Albatross in Alaska

This video remained me of my one and only flight in an Albatross. Valerie and I flew from St. Croix to St. Thomas and back for the day. Imagine an aluminum john boat with wings going 80 mph over the water. That is what is sounded like inside as you took off and landed. Got to love that Alaskan scenery too.

1 Year Today

Dear Mom and Dad,

I got your four boxes of dri fire t-shirts in the mail today. How many did you order? I think we got about 150. I was able to distribute two to everyone in the company, minus a couple of the XL guys, they only got one. The dri fire guys also sent us 12 baseball caps which I passed around to all the PSG's and PL's.

Today celebrates (well, I guess you could say celebrates) one year deployed from Alaska. I departed Fort Richardson on October 3rd, 2006, and today is October 3rd, 2007. What a year. So we had a big company bar-b-q to celebrate. This morning began with a huge company photograph since first platoon came down from Baghdad, and an awards ceremony. Then all afternoon we played flag football. Tonight we're having a big bar-b-q with burgers, chicken, and steaks. A relaxing day of sorts. So, it was good that first platoon was here to get there t-shirts.

I will e-mail you a copy of the company photo we took this morning to distribute among all your friends and family that have supported us. I think every church newsletter needs a copy.

Thanks again for the never ending love and support you have given me and my Sappers.

Love,
Samuel

Dogs Know!!

YouTube - Iraqi Dogs hate Iraqis'? Part 1


These stray dogs were at a Baghdad police station . For some reason they're protective of the American Soldiers .


Part 2

Don't tell me dogs don't know. They are our best friends and can be our worst enemies.

UNO and the Jundi

Dear Friends and Family,

I just thought you would find these photographs funny. I returned late last night (just after midnight) from spending two days down south providing a QRF (Quick Reaction Force) for another mission (can explain more later). We were staged at an Iraqi Army outpost on the outskirts of Karbala. It all started with a brand new deck of UNO cards, thanks to a care package from Gail Dudley. My guys were deep into our first hand with several curious "Jundi's" or Iraqi Army soldiers peered over the wall at us, trying to figure out this odd card game we were playing. Finally they worked up the courage, (YEAH RIGHT, Jundi's are suspicious of everything and as precocious as a 12 year old with ADHD). We let them watch a few hands before inviting them to sit down and play. What began as a friendly experiment turned into an all day affair teaching probably half the battalion how to play UNO. By the afternoon many had broken away for their naps. All faithful Muslims are deep into Ramadan right now, fasting all day, leaves them hungry, ornery, and tired by the afternoon. A few loyal players stayed and played into the hours of darkness before kicking them away to continue our mission and move out. One Jundi, 51 years old, said he had seen people play cards on the television, but never got to play himself. How did we explain the rules, well, UNO isn't the hardest card game to learn, but we had a lot of help from my interpreter Sam (seriously, my terp's nick name is Sam, his real name is Sayid, but he goes by "Sam"). After a while Sam got tired of explaining the game over and over game, but they picked it up well. The hardest part was changing colors after a wild card was played, we tried to learn the colors in Arabic, and they tried to learn them in English, but finally we just ended up pointing to the appropriate color on the card.
Enjoy.

Love,
Samuel

Photos From Home

Jasper's view from his favorite mountain, Mt. Baldy

(click any image to enlarge)
Gretchen's rosey cheeks after a Mt. Baldy hike
Ladies night out.

A 30th birthday only comes once.

Last Day For Packages - Oct. 5th

Sam's Company Commander reports that October 5th should be the last shipment day for any boxes to Iraq. The brigade will be departing early to mid November (exact date unknown for OPSEC)

19 December 2007 Redeployment Ceremony at the Sullivan Arena in downtown Alaska.

Alpha Mail, Company Newletter

Notes from Sapper 36 (Sam) and Sapper 37
The fall has continued to bring hot temperatures and a busy mission schedule for the Sappers in Third Platoon. Despite the heat we have executed a wide variety of missions from route clearance and sanitation, to force protection upgrades of local patrol bases, and even a bridge demolition. Our most important mission is the route sanitation of roadways within the Brigade’s Area of Operation, allowing all who travel these routes safer passage. I would also like to congratulate all the promotions we’ve had in the platoon this summer and fall. Staff Sergeant Beau Shaw was promoted to Sergeant First Class and Corporal Brian Clayton was promoted to Sergeant. Private First Class Manuel Perez, Hoang Pham, James Apgar, Collin Black, Matthew Chappuies, Jonathan Araiza, and Brandon Johnson were all promoted to Specialist. As we remain focused on the day to day missions it’s fair to say all Sappers look forward to returning home to there families. It is important the Sappers remain vigilant, thank you for the love and continued support we receive from families back home.
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“The Alpha Mail” Vol XII
Alpha Company, 425TH BSTB, 4TH BCT (ABN), 25TH ID