Thank you Veterans! 11 Nov 2008

Although there is a different kind of celebration within our unit, we don't want to lose site of those that came before us to give us the American freedoms we all appreciate.

Don't forget to thank a Vet today!

Daddy, thank you for your 20+ years of service in the Air Force and for your service in the Korean War. You are my hero!!

To Kelly and Alan, my brothers, thank you for your service in the Army!

We left Kuwait at 945pm on Saturday and arrived in Ft. Dix, NJ at 420am on Sunday morning. Flight was only 14.5 hours which is way better than the original 18 hours.

Here's one of the last sunsets we saw in the middle east.

These are the transient tents we stayed in at Ali Al Salem, Kuwait.

It was very transient as people came in and out of our tents at all hours of the day. None of us got any sleep, but we didn't complain as this was part of the process in coming home.

Someone was kind enough to let me know the way home. I figured that Ft. Wayne was close enough!!

This was taken at 5pm, right before the formation to catch the buses to Kuwait City for our flight.

SPC Charlotte Martinez and SFC Denise Shelton are with Mr. Eagle at line up time.

Mr. Eagle looks pretty happy.

This is a shot taken as we were lifting off from Kuwait City.

Next stop....USA!!

This is probably not the best shot I've ever taken, but it sure was the most welcoming at 4 am Sunday 9 Nov.

The USO and Veteran's of Foreign Wars greeted us as we got off the bus.

The USO at Ft. Dix has farewelled and greeted every group that has come and gone since 2004.

I had the best bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich of my life that morning!

It was a warm reception and a perfect welcome home. :-)

The morning was crisp at 46 degrees or so, but it was actually comfortable with the moisture in the air.

It had rained the night before and the air smelled so clean. I spent several minutes just taking deep breaths.

Of course I took a picture of a puddle with the reflection of of a red maple.

I hope everyone enjoyed the fall colors this year. I was thankful to be able to catch a glimpse.

So far, we have cleared medical and dental which is probably the most important part of our demobilization process.

Today we turned in our body armor and other equipment. My bags are more than 50 pounds lighter.

Tomorrow we will continue with more outprocessing. We will be at it all day which is fine by me.

I do not have a hard time of when I will get home. We are hoping sometime before the weekend.

See you soon!

Kuwait, 7 Nov 2008

We are in Ali A Salem, Kuwait and have been for a couple of days. We have been lucky to get to this post as we will bus up to Kuwait City then fly home. We were supposed to go to Camp Virginia which would have been just another stop along the way. No one is complaining despite the mosquitos that could carry away a small child!

Our transfer of authority was on 3 Nov and then we flew out on the 4th.


Here is a photo of three of my favorite NCO's. This was taken just after the 123rd National Guard from Arizona took over.

SSG Tim Sander, SFC Denise Shelton, SSG Gary Hawkins, and me.

Tim was the editor of the paper we produced, Gary was the photo editor. Both taught me a great deal about photography and photo shop techniques.

SFC Shelton was the Broadcast leader and the creator of the HCS DVD.


In each military journey I have been involved with, it has always been the NCO, the backbone of the Army, that has made each tour special. Because of the nature of this tour and the stresses involved, these stellar Soldiers made the difference for me. I would serve with these three anytime, anywhere.

My bags are packed with the exception of my sleeping bag. My body armor, all 43 pounds of it, is packed away as well. My M-16 has never been cleaner.

I've accomplished much throughout this tour, but as always I could have done more.

I'm looking forward to sending out a few more blogs to close out this walk in my life.

I'll see you next time in Ft. Dix.

love, p

Mr. Eagle's Final Mission in Iraq, 2 Nov 2008

Monday is our transfer of authority (TOA) ceremony. Not sure who will show up to officially state that the 123rd Arizona National Guard is taking over the public affairs role here on Balad. We may just mill around and give everyone high fives! That would be more our style anyway.

This has been a good tour. I have some incredible memories to share with my family and friends. I have seen things that I hope one day people will be able to see as a tourist. There are so many neat and wonderful things here in Iraq.

Didn't know how I could top some of the things Mr. Eagle has done, but this is probably pretty good…

Mr. Eagle rode in an US Air Force Predator for four hours on 31 October!!

The Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle used for surveillance. Its wing span is about 50 feet and can fly almost 25 hours on one tank of fuel.

Yes, for 25 hours at about 70 knots. Now, that's impressive!

I got a chance to see the cockpit (flight control), and learned that the Predator is operated by a pilot and a sensor operator.

The pilot controls the take off, then hands the controls over to a stateside operator for the bulk of the flight, and another pilot will land the Predator hours later.

How's that for modern technology??

The sensor operator's duties are to monitor the sensor, below the nose of the UAV, as well as make observations of whatever it is looking at.

This certificate was signed by the pilot and the sensor operator. It states that Mr. Eagle was flown on a combat mission.



The other certificate was signed by the production superintendent and the site manager.

It states that Mr. Eagle was flown on a combat sortie over an undisclosed location in Iraq.

The Predator can fly armed or unarmed. Mr. Eagle is sitting on one of the armaments.

All in all, I'd say Mr. Eagle has had a pretty good tour.

He seems a bit tired and could probably use a good rest somewhere in a display case at HCS.

Then we can say the eagle has landed!

My activities this week were not quite as exciting but I wanted to introduce you to my Bible study group from Monday night.

It was a great mix of Air Force, Army, Navy and civilians. When you think about it, it was cool to be able to study the Bible in a Muslim country.

This is a photo of our congregation last Sunday.

4 Days left in Iraq! 31 Oct 2008

Our replacements are here and we have completed the first week of training! Our training is called right seat / left seat.

We sit in the right seat the first week while the new team sits in the left seat. They observe us doing our day to day tasks and try to absorb as much as they can. The next week, we switch seats and they run the show while we offer support.

