Ryan's Blog

On My Way

2010-06-22T04:10:00.000-07:00

Left Speicher early this morning. Currently stopped at Al Asad. Everything is going well, just slow travel as usual. Hope to be home by the end of the week.

Getting Closer

2010-06-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

Things continue to progress and I will be wrapping up this deployment by the end of the month. Today I have an appointment to ship my footlockers via DHL back to Fort Riley. Since I have a compressed time line to get out of Riley I can not wait on them to get back in a shipping container that the unit will send back. It is shaping up to be a busy week. I am sitting on another separation board tomorrow and there is a range this week. We have made plans to visit DC on the July 4th weekend. That should give us a good idea of what area we want to live. Based on looking at the map we are leaning toward Burke, VA. It looks like a nice area that is equidistant between Mclean and Belvoir. There should also be a good fireworks show and concerts on the mall on the 4th. Looking forward to getting home.

PCS Progress

2010-06-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

Received my request for orders this week. It confirmed an August 25 report date. That will be a quick turn around and I need to be getting out of here soon. Attended my redeployment brief yesterday, so things have started to progress. I should be home by July 4th. The RFO revealed that I will actually be assigned to Fort Jackson with duty in the Washington DC area. RFO states that I need to call Fort Jackson to sign in., but do not have to be physically present there. So that raises the question... Where will we be on the 25th? I assume that is the day that I will check in at the NCTC, but it could be the day that I sign in and start my 10 days of permissive TDY to look for housing. The orders should clarify. There are several points of contact on the RFO that I will contact this week for additional information. I also expect a welcome packet to be mailed to the house at some point. RFO confirms duty at NCTC for 9-12 months with a follow on at Fort Belvoir for common core ILE. The NCTC duty will be very close to 12 months. I looked at the Belvoir ILE schedule and there is a class that starts in August of 2011. That class end just prior to the Holidays. Yes that raised another question... Will we PCS at that point or start another assignment in the DC area? I will start working the follow on assignment in early 2011, so I can have something lined up. That is assuming we do not hate the DC area and want to leave after ILE. With uncertainty comes flexibility.

Assignment News

2010-05-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

Shortly after returning to Speicher, which is much warmer now by the way, I got news from branch about the assignment. I will be working at the National Counterterrorism Center in Mclean, Virgina. Hopefully I can learn alot and contribute to their mission of protecting Americans at home and overseas from terrorist activity. Lots of pressure there not to miss the slightest clue that can be pieced together with others to prevent attacks. The president is looking to fill the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) job. The new director will be the fourth since 2005. Hard for them to stay on for too long when they ultimately take the blame for security incidents like the underwear bomber on Christmas day. The DNI serves as the head of the seventeen-member intelligence Community, but has no authority to direct them. Some, along with me, would argue that sometimes it is impossible to connect the dots prior to an incident, but when you look back at what was available it is all laid out nice and easy. Looking forward to the move and getting settled.

R&R

2010-05-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

I finally got out of JBB and had a very short stay in Kuwait before making it home on Friday 7 May. After a couple days of relaxing around the house the weather was nasty so we booked a trip to Mexico and had a very nice visit down there. Had a nice visit in STL on the way out and back. Returned for a week of relaxing, and was able to stain the back door and do a few other things around the house. Spent two nights playing with my new telescope. Not much luck the first night, but after learning some lessons and doing a little more reading of the instructions, we had more success the second night (after waiting out a few cloudy and rainy nights). Once it is calibrated and knows it's location, navigation to other items is as easy as touching a few buttons. Focusing can be a bit tedious at times, but Saturn was definitely the highlight of the evening. Yes... we could see the rings! Also took a motorcycle ride a couple days before leaving and before the Kansas wind tried to blow us away. As usual I had a great time. By the way Teddy is a very talented frisbee dog. Wish I could have stayed home an additional day for every time I tossed it for him!

