A Long Conversation

I'm a bit behind on posting here. As the weather heats up it's so much harder to spend too much side indoors. Warm weather in Ohio never lasts long enough so you have to get out and take in every drop of it.
End of last week I got a call from Brendan. Amazingly we talked for 45 minutes , I understood every word of what he was saying and we didn't get disconnected once! He sounded in really good spirits. He's been staying very busy and isn't getting a lot of sleep but it doesn't seem to bother him as much anymore. I think he gets that from his father. His father could get 4-5 hours sleep a night and be good to go.
They spend quite a bit of time going through the village and visiting the people to see how they're doing , if they need anything and if they have seen anything unusual , etc. When you are in an iraqi home and they offer you food or drink you take it. To not take it is considered rude and insulting. I understand that from my visits to Mexico. Like Mexico our body isn't able to handle the things their bodies are able to handle. The town he's in only has one water source which they use to cook and clean with. Keeping that in mind he is often offered chi tea. If you ever had chi tea here this is nothing like it. It's served in a glass the size of a large shot glass and is half sugar. He says it leaves a real gummy feeling on your lips from all the sugar. The last trip to the village he was given numerous glasses of this tea. Eliminating a large amount of gross detail let's just say he squatted over alot of holes in mud huts which is the only bathroom they have. I have a feeling a few villagers have learned which soldiers to not give the tea too! I'll be adding meds to the list of items to send in the next care package just in case.
Brendan is still working out several hours a day. I have a feeling I won't even recognize him when he gets back. He told me "I'm not going to lie , I'm drop dead sexy". That's my Brendan , humble to the end. lol He was always such a beanpole so he has plenty of room to grow out.
He seems set on moving to Texas permanently and wants to be a policeman more than anything. He definitely could do it. A neighbor had a problem with an ex boyfriend who had lost it and smacked a guy around he saw her with. He tried to take off on a bike and Brendan ran down the street , around the corner , grabbed the guy off the bike and kept him there until the cops came. The guy had violated parole and is doing 4-5 years in prison. He also had a sack of weed on him which added a charge. I was mad at the moment because he was a minor and it wasn't his business. The cops patted him on the back for a job well done but I was upset because I was worried the guy would come back and try to do harm to Brendan. Not the least bit worried about that now! I could see Brendan joining the US Marshals or the DEA. Can't seem him settling for a job spent in a cruiser.
At the end of our conversation I heard this huge BOOM!!! He said "Holy Crap!" which really worried me. I asked what it was and it was their guys shooting some weapon that can take out a tank. Had to end our call then since there were 4 more rounds to come.
If anyone is interested in sending him a small care package he is always in need of something since they only get back to the main base every couple of weeks. Bugs are a HUGE problem there so something like Skin So Soft insect repellant or something along those lines would be great. Powdered gatorade or powerade mix , microwavable meals , and wet wipes are also always needed. He does get a chance to read once in awhile and they have electric now so he can read if anyone has a book they think he'ld be interested in. Should be something that he can keep and share with the other men and not something you need returned though.
I bought a Columbus Zoo pass for our family and the grandsons and their Momma's for Easter. This Saturday was the first decent week-end we've had all year so I packed up Momma's , grandsons and Teresa and we went to the Zoo for the day. The Zoo was packed but all the animals were really up and active. they also had the baby elephant up for viewing which was worth the wait to get in to see. I took a ton of pictures so that I can make Caiden and Matty T a "My 1st trip to the Zoo" scrapbook to match Christian's. The Zoo , as always , is expanding like crazy. They now have a number of amusement rides near the entrance that used to be at the old Wyandott Lake. We didn't wander over there this trip but will take Christian through there next trip. Here are pics of the boys at the petting zoo and Teresa feeding the Lorakettes. ( not sure the spelling)

Letter From The Company Commander to Family

I've had to edit location names from the newsletter since there are rules concerning blogs and military info. It's nice for me to have a name now though so I can look at a map and know just where Brendan is. It sounds like the company has been working hard to get everything in running order. Last I talked to Brendan there was still no hot water or electricity.
I also talked to Brendan's buddy Sandusky the other day and he is doing well. Ideally the two would have stayed together but , as we know , that wasn't meant to be. At any rate Sandusky seems to be in great spirits. He has posted a number of pictures on his Facebook which were great to see.
His brother Bryan is down to 2 months before he returns from Afganistan. I know he is tired and misses his family terribly.
The following is the letter I received concerning Brendan and his company:

