Thank you all!

Thank you to everyone. I might not mention you all here but thank you. To the classes that send gifts and coffee and letters, to the friends of the family that sent ornaments and snacks, to the folks at Ugive.org, I want to say thank you. I have such a wonderful support network. Dad thank you for the tortillas, and jelly. Everyone thanks for the tuna, we eat about 4 cans a day. The tree is full of ornaments. They are wonderful. Thank you to the Castellini's. Yes i said that right, thank you for all of the Reds gear. Im super pumped for the next season. Cant wait to get back to the ball park.

Thank you to Planes. I always knew i worked for an amazing company but i would have never expected the outpouring of support they sent. SFC Matt Withrow and I both work at Planes Moving and Storage, and we recieved two huge packages or items that will come in handy for the rest of the tour. What we didnt need we shared with our soldiers. You at Planes have helped not only Matt and I but the whole 353rd. Thank you to all those who organized, planned, and donated. We cant wait to come back and see everyone.

Thank you to everyone who sent cards and pictures. You were all in my thoughts and prayer on Christmas. The post cards are great, its something new and fun each day. I have at last count 127. So we are on our way to the goal 4192.

Thank you to all those who have supported me so far, everything is working wonderfully. The tree, the saddle blankets, the ornaments, the coffee, the snacks.

Thank you to everyone. I love the ornaments, they will hang every Christmas on my family tree. Each ornament will remind me of those who sent it, and the support and encouragement you all gave me in this time of hardship. Thank you, I cant say it enough.

I gotta vent, read carefully!

So its been awhile since i vented about how things really are. If things about the transportation company im in make you mad, stop reading. See im working through things and the Combat stress people say people like me should focus on the the stuff we can control and not the stuff we cant. SO.... I follow this advice and I pretty much stopped focusing on everything that happens here. YUP..... since the GOAL here is to set a record. See the company's goal.... and by that I mean not the company's goal since not one fucking soldier voted on this goal. Well the goal is to beat the numbers set by the unit we replaced. Now lets hear some backstory on the unit we replaced. Well they were active duty and they were in country for 15 months. So we would have to beat total miles driven and amount of ARMY shit hauled in 10 months.
Yes you got that right we are expected to get behind a goal that requires us to put OUR...not their....our lifes in danger more than is required. Im not asking not to peform our mission, but to have a chance to perform our mission safely. Yes, SAFE, the word everyone uses around here but none adhere to. I have seen drivers come in from one mission at midnight or later only to get 4 hours of sleep and then get up at 4am, 5am, 6am or the like and go back out on another mission. Ask those in charge questions about it "they got cat naps." Now no matter what, someone has to accept these missions, someone has to make the choice to keep our people on the road everyday for over 6 days straight. I have soldiers that have been on mission for a week straight. What i dont understand is why when these issues are brought "up the chain" (big crock of shit) nothing is done about them. I have a theory, well im gonna catch hell for this theory, those charged with keeping soldiers safe, those who pride themselves on trying to keep soldiers from harm, and bringing everyone home, those are the ones accepting missions that consistantly pushs soldiers on missions without suffiecent rest time. If a soldiers gets up a 3:30am and is on the road driving or loading his truck or whatever and doesnt get back to his CHU till midnight well i would consider that person not safe to put back on the road for at least 8 hours. Oh wait you need to know the ARMY's idea of rest. Well basically any time you are not driving, thats considered rest time. SO the second you step out of the truck, your resting. WHAT CRAP! I know the ARMY is tough and we love doing the tough stuff, but those "tough" times normally have a widely agreeded upon goal. Like defeating the Nazi's or defending south Korea. What makes it even better is that every 10 days or so we have 2 days of nothing going on. Now we as dilligent soldiers use these "down""off" days to maintain our equipment. This can take easily a whole day. If we dont take the time to fix as many problems as we can find, and that little problem causes a truck to be swapped or heaven forbid a "MECHANIC" to have to fix a problem outside of their normaly duty time, look out! Yes we get yelled at if we ask a maint. person to fix a truck that is going on mission. If we bother the mechanics after 4:30pm, yes you read that correctly, truck drivers .... work all day. Mechanics, 6-4:30 and they get one complete day off a week, well if we bother them our truckmaster yells at us. I guess the truck master, the guy who is supposed to help us complete the missions, i guess he is no in charge of Maintenance section also. I guess he has all reaching power.
Oh yeah HQ people get a day off a week too. The people who never leave the wire, the people who work inside all day from 8-5, they get to take a day off a week.

Now you may ask how are all of these missions getting done? Well soldiers are getting it done. My soldiers are doing an amazing job. Yes its what they signed up to do, but none of them want to set a record. None of them will gain anything by driving more miles and hauling more shit than any other unit. No some people in our unit may reap rewards from setting such high numbers but PVT. Joe Snuffy doesnt get anything to show for his hard work. Now they may get a medal for their work, but is one medal enough if someone gets hurt? Is it enough if a soldier dies? I have medals and i would gladly trade my purple heart to have never been hurt in combat. I would give up all of my medals if it kept my soldiers out of harms way. Now im not saying we should come to Iraq to do nothing, but i feel we do a lot more than our share. I have heard we are the only true transportation company around. I think thats a way to show off plumage. We have other units that are trans companies. If Trans units can drive gun trucks why cant gun truck units drive some 915's. I mean our security has three times the time off as we do. Does that make sense. Thats like the mail room guy getting more paid vacation than the CEO.

Okay so lets sum up here I have to focus on the stuff i can control which is not much. My soldiers are on mission a ton so the chances i get to see them i try to give them as much free time as i can so they can unwind. Our company is running missions like crazy and though i agree being on mission is better than weeks of nothing to do, we ned to make better choices about how many missions we send our soldiers on, about how many TEAMS, we actually plan our missions with.
Oh yeah i wont even go into the team idea. We plan on the basis that every person will be good to go and every truck will run forever. If you have 100 people ready to help you move and your trying to make sure your going to maximize each one, you dont have all 100 start moving everything at once. You go in shifts and work each group only so much before you give them a break so they dont break anything. See I work in the transportation buisness everyday. I think i might be the only one here who actually knows how a trucking company should run. YEAH this isnt how it should run. The civilian company i work for is amazing, they perform more missions, over more terrain everyday with fewer people. How, they plan and prepare for problems, they realize things breakdown, people breakdown, and they understand how to adapt to new ideas and other peoples views.

