Johns Iraq Blog

Bangor Maine Vets and friends

2006-11-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

Bangor Maine Vets and friends
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here are some of the Vets that greeted us at the airport when we arrived on US soil. They were awesome and dedicated to their mission...they have greeted over 2000 flights since the war began and the have not missed one in over 3 years. The guy right in front of me in the photo lost his wife last year on the way to the airport to greet a flight of returning soldiers. I am honored to join their brotherhood and am grateful for them to be there to say welcome home because I know that they have been there and seen worse then I hopefully ever will. I enjoyed their company and promised to continue the fellowship when a new generations turn has come to say goodbye to loved ones and serve our country far from home.

As the day of my return becomes very close it becomes very clear why they put us through so many briefs on being reintegrated into society and especially your own family. It is more nervewracking then you can possibly imagine and as much as it will be complete joy to be together again it will also take a long time to get back to "normal". Coming back home is a difficult transition for everyone and even though marissa and I communicate to each other our hopes and fears about the reunion we both know it will have its rocky moments. We have no doubt that in time things will be back to normal but it will be a huge challenge. Its funny, even though all the veterens I knew told me that this was the toughest part I found it hard to believe until now. If anyone has an interest in some of the emotions and struggles that families go through in the reunion you can find some great information at www.militaryonesource.com

To Marissa I can only say how much I love you and how much you have meant to me through this deployment. You have had the tougher burden by far then me and I cant thank you enough for all that you have sacrificed. Military spouses are Vets just as much as soldiers and deserve medals and parades for what they endure in silience while we get the limelight. The fact of the matter is I could not have done what I did without your love and support and for that I am so very grateful. You are the best!!! Thank you!

I love this Photo!!

2006-11-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Guiness in Ireland

2006-11-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

Guiness in Ireland
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I am home in the United States!!! Here is a picture of me in Shanon Ireland enjoying a nice Guiness beer. It was very nice to be able to sit and enjoy a beer and it was even nicer because an American businessman bought all the soldiers on our flight (130) our beers.

I will write more later about our travels and experiences but I have to go shower and go to a dog and pony show with our CSM. Love you all....ITS GOOD TO BE HOME!!!!!

Sand Storm

2006-08-31T22:56:00.000-07:00

Sand Storm
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I tried to post a couple of days ago but was unable to get it posted before we went into communication blackout. This picture was taken during a sand storm we had a couple of days ago. This was actually a "break" in the storm. At its peak, visability was reduced to about 5 feet. It was impressive, but quite unsettling when I got caught out on the road on the way back to the hooch from work. We left during a break in the storm which lasted long enough for me to drive about a hundred feet. It would have been more entertaining if I wasnt driving in an area where large fuel tankers and armored 18 wheeler drive through. We made it back safely though and the next day found out that we missed the best part of the storm. Right after we left, LT Harer was looking out the window of our office and saw the porta-potty blow overon its back. The best part was that there was a soldier in it at the time. When the soldier tried to climb out the wind was blowing so hard it kept slamming the door closed on his head. He finally gave up until the wind died down and ha managed to climb out to much applause from his unit who witnessed the whole event. Of course his fellow soldiers did what any good soldier would do.....they took pictures instead of rushing to his aid. Good times!!!

Halo from Detonation

2006-08-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

Halo from Detonation
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

One day a couple of months ago we had some big controlled detonations on camp. For whatever reasons the conditions worked out favorably for some very cool photos. The cloud from the detonations formed a perfect Halo high in the sky. As the winds blew it towards us it began to lose some of its perfect shape but as you can see in the picture it left an almost perfect circle within the cloud that was free of dust. The result was a really incredible cloud and some cool photos.

Not much going on over here at the moment and this is a good thing I guess. We have all reached a point were we are burned out and I think the next month will be the hardest. Once our replacements start the process of coming to Kuwait and preparing to move up north to take over for us it will give us some hope. Until then I try to stay sane, get some sleep (which is easier when the contractors arent building a wooden structure outside my can), and hope that things stay calm long enough for me to get my butt on a plane back to the states.

Well thats it for now...take care of yourselves!!!

Controlled Detonation

2006-08-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

Controlled Detonation
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This is a photo of a controlled detonation somewhere on TQ. Perriodically the will detonate capture munitions and blow them up which makes for some spectacular explosions and some good photo ops. Maybe its just the engineer in me but I love explosions, especially when they are planned.

Well I hope things are going well for you guys back home. I wont bother to update you on how things are going here as I am sure you can read the news and hear all about it on the TV/Radio. All I will say is I will be glad to leave this place in a couple of months. The time is sfast approaching when this will be over and I will be overjoyed to get on the plane when that day arrives. It is almost hard to fathom what that moment will be like. I am sure it will be a very emotional moment!

Goodbye Ireland

2006-08-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

It was a sad day today for Marissa and I. After a lot of thought and soul searching we had decided while I was on leave that we could no longer provide Ireland with a home that she deserved. She never adjusted to Grant's arrival into our family. She never treated him bad its just she hated his presence in our family and she did not want to be around us if Grant was there too. She no longer followed us around and she spent most of her days in self-forced isolation. We loved her very much and it was a hard decision because she was "our" dog. We got Ireland within a few days of coming home from our honeymoon and she was the start of our family. Having decided that she deserved a home where she would be happy and get lots of attention we decided to find her a new home. Marissa found her a great home where she will be happy and so she is now no longer our dog but a part of someone else's family. Yet another casualty of the change the deployment brought into our lives.

On a possitive note, Marissa and Grant leave for Portland today!! I am so jealous that she will get to spend a month there. It will be good for both of them because Marissa will have lots of things to do with Grant and Grant will have lots of people to spoil him rotten. I am slightly concerned with Uncle Luke getting a whole month to teach him bad habits though. Thats my job!

Well I should probably get back to work! I hope you all are doing well and that you are enjoying the last little bit of summer. It sprinkled some rain here yesterday and I stood outside in such total joy it was hard to describe. I miss rain!!

This is your brain on coffee at 0300

2006-08-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

This is your brain on coffee at 0300
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I know this is not a pretty picture but this is what I look like at 3 in the morning. I have had a change in schedule....again....and I am working midnight to noon. Its not all that bad but I have only been working the graveyard shift for about 6 days and my body has not adjusted quite yet. The good thing about this shift is that it means I am awake at more of the same time that Marissa is so I can call her at night when Grant is asleep. I love talking to him on the phone but he usually makes it difficult for Marissa to be able to relax and talk with me without having to pay attention to him.

The last week has been a very eventfull week for the 970th. We recently received word that the Major was medically retired. Our thanks go out to him for his leadership and mentorship in the time that he was with us and we wish him well. The news goes downhill from there. SSG Galbreth has also be medically redeployed and is currently on his way home. I was sad to see him go and he will be missed. I know the air side where he was the NCOIC will miss him very much. SSG Bart is also leaving us to go to another base in support of their mission. We are all very bummed about it on our side of the unit because he was our NCOIC and he was an invaluable mentor for the young and young at heart NCO's. Even though we have 3 capable NCO's and 1LT Harer it is a loss for us. WE have 12 years of military experience between us and Bart had 18 by himself. So as you can immagine it is a considerable loss of experience. The day after we find out about Bart leaving us he continued his run of bad luck physically. He now has a cast on his left hand from a tragic John Deere Gator mishap. Lets just say Bart has had a bad month. Thank goodness we are on the downhill side of the deployment!!! Well take care and I will try to be better about blogging.

Grant and John

2006-07-30T04:04:00.000-07:00

Grant and John
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I dont have any new or current photos of life here in Iraq, or at least any I can post so here is one of my favorite photos from when I was home last month on leave. This was taken at the Gateway Arch in ST Louis.

Not much to report on here in sunny Iraq. I hear that you all back in the states have been having some hot weather......hmmmmm.....that must suck!
It has cooled down today to about 110.....it feels good, its really quite pleasant.

It is almost August and that means we are one step closer to being done with this scenic tour of the middle-east. Of course being the Army we will have to go through an extensive and annoying round of briefings and paperwork. It will all be worth it to get home though!

I hope everyone back home is doing ok.

What a cute kid!!

2006-07-24T23:51:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

So there we are, minding our own business, sloggin through another boring day at work when things got exciting. I'm sitting at the desk playing my new PSP game when BLAM....I look up and think to myself that it was incoming and it sounded like it was close. Not as close as the next one......it sounded like a bus going over head and it landed......well I cant give specifics but lets just say....close. Close enough that for the first time in the whole time we have been over here I felt a very strong need to put on my body armor. Close enough that a change or undewear was suggested. Close enough that, forgive my language.....it was a definate "OH SHIT" moment. I was wondering if I was going to go through the year without one of those and now I have the answer. I am ok with not having another experience like that, thank you very much. I cant go into more details because of OPSEC, so I cant tell you where I was and where it hit and if it cause any damage or not. I can say no one was hurt. I will just put it this way.....if I was on a golf course I would chip in from this far away....maybe a wedge.

So other then that things are good. I am not going to complain about one scarey moment in 9 months when people go through this stuff every day.

Convoy Operations Team Group Photo

2006-07-23T02:54:00.000-07:00

Convoy Operations Team Group Photo
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

OK, I realize I have not blogged in a little while and there is a very simple reason. I have had nothing to say. It has been a case of same old-same old over here, which is probably a good thing for all concerned. Not much has happened that is worth mentioning.

Let me recap July here at TQ for you. When July started I had just got back from leave and was absolutely miserable. It was so good to be home and to see Marissa and Grant and it sucked to be back. After being gone for so long you get into the routine and then you go on leave and you are reminded that it sucks to be here. Then less then a week after getting back I celebrated my 3rd Birthday in a row away from home. So it took me a good 10 days to get back into the groove and not be depressed. Since then I have just been doing my thing at work and relaxing when I can.

The good news is that the end is in sight!!! We are nearing the completion of our 9th month in Theater!! Soon we will be able to start the countdown till we get to leave this place and after that it is only a few weeks of briefings and other stuff before we can come home.

Grant and John Relaxing

2006-06-28T04:46:00.000-07:00

Grant and John Relaxing
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I am sitting here in kuwait right now waiting on a flight back into Iraq so I thought I would take a moment to reflect on my leave. It was an amazing experience to be back together with Marissa and Grant. The first time my son said Daddy was one of the best moments of my life, this was followed by the first time my son reached up to me to hold my hand or to be picked up by me. Those moments were incredible and never failed to bring me to tears of joy. I had the added joy of being able to hold Marissa after so long apart. I had missed so much the simple joys of a hug, a kiss and waking up next to the one you love. The moment I saw her at the airport was amazing as were all these little moments and I will not forget the indescribable joy that I felt for the rest of my life. Like everything else in the Army there is allways a down side to something and being home on leave is no different. It is hard to describe how it is possible to feel so much joy and so much pain at the same time but that is how it is on leave. The moments were all filled with emotion because after getting back our family we were aware that we would have to say goodbye again. IT SUCKED...no other way to describe that feeling. We are on the downhill slope of this deployment though and I know the end is in sight. It will be so good to finally be home for good, it doesnt even matter where that home is as long as we are together.

Thank you so much to everyone who gave Marissa and I the space and time to be together as a family. I know that you wanted to spend more time with us but I appreciate you letting us just be alone together as much as possible. Special thanks go to Rick and especially my Mom. I know that it was hard for you both to not spend more time with us and that you put your wishes aside so that Marissa, Grant and I could just be a normal familly for awhile. Thank you very much for giving us a wonderful time together. I also want to send out an apoligy to Kathy and Bear. I had intended to call you to say thank you for all that you have done to support me but I forgot about it the minute I saw Marissa and Grant. You are in my thoughts and I am sorry I did not call. All of you are in my thoughts and I love you all very much.

Tribute

2006-05-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Tribute
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

A Tribute to those who have fallen in Iraq since the 970th deployed here on November 8 2005.

