Happy Thanksgiving

Hi all.

Well, as of today it's officially 2 months of deployment. Yeesh, longest 2 months of my life so far. The first one went so much faster. But, I'm not doing as many patrols now, so it was bound to be more boring.

Even though I'm not doing more patrols, I was still out almost all day yesterday. Instead of securing the city, we go to Iraqi Security Forces meetings and planning sessions. We were at the Old Ministry of Defense complex yesterday (yeah, even though it was Thanksgiving) for a LOONG session of planning. Mostly, we feel like we're the security detail for the boss, since he has to chase his counterpart all over the eastern side of the city. Anyway, we got back in time for a KBR special Thanksgiving feast (not as good as I remember it, but still filling), we played some games that were traditional for some of the guys, mostly involving dice and a lot of yelling. Then I passed out for about 10 hours in a turkey-induced coma.

Today is Friday, and usually we take some time to rest and do maintenance on our HUGE trucks. Today we will be cleaning up some rooms in the Iraqi compound that we are using for a sort of command post/resting place. Our FOB will be closing sometime next year, so we have to find a new place to live anyway. Our new Colonel is coming in a few days, and bringing with him great change. He's a Special Forces officer, and this type of mission is his bread and butter.

So, things are settled, only to get shaken up again, to settle, only to get shaken up again (the Colonel will only be with us for three months or so). The team's spirits are okay, we are all just missing family. We'll see how the SOFA transition works out, and if the violence spikes (it usually does in February, anyway...people get bored I guess).

Ross

Here for a While

Well, we've moved to our new location, FOB Shield. It's about one mile from the international zone (the downtown embassy area). We can get mail, but we don't get it here, we will make mail runs every so often (couple of times a week). The mailing address is:

MAJ Ross Kilburn
Class 52; URF 47666
FOB Union III
APO AE 09348

The house we are in is nice, not great but nice. We're getting internet(probably) in our rooms, so I'm looking into a service called Skype. It does calls from your computer to telephones for 2.1 Cents a minute. If you call a computer with Skype, you can do VTC for free. You would have to get a webcam and a microphone if you wanted to set the home computer up. They cost about $10 or so now. Let me know if this is something you want to do and I'll look some more. Most cameras are plug-and-play now with some simple software to load.

I'm doing well. The dust and pollution are causing me to wake up with cotton mouth and headaches. That's normal for the first month or so. You may notice in the address that we have moved up to the division level. I'm "mentoring" a general now! We get to meet them tomorrow, sometime. Iraqi's have a loose notion of time, often will be late by a few hours for a simple meeting. We stay flexible and try not to let it get under the skin too much. Anyway, the immediate impact, apart from the move, is that LTC Torrence will no longer be the Team Chief. We are getting a full COL in a week or so to be the Team Chief, not sure who he is...all we know is that he's a Special Forces COL. The guys are doing good, just tired of moving around. We all want a little space to call our own.

Love,

Ross

Camp Taji, Iraq

Hi all!

Well, it has been an interesting time here at Camp Taji. We are on a small American compound on the Iraqi side of the base, called Phoenix Academy. It's dirty and we are still living in open (80 man) bays. I'm tired of climbing onto the top bunk. We are getting lots of classes on everything we will be doing as advisors. We only have a few days left here to learn, then it's out to the wild country to transition with the team already in place. On a positive note, I've already lost about 10 pounds and we aren't even working that hard yet!

I hope everyone is following the Status of Forces Agreement(SOFA) stuff in the news, as much as they're NOT covering it. Basically, the UN charter allowing the US to aid Iraq in security runs out at the end of the year. In every country we operate (Germany and Korea being the prime examples), there is a SOFA outlining what we can and cannot do. If the charter runs out, then we have no legal basis to operate here. Advisor teams will still be working, probably for a long time, since we are not classified as Combat Forces (even though we do fight alongside the Iraqis). Regardless, if the mandate runs out, it doesn't mean that all the troops come home. It's a sure bet that it will be signed, just no details yet about what it will have in it.

The address that went out is valid, but there is talk about moving the team to another location, so wait a few weeks if you have something to send. Otherwise, mail will be moving all over the country to find me.

The team is doing well, although we are very tired of the repetitive training. MAJ Damon Yourchisin, the team Executive Officer, announced today that his wife is pregnant with their second child, due in May. That makes three so far that are expecting kids while we are over here. That is going to cause some shift in the Leave dates that we can take, so when we figure it out, I'll let you know when you can expect me back. The end of tour time is still end of September.

The paradigm of security has really changed since the last time I was here. Before I was a policeman, politician, city planner, PR rep, contracting agent and liaison. This time, I'm a teacher, coach and mentor. Many of the Iraqis I'm working with are former Army officers who fought in the Iran-Iraq war in the 80's, the Desert Storm in the '90s and the last war in 03. There are no real grudges against the US for the two wars we fought (and won). If anything, they appreciate that we are now supporting and training them to be better. I'll be working with the Iraqi National Police, do an internet search on them for the latest news. I think that the Iraqi Assistance Group (my higher headquarters) keeps a website with news stories on it as well. They have no real equivilent in our country, but they would be kind of like if the govenor called up the National Guard for riot control or natural disaster.

I have some small things to send for the kids, I'll mail them out when I get settled and we start with the mail runs. Time is dragging by...not even the first 30 days done yet. We just want to get to where we are going and start working!!!

I love you all and miss you terribly. I can't wait for leave (whenever that is!).

Love,

Ross

Safe in Kuwait

I'm here at Camp Buhreing and I'm doing well. We got in the country late last night and had to sit around the airfield for about four hours until we got permission to leave. We stopped over in Reykjavik, Iceland and Budapest, Hungary (over three hour delay here!) on our way over. The total trip time was about 26 hours. I'm still jet lagged, since it's about 8 hours ahead of Kansas here.

I'll be here for just over a week, then it's on to the Phoenix Academy up north. A week there and we will start working. I'll be checking email probably every other day, it's pay for time here. Kuwait is very different from what I saw a few years ago. There's a huge PX, several fast food restaurants, a Starbucks...and people still complain that this place is the pits!!! It looks pretty good to me. I'll have some photos to send soon, and I'm trying to find something for the kids, the local vendor marts are not as great as I remember.

I miss you and the kids so much already. September 28th is the magic day...I promised myself that I wouldn't track that stuff, just concentrate on what I'm supposed to be doing. Stay safe and take care. I love you all.

Ross

Deployment Timeline

Hello all,

I wanted to make sure everyone has Ross' timeline for deployment. Last night we drove him to Ft. Riley which is where he will be leaving from. Today and tomorrow he is going through the last minute things before his unit leaves. They should get on a plane Saturday or Sunday. When they arrive in Kuwait they will have about one month of training before going into Iraq. He will have plenty of access to the internet when he gets to Iraq, but not much in Kuwait. You can send him a note at ross.kilburn@us.army.mil I don't yet have an address for him. I'm not sure when I will, but I'll pass it on to you when I get it.


The kids and I are fine. Gabriella has been more emotional than the boys about missing her Daddy, but they all miss him in their own way. We try to stay busy, but not too busy. We have a great support system here.

Love,
Christy

We've Arrived in Kansas!

Well, we clicked our heels three times and magically arrived in Kansas. We drove into town yesterday and today we looked at a few houses and decided on this one. It has 5 bedrooms, a big eat-in kitchen with an island, a nice yard and it is on a cul-de-sac. We have had an evening thunderstorm every night, but no tornadoes.

We miss you,
Ross, Christy and kids