Yup i guess i have rambled on here for a while, what i am really saying is that things here are running, and i think running smoother than they might, but it is all because of the soldiers. While the leadership wont listen, the leadership must believe that they are infallible, while all of this is happening our soldiers, the amazing men and women of the ARMY are getting the job done and they will continue to do so. I pray that all of these decisions that make no sense, that all of these missions that dont have to be taken, that all of these choices are worth it, when that first soldier gets hurt or dies. I know its morbid but now i think that is the only way we will see a change. I have stopped trying to make a change here, I am over qualified for this TRANSPORTATION unit. I may have never run a company like this in Iraq, but i have day in and day out been knee deep in two great transportation companies. One ARMY one civilian. I have spoken with people from both of these companies and they all laugh at how things are done here. I have spoken with officers in the ARMY that are Trans. officers and they cant believe what i tell them.
Now i may catch hell for this, wait im sure too but understand this is one of the ways i was told to vent my frustrations. I do as im told, i go to combat stress, i do the group classes, the hour sessions and i give 100%. I try to be a good NCO and I do what i can to take care of my soldiers. If i have offended you ..... sorry...no............ tough shit.

Please have a great Christmas!

Dont forget

Dont forget Jessica has a blog too, i know she doesnt post as often but when she needs something or has some important info she does post it.
http://armystrongwifeandmom.blogspot.com/

She posted about holding off on the sweets a while ago. Thanks again to all willing to help.

Item update

Well as Christmas draws near, i want to thank everyone who has helped my family and I during this crazy 2008 year. Thank you to everyone who has sent packages and cards. All of the items you have sent have reached myself or my fellow soldiers. From cookies to cameras everything has helped. I love it all.
Many people have asked for an update on what they can send in future care packages. Well, let me say the things we dont need. Candy, gum, cookies, sweets and the like. We love them, we have eaten them and getting in shape is hard to do with so much of them still on the shelves. We love them dont get me wrong but we have plenty for the rest of the year.
Yes Soap and I are trying to eat healthy. The tuna everyone has sent is awesome, trust us we love it, I try to eat it for lunch everyday. So things a person could send if they are in the mood to send a care package. Cereal, healthy stuff, not coco puffs. Now we are very partial to Lucky Charms but it might just be the Irish in me. If anyone has ideas of healthy snacks that would help. since veggies dont travel well, i cant put those on the list.The jerky is great, one thing we find ourselves drinking is energy drinks. Now we know these are not the best but the one i love is the Sugar free ROCKSTAR. Its in the white can, my wife knows. we have powdered drinks and those are great but our shelves are stocked. If someone knew of a good powered tea, a healthy green or white tea that we could make, that would be great.
Christmas was good to me this year, and its actually not even here yet. I hope Xmas is good to my kids, Marissa, Roman and Shamus ... I love you all. Jessica i miss you, I love you.
I love the post cards, i need to recount them. I know im close to one hundred. I have a couple of doubles and thats pretty amazing considering how far away some cards have come from.

ANyway thanks so much, I hope everyone has a good Christmas and a happy new year. I got a rosary and holy water from Lourdes. I got some cool soldier type nut crackers. The ornaments are awesome. The books are cool, the christmas cards and pictures are very sweet. I hope to see everyone next year. The COFFEE is the best. Soap and i will be reviewing some of the interesting blends that we have received. I make a pot everyday and each pot is because of one of you. A person that cares and supports their soldiers. Thank you.

Oh Christmas tree!

"Its the best tree we've ever had!"

Well, its tradition in the Buckley family and i am not one to break tradition.

Turn what you love into what you do!

Well, with ample amounts of time to think about the future, i have decided to try my hand at homebrewing. Yes when i come home it's brew time. I first started this thinking a year or two ago when i happened to be in Grandma Katie's bathroom and I picked up a booklet about the family history. It turns out a great great grandpa of mine used to own a brew company in Covington. Yes i know making one batch of the sweet nectar of the gods isnt the same as mass producing the drink that makes grilling out so much fun.

I will take this slow, but i am for sure gonna find my own perfect beer and brew it all I can. I recently purchased a book about home brewing. It seems to be pretty easy. Just like making dinner, with just two weeks in between. So if anyone out there has brewed their own beer before, and you have tips, shoot some my way. I was thinking of names..... I was thinking BUCK beer. Or it could be called "nine fingered ale." Who knows lots of choices.

Anyway i still have quite a long time before i can make my first batch so for now i will be reading all i can, and who knows maybe one day you can walk to a bartender and ask for a BUCK light.

Ground Hog day

Well yesterday was kinda like ground hog day, pretty much the same as most of them. Not horrible, not fun. Just living in Iraq. Same basic stuff, Soldiers not making smart choices and it getting them into ...not hot... but warm water. People being lazy, people being pissed off about something and take it out on someone else. People being hard to find. I went to Maint. today to try and find a truck, i had to drop off one that needed fixed. Well thats about it. Been listening to my ipod on my tv. I am a lucky person, i brought a cord that allows me to play my ipod through my tv so i dont even need speakers. Its awesome. Well, with Sopczak gone for two weeks.. he relocated to another post for a short time, mission dictates, things are pretty boring. I dont have someone to talk to all the time that understand my background. No big deal, just means i try and read more and listen to music a little louder. So its frickin cold here. We grilled out a few nights ago. It was nice but cold, just a small weber grill a few burgers and dogs, nice.

Thanks

So quick thanks for the few Xmas packages i have recieved as of yet. Thanks to my Little Bro Neal, Love the poster, love the ornaments and the football.

Shearer Family- awesome package, love the Elvis ornament, the king lives! Love the jerky, I love Grandma Jeans Raindeer.

Mom- the magazines were great, love the Cincinnati one. The ornaments are great and the game is spot on! Thanks

Jessica, you did amazing, best gift i could have gotten. i love the Xbox360 and games, it will help pass the hours without you. the magazines are great and i love the pciture frames. It must have been one major project. Now i need pictures to fill them.

