Taking a little trip

[Gry Ghst]

Good to hear from you.Here in southwest ohio had some bad weather trees down and such,time to get the chain saw out and clean up the yard (5acre yard).Keep up the good work over there, think about the troops every day and hope everyone gets home safe.

[Mac]

Thanks for the update, Ryan. I've got a huge project so I haven't had a chance to post your pictures up but I see you already have!!

-Mac

[XLR8]

Ryan, thanks for the update! It's always good to hear from you!

You're in our thoughts and prayers.
Take care and we'll look forward to the day we can buy you a cold one!

Jane Ann

[SPANISHVETTS]

My CO is a long time Army vet, at 36 he has been in for 17 years and been in multiple deployments so he knows the deal. He is very easy going and outspoken, always joking. In mid January he and his wife had their second child and first son, Broady. When the CO left in March Broady was barely two months old. He'll be 6 months old shortly now and by the time we redeploy he'll be almost 18 months old. The CO gets a dvd and pops it into his computer. He laughs as he watches his baby boy make faces at the camera, as his wife encourages him. My Co is smiling but he gets a little quieter and his face saddens a little. I can only imagine what it must be like to have to watch your son grow up on DVD's sent to you and wonder when you come home if he'll recognize you. At least my CO was there for his birth where as another soldier here learned of his child's birth via email. His son will be over a year old when he gets to see him upon his return. Still the soldiers will show each other the pictures with a sense of pride, possibly to mask anything else, as they talk about their childrens accomplishments or developments since last time. I think they share because they know we all are affected in that way in some manner but still, as a young guy with no kids........I can only imagine.

Ryan, this is probably the hardest part of war. In my time we only had 3X5 photos and hand written letters but the effect was the same; Photos of the new child passed around, lots of back slapping and jokes about the size of the male appendage of the new son and then every man letting the father find a private spot in the crowd where he could shed a tear, miss his family and be truly lonely for a moment. Then it is back to work with a stiff upper lip.

I hope you have some good NCOs to help you through the tough spots.

Take care and stay safe,

Igeaux

[Mac]

For anyone who is interested, last week, Ryan sent me a PDF of his company's newsletter. It's a bit too big to post (nearly 5M) so anyone who wishes to receive a copy, send me a PM with your email addy and I will forward it.

-Mac

[Fergwan]

Ryan,

Trust me brother, I watched my daughter grow up by video and later by DVD's. Missed her first of just about everything. I came home when she was two and she did not want anything to do with me. I just sat there and cried. I would go to the car and call her from my cell phone and she would chatter with me all day. The minute she saw me, she was scared to death! Trust me, I still feel I made the right choices for my family in the future! I do not want my daughters and my son to have to do this in the future. You choose to do what you do because you know it is the right thing to do, as all of you peeps over there with you! Trust me, we thank you guys everyday! Not to be a jerk (love to hear what is going on in the box) bro, but remember OPSEC...

Ferg

[Bioscache2]

Ferg, stories like that worry me, but you're right, better to do it now then have to have the ones behind me do it. As for OPSEC, you're right but most of my material comes from our newsletters that the squadron puts out, however it never hurts to be reminded so I appreciate it and will keep an eye on it.

[Bioscache2]

Hello friends, we've grown a little bit since last time and I'll have to apologize for the delay, things have been hectic. As always, if you want to add someone to the list, just let me know. I'm just under 2 weeks away from being a third of the way done, so thats exciting. And even more anticipated then that is I'm only 45 days away my expected time to be home, Sep 6th. Really its even shorter then that as I'll start the long journey home by leaving here and then bouncing through various places. Can't share the details due to OPsec, but suffice it to say that it'll be more then a few days earlier that I'll head out of here and start the journey.

It seems odd, at times it seems like it has flown by, and others.........not so much. The days are long but the weeks are short is generally how it goes, but not always. It has been busy for lots of reason and thats prevented the email, but I'll try to back track for you.

