Farr Away From Home

Lessons Learned

2010-08-14T22:10:00.004-05:00

So...after a full year of training and operations...after 158 blog posts and countless days and nights spent in Kuwait and Iraq...what are the conclusions to be drawn from this significant life event? It's tough to draw conclusions looking back this past year. Do I think that we made a signficant difference in Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom 09-10? Maybe, we'll see if they manage to seat a government and if a still active Al Qaeda force continues to push for chaos there in the next several years. Do I think that the unit was successful in its mission? Sure, we managed our operations well and met and or exceeded all expectations. But I will tell you that 30 years from now those things will be respectable footnotes of the experience and not the primary memory. The primary memory will be of those guys that this blog has been following for a year. The Crew of Majors (plus one).

I love these guys like brothers...because of what they do but more importantly because of who they are. I love them because they stand up for what they believe in and do so in the most vulnerable manner possible...with their personal safety. I love them for the moments this year when one or more of them reached down and yanked me out of a personal funk and made me continue to focus on the mission. I love them for the times when I had the privilege to do the same and was able to return the favor. I hope that we are able to continue those honors for some time to come. Dick Winters says in "Band of Brothers" that each Easy Company man had to return from the War in their own way and as best as each is able....I hope that we continue to support each other along the way as that happens. We did the usual dynamic at the welcome home ceremony yesterday....picked up bags after finding family members and then gave quick hugs and moved out...moved out towards our respective futures whatever those may be but let me sum up the year the way it should be done by pausing to thank them for their service but more significantly to thank them for their brotherhood. So...to MAJ Sean Ibarguen, MAJ Kevin "Kevina" Smith, MAJ Paul "The Tall One" Robbins, MAJ Dan "Gar-Keye-A" Garcia, MAJ Doug "Pigmeat" Whitaker, MAJ John Lee and MAJ Cory "Corndog" Matthews...thanks for the levity at bad times, the strength at all times and the support along the way. It's the guy on your left and on your right that makes it all worth it...I couldn't imagine the ride without it.

Coming Home.

2010-08-14T11:28:00.002-05:00

The HHC 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team had a tremendous welcome home yesterday at the Cypress Ranch High School in Houston, Texas. After mobilizing on September 6, 2009 and spending three months on active duty training at Camp MacGregor, New Mexico and then eight months in the International Zone, Baghdad, Iraq and then a month of demobilization and redeployment planning and operations, the company returned from a highly successful mission. The unit earned the Department of Defense's Joint Meritorious Unit Award for our work in the Green Zone this past year and more importantly returned every single Soldier of the Company. There have been long nights and longer days...heat and significant events to ensure that you will always value what's really important...see above...my daughter Katy at the welcome home.

Ft. Bliss

2010-08-12T11:39:00.005-05:00

So, we landed here at Ft. Bliss on the 7th of August (after spending my bday on the 5th in Kuwait) and have now endured 5 days of poking and prodding. Shots and checkups -dental exams, physical exams, mental health exams, finance checks and on and on. It's been a fairly well organized and expedient process but we are all anxious to get moving tomorrow as the unit catches a flight to Houston in the morning. Last night, the crew headed collectively over to the Cattlemen's Steakhouse just outside of El Paso for a good meal (but unfortunately no beer)....a good time was had by all as we brought a year of being together 24/7 to a semi-conclusion....MAJ John Lee has calculated that it was our 546th straight meal together since we arrived in Iraq last year.

Catching up

2010-08-12T11:15:00.004-05:00

Well it's been a few weeks since we left Iraq and FOB Prosperity. We had our final Transfer of Authority (TOA) ceremony and then moved to Victory Base where we sat for several days waiting for military airlift to Kuwait. After three days we got lucky and caught a C-17 ride into Kuwait and then had several days there at Camp Virginia (see our tent photo) to "cool" our heels while we waited for a civilian charter flight across the Atlantic (some plane pics here also). We caught a plane and flew from Kuwait to Leipzig, Germany (in the middle of the night) and from there to Bangor, Maine (again in the middle of the night). We refueled All in all it was about 23 hours of movement. The amazing thing about Bangor was that it was about 45 degrees outside at three in the morning which was quite a change from the 125 degree heat that we left in Kuwait. So once at Bliss then we begin a week of processing -medical, dental, finance, admin, etc.

Last Events

2010-07-30T13:21:00.004-05:00

So we are continuing to wrap things up as we get close to loading up here and getting moving to Kuwait for processing. Tomorrow morning we will conduct our TOA (Transfer of Authority) ceremony to officially hand over our mission to the 256th RAOC. Today, the Brigade Commander conducted a ceremony to issue out the end of tour awards to everyone....my crew included. The top two pics are of my Deputy, MAJ Doug Whitaker (receiving the Joint Commendation Medal) and SFC Karen Perry (receiving the Defense Meritorious Service Medal) for their tremendous work here this year. At the bottom is my buddies, MAJ Sean Ibarguen and MAJ Paul Robbins receiving their Joint Commendation Medals as well. This third tour has been distinctly different for me as I am in charge of a staff of legal professionals...responsible for their safety and their work and it has been a real pleasure...hopefully I was a capable and fair leader.

From GEN Stanley McCrystal's Retirement Comments

2010-07-29T13:01:00.003-05:00

"It's an axiom in the Army that soldiers write the checks but families pay the bills. And war increases both the accuracy of that statement and the cost families pay.
In a novel based on history, Steven Pressfield captured poignantly just how important families were and, I believe, are today. Facing an invading Persian army under King Xerxes, a coalition of Greek states sent a small force to buy time by defending the pass at Thermopylae and were led by 300 special, selected Spartans. The mission was desperate and death for the 300 certain. Before he left to lead them, the Spartan king, Leonidas, explained to one of the Spartan wives how he had selected the 300 from an entire army famed for its professionalism, courage and dedication to duty.
"I chose them not for their valor, lady, but for that of their women. Greece stands now upon her most perilous hour. If she saves herself, it will not be at the gates. Death alone awaits us and our allies there but later in battles yet to come by land and sea.
"Then Greece , if the gods will it, will preserve herself. Do you understand this, lady? Well, now, listen, when the battle is over, when the 300 have gone to death, then all Greece will look to the Spartans to see how they bear it. But who, lady, will the Spartans look to? To you. To you and the other wives and mothers, sisters and daughters of the fallen.
"If they behold your hearts riven and broken with grief, they too will break and Greece will break with them. But if you bear up, dry eyed, not alone enduring your loss but seizing it with contempt for its agony and embracing it as the honor that it is in truth, then Sparta will stand and all Greece will stand behind her.
"Why have I nominated you, lady, to bear up beneath this most terrible of trials, you and your sisters of the 300? Because you can."
To all who wear no uniform but give so much, sacrifice so willingly and serve as such an example to our nation and each other, my thanks."

I can tell you for the true warriors...the Soldiers that go back over and over again to fight the enemy that is Al Qaeda...it is the support of the spouse standing behind them at home that makes it truly possible. At least it does for me.

Getting Ready to Leave

2010-07-28T12:09:00.002-05:00

Without getting specific about our departure times, etc. I will say that bringing one of these year long deployments to a close is always interesting. You keep busy working the last minute chores entailing handing over your job responsibilities to the incoming unit while struggling to maintain focus. It is very tough to keep focused when your mind (for the first time in months) begins to actually entertain the ideas of your kids running toward you as you get off the bus or kissing your spouse again for the first time in a long while. I find that you don't really leave these places all at once as you sort of shed it. For instance, last month I loaded two duffle bags of extraneous equipment and clothing items into a CONEX to take the slow boat home ahead of me. Then last week I mailed a large black box full of personal items and keepsakes directly to the house. This morning I turned in some more equipment to the Headquarters Company and started getting rid of old emails and documents off the office computer. Soon we will load our final two bags on an armored vehicle and start the long road home. I have found that as I shed these layers that I also seem to do the same mentally as we get closer to the end. It'll come soon enough I suppose.

Some Random Shots...

2010-07-27T13:35:00.000-05:00

...of the International Zone.

Australian Embassy

2010-07-26T12:31:00.001-05:00

As we enter our last days here in Iraq, we are hitting all of the usual haunts one last time - last meal at the U.S. Embassy; last run over to Union III for DVD's, etc. We are also finally getting around to some events that we have not been to as of yet. One of those for me is the Austrialian Embassy in the Green Zone. I was on R&R in April when most of my buddies went over for Anzac Day so I

finally got over tonight for a meal with the guys and a tour around the Aussie Compound with our Aussie buddy, CPT Rod Lang. I was also presented with a Certificate of Appreciation from the Australian Embassy for my assistance to them on some legal issues that I worked on last January and February. Great meal and the award was much appreciated. The Aussies are both good mates and

great Allies.

Orange Skies Revisited

2010-07-18T13:31:00.003-05:00

My buddy MAJ Kevin Smith sent me these two pictures which are better representations of your basic sandstorm here in Baghdad. These two pics are taken from the same exact spot and note that the tower "magically dissapears" in the top one. They are both taken in the Meadowlands area of FOB Prosperity.

One last look at the Palace

2010-07-18T11:34:00.004-05:00

As we begin to think about getting out of here I thought that I would post a few more pics of our palace here on FOB Prosperity. One of our local Iraqi national linguists briefed our incoming unit the other day about the origins of the Palace. She pointed out that the interior of the Palace has been in existence for a long time as it was orignially a Royal Palace until Colonel Abdul Salam Arif overthrew the Hashimite monarchy on 14 July 1958. At a later time, Saddam built an outer palace around that original structure. Additionally, she lectured that many local nationals believe that the Palace is still haunted by its original tenants. Saddam also placed these stone murals on the walls of the interior of the palace that portray his spin on the history of the area including propaganda murals of the U.S. bombing Iraqi citizens...somewhat ironic considering that the Palace ate seven JDAM missiles during the original push in the War. The American Army rolled in and occupied the Palace and has over the years put up a maze of interior plywood walls for office space, etc. which you can see on the top picture. One of the tasks that my unit took on and accomplished was to evacuate the second and third floors of the Palace completely and begin the process of handing it back over to the Government of Iraq.

Swim Season

2010-07-18T11:22:00.002-05:00

One of the unfortunate timing issues of this deployment is that I have to miss the entire Summer swim season of my oldest daughter's swim team, the Maplewood Marlins. The Marlins moved up to a Division One slot this year and have really hung in there. My wife has done double and triple duty while I've been gone juggling three children by herself with her responsibilities as Co-President of the team and I greatly appreciate that effort. Also involved in this endeavor of the last several months has been my mother-in-law and father-in-law who have assisted greatly in helping out during the meets with my younger two kids. My oldest daughter's relay team (pictured above) placed third in finals yesterday and have qualified for the All Star meet on Monday. I wish that I could be there but I'll be cheering from a distance. Good luck Meg!

Orange Skies

2010-07-11T11:38:00.002-05:00

One of the more fun things here in Iraq are the sandstorms that seem to descend on us out of nowhere and settle in like a dirt fog. We have it a little better here in Baghdad than some of those out in Tallil or elsewhere in the middle of the desert but it is still not pleasant. More importantly as we near the end here it shuts down air travel completely and delays flights leaving theater. Clear skies and green grass seem a long way off still. The pictures above were taken in the middle of the day.

Busy 4th of July

2010-07-09T12:55:00.007-05:00

Here at FOB Prosperity, the 4th of July ended up meaning a lot more work. The heat continued and our mission escalated as we planned for the orientation and force protection involving numerous VIP's to the International Zone. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden visited down the street at the U.S. Embasssy and Dr. Biden came to the FOB and participated in a roundtable discussion with a group of 72nd Soldiers on the issues of family support and Soldier issues. In addition, we had a Congressional delegation visit including Senators Ted Kaufman (Delaware), Robert Casey Jr. (Pennsylvania) and Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire). I was appointed as the escort officer for Senator Kaufman and had a very nice dinner visit with him as he met and talked issues with many of our Soldiers. I think (and hope) that it gave them some perspective on the absolute dedication of these young Soldiers here and the importance of their mission in Baghdad.

Beginning to see the light at the end....

2010-06-29T13:59:00.003-05:00

We still have a lot of mission left here at Prosperity from the daily battle rythm events to planning for the redeployment of the Brigade to training our follow-on unit. But that being said, we are starting to think about the possibility of returning from Iraq. With that in mind, the Colonel gathered everyone together recently to prepare for those events and to

acknowledge the hard work that everyone has done since the Brigade received the alert order almost two years ago. Some pictures from that event in front of the palace. The interesting thing is that the pictures were taken at six in the morning and it was already about 90 degrees (the sun comes up at 4:30 a.m.). The top picture is of the Brigade Commander

and his personal staff which includes the JAG (me), the Inspector General and the Chaplain. MAJ Sean Ibarguen is on the far left. We're not quite ready to go yet but it's nice to start thinking about it.

Victory Base PSD Convoy Run

2010-06-27T13:14:00.003-05:00

As we get ready to move out we are working a lot of coordination issues with both our successor unit and the USF-I staff at Victory Base Complex which is a run down Route Irish in the Red Zone from the International Zone. MAJ Whitaker, MAJ Robbins and I made a run to VBC this week and were lucky enough to catch a ride with the Commander's PSD which is three of the up armored Suburbans as opposed to having to take the MRAP ride down Irish. Rolling down Irish at 100 miles per hour
will certainly get and keep your
attention. Here MAJ Doug Whitaker and I get ready to roll.

Small War (continued)

2010-06-27T12:25:00.005-05:00

I blogged last December from Kuwait about running into a buddy that I had served with in Bosnia during SFOR 7 in 2000 when I served with (OPCON and TACON NOT by ADCON assignment order) Thunder Squadron, 3/3 ACR at Camp Dobol on the ZOS (zone of seperation). With our Army continuing to be a smaller volunteer force, you are bound to run into people like this more and more and, in fact, it's one of the things I enjoy the most about it. Well, case in point, several weeks ago I was departing the U.S. Embassy from a meeting and looked up while I was outprocessing and there stood COL Mike Nahas, Aggie Corps Class of '90. Mike was one of my Seniors (Zips) when I was a Freshman (Fish) there in 1987/88. I probably haven't seen him in 15 years or more but he was an important figure in that very tough and demanding year of my life. He is a Regular Army officer on his second tour here in Iraq and he and I got together to catch up and have lunch over at Union III this week. It was great to catch up with another fine example of the Aggie Corps and Company Red Eye One.

