158 posts categorized under “Iraq”
CinCHouse Article
Date Published: 16 February 2007
ArmyAdvice and Christie and Ryan were mentioned in an article on deployments by Allison of CinCHouse, an online community for military wives and women in uniform. It's a good writeup about how technology can help ease the pain of deployments, especially the fear that comes from not knowing. I'd like to add that I'm still accepting new bloggers on ArmyAdvice, so if you're reading this and you're a…
Resignation Letter Template Posted
Date Published: 08 February 2007
A lot of officers are looking for information on how to resign, and unfortunately the Army doesn't make this easy to find (I can't imagine why…). Thus, I've posted my resignation letter (sanitized) for download in the downloads section of ArmyAdvice.org. I also want to make sure people have a reasonable expectation of the timetable involved, so here's a summary of how things went for me…
24 Month Limit on Guard Reserve Active Duty Time Eliminated
Date Published: 27 January 2007
Associated Press | January 12, 2007 WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has abandoned its limit on the time a Citizen-Soldier can be required to serve on active duty, officials said Thursday, a major change that reflects an Army stretched thin by longer-than-expected combat in Iraq. The day after President Bush announced his plan for a deeper U.S. military commitment in Iraq, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of…
Al-Zarqawi Eliminated
Date Published: 08 June 2006
Great news for Iraq – Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a raid north of Baghda d recently. His own organization has confirmed the news (of course vowing to continue killing innocent Iraqis, etc. etc.). More from MSNBC: Al-Zarqawi and seven aides, including spiritual adviser Sheik Abdul Rahman, were killed Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of…
One Year Ago Today…
Date Published: 19 December 2005
I was sitting out at the retrans camp for our base in central Iraq, north of Baghdad. This year, I’m sitting in my office in Ohio, having spent most of the last year back home re-normalizing. I have a few pictures with the date 12/19/04 on them of the retrans site that I’ve been looking at today. It’s a bleak brown wasteland. I remember it was still quite cold there despite the lack of snow…
ArmyAdvice Update
Date Published: 21 September 2005
This weekend we moved ArmyAdvice to a new software platform, Community Server 1.1. The new software includes better support for blogs as well as better photo galleries and, best of all, forums. I’ve created a variety of discussion forums which I hope people will start using and find useful. There are a few other places to discuss Army issues online, but not as many as you might expect, especially…
Must Read Message To Cindy Sheehan from Iraq The Model
Date Published: 26 August 2005
Iraq The Model, an Iraqi blogger, wrote this Message To Cindy Sheehan earlier this month. I’ve been busy moving and haven’t been keeping up with my blogs of late, but this one’s definitely worth reading.
AZ Guardsman in Iraq Punished for Blog Post
Date Published: 02 August 2005
PHOENIX – An Arizona National Guardsman serving in Iraq has been demoted for posting classified information on his Internet Web log, an Army official said Monday. Leonard Clark, 40, was demoted from specialist to private first class and fined $1,640, said Col. Bill Buckner, a spokesman for the Multi-National Corps-Iraq. Full Story on Y! News…
Army Officer Resignation Information
Date Published: 01 August 2005
Last Monday was my eight-year anniversary from my commission date, and I submitted my official resignation effective on that date. According to my Career Management Officer (CMO), resignations are taking several months to process, so I won’t know if mine is accepted for some time. I was able to submit the request via email but I also send hard copy as well to be sure (and I received confirmation…
London Attacks
Date Published: 07 July 2005
Instapundit has lots of coverage and links here. One that caught my eye was this arabic article on alarabiya, which has a number of comments in English, including this one: This is WRONG!!! The Iraqi Lion |07/07/2005 ?? 17:3 (????????)?14:3 (???????) Dear All .. I am Iraqi man from Basra .. and I think that what happened this morning in London is a totally wrong thing. It is not the solution .. I…
Happy Independence Day!
Date Published: 04 July 2005
Today is definitely a much happier Independence Day than I was having a year ago. Woke up in bed with my wife as our three-year-old climbed into bed with us. Planning on a relaxing day with the family. A year ago on this day, I was up well before dawn, moving all my gear out into the parking lot of the barracks at Ft Bliss, awaiting drug-sniffing dogs to inspect the bags prior to a day-long flight…
Military Blogging Guidance
Date Published: 20 June 2005
Some recent info on soldier blogging: Military Blogging Rules Report: Gen. Advises Soldiers on Personal Sites Original Memo (pdf) Short version: Don’t say stuff you shouldn’t. Notify your chain of command that you have a personal website
Interesting Read on the idea of Sanctuary in conflict (and the state of our country)
Date Published: 24 May 2005
BlackFive pointed me to EjectEjectEject’s essay, Sanctuary (2 parts), and after more time than I cared to spend, I finished reading it and am quite impressed. I’m going to try to make time to read some of Bill Whittle’s other essays, since I hope they’ll be of similar quality. I think he makes some excellent points about the differences between enemy soldiers in uniform and those who forswear any…
Zarqawi wounded (according to al Qaeda)
Date Published: 24 May 2005
Reuters — “Al Qaeda’s group in Iraq said today (Tuesday) its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been wounded and urged Muslims to pray for him, according to a Web posting.” Yes, Muslims should pray for him. Pray for him to stop killing them. Read more on Yahoo.
Combat Badges for All branches, MOSs under fire — retroactive
Date Published: 09 May 2005
ArmyTimes reports the Army’s decision to award a combat badge to all soldiers who were actively engaged by or engaging the enemy since September 18th, 2001, when the Global War on Terror began. The award will be called the Combat Action Badge, and “may be awarded to any soldier — branch and military occupational specialty immaterial — performing assigned duties in an area where hostile fire pay…
MilBlogging at BlogNashville
Date Published: 29 April 2005
RandomProbabilities reports: I’ll be leading a session on milblogging at the BlogNashville conference in May, representing both Winds of Change and this site. Among the milblogers who will be present are Bill Roggio of The Fourth Rail(and other sites), Tim Schmoyer of Sisyphean Musings, Donald Sensing of One Hand Clappingand USMC _Vet of WordUnheard. If you’re a milblogger — or read them regularly…
Captain Promotion (and IRR info)
Date Published: 18 April 2005
Received a memo in the mail yesterday from HRC St. Louis informing me that on my 5-year time-in-grade anniversary (in a couple of weeks) as a 1LT, I will be promoted to CPT. The referenced AR is AR 135-155. It looks like my previous information that suggested that IRR officers were automatically promoted when they reached their maximum time in grade for their current rank was correct.
Imminent Site Update
Date Published: 15 April 2005
Very soon, perhaps even this weekend, ArmyAdvice.org will be upgrading to another server and software package, Community Server 1.0. If you’re a user, this will mean changing some URLs you’re used to (from armyadvice.org/name/ to armyadvice.org/blogs/name/). If you’re one of our soldiers (or spouses) blogging, it will mean using a new interface to manage your blogs. In addition, the site will have…
Special Book Offer for Iraqistan Troops
Date Published: 14 April 2005
Instapundit reports: A SPECIAL OFFER FOR THE TROOPS: The email I posted earlier from Major John Tammes, about John Scalzi’s book Old Man’s War, produced this from John Scalzi: Maj. Tammes’ note about being “hyped up” to read Old Man’s War inspired me to call up Tor Books to see if we could do something special for the service people in Afghanistan and Iraq. I asked, and Tor agreed, to make…
Children in Iraq
Date Published: 01 April 2005
Lance Frizzell has a nice story about how the 278th from TN are helping local Iraqi children medically and educationally. Expanded as a news story on BillHobbs.com. Also linked is this story of how Iraqi children hold the key to a peaceful future, which I think is certainly true.