One item that just missed the cutoff was my border trip to Pakistan. I'll try to attach some pictures but I went up, along with one of the platoons here, to the border point known as Spina Shaga. If you remember one of the earlier emails I included pictures of it. This border point is right at the foot of the mountain and the road from here to there is just a slowly winding and raising road out there. Along the way though, the scenery continues to amaze. Just like Colorado did with its mountains, the view is incredible. Once up there it’s interesting to think that the Pakistan border is 'right' there. Only a simple iron bar acts a gateway between the two countries. There are no declared hostilities between the countries, but most Afghans suspect the Pakistan of aiding the Taliban and it would be difficult to argue against them. The term 'proxy war' is often used and one can sense the tension out there. A handy tip that should be well remembered as we move about up there. Our weapon's scope contains a small magnification, so soldiers will often use it as a pair of binoculars. So I'm up there, notice something at the Pak Mil (Pakistan Military) OP (outpost) and raise my weapon to look at it and stop..............perhaps this isn't the best action, considering the potential for a misunderstanding. I proceed to ask for the nearest pair of binoculars as the headline, 'LT sparks cross border war by accident,' scrolls through my head.

The commander there is eager to extend his hospitality to us and tell us that his soldiers are ready to fight, Taliban or Pakistan (did I mention there's a little animosity? Well the re is). The Afghan's have immense pride, but sometimes we have trouble channeling it and it bruises easily but we do what we can with it. Win some, lose some right?

The other item that just got left off is the change of command. My CO will be changing out shortly and a new one is coming in, but before that happens, the new commander needs to see all of the property. Sure he can hand receipt people for it (making them responsible for it) but commanders still share that responsibility so he has to see it all and boy do we have a lot. We have the property brought over here that we deployed with, so that’s one 'book' (Books as in property books, really each 'book' is a bunch of books divided up in various ways, but you get the idea). Next we have the equipment we inherited here at the base. So that’s a second book. Then we have the property we inherited at the other base, so that's the third. Other base? Yes well HHT stand for Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, which means that normally we are housed at the home base of the squadron and we manage the admin functions and other functions of the HQ and staff sections of the squadron and other various people that get tasked out to the troops (medics, fire support guys, etc). Well that's how it normally goes but we were needed on the battlefield as a manuever team so we inhabited an outlying base (this COP) and got some platoons as a maneuver element. But we still had to inherit the property down there. So 3 books. This means we are responsible for 3 books as opposed to two and instead of having pr operty at anywhere from 1-3 bases, I have property at 9. I say me, because while the commander signs for it, it's the XO's job to manage it and during a change of command the new commander needs to see every last item and if anything is missing, it's the XO's job (assisted by his supply NCO) to track it down. Since my supply SGT and I were not down at the other base we had to make a trip down there to 'fix some stuff'; and not a moment too soon as I left to return, the new CO came in (to that base) and my supply sergeant had to stick around to receive him (sorry buddy). So that has consumed the majority of my time and its meant some very very long days. Rumor has it that my next job, platoon leader, will come after my R&R and then I'll be responsible for about a 1/10th of the property I am now.........can't wait. The CoC is still on-going, but there will be a big sigh of relief from me when it’s done.........if you listen for it, you might hear it.

Other things have of course taken my time and attention but that's the biggest. I'm sure by now most of you have seen or heard of more stories coming out here and that it's heating up. Well that part is obvious but while some area's may be having some challenges, we're doing pretty well here. The other day we had a TIC (Troops in Contact, could be defined as any engagement from direct fire engagements, IED's or Indirect Fire aka, mortars, rockets etc; for obvious reasons I'll have to keep this vague). Well while the enemy may have gotten the jump us, the tide quickly turned as we were able to triple our forces due to friendlies near by. We pushed back, caused the enemy to retreat back to their cave and then, with some help from our friends in blue and 2000lbs worth of bad guy begone, we closed the door to the cave..........permanently. All our soldiers returned in good health and we were very pleased with the overall outcome.

That about raps it up and I'll try to squeeze in another email before I head home but.......no promises. Hope to see a lot of you soon.

