Can you believe it??

I wanted to get something in my blog before now, but things moved pretty quickly towards the end of our tour in Iraq. I was scheduled to fly one of our aircraft in the first group to depart towards Kuwait. I kept holding my breath, each step, waiting for a cancellation or some delay, but each event kept moving along...... To actually be flying out of Iraq was quite a joy in itself, we all cheered as we crossed the border into Kuwait. Some flights after ours were firing off all their remaining flares at the border........wish we'd thought of that. Next was the cleanup and removal of some battlefield specific equip on the aircraft by contractors. Once the aircraft were cleaned and passed the first customs check, we flew them to the seaport at Kuwait City, landed right on the dock, and some other contractors and our mechanics helped fold the rotor blades, and tail rotors and prep it for the boat cruise back to the states.
We slowly started getting all our battalion's aircraft to the port,(as they completed training of our replacement unit) and of course that meant that almost all our folks were out of harms way, and starting to relax a bit..(xcept for the balmy 122 degrees) One of commanders heard there were some seats available with some other units that were also going to Ft McCoy WI for out processing. Because the departure process from Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait can be a lengthy one, they thought we should start sending our people home to start the whole process there. We had heard rumors that some of our seats could be taken away on our later scheduled flights. So basically, my group of about 16 got to leave a little ahead of the others. I can't tell you the joy and happiness I felt as we lifted off the ground and into the air above Kuwait...... yes there was a huge cheer, and yes, some tears on my face........

15 hours later,(fuel stop in Shannon Ireland), we touched down in Wisconsin....... man was everything green around there or what?? We touched the bright green grass, and of course kissed the pavement to welcome ourselves back to the states. The air was so clear, no dust or sandstorms......... Unbelieveable!!

The unit we flew home with were combat engineers. Their normal duties would be road construction, building runways, other structures as well. Their duties in Iraq were "route clearance". These were the guys who had to clear the roads everyday of all sorts of IED's. Pretty dangerous stuff. I was fortunate to sit with soldiers from 2 different units during the out processing. I asked alot of questions, and eventually I asked how many soldiers they had lost. One unit had 2 that were killed when an IED went off right next to there vehicle. The other unit had lost 4 in similar situations. Both had numerous injuries as well. I couldn't help but thank them for the hard work they did, and that they, and the infantry going door to door were the real heroes in this war. As I sat in the seemingly endless waiting lines at each out processing point, I just listened to the many different conversations of these ground soldiers. Kind of funny, after a while, they made alot of jokes about "the day they got blowed up"....... refering to when their vehicle was caught in a blast of some sort. Some talked about some of the insurgents they had killed. A real testament to the importance of upgrading our ground vehicles with better armor protection. It was interesting to sit and listen how a war like this has affected these soldiers.
We got thru the out processing ordeal, and were headed home on a nice tour bus......shortly after we crossed into MN, we pulled into a rest stop, only to be greeted by 2 State Patrol squads waiting to escort us to our Nat Guard hangar in St Paul. That was totally cool!! The last couple miles was beginning to get a little tearyeyed as we rounded the corner to our loved ones waiting for us there........Hallelujah!! We were done!!!
Needless to say, It is soooo good to be home. I was so tired of the heat. The dust and storms. The brushing my teeth with hot water(all the water storage is above ground, so never any cold water in the summer). And no more rocket and mortar threat..... We heard some rumors back in Balad, about this thing in the states.....a place with a bathroom, your bedroom, and even a TV, and a kitchen all in the same location......I think they called it a huuse...no wait, a House! Ya, that was it! All that stuff under one roof! What a concept! I love this country!!

Getting reacquainted with my family has been fabulous........ my 9yr old daughter really missed her dad. Its great to have weekends off...... cool! I checked in with both my civilian employers, and they still want me back at work(yahoo!!)

I want to thank you again for following along, for the support and prayers. It was great to be a part of something big...... We were part of a history making effort. We really have done a good thing, and need to follow it thru to completion.
As far as my blog goes, I may keep it up for a bit......I'll see.
Thanks again, and God Bless.........

It's really great to be home...............