05/26/06 Lucas, Adam
05/25/06 Blair, Robert E.
05/25/06 Lufkin, Caleb A.
05/23/06 Hermanson, Michael L.
05/23/06 Posivio III, Robert G.
05/23/06 Freund, Steven
05/22/06 Christoff Jr., David
05/22/06 Leusink, William J.
05/21/06 Ramirez, Benito A.
05/18/06 Holland, Daniel E.
05/18/06 Allen Jr., Lonnie Calvin
05/18/06 Cournoyer, Nicholas
05/18/06 Seidel III, Robert
05/18/06 Fulks, William B.
05/17/06 Deal, Lee Hamilton
05/16/06 Halsel, Santiago M.
05/15/06 Flint Jr., Marion
05/15/06 Dampier, Grant Allen
05/14/06 Mahaffee, Shane
05/14/06 Marin-Dominguez Jr., Jose S.
05/14/06 Weeks, Jamie D.
05/14/06 West, Robert H.
05/14/06 Engeman, John W.
05/14/06 Worrel, Matthew W.
05/14/06 Yearby, Hatak Yuka Keyu M.
05/13/06 James, Richard Z.
05/13/06 Gebur, Ron
05/12/06 Teeters, Brandon L.
05/12/06 Conboy, Adam C.
05/11/06 Snowberger III, Stephen P.
05/11/06 Licalzi, Michael L.
05/11/06 Vahaviolos, Steve
05/11/06 Burkart, Armer N.
05/11/06 GramesSanchez, David J.
05/11/06 Burnett, Jason K.
05/11/06 Clark, Eric D.
05/10/06 Carbonaro, Alessandro
05/09/06 Latimer, Aaron P.
05/08/06 Wagner, Gregory A.
05/07/06 Legaspi, Emmanuel L.
05/06/06 Fenton, Matthew J.
05/06/06 Deraps, Leon
05/06/06 Veverka, David Michael
05/06/06 Kelly Jr., Dale James
05/06/06 Palmer, Cory L.
05/05/06 Gaylord, Alva L.
05/05/06 Saenz, Carlos N.
05/05/06 Torres, Teodoro
05/05/06 Vacho, Nathan J.
05/04/06 Parker, Elisha R.
05/04/06 Quinton, Bryan L.
05/04/06 Reinke, Gavin B.
05/04/06 Bixler, Stephen R.
05/03/06 Eckhardt, Christopher M.
05/03/06 Zieske, Benjamin T.
05/03/06 Proctor, Joseph E.
05/03/06 Letendre, Brian S.
05/01/06 Light, Robbie Glen
05/01/06 Moscillo, Robert L.
04/29/06 Sakoda, Steve M.
04/28/06 Davis III, Edward G.
04/28/06 Mills, Lea R.
04/28/06 Gomez, Jose
04/28/06 Herlem, Bryant A.
04/28/06 Hardy, Brandon M.
04/27/06 Mendez, Bobby
04/27/06 Wall, Mark A.
04/27/06 Webber, Matthew A.
04/26/06 Ford, Michael L.
04/25/06 Herrema, Richard J.
04/25/06 Henry, Raymond L.
04/24/06 Simons, Aaron William
04/24/06 Bandonill, Metodio A.
04/23/06 Ehney, Robert W.
04/23/06 Lasswell Jr., Shawn Thomas
04/23/06 Daniel, Jason B.
04/22/06 Zimmerman, Travis C.
04/22/06 Bouthot, Michael E.
04/22/06 Allcott, Jacob H.
04/22/06 Lueken, Eric R.
04/22/06 Colnot, Kyle A.
04/22/06 King, Eric D.
04/20/06 Ramseyer, Jason C.
04/19/06 Tinnell, Patrick A.
04/19/06 Settle, Robert J.
04/18/06 Weikel, Ian P.
04/16/06 Cubert, Clinton W.
04/15/06 Sims, Justin D.
04/15/06 Cothran, Derrick J.
04/15/06 Mayorga, Pablo V.
04/15/06 Winslow, Ryan G.
04/15/06 Melcher, Mark W.
04/14/06 Settle, Darin T.
04/13/06 Waits, Andrew K.
04/13/06 Perez, Stephen Joseph
04/13/06 Bachar, Salem
04/12/06 Glimpse, Marcus S.
04/12/06 Calderon-Ascencio, Roland E.
04/12/06 Bandhold, Scott M.
04/11/06 Hess, Kenneth D.
04/11/06 Costello III, James F.
04/11/06 Roehl Jr., George R.
04/11/06 Blanco, Joseph A.
04/10/06 Gardner, James W. "Will"
04/10/06 Lamberson, Randall L.
04/09/06 Rogers, Gregory S.
04/09/06 Collins, David S.
04/09/06 Love-Fowler, Joseph I.
04/08/06 NavarroArellano, Juana
04/08/06 Missildine, Jody W.
04/08/06 Martini, Philip John
04/08/06 Creighton, Shawn R.
04/07/06 Waller, Richard P.
04/06/06 Taylor, Bryan N.
04/06/06 Sesker, Daniel L.
04/06/06 Harris, Dustin J.
04/06/06 Edwards, Chase A.
04/04/06 Johnson, Ty J.
04/02/06 Sandoval-Flores, Felipe D.
04/02/06 Gallagher, Patrick J.
04/02/06 Padilla Aleman, Geovani
04/02/06 Procopio, Scott J.
04/02/06 Kim, Kun Y.
04/02/06 Bass, David A.
04/02/06 Aguilar Jr., Andres
04/02/06 McIntosh, Eric A.
04/02/06 St. Germain, Brian R.
04/02/06 Nettles, Marcques J.
04/02/06 Twitchell, Abraham G.
04/02/06 Ehle, Jeremy W.
04/02/06 Palmisano, Eric A.
04/01/06 Devora Garcia, Israel
04/01/06 Clay, Darrell P.
04/01/06 Moshier, Timothy J.
04/01/06 Hartwick, Michael L.
03/31/06 Beisel, Jacob Walter
03/30/06 Moss Jr., Walter M.
03/30/06 Duenas, Joseph J.
03/28/06 Rowe, Michael D.
03/28/06 Tharp, Sean D.
03/28/06 Hernandez, Robert
03/25/06 Carlson, Frederick A.
03/23/06 McCaulley, Randy D.
03/23/06 Beery, Brock A.
03/21/06 McKinzie, Antoine J.
03/18/06 Barraza, Ricardo
03/18/06 Brehm, Dale G.
03/16/06 Yates III, Nyle
03/16/06 Pinson, Amanda N.
03/16/06 Gonzalez, Carlos M.
03/15/06 Zawaydeh, Angelo A.
03/13/06 Silva, Marco A.
03/13/06 Dan, Corey A.
03/13/06 Lewis, Bryan A.
03/12/06 Marino (Figueroa), Kristen K.
03/11/06 Duerksen, Amy A.
03/10/06 Long, Bunny
03/08/06 Fry, John D.
03/07/06 Salas Jr., Ricky
03/07/06 Martone, Justin R.
03/06/06 Zanutto, Adam O.
03/05/06 Jessen, Kevin P.
03/03/06 Snyder, Matthew A.
03/01/06 Youmans, Joshua V.
03/01/06 Merchant, Christopher S.
03/01/06 Priest, Tina M.
02/27/06 Lewis, Dwayne Peter R.
02/26/06 Pearce, Joshua M.
02/26/06 Humble, Joshua U.
02/26/06 Farr, Clay P.
02/26/06 Schornak, Christopher J.
02/25/06 Thornton, John Joshua
02/25/06 Schuster, Benjamin C.
02/25/06 VanAlstine, Adam J.
02/24/06 Powers, Joshua Francis
02/24/06 Muscat, Dimitri
02/22/06 Howard II, Curtis T.
02/22/06 Jones, Rickey E.
02/22/06 Gourley, Gregson G.
02/22/06 Wilwerth, Thomas J.
02/22/06 Misner II, Gordon F.
02/22/06 Marion, Christopher L.
02/22/06 Morr, Allan A.
02/21/06 Fitzgerald, Almar L.
02/20/06 Collado, Jay T.
02/20/06 Kuhlmeier, Daniel J.
02/20/06 Davila, Jessie
02/18/06 Conley, Matthew D.
02/18/06 Matheny IV, Charles E.
02/17/06 Edwards Jr., Amos C.
02/17/06 Garcia, Anthony R.
02/14/06 Washam, Rusty L.
02/14/06 Barnes, Matthew Ron
02/14/06 Probst, Michael S.
02/12/06 Kemple, Andrew J.
02/12/06 Wilson, Nicholas
02/12/06 Garcia Villareal, Felipe J.
02/09/06 Smith, Ross A.
02/09/06 Chavez Jr., Javier
02/07/06 Kokesh Jr., Allen D.
02/07/06 Phillips, Steven L.
02/06/06 Gerena, Orville
02/06/06 Herried, Patrick W.
02/06/06 Parr, David S.
02/06/06 Spann, Jacob D. "Jake"
02/06/06 Schuck, Brandon S.
02/05/06 Hayes III, William S.
02/05/06 Mercedes Saez, Sergio A.
02/05/06 Boehmer, Jeremiah J.
02/05/06 Morningstar, Christopher R.
02/04/06 Martinez Salazar, Roberto L.
02/03/06 Cornett, Lance S.
02/03/06 Zamora, Jesse M.
02/02/06 Cox Jr., Simon T.
02/02/06 Messer, Scott A.
02/02/06 Howard II, Walter B.
02/01/06 Cardelli, Sean T.
02/01/06 Viglienzone, Caesar S.
02/01/06 Owens, Anthony Chad
02/01/06 Avery, Garrison C.
02/01/06 Bustamante, Marlon A.
01/28/06 Barbosa, Felipe C.
01/28/06 Schoff, Brian J.
01/28/06 Herrera, David L.
01/27/06 Lopez Lopez, Hugo R.
01/25/06 Durbin Jr., Jerry M. "Michael"
01/25/06 Johnson, Joshua Allen
01/24/06 Miles, Sean H.
01/23/06 Hunter, Matthew D.
01/23/06 Chase, Lance M.
01/23/06 Calapini, Lewis T. D.
01/23/06 Scott, Joshua A.
01/23/06 Wagler, Peter D.
01/22/06 Norton, Jason L.
01/22/06 McElroy, Brian
01/20/06 Yazzie, Clifton J.
01/20/06 Scott, Rickey
01/20/06 Frantz, Matthew C.
01/20/06 Arrelano Pandura, Carlos
01/20/06 Dewey, Brandon Christopher
01/20/06 Flanagan, Dennis J.
01/17/06 Shepherd, Adam R.
01/16/06 Kenyon, Rex C.
01/16/06 Garcia, Ruel M.
01/15/06 Dudkiewicz, Kasper Allen
01/15/06 Kendall, Dustin L.
01/14/06 Watts, Justin J.
01/13/06 Jordan, Michael Anthony
01/13/06 Price, Jonathan Kyle
01/13/06 Jackson, Kyle E.
01/13/06 Carver Jr., Mitchell K.
01/10/06 McMullen, Michael Joseph
01/07/06 Little, Jason T.
01/07/06 Anderson, Stuart M.
01/07/06 Upchurch, Clinton R.
01/07/06 Field, Nathan R.
01/07/06 Braswell, Darren D.
01/07/06 deMoors, Joseph D.
01/07/06 Edwards, Michael I.
01/07/06 Troxel, Chester W.
01/07/06 Melson, Jacob E.
01/07/06 Mercado, Raul
01/07/06 LaBouff, Douglas A.
01/07/06 Jacobs, Jeriad P.
01/07/06 Johnson, Robert T.
01/07/06 Martinez, Michael R.
01/07/06 Camilomatos, Radhames
01/07/06 Campbell, Jaime L.
01/07/06 Brown, Kyle W.
01/07/06 Lundstrom, Brett L.
01/05/06 Petty, Christopher P.
01/05/06 Lopezreyes, Jason
01/05/06 Walker, Ryan D.
01/05/06 McLaughlin, Michael E.
01/05/06 Gettings, Albert Pasquale
01/05/06 Peralez Jr., Johnny J.
01/05/06 Hecker III, William F.
01/05/06 White, Stephen J.
01/05/06 Cann, Adam Leigh
01/05/06 Mariano, Robbie M.
01/05/06 McCurdy, Ryan S.
01/01/06 Bishop, Jason Lee
01/01/06 Vanderhorn, Christopher J.
12/31/05 Corniel, Marcelino Ronald
12/30/05 Pfender, Jonathan R.
12/30/05 Dostie, Shawn Christopher
12/30/05 Taha, Ayman A.
12/29/05 Lutz II, George Anthony "Tony"
12/29/05 Teewia, Prince K.
12/28/05 Forbes, Aaron M.
12/27/05 Sage, Lance S.
12/27/05 Morberg, Joshua M.
12/26/05 Salter, Richard Matthew "Matt"
12/26/05 Santos, Isaias E.
12/26/05 Coles, Dominic R.
12/26/05 Carver, Dane O.
12/25/05 Cardinal, Anthony O.
12/25/05 Gudino, Sergio
12/24/05 Maravillosa, Myla L.
12/24/05 Andres Jr., Joseph J.
12/23/05 Willey, Cheyenne C.
12/23/05 Reali, Regina C.
12/22/05 Lopez-Feliciano, William
12/22/05 Britt, Benjamin T.
12/20/05 Cleary, Michael J.
12/20/05 Naputi, Richard Jr. DeGracia
12/19/05 Mason, Johnnie V.
12/18/05 Tapia, Samuel
12/16/05 Fales, Adam R.
12/15/05 Lucas, Joseph Alan
12/15/05 Boyce, Timothy R.
12/14/05 Pospisil, Kenneth B.
12/14/05 Presley, Michael B.
12/13/05 Navarro, Peter J.
12/13/05 Kesinger, James C.
12/13/05 Zyla, Michael S.
12/13/05 Karim, Brian C.
12/12/05 Kubasak, Jared William
12/12/05 Nelson, Lex S.
12/12/05 Mitchell, Curtis A.
12/11/05 Bennett, Keith A.
12/11/05 Moudy, James S. "Shawn"
12/10/05 Nelson, Travis L.
12/10/05 Atkins, Julia V.
12/10/05 Floyd Jr., Clarence L.
12/10/05 Casica, Kenith
12/09/05 Orosco, Adrian N.
12/08/05 Smith, Kevin J.
12/08/05 Akers, Spencer C.
12/08/05 Rivera-Vargas, Milton
12/07/05 Taylor, Michael C.
12/07/05 Bier, Joseph P.
12/06/05 Siekert, Thomas C.
12/06/05 Wright, Brian A.
12/04/05 Schild, Richard L.
12/04/05 Cuka, Daniel M.
12/03/05 Shelton, Jimmy Lee
12/02/05 Dodson Jr., Philip Allan
12/02/05 Futrell, Marcus S.
12/02/05 Travis, Philip L.
12/01/05 Patten, Andrew G.
12/01/05 Kaiser, Adam Wade
12/01/05 Clay, Daniel J.
12/01/05 Holmason, John M.
12/01/05 Adams, Brent A.
12/01/05 Martinez, Robert Alexander
12/01/05 Huhn, David A.
12/01/05 Watson, Craig N.
12/01/05 Modeen, Scott T.
12/01/05 McElveen, Anthony T.
12/01/05 Stevens, Andy A.
11/30/05 Richardson, William D.
11/30/05 Jakoniuk, Grzegorz
11/30/05 Taylor, William G.
11/30/05 Snyder, Joshua D.
11/29/05 Mills Jr., Jerry W.
11/29/05 Hasse, Donald J.
11/26/05 Angus, Brett E.
11/25/05 Tull, Gregory L.
11/24/05 Pearrow, Eric P.
11/24/05 Delgado, Marc A.
11/24/05 Christensen, Ryan D.
11/24/05 Reynolds, Steven C.
11/24/05 Villanueva, Javier A.
11/23/05 Meeuwsen, William B.
11/23/05 Bass, Aram J.
11/23/05 Knop, Allen J.
11/22/05 Gallardo, Denis J.
11/21/05 Dearing, John Wilson "J.W."
11/20/05 Sacco, Dominic J.
11/19/05 Karolasz, Edward
11/19/05 Zilinski, Dennis W.
11/19/05 Hinton, Dominic Joseph
11/19/05 Terrazas, Miguel
11/19/05 Troyer, Tyler J.
11/19/05 Yost, Anthony R. C.
11/19/05 Alcozer, Christopher M.
11/19/05 Blair, Jonathan F.
11/19/05 Idanan, Michael J.
11/18/05 Reyes, Luis R.
11/18/05 Gaunky, Anthony Alexander "Alex"
11/17/05 Widner, Vernon R.
11/17/05 Alarcon, Ivan Vargas
11/16/05 Roman-Cruz, Alexis
11/16/05 Lucente, John A. "JT"
11/16/05 Rogers, Jeffry A.
11/16/05 Paytas, Dylan R.
11/16/05 Deeds, Roger W.
11/16/05 Ware, Joshua J.
11/16/05 Murray, Jeremy E.
11/16/05 McGlothin, Donald R.
11/15/05 Grigg, Travis J.
11/15/05 Estep, James E.
11/15/05 Holley, Matthew J.
11/15/05 Schiavoni, Nickolas David
11/14/05 Mendoza Jr., Ramon J.
11/14/05 McCrackin, Christopher M.
11/14/05 Longoria, John M.
11/12/05 Mendez Ruiz, David A.
11/12/05 Sutherland, Stephen J.
11/12/05 Zubowski, Scott A.
11/11/05 Chisholm, Tyrone L.
11/11/05 Fisher II, Donald E.
11/11/05 Mendez Sanchez, Antonio "Tony"
11/10/05 Swaim, Daniel Freeman
11/10/05 Terando, Joshua A.
11/10/05 Parrott, Michael C.
11/08/05 Cashe, Alwyn C. "Al"
11/08/05 Tamburello, Jeremy P.