Iraq Resistance 'begins to crack'
Date Published: 28 March 2005
Instapundit blogged this story: Iraqi resistance begins to crack after elections The Iraqi resistance has peaked and is ‘turning in on itself’, according to recent intelligence reports from Baghdad received by Middle Eastern intelligence agencies. The reports are the most optimistic for several months and reflect analysts’ sense that recent elections in Iraq marked a ‘quantum shift’. They will…
Iraq's Insurgents 'seek exit strategy'
Date Published: 26 March 2005
Many of Iraq’s predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician. Things appear to be going rather well, despite what the MSM would tell most of us. Read the full article. Update: One exit strategy that would almost definitely work: Turn…
After Action Report of US Reaction to Ambush
Date Published: 26 March 2005
This is a great account of how a single squad of US MPs managed to thwart a deliberate ambush being performed by several dozen insurgents. Blackfive has the story, which includes a video that was taken from the insurgents — apparently they were planning on showing it off on al Jazeera or something after killing and/or kidnapping their targets. That didn’t happen. There are some learning points for…
An Iraqi Comments on 2 Years since the war in Iraq began
Date Published: 20 March 2005
Husayn writes: It has been now two years since the United States, UK and other countries invaded our nation. It has been two years since Iraqis have had to live with daily violent attacks and rampant terrorism. It has been two years since our nation began being turned upside down. It has been two years since the road to democracy began.** It has been a very hard two years. So many people have died…
Was George Bush Right?
Date Published: 19 March 2005
That’s what people are asking all over the world. The Washington Post featured an opinion column titled What’s Left? Shame. Some excerpts: Those who claimed, with great certainty, that Arabs are an exception to the human tendency toward freedom, that they live in a stunted and distorted culture that makes them love their chains — and that the notion the United States could help trigger a…
Made the Board…
Date Published: 09 March 2005
Got a letter saying I’ve been selected for Captain by the board that met last November (2004). Unfortunately I’m currently off of orders and not with a drilling unit, which means I don’t actually get a promotion (until either I’m deployed from the IRR (again) or I find myself filling an O3 slot somewhere). The list of names is in the latest Army Times. I noticed two of my buddies who deployed with…
Bush Announces Iraq Exit Strategy: 'We'll Go Through Iran'
Date Published: 09 March 2005
From The Onion WASHINGTON, DC—Almost a year after the cessation of major combat and a month after the nation’s first free democratic elections, President Bush unveiled the coalition forces’ strategy for exiting Iraq. “I’m pleased to announce that the Department of Defense and I have formulated a plan for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq,” Bush announced Monday morning. “We’ll just go…
ArmyTimes Article on Army Bloggers (and their tips for bloggers)
Date Published: 08 March 2005
Unfortunately they missed ArmyAdvice.org, but all the same, the latest issue of ArmyTimes has a story on Army Bloggers. There are quite a few out there, and I’ve just added ArmyAdvice to the MilBlogs webring, something I’ve been meaning to do for some time. The print version also included 10 tips for posting your blog, which I can’t seem to find on the ArmyTimes website. I don’t think they will…
Loss of a Friend
Date Published: 07 March 2005
I learned today that one of my friends whom I had the honor of working with for several months while I was in Iraq was killed a couple of weeks ago. SSG Steffeney worked with me and my platoon from October 2004 until our unit redeployed in late December 2004. During that time, we worked together closely, as one of my platoon’s primary missions was to provide security for SSG Steffeney’s EOD team…
Iraqi TV Airs Tape of Purported Confession by Syrian Infiltrator
Date Published: 24 February 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq –The Syrian intelligence officer who appeared on the U.S.-funded Iraqi state television station had a stark message about the insurgency — he’d helped train people to build car bombs and behead people. Read the whole story on Yahoo.
Just Set Up 3 More Bloggers
Date Published: 21 February 2005
The ArmyAdvice community is continuing to grow. Please tell your military friends about us if you know of others who would benefit from blogs of their own. I just set up three more bloggers tonight. Also, we will be adding forums some time in the near future, hopefully by the end of March. At that time we may also start to host blogs for other services, such as Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast…
1st ID Division Transfer of Authority
Date Published: 17 February 2005
In Tikrit yesterday, the 1st ID had its official change of command ceremony with the incoming 42nd ID. Sounds like the rest of the 1st ID forces will be home soon!
Great Cartoon Site
Date Published: 11 February 2005
I found a great cartoon siteby way of InstaPundit today. Definitely worth a read. Scroll back through the last week of January and check out the Iraq Election cartoons. http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/
278th Blogger and News
Date Published: 11 February 2005
Sarah Truman, whose husband is in the 278th, sent me some links last week. One was to the Times Free Press’s section on the 278th, written by a reporter that is embedded with the unit. There are a bunch of 278th ACR specific articles there. The other was a blog written by Lance Frizzell, a medical LT at FOB Cobra (which I went to a few times but never lived at), called Lance In Iraq. Check them…
15,000 Troops Coming Home Soon
Date Published: 04 February 2005
Buoyed by a higher turnout and less violence than expected in Sunday’s Iraqi elections, Pentagon (news–web sites) authorities have decided to start reducing the level of U.S. forces in Iraq (news–web sites) next month by about 15,000 troops, down to about 135,000, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz said yesterday. Full Story
Iraqi Elections a Huge Success, in Iraq and in USA
Date Published: 02 February 2005
Although I’m no longer in Iraq, I’m still following the news there with interest, as many of us are. Yesterday there were a number of interesting blog posts describing events of election day in Iraq that I wanted to share here. First, a self-declared anti-Bush blogger from Washington DC took his camera to the nearest polling center for Iraqi ex-patriates and interviewed several of the voters there…
Another Iraqi Blogger, with perspective on Iraqi elections and recent terrorist interviews on Iraqi television
Date Published: 28 January 2005
Hammorabi is a blog from an Iraqi, with recent posts related to the election and information about how terrorists are organizing through Syria which was published on Iraqi television following interviews with some individuals captured when Fallujah fell. Very interesting perspective. http://hammorabi.blogspot.com/
New ArmyAdvice Anti-Spam Feature
Date Published: 21 January 2005
Comments now require that the user identify the contents of an image, in order to reduce the effectiveness of spambots, which have been a plague on our site lately. I hope this grealy reduces the frequency of spammers on the site. Thanks to my developer pal David Gottlieb for the fix!
Getting Home (Long – Summary)
Date Published: 19 January 2005
Sorry I haven’t posted in quite a while.I’ve been meaning to write a detailed overview of the demobilization experience as it pertained to me, and I just didn’t have the opportunity before now.Let me back up to late December, Christmas Day, at FOB Bernstein. I spent Christmas day at FOB Bernstein.By then we had stopped receiving care packages for some time and had eaten most of the food we kept…
Local Paper Article About My HomeComing
Date Published: 19 January 2005
The Record Courier, Kent’s local newspaper, ran a story on my homecoming today after one of their reporters spoke to me yesterday while I was dropping my daughter off at her daycare center with Michelle.
