Greetings from Mosul, Iraq,
We have finally arrived at our duty station. It took us a while to get here. Many soldiers in the unit conducted annual training from April until we were mobilized on 14 May. On 17 May, we arrived at Fort Bliss, Texas where we conducted our in-processing to active duty. We received shots, new ID cards, desert uniforms, equipment, and hours upon hours of briefings. By 25 May, we moved to the Dona Ana Training Range in New Mexico.
At Dona Ana, we trained for nearly three months. We conducted marksmanship training on our M16 rifles, pistols, light machine guns, heavy machine guns, and grenade machine guns. (I think I shot more bullets while at Dona Ana than I did for my previous sixteen years in the Army.) We received training on map reading, land navigation, radio communication, global positioning systems, first aide, and new chemical protective clothing. We learned how to establish Entry Control Points (protect yourself at gate entrance points while searching vehicles & personnel), establish Traffic Control Points (set up road blocks), establish Forward Operating Base operations (protect yourself/unit while inside a base), and conduct convoy operations. We have 85% of the unit's soldiers certified as Combat Lifesavers with advance first aid training.
On 16 August, we arrived at Camp Beuhring, Kuwait. We spent approximately two weeks at Camp Beuhring conducting additional training and acclimating to the heat. The 16th of August started our requirement of serving in country for one year. In Kuwait, we received more clothing and equipment. We received the new helmet, sunglasses, boots, camelback, knee & elbow pads, T-shirts, socks, cold weather gear, and some optical sites for our rifles. We received training on a computer system that allows us to email each other from our vehicles. This computer system also allows us to track the vehicles on a map using a global positioning system. We also conducted additional marksmanship training to shoot stationary targets while moving in a vehicle and by shooting moving targets while behind a barricade. The weather in Kuwait averaged 114 degrees the entire time we were there. When the wind blows, it feels like you are holding a hair dryer towards your face.
We flew to Camp Diamondback in Mosul, Iraq on 30 August and have been here just over one month. Camp Diamondback is an old Iraqi air field. The Army, Navy, Air Force, civilian contractors, and the Albanian Army are all located on this Forward Operating Base. We currently have 282 soldiers that are assigned or attached to the unit in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Our unit mission is to conduct direct support maintenance (we repair vehicles, generators, heaters & air conditioners, radios, night vision goggles, weapons, chemical equipment, and laundry & bath equipment) up-armor vehicles, operate a supply warehouse, and provide gun-truck escorts for civilian vehicles that deliver our supplies from Turkey.
We currently have a crew working on improving our living areas. They are constructing walls to sub-divide the big, open rooms so soldiers will have a little privacy during their down time. All of our living quarters have air conditioning and all of our work areas have a break room with air conditioning. The weather here reminds me a lot like Utah, Idaho, or Wyoming. The high temperature is around 95 degrees and the low temperature is around 67 degrees. The dining facility is great. There is a main line with two main courses, a create-your-own stir fry line, a fast food line, a salad bar, a large desert selection, and a Baskin Robins ice cream station. We don't have to eat MREs for lunch either. The shower facilities are very nice and they are kept clean by local nationals who work on the base. We have approximately 20 local nationals that work directly for our company to clean our work areas.
Your soldiers are doing a great job. They are excited to finally get here and start working. Most of the soldiers agree that we have better living and working conditions here then we had in Kuwait or at Dona Ana. We are located in a dangerous area, but we have been trained well to defend ourselves and to look out for each other. The unit that we replaced did not have any combat casualties from enemy or terrorist activities during the entire year that they were here. All of our vehicles that we drive off of the base are armored. We have lots of heavy machine guns, some medium machine guns, and numerous light machine guns. Every one of our vehicles that leave the base has a machine gun mounted on it. Our convoy routes are cleared by Engineers who have equipment to detect explosives. They have always found and neutralized any explosives hidden along the roadway before our convoy arrives.
I appreciate serving with your soldiers. They are well trained, confident, professional, dedicated, men and women. You can be proud of what they are doing. I also appreciate the support that you as family members provide. You are sacrificing a lot to have your soldier away from your family. There are some soldiers that were put on stop-loss and were not allowed to get out of the Army when they thought they could. To the family members of these soldiers, I especially want to express my sincere appreciation for your sacrifices. We pray for the well being of our families just as you pray for us. I will do my best to take care of your soldiers. Please continue to send positive letters and emails until we come home safe.
Sincerely
Major Harold C. Clements
872ND Maintenance Company
Commanding
