Ave Atque Vale!
 

I wanted to take a moment to say thanks to all my GC friends and debating partners for some great conversations, thought provoking exchanges, and lots of good fun.
As some of you know I will be leaving Sunday to report for active duty as a recalled reservist. Looks like I will be going through a quick refresher course and then assignment to a duty outfit. I'm not sure if or how much I will be able to stay current with GC, so I am taking this opportunity to say good luck and best wishes to you all.

good luck!
 

I just want to wish you the best of luck. Thanking you for making our country a little bit safer.

good luck and be safe.

Dearest dekeguy, may God bless and keep you safe and in his love. My prayers are with you and the young men and women who protect our beliefs and way of life.

It would be so wonderful if you do check in. I hope you have the opportunity. I know we will all be thinking of you!

HUGE BEAR HUG sent to you!:)

Take care and stay safe :)

dekeguy,


Good Luck to you. Be safe and if you can keep in touch if you can!!!!

We will be thinking of you!:)

dekeguy, I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Please be safe in all that you do!

I wish you the best of luck. I just found out that a guy I know from Ireland is headed for the Middle East, and he isn't happy about it...in fact, he isn't too keen on Americans in general right now, and I understand how he feels. Just try and stay safe!

Thank you all for the kind comments and prayers. I'll do my best to serve with honor, do a good job, and, if it comes to a head knocking session, get the job done and get my guys home in one piece. Not sure yet what my assignment will be (hoping for command of a Cavalry Troop or Armor Company), and this could go on for a while so I'll have to play it by ear, but one thing to remember is that this is an all volunteer Army, active and reserve, so none of us can honestly moan about being called to do what we signed up for, what ever that assignment turns out to be.
I will be leaving in a couple of hours and it will probably be a few days before I can get email up and running when I arrive. Hopefully connection to the net won't be a problem. I'll try to check in then if circumstances permit.
If it turns out to be a while before I can connect let me sign off with these thoughts: First, I am proud to serve and honored to lead. (Prayers for skill, determination, and wisdom will be greatly appreciated). Second, God bless the United States of America and help us preserve and defend our freedom to agree, to disagree, and still be friends and fellow Americans at the end of the day.

You will have the prayers, and our thanks for your spirit and your skill -- whether we agree with the necessity of this action or not, we are fortunate to have you.

Be safe.

take it easy man.

My best wishes go out to you, dekeguy, and all of the men and women in the Armed Forces. Thank you for being willing and able to serve our country in this most unsettling time.

Come home soon!
Christin

God Bless you and the USA!
Thank you for your service and we'll be sure to keep you in our thoughts and prayers!
Return quickly and safely!

Stay safe.

:)

Good luck & be safe! :)

Anyone hear from Dekeguy???

Be safe.

I ran a search and you haven't posted since 3/20.

If you have a chance to read this...I know many of us are sending prayers to you and your guys!

Stay safe, and THANK YOU for your courage!

Stay safe out there! Thank you for your courage and bravery!

We are definitely thinking about you, dekeguy! I hope that you are doing well and are able to drop in on GC soon to tell us that you're safe and sound. :) I'm so proud of you and all the rest of the courageous men and women who are defending our freedom right now. Thank you for your brave and loyal efforts.

God Bless America!

