No Snobby Pup

Here he is, the stray. It really blows my mind how an animal so well behaved and gentle can come from a hostile place such as this. This little guy really is a sweetheart. Not liking him is impossible.
I'm hoping we can find a farmer or sheep herder around here that we can give him to. He reminds me more of an Australian Shepherd more than anything.

He really does cheer us up.

Augments

Two days until Christmas but it is business as usual here. Actually, we have ramped up our mentoring efforts and are now spending more time at the IA compound. As we are planning on spending 16 or more hours a day at the IA Brigade, we are getting 4 additional augmentees for our team to let us catch a break occasionally. Now we just need to move a chu out to Dezil so we have somewhere other than our trucks to hang out in. Getting chow and somewhere to put the discharge is another issue.





My mother says I don't post enough pictures of myself. Well, at least my nephews will like this picture.

Here at COP Meade we aren't allowed to adopt a stray, but a stray seems to have adopted us. We drive the roads everyday and see all the dogs, mutts all, and wish we could have one to guard our compound and cheer us up.

When we returned today, there under our shower chu was a small dog. At first we thought he was injured, but he turned out to be merely terrified of us. After some coaxing and two bags of beef jerky we were able to convince him that we were friendly. He seems to have been abused, as his tail seems to have been lopped off (I'm convinced he didn't receive a tail from one of his parents). He is about 4-5 months old, and seems to never have met a kind person in his short life. Willy, one of our interpreters, named him "Penkish," but "Punkass" works too. It's hard not to get attached to him, and I fear he may just wander off after tomorrow. Perhaps getting attached would be bad since leaving a dog here would be heartwrenching. But he really is a cute little guy, with an excited smile and a constant butt wiggle from trying to wag the tail that isn't there.

SFC Parker couldn't find the back door to his truck, so he went out the escape hatch in the top.

SGT Kessinger is pretty much like me; highstrung with not enough to do. Except SGT Kessinger is quite a bit more hoah than I am and really into the Army. He seems really happy to be with us as we are to have his help and expertise.

SGT Khoubeche (I cant spell my own name sometimes) speaks Arabic and several other languages. It's nice having him on the team, taking away the need for a native interpreter.

SPC Chase, originally from Montana is a great asset to our team since he is a former armorer. This guy is really easy going and a welcome member of the team.

This is the best photo I have taken so far of SPC Huddleston. A cook, he wasn't happy with his job and is not intending on re-enlisting. SGM Clark, the 4-27 FA top NCO sent SPC Huddleston to us to see a different side of the Army. From the Houston area, we all have to listen to Hudd and Maj Brott reminisce about "back home" all day long. From what I hear I could navigate my way through Houston without a map.

We lock our office chu from the outside with a combination lock. After our morning brief and the order to be "red-con-one" in ten minutes we were all, well, almost all loaded in our trucks and ready to go.

After putting on my headset I heard Major Brott call over our internal net for Jedi Fox (CPT Connaroe) to come unlock the door. It honestly didn't occur to me what was going on until Major Brott called a third time for someone to come open the door. I initially thought he needed someone to open it for him (this was before I finished my coffee) since maybe he had his hands full. SPC Chase reminded me that for Major Brott to call over the net he would have to be in the office.

Major Brott was the first person to get locked in the office. I told everyone my truck that perhaps we should move to another truck, but Major Brott took it well and was able to joke about it.

I was surprised to get a package today from my cousin, Jeff, who I haven't seen in several years. I was pleased with the package and even more pleased with how considerate he and his wife are. Thank you Jeff and Lori.

Thanks also to my Mother for the Christmas presents, they will help cheer me up on Christmas morning.

I would also really like to thank Wendy J Jones, Glen and Elizabeth Hammond for the goods.

And as always, my beautiful wife. Without your support I couldn't make it through, I love you.