Father's Day

2010-06-27T01:19:00.004-05:00

Father's Day was a week ago today and like most holidays over here it felt a whole lot like every other day here in Baghdad. The mission moved forward as the unit continued to prepare to train our replacement unit on the complexities of operations in the International Zone and we handled the complications that came with a significant event like we had on that day. At home, Summer officially kicked in as the kids worked their major activities like hanging out at the pool (Jack in the shallow end), playing dress up and going to drama camp (Katy in full regale) and
working the lanes at swim meets (Meg in the purple
swim suit taking off in back stroke). We have varying degrees of fatherhood among mybuddies here in Iraq. Some of us are in your standard married relationship with kids and some of us are divorced with kids at home. We even have one of us who is waiting to become a father for the first time when he gets home. I think that the one thing that we all have in common is a desire to be better fathers when we get home. These types of experiences tend to make you look at things in your life a little closer and most of us feel like we do a pretty good job when we are home but that our biggest failures as fathers is that we're just not around as much as we should be because of our obligations. Unfortunately, the ongoing needs of the nation in Iraq and Afghanistan keep voting
to send us away. So...we work hard
to wrap up this mission and start to look forward to returning home and trying to make up the years missed to our kids. Years that we have missed and will not get back...years that we hope the kids won't hold against us... but with years left to maintain that sense of imperitiveness to be better when we are there.

Full Moons

2010-06-27T00:39:00.004-05:00

One of the methods that I developed during my last tour in Kosovo to help my oldest daughter (who was 7 at the time) "count the days" until I come home was to ask her to count the number of full moons until it was time for me to return home. Last night we had our full moon for the month of June so the kids in Houston know that we're getting pretty close to the end now (without getting too specific). It's been a nice "inside information" method for my kids to pass the time on these deployments.

www.farrforjudge.com

2010-06-26T15:48:00.003-05:00

Pursuant to DoDD 1344.10, I have a duty to inform my campaign supporters that they may not assist or work on my campaign "behind the scenes" while I am still overseas on active duty. This website explains more fully. Thanks. ddf

COL Charles Dahlgren Farr

2010-06-22T13:40:00.003-05:00

One of the things that I will be missing while I'm over here is a special event by the Air Force naming a Conference Room on an Air Force base after my paternal grandfather, Colonel Charles Dahlgren Farr. His biography is as follows:

"Charles D. Farr, born March 27th 1905, served as an aviation mechanic in the US Navy and earned his wings as an enlisted pilot at the Navy school in Pensacola, Florida in 1929. For two and a half years he served aboard the USS Saratoga (CV-3) in a torpedo and bombing squadron. After his tour was up, Charles D. Farr flew as a crop duster and civilian executive pilot while working as a construction superintendent for bridge and housing construction in Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi. He left all that when he was called to active duty in 1939. He received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army Air Corps on August 22nd 1940. He was assigned at Maxwell as a duty pilot and Assistant Air Installations officer, where he took four-engine training. Captain Farr’s organizational talent’s were quickly recognized and recommended to Major General Stratemeyer who made him his Aide-de-Camp, personal pilot, and as the Operations Officer for the Southeast Army Air Forces Training Center Headquarters in January 1942. In 1943, Major Farr was deployed with the 82nd Airborne Division to invade North Africa and Sicily and served on the planning staff for airborne operations. As an experienced and seasoned combat leader, Lieutenant Colonel Farr was an easy choice by Major General Stratemeyer to send to India In October 1943 to help prevent the Japanese’s forthcoming invasion of that country.

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Farr, commanding the 433rd Troop Carrier Group, arrived in Burma in March 1944 to augment the “Air Commandos” invasion of Northern Burma as part of “Plan Nine”. They landed on runways recently carved out of the jungle by the British India Special Forces units called “Chindits” created by British Brigadier General Orde Wingate to operate deep behind Japanese lines. The 433rd Troop Carrier Group flew animals (mules), men and supplies to the front lines that enabled the capture of Namtu and Lashio, Burma from Japanese forces.
While commanding the 433rd Troop Carrier Group in Burma, Colonel Farr reacted to the lack of fighter cover for his unarmed C-47 when enemy ground fire caused considerable casualties to his “kicker crew” who were offloading at the rear of the aircraft. He helped change the nature of cargo operations by arming C-47 “Gooneys” with 50 caliber machine guns, which were successfully used to defend his troops by attacking the enemy during low-altitude drop missions. After the first successful airborne test, Colonel Farr expressed “We have us a Fire Bird!” This refit eventually was the birth of the designation of “gunship” for the C-47.

In early 1944, the Japanese encircled the Allied forces at Imphal, India to set the stage for an invasion of India. The War Department responded by creating “Bond Project”; the creation of four combat cargo groups to provide airlift for the besieged forces. These combat cargo groups were outfitted with 100 of the new C-47-A airplanes. They were formed up with their untested aircrew at Morrison Field, West Palm Beach, Florida in May 1944. After two weeks of intensive training, the groups departed from Florida for a 10 day flight to India. Colonel Farr was assigned the command of the 3rd Combat Cargo Group, which was the first group to see combat in what would be called the Battle of Imphal in June 1944. The encircled Allied forces were soon relieved by transport aircraft which delivered men, equipment and supplies into the airstrips at Imphal and also parachuted ammunition, rations and even drinking water to surrounded units. By the first week of July 1944, the siege of Imphal was broken, the enemy in full retreat, the pending invasion of India thwarted, and the supply line to China safeguarded. Colonel Farr’s group was credited with developing and perfecting airdropping techniques that are still used by modern airlifters. By the end of the battle, the 3rd Group delivered over 158,000 tons of supplies and 168,000 passengers, and flown out over 10,000 casualties while receiving 3,800 decorations and awards to include two battle stars. The battle was the turning point of the Burma Campaign, which many historians consider to be the biggest Japanese defeat of the war.
Among the many medals and campaign ribbons he received, Colonel Farr received the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) signed by Major General Stratemeyer for his group’s “extraordinary achievement in aerial flight…in air supply of the ground forces operating on the Burma Front and in Burma itself to such a degree of satisfaction as was not believed possible… due to the leadership, planning, attention to detail and aggressiveness of Colonel Farr.”
Colonel Farr continued his service in the United States Air Force as the assistant Director of Supply and Maintenance at Randolph Field, Texas in 1946, as Director of Material at Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base (later Travis Air Force Base) in 1950, and as Director of Material for the Headquarters 12th Air Division Air Division at March Air Force Base in 1952. While at Travis Air Force Base, he was personally commended for his ingenuity and untiring efforts to design and construct thirty litter-ambulances and series of loading ramps which saved countless soldier’s lives who were wounded in the early stages of the Korean conflict. On January 20, 1953 he left active duty to serve as reserve status at Headquarters 552nd Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing (AEW&CW), Air Defense Command at McClellan Air Force Base. Colonel Farr officially retired from Air Reserve duty on April 1st, 1965."

Although I was never fortunate enough to have met him, I do appreciate the legacy that he laid out that lives out in both mine and my father's (Colonel Warner Dahlgren Farr, U.S. Army) service collectively in Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Successes....Big and Small

2010-06-19T13:28:00.005-05:00

I guess as I get older, I've learned to take the good things as they come and just be thankful when they do happen to cross your path. Along those same lines, you have to learn to relish the small accomplishments as much as the big ones. We had one of those large accomplishments today in the International Zone. One of the 27 Delta Paralegals that works for me, SGT Caroline Ford signed her reenlistment papers today. Caroline was a Specialist when she joined our crew last September and I made it a determined goal to attempt to help this young lady improve as a Soldier and a legal professional. She has delivered by making Sergeant last month after improving her physical fitness test scores dramatically. She extended her contract today (to 2017 which is roughly about the time that I will be retirement eligible with 20 years) and we marked the event by swearing her in at the top of the Palace overlooking the Baghdad skyline. It was quite satisfying for me personally as I made a personal committment last September to not just ensuring the safe return of the Soldiers under my supervision but to do what I was able to help them improve themselves through this experience. It has been my honor to lead these good men and women and to hopefully pass on some of my life experience. As I profoundly enjoyed managing my court staff in the 312th Family Court in 2007 and 2008, I have likewise enjoyed leading this group of good people which has probably been one of the more satisfying aspects of this entire tour. Good work Caroline. Congrats!

P.S. - the top picture is my Deputy SJA, MAJ Doug Whitaker and I hamming it up in front of the Mother of All Mosques (MOAM) in the background.

Perspective

2010-06-18T13:53:00.005-05:00

There are tough days, Hell, weeks over here at points...issues pile up; tempers flare among the crew; the heat intensifies so that you can feel it in your bones; things get dicey around the edges outside the wire and it all piles up and you start to wonder what good you are doing and why you are doing it. Then you get an email like this one from your wife...."We are @ the post office again...(Jack says) "Daddy home" (I say back)"Yes, daddy will be home soon" (Jack says back) "K....hug":)" Now keep in mind that when I left in September, this young man was not verbal at all and when I was home on leave in April, he couldn't articulate either one of these words much less put them together to be understood. It makes me wonder what is working in that little head of his...where is dad? Why is he not here? Bottom line, though, is that it helps keep ME from wondering why I'm doing this because it just jumped up and demanded my attention.

T Walls Everywhere

2010-06-15T13:15:00.004-05:00

If you live in the International Zone then there is no escaping the incredible number of T Walls in the area also known as Bremer walls. A Bremer wall is a twelve-foot-high (3.7 m) portable, steel-reinforced concrete wall of the type used for blast protection throughout the Green Zone here and across Iraq. The name is believed to have originated from L. Paul Bremer of the Coalition Provisional Authority, who was the Director of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for post-war Iraq. The Bremer barrier resembles the smaller 3-foot (1 m) tall Jersey Barrier, which is used widely for vehicle traffic control on coalition military bases in Iraq. To indicate that the Bremer barrier is similar but larger, the 12-foot (3.7 m) tall intermediate-sized Bremer barriers are usually referred to as Texas barriers. By this same naming convention, the largest barriers, which stand around 6 metres (20 ft) tall, are called Alaska Barriers. Unlike the Jersey barrier which has sloped-sides at the base, the Texas and Alaska barriers have a rectangular ledge (usable as a bench for sitting or resting) which is approximately knee high for a typical adult. Alaska barriers are typically used as perimeter fortifications of well-established bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. These T-shaped walls were originally developed by the Israelis in the West Bank barrier. The term "T-wall" is commonly used by Soldiers here in Iraq due to their shape being similar to an inverted T when viewed from the side.

Chimenayas - ????

2010-06-13T14:42:00.005-05:00

As you can see in one of the pictures from the Red Fish Island blog there are a number of chimenayas around the FOB here. No one is quiet sure why Saddam has them but there is one located on each one of the little concrete "islands" scattered around Prosperity. There is a rumor that they are all connected together by underground tunnels that were built to accomodate a quick escape for Saddam and his cronnies if something went down quickly. Before it got too hot we actually used the one on Red Fish during cigar night. There are a number of rather odd leftovers in the Green Zone from Saddam's peak.

Red Fish Island

2010-06-13T14:24:00.005-05:00

As the deployment drags along we continue to come up with ideas to try to give some distraction to the daily drudgery. One of those ideas has become Red Fish Island....named by our resident boat owner, MAJ Kevin Smith after a small island off the Texas Gulf Coast. Here on Prosperity it is one of Saddam's old concrete entertainment areas that we now use for weekly cards, dominoes and cigars on Friday nights. On Tuesday evenings we use it for "Tough Guy Tuesday" movie night where we have viewed such classics as "The Green Berets", "Sudden Impact", "The Dirty Dozen" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales". It can be beastly hot but has become a nice "battle rythm event" to help keep everyone sane.

Some Long Days

2010-06-10T14:28:00.003-05:00

This was me lying about on the tarmac waiting for a plane to come back from R&R in April....I knew at the time that the most challenging period of the deployment was still coming up and we are pretty much at that point now. You're far enough into the deployment that the work and your surroundings are tedious but not yet close enough to leaving to start looking down that road. The real danger is complacency....it's always a challenge to keep your Soldiers in the game but my crew is doing a good job of that. My Deputy SJA, MAJ Doug Whitaker (also above)has helped with that aspect a great deal. So, we continue to do our jobs and to keep our situational awareness high.

D Day

2010-06-06T13:26:00.001-05:00

Here in the IZ some of us took time out today to remember June 6 in a very different kind of War....

SUPREME HEADQUATERS
ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCES
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward
which we have striven these many months. The eyes of
the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of libertyloving
people everywhere march with you. In company with
our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts,
you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed
peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free
world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is
well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened.
He will fight savagely.
But this is the year I944 ! Much has happened since the
Nazi triumphs of I940-4I. The United Nations have inflicted
upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle,
man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced
their strength in the air and their capacity to wage
overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of
war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained
fighting men. The tide has turned ! The free men of
the world are marching together to Victory !
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to
duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less
than full Victory !
Good Luck ! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty
God upon this great and noble undertaking.

A Dry Heat

2010-06-04T14:19:00.004-05:00

One of the big issues that the JASG is working on at the moment is our transition to our follow on organization. I say organization and not unit because with the "Responsible Drawdown of Forces" here in Iraq we are busy trying to figure out what our follow on structure in the International Zone will exactly look like. The Green Zone can be a complex environment with numerous outside agencies to deal with including the Department of State; many military forces from other nations like Australia; and the Iraqi Army to list just a few. So MAJ Paul Robbins and I are spearheading that staff work for the Colonel. Today we ran a convoy up the infamous Route Irish to Victory Base to meet with the unit assigned to replace us. It was a productive meeting and we got a little time to visit the absolutely huge PX at VBC so I got some stuff to mail to the kids, etc. The big discussion point was the heat which was 120 degrees fahrenheit. It is pretty difficult to describe except to say that it really feels as if you are standing in front of your oven at home with the door open. When the wind blows on you it feels like someone is holding a blow dryer on your face and your hands actually hurt from the sun shining on them. It is quite a different experience than the -25 degrees fahrenheit that I remember from Bosnia and Kosovo. But it's a dry heat....

