Welcome Home, Outlaw13

I had the honor of attending friend Outlaw13's return to US soil, after yet another year long vacation in the sand box of Iraq. The parent unit, First Cavalry Division, puts on a ceremony to honor those returning and give their loved ones a chance to cheer for them en masse' prior to individual reunions. This is the second such ceremony I've attended - the last one was in 40 degree weather, 25kt. winds, and very cold rain. Much more pleasant this time, though the sun was once again missing.

The arrival ceremony takes place on the parade ground in front of ICAV HQ. The families and friends gather on reviewing stands - it is a festive atmosphere, with a recorded music blaring out, USO handing out flags, snacks, and drinks, and the buildup is quite moving to see. The unit is so large that several such ceremonies take place before they are all home. This group's families included a lot of parents, and an incredible number of very young girls with very young babies, waiting for their husbands to return after a year's absence. The age of a lot of those babies means that their fathers were not present for their birth. It's interesting to see the micro-short skirts, very low cut tops, and high heels many of the women are wearing, I guess wanting to make their hubbies proud when he sees them (although, I must say that the majority of these women really don't have the figures to make these outfits all that attractive).

One of the most moving things I witnessed was a young girl in a wheelchair, who had come with her family to welcome home Daddy. She rolled that chair out onto the 1CAV insignia by herself, and danced away with the other kids out there. The smile she had on her face, and the happiness she showed while flying around in that chair was awesome.

Well, the soldiers arrive in front of the parade ground in 7 buses. They deplane, fill ranks, and then the buses depart. The ranks, led by the Colors carried by troopers dressed in period Cav uniforms, march across the ground to a point near the 1CAV insignia. Two mounted troopers, again in period uniforms, flank the ranks - a very nice touch.

The Boss Man General steps up to the mike, and tells the ranks to rest easy. He then does an incredibly smart thing - his welcoming remarks are two sentences long, culminated by "CHARGE!" - at which point soldiers and family members rush towards each other. Way cool, lots of tears.

A nice ceremony, lots of reunions, but the final act is a bit insulting ... each returning solider has to be their own bellman - and a lot of them have a lot of heavy stuff to carry.

Anyway, load up the bags, and a trip to the local steakhouse for some decent food after his travel adventures seemed to lighten the load. Welcome home!

A Glorious Texas Day, Dedicated to Outlaw13

This has been a glorious Texas winter day - 65 degrees, sunny, with a calm southern breeze here in the North Texas area.

I took Outlaw13's black rocket out of the barn for some exercise. Nothing quite as pleasant as windows down, music up, 390 horses jamming through 6 speeds, burning premium gas for no reason at all other than to yell at the top of my proverbial lungs "F*** Y** Algore!"

A Rudy's spicy chopped beef with Fritos and a glass bottle Dr. Pepper out on the porch in the sunshine for lunch ... don't get much better than that!

Anyway, this day dedicated to Outlaw13, who continues to serve our country over in the sandbox. Just a couple more months, and he'll be back here doing all of this himself.

God Bless the United States Army

God Bless the Republic of Texas

Outlaw13 Back to the Sandbox

Good Friend Outlaw13 was recently back home for a few days of R&R here in the Republic of Texas. It was good to see him, and sad to see him off to return to his 'desert hideaway'.

As I sat at the aeroporto waiting to see him off, I looked around at the large group of soldiers getting ready to board the plane for the return trip, after their R&R sessions were complete. Most of them had flown in from other parts of the country to catch the big bird with the flag on the tail, so there were few family members or friends there to see them off. The local USO was taking good care of them, as they always do. The airport police were on hand, with sub-machine guns loaded and ready to defend them from any a*hole who might want to take a chance for 72 virgins ....

The return flights are different than initial deployment - there is a very mixed bag of soldiers, from many different specialties and units. I was struck by the mix - many young enlisted people in active duty units - not so many, but still numerous were Army Guard and Reservists, some of whom looked to be my age - a smattering of officers ...

With so many of them being young, it got me to thinking (dangerous ...). Outlaw, if you're reading this, you might want to skip the rest of this post, it might be a bit depressing.

When he finishes this tour, Outlaw will have spent about 1/16th of his life deployed to the sandbox defending the United States. For younger soldiers, that figure could be as high as 1/10th, if they are on their third tour (as so many of them are). For far too many, they have given all of their life ...

We as a nation owe more than ever can be repaid to these folks and their families - they have given so much, asked for so little in return, been so mistreated by a few in our society, and yet they willingly go back. I am in awe of the 'common soldier', for there is absolutely nothing common about them.

Outlaw13 On The Move

Our good friend Outlaw13 is still working his blog Guidons, Guidons, Guidons occasionally, but he's making most of his comments on another site, threedonia.com. Look on the left drop down for "Outlaw13" if you are interested in checking out his posts over there. Not sure why he decided to do this - too much advertising on the site for my tastes.

Outlaw13 Meets the Gov

Texas Governor Rick Perry has been in Iraq for a few days, visiting Texas National Guard troops, and troops from other units based in Texas. Some would call it political grandstanding, but I think it's a pretty decent thing to do.

Outlaw13, a good friend who is currently on his third deployment to the enchanted metropolis of Baghdad, met and conversed with Mr. Perry for a few minutes near one of his unit's Apaches. I'm pretty certain that the meeting meant more to Outlaw than if he had been selected to swoon on command for our Commander in Chief's recent trip over.

Outlaw13 - Off to the Sandbox Again

A good friend, known to the blogging world as Outlaw13, is on his way back to the sandbox for another glorious 1 year vacation, courtesy of US Army Airlines. This is his third such vacation there in the last five years. I guess he likes the scenery and friendly natives.

OPSEC says I can't state exactly where he will be, but suffice it to say, he'll be spending a lot of time on the beach:

Lots of sand and sun .... but strangely no ocean ...... I guess it's in the other direction ....

Apologies to Outlaw13

I wish to apologize to a good friend, known in the blogging world as Outlaw13. He's been running "Guidons, Guidons, Guidons" for quite a while now, letting us into his world of Army rotorheads.

Reading "Guidons, Guidons, Guidons" was my introduction to the world of blogging. I watched him mature his site over the months (and years) into a format I very much like - that's why I borrowed it (or stole, if you prefer).

If you haven't had the opportunity to visit "Guidons, Guidons, Guidons", you ought to - it's good, cheap entertainment!