Middle Eastern Grant

2006-05-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Middle Eastern Grant
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This picture will probably be on Grant's Blog but I dont care, I had to steal it for my blog because its just too cute I bought this complete outfit for him back when I was in Kuwait. The outfit is cool but the pose and the expression on Grants face make this priceless to me. Everytime I look at this picture I get a huge smile and have a good laugh.
Sorry I have not posted in a few days but I have not been able to get on to flickr. Thats ok though because not much has happened here. Life continues on and there is nothing really substantial to report. It has been a quite couple of weeks which has the opposite effect then you might think. Whenever things are quiet in our area I find myself wondering when it will become active. I prefer the more frequent but ineffectual attacks to nothing because it makes me wonder what they are up to. Oh well, I guess its too much to hope for that they have given up. Well until that day we will keep getting up and doing our mission with all the griping and moaning that only soldiers can produce. Take care all!

Teaching Bart a lesson

2006-05-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

Teaching Bart a lesson
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

THe bigger they are the harder they fall! Here I am teaching this lesson to Bart during some office rough-housing. I dont kid myself that I could get him everytime, half the time or even some of the times....but I got him here and it was recorded for posterity so I had to post it.

Ski and Hitch are going on leave so its skeleton crew for us until the LT gets back. I am glad they are going though because when they get back it will almost be time for me to come home. I cant wait to get back home!!!!
To be home doing normal things sounds so exotic to me right about now.

Not much else to say today so I wil keep it short. Take care!

MSG Newbill suffering in Qatar

2006-05-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

MSG Newbill suffering in Qatar
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is my friend MSG Newbill who I trained with in Texas. As you can probably tell from the fact that he is working and he is in civilian clothes that he is suffering very much in his posting to Qatar. What the picture cant tell you is that when I took this picture he was in his SUV driving to the PX which was about 200 yards from his office. I of course gave him an immense amount of grief over his rough life. I dont mind seeing the MSG living the good life though because he is a good man and he has paid his dues. I would like to think that if I put 20 years in the army I would be able to end my career in such a cushy assignment.

There is not much to report on here at TQ. Life goes on as normal and we are in full swing on people getting leave. The first two are back and 3 more are leaving in a few days. In a little over a month I will be on my way home as well. WHOO HOO!!!! I am so excited to be home with Marissa and Grant. We will be spending alot of time trying to act like a normal family and I will be spending as much time as possible just getting to know Grant. We dont have a whole lot of grant plans at this point because we really feel its important for me us to just spend time as a family doing normal things. I am going to try to integrate myself into Grants life and his routine. We will go do some fun things of course but the main goal for me is to just be a family for a couple of weeks because we really havent had that opportunity. So if we appear boring and homebodies thats why.

Tonight is my last night on the graveyard shift. They are giving me a day off because I have to adjust to the exact opposite schedule in one day. I will now be working from noon to midnight instead of midnight to noon. It will suck for a couple of days but I think it will be nice to get off work when its dark and to be able to go to sleep when its dark out.

I hope all are doing well and I hope that you still find the blog enjoyable and a good tool. To the person who commented that my blog has helped understand a little bit of what your brother is going to go through...I am glad that you have found it helpful. While what your brother will go through will be different based on his job and circumstances, many of the feelings and emotions will be the same. He will have high and low points during his experience and depending on what he does he will be able to share those with you or he might have a difficult time in expressing his feelings. One hint I can offer, both for him and the loved ones he leaves behind...the 90 day mark for some reason is a low point for many people. The newness and the excitement has worn off and you have settled into a routine and you realize how much you have to go. It can be a time of intense emotion so just let it come and ride the wave and things will get better.

sand storm

2006-04-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

sand storm
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This photo was taken a couple of days ago on a day that saw us going back and forth between sandstorms and thunderstorms. While we do not see the massive wall of sand that you see out in the desert we do get this otherwordly look when we get sandstorms. It looks like something from a movie set on Mars.

The last week or so offers nothing substantial to write about but I will run it down for you anyway. Lets see...some convoys came in and some convoys left, dito for planes, we had some sandstorms and rain, and we have had a couple of mortar attacks. We have not had any deaths so all in all it has been a good week.

Marissa and Grant are back from Portland. They had a good time there but i think it was tough for Marissa to be there because it reminded her of all the things we used to do together. Grant had fun with the family and more then anything he enjoyed being the center of attention. He is pretty adament about that being the way things should be. I know that grandma and grandpa and his uncles enjoyed seing him very much. He is quite the charmer when he wants to be. They are home now and I know that mom is glad to have them back. I am sure that a house can seem empty without the tornado of activity that accompanies a toddler. Well as you can see there is not much going on so I will wrap this up. I hope everyone is doing well and as I continue to work the graveyard shift I am more grateful then ever to Kathy and Bear for the constant flow of Pete's coffee. Thank YOU!!!

Taste of home

2006-04-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

Taste of home
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I took this picture of SSG Galbreth while we were having lunch at the Chili's on post in Qatar. That may not seem very exciting you all back in the states but to us it was great. First time looking at a menu in over 6 months! The first day I changed my order 4 times.

Life here continues on with nothing new to comment on really. We have had some busy nights which is nice because it helps the time go by faster. It is still wierd for me to work nights. My body has adjusted but my brain hasnt...it just doesnt feel right to end my day in sunlight. It also screws with your concept of tomorrow and makes it harder to figure out whats going on back home. I have been used to the routine of knowing that I was starting my day at the end of marissa's and that she would be waking up at the end of my day. My new schedule throws that all off. I think if I had started on nights it wouldnt be a big deal.

As you can tell there is not much going on here in Iraq. Marissa and Grant are having a good time in Portland after grant got over the travel. I am sure that Grant will enjoy having lots of people making him the center of attention. He is like his daddy and loves people...it doesnt matter if they are family members or not. Thats my boy!

Old Doha at night

2006-04-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Old Doha at night
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I like this photo even though its blurry because it kind of captures the feel of the souks. They are a very vibrant, energetic part of the city. These are the kind of places that went away with the Wal-Mart culture in america. They are the heart of the city and a place where people congregate.

Life here at TQ has been good since I have been back. Yesterday though I learned why people who have been here hate new people that come in and dont know what the are doing. I spent 9 hours on the watch station working with a brand new 2LT on his first convoy that was having the mission from hell. It was at times very frustrating and at other times it was rather amusing. Everyone was safe and it worked out in the end but he lived up to the Butterbar nickname in every way. I realize that he is new and it was his first run and all of that but he was, as we say "lost in the sauce". I normally send one or two chat messages out to people. I sent him over a hundred in a little over 9 hours trying to help him out. At the end of the day I decided that while he was nice he was also an idiot and I want those 9 hours of my life back.
Actually though, the night went faster then any other night because I was busy dealing with his problems. There are also some great stories and one-liners from my chats with this guy. Ah, the memories!

Well Marissa and Grant are in Portland for the next 5 days. I am excited for them and I hope they have a good time. I miss Portland alot and I am jealous but she deserves a fun trip. Well thats it for today....adios.

Ft Bliss reunion at the Famous Pearl in Doha

2006-04-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

Ft Bliss reunion at the Famous Pearl in Doha
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is a photo of a little reunion from our training days at Ft Bliss. The people in the picture next to me are SGT Campos, MSG Newbill, COL Boyd and SSG Galbreth. We are standing in front of the giant Pearl which is a prominent monument to Qatars early source of wealth.

Well I am back at work after my little vacation and of course my days and nights are all messed up again. Thats ok though, its nothing 5 or 6 cups of coffee and some red bulls cant fix. My last day in Qatar I was really bummed because I did not want to come back to TQ. Now that I am back it is good to be back "home". There is some comfort in familiar surroundings and people. My first visit back to the chow hall was entertaining because it iss Easter which means that the Indidan workers pulled out the virgin mary statue again and gave her another makeover so this time she is an angel playing a violin. I have no idea how the violin fits with Easter but hey, they try. This is what you get when hindus do the decorating for Christian holidays. It is always fun to see when the virgin mary statue will show up. She has made visits in several different outfits and poses for Christmas, New Years, St Patricks day and now Easter. I can hardly wait to see what she dresses up as for the 4th of july.

In other news we finally got a concert here at TQ and as befits our status as the forgotten FOB we got a chart topping current pop star. Yes thats right folks, apparently Charlie Daniels is still alive and kicking. From the reports I recieved about the show he is old enough that he had to sit down several times during the show however. All kidding aside though I appreciate him and what he does for the troops. He has been doing USO shows for a long time, way before it became trendy again after 9/11 to do so. I ran into him coming out of the Chow hall and he is a very nice man. So thanks Charlie!

Me and some boats

2006-04-14T05:43:00.000-07:00

Me and some boats
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This was taken yesterday in Doha the capital city/ only city in Qatar. I finally got off post thanks to some old friends from our time at Donna Anna. Col. Boyd is the head Chaplain down here at Doha and his assistant in MSG Newbill. We trained with them in Texas and I got to be good friends with both of them despite the fact that it seemed like every time I went on a profanity filed tirade the Chaplain was behind me. They took SSG Galbreth and I off post for a private tour along with another guy from Donna Anna, Sgt Campos, who happened to be here on leave.

Getting out into the city was alot of fun and I enjoyed it very much. We started off in the old city and went to some souks (markets) and did some shopping and haggling for jewelery and other trinkets. It is amazing how open they are with their goods. Since they still cut the hands off thieves they dont have a big theft problem. Go figure. Anyway, there were shops lining the streets with thousands and thousands of dollars worth of Pearls and Gold with no security at all. After that we walked arround the old city and I had some Sharma from a corner store which was my first chance to eat local in 6 months.

After that we went into the new part of Doha. The new emir has been pumping money into turning Doha into a very cosmopolitan city and since they aer getting ready to host teh asian games there was construction everywhere. We went to the city center mall and it was so depressing. It was a very large U.S. mall and it was a poster child for how globilization sucks. It saddened me to see arab teen girls dressed like teens back home. The romantic in me hates to see the cultures blurred like that. I want to experience their world, not sit in Starbucks and eat at Applebees. It was interesting watching the mix of Foreigners, westernized arab teens, traditional Man-dress wearing Arab Males and the females in head to toe burkhas. I think I would enjoy places like lebanon and Turkey more then these modern little Arab emirates that suddenly found wealth and abandoned their cultures. Not to beat a deah horse on this but the highlight for me was definately the old city. Besides their was something very odd about Arab men in mandresses droping their Arab teens in mandresses off at the mall to go hang out with their friends. There are some things about America I would love to see exported to the world, the mall culture is not one of them.

I had a great time getting out in the city and I loved getting to spend time with Col. Boyd and Newbill again. They are both good men and good friends and I am thankful that I got to see them and go out on the town with them instead of as part of a group tour.

I will save something for future blogs so for now....Chow!

Me and SGT Doty before his last mission

2006-04-12T01:10:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Hello to all from QATAR!!!! Yes thats right I finally got a pass that wasnt canceled or denied and I am here in Qatar relaxing and enjoying some down time. Last night I had my daily alotment of 3 beers and it was wonderful!!! It had been six months since I have had a beer and it tasted great. I will of course be going back for more tonight!

I dont know how much I will do here because the way it is set up makes it difficult yo get off post more then once. You have to sign up at 1300 for the next days trips and there are a limited number of spaces for the good trips. So if you go on a trip one day then you will not be there to sign up for the next days trip. Its ok though because there is plenty to do here and just relaxing is very nice. I did not realize how exhausted I was and the thought of just relaxing for a few days is nice. I also have some friends,Col. Boyd a chaplain and MSG Newbill his assistant who I trained with in Texas. They are going to get an exception to policy and take me off post by myself which is nice. I will also go on the cultural tour the last day so I will get out of here to see the sights but I am not interested in goign jet sking or fishing and all the other stuff. Thats for the young guys...I am old and just want to read a book, watch some movies, eat some good food and sleep.

The setup here in Qatar is very nice and comfortable. THe USO club and all of the features are nice and I will enjoy my time here. Yesterday I had lunch at a Chili's. This may not sound that exotic to you but to us it is an amazing experience. I changed my order 4 times because I am not used to ordering. Last night at one of the two clubs I had a great time and enjoyed my evening as only Mike Mensik and I could....engaged in long conversations with total strangers. I was in my element and I loved it.

While I was talking to Col Boyd in his office I had a moment that showed me just how much being in a combat theater can affect you. Other then the random mortar/rocket attack and IED explosions nearby we are pretty safe were we are. Explosions and attacks are a common occurance though and it is rare to go through a day without an explosion of some kind. We have gotten to a point where we can tell what it is by the type of explosion. Most of the time we just go about our business. There is a moment though where you subconciously take an assesment of what it was and whether it is a threat or not. This is the thing that happened when I wsa in the Chaplains office catching up with him when a door closed loudly down the hall and it sounded like a muffled explosion. I didnt freak but the Chaplain could see the moment where me and SSG Galbreath who was with me kind of perked up and did our subconcious assesment. This moment showed me how much this affects you in little ways that you dont think about. I am used to explosions and when I get home there will be lots of noises that will sound like that and it will probably take awhile before I start to think that it was a door closing before I think it was an explosion. And I have not been exposed to 10% of what combat troops are exposed to. Its hard to change from vigilant to relaxed even for someone who never leaves a base, I feel sorry for those soldiers who go through much worse and then have to try to live noramlly again.

It was also very interesting hanging out at the club because almost all the conversations were about things that would horrify and depress people back home. But for us it was a chance to share experiences and talk to people from different units going through the same things. We had alot of fun and joked and laughed on minute and then shared horor stories the next and then back to jokes again. There would be moments when the table would get silent for a second and then we would move on because life goes on and for the moment we were free from the reality of working in Iraq. I discussed politics with a Major in town for a conference and a marine intelligence analyist on his way home. It was a Mike/John type of night. I think I will do it again tonight!!! Have fun all and to everyone back at TQ...I dont miss you!! =)

Its been awhile!

2006-04-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Hola! I am sorry it has been so long since I have blogged but for some reason I have not been able to access the website in order to post an entry. I dont know how long the connectivity will last but I will try to post whenever I am able.