Delays followed by Delays

2010-05-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

I am stuck at Joint Base Ballad. Delays yesterday have pushed everyone to the right. When that happened on my Arizona trip I simply rented a vehicle and drove. I do not have that option here, so I will just hang out. So I am off to keep myself occupied.

Branch AWOL

2010-05-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

Still no additional information/confirmation on the assignment. Maybe I will have better luck getting in touch with them when I get to the states. Still set to leave here sometime on the 4th. Should be home around the 6th or 7th. Things are going well here. I took a PT test yesterday, because everyone is taking record in May. I will be gone for the scheduled date, so I took it early. It went well. I maxed all of my events. 82 Push ups/89 Sit ups/2 Miles in 12:55. Also did height and weight. I must have shrunk and inch because I am usually 70 inches, but they said I was 69. Must have not been standing up as straight as usual. I weigh 173 pounds, lightest I have been in a long time. I feel good though, so I think it is a good weight for me. Can't wait to get home.

No Additional Information

2010-04-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

I waited until Thursday morning and did not get any additional information or confirmation about the PCS. I sent an e-mail on Thursday asking if they had any additional information, but did not get anything back. If I do not hear anything by Tuesday I will call. Never understood why people who say they are going to get back with you, do not send some sort of information or even a simple e-mail saying that they are still waiting to get it from someone else. I found out yesterday that I will start movement for R&R on the 4th. It will take about 3 days to get back to the states depending on flight schedules. Everything else is going well.

Assignment News

2010-04-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

Since I was supposed to find out on Friday where we would be moving to I was excited to see an e-mail from MI Branch when I got to work on Friday. However, it was not an email giving assignment information... He wanted me to give him a call to discuss something. He said it was not a bad thing, but did not elaborate on what it could be about. I waited until it was a decent hour on the east coast and gave him a call. Turns out they had a fellowship available at Fort Belvoir, VA and had sent some files forward for selection to fill the slot. My file was selected and he wanted to know if I was interested in the opportunity. I told him I was, but needed to discuss it with Sabrina. I asked him about Gordon and Buckley. He said Gordon was off the table because of timing. Buckley was still open, but the unit was reviewing (Officer Record Brief) ORBs (mine was one of them) and were going to select who they want. I had bumped the DC area up to number 3 and 4 for the chance of possibly getting selected for a fellowship down the road in another year or so. The chance to slide into one right now is a great opportunity. Not too many officers get the chance, because it is a selection process and timing does not always work out. I called him back and told him I wanted to take the slot. He is supposed to send me more information early next week. It is either a counterterrorism or an inter agency (DIA, CIA, FBI, NGIC) fellowship that will most likely result in a masters degree in strategic intelligence and it will satisfy my ILE requirement and prevent us from having to PCS back to Fort Leavenworth, KS to attend the normal class there. Hope that is not too confusing. Cost of living in that area is crazy and we will not be buying a house there. There are some good rental places and our housing allowance there is $2,700, so we should be able to find a nice place with at least a little yard for the dogs. Another good thing is that it will be at least 2 maybe 3 years where I will not deploy! My report date will be in AUG/SEP so it will be a quick turn around to get out of Riley and report there upon my return.

No News

2010-04-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

No word this week about the PCS destination or the promotion time line. I am hoping what happened with the Captain's list last week happens with the Major's list. The CPT list came out on 6 April. A few days later a message came out that promoted just over 1800 Lieutenants to Captain backdated to 22,23 March and 1 April. That happens quite a bit when the lists are slow to come out and some on the list have passed their projected promotion timeline. Anyway... still no word for the Majors, so really no change, just still waiting. PCS destination is supposed to be out by 16 April. No word either way about that, so I assume we will know at the end of the week. Everything else is going well. Can't believe we are 1/3 of the way through April already. Still set for R&R at the beginning of May.