Memorial Day Ceremony at Victory Base, Iraq

2010-05-31T13:33:00.002-05:00

In addition to our 0430 hour ceremony at FOB Prosperity this morning there were numerous other Memorial Day rememberances across Iraq today including this one at the Palace at Victory Base.

A Message from the Boss (Houston Chronicle 5/31/10)

2010-05-31T13:10:00.002-05:00

The price paid
Today I hope we all take time to remember the human toll it has taken to establish and maintain the freedoms that our great nation enjoys. Throughout the day, let's recognize those soldiers who have died, remembering their sacrifices and those of their families, loved ones and friends. If we forget them, then we overlook the costs of war and why we should prevent it. During our nation's history, whole families and towns were impacted by large numbers of men and women lost during combat. And, since 2003, more than 5,000 service members have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, every one of them an incomprehensible loss to our nation. As we are remembering those who paved the way before us, our Texas Army National Guard soldiers in the 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team remain focused on mission accomplishment in Iraq.
In the International Zone (IZ), we are actively involved with turning over U.S.-controlled properties to the Iraqi government. By early June, the Iraqi Army will have full control of the entry control points leading into the IZ, the heart of Baghdad and of the Iraqi government. Since we've been here, both the government of Iraq and Iraqi Security Forces have grown in capacity and capability; we've seen the Iraqi people reject violence and embrace representative government in the March 7 elections. Although high-profile attacks have occurred in Iraq, important issues are being worked out in the Iraqi diplomatic processes rather than through violent means. As seen in the news, the debate over the election law is a clear example of this maturing, representative government.
In western Baghdad, Texas soldiers are advising and training their Iraqi counterparts in preparation for turnover of the last remaining U.S. internment facility at Camp Cropper. In July, we will transfer these detainees back to the Iraqi government according to the security agreement. Be proud that our soldiers are doing exactly what has to be done at this crucial and historical point in the war. Soldiers are anxious and excited about the thought of returning home, but there are still remaining threats. We remain ready and vigilant while executing our mission. As Americans, we enjoy many things and take them for granted. Let's not do that today. Take a moment to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
We'll see you soon.

Col. Mark N. Campsey, commander, the Houston-based 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team

Memorial Day

2010-05-29T15:04:00.004-05:00

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend back home and
here in Iraq we will celebrate with some MWR events for the Soldiers and the officers will mostly just spend the day going about the daily staff functions that keep the gears moving around here. On Monday, the day will start with a sunrise event (which is unfortunately at 0430 here) to remember those American citizens that have given their lives for the country that we now defend far from home. This will be my third Memorial Day in harm's way (Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq) and it is always somewhat bittersweet as you know that the meaning of the holiday is elevated for you but you are not with your family to share those feelings. Luckily, you do have your buddies around you to help lend even more meaning to the day. Above, MAJ Kevin Smith and I ran into an old Aggie Corps buddy in Tallil, MAJ Laura Jane Stephens. Laura Jane was the first female commander of the first male/female integrated company in the Aggie Corps (G-1) the year after I graduated from Texas A&M. It was good to catch up. Hope everyone at home has a good Memorial Day weekend.

MAJ Sean Ibarguen, Aggie Corps Class of '92

2010-05-27T13:56:00.003-05:00

This is a recent news article on my battle buddy Sean from the Hill Country News- I'm the "+1" reference by Jody, his wife....

A Steiner Ranch major with the Texas Army National Guard will spend Memorial Day serving in Iraq.Sean Ibarguen, a husband and father of two, was deployed to Baghdad in December. He plans to honor others on Memorial Day recognizing those who have given their lives to serve the country.“More than likely we will have a ceremony here in Iraq as we did in Kosovo a few years back. It was a special ceremony and the memory is still with me today,” Ibarguen said.
This is Ibarguen's second tour. He served a one-year deployment to Kosovo a few years ago.For this Iraq tour, Ibarguen works inside the International Zone at Forward Operating Base Prosperity. It is a fairly safe place to be in Baghdad, he told his wife Jody.FOB Prosperity contains one of Saddam Hussein's palaces. It was bombed by U.S. forces in 2003 but is still quite spectacular. The rooms have been converted to offices and other purposes for military personnel, Jody said.Sean arrived in Baghdad after training for three months in El Paso. He will return home sometime in August after nine months of in-country deployment.He serves as a brigade-level staff officer who supports the command and the war-fighter. He provides assessments of morale, esprit, discipline, efficiency and economy of the force. He also executes fact finding inquiries and investigations.“A day for Sean consists of waking up in his containerized housing unit that he shares with another major. It is about the size of a very small dorm room,” Jody said.He will do a 5 a.m. run. Early morning exercise is preferred when the wind and sand is calm during that time.
Then it is breakfast time in the chow hall, and then to work in his office on various cases and duties. Then it is lunch, more work, dinner, then time to hang out, and possibly work some more.“Since Iraq is eight hours ahead of us, we usually are able to talk on the phone before he goes to bed, which is during my work day,” said Jody, who works for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as a grant coordinator for the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan program.On the weekends, Sean sees and talks to his children Ethan, 7, and Brooke, 4, through the online video conferencing program, Skype.“He enjoys Skype with the kids because to him it's not as depressing as hearing their sweet little voices over the phone. He misses them so much,” Jody says.On occasion, Sean visits other locations in Iraq where Texas Army National Guard troops are deployed.Jody is thankful for is the close bonds the soldiers form with their buddies which often become lifelong friendships.“There are a group of Sean's friends affectionately called the ‘Majors +1' - one lieutenant colonel in the mix - that have become very close and look out for one another,” she says.
Jody grew up in a military famil and moved every four years as a child. Her dad retired as a Navy lieutenant commander in Louisiana to take a civilian job at Lockheed Missile and Space in Austin.Jody and her brother moved to Austin during high school and grew to love Texas. And eventually she met Sean in Austin.Sean, born in Guatemala and raised in Maine, came to Texas to attend Texas A&M University in 1988. He moved to Austin after graduation, and met and married Jody soon after.The couple was transferred to San Antonio in 2004 and then transferred back to Austin in 2007. When stateside Sean works in the inspector general department at Camp Mabry.“We love it here and feel very blessed to be able to make our home in the (Steiner) community,” Jody said.Friends and family help juggle school and soccer practice schedules while Sean is deployed and Jody is working.“My mom comes to our house every weekend with coffee for me and donuts for the kids and lets me run errands and keep my sanity,” Jody said.
Sean and Jody are always very conscious of what they have.“We are grateful for our healthy family and our strong marriage,” she said We are extremely thankful to live in this country and proud to serve it.”

Coach Mike Sherman

2010-05-19T12:24:00.003-05:00

Coach Mike Sherman, Head Football Coach of the Texas Aggies, was supposed to be here at Prosperity for Aggie Muster on April 21st while I was home on leave but he was delayed by the volcanic ash. So, after the delay, he arrived and was able and willing to travel all over Iraq to meet members of the 72nd IBCT and even was able to meet with some Guard members from Wisconsin to talk Packer football. He was extremely aproachable and spent one evening talking Aggie football with us here at Prosperity after we took him out to the War Memorial in the International Zone.

Back to the War

2010-05-19T12:01:00.004-05:00

56 hours door to door is what MAJ Paul Robbins tells me the deal was on our trip back to Iraq. Paul is a good travel companion and I was lucky to have him with me from when we met at Houston Hobby at about 8 in the morning until we climbed on a Blackhawk at Victory Base to fly back here to Prosperity. Our travels started there in Houston and then on to Dallas DFW in a little puddle jumper airplane...we sat at DFW for most of the day waiting for our charter flight across the ocean but it was pretty painless and they took good care of us at the USO there and there were some remarkable volunteers there taking care of everyone while we waited. We flew across the pond and landed in Shannon, Ireland about ten hours later. It was early morning there and really quite beautiful and definately green as advertised. Back in the air for another 5 hours to Kuwait and then another bus ride and a wait for a C130 which we actually caught within about 6 hours of arriving. The 2 hour flight on the C130 was delayed for about 5 hours while we waited out on the tarmac for them to replace a part and then on to Baghdad. We arrived back at Prosperity at 12:30 in the afternoon and I went straight to my CHU, shut the blinds, turned on the A/C unit and slept for 9 straight hours. All in all not a bad trip and I was actually looking forward to getting back to work and finishing the last half of the tour.

A Short Break

2010-05-18T14:40:00.004-05:00

Leave is a bit of a challenge sometimes...my experience after doing this numerous times is that it takes at least three or four days of the fifteen days home to recover from the jetlag and to figure out mentally that you are no longer in Iraq...after that you start to settle in and adjust and get comfortable for about a week and then you spend the last three or four days mentally thinking about going back. So, it can be stressful for everyone involved....that being said, I have a fabulous support system at home that rolls with the punches and we all had a wonderful time. We went down to Galveston for a week and really just spent a week rebonding as a family...it was a great time and well worth the long trip home.

The Long Trip Home

2010-05-18T14:19:00.003-05:00

I've taken a nice long break from the blog after I left on leave 11 April. I'll try to catch up over the next several blogs. The trip home from Iraq was predictably long and painful....it took about three days total travel from door to door starting with a convoy from FOB Prosperity down Route Irish to Victory Base Complex. Once MAJ Kevin Smith and MAJ Paul Robbins and I reached VBC, we waited and then took a C-130 ride from BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) to Kuwait to the Air Base there. Once in Kuwait, Kevin left for his time in Australia and Paul and I spent the night in Kuwait and then reported for customs inspection and manifest at 0800 hours...between customs and briefings and lock down after the customs inspection, we finally loaded a bus at around 5:00 in the afternoon to drive us to the airport in Kuwait for a civilian charter flight that left that evening. We took off and landed about 6 hours later in Leipzig, Germany to refuel and change out crews...that was at about 2 in the morning and that hour in the airport was brutal to try to stay awake. After reloading, we had another flight of about 12 hours to Dallas where we arrived at around 8 in the morning local time. We were rushed through customs and after moving my follow on flight up and a quick call to my wife to tell her that I'd be at Houston Hobby in about an hour and a half, we were off. Sure enough, after rushing across town at the last minute in morning traffic, the family was waiting for me at the airport....we had a tremendous reunion in the middle of the airport and a great start to my two weeks off.

Halfway Complete (almost)

2010-04-11T15:23:00.003-05:00

As I get ready to take several weeks off to return home and get some much needed rest and recuperation, it is hard not to think about the fact that you have to actually come back on the other end of it. It helps to know that your buddies will be back with you though and it also helps to know that once you return then you will only have about 4 months left on the entire deployment. So, as I look at the halfway point, I thought that I would post some new pictures of some of the landmarks on this unique post that we call FOB Prosperity.

Of Aggie Muster and Leave

2010-04-11T14:29:00.004-05:00

Aggie Muster is on the 21st of this month and there has been a lot of planning and excitement about the Muster to be held on Prosperity here since Coach Sherman, Head Football Coach for the Ags will be flying in to attend that event with us. He has been very gracious with both his time and his money (he's paying his own way to Kuwait) and a couple of our enterprising young Lieutenants came up with the idea months ago and we have finally run it to ground. It should be a great event. Traditionally, Aggie Muster is a time when all Aggies who are within a geographic range of each other get together and remember old times from Aggieland and also remember those Aggies who have fallen in the past year. Muster has always meant the most to me when I was deployed and able to gather with my fellow Aggies who were deployed with me. Coach Sherman will only add to that event. His upcoming visit finally spurred us to get together and take a picture of all of the Aggies here on Prosperity the other day and the pics are above. They are taken on the very top of the Palace here on Prosperity which I have blogged about extensively. Once you have climbed to the very top of the palace you find the rusted out dome in the background of the top picture which once was a very large ballroom and which leads out to the roof where there used to be dinner parties, etc. The ballroom is now filled with the rubble and debris from when our missles hit the palace (see top picture) in 2003 and there are several nice round holes in the roof where you can see the entry points from the missles. In the middle picture is MAJ Sean Ibarguen (Class of 92) and MAJ Cory "Corndog" Matthews (Class of 91). On another note, I will be missing Muster this year as I go home on my 2 weeks of leave tomorrow...I hate to miss it (and the Coach) but I made a promise to a little blonde prodigy of mine that I would be home for her birthday and I intend to be at home on 17 April when Katy Farr opens her presents. As usual, the trip home will involve several airplanes (military and civilian) and three days of travel but I am very excited to see the family again as we've only really had 8 total days together since September 6th of last year. Should be great.

Getting out of the FOB

2010-03-31T14:27:00.004-05:00

As I may have mentioned in a previous blog, there is only a small part of the 72nd IBCT that is stationed here at FOB Prosperity. The vast majority of the Brigade has been split apart by Big Army and sent to fill specific needs in Operation Iraqi Freedom away from the International Zone. On occassion, I get lucky enough to be able to accompany the Commander to check in on these units. I will often then follow up, in person, on legal matters that I may have been handling long distance via email with that Company Commander or Battalion Commander. One of these visits was to Camp Adder in a previous post.

Funny Hats

2010-03-26T09:57:00.003-05:00

Speaking of MWR...we have managed to set up our own activities to kill some of the boredom. We have a regular Friday evening Spades and Dominoes night and recently we had an actual Chili cookoff wherein 7 teams took what they could for ingrediants from the DFAC and challenged each other to make the best Texas Chili. Invariably at these events, the funny hats come out. The American Officers and Soldiers that have served in a Cavalry unit have our Stetsons and our Aussie mate, CPT Rod Lang, has the hat in the picture. It's interesting to see what the different Armies have for uniforms. Rod says that the feather in the hat is an Emu feather.

