Army Strong Stories

Tag: ARMY


I’ve been able to spend some time at what we call the SPOD (seaport of debarkation). The main SPOD in Kuwait is the seaport of Ash Shuybah. There are over 20 berths for vessels – a huge number for a seaport. Many large seaports only have 7-8 berths. The U.S. military normally only uses 2-4 of the berths and usually only 1-2 concurrently now. During the major surge of Iraq operations in 2003, they sometimes used over 10 at a time.

There are many moving pieces of the operation to include security by the coast guard / Navy, physical loading / unloading by contracted 3rd Country Nationals, tracking by shipping labels and radio frequency tags, vessel load planning, staging cargo in the yard, hazardous material, customs inspection, tugboat operations, crane operations, etc. Many of the ships at the SPOD here are RO/RO ships. RO/RO is roll-on roll-off where a ramp comes down and vehicles and other cargo are driven on and off the ship.

The U.S. is looking at increasing operations at other SPOD’s in the Middle east to include Iraq, Jordan, and other locations. Since Afghanistan is land-locked, cargo headed there is often-trans-shipped at the SPOD Kuwait or other locations like the UAE. During trans-load operations, most cargo is containerized. Containers are off-loaded from a ship at the SPOD and then loaded into an aircraft for travel into Afghanistan. Some photos with captions from the SPOD. A smaller SPOD south of Shuaybah hosts the Kuwait Navy and some U.S. elements like Marine Corps and Army Vessels.

 

 

 

The American Tern, a Military Sealift Command container ship, is docked at the SPOD. 

 

KNB, Kuwait Naval Base.

 

RO/RO Pier

 

MRAP's trans-loaded from seaport, to be loaded on aircraft.

 

Army seaport operations personnel confer about loading helicopters at the port.

 

Operations at Umm Qasr, Iraq, SPOD Iraq.  Only deep-water ocean Iraqi seaport.


 
 

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

 

Public affairs Soldiers do it all.
 

One of my instructors at the schoolhouse said that this is the best job in the Army. While I am sure most MOSs say that, I truly believe this to be true. Most days, whether they are deployed or back in garrison, will always be different. For example, my old job as a combat sewing machine operator, I went to work maintained a certain number of parachutes and went home. Sometimes there were variations, but usually not.
 

What have I done here in Haiti? What HAVEN'T I done? Exactly. This MOS provides you with so many opportunities to see things you might not have seen before or experiences if you were a 92Y supply clerk or what have you. While here I have been in a number of helicopters high above the skies of Port-au-Prince, on Navy ships, met with foreign troops, celebrities ... so many things.
 

Recently I did a tour for new Soldiers arriving in Haiti, because during my time here, I have gotten to know Port-au-Prince very well. Plus as a 46-series, I can do any job for a day, while profiling other Soldiers. I have been a chaplain's assistant, a mechanic, cook, finance clerk, helo crew chief, and mortuary affairs specialist. I have been a medical tent where Army medics have delivered babies. What other MOS can do that?
 

Pretty much - none.
 

Some people don't leave base. I can't stand to be on base. So much to cover here.
I am in the process of leaving Haiti and I am very sad, this has been my home for the last two months. I hope the incoming public affairs staff from the 11th Public Affairs Detachment and US Army South have an appreciation for this mission and for Haiti and her people.

AML

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de L'Assomption, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de L'Assomption, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

An American Soldier speak with a local boy outside LSA Dragon, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

A fisherman wades ashore near Jeremie, Haiti, on the southwestern claw of Haiti.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de L'Assomption, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.


 
 

Everything is well here. It is starting to get hot, I mean real hot! & I love warm weather. I have been working out at lunchtime but that may be ending soon. Yesterday, I ran a 2 mile run for time on the track in what was probably 95 degree heat. My time was very good considering I was still sore from my soccer game and the heat. I was able to run a sub 14 minute 2 mile which probably equals almost a 13 minute two mile with fresh legs and decent temps. Yesterday afternoon and evening I had a slight fever – I didn’t put it together until later that the fever was from the intense exercise in the heat (sometimes I don’t think right or clearly about working out) I feel fine today and did a boxing workout (at lunch in the heat, but I had water and got in the shade some too ?