Iraqi Blogger
Date Published: 01 January 2005
Happy New Year! I’ll write more about my current situation when I have more time. For now, here’s a blogger from Baghdad I just ran across and thought others might find interesting to read.
Back in the USA
Date Published: 30 December 2004
I flew back home Tuesday the 28th and am now on a pass in Fayetteville, NC (Ft. Bragg). I'll be here for probably a couple of weeks yet while we outprocess and demobilize. It's great to be back in the US again, and Michelle drove down from Ohio to see me arrive, which was really nice. Thanks again to everyone for all your support, and to the 278th for relieving us in country so that we could…
PocketPC (and desktop) .NET Chess!
Date Published: 24 December 2004
I've recently been getting back into playing Chess while I'm in Iraq. I'm pretty good, compared to a lot of people here, but I'm definitely still a novice. I need look no further for proof of this than my difficulty in beating this PocketPC chess game even on its easiest setting. It's a very cool, and free, chess game for PocketPC and for the desktop. No longer will I be limited to Solitaire on my…
Army Looks to Boost UpArmor Humvee Production
Date Published: 11 December 2004
After Rumsfeld was asked earlier this week why soldiers going into Iraq are having to scrounge for vehicle armor, the Army is now actively looking to boost production of uparmored Humvees. That's a good thing, to be sure, and one I doubt is any coincidence considering the media attention the issue has received this week. However, in addition to building more up-armored humvees, there also needs to…
Rumsfeld Responds To Tough Questions
Date Published: 08 December 2004
AP Reports Disgruntled Troops Complain To Rumsfeld. I don't think they're complaining - they're asking legitimate questions to someone in a position, one would hope, to take action. But Rumsfeld does a good job of answering the questions, I think. One was asked by a member of the 278th out of Tennessee -- the same unit that will be relieving us shortly. The question, which is perfectly valid I…
Tikrit
Date Published: 04 December 2004
Saw Tikrit today, including a few palaces from a distance. Apart from Baghdad it's the biggest city I've been in over here. Its rush hour was comparable to something back in the states, with lots of traffic, and there were lots and lots of people walking around outside. Tuz is decent-sized, but with smaller buildings and narrower roads and less traffic. I didn't get to actually go near any of the…
Flag Patches and Uniforms
Date Published: 27 November 2004
One thing that has bugged me ever since I first saw it is the use of the flag patch on Army uniforms. I'm not against having the patch -- that's fine -- what bugs me are some of the details. The largest of which is the fact that the flag patch is secondary to a combat unit patch. In my opinion, nothing should ever be put in a more prominent position than the US flag on a US military uniform. This…
Happy Thanksgiving
Date Published: 25 November 2004
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Our Thanksgiving dinner here was actually pretty good. The task force chain of command served dinner for everybody on the base, which was a nice touch, something we used to do for Christmas dinner during December drills back in Ohio. We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, gravy, and a variety of pies (and sweet potatoes, but I'm not a fan of those…
Thanks XBox Team and Microsoft
Date Published: 22 November 2004
A few days ago, a very large, insured box arrived for me. It was from the XBox team at Microsoft, who got my address from some friends of mine who work or worked at Microsoft. They sent us a care package full of SWAG, including a bunch of hats and t-shirts, some pillows and posters, an XBox, and about 30 games. I took some pictures of the platoon with some of their new gear, and from all of us, a…
Thank You XBox Team, Microsoft
Date Published: 22 November 2004
A few days ago I got a very nice care package from the Microsoft XBox team, sent to me and my platoon here in Iraq. I posted some pictures and more info on my Army blog, here. http://armyadvice.org/armysteve/archive/2004/11/22/932.aspx
Cash, Phones, and Internet
Date Published: 20 November 2004
Here's the low down on money, phones, and Internet here at FOB Bernstein (Caldwell is not much different except you can go to finance any time you want). Money. Cash is king. The PX will take credit cards but nobody else will (e.g. haji shops, etc. -- there's not much in the PX and it only gets restocked every few weeks). There's really not THAT much to spend your money on here, anyway, once you…
Iraq Laptop Tips
Date Published: 20 November 2004
Here's some advice for those bringing laptops, gleaned from other soldiers here: 1) Bring extra batteries -- they're worth the $100 they cost. 2) Bring an extra power adapter -- I know several soldiers whose adapters have been fried and now they have a real hard time using their laptops. 3) A CD Burner (or DVD burner) is a great extra to have, for burning pictures to CD or making backups. If you…
Bright Lights, Big City
Date Published: 18 November 2004
As I said in my last post, I recently went back to FOB Caldwell for a quick trip. The trip there and back was uneventful, gladly. Not having been there for a couple of months, it was interesting to see what had changed, and also to compare it with FOB Bernstein now that I've lived at the latter for a while. The closest analogy I can offer is that it's like going from a rural farm or small town to…
Thanksgiving and Army Chow
Date Published: 18 November 2004
Earlier this week, for a few nights in a row, it was thanksgiving dinner time at FOB Bernstein. They had turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes -- even cranberry sauce. There was also roast beef. This was for a couple of days in a row (so it was like T-day with leftovers -- very realistic), but of course they're about a week and a half early. So of course now I'm wondering if the stuff we just…
Fobbits and other Iraqi critters
Date Published: 12 November 2004
Here's some terms you'll need to know if you're going to be coming to Iraq soon (at least for US Army folks). One term that's frowned up on officially but used all the time is 'haji', referring to Iraqis. There are 'haji shops' at most bases where you can buy souvenirs, dvds, gifts, rugs, blankets, electronics, etc. A haji is really a muslim who has completed a 'haj', or pilgrimage, to mecca, and…
Busy Week
Date Published: 10 November 2004
It's been a pretty hectic week thus far here. I've been out on missions every day for the last few days, even on my birthday. They've all been good missions, though, and we've gotten to blow stuff up every day this week, which makes us combat engineers feel good (and, I think, our commanders as well). In the rear, we're packing and organizing, as the time is nearing when we may get to go home (or…
Flea Collars and Sand Fleas
Date Published: 10 November 2004
By way of advice, let me talk about flea collars. I've been asked numerous times if people should send flea collars to ward off fleas and sand fleas. Sand fleas, from everything I've been told here and in the states by medical personnel, are basically small mosquitos. They have wings, they fly, they're about 1/4 the size of a typical mosquito back in Ohio. They're not fleas, at least not what I've…
TF 120 Says \"Go Army, Beat Navy\"
Date Published: 10 November 2004
The Army-Navy Football game is coming up (December 4th - more info), and a bunch of folks here are really into it. The Task Force (1/120th IN) put together a short movie they're hoping CBS will play during the game. However, I've been given permission to offer a 'sneak peak' at this movie to people who visit this site. The movie is a bit large (9 MB) so if you have a slow connection it may take a…
Camel Spiders
Date Published: 03 November 2004
Everybody wants to know about camel spiders here in Iraq, especially after that infamous picture went around with the two huge looking ones. I've seen a few here in Bernstein, but they're all pretty small, about the size of a silver dollar or maybe a bit bigger. Ugly looking critters. Here's a picture of one I ran across yesterday while I had my camera. It was under a cooler I was moving…
ArmyAdvice Getting Started
Date Published: 31 October 2004
First, go to your blog. The url will be http://armyadvice.org/YOURBLOG/, where YOURBLOG should be provided to you in your welcome email. Once there, you should see a blog and a Login link. Click the Login link and enter your username and password. If this is your first time logging in, your password will be 'temp' (without the '). Note that due to a limitation with the login screen, you can't just…
Rain is Here
Date Published: 30 October 2004
It's been cool and overcast today (all day, for the first time since I've been here). It rained some this evening, and the rainy season is supposed to be starting right about now, so the dust is probably about to be replaced by mud. Not much new here, just continuing to mark time and do my job. Internet has been working acceptably most of the week since I hooked up the platoon last weekend, so…
PT Scores and Internet
Date Published: 23 October 2004
Not much new to report this week. Temperatures are getting more and more tolerable here, and in the morning it's actually getting cold enough that something more than shorts and t-shirt is required for PT. And speaking of PT, we had our Army Physical Fitness Test this morning. Not having taken one in over four years or so I was unsure how I would do, but I'm pleased with my score of 251 after…
Update From Bernstein
Date Published: 16 October 2004
I've been here almost a month now, which has flown by very quickly, it seems. I can hardly believe October is more than half over! It's rained twice so far, but neither time enough to really leave any lasting puddles or wetness. But the rainy season is coming, I think in November. The daily highs are only reaching the 90s now, which is far more tolerable. Meanwhile, my platoon continues to improve…
First Rain
Date Published: 09 October 2004
We got our first clouds a few days ago, and today was the first real rain showers I've seen since I've been in Iraq. There was some lightning and thunder, as well as some pretty heavy drops, but the whole thing wasn't even enough to really wet the ground, and lasted maybe 10-15 minutes. It was still really nice, though.