Ryan

Pic info:
597 - Spina Shiga, the mountain in the background of one of the first pics I sent in the newsletter, much closer now
602 - Pakistani Outpost
575 - Me chilling at the base of Spina Shaga
578 - Me with the PL whose platoon I came up with.
587 - Commander and I
593 - Pakistan Border behind me

[Patrick]

Along the way though, the scenery continues to amaze. Just like Colorado did with its mountains, the view is incredible. Once up there it’s interesting to think that the Pakistan border is 'right' there. Only a simple iron bar acts a gateway between the two countries.

Too right it does...


If you hadn't told me this was a mountain in Afghanistan, I'd have told you it looks a little like Pikes Peak. Of course, the folks in Colorado Springs don't have to worry after the folks on the other side of the mountain, up in Cripple Creek, setting ambushes for them.

Good to hear you're doing well, Ryan. Any chance when you get back here on leave, you'll be swinging through Colorado?

-Patrick

[Chas]

Ryan,
Do you have an address that I could send you something to? We have plenty of boxes ready to pack and send, those flat rate boxes are good to ship to any soldier with an APO or such address.
Please let me know your addy and I will see to it that you have some stuff on the way. I'm sure the rules are the same for you as they were for Ben when he was in Iraq. My email address is
cstoddart@yahoo.com


Send me your info there and consider it done. If you need anything specific let me know and it will be included too.

Patrick, I would have told you that mountain wasn't in Colorado, I don't see the big Red Wing flag on it!


Chas

[Patrick]

Patrick, I would have told you that mountain wasn't in Colorado, I don't see the big Red Wing flag on it!

Chas,
I feel quite confident in pointing out two things:

1) Ryan is not a hockey fan. He isn't going to appreciate our frequent Avalanche (good)/Red Wings (evil) tossles. He's a Yankees fan, and yes, we have forgiven him.

2) A Red Wings flag, mounted by some Detroit terrorist at the top of Pikes Peak, would last approximately 10 seconds before being removed and burnt. And the unfortunate parole violator from Detroit who was foolish enough to mount the flag would be pushed off the mountain. And that first step is a doozy.

[Scottsredvette]

. Of course, the folks in Colorado Springs don't have to worry after the folks on the other side of the mountain, up in Cripple Creek, setting ambushes for them.

-Patrick

Patrick, have you been to the Casino's in Cripple Creek lately??

Scott

[Scottsredvette]

Chas,
I feel quite confident in pointing out two things:

1) Ryan is not a hockey fan. He isn't going to appreciate our frequent Avalanche (good)/Red Wings (evil) tossles. He's a Yankees fan, and yes, we have forgiven him.

2) A Red Wings flag, mounted by some Detroit terrorist at the top of Pikes Peak, would last approximately 10 seconds before being removed and burnt. And the unfortunate parole violator from Detroit who was foolish enough to mount the flag would be pushed off the mountain. And that first step is a doozy.

Poor guy still hasn't gotten over the Sweep this year and he still has a hard time figuring out why the Can has so many Wing fans (a good third of the fans in the arena) when the Av's and Wings play.

Ryan, let us know if/when you get a chance to pass through. Patrick and I will cease hostilities long enough to take you out for a good meal!

Scott

[Chas]

Ryan, I got your email and info, a package will be on the way by Monday......

Chas

GO WINGS!

[Patrick]

Patrick, have you been to the Casino's in Cripple Creek lately??

Yes, but the difference is you walk into the casino ambush knowing it's an ambush, and the only casulty is your wallet.

Poor guy still hasn't gotten over the Sweep this year and he still has a hard time figuring out why the Can has so many Wing fans (a good third of the fans in the arena) when the Av's and Wings play.

That's easily explained: they empty out the prisons in the greater Detroit area and send them to the Pepsi Center. I fully expect to see the mayor of Detroit at the next Avs/Wings tilt, given his current convict status.

GO WINGS!

Can I give them a suggestion on where they can go?