A Few Changes

2010-04-03T23:13:00.000-07:00

The rest of the list of available jobs came out early in the week. I was not interested in most of them since they are positions in IRAQ!! There are two slots available to Headquarters INSCOM (Intelligence and Security Command) at Fort Belvoir, VA (Alexandria). A couple days later that got split into two different location in the DC area. One of them is at Belvoir the other is at the Washington Navy Yard. The preference order changed slightly from the last post. Fort Gordon is still number 1. Buckley Air force Base moved to number 2. Fort Belvoir moved to number 3. Fort Huachuca moved down the list. Still set to find out where we will be headed on the 16th of April. Things are going well here. The S2 is getting ready to go on R&R next week, so I will fill in for him while he is gone. He should be back right at the end of the month, so I can head out on R&R the first week of May.

News Filled Week

2010-03-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

Early in the week we got the list of available jobs/locations to PCS to. At first site I was not to happy with it, but after a little examination it is not too bad. I am still waiting on another listing that was supposed to be sent on the 26th. The directions from branch specifically said not to send in the preference sheet until the additional list was sent out. The additional list will have some O1A jobs on it. Those would mostly be non-branch specific. For example there might be some ROTC or other slots that MI branch has been tasked to fill. Human Resource Command (HRC) gets a big list of jobs that need to be filled. All of the MI jobs go to MI Branch to fill, but they also have to take their share of the non-branch specific jobs. Our top three on the list is Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia; Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, AZ; and Buckley Air Force Base in Denver, CO. I have several factors helping me out and making it look like I will get one of the top 3. My total time deployed, my job diversity (or lack there of) of assignments, and with this deployment my dwell time (time that I have been back from deployment) will be very low. All of those items should result in good outcome. Preference sheets have to be turned in by April 2nd and we should know on 16 April where we are going. Another big piece of news this week was the confirmation that I am on the promotion list to Major. My sequence number is 150. I will be able to predict about when I am going to be promoted after I find out how many are being promoted in May. I suspect it will be July or August before they get down to 150.

Iron Dragon

2010-03-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Well the event went well yesterday. It was kind of chilly to start (46), and we had a pretty good breeze that was blowing straight down the road that the run course was on. The wind was to our backs to start, which can hardly ever be felt. It was a head wind coming back and definitely slowed the run time down a bit. I did 83 push ups, 90 sit ups, 10 pull ups, 25 dips, and ran three miles in 19:34. Got a Certificate of Achievement and a Brigade coin. I did not get my coveted Iron Dragon Trophy, but I will get it when they arrive in the mail. Most importantly I do not have to participate in the mandatory staff PT twice a week and I am back to PT on my own. I am starting a new program on Monday and will also take a record regular APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) before i go on leave. That will be good for six months, so should not have to take another one until I am settled at the new unit. Regulations prevent a record APFT within the first 90 days of return from a deployment.

PCS on the Horizon

2010-03-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

I got an e-mail from MI branch early this week that stated I was being slated to PCS (permanent change of station) in the July-December time frame. They wanted an e-mail back by the 14th with justification to stay with my current unit. I wrote them back and told them my preference was to stay at Fort Riley and move up to the division staff for a year or so before I go to ILE (Intermediate Level Education). My second choice was to remain in 4th BDE and attend ILE at Fort Leavenworth, KS in FEB 11. My third choice was to PCS to either Fort Gordon, GA or Joint Base San Antonio, TX. They sent an e-mail back, 30 minutes later (that has to be some sort of record), that stated they can not send me to ILE in FEB because MI had half of the 18-20 seats that they usually get per class cut for the class that starts in August 10. So that means they are back logged and I am a low priority to go to class. They said to plan on a PCS in October. So the slate of jobs available is supposed to be out at the end of the month. We will pick our top five choices and should know by the end of April where we will be moving to. We are anxious to see the slate of jobs available. No guarantees that Gordon or San Antonio will even be available.