I'm still here (and soon you may be...)
Date Published: 07 October 2004
It's been a relatively slow week, which means time passes more slowly. It is possible to be busy here as well as safe, so while I appreciate the sentiments that folks invariably have about how they'd rather I be bored here than having exciting experience, I'd prefer a happy medium wherein I'm busy and doing something useful, but not actively being attacked... In other news, I heard from a friend…
A General Stops In (funny)
Date Published: 03 October 2004
Last week some time, the 1st Infantry Division commander, a 2-star General, was visiting FOB Bernstein. He (and his entourage of security personnel, drivers, and various hangers-on -- in total about 20 people) stopped by my platoon's new living quarters, a street of CHUs (containerized housing units -- trailers) which you can see a picture of our row of CHUs below (click to enlarge). Badger Red…
30th Brigade Commander Gives SitRep to NC Newspaper
Date Published: 01 October 2004
In this article, General Hickman describes the current situation in his (my) brigade's area of operations here in Iraq. I pretty much agree with everything he has to say, too, so if you're wondering how things are going over here, have a read.
More Info on IRR placement SNAFUs
Date Published: 01 October 2004
LTC (ret) Weldon formerly a deputy G1 wrote me today to elaborate on where the problem usually lies for replacements who arrive to find that they have no position to fill: Steve: HQDA and HRC St Louis do not assign individuals to positions within a theater, nor even at a stateside installation. Installations and theaters report projected vacancies and DA and HRC St Louis attempt to fill them. The…
Proof Time In Iraq Goes By More Slowly Than in US!
Date Published: 30 September 2004
FYI, clocks in Iraq are falling back an hour tonight (Oct 1st at 0100). I figure this post won't be much help to any soldiers over here who will be undersleeping tomorrow (it means an extra hour of sleep for everyone except those with duty tonight), but it might help some of you in the states expecting your deployed loved ones to be on at a particular time to plan accordingly. Time difference…
So Called 'Critically Needed IRRs' Not Even Filling Open Positions
Date Published: 30 September 2004
I've been receiving an alarming number of emails recently from IRR-activated soldiers who are just now reaching their units in Iraq, only to find that the unit had no idea they were coming and has no slots open or jobs for them to do in their actual MOS. This was the case for several of my peers when I arrived in country -- there was myself and another Engineer officer, plus 6 Field Artillery…
How having troops in Iraq protects people in the USA
Date Published: 29 September 2004
I think many people who favor the immediate pullout of our forces from Iraq believe that our presence here is not protecting US citizens from attacks (and surely many have other reasons for wanting us to leave, but I'm just going to address one at the moment). I believe that our presence in Iraq is, in fact, protecting my family and friends and others back in the USA. Yes, our troops are being…
Black Scorpions
Date Published: 25 September 2004
Things are going fine here. Getting settled in, have everybody here now that's not on leave. Was out talking to my commander and the other LTs in the company tonight and when we got up to leave (after dark) we picked up our helmets and one of the other guys got stung by a black scorpion. It was 3-4 inches long and about 2 inches wide with legs. First one I've seen. It just got the guy on the…
New Home
Date Published: 22 September 2004
Moved to a new home a few days ago. On the trip here our convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, injuring two of my fellow soldiers. Both will return to duty soon, though, as neither was very serious. It was a wake-up call, though, and for me it was the closest encounter with enemy action I've had thus far. We're getting settled into our new accomodations, which were pretty rough when we got here but…
Central Perk, Iraqi Style
Date Published: 17 September 2004
A few weeks ago a new building completed construction at FOB Caldwell. The Hickory Cafe (30th BCT's tagline is “Old Hickory”) provides a Starbucksesque atmosphere and serves a few flavors of coffee that the chow hall doesn't. I guess it's run by a guy who runs a few coffee shops back in the US, and everything is based on donations. So, slowly but surely, the base is gaining some comforts of home…
Awesome Rock Band (local to northeast Ohio)
Date Published: 16 September 2004
An awesome rock band for anybody interested in such things is Redshift. Their song Infamy got a ton of play time on local stations back a couple of years ago (about a year after 9/11). At the time I really liked it because I could relate to it from my army experience and the whole war on terror. Now that I've been called back into the Army, it's all the more compelling (to me, at least). Their…
New Domain, More Bloggers
Date Published: 12 September 2004
I've registered ArmyAdvice.org and mapped my ArmySteve.com domain to it. If you're just interested in me, you'll want to go to http://armyadvice.org/ArmySteve/. The main url at http://ArmyAdvice.org/ will show posts from a growing number of army bloggers. I've set up three this weekend; guys in my platoon or whom I've met since getting called up. I expect that number to grow as word spreads of…
Mail Call and WebSite Info
Date Published: 10 September 2004
For those wondering how long mail takes, I got 2 letters and 2 packages today (9/10), 3 of which were sent on 8/26 and one on 8/28. So 13-15 days. I had some time today to play around a bit with the look my section of the site (click here if you're on the home page) -- let me know how you like it. Also, I'm going to be renaming this website to ArmyAdvice.com and opening it up to other Army…
More Stuff To Bring
Date Published: 06 September 2004
Here's some gadgets that are nice to have: Laptop. Yes, bring one. They're great for watching movies on and you may have the opportunity to use it for email, webcam, computer games, etc. MP3 Player. If you like music. Something tiny that runs on AA batteries would be my first choice (vs. a larger iPod or what-have-you). I have an IRiver. GPS. The Garmin Rino 120 is a decent one, but any will do as…
Big Guns
Date Published: 31 August 2004
No, not my muscles... We had weapons qualification earlier this week and brought along some other weapons to familiarize with (courtesy of EOD). I got a few pictures and a couple of nice movies of the experience. All the pictures are in the August gallery. Here's one of my favorites: Me with Barrett M82 .50 cal sniper rifle More pics in the gallery, including some with a Dragunov russian sniper…
Some Product Reviews and Packing Tips
Date Published: 29 August 2004
Still love all my UnderArmour stuff -- I don't wear anything else for shirts/underwear now. Got a Gilette Mach3 razor from my wife a few days ago to replace my Gillette Sensor (figured I'd give the new one a shot and see how I liked it). The difference was amazing - there's no way I'm going back to the Sensor. I know it's a pretty simple thing, shaving, but seeing as I'm doing 7 days a week now I…
Update From Caldwell
Date Published: 24 August 2004
Things are moving along here. I'm fine. My roommate moved to another base a few days ago, so now I've got a room to myself. However, that probably won't last since it sounds like I'll be moving to another base (separate from Chris) as well in a few weeks. Still most likely doing the same kinds of missions, though. Accomodations won't be as nice if and when I move, and Internet access will be much…
EQT Training
Date Published: 19 August 2004
Because I'm stationed at the same base as my battalion and brigade headquarters ('close to the flagpole'), my platoon (and company) has to endure some silliness that units further from here do not. For instance, while back home, some of the major training activities that national guard units do include common task training (CTT), engineer qualification tables (EQT), army physical fitness tests…
Engineers Doing EOD Work Get Incentive Pay
Date Published: 17 August 2004
This Stars and Stripes article: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_pay_042004,00.html Describes how engineers doing the work of ordnance disposal are now (as of last November) eligible to receive incentive pay of $150/month. So far I haven't seen this but at some point I should since I've been doing this since July and my company has been tracking this.