On another note, I have scheduled my Boss, two star General, U.S. Air Force, Major General Robert McMahon to appear on a DOD Bloggers Rountable this March 31, 2010 at 11 am U.S. EST. These vents are run by the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs teams. They invite leading bloggers that follow military and DOD related issues to call in and have a Q and A session with high profile military leaders. On my boss’s show, he will discuss how we prioritize the movement of U.S. forces and equipment into Afghanistan, the alternate logistics routes into and out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and also how logistics supports a counterinsurgency fight through local economy building. We may also do a concurrent Pentagon channel interview. I will post official times and info later but the websites are


www.dodlive.mil/index.php/category/bloggers-roundtable/


www.blogtalkradio.com/bloggersroundtable

 

Everything else is going well – very busy. If I have free time, am watching the Sopranos First Season episodes. Sylvio “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACIS1inmjFc
 


 
 

Hi, I am Kimberly Ford and this weekend, the Class of 2013 has Plebe Parent Weekend. This is an opportunity for parents and/or grandparents to see what their Cadet goes through on a daily basis. Plebe Parent Weekend is also an opportunity for the Fourth Class Cadets to "fall out" and not be harassed by the Upper Class Cadets. While the Plebes have the whole campus to themselves, they can walk and talk, naturally swing their arms, and they do not have to walk on the wall. That's a whole lot of freedom for one Plebe I might add!

The weekend technically began yesterday afternoon with  the Commandant's Welcome to the Class of 2013 and their parents. This welcome covered a range of topics. A few events that took place during Cadet Basic Training and events that are to follow in Cadet Field Training were presented. The parents also got to see a typical Plebe Academic Schedule and the schedules that are planned for the remaining three years at West Point. Towards the end, the floor was open to the parents to ask questions.

The Plebe Pass and Review Parade was unfortunately canceled this morning. Well, that is, it was unfortunate for the parents, but not the Plebes. As CGR announced, "The Fourth Class Parade has been canceled," I could hear all the Plebes in my building yelling and screaming. Later on today, the Barracks will be opened and the Parents will be entertained and informed by power point presentations, uniform shows, and the TACs. This evening, a Banquet followed by a Hop will take place where the Cadets will dress in their Full Dress Uniform. This will conclude Class of 2013's Plebe Parent Weekend, then off to Spring Break we Go!

Don't worry Pictures are Coming!


 
 

The year is 2003, and I take a deep breath as I wait in line with my robed and capped counterparts for the sound of my name.  "Crystal Rose Guerrero,” I heard the announcer say, so with a tug on my honor cord to straighten it, I stepped onto the stage, searching the crowd for a familiar face that I knew I wouldn't find as I walked across.  I grabbed my Bachelor's Degree (from who-knows-who now) shook hands, and glanced at the crowd to see mom, grandma and little sis, I give a half-hearted smile. Something is missing.  Awaiting me at the end of the stage, were two of my favorite professors who knew what a tough day this would be for me, smiling broadly, arms open for big hugs and congratulations.

Walking back to my seat from the stage, I again scan the crowd as if he'd magically appear.  Nope, no dad.  Dad is in Iraq.  At this point, my eyes well up, as I think of my dad's words to me upon our last conversation, "I won't be there physically, but I'll be thinking of you. I am so proud of you."

Now, I should point out that at this point my dad was no longer technically a Soldier; he had retired as a Master Sgt. after 24 years of service.  Still, he was working as a contractor for the Army and when asked to go for a year, did not consider it a question.  I recall our conversation prior to his leaving, with my reasoning at the time being "just quit, you don't HAVE to go anymore, dad."  To which he replied, "It’s not a matter of have-to, it's my duty to go."  Once a Soldier, always a Soldier.  As I sat there in the auditorium, I couldn't decide who was more proud-he of me, or I of him.

It wasn't until his retirement ceremony that I learned that my dad graduated with honors from just about every Army School he'd attended to include Air Assault.  All I knew was "daddy is a Soldier, he's gone for periods of time, and I miss him, and he comes home."  I knew he went to PT at 0530 every morning, after being up late-nights helping me with homework, and that he made it home to take my sister to daycare, and make sure I ate breakfast, before going to work.  I knew that dad that was at just about every parent-teacher conference and game and even chaperoned some of our school trips in Germany.  I knew that he was very supportive as my mom was working long, hard hours to excel in her career (which I also admire her for) and that he made sure all of our medical and dental appointments were tracked.  What I didn't know was what that took in conjunction with both being a model Soldier, and taking care of his Soldiers.