To all of you who sent prayers and kind words, many thanks! Sorry I have not had the chance to keep up with GC but as you know we have been rather busy. Things were occasionally a bit intense but, all in all, a thoroughly good execution of a damned good op plan.
A few things that occur to me are:
My guys performed in a truly superb manner and conducted themselves with honor and considerable gallantry.
Every man in my outfit was a credit to his Unit, his Army, and his Country. I have seen the way American soldiers act under pressure and I am overcome with pride in them and with gratitude for the enormous honor of leading some of them.
I think we will be here for some time as Saddam has effectively eliminated any possible opponents down to the village level. Either you were an active Ba'ath party member or you had to be totally apolitical to avoid getting the chop. This means that rebuilding any sort of effective human infrastructure will take time. This is unfortunate as most of the people here haven't a clue about Americans. They are overjoyed to be free of a thug and his murderous gang but are suspicious of Westerners. There isn't much developed talent to hand over to, so we are going to have to be patient and let some natural leaders emerge at all levels to begin transitioning to a local human infrastructure. I think it would be a mistake to be too closely identified with this process of emerging local leadership as anyone seen to be too close to us and our partners will be seen as a tool of foreign interests. There will probably have to be a semi-popular US appointed transitional structure leading eventually to a wholly home grown infrastructure that can be seen as genuinely independent. In the mean time we will need to be here to patrol the area, keep order, root out the vestiges of the bad guys, and most importantly, provide a relief structure to keep the water and electricity going and food and medical care available to the people until they can take the ball and run with it. Just my thoughts, but thats how I see it anyway.
As to myself, I expect that my call up will be for several more months unless things settle down faster than expected. I was assigned to my unit as a replacement on normal rotation of duties and most of the guys assumed I was regular active duty and not a recalled reservist. (As you might remember, I was an individual recallee as opposed to a member of a reserve unit that was called up). The Colonel seems to be happy with the job I am doing, so he has asked whether I want to be released if the opportunity presents itself or if I would like to stay a while longer. I told him that since I took the Troop into this operation I'd like to take them back to home station again when we rotate out of the area of operations. He then asked whether I wanted to stay in the Active Army. On the one hand I was deeply gratified and sorely tempted, and on the other I keep wondering about getting back and finishing law school. Anyway, I think its going to be some time before any of us get out of here.
Things are slowing down a little but it is still pretty busy so I won't have a lot of time to keep up with all of you on GC, but I'll try to sign on every couple of days and relay any thoughts and comments via my remote connection to my Dad's office in Virginia.
By the way, did anybody catch the news clip of one of my guys responding to a group of Iraqi civilians? The Iraqis called up to him thanking us for rescuing them from Saddam. His answer was straight out of a Hollywood cliche but was right on target. "Glad to help Sir, but thats our job, we're the US Cavalry!

:) So happy to hear from you! Keep posting as so many of us
are thinking of you!

"Glad to help Sir, but thats our job, we're the US Cavalry!

Gotta love it!

So glad to hear from you! Continue to stay safe out there!

So happy to hear things are going well for you :) Continued best wishes to you & everyone else out there :)

What a great quote! Congratulations to you and your people.

Stay well and don't let your guard down.

LATE BREAKING NEWS
 

Two weeks ago we were told that we could expect to stay here another six months. Apparently the decision has been made that since the unit we were augmenting went back to home station in Georgia last week and the 2nd, 3rd, and 17th Armored Cavalry Regiments are now here in strength, we are to rotate to CONUS this week!!!!!
I am happy to report that the Troop did an exceptionally good job, we lost no one KIA, suffered only a few very minor wounds, and conducted all actions honorably and effectively. Morale has been very good throughout and is now outtasight! I am unbelievably proud of my guys and I am delighted to report to you that this is one damned fine outfit which represented you, as Americans, very well in its conduct, both under fire and doing positive things like distributing chow and water to villagers, of which all of you can be proud. I'll have plenty of war stories to tell when I get back but for now, many thanks for all the support and encouragement both on the open threads and in private mail messages. I took the liberty of posting a lot of these on the Troop bulletin board and the guys ate it up! A little support from home goes a long way!
Time for the trumpeter to "sound Boots and Saddles" my guys are coming home!
Thanks again,
dekeguy

Dekeguy,

Thanks for your service!

Re: LATE BREAKING NEWS
 

Glad to have you all returning home safely.....thank you for being willing to serve the country in such a capacity.

god bless you....take care and be safe until you are home. our prayers remain with you.

What wonderful news! Now hurry up and get home safe and sound. Thanks to you and to the entire troop for EVERYTHING they have done while in service to our United States of America!

Christin

dekeguy,

Give all of your GUYS (Troop) a good to go from all of us!:)

One of My Guys Jeremiah Hull (LXA) is over there and dont hear from him that much!

Ask around and see if you can run across him!

LOL that might be a tall order!!

Good to hear that you and your guys are doing well condidering the circumstances.:cool:

Be Safe, Be Well, and All come back home safe and sound!:)

Good luck and take care!!
Greek love
Heather

Well Done. And an early Welcome Home.

I am unbelievably proud of my guys and I am delighted to report to you that this is one damned fine outfit which represented you, as Americans, very well in its conduct, both under fire and doing positive things like distributing chow and water to villagers, of which all of you can be proud.

I know ALL of us are so proud of YOU! I get goosebumps when I hear from you! It reminds me what's REAL, what's IMPORTANT, things that make me ashamed, ashamed because they "matter"...just don't matter as much any more! You, my friend, have given me so much to think about and be thankful for. You have made me, at times, feel so small. I could never face the danger or physical challenges that for you are a daily part of life. I dare say only a handful could. I thank YOU and your WONDERFUL young men from the bottom of my heart!

