Today should be one of my last days here at Echo. I am a little sad to go but at the same time ready to go. Our little Camp here was quite unique. It was very different than most of the Camps and FOBs in Iraq. The polish are leaving and in thier place will be another US army unit. Its not bad but its just not the same. Iguess if I had to describe one versus the other I would call it more relaxed with the Polish in charge.
As of right now I am waiting on permisson to ship our unit equipment. It's been a big to do. The big wigs in Iraq don't want us to take our Hummers to Afghanistan, even though the big wigs in Afghanistan want us to bring it. SO my days of work are pretyy much done bit I will sit here until a decesion is made one way or the other.
In other news My wife Micca has decided to put her profession on hold to pfinish up her college degree. That means she will be moving to the B-PC area. She will move back into the Prairie City house while we continue to try and sell it. We intend to buy a home in Bushnell when it finally sells. THe hardest part about all of this is trying to convince Dade to change schools. I think we have finally got him sold. Micca broke the news Drake and Ashtyn last night and they were really excited. Jax and Johnny are excited as well. Jax has been saving papers for Dade so he will know where they are in school.
If anyone is free the weekend of November 15th I'm sure Micca and whoever else could use a hand with moving.
I can tell you that the thought of coming home to Bushnell after my deployment has me very excited. I really appreciate all of the packages and mail and newspapers that I get. It just seems so right that I should come home to the town that has supported I and my family while I am gone.
My future ability to post may be a bit hampered so Micca is going to try and keep her page updated and update mine through email and what not. The army network doesn't allow us to view or post to Blog sites from the army network. THere are ways to get around it which Micca and I will have to do together.
I will try and post again before I leave Echo.
later for now,
Brent
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sherlock Holmes is on the case
I can't remember if I have mentioned this but one of my Polaris gator type vehicles was stolen a couple days ago. Since then we have gone to all sorts of extrodinary measures to find it. I have called to have convoys that have left Camp Echo inspected and many other things. Well today we got a tip that someone had seen a Polaris parked out of the way. Now there are only 5 of these types of vehicles in roughly a 1 square mile of area. 4 of them belong to me. So upon recieving this tip I run over to grab the Polish MPs and we take off to find my stolen gator.
We get to the first area and check it out and come up with nothing. Upon further investigation we determine we are in the incorrect location and speed off to what we are now sure of is the location. We get there and the gate is closed but alas it is unlocked. We let ourselves in and walk about 50 Meters and there my gator sits. Now you would think if you stole something you probably wouldn't leave the key in it but they left the key in the gator as well. The tip we had received was from someone who had changed out the ignition on this thing. So you would think if you went to all the trouble to steal it and have the ignition changed you would take the key.
Well the perp is still at large but we are hot on his/her trail. It's a very small place and we will eventually get our man/woman.
That's about as much excitment as I get these days
Later for now
Brent
We get to the first area and check it out and come up with nothing. Upon further investigation we determine we are in the incorrect location and speed off to what we are now sure of is the location. We get there and the gate is closed but alas it is unlocked. We let ourselves in and walk about 50 Meters and there my gator sits. Now you would think if you stole something you probably wouldn't leave the key in it but they left the key in the gator as well. The tip we had received was from someone who had changed out the ignition on this thing. So you would think if you went to all the trouble to steal it and have the ignition changed you would take the key.
Well the perp is still at large but we are hot on his/her trail. It's a very small place and we will eventually get our man/woman.
That's about as much excitment as I get these days
Later for now
Brent
Thursday, September 11, 2008
September 11th
Well even though today was like many other days it is still fairly significant in that 7 years ago America was attacked. I had started to write that the twin towers and the pentagon were attacked but I don't think that quite covered the scope.
For my generation this is our Kennedy assassination, we will all remember where we were when we first found out. I remember where I was very vividly. I was preparing for training that day in Albuquerque New Mexico. That days training had us responding to a WMD incident involving a dirty bomb. Instead we found ourselves prepping our equipment to be picked up by military airlift. We didn’t leave until the next day but when we did the pilot pointed to the radar scope and said, “see that?” I didn’t see anything on the radar, that was the point there were no other aircraft in the air within 250 miles.