So, I dont remember what I have told you and what I havent so I will give you a rundown on recent events. Today marks the 6 month mark for us in Theater!!!! Its all down hill from here so I am excited. I have six months left and I get to break that up with a pass and leave. I might be leaving for my R&R to Qatar here in a couple of days but since I have had a couple of passes already canceled I will believe it when I am on the plane. In June I will be home for a couple of weeks and then after that I will only have 4 months till I am home for good. Right now I am working the graveyard shift covering for people who are gone on pass/leave. My body is having a rough time adjusting to the new routine and I am constantly tired but its only temporary so by May I will be back on days hopefully.

The attacks are coming more frequently as the weather warms up. Apparently Haji took the winter off and is getting warmed up for the summer season. It is really odd how you get used to it after awhile. You can tell the people who have been here awhile because they react differently to attacks. By now I can tell by the explosions what it was and how close it was. You will be half asleep in your bunk and hear explsosions and just roll over and go to sleep. I have no desire to experience an old fashioned artillery barrage though and I feel sorry for anyone who has.

The photo is of one of my haji working parties that I arrange for cleaning our lot. The parties consist of a few workers and a foreman who does no work but supervises and translates my instructions. I really enjoy doing this because I get a chance to spend the day talking with Iraqi's. The foreman of this group was a former sniper in the Iraqi army and we had some very interesting talks. He was a very nice man and we got along very well. It was quite surreal talking about life and the nature of war with someone who had probably killed Americans and had the scars courtesy of our air force in the first Gulf War to show for it. When we invaded this time he was an officer and he told his unit to go home and not fight because there was no chance for victory so why die for Saddam. He was a remarkable man though who has taught himself english and spanish. Talking to him about his experiences reminded me of talking with Marissa's grandfather before he passed away. Soldiers do a horrible job and the ones who make it through alive come out of the experience with a profound love of life and a desire to live in peace. It was a great experience and I enjoyed my time that day more then any other since I have been in Iraq.

Blogging has been difficult

2006-03-18T02:20:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to blog every day for the last week but I have not been able to log into Flickr for some reason. So after a week of trying to do that i decided I would do it the old way and go through blogspot. Well now I am really ticked because it does not post the photo for some reason. So sorry I have not been blogging but it has been a pain in the you know what.

Things here are going pretty well and we are all kind of in a groove now. A very boring monotonous groove. The good news is that it seems like they finally have the leaves and passes situation fixed and hopefully those will start happening soon. Our leaves and passes had been handled by 3rd COSCOM and they kind of forgot about us resulting in several of our leaves and passes (including my pass to Qatar) getting canceled. Our battallion is handling them now so hopefully it will go smoother. My leave is scheduled to start of June 12. We bascially get 3 weeks for leave because the leave does not start until your first full day at your destination. Marissa and I are very excited and I cant wait to take Grant to a Cardinals game! My pass on the other hand will not come until August or September which means I will go over half a year without a day off! YEAH!!!

Thanks once again for the care packages and especially for the coffee! Lt Harer and I live for good coffee and it has been a private contest to see who gets the best/most coffee sent to them. I am winning so thanks to all for the help. Kathy and Bear get a special thanks for the weekly cards and the packages of PEETS coffee.

On the home front things are going well with Grant looking and acting more like Dennis the Menace every day. It is rare that I talk to Marissa and she does not have another story of mischef and mayhem caused by our son. He will not be a boring child thats for sure. I miss being away from him and his mother but even from thousands of miles away he makes me love being a father. I cant wait to get home and give his mother a hand.

LT Harer, LT ConnellyMcDowell and Me

2006-03-10T04:02:00.000-08:00

LT Harer, LT ConnellyMcDowell and Me
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

1LT ConnellyMcDowell was a marine convoy commander that was a regular down at the marshallng yard. She became one of our favorites because no matter what was going on she was upbeat and motivated and could say oohrah (the marine equivilant of Hooah) more times in a 5 minute conversation then most marines say during the whole deployment. Despite her small stature she was into martial arts and I am quite sure that she would have kicked butt and taken names if Haji had given her the chance.

It has been a bittersweet time for us because over the 4 months we have been here we have gotten to know the convoy commanders. The last of the marines who were here when we got here are now leaving. I am happy for all of them that made it through and are on their way home to loved ones but we will miss them. They had become friends and it was always nice to see the familiar faces when they came to check in. I wish them all well and Godspeed on their way home. Good job and job well done II MEF!!

Pointing the way to Victory!

2006-03-06T05:31:00.000-08:00

Pointing the way to Victory!
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Another classic Lt Harer moment in the fading light. Here he is boldly pointing the way to victory. Or maybe its the way to the chow hall, latrine or maybe even the PX. Either way it is dramtic nonetheless.

As you can probably tell it has been a slow news week here at TQ. Things continue to be active all around but life goes on normally for us. Other then that there is not much to report. I hope everyone is doing well back home. We miss you and you are in our thoughts constantly.

Almost looks nice here

2006-02-27T22:56:00.000-08:00

Almost looks nice here
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This picture was taken at sunset down on the shore of Lake Habbaniyah. This area is part of the KBR complex. We would be jealous but the lake is so polluted that they would prefer we not even look at it lest we get struck down with some form of exotic illness. The photo almost makes it look like this is a nice place. Do not be deceived by this, TQ is actually not a nice place. Thats not to say that there are not nice places in Iraq....I'm sure there are some places here that are quite lovely. Apparently these places make for really bad places to put military installations though. I think that they are worried that a pleasant environment might blunt the warrior ethos. Not that I am bitter....really. I had no expectations of leisurely boat rides down the Tigris or fishing trips of lake Habbaniyah. I am just wondering if it would kill them to burn the trash OUTSIDE the camp somewhere.

As you can tell there is not too much going on at the moment here at TQ. We are almost done with our 4th month in Theatre. If we manage to get out of here a little early like the unit we replaced that means we have a little less then 8 months left. It also means the we are preaty much at the halfway point of the deployment. This is good news....its all downhill from here!

Nice Shower Cap

2006-02-22T06:49:00.000-08:00

Nice Shower Cap
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well as you can tell we have not been too busy lately. We recieve care packages from random people who just want to show their gratitude to soldiers. One of them had a shower cap in it which I thought was preaty funny considering we dont really have much hair. Anyway, it was a slow day and I am a goof ball so there you have it....me in a shower cap.

Well the damn Iraqi's seem bound and determined to start a civil war. They seem to have shifted gears slightly and are attacking each other when they are not busy attacking us. Today the sunni's blew up a Shitte holy site and of course then the shitte's had to attack the sunni holy sites and on and on. It is hard to be possitive when they keep doing this crap. I know that there are alot of people in this country who want peace but they seem to get drowned out by the extremists on all sides. My main hope was that the time I was away from Marissa and Grant could be justified by the possitive lasting impact we could have on generations of Iraqi's. My feelings about Bush, Rumsfeld, the justification of the war were not important to me anymore. I really did hope that we could make a difference in these peoples lives. I do not hold out any hope of that anymore. Sadly now all I hope to accomplish over here is to get as many soldiers,sailors, marines and airmen back to their loved ones safe and sound. I care nothing for the big picture anymore because to me the big picture has changed. Now the big picture is much more focused...accomplish my mission, look out for the soldier on my right and my left and get home safe to my family.

I wish I had some ray of hope to offer to you back home but I really dont. It is up to the Iraqi's to make this work, nobody else. Sorry to make the bulk of this post in such stark contrast to the fun lighter tone at the start but the blog flows from me as my thoughts do. I try my best to not filter my thoughts and to lay them out as they come so that you may be able to feel what i feel.

I also want you to know that while I may be a tad bit pessimistic about this endeavor, I am in good spirits. I can be that way because I focus on the day to day and enjoy the companionship of those I serve with. In the midst of this crappy place there is friendhip and laughter and sometimes even joy. So if I can have fun.....quit complaining and enjoy life to the fullest or i'll be ticked!

BBQ at Marshalling Yad

2006-02-15T01:38:00.000-08:00

Iraq-TQ bbq2
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is a photo from the 1st monthly 970th/KBR BBQ. We had so much food that we invited the gate security, patrols and convoys to help themselves to the yummy goodness. KBR brought a grill and we finally busted out the 970th grill that we bought in Texas. Major Altman would be proud to know that the grill proved up to the task. The BBQ was a nice diversion from the normal routine and was enjoyed by all.

Tomorrow will be our 100th day in Theatre. The good news is that the time seems to be going by quickly and we are almost 1/3 of the way through our time in the sandbox. Hopefully the rest of our time here will go by even faster.

Nothing much else to report from TQ. My eyes are still bloodshot and it hurts to bink but other then that they are fine. Well actually they are so sensitive that when the eyedrops hit the eyeball it feels like someone punched me in the eye. Other then that life is good. Take care and have a good day!

Grant is One!

2006-02-13T04:59:00.000-08:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This is a little late but on Feb 3rd Grant turned One. It is hard to believe that a year has passed since Grant was born. After the rough pregnancy and then in what has turned out to be a Grant trait, a rough delivery (nothing can be easy with him), we were blessed with Grant. I am grateful that the internet has allowed me to watch him grow up. It is still hard to take sometimes that I have been gone for most of his life but that is the hand we were given. I dont regret my decision to serve but it is not something that comes without a cost. For me it is having to watch my son grow up from a distance and being seperated from my best friend. For Marissa it is having to raise our son by herself. I know that everyone who serves has a similar story to tell and that I am not alone in this. So from afar I will just say Happy Belated Birthday Grant...I love you!

Now for the update on life here in Iraq. Dust storms and IED's continue to be the name of the game here. We took the time yesterday along with KBR to have a BBQ. It was fun and it helped people feel a little normal for just a while. We fed the gate guards and any patrols or convoys that rolled in and out. It was fun and it felt good to be able to make some other peoples day a little better. Iraq has a way of bringing you back down whenever life gets good though. My friends on the EOD patrol lost someone last night. They did not have time to join the BBQ because they had to go do their job but were planning on coming back to the BBQ when they were done. We have been in a communications blackout since right about the time I got off the phone with Marissa last night as a result. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the casualty.

As for how I am doing personally I am doing relatively ok. I am still dealing with a lingering issue from the virus I had last week. My eyes have been bloodshot and sore for the past 8 days or so. The good news is that it makes it look like I am working all the time and I am constantly being told I need to get some sleep. I will probably go back into to sick call to see if they cant make me all better. Other then that I am doing well. Thats all for now...take care!

Sick 2

2006-02-06T22:53:00.000-08:00

Sick 2
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well if you were wondering how my week went you can take a look and see for yourself. I spent almost five days restricted to quarters while I got my butt kicked by some Haji Virus. I slept 40 out of 48 hours the first two days. The virus also affected my eyes making them bloodshot and puss filled and it also affected my gastro tract. I only ate once in 4 days during this fun little vacation. Needless to say I lost some weight and I am still real weak and a little groggy but I am back at work today. I doubt I wil put in a full day but just getting out of the can for even part of the day is nice. Its also nice to not have the medics pumping IV's into me to keep me hydrated. Hopefully I will start to gain my strength back quickly and not feel like a walking hangover for many more days.

Now for the stupid hat I am wearing....Kathy and Bear sent this to me and asked for a photo of me wearing it. Because thay have been so supportive and active in writing me I felt obligated to grant them there wish. So here is the photo, I hope you enjoy it and are not distracted by the appearance of the guy who is wearing it.

The only fun part of being stuck in my can was not shaving for several days. I started wearing civilian clothes to the latrines, daring someone to try to give me an on the spot correction for my appearance. No one seemed to want to talk to me....go figure. Well thats all for now.

Jet landing at TQ

2006-01-30T21:46:00.000-08:00

Jet landing at TQ
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I hope everyone back home is healthy and happy. Its the last day of January and that means that for some of us we have been gone for 7 months now. Some days it seems like time is moving so fast and at other times it seems like we have been gone forever and that it will be forever before we are home with our loved ones at last. It is hard to immagine doing the exact same thing every day for the next 9+ months. The good news is that by never getting a day off it helps make the time go by faster. I generally have no idea what day of the week it is because it just doesnt matter.

Well it has been a busy week for Haji in the area but we are doing just fine here at TQ. I am feeling a little sick still today but not as bad as last night. If it is gone then it was a very intense but short bout with something. I started feeling bad arround 1500 yesterday and by 1800 I was dealing with chills and shaking followed later on by a massive headache. I went to bed early and alternated between chills and feverish but the fever broke just before midnight and I felt beter. I still dont feel great but definately better then last night. Well thats enough of the medical update for now. Well I will say one more thing. As I was walking to the latrine feeling miserable last night I was thinking how nice it would be to be at home being a "little baby" and letting Marissa take care of me. Oh well....such is life. Take Care all!

Lt Harer's Birthday Presents

2006-01-26T06:04:00.000-08:00

Lt Harer's Birthday Presents
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is our exhalted LT receiving some of his birthday presents from the 970th. He was given gifts in keeping with his status as our resident Brit. His gifts were a Pith helmet, a Brittish flag and a winnie the poo tea set. Out of the kindness of my heart I have taken pity on him and not posted the picture of him with the tea set. God Save the Queen!

Many thanks go out to Pizzicato my old employer. I received an awesome care package from them the other day. Special thanks to Luby and Sarah Duff for putting that together and filling me in on the Gossip. Congrats to Hameed on his promotion, I am sure you will do fine. The salami was a big hit as well as some of the other food items. The socks will definately come in handy. I especially enjoyed the Willamete Weekly, the Portland Magazine and the Sunday Oregonian. It was nice to have a bit of portland here in Iraq. Marissa and I really miss Portland and it made me very homesick. Thats ok though it still was a great touch and I loved reading about home. Thanks again for the package it was touching to receive something from you guys. Give my love to the pizzicato gang for me and work on figuring out how to send me a pizza! Just kidding.

Thanks again to everyone who has gone above and beyond to help make this a little bit easier. Oh, and by the way...Kathy and Bear, did I mention it rains alot in Seattle?

Sand Storm in Al Asad 2005

2006-01-23T23:19:00.000-08:00

Sand Storm in Al Asad 2005
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This is what we might get to experience in the near future. I have to say that even though it will be a royal pain in the rear it would be an incredible sight to see. It will be cool to see a side of mother nature that you dont get to see in the Northwest. Now before you even think, yes I know to be careful what you wish for. Even having said that I still look forward to experiencing a new form of getting smacked arround my mother nature. If for nothing else it will provide me with great stories to harrass my kids and grandkids with...."you think this is bad...bah, you havent seen bad till you have been in a Sandstorm". The possibilities for being an obnoxious old vet are just too good to pass up.