Goodies for Iraqi Kids
Date Published: 17 August 2004
I wrote last month about how the Iraqi children come running and waving whenever we drive through villages, and how sometimes our troops have candy and stuff to throw to them. Since I have most of what I need to get by here, I told people wanting to send me stuff that they could send me stuff to give to the kids. My mom and a friend of my other mom's from Stow both sent me some big care packages…
Letters
Date Published: 17 August 2004
I got two letters this morning, one from my wife and one from my mom. One was sent on July 12th and the other on July 27th. So, as you can tell, the mail system is sometimes a bit flaky, but so far it seems like everything that's been sent has been getting to me, eventually.
Army Aphorisms
Date Published: 15 August 2004
Here's a few Army aphorisms I've picked up over the years and tend to live by: 1. “Sleep when you can” -- this is something every soldier should live by. Basically, you never know when you'll get your next chance to sleep, so take the opportunities when they present themselves. 2. “Semper Gumby” -- Loosely translated: Ever Flexible. It's usually pointless to plan anything more than a few days out…
Care Packages
Date Published: 13 August 2004
I got a couple of packages yesterday. The mail here is unpredictable, and usually only comes about 1-2 times per week. The average time is around 2 weeks. One package I got was sent 2 August (10 days), the other like 27 July (16 days). What sometimes happens is several containers of stuff will get staged at another location and newer stuff will block in older stuff (e.g. a stack scenario -- Last…
Happy Anniversary (to us)
Date Published: 12 August 2004
Not much new here. Today's my ninth wedding anniversary, so I just wanted to say Happy Anniversary and 'I love you' to Michelle. Hanging in there...
Fun 550 Cord Tricks
Date Published: 07 August 2004
A friend of mine from Kent State (hi jen) had one of these cool 550 paracord square braids on her keychain that interested me (a couple of years ago), but she didn't know how to make it, since it was a gift from someone she knew in the army. Having missed that particular class during my prior service, I was a bit bummed but didn't worry too much about it since I was out and all. Once I got called…
1ID Article About Engineers Mission
Date Published: 06 August 2004
This article does a good job of summing up what my mission is here in Iraq. The Engineers and EOD…Working Together to Clear Iraq One IED at a Time
AK-47
Date Published: 06 August 2004
Got to play with an AK-47 earlier this week. It's got a lot more kick than the M16. It was fun to fire, though.
Paracord Square Weave Braid Rope
Date Published: 06 August 2004
I learned how to do this from another LT here in Iraq, who said he learned how to do it in the Boy Scouts. I'd seen a few of them on friends' key chains but they'd been given to them as gifts by folks they knew in the Army, so they didn't know how to do it. I tried to find how to do it on the Internet, but couldn't. Once my buddy showed me how to do it, though, it was pretty simple. To share it…
Road Trip Baghdad
Date Published: 01 August 2004
My platoon made a trip to a base in Baghdad this weekend to pick up some stuff. It was my first major convoy over here. Everything went pretty smoothly. We ended up leaving a day later than planned since the first day we made it about 2 hours out when my humvee's engine died, so we had to turn back with it in tow. The next day, though, the replacement humvee did fine. The base we went to had some…
Credit Cards and Phone Cards
Date Published: 29 July 2004
Some more FYI info for anybody getting called up... There are ATM machines as far as Kuwait, but none in Iraq that I've seen. For cash, you need to go to Finance and either cash a check or get a draw from your pay. Nobody in Iraq takes credit cards that I've seen. On the other hand, there's not all that much to buy... For telephone, nothing here beats the Segovia IP phones. You get about 10 hours…
Hot and Getting Hotter
Date Published: 29 July 2004
The forecast for the next 30 days is a daily low of 95 and highs in the 130s. Going to be the hottest part of the year. It doesn't really feel as hot now as it did when I first got in-country, but that's just because I'm acclimated, I think.
Iraqi Convoy Story/Poem
Date Published: 29 July 2004
The ArmyTimes published this story/poem that does a good job of describing the feelings and events that go into a convoy/mission for engineers here in Iraq.