Overall, I'd like to think I was a pretty good kid, but I recall times where I probably added a lot to his already heavy rucksack.  I am grateful for him, for the life he and my mother provided, for his wanting to provide a better life for his family and acting upon it through the Army.  I look back upon all the places I've seen, lived and experienced, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Korea (and the list goes on...)--all this from a little rock in the pacific my parents grew up on-Guam.  I know that none of this, and nothing I have accomplished in life thus far, would have been possible without the Army, without my dad's dedication to not only living the Army Values, but raising his kids by them.

Most people go their whole lives searching for a hero; they derive them from television, from books, from history.  I found my hero the day I was born, right in my own home...My dad, a U.S. Army Soldier.  How many people can say that?

 

(This was my first blog, hope you enjoyed...more to come...ARMY (BRAT) STRONG!)
 


 
 

 

We had a meeting the other day with some Special Oeprations logisticians.  The Special OPS guys specialize in foreign internal defense, counter-insurgency, and clandestine ops.  Much of what they do is secret so can't really discuss on a blog.  However, during the interest roundtable discussion, one officer mentioned the concept of the starfish and the spider.  The idea is that a starfish keeps re-generating no matter where it gets cut.  However, a spider can be killed by cutting at the center.

 

One thing the special ops guys try to do against adversaries like Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Taliban, etc  . . .is to kill the Starfish.  Many of these organizations have leaders, but, in essence are run as leaderless orgranizations.  Instead of trying to continually trying to cut off an arm that goes back, they try to pul the starfish in two directions at one time.  Here is an excerpt from the book that may be more clear

"IT'S A STARFISH WORLD AND MOST PEOPLE DON'T EVEN REALIZE IT

One thing that business, institutions, governments and key individuals will have to realize is spiders and starfish may look alike, but starfish have a miraculous quality to them. Cut off the leg of a spider, and you have a seven-legged creature on your hands; cut off its head and you have a dead spider. But cut off the arm of a starfish and it will grow a new one. Not only that, but the severed arm can grow an entirely new body. Starfish can achieve this feat because, unlike spiders, they are decentralized; every major organ is replicated across each arm.

But starfish don't just exist in the animal kingdom. Starfish organizations are taking society and the business world by storm, and are changing the rules of strategy and competition. Like starfish in the sea, starfish organizations are organized on very different principles than we are used to seeing in traditional organizations. Spider organizations are centralized and have clear organs and structure. You know who is in charge. You see them coming."
 

 

We work with 3rd Army a lot, both here in Kuwait, and in Qatar, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  In Kuwait, they play a major role in fixing broken/battle damaged/used equipment so that it can be sent to Afghanistan, back to Iraq, or back to the States.  Some photos . . .

 

Thousands of vehicles and equipment that have returned from Iraq wait to be retro graded in a Third Army lot at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Not limited to rolling stock, the base receives hundreds of trailer-sized containers a week filled with everything from medical supplies to ammunitions. The 24/7 process of repairing the battle-worn equipment remains a top priority for Third Army as it pushes the repaired and usable equipment into other areas of operation. (9MAR2010)

Heavy Equipment transporters wait to be unloaded from trailers in a lot at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. HETs, along with Third Army transportation units who drive them, are a vital part of Third Army's mission in the Iraq drawdown. The trucks are designed to carry heavy equipment such as MineResistant Ambush Protected vehicles, M-1 Abrams tanks, troop carriers and other HETs.

A humvee is power-washed before being inspected and repaired in a Third Army retrograde lot at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, Feb. 27. The lot, one of many at Camp Arifjan, receives hundreds of vehicles a week that are returning from the drawdown of equipment in Iraq. Third Army's mission to retrieve and repair the battle-worn equipment remains a top priority. After being repaired, the equipment will be sent back into theater to support other operations.

 


 
 

Have some things to say but no time :)  will add a few photos

 

Yes, KFC exists in the desert :)  i have not eatend there for fear of my stomach not accepting it

but in case i decide too there are also some nice port-johns nearby

there is a small Starbucks beyond the KFC too!

 

Cool photo today from the DOD Flickr site

Caption "U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates exits a V-22 Osprey aircraft at Forward Operating Base Cafferata, Afghanistan, March 9, 2010. DoD photo by Cherie Cullen"

 


 
 

The US Army Field Band sent its many chamber group components all across the nation during the last week in February. These mini-tours allowed members of the concert band to perform and interact in a more intimate setting than our large venues generally allow. Since the euphonium is not traditionally an instrument found in common chamber groups, (brass quintets, woodwind quintets, trios), I took the opportunity to strike out on my own and do some solo teaching and performing. 

I was assigned an area near and dear to me heart- TEXAS! My parents house was less than two hours away from all the places I performed, so I was able to stay with them and take advantage of some home cooking as an added bonus! 