We are living on an old Iraqi Army base which is not too bad. We are being fed three hot meals a day, though we are not always on base to eat all three meals. For the most part everyone has the opportunity to get 2 hot meals if they choose. The company does a food supply run every Friday which allows us to provide Gatorade, Rippit (an energy drink which the men love), snack food such as pop tarts-potato chips-and muffins, soda to include Mountain Dew, A&W Root Beer, and 7UP, we receive assorted cereal in plastic containers and milk, V8 juice, and even beef jerky which I do not think is a winner. This makes up for missed meals plus we always have MRE’s available. Trust me when I say that no one is going without food. We have tons of drinking water so we will be good even when the weather becomes really hot. We have showers that actually work and most of the time we even have hot water. We do a laundry run about every 3rd day and it takes about 3 days to get it back. All of our men have cots and live in rooms with electricity for their computers, IPODS, and even TV’s with their assorted video games. The company has been getting supplied with wood and paint in order to separate living spaces so that everyone gets a bit of privacy and we painted the rooms to make things a little nicer. In the next 30 days we will have beds, wall lockers, and internet in the rooms. We are also getting the Armed Forces Network but this is going to take some time. Considering all of this I would say that compared to other deployments we are doing very well for ourselves.
There is little activity in this area which I am grateful for. Our work tempo is rather easy compared to our last deployment here so the men are getting enough rest. In fact I would say that some of the men are actually bored, especially the Soldiers that are on the second or third tour and remember how busy they used to be. We have been doing a lot of great things in this area. We have gone to a primary school and gave out 500 back packs with books and other school supplies as well as soccer balls for the kids. We even gave out things for the teachers. Along with this we had engineers with us that are going to repair and rebuild part of the school. They are going to increase the electricity to the school, rebuild the bathrooms and aid station, construct another court yard for the kids to play and add air conditioning for the summer time heat. This is the first project of many to come. We have also worked in creating projects at the water treatment facility, the local medical clinic, gas stations, and even are in the process of adding much needed material for security at the Iraqi Army Headquarters. Your loved ones are making great things happen and you all should be very proud of them. I know that many of the local villages that we have operated in appreciate us very much. Many of them have invited us in for chi (Iraqi tea) and even lunch. Most of the time we have to decline, but there have been occasions where we accepted the local villagers hospitality.
We probably will work in a different area soon and we will be doing the same missions that we are currently doing. The most important thing for you all to know is that even if we move to a different area to operate in—we are still living at the same location. We are not moving our living environment just the area that we will be working in. So really nothing is changing. Our mail address will be the same and everything that the Soldiers have afforded to them right now will only get better with time. I can not promise that we will stay here for the entire deployment but I can say that there is not talk about us moving, so our chances of actually doing so are slim.
Our Soldiers have been receiving mail on a regular basis. Adopt-A-Platoon has been extremely gracious by constantly sending boxes for the Soldiers as well as Blue Ribbon Moms. We have also had some of our Soldiers sponsored by different organizations that send care packages. I would say that our “wants” are very limited except for wanting to be with our family and loved ones. This is obviously something I can not fix. We have already started our leave and have tentative dates for everyone. Of course these dates are based on aircraft, seats available, and mission needs so no one is able to say exactly when they will be taking vacation, but do know that everyone will get vacation. Again, not too bad considering that on my first of three deployments I did not get any vacation even though I had my daughter Victoria born.
Most of the men have bought Iraqi cell phones that use a special Iraqi calling card. This is something that you can not help them with. We need to buy the calling cards here and they are prepaid minutes that we load on to the phone. It averages out to 17 cents a minute but again this is only the average. I do not know how the Iraqi system truly works but I do know that sometimes I have gotten more minutes than what I paid for while other times it went in the opposite direction. I guess it all evens out in the end. The phone cards come in 10 dollar increments and there is no limit as to how much time you put on the phone. Reception with these phones is not the greatest. If we are having a storm, whether rain or sand, most of us do not get a signal. We also have to be outside most of the time in order to get a signal, but this has not stopped anyone. We also just received a military phone which we can use for morale. If you live by a military installation than the Soldiers can call home for free. There is usually a 10-15 minute time limit and then the operator cuts you off, but if the lines are not busy they will let you stay on longer. Also Soldiers can use US calling cards with this phone to call someone who does not live by a military installation. The only draw back about this phone is that we only have one and it is located in my office. The primary purpose of the phone is business related-not morale but we use it for morale when we can anyway. I leave the key to my office at the CQ desk this way Soldiers can get into the office at night. We are too busy during the day to place calls, but on occasions Soldiers have been successful in doing so. The battalion will eventually get a bunch of the phones as well as computers with free internet for everyone to use at any time they are free, but again this will take some time. It is part of a morale, welfare, and recreation package that the battalion will receive which is where the AFN television comes from.
We have also built a conference room with a video proxima available in it. We will soon have this room complete so Soldiers can hook up their computers to the video proxima and watch movies on the big screen. We bought some comfortable padded chairs for this room so it will eventually double as a conference room for meetings and a place to relax at night and watch some movies. As long as the Soldiers take care of all that we have provided and are going to provide then life will only get better. I guess we could use movies and books to stock the room but I am guessing that this will happen naturally. I have not heard anyone say that they which they had xyz yet.
We will have finance come out to our base once a month so Soldiers will have access to money. We have also been making trips to Camp Liberty where there is a PX that is fully stocked with goods, a finance office, gyms, and KBR for chow. There is also a post office for Soldiers who want to send things back home. I imagine that this will become important as our deployment nears an end, but not right now. I almost forgot to tell you that we do have a gym here but it does not have all the equipment that it should have. The equipment is on its way though and should be here relatively quickly. Many of the men are working out religiously.
All in all life is pretty good. Even with all of this mentioned we still must remember that we are in combat and we have to stay focused on the mission. We can not allow ourselves to become lazy due to our comforts. Please do not expect your loved ones to call home or send emails every night because that is unrealistic. Thank you very much for your support!

