Christmas 2011

 Well kids, it's time for another not so regular blog update.  Maybe a new year's resolution should be to update this blog more regularly. 

Christmas has come and gone.  Luckily, I was able to make it home this year.  It was incredible to be able to spend the holiday with my family this year.  Even better was the weather in Iowa.  When I got home on Friday there was an inch or two of snow on the ground but by Christmas it had almost all melted away due to the 40, yes 40, plus degree weather.  Good enough weather for some family football and soccer to take place after a late breakfast.  Thanks for the presents this year, most of them are already in use at my apartment

The highlight of Christmas was when my dad open his gift from me.  I decided to honor my dad's service in Vietnam by building a joint shadow box with his awards and mine in.  It most definitely was not on his Christmas list and he never expected to ever receive such a gift.  (Side note: Vietnam vets hardly ever get recognized for the sacrifices they made during their service.  Polar opposite of how today's Iraq and Afghanistan vets are treated.  Next time you see a Vietnam veteran, stop and thank them.  They deserve it as much (probably more) than today's vets do.) 

More important then Christmas (yeah, hard to believe there's anything much more important than Christmas) was that my sister Jill finally decided to have her baby.  She enjoyed the suspense so much that she didn't have Megan Belle until December 17th instead of December 1st when the doctors said she was due.  But Mom, Dad, and Megan are all doing great and, as you can see below, Megan is adorable.

Don't know when I'll make it home again.  In early March I'll be moving to the Ft. Lee, VA area to attend my captain's career course.  I'll only be there for five months but still have to move all my stuff with me.  Somebody in big Army didn't think that decision through very well, but whatever, I'm just ready to move on with my career.  During the second month I'm at Ft. Lee, I'll learn where I'm going after school.  My top two choices are Italy and Germany.  I would love to be able to travel Europe for a couple years.  And some people might really enjoy visiting me while I'm over there too!

That's it for now.  Later!

Christmas 2011 family pictures.  The Shields family keeps getting bigger.  There will be another addition in late March when my second niece, Lia, will be born.

Megan meet Frosty.  Frosty meet Megan Belle.

Opening presents takes a lot out of everybody.  Ryan and Jack both needed a nap after an exciting day of presents.  Notice the snow on the deck.  It was the first snow I've seen in over two years.

I stopped in Cedar Rapids on the way home from Clarksville to meet Megan for the first time.  The outcome agreed upon is that she is cute and tiny and that  I'm adorable and large.

The shadow box I made for Dad.  I had the flag flown at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan in front of the Regional Command (Southwest) Headquarters.  The awards on the left half are Dad's the ones on the right are mine. 

Settling In

Well, it was a very long and trying year in Afghanistan.  However, it is finally over.  On October 19th (2 days later then originally planned so two units could fly home at the same time and save the government some money) we touched down back at Hanger 3 aboard Ft Campbell, KY.  Mom and Dad where there to greet me home and it was incredible to see some friendly faces beyond the ones I had spent the last 366 days with.  In case you didn't get any pictures from Mom earlier, I have included some here as well.

Me walking from the plane to Hanger 3 for the Welcome Home Ceremony on October 19, 2011.

Mom and me during the brief family time portion of the Welcome Home Ceremony.

Overall, my unit did an amazing job supporting all the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coalition Forces in Regional Command (Southwest).  (Afghanistan is broken down into six regional commands.  Each one is commanded by a two star general and reports directly to NATO's International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF))  My section ended up planning over 100 convoys pushing mission essential equipment between three Regional Commands.  We moved 35,000 tons of equipment over 300,000 miles.  A great accomplishment considering a lot of the those miles were driven over open dessert terrain.   We could not have done it with out the more then 600 Soldiers in our battalion who completed all these missions and made the battalion headquarters successful. 

Our battalion lost five great Americans while we were deployed.  Four to IEDs and one in a vehicle rollover.  Not a day has gone by since we lost the first two on January 29, 2011; two on August 25, 2011; one on August 29, 2011; that I haven't thought about them.  I will never forget the ultimate sacrifices they and their families made for a very grateful country.  Gone but never forgotten. 