Moving Along

2010-02-20T22:47:00.000-08:00

I have settled into the new routine and things are going well. Time is going by fast and this deployment continues to progress. Not much else going on. Still training for the Iron Dragon. It is going well. Trying not to over train. My right shoulder still gives me problems sometimes and can only take a limited amount of dips. The push-up motion has never bothered it, but can't say the same for dips or sleeping on it funny. The march event is scheduled for the 20th. So I have about a month left to get ready. Once I complete that, I will not be required to attend staff PT on Tuesday and Friday morning.

Looking to the Future

2010-02-06T23:21:00.000-08:00

Deployments have a way of making me look toward the future. Planning events in advance and having things to look forward to make time go by a little faster. Just a few things I am looking forward to: Hanging out at the house with Sabrina and the dogs on a nice day. Visit to STL to visit family and Friends. Motorcycle trip to anywhere. Hiking trip down the Grand Canyon to visit Havasupi Falls. Trip to Mexico or anywhere else warm and beachy to relax on the beach. Trip to CA to visit Scott. Trip to AZ to visit family. Those are just a few events I look forward to.

Getting Settled

2010-01-30T22:45:00.000-08:00

I am getting into the new routine. Since I am on the BDE staff I am included in staff Physical Training (PT) twice a week. I am training for the Iron Dragon PT test so that I am not required to participate in staff PT (once I take and pass it that is). The Iron Dragon PT Test is a modified PT test developed and run by the BDE Commander. Our regular PT test is 2 Minutes of Push-ups, 2 minutes of Sit-ups and 2 mile run. The Iron Dragon adds Pull-ups and Dips. Unlike the normal PT test that has a set point value for each repetition or time for the run based on age, the Iron Dragon has a set standard for all. In order to be awarded the Iron Dragon, participants must do 80 Push-ups in 2 minutes, 85 Sit-ups in 2 minutes, 10 Pull-ups, 20 Dips (no time limit for either) and a three mile run in 22 minutes or less. Form is strictly enforced, so there is no cheating allowed such as kicking on the Pull-ups. Must lock elbows all the way out and go all the way up. Last month over 40 Soldiers took the test and only 6 passed. The only prerequisite is that Soldiers have to score at least a 270 (90 points in each event) on the normal PT test. I am shooting for the March test.

What a Difference a Week Makes

2010-01-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

Last week I directly rated 6 people and senior rated 5 others. I was responsible for everything that Bravo Company did or failed to do.... now I rate absolutely nobody and do not have 70 people looking to me to give them guidance and intent to assist them in the completion of their combat missions. I will miss being a commander. It was the most fun I have had since I was a platoon leader. I would change very few things about the way I commanded the Company. I tried everyday to make the best decisions possible based on the information I had at the time. Tried to be the best commander that each Soldier has had or ever will have. Now I have to wait to see if I will be fortunate enough to command a Battalion.

The change of command went well and I am settling into my new job. I suspect it will take about a month to get fully involved. R&R is just around the corner. Shooting for sometime in April or May. Closing in quickly on half way through the deployment.

Latest Date Change

2010-01-06T06:16:00.000-08:00

Well we ended up getting Space A back from Paliwoda and made it back "home" just after midnight on New Years Eve. The change of command date has moved again to the right. It is now the 16th of January and we are getting close enough now where I would be surprised if it moves again. Only 10 days of command left. It has been a very mild winter here so far. We have been having highs in the high 50s and low 60s. December is usually the wettest month here and we hardly had any rain. No complaints from me about that.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T05:50:00.000-08:00

We are hoping we do not have to spend our new year's eve and day away from our home away from home. Traveling and conducting inventories is our main focus until we can get them done. We are complete here, but not scheduled to leave until tomorrow. We will try to get Space A tonight.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

Holidays here are pretty much just normal days. Because of our mission we are business as usual for the most part. We did do a BBQ and a gift exchange late this afternoon. We have a ceremony tomorrow morning to do a mass reenlistment and an award ceremony. We are supposed to have some "Special Visitors". We'll have to wait and see who they might be. Change of Command inventories start in a couple of days. Hope we do not get delayed too much because of the weather. It is stays like it has been for the last couple of days it will be nice. We have had highs around 70 and lows about 45.

