Actual Army Work ...

Kyle called today (12:30am his time). Not much to share from this call as he was pretty bushed from a long day of transporting soldiers back to their previous location. Allow me to explain.

A few days ago, his entire team was called to make a raid on a facility in their patrol area. After making forced entry, the team secured all male occupants of the facility. They then searched the premises and found several items of contraband. I'm not talking about anti-American literature or firecrackers. The items found were serious and dangerous.

Job well done! One would think that so anyway. Well, not so much ...

As a result of a couple of ill advised command decisions, the entire company has been sent back to their previous location. This is truly sad to Kyle as he has really enjoyed the smaller location. He describes their outpost as being about the size of a football field. It houses a much smaller contingency and the creature comforts for the individual soldier are much better. At the COB they have WiFi in their rooms as well as enough space to spread out a bit. Just a couple weeks ago the xBox 360 they had purchased in Colorado finally arrived. Now it all goes back in the box and gets shipped back to the Base with just enough room for a cot and ruck sack.

Okay, so this doesn't have much to do with "The War on Terror", or bringing democracy to Iraq. It does, however, have a lot to do with morale.

On a lighter note, some of the guys in his team have invented a "fun" new game. We didn't ask for the details, but the name of the activity was called "Pigeon Home Run Derby." I don't even want to know! More to come ...

Pigeon Wars ...

I have heard some funny names for different wars throughout history, but this one is new to me. As we talked with Kyle today he described the "Pigeon War". You won't find it on the CNN website, nor will you find it in any history books. You will, however, find it being hotly contested in the outpost where Kyle is currently living. It seems that his roommates and another group of fellows have sound some unusual uses for Pigeons. This is what happens when young men have a little too much it me on their hands.

The latest battle in the dorm war went something like this: 5 Pigeons were borrowed from their stations pooping on the equipment. They were hand carried with great care so as to not harm these fine fowl, and deployed at 3am into the room of some other sleeping soldiers. My understanding was that both the Pigeons and the sleeping soldiers were eager to part company. Kyle said that the sounds of soldiers screaming for their mothers, and the sight of friends and fowl fleeing from their quarters in sheer panic was priceless.

In retrospect, he said that the future of said practices can only lead to a senseless and ceaseless escalation of force, culminating in ... well, you can only imagine.

One of the less desirable duties on the FOB is "sewage" detain. In the photo on the top right you will see Kyle performing this unpleasant but VERY necessary detail. If you know that that is Kyle doing "sewage" detain, then you can guess what might be burning in those two fire pits. Note the large tank behind our soldier. Here in the states, we store propane in tanks just like those ... Hmmmmmm!

Sorry that it has been so long since my latest update. We haven't heard a word for a week. For that reason, it was really great to see an unfamiliar number show up on my cell. Check back in a couple days and I will share with you another story we heard today. More to come ...

Another Interlude ...

Since we have no new news from Iraq, I thought I would take a minute to share with you some history from the period between Kyle's BCT and his departure to his permanent duty station in CO. I decided, to some of the families dismay, to set up a backpacking trip with Kyle. He had been my first "backpacking buddy" from among our kids. In later teen years he got too busy to do much of it so Megan graciously took over the "Dad watch" duties on the trail. She and I have had some GREAT trips together (some with Kyle and some without). Only recently was I able to get Brandon out on the trail for one of these bonding experiences.

I thought it would be fun to get the "E" boys together so I asked Brandon to come up from San Diego where he was living. I also invited my younger brother, Rod, to come down from Washington. To my surprise all parties were available to come so the trip was on. We also included Brandon's brother-in-law, Jeremy and two great guys from our church - Bob and Justin.

With a clear sense of adventure (and I mean that with all the exciting and unexpected aspects of that word) we headed out for a 3 day 18 mile saunter through the Ventanna wilderness - a place that none of us had been before. Now I won't bore you with the details, but I will tell you that, owing to a slight navigational error, we spent the first day and a half hiking in the wrong direction. After hiking for about 9 miles, we realized that we had taken a wrong trail at an early course junction and had ended up about 1 mile (as the crow flies) from our car. This was truly BAD news and turned our nice hike into a grueling gallop over some of the most technical terrain I have ever backpacked.

Kyle was at a distinct advantage as he was fresh from BCT and had just completed the "Bayonet March" - the infantrymen's concluding test of mental toughness and conditioning. I am pleased to say, however, that even us middle agers completed the enduro with minimal injuries. We didn't even get poison oak, despite the fact that we had hiked through miles of trails overgrown with the stuff. The only things we brought back were a head full of great memories and some super photos. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page to check it out.