As you can probably tell today is a slow news day. Nothing new and exciting on our side of the pond as the brits would say. Back home Marissa is in Texas for her Granmothers funeral. Grant has become a seasoned traveler before he has even turned a year old. He has been on 3 plane trips, a ferry ride to the Orcas Islands and a road trip to San Francisco. Of course when he is a teenager he will complain that he nevers gets to go anywhere cool. I cant wait! Be good and take care of yourselves.

Minor Sandstorm

2006-01-23T03:42:00.000-08:00

Minor Sandstorm
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

We had our first little minor sandstorm the other day. It was no big deal but it still managed to shut everything down for awhile. It does not bode well for things to come. I have a feeling that we will experience some bigger storms before we are out of here.

Well it has been an eventful couple of days since I have last posted. The good news is that Lt Palicka has finally rejoined the unit. We are glad to have him back and I think that he is glad to be back. I think the workload will be much easier for him here then it was at battalion. The rest of the news is not so good. The sandstorm/dust storm was a minor pain but no big deal. Marissa is on her way to Texas for her Grandma Mensik's funeral. She passed away the other day after several years of declining health. The real bad news is that a soldier we trained with for 3 months in Texas is going home forever changed. 1st Sgt Acosta who was with a unit we trained with daily for 3 months was wounded in a mortar attack on Anaconda. He was out jogging when the incoming round exploded nearby sending shrapnel through his eyes. He has a 10%chance of ever regaining sight in his left eye but his right eye is gone. He will most likely never see again. It was sobering news to hear of his injuries and our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. It brings home how capricious this war can be. Death surrounds us but we have been largely untouched by it here at TQ. The injury to a soldier we trained with for months has brought it a littl closer to home as did the mortar attack we received the other night. We are safe here but that is a relative term in this country.

I apoligize for the somewhat depressing tone of this entry but the fact is that there will not always be fun happy storys to share. There will be bad days and there will probably be some really bad days but God willing they will be few and far between. Take care of yourselves back home and know that you are in our thoughts especially the Mensik's during this tough time. I love you all!

Galbreth in his hooch

2006-01-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

Iraq-TQ 019
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is a picture of SSG Galbreth in his hooch. He has been living with SSG Buckner but since Buckner is in Germany and will probably be medically discharged it looks like Galbreth will have his own room which as you can tell from the smile on his face, is breaking his heart.

So from the sixteen we are now down to fourteen. We are able to carry on with our mission missing two people but if we lose any more it will start to get real interesting. Right now we actually have only 11 here because of a commanders conference but when it is over we will be getting 1lt Palicka back. I am glad that he gets to rejoin the unit and I am sure that he will be glad to rejoin us as well. He was getting worked to death at Battalion so he will have it a little easier here. I am not sure exactly when he will arrive here at TQ but hopefully it will be soon. I hope they get in tonight but I will not hold my breath. Well time to do some work. Take care all!

Gibby on a Gator

2006-01-16T01:11:00.000-08:00

Gibby on a Gator
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is my battle buddy Gibby on one of the Gators that we use at the marshalling yard to get to and from work. The military requires that you have an "A" driver when using a Humvee. Since we dont have two people on a shift we use these to get to and from work. When they are working they are great but unfortunately they break down quite often. We have 3 of them and since we arrived here there has been 3 days when all 3 are working. This has been one of my biggest headaches because I am in charge of our vehicle maintenance. Some of you might be saying.."but john has no clue about fixing vehicles!!!"...and you would be 100% correct. I do however have a knack for making friends with people who do know how to fix things. The maint shop that is helping us out is from North Carolina. As you might suspect of mechanics from N.C. they are a bunch of good'ol boys. I have built up a mutually beneficial relationship with the good'ol boys and they take care of me. The main problem is the Army in its infinite wisdom supplied the previous unit, who passed the vehicles on to us, with these ATV's which are not in the Army supply system. That means I cant get parts for them and I have to become very creative in order to keep them running. I am going to have to do my best Radar O'reily impression if I am going to keep these things running in this environment.

I realize that many of you who are reading this are friends and family members of other soldiers in this unit. I welcome you to the blog and I hope that you find it is a way for you to connect a little bit to your loved ones over here. While this is written from my perspective and mainly chronicles my experiences over here I will try to include more photos and news on the other soldiers in the unit from time to time. I hope you all have a good day.

Row of "cans"

2006-01-14T23:43:00.000-08:00

Row of "cans"
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

So this is what our hooches look like on the outside. There are rows and rows of cans set up in our area. Most people are two to a can except senior NCO's and senior officers. I share a can with my battle buddy Gibby who works the night shift. It works out well so that we each get to be alone while we sleep and we get to see each other a little bit before he goes to work and I go to bed.

The deployment has kind of reached that point where we are all just chuggin along. We all know our jobs well enough that the only excitement is when something goes wrong. For me down here at the Marshalling yard we do get a little more excitement since we see everything that comes and goes from camp on the ground. Unfortunately this means that we see the bad stuff that happens like blown up vehicles being towed in or medivacs coming in. We also get to deal with some security issues which puts us in a little more contact with local nationals from time to time. It doesnt get "too" exciting by any stretch of immagination though.

I would have to say that for me the most gratifying part of this deployment has been getting to interact with the convoys. It has meant alot to me to be able to get to know these guys who go out on convoys and patrols. For almost 3 years I have watched the news and felt a kinship with those who were out here doing the job. I had started every day for the last year and a half by opening up the paper and looking at the names of the fallen. I would check every day for the names of my buddies and grieve for all who would not be coming home to loved ones. There were times that I would get angry at our country because for too many people it was not personal and it never affected them at all. Those who died were numbers not people to most of our country. It has always been personal to me and that is why I am glad that I get the chance to know these guys. I watch "friends" go out there and it makes me do my job better because I want every one of them to be able to go home alive at the end of their deployment. So take some time today and think about those who are over here. When you think about us though dont just think about us in a vacuum . Think about the loved ones back home who are also affected by their absence and pray every day for the safe return of their loved ones. For those of you reading this who are our loved ones back home I want you to know that we think about you constantly. We are very aware that this deployment has placed a heavy burden on you and we appreciate the sacrifices you have had to make.

Well thats enough of my soapbox for today. I hope you are all well and I hope that this blog has been and will continue to be a way for you to stay connected to us over here in what used to be the sandbox but has now become one big mudhole. Take care and dont forget to send good coffee to LT Harer and I. (You can take the soldier away from the Northwest but you cant take the Northwest out of the solder)

Inside of my Can

2006-01-12T22:21:00.000-08:00

Inside of my Can
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Due to popular demand here is a photo of the inside of the "cans". As you can see the cans are not huge by any means but they are comfortable. I share a can with my battle-buddy Gibson, otherwise known as Gibby. I have the bunk at the rear of the can. (Note to Marissa: Notice that the bed is made and my area of operation or AO as we call our personal space, is picked up and organized!)

Now I have camera again I will be able to blog more often. I will send more pictures of where we live so that everyone has an idea of how your loved ones are living. I know for me it helps to be able to visualize where a loved one is when you are apart. Hopefully seeing where we sleep, eat and work will help you all feel more connected to us over here. I just want to remind you that I do not share Marissa's talent for taking incredible photo's.

Things here are going well and I am just trying to do my job and attract as little attention as possible. I did a very poor job of that this week however. There is a humorous story involved that I will have to share at a later date. Just know a couple of things....1) I am not in trouble 2) I caused a lot of trouble 3) My name has been mentioned in briefs to generals up to the Theatre level 4) The legend of Baker's Luck continues to grow and grow. All things considered it was typical of the kind of thing that earned me the nickname of "lightning Rod" when I was working at a restaurant in Texas. Some day we will all look back on this and laugh.....right LT Harer????

Just kidding....things are good and someday I will tell the story. I hope you are all healthy and happy back home in the states. We are thinking about you and we all miss you very much.

One of Marissa's Pictures

2006-01-03T04:21:00.000-08:00

Where does it go?
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I have no new pictures to post so I thought I would post one of my favorite pictures that Marissa took. She has a real talent for this stuff that makes my pictures look boring so I am sure that you wont mind.

Life here is going well with nothing major to report. We did have a mortar attack a few days ago but Haji being the bad shot that he is managed to miss everything. Gotta love that poor marksmenship!

We moved into our "cans" on New Years eve so we finally have a home. They are nice but only have a few more square feet then the average jail cell. Its nice to know where we stand in the govt's mind when it comes to housing standards. The cans themselves are nice and they are insolated with a heating/cooling unit. They also stay sealed better from the sand/dust that is everywhere. A major plus is that while we are not as centrally located as we were before, we have moved away from the airfield so we are no longer close to all of the airplanes and helicopters taking off and landing. The noise disturbances are gone which is a very plesant change. It is nice to have our quiet little living space and we are adjusting to the changes it has caused in our routines. The one benefit to being in 2 tents was that it made coordination alot easier. It will take a week or so to figure out the new routines but overall it is a much better situation and much more comfortable.

Since we have started a New Year I thought I would start off with wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2006. Lets hope the year is filled with joy and success and very little drama. There will be many enjoyable milestones for us to enjoy in the year ahead; Grant will turn 1 year old, I will be home on leave in about 6 months and home for good before the end of the year if all goes according to plan. I also want to thank everyone who has made this time better for me by showering me with love. Marissa, of course you know how much I love you but I want to thank you for being my constant source of love and support. You keep me going day after day. Mom, I cant thank you enough for all that you have done for Marissa and I. We both appreciate what you have done for us so very much. There are many others I need to thank like Dad, Mike, Kathy and Leona but I want to single out Kathy and Bear who have poured out a constant stream of love and support since this deployment began. Thank you for the cards and letters and for the weather updates from Seattle. I also need to thank Matt for sending me a christmas care package since I know that when I was a single guy of his age I probably wouldnt have taken the time to send anyone anything. Just ask my mom and dad how often I called home during my mid-20's. Well thanks to all again and I will post again soon.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

2005-12-29T03:41:00.000-08:00

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is a photo of Lt Harer and I enjoying a fire-side chat on Christmas. The only thing missing was a nice glass of wine or a cold beer. Well that wasnt the only thing that was missing but you get the point.

Life here continues as normal with nothing exciting to report. We are still in the tents but the word on the street is that we will move into our trailers within the week. Of course this is the 4th move-in date we have been given so far so no one is packing their stuff just yet. I'm sure someday we will have a permanent home but it us not yet.

Good luck to the Missouri Tigers on Friday....hopefully they will not embarass themselves. Speaking of football belated congrats to Eric Mensik (Marissa's cousin) he has given his verbal committment to Oklahoma to play tight end for them. Well thats it for now. Chow!

The traditional Christmas Elephant?

2005-12-27T22:46:00.000-08:00

The traditional Christmas Elephant?
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here it is, I know that you have all been waiting for it. The Christmas Elephant in all its glory. The blending of cultures can sometimes create some interesting and amusing environments. The elephant along with the Haji's in Santa hats made for a fun atmosphere in the Chow hall and we all really appreciated the workers getting into the spirit of our holiday.

Major Altman left last night for headquarters because they want to confirm yet again that he has no neck. Just kidding but they do want a 4th opinion on his condition. They find it hard to believe that he was able to get over here in the first place with his neck as bad as it was. They obviously dont know the Major very well. He tends to get what he wants. Unfortunately the end result is still that the Major is gone and will not be coming back. Hopefully Lt Palicka will rejoin us soon but until then Lt Harer has been annointed at Imperator.

Me and Haji Santa

2005-12-26T02:54:00.000-08:00

Me and Haji Santa
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is a picture of me and Santa at the chow hall after Christmas dinner. The part of Santa was being played by one of the Indian chow hall workers. All of the workers wore Santa hats which was quite ammusing. The meal was very good and I got more then my fill. The workers did a great job in making the chow hall have a christmas feel. The only touch that was out of place was the traditional Christmas Elephant statue in the middle of the chow hall.

It sounds like Christmas went well in columbia. I'm told that Grant got spoiled rotten and that he handled the extra stimulation preaty well. Next year should be a really fun Christmas as Grant will be the perfect age and I will be there to share in the fun.

I hope that all of your Christmas celebrations were joyous despite not having all of your loved ones arround.

Merry Christmas!!!

2005-12-25T04:36:00.000-08:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Its Christmas day and this photo about sums it up for me. We had a nice Christmas meal for lunch and will have another one for dinner. Down at the Marshalling yard office we are having a relaxed day at work sharing treats sent from home and listening to Christmas music. Its a trip to be driving listening to Christmas music as you drive through the camp. We are all making the best of it and the Christmas spirit is alive and kicking but it does not mask the fact that we are all away from our homes and loved ones. I have come to love the guys I am here with and there is a solidarity with all other soldiers/marines at this time. The fact is that it we miss you all back home very much. We ALL wish we were home but that was not to be this year. So do us a favor and enjoy your time together and celebrate for me and for all of us who are away from home. Dont be sad for us because this is the life we chose and we are proud to serve. Merry Christmas to all, especially Marissa and Grant as he celebrates his first Christmas.

Unlock scanner and press power????

2005-12-22T03:09:00.000-08:00

Unlock scanner and press power????
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

The title is an inside joke between Lt Harer and I. It involves our printer/scanner that worked for exactly one copy before breaking. The title of this photo was the error message that popped up and we were never able to figure out how the heck you unlock a scanner that we didnt know you could lock in the first place. The printer does make an outstanding paperweight.

Now for the bad news.....Major Altman, who as you may remember crushed some vertebrae in his neck during training is being medically redeployed. He will be leaving us in a couple of weeks because the neck injury is getting worse. That means that we are in Limbo as to who will be our commander. We dont know if they will send somebody else, give us Lt Palicka back or if Lt Harer will be the commander. I would prefer either Lt Harer or Palicka over a stranger but that would mean having a LT in charge. They are both awesome but there is only so much an LT can do when majors and colonels start trying to push you arround. Will this affect our overall mission? I doubt it. It just will be an interesting journey for all involved. It sucks to lose a good commander who cares about his troops and I will miss our long talks about everything and nothing. I have total faith in both of the LT's and I know that they will be up to the task. It will be alot of responsibility for them but whoever is in charge they will do fine. Hopefully they will not send some schmuck from back home to take over. If by some chance that schmuck should read this someday then I was talking about someone else not you, you are great.

I read this poem on the internet today and I thought I would share it with you.

A Soldiers Christmas

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed 'round the room and I cherished the sight;
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell....a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight;
The sparkling lights on the tree, I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep;
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem.
So I slumbered in peace, then I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it came to my ear;
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble. I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near;
Standing out there alone in the cold of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I reckoned, some eighteen years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled there in the cold;
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, my wife, and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment! It's freezing out here;
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on this cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment, I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold, and the snow in a drift;
To the windows that danced with a warm fire's light,
Then he sighed, and he said, "It's really all right."

