Who we are

Welcome back.

As always, there is a lot going on these days. We are actually taking a weekend to relax a little bit. We are all able to catch up on stuff and add to our lists of things to do. On my list was to give a more thorough introduction of the members of our team.

One of our interpreters, Michael, is in the next photo. His name isn't really Michael. They choose their names while in training and apparently Michael chose his name after Michael Jackson. KC wishes he was joking when he told me that... Michael is always a pessimist, but he is a great interpreter.

The second photo shows 3 of our team members hard at work. I would like to say that this is what they all do while the rest of us are busy, but that would only be about 1/3 true.

On the left with the bug eyed glasses is Cpt Connaroe. The youngest member of our team, he may be one of the most ambitious. His follow up assignment will make him a "temporary civilian" while he is at law school. Captain Connaroe has two modes: run and off.

In the back to the right you will see SFC (P) Connaughton. At 31 years old, we are all proud of him having made the list for promotion to Master Seargent. As we call him, KC is our S2 NCO, or our Intel NCO.

SFC Parker is the closest in the photo. Our NCOIC, SFC Parker fits in nicely. He is our infantryman, our expert in all (most) things combat. SFC Parker seems to have fathered most our the IA soldiers. Everytime we pull into Mustang all the soldiers are delighted to see him. We also call SFC Parker "7".

The next photo shows Captain Dresch, "3". Our resident engineer and Operations Officer, Cpt Dresch can be relied upon to make all he touches into perfection. His doings have earned the phrase "Dresch right Dresch." Just don't touch his pencil. "3" once stayed behind during a mission to complete something only he could do, meanwhile the rest of us feared he would rearrange the office in our absence.

The last photo shows LT Alaniz smiling as he always does. From what I hear, he was even smiling after he nearly severed his thumb with the Rhino. LT is our S1, our Personnel Officer. We also call Lt "1".