A few thoughts

So, things are picking up here mission wise, and while im not on the road, I am seeing certain things that bother me. Many are being addressed by our higher ranking officers and NCO's but it still bothers me. I do want to say that this deployment from the living conditions aspect is bar none the best. I coudnt have imagined any better conditions.... wait, we have a water shortage, which doesnt make sense because when i do the math we should have more than enough water to do anything we want. We have no flushing toilets at our pad. Now im not complaining but merely commenting on how the ARMY manages its resources. It would seem that in 6 years of being in Iraq, we could have solved the water problem. Relying on Iraqis to fix everything is retarded. These people are king of rigging shit. Just look at their cars, everything is rigged.
Now also, the bus system here on the COB. Well who ever is in charge of it must have a GED because any educated person would see the need for more buses. Why does one base have a great efficent system and one have such an unreliable system. I mean we wait for over 30 min for a bus and when it gets there its more than half full so some people are forced to wait. Now i know we can walk to chow, its truly only about a mile or so, but thats besides the point, they offer buses and they claim to have done the math and have accounted for everyone. Well bullshit. I like my walk to chow, but the air is much colder now and with rain setting in more often, the mud is impossible to get away from, so this walk is much more of a hassle than a stress reliever. I guess i expected more from the ARMY.
Now i will say the ARMY is doing good things, i mean they are taking away reenlistment bonuses for my MOS. Oh thats a good idea when the ARMY is losing people left and right, lets decrease their incentive to stay. Bright idea.
I guess i needed to put my thoughts on paper...... well on something that reminds me of paper. So if you dont like what im saying ... tough.... if you agree, thanks

Thank you everyone for the post cards keep it up, i think im at 70.

Charlie Hustle

Yes, PETER EDWARD ROSE has sent me, little old me, a postcard. Postcard number 59 is from the all time hit king. The only post card i got this morning is from the only player to be voted to the all star game for 5 different positions. My 59th postcard has the real signature of the best baseball player to ever swing a bat, to ever run out of his helmet, to ever head first slide into first base.

I dont know how it happened but I think I need to thank Joe Hansbauer. Thank you.

Thanks to everyone who has sent postcards. Now i have found that there is one other person getting postcards in the same numbers as I. Now she is getting mostly Minnesota postcards, I still want to crush her numbers so if you have a second, drop me a postcard from any gas station, state capital, theme park, or even a national park. I love them all, I will keep them all, trust me, each postcard is special. I read each one and my CHU mate Sgt. Sopczak and I talk about each one. He cant believe i got a post card with a Cow's butt on it that says Dairy Aire. I love the ones from the different places people visit. Aim Small Miss Small. I love the Cincinnati postcards, it makes home seem that much closer.

If asked though to choose a favorite card, I would say the handmade postcards from my sister. I even saved and put on the wall the envelope she deocrated when sending a postcard she thought might not make it. The cards she creates show such effort that emotions are hard to hold back when i see them. Everyday when things are down i can look to my wall and see the love people send but seeing those cards can lift any horrible day. Thank you to Mel and Joe you have embraced what the SUPPORT THE TROOPS truly means. Thank you to UGIVE.ORG, Thank you to the Indian Hill class of Kerry Daus, Thank you to the religion class Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Thank you to WEBELOSI den of Pack 106, Thank you to the Rumbaugh's, Thank you to Dad, Thank you to Mom, Thank you to Dustin and Chelle, Thank you to all those who i have not named, I love the cards. Just hearing what you happened to be doing the day you send the card out is more than enough to transport me away from this place, if only for a minute.

Thanksgiving.....in Iraq

So today is Thanksgiving and although it truly sucks because im not home with my family i had to make it the best i could. Hey im a Buckley thats what we do. Well first we got to sleep in.... now my wife will be surprised because at home sleeping in for me is maybe 6:30 but here i slept till 8 oclock in the morning. I got up a few times to use the latrine or check that it was indeed daylight but i always went back to sleep. That was nice.I felt refreshed when i finally got up and i made some damn good coffee. It was Folgers, but thats the best we have right now. Again if you like the Java and have an interesting brand or one you are partial to please send it. If we get enough variety we will write our reviews. We love coffee. Anyway, my ususal breakfast of a protein shake, two cups of coffee and a Nutri-Grain bar. Yes maybe not as big as you would expect but im not trying to put on weight over here. Once we started moving about Soap and I had to prepare some things for his convoy so we hopped in a Gator and ran down to Maint. to get some dispatches. This is a lot of fun for us because it is such a change from our last tour. Now keep in mind we would still have walked the mile to maint. if need be but having an ATV to take us is awesome.

Once this task was done, we stopped int he TOC and I got into the mix of handling the days platoon buisness. SSG Gudim and I run the platoon while our platoon sgt. is up at another base. So there were a few things that needed to be worked out. Well after all that it was CHOW time. So today being Thanksgiving and us being hungry well we ate. The chow hall did it up this time, we had turkey, ham, mac and cheese. We had rolls, stuffing, and sparkling grape fruit cocktail. Yeah no alcohol. We actually had a good meal. It was nice. Well the rest of the day proceeded about the same way, small things coming up and decisions being made to make sure they get taken care of. Gotta love it.

Postcards from.......not the edge

Well here are the postcards i have gotten. Thank you to those who have sent packages and postcards.

I really want to thank those who are sending them on a regular basis, you know who you are. Those who arnt, or who promised to help at home and havent well you disappoint me. I dont want to bash or hate on anyone but the same few have helped Jessica and the same few have made the effort. Maybe this war isnt as popular as it was my first tour but that shouldnt matter. Your efforts to help are pitiful at best. I understand in this busy world people have tons of schedules and plans but i could care less. When i was leaving almost all i came in contact with said" if there is anything we can do just let us know" Well i let you know. I gave everyone an inside track on how to help. If you read my blog then you would know this is not the first time ihave asked for help. Worst thing is that i had to ask more than once. If any of you have the sticker or magnet on your car that says you support the troops and you havent made the effort to help with your time then i ask you to take it off. Supporting the troops is more than buying a magent. It is more than send one postcard and feeling like you have done something. If you are not physically able, I understand, but many of you are and you have no idea of the time you waste. Time that would mean the world to my family if you offered it up.

Nope you all just sit by idly and put off making your effort to help. Well Holidays are here and im sure the excuses will fly. Please if you honestly arent going to try, when i come home, dont be there, dont say anything, not even thank you. My family needs me know and i cant be there, that means i need to rely on my extended family to help. In generations past this wouldnt be a problem but now we have such a self absorbed world that nobody will take the time for anyone else.

Again to those who have given their time and made the effort, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I ask that you put pressure on those who you know can offer help. Peer pressure works more than most people know. Dont be afraid to say something to these liars. My wife means enough to me, that i fi have to push away the fakes in my family and cut the ties, I will.

Please dont test my resolve...... you wont win.

thank you

The children are our future.

Well that title is true. The children are the reason we are here. At least I hope that is a part of it. I figure after a few generations of Iraqi kids grow up with freedom, things will have changed for good. If these kids can run and smile and play soccer now, they couldnt when i was here the first time, well then I am fine fighting this war. I think the benefits of war takes 2X times the years the war is fought. That means when these 7 year olds are 21 we will see the true impact of what we have done here in Iraq. Just think if we had to live with our kids playing in war torn streets. There are more reasons than oil for this war.