"I'm out here by choice. I'm here all the time,
It's my duty to stand at the front of the line;
No one has to ask me, or beg, or implore,
I'm proud to stand here like my father before."

"My grandpa at Pearl, on a day in December,
Is a memory my grandma will always remember;
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam,
And now it's my turn, and so, here I am.

I've not seen my family in more than a while,
But my parents send pictures. They're great for a smile."
Then he bent down and carefully pulled from his bag,
The Red, White, and Blue. An American flag.

"I can live through the cold, and this being alone,
Away from my family, my house, and my home;
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole, with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life for my buddy.....my brother;
Who stand here with me against any and all,
To insure for all time that this flag does not fall.

So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
Give you some money? Prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you do,
Being away from your home and your family too."
Then his eyes welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget;

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone;
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, wither standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled,
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you, as you mattered to us."

Written by Michael Marks

I hope you all have a great day!!

MSG Marks and Saddam

2005-12-19T01:55:00.000-08:00

Msg Marks and Saddam
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This lovely display of humility by Saddam is next to the air field at TQ. As you can probably tell, someone did not think as highly of his portrait as he did. The writing says....well I have no idea but I am sure it would make we want to puke.

Life here goes on as normal. We get up go to work, get some chow and go to sleep. Not anything real interesting to comment on today which I suppose is a good thing.

For those who missed it earlier the mailing address for me at TQ is;

SGT Baker, John M
970th TC DET (MCT)
APO, AE 09381

C130 ride to Iraq

2005-12-16T01:42:00.000-08:00

C130 ride to Iraq
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Its hard to believe that this ride from Kuwait into Iraq was almost a month ago. I have already been in theatre over a month which means that I have less then 11 months to go!!!

I have started to recieve Christmas packages from home and being the bad boy that I am I have opened the first two. I recieved packages from my Mom and from Marissa so thank you very much to both of you. I love the gifts and have already read the book Mom sent me. The Monty Python day by day calender will also bring much ammusement during the year. Marissa came up with a present that blew me away. She found a gift box that was given to all Brittish soldiers at Christmas time in 1914. The boxes were the brainchild of Princess Mary who was 17 at the time and came to be known as Princess Mary's Giftbox. The history of this box is facinating to think about and to think that almost a hundred years ago it provided some joy to a soldier who was also far from his loved ones. I want to thank all of you for all that you have done to support both me and Marissa during this time. Coming home from work to find letters, cards and packages on my bunk always makes my day.
Speaking of which we are all becoming swamped by cards with well wishes from total strangers from all over the Northwest. Yesterday we recieved 6 or 7 handmade cards from elementry school students in lake Oswego, Oregon. It has been heartwarming to recieve these cards from total strangers and to know that people took the time to write total strangers to thank us for just serving our country. I have a hard time writing people I really love and care about so I am especially humbled by the love and support shown to us. The one that I appreciated the most was from an elderly couple that started off "we both served in WWII...". For people who served in that conflict to take the time to remember those of us over here is awesome and very humbling. The sacrifice and suffering that we and our families endure is nothing compared to what they went through and I humbled to be remembered at this time by them. To be counted as one of that brotherhood makes me immensely proud.
Well the elections went off without any major problems so that is a very good thing. Now we wait to see if that success bears any fruit in creating a better life for the Iraqi's and a quicker return home for us abroad. I certainly hope that it will prove to be the case. Well goodbye for now and take care all of you and know that you are all in my thoughts.

sunrise over scrap metal yard

2005-12-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

sunrise over scrap metal yard
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This is my view as I drive to work on the Gator in the morning. What can I say, it inspires me every morning that I drive by it to never live in Iraq. This is also right across the street from where I am going to be living. So when you look at Marissa's photos on flickr.com and you see the incredible photos she takes just think that while you all are looking at snow this is what I am looking at. It has its own kind of beauty....actually, no it doesn't. Thats ok, I at least have a roof over my head and meals to eat.

Things here will be hopefully quiet for the next view days with the elections taking place on Thursday. This will be a tense time but hopefully this will be a step forward for Iraq. There have been many times that I have dismayed of any chance of success over here for democracy and then just when I have given up they show up and risk their lives in huge numbers to vote. There is hope still for this country. Dont get me wrong, there is still a chance that we not succeed in what we want to accomplish but there is allways that risk. I know for Marissa and for myself it would help if we ultimately were successful in this venture. It would be nice to look back in the future and know that our sacrifice and the sacrifice of all those who have been seperated from their loved ones and especially those who paid the ultimate price was for something. We would make the sacrifice anyway because we choose to serve. It would be nice, however, to tell Grant that while I was not there to see him take his first steps it was because we were doing something that made life better for people who needed our help. Will I be able to say that in the future? I honestly hope so.

My Office

2005-12-10T03:07:00.000-08:00

My Office
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well here it is in all of its splendor. The Convoy Marshalling yard office. This is where I spend my days doing my job. It is comfortable as far as offices made of plywood in Iraq go. It could be worse though, I could have no office and be going outside the wire everyday. This is the place where all incomming and outgoing convoys check in before they leave. The barriors you see arround the office are called "HESCOS" and they provide protection from shrapnel. We share the office with the Marines and KBR employees. To get here from my tent is about a 10 minute drive on the Gator which means that we are left alone for the most part and only deal with convoy commanders. We have A/C for the office but it remains to be seen how well it will work when its 140 outside. The unit BBQ grill is also stationed here but as of today we have yet to actually cook anything on it. I am hopefull that the Major will aquire us some meat to grill otherwise I will have to start finding some sources to make some deals with. The south african and australian contractors have been eyeing the grill every time they come in so if we invite them I am sure they will provide meat. What can I say, you find your joy where you can and everyone has that one little luxury that helps make this a little more bearable. I just happen to be lucky in that our commander is a Texan who considers BBQ a necessity of life. I'm sure Mike would agree. Well thats it for today. Take care of yourselves and dont forget to send an email to my army email so I have your address. One more thing.....Rick I will call you soon I just have not had the time to call.

My current living space

2005-12-07T01:30:00.000-08:00

My current living space
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well I finally have some current photos to post on the blog so I will try to be posting more regularly from now on. I am able to access the internet from my office but I am not able to access my yahoo mail address. I can access my army email so from now on it would probably be better to email me at john.m.baker1@us.army.mil I can send and recieve emails from there everyday except when we are under a blackout. I dont have anyones email address in my address book for this email though so if you could all email me soon so I can start adding them I would appreciate it. Getting to the MWR internet cafe is a hassle and is usually full so I will mostly be using this method of communucation. I want to take the time right now to thank everyone who has taken the time to write and send care packages. They have all been very much apprciated, especially the food since I work through lunch every day. I know that I am not good during the best of times at replying to people and this is obviously not the best of times. I dont have alot of time to write and call and since calling is expensive I devote 99 out of a hundred calls to Marissa. The point of all this is that I am humbled and grateful for the support and I want to thank all of you for your love.
As you can tell by the picture we are currently still living in tents. I have managed to aquire some furniture from the unit we replaced so I am not living out of my duffel bag for the first time in a month. I am still looking forward to having a permanent home but that might have to wait until I return home at the end of this deployment. Other then a few loud booms that rattled our windows it has been a slow day. This makes up for yesterday that was a nightmare which started with a drunk TCN (third country national) truck driver parking outside my office and jamming out to regae and went downhill from there. It was one of those days where it was just painfully difficult to accomplish the most basic tasks like getting convoy commanders to take the WHOLE convoy with them when they left. It was a break from the Groundhog day rut we were starting to fall in though. The good news is that time is moving fast and I am safe and my morale is high. Take care of yourselves and I will post again soon.

Oh for the good ol days in Kuwait

2005-12-02T23:34:00.000-08:00

Oh for the good ol days in Kuwait
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well it has been quite awhile since I have been able to get on here and post an entry so I apoligize to all the readers. We have been quite busy since we got here. TQ is a lovely place if you like tetnus, fetid bacteria filled water and burning trash heaps. I cant understand why Frommers hasn't placed it on its "must see" list. Anyway, we got here and immediately started our missions which meant that we went our seperate ways. We run three missions 24/7 in three different parts of camp so even though we live together you go days without seeing some people. I work in the Marshalling Yard meeting and greeting convoy commanders, giving them intel updates on their routes and sending them on their way. My second day on the job I sent out a EOD team and one of the marines did not make it back. The nature of the job means that I get to know the people going out and when something happens I generally know who is out there and we hope and pray that everyone is ok. Sadly that is not allways the case and in one week we lost two marines from here. My mission is personal to me and I take my job serriously. For those of you that are not aware how this works I will explain what happens when we lose someone. When we lose someone we shut down all communications out of the post until the family is notified. This can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days. Until that happens there are no phone calls or emails in or out of camp. So if there blog entries,emails or phone calls for a few days that is probably what has happened. We do get the occaisional Rocket attack here instead of Mortars but since I have been here they have all missed the camp. You hear the explosion and you poke your head outside to see where the smoke is and then you go back to work. It is not something that you think about or really worry about. Not much you can do about it anyway. TQ does not have alot of the perks that the other places do but we have enough. We have a gym, game room with tv's/playstions, a movie tent, cardio tent, a couple of small px's, a phone center and internet. Mostly though we dont have much time right now to use those things. We are working longer to learn our missions and make some changes to the operations. I have also assumed the duties of running our "motorpool" as it is so I usually have something to do at all times. I actually took some time the other night to unpack after a week. We are currently in tents and we will probably be moving into "cans" soon. I am hopeful that I will be able to get some photos soon but since I go to work when its dark and come home when its dusk it might be a little while. Anyway, I am well as is everyone else in the unit. I hope you all are doing well. Take Care.

Last Time with everyone together

2005-11-23T00:52:00.000-08:00

970th%20MCT%20(3)
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This was a photo taken of us at Battlion headquarters in Camp Anaconda. Lt Palicka has been snagged by battalion and will be staying here as we move on. We were all disapointed to lose him and we feel bad for him to be taken away from the unit he has trained with for the last 5 months. So we will wish him well as we move on. Hopefully we will get to get settled into our new base into some permanent housing so we can stop living out of dufflebags. Hopefully it will not be as active as Mortarritaville is. This mornings attack was the biggest yet and it was the first that we could hear and feel. Dont worry, it was still far enough away to not cause us any harm but close enough to get us moving out of our bunks. To tell you the truth, the attacks are more annoying then anything else. So if the attacks are merely annoying to me then I guess I cant say that life is too bad for us. There are a lot of our guys out there everyday who have to suck up the fear and drive on with their missions. We complain about our housing, they complain about losing their buddies. Those are the ones that you can all say a silent prayer for on Thanksgiving. I hope that for all of you that read this blog that Thanksgiving this year has a special meaning. I dont want anyone to feel guilty about being at home because we all chose to be here. I do want everyone to take a minute and just be thankful for all of the blessings that we so often take for granted. There are many people in this world that live their lives under harsh conditions and we are fortunate to live comfortably. Got to go.

Eventful day

2005-11-22T07:58:00.000-08:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well lets see what has happened today...I went to a class this morning on a computer system that we will be using. That was the end of the official work day so I then went to the computer lab, played games and then i called Marissa and we had a nice talk. After we talked I went the DFAC to have some chow and thats when things got real interesting. I ran into Sgt Bart and the Master Sgt and she was just smiling as big as could be so I knew something was up. Thats when she let me know that they finally got the results back and that I was being promoted to Sgt! Finally! So I'm in a good mood and Sgt Bart and i are talking outside the entrance when someone had a negligent discharge of their weapon into the clearing barrel about 15 feet away. That will get you attention in a hurry. We decide to go eat dinner and get our food and sit down to eat with the others and about 5 minutes in the alarm goes off saying "incoming". This all happens in about a 15 minute timeframe so I am good and stimulated at this time. The good news is that we will not be staying here for very much longer....the bad news is that where we are going is not in a good neighborhood. But hey it wouldnt be a war without the occasional small arms/RPG/mortar attacks to remind you that you are not in the states. The wierd thing is that even though these things are happening arround us, we would never know without the alarms going off to tell us because this base is so huge. Well its time for SGT Baker to go have some fun.

The Matrix Major

2005-11-21T02:09:00.000-08:00

The Matrix Major
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well here is a picture of the Major and I during the tour-de-force that was the 970th controlling the volleyball court at camp Buehring, Kuwait. This is about the extent of what we did there and overall it was a time of great boredom. I hate Kuwait! Let me say it again, Kuwait sucks. The country looks just like this....light color sand with no hills and absolutely no trees. The people are so rich that the only people who work here are from another country. I am glad to be in Iraq. We are in Iraq at a base right now called Ananconda. It is the largest base in Iraq and it has everything a base in the U.S. would have. We will not be here long and where we are going will not be as big or as nice but I think I will like it better. I will like being as far away from the big shots as possible. We just want to do our mission in peace and go home.
On a more sober not the experience has become considerably more real in the last week. There were a couple of accidental deaths while I was in Kuwait and last night we were attacked here. The base is so big that I would not have known without the alarm going off but the alarm going off definately was an interesting experience. There was alot of activity after that from our side but mostly it was routine. Apparently this place is nicknamed "mortaritaville". Well other then being welcomed official byt the insurgents to Iraq I am doing well and looking forward to getting to my "home" for the next year. I hope you are all well and I will talk to you soon.

Our Farewell Party in El Paso

2005-11-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

bliss 121
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well I had hoped to put some new pictures on here from Kuwait but this stupid computer at the cafe wont let me. This camp is a holding camp for soldiers going north so there are a lot of people here with nothing to do but go to the PX, play volleyball, use the phones and get on the internet. There are 3 internet cafe's here but two of them charge five dollars an hour. They are allways packed! I went to the free one at 11pm and it was a 2 hour wait. I waited 25 minutes at one of the pay ones. But the dang computer wont allow uploads!!! Oh well.

So anway no new pictures today. Hopefully sometime in the near future we will find a place to call home for the hole year. It will be nice to not be living out of a duffel bag any longer. We have about a week and hopefully we will go north soon. Kuwait sucks. It is nothing but flat sand and the people are the laziest on the planet after the Saudi's. Most kuwati's dont work, they have so much money that they hire poor peopl from other countries to do it for them. I think I will like Iraq a lot more actually. Well my time is almost up so I need to say goodbye before I get cut off. I am doing well and actually liking it here at camp.