So here I sit in Iraq on September 11th upset that I am away from my family but proud that I am able to serve my country. Many soldiers have given their lives and many fire fighters and police officers gave thiers on that day. Everyday our officers and firefighters are putting their lives on the line just the same as the soldiers here in Iraq. Of course I am a bit biased since my wife is a deputy, but it doesn’t change the fact that many of the first casualties of this war were the first responders who died that day trying to save so many others.
So today is like many others but yet it is different, and will never be the same.
Today my day started with a wake up from a soldier telling me his gator had been stolen. It is still gone and we have not been able to find it yet. I think that it may have found it’s way into a container and is on its way to Poland. I hope we find it lol. So after my wake up I got dressed and headed over to do my portion of the general’s brief. From time to time I am required to give a portion of the brief. After the brief the Polish then conducted a little ceremony in remembrance of 9-11. I thought this was quite thoughtful and in light of the Polish ceremony for our loss I came to the realization that although it was America that was attacked it was really felt the world around. I came to realize that this was an attack on all civilized nations and one of the reasons why we have so many allies in this war.
Well I think that is enough of my philosophy and insight for the day. The bottom line for me is I still believe in what we are doing!!
Later for now
Brent
For my generation this is our Kennedy assassination, we will all remember where we were when we first found out. I remember where I was very vividly. I was preparing for training that day in Albuquerque New Mexico. That days training had us responding to a WMD incident involving a dirty bomb. Instead we found ourselves prepping our equipment to be picked up by military airlift. We didn’t leave until the next day but when we did the pilot pointed to the radar scope and said, “see that?” I didn’t see anything on the radar, that was the point there were no other aircraft in the air within 250 miles.
So here I sit in Iraq on September 11th upset that I am away from my family but proud that I am able to serve my country. Many soldiers have given their lives and many fire fighters and police officers gave thiers on that day. Everyday our officers and firefighters are putting their lives on the line just the same as the soldiers here in Iraq. Of course I am a bit biased since my wife is a deputy, but it doesn’t change the fact that many of the first casualties of this war were the first responders who died that day trying to save so many others.
So today is like many others but yet it is different, and will never be the same.
Today my day started with a wake up from a soldier telling me his gator had been stolen. It is still gone and we have not been able to find it yet. I think that it may have found it’s way into a container and is on its way to Poland. I hope we find it lol. So after my wake up I got dressed and headed over to do my portion of the general’s brief. From time to time I am required to give a portion of the brief. After the brief the Polish then conducted a little ceremony in remembrance of 9-11. I thought this was quite thoughtful and in light of the Polish ceremony for our loss I came to the realization that although it was America that was attacked it was really felt the world around. I came to realize that this was an attack on all civilized nations and one of the reasons why we have so many allies in this war.
Well I think that is enough of my philosophy and insight for the day. The bottom line for me is I still believe in what we are doing!!
Later for now
Brent
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Yuck!!!!
Probably not what you are thinking. So today was a prety much normal day with a high of 118. All throughout the day I kept thinking man it's really hot today. It's the worst ever. Then it dawned on me. We have humidity today. we normally sit around 10-15 percent humidity during the day and maybe 20 at night. Today we had 30 percent humidity and it's at about 40 percent right now. I know I know that's nothing in Illinois but damn it makes a huge difference here.
I went to chow tonight to be greeted by the 10 mountian jazz band. All army divisions have there own bands and this was suppose to something nice for dinner, which I suppose it was.
I posted another video. I made it for Micca. It's mostly pictures of me from this deployment but has some of our family and some of just us in there as well. It's uses a song that she likes.
Enjoy
Later,
Brent
I went to chow tonight to be greeted by the 10 mountian jazz band. All army divisions have there own bands and this was suppose to something nice for dinner, which I suppose it was.
I posted another video. I made it for Micca. It's mostly pictures of me from this deployment but has some of our family and some of just us in there as well. It's uses a song that she likes.
Enjoy
Later,
Brent
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Check out my video!!!
Ok I have to admit I pretty proud of myself for busting into the whole YouTube video thing. I have been messing around with video and stuff for awhile but I think I've got it pretty well figured out now. The link on the right hand side of the page has two clips. They are both the same but they are of different quality. I wasnt sure if I would ever get the good quality one uploaded so I uploaded the same video in a smaller format. Anybody using cable should be able to watch the better quality one no problem.
