I hope this blog finds everybody in good health and spirits. Yes, I’m back in Germany and having a great time. Gretchen has been doing a great job of keeping us all informed on her activities over the last few months…so I figured I would do the same in ONE blog.
Well, when Gretchen and I parted ways back in February I headed to Kuwait in order to in-process to Iraq. It turns out military airlines are very similar to civilian airlines because some soldiers’ bags were lost en route, causing us to stay in Kuwait for a few extra days. Kuwait was great for me because it gave me time to get ready to take over my platoon. We trained for a couple hours a day and then I used the rest of my time to read or workout. In all we spent about 6 days in Kuwait prior to flying into BIAP (Baghdad International Airport).
Once we landed in BIAP I was shuttled to our Battalion Headquarters where I met a lot of the staff and leadership. My Battalion Commander explained to me which Platoon I would be getting (many of you already know that Jean’s husband was the previous PL of my platoon) and their mission. It turns out that my platoon was running Route Clearance missions about 30 km east of Baghdad. I found out that I would be residing at FOB Hammer for a majority of my time in theater.
I’ll go ahead and explain what Route Clearance is because it can mean many things. Route Clearance essentially consists of travelling roads while looking for IEDs in order to make sure that they are safe for other Coalition Forces to travel. Units who conduct Route Clearance missions are given huge mine resistant vehicles which no other units have in case they were to encounter an IED. The idea behind route clearance is to find the IED without it blowing up and then detonating it in a controlled environment where no one will be harmed. Sounds exciting right? Well….it can be but then you throw in the fact that you never drive above 10 mph and the missions last anywhere from 6-14 hours…it turns into about as much fun as a family road trip to Florida (just kidding Mom and Dad).
Anyways, shortly after I arrived my Platoon was given the opportunity to conduct joint Route Clearance missions with the Iraqi Army. Our mission was to basically teach an Iraqi Army Platoon how to conduct Route Clearance missions. The Iraqi Army platoon had plenty of training before we began working with them, so the process went fairly smooth. Almost all of the time we spent with the Iraqi Army platoon was spent on actual Route Clearance missions. This ended up being my Platoon’s primary mission for the remainder of our time in Iraq.
It was really interesting to work so closely with soldiers from another country and have the opportunity to really get to know them. My soldiers would trade patches and knives with the Iraqi soldiers for their patches, knives and flags. As a leader it was great to see your soldiers work so well with soldiers from another country. Communication was definitely a pain in the ass at times, but the interpreters (‘terps’) that the Army provided my Platoon with were extremely smart. It was really interesting because the ‘terp’ that worked with us the most was an Iraqi male, same age as me and had just graduated with an electrical engineering degree from the University of Baghdad. We had very similar forms of education, completely different backgrounds, yet we were both working together on the same mission at that point in time. My deployment was full of moments like that, that made you take a step back and just appreciate where you were and what you were doing.
If anything I would say that my time in Iraq was short and eye opening. I’m glad to be back but I deeply appreciated the time I spent there. With that being said…I never want to go back to that country.
Oh yeah…and don’t let Gretchen tell you that she had anything but a good time while I was gone because after meeting the women she spent time with I realized a few things. While we were deployed the building we reside in consisted of women who all liked each other and liked to drink even more. So essentially, my wife lived in a dormitory for post collegiate aged women who went to work during the day and all got together to drink at night. Not a bad life if you ask me.
However, I missed her like crazy and am extremely glad to be back under the same roof. I am continuously surprised and proud of the life and friends she has made for herself while I was away. I want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to call and talk with Gretch during that first tough month. It not only meant a lot to her but me as well. Everyone take care, send emails and we’ll keep you updated on our activities via the blog.
Josh
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