Mental Toughness

I titled this week's update Mental Toughness, as We, soldiers and families have had to dig down and find that mental toughness that helps you get through the day, in this case week. We all knew that RC-South was the most active and dangerous part of Afghanistan, and this week really took its toll. I experienced my first Ramp Ceremony, (this is where we honor a fallen comrade's exit from combat, onto an awaiting plane). This ceremony though filled with Honor and Respect and Soldiers lined up to pay our final respects, was quite solemn and required that extra mental toughness that is within. Not even twenty-four hours from this ceremony, we were notified of other casualties. A good friend of mine, COL Eric Gladman gave me a book called "Minute Meditations for Each Day" Not a day go by, where I don't feed my spirit with the word of God. It is the strength that I draw upon during times like these. As leaders you have to not dwell upon unfortunate events, but find that strength to pick your spirit up and go on. Soldiers look for that strength and draw upon it.

This week also celebrated the Army's 232nd Birthday with a cookout and fellowship amongst the services, (Army, Navy and Air Force). Pictured below is COL Cannon, CPT Bulwinkle and myself, taking time to digress and fellowship.

Also, since my last post, I have had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Isah, the Headmaster of the Russian Village School. There are 520 school kids from 1st to 11th grade, of the 520, 230 are girls. For the Kandahar area, girls were not allowed to attend school under the Taliban rule. The actual name of the school is Siad Pacha High School. Currently the kids are out of school for the summer, they are out for two months. The Russians built these buildings to house their soldiers after the War with Afghanistan. After the Russians left, the Taliban took over the area and buildings to house their troops. It became a Taliban Training Ground. After Sep 11, the US bombed the buildings/area to remove the Taliban and the local Afghans took over, mostly home to families of the Afghan Military. The school is as we say far from the flag pole and does not get the necessary supplies that other schools receive that are close to Kabul. The principal needs Notebooks, Pens, Pencils, etc for the beginning of the school year, August 01. I would like your assistance in gathering these items, so that I can present them in person to the children when they return. I will collect boxes and store them until August, so please send what you can. There is a great need here.... I am under the opinion that in order to change a generation, you have to start with the children.

Even in the chaos, I am still so prove of what we are doing here. Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. I know I took a page from Forest Gump, but that is they way each day is here. You never settle down to a routine, because there is always something to change that thought. These kids live day by day, hoping for tomorrow....

The below picture is of me and my commo NCO SFC Spencer an active duty soldier from Fort Gordon, GA. I am so proud to have him on my team, he brings a great deal of experience and knowledge to the section.

Combat Patch Presentation

On 6 June 1944, the US began its invasion off the beaches of Normandy. US and allied forces commenced its combat operations now known as World War II. On 6 June 2007, some 63 years later, the 218th Brigade Combat Team received our combat patch. For so many of us, this was a very fulfilling day, one that we all were so proud to be a part of.. The combat patch symbolizes a soldiers participation in combat operations. There is a level of respect that comes with wearing that "Right Shoulder Patch". I have always admired those that had their "Right Shoulder Patch" I respected their service, I appreciated their willingness to support and defend this country. It is a very noble act. War/combat operations is not pretty or easy, it is what we train so hard to be proficient at, so that when our country calls we will be able to answer that call with confidence. Below is a picture of COL Cannon and CSM Albert presenting the 205th RSAC their "Combat/Right Shoulder Patch"

After pinning the soldiers, they take turns pinning each other. I know that award of the 218th BCT Combat Patch is particularly special to COL Cannon, his roots run deep in this distinct unit. Having this patch awarded is very special to all of us. With the happiness of this award all around, there are also so many signs that reminds us that we are in a combat zone, and that it is deadly. The US flag is flown more half-mask than it is flown to the top of the flag pole. This means that a U.S. or Coalition soldier has paid the ultimate price. Knowing that danger and death surrounds us, I have found solace in knowing the goodness that folks and supporters back home provide. While I have been here, I have received several care packages, one of which had some letters from an elementary school class and a football. Below, I am presenting the football to one of the kids in a local village.