Common things

The first picture is of a MRAP. Its short for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected. Its basically an SUV that is armored to the gills. The second picture is an ASV or Armored Security Vehicle. Its only purpose is to protect.

These vehicles are just two of the multiple trucks that are used to secure our routes and convoys. If anyone is worried about security on the convoys now, just compare the trucks above to the truck below. The truck below is not the exact same as the one i got blown up in but its very very close.

Bueller...Bueller....Bueller

So today was a sort of day off. WOW the first real day off since i got to Iraq. It came with surprise, but we made the most of it. Today Soap and I were as productive as we ever could be. We recieved our pantry and with that we organized and expanded our food area. We bought a TV and used our insider information to recieve a converter and power strips (220) so we can create a astehtic, safe living area, when it comes to power cords running all over the place. I helped my soldier, SPC. Helm clean out our truck and PMCS it. He and I also organized all of our truck equipment to create a more squared away apperance. Soap and I also ran AFN, or Armed Forces Network, the ARMY version of television in our CHU. So now we have a TV, we also hooked up the XBOX we were given by a fellow soldier that had two. One thing we lack is a DVD player that has A/V output but we are doing fine without. We recently cleaned our CHU, which we like to do regularly. We will also be making our regular trip to the post gym tonight. I would say today was what we needed. Oh we also dropped off laundry and I was able to change the sheets on my bed and drop them off to be laundred as well.

I tend to think the ARMY believes its soldiers will, when presented with a day off, spend it lying around doing nothing productive and basically waste the day. Which is why I believe our horrible command gives us so few days off. Well without trying to prove anyone wrong, I feel that my day was my most effecient day in Iraq.

Thanks to all

Well i must say the support i have been show has been great so far. I wanted to give some updates. As for things to send, Magazines are the best because we are usually behind on when we get a chance to see them, we dont have a good selection, and we can transport them with us. Actually anything to read, that is current. As for food, candy... we have enough, thanks to all who have sent some, we love it but we find almonds, preztels and healthy snacks are the hot item. Sopczak and I have decided to eat as healthy as we can .... barring the cheat days, thats when we eat the awesome peanut butter cookies and other snacks we have gotten.

I want to thank my cousin Quinn's WEBELOS troop who sent a care package. You guys rock. Sopczak and I will be writing letters soon. Keep up the great work you guys.

If you want specific ideas, Mens Health, Newsweek or Time, Rollingstone, and Sports Illustrated or ESPN.

COFFEE We have bought a coffee maker and we both love coffee. I love Kona coffee, the Hawaiian type, any interesting types would be great, we like to brew a lot for our fellow soldiers, it makes for great converstation. I guess Coffee itself is the converstation starter. I have asked Jessica to send me a photo album for the pictures i am hoping to get of my kids, so if you happen to be lucky enough to see Roman, Shamus, and Marissa take a picture develop it and send it.

Movin on up

Okay so living in a CHU is tough when you have a ton of stuff and people send you great snacks and food and things to make life easier. Get that people send things to make life easier and it makes the living tougher because you have no place to put it all. PROBLEM solved. Thanks to SSG Ulrich Sgt. Sopczak and I have a pantry/shelf system that allows us to organize our food, snacks and even gum. We are able to get things out of boxes and onto shelfs where we can see them. I want to repay SSG Ulrich for his time and dedication. Its hard to find something for someone over here since we all have access to the same limited items. If anyone wanted to thank SSG Ulrich for his unselfish act i would be very grateful. He built this using tools he brought from home and during his only day off this week. He choose to spend his own free time cutting wood and measuring everything just right so we could live a little better. He has built many many pairs of bed risers for our soldiers, mine included without being forced too. He has a talent that I do not have and he has been a great asset to our platoon.

If you would like to thank him you can send him mail or packages or a thank you post card at the same address I am at. Just subsitute his name for mine and leave out the last for of the SSN number. I know he will enjoy your support. To give you a little background, during my 4 day leave while at Fort Dix SSG Ulrich was able to be home in time for his 4 baby girls birth.

Thanks to all who support all of us in the military. We thank you.

On the homefront

Hello again, i want to put out a request to all those who want to help. My wife Jessica needs a little more time to herself. I know my two boys can be a handful for just one night and Jessica does it everyday. I agree with Jessica that she needs some time away from the boys, and not just to go to the store for food. She needs time to shop for her own clothes, she needs time to be by herself at our house. I know its tough for anyone to watch our boys and now the boys seem to be attached to each other. Shamus doesnt like being without his big brother Roman. Please if you want to help call or email, she might not respond, dont feel like she doesnt want your help, she is busy and some people the boys are used to so its easier to set it up. If you can make it out to our house or you have room to watch the boys please let jessica know.

Please, many people said before i left that if we needed anything to let them know, well here is one thing we need. with the Holidays coming up we will need family more than ever, these holidays will be very rough for both the kids and jessica and i trust that my support structure will be there for me in the end. Family and friends, this to include cousins, uncles, aunts and the like please find the time in your schedules to offer help. Thanks

You've got mail!

Okay i know bad title but i had to think of something. Anyway, no internet in our CHU's but its coming soon. im on mission right now so i have a little time, I have started to receive mail, its sporadic and i am sure it will all get to me. I want to thank Beth Gottefried..... sorry if i spelled it wrong, i dont have the postcards infront of me. She has sent three postcards so far and they are my first 3, I think its a good start. Thank you to Dad i recieved the Red Coleman, it is perfect. Thank you to Patti, John, Ryan, and Kerri, oh and what the heck Erin. I got the jerky, its friggin awesome. Thank you to Rachel and Michael, they have been an amazing support even though we have never met nor spoken. I recieved the three packages you sent and my soldiers and I thank you. Everything will come in handy, very handy. I know my CHU mate Sopczak has already started cleaning while im away on mission.
Thank you to mom, the cards are great, coming home off mission to an always uplifting message is one of the best ways to motivate and inspire a soldier. Thank you to Jessica, my wonderful wife, the package you sent was everything i asked for. The pictures were great. i love the shoes and the card was perfect.

Anyone reading this please take pictures of Jessica whenever your around her. I dont have enough pictures of her and its impossible for her to capture those moments that im missing. Jessica can print them and mail them but she cant take them. Thank you.

Thanks to everyone who has sent mail but it has not found me yet. I am sure it will. I will keep letting those who write or send, know that the time they spend is not wasted. I will either write back or thank you here. my hand writing is very bad so this might be the best. Thanks again for all your effort.