Fun in the Sun
Date Published: 27 July 2004
It's been a few days since I've had a chance to post. Blew some stuff up today (yay!). I've been out on a few more missions in the meantime including one a couple of days ago that involved a decent amount of ordnance being destroyed. I got a decent little movie of it on my camera that you can view here (5mb). I'm also working on adding more pics to my galleries which you can see here. I'm working…
USA Today Seeking IRR Soldiers for Interviews
Date Published: 24 July 2004
Donna Leinwand contacted me yesterday about doing an interiew via email for USA Today, and asked if I would put her contact information on my website so that other IRR soldiers might contact her. I need to coordinate with Public Affairs before I agree to do an interview, and I recommend that any of you who wish to speak with her do the same thing. The PA office at Ft. Bliss was very helpful when I…
Pentagon Still Resists Increases in Army Active Duty Roster
Date Published: 23 July 2004
ArmyTimes reports Increase in troop strength could hamper modernization efforts. Quote: Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker renewed the Pentagon argument that the military can get through the current high level of deployments with temporary increases such as mobilizing more National Guard and Reserve forces and encouraging more soldiers to re-enlist at the end of their duty. Hmm, we've already mobilized just…
First Offbase Contact with Iraqis
Date Published: 22 July 2004
Well, I got my first experience with the locals today when we did a drive through a village area today. I was in the back of an APC in a small convoy; basically we were just patrolling and trying to find out what was in the area. One take-away I have is that the folks living there have it pretty rough. It occurred to me, for instance, that when talking about doing raids we always hear the term…
First Day Of Real Work
Date Published: 21 July 2004
Today was my first mission outside the base camp. I'm serving as a platoon leader for a combat engineer line platoon. There's actually a PL already here whom I'm shadowing until he leaves in a few weeks to become XO of another company. That's good because it means I can ease into things. Chris is also a PL in the same company. Today was a good day because I got an M16A4, magazines, and a full load…
A few more useful items
Date Published: 20 July 2004
1. FRS Radio and/or GPS. The Rino 120 works as both but chews through batteries. The radios can be useful for non-tactical usage on bases. 2. Name tapes - you'll want some extra ones of these for your bags, IBV (bulletproof vest), boonie hats, trousers (a lot of folks put them above the back pocket), etc. I know you can get them at FLW or Ft Bliss -- not sure if anywhere in Kuwait or Iraq does…
Update from Caldwell
Date Published: 20 July 2004
I found out yesterday that I'll be a line platoon leader, something I did back at C/112 in Columbus in Ohio, so I'm pretty comfortable with that. I'm actually excess at the moment, shadowing the current PL of the platoon, until he takes on an XO position in September. Which works out great since it gives me a good bit of time to get up to speed with operations here. It's also my kind of job since…
Made it to my Unit
Date Published: 16 July 2004
Finally managed to fly from Balad to my unit at Camp Caldwell. Checked in with my unit this morning. More to come later, but all's well here, and I may have the chance to unpack in another day or so (naturally they weren't expecting us here and have no housing for us yet).
My New Home Away From Home
Date Published: 16 July 2004
Ok, here's a bunch of publicly available info on Kirkush/Caldwell/Balad Ruz that I picked up over the last couple of weeks but didn't post because I didn't want to disclose where I was going until I got here for security reasons. Robert Alt describes his trip to FOB Caldwell in May 2004 A picture I found with Google (don't know who took it or when) NewsObserver posted this article just a few weeks…
HRC Update on IRR Callup
Date Published: 14 July 2004
Human Resources Command published this update on the IRR callup yesterday. Apparently thus far only 450 or so soldiers have been called up out of the 5600. The 5600 will be called over a period of time to allow the mobilization stations time and resources to process them. Now, if HRC actually cared about soldiers' lives, they would send all 5600 a heads-up so that people could plan their lives…
In the IRR? Email ABC News
Date Published: 13 July 2004
ABC News wants to hear from IRR soldiers to find out how they feel about possibly being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. Contact them here. Also, the Norwich Bulleting wrote an opinion piece stating the obvious about the potential for a draft in the future -- but of course not before November's election. In other news, the Washington Times covers a shortage in officers presently, along with some oft…
Commentary and Pics from Iraq
Date Published: 12 July 2004
I found Robert Alt's blog and these pictures he took while in Iraq. His accounts seem to provide a more accurate depiction of life here than the CNN doom-and-gloom snippets we see every day. I'll try to take and post some pictures at some point, but for now it's discouraged where I'm located.
Note To Self - Beta Direct Downloads
Date Published: 11 July 2004
I tried the auto-installer while I was back at Fort Leonard Wood but although it seemed to go through just fine, no applications appeared anywhere for me to run. I ran across this while at the Internet cafe here in Iraq and wanted to make sure I didn't lose it so I could give it a shot when I reach my assigned unit (probably later this week): http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2004/07/0…
The IRR Bunch
Date Published: 11 July 2004
Captain Bunch was recently interviewed on CNN, and his family is quoted in this article, Reserves Brace For Call-Up Notices. He's with me now in Iraq. His CNN interview transcript is here. His story is a lot like mine, and he's also originally from Ohio. I missed the interview on CNN, though, since I was out-of-the-country... It sounds like it went really well, though.
What to Bring
Date Published: 11 July 2004
Most of the people I came over with brought most of what they thought they would need to the CRC in Ft Bliss. And most of these people bought a few more things at the Ft Bliss PX, or local shops. After getting a ton of gear issued to us at Ft Bliss, including 3 sets of long underwear and a pair of cold weather boots (on top of 2 pair of regular desert boots), most folks also ended up shipping at…
ArmyTimes Interview Published
Date Published: 10 July 2004
On July 12th the ArmyTimes published Recalled To Duty with references to their interview with me. Overall I'm happy with the article, but there are a couple of minor corrections I want to make for the record. It says I've been out for 2 years but it was really 3 -- I entered the Inactive National Guard (ING) in January 2001. The ING is the national guard equivalent to the IRR, but you can only be…
In Iraq
Date Published: 10 July 2004
I flew into Iraq a couple of days ago and haven't yet made it to my new home unit. Chris and I shipped together from Camp Doha Kuwait (camp wolverine was recently closed) into Balad along with a few Field Artillery IRR officers with stories somewhat similar to ours (except they had nice quarters at Ft Sill and actually received some refresher training, but not much). CPT Bunch, who was recently…
Kuwait
Date Published: 06 July 2004
Made it to Kuwait. Flight time was 5 hrs to Maine, 2 on the ground, 7 hrs to Frankfurt, Germany, 2 on the ground, 5 hours to Kuwait = 21 hours. Kuwait is strangely only an hour ahead of Germany, or 7 hours ahead of east coast USA. We arrived at about 1930 (7:30pm) and it was already dark. Sunrise/sunset are both very early here - I think the sun rose before 5am today. Right now it is very hot in…
Back in Bliss
Date Published: 01 July 2004
After a few days back in Ohio on a pass, I'm now back at Ft Bliss CRC. Should be shipping out to Kuwait in the next few days. Not much new here except that I got an email from somebody at CNN wanting to talk to me about my IRR callup experience. I'll have to talk to my chain of command and/or Army Public Affairs before I say anything to the media, but it's cool that CNN noticed me. More IRR Call…
Spoke With ArmyTimes Today
Date Published: 01 July 2004
I spoke with Jane McHugh from the ArmyTimes today and may be featured there in an upcoming story about IRR callups. Hopefully I didn't make a fool of myself or anything - we'll see how my comments come out when taken in bits and pieces. I'm not sure if it would be in the print version - I'm assuming this would be just an online story. The gist of it was just to get a feeling for my experience as…
Update on 5600 soldiers to be called in July
Date Published: 01 July 2004
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=23063 In the sidebar, this articles points out: How many IRR soldiers have already been mobilized? 541; of those, 324 are on active duty, and 217 are awaiting training. So, clearly the mobilization that will take place next week is not the first of the IRRs who are being called. They've been saying that up to this point, all of the IRRs that…
ArmyTimes Army prepares to call up Individual Ready Reserve Members (this is news?)
Date Published: 30 June 2004
A quote from this ArmyTimes article: Here’s the gist of a call-up message the Army is preparing to give the Individual Ready Reserve: “If you’re in the IRR, get ready.” So said Maj. Kris Carle, a spokesman for the Department of the Army. Tomorrow (30 June 2004) at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time the Army will announce details about a call-up of IRR personnel, she said. Apparently there will be a big news…
More IRR Callup Info
Date Published: 30 June 2004
Fox23News Reports One Army official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that as few as 2,000 IRR soldiers might actually be assigned to units preparing to deploy abroad. Army Public Affairs Announcement Stars and Stripes About 2,100 IRR soldiers already have been activated, but those have been volunteers, Maj. Gen. Franklin L. “Buster” Hagenbeck, the Army’s chief for personnel matters, told…
Big News In Iraq
Date Published: 28 June 2004
The transfer of power in Iraq has taken place, 2 days early. This is certainly good news since without a big, planned event to target, the insurgents will be less able to wreak havoc. And of course, it means they cannot keep the transfer from taking place.
