Raptor FRG Update – 03 August

LSA Anaconda , Iraq

Raptor Family,

Once again, I am afraid you are all probably awash with differing rumors about R&R Leave. Hopefully Rear-D is able to keep you up with all these changes, but sometimes it's hard for us to keep up with them here so I'm guessing you might be one step behind. The following is hot off the presses as of last night (2 Aug)…

Two significant changes have occurred with respect to R&R Leave since the last time I wrote:

The Air Force no longer flies passengers from Germany to Iraq or Kuwait on their “cargo” planes that fly everyday. They have become overwhelmed by the demand and can no longer handle the passengers because of their primary mission to deliver supplies to sustain us in this region. Since most of the “cargo” planes leaving Baghdad for Germany are empty, it is much easier for them to accommodate passengers on those flights. They will continue to do so. The problem is now that the only way to return to this theater is by way of the Air Force's scheduled “passenger” flights which fly from Germany to here only on the 15 th and 30 th of every month. Given that we still have the restrictions of 2 weeks of leave, no more than one group on leave at a time, etc, this presents us with problems to which there are a couple courses of action. The solution had not been decided upon yet when the next change happened. Read on.
Realizing the need for increased passenger flights to accommodate R&R leaves while they keep units here for long durations, the Department of Defense has been aggressively pursuing the option of contracting civilian passenger airliners to fly routine routes to the states and to Germany with military leave personnel. I initially heard this rumor about a week ago but dismissed it as another good idea that would take months to take affect. The cost is quite large to the gov't, approx $240 million. However, it now seems that the flights under this program could begin sometime relatively soon. What does that mean? Not sure. Nobody can say exactly when they may start, whether it be next week or at the end of this month. Regardless, the brigade commander has put a temporary hold on all R&R leaves until the situation is resolved.

In the long run, this is good news, as it will undoubtedly save soldiers a lot of money. The bad news is that we have no clue what is going on now in the short term once again. For those of you expecting your husbands to return for the last couple of weeks of August, I can no longer promise that it will happen. I hope the planes start flying and we can still send them on schedule, but I cannot guarantee that. We have one group on leave now and they should return on the 15 th on the Air Force passenger plane. At the earliest the next group will not depart here until their return and only then if this contract thing is resolved and the hold on leaves is lifted.

I hope that all makes sense. Thanks for your patience. I know the uncertainty does nothing to improve an already frustrating situation. We will continue to update you and let you know as soon as things seem relatively solid.

In other news, we bid a fond farewell to a long standing Raptor this week. CW3 Matt Sheridan, our company's head Maintenance Test Pilot, departed a few days ago to be with his family and prepare for his impending PCS to Korea (ouch). Matt has served this brigade with distinction for approximately six years, and has been in this company almost since its creation three years ago. All commanders hold their Maintenance Test Pilots close to their heart – for good reason – and Matt's performance throughout this combat deployment to an environment so hard on our aircraft has been nothing short of amazing. He has also been a great friend to us all. His work and his personality will be sorely missed around our camp. Nikki and the kids will remain in Germany during his tour in Korea , and with any luck we will see him assigned back to Gieb in a little over a year. Nikki, please let us know if we can do anything to help with Army related matters or whatever while Matt is in Korea . I know we would all be happy to do whatever we can.

In terms of our daily lives, I have nothing incredibly noteworthy to report. We did hold the first annual Balad Dum-Dum sucker eating contest here in the Raptor camp one night about a week ago (don't worry – we promise to pass the tradition to some other poor unit for the 2 nd annual event). The brave participants were allotted 2 minutes and 30 seconds to consume as many Dum-Dums as possible (including the unwrapping time). SFC Karl Cross (representing 2 nd flight) held a commanding lead with a 23 sucker record until the final participant, 1LT Josh Karkalik downed a champion 28 suckers! While 1LT Karkalik (representing 1 st flight) walked away the definite champion, as the official judge I awarded SFC Cross the “style” prize. It was a sight to see. Other participants included CW2(P) Gordon Cimoli, WO1 Phil Pillittere, CW2 Randy Smith, CW2 Dave Woodward and CW2 Shawn Holmes. I'm not sure if you should be proud of them or not, J but they did eat a lot of suckers. Peer pressure goes a long way (and I “suckered” them all into this challenge). Thanks to whoever sent the bag of 400 Dum-Dums - they gave us a good hour of amusement anyway.

We have many blossoming carpenters here. Every day there is a new wood project begun, and sometimes we actually finish some. We now have a horseshoe pit and we had an improvised pool (about 8 feet in diameter), although it only lasted for one night and promptly fell apart the next morning spilling all 3000 gallons. That's okay – there is plenty of dust around here to soak it up. There is a big wooden porch/veranda/thing in construction now that shows some strong potential. CPT Dave Smith, our resident civil engineer, is our foreman. And between these things we still find time to do our job.

The internet situation has gotten better over the last couple of days. The brigade has established an “internet café” of sorts in a tent with about 5 terminals supported by good bandwidth. The word is quickly spreading throughout the brigade so I anticipate that the lines will be substantial before long, but it has not been bad so far. It is located on the other side of the airfield, so not completely convenient to us, but it is doable and much better than what we had before. I don't predict any improvement in the phone situation for quite some time.

Incoming mortars are virtually non-existent now. Our forces have seized a lot of mortar equipment and killed or captured their users. The daily attacks ceased about a week and a half ago. There is still a threat out there as more equipment is continually found, but it is not as prominent. They may be pursuing other tactics now.

And last but far from least, I am proud to welcome Molly Louise Hester to this world - although I do it from half a world away! Both she and Lindsay are doing great and with family in Illinois after the birth on the evening of 1 August (C.S.T.). It seems I will always need to keep a male dog in the house to help counter all these women! Lindsay has been very strong throughout and of course deserves all the credit, as I haven't been able to do much past start the whole process. I hope to visit them sometime in the next month.

Stay safe, keep the faith, and we hope to see you soon.

CPT Jason Hester

Raptor 06

Editors note: The Raptors found out that the Hester's had their newest baby a few weeks early and we decided to have a small party to congratulate him and welcome her into the world. At 6pm on August 2 nd , we all gathered outside of CPT Hester's tent with near beer, cokes, cigars, chips and a card…and as he came out of his tent, everyone joined in singing, “Happy Birthday Baby Hester.” The above picture is of him lighting his Cuban cigar (we all had cheap ones from the PX). Congratulations to the Hester family!

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