SSG Buckley

Some items

Okay, well some items that will help while im here.
Baby wipes, (lack of water means little showers or not even a shower)
3Mhooks the sticky ones that you can stick to a wall,
good hangers for clothes,
collapsable stool/chair, like the camping stools that fold up
pledge and dusting/cleaning items, we have lots of dust and would like to clean our little home
Carpet of any sort. it might be hard to send so if you cant no problem we have hard floors that can get cold. maybe a couple of bath rugs or different things,
A small to mid size cooler, but that is a luxury

I hope everyone is doing well, I cant wait for the first letters so please send them. If you send packages please number them so i can tell if a package you have sent did not make it.
I will try and take pictures and upload them once we get internet. It should be too crazy expensive. We are gonna try and get a TV so we can watch sports. Dont know how much that will cost? Anyway Books will never hurt, if you do send books i like true military, or leadership style books, Colin Powel, John McCain, and those types would be interesting to read about.

If you would like to get a letter or you think i dont have your address you are correct. please if you send a package, enclose a note with your address so i can be sure to have it correct.

Thank you to all those who support me. While we get set for the next 9 months please understand your letters mean more than you will ever know. If you want to write to others soldiers and not just me here are a few names of my soldiers you can put the letters in the packages to me and I will hand them out or you can address the soldier themself

SGT Adam Kopel
SPC Josh Helm
PFC Larry Wilder
SGT Audria Jacobs
PFC Terri Heishmann
PFC Travis Brierly
SPC Adam Yates
SGT Mellisa Bares
SSG Ed Hystad
These are my soldiers and they will be my responsbility the whole time we are here. They will save my life just as much as i save theirs. Please know they should mean as much to you as i do.

Thanks to all

APO

353rd Transportation Company
ATTN SSG Buckley, John 5605
COB Q West Base Complex Iraq
APO AE 09351

Kuwait, this sucks

Kuwait, is hot and sandy. Not much else. We have been here for a little while now and let me tell you it kinda sucks. I mean its 1000% better than my first time in Kuwait, but it still sucks. Mainly because this time i miss home a lot more. Last time the war was on my mind, this time making it home to my wonderful, beautiful, amazing wife is all i can think about. I post this using a Kuwait'i run computer shop where i paid 5$ for an hour of computer/internet use. wow the ARMY really takes care of us. It costs the soldier $ to do anything. If we want to call home, we have to buy a calling card. If we are lucky to have a Military post in our zip code you can make a DSN call for free but its a limited time, and how many of us get that Luxury? NOT ME. So i pay the money and im posting with my time. I miss my wife most of all. My best friend here Jon Sopczak, is helping me pass the time. the training isnt so bad, we got new body armor that is a million times better than the old one. I continue to miss my kids and friends, most of all my wife. I just miss being able to talk to her and hold her. Its weird but such a simple thing can take my stress away. Now that I am without i find i miss it much more than ever. We hope to be making my jump up north to Iraq in the next 5-7 days. This is a good thing. Instead of a 50 man tent the likes of which we are housed in now, i will be living with my best friend Soap, in a air conditioned 2 man trailer. My own slice of home. I can decorate the trailer how i see fit, i can spread out my stuff and not worry about infringing on others space. I can put up pictures of my children and wife, i can organize my gear so i can find everything. Anyway, Kuwait sucks, i miss my wife, but i am handling it well. Jessica will be posting my address in Q-West on each one of our three blogs so please read. i hope once we get to Q-West i will get regular internet so i can post pictures of where i have lived and some of the things we have done. Please everyone who reads this, i ask that you make a continued effort to help Jessica with the children. I praise my mother, father, and jessica's mom for their help in watching our kids while i was on pass at fort dix. I also want to thank Jeneen and Mel, for all your time and support. To those who havent been to the house to spell Jessica or who havent offered to watch the kids so she can shop for herself, or even spend time by herself, please do so. NO Dont offer just do it. If you have the time and ability just find out when she will be home and show up and be there. I know my wife is strong and pround and wont ask for as much help as those three kids will require, just force her to spend an afternoon shopping or to go see a movie or get a haircut and petticure..... or however you spell it. push her out the door. If she wants to spend time with marissa let her take Marissa shopping but not the boys, I want to see Jessica with more help. Those who have helped THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, for those who said they would and havent, I am not mad just waiting. Please take this as a huge gift and sacrifice and i know you will be filled with joy after spending time with our children and doing such a un-selfish thing.
To Jessica: I love you, stay strong, i am proud of you. I miss you, and i will be home before you know it.
To Mom's and Dad, and those who are helping, THANK YOU keep up the amazing work. I know its tough but i means the world to me.
To Dustin, thank you very much, we can sit back and crack a cold one at YOUR place when i come home.
To My kids. Be good for your mother.
To my wife again, i love you. i miss you, i am proud of you and i believe you are amazing and wonderful. I LOVE YOU

What lies ahead.

Pass is nearly over and i have begun to look forward to the future. I run through the accounts of my last tour and then i have to bring myself back to reality and remind myself this tour.....this war will not be like the last. Not that i long for combat or i wish for the chance to shoot, but the last war was much more romantic than this is shaping up to be. I use that term with some artistic license. Romantic in the sense that the soldiers still had a sense that what we were fighting for was just and right. We believed we were fighting a evil dictator who was going to use chemical warfare, and who would use his army to put up the best fight since Vietnam. Now we are set to deploy knowing the fight is limited and very controlled. We are treating this conflict as a business venture. We incur some sacrifice but that is always swayed but the financial windfall most soldiers incur. If i could tape conversations about what people are going to do when they come home or why they are going to Iraq this time, more often than not you would hear about a major purchase set to be made. I fall into this same category already planning out the money i will make during this deployment. We fought the first time because we felt we wanted to defend our freedom, we fought the first time for our family and friends, for those who died on 9/11, this time I fear we fight for the paycheck.

Does that make us Mercenaries? My first time at war we all did the math to find out how much cash we would make, but the talk of what would be purchased or how much the money meant was very secondary to the reason for the war. Yes the first war was romantic, we went with flags in our eyes and the stories of WWII in our heart. We all watched the amazing movies depicting great American battles in all previous major wars. We believed or maybe hoped that our chance at war would give us those same stories. Maybe we had a false belief that they would make epic movies about our battles and our stories. Who knows maybe in time their will be that great war epic about Iraq.