MWR

2010-03-26T09:25:00.004-05:00

MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) is an acronym (like everything else) that is broadly used by the Army to describe the entire universe of attempts to distract the Soldier from this environment and thereby give the Soldier some much needed down-time. It can be everything from the movies they show in the movie room in the Palace to actual entertainers that come in. If you are at one of the bigger bases (Victory Base or Balad, etc.) then there are a ton of these types of both shows and activities. Here at Prosperity there really isn't much of it to speak of since we are a bit off the beaten path. In fact, one of my JAG buddies who is about to join us here was absolutely mortified to find out that we don't have TV cable (providing Armed Forces Network) in our CHU's (yet, it's coming soon). So, when we heard that we were getting an actual singer from Nashville it was welcome news. The most welcome news was for my buddy Kevin Smith, though, as he was appointed as the escort officer for the performer. The performer turned out to be Whitney Duncan (www.whitneyduncan.com), a young Country singer with her first album, Right Road Now, coming out on 20 April in the States. So, while the rest of us were actually working all day and fighting the War, Kevin Smith spent the day hanging out with Ms. Duncan and ensuring her appearence at the concert last evening. It was a good concert which was held right outside the Palace and everyone enjoyed the event while we tried to ignore Kevin's less than subtle gloating. Pictured above are LTC Danny Quick (Brigade XO and I) and then MAJ Dan Garcia, Kevin, myself and Danny. Then Ms. Duncan sees the "sights" with Kevin.

15 years and counting...

2010-03-24T15:41:00.002-05:00

In the Green Zone tomorrow morning, I will get up and get ready for work. Put on a uniform; put on a weapon; maybe eat some breakfast with the guys and continue our running debate on health care and go to about four meetings. Another day of staff plans and legal issues in Baghdad. But in the background, I will be aware of the fact that it is March 25 and my 15th Wedding Anniversary. 15 years ago in Dallas, Texas, my wife and I were married in the middle of such a torrential downpour that my wife barely managed to get into the doors of the church without getting soaking wet (thanks primarily to my selfless brother-in-law, Scott Johnson, who threw himself on the weather grenade and held the umbrella over my wife and NOT himself) and the lights in the church actually flickered at one point during the ceremony. Someone told us that the rainstorm meant future "prosperity" but they must have meant FOB Prosperity because we're still waiting for the other kind to happen! At any rate, it went off without a hitch despite the weather and we had a fantastic evening thanks to my in-laws who still can't believe how much my Aggie Corps buddies can drink in one sitting. For the record, I did warn them of the open bar potential. And we've never looked back...sometimes cross-eyed at each other but never back. We've lived through new jobs and new kids and new places to live and have gotten a whole lot smarter (or maybe just more mature) about how to be and stay together. We've had anniversaries in Napa and Paris and San Fran and I spent numbers 5 and 11 and now 15 sitting in some 3rd world country a world away (assuming that you don't count France as a 3rd world country that is). It's not an easy deal sometimes but I have to think (and maybe hope just a little) that when we're celebrating the 50th one someday that it will be that much more significant for the hardships and the heatache endured when the requirements of the Nation forced us to be apart. All of that being said, I wish my bride a Happy Anniversary from the hinterlands. !أنا أحبك

Time Goes By...

2010-03-21T17:27:00.003-05:00

So, with 19 days and a wake up until I load up on a Rhino to begin the long trip home for my 2 weeks of leave, I continue to fight the distraction of the anticipation of seeing the family soon with managing my workload here and, of course, "keeping my head on a swivel" as we say around here. So, while I'm distracted, I have to wonder out loud how this child on the top picture became the child on the bottom so quickly?!

Real Property Turnovers

2010-03-21T15:13:00.004-05:00

It's always something out of the ordinary around here lately it seems. I spent the day actively engaged in staff planning in order to figure out how we are going to restructure the unit to downsize at the end of the Summer in accordance with the President's mandate for a reduction of forces to 50,000 by the end of August. I managed to cut away early enough this afternoon to take a run around the perimeter here on FOB Prosperity. After the run and cleaning up, I went to dinner at the usual time (6:00 p.m. has become the standard social dining hour for the crew of Majors "plus one" as they say). Except tonight as we are sitting there, we noticed that the Commander was roaming around with his tray and happened to be with the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq so we all had dinner with the Ambassador tonight. Very nice conversation was had by all while all the Majors tried to behave and not slip back into the usual dinner discussions which would have been highly inappropriate for that event. Speaking of the Department of State, I will also mention that a large component of my duties at the moment deals with the transfer of real property from the US to the Government of Iraq (GoI). Under the Security Agreement, GoI owns the land that DoD is utilizing as "Agreed Facilities" already but we have to officially remove everything and then hand the property over. There are a ton of legal validations to be made prior to the turnover regarding title, environmental requirements, handover of the personal property located on the property (usually regarding T-walls) and I track those and ensure that a legal review is completed prior to the handover. This includes all of our palaces here in the Green Zone that we've been occupying as our headquarters and embassies, etc. Speaking of palaces, there is an excellent Time Magazine photo slideshow on our use of the palaces at http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1973064,00.html and it includes our bombed out palace here at FOB Prosperity. Enjoy!

Goats, Rodeo, Tractor Tires and International Military Agreements...

2010-03-15T10:41:00.004-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me how being deployed means existing in two seperate worlds and how those worlds are as divergent as they could possibly be. Yesterday, I spent the majority of my day having meetings with other JAG attorneys and operational planners preparing to draft a new international agreement. This international agreement will amend the Security Agreement between the US and GoI (Government of Iraq) as well as the more specific Implementation Agreement between our unit the JASG and the Iraqi Baghdad Brigade that runs the International Zone here where we live at the moment. It has many details which I can't really talk about but it was an interesting exercise in legal drafting that reminded me that I received a C+ in Legal Writing in law school....so there, Professor Robertson! Anyway, while the future of military operations between two nations was being hashed out here there were events unfolding across the Globe of a distinctly different type. My kids got to enjoy the Rodeo Livestock Show and, as you can see, goats and tractors were quite popular with a certain young man whom I barely recognize from the last time that I saw him in November. The waiting game of three more weeks until I go home on leave and get to see him is tormenting at best and distracting most of the time but the War goes on regardless.

Leave is a double-edged sword...

2010-03-06T11:59:00.003-06:00

As we get ready for the big election event tomorrow, we have all gotten a lot busier it seems. The level of activity on projects and issues has ramped up and I've been dealing with legal issues on a variety of topics. From a jurisdictional analysis of the status of U.S. civilian contractors under the current Security Agreement (operational law/admimistrative law) to a determination of whether or Australian counterparts have a legitimate right under the current cross servicing agreement with the U.S. to eat in our chow hall (fiscal law issue) to advising a client on a complicated multi-jurisdictional custody issue under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act (legal assistance), I've had a longish day. BUT, my good friend MAJ Sean Ibarguen is having a long day as well I believe. Sean is about 4 days away from going home for his two weeks and I can tell that the anticipation is starting to wear on him. After three tours, I call it "the emotional callus". You leave home for the War and it takes you several weeks of being away from the family but then you settle in to being away from them believe it or not. You have to because you have a job to do and one of the things that I admire most about the senior officers on these tours is that they can emotionally multi-task so to speak. You may miss your family like crazy....you may have just been forced to celebrate your kid's birthday on Skype but then you go to the next mission or operation or meeting or whatever but you do it and you stay focused because that focus affects people's lives. So, Sean is going through exactly what I will go through roughly a month from now...the callus is starting to wear thin in anticipation and it just gets tougher to multi-task. The problem with Leave (not that I'm complaining about having it mind you) is that when it's over then you have to rebuild that callus to get through the next half of the tour. One of our other buddies, MAJ Dan Garcia, is doing that now as he came back from Leave yesterday. The good thing is that your buddies get you through and you get to see your family when you can. Even with the emotional whiplash that I know is coming, I can't wait to go on Leave next month.

Support from the Home Front

2010-03-04T12:39:00.003-06:00

I have been greatly blessed on this tour by a variety of people that have stepped up to help support me and the unit since we deployed. Recently, I received, literally, more boxes than I can recall from the amazing Kingwood Area Republican Woman. Behind the leadership of Alice Rekeweg, my unit and I received boxes of goodies, wonderful notes from friends and colleagues back home, 91st Psalm Bandanas for when the sand turns the sky orange around us and a Texas flag flown over the Texas Capitol with a certificate from Senator Tommy Williams. The goodies were handed out amongst the Soldiers here at FOB Prosperity and the flag hangs in my office as we speak as a reminder to the locals of whose in the neighborhood and to us of our deep roots back in the Lone Star State. I greatly appreciate the efforts of Alice to put that together and of that Republican club for both their support of me here in Iraq and at home during the Republican Primary. I need to also mention attorney, Robbie Gail Charette. Robbie has been sending boxes of treats to me and my office since we were back at Camp McGregor, NM in October of last year. She's been so diligent in delivering these packages (great Oreos in every one) that my crew here and my running buddy MAJ Ibarguen know her by name. There are others that have sent packages...my wife, of course, to whom this process is old hat and my neighbors the Youngers and others that have sent reminders of home and treats including Marine Moms. I send my thanks to all of them.

Rodeo and Elections...at home and in Baghdad

2010-03-04T12:11:00.002-06:00

If you've been watching the news then you know that those of us in Iraq are ramping up to the most pivotal event in the history of Operation Iraqi Freedom since the initial invasion. I'm speaking of the national elections to be held here on 7 March. It's hard not to compare this major democratic procedure of a fledgling new democracy with the March 2nd Primary elections which just occurred back home in Texas. There has been some work for the U.S. Army here in Iraq the last several weeks as some have attempted to affect these elections adversely with "events" meant to destabilize the government and generally intimidate Iraqi citizens from exercising their new voting rights. Meanwhile, two nights ago, I literally sat in my CHU (Containerized Housing Unit if you don't recall) and watched the returns for Harris County come across my laptop computer while Houstonians proceeded(or not in most cases) to the polling stations at home to vote in peace and stability. There were some candidates that should have won but lost and vice-versa probably but they all got their shot and they were able to take it without fear of being assassinated or having their electorate blown up during the process. Maybe that will be the case here someday and I'll be proud to have contributed in some small part to that stability.

On another note, my son Jack (pictured above) and my daughters Meg and Katy are celebrating the Rodeo as we do every year but this year without their father to carry their ride coupons around for them at the fair or tease them about not going on the big rides. I hate to miss it but I'm glad that they are doing well and are able to enjoy a great Texas tradition.

FOB Prosperity Dining Facility

2010-02-21T12:36:00.005-06:00

Okay so today is the day that I get out of the dog house with my oldest daughter Megan. She has been bugging me incessantly for a month now to do a post on the DFAC (Dining Facility) here on the post. Once you have been in our DFAC then you will quickly realize that the United States Army has put a premium on keeping your average G.I. happy via his stomach. Once you make it past the Ugandan guards at the front door and through the giant mandatory hand washing station then you find yourself with more options than you could possibly believe. On any given day, there are two seperate hot entrees ranging from Mexican food (sort of) to Spaghetti to meatloaf, chicken, etc. If you are not overjoyed with those choices then there is always a taco bar, spaghetti bar, hamburger/hot dog station and a (no kidding) stir fry station where you fix your own plate for them to cook. The dangerous thing is that there is an entire wall of desserts including four different kinds of ice cream, cookies, pies, cakes and milk shakes. After awhile, believe it or not, the food begins to become monotonous but the DFAC has become the village square where everyone converges from their seperate stations around the FOB to exchange complaints, wild rumors and information on other life events.

'"Band of Brothers"

2010-02-21T12:10:00.005-06:00

I started doing something today mentally that I've been able to avoid altogether to this point....performing mental math on days away or "counting days" as we call it. I'm not exactly sure what got me started all of a sudden but it was probably listening to my son start to say "words" to me over the phone yesterday coupled with watching a few of our buddies begin to go home on their two week leave period. It got me doing the math until my leave period comes around in about 7 weeks or so which made me think about the fact that (a) all of us have spent exactly 8 days at home since September 1st of last year (two seperate pass periods of 4 days each last Fall) and (b) that none of us have seen our families since November 28 of last year which seems like a whole lifetime ago. The point is that the days here get long (the nights even longer) and some days are more "exciting" than others and when you are on Day 142 with 180 days left to go it will begin to wear. My experience on past deployments and on this one is that if you don't have a good group of "brothers" around you then you'll go a little nutty. It's both the stress of the "exciting" events that you experience together as well as the long stretches of absolute boredom and tedium that bond you in a way that most people would never be able to comprehend. So...above are some random shots of that group...not in any particular order are myself, MAJ Dan Garcia (Safety Officer); MAJ Sean Ibarguen (Inspector General); MAJ Kevin Smith (Badging OIC); LTC John Laing (Chaplain); CPT (Doc)Powell (Physician's Assistant); LTC Ray Cooper (Resource Manager OIC); MAJ Bob Briscoe (FOB Mayor) and MAJ Cory Matthews (Information Ops Officer).

Camp Adder Ziggurat

2010-02-12T13:52:00.003-06:00

The Ziggurat of Ur (sometimes called the "Great Ziggurat of Ur" meaning "house whose foundation creates terror" is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat which was located in the city of Ur near Nasiriyah in the present-day Dhi Qar Province, Iraq. The Middle Bronze Age (21st century BC) structure had crumbled by Neo-Babylonian times (6th century BC) and a restoration of the ziggurat was built under king Nabonidus.

Its remains were excavated in the 1920s to 1930s by Sir Leonard Woolley. They were encased by a partial reconstruction of the facade and the monumental staircase by Saddam Hussein during the 1980s.

The ziggurat was built by the Sumerian King Ur-Nammu and his son Shulgi in approximately the 21st century BC during the Third Dynasty of Ur. The massive step pyramid measured 210 feet (64m) in length, 150 feet (46m) in width and over 100 feet (30m) in height. The height is speculative, as only the foundations of the Sumerian ziggurat have survived.

The ziggurat was a piece in a temple complex that served as an administrative center for the city, and which was a shrine of the moon god Nanna, the patron deity of Ur.
The construction of the ziggurat was finished in the 21st century BC by King Shulgi, who, in order to win the allegiance of cities, proclaimed himself a god. During his 48-year reign, the city of Ur grew to be the capital of a state controlling much of Mesopotamia.