My first visit on Monday, February 26th, was to Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX. The tuba, euphonium and trumpet students gathered for an afternoon master class. Several of the students played for me, and I was able to demonstrate ideas and give them some pointers. 

Here I am addressing the group. Hopefully, saying something wise! 

 

Later that evening I performed an hour-long solo recital with piano. I played this program a total of four times. It was a wonderful experience for me to go out and take my own one-woman show on the road. Doing gigs night after night sure was a great way to work on endurance! My fabulous accompanist here is Ms. Ilonka Rus, faculty at SHSU. 



I get my love of cooking  from my Dad. He is the best Cajun cook I know, and also does a mean breakfast. Here is one of the amazing morning feasts, (french toast), I enjoyed while home. PT test is coming up, so I'm working off those calories now that I'm back in Maryland! 

I was pretty busy while in Texas, but managed to catch some quality time with family in between gigs. Here is Grandma, enjoying the morning paper while the cat takes a cat nap behind her. 

 

My second stop was in Brenham, TX at Blinn College. For those of you from the South, you might have heard of Brenham as the famous home of Blue Bell Homemade Ice Cream. It is the best ice cream on the planet, and one drawback to being stationed in Washington D.C. is the fact that you can't get it up here. I made a point to show up early on the day of my gig so that I had time to tour the Blue Bell Creamery. No cameras allowed inside, but here I am outside, near a model of one of the original refrigerated trucks they used to carry all that good ice cream around in. 

After indulging in a little ice cream, I was back to work, hosting a clinic at Blinn College. This is a fantastic 2-year junior college that has a very strong music program. These students had lots of great questions about the Army and the many opportunities available for musicians in the Armed Forces. It was a good opportunity for dialogue and for these young people to hear and meet a representative who has decided to make a career in military music. 

Here I am giving some advice after hearing one of the Blinn students perform a solo for me. 

Can you believe that it actually snowed in Texas while I was there! After all the powdery stuff that we've been getting in Maryland, I was NOT pleased. It was somewhat of an anomaly for Brenham, and they ended up canceling classes that evening. Luckily, my recital went on as planned and there was a good turnout, despite the nasty weather. 

I loved having my family there to hear me play. You always get great applause when you bring your audience with you! Here are members of the Veronie clan that made it out for the concert! These two brothers, two sis-in-laws, two nieces, mom & Dad are only a small sampling of my huge Cajun family. :) 

 

The third stop on the hit parade was Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. I showed up early in the morning on Wednesday, February 24th, for a rehearsal with the pianist I would perform with that evening. After the rehearsal, I had a chance to walk around the College of Music. 

Here I am admiring my recital advertisement on a digital marquee that was in the music building lobby. 

As with the other universities, I gave an afternoon master class for brass students. Here is a pic of a student playing for me.  The evening recital went very well and I was officially done with the solo recital gigs. That meant my next two engagements were less pressure, playing-wise. They did end up being challenging in a different way.

On Thursday I went to The Woodlands High School and worked all day listening to their tuba and euphonium kids one-on-one. In addition, I ran a sectional and held a clinic at one of the middle schools. This was very unique, and gave the high school students a chance to ask very specific questions about music and the military.

Friday was my last day in Texas and I saved the most fun for last. I returned to my hometown of Willis, TX and interacted with students who sat in the very same chairs I did back in the day! Going to my middle and high school alma maters was such a treat; in particular, seeing two of my former teachers. The kids really enjoyed hearing the pieces I played for them, and had SO many questions. 

I think my favorite questions were, "What is your favorite gun to shoot?," How loud can you play?," and "how much money do you make?" Haha! It was fun to field so many Army questions. In the band-arena, I don't deal with weapons and deployment on a daily basis, as do some units. However, being in touch with what is going on in the Army and having the training and background in those areas helps us be more effective ambassadors. I did my best to answer every question I could, and hopefully those kids came away with a much better understanding of not just the Army Bands Program, but the Army in general. 

This last picture is with my middle school band director, Dr. Jim Hill, who is still teaching in Willis. It was great to catch up with so many wonderful people, from teachers to family. The entire week was a wonderful musical experience. It was nice to know that I made some difference in my small way as a soldier-euphoniumist. 