The guys

2005-11-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

The guys
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This is us right now as I write this blog. We are enjoying a day on the town that we will not be able to enjoy for awhile. I like to think of it as reminding myself what we are fighting for....football and beer. Actually those things are nice but what its really about is the bond that we have formed. Outside of my relationship with Marissa and Grant at this time in my life these guys are the most important thing in my life. They are my family for the next year and after being with them for 4 months I will say that I am very lucky to be with such a good group of people. They are good soldiers but more importantly they are all good people and I am honored to serve with them. After the movies it may seem very cliche but I understand what its like to be a part of a "band of brothers". We are not combat arms but after all of the stuff we have endured together allready we have become a very tight group and I consider myself lucky. Back when I was cross-leveled into this unit I was nervous because I ad no idea what I was getting myself into. Now I am glad to be going with these guys and I wouldnt want to go with anyone else. This would be the best experience of my life if not for the fact that I am apart from my best friend. I will miss Marissa every day that I am gone but I know that we will come through this stronger then ever and I cant wait to see what the future holds. I will not be on here for a few days as I will be busy but I will be thinking of you. Take care!

Goodbye to Grant

2005-11-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is a photo from my last day home on leave. Marissa, Grant and I went to the WWI memorial right before she took me to the airport. It was a great day just hanging our in Kansas City together. We enjoyed a lazy morning in the hotel together and then we went to arthur bryants for some of the best BBQ in the world. Grant got his first taste of BBQ and he loved it. After that we went down to the plaza and got some coffee and took a stroll arround with Grant. We ended our day at the memorial and I was glad that we stopped there. Since I joined the army it has become very important to me to honor those who have gone before. Part of that is because I know how difficult it is to be away from those you love and yet I have it so good compared to those who went before me. I know when I will come home for the most part. Of course it could allways change but for Marissa's grandfather and for mine there was not this definate time-frame. They were called and they went and they had no idea when they would be home. They didnt have daily phone calls and the internet and they would have killed to live in the crapy baracks we have lived in. I have a profound appreciation for what they did and when I get down I try to remind myself that I dont have it so bad. I dont think that we can ever properly thank those who went before but I will make it a point to try. I hope someday Grant will look at me the same way and be proud that his father was willing to serve. This might be the last entry for awhile so if it is then be patient and I will be back as soon as possible with more pictures of the Major so he will get off my back! (Just kidding Sir!) I miss you all (some more then others...psst I'm talking about you Marissa) and you are in my thoughts. Take care!

bliss 121

2005-11-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

bliss 121
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well there has not been much to blog about so all of you people out there can stop complaining about the lack of blogs! It has been kind of low key for us here as we get ready to roll out soon. It will be good to finally start the clock on this deployment. It seems like everyone is of the same mindset that we just want to get over there. We are tired of being here, especially those of us who have been here since July 5. The morale seems to be good right now despite the fact that we are all about to go somewhere we have never been before. Last night the Battalion Commander LTC Meder came down to visit us and we all went out to Chili's for dinner. It was a fun evening and everyone had a good time. Its nice to be able to have a beer if we want one like normal people. Well thats really about it, like I was saying...not much is going on. We have one more day of class, then we have the weekend off and after that we dont know but I am sure they will tell us what they want us to do. Take care!!!

Convoy Training

2005-10-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

bliss 087
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

AS you can probably tell this is not a picture of my recent trip home to Missouri. This was from one of the last few days of training and I just liked the picture.
Well I am back at Fort Bliss after a wonderful visit home. It is amazing how much Grant has changed in the last 3 months. He was sick most of the time I was home so he wasnt his normal self until the last two days but that was ok. It was so great to be able to be there with Marissa. We tried as much as possible to just do normal things and it was gratifying to us both that it felt very normal. It will be a great day when we are a family again and I know for sure that we will not be taking each other for granted anytime soon. I am blessed with a wonderful family and friends!
We will be leaving sometime soon for our new home for the next year. I have the address that you can start sending things too. Remember that packages take a long time to get there. (hint....they say you should mail Christmas packages by the 10th of November!!)
Anyway here is the address...
SPC Baker, John
970th TC Det (MC)
c/o 949th TC Det (MC)
APO AE 09381

After about a month you can delete line 3 with the "care of" 949th... and it will just be 3 lines.
Well I need to go through another readiness check for deployment. This makes 4 in the last few months. Take to you all soon.

Almost done

2005-10-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

bliss 074
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This was a picture taken of me and
ski during an after action review for the last day of convoy live fire. As you could probably tell by the expressions we were a little tired.
Today we officially complete our training phase when the commander briefs a general and he says we are good to go. It will be great to get out of here and go to missouri to see Marissa, Grant and the rest of the family. I miss everyone and cant wait to see them. I will also get to see Grag and Andy for the first time in a couple of years which will be nice. I cant wait to be there! Things are starting to feel very surreal for me now. The time is coming very soon when we will be in the middle-east and I will be unable to talk to Marissa on a daily basis. It is going to be nice to get over there and get started but it is also going to be a sad journey for me. I hate to think about being so far away for so long. The good news is that I have been gone already for 3 and a half months. The next time will be about six months inbetween visits and then after that the next time I come home it will be for good. For those of you in Missouri I will see you in a couple of days. For everyone else you are in my thoughts!

Major "Spine Crusher" Altman

2005-10-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

Major "Spine Crusher" Altman
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is a picture of our commander Major Altman putting some rounds down range. It is overdue that I get a picture of him on here but better late then never. (He reads the blog!!!) So anyway, like I was saying, few units in history have been so blessed to have a commander like Major Altman. (I want to get promoted so be patient while I suck up some more) He has the rare gift of leadership that makes men want to follow him to the gates of hell and back. ( Or at least to Starbucks) In all seriousness though it has been a great relief and a pleasure to get to serve with him. He puts his troops first and he cares deeply about all of us. As a soldier you couldnt ask for more. Except maybe a commander who doesnt crush his own vertabrae while doing situps. Another person who deserves some honerable mention here is Major Altmans wife who has supplied us with batch after batch of excellent homemade cookies. Thank you very much!
In Other news we have finally finished training and are just waiting for validation from higher headquarters. If all goes well then I will be home (home #3) in a few days. I am so looking forward to seing everyone, especially Marissa and Grant. They are what keeps me going day in and day out. I am a lucky man!

Live Fire

2005-10-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

bliss 079
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well it has been quite awhile since I have been able to get on and blog. The last 12 days were long hard days but they were filled with good training. The last two days were 17 and 14 hour days respectively. We are off today and tomorrow and it was definately needed. I enjoyed all of the training very much though and got to do some cool "high-speed" stuff. I also got to add something to my list of things that I have experienced once and hopefully never again. I was the turret gunner for our convoy training and on the first day of the live fire it was miserable. First of all it was the 17 hour day and second of all it was cold and raining. This was not the worst part however. The sun came out and it was not bad weather while we were doing the live fire convoy. On the way back in however the weather took a turn for the worse. I'm up in the turret sticking out of the humvee when it starts raining hard. This is bad but then it starts to hurt...bad. It takes me a minute to realize that it has turned into a hail storm. Let me tell you that the only thing that sucks worse then being cold and wet with the wind chilling you to the bone is to have hail hitting you in the face. I can now put that experience on the list of things I hope to never go through again.
As most of you know by now Marissa will be moving to missouri on Saturday. I will be home on the 20th and it will be great to be able to see my family and friends at the same time as I see Marissa and Grant. Hopefully see will enjoy being in Missouri and I know that my family is excited to have her. She and Grant will be living with my mom. I am very lucky and grateful to be able to turn to family for support in this difficult time. I know that you will all take care of my family while I am gone. Thank you so much!

waiting for training

2005-10-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

bliss 050
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well the last few days have been both good and bad for me. The training has been really fun and tough. We were doing urban operations and clearing buildings. It would have made for really cool pictures but no one wanted to bring their camera out to be destroyed. I had a lot of fun and I seem to be good at this kind thing. I definately felt like I had worked hard when the training was done for the day. The internet blogs will be spotty for awhile because the internet cafe has been shut down at our base camp until the end of October. I will be on when I can. Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers as we are starting to see people breakdown physically. Lets hope for no more injuries or illnesses so that we can complete our training on time. If we do then i will be able to take leave and see Marissa and grant for a week!!!
I cant wait to see Marissa and grant....they are what keeps me going!

Almost Nice

2005-09-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well this morning was a mixed bag for me. It started out with the news that they didnt have the funds available to send me to the port call. I was a little bummed about that but no big deal. Then we had the PT test. I was hoping to improve from a month ago and in many ways I did. I woke up feeling like crap....allergies have been kicking my butt the last few days. So even though my push-ups are strong and my sit-ups are much immproved I did the minimum on each event and stopped to say my energy for the run. Good call on my part. I was hurting big-time during the run and I took a pit stop to puke halfway through but I finished in a minute less then last time and more importantly I passed evrything. The good news is that if I came down to sea level and didnt have respitory problems I would probably be doing very well. I really hate PT tests! Doesnt matter how good of shape I am in..I still hate them. Other then that it has been a slow day for us. Tommorrow starts 12 days of training in a row for us so the blog might not get updated as much. I hope to be able to but for the next couple of weeks no news is good news. I snapped this picture last night coming back to basecamp. Well I hope everyone is doing well wherever you are! I miss you all and I thank you for you support and your comments on the blog. Even a real quick joke at my expense helps me feel connected.

The purpose of this Blog

2005-09-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I had hoped to avoid this but apparently the recent articles in Time and Newsweek have created a huge interest in soldiers blogs. This blog is not and will not become a discussion forum for those wishing to debate the politics of this conflict. This will also not be a place for those who wish to discuss the morality of war. Take a good look at the picture and you will see exactly what this blog is about. It is about my family and trying to let them experience a taste of what I am going through. The blog is a tool for those close to me to be able to understand what the life of this soldier is like. I will not discuss my views on the war in this forum. I am a practicing member of our democracy and I exercised my right to express my opinion at the ballot box. I will not express it here. I am also a soldier in the service of my country and as such it is inappropriate for me to comment on the foreign policy of my country. I intend this blog to be a transparant look at MY life in Iraq....not the war itself. There are rules and restrictions on what I can and cant say in the interest of operational security and I intend to follow those to the letter. There are also limits that exist for the purpose of maintaining military order. Make no mistake, I will complain like every soldier does but I WILL respect those whom I serve under. If you have strong opinions about this war then I encourage you to get involved and vote. I would ask you to respect the purpose of this blog though and refrain from posting your political views here. I dont want to hear them and neither does my family. I have every intention of leaving this blog public so that people can gain an insight into a world that maybe completely foreign to them. If this becomes a political discussion then I will make this blog private. To those who I love I thank you once again for the love and support you have shown me during this time. I hope that you will continue to show this love and support to both Marissa and I in the year ahead.

Hot and Dusty

2005-09-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

bliss 057
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is a picture of me in the turret getting ready for a patrol. It was fun but you get pounded arround a lot. I am looking forward to doing more of this type of training. We will also start doing the MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain)training soon. Thankfully I should never have to use this training but its good to have and I actually really enjoy doing it.(Dont worry Marissa/Mom I am not joining the infantry)
I may get to escpae here for 4 to 5 days starting Sunday. We have a Port Call for our cargo that is getting shipped to Iraq in Charleston, South Carolina. Basically someone has to go and make sure it gets there and that all of the doccumentation is straightend out. The unit is sending Sgt Bart but the Master Sgt wants me to go as well. Msg Marks has done a good job of trying to get me every opportunity to further my career and recieve more training. It would be a good experience for me to see how the port runs and what happens at a port call and it would also get me out of here for awhile. I could handle a few days by the ocean. Well I should know in the next couple of days if it is going to happen. I will be keeping my fingers crossed. Take care!

Getting ready to roll out

2005-09-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

bliss 051
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I took this photo from the turret of my hummve as we got ready to roll out into the dessert. Its fun to be the gunner because well, it just is! However I learned after the first day that you HAVE to have something to cover your nose and mouth otherwise you will find it very hard to breathe with all of the dust. So the next day I put Aunt Kathy's bandannas to good use. We spent the last few days doing mounted patrols, security checkpoints and crowd control. I missed the last days training so I could go back out to the range and fire my weapon to verify that it actually works. It worked great and I enjoyed getting to put some rounds downrange. It was funny because when I explained to the NCOIC (non commisioned officer in charge) of the range why I was there He laughed and said "Oh that was you!". Apparently my weapon and I made an impression. The range NCO's were really cool and had me help them out for awhile and then they let me shoot as long as I wanted to.
We are off again for a few days and then we will not have a day off until we are done with training which will be arround the 17th of October. I should be able to access the internet for the next couple of days but then it may be awhile until our internet cafe at the training site is fixed. If you get a chance check out Grants blog, there are some new photos of grant and marissa at the beach.

Barracks love

2005-09-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

Barracks love
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

SGT Hitchcock gets a wake-up hug from his buddie Sgt Wroblewski. Needless to say he was not thrilled and elbowed Ski in the head a few seconds after I took this photo. Even though we are all adults and we only have one soldier under the age of 24 it is only a matter of time before the maturity level drops to that of junior high. I dont know if its stress or if you get 15 men away from their wives all the pent up juvenile behavior comes bursting out at once but it is entertaining. It is an interesting study in sociology to watch "professionals" revert almost instantly to being boys again. No one is immune from this, from the youngest private to the commander. It is fun and it helps take the edge off the stress. It is probably a major factor in spouses wanting to send their partners back to iraq after they have been home awhile.
Well this will probably be the only entry for a few days. We start training tommorow and the internet cafe at donna ana which only had 8 computers for 1400 soldiers is now broken and will not be fixed for a week. I will get back online when I can.

970th Hard at work

2005-09-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Internet Cafe
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well here we are hard at work. Dont get me wrong, we would much rather be training then sitting on our behinds. Fortunately the dead days are almost over. We start training again on Friday. We are all excited to get back into the swing of things. It has taken a toll on everyone at one point or another just sitting here with nothing to do. We will be done with our training in less then a month and then we have an indeterminate break before we leave the USA. It would have been nice to get home during the past two weeks but that wasnt allowed. I will be going back home for a few days before I take off. It will be so good to see Marissa and Grant one last time. It will also be good to see everyone else, especially Luke since I will not see him for a long time. Luke will be gone at his military training when I get home. Well I wish I had more to say but thats really about it. I miss you all and I love most of you!

Good Training Hooah!

2005-09-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Good Training Hooah!
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

This was our instructor after he got the Hummvee stuck. He was really cool and we had a great time. We are nearing the end of our hiatus and hopefully we will be able to complete the rest of our training on time. Once we are done we will have a few weeks before we depart and I will get a pass at some point to go home and see Marissa and Grant before I go to Iraq. I am ready to get over there and get this year started. It will be exciting and also a little bittersweet to finally get on the plane. We are coming up on almost 3 months that I have been gone! There are alot of important dates coming up that I will miss like Mom and Laurens Birthdays so Happy Birthday to you both!! Take care!