I have lots of video but it takes forever to cut it and and music and effects. It's time consuming but it's a nice distraction when I have extra time. So do me a favor and let me know what you think of my new hobby. I will try to do more but it takes a long time to upload. The high quality one took almost 3 hours to upload. I will do what I can.
Later for now
Brent
I have lots of video but it takes forever to cut it and and music and effects. It's time consuming but it's a nice distraction when I have extra time. So do me a favor and let me know what you think of my new hobby. I will try to do more but it takes a long time to upload. The high quality one took almost 3 hours to upload. I will do what I can.
Later for now
Brent
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
I'm all out of topics......
I'm out of things to write about. I've got the usual stuff to say, such as I miss my wife and kids.
The thing that think about most while over here is what things will be like when I finally get home. I see pictures of the kids and can't believe how much they are changing. Drake is growing like a weed or appears to be and Ashtyn isn't far behind him. Both of them will be taller than Micca before long. Poor dade will be the short one for quite awhile still. Eventually Micca will be the shortest one in the family. Drake has started his Freshman year and it really bothers me that I can't get daily updates on his progress and how he is doing. He's never been one to write much so I get updates from everyone that talks to him. Ashtyn is becaoming the internet wiz which scares me a little. I will have to discuss internet safety with her when I get a chance.
It's funny how things I hear and see everyday are commonplace here but would be out of place or downright odd if you heard or saw these things at home. For instance we have Armed forces network TV which is a network put together by the department of defense that is a compilation of all differetn kinds of TV. We don't have commercials like you think of commercials they are more like public service announcements. They cover everything from the different types of powers of attorney to the difficulties of deployments on marraige. The big one I see now is the push to have people seek help for PTSD rather than try to hide it. The military is making the illness more mainstream and is getting rid of the stigma associated with it.
I thought the heat was starting to break and we were headed for fall but after a rather cool high of 118 yesterday we were back up to 122 again. I'm sure when I'm writing from Afghanistan in January I will be wishing I could have the heat back.... LOL. As the syaing goes when the soldiers stop complaining then you know there are really problems.
Well thats it for tonight
Later
Brent
The thing that think about most while over here is what things will be like when I finally get home. I see pictures of the kids and can't believe how much they are changing. Drake is growing like a weed or appears to be and Ashtyn isn't far behind him. Both of them will be taller than Micca before long. Poor dade will be the short one for quite awhile still. Eventually Micca will be the shortest one in the family. Drake has started his Freshman year and it really bothers me that I can't get daily updates on his progress and how he is doing. He's never been one to write much so I get updates from everyone that talks to him. Ashtyn is becaoming the internet wiz which scares me a little. I will have to discuss internet safety with her when I get a chance.
It's funny how things I hear and see everyday are commonplace here but would be out of place or downright odd if you heard or saw these things at home. For instance we have Armed forces network TV which is a network put together by the department of defense that is a compilation of all differetn kinds of TV. We don't have commercials like you think of commercials they are more like public service announcements. They cover everything from the different types of powers of attorney to the difficulties of deployments on marraige. The big one I see now is the push to have people seek help for PTSD rather than try to hide it. The military is making the illness more mainstream and is getting rid of the stigma associated with it.
I thought the heat was starting to break and we were headed for fall but after a rather cool high of 118 yesterday we were back up to 122 again. I'm sure when I'm writing from Afghanistan in January I will be wishing I could have the heat back.... LOL. As the syaing goes when the soldiers stop complaining then you know there are really problems.
Well thats it for tonight
Later
Brent
Monday, September 1, 2008
ok this place sucks
LOL I have come to the conclusion that this place sucks. It's only taken 5 months for me to figure it out. Well ok not really I think I might have figured it out in the first 10 minutes. I was probably a little bit biased considering all of the media about this place and the drive up here didn't help the reputation either.
What is going on, nothing is going on, I guess I should be careful about making a statement like that. Ramadan started today. I'm sure Al Queda will make an attack this month but they haven't been targeting us. It's the poor Iraqis who will pay the price.
Hmmmm not much else to add my life here is pretty boring.
Later for now
Brent
What is going on, nothing is going on, I guess I should be careful about making a statement like that. Ramadan started today. I'm sure Al Queda will make an attack this month but they haven't been targeting us. It's the poor Iraqis who will pay the price.
Hmmmm not much else to add my life here is pretty boring.
Later for now
Brent
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