Caiden Pics and Current Events

As promised here are the pics from Caiden's overnight visit this week.





It's a busy week here this week. Wednesday we joined about 70 other folks here in Urbana at the 1st annual Tax Day Tea Party. I don't care if you're a Republican or Democrat , this spending has got to end and end now! Both parties are equally guilty for this mess we're in. Here are a few pics.







Tom is always such a subtle individual.


Saturday is the 2nd annual Patriot's Day walk. http://patriotsdaywalk.blogspot.com/ . Tom has received calls from several newspapers this year and interested people from all over the state. We are hoping to see a nice turn-out tomorrow morning. If you have questions Tom's contact number is posted on the event blog. You can also read about the event on www.gochampaign.com . I will be updating the event blog after the event with plenty of pics of this year's event.

Front page of the Urbana paper on Thursday had a pic of Jesse at the Tea Party walk holding his sign which read "Stop Stealing My Future" on one side and "I'll Be Paying Your Bills The Rest Of My Life! Does It Look Like I Have 10.1 Trillion Dollars?" The article under that one was an article on the Open Carry Walk that Tom and his friend Mike Craft organized. The bottom article was about right-wing groups.

And while I'm on that subject I want to say that I'm infuriated that the powers that be are trying to scare people away from 3rd party politics by labeling these groups as extremists. Also on the list? American soldiers returning from war!!!!!!!!!!! Are we trying to make the citizens fear these returning heros? Are we going to return to the Vietnam era of ignorance which will lead to our returning soldiers being spat at and worse on their return home? They want us to believe that these soldiers will ban together with extremist groups and /or engage in lone acts of violence. Our returning soldiers are all potential Timothy McVeighs. If Homeland security wants to worry about a dangerous group why don't they go after the thousands of gang members in this country? Do a full sweep of every city and lock them all away for good. I'll take my chances by locking myself up in a room with a group of returning soldiers and Libertarians.