The remains of the ziggurat were first described by William Kennett Loftus in the early 18th century. The first excavations at the site were conducted by John George Taylor (mistakenly credited as "J. E. Taylor")in the 1850s, leading to the identification of the site as Ur. After World War I, preliminary excavations were performed by Reginald Campbell Thomson and Henry Hall. The site was extensively excavated in the 1920s by Sir Leonard Woolley by appointment of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania and the British Museum in the period of 1922 to 1934. The ziggurat of Ur is the best preserved of 25 ziggurats known from Iran and Iraq. It is one of three well-preserved structures of the Neo-Sumerian city of Ur, alongside the Royal Mausolea and the Palace of Ur-Nammu.

The remains of the ziggurat consist of a three-layered solid mass of mud brick faced with burnt bricks set in bitumen. The lowest layer corresponds to the original construction of Ur-Nammu, while the two upper layers are part of the Neo-Babylonian restorations. The facade of the lowest level and the monumental staircase were rebuilt under the orders of Saddam Hussein. The ziggurat was damaged in the First Gulf War in 1991 by some 400 bullet holes and the structure was shaken by explosions, recognizable from four nearby bomb craters.

Road (well Air really) Trip to Camp Adder

2010-02-12T13:32:00.003-06:00

When we deployed the 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT)to Iraq, we knew that we would be split up by Big Army and dispersed throughout Iraq as needed but we had no idea how far. The way it has worked out is that the Headquarters Element (HHC Company) which includes the Brigade Commander, Staff (including the special and personal staff -i.e. myself, the Inspector General, the Chaplain, etc.) was directed here to FOB Prosperity and became the 72nd JASG (Joint Area Support Group) administering and securing the International Zone (the Green Zone) and our battalion and company elements were sent out as needed. One of these battalion command elements ended up at Camp Adder so the Commander and some staf will on occasion provide direct support to those units even though we don't doctrinally support them here in theater. After all, at the end of the day, we will all go home together.

So, today, some of us (including myself and MAJ Sean Ibarguen pictured in the Blackhawk above) went down to Adder to check in. Camp Adder is also known as Ali Air Base and is a military airbase located near Nasiriyah, Iraq. It was formerly known as Tallil Air Base. It is called Camp Adder by the U.S. Army; the name "Ali Air Base" is used chiefly by the U.S. Air Force; the installation, however, is still commonly referred to as "Tallil". The base has United States forces on it, including USAF, USN and USMC, as well as once being home to coalition forces from Australia (Camp Terendak; Australian Battlegroup withdrew June 1st 2008) and Romania (Camp Drakula; Romanian Army withdrew in summer of 2009). The airfield is served by two main runways and was a fighter base before the 1991 Gulf War when it was heavily damaged. According to the Gulf War Air Power Survey, Tallil had 36 hardened aircraft shelters. At the each end of the main runway are hardened aircraft shelters knowns as "trapezoids" or "Yugos" which were built by Yugoslavian contractors some time prior to 1985. Additionally, the ancient city of Ur is located within the security perimeter for Ali Base, and its ancient ziggurat is visible from nearly every area of the base (see next post). It was a good trip and I was able to check in with two JAG buddies from Texas that are there as well as try to check in with my good friend (and former roommate during our Kosovo deployment), MAJ Brian Michel(we just missed each other).

Most surprising to me was that the desert between Baghdad and Adder was not nearly as arid as I would have believed....I was thinking Sahara and it is, in some places, almost wetlandish. See picture of the Tigris out the window above. Lots of camels though.

A Day in the Life Professionally

2010-02-10T08:50:00.003-06:00

A lawyer buddy of mine asked me the other day via email about some of the more typical legal issues handled in my JAG shop and after I sent the email, I thought it would make a good blog entry. This is a TASTE and in no way a full and complete list as things change here on an hourly basis...

On the Fiscal Law front we have issues of whether or not our British and Aussie comrades can utilize our mess hall, etc. and if there is and has been a valid Memorandum of Agreement between the U.S. and thier respective governments in order to allow that...there's the issue of whether or not we are committing a Federal Appropriations Violation by exceeding the MILCON (military construction) thresholds enacted by Congress regarding all of the taxpayer funds we've spent over the years on the Palace here on the FOB (which we put missles through in the first place)...there's the issue of whether or not local nationals can utilize our PX...the usual three meetings a week in order to do legal reviews on the myriad of construction and service projects that we manage across the Green Zone here. Not to mention that our Chaplain wants to spend Operations and Maintenance funds (appropriated by Congress for military life support and bullets) for personalized bibles with the unit crest on them.

On the Military Justice front, we have had some misconduct (that I will leave unspecfied) so we're doing UCMJ actions on those as well as dealing with the administrative law issue of advising the investigating officers on any investigations that are required as a result of the misconduct.

On the Administrative Law front, can we appropriately fly the Texas Flag in front of the palace per Army Regulation since someone from another state has complained about it...I already mentioned (in my blog) the oversight and overview of the General Order Number One alcohol restriction during the Super Bowl the other night. Also, we have a few dozen or so local Iraqi vendors on the camp selling everything from custom made rugs to chai tea to the Barber Shop and we are doing a complete overview of their safety status in their shops and their legal status as far as being present on the camp under AAFES or by memorandum of agreement with the FOB itself.

On the Legal Assistance front, there is the constant wave of powers of attorneys, consumer actions and divorces that come into the office about four to five a day since we give legal support to the entire Green Zone including civilian contractors, military personnel and Department of State personnel. Seems as if multiple tours overseas has an affect on not so solid marriages....go figure.

Then there's Operational Law with the myriad of issue involving how we get out of here by trying to responsibly hand over the country and the mission to the Iraqis...what to do with our equipment (scanners, etc.) when we leave and how do maintain security and force protection while we do it...and, of course, the legal interpretations of the Security Agreement between the U.S. and Government of Iraq.

So that's just a snapshot really but it covers the waterfront to begin with. I will break each one of those categories down in seperate blogs at some later date.

Staying Amused at Prosperity

2010-02-09T03:44:00.003-06:00

One of the downsides to being on FOB Prosperity is that it is a rather small basecamp (by comparison to Victory Base for example) and a bit off of the beaten path so to speak. One of the effects of this dynamic is that we really don't have the MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) benefits that some of the larger bases have such as a full fledged movie theater and an actual MWR Rec. Center with all kinds of activities going on at all hours of the day. We do have a small theater in the palace that shows DVD movies several times per week but nothing really "first run". So...managing a legal office, one of the things that I try to keep in mind is that people can get burned out doing the same office shuffle day in and day out for months at a time. With limited MWR options, I try to have one night every other week or so for the legal office to get together and "do" something just to break up the tedium and have downtime. Pictured above was this week's event...some Spades going on and sometimes some Dominoes, etc. On occassion, we will reserve our little theater and watch a movie as well...our first one of those was, of course, "A Few Good Men" speaking of JAG offices. I have a good crew that are really starting to come together and are doing their duty with dignity and honor as you would expect of them. One note on the picture above...if you look closely then you will notice the funny desert tan uniform of one of our Australian officer buddies who joins us from time to time.

Who Dat! It's Beer...

2010-02-08T11:28:00.003-06:00

Well the Super Bowl has come and gone finally. I say finally because there was a major task that had to be accomplished by the unit staff (and specifically the Judge Advocate, yours truly) before the Colts kicked off at 2:15 in the morning our time yesterday. The task was that one of the Generals up at CENTCOM saw fit to waive the General Order No. 1 prohibition against possession of and use of alcohol by Soldiers in Iraq. Now, the exception to policy was only for two beers per Soldier (and only for military members here on the FOB) and only during the hours of the Super Bowl. Believe it or not, that led to a number of planning meetings to coordinate both how to get the beer (it was Miller Lite, Heineken or Bud Lite) on to the FOB (since it's normally prohibited) and then how to execute the actual dissemination of the beer at the game to ensure that the two beer limit was maintained and in order to assure that the beer was not being taken out of the Dining Facility. It involved sign in sheets, marker numbers on the back of your hand and a few watchful officers who roamed and watched the crowd to ensure compliance. All in all, it went well...after the initial push to get the beer happened then I settled back and had my two while The Who were playing at halftime. Then I went off to bed before the second half started because it was four in the morning and I had a staff meeting at nine...missed the best parts it turns out. Oh well, at least we got through the night without any wardrobe malfunctions! Who Dat!

We're Texans By God!

2010-01-29T13:28:00.006-06:00

It's always interesting to watch the locals on these tours (as well as fellow soldiers attached from other States of the Union) try to figure out why all us Texans are so....well, Texany, I guess. I still have an Aviator buddy from my Kosovo tour who is still trying to figure out who the heck Radney Foster, Pat Green, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Charlie and Bruce Robinson are since he spent most of that tour listening to them come out of our ipod docks. And don't even get him started on the "mystical" Texas Aggie stuff...we can forgive him, though, since he's from New York City (I know, "get a rope"). My point is that there is really something special about the TEXAS Guard coming into a foreign country to fight a war and/or stabilize the peace. I've seen the Lone Star flag go up over basecamps in Tuzla, Bosnia; Pristina, Kosovo; the Tulane University campus in New Orleans during our mission for Hurricane Katrina and now Baghdad, Iraq and it is always a thrill. I can still remember how mystified the Kosovar Albanian man was who drew desk duty in our TV room during the TAMU/UT football game in 2006 and came in halfway through the game to see what those crazy American Army officers were screaming about (we Beat the Hell outta t.u. that year if you don't remember). I am very proud of the Texans' work during this Global War on Terror (yes, I absolutely refuse to refer to it as an Overseas Contingency Operation!, sorry) as units from the Texas Guard have deployed to Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Sinai Peninsula and continue to do so over and over again (a large percentage of the officers with us here were also in Kosovo with me in 2006). I've always thought that I'm proud to be an Army Officer but even prouder to be an Army Officer in the Texas Military Forces; that I'm proud to have been a judge but even prouder to have been a Texas Judge (especially one appointed by the Governor of this Great State); and that I'm proud to have graduated from a full-time military college but damn proud to have been a member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Cadet Corps! I think it's easy to forget some of that at home but when the Texas flag waves over your head and tells Iraqis for miles around that the Texans are in town you stop taking it for granted. The picture above is the Command Sergeant Major's office with the Texas flag, Old Glory and the 72nd colors but you might note the bumper sticker on the refrigerator outside his office: "I'm from Texas, what country are you from?" Whoop!

Groundhog Day

2010-01-29T08:54:00.003-06:00

Everyone who has deployed understands the concept of Groundhog Day which was stolen from the Bill Murray movie of the same name and has become part of the lexicon in the Army. We've now been in Iraq for 37 days or so (22 December) and this is where it will get tough on people. The newness of our surroundings (the work, the living environment and the food) has all worn off and what replaces it is just an absolute mountain of days ahead until the end of the tour (somewhere in the neighborhood of 215 but I've learned not to count). You've already settled into your job and your CHU and figured out what the entertainment options are (not many) at this point. I've warned my staff that they need to get themselves into a "personal battle rythm" as far as working out everday in the gym, etc. One of the problems is that one day feels exactly like the rest. The little things that distinguish Tuesday from Saturday at home simply do not apply here so you lose track of time and it ends up moving slower. I have given my staff one day a week to be "off" or out of the office just to break up the monotony and I take a half-day a week on Sunday morning. I do that primarily so that Sunday morning will actually feel like Sunday morning to me (this old dog has learned a few deployment lessons). I sleep in without an alarm to wake me and then get up and try to make it to Chapel at 11:00. I have found that if one day actually feels like that day at home then I can get over that "time numbness" a bit. But....same job, same desk, same food, same people, same meetings, etc., etc. with no breaks and no events to mark one day from another adds to the surrealness of the experience. One item of interest is that the local Iraqi weekend is on Friday and Saturday...so that contributes to messing you up as well.

A Few Last Shots of Al Faw Palace

2010-01-27T13:09:00.002-06:00

....and a few more.

Saddam's Throne in Al Faw Palace

2010-01-27T12:54:00.003-06:00

Pictured above is a throne given to Saddam by Yasser Arafat which was found in the basement of the palace when the US took it over during the initial invasion. An emblem in middle is representation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem; also know as the Dome of the Rock. The inlay says “Holiness to us” on the sides and on the top it says “victory from God and success is near” The book at the top has a verse from the chapter of the Koran Entitled “The Israelites”. It is actually a fairly gaudy and kitchy piece of furniture but sits in the main room at the palace and has become the required photo op for US soldiers. Pictured above (in the throne) are myself and the MAJ Paul Robbins kicking back during a break from class.

It's a Small War After All

2010-01-27T12:37:00.005-06:00

So, in the middle of this full eight hour day of "death by powerpoint" briefings, the Colonel in charge calls for a fifteen minute break. As I'm sitting there chatting with MAJ Paul Robbins (see previous blog entry on Paul aka "The Tall One")next to me, someone comes up from behind me out of nowhere and wraps me in a giant bear hug. Turns out to be LTC Hans Barkey, a good friend of mine from MacArthur High School (graduating class of 1987 - damn that hurt to type out loud). Hans and I have kept in touch on a less than regular basis by email over the years but probably haven't seen each other in ten or more years. He just arrived several weeks ago in country for a six month rotation to work at the Al Faw Palace on the USF-I staff. We spent lunch catching up and took advantage of the flags for a photo op. I think that if you had told both of us when we were both 15 year old cadets in the high school JROTC program that we would serve together in a post-war Iraq as LTC's, we would have thought you rather out of your mind but here we stand.

MNF-I/MNC-I/MNSTC-I become USF-I

2010-01-27T12:18:00.003-06:00

As part of the anticipated drawdown of US forces in Iraq over the next eight months and the Iraqi-US Security Agreement's requirement that the US military mission in Iraq end in December of 2011, we have consolidated a lot of our commands in Iraq. Commands that were spread out around the Green Zone and at Victory Base such Multi-National Forces, Iraq (MNF-I); Multi-National Corps, Iraq (MNC-I) and Multi-National Security Transition Command, Iraq (MNSTC-I pronouned mint-sticky) have all been consolidated into United States Forces, Iraq (USF-I). This is no longer referred to as a multi-national force since the presiding legal agreement between the US and GoI (Government of Iraq) known as the "Security Agreement" only allows US forces and no other previous coalition forces from other nations to remain in Iraq. In the pictures you can see the USF-I flag along with Old Glory hanging in the main room of the Al Faw Palace on Victory Base Complex(VBC).