Good Stuff To Bring To Iraq (so I'm told)
Date Published: 25 June 2004
I've talked to a lot of people who have returned from a tour in Iraq and one of the questions I like to ask them is “What is the one thing you weren't issued that you wouldn't want to live without over there?”. Here are a couple of things I've heard (and since picked up for myself): 1. A good leg holster (if you're carrying a pistol). Having the pistol in a belt holster is uncomfortable, takes up…
On Hold
Date Published: 25 June 2004
Most of the people in my CRC cycle shipped out today. About a dozen of us are on hold for various reasons. In my case, there was some confusion that didn't come about until late Thursday as to whether our orders indicated that we should report directly to Iraq or to McDill AFB first (near Tampa, FL). After speaking with McDill today, they said they don't need to see us and we can go straight over…
Pentagon Comments on IRRs going to Iraq
Date Published: 25 June 2004
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/24/pentagon.troops/index.html Looks like I'm one of the critical skills Engineers being called up.
Weapons Qual
Date Published: 24 June 2004
Qualified on the M9 pistol today (again). The Ft. Bliss range nice and the instructor was top-notch. I think he significantly helped my accuracy with the pistol. Otherwise, not much new. Got back my DCUs from alterations and immediately gave them to another place to sew on my rank and branch insignias. Should have them back tomorrow.
CRC - Ft. Bliss
Date Published: 23 June 2004
If you are an IRR soldier or otherwise think you'll be going to Ft. Bliss CRC, you should read all the information available on their website, here: http://www.bliss.army.mil/LocalUnitLinks/5035thMobilization/CRC/index.htm In particular, the schedule is more-or-less outlined here. So far my experience at Ft. Bliss CRC has been a very positive one. They are squared away and organized and know what…
Made It To Bliss
Date Published: 22 June 2004
After many cancelled and delayed and missed flights Sunday, I made it into Ft. Bliss CRC. Monday started at 0400 and was a long, busy day of SRPs and first aid classes. Today started at 0500 and will include equipment issue and NBC training. First formation is at 0545, in 5 minutes, so I've got to run.
Senate OKs more troops for Army
Date Published: 19 June 2004
The Houston Chronicle reports. Ironically, the pentagon is fighting this move. Personally, I think it is pretty obvious that the Army needs more people. The fact that we're dipping into the IRR soldiers, the last reserve pool there is short of a total draft, is evidence enough that we do not have the people we need. We also need the right kinds of troops. Given the fact that most of our conflicts…
CIF Complete
Date Published: 18 June 2004
I returned to CIF this morning with MAJ Huard as my unit representative. I managed to find Chris' clothing issue receipt and so, having met all of the criteria required by the CIF personnel, the two of us managed to get through the turn-in in just under fifteen minutes. It was actually rather funny, since one of the workers there was pretty rude to Major Huard, prompting us to discuss whether…
Kuwait Info
Date Published: 18 June 2004
It sounds like if/when I get to Kuwait, I'll be passing through an APOD, or Arial Point of Debarcation, called Camp Wolverine. It doesn't sound like there's any way into Iraq for soldiers except via this camp. Michelle forwarded me this Stars and Stripes article describing what to expect.
More IRR Info - If you joined a unit and want back out, you can
Date Published: 18 June 2004
Andrew Carr emailed me this story: Voluntary Assignment of Individual Ready Reserve Soldiers to Army Reserve Troop Program Units Basically, if someone pressured you into joining a unit to avoid getting called up while in the IRR, you can change your mind.
My sympathies to Paul Johnson's family
Date Published: 18 June 2004
I learned that Paul Johnson was murdered today from CNN in the mess hall. I was deeply saddened and angered by this tragic act. I wish something could have been done to prevent it, and the only thing I could think of that might make people who do this take heed is to turn the tables on them. If they demand the release of Al Qaeda prisoners from Saudi prisons and the removal of westerners from the…
A Note About DCUs
Date Published: 17 June 2004
DCU (Desert Combat Uniforms) are not issued to IRR soldiers at Ft. Leonard Wood if the soldiers are going to a CRC. In theory, we'll get our DCUs at the CRC. My unit here at FLW sent us over to CIF (clothing issue facility) twice to pick up DCUs, and both times we were turned away. If you're an IRR soldier at FLW and you're going to be going to a CRC prior to Iraq, save yourself some wasted time…
Country Brief
Date Published: 17 June 2004
One of the many 'check-the-block' items we have/had to complete at our mobilization station prior to going to a CRC (and from there to Kuwait and then Iraq) is something called a country brief, given by some military intelligence folks. This, I'm learning the hard way, is a mandatory thing that we cannot ship without. It is also something that, in our case, could not be given any earlier than…
More Frustrations with CIF
Date Published: 17 June 2004
As an FYI for other IRR soldiers and perhaps as an tip for those folks tasked with mobilizing soldiers, here's some things to remember about CIF (clothing issue facility), at least at Ft. Leonard Wood. Expect half of your trips there to be a complete waste of time (perhaps not so many if you follow the rest of these tips) For soldiers, no matter what your rank, you need to bring a unit…
Still no orders - but I'm going to Ft Bliss for CRC
Date Published: 17 June 2004
In the last couple of days I still have not received my orders, which means I haven't been able to schedule my travel, but that should happen tomorrow. I do know that I'm going to Ft. Bliss as my CRC, which means the appropriate info is here. And I know I'm leaving on Sunday - it's just the details that are still up in the air. I tried to get some folks to nail down for me exactly where I'm going…
Keeping up with this site
Date Published: 14 June 2004
This post is for my mom, and for anybody else who has found this site to be of interest and is checking it daily (or more than daily) to see if I've posted any news. I just want to share with everyone some information about tools that will automatically let you know whenever I post something new, and in fact these tools can also be used to notify you when things of interest happen on other sites…
No Orders Yet
Date Published: 14 June 2004
Not much going on today. Michelle's come out to visit and is staying through Wednesday morning. My fellow IRR LT Chris is going back home on pass later this week and returning Saturday. We still haven't received our orders telling us where we'll be stationed or what we'll be doing, but I expect those to come tomorrow. Chris had some more dental appointments today and I had a vision exam as a…
Several Thousand IRRs scheduled to come through FLW
Date Published: 14 June 2004
I've learned that Ft Leonard Wood is expecting another several thousand IRR soldiers to come through the post, though I'm not sure what the timeframe is. This year, I'm pretty sure; probably in the next few months, if I were to guess. That's just what's scheduled -- I was supposed to be here with 4 other LT's and instead there's just 2 of us, so 40% showed up. So, if that holds true there's…
Minor Update - Leaving FLW June 20th
Date Published: 11 June 2004
Having wrapped up our CTT, medical, and administrative stuff pretty much the first week and a half we were here, the only thing left on our to-do list at our mobilization station (here at Ft. Leonardwood) is to do some “Engineer Refresher Training”. Unfortunately, there has been no semblance of a plan for that (as has been the case with most everything else we've encountered here), and so pretty…
Free Videoconferencing and Net2Phone Calling to Iraqistan
Date Published: 09 June 2004
According to this ArmyTimes article, soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will begin getting access to facilities offering free access to net videoconferencing and phone usage this month. About 40,000 troops are to be covered by the initial collection of facilities, which are being funded by a charity called the Freedom Calls Foundation.
