Red Prepares For The Man In Red December 25, 2007

Now that Sergeant P and Red had returned back home… it was time to get the house ready for Christmas Day. Normally… Sergeant P takes the lead on this… but Red felt it would be a good opportunity to surprise his mentor. Before starting his project… however… he needed a little help. Fortunately… Tigger [...]

Changes… December 18, 2007

Now that our unit has been home for almost two weeks… it seems that folks are starting to settle back into their normal routines. I bumped into Sievering (one of our very good mechanics) and Smitty as I was leaving a convenience store the other day… and both appeared to be doing well. [...]

Coming Home… December 6, 2007

So… at last… the time came to say goodbye to our home of the past year. The first step was to board our buses to catch a flight out of Iraq. As you can tell from the picture… our driver was a big fan of the 755th. One quick note about the [...]

Final Formation December 5, 2007

A few days back… our platoon held our final formation in Iraq… and took the opportunity to pose for one more picture and to also recognize several of our (many) outstanding soldiers. Among those who stood out were SWM and Schieff… who were the Convoy Commander trainers for our replacement unit.
Perhaps the loudest applause [...]

Posing For Pictures December 4, 2007

A few days back… our Commander (Captain B) and Top gathered the entire unit together for a company picture. Now… I could have showed you that picture… but I was part of the formation. Therefore… here’s a look at our company leadership (flanking our guidon) as the PAO (Public Affairs Officer) from our [...]

Generations Of Patriotism December 4, 2007

One of the interesting aspects (from a sociological perspective) of today’s National Guard is the composition of the troops. A National Guard unit truly is a microcosm of the community it serves. Every race… religion… political viewpoint… and age (among other demographics) are represented.
With respect to the latter category… I present Specialist Reuter [...]

Continuing Their Committments December 3, 2007

Recently… we had three more soldiers from our platoon re-enlist. Two of them… Coop and Murphey… have been in my platoon since I first took over as Platoon Leader more than three years ago. Obviously… we’ve been through quite a bit together… so it was more than rewarding to see them sticking around.
Another [...]

Making The Troops Laugh December 3, 2007

Regular readers of “The Lieutenant’s Lounge” should be familiar with some of the stories regarding USO tours that have made their way through Iraq. Obviously… my favorite will always be the Poison show with Bret Michaels… but I’m sure other folks have their preferences. In addition to the musical acts… there have been [...]

Packing Up December 3, 2007

As our time has approached to return stateside… we now find ourselves needing to ship many of our items and equipment back home. This can be a lengthy and complex process… but Trev has had a good handle on things in this department… and kept it moving smoothly. Here you can see some [...]

A Time To Teach December 1, 2007

Having been in Iraq for a while… training has become one of our more regular tasks. It’s actually kind of refreshing to meet newer troops… and give them a little guidance on what to expect (or do) during (at least) the initial phase of their deployment. Recently… I had a chance to meet [...]