Maybe I should enjoy the diminished combat, maybe i should be happy to have such a limited amount of time in the war zone. I hope this time we can replace that quest for our great story with conquest of ourselves. I know i return to Iraq looking for a closing chapter on this part of my life. I return to this war torn land with the hopes to return home like the rest of my buddies did the first time. I want to enjoy the return to the states. I want to experience the joy of leaving Iraq under my own power and on my own terms. My stories were formed in my last deployment, now i search for my summary, for my closing chapters so the novel that has become these past 5 years or so will finally be finished and can put on display for all to see.

True Romance

Okay, so we have pulled out of the FOB, which means we are back at the barracks and that means hot showers, porcelain toilets, and PASS! If you don't know what pass is then you haven't read my wife's or my family blog, which i do encourage you to do. I think it will give you (my readers) a 360 view of this deployment. Anyway being back in the barracks means i have one day to wait to see my wife. Jessica is driving out here to Fort Dix to spend 4 days with me. I haven't been this excited in a long time. This wait and how i feel has just reconfirmed how much i love my wife and why she is the perfect one for me. I guess its just the gut feeling of needing her around. I feel like she is my drug and without her i am in constant withdraw. So these four days will need to be my "fix" if you will for the next 10 or 11 months. As for what we plan to do on pass, we want to have a nice dinner, we want to spend time together and we just basically want to forget what happens at the end of the four days.

That being said, what happens at the end of those four days is the hardest part. The good bye. Not the good bye like last time because we knew there would be one more chance to see each other. This will be the last goodbye, a physical goodbye, for a long time. This will be the last time i kiss my wife for approx. a year. That i think will be the hardest part for me. I love my kids don't get me wrong, but the kind of love i have for my children is completely different than the love i have for Jessica. I am IN LOVE with Jessica. I feel that my soul mate has been found. No matter how much we fight or what its about we both seem to always find a way through. We may have hard times and we may have easy times but the toughest times are the ones spent apart. I have spent over a year preparing to leave my wife and kids on this deployment and i feel they are ready. As ready as the can be. I feel that i have not prepared myself. I am not ready to not touch my wife's beautiful face for a year. I have done time away from Jessica before, a two week stint here and there, but never this long. Time away from Jessica, is like time without breathing. I feel very alone without her. I have never felt in all my life that i needed someone to help me through. I feel that now. I need my wife, my Jessi, to help me through the rest of my days. I hope it is not taken as a weakness or as trivial. I do not say this to anyone but the computer screen, i do not toot my own horn in how i have found my "one" i write this to put what is in my heart and what is in my soul on paper for all eternity. Never have I, and the never is for sure, felt so amazed by one person. Jessica has weathered the storm of kids, moving, custody battles, marriage, poverty, a husband that has PTSD, her own demons, and then a deployment. She has done all this with smiles on her face and a drive for the next day. I have, and i admit this with humility, underestimated her. Never again with that happen. I have always known Jessica could handle everything put in front of her, but never did i completely allow what would come at her to be unchecked. I have always put secondary plans in place to protect her. I have not done so now and i am glad i didn't. She has done wonders.

While this deployment is just getting started i pray i do not speak prematurely, but no matter what happens next I will always support Jessica in everything she chooses to do. I want to chastise, those who have underestimated, not believed in, or just down right passed over MY Jessica. She would has proven you all wrong. Those of you out there who ever doubted her, this includes myself, should be ashamed. She is smarter, stronger and has a better constitution than any of us. She will make things work. If she cant she will go down fighting. That is all anyone should ever ask of a person. To continue trying no matter what the cost is a sign of someone worth supporting. I love Jessica with all my heart, i wish i had more ways to show her how much she means to me. I took stock of myself when i decided that Jessica was the one for me. I said to myself and her that i would make every dream of hers come true. I felt that she was never given the best situation to succeed and because of that she never got what her heart desired. I was not about to let such a wonderful person go through life without being happy. She received this news well and unlike most, she didn't ask for the moon, though if she did, I would be at NASA now. She asked for a house that she could call her own. Something she had never lived in. An actual house with four walls not attached to anyone else. She asked for her children to always be at her side. Meaning having majority custody of Marissa and any other children we have. She asked to be able to raise her kids herself without have to rely on daycare for help. This meant she would not be working. She asked for a car that wasn't a bucket. Yes the ones previous to the one she had now all were buckets, any way you slice it they were bad. She asked to have a chance to repair the damage that three kids can do to the body. That is it. Please note that no where did she ever ask for riches or outlandish vacations, or unrealistic materials. I promised her her dreams and I have come through on every one so far. I do not intend on stopping. Jessica is my soul mate, she will always be my soul mate. I don't care if she reads this, that is not why i am writing this, I am back at the barracks counting the hours till i see her. I have trained hard over the past 3 weeks with the hope of earning my chance to see my wife. No touch will be as sweet has hers, no kiss as soft, no voice as calming, no embrace as welcoming. I want my Jessica here but i dread the four day. I do not want that fourth day to come. I know what that means, if i could spend forever on day 1 i would.

I love you Jessica, I will come home I promise.

High speed training

Okay, we have been doing a lot of training, i mean quite a bit. we have been running convoys and using high speed Humvees. we we use the latest equipment we all get excited. I have had a few issues with how they set up our training. I hate when the command has no real vision for how the execution of the missions will go. I almost think they have no real idea of what they are doing. i do understand that i have to respect my commanders and those appointed above me or those who outrank me, BUT when in the civilian world i do all of their jobs combined everyday it makes it hard to sweep all of their mistakes, misjudgements and out right stupid decisions under the rug. these people cant plan out a whole day of missions and when things go wrong or break down they are unwilling to adjust their plan to fit the capabilities of those performing the missions.

Now i had a run in with those people in operations and well lets say it got heated and i got pissed. I think when all was said and down they saw how fucked up all this extra training was becoming. Pushing soldiers to their limit, when even the command says before the training starts that" we know this training is irrelevant" makes it hard to motivate your soldiers. I have found my ways to motivate and my soldiers continue to impress me. I just wish the ARMY would have a better way to evaluate and (replace,retraining, dismiss,or just remove) get rid of bad leaders.

But since the ARMY fails in that aspect i guess i am stuck with leaders looking out for their own agendas, looking out for only their careers, and basically using the soldiers a tool to prove their own worth.

All in all i liked some of the training, but with it being unrealistic, its hard to get too excited. I am excited that its almost over. I get to see my wife in two days. I get to have four days of freedom in which i will rest up, spend time with my beautiful wife, and try and prepare mentally for the jump across the pond. I have some pretty cool pictures of our training. i will have more soon. Oh yeah the Hurricane/ Tropical storm came in a gave us a soaking.