Easter Monday

Caiden came over Monday and spent the night with us. He is such a good baby! Went to bed about 9 and got up briefly at 10:30 for a half hour and then was out for the night. Let him sleep in our bed and for a small guy he sure spreads out and takes up the majority of the bed. I woke up stiff as a board!
Brendan called about noon on Tuesday and we were able to talk quite a bit with only one disconnection. I believe that has to be some sort of record. As soon as Caiden heard Brendan's voice his eyes grew 3 times their size. He definitely knows his Daddy's voice. Had peepaw not been feeding him broth from his bean soup I believe he might have tried to listen to his Dad longer but the only thing Caiden loves more than Daddy is food!!!
Brendan is doing well. The usual frustrations from being around a large group of alpha males. I have to commend him for his restraint. It's not something he used to be good at and something I certainly couldn't do for very long. But he lets it roll off , for the most part. Just keeps himself busy with PT and such so as not to have to listen to all the BS. His infantry buddy is back but they aren't in the same living area. Apparently they do too much of the right thing together whatever the hell that's suppose to mean. I think they just enjoy screwing with the infantry guys who the tank guys think are completely useless and the scum of the Army. But enough about that.
He was out patrolling the village yesterday and was just getting back when he called. The kids in the village love the soldiers but I think it all has to do with what they can get from them. Brendan gave one kid an ink pen because it's all he had on him and as soon as he handed it over a swarm of kids came out of no where trying to get his glasses and everything else they could try to grab. Brendan says he can see why they appreciate such small things as a pen because of the way they live but it's almost better NOT to give them things because it just starts a feeding frenzy. One thing is for sure , one flat rate box full of goodies doesn't last a day over there. He says the people in the village they are at live in mud huts with one room. There is one water source in town that is used for drinking , bathing , cleaning , cooking and for bodily functions. They are working on getting clean water and all the other goodies to the village but it takes time. Brendan said about a year ago a Marine group came through the village and forced everyone in the village out onto the roofs with their hands on their heads and made them get on their knees while they were interrogated and their homes were searched. Because of this the elders in the village are leery of the Army boys there now. Women have asked them not to hurt them or tear up their house. That is not what Brendan's company is doing there. In fact , they have to have a search warrant to enter a home. They are just trying to improve the village as well as collecting information through casual contact with the villagers. Of course there's always the village idiots who will be in the market and make a motion at the soldiers as if to indicate they have a bomb strapped to them or something. We are the good guys and have to use non-lethal force whenever necessary which makes these idiots very lucky men.
As for the medal Brendan was given it's the Army Achievement Medal. It's one of the ways they say "Great job on a job well done". It doesn't give you anything extra in the old paycheck but it's pretty and shiny and looks great on a dress uniform , I suppose. It's good to see that his hard work isn't being taken for granted. He really goes over and above what he has to do , volunteering for crappy jobs all the time. Eventually all that hard work has to pay off.
Email over there will be another month or so to get up and running. I'm sure he'll have an email box full of emails by the time it gets going which I'm sure he'll enjoy immensely. In the meantime he's just having to buy alot of minutes for his phone so he can call Rachel and Caiden at least for a few minutes each night.
Back at the home front , Caiden left here last night about 6:30. He had a pretty good afternoon before that. I took him upstairs to visit with the other 2 grandsons. They all laid on the floor and played with their toys. Caiden and Matty T are almost the same size. Caiden is just beefier and Matty's legs are longer. Tom came up after he got off work and I had him take some pics of the boys on his I-phone. I'll have to get them from him and post the pics on here later on.
Today is tax day and Tea Party Day. File your taxes and get those protest signs drawn up. Hope your neck of the woods is warmer than it is here in Ohio. Can't believe I'll have to have a veggie garden planted in 2 weeks. Mother nature is going to have to get busy warming things up around here real quick!
Rachel is still collecting pictures of yellow ribbons for her project for Brendan so if you can get those to her that would be great. I went to the floral shop and they donated the ribbon as did Rachel. It was a surprising jester and very much appreciated. Thanks to Ethel's flowers in Urbana and Wren's in Bellefontaine.
Also , if you would like Brendan's mailing address give me a shout out and I'll get that to you. Rachel has been pretty good at adding folks to her weekly email update list that includes all that but if you have been missed let me know and I can add your email address to her list.