Ps...I'll Pm you with more local news when I gather my thoughts and info! Forgive me for not responding sooner, I got so caught up in things yesterday!

I was just thinking about where I was one year ago and wondered how many GCers have been called up and are still on active duty either in Iraq or assigned to other duties. I get a lot of emails from the troopers I commanded, some of them, the Regular Army guys, are back in Iraq already, and some are expecting reassignment soon. It seems like a lifetime ago. I was really lucky and now that I'm back in Law School it seems almost like a movie I saw rather than recent reality. We had it relatively easy as we were a composite augmentation unit supporting the 3rd ID and came home after a short tour deployment. Most of the Reserve and National Guard units were sent for at least a one year tour. I got to spend Christmas with my family on holiday in the UK, had some decompression time at home before that, and was back in school for the second semester. Final exams are coming up fast and then 3L. So, now I can join in when people start spinning war stories, I have a bit more cred with the faculty, and this time next year I'll be looking at graduation coming up soon.
So, anybody else have any call-up stories? Who is still on active status? Any reservists thinking about staying in or asking to go on active duty? I am continuing to think about going Army JAG and I will remain in the Reserve but for now I am keeping a low profile in the Individual Ready Reserve and not joining a unit even though drill pay would be welcome.
OK, I'm rambling on, someone please chime in and tell me about your military experiences.

Congrats on the early out..... I have some friends that have gone back for their second stint.

As for myself I have been seriously considering going back on the active reserve list here in Canada... the military is stretched pretty thin with Afghanistan, UN, and NATO commitments. Alot of my old buddies in the Regs are on their 6th or 7th tour and a number of the reservists are being asked for a 3rd.... so some troops are burning out with the tour - training - tour routine with no time for relaxation or family.... even if I don't go on a tour at least I can take one troop's place as an instructor and let him get some down time to unwind.....

PS> DeltAlum i love the fact that in an earlier post you used the termed Armour and not Armor :)

RACooper,
Thanks for your comments. I applaud your thoughts about going back on the Active Reserve List. I agree that it would be an excellent opportunity to provide some breathing space for a Regular who could use a little stability time between deployments. Things are stretched pretty thin and the value of trained reserves is being proven beyond doubt. My UK cousins are telling me that the Army is the smallest it has been in over 100 years and the committments keep expanding. How are the Canadian Forces doing with regard to strength on the rolls and recruitment? How about yourself? What Regiment or Corps? Any stories to relate?
As regards spelling differences, in my case, with lots of UK connections and an MA (Oxon) I find it confusing to remember the spelling differences. I have cousins in the Royal Armoured Corps (one in the B&Rs and one in the QRL) and my basic branch is Armor, although as a Cav type I generally bend the rules a bit and use the archaic designation of Cavalry. I need to keep a low profile until graduation in June of '05, but after that I would not mind going back on active status. The dilema which I face is whether to request JAG or stay CAV.

RA,

Yeah, I kinda like that extra "u" in some words, although I don't always use it.

Deke,

Congratulations again on a job well done.

DeltAlum,
Thank you again for kind words and encouragement.
If I might ask, where did you pick up Brit style spelling?
I picked up the habit of Brit spelling when I was in school there. I was told that I spoke American, not English, and that American was a closely related but seperate language, not a common language with English.
Needless to say I had to mouth off and replied, "Funny, I thought we settled all that at Yorktown". Wow, I'm glad they no longer use the cane in the UK. My Dad, who also did part of high school in the UK tells me that he picked up a healthy respect for the phrase "Six of the best". His answer to caning was to wait for sports day and invite the master (teacher) who did the caning to meet him in a boxing fund raiser. As he said, after caning one shook hands with the applier to show there were no hard feelings between gentlemen, however, this did not preclude an opportunity to raise funds for the school's charity fund. He later told me that once he realized that the teacher was hopeless at boxing but gutsy enough to go into the ring with him Dad needed to take it easy on the teacher and make it look like the match was an even draw. Afterwards the teacher told him that he was concerned about my Dad's motive but when he saw how Dad handled the match he realized that Dad had made his point and joined in the spirit of things by his kind gesture to the teacher. All in all, Dad said it was a good learning experience and he did not go looking for opportunities to receive another "six of the best".