Day to Day

2009-12-15T06:01:00.000-08:00

The time is flying by. I can not believe it is the middle of December already. Not much going on except preparing for the change of command and normal day to day mission stuff. The current date for the change of command is 12 January. I suspect it will move again. I am not worried about it. I have had a good command and there comes a time to move on to something else. I will miss it. We are planning a BBQ and gift exchange for the 24th. It should be fun. Everyone is looking forward to spending the holidays at home next year, but until then we just have to work with what we have.

Catch-up

2009-11-22T05:44:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have posted anything. Let's see what has happened... We went to the range again. More of the same except a little less qualifying and more pistol close quarters stuff. It has gotten chilly here. It has been in the mid 40 for lows and 70s for highs. We have gotten lots (for Iraq anyway) of rain lately. We have started sending Soldiers home for R&R. It is a little early, but someone has to fill the early slots. I will be leaving command on 5 JAN 10. At least I think that is the date. Nobody has said for sure, but that is the last day in our change of command inventory schedule. The incoming commander will need to spend the last two weeks of December and the first 3-4 days of January inventorying all of the company property, so that she can sign for everything before we change out. I will be moving to the Brigade Intelligence shop where I will be the assistant Brigade S2 (Intelligence Officer). I had a good birthday. We had a PT test that day, so I decided to do the run to determine how much time I had gained since we got here. My First Sergeant and I have been running quite a bit. I ran the 2 miles in 1240, so it has paid off. One of my goals when I got here was to get back under 13 minutes. Maybe I should shoot for 1200.

Range

2009-11-01T05:28:00.000-08:00

All available Soldiers went to the range yesterday to shoot 9MM and our M4s. I shot expert with both weapons. 40/40 with my pistol and 38/40 with my M4. I also shot left handed with a simulated broken trigger finger (used my middle finger) and shot 36/40, but I was shorted 2 rounds in one of my magazines. I think it was more difficult to use my non-dominate eye than it was to use the other hand. Also much better since I had my eye surgery. We also did some transition and close quarters marksmanship drills. We had fun. We are trying to get to the range at least once a month while we are here, just to keep the skills sharp.

No Second Command

2009-11-01T05:25:00.000-08:00

I got confirmation this week that I will not be taking the second command. Kind of relieved. It was going to be alot of work. Hard to explain the difference, but much different than what I am doing now. Since it is a headquarters it is the Company that all of the Brigade commander and his staff are in. I would not have really been in command of anything since all of the staff Majors run their sections and all I would have done is been responsible for their property. I also would have been held responsible for all DUIs and discipline issues once we return to the states. With a company of 240 Soldiers that have been deployed for a year there was certain to be lots of late night phone calls. It was determined that since I am so close to Major that the second command would not have been beneficial. More beneficial for me to work in an Intel job instead. I will move to the BDE intelligence office to be the assistant intelligence officer. I am trying to stay in Bravo Company until MAR or APR, But it looks like it will be more like FEB.

New Contract

2009-10-29T06:20:00.000-07:00

Well KBR has been fired as the NTV contractor and it is being taken over by AIT. We took the truck to them and they think they may have it fixed today. We were not going to hold our breath, but the guys went to check on it today and the starter was done and they were working on the flywheel. However, we got confirmation today that all of the NTV are going to go away in a couple months. That only raises one question.... How is everyone going to get to the chow hall?! Barracudas are forbidden from taking the NTVs to chow because it is only about 400 meters from the CP (Command Post) and about 800 meters from the LSA (Life Support Area). You may or may not be surprised about just how lazy most people are. It has been raining here off and on for two days. It has made it nice and cool and also very muddy.