I find it very difficult to recognize the needs of these people and not do something to show them that we care. Part of our focus here in Afghanistan is to attempt to win over the hearts and minds of the people. In my mind it begins with showing them we truly care, I believe it is the little things we do. As the kids tell me "Thank You Mister" they are really saying to the American people that donated these items "Thank You" Their parents sit afar watching over them recognize that we are not here to take, but to give and to help them help themselves.

While I was in this village with my interpreter, a military convoy showed up bearing gifts as well. As they opened the back door of the HUMVEE, the children swarmed the vehicle knowing that they had something for them.. Next time I come, I will try to bring a box of ice cream bars, as it was about 120degrees that day...

There are a lot of kids in this village, most Afghan households average 10 or more children. Now this is not a validated statistic, this info comes from my interpreter... who should know.. Notice the little girl in the blue dress... A beautiful little girl in a beautiful dress, but without shoes. That is the custom that I have seen here, or with flip flops...

It doesn't take much for you to recognize how blessed we are to live in America, just being here and seeing how these people survive day by day. I know that God has blessed America so richly. I look upon their homes, many made of mud. This village has a mixture of mud houses called 'Kalats" and apartment homes. The apartment homes were old Russian barracks that were destroyed years ago, that these Afghans utilize the part of the facility that is not damaged. it is a roof over their heads..

Just to be clear to those that are viewing these pictures, I do not know who destroyed these buildings, my interpreter is not sure either. So when I find out, I will let you know....

I will leave you all with this picture and a quote. "Freedom is not Free, it is Paid with a Price" I see this so vividly here, as many soldiers, as well as Afghans are paying a heavy price for the freedom that many Americans choose to ignore, or to say "Thank You" to those that provide it.

Transfer of Authority

We finally arrived at our assigned location, 205th CORPs in (Kandahar). The Kandahar Province was the birthplace of the Taliban, and a large part of the current Taliban resistance is within the Kandahar Provincial Districts. I have titled this blog update as the Transfer of Authority, as we replace and assume operational control from the 41st BCT out of Oregon. The below picture depicts the TOA, (Transfer of Authority) of the 205th RSAC between COL Tan of the 41st Brigade and COL Cannon of the 218th Infantry Brigade. The TOA is an official release of command and authority between an outgoing command to an incoming command.

The ceremony was conducted by COL Greg Batts, Deputy Commander of the 218th Brigade Combat Team. It was attended by a host of dignitaries from Afghanistan and US Forces. As COL Cannon takes command, his staff works diligently to learn as much from the outgoing 41st personnel as possible. Below, we are having an Hail for the incoming G-6, (LTC Bowser), and Farewell for CPT J. W. Beatty the outgoing G-6. This event was attended by many of the ANA officers and NCOs. LTC Asif, the Asst. G-6 hosted the event on the ANA compound.

I know that CPT Beatty enjoyed his year in Afghanistan, every staff officer had nothing but great things to say about him and what he did to help their country.. I also know that he is ready to go home, having done his part. 1LT Hampton McNeil also pictured above has shown his maturity as an officer and his experience as a Signaler. He is a 1LT being assigned to be the G-6 for a CORP, which is normally held by a Field Grade Officer. I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for such an outstanding officer.

The 205th Corp Assistant G-6 for the ANA is LTC Asif, during this past week, he and I have fostered a mutual respect for each other, which is quite uncanny for the short period of time that we have known each other. He is trying to figure me out, as I am him.

I have had my first official Afghan dinner. I was invited to lunch at General Shir Zai's home. General Shir Zai's staff prepared a wonderful meal for us. The food and hospitality was really great. They gave us an appetizer of assorted nuts and raisins. The meal was lamb kabob with rice and beans, and mixed vegetables and bread. It was a really tasty meal, one that I will never forget......