At least some of us have decided to take a reunion trip at the conclusion of Kyle's deployment (sans the side trip). I'm looking forward (and maintaining conditioning).

Some "Spooky" Stuff

Just got off the phone with our soldier. Kyle is doing well, but it was 12:05am when he called and he was just heading to bed. They had just finished a "night op". It seems that they were sitting in their room getting ready to bed down when someone came running in to say, "Be in full Battle Rattle at the vehicle in 5 minutes." That was all they needed in order to spring into action.

They were being sent out to check on some civilians who were digging alongside the road. That often spells IED. They had deployed 4 trucks of 5 men each to investigate. They call this a QRF mission (Quick Response Force). Kyle said the road they were traveling was very small and they were traveling blacked out (that means they are using inferred headlights and NODs (night vision) to navigate. One of the characteristics of this technology is that it is bereft of bas-relief (its hard to see the bumps). That would explain why his gunner told him that the hole he was about to enter was "real small". It was not! It was, instead, big enough to bend up the Rhino guard on the front of the Humvee and stick the rig. This puts a real crimp in the "Q" part of "QRF".

He said it was exciting yet uneventful. The two men they were sent to investigate were actually digging a canal as a part of an irrigation project (in the middle of the night?).

Kyle said they had a nervous patrol a couple days ago. They pulled into a town that was busy with activity. By the time they had been there a few minutes, the streets went empty. This was enough irregularity to cause the hair to stand up for all the guys in Kyle's squad. As it turns out, they did receive some intel which they turned over to the IP (Iraqi Police). I asked if they had found the intel to be credible. His response, "If we get hit, it was credible."

On a purely positive note, he said that he had received another of the bags he had shipped from Colorado. In it was his Bible. He said, "I dived right in ... looking for some good word, nothing in particular. In case you didn't know it, there are no 'F-bombs' in the Bible." Good to know! Apparently that word is a regular part of military vocabulary.

More to come ... Continue praying!

That Was Then ... This Is Now!

Remember the postings of Kyle spending hours and hours on end in the gym and sleeping the hours away? Well those days are gone. Kyles platoon has moved on to the outpost I described earlier. From his recent notes on Facebook and texts to Mom, it appears that he and his team mates are more than busy. One message said that he was working on two hours sleep in the last two days. He had pulled guard tower duty at 2am in the middle of this marathon work session. His comment ... "I love it." Could there be a loose screw in this young mans head? :-)

Before heading out, however, Kyle received his training and license to drive the MRAP vehicle. His comment about them is that they are "not easy to drive." If you haven't researched these vehicles, you need to get a look at them on Youtube. His vehicle is called the "MRAP Cougar" and it is one impressive piece of engineering.

In a recent note he said that he had actually been out on a patrol. While this is less than thrilling from a parental perspective, it is exactly what he has trained for and is therefore tremendously exciting. Pictured in this post are some photos of some team mates as well as an up armored Humvee.

Birthday Boy ...

It's official ... Kyle is 21. I won't lie, it was had to have him celebrate this monumental milestone on another continent, in harms way. It was, however, really nice to have the phone ring at 10:30 our time so that we could sing "Happy Bday" to him. We asked if they had thrown him a nice party. He quickly responded, "I got a nice handshake ... and that's good enough for me." He was referring to a Sergeant in his platoon who, for his birthday, was duct taped to a tree and then given lashes with the Army issue nylon belts by the rest of the platoon. Kyle was perfectly fine with the handshake. As usual he was bored with the lack of things to do. Apparently the sleeping, eating and going to the gym is wearing a little thin. I remember days in the not too distant past when he would have regarded days like that as pure heaven. What a difference a year makes.

Today was supposed to be a good day. His platoon was going to try to get as many of the men qualified to drive the up armored Humvee and the MRAP. He was excited to be doing something. The hardest time is the waiting ... and they are doing a lot of it.

Kyle is looking forward to their next destination. Later this week or next he will be going to an outpost about 20 miles from his present location. While it is a smaller outpost, he said it will be better equipped and more suited to the size of the troop contingent stationed there. He has heard that phones may be scarce there, but WiFi is supposed to be in place. Therefore, many of the family members might expect an email. We will try to get some photos online.

Thank you for your prayers and for your interest. It makes all the difference in the world for our soldier and our family.