Contracts

2009-10-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

We should be able to go back in the records here and find out who drafted contacts for certain things and then track them down and make them pay back all of the money their contract has wasted over its life time. Our NTV (Non-Tactical Vehicle) contract doesn't allow us to buy parts from any other source except KBR. However nobody can tell me if there is anything in the contract about speedy service. One of our Ford Expeditions has a bad starter and fly wheel. They are telling us that the parts are on order and will be here in a about a month. No telling how much they are charging for the parts. I found the same parts online for $80 and could have them here in about a week except putting those parts on would void the contract. So we will continue to spend 5 minutes getting the vehicle started until the parts are completely tore up. I do not think they will last another month.

Groundhog Day

2009-10-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

All of the days have started to run together. PT, eat, work, eat, work, eat, meeting, sleep repeat. I know it is the weekend when football is on TV. About a month ago I was anxious to get into a routine so time would start going by fast. Well that time has arrived and time is flying by. I can not believe we are 2/3 of the way through October already. I have seen several e-mails about change of command time lines, but nothing official yet. Looks like I will leave Bravo Company in the middle of December. Stepped on a scale this morning and it said 175.

Still Hot

2009-10-12T04:28:00.000-07:00

Our highs are still in the low 90s. The low in the mornings has been about 60-65. I think we have had more sand storms in the last month than I remember the whole time I was here the first time. I am looking forward to the 60s and 70s in NOV and DEC. I am not betting on white Christmas. It did snow last time I was here, but that was the first time it had snowed in Baghdad in like 20 years. I remember someone told me that it never snowed in the south. When we came out of Pat Obrien's in New Orleans there was two inches of snow on the ground!

Chow Hall

2009-10-10T04:51:00.000-07:00

Most call it a Dining Facility (DFAC) these days. COB Speicher has one of the best. It is not quite as big as the one at Camp Victory (BIAP), but not too bad. The food is good and it is always very clean. I can always find something that I like. I am a big fan of the Healthy Bar. It usually has grilled chicken breast, baked fish (Trout or Salmon), Vegetable lasagna and some sort of vegetable. They have the fast food items like burgers, fries, corn dogs etc. There is a wrap/sandwich bar that I hit every other day or so, usually for lunch. I get the chunks of chicken with a little bit of chicken salad, lettuce, tomato, and provolone. The chicken salad by it self has too much mayo for my taste, so adding the chicken makes it just right. I am trying to stay away from the desserts, but I have a weakness for the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and the ice cream bars. They also have pies and cakes. Breakfast is good. I usually get some hard boiled eggs, Sausage, Cereal, and coffee. They also have crapes about twice a week. The best part is that we get paid $3.50 cents a day to eat it. We do not pay for it. Unless you count spending a year away from family and friends-paying for it. When we get back to Riley and file our travel vouchers we will end up getting about $1,200 for per diem.

Routine

2009-10-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

We have settled into a routine. Up at 0515 to run (most mornings). Shower, walk to breakfast, to the office to check email, check in with all of the platoons to make sure they do not need anything and that the missions are going well. Lunch and then some e-mail to BN and BDE to answer questions, dinner, bed. Something always comes up. Reading through the schedule above made it sound very simple. We have meetings to attend. Every Wednesday we have a command and staff at Battalion. We hold a company meeting on MON, WED and FRI at 1900. We have duties/details to cover. Hoping some of those get cut soon. We have had to pull some Soldiers out of their normal jobs to pull guard at the entry control point. Yes... MI Soldiers on guard. That is what happens when they put us under Operational Control (OPCON) to a support unit that does not understand our mission. 1SG and I are having fun fighting that one right now. We like making people mad! It is so much fun.

