Ave Atque Vale! - Page 3

AOIIalum · #1 08-24-2003, 10:37 AM

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

Tom Earp · #2 08-24-2003, 10:48 AM

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.

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

DZHBrown · #3 08-24-2003, 12:32 PM

Good luck and take care!!
Greek love
Heather

DeltAlum · #4 08-24-2003, 12:34 PM

Well Done. And an early Welcome Home.

justamom · #5 08-25-2003, 03:11 PM

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!

dekeguy · #6 03-23-2004, 06:53 PM

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.

RACooper · #7 03-24-2004, 02:26 AM

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

dekeguy · #8 03-24-2004, 10:19 AM

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.

DeltAlum · #9 03-24-2004, 10:59 AM

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.

dekeguy · #10 03-24-2004, 01:39 PM

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".

RACooper · #11 03-24-2004, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dekeguy
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.

Well lets see.... any Regular deployments I was attached to the RCR (Royal Canadian Rifles) but my old reserve regiments are the GGFG (Governor General Foot Guards - Infantry - 4 years), which are the guys that do the Changing of the Guard here in Canada (like Buckingham Palace)...... and of course were my heart lies: The GGHG or the Governor General Horse Guards, which i originally joined back in 92'...... no real stories that i care to relate from my active service overseas; but I do have fond memories of a lot of fun trips down south to be the enemy force for the Marines or Rangers, or to play the best video game in the world at Fort Knox......

... as for active strength.... not that great; it's pretty much the same situation as the UK, since around 90' there has been a significant decrease in force size and funding, with no serious equipment upgrades other than radios (no more Veitnam era crap), scopes for all assualt rifles and light MGs (C7 & C9... think M16A3 or M249), battlevests & helmets, and comabt uniforms... basically geared towards slightly enhancing the capabilities of the trooper out peacekeeping. I'm not sure but I think the current strength of the Forces is roughly hovering around 70000.

dekeguy · #12 04-13-2004, 01:02 PM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dekeguy
[
A few things that occur to me are:
I have seen the way American soldiers act under pressure and I am overcome with pride in 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 you may remember, I wrote the above several months ago when my unit was still deployed forward. It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out what was bound to happen as we settled down to the hard part of soldiering. What amazes me is that so many people are surprised by what was plainly going to be a long hard road while a country whose basic human infrastructure had been effectively destroyed would have to rebuild its human component from the very bottom up. I am disappointed by the attitude and actions of some of the Iraqis but not surprised. These poor people are operating in a social setting not unlike the Dark Ages and they are being incited by some self serving types who survived the Ba'ath domination and are now trying to assert power for themselves. I only hope that some true and honorable Iraqi patriots emerge and gradually take charge of their country. In the mean time its going to be a tough tour of duty for our guys who have to try and maintain some order. Well, as my old Sergeant Major used to say, "Some days you get to earn your pay the hard way". Its a volunteer Army and every soldier knows that not every assignment promises easy duty. Anyway, the President told us up front that this was going to be a long hard war against global terrorism and it seems he was right on target in that analysis. Pray for a good and honorable solution and don't forget that your Army could use a word of appreciation and support. Soldiers don't ask for much, but what comes is greatly appreciated.

KellyB369 · #13 04-13-2004, 01:18 PM

Thank you so much to you and all of the troops!

We are so lucky to have such brave preople representing our country!

Honeykiss1974 · #14 04-13-2004, 01:31 PM

May God be with you and protect everyone serving in the miltary

honeychile · #15 04-13-2004, 01:38 PM

dekeguy, I'm so glad that you've been able to go back to school, and can reflect so intelligently on your service. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you!

When my dad was buried, the navy man who presented my mother with his flag said some beautiful words, which I wish I had memorized. Paraphrased, they are something like "On behalf of the President and a grateful nation, please accept this flag in honor of the service of your husband." (as I said, paraphrased).

I think too many soldiers don't get to hear that gratitude while they're still alive, and dekeguy, RACooper, GPhiB Col, and all who have served so that I may enjoy my freedom, I thank you with all I have. You are the true heroes of this great nation!