I finally got the opportunity to meet with COL Nasim, the G-6 for the 205th Corps. He has 30 years signal experience, his experience is on Russian equipment and tactics. He is in the midst of transforming his section to more US tactics and automation. He has embraced change, he and his soldiers thirst for a better military, one that is better equipped, trained, and ready. I am very excited to help him bring about that change... Pictured below is COL Nasim, LTC Asif and me.

The Journey has officially begun

Since my last post we have arrived at our final destination down-range. I can already tell that this is going to be a fulfilling deployment. Afghanistan is a very poor country, most of the people still live their lives as they did in the days of Christ. I know that you have heard the saying, that you don't know what you don't know. This is true for a large part of the country, but these people want the same liberties that we Americans enjoy so freely. They are thirsty for a simple life, one free of war, free of worry. They are so worried that we will leave them to fight the Taliban alone. I am fortunate to mentor an Afgan COL, which is the Corps G-6, along with his staff. I have a TERP, short for interpreter assigned to me at my beck and call. I also have a vehicle assigned to allow me to travel to my many meetings with the Afghan, as well as the many communications personnel on KAF, (Kandahar Airfield). Life here is wide-open, 100miles an hour. Everyone on our staff is working hard to work with our American counterpart that we replace, because they leave soon, and with their departure is much of the experience of our jobs. So we work hard to learn as much from them as possible. Below is a picture of my counterpart CPT Beatty from the Oregon National Guard, standing outside my G-6 shop, where I work.

Many of us associate with the children of Afghanistan, they have developed a habit of constantly begging for anything from water to whatever you give them. It is very hard not to give them what you can, but we know that they are taking it back home to their families, and that is fine. This is a very proud country, the men are very proud, they do use the children to prey on US forces, so we have to be very careful, even around children.

I am really looking forward to doing what I can to make a difference in this country. In the short time, I have been here, I do know that they know when you are sincere or not about helping their country. They look you directly in your eyes, as though they are looking for confirmation. I can see the years of pain and hurt that they have endured with so many years of fighting and the lack of the basic necessities that we enjoy in this country. LTC Nasif's staff is learning basic computers, which has been a challenge. They really want to improve and learn how to support themselves better and how to improve their country.... I pray that God use me to do His will in this country. In the short time that we have worked together, we have gained a mutual respect for each other and we both look forward to a great working relationship. The below picture is with me and my interpreter Abdul outside the mosque during one of my visits to the ANA compound.

So until next week, please keep the people of Afghanistan and our soldiers in prayer. We are doing a great thing here....

In Transit

Since my last post, we had several significant events, 1. Graduation from Fort Riley Mobilization Station and our departure and arrival into theatre. We all felt a huge since of accomplishment as we completed/validated on our mobilization. This was definitely quite challenging to all of us. We were very fortunate to have many of the leadership of our state to come to Fort Riley to attend our graduation ceremony. We had dignitaries like MG Spears, MG Burchstead, BG Sinclair, BG Newton, COL Huff our Chief of Staff, COL Pete Brooks, CW5 Jan Ready and a host of others to attend this event. We all were glad to see everyone from South Carolina. Below is a picture of me with MG Spears prior to the ceremony.

We also have a huge mission as Embedded Trainers. Even though our mission is very dangerous, no one complains. Everyone is enthused to be on the team to complete this mission. We have several lawyers and politicians, as well as other professionals assigned to this mission. I respect every soldier and officer assigned as an ETT. We all love this great country and willing to sacrifice so much for this country. Below is a picture of COL Cannon with the General Officer Delegation from SC that came out to Fort Riley.

Below is a group photo of all the South Carolina Embedded Trainers deploying in support of this mission. What a great group of patriots. I know that COL Cannon is proud and honored to lead this team.