Second Command

2009-09-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

I got confirmation today that I will be getting a second command. I will be taking over Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 4 Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), 1st ID. The time line will be quicker than initially expected. I may change as soon as the mid/end of November. I suspect that I was chosen because of my demonstrated ability to maintain accountability of property. With over 200 Soldiers and 3-4 times the amount of property it will be a challenge. The Army is all about change. Officers do not stay in the same job very long. We move from job to job quickly to expand our experience with different situations. That can work to both our advantage and disadvantage. I have had a fantastic time as the Bravo Company Commander and will miss the Soldiers. I will not be moving far and will still get to see all of them and the results of their hard work. The new command will bring new challenges and will allow me to have influence over an additional group of Soldiers. I am honored to continue to have the opportunity to lead American Soldiers.

Almost Done

2009-09-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

TPE inventory is just about done. We made it out of FOB Bernstein on our second attempt. We were supposed to go straight to FOB Summeral to wrap things us, but ended up at Speicher. We got lucky yesterday and caught a flight to Summeral that went up in the morning and returned in the afternoon. All that remains is for the other unit to submit some paperwork to adjust some of the serial numbers. They are trying to get that done today. Leadership (especially theirs) is anxious for me to sign. I am taking my time and will not sign until everything is correct. All of our systems are set up and operational. We are being slow getting all of our other stuff set up. SSG Mertens described it best when he said "I feel like I just bought a house and I am trying to move in, but the old owners still have all of their furniture there and are still living there". Needless to say we are ready for them to go...

Stuck

2009-09-22T03:27:00.000-07:00

Maintenance issues with our Chinooks last night prevented us from being way ahead of schedule on the inventories. We found out at 0300 this morning that we would not be leaving for our 0100 departure. We should be able to get back on schedule today. The inventories went much better yesterday. The SSG that owns everything now had the location of every item listed on the paperwork, so even though the equipment was scattered in three separate locations it was easy to go down the list. He also had everything that was not in use lined up in order. That made the inventory last only 2 hours instead of the 4 hours it took at the other location for the same piece of equipment. Only one more location left to inventory the rest of the items. We have already identified items that we will not need, so we can start turning them in.

Update 19 SEP 09

2009-09-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

Well the inventories continue. They are not going as well as they could, but could be alot worse. We have plenty of time to get the paperwork in to fix the issues before I sign the books. That is the outgoing unit's responsibility. They have motivation to get it done since they can not leave until I sign for everything. The Relief in Place (RIP) has not officially started yet. Still plenty of time to get it in order. I hate inventorying commercial of the shelf equipment. Everything that came with the item is listed on the hand receipt for it right down to the warranty card! That makes the inventories last forever. One of the Navy guys that works with us mentioned that the ARMY is crazy when it comes to inventories. In the navy I guess everything is attached to the ship and that it becomes part of the ship. It is not inventoried separately. He says we make it too hard. I would agree. Must maintain accountability of the equipment that tax payers pay to provide us with. We just take it a bit far. The weather has started to break a bit. We got here at a good time.

CP Discription

2009-09-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

Our Company CP (Command Post) is in the projection house for an outdoor movie theatre. It is a two story structure with the orderly room and supply down stairs and three offices upstairs. Me, 1SG, and the XO will be up there. We have two windows in the office that face the movie screen. So we are in the projection room. Not too bad. Not a whole lot of space, but plenty for us. The movie screen is a large brick wall that at one time was nicely painted white. It is in rough shape now. There is a good sized patio/deck area outside the front door that has benches and a very stout picnic table. It will be a nice place to hang out once the weather cools a bit. Still not bad in the morning. It has shade over. Right now the office space has lots of clutter. We are making the other unit take all of their junk with them, so we can have everything nice and tidy. I will take pictures at some point.