More Info On IRR Callups
Date Published: 07 June 2004
The Duluth News Tribune Reports (on 5/19/04): The Army on Tuesday confirmed that it pulled the files of about 17,000 people in the Individual Ready Reserve, the nation's pool of former soldiers. The Army has been screening them for critically needed specialists and has called about 100 of them since January. Under the authorization from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the Army could call as…
Update - Weapons Qual
Date Published: 05 June 2004
We were scheduled to do M9 Pistol qual yesterday and M16 today, but luckily we managed to get in both qualifications yesterday. Chris, my fellow IRR LT, and I both qualified on both weapons. We'll be doing so again at the CRC, I think. We also found out we'll be doing some mine and booby trap training in the next couple of weeks, up through 16 June, which makes me think our departure date to a CRC…
CRC Info
Date Published: 04 June 2004
Upon completing my requirements here at Ft. Leonard Wood, my next stop will be a CRC, which stands for CONUS Replacement Center. The military loves acronyms, and this one is an acronym of an acronym. CONUS is short for CONtinental United States. Anyway, the CRC is the last stop for deploying individuals, and is where they return once they come home. I don't know exactly where I'll be going (which…
Wow, somebody admits that some IRRs are being called...
Date Published: 03 June 2004
Until recently, all the press I read had Army officials denying that IRR soldiers were being activated, claiming rather that IRRs were only being screened. However, the New York Times reports: Also, for the first time in more than a decade, the Army is combing through the Individual Ready Reserve, the nation's pool of former soldiers, looking for specialists with critically needed skills. So far…
CTT Schedule
Date Published: 02 June 2004
Things are moving along slowly but surely. We had Monday off for Memorial Day, then yesterday pretty much all we did was go over some land warfare and geneva convention classes, then we were off doing medical appointments. Today was more CTT (common task training) and a medical threat briefing at the hospital. Most of the CTT was self-taught from some powerpoints, with the exception of some…
Bummed I missed TechEd
Date Published: 01 June 2004
Dave Sussman's pictures reminded me today how much I really wish I'd been at TechEd last week. Hopefully I'll make it next year. So far in Missouri things are proceeding very slowly with my mobilization processing - see some pictures and info at ArmySteve.com. We'll probably be here another two weeks, and later this week we'll be doing M9 and M16 qualification, so at least that's something more…
In-Processing
Date Published: 26 May 2004
I managed to find a place to use the Internet at the Education Center on post. I'll try to post something every few days while I'm here. I know several other LT's and a great many more enlisted soldiers are being called up from the IRR, so I thought I'd use this opportunity to share some of my initial experiences. There's nothing very exciting here unless you're really interested in how in…
Arrived at Fort Leonard Wood
Date Published: 24 May 2004
Michelle, Ilyana, and I got to St. Louis Friday night and drove the rest of the way to Ft. Leonard Wood on Saturday (May 22). We got in around 1300, met up with a sergeant I was supposed to call who took us to where I'll be staying while I'm here. I posted a few pictures in a gallery here. When I was here for EOBC (Engineer Officer Basic Course), I stayed at a place called Morelli Heights, which…
More IRR Callup Info
Date Published: 20 May 2004
Michelle writes a bit about the current, supposedly not involuntary, callup, here. An interesting set of comments can be found on OutsideTheBeltway. One quote includes: They are utilizing the IRR in three phases. Phase I 1-17 May IRR soldiers are asked to join a drilling unit Phase II 17May-1June Soldiers are involintarily transfered to Units Phase III 1 Jun-TBD Non Obligars (Veterans + Retired…
Last Minute Business
Date Published: 19 May 2004
Things have been getting increasingly stressful at the Smith house of late. This week we're getting ready to close on a house we're buying (closing tomorrow) with the intent of moving in once I return. We were planning on buying it in a year, but since interest rates are so low now and since my situation is up-in-the-air, we opted to close now. We're still not moving for at least a year, though…
Update - One Week To Go
Date Published: 15 May 2004
My Garmin Rino 120 GPS/Radio arrived yesterday. It works. Out-of-the-box it shows the major roads in Kent, OH, but none of the city streets (just state routes). I guess you can order maps on CDs but I haven't figured that part out yet. It supports Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) which is most important to me at the moment. Maybe once I'm home from duty I'll want it more for US street…
Back In Uniform
Date Published: 12 May 2004
So, we got my uniforms out of storage last week and so today I finally went through the bins and found my old uniforms. Tried one on, and amazingly enough, it still fits! They do seem to have shrunk a bit in storage, though... Most of them are pretty worn, so I'll probably need to buy one or two new ones in the next few days. I don't want to buy too many woodland camo BDUs, though, since I'll…
Massive Reserve Callup
Date Published: 12 May 2004
I got a memorandum yesterday from a local career counselor sergeant that had some very interesting news in it: "This office has received official notification that all current members of the IRR will be involuntarily transferred to a troop program unit. First priority will be to transfer soldiers to mobilizing units. Second priority will be to fill the remaining units not currently deploying. This…
Two Weeks To Go
Date Published: 08 May 2004
This has been a pretty busy week. I had meant to get a bunch of dev work done on AspAlliance.com, but that didn't happen. We spent wednesday getting a bunch of stuff out of storage, including all of my army gear. Hopefully I have most of what I'll need. I still have to find my beret and figure out how to wear it, since when I got out the uniform headgear was still the BDU cap. I did manage to go…
Laptops and School News
Date Published: 01 May 2004
I spoke to a Captain in Leonardwood yesterday at the Training Support Battalion (TSB) where I”ll be for my stay there. She was able to answer a few of my questions. I'm welcome to bring a laptop to FLW but she has no idea where I'll be billeting or whether I'll have the ability to get to the Internet (she knows I won't be allowed to use a personal laptop on the army network). She also wasn't so…
Current Concerns
Date Published: 29 April 2004
Ok, so it's been three days since we learned that I'm being activated. What have we been up to? Well, one of our biggest concerns has been that I'll end up some place dangerous without the proper equipment. Many soldiers, especially reservists, appear to be getting the shaft when it comes to proper gear, prompting some to buy their own armor for Iraq duty. To that end, yesterday I went to a local…
So It Begins...
Date Published: 29 April 2004
This is my first post to this blog, which I've just set up. I'm going to try and maintain it while I go through my deployment, but of course there will be times when I'm not able to access the Internet. I've set up my wife, Michelle, with a blog here as well, and she'll be able to post news and other stuff when I'm not online. As a bit of background information, I enlisted in the Army in 1995 as a…
Duty Calls...
Date Published: 28 April 2004
Upon returning from a fun Connections conference in Orlando last week, followed by a couple of days at Disney with my wife and daughter, I learned that I am being called up from my current reserve status to active duty in the US Army. My orders require that I report to Ft. Leonard-Wood, Missouri on 22 May 2004 for a period of 365 days (unless extended). Here's some more info about my military…