Not sure what I'll be doing for the next couple months.  I do know I will be home for Turkey Day and Christmas this year.  And I know I'll be going to the Combined Logistics Captain's Career Course (CLC3 - abbreviation is pronounced "Click-3" if you hear me say that) in March at Ft Lee.  Other than, not really sure.  Looks like I'll spend just enough time in Clarksville to get good and settled in and then it will be time to start moving.

Can't wait to see everybody in a couple weeks!

Almost Home

On Wednesday, we officially transferred all of our responsibilities to our replacements.  We are now just sitting around waiting for our flight out of Camp Leatherneck and, subsequently, from Manas back to Fort Campbell.  Our flights were delayed a couple days so we could fly back home with another unit from Ft. Campbell.  Right now, we're on pace to spend exactly 365 days deployed.  Cutting it awfully close to having to get paid extra money for being here longer then a year.  So, with the new flights, here is the new countdown.

Also, for updates about when we're supposed to get back to Ft. Campbell, check out:
http://www.campbell.army.mil/campbell/directorates/DPTMS/Pages/flights.aspx

See you in a few!

Countdown Update and Then Some

So there has been slight adjustment to the countdown.  I'll still be home on the same date but the replacements arrival changed.

28 Days left!!!!

In other news, I found the vehicle I will be buying when I get back.  It's a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Summit Edition.  I test drove a similar one while I was home on R&R in June and loved it.  It actually goes back to when I first saw the commercial for the new Grand Cherokee before I even left for Afghanistan.  At that point I decided I would be buying one when I got back and I've been saving up ever since.  This is the exact vehicle I will be taking off the lot.  As soon as the dealer emails me back confirming the receipt of my security deposit, I'm sending a friend to look at it and test drive.  I'd hate to end up buying a cardboard cut out of a Jeep.  And she also happens to be a former Jeep dealer so even better.

My baby...

I decided I won't be taking leave until November 15.  This gives me time to get settled in at where ever I will be calling home when I get back.  And then my leave ends after Thanksgiving.  Don't know when exactly I'll be back in Iowa but I definitely won't be driving home on Wednesday night and leaving on Saturday again this year.  That was a terrible mistake last time.  I will be taking another two weeks of leave around Christmas too.  Haven't set exact dates yet.

The Countdown

So, as my days in Afghanistan wind down,  I thought I would share something with you all.  This is the countdown I've used for almost 11 months.  This is as of 12SEPT11.  The thing to not is that I'm rapidly reappearing in the Christmas picture and just as rapidly disappearing out the desert picture.

323 days complete, 35 to go; 13 days until our replacement arrive, 17 days of transition, 5 days to return home.

Can't wait to get home!

Four Years Later

Hopefully the world won't end with this post.  I don't know if the world can handle two of my blogs in the same week...

For those that don't actively follow my Facebook status, I commissioned as an officer in the United States Army four years ago Monday.  Yes, somehow it has already been four years.  I know I haven't been around much since then, but I want to take this opportunity to thank everybody for their outstanding support.  Whether I is was in OBC, Iraq, actually at Ft. Campbell, or Afghanistan, I've gotten nothing but love, support, and amazing care packages.  All of this even though I've missed countless birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, two Christmases (is that how you pluralize Christmas?), and pretty much every other major event in the lives of my families and friends.

So, in lieu of a video montage of the last four years, here are some pictures of my commissioning and two promotions.  Here's to at least two more promotions after this!  (That would make me a Lieutenant Colonel and a pretty big deal...)

Aug 15, 2007 - Commissioning day.  Yeah you better buff those finger prints off of my brand new gold 2LT bars!!!

April 2, 2009 - Promotion to 1LT.  CPT Param, the guy I replace as platoon leader is pinning my new rank on my patrol cap even though I had already sewn on my rank.  Oh by the way, if you jam a patrol cap with pin rank down on somebody's head, it hurts pretty bad.

April 3, 2011 - LTC Rickleff, my battlaion commander, promoting me from 1LT to CPT.  I got promoted later than I should have because of where my 1LT date of rank fell in the promotion cycle but, as always, better late than never

That's all I got.  We have a pretty awesome mission coming up in the next week.  Hopefully combat camera will go along and release some picture for me to steal and put on the blog.

Later.

