Jeremy in the Army

Veteran's Day

Lt. Jeremy Jones — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:04:00 GMT

This is a day just like any other in Iraq. I just came off a 3-day mission driving around Iraq, meeting with bosses and stuff that officers do. This is a picture of me with my 8-day-old 'stache while we were stopped at a military gas-station. Now it's 11 days old and looks like a fuzzy little caterpillar has decided to rest on my uppper lip. I'm hoping that I will have something to actually write home about by the end of November.

On a different note, today is Veteran's Day and I got to thank my sergeants and Soldiers for volunterring to serve their country, even in a time of war. I'm not writing this to get a 'thank you' or anything from you all folks, I'm just saying that when I told those guys "Thank you" they looked at me as though I had a third army growing ...

Mo No

Lt. Jeremy Jones — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:22:00 GMT

So it's been a while since I've written. I have been quite busy - we've nearly completed 24km of gravel road and will soon be starting on a large berm project. For those of you who don't know what a berm is and aren't sure how to use wikipedia, a 'berm' is a wall of dirt that we in the Army construct to restrict mobility and provide defensibility where none previously existed; just think of a 3-meter high wall of dirt that is so steep you can't drive a truck over it and so thick that it will negate the effects of a car bomb blast - all in a lovely shade of brown.

I would love to attach some pictures but this tour is different from Afghanistan in many ways, not the least of which being that I cannot connect thumb drives to this gov't computer any more, ...

Update from Iraq Part 1

Lt. Jeremy Jones — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:36:00 GMT

So it's been a little while since I've updated anyone.

In July I was given an office in an old Iraqi Army building. Someone who never knew me painted on my wall. As you can see (sweaty office) it fits me quite well.

At the end of July my platoon and I moved south of Baghdad to a little base called FOB Delta (near Al-Kut, Iraq for those of you looking for a travel destination). We had to get our vehicles ready to roll (18JUL). For reference, those vehicles weigh around 68,000 lbs and can survive most anything you can throw at them. They're also bigger than the regular semi-tractor you see driving on 465. Gas Station is one of my guys while we were stopped at a heavily-fortified US-only gas station on the way from Baghdad to FOB Delta. Nasariyah is the view from one of these beasts of ...

Update from Iraq Part 2

Lt. Jeremy Jones — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:23:00 GMT

It gets hot down here. Hot enough to make road tar turn into liquid and pool up on top of the ground (hot tar). I found a picture of Saddam and did the obligatory "stand on Saddam's face and smile" picture (mural). We had a cookout a couple of weeks ago but realized that we didn't have any utensils to grill with - everything from the chow hall is plastic. We had to use a putty knife and a sharpened wooden stake to flip our burgers and hot dogs. We also have what everyone refers to as "near-beer", non-alcoholic beer bought by the Army for us to drink and grit our teeth to; it's only good for seasoning burgers.

So we'll be down here for another couple of months. The extreme heat (think hotter than 135F every day) is killing our equipment. We live in an open-bay barracks. For those ...

Independence Day

Lt. Jeremy Jones — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:33:00 GMT

I was sitting at dinner today thinking about where I was this time a year ago. I remembered sitting in a tent in Bagram, Afghanistan, eating lukewarm hot dogs and hearing Polish soldiers talk about how much they loved being able to serve overseas and stand beside the United States in spreading freedom overseas. I should be home for next year's Independence Day.

Happy Birthday America

-jeremy

A Month Already?

Lt. Jeremy Jones — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:36:00 GMT

It's true. I've been in Iraq a month. A lot has happened since I arrived here. I left my unit behind in Kuwait to spent 2 weeks in Taji (Iraq) learning how to work with and train our partners, the Iraqi Army. 2 key words: patience and politeness. You'd think those would be common sense but apparently they are foreign concepts to the US Army and Marine Corps.

When I got to Baghdad to meet up with my unit I found out that we'd taken our first casualty: one of the soldiers in my company committed suicide. He was the guy that everyone else went to when they had problems so it came a huge shock to everyone in our close-knit unit. His memorial service was sad enough by itself but it brought with it memories of other friends I've had die overseas that didn't get memorial services and whose ...

In Iraq

Lt. Jeremy Jones — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:33:00 GMT

So it's been a while. I was mobilized for about 60 days in Fort McCoy, WI for a train-up before heading to Kuwait. I got there May 29th after flying for 20 hours on a NW Airlines 747 and finally flew on a giant C-17 to Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) on June 1st. Now I'm settling into the always-cozy Camp Striker and getting ready for the rest of my unit to arrive so we can do an as-yet undetermined mission. My battalion commander has selected another First Lieutenant (1LT) and I to head up the training of an Iraq Engineer Regiment. Apparently word of what I used to do in my old job got around and now I've been deemed an "expert" on how to work with a foreign military. This could be good or it could be bad, depending on how you look at it. If I do a ...

Mobilization

Lt. Jeremy Jones — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:00:00 GMT

So the last time I wrote I mentioned that I'd be heading back overseas soon. I'm going back this time at the head of a 40-man platoon of combat engineers to either build bases or tear them down, depending on where we are sent. It turns out that I'm beginning my 3 weeks of annual training (reserve-style) March 15. I'll be headed to the lovely Fort McCoy, WI for this training. After that I'll be heading back to Cincinnati (where my unit is based) and will be getting Easter Weekend off. I start my actual 400-day mobilization April 13th. There is to be a going away ceremony for my unit on April 14th in (you guessed it) Cincinnati, OH on the campus of Xavier University. After that we head back up to Fort McCoy to get issued our weapons and gear so that we can head to, as of right ...

Flying Home

Lt. Jeremy Jones — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:37:00 GMT

I'm not by any means saying any of you should show up at the airport or feel obligated to do so, but my flight, United #7602, gets into the Indianapolis Int'l Airport at 10:55pm. My parents are picking me up but anyone who'd like to show up would also be welcome. [Maybe] see you then, but I won't take offense if people aren't able to show.

-Jeremy

Leavenworth

Lt. Jeremy Jones — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:03:00 GMT

The Army changed my plans - I'm flying to Ft Leavenworth instead of Indy and will be there until December 12th. I'll let you all know my flight time back into Indy on the 12th when I figure out what it is.