Good Morning

Sapper Eagle Blue three Family,
Another wonderful morning over here at COB Speicher. We are doing fantastic over here. Yesterday, our platoon had the maintenance stand out and everybody is able to get some good rest. My internet now is down, so it would take me a while to post pictures up, but I will try my best to upload some good pictures because there are many.
Our Soldiers are doing a good job every single days.
There is also an article written by CPT Tates, the BN's intel Officier about the job that we are doing over here. I will post it up on my next post.
You all have a wonderful day and God blesses!

Summerall Part 2

Do not underestimate the Skinny ones


IED Hunter


From Left: SPC Mckoy, SPC Caprio, PVT Shell, SPC Felder, SGT Gooden, SPC Henriquez hanging out at the coffee shop while at Summerall

Summerall Part 1

SSG Borressen contemplates

SPC Dow having some fun

Hello From SSG Mauzerall

Hello out their in TV land, this is SSG PETER the rock MAUZERALL, greetings from a place we call home IRAQ. The weather is hot , dry, and dusty,.....wait , that sounds a lot like FT IRWIN. We are currently half way done our tour and are looking foward to finnishing it up and go back to a hot ,dry , and dusty.....I think that we heard that before! All in all things here are rolling along and running smoothly. The platoon would like to thank everyone who has supported us during our stay in IRAQ. The support that we have received means as much to us as it does to the people giving it. It is hard to explain what a soldier does and goes through over here. We have been blessed so far with very litle personal injuries in the platoon {so keep the prayers coming;they work!}. Well that's all that I have to say for now, if anybody has any questions or comments please feel free to e-mail, write , or send smoke signals (that might take a while}. This is the rock "charlie mike" until next week!

Hello From COB Speicher

Good evening families and spouses of WARDWAGS,
Here we go again, back to COB Speicher. After only one week in Summerall and we already miss Speicher already. No matter how much sleeps, relaxation and fun while we were at Summerall, we all miss Speicher. We miss our own beds, we miss the routine life in Speicher.
As you may have heard from the Soldiers, we had a very good mission yesterday. We did not get back to Speicher until late in the evening, but it was well worth it. The Sunday mission actually boost our moral up a lot.
We had a lot of fun while in Summerall. I will post some ( a lot of) pictures and videos while we were in Speicher. PFC Richardson made some good video slide show as well.
You have a very good night, and we are longing to be back with you all very soon.

Fob Summeral: Round 2

So here we are sent to Fob Summeral again. For the most part the platoon seemed rather optimisitc about our trip here. Things arent better here but they are not worse. Things are just differnt. Everyone for the most part has been at the gym every night to play some kind of sport up there as they have a full court basketball indoors here. The missions have been going off rather well. A-team had a decent find on their first trip out which is always good. So far today the A-team also had their mission canceled due to inclimate weather but time off is always good no matter where it is spent. Everyone is looking foreward to our return to Cob Speicher. Back to our rooms of 2 people and our fast internet connection. Without a doubt in my mind we will be back here many times before the deployment is over. So now it is time for me to sign off here saying this is not the first Summeral post and it shall not be the last.

Wishing you a good day and a better tomorrow
Spc. Pyke (stepping in for Lt. Pham due to technical difficulties)

Just a Few Words

I just gave the Brief to the Soldiers and now, we are getting ready for the trip. The environment and the moral of the Soldiers are very high, and we are quite excited about this trip. I wish you all have a wonderful week and thank you very much for your supports in the last seven months.

Thank You

As our Soldiers starting to going back home on R&R, here are two good websites if you would like to go on a little family vacation or camping with discount. As we all have known that gasoline is getting more expensive everyday and everything cost more as well. As for myself, although I love doing what we are doing now, but I have to tell the truth that I’m excited to get home for R&R and be able to see my wife that I dearly miss and relax before the second stretch of deployment. We are, nonetheless, already half way done with deployment. It just seems like yesterday when we put Boots on the ground. As the Soldiers already told you that our platoon will be on a field trip for one week. I may not have the luxury to use the computer and upload pictures and post articles, but I will find the time and a way to get it done. I personally thank you very much for the supports of the Soldiers and believe in us as we continue to help bringing new Hope to the Iraqi people.

Government Travel
http://www.govarm.com/index.asp?GUID=8F3248A5-F8FC-474B-9F96-F3371AF2211E
A Great Vacation at a Great Price! GovArm provides leisure and vacation travel services for government and military personnel, including retirees. With services ranging from condominium rentals, cruises, vehicle rental, and hotel reservations, to golf discounts and vacation packages, there is something for everyone.

Path across America
http://www.armymwr.com/portal/travel/paths/
Welcome to the Army Outdoor Recreation “Guide to Army Recreational Vehicle Parks and Campgrounds.” The Army provides these to promote recreational travel and provide outdoor recreational opportunities to authorized users. We offer various levels of amenities, from gravel pads to paved pads with water, electric, sewage disposal, cable TV and telephone access. We also offer professional staffs or hosts to take care of your needs. Many RV Parks and Campgrounds offer programs to help you take advantage of other installation MWR activities and local area attractions. This is the first phase in our ongoing effort to provide timely and accurate information to users of Outdoor Recreation programs. Coming soon will be OCONUS pages and a trip computer to help you get from place to place.

Coming alive in “Triangle of Death”

By Patrick Quinn The Associated Press

ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq – When the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division arrived in Iraq’s once infamous “Triangle of Death,” violence there and in neighboring Baghdad was so intense that hundreds were dying every day and the country was virtually in a state of civil war.

Now, as the division headed home at the end of May, the region stretching south from Baghdad and across central Iraq has become a showcase for what the U.S. military hoped to achieve in Iraq.

“When we first arrived here 15 months ago there was nothing but sectarian violence, al-Qaida, Shiite extremists,” the division commander, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, said as he wrapped up a tour of an industrial complex.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.S. officials are likely to tour successes like that here during a U.N. conference that begins Thursday in Sweden, aimed at reviewing political and security progress in Iraq.

The U.S. military says violence across Iraq has reached its lowest level in more than four years after successes this year in breaking al-Qaida’s and other Sunni insurgents’ hold in western Iraq and – more recently – government crackdowns in the southern city of Basra and northern city of Mosul.

But the success in the Triangle of Death, centered on the town of Iskandariyah, is perhaps the most dramatic. The area’s population is mixed between Sunnis and Shiites to a far greater degree than many others, and in 2006 and 2007 militants from each community were killing each other, as well as attacking U.S. and Iraqi forces.

The area has boomeranged to become a bastion of relative peace on the edge of a violent capital, while Sunni militants remain elusive in the north.

Among other factors, battalion commanders in the field point to new counterinsurgency strategies, where units clear an area of fighters and stay to hold it from slipping back into insurgent hands.

Sunni fighters who swarmed the area are also nearly gone. They have either been killed, or co-opted into Awakening Councils, said Lt. Col. William Zemp, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment based in nearby Mahmudiyah. The councils are Sunni groups who turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.

Shortly after the 3rd ID arrived, its 20,000 Soldiers launched large military operations to quash al-Qaida cells and Shiite militias.

Violence in the area, where U.S. troops once traveled only in large numbers, has plunged by 89 percent since last year, according to the military.

“I just don’t see sectarian violence anymore,” Lynch said. “In our area, people kept talking about Sunni versus Shiite. I don’t see that now. Everywhere I go, people identify themselves as Iraqi. That is their identification – I am not Shiite, I’m not Sunni, I’m Iraqi.

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven.
a time to be born and a time to die
a time to plant and a time to uproot
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace....
I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God...
So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him? (Ecclesiates)