Me a little nervous

2005-09-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

Me a little nervous
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well its been a few days since I have been able to get on line so thats why no blog entry. Yesterday some of us did drivers training to get licensed to drive the Humvee. Fortunately our instructer was from the old school who actually thought that the best way to teach was not by powerpoint but by actually driving. We went out in the dessert and went offroading to learn the capabilities of the humvee. We learned a few things it CAN'T do! We only destroyed one tire and high centered another. My buddy Tamayo destoyed the tire and then I had to back it onto the recovery vehicle. I have some video that shows just how tight a fit it was. Because the front tire was blown I had to back it onto the trailer. The trailer was about a foot higher then the berm we were on so I had to gun it and power onto the flatbed. I was a little nervous to say the least as I looked down and saw my tires hanging over the edge. All things considered though it was alot of fun. It sure beat sitting in the barracks. If you want to see more pictures of the day you can click onto the photo and it will take you to Marissa's photostream online. I hope everyone is doing fine, you are all in my thoughts.

Me, Tamayo (aka the Mexican) and Wroblowski

2005-09-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

bliss 035
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well not much has happened. We have actually received confirmation on which unit we are replacing, where we are going and when we are leaving. However, because of Operation Security requirements I am not allowed to tell you precisely those things. For family just know that it is where I told you and the time is still November. Other then that it has been slow. No other washed up celebrities have come to visit. We start training again on the 23rd. For those of you that might not know...Marissa is doing a blog for Grant. Those of you who have not had a chance to see many pictures of him should go check it out. Marissa is an amazing photographer and does an amazing job. The site is www.grantbaker.blogspot.com

General Baker

2005-09-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

I am borrowing this photo from Grants Blog because I have no interesting photos and because I love these pictures. I got this uniform on post and I had all of the nametapes and unit patches put on so that his uniform looks like mine. He doesnt fit it yet but he will. I cant wait to see him in this uniform when I come home.
Life here is slow right now. We have a pause in our training as they had a unit come in that had to be in Iraq yesterday. So they postponed our training to get them through faster. We are doing some unit training here and there but for the most part we are bored. Its all about extremes in the army...you are either worn-out but excited by the high-speed training or you are bored out of your mind.
Mom....I dont know if I responded but yes I would be happy to corespond with some of your classes while I am over in Iraq.
Take care!

Moving on up

2005-09-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Moving on up
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Life is random sometimes. I go into the chow hall for dinner and there is Sherman Hemsly aka George Jefferson. They brought in a band to play and he sang a few songs and just hung out with the troops. I couldnt resist getting a picture just because it was too random to run into george jefferson in Dona Ana base camp. Its funny because he is a very minor celebrity but it still had a big impact on peoples morale. Well that was the highlight of my day so you can tell we are not doing a whole lot. Hope you all are doing well.

Home on the range!

2005-09-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Here is a photo from our long day at the range. We had a much needed day off on thursday and then yesterday I was busy again running the officers arround early in the morning and then I went out to the range to help coach the Master Sergeant. It had been about 10 years since she last picked up a weapon so she was a little rusty the first day but she did fine on friday. Then it was back to post to move some supplies from one box to another. (Its an army thing) As you can see it has not been too exciting. Today we had classes in the morning and this afternoon we are having a detachment picnic/group bonding session on post.

Bakers Barbershop

2005-09-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

Bakers Barbershop
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well it has been a few days since I have been able to get online so I am sorry for the lack of posts. I am doing better then I was the last post. The last 4-5 days has gone well. This is a photo of Baker's Barbershop! I have become the units offical barber. Once a week or so I pull out the clippers and I cut everyones hair. Its kind of funny but as soon as I pull the clippers out I have a line of guys waiting to get their high and tights. The commander is going to buy me some more equipment so I can give even shorter cuts.
Yesterday was weapons qualification and it was a very long day. We started about 1 in the afternoon and we got back to the barracks at 1 in the morning. We grouped and zeroed the wepons and then we did our qualification fire, NBC fire (with gas masks on) and then once it got dark we did Night Fire. I discovered that my M16 is a piece of crap. It miss fired, jammed, double fed rounds and then ceased working all together during night fire and I had to be escorted off the range because the weapon would not go on safe. My battle buddies could tell where I was at any given time by listening to the profanities coming out of my mouth. At one point I had 7 double feeds in 18 shots. I was having to drop my magizine out and clear my weapon after every other shot. This continued despite the armourer replaceing a good portion of my weapons parts during several attempts to get it working. It was quite frustrating to say the least. I think the best thing for me to do in combat would be to let the enemy use my weapon. Despite all the troubles my weapons managed to work prefectly during the qualification fire and I was the only one in my unit to shoot expert. I hit 37 out of 40! Needless to say I am very pleased with that but I am going to try and get issued a new weapon. It seems that since I was honor graduate of my MOS school and now qualified as expert that being a soldier is something I am very good at. I do enjoy being a soldier but it doesnt mean I wont complain alot! I hope everyone is doing well. Please feel free to leave comments as it is the quickest way for me to check up on everyone.

Sunday blahs

2005-09-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

Sunday blahs
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Some days are rougher then others. I wish I could make the time go by faster. My hope is that I will wake up one day and this will all be over. I hope that the one thing everyone takes from this is to not take the people in their lives for granted. I would do anything to be back home with those that I love. Hopefully tomorrows blog will be better.

Death by Powerpoint

2005-09-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

Yet another boring class
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well it seems that if we are not busting our humps in full battle rattle we are sitting through hour after hour of powerpoint presentations. The person that introduced powerpoint to the army needs to be shot! Life for me has been kind of slow this week as I have been laid up with some minor foot problems and then I managed to get a sinus infection coupled with a respitory infection. It is a slow week for us with no mandatory training so it was good timing at least. I have a small pharmacy now and I feel much better. We have a medical unit that we are training with so I have lots of doc's and medics checking up on me. Since I have been out of commission I dont have much new to offer. Next week the training will be mounted land navigation and weapons qualification. It could be worse I could be in New Orleans.

970th after training

2005-08-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

Well it was a hellish first week of training but the good news is that we got most of the really hard stuff done for now. The first week was very physically demanding and it took its toll on everyone. We did first aid which involved having to carry buddies around in full body armor in 100 degree heat. Then we moved to land navigation which was a couple of day of long hot walks in the dessert with full battle rattle. Finally we did Individual movement Techniques. This was brutal! High Crawl, Low crawl, back crawls and three to five second rushes in full gear. Needless to say we are are tired and beat up but we are through the worst for now. We now move to combat life saver and weapons qualification over the next two weeks. This weekend we are scheduled for our first days off since we started our training. It will be nice to rest up a bit. My feet are suffering with the new boots. They dont fit real well so I have blisters all over both feet and it hurts to walk. I will probably have to go to soft shoes for a few days to let my feet heal. As much as it sucks to allways be tired and sore it is great to be doing something. The training has been very good with a lot of real world instruction thrown in. It has also been a real eye-opener to see how hard it is to function in a dessert environment with all of your gear on. Its tough and it is very draining but so far we have not had any heat casualties. Well I hope everyone out there is doing well but just keep in mind the next time you think your job sucks.....it could be worse.....much much worse!

bliss 016

2005-08-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

bliss 016
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Sorry it has been a few days since I have been able to get on here and blog but computer access is tough to come by. There are 10 computers for about 2,000 troops. Anyway this is my home sweet home. It doesnt look like much and it isnt. We have 15 people living in ours and it is quite rustic. We have all settled in and it is for better or worse, home.
Training finally started with a vengance! I hurt all over and I think I have lost 5-10 pounds in the last 3 days. The training is good but it is very tough. The first day was first aid and we had to carry each other from station to station. It is tough to carry people in good conditions but while wearing about 40 pounds of body armor and carrying a weapon in the desert it is brutal. This was soon surpassed the next day by land navigation which was about a 6 mile walk over 3 and a half hours in full battle rattle as its called when we wear all of our gear. I ache all over but it is nice to be worn out instead of bored. Talk to you soon!

battle rattle

2005-08-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

battle rattle
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well yesterday was a very long day and it did not go vey smooth but we finally got to Donna Anna. Of course they did not have any billets for us when we got there so we sat arround for a hour or so before they put us in a biilet that had not been cleaned and the AC was broken. I will take some pictures today to hopefully show just how horrible this place is. It is however our home for the next couple of months. We will make the best of it and try to have fun but it is not what I would call upscale accomadations. Hopefully tomorrow we will start doing some training. As you can see we finally got issued almost all of our gear. When we have all of our gear and our rucksacks on it weighs anywhere from 60 to 80 pounds with a full combat load. It should help take off some pounds!

New Uniforms

2005-08-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

New Uniforms
Originally uploaded by mensik_baker.

Well we finally got our desert uniforms! I guess this means I need to go to the desert sometime so I can blend in. They are actually lighter and more comfortable the the BDU's that we have been wearing. I will have more exciting pictures soon as we will be starting to do training on Wednesday. Sitting in the room all day just didnt lend itself to exciting photos. As you may have noticed just about every photo of the guys in my unit show them doing what we do most of the time....play on our computers. This will change soon and we will all be glad to get home at night and take off the body armor and go to sleep. Today we are packing up for our move tomorrow. This will be the 7th place I have stayed in for at least a week since the begining of June. We will be here for a couple of months before leaving for "somewhere". I hope everyone is doing well. I think about you often and will look forward to seeing you towards the end of 2006.

He is nicer then he looks!

2005-08-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

This is SGT Bartholomew or as we call him just SGT Bart. He is a rather large man and he is actually a very fun loving guy. He has already been to Iraq once before and he is a great NCO. Sgt Bart is very experienced and makes sure that he gives us the training that we need and he does a good job of weeding out the stuff we dont need. He also happens to be a fanatical prankster so you have to make sure you are keeping one eye on him at all times.
We finally got our DCU's the other day. Of course since we are a small reserve detachment we didnt get a lot of things we need. For instance, we got our rucksacks but not the frames that go with them.... We got wet weather tops, but not bottoms.....we got sleeping pads but not sleeping bags. I got my body armor issued and its the new interceptor vest. I did not however get the strike plates to go in the vest. Apparently the are out of them in the entire united states in size large so I will not get them until Kuwait. That actually works out well for me because that means 7 less pounds to carry arround during training. Of course the army in its infinate wisdom made sure that we were all issued cold weather boots. If it had gone any different I probably would have been shocked. The good news is that although right now we are the red-headed step child of the army once we get to Theater we become Theater Level Assets so the situation will be reversed. More tomorrow hopefully!

970th TC DET

2005-08-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well here we are one small happy group. This is everyone in the unit except for the commander who will join us next week. The picture was taken outside the NCO exhibt on Ft Bliss. MSG Marks thought it would be fun. It really wasnt but it was something to do. She tried at least.
I had a very interesting brief yesterday from a former special forces soldier who served 2 years in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was informative and it painted a very realistic picture of the obstacles we face in winning the hearts and minds of Iraqi's. It was also very honest about the mistakes that we have made. It was enjoyable even though it lasted 9 hours. I have also asked for and recieved some guidance on what I can and can not post on the blog. I can not give you information on where I am going other then to say that I have been mobilized in support of Operation IRAQI Freedom. I will also not be able to tell you when I am going to move to my destination. Once I am there I will be able to tell you a little bit more. Thats it for tonight folks!!! Make sure you visit Grants Blog to see the cutest baby ever.

Sgt Coyne

2005-08-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

This is SGT Coyne from Tacoma, Washington. He is my squad leader and for the last month and a half he has been my roommate. He and I have become good friends and love to give each other a hard time. When we are having a good time it is either described as two children misbehaving or a married couple bickering because we love to needle the other person. I have been lucky to have him as a roommate and He has helped make this a little bit more fun. Sgt C. is 43 and is married.
Over teh next few weeks I will give quick bio's of the guys in my unit so you can put faces with the names. Not much else has happened so thats it for today. Tommorow I have another 9 hours of briefings to attend so I doubt I will have much of interest to blog.

An Army of Fun

2005-08-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well here is what I do most of the time right now. I drive arround the officers for half the day and the rest of the day is usually spent in my chair in front of the computer. Starting in 10 days this boredom will come to a crashing halt and we will be begging for time to relax. Once the rest of the unit is done with their processing we will move to another part of FT. Bliss called Donna Anna which is about 30 miles north of here in New Mexico. You might be able to tell that Ft Bliss is rather large!! Ft Bliss contains 40% of the land area for all army bases combined in the states. Once we get to Donna Anna we will begin our hardcore training phase. We will spend two months doing live-fire exercises, urban combat training, convoy opps and many other things. It should be interesting and very challenging for the unit but it should also provide us with a good chance to bond together. While I am here at Ft. Bliss I can not be reached by phone but you can write me at:
Commander
970th TC DET
ATTN: SPC BAKER
BLDG 2444 CASSIDY RD.
FT. BLISS, TX 79916
Thats it for tonight!!

2005-08-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

I am going to backtrack a little in time to give you a feel for what has been going on. When I was mobilized on July 5th I was part of the advance party. That meant that only 9 of the 16 people in our detachment were mobilized. The rest of the group shows up today. When we first arrived at Ft. Bliss they put us in a temporay holding area for mobilizing soldiers out at biggs airfield. The housing consisted of huge air-conditioned tents that each held 500 bunks. The living conditions were not too bad but privacy was not to be had. The temperature was very hot!! Typically it was 110 during the day and it usually cooled down by 10pm to about 95. This picture was taken insider the tent at 7 pm one day when the AC had broken. At one point it was 120 in the tent but it had cooled down to a balmy 112 by the time I took this picture.
We spent the first week getting inprocessed and got our shots. I politely declined to recieve the Anthrax vaccination. For the most part we did not have much to do until we split up to go to varrious schools. Since many of us volunteered to change MOS's (military occupational specialty) we had to go to school to learn our new jobs. I went to Sacramento for 3 weeks with 4 other soldiers from my unit. I will talk more about Sacramento tomorrow!

First Post

2005-08-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well here we go! This is my first attempt at doing this so I hope everything comes out the way I want it too. I will hopefully be doing this on a regular basis but we shall see. I have been mobilized for over a month now and we waiting for the rest of the unit to arrive. They will show up soon and then shortly after that we will begin our training. I was in Sacramento for 3 weeks at a school to learn my new job. I did not like Sacramento at all and was glad to get back "home" to Ft Bliss.
I feel very lucky because my unit is a good group of guys and we have begun to bond together. I could not have picked a better group of guys to go over there with. I am sure there will be many days that we will have a lot of fun and many days that suck but we will make it through.

2005-08-10T08:39:00.000-07:00