The ETT, (Embedded Training Team), mission is so key to the Army that General Casey the Army Chief of Staff came from Washington to Fort Riley to access the training, the mission, as well as what changes need to be made to support the Global War on Terrorism. I was very fortunate to get to meet him and get a photo with the Chief. As you can see from the photo below, not only was I glad to meet and get a photo with the Chief, Mohammad was glad too. He jumped into my photo with the Chief. I must say that Mohammad is an outstanding Afghan Trainer assigned to train us on the culture of Afghanistan. I must say though, that I really wanted a photo with just the Chief. (Is that selfish!!!) Anyway, moving on.....

I was also fortunate to have my bride come down to Kansas to see me before departure. It truly was great to spend some quality time with loved ones prior to leaving for theatre. We spent most of the time in Kansas City, where there was more things to do.... Not only was this my impending departure but my 25th anniversary as well, not to mention Mother's Day Weekend. Linda made the trip out to the mid-west with her best friend Gladys, whom has a son stationed at Fort Riley. She took the opportunity to support Linda and visit her son. This really was a great weekend. We stayed in the luxurious Harrah's Hotel and Casino. We won't talk much about the casino other than the food was excellent!!!!!!!! Guess what they had a Starbucks, so Linda was happy!!!!!!!

Following the time-off, it was time to get ready to fly.... We departed Topeka, KS via a commercial plane en route to Kuwait. Kuwait was definitely an adventure, the FOB was not bad, it had all the amenities a Forward Operating Base should have, (gym, movies, KFC, McDonalds, etc). Below is my first picture after arriving in Kuwait. I guess it reminded me of home. Mickie Dees.....

Our CLOCK, one year boots on the ground started when we swiped our ID card in Kuwait on 16May07. It should have been on the 15th, but transportation dragged their feet, putting us there a little after 12 mid-night, so we lost a full day...... anyway we were happy to have landed and all in one piece. This is a picture of us chatting with the boss while we were waiting for transportation forward....

Notice the smiles of this distinguished group, well COL Cannon tried to smile..... We did not stay in Kuwait long, COL Cannon got us out of there as quickly as possible. We are glad for that too, because we just want to get there and get going.... Below is a picture of our flight from Kuwait to Kabul, Afghanistan via a C-17 from Charleston, SC Airbase... As you can see, we were quite cramped. We had to fly in full body armor and in a ready posture.... but we couldn't hardly move.....

My first picture of Afghanistan is a beautiful one. We left the 114 degree temperature of Kuwait to arrive in the snow-covered mountains of Afghanistan. It truly is a beautiful site. We travelled via 5ton trucks to TF Phoenix. My Journey to Afghanistan has officially begun..............

My final comment and picture is of soldiers and friends trying to make the best of this location. They had Karaoke Night at TF Phoenix and a few soldiers, in particular CPT James Robinson let his hair down and tried to dance. Notice I was not a part of this event....... it was good to see soldiers having some fun.

My apologies for such a long post, but it was quite a lot to happen between the last post. My next post should come from my final destination in Afghanistan. As well as from LTC Bowser... WOW.... God is really good.... more to follow....

End of Training at Fort Riley

This week's training was short. We conducted two days of Tactical Search Operations, clearing buildings. This was exciting training, but very strenuous. I guess the greatest thing on every one's mind was concluding this training and spending some quality time with our families before we fly. We also had Congressman J. Gresham Barrett to visit us here. This was a wonderful visit from the Congressman. Not only did he sacrifice his precious time to be with us, he really showed us how much he appreciates our service to this nation. He truly made a remarkable impact on us. Congressman Barrett was the only politician to visit us and for that we say THANK YOU!!!!! This is not a slam on the other great politicians from the State of South Carolina, but we all want to ensure SC knows who supported us.... We are a small piece of the pie, but our mission is with out a doubt the most dangerous. The below picture is SSG Binninger and myself picking up the Congressman from the airport.

