Knee Deep in the Hooah!

I didn’t realize that it was a 4th BCT soldier who won the new Jeep Liberty from Operation Gratitude! Wow! Congratulations to Spc. Gallagher, and to all of the Dragoon Raider Brigade. A special welcome home to my wonderful son who is a soldier in this Brigade. It’s wonderful to know their colors are uncased and they are home from their mission!

4th Stryker BCT to uncase colors at Fort Lewis

Soldiers from 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, will be welcomed home during a ceremony Tuesday at Fort Lewis, Wash.

The brigade, known as the Dragoon Raider brigade, was deployed from April 2007 through June 2008.

During the ceremony, the brigade will uncase its colors to signify the completion of its deployment and its return to Fort Lewis. Silver Star awards will be presented to several soldiers during the awards portion of the ceremony.

Prior to the ceremony, representatives from Operation Gratitude and Chrysler will present a 2008 Jeep Liberty to Spc. Michael Gallagher, who received the keys to the sport utility vehicle in Operation Gratitude’s 300,000th care package while he was deployed.

Gallagher designed a mural for the SUV to honor fallen soldiers from his unit, and the customized SUV will be unveiled during the presentation.

Tags: Army Mom Posts, Shack Pack news, Troop Surge, deployment, military, redeployment, veterans, war on terror by Claire
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When the time came for redeployment I went through a huge array of feelings and emotions that I really was not ready for. I had envisioned over the past 15 months that when the end of my son’s deployment came up that I would feel joy, elation, relief, and happiness. Don’t get me wrong. I have certainly felt all of those feelings, more so than anything else. It’s just that they were accompanied by other feelings that took me quite by surprise, to be honest. [Read more →]

Tags: Army, Army Mom Posts, Iraq, Terrorism, Troop Surge, combat, deployment, family life, memorial, mental health, military, prayers, redeployment, reunification, veterans, war on terror by Claire
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I knew that this was coming, but to see it in print was enough to make me nearly giddy this morning. Home coming time is sweet and scary. Keep our Surge troops in your prayers in the coming weeks. Their boots are one step closer to US soil!

3,500 U.S. Troops Set to Leave Iraq in Coming Weeks

Tuesday, May 06, 2008
(AP found on FOX News)
(excerpt)

BAGHDAD — About 3,500 American soldiers who were part of last summer’s troop “surge” are scheduled to leave Iraq in the coming weeks, the U.S. military said.

The soldiers, part of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, will redeploy to Fort Benning, Georgia, said a statement released late Monday. The U.S. sent some 30,000 additional troops into Iraq last summer to help stem growing violence.

Those troops, along with the rise of Sunni fighters who allied with the U.S. and began battling al-Qaida and a truce called by a key Shiite militia, were credited with a sharp decrease in violence during the last 10 months.

The soldiers are part of the third of five “surge” brigades scheduled to redeploy. The other two are expected to return to the U.S. by the end of July.

“The continued drawdown of surge brigades demonstrates continued progress in Iraq,” Brig. Gen. Dan Allyn said in the statement. “After July, commanders will assess our security posture for about 45 days and determine future force requirements based on these conditions-based assessments.”

Tags: Army, Army Mom Posts, Good News (Iraq), Iraq, Morale, Troop Surge, combat, deployment, military, prayers, redeployment, reunification, war on terror by Claire
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Thinking of the stir that was created in me last night when I read some blogger’s comments about the troops and his opinion of our bravest and finest, kept me up late. It’s in the midnight hours that most mother’s of deployed soldiers do some of their best worrying and praying. I used to think it was due to the fact that the distractions of the day were calming and suddenly our minds and hands were left with nothing to do. That was a good theory when Mr. Hooah! was gone to Ft. Benning while Mike was first deployed. I have come to realize that, for me personally anyway, it’s because I know that as my day is ending his is beginning. It’s a funny assumption on my behalf because I know he pulls shifts all hours of the day. I got a call today from him, first one in a long time, he sounded tired, but considering it was after 1am there I am surprised he was still awake. I’m a mom. I can’t help it.

So, this stir that was caused within was a flash in the pan, and it’s because the words that were typed on that screen were baseless, senseless, tasteless, and gutless. They were typed out for one reason, and one reason alone — to attract attention and make some big splash. There is a huge difference when someone uses hyperbole as a tool to excite interest or drive home a point, but it’s another when someone uses a constant, heightened offensive tone to bring attention to himself. Ultimately I find comfort in reminding myself that it is not men like this who shape our world. The men who shape our world do not do it by provocatively stomping on the grave of men better than themselves. Instead men who shape this world respect those who defend them. Not only is it true that … “A Nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten,” but I would say the same is true for the individual who thinks that a tantrum will bring him any notoriety and that using the graves of the fallen will accomplish that end for him.
[Read more →]

Tags: Army, Army Mom Posts, Iraq, Morale, Shack Pack news, Troop Surge, Troop appreciation, deployment, family life, looney leftists, military, politics, redeployment, reunification, veterans, war on terror by Claire
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This is very good news for those of us with loved ones who were called up for an early departure of their scheduled deployment to fill the need for General Petraeus’ strategic move of surging troops into highly volatile areas. The media has downplayed the successes we have realized since the last pair of surge boots hit the sand late last summer, but I think the evidence to the contrary is much more powerful than anything the naysayers can come up with. Here is another piece of evidence of that success.