Arrival at Speicher

2009-09-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

We left Tagi late last night and after a tour of central Iraq finally arrived at COB Speicher. Yes it is now COB not FOB. It is now a Contingency Operating Base rather that a Forward Operating Base. Lots of changes since the last time I was here. Our BDE TOC is located in the building that used to be the G4 and Property Book Office the first time I was here. I did not even recognise it at first. Lots of new construction. I got settled this morning about 0230 and was up at 0600 to get breakfast and to get a Relief in Place (RIP) briefing from the Company Commander of the company we are relieving. We are ahead of schedule already and have not even started yet. There is plenty of time to get everything taken care of. After that we went out to the UAV facility at the airfield to see how they are set up. Speicher is a HUGE place, so it was about a 10 minute drive to get to their location. They will also live there and they have all of their own facilities. (chowhall, PX, MWR) Speaking of facilities the chow hall is very nice. I better do lots of PT or I could come back weighing about 250! Spent the afternoon and evening giving guidance and signing some paperwork. Looking forward to getting a good night sleep.

Tagi

2009-09-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

I am currently attending the COIN (COunter INsergency) academy in Tagi. I have not been able to post because I could not find a computer that did not have all of the buttons for the blog in Arabic. This one is working, so I figured I would post my activity. We arrived a few nights ago on a CH-47 Chinook. The flight from Baghdad was uneventful and went well. I will be moving on shortly. We have been attending long hours of PowerPoint classes, but have received some useful intent and guidance from numerous commanding generals at all levels. I think my latest count was 13 stars all together.

Baghdad

2009-09-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

Arrived last night via crowded C-17. Felt a little cooler here than in Kuwait. The time is already flying by, I can not believe it is Friday already. When we got to BIAP, there had not been any arrangements made to move everyone and our bags to the transient area. We had to hang out for about an hour at the terminal to wait on a baggage truck and a bus. Not too bad considering it was midnight. The MWR facilities are great here. This computer room has 40 computers in it. Much better than the 20 that were here last time and the 8 or so the first time. Soldiers that stay here probably hardly ever have to wait to use a computer. Even if it is busy they probably only wait a few minutes. Speicher should have similar facilities.

Hot

2009-09-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

Today is going to be a hot one. It should start to cool down in another month or so. Everything is going well. My jet lag is complete, but I started having the nasal infection coming on this morning that I have gotten every time I have been in Kuwait. The fine dust is nasty. My eyes have been fine so far. Not having any dryness.

Up early... again

2009-09-02T02:46:00.000-07:00

Second morning in a row that we have been up early 0400 yesterday for our range and 0300 today so that we could run a close quarters marksmanship range for a couple of the other companies. It went well except for one heat injury. The Soldier from a sister company had not been drinking enough water and the heat finally took its toll. He got an IV and drank some water. He was stable when we brought him back to Buehring. He will be fine, but he had a strange uncontrollable shaking in his arms. We are to the point where we are going to have to start making up training to do. Soldiers can not just hang out and relax before they head north... there must be something else they can learn! We will cover escalation of force, weapons safety, and cultural awareness just to name a few.

Training Complete

2009-09-01T01:06:00.000-07:00

Zero confirmation went well this morning. Looking forward to heading north to get into a routine.

Kuwaiting

2009-08-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

Mandatory training is going well. Yesterday we conducted rollover training in the HMMWV simulator. It was fun. In the afternoon we learned the latest and greatest about IEDs. Today we are conducting roll over training in the MRAP simulator. Tomorrow we go to the range to confirm our zero on our weapons and then we will be waiting to move on. We are conducting PT daily and I slept most of the night last night. I should be over my jet lag in the next day or two.

Good Rehearsal

2009-08-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well... we went through the motions today only to get delayed for 6 hours and then until tomorow. Since we had weapons, other sensitive items and had already been manifested, we planned on staying at Camp Funston on Riley over night. We were directed to turn weapons in and spend another night at home. I do not mind, not a big deal for Sabrina and I, but the guys with kids have to go through the leaving process all over again. I came home and helped Sabrina mow. We will try again tomorrow.

I'm Off

2009-08-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

OIF VII starts tomorrow. I will be posting updates when I can. The year will fly by and I will be back home soon.