Hi Everyone! Sorry I haven't been able to update lately. I was at the FOB until last week and had allot to take care of afterwards. I'm looking forward to next week. I am going home for a couple of days before heading overseas. The time will go fast. I will enjoy every minute of it. I miss some of the simple things. Home cooked food, space, freedom to go and do what I would like to do, and most important hugging and kissing my wife and son. I miss them very much. I have to take advantage of the time home. I won't get to see them again for approximately 10 months. I have allot of people that are wanting to see me on my leave. I hope I don't upset anyone if I wont be able to see them before I go. I'm lucky to have so many caring friends and family. Our training is almost over. The only thing I have left is downed aviator survival training. It feels good to be almost done. I'm ready to start our mission in Iraq.
Some of the training I received out at the FOB(Forward Operating Base), showed how tough and dangerous some the jobs there are. We had training on finding and identifying IEDs(improvised explosive devices) on the roads. We also did training on route clearing and convoys. We spent 4 days going out on simulated missions driving gun trucks on the routes. I was the assistant convoy commander. So I had my hands full navigating and assisting the convoy commander. I have a great appreciation for the soldiers that their job is to find and destroy roadside bombs. It is very stressful. We spent time on how to defend the FOB when it gets attacked. Hopefully, the knowledge I've gained from the training has made me and my fellow soldiers able to handle the missions we will be doing every day. Take care, I won't have an update until after I get back from leave. Todd