Deployment mustache

Yes we all kinda grow a mustache, it looks horrible on me. i know! Its gone, it might come back as a joke or as something to do besides sit around. Here is a photo

Black Hawk Down.......for truckers

I am on the right


Okay so the ARMY in its infinite wisdom has no real idea of how to training each type of unit that deploys so it employs the strategy of lets train them all like "door kickers" or what most would understand as infantry. Yes even us truckers have to train for the worst. If anyone reading this remembers the Matt Maupin story... well that is why we train. If you don't know his story just Google his name. Anyway we have spent about the last 7 or so days doing infantry tactic training. We worked on individual movement and squad movement. We worked on mounted"in Humvee" IED defeat training and also dismounted IED defeat training. We also worked on MOUNT training. Now mounted and MOUNT training are different. Mounted is training while using vehicles. MOUNT training is urban warfare training. Its kicking in doors, room clearing, searching detainee's and all the extras that come with it. This training is the stuff in the commercials. Its the stuff younger soldiers join the ARMY for. Its the stuff that wears down the older NCO's as its very physically demanding. Well i had planned to get more pictures but i spent most of the time during the training employing my squad and killing the enemy. Yes my squad did the best i could have ever expected.

For being truckers at heart my soldiers surprised me beyond my wildest expectations. They responded to orders without question or hesitation. They were able to communicate through the fog of war. They pushed past their preconceived limits and found a sense of teamwork i didn't think would be achieved stateside. I was in charge of my squad of people plus 4 soldiers from my platoons 3rd squad. These soldiers also performed beyond belief. They were integrated to our squad and we all never missed a beat.

Keep in mind all of this training is in full battle rattle. Full body armor full gear, mask, magazines for our weapon, elbow pads, knee pads, helmet, weapon and buttpack with food, wet weather gear, full camelbak, gloves, ballistic glasses. If you add all that up you easily have an additional 70-80 pounds onto the average soldier. Now imagine carrying that weight as you run, jump, crawl, go up stairs, spin, maneuver,and communicate all at the same time as pulling security, searching a house, throwing a smoke grenade and shooting.

The MOUNT training was the best. My team did two "lanes" one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The lanes consisted of patrolling a street, clearing houses, searching the locals, dealing with unruly locals, killing the enemy and taking some prisoner. basically walking down a city street and handling anything that comes at you. I was able to shout and move my soldiers up the street and they killed the enemy. I did a little Rambo maneuver with another soldier but that's okay.

The second day my whole platoon had a rescue "mission". If you imagine black hawk down the movie but mostly the beginning. My squad had performed so well the first day of training that we were commended by our first Sargent and even the Observer trainers that taught the training. Because of that performance my group of 10 soldiers were picked as the assault element of my platoons mission. 1st platoon was to find a high value individual and rescue him, then escape with him to the landing zone. All inside this hostile town. Well my team did great, we had a battering ram for the front door, two search teams and a combat lifesaver team. We killed or captured all the enemy inside the target house, we got the HVI and we got out all within the 30 in time limit the platoon was given. The whole platoon did great. Our security force outside did a great job handing anyone outside the building. We all were commended for our tactics and handing of the ever changing situation. I was mentioned again by the OC's( teachers ) and by my company commander as someone who went above and beyond during the training. I don't want to toot my horn but i felt i found a new part of myself out there during that small simulated battle. I was able to maintain my bearings during the fog of war. I felt good about my decisions and my ability to direct traffic during a hectic stressfull situation.

Its amazing how the training that is so far from our actual job can teach us the most about ourselves. I thought this training would be a great way to get a good evaluation of my squad i never expected to be able to evaluate myself. I do feel that sometimes i might need to reign myself in from the inner push to handle any and every situation that "I" feel isn't going right. Though i did understand that the voice inside me that tells me to take charge is appreciated by those who fall victim to the fog of war, or in civilian terms cant handle stress.
Again far right.

21st century...... not so much

Well here in the ARMY we have those soldiers who still cling to the old ways of doing things. Making phone calls home and writing letters. As much as i love letters and the phone i do understand email is taking over and a computer is a must have to help pass the hours of boredom. Well my Platoon Seargent finally came out of the dark ages and got a laptop. Its funny many of our older soldiers have purchased a laptop during our time here at Fort Dix and in the following weeks they keep exclaiming how much they love the new technology.

Yet we havent totally come out of the past just yet. We are out here in the FOB at fort dix and we are in tents. yes they have a wood floor but a tent is a tent. Its hot during the day and cold at night. we make the best of it. We organize things the best we can. I dont mind the close proximity since we acutally have more space in the tent than in the room. i do mind some of the amenities. Port -a - Johns. yeah they suck. Oh well we make the best of it. And it could be worse.

Army training! Sir

Okay so we have been training now for quite a while and while some of it is redundant and .... well stupid so is very helpful. I will elaborate on both.

The stupid is the training we do most of the time. Since the war is still being fought training doctrine keeps changing and each place in Iraq, each command, hell each company does things a little to a lot different. This makes for a ever changing standard. That is hard to train for. We keep hearing "oh you wont use this at all in Iraq but you have to train on it anyway." What sense does that make? Or we hear " this isnt how your will do it over there but learn this anyway." I find all this does is create a false muscle memory for our soldiers. I dont want my guys learning the wrong way to conduct a TCP "traffic control point" or the wrong way to pull roadside security. These "bad habits" can lead to soldiers being out of place or even in harms way if something were to happen. Oh well is what im told, "just check the box and get out of here." Well i understand that but i still dont like it. I vent here because that is the only place i can.

The good training is something like what i did a week or so ago. I went through CLS or Combat Life Savers Course. Basically you learn to be the first line of medical aid when a soldiers goes down. Medics are really a thing of the past or for the infantry. We dont have a medic in our company... at least not an ARMY one. SO the CLS learns how to give an IV, learns how to do a "needle chest decompression" and bandage and splint many types of wounds. Its a great class, tought at a fast pace and one really never hopes to use what they have learned. Yes I did have to stick someone in order to give them an IV. I did very well i think. I also got stuck by another one of the students. He was one of my soldiers a Sgt Kopel. He has a permanent shaking problem so watching the needle shake as it inched towards my blood supply was a little un-nerving but we got through it. We also did some weapons training on some of the heavier weapons such as the 240B. This is a cross between the M60 and the M249. Great weapon, great stopping power and heavy.

I like training but wearing our IBA's (armor) and just walking around or sitting in the sun is really not what i expected from an ARMY that has been involved in combat operations for 5 or so years. our lessons learned are being cut short by budget cuts. Pretty sad when soldiers are still going down range to the fight. Write your congressman or woman and ask for more military training dollars. It will keep our force stronger so you can sleep better.