It is very crowded in the building and they will be glad when we leave as much as we will be glad to leave them.

This is Chaplain (CPT) William Brown the Air Force chaplain of the contemporary service. He rocks!

The rain season has begun. With the sand, you can just imagine that it is one giant mud puddle. However in the mess, there was a gorgeous rainbow to remind us of God's promise.








But there's still work to be done to get us out of the muck.

This is a gorgeous shot by our combat camera crew.

Unique memorial to the fallen.

We continue to make friends here in Iraq.

I hope this boy remembers this moment when he is older.

My computer time is very limited so I will try to get in a blog or two while I'm in Kuwait.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

love,

p

Less Than 30 Days!! 19 Oct 2008

Didn't get a chance to take too many photos this week. We are all busy trying to pack and get stuff sent off. I have one more post office run to make this weekend and I should be done.

Our replacements will be here next week and I don't want to interrupt their training with my personal stuff.

This little girl is so cute with her new note pad and stuffed animal.

I thought this picture was striking with the green colored outfit.

There's not too much water up our way. The marsh lands are way down south toward Basra.

Not sure where this photo was taken, but the water looks so calm. Makes for a great photo.

This is something you would not have seen a year ago.

We do have some gorgeous sunsets here. The Marines make it look even better!

Who's on display here? The Marine? or the kids?

We've come a long way from herding cattle with horses!

Everyone loves a good thumb wrestling match!

This shot was taken with a night vision device. It's the back end of a CH-47 Chinook.

I could have used this netting the other night when my arm became a banquet for a sand fly!

This photo is for Anita L. at WVU. :-)

I found these gorgeous desert flowers on my way to the gym.

These flower photos were taken just before the sun came up.

It is incredible to see such beauty in this arid landscape.

This photo was taken by one of our guys on the night of the full moon. I had a little fun in photo shop with some blur effects.

Ta ta for now. :-)

Baptism and More 13 Oct 2008

I had a chance this past week to see God's hands work miracles! I was at a court yard reading my Bible when a captain approached and asked what I was reading. Brian Tung is a chaplain with the 5-1 CAV out of Alaska. Track Palin is in the higher headquarters element of Chap. Tung's unit!

I told Chaplain Tung about the cool Biblical and archeological sites that were here in Iraq and Chap. Tung said he needed help getting a Soldier baptized.




The unit was supposed to leave the next day and I didn't know if I could get in contact with the Air Force chaplain, the owners of the baptistery.




The unit's flight was delayed by a day and Chaplain Tung baptized Spc. Holden on Tuesday at 11 am.


Here's Mr. Eagle filling the baptistery. He's holding a pole so the plug doesn't slip.














I know God's hand worked out all the details. Despite no phone capabilities and distances requiring vehicle transportation, all the pieces fell into place so easily.


I think for the most part, my eyes are closed to many of the daily wonders of God. It is nice to get a wake up call and see something so awesome and know that those things happen all around us...all the time.





After the baptism, I found Mr. Eagle asleep in the cookie box.

It was a good day for Mr. Eagle, too!

The remaining photos are from our combat camera guys.






No one can resist the charms of a cute puppy!








Making new friends.

Here is yet another example of how Soldiers are having a positive impact on the Iraqi communities.

Soldiers and local folks rebuilt a school that was once used as an insurgent hideout.

Apparently there are a whole lot of Soldiers who know who the Gladiators are.

I've only seen the show in passing while channel surfing.

The Gladiators came and visited Balad and they were all very nice.

This young man has biceps the size of my thighs, and can bench press mini-vans.

The Soldiers had a great time during their visit.

The USO does an awesome job getting entertainers here, there and everywhere.

If you see a USO volunteer, please thank them for us!

Thank you for posting comments on this blog!

The countdown continues! woohoo!

Last Month to Go! 4 October 2008

The last two weeks seem to have flown by, which is a good thing. I managed to mail off two large boxes of stuff I don't need. Our away teams are starting to come back creating the full house effect. Our replacements will soon be here!

This week was fairly exciting as we heard of the Heritage Christian Elementary School reading challenge for this year.

The 215th immediately got into the swing of things and are supporting the school in their challenge. We all thought it was cool that the kids will mark their progress with a submarine!

The 3rd graders of HCS totally outdid themselves sending us cookies and other goodies!

The cookies are delicious and I think they might have been gone by the end of the day!! :-) Yum!

Thank you for supporting us with prayers!!

This is a Ramadan dinner. For a month out of the year, Muslims will fast from sun up to sun down. This is done for many reasons, but one is to remember those that are less fortunate than they are. Ramadan will be over in a few days and the Iraqis we spoke to are looking forward to that day.

The rest of these photos are from combat camera.

I call this one the Piped Piper of Baghdad.

Got tomatoes? Looks like the crops and businesses are doing well!

This ferris wheel looks like it needs to be hand cranked to go, but I don't see the kids complaining!

There's only one word that will fit this photo: Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I heard that this year's fourth grade Hoe Down was a blast! I sure did miss playing in the 'Bazaar Blue Grass Band' with Mrs. Bartemus.

This Iraqi band was just not the same.

Combat camera does a great job capturing the moments.

I'm reading a book by Azar Nafisi called 'Reading Lolita in Tehran.' I highly recommend it if you are curious about the culture of this region.

This photo reminded me of that book.

I love how each girl has such a distinct personality. It is probably one of my favorite photos.

Not too long ago I read on an internet newspaper that there was not any electricity in Baghdad.

This is a photo taken, with a night vision device from a Blackhawk, in Sadr City.

Looks like they found the 'on' switch.

I love this photo and wonder who this Soldier is thinking about.

Looking forward to an Indiana sunset soon!