Jonathan Back At Work

IM'd with Jon this morning. He is back in Iraq and went straight to a shift as soon as he arrived. Looks like he is changing squads, but job remains same with some new faces. All is fine.

Nicholas Goes to Fairbanks

Nick has left for a 2 week exercise in Fairbanks. He understands that they will be jumping in and spending the time in intensive training clearing houses and villages during live-fire exercises. He will be out of contact until first of the month.

Nick said it is getting colder up there and much darker in the mornings.

Nick's Trip to Australia - Complete Album

While Nick was visiting last week, he gave me all the pictures from Australia. A few of them I already had, but here is a link to the complete album of his pictures.

Jon and Nick visit

Jon came home on leave for a couple weeks. Nick made a suprise weekend visit, so all of us got to spend a little time together. Both have returned to their bases now, but here are a few pictures taken during their visit.

If anyone has additional photos to add, please send them to me and I will add them to the album.

CONGRATULATIONS to Nick!!

Nicholas successfully completed his EIB testing yesterday and has been awarded the Expert Infantryman Badge. Info on the badge

Here is an article describing the EIB testing and the badge: Expert Infantryman's Badge

Article - Fighting Smarter (Popular Mechanics, Aug 2005)

Here's a good article I ready recently form the August issue of Popular Mechanics...

Welcome Home!

Jon arriving at DFW

Nick in Australia

Here's a few more pictures of Nick in Australia. He says he's sending me the whole CD of pictures... We'll see.

Iraq Pictures (Apr - Jun 2005)

Here's some new pictures from Jon...

Article: Training, Hydration Help Baghdad Troops Cope With Heat

Here's a good article about the heat Jon is going through...

DefenseLINK News: Training, Hydration Help Baghdad Troops Cope With Heat

Videos from Iraq

Jon sent me these three videos a while back and I just realized that I never posted them online. To play any of them, just click on the picture.

2005-04. Video Jon took in Iraq showing his current living quarters

2005-03. Video Jon took during his unit's Easter barbecue.

2005-02. Video Jon took from the tower of a dog playing with a plastic bag.

Australia Photos

Nick sent me seven photos from Australia. Hopefully more to follow.
I spoke with him yesterday and all is fine. Some of his unit is on leave right now, so he's just doing miscellaneous stuff around for a few weeks.

Good Website: www.welcometroops.com

This website details the daily Welcome Home events at DFW airport for returning soldiers
welcometroops.com

Happy 4th of July!

Shadow wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July, and show her patriotism! Click the link below to see her Stars & Stripes picture! To see the "Making of" video, click here.

Spoke with Jon yesterday

Yesterday I IM'd with Jon. His internet service has been down for a while now so he went to the Gym and used the computer there. He said all is fine. There is a sand storm going on, but it wasn't too severe - just makes it harder to breath. He said the weather hasn't been too hot there (I think its stayed below 110 F). Recently, he worked at one of the entry gates and checked vehicles as they entered the base. He said the day goes by pretty fast there.

Welcoming The Troops Home at DFW

This is a great website that talks about welcoming troops home at DFW. There are flights coming in daily and they always have groups of people there to welcome the troops and shake their hands.

http://www.welcometroops.com/

Nick Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Nick is leaving today for Rockhampton, Australia. He will be flying non-stop from Anchorage on his 17 hour flight. His Unit will be flying there aboard six C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. Info on the aircraft is available here.



His flight will take him 6,900 miles to Rockhampton near the East NE coastline of the Great Barrier Reaf. Temperatures currently are 50-75° F. - about the same as Anchorage. There is an 18 hour time difference between the two locations.


Rockhampton, Australia

Nick Going to Battle Crocodile Dundee

Nick leaving in a couple days to Australia. He will enjoy a lengthly flight aboard a military trasnport plane from Alaska to Australia accompanied by a jump into the Outback to invade and take over an air base. He will enjoy 10 action packed days with 180 of his closest battle buddies battling Ausi Insurgents to capture their "Barbe".

He said there will be six aircraft and they will have to make two passes to allow everyone to jump off the planes. Sounds like a wild ride.

Two New Articles in Dallas Morning News

Two new articles appeared in the Dallas Morning News recently.

The first is about a unit in the 56th BCT (Jon's Brigade) looking for IEDs.



The second is about a Sgt in the 111th Engineering Battallion (Jon's Battallion) fishing in Victory Lake. (You may recall that Jon sent several pictures of Victory Lake - see April 18, Pictures from Baghdad)