Happy Easter

Hope everyone had a great week-end. Ours wasn't too bad. Had some friends over for dinner on Saturday. They are transplants from Nebraska so we've kind of adopted them as extended family. We've shared a few holidays together this year. Couple kids were home today after all. Two grandkids were here so it wasn't as quiet as we thought it would be. My sister and her girlfriend swung by for a quick visit on the way out of town as well. I bought a HUGE ham which was way more than a few of us could eat. We ate ham last night , ham and eggs this morning , cheesy scalloped potatoes with ham for lunch. Also made potato soup with ham and have beans soaking for soup beans with ham and corn bread for tomorrow's dinner. Sadly there is still going to be diced home left for something else. Next year I really need to think about quantity verses how many will actually be home for the holidays. Then again Brendan should be home and the Smitke's WILL be coming to spend part of the holiday with us!
Question for all you military folk out there: My sister was looking for a website that has military e-cards for the holidays. Something a bit more toned down than the "Hope you have a wonderful , fun filled day" to send to the troops overseas. Anyone know of a good site for us to look?
Last word was that Brendan and the boys have moved to their new place and are working on electric , water , internet , etc. Not sure how long it will take but if you are sending emails to him he'll get them eventually just not right away. I don't think their mailing address is going to change at all. I think it will go to the main camp and once a week someone will go back to get things and bring mail back. The first boxes I sent got to him really fast. I'll be interested to see how speedy he'll be getting them now.
Haven't heard from him in a few days but it sounds like they've got a ton of work ahead of them so they'll likely be too busy to do much but work and sleep for awhile. Three men in the company received promotions this past week. Hope to see more of those in the near future. Heard a rumor of medals but won't state anything definite until I hear from Brendan.
Have a great week everyone. Hope Spring gets up and moving soon! Chilly in Ohio this week-end!

A Trip To The Wright -Patt Air Force Museum

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Tuesday the kids and I drove over to the Air Force Museum. It's been years since I was there and forgot just how much there is to see. If you took the time to read all the information they have it would take you 3 days to really take it all in. I think Tom and I need to drive over there some lazy , rainy week-end and spend the day by ourselves. The kids had a great time but they need to move at a faster pace to stay entertained. We also took in the IMAX theater. (Jesse and Teresa saw 2 movies) I hit the lotto I want one of those in my house!! I saw "The Magic Of Flight" which follows the Blue Angels. There were moments you really felt you were in the stunt planes with them. The kids also watched a movie about the space station and they really enjoyed it. They have 5 movies in all that run through out the day. Well 4 and an extra one on the week-end.
They have a Presidential hanger that you can get a tour of but you need to be there early to sign up. I didn't know anything about it so we didn't get in the long line but I looked it up on line when we got home. Tom and I will have to hit that next trip. Not sure how long it's been there but I know I've never been over to see it.
The Iraq/Afghanistan War exhibit is obviously not very big since they are still using the equipment. They had a few air men and soldiers donate their items to the museum assuming they won't be using them any more. The museum itself tends to be pretty dark in most areas. I took pics with my I-phone and Jesse took pics with the digital camera. Between the 2 we got a few good pics from that area. Biggest surprise is a 1st cavalry patch (Brendan's unit) and a Big Red One (Bryan's unit). Not sure how Army patches got in the Air Force Museum but I found that pretty darn cool. Here are a few pics for all that they're worth. Not the best shots but the best we could get.


























Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter week-end. Tom and I are going to be able to relate to Brendan this holiday , I'm afraid. All the kids and grandkids will all be going other places. A counter full of baskets , a huge ham and no one to spend the day with. We'll have to make it up when Brendan gets back by making next year a mandatory day with our side of the family.