COL Cannon scheduled a Command Brief for Congressman Barrett, to brief him on our training program conducted by Fort Riley. LTC Nagl the Battalion Commander of 1-34AR conducted this brief. LTC Nagl is the Commander responsible for conducting our training. A true patriot as well, a professional officer and one that has published a book on Counter-Insurgency Operations. He and COL Cannon eloquently explained the complexities of the ETT, (Embedded Training Team) mission and training module. Below is a picture of COL Cannon, LTC Nagl, and Congressman Barrett.

We had a small group of South Carolina soldiers to attend this brief. SSG Binninger, MAJ Shannon Goad, MAJ Bowser, SGM Albert, and COL Cannon.

Having Gresham to visit us in this manner gave us and him the opportunity for some quality time with the Congressman. I know that he appreciated this, as well as us.

We are very proud of the politician that Congressman Barrett turned out to be. He showed a deep appreciation and respect for us and the sacrifice that we are getting ready to make. He honored us by a steak dinner at one of our favorite Steakerys, Does Restaurant. He took time to talk to each of us, and thank us for our service. This could not have been a better evening with a Congressman. I am just proud it was Gresham. He represents US well South Carolina..........

The above picture is a sampling of the entire South Carolina ETT delegation. We have four ETT teams from SC deploying. As you see, nothing but smiles and I am the little dot in the back!!! The next update will come on foreign soil. Please keep us all in your prayers.......

Combat Operations

As we wind down to departure, this past week was a full week of tactical combat operations training. This training has been exciting for everyone, Fort Riley has made this training as realistic as possible. They flew in actual ANA, (Afghan National Army) soldiers and ANP (Afghan National Police) personnel to provide realistic training for us doing our combat operations. This training was designed to get us use to working with the ANA/ANP, understanding how they operate, as well as providing us with the opportunity to better understand their culture and their training level. What we found is that they are good at what they do. They understand combat operations and are quite effective in getting the mission accomplished. Needless to say, this was a relief to us all. We feel so much better about mentoring them and their level of training. Granted, Afghanistan probably sent some of their best personnel, but that too is quite encouraging. The below picture was captured during RAID Operations on a suspected Taliban Hideout. These are actual ANA/ANP personnel.

The below picture depicts LTC Steve Wright and I visiting the local town leader to inform him of our intent, and to solicit his support as we conduct this raid. We all have learned so much on this training. There are multiple levels to successfully conducting RAID Operations. LTC Wright is a seasoned officer and negotiated quite well.

Below you see SGM Elvington manning the .50 cal during the RAID. He recently returned from Afghanistan and understands the mission, culture, and has been a great addition to our team. When that 50 goes off, it gets your attention.....

As seen in the below picture, MAJ Haselden went it alone on this mission. He loves the tactical training. I am just kidding on him going it alone, I was his backup, but guess where I was... (taking pictures) :) I had to get this on picture.... Anyway, after the photo, I got back in the saddle.....

We also had our last week of cultural awareness training, with me as the US Representative meeting with an ANA Brigade Commander and his S-3 to plan a RAID. To my chagrin, my fearless leader COL Cannon, added a twist to the scenario. He told Muhammed to drill me and to make me break. (What a nice thing to do!!!!) Needless to say, he did exactly as the COL Cannon asked. The meeting got very heated, but I kept my cool. I think the boss did it to mess with me, but it ended up being a great training event for us all. It showed me that I can handle pressure and provide the right guidance. It showed him that I can handle it, so I was quite proud of myself. One thing that I hold to, is that with God all things are possible. He provides you with strength in the storm. If you conduct yourself as God would have you to, you will always come out on top. I am thankful for every opportunity to grow in knowledge and experience. Our team is much stronger and better trained than when we arrived. As we prepare for our departure, we look back on this experience knowing that together we can handle anything and with God we can't lose......... (Seated between SFC Walsh and myself was my interpreter). (You see the COL in the back orchestrating this!!!!)...

The below picture is our group photo taken after our final cultural awareness training event. Muhammad likes my hat and has it on.........