49. Farewell to CPT Cushwa

Written: June 2 - 3, 2003

Monday, June 2nd
I am supposed to get a call from Stefanie today. Can’t wait!

Woke up at 9:15am. Heard there was a possible change to our training flight today and that instead of stying local, we would be heading out to Kirkuk to pick up the Brigade S-3. I was a little pissed because we have fought for so long to get advanced notice on missions and now they give us one the day of…oh well, just me venting, we will do it either way.

Within a few minutes, LT Karkalik, the new 1st Platoon Leader, came in and talked to me about the mission. We left the tent and went to the CP to plan the mission. Not too hard to plan and only took about 40 minutes to put it together. We will preflight at 1300 for a 1450 take off. Should be complete by 1800.

We worked to accomplish the mission but as it turned out, we had more broken aircraft than we had flyable so the mission was cancelled and shifted to 3rd Battalion.

Spent the rest of the day hanging out. Got 3 packages which included popcorn, 2 DVDs and 2 games and some other goodies. I also got some mail from Stef!

Went running before dinner. Did the EWO then ran about 15 minutes before returning to a company meeting to say farewell to CPT Cushwa who has now moved up to the job as the Battalion S-1 (Personnel Officer). We gave him a picture of the platoon taken on May 17th here at Balad.

After the company meeting I went to the HHC shower tent to wash the stink off my body. They have an actual pressurized spray nozzle so it is much nicer than the crap we have been using…albeit every 5 days or so.

We then watched, “Matrix 2.” It was awesome. For the movie, SGT Almeda made some of the popcorn that I received in the mail. He made about 3 bags and dumped them into an MRE box. It made the biggest bucket of popcorn that you have ever seen!

Went to bed after midnight.

Tuesday, June 3rd
Woke up at 8am and realized that they were serving biscuits for breakfast. Ended up falling back asleep and woke up after 9am so I missed the biscuits - again.

Read some mail that I received last night (from Momma, Stef and Eric) then wrote some letters for all the kids, Momma and Stef.

Went to the CP and worked on our mission packets to keep a good copy of them saved.

Found that I will be flying NVG’s with Phil and LT Camp tomorrow night for about 3 to 4 hours. It will be zero illumination but will be some good training. They all need to work on base tasks.

Received a CD from Stef with pictures from the FRG and other pictures from the time since I have been gone. I miss them all so much. I saw some great pictures of Stef, Emily, Benjamin and Anabelle! I also got some great videos with messages from Easter and videos from a play that Emily and Benjamin acted in!

Went back to the tent to lay around and look at all the pictures I received. Listened to a comedy CD by Eddie Murphy. Funny stuff.

Walked over to the MKT (Mobile Kitchen Trailer) at 6:30pm for dinner. Ate turkey with gravy, stove top stuffing and some pears. I walked over to the Battalion and waited for my phone call from Stefanie. She was running a few minutes late but called in with her cell phone to let the person on the phone know so they could pass the word to me. This worked out well since I hadn’t eaten yet, so I sat outside and ate while I waited. Within 10 minutes, I was finished and she was on the phone. I first talked to Anabelle and then Benjamin and then finally Stefanie! I talked to her for nearly an hour when the phone finally got disconnected.

COL Polumbo was speaking to the FRG (family readiness group) this evening but would not let any word out to anyone as to what he was going to talk about. The speculation is that he is going to tell them about the accident that happened in February (now that all the final results are in) and answer any questions that they may have on how things are going for us in Iraq.

Of course, the hope is that he will talk about a plan for us to come home soon but no one is holding their breath on that one.

For weeks we have all been holding on to and building on a rumor that we will go home in August. It stemmed from people seeing some information on the V Corps SECRET website and it was on the topic of redeployment. This document listed most of the units here in Iraq and then gave a possible date for redeployment. It had 5-158 listed for August. Then we heard other things that would confirm that rumor until soon that is what we all believed. Today, Fred went back to that website to look for any updated information but what he found was that the document was whittled down to ¾ of a page instead of the sprawling 3 pages that it previously was. Our unit, as well as most others, was no longer on the list.

So, this took the wind out of my sail even more than just being here has. We hear that we will probably have to pack our stuff and move across the airfield so they can make room for the Air Force to fully use the completed runways here. This will add to our misery, but life will go on and the good thing is that it will take us a while to get used to our newest living quarters…not sure when we will move but it seems inevitable.

Came back from my phone call and got ready to watch, “The Rock.” This movie was sent to me by one of my friends and former crew chiefs from 2-82nd at Bragg. Ed Wrubluski sent me a great package with 2 DVDs and 2 X-Box games! You can’t beat that.

Just as we were about to start the movie, Jeremy came by for a visit. He really wants to come over here and be a Raptor. He does not like his unit and is ready to move here. I am not sure if we can get him, but he did talk to CPT Cushwa (who is the new S-1).

Watched the movie then went to bed. I am flying NVG’s tomorrow with Phil and LT Camp. Will be a late night but we should get some good training—still zero illumination out there.