Some More Pictures

What's up everybody.  I hope the weather back home is finally starting to cool down and stay cool.  It's still pretty warm here but I think for a couple days it was warmer in Iowa and Kansas than it was here.  August and September are supposed to be the hottest months but so far, August has been relatively mild (knocking on wood).  It will probably be a shock to my system when I get home in mid-October and its about 50 or 60 degrees.  As long as it's not raining, I should be good to go.

Anyway, I was looking through the pictures on my computer and thought I'd throw a few more on the blog.  All of them are from really early in the deployment.  Either October or November.  I have no idea why the first picture is all the way to the right.  The internet is too slow to delete it and try to reload it though.

Enjoy!

This was taken in late November during the first mission I went on.  Early morning on day two of the seven day mission.  Zero roads, just open desert to drive through.  Probably should've had my weapon on me but I was surrounded by security.  This was shortly before we started moving.  Think we only moved 5 or so kilometers that day.  The next day was long though.  Like 20 hours of straight driving long.

October 22, 2010.  Just got off the plane after flying Manas to Bastion (the airfield is on the British side but almost all the American troops are on Leatherneck).  Minus the nap on the plane, think I'd been up for about a day.

Afghan night through night vision.  Since we were in the middle of nowhere you could see what seemed like every star in the universe.  Remember when I said we drove for 20 hours, this was on about hour 15.

62 days to go...

Later!

Updates

Hello again everybody.  Every since I came back from R&R time has really been flying by.  I can't believe it's been over a month since I got back here.  I usually find myself wondering where the day went by asking myself how it's already 1630.  Maybe it's because I found another hobby in the stock market.  Maybe it's because our replacements will be here in 62 days.  Whatever it is, I don't care.  I just want the time to keep flying by.

In other news, I recently received an email from West Point inviting me to apply to be a chemistry instructor there.  I decided that since there really isn't a downside, that I should go ahead and apply.  If I get selected, it will be an amazing opportunity to get a fully funded masters degree and then teach for three years.  If I don't get selected, I will just go where ever the Army sends me (hopefully Italy) and take company command.

One final note, in the coming weeks we are going to have a dedication for our new convoy briefing building.  It will be called the "Campbell-Muhr Briefing Building" after SPC Campbell and SPC Muhr who were killed while on a convoy 29JAN11.  What a great way for these two great Americans to be remembered.  Since that day we've had a couple close calls but everybody has come out in good shape.  Just some bumps, bruises, and bad headaches.  But still we're not out of harm's way.  Please keep all the Soldiers and their families in your thoughts and prayers.  Even after I'm home, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines will still be here relentless pursuing the enemy.

Can't wait to see everybody in less then three months.

Later!

R&R

After seven months in Afghanistan, I finally got to go leave for some well deserved R&R on May 28.  After a couple days in Kuwait and the long flight home.  I got to Cedar Rapids on June 1.  I was greeted at the airport by my mom and dad, sisters Sarah, Jill, and Hilary, and my nephews Zach and Noah.  It was really appreciated that everybody stayed up late to see me as soon as I got off the plane.



The welcome committee and me at the Eastern Iowa Airport.

On a side note, I would like to thank all the Veteran's and Welcome Home groups at the Bangor (Maine), Atlanta, and Dallas airports for their warm reception that they provide every single R&R flight that arrives at each airport (usually one per day).  Thank you for taking time out of your busy days to provide a smile and hand shake to some tired Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines during their long travels to see their loved one.  Also, thanks to the US Cellulars in Maine that provide free cell phones to the troops while they wait in the terminal for the next leg of their trip.

After arriving back Mom and Dad's house (man, it's crazy quite in Iowa...), I spent a week there being force feed my mom's awesome home cooking and rhubarb and apple pies (she's makes the best pies in the world!).  There were also some mandatory trips to my favorite restaurants such as Old Chicago, Famous Dave's, and Carlos O'Kelly's.  But then it was time to head off the Las Vegas for a long weekend with just the kids.  We were able to trim some fat from the budget by staying at a friend's time share that's a couple miles south of The Strip.  You miss some of the 'Las Vegas Experience' by staying there but we still spent most of the time on the strip anyway.  But it was nice for everybody to get to save a little cash. 


It's not a trip to Vegas without some pictures in front of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign.