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2008 — Sharply decreased violence in Iraq has set the stage for the departure of the remaining surge forces by the end of July, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Violence in Iraq “has declined dramatically since this time last year,” Gates told committee members. “In addition to the drop in U.S. casualties, we have seen a dramatic and encouraging decline in the loss of Iraqi civilians.”

Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were on Capitol Hill to update legislators on Iraq and Afghanistan military operations.

Iraqi deaths caused by ethnocentric conflict are down by about 90 percent, Gates reported, while overall civilian deaths have decreased by 70 percent compared to a year ago.

I can only imagine the liberal media’s response to that number. “What ONLY 90 percent? Not good enough. The surge is a failure.” Of course we can’t even reduce the number of gang related conflicts that cause the loss of life in Los Angeles by a fraction of that number, but I don’t see much if any credit given for a drop in conflict of that magnitude in a war zone.

In addition, Iraqis increasingly are stepping up to assist U.S. and coalition troops in battling insurgents in their country, Gates said. About 100,000 extra Iraqi security forces fought alongside around 30,000 additional U.S. troops as part of last year’s surge operations, he noted.

Gates also said recent Iraqi military operations against insurgents and criminals in Basra and other areas of Iraq are heartening. The Iraqis were not capable of launching a military mission of that scale a year ago, he noted.

Half of Iraq’s 18 provinces now are under Iraqi control, Gates said. Anbar is anticipated to be the 19th province to come under Iraqi jurisdiction, which Gates cited as “a remarkable development” given the grim security situation in that province just 18 months ago.

We knew going into this that the deployment of the surge troops would be at a minimum 15-months, but it could very well be extended past that time if it were needed. Our surge troops are on schedule to redeploy on time because of the success of their hard work and efforts. They are also able to come home on time because of the hard work of the Iraqis who have stepped forward and have risen to the call to serve their Country.

Thanks to a good General, awesome work by our troops and dedicated Iraqis, we will have our troops home on time. This soldier’s mom can hardly wait to hug her soldier and tell him face to face how incredibly proud she is of his hard work and good service.

Tags: Army, Army Mom Posts, Troop Surge, combat, deployment, military, redeployment, war on terror by Claire
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Several months back a regular reader sent me a link to this blog (thank you again KYWoman!). I had not been to the blog for a little while, and when I stopped by there tonight I read this soldier’s entry about his final ride out of Afghanistan. It is very poignant, educational, articulate and to be honest, quite poetic. Here’s a small excerpt of what you will read if you stop by and Bill and Bob’s Excellent Afghan Adventure. Oh, and welcome home Bob (I hope that is correct.) Thank you for your service, and we are waiting to hear of your safe arrival back on American soil!

Excerpt:

There were a lot of other sights that I said goodbye to easily; the mud brick Afghan construction, burqa-clad women moving like blue trick-or-treaters down the side of the street, haphazard electrical wires strung on flimsy poles running between houses like a drunken spider web. I won’t miss the general shabbiness, the vague feeling of quiet desperation, the feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems; the destruction.

I am glad to be an American. We don’t know what we’ve really got; we take it for granted. Overseas, our flag is a symbol of so much. It stands for things that citizens of other countries resent us for in a lot of ways, but they envy us, too.

Sometimes we are proud of the wrong things; we don’t even know the preciousness of what we have. We are so lost in ourselves that we misidentify our real strengths; but they are there.

One thing that we take for granted is the intactness of our seemingly fractal society. Our infrastructure, which we sometimes become exasperated with, is so intact. Infrastructure; roads, bridges, electricity, water, sewage, garbage collection… it’s so fragile. It’s the stuff that takes years to build and lots of time to maintain, and it’s the first thing to get blown to pieces when significant groups of people fight with each other over control of a society.

Tags: Army, Islam, Other Blogs, Terrorism, combat, deployment, military, politics, redeployment, war on terror by Claire
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Emma and I often have some of our most enlightening conversations while we are in the car. She has a pretty good set up. I drive her around, and in turn she bosses me around. It’s usually quite funny to me because here’s this little wisp of a girl, strapped snugly into her car seat, telling me that I should “go mommy!” when the light is red. Our conversations are usually full of girlish silliness, which my daughter is very prone to. Sometimes our talks are of what she wants, what she would like to eat for lunch, or what she did at dance class or gymnastics. The other day our conversation took a turn that I was not expecting.

We talk about Michael everyday. He is a part of our family and I have always made it a point to mention him to Emma on daily basis. I did the same for Bryan when he was gone from her for so long. We talked about “papa” like he was home with us. “What would papa want to eat for lunch, Emma?”, and questions like that, often came up in discussions. Emma knows Mike is in Iraq. She told me one time, not too long ago, that “Mike is in a rack!” I tried to help her understand that he was not in a rack, but rather he is in Iraq. “Oh never mind!” I thought to myself, “If the girl wants to believe that her oldest brother is somewhere sitting on a rack then why would I try and educate her about a war zone?” I don’t know what kind of rack she had in mind exactly, but with her limited knowledge I can only imagine she meant a towel rack, a dish rack, or a coat rack.

