Goodbye Camp Echo!! Hello Afghanistan!!

Today was my last full day at Camp Echo. It is sort of bittersweet. The time I have spent here has been very interesting and probably unlike most everyone else’s experience that comes here to Iraq. My daily duties very rarely had me interacting with my fellow American soldiers, most of the time I worked with my Polish, Ukrainian, and Romanian counterparts. As of the 1st of October the Polish had officially turned over their responsibility to the American forces that have overrun Camp Echo, we affectionately refer to them as the locusts. Our camp is rather small with a total population around two thousand people. While we have been here they have almost doubled the camp population, now which will go down to more reasonable numbers once all of the Polish leave as well as us. But for now they are like locusts consuming everything that had been plentiful for us in the past. The dining facility rarely ever had a line and most visitors would comment on how nice our dining facility was and the quality of food. It is not uncommon for them to run out of ice cream cookies and yes sadly, cheesecake.

Back to the Polish and the process which we call RIP/TOA which is pronounced RIP just like it sounds and TOE short A sound. It stands for Relief in Place/Transfer of Authority. It isn’t as simple as one unit leaving when the new one arrives. There is a transition period where both units operate together so the unit that has been in place can transfer their knowledge and lessons learned to the incoming unit. It’s a process that has been very effective over the years.

I have the utmost respect for the Polish Army after serving with them for the last 6 months. They do things differently and at times seem very backwards but their army was based on the soviet bloc model where all decision making is centralized, conversely the American army is a very decentralized business model if you will. Leaders at all levels are expected to make decisions that support the overall effort. This is ingrained in us from almost the beginning in basic training.

So in the beginning I said it was bittersweet. I think if I had the choice I would rather just have stayed here at Echo for my tour but with the new unit coming in I am glad that we are moving on, even if it is to Afghanistan for the winter. The weather here has been absolutely beautiful. Mid to high 80s in the day and down into the low 70s even high 60s at night. My leaving here is a milestone that helps me know that the end is somewhere in sight. The 1st of October was 6 months in Iraq for me and over halfway to being done. Over the next couple weeks I will help to move (I’m responsible for the unit movement) our equipment and personnel from here to Ghazni Afghanistan, where we will reestablish ourselves and continue to work with the Polish forces that are located there. This is no small task as we are the first that I know of to move from one Area Of Responsibility (AOR) to another on the same deployment. During the planning process I constantly heard “really”, “you are doing what”, “I”ve never heard of that”, and so on and so forth. I think an English teacher would hate this blog, my main idea tends to drift from paragraph to paragraph, but anyway, leaving here is a huge milestone because it coincides with our halfway point. We get to recapture that feeling of anticipation of doing something new and unknown again which I look forward to since it really does help the days go by faster. Things here have become mundane in that it’s the same thing with very little variation, ok here I go again off the main topic, we have these counters that almost everyone has that count days minutes seconds and meals. Why meals? Well your life tends to revolve going to work every day and your meals are mini milestones that break up the day for you, at least that’s my take. So I really feel like I am on the downhill side of my deployment. I am fortunate that I have put my leave off until the final third of my tour. If I’m lucky I will be home for Christmas. My leave is scheduled for that timeframe but because of where I will be planning travel is sometimes difficult. I should leave before the big snows but by the time I return we will measure our snowfall in feet. Ghazni and its surrounding outposts are on a high plateau. Ghazni itself sits at over 7 thousand feet. That is much higher than Denver or any other major city in the US. When I return from my leave I should have less than 60 days left.

I think almost hourly about being home and the things I am missing. This deployment if anything has helped provide perspective. It has made the decision for Micca to quit her job and have us move closer to Bushnell where Drake and Ashtyn live a no brainer. There were many reasons for that decision and we probably would have come to the same decision but this separation has probably helped it along. I really love and cherish the thought of when I come home I will come “home”. Deer Creek is a very nice community and the school district has been great but in my heart it is a place I have lived not what I would call home in my heart. It amazes me that Micca sees and feels the same way about Bushnell. Everyone has been so supportive to her and I’m pretty sure she feels the same way that I do.

This post has been longer than most and I have rambled across many topics. I hope that my thoughts and feelings aren’t to incoherent or jumbled for you to understand. I don’t know what access I will have to commercial internet so Micca will keep her Blog more updated with emails from I or she may copy and paste to my blog for me. Be sure to check her blog with updates from me. One final note I will have a new address for anyone who would like to send snail mail.

Brent Russell
101st ABN DIV (AASLT)
TF WHITE EAGLE
FOB GHAZNI, AFG
APO AE 09354

Later for now

Brent