Well spellchecker isn't working and it's late, so I'm going to post it anyway. Sometimes my attempts to post end up as drafts and I get to feeling guilty for slacking, so forgive my sloppyness.

Stuck

I should have posted this sooner, but as my excuses go, I was busy.

Sometimes our mornings go fast and we can get out the wire pretty quick, sometimes they take a little longer. This particular morning took quite a lot longer. It started out with comms issues, then the quagmire talked KC into directing his truck into it's grasp. Mind you, this was only about 75 yards from where we park our trucks. This particular mission was our routine one to resupply and allow our church goers the opportunity. Needless to say, they were late.

Normally KC wouldn't have posed so proudly for this photo, but I convinced him that I humbly would have. Ha.

The M-88 had some problems but finally got the truck out.

The thing with these trucks is their weight and high center of gravity. Pulling it out takes some care. Our interpreter, Michael, was a little upset. He was due to go on leave.

Now this is how we know when Major Brott isn't happy. He stands apart from everyone with a frown on his face, most likely contemplating how best to deliver an @$$ chewing.

Yep, it's stuck. Here the dirt has a clay consistency and is dificult to dry. It takes a lot for the ground to absorb water, but when it does, it stays there, hiding itself with a dry outer layer.

Tune in next time for more wacky adventures...

Back to business.

This is either a huge cache, or a combination of smaller caches.

This is a 50 caliber round, likely for a DSHKA heavy machine gun.

It's good to know there are fewer RPG's out there.

Notice the RC remotes at the top right. These are often used to remotely detonate IED/EFP's.

We are often asked to trade our 9mm's for these AK-47's. Nobody is touching my nine.

Look, my mortar tube is larger than his... ahem, I'm propping my foot on a 120 mm mortar tube.

Mortars. Lots of them. I like them better laying on the ground in this picture than flying in the air towards my general direction, or wired to a cell phone.

Here are the multiple flags of the 55-17 IA Brigade.

Well we are back to business here. The days go by and we go to work. Our first few have gone on leave for Christmas already, and I have less than 90 days for my turn.

Hold down the homefront for us...

Congratulations to Major Aaron Wentworth

Some quick instruction for SFC Connaughton. This was the third time Major Brott had to tell him how to turn it on.

As Captain Dresh prepairs to adjust the wiring of the light fixture to light up the promotion ceremony I question his drinking an N/A beer while doing so.

Here is SFC Colon cooking on his new grill. Okay, I say it's his because he is usually the only one cooking. He prefers the small weber because he can put the lid on it.

Major Brott seems to be singing some praise for Major Wentworth (prior to frocking).

Major Brott got the honor of pinning the gold oak leaf on Major Wentworth.

Major Wentworth receives a plaque from 55-17's XO, Col Hadaer.



Congratulations Major Wentworth!!!

Not so weather proof

This is a nice photo of our trucks preparing for their bath.

Here is our new compound, notice the looming rain clouds that penetrated our CHU’s like they were submarines with screen doors.

Our compound is quite nice now. We have gone a long way to improve our living conditions, too much probably since everyone else on the COP is envious of our compound.

Ah yes, running water in my Chu.

This wasn't near as unpleasant as waking up to a cold shower right above my bed. Part of the reason I got a cold shower while I was sleeping was due to the fact that I jacked up the front part of my chu, placing a 2x4 under the feet, to make the water run off the top instead of pooling while gravity forces it to find a way down. The seams in my ceiling gave way to a puddle above.

Yes, some flooding outside as well. As much as I love the rain, I prefer keeping mud outside my room. However, I did consider fishing in our small pond...

Yes, I nearly got stuck. To the left of the truck are the "hesco" barriers, which were filled before any compacting could have been done. DC was quite amused at how the truck started sinking as he was backing me up.

I took this photo from VBC, near Camp Stryker. Rarely do you see the moon, Jupiter and Venus lined up like this.

I believe this view could have been seen from North America in the early morning, while here we viewed it in the early evening.