Then about two weeks ago we were driving to Bryan’s work, and Emma spotted a horse out in a meadow as we drove by. “Mama! I see a horsey!” She was so excited and I asked her what color it was, and it morphed from being a brown horse, to being a brown horse with red and pink hair (a punk rock horse I am to assume). Somehow this talk of horses then morphed into a talk of modes of transportation. This was not a connection I was expecting her to make. She is not old enough, in my mind anyway, to understand that a horse and an airplane are similar in that they are vehicles we use to get from one place to another. So, Emma pipes up and loudly proclaims “Mama, I am going to fly on the airplane!” To which I reply “Oh really now?! And who is going to fly with you?” Emma reassured me that her papa was going to take her onto the airplane. “Oh really? So, you and papa are going on the airplane? And just where are you and papa going, little girl?”

“Mama! Papa is going to fly with me to Iraq and we will get our Michael.” she squealed loudly!

I am glad I had my sunglasses on. How did she come to know and understand that Iraq is a place? How I pray that she will not have to know much more than that, for a very, very long time. How I pray for the day when she can see her Michael walking down that long ramp and into the arms of his anticipating family.

Tags: Army Mom Posts, Army Wife Posts, Shack Pack news, Things I love, deployment, family life, military, redeployment, reunification, veterans, war on terror, well wishes by Claire
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We are fast approaching the one year anniversary of Mike’s deployment.

One year.

One very long, tiring and scary year.

He turned 22-years old the day they landed in Kuwait. I remember the picture he sent me through e-mail of him sitting at a picnic table drinking a very nasty looking near-beer in celebration. A lot happens in a year. I think we have both aged far more than 365 days though — and I am sure he aged more than I did. We have lost time together that can never be replaced, and we have lost some common ground. My son is now among that highly respected group of Americans known as Combat Veterans.

Even though I know he has grown and changed during this time, he will come home and look about the same to me, undoubtedly. There are a few facial expressions that he will have for the rest of his life that will always make him familiar to me. All of my older kids have a few (and Emma is developing hers with flare). It’s a raised eye brown, a crooked smile, a tilt of the head… some signature physical form of expression that takes my breath away for a quick second. When I see it I am immediately transported back in time and can see the small face of a child who is either in trouble or is thinking of a way to get out of trouble. Nothing bad, but maybe a cookie that has been snatched or a dish that was broken from careless play after being told not to. Those little things never fade, and those are the treasures that mothers bury deepest in their hearts. It’s a treasure that doesn’t seem to fade — at least not in this stage of life.

I don’t know what the years of war do to a military mom’s memories. It does alter them to some degree. The memories are so entangled with fears and pride. It’s all so surreal because the memories are a little fragmented between the contact you have with your soldier, and the news you hear on the home front. It is all intertwined with a stew of mixed emotions that slowly churn over the course of time.

War has taken so much from so many people. For some it has taken someone they love dearly away from them. They will not behold that face again on this earth. I am grateful that I have not had to walk that path, and I pray for those who have. Some mothers will embrace a son or daughter coming home who has been so badly wounded that she will once again take upon herself the duties of a mother, and probably most will do it with a willingness and a magnificent grace that would put Florence Nightingale to shame.

And, yet, in that light of sacrifice, I still support the efforts in Iraq (as I always have) because I see the larger picture. I can not succumb to infantile thinking that allows people in protest to spout off that wars only happen because we have weapons. That’s the most preposterous, sophomoric, over-simplification of the human condition that I have ever heard. Anyone who believes that still believes in dragons and faeries. The sad part is those who hold this childish non-sense up as truth also choose to act worse than spoiled children toward those who have seen the realities of war - those who do not believe in the dragons and faeries of childhood, and who have “seen the elephant” in their manhood. Berkeley is a shining example of infantile mental and emotional regression.

I am truly more worried now than I have been in the past about the climate in this Country and the escalating hate that is being poured forth from the anti-military and anti-war crowd. We have heard recently about domestic-terrorists (let’s be honest … remember in Rules of Engagement the importance of properly identifying your enemy… ) bombing recruiting centers, praising the bombing of recruiting centers, harassing Marines and speaking of them as if they are second class citizens, threats being made toward those who want to shield our Citizen Soldiers, and protests that have turned into a blatant display of disregard for the laws of the land (and lawmakers who let it happen!). Can you see why a mother, a wife, a family, or anyone who loves a returning Veteran would have cause for concern? Just as our soldiers have sworn to “support and defend” so have we promised ourselves to do the same for them.

I am waiting. I am anticipating the moment when I know his boots are here on American soil. It’s a thought that can instantly put a smile on my face, and suddenly for a moment I feel like the richest woman whose ever lived.

Tags: Army, Army Mom Posts, Army Wife Posts, Morale, Shack Pack news, Troop Surge, anti-military, combat, deployment, family life, military, politics, redeployment, reunification, updates, veterans, war on terror, worry by Claire
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