C CO, 27TH BSB, 4BCT, 1ST CAV DIVISION

All right everybody so Haley is the great blogger in our household but she has tasked me with telling everybody what I've been doing this last month. Prior to a Units deployment Army units will either attend NTC or JRTC. We drew the short straw and were assigned to FT POLK, LA. I mean y'all that know me know that I work all the angles I can and of course I chatted it up with the Food Servers, Ice Handlers, Equipment Re-supply office, Medical Attache, etc... most of these jobs are held by civilians (mostly retired military) So when I tell them my Momma's family is from Houma, LA well all of a sudden I'm family and I get and extra pallet of ice, (yes I said pallet) better cakes for desert at dinner and we got all of our hard to find supplies first, and amazingly very easy :-) Anyway do what you got to do. So here are a few pictures for your enjoyment so enjoy!!

Here is the BN CDR giving a certificate of appreciation to the principal of our Adopt A School, my Soldiers in the back that worked with me during the year.

All right here is JRTC we started our convoy oh around 0300 in the morning. It was so humid that morning that I had allready drank an entire camel back before we rolled around 0500. (yeah do the math thats a gallon of water in 2hrs STANDING AROUND!!!)

So during the convoy we constantly get hit by IED's, RKG'S, VBID'S, and of course berated by locals and and oh just about anything else the instructors can think of.

These are some of the NCO's I get the oppurtunity to work with. These are actually my mechanics. These guys can fix absolutly anything. (good folks to have with ya in a war zone)

Once you get in the "Box" everything is a mini Iraq. Ft Polk actually looks a little like Northern Iraq in Kurdish territory. Probably for a more accurate description would we South Texas.

At the end of a 6hr convoy we call in a Medevac chopper for all the wounded/casualties we sustained on our clip. Thats me at the back of My FLA (no really I signed for it. Its my ambulance) It was awesome.

This is our Aid Station on FOB FORGE.

Inside the Aid Station, we had 3 trauma beds, 2 surgical beds, and patient hold that could retain 20 patients. Not to shabby!!

I have a lot more pics but some I cant post given the graphic nature of things and the individual actors that help train us in the scenarios. Alot of the actors are actually Iraqi Nationals that are in America on a work visa helping Soldiers better prep for war. Tet Sui (Chinese General)wrote "To know your enemy you must know yourself" So we spend a month getting to "know" ourselves. I'll just say that I was so proud of my medics. They performed exceptionally well and I am proud to take these Soldiers with me to war, and I know they will perform to their utmost no matter what! Okay I'll get off my soap box but really it wasn't that bad. Learned about alot of area's that we can improve on and I really learned alot about myself as a Soldier and Officer and how I can better myself. Just a few more months and back to the sandbox.

"FIRST TEAM"

"LIVE THE LEGEND"

"ROUGH RIDERS"