Happy New Year

Where has 2005 gone? What happened in 2005? This is one year that has completly slipped by without me even knowing what is happening in the world. Yeah, I know what is happening in Iraq. I know more than I really want to. What I do not know is what were the top songs this past year? What were the top movies? What was happening at Jacksonville Beach? Why are my favorite places like First Street Grille and Kevin's closing? Who is dating who in Hollywood? I never though I would care, but for some reason, I do.

YEAR OF EMOTIONS
It is hard to explain what I have gone through this past year. The only memories I have are about the various missions and operations we have done. Because this is a public forum, I can not explain the missions in detail and should not for obvious reasons. What I can do is describe the roller coaster ride of emotions our Task Force has gone through. It started with anxiety. We were not sure what Iraq would be like when we started our train-up at the begining of the year at Fort Stewart, GA. At that time, our main focus was to get through the training (including medical evaluations) and prepare to go to the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, CA. After our training at NTC, we were ready to deploy to Iraq...at least we thought we were. Immediately in Iraq, we were thrown into the fire. Mission after mission, we faced the enemy. The enemy engaged us with IEDs, Small Arms Fire (SAF), mortars, rockets, and RPGs. All of this within the first two weeks. In return, we took the fight to them. We captured many insurgents and conducted several Civil Military Operations (CMO). We cried over fallen soldiers and we smiled after helping local children. The mission near Baghdad was an exhausting one. I personally lost 12 lbs from the heat and bad eating and sleeping patterns. Operational wise, we accomplished something that was incredible in my eyes. We basically converted a traditional Mechanized Infantry Battalion into a Air Assault unit. Not to discredit the 101st Aiborne Division (Air Assault), for they are Air Assault experts, but we executed many air assaults / air mobile missions. We had too. It was the best way for us to take the fght to the enemy and minimize casualties. The capstone was Operation Devil Strike. It became the largest Air Assault operation in National Guard History. The entire Task Force along with Iraqi Army soldiers air assaulted on a target along the Euphrates River. After that, we continued with our steady state missions and a few other smaller air mobile raids until a Task Force from the 101st came to relieve us. That is when we moved south to assume another mission, Theater Security. The move was a nice break for the soldiers. It took a few weeks before we conducted a Relief In Place (RIP) with a National Guard Units from Texas. During those two weeks, soldiers were able to decompress and rest. They started working out hard at the gym and playing sports. It was truly a well deserved break for those few weeks.

STEADY STATE
Here I am now at an air base in southern Iraq. Our Task Force secures convoys to various locations throughout the Iraq Theater. There are risks involved, but not like up north near Baghdad. We went from Full Spectrum Combat Operations to "Road Warriors". It is all good though. Most of my time is spent on planning for our re-deployment...a plan I will stay up late doing any day. What a ride!

Hey, what is going on in the world today? Did I just hear that Angelina Jolie is pregnant with Brad Pitt's child?