Homecoming

After a very short stay at Fort Riley, I have arrived back home to my family. I have to give some major credit to the folks doing the out-processing at Riley - they had us out of there in under 3 days. That includes turning in all of our equipment, processing all of our release from active duty paperwork, and giving all of the mandatory briefings. We didn't sleep much or get to go anywhere, but we were back to our families really quick - I'll take that trade any day of the week!

Rachael and my parents met me right off the plane in Philly, and it was great to see them. I don't think words can express the relief and happiness I had when i saw them. As we walked through the security checkpoint into the main terminal, I saw about 30 people gathered holding signs saying "Welcome Home Jason". All of my family from the area had come down to greet me at the airport. I was embarrassed at first but as I made my through everyone saying hi to everyone I was pretty overwhelmed at all of the support. It made me think of all the care packages and letters and well wishes I got in Iraq and my embarrassment quickly turned to gratitude.

So now Rachael, Chester and I will re-start our life together. Alot has changed (I will be an uncle soon!), but many things are the same and I am just excited to start again. Thank you to everyone who has supported me through this blog and otherwise - your comments and thoughts and support has meant so much to me. I might post a few other thoughts here and there or at other sites, so if you see my name be sure to leave a comment or just say hi. I also posted a few more pictures from the last of my shots in Iraq.

Thanks again to everyone, and a fond farewell!

There's no place like . . .Kansas?

I am back in the US.  Not quite home, but I am in the US and happier then I can describe.  We arrived at Fort Riley early in the morning a couple days ago, and haven't even really slept since then.  A combination of de-mobilization, equipment turn-in and jet-lag has prevented most of us from getting any sleep, but we really don't care.  Tomorrow I will be back in Philly and while it it will be sad to say goodbye to everyone, the sense of relief I feel about being home is overshadowing everything.  I am also praying for my friends still over in Iraq; times are tough right now, but they are leaving soon - I really hope it goes quickly and safely for them. 

Back in Kuwait

The whine of the landing gear pulled me from a light sleep.  My butt was killing me, the dude next to me was snoring, and I couldn't feel my left foot.  I didn't care about any of these small annoyances, though - I was finally out of Iraq. 

 

We took a pretty circuitous route to get to Kuwait.  After leaving BIAP, we flew to Bahrain and stayed there for about 2 hours.  When we got off the C-130 in Bahrain, I could smell the sea immediately; that smell of the sea mixed with a faint suntan lotion smell inside terminal gave me a pretty sudden dose of nostalgia. (Jersey shore, anyone?)  From Bahrain we made a quick stop in Qatar, and then finally we arrived in Kuwait.  We were bused to Camp Virginia, and here I am, patiently awaiting my next flight, the one that will take me HOME! 

 

I still cant believe I am going home, but that's because its hot and dusty here in Kuwait and pretty much just more of the same.  Which is fine by me, because no one is trying to kill me in any fashion and I get to work out and sleep alot.  Not a bad deal!

 

 

5 years

That's how the war in Iraq has been going on. When it started, I was on my way to Afghanistan, so I was a little preoccupied to fully understand why we were going there. After my past year here, I have seen some definite progress, and I have felt extreme frustration. I want to be proud of what we have done here, and I am, but at the same time, when our Prez says something like this, I want to puke. Romantic? Really? I guess it is, maybe, if being away from your family for years on end is romantic, and enduring situations that you never want to think about again is romantic. This summary of his comments says it all, and says it well.

short timer

While my posting has been slow and infrequent, life has been pretty busy. In between trips to various Iraqi training bases, I have been packing and trying to out-process (complete the required paperwork to leave). This is a good dilemma to have, as nothing brings me more joy than out-processing.

I will write more and post a bunch of pictures once I am Kuwait, but for now I am happy knowing my time here is very, very limited!!

