Credit Cards and Phone Cards
Some more FYI info for anybody getting called up… There are ATM machines as far as Kuwait, but none in Iraq that I’ve seen. For cash, you need to go to Finance and either cash a check or get a draw from your …
Blog Posts
MANY articles on a wide array of topics. You’ll find a lot of my newer content is going to my YouTube channel first, but I do still blog occasionally.
Fun in the Sun
It’s been a few days since I’ve had a chance to post. Blew some stuff up today (yay!). I’ve been out on a few more missions in the meantime including one a couple of days ago that involved a decent …
USA Today Seeking IRR Soldiers for Interviews
Donna Leinwand contacted me yesterday about doing an interiew via email for USA Today, and asked if I would put her contact information on my website so that other IRR soldiers might contact her. I need to coordinate …
Pentagon Still Resists Increases in Army Active Duty Roster
ArmyTimes reports Increase in troop strength could hamper modernization efforts. Quote: Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker renewed the Pentagon argument that the military can get through the current high level of deployments with …
First Offbase Contact with Iraqis
Well, I got my first experience with the locals today when we did a drive through a village area today. I was in the back of an APC in a small convoy; basically we were just patrolling and trying to find out what was in …
First Day Of Real Work
Today was my first mission outside the base camp. I’m serving as a platoon leader for a combat engineer line platoon. There’s actually a PL already here whom I’m shadowing until he leaves in a few weeks …
Update from Caldwell
I found out yesterday that I’ll be a line platoon leader, something I did back at C/112 in Columbus in Ohio, so I’m pretty comfortable with that. I’m actually excess at the moment, shadowing the current …
A few more useful items
1. FRS Radio and/or GPS. The Rino 120 works as both but chews through batteries. The radios can be useful for non-tactical usage on bases. 2. Name tapes - you’ll want some extra ones of these for your bags, IBV …
My New Home Away From Home
Ok, here’s a bunch of publicly available info on Kirkush/Caldwell/Balad Ruz that I picked up over the last couple of weeks but didn’t post because I didn’t want to disclose where I was going until I got …
Made it to my Unit
Finally managed to fly from Balad to my unit at Camp Caldwell. Checked in with my unit this morning. More to come later, but all’s well here, and I may have the chance to unpack in another day or so (naturally they …