Thanks for waiting...

Sorry it's been so long, time's been flying here. Here's a recap of the last few weeks:

Last time I wrote I was on my way to El Paso to see Melissa and the boys, we had a great time. We went to New Mexico and did an Easter egg hunt. The boys were funny! They had little areas roped off for different age groups with eggs all over the ground. Isaac kept going under the rope to get the eggs before they actually said "Go". Luke was cute, he was carrying the bucket around, and would stop and inspect each egg before putting it in the bucket while all the other kids were running around snatching up everything they could. The weather was cold and rainy so after Isaac picked up his first egg he said his hands were cold, thus ending his hunt. Luke kept plugging at it, by the end we had about a dozen eggs. It didn't last long but it was fun. We stayed at a hotel there and took the boys swimming. Isaac must be half fish, because he was swimming by himself by the end of the weekend (with the help of arm floaties). It was hard to leave, but I had to get back into training, which we have been going at fast and furious.

We have been doing a lot of weapons training. First we qualified on our pistol, the M9 a 9MM semi-automatic pistol. This was the first time I qualified with it, but I did pretty well, shooting 26 out of 30 targets. Next I fired my M203 grenade launcher. I've qualified on that one before, but it's still fun to shoot. It did kick a bit, I still have some bruises on my arm. After that we shot our rifle, the M4. It's a 5.56MM rifle, pretty much like a small hunting rifle. We have a sight mounted on it that has a red dot in the middle, once you put it on the target, you are pretty much guarenteed to hit it. I shot 35 out of 40 targets ranging from 50 to 300 yards. We came back at night and fired with our night optics. This was really cool, the laser can't be seen with the naked eye, you have to wear night vision goggles in order to see it.

This week we focused on crew-serve weapons, aka the big guns. These are the weapons that are mounted on top of the trucks and used for security on convoys. We fired the M2 50 caliber machine gun and the M240 machine gun. The M240 fires a 7.62MM bullet, more like the large hunting rifles. We fired these in the day time at targets from 400 to 1000 yards. There is nothing like the sound of 10 machine guns ripping up targets to get your blood pumping! We also fired these at night using a thermal scope. These scopes are a poachers dream! You could find the enemy/target behind a brush pile just because of their body heat. Night qualification is always fun because every fourth or fifth round is a tracer. This bullet burns red once it is fired allowing you to see where you are shooting. It's fun watching these richochet off the targets and ground, it was like a low-budget 4th of July show.

I guess that's all I have for now, mom and dad are coming for the weekend, hopefully we'll be able to find something interesting to do here in hum-drum Kansas... 'till next time

An Army Mechanic's Point of View...

Well, another week is in the books. This one went pretty fast, as we had some engaging training to complete. This week I realized that the army is full of mechanics, maybe not by trade but everything we do is to geared toward fixing something. My team consists of 10 people, all from different backgrounds and varying walks of life. Our main mission for our upcoming deployment is to fix the Iraqi Army unit that we will be joined with. They have many problems, mostly stemming from the fact that they are a new unit and still don't have the equipment or personnel that are required to accomplish any sort of mission.

This week I enhanced my mechanic skills and found that I am not only good at fixing vehicles, but I am capable of fixing people, too. WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH IS A BIT GRAPHIC... We were given classes on Combat Casualty Care and how to eliminate the three major causes of deaths on the battlefield. The first of these is bleeding from an extremity. The majority of people wounded in Iraq pass away because they don't reach an adequate treatment facility in time to save them. Tourniquets are the one of the newest fads in saving causalities. Did you know that you can have a tourniquet applied to a limb for six hours before the limb is completely lost? The second major cause of fatalities is collapsed lungs due to an open chest wound. Luckily I have learned the fine art of repairing this problem...What you have to do once the wound is sealed and bandaged, is to take the pressure out of the chest cavity by inserting a needle into the wounded person. This lets the extra air out and allows the lung to re-inflate and operate normally. Lastly, I brushed up on the nasopharangeal procedure (sticking a tube through one's nose and down their throat in order to open the airway) to fix the third cause of battlefield deaths, the blocked airway.

We did do some training that wasn't as morbid, like initiating an IV or saline lock. I got to be the guinea pig for this event by volunteering myself for a live demonstration. Luckily, the guy that demonstrated for us is an EMT for the local Fire Department. Too bad I have two arms and had to donate the other to a Captain that, well, let's just say that he wasn't as experienced as the EMT. He stuck my arm and hit the vein, but when it came time to push the catheter into the vein he became a little excited and pulled the needle out, ruining any chance he had of completing his task. I did allow him to try on my other arm (BIG MISTAKE) just above the site where the EMT stuck me the first time. Again, he hit the vein, and this time he did thread the catheter in correctly, or so we thought. It was a bit too painful, so I figured something was wrong, but I let him continue anyway. I don't know if he went all the way through the vein or what, but there wasn't a good connection. The Army medic started to pull the catheter out slowly in order to see if he could get it back in the vein (once again, a bit too painful) but didn't succeed. Let's just say that I look like a junkie now with all the holes in my arms.

On a lighter note, I am going to El Paso tomorrow to see Melissa and the boys for a four day weekend. I miss them so much! Anyway, this looks like a good spot to end it...till next time!

First Blog Post

Hello, everyone! Or MarHaba as they say in Arabic. This is my first blog post so forgive me if it's a bit rough. I am currently training to be a Transition Team member to assist the Iraqi Army. I'm doing the training in Fort Riley, Kansas and will be deploying later this summer. The training, so far, has been rewarding. We are learning to speak Arabic in the Iraqi dialect and becoming immersed in their culture. We even had an "authentic" Iraqi meal this week and had a Q & A session with a retired Iraqi General.

This training will be great for the deployment and probably should be done by anyone that is deploying because it makes you realise just how similar our people are. There are also a lot of differences that need to be known before you go and the information would have made my previous deployments a lot more rewarding. I am going to be taking some extra Arabic classes and try to learn as much as I can so that I can be an effective advisor to the Iraqi Army.

The team I am with is great, but we are still new to it and I'm sure that the personality differences will start clashing soon. Hopefully it doesn't get too crazy!

I guess this is good enough for the first one, I'll be posting at least once a week, so stay tuned...