 


 
 

For about the 9,000th time in my young, robust, military life, I woke up this sub-freezing morning in the total darkness and noiselessly, deftly, slipped into my standard Army black running shorts, Army gray shirt, Army jacket and Army wool watch cap. Gliding out the door I broke into my ritual pace, watching anew the world wake up to that big ball of glorious fire breaking free of the distant eastern horizon and climb upward to fill the heavens with light. On and on I ran, breathing deeply the crisp, frozen, morning air of the heartland of America, counting every stride as a blessing from above for all the wonderful gifts that fill my life.


One more day of a marvelous adventure rolled into one lifetime; 25 years from the rank of private thru lieutenant colonel, of being a protector of my beloved Family, my cherished Freedom, the US Constitution, the Great State of Texas, and my God-given United States of America.


What an honor for me, to be a Soldier and to stand and defend those things I value above life itself, especially in a day when it is encouraged by some to degrade America for what they liberally call our "self-inflicted wounds" which they blithely claim we caused by our supposed invitations to be hated and attacked in the modern world.
 

And now to stand between the radical Islamic America-haters and my family....my soul rumbles for the fight that a few misguided souls dare to perpetrate upon my family, my freedoms and my Homeland, even after 9 years of global warfare against these “kill-everyone-in-our-path” purported “holy warriors” who defiantly call me and my America “the Great Satan” while in their holy crusade they murder and butcher hundreds of thousands of innocent street-walking women, children and elderly of their own Muslim family, and justify it all in a feeble attempt to place the suicide psycho-kamikaze bomber in paradise via a misapplication of the Holy Koran (The Cave 18:31, “These it is for whom are gardens of perpetuity beneath which rivers flow, ornaments shall be given to them therein of bracelets of gold, and they shall wear green robes of fine silk and thick silk brocade interwoven with gold, reclining therein on raised couches.”) .


No, these shall have the other reward promised them in the Koran, where Muhammad taught in the sura called The Dinner Table, 5:33, “The punishment of those who …strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should …[have] their hands and their feet cut off… as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”.


There are many good principles taught by Muhammad in the Koran (which I have read slowly in entirety and studied and cross-referenced to my Holy Bible), and I am 100% with him when he lays out the true end of those who massacre and slaughter their own people in the name of God….the God of Ibrahim, Ismail, Ishaq and Yaqoub.


I too easily see America's failings, but her strengths so completely engulf the global landscape of recorded human existence on this planet, that I perceive only a timorous, paltry soul that cannot see the vastness of her great goodness, the genius of her governance (200 years from the lowly status of global rejects and outcasts to sole super-power and a stunning $14.3 trillion economy...exceeding the top three other national economies combined, and with only 300 million people compared to 1.2 and 1.3 billion citizens in India and China!) and the magnificence of her generous people (think of over $774 million in voluntary, freely-given relief donations to Haiti from American families in Jan-Feb) . This is no accident. America and our freedom-centric, self-sufficient way of life, combined with a deep spiritual awareness and gratitude for just what a sacred treasure of freedom we have been given, has produced the American Miracle. I am grateful today to be a Soldier, to protect Her and keep Her safe with my life.


And so it is with all Soldiers, who knowingly risk their lives, for myriads of additional great reasons, to wake up and run with me each morning, all across this Land and wherever they are currently serving far across the globe.


Good morning America! Run with me again tomorrow, and let's keep watching that sunshine do her magic every new dawning (although a little less solar irradiance would help my anthropomorphic, carbon-fixated peers to ease on the hysteria and fear-mongering and run with a lot less stress in their lives when they no longer fear to exhale that dreaded CO2 which forms approximately 0.04% of the nominal 5,000,000 gigatonnes of gas and aerosols that comprise the earth’s atmosphere and is so vitally essential for our symbiotic plant life photosynthesis).


Whew, how was that for a military-allowed “yard sign and bumper sticker” voice on a non-political blog?


God Bless You America. I am so grateful to be one who stands as a sentinel each day the sun rises on your majestic shores. Let’s run toward the East just as the sun breaks forth tomorrow.  I'll see you first light.
 


 
 

This is where I normally hang my hat.  It is not really an office, but has everything I need :)

 

Nice place to hang my battle rattle behind the desk.


 
 
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Recent Posts

3/21/2010
All Good Things Must Come to An End...

3/21/2010
The Final Day of World MUN For West Point

3/20/2010
SPOD

3/19/2010
Two Years in Review

3/19/2010
Dental Patients and clinic update

3/19/2010
The Discussion Continues...

3/18/2010
Training Hard in Vero Beach

3/18/2010
The West Point Normandy Trip: monday to today

3/18/2010
Ezra

3/17/2010
Some Family Boy Scout Time

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