Updates From The Sandbox

Well , I'm starting to get back to my old self again. That pneumonia really knocked me for a loop. Still don't have alot of energy but I'm able to get off the couch and move around and get some things done. Just have to move slower since I still get winded easy.
Brendan called today which happened to be the first day of Easter Break for the kids so Teresa and Jesse were able to talk to Brendan for quite some time. It's the first they've gotten to talk with him since he's left. Of course the connection was fine for them. The minute I got on the phone we got kicked off line. Getting used to it by now. Not unusual to be knocked off line 4-5 times before we finally give it up.
Brendan just got back from an 18 hour mission yesterday and his back is killing him. Imagine walking around for 18 hours with 50-80 pounds strapped to your back. He'll get back and get a few hours sleep and then up again for guard duty for another 8 hours then maybe another 1-2 hours sleep.
The press can print all the warm and fuzzy stories they want about how welcoming the Iraqi's are to our troops but that sure isn't the case where he's at. The civilians and the Iraqi Army are both pretty hostile to our men. There is always an underlying current of resentment and anger. The people we think we can trust could easily turn around and stab them in the back.
The food they get where they're at is nothing like what they got at the main base. He was served bologna sandwiches 2 days in a row. I NEVER bought bologna for the kids growing up. It is just so nasty!! So , Momma sent out 2 boxes of microwavable foods so he has an alternative to bologna. When Dinty Moore looks good you know the food there is bad. Too bad I can't make him my famous enchiladas. Well , I'm sure I could but after 2 weeks it wouldn't be edible.
Brendan sent money for Jesse's Birthday so we went to Gameworks on Saturday. The noise gave me an instant headache so Tom and I gave the kids money and walked down to the apple store to buy a new keyboard. After that we ate at Max and Erma's which was much better food than they had at Gameworks. The kids joined us before running back to play more games. Gameworks was full of kids yelling and running from noisy video game to video game. There's also a large bar where parent's were getting wasted and trying to block out the noise. Kids had fun so thanks to Brendan but I'll never step foot in there again!
I'll be taking the kids to the Wright Patt Air Force Museum tomorrow. We haven't been there in years and I don't know why. It's only a half hour away and it's free except for the IMAX movies which are a reasonable price. They have a new Iraq War exhibit which I'm anxious to see. I need to run out and get batteries for the camera. Don't want them to die before I take pics of everything there!
So , back to Brendan. He seems in pretty good spirits. He says he always tries to stay in a good mood. Your time is what you make it. Laying around bitching all day just makes the time that much harder. He has a routine he likes to stick with and PT is always part of it. The worst part of this whole thing is the time spent away from Caiden. Brendan's father died before he was 2 so he has no memories of his father. That weighs heavy on him and he is worried that Caiden won't remember him. It's hard to see Caiden on the webcam and see him sitting and trying to talk. By the time he comes home for good he'll be walking. There's so many milestones he's missing but they're being recorded for him which is the best that we can do. Sure wish we could fly over there and get a hotel and have him come and visit us.
The heat is already getting bad and summer isn't even close to being there yet. It was 85 the other day and he says the heat was so intense. You figure all that sand just absorbs the heat and throws it back up. The soldiers that have been there before say it's like being on the equator. You feel like you are touching the sun. Add to that all the clothing and gear they have on and I couldn't even imagine how miserable it is. I'm sure I would pass straight out!
He's hoping they'll have the internet up and running soon where they're at. Not sure which he wants more at this point , internet to webcam home or a decent shower. What they have now is nothing more than a trickle of water. There's no electricity so at night you can't read or write or anything. Not sure what the timeline is on getting that up and running. I took the kids camping alot so he's used to going primitive so it's not the toughest thing on him.
They've run into a few minor incidences but for the most part things have been uneventful. I know he just wishes he'ld get back to an infantry unit. He got stuck with a tank unit and he's not doing the things he was trained to do. The unit is also really bad at handing out promotions. You pretty much have to reach the time limit to get your next rank. Pretty discouraging when there are men who are busting their ass and wanting to prove themselves. What's the point in it? Most of his buddies have already ranked up and Brendan is stuck waiting for the 14 months to come up. He wants to be with a gung ho unit and that's not what he's gotten. Worse yet , when he does get back to an infantry unit he'll be behind since he hasn't been working with them all this time. He had one buddy who he worked out with all the time and now he got moved. I think most of the men in his unit have been over there 3-4 times and they are tired and just want to do there time and get out. Hard for a soldier whose wet behind the ears and who's just wanting to kick ass and take names to fit in with a group like that.
7 more months until he gets leave and 10 months before he's scheduled to come home. Who knows how long he'll be back before he gets shipped somewhere else. Wish it all would end but our future sure isn't looking too bright. Suicide bombings are increasing in Pakistan and North Korea shooting missiles.....can't we all just get along??