Ave Atque Vale! - Page 2

texas*princess · #1 01-07-2003, 10:15 PM

Good luck & be safe!

justamom · #2 02-17-2003, 08:03 AM

Anyone hear from Dekeguy???

Contact · #3 02-17-2003, 10:20 AM

Be safe.

justamom · #4 04-09-2003, 07:01 AM

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!

mu_agd · #5 04-09-2003, 07:15 AM

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

dzrose93 · #6 04-09-2003, 09:37 AM

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!

dekeguy · #7 05-14-2003, 02:33 PM

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!

justamom · #8 05-14-2003, 02:52 PM

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!

mu_agd · #9 05-14-2003, 02:58 PM

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

texas*princess · #10 05-14-2003, 03:06 PM

So happy to hear things are going well for you

Continued best wishes to you & everyone else out there

DeltAlum · #11 05-14-2003, 11:38 PM

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

Stay well and don't let your guard down.

dekeguy · #12 08-24-2003, 02:20 AM

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

bethany1982 · #13 08-24-2003, 02:26 AM

Dekeguy,

Thanks for your service!

polarpi · #14 08-24-2003, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dekeguy
... 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.
Thanks again,
dekeguy

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

mmcat · #15 08-24-2003, 09:34 AM

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