Al Faw Palace Main Room

2010-01-27T12:01:00.005-06:00

Here are some pictures of the main entryway into the palace with the infamous chandelier referenced in the previous blog. The rotunda was the main area when 5th Corps HQs was established in the palace. At that time field desks and equipment along with cables running to generators were located everywhere. Slowly the site transitioned from CJTF-7 to MNF-I/MNC-I (15 April 04). The chandelier in the middle is the focal point of the palace, it boasts 234 lights. At one time it could be lowered of raised. A catwalk is located above the chandelier. People who view the chandelier suspension decide never to walk under it again. It does not strike them as well supported. Again - -the chandelier, as with many things in the palace is deceiving. It looks like solid glass but is in fact an intricate lattice work. Around the chandelier are large circular inscriptions. The top inscription in circles read “GOD IS GREAT!” The next level of circles spells out Saddam Hussein’s name. Real or fake chandelier notwithstanding, it's an amazing workplace and kept immaculate by teams of workers that I saw sweeping the marble floors all day long. When we left the palace at the end of our duty day today the sun was just setting over the lake and shining on the palace and it was actually quite beautiful. I can't imagine working and living here on a daily basis.

Al Faw Palace on Victory Base

2010-01-27T11:41:00.002-06:00

I spent the day today at a day-long inprocessing brief at Victory Base. The headquarters for the newly minted USF-I Command is there and located in the Al Faw Palace. The Al Faw palace was once one of Saddam Hussein's 99 palaces. It was designed as a kind of corporate retreat, a relaxing playground for members of Saddam's political party who were rewarded for their loyalty and hard work with vacation time here. His sons Uday and Qusay used it — Saddam is said to have spent no more than seven or eight nights here himself — but like much of what he built, its all about him. His initials are everywhere, and opulence is the only design scheme. But like a lot of things in Saddam-era Iraq, it's not all what it seems. The rooms are enormous, the designs ornate and the fixtures are sparkly. But on close inspection, a lot of it is fake. The famous chandelier is part plastic, the walls are paper thin and a lot of the gold isn't really gold at all. We've seen these same building practices in our own palace here at Prosperity where you can see low quality concrete work peeking out from behind the marble tiles on the walls.
Al Faw is mostly intact still. American bombers hit the palace on the off chance that Saddam was here at the time, and they bombed the bridge to collapse an escape route. U.S. commanders live here now, as not to waste all this free space. Almost half a million square feet — 62 rooms and 29 bathrooms. The man-made lake (partly pictured above) was stocked by Saddam and now actually serves as a great way for soldiers to blow off steam by throwing in a line during their down time. There's a unique and enormous fish in these waters, the specially bred "Saddam bass."

Reports from the Homefront

2010-01-24T08:19:00.003-06:00

The lost opportunities with family and friends are definately the worst parts of these deployments. Sometimes these lost chances equate to the end of an era for that event. Such as, I'm told from my Household 6 that my son, Jack, has decided earlier this week to start climbing out of his crib. Therein ensued a barrage of email reports about how she is (very adequately) managing that challenge at the moment. From this end of the World, though, what that means is that my days of putting the little man to sleep IN his crib are officially at an end. And with him being our third and last child, it means that I am absolutely done putting my children to bed in cribs. At home, these type of events may sneak up and surprise you but from here the news descends on you all at once and forces you to deal with that end all at once and for good. Bets and I went through the same types of things with Megan beginning to speak, crawl, walk, etc. during the Bosnia tour. You leave one kid at home and come home to a completely different one...in this case, a sleeper on a "bed" no longer caged by the bars of his crib.

Prosperity Ramblings

2010-01-21T12:37:00.005-06:00

One of the interesting things about FOB Prosperity is that it is so different from any other basecamp that I've been assigned to so far. Camp Dobol in Bosnia was a typical temporary Brown & Root constructed patch of Earth covered in gravel rock with either big green tents for offices and billets or temporary buildings. A year after I left that mission and the force structure began to draw down, it literally dissapeared off the face of the planet and I doubt that it took B&R more than a week or so to make that happen. My camp in Kosovo, affectionately called Film City (where the NATO Headquarters was stationed) was several original buildings which included the HQ building but the rest of it was pretty much temporary wooden offices and sheet metal billets. Slightly more permanent but still not much to look at really. Both surrounded by guard towers and barbed wire (and always a running track immediately on the inside of the wire around the perimeter). FOB Prosperity is different since we moved in on one of Saddam's "playgrounds" and took it over as a camp. There are still sheet metal billets as you've seen in previous posts but primarily we are packed into his original buildings. My office, for instance, is an old guest quarters with marble floors. The palace that you've seen from previous posts has marble floors and elaborate ceilings still. It gives the base a more permanent feeling but also a very surreal one as some of it is still somewhat spectacular. Pictured above is the palace again from a different angle (a good view of the top of the building after we put several missles through the roof) a shot of the base chapel on the little pond that is on the camp. The chapel is a good example...Chaplain Laing tells me that it used to be one of Saddam's bath houses and that the pond outside was used for play as well. So, here is the American Army, that rolls into Baghdad in 2003 and turns the bath house into a chapel!

Technical Stuf (i.e. legal small print)

2010-01-17T10:52:00.003-06:00

For the purposes of ensuring that none of my readers are concerned about the ethical and/or legal parameters for this type of activity, I will have a quick discussion about those issues in this posting. Any discussion of this topic should begin with reference to Army Regulation 530-1, AR 25-2, and also U.S. Army Public Affairs Fact Sheet dated 2 May 2007, interpreting AR 530-1. In addition the military command in Iraq has published MNCI Policy #9 regarding blogs.

The main rules regarding a blog are:

1. A soldier should inform his or her OPSEC officer and immediate supervisor when establishing a blog. Army Regulation 530-1. (I have done this).

2. In no way will every blog post/update a Soldier makes on his or her blog need to be monitored or first approved by an immediate supervisor and Operations Security (OPSEC) officer. America’s Army respects every Soldier’s First Amendment rights while also adhering to Operations Security (OPSEC) considerations.

3. “Prevent disclosure of critical and sensitive information in any public domain” (AR 530-1, para. 2-1(c)(1). Specifically, “Do not publicly disseminate, or publish photographs displaying critical or sensitive information. Examples include but are not limited to Improvised Explosive Device (IED) strikes, battle scenes, casualties, destroyed or damaged equipment, KIA, both friendly and adversary, and the protective measures of military facilities.”

I am and have been quite conservative in these postings and, you'll notice, that my blogs have and will continue to focus on the personalities of the good men and women in uniform around me and about the atmosphere that we do our jobs in on a daily basis. In addition, my blog address has been registered with my unit Communications Officer as required for observation by USF-I for approved content.

Victory Base Complex (VBC)

2010-01-17T10:19:00.007-06:00

A few pictures from that trip to Victory Base. Victory is the primary component of the Victory Base Complex (VBC) which occupies the area surrounding the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP). The Al-Faw Palace(pictured above), which serves as the headquarters for the United States Forces - Iraq (formerly the MNF-I, MNC-I and MNSTC-I), is located on Victory. Victory itself lies approximately 5 kilometers from BIAP. Other camps that make up the Victory Base Complex include Camp Liberty (formerly known as Camp Victory North), Camp Striker, and Camp Slayer. Victory Base was our first stop in Iraq with a one night "layover" there before we moved by RHINO to FOB Prosperity. There are JAG attorneys spread out all over this theater of operations mostly located at individual basecamps with at least Brigade level Commands (like this one at Prosperity). Each JAG has the responsibility to advise that commander but the technical chain of command through JAG channels all flows up to VBC and the JAG's at USF-I.

Open Source Pics

2010-01-17T10:06:00.002-06:00

Before someone starts asking me what an MRAP and/or a Blackhawk are from my last blog post, I have included above pictures of both from open source unclassified sources. The MRAP (Mine Resistant Armored Vehicle) vehicle is commonly referred to as the "Rhino" and the Blackhawk is a cargo and troop carrying helicopter technically known as the UH-60. For our trip to Victory Base that I referred to in my last blog, we rode over in the RHINO and flew back in the Blackhawk. Also, a picture out of the Blackhawk window in flight above.

An Interesting Piece of Recent History

2010-01-17T08:25:00.003-06:00

The other week, before my counterpart departed for the Real World, he and I went to Victory Base which is a short Blackhawk or MRAP ride from Prosperity here out of the Green Zone and into the Red Zone a bit. We walked around and he introduced me to many of the Judge Advocate attorneys that are at the next level above our unit here. They are primarily at what is now called USF-I (US Forces - Iraq) and are spread out along a long and winding road that borders a fairly spectacular lake on the base. One of our stops was to meet with a young Captain (they all seem young to me at this point) who handles the military justice there at Camp Victory. His office is right next to a typical "palacy-like" Iraqi building which the U.S. Army has converted into a courtroom and named in honor of one of our lost JAG SGM's. This courthouse is where Saddam Hussein was arraigned before his trial. Apparently it was quite the broo-ha-ha. I've included a picture of the arraignment that I found on Google and then the pictures of the courthouse that I took. As you can see, there is a framed picture of Saddam in the courthouse placed on one of the counsel tables in the courtroom...also, my counterpart, MAJ David Hickethier sits in Saddam's chair for a picture.

Christmas NOT in Iraq

2010-01-11T13:02:00.003-06:00

I've already posted about how we spent our Christmas Day here at FOB Prosperity and that the highlight was definately the Skype call with the kids. On the other side of the planet, the kids were able to have a fairly normal Christmas morning without me there thankfully. The logistics weren't really all that more difficult than usual since my wife had already pretty much determined what they were going to get from St. Nicholas. Although my wife will point out, with pride, that she was able to go out to our usual Christmas tree place with the kids, cut down a fresh tree, load it on the truck, drag it in the house and get it up in the stand by herself....there was probably a little "help" from the wee ones. Either way, it was a landmark event in moving forward in the deployment for everyone involved and my absence will just make next year's more exciting.

A Little Help

2010-01-11T12:38:00.004-06:00

Almost exactly 20 years ago in February of 1990, my wife called her parents in Dallas from Texas A&M to inform them that she had just met this guy and she wanted to bring him along on their already planned ski trip to New Mexico. Now, let me go on record as saying that if it had been me on the other end of that phone call then the answer would have been laced with expletives prior to the issuance of an emphatic negative. Especially since the trip was planned as a 12 hour car trip from Dallas to Taos, NM! But for some reason they agreed and the rest is history so to speak. I'll also note with a bit of irony that when my future father-in-law asked me at dinner one night during that trip what I wanted to be when I grow up (so to speak) that my answer was an Army lawyer. Small dish of irony anyone? At any rate, that ski trip went well (besides a lot of bumps and bruises on me from trying to relearn to snow ski - oh yeah, did I mention that I didn't really even know how to ski?) and has turned into a strong familial relationship. They now live in Houston near our house and are on their second deployment of helping out with the kids while I'm gone and their assistance is much appreciated.

LIfe Goes on at Home

2010-01-10T01:46:00.001-06:00

While I'm on the subject of the homefront...a few pictures of my young son Jack who seems to get a little bigger and more capable everytime I hear news from home or receive pictures like the ones above. He's a classic easygoing third kid and just a total rogue and sweetheart all at the same time although I will note that he appears to need to visit the barber soon. Here he is playing with a Christmas gift from his Grandma Ina (my mother) and proving the old adage about kids playing with the packaging instead of the toy!

Talk about long-suffering..

2010-01-09T10:22:00.004-06:00

On the evening of 9/11/01, I had been home from my Bosnia deployment for less than a year. My wife and I sat on the coach in front of the television watching the coverage of the towers and probably felt the same thing that a lot of people did...disbelief, sorrow, outrage. The difference was that we also felt a lot of angst...angst about what the future would hold for our little family. We both knew that some type of military action would be coming and that it would probably shape the events of our lives and our marriage significantly. So, in some ways, that tragedy really did come off the screen for us. In these past eight years, that has translated into (going on) two years of active duty in two seperate hazardous duty areas, countless weekends and weeks away from home either preparing for my unit to deploy or preparing some other unit to deploy and, of course, Operation Katrina. Certainly, she and I never contemplated that over eight years later that she would be playing single parent again while I tried to close down the American mission in Baghdad. But...once again, having been called into service, my wife has stood up and delivered. She has endured hundreds of nights alone and the same amount of days wrestling with children and maintaining the "homefront" while I've been gone on duty. All of that being forced upon her based on the obligation that I took on for the both of us...with remarkably little complaint and certainly without formal honors, acknowledgement or medals. Without the pleasure of being approached and thanked in an airport and without the satisfaction of getting on a C-130 at the end of a year long mission knowing you gave it your best and were done. She has kissed me goodbye more times than I can count and then turned and coped with distraught crying children while suppressing her own worst thoughts. So, I may get the newspaper notariety and the citations from the President but the strength of this Army (and this soldier) is due to the hard work keeping the faith back "in the real world" done by the lady that I've loved for twenty years.

