. This event made national news. We were called out and found his body four days later. Also in June was an exercise to test the response of the emergency systems, we were called out to help provide security for that event, which was a simulated terrorist attack. (Ironically, I escorted media for each of these events except the fire.)

Professionally, it’s been an exiting year. I have facilitated interviews or escorted reporters for nearly 90 media events. I often invite media to see our training, because if they come I know they will do a story. I get more mileage out of the media doing their own stories than having my team producing the stories and distributing them to the media outlets. My team does continue to crank out print and video stories…about 3 – 5 per week, but often times the editors at the various media outlets will not run our products for whatever reason. My assessment is that the editors think we are biased, even though most of our product is straight news. My team also published a field newspaper twice a month and every week at NTC.

Personally, it’s been a tough and challenging year. My grandmother, Jessie, died about 12:15 p.m. on 20 Sep, while I was advising a scene for a documentary with a TV crew. My cousin called to let me know between takes. (The documentary is a training film for medics at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.) She was 98 years old. I said a few words at the funeral. (I visited with her at a family reunion in July, so I am thankful that I was able to spend some time with her before she moved to her new Heavenly destination.)

In March, the post chaplain selected me to be the Parish Council president, so when I’m home that takes some of my time. I also sing with the praise team on Sunday mornings at the 73rd Street Chapel, also known as the 1st Cavalry Division Memorial Chapel.

In November, the family Ford Windstar van died. I replaced it with a 2006 Jeep Liberty. Lois loves driving it, so now my “work vehicle” is the Mazda Miata.

I also had some physical challenges. The laser eye surgery on 2 Nov corrected my left eye, but not the right one. I have had complications. I still see double due to cornea scaring. I may need additional surgery, but now I am too close to my deployment for any corrections. In the spring I pulled hamstrings three times, so I did not run any road races this year. However, this fall I did manage to run an 11-minute 2-mile dash during an Army Physical Fitness Test. (It helps to chase a gazelle.)

We kept Jasmine alive! She struggled the last three years with anorexia, bulimia and suicidal ideations. She also has nightmares from an event when she found a dead body on a hike with her cousin, Andy, while I was at NTC. (Andy lived with us from July to Thanksgiving.) The police initially did not believe her. During the search, they found a different body. So, there is no closure yet. Meanwhile, she is slowly moving out of a Gothic phase, which is good. Otherwise, she is doing well. She is a freshman in high school. She is excelling at history, art, drama and reading. She also enjoys music and playing the guitar. I often hear her singing in her room …she has a lovely voice.

Lois had a banner year. This year she is working as the publicity person at Protestant Women of the Chapel, in addition to teaching Jazz and running her photography business. She published monthly newsletters and organized media events for PWOC. When I am home, I am her assistant on her photo shoots. (In the last four years at Fort Hood, I’ve been home maybe 13-months and most of that was this year.) PWOC also functions as a support group for many wives while we are deployed.

Please pray for my cousin, Sheryl. She is an awesome gal, but is suffering from lymph node cancer. She beat it once several years ago when her kids were young, but now it’s back. (She’s the one that called me when grandma died.) She is also a tremendous host. She insists that I visit when I pass through the area, so I stayed at her place for the family reunion and the funeral.

I must get back to work. I have more events to plan including another congressional visit. (I am also tasked to be the protocol officer.)

Thanks for all the prayers. Keep Jazz in your prayers. God is definitely in control…and I’m glad He is. I wish you well.

Keep looking up!