Well, for those of you who don't know, I am back from OIF 09-10 and don't plan to go back to Iraq anytime soon. We will see though, right. We turned Anbar Province over to the 82nd Airborne, the same unit that turned it over to us back in 2004... Oh the irony.
It was not an easy deployment that is for sure. We worked, hard and long hours. The main reason I did not blog on this last deployment is our rules and regulations forbade it, but in reality, my schedule would have prevented it anyway. Our section worked too many hours for it to have been feasible. We had more drama than my last four deployments combined and most of it was unnecessary. We seemed to shoot ourselves in the foot and create more problems than we fixed.
Two of the Marines in my team were not just promoted, but promoted meritoriously. Those two were just two examples of the Marines we had that got recognized for their persistent efforts and hard work. Numerous awards and medals were earned and awarded by the time it was all over and we have now returned able to say we accomplished our mission.
During the trip, I got to go to Baghdad for a week. That was quite a trip, complete with several walk-abouts. The palaces there, although not in the best of shape, were so very interesting to look at. I got to walk into where they held Saddam Hussein before he was hanged.
We got back just in time to see the SuperBowl, in time for Colleen’s birthday, Caleb and Seth’s birthday and Valentine’s Day.
Yup, one more in the books… now on to the more important stuff: my family.
I am planning on getting overly involved in my boys’ scouting and enjoying what time I can squeak in with Katelyn. All three of my kiddo’s are just growing like crazy. All three of them are hitting that age when they need a daddy’s discipline and love.
Thank you so very much for all of your support over these last few months. The care packages were all shared and made a significant impact on the Marines, their morale and the performance of their duties. As hard as this deployment was, your support made it bearable and made our successes possible.
Semper Fi,
m
It was not an easy deployment that is for sure. We worked, hard and long hours. The main reason I did not blog on this last deployment is our rules and regulations forbade it, but in reality, my schedule would have prevented it anyway. Our section worked too many hours for it to have been feasible. We had more drama than my last four deployments combined and most of it was unnecessary. We seemed to shoot ourselves in the foot and create more problems than we fixed.
Two of the Marines in my team were not just promoted, but promoted meritoriously. Those two were just two examples of the Marines we had that got recognized for their persistent efforts and hard work. Numerous awards and medals were earned and awarded by the time it was all over and we have now returned able to say we accomplished our mission.
During the trip, I got to go to Baghdad for a week. That was quite a trip, complete with several walk-abouts. The palaces there, although not in the best of shape, were so very interesting to look at. I got to walk into where they held Saddam Hussein before he was hanged.
We got back just in time to see the SuperBowl, in time for Colleen’s birthday, Caleb and Seth’s birthday and Valentine’s Day.
Yup, one more in the books… now on to the more important stuff: my family.
I am planning on getting overly involved in my boys’ scouting and enjoying what time I can squeak in with Katelyn. All three of my kiddo’s are just growing like crazy. All three of them are hitting that age when they need a daddy’s discipline and love.
Thank you so very much for all of your support over these last few months. The care packages were all shared and made a significant impact on the Marines, their morale and the performance of their duties. As hard as this deployment was, your support made it bearable and made our successes possible.
Semper Fi,
m