Don't Forget About These

Hey everyone. This is Jess. I want to make sure everyone has links to my blog and our family blog. There I keep updates on what the kids are up to and what's going on with me. I also post there if the kids or I are in need of anything. Please check them out and check back regularly. Thanks so much!

My Blog http://armystrongwifeandmom.blogspot.com/

Family Blog http://notsonormalfamily.blogspot.com/

You can also find the links to the blogs to the right of this screen under All in the Family. Thanks!

All quiet on the Western front

Okay as we sit here with much of our training completed, I have quite a bit of time to think. So I want to expound on the things that make deployments hard and easy. I cant really list all of them because my mind doesn’t work like that. So here we go.
I have a harder time when the training slows and leadership has no real idea of what to do so they have us do stupid things. No I know I shouldn’t bash my leaders but sometimes making me do the same thing over and over again doesn’t make me any better. One reason why is you can only make training so real when you have to prevent any type of injury and you have very limited resources. So it becomes very bland. Now when training is specific and very realistic with plenty of assets soldiers including myself become must more focused and receptive to learning. When a soldiers interest is peaked or their mind is challenged they will participate more and are more than willing to give 100% of themselves to the process. When you dumb down….. If you will….. Training soldiers turn off their receptors and continue to go through the motions without recognizing any missteps or faults along the way. This creates bad habits.
MOB and deployment becomes harder when family doesn’t understand exactly what mindset the soldier has to try and remain in to keep their training effective. I try and keep my brain actively engaged during any and all training so as to increase my combat knowledge. I feel this gives me the best chance to be an effective leader. When it comes to explaining the combat/warrior mindset or battle mind to civilians or “regular” people its about impossible. Most Americans never have a job where the person to their left and right might depend on them for life and limb. Yes our jobs at home are stressful and our co-workers depend on us to pull our weight but no one is killed or is maimed if someone forgets to fax something or fills a form out wrong. I am not knocking civilian life. I am a civilian most of the time. I am just saying that soldiers when they are truly using their battle mind have a hard time hearing about your “bad day.” We care but we can understand why you don’t just fix the problem. If you are tired, go to bed. If you want to do something or need to go shopping do it. No matter how stressful or much of a hassle you think you have in front of you it will be nothing to us. Not that we have more to do, just that a soldier has to be ready 24 hours a day for change to happen. With that being said, that bad trip to the store could have been prevented by prior planning. If you know you have to go to the store and you have certain variables that will make that trip more difficult, and you have the ability to eliminate those problem variables, to a soldier it’s a no brainier. Make the decisions ahead of time and adjust your fire so your trip is easier. We care we just don’t want to hear it.
We love to hear about your day, write it in a letter, send it in a post card. Even though you can send us an email or call us doesn’t mean you shouldn’t send a letter. This holds true all the way out the family and friends line. People need that physical communication. Phone conversations are good but its instantly forgotten once something more difficult is presented to us. A letter can be reread and passed around. It can be carried in a pocket for when times are boring, difficult, stressful, or just bad. That one letter you may write or card you may send might be delivered at just the right moment to make a difference. Never ever think sending a letter will be forgotten. Those days when mail call is held and everyone of your buddies walks away letter in hand smiling because they know its form their girl or its from their parents with some cash or its from a buddy that you wouldn’t ever imagine would right, and you walk away empty handed. Well those are the days that break most men. To see the happy face of your best friend and know you have to wait for the next day to feel like that. Its horrible. Please make soldiers lives better, buy an envelope and stamp and write that letter. Just tell them you are thinking of them, tell them you care, just tell them hi.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I look surprised.

Well, we qualified yesterday. That was rough. Not the actual shooting but wearing the IBA ( armor) all day. From 0430 am to 2230pm or from 430am till 1030 pm, I did not open up or take off my IBA. I was in full battle rattle all day long. very seldom did i get more than 30 min of rest time. It was a very good day. I zeroed my brand new weapon with its brand new optics both of which i have never held before. I zeroed my weapon with red dot optics and with old school iron sights both on my first time out the gate. Many soldiers did take some second, third and so on chance but i felt good my soldiers put out never ceasing effort.

We did NBC qualification, daytime qualification and even limited visibility qualification. That limited visibility qual is basically night time black as hell dark shooting. Which i surprisingly did very well at . 28 out of 30. My qual scores were the highest they have ever been, but i did feel comfortable and confident with my skills on my new weapon. I had a blast, i lost about 6 pounds in sweat, i even broke in my body armor. Gotta love a good day. It was hard, it was long, it was hot, it was even painful, but it was worth it.

Crawl, Walk, Run

Well i have been at Fort Dix, now for a week and its not too bad. We did our first major training today. We packed and repacked and repacked our Large green footlockers. We configured and re figured and disfigured and all figured our body armor and uniform. I think we went through 10 different ways to set up our IBA (body armor). I am loving all this ARMY stuff. I truly love the time i spend here and doing my job. I enjoy taking care of my soldiers. I feel that my only job is their welfare. I am an NCO. For anyone not ARMY savvy or just interested in what an NCO truly is please Google NCO creed ARMY. If you read that and then apply that to what i have said over the past months and what i will be saying over the next year then maybe you can get some insight to who I am and what the ARMY and its soldiers are truly about.

Today we had a class on our new weapon the M4 carbine and the M68 optics. I have never fired this weapon system before and am very excited about it. It is a very light and easy to carry weapon. Our armor is starting to break in and when combining the armor and weapon tactics we can see the little hints and adjustments to make the armor fit better and our mission just that little bit easier. I found out that the gloves I was issued don't work in the heat. I will be wearing the ones i was given, they will work perfectly. I found out that the ballistic sunglasses the ARMY issues just give the sweat a nice channel to your eyes. My Wiley-X's i bought will be very handy. I found out how to make the body armor sit in a better position so it doesn't weigh on my shoulders but on my hips. I found out that just having a half size off in boots wont be something i can "live with."

I got some great training today on how to better position my rifle, my self, how to hold the pistol grip better and even aim better. All the old ARMY ways that i have used for 10 years are being thrown out and new techniques are being shown and i like them. After 10 years of training soldiers and myself to follow certain techs this is taking some getting used to but i like it. The armor makes you sweat and can be uncomfortable but once you understand it will save your life, its not so bad. I am still right next to my best Friend Sgt Jon Sopczak. He and i spend almost every day all day together, just like our first tour. I have some pictures of our packing, our confusion and how we looked today. There will be more and our look will change. By no means is this the last time you will see my in armor.