The highlights of the trip, for me at least, was the dinner on Saturday at BOA Steakhouse in Caesar's Palace and then going to Blue Man Group on Sunday.  I spent a good month researching restaurants to go to while we were there and my patience paid off.  BOA is AMAZING!  From the bar's signature cocktails to dessert, everything was perfect and delicious.  It is definitely one of those places that you get the bill, swear a couple times, but then you're like, "That was worth it."

The group at BOA Steakhouse for dinner.  The only thing that kept dinner from being perfect was the waiter's photography skills (or lack there of).  Ryan was there too but all you can see is his stomach in the lower left corner.

Blue Man Group was everything everybody has ever said about it.  Hilarious, dynamic, and loud.  But PVC has never sounded so good.  I really wish I could've taken pictures to show everybody. 

Overall, Las Vegas was an incredible experience that I will never forget.  The last day we were there, I tried to come up with the best phrase to describe the trip.  All I could come up with was, "Las Vegas is retarded awesome."  At some point, though, I will have to go back and stay on the strip so I can get the whole experience. 

It's been a great R&R but everything must come to an end eventually.  Friday is when I start flying back to Afghanistan.  But the good news is that when I get there we will only have four months left in country.  Time should start going by pretty quick and before we know it, our replacements will be there and we will be on a flight back to Ft. Campbell.  I don't know when I will be taking my block leave after we redeploy.  I'm thinking of waiting until late November and just take a couple weeks at a time so that I can be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'll keep everybody posted.

Later.

Finally Got Promoted!

Hope this finds everybody well.  It has been quite awhile since my last post.  Not a lot of exciting things happened; however, I did get promoted today.

Thanks to everybody for your support during the 3 1/2 years I've been in the Army.  Especially during the 18 months I've spent in Iraq or Afghanistan.  I can't wait to go home on R&R in June and get to thank everybody in person.

Here are some pictures for those that didn't get any emailed to them.

The Battalion Commander, LTC Daniel Rickleff, is talking me up the crowd.  In the background is the PLS (Palletized Loading System) motor pool.  They are the workhorse of the battalion as we crisscross the wicked terrain in this area.

LTC Rickleff is pinning (aka Velcroing or 'hook and loop fastener' for those of you that are afraid of copyright infringement) my Captain's 'railroad tracks' to my chest.

Congrats were in order afterwards.  Man that rank looks good...  And yes, I got new glasses a while back.

Had give some shout outs to the all Soldiers in the unit that have worked so hard over the last six months.  I made sure to especially thank all the Soldiers that put their lives on the line everyday running convoys to accomplish the battalion's mission.  They're doing an amazing job of helping the warfighters through Regional Command (Southwest).

 

 

Birthdays (Late and Early)

Before I get to the normal blog, gotta show some love for the birthday kids back home.  Happy B-day to Hilary (a month late but I already got here over email), Dad (a couple days early), and Mom (a couple more days early).  I miss everybody and I wish I could be home to help celebrate.

It's been back to business as usual the last couple weeks.  We keep pumping out cargo around the battlefield to help the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines that are fighting the real battles on a daily basis. 

I don't think it's too early to start planning for my June R&R trip.  I can't wait to go to Vegas for a couple days with all the Shields kids.  I've never been there so I'm more excited then everybody else.  On top of that, one of my buddies is going to lets us use her timeshare in Vegas (if everybody agrees to it off course).  Should be a great time.  Vegas better watch out for us...

So, I'm getting kicked off the computer after 10 minutes.  I love this place.

Later.

Emotional Two Weeks

The Drive the Wedge Battalion lost two great Americans on 29January.

SPC Campbell and SPC Muhr were killed when an IED detonated next to their vehicle.  It's been a rough couple weeks here since it happened.  I can only imagine what their wives, children, families, and friends having going through since these heroes lost their lives.

I ask that your pray for their families as they mourn their losses.

-Spence 

Long Awaited Pictures

So that start off my 26th birthday, I thought it would be a good idea to do a 25 km road march.  For those that aren't familiar with the metric system, that's supposed to be 15.5 miles.  The actual march, however, was only 14 miles. 