An Open Letter to an Army Human Resources Command spokesman

Dear Mr. Gall,

This letter is regarding your remarks in a recent Stars and Stripes article about the IRR, “Army mustering IRR members, reinvigorating force”. The article in itself is nothing surprising – the Army had no handle on its IRR system, more than half the recalls didn’t show, yadda yadda I’ve been bitching about those same things for over a year now. However, at the end of the article you are quoted as saying something that turned my face red and caused everyone in my section to laugh at the size of the vein in my forehead as it swelled to abnormally large status.

But to ensure fewer unpleasant surprises in future mobilizations — like call-ups
of dead IRR members — Army officials plan to physically muster no more than 20
percent of “their smiling little faces” each year, Gall said.

I am sure you think that was a cute, funny little quote, Mr. Gall. Probably got you a nice little laugh from co-workers at your plush office in HRC – St. Louis. “Oh Ray, that was really witty, especially because most of the IRR are really bitter, pissed off veterans, and a smile is the last thing we see on their faces!” That’s good; I get it, haha at me for being the idiot to show up. Here’s what you don’t seem to get in your ignorant joke. Most of the IRR are bitter and angry because we’ve served our country, at least once, and have tried to move on. In fact, I’d give a very educated guess that in my IRR recall class of about 300, at least 90% had at least one deployment. Several dozen had cases of PTSD so severe they were discharged, but the ones with mild problems were happily sent to Iraq or Afghanistan.

I guess it’s funny though to you though, that we aren’t smiling and how angry we are. I guess it’s funny that despite years of honorable service, we were called up and treated like second class citizens for over a year. Yes, we are the dreaded IRR, and despite having a lifetime more experience than most of the people who thumb their noses at us, we’re still treated like second thoughts.

I guess it’s funny that we left families, school, jobs, homes; we left these things unfinished, we lost out on promotions, we put everything on hold. We tried to start a new life for ourselves, and despite being rudely interrupted, we answered the recall – we understand our obligation and we honored it.

Forget about the recruiter who told us the IRR only gets recalled in the event of WWIII; forget about a system so badly mismanaged that more than double the actual number of needed people were recalled; forget about the fact that our unit admitted it shouldn’t have recalled us but still wouldn’t send us home; we knew we signed a contract and we were obligated to it. So we reported as ordered. We just didn’t do it all that happily. And to make a joke at our expense, Mr. Gall, would really take a lot of - well - gall.

Sincerely,

A pissed off and now very annoyed IRR recall

So close, yet so far

Seriously. I feel like I am in quicksand and just cant get out of this trap. Leap year - just my luck. That extra day is like an entire other month has been tacked onto the deployment. Who invented leap year, anyway? What is its purpose? In any event, I cant complain. Some of my IRR brethren have been royally screwed by the plethora of bad leaders here. Me? I am still on schedule. If a schedule really exists.

I posted some new pictures of some of the trips I've taken recently, and . . . that's about it.

Not Much to Say

My life has come to a grinding halt. At least, that's how I feel right now. I can almost taste being home yet its impossibly far away. Adapting to the new job has had its trials, but I am just starting to get the hang of what I think they want me to do. If only they knew what they wanted to do, I'd be all set.

I have gained a different perspective on how the training of the Iraqi Army is going. Now that I have a birds eye view instead of a ground level view, it does appear that we are making some really good progress. The section I am in is responsible for generating the new Iraqi Army Brigades, training their Soldiers and Officers, and then making sure they have all the equipment they need to get into the fight. Once they are recruited, trained, and equipped, we turn them over to group of Military Training Teams (MiTTs) who supervise their entry into "the fight". I wont say everything is going smoothly, but I do think as far as generating an Army goes, there has been some good progress made in the past year. Michael Yon has a great article about all of this and his interview with LTG Dubik, who is the commander of the unit I fall under.

I've been able to travel to the one of the training complexes in Besmaya and see an Iraqi Brigade graduate, and it was a pretty interesting experience. I posted some pictures about it last week. Other than that, things are going fairly well. There is a pretty good group of Captains in the area I work in, a few of which have also spent the last year training Iraqi's, so we have a pretty unique perspective on alot of the operations underway. We're also really sarcastic and short-timers, so it's not that bad of a time. Except when we get yelled at. Which is alot.