War and Coca-Cola

2010-01-08T12:40:00.004-06:00

One of the interesting thing that you observe when traveling the world is the pervasiveness of the American culture. And in our case, the spreading of that culture by the American soldier. The Army, in its infinite wisdom (and with the assistance of AAFES), has decided that the American G.I. can be satiated, no matter how bad things on the War front, by making sure that there is a Pizza Hut or KFC or a Starbucks (see previous blog from Kuwait) on every major basecamp. The second and third order affects (in Army speak) of this are that the American culture "leaks" into the surrounding area. Three quick examples: (a) the story I heard from my counterpart that locals would taunt the 32nd Infantry (Wisconsin Guard) with the fact that Brett Favre is now playing with the Vikings! (I know Americans at home that wouldn't be able to do that "geography math" AND understand the current vagaries of the NFL); (b) my buddy Kevin Smith (see previous blog) is having a conversation in the laundry facility with an Iraqi local worker who is telling him (through translation provided by the worker's father who also works there) that he wants to join the American Army so Kevin plays along and tells him that they could go run and do some pushups to get ready for that - the local (in Arabic through his father) says "I don't like pushups so I'll join the Air Force instead!" - so this guy has absorbed our very inside humor and interservice rivalries; and (c) my buddy LTC Cooper is walking around the basecamp and hears a very specific kind of country music and realizes that it is coming from the cell phone of one of our contract guards from Uganda. When he stops and talks to the guy, he realizes that it is Jim Reeves and inquires. The guard says that Jim Reeves is huge in Uganda and South Africa! So here is this contract guard from Uganda in Iraq listening to a song by an American country singer who hasn't had a hit since the Vietnam War! Freaky but I think that it's not the M4's and Apache helicopters that will win the War but Coca-Cola....or, more precisely, the idea that if you become like America then you will have the freedom to like Coca-Cola and the infinite options of Reeves and the NFL and Starbucks. I like to think so at least.

BTW,I'm a huge fan of Coke and we've all discovered that the Iraqi Cokes (with Arabic translation on the can) are both old style pull tab and made with REAL sugar...they go like hot cakes everyday from the chow hall.

Some Random Thoughts

2010-01-07T13:26:00.003-06:00

I was noticing the other day (and commenting to one of my buddies) about how a large majority of our Military Police here look like they are about twelve years old. It got me thinking about this Profession of Arms that we have found ourselves in and what a unique time in history it is to be a part of the most powerful Army that the World has ever seen. Both of those thoughts are summed up perfectly by General Stanley McChrystal in the following quote from the December 28, 2009 edition of Time Magazine:

"The other day, I asked a young but combat-experienced sergeant where he was on 9/11, and his answer-'getting my braces removed'-reminded me that it has been more than eight years since 9/11...This is not a force of rookies and dilettantes...All have felt fear and loneliness. Most have lost comrades. None has lost heart."

Our nation has been at war now for more than half of my career as a military officer. Many of us are on our second tours of duty and some of us on our third. My buddies and I did not ask to come to Iraq, we simply raised our hands and swore to defend...whereever, whenever and in whatever conditions might come our way. I respect these men (and women) more than I can explain because they don't talk about it they just do it and instead of letting someone else provide for their freedoms they not only stand up and hold themselves accountable for their own but bear the heavy burdens of securing it for everyone else as well. I don't necessarily like it when someone else (especially someone who doesn't know me) tries to tell me what is in my heart...I'll just tell you myself...I'm thankful for the good men around me and the memories that we are making together. I'm thankful that when I'm 80 years old, I will be able to tell my grandchildren that I served with some of the most profoundly honorable people I've ever known "back in" the Global War on Terror. And, finally, I'm thankful that at some point I will return home to my family and my life which are also things that I hold dear to me. THAT is precisely why I do this to begin with.

"Texanizing" the place...

2010-01-07T13:13:00.004-06:00

After TOA, we didn't waste much time getting moved in...as you can see from the picture, my trusty right hand "man", SFC Karen Perry, wasted no time in executing one of her boss' first orders which was "let's get this on the wall ASAP". The rest of the basecamp will, no doubt, begin to see Red Arrows dissapearing and Blue T-patches going up in their place and a Texas flag will begin to fly near the palace in Baghdad. My Aggie flag in the office is sweet since it has been a fixture in all three of my deployments in each of my three legal offices over the past ten years and because my Deputy JAG Officer is a UT law school grad and avid Longhorn fan (especially today). Gig 'em!

TOA (Transfer of Authority)

2010-01-07T11:53:00.007-06:00

So, at the end of the RIP training overlap, the units (and the command more specifically)conduct a formal ceremonial TOA or Transfer of Authority between the outgoing 32nd IBCT and us, the incoming 72nd IBCT (Infantry Brigade Combat Team). Attached are several pictures of that ceremony. Note the fairly robust palm trees in the one picture. We have been very lucky to land on a basecamp that is actually pretty green. This entire camp used to be one of Saddam's playgrounds with bathhouses, pools and, of course, the palace. You can see his initials all over the walls of the outlying walls in arabic. Because of that and the fact that we are in the fertile area of the Tigris means that we are NOT in a sandy wasteland like some places in Iraq or like we were in Kuwait. At any rate, the TOA went off without a hitch and we are now fully in charge including me of my JAG staff and legal office. I'll post some pictues in the next post of our office. Our counterparts are on the long reverse trip back through Kuwait to their loved ones back home. Godspeed. Just another 245 days or so until we do TOA again with someone taking over for us.

Farewell to New Friends

2010-01-05T11:24:00.005-06:00

As the first couple of weeks here in country expire, we are concluding our RIP with our 32nd ID JAG counterparts and bidding them Godspeed as they depart to return home with the honor of having concluded a difficult mission in great style. They did a tremendous job of preparing the JAG office that I now run for the mission ahead and I thank them. In a short couple of weeks we had a great professional experience and developed friendships of a type that are truly hard to express outside of this environment. When you are totally dependent on someone for orienting you to an amazingly alien environment and a foreign job (and share a bunker with them) it can be a truly unforgettable experience. Truly great members of the JAG Regiment and great Americans doing the tough work of repeatedly putting themselves forward into harm's way in the Global War on Terror that has now lasted longer than any American War in recent history. Pictured above are CPT David James, MAJ David Hickethier and MAJ Chris Hartley (left to right). Godspeed fellas. Hope to see you around the frontier again down the road.

1/4/10 Houston Chronicle Article (Metro Section)

2010-01-04T01:43:00.002-06:00

Pictures by Mayra Beltran Chronicle

From bench to battle zone and back — he hopes
David Farr is running to regain Harris County judge’s seat after tour
By LINDSAY WISE and BRIAN ROGERS
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 4, 2010, 1:01AM

With the Army's consent, Lt. Col. David Farr, judge advocate general for a Houston-based unit, has filed to run for judge of the 312th Family Court.

BAGHDAD —David Farr is running for a Harris County judgeship, but you won't find so much as a campaign button inside the cramped, fluorescent-lit office he shares with three others at Camp Prosperity.

Here in Baghdad's Green Zone there will be no bumper stickers or yard signs, no fundraising galas or radio spots.

Farr, a 40-year-old lieutenant colonel from Meyerland, is the judge advocate general for the 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, a Houston-based Texas Army National Guard unit deployed to Iraq.

He is prohibited from campaigning because of military regulations that ban political activity by service members on active duty.

“I knew that I wouldn't be able to campaign, but I can be listed on the ballot with permission from the Department of the Army,” Farr said.

Farr got the Army's consent, scrounged up the filing fee and went to the Republican Party office on Richmond when he was home on a four-day pass for Thanksgiving, his final break from training before he left for a nine-month mission in Iraq.

He's been checking the online filing records from Baghdad. So far so good. The deadline is today, and no other Republican has come forward to challenge him in the primary for the judgeship of the 312th Family Court. The incumbent Democrat in that seat — Farr's potential opponent in November — is Judge Robert Hinojosa.

“That was a bit of a calculated risk on my part because I knew that if somebody decided to run against me in the primary that I wouldn't be able to do anything,” Farr said. “I'd just have to wait.”

Woodfill: ‘To be admired'
Farr recognizes his predicament is part of the reality of life as a citizen-soldier.

Jared Woodfill, chairman of the Harris County Republican Party, said he does not expect Farr to draw a primary opponent before today's filing deadline. Woodfill said Farr's story has been featured in a Harris County's Republican newsletter and e-mail.

“We want people to rally behind him and what he's doing overseas and to rally behind him in November,” he said. “He's out there defending our liberties while at the same time running for office, and that's unique and something to be admired.”

Hinojosa has been on the bench since he ousted Farr in November 2008 in an election to fill an unexpired term.

A trial lawyer for more than 36 years, Hinojosa earned a Bronze Star and spent three years as a prosecutor in the Air Force during Vietnam.

He said he was of a mixed mind about Farr's campaign.

“I would never attack anyone, certainly not my opponent, for being patriotic, for serving his country,” Hinojosa said. “The difference is David is very much of the military mind-set. I think he really is a military person, and that's where he really wants to be. That's where his heart is, much more than doing these cases here.”

This is Farr's third overseas deployment. He served in Bosnia in 2000 and Kosovo in 2006. He and his wife, Betsy, have three children: Megan, 10, Kathryn, 7, and Jack, 18 months.

Farr earned his undergraduate degree at Texas A&M University on a Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship and went to law school at Texas Southern University.

After his graduation from TSU, the Army sent him into the National Guard as a JAG officer. Farr began his civilian career working on family law cases at a Houston firm. Before long, he landed a job prosecuting child-support offenders with the Harris County Domestic Relations Office.

In 2002, “at the ripe old age of 32,” Farr was appointed to a vacancy for associate judge in Harris County's 257th Family Court.

JAG role gives perspective
In 2007, the governor appointed him to the 312th Family Court when the previous judge stepped down to run for Congress.

Farr served in the 312th until he lost his seat in 2008. He was one of many Republican judges swept out of office in the Democratic tide that accompanied President Barack Obama's election.

“Just wasn't a good day,” Farr said.

Instead of settling into private practice, Farr decided to fight his way back to the bench.

“Being a family court judge really became what I wanted to do,” Farr said. “I really felt like I was doing something valuable on a daily basis. You're making decisions about children in CPS care, divorce situations, custody cases and visitation rights.”

His role as JAG is dramatically different, but it gives him the same sense of purpose.

In Iraq, he provides legal assistance to individual soldiers, briefs the troops on rules of engagement and use of force, advises the brigade's commanders on fiscal and administrative law, and helps with investigations and military justice.

“It gives you some perspective, I'll tell you that much,” Farr said. “You get over the judge complex very quickly. The soldiers will call me ‘judge' kind of playfully, but they don't care. That will ground you.”

Reporter Brian Rogers contributed to this report from Houston.

lindsay.wise@chron.com

brian.rogers@chron.com

Replacements

2010-01-02T13:54:00.004-06:00

One of the best feelings on a deployment is hearing from (finally) and then meeting your replacements since that means that you have offically started the long trip back home and the successful conclusion of your mission. In this case, our counterparts are having that feeling and we are on the other end of it. Our counterparts are the 32nd Infantry Division from Wisconsin and Michigan which means that they all (a) love the Green Bay Packers and (b) hate Brett Favre at the moment. We have been conducting our RIP (Relief in Place) with them for the past week which means that each section (like the JAG) conducts a handover wherein one week will be spent with the 32nd JAG (my counterpart, MAJ David Hicketheir pictured above in our recent Blackhawk trip to Victory Base) in the "right seat" and with me in the "left seat". This means that he is still doing the job and I watch and learn and then this week we switched seats so that I handle the duties and he is available for guidance as that occurs. It's a good system and he and his JAG crew have been beyond professional and helpful in helping us get our sea legs here in Iraq. When this week is over then the units (patches above) will conduct TOA (Transfer of Authority) in a formal ceremony and our counterparts will all go home to their respective families and leave us the mission for better or worse.

MAJ Kevin Smith - The Single Guy

2010-01-02T13:29:00.005-06:00

As I did in one of my December blogs with MAJ Paul Robbins, I am going to continue to try to tell the story of some of our "gang" here in Iraq. One of these is MAJ Kevin Smith, Aggie class of 1992 and former member of the Cadet Corps Company V-1. Kevin is the resident single guy among a bunch of married with kids Field Grade officers so he catches a lot of heat from us and occassionally throws it back with great Kevin Smith flair and sense of humor. Kevin is a light-hearted guy but a great Army officer. One of the interesting things about Kevin is his love of sailing and boats and the fact that during the year long run up to this deployment, he lived on a sailboat docked in Kemah, Texas and commuted to work at the unit. Kevin is the Officer in Charge (OIC) of our Badging Office here on Prosperity which means he helps decide which local nationals will get badges to have access to our FOB so its importance is pretty obvious. He and I were debating the differences of being married and single on a deployment the other day and it can be summed up by the fact that when I'm deployed and the shampoo runs out on me, I sit and wonder what the heck to do since at home it never runs out (my wife makes sure that there is a endless reservoir of shampoo, soap, etc.). When Kevin is deployed, he is overjoyed that someone else is doing his laundry (the service we have here) and that when the shampoo runs out on him, he doesn't have to get in a car and go find some...he just walks the 300 yards to the PX here on the FOB. At any rate, he's a good friend and manages to keep things light around here even if everyone else around him is grumpy and annoyed or events are conspiring against humor.

It's the Little Things...

2010-01-01T12:55:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow morning I will finally inhabit my desk in my legal office after a week of overlap training with my outgoing counterpart, MAJ David Hickethier from Wisconsin National Guard. I will take a few pics of the kids and a few personal items to put on the walls and my desk to try to make this foreign territory feel a little less alien. I've done this every time that I've deployed as well in my living quarters no matter how temporary in nature (like at MacGregor). Above is one of the walls of my CHU that I put up to remind myself why I do this in the first place and to keep me grounded on a daily basis.

Christmas and New Year's Eve...and a Full Moon Cigar Social

2010-01-01T11:56:00.005-06:00

In many ways, holidays on a deployment aren't a whole lot different from any other day. The work schedule doesn't really slack off much and the daily tasks continue unabated. I recall that in Bosnia in 2000, Easter Sunday literally came and went before I realized that evening that it had even happened. On some occassions, though, events conspire to frame one in your mind. In Kosovo in 2006, I remember vividly sitting at a picnic table with my buddies eating dinner off of paper plates and watching the German Army do touch and goes in their Huey Helicopters on the airfield about 200 yards away from us. Some of that may have been the unusually mild weather there on that day but I suspect that it was really more about the company around me at the time.

Seems as if I had both types of experiences this time around. Seems like Christmas was very mundane for us here...we had just gotten on the ground several days earlier and everyone just seemed to fade into their respective CHU's on a lonely Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, we all worked pretty normal work schedule and then went to a movie - the highlight of the day was definately Skyping with my family that day and opening the gifts that they had mailed to me earlier in the week.