At first it was only going to be me and SSG Smith (pictured below).  But after about an hour, it grew to be 40 people from our company.  And then a day later, it grew to 160 Soldiers from the entire battalion.  Safe to say that the battalion had to go to minimal manning for the day because a quarter of the battalion was gone.

The road march is actually called the Danish Contigency Road March or DANCON.  It is a Danish military tradition that started about 60 years ago.  Now, whenever there is a Danish military contingent deployed to a forward location, they will conduct this march.  It's a pretty cool opportunity that I decided to take advantage of since it will probably be the only time I will get to do or the next time I get to do it, I'd probably be to broke to be able to do it.

Anyway, it's not supposed to be a competion but as with everything else in the military, it turned into one.  SSG Smith finish first from the company coming in at 3 hrs and 14 minutes.  I finished a couple minutes behind him at 3 hrs and 16 minutes.  Not bad since neither of us had trained for it.  Probably helps that we do 12 mile road marches every quarter when we're back at Ft. Campbell though.

Anyway, thought I'd finally post some pictures.  More to follow if I can figure out why my personal computer doesn't want to burn anything to a CD.

Judging by the lack of sweat and relatively relaxed look I have, this was before the march started.  The guy on the left is SSG Jason Smith.  He was my battle buddy for all 14 miles of the march.



This picture was taken at about the three mile mark.  Most of the course was gravel or packed dirt but this particular road was about 8 inches of "moon dust."  Moon dust is dirt/rock that has been crushed and pulvarized to the point of being the consistancy of powdered sugar.  Still going strong at this point.



This is what I looked like after walking/running 14 miles in 3 hrs and 16 minutes.  My pack was only 35 pounds (including my weapon), but it still wears you down after 14 miles.

 That's it for now.

Later.

Learning Lots

So it's been a minute since the last post.  The focus over the last couple weeks has been learning the processes of other units that we work with so we can interact more fluidly with them.  To say it's been a confusing couple weeks is an understatement.  Seems like everybody you talk to has a different interpretation of how they're supposed to do their job.  So when three different sections are trying to work with the group and each person gets a different story, leads to heartbreak when everybody goes to the boss with a different answer.  Oh well, this is the life of a military officer.

It's been awhile since I've called home.  Usually I find myself glued to my chair and keyboard and forget to sneak away for 20 or 30 minutes to call back.  My goal for the rest of the deployment is to get back to what I did last deployment and call home every weekend.  It's tougher being 3 and half hours further ahead then while I was in Iraq, but it's worth it. 

I owe Ashley's class some emails since I said I was going to start emailing back and forth with them when the new semester started but that has slipped my mind too. 

Lame post today.  I need to try to get some pictures burnt and brought into the office so I can post them. 

Later.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everybody!  I'm a couple days late, but the world didn't end so I think it'll be okay.

Thanks for all the Christmas pictures.  Looked like a good time, even if I wasn't there.  I think the Bellmer/Shields/Logan/Martinez picture should become an annual tradition.

I want to thank everybody for the presents I've been receiving and am still receiving.  I've been getting some Christmas/New Years/Birthday/Martin Luther King Jr. Day presents every couple days since Christmas.  The Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks coffee that some of you sent has been great and everybody is enjoying the break from the usual stuff we drink.  That stuff mostly tastes like burnt styrofoam. 

I was spending the gift card that Grandma Edna bought got me for Christmas and I accidentally sent it to my house in Clarksville that somebody is currently living in.  Yes, my house finally rented the week before Christmas.  So I'm kinda stuck because I bought some nice headphones to block out all the random noise in the room and some coffee.  I don't know which one I'm more upset about...

In Leatherneck news, they opened a new MWR facility with faster internet and more phones.  The best part is that it's about 50 yards from the house.  Now on my days off, I just have to go a little bit to check my email and call people.

I recently purchased a pair of the five toe running shoes (They're actually called Five Finger Vibrams).  Took two days to get the commander to bless off on it so we (a buddy and myself) each ordered a pair and are eagerly waiting for them to get here.  I rarely get this excited for mail, but I can't wait for these to get here.  From what I've read about them, you need to start with running like a quarter mile and working your way back up to normal running distances because of all the different muscles you work. 

That's it for now.  I actually finished a post before getting booted off the computer.

Later.