New Year's Eve was a bit different. Some of the fellas that were in Kosovo have a tradition that they started there and that we have continued through McGregor and then here in Iraq on New Year's Eve. It is called the Full Moon Cigar Social. So, with the full moon hanging largely in the sky over Baghdad, we all enjoyed each other's comradeship with fine cigars in the dark under a grove of palm trees here on the basecamp. At midnight, MAJ Kevin Smith and I ended up on a balcony of the palace (see pics above) watching the tracer rounds from celebratory fire all around us light up the night. Also, someone had, apparently, gotten a hold of a ton of Army flares and were firing them off all night over the Mother of All Mosques (MOAM) for fireworks (see above). All in all, a pretty unforgettable night for many reasons but mostly due to the friendship of colleagues and brothers in arms.

CHU Living

2009-12-27T11:15:00.006-06:00

Over the next several weeks I will post some pictures and text regarding daily life here on the FOB. To begin with (at most interest to my kids probably) is my living container or CHU (everything's an acronym) - Containerized Housing Unit. All in all, this is the best I've lived on all three of my deployments (intentionally not including the cot that I slept on during Operation Katrina in New Orleans between the stacks of books in the Tulane Library which just plain sucked). In Kosovo, I shared a cramped 10 x 20 box with a fellow Major who snored like a rabid wildebeast on steroids(great guy nonetheless) but this time I rate my own place as a LTC. Pics above for those interested.

FOB Prosperity (continued) (pics and narrartive from open source material)

2009-12-27T11:07:00.002-06:00

Al Salam palace is located on the site of the former Republican Guard Headquarters, which was destroyed in Desert Storm. Construction had been ongoing since then. Part of a 814,000 square meter complex outside Baghdad, and begun while sanctions were in effect, construction of the Al Salam Palace was completed in September 1999, at a cost of about $1 billion. The Al-Salam Palace was used to house visiting foreign dignitaries. The United States attacked the palace by air in 2003, hitting it with seven guided bombs. Looters struck next, making off with everything including the toilets.

In December 2004 Saddam Hussein's former palace at Camp Prosperity was the home of Companies C and D, 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne began deploying to Iraq on Dec. 3, 2004The unit was stationed in Baghdad's International Zone. Because of the nature of the battalion's mission, each of its companies was based in a different section of central Baghdad.

The palace where Delta and Charlie Companies were based is in the area of the International Zone known as FOB (then Camp) Prosperity. That name seems appropriate. The road to the palace bisects a shimmering man-made lake lined with green palm trees. The columned entrance resembles some ancient Greek temple.

Inside the palace, however, it's a different story. The hallways and rooms are a maze of plywood boards dividing the paratroopers' living quarters. Cots, ruck sacks and all the other equipment of an Army at war are stacked against the walls. In the building where Saddam Hussein once slept on silk sheets, paratroopers wrapped in their sleeping bags watched DVDs and play card games on the floor.

A few hundred meters away, an immense statue of Saddam's head sat in the dust, surrounded by concertina wire. It, and three others like it, were removed from a building when Saddam's regime was defeated. The statue lied in the dirt, its eyes gazing off into the distance. Occasionally, a paratrooper would stroll over, snap a picture, and then head back inside to relax in what was once the dictator's palace.

In the background of the picture you can see the MOAM (Mother of All Mosques) under construction at the time. It was never completed as Saddam Hussein ran out of money prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

FOB Prosperity, Iraq (pics and narrative are open source)

2009-12-27T05:36:00.003-06:00

So, now that we are finally on the ground here, the first thing that you can't help but notice right off the bat is the Al Salam Palace. It has approximately 200 rooms with approx. 1,000,000 square feet floor space; 6 floors, 3 of which are usable (others serve as 'false floors'); 2 large ball rooms; marble floors and granite walls.

This Palace was taken over by US coalition forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It is Head Quarters for the Joint Area Support Group (JASG) and currently under HHC 36th IBCT, Texas Army National Guard's command. It has been known as "Camp Prosperity" and "Forward Operating Base Prosperity" to coalition forces. The Palace is internally lined with marble floors with literally hundreds of thousands of hand-cut pieces, granite walls, and ceilings that also have hundreds of thousands of hand-carvd and hand-painted flowers inlaid in them. The palace (as well as many others) was massively damaged during the "Shock and Awe" campaign, when it sustained several airstrike attacks. The palace is also surrounded by a sequence of square tiles carrying the initials of Saddam Hussein's name (S & H) the letters in Arabic called "Saad" & "Haa" these tiles are obvious on the top side of the palace building. Also some Iraqi people believe that the top dome of the palace used to have a statue for Saddam's figure in real size.This can be seen on old pictures of the palace before 2003.

Moving North...

2009-12-25T14:45:00.005-06:00

After two weeks on the ground in Kuwait, the long march towards Iraq finally began to come to a conclusion with a cleaning of our little abode and then a long wait for a bus to take us to the air station for the C130 flight into Iraq. There was another wait of several hours (pictured above) at the air station and then we loaded the flight as you can see above as well. Pretty good flight with no complications and we all slept the majority of the way. We landed at Victory Base where we moved 500 or so duffles bags and rucksacks onto a truck and then off of a truck at the place they put us to sleep for the evening. The night ended at about one in the morning or so. So, beginning with our initial trainup date at Camp McGregor of September 6, we were finally all going to sleep for the night in Iraq on December 22!

More T Patch T Walls

2009-12-20T01:41:00.001-06:00

T Wall Mosaics

2009-12-20T01:21:00.003-06:00

As was the case at Camp McGregor, this camp is loaded with what we call T-walls and the units that have come through here over the past 8 years have made a tradition of painting these walls with their unit crests, etc. There are literally hundreds of these all over the camp....pictured immediatly above in the last picture is the 72nd IBCT wall and just about every other wall that I could find that was from a previous Texas Army National Guard unit that exists here. You can tell by the distinctive T-patch that is on the wall which is the arrowhead patch with a T in the middle symbolizing the fusing of the Texas and Oklahoma guard units in both World Wars...the arrowhead representing the State of Oklahoma with the Texas T in the middle.

Camp Buehring Photos...

2009-12-20T00:49:00.004-06:00

As we prepare to end our lovely two weeks here in Kuwait, some last second pictures of some of the camp and "sights". You'll notice the PX, the dining facility (DFAC) and the only bunkered Starbuck's that you're ever bound to witness. Merry Christmas!

Flag questions...

2009-12-17T23:18:00.002-06:00

I've had several attorney-friends ask me recently about why our American flag patches are backwards on our sleeves. The general idea of the backwards patches is to pay homage to the traditions of soldiers who carried flags into battle. The image is designed to make it appear that the soldier is running against the wind, carrying a flag into combat or think of the flag on a pole flying backwards while being carried into combat by a cavalry charge if you like that analogy better. In the "old days" meaning when I first joined the Army, the only time that we would ever wear an American flag on our right shoulder was when deployed into harm's way which was the case when I sewed a "colored" or non-subdued American flag on my uniform to go to Bosnia in 2000. When the 9-11 attacks happened, the Army decided that everyone would wear the patch on your right shoulder due to the fact that the entire Army would now be at war for the near future. Now, when you are at home (or on active duty in garrison at a home base like Ft. Hood) you wear the colored flag but when deployed into harm's way then you switch it out with the subdued flag pictured above as well. Which leads to the combat patch...there is a tradition and policy that states that a Soldier may wear the patch of the unit that they have gone to war with on their right shoulder (everyone wears thier unit patch on their left shoulder at all times). There is a picture above of one of my unit combat patches being applied under the "combat flag patch". This has become a quite coveted thing to have nowadays even though some of us have been deployed to places like Bosnia and Kosovo wherein there was danger but did not officially qualify for the patch per the Army. Either way, most of us are certainly getting the opportunity to have one now with the operational tempo being so high at the moment. So, there's the answer....

Long lost comrades....

2009-12-17T02:18:00.003-06:00

I'm always amazed at how small an Army we have nowadays and how you run into people all the time that you have served with in the past. This morning, while wandering half asleep through the chow hall here at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, a lieutenant colonel stands up from his food as I walk by and says "Jag-o!" It was LTC Jeff Denius, now a Battalion Commander with the 3rd Infantry Division who I had served with for 8 months at a remote basecamp in the mountains of Bosnia in 2000. At the time, we were both young Captains (me the JAG for the Battalion and he a Troop Commander) with Thunder Squadron of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (patch pictured above). Small world, small Army and great to catch up with someone who stayed on active duty and made LTC while I went back into the National Guard and made LTC and now we find each other both (to be) in roughly the same area of operations in Iraq. Goes to show you the power and consistency of the Total Army concept of Guard and active duty that we've developed to fight the Global War on Terror. Good to see you again Jeff!

Some long lost McGregor pics...

2009-12-16T03:21:00.002-06:00

Before we get too far away from our previous lovely home at Camp McGregor, I'm going to post some various pics from that three months of train up....

Some miscellaneous pictures of Shenanigans...

2009-12-16T03:08:00.002-06:00

Camp Buehring Dining Facility

2009-12-16T02:46:00.003-06:00

Those of you who have been following this blog awhile will know how much I despised the food at the Camp McGregor Dining Facility (DFAC) so much so that I boycotted breakfast for two full months while we were there....this DFAC is a significant improvement and, I'm told, that the one on FOB Prosperity where we are going is even better. It's obvious to anyone who has deployed before that the Army has made a conscious decision to win over the soldier through his stomach. This DFAC is so good that I actually get up at 0530 every morning to eat breakfast. The interesting thing is that the staff is a crew of Indians and Pakistanis...not a suprise since Kuwaitis don't work but still a random experience to be in Kuwait and be served by Indians. They are all very nice. Someone told them, apparently from the picture above, that American Christmas colors are red and green but the effect that they accomplished looks more like a Mexican Fiesta! They still get an "A" for effort, though. Great food and a desert bar everyday....all of us need significant PT (physical training) when we get to Iraq or we'll all fail the next height/weight...ah, the life of a staff officer!

Meetings, meetings, meetings....

2009-12-16T02:33:00.003-06:00

Being staff officers at the Brigade level, we spend a large majority of our time (and will in the future) in staff meetings. The various Brigade staff officers that run their respective "shops"....me for the legal section, the chaplain, the transportation officer, the personnel officer, etc. all meet several times a day to coordinate our collective efforts and ensure that each of us has visibility on what the other is doing in case it affects each of each "shop's" missions. For example, if I'm reviewing and advising an investigation into a contract issue then the supply guy will want to know the status, etc. Here we are doing our thing in Kuwait. The top pictures are MAJ Brad Hughes and MAJ Dave Burger (Class of '85 - yes, another Aggie) who works in the S-3 section which plans operations, etc. The other pictures have the normal cast of characters plus LTC John Laing (sitting in the front right) who is our Brigade Chaplain and patiently tolerates our crude humor in the "big giant tent".

Starbucks in the desert?!

2009-12-16T02:24:00.002-06:00

It's a strange phenomenon here but you can go into the Starbucks here on base (which is surrounded by bunkers(Hesco Barriers) and sandbags) and see a soldier get a Mocha from a barrista while in full "battle rattle" and with weapon (see last picture). This is a pretty popular place to be since it is about the only place on the camp that has reliable wireless internet (I'm blogging from there now). As we sit and wait to move North, it is a pleasent distraction and reminder of home. I personally think about my son Jack and I running to the Meyerland Starbucks on a Saturday morning for coffee or my daughter Katy and I going to the same place while she tries to talk me into yet another stuffed little Starbucks bear!

The middle picture shows: MAJ Dan Garcia (just cut off); MAJ Paul Robbins (previous blog); MAJ John Lee (Class of '91); MAJ Bob Briscoe (UT grad and Continental Airline pilot back in the world); MAJ Corey Matthew (Class of '92) and myself blogging as we drink coffee. Fun stuff before we head out and it gets us out of that tent we live in which is becoming quite stale at this point!

MAJ Paul Robbins (photo guy)

2009-12-16T02:10:00.002-06:00

I'm going to post a few blogs on the main "players" here with me over the next week or so...all tremendous Army officers and most of them on their second and third deployments in a war that has no tangible end date. Above is MAJ Paul Robbins who is on his second tour in Iraq. He is that one "techie guy" that every crowd has and manages to remain patient while we all expect him to answer our both professional and personal computer questions. Paul is a great guy, easy going, unflappable and most importantly, he is a lot more faithful about taking pictures of our little adventure here than I am so I'll give him a credit right now for a lot of the pics that I've already posted and a lot of the ones that I will post in the next 9 months. Paul is the Brigade's Knowledge Manager so he is primarily responsible for organizing the tons of documents and products that are put out by each Brigade staff section and the units so that the "institutional knowledge" is not lost forever. For example, a lot of my job in Baghdad will be reviewing building contracts and contracts for the turnover of property to the Government of Iraq...once I do (or my predecessor does) several legal reviews for those issues then they can be saved by Paul and organized so I don't have to reinvent the wheel every time and I know where to easily go to find it. Paul will also be the first to tell you that he is also the "additional duties as assigned" guy and performs miscellaneous taskings for the Brigade Executive Officer as they come up.

MRAP rollover training...

2009-12-16T02:02:00.004-06:00

Continuing with the training components of our little stay here in Kuwait...we have training in order to help us possibly egress a Humvee or one of the bigger up-armored trucks in the case that they rollover due to their weight and high body position. In a nutshell, they take you and put you in a machine (with all of your armor and equipment) that consists of a vehicle fuselage on a machine that spins you around and then settles upside down so that you can "practice" getting out. You usually end up "practicing" unbelting your seatbetls and then falling on your head before crawling out of the door or gunner's hole in the ceiling (now the floor or side door). It's pretty disconcerting at first but gets easier with events. There is a television monitor on the outside(pictured) so that they guy spinning you can observe for safety issues and also laugh at you while you fall on your head.

Also of note is our Brigade Commander, COL Mark Campsey, all geared up in the Gunner's seat harness to do rollover.