Here is an update of what I’ve been doing for the 2.5 weeks. Unfortunately, there is no internet access at the field camp where we are staying, but I am able to have 1 day of liberty to main side and therefore be able to do this.
Our unit has been training mostly in the basics of infantry because it is said that is where a lot of mistakes are made. Spent sometime doing BUST (Basic Urban Skills Training) like clearing rooms and building. Learning about satellite patrolling, through a city, which involves individual fire teams of a squad taking a street each. We also did EMP (Enhanced Marksmanship Program) to better our firing skills in confined spaces. This weekend, we begin our RCAX (Revised Combined Arms Exercise) which involves a lot of live fire ranges on the squad, platoon, and company level. After that, we are being shipped to March Air Force base for SASO (Security and Stabilization Operations) training and that involves basically what we are doing in Iraq right now: policing operations. At the end of SASO, we will be doing a 3 day exercise of it which involves role players, setting up a firm base, and conducting security patrols. After that, we are going to be pretty much done and waiting for further word of our fly out date.
Life here at 29 Palms kinda sucks; we live at a field camp which has hooches that have a hard rood, but sand floors. So everything I have is getting covered in dust. I get to sleep on a cot most nights and it is really cold at night here. It uses to be in the low 30s, now it is in the low 40s at night. Oh, no heaters in the hooches. It does warm up quite fast when the sun is out; like 70s sometimes. I am starting to get used to life here, so I don’t hate it as much as I used to, but still miss home. I try to go to church on Sunday’s, when they let us, but it is not very good. Try and merge Protestant, Catholic, Roman Catholic, and have a Lutheran chaplain. It leans more towards Catholics than anything I think.
Funny thing about here is that the base in Iraq, where we are supposed to be going, is better than this misery. I hear that it will have hard floors and roofs, internet access, and better chow compliments of Halliburton. Plus, locals are contracted to clean our rooms; a nice added benefit of being in a combat zone I guess. That’s it for now. I will post again next month if they don’t take away our liberty to Las Vegas again (1st had 4 days liberty, then no liberty, now 2 days).
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Lance Corporal McCauley
This is just a picture of me fully equipped for combat. More pictures will soon come, though internet use is not available at my camp in 29 Palms. I am on liberty for 1 day, so this is all I can do till next month's liberty in Vegas.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Goodbye Everyone
It's that time. I will be flying to California tomorrow and begin my intense training. If you didn't get a email from me about what I am doing, my address, and such, then contact me via email and I might be able to get something to you soon. Well, here is what I send out minus my address.
Well everyone, it is time for me to say my final goodbyes. I will be flying to California on Monday for some serious training to prepare me for Iraq in March. My unit is out of Columbus, Ohio and is called Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines (or 3/25 for short). I just wanted to take this time to thank everyone for such tremendous support I get, from you, for what I do. It means a great deal to me and it makes it easier knowing that I have a lot of people that care and love me back home. Thank you once again.
I will have very limited access to email and really won't know till I get there. As soon as I know my address in Iraq, I will try to get it out to everyone. When I do get to Iraq, the Marine Corps has a new system in place that you can type me a message on line and it will be sent via email to the post office in Iraq, printed, and then sealed in a envelope. In about 24 hours it is delivered to me. I can not reply the same way. Here is the link: http://www.motomail.us/. Please keep in mind, that you can't do this until I am in Iraq. By the way, I hear it takes about 2 weeks for me to get mail in Iraq and about 1 week for me to send it out (assuming the mail isn't lost or blown up in transit).
Some people have asked me if I will be needing anything when I am gone. Well, while in California, I really won't be needing too much, but in Iraq I will. Here is a list, but if you think of anything else, surprise me. Also, if you can get travel sizes, that would help a lot.
hand sanitizer, antibacterial wipes, baby wipes
athletes foot cream/powder
cough drops
q-tips
Tylenol, etc...
sunscreen
lotion
neosporin, anti-itch cream
tissue packs
deodorant, mouth wash, shampoo
eye drops, vitamins
Any kind of snack or candy will be great (please no chocolate due to heat) power bars, gatorade mix, sugarless gum, canned fruit, hard candy, etc...
batteries (AA/AAA)
ziplock bags, insect repellent (DEET)
journal paper, paper, pens, envelopes, computer spray
seek & find puzzles, nerf balls
pictures, books, magazines, DVDs
Alright, that's about it for now. Please pray for me to have strength and guidance. I am proud to be serving and helping give Iraq freedom. If all goes well, my tour in Iraq will only be about 7 months. Take care and I hope to hear from you soon.
Well everyone, it is time for me to say my final goodbyes. I will be flying to California on Monday for some serious training to prepare me for Iraq in March. My unit is out of Columbus, Ohio and is called Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines (or 3/25 for short). I just wanted to take this time to thank everyone for such tremendous support I get, from you, for what I do. It means a great deal to me and it makes it easier knowing that I have a lot of people that care and love me back home. Thank you once again.
I will have very limited access to email and really won't know till I get there. As soon as I know my address in Iraq, I will try to get it out to everyone. When I do get to Iraq, the Marine Corps has a new system in place that you can type me a message on line and it will be sent via email to the post office in Iraq, printed, and then sealed in a envelope. In about 24 hours it is delivered to me. I can not reply the same way. Here is the link: http://www.motomail.us/. Please keep in mind, that you can't do this until I am in Iraq. By the way, I hear it takes about 2 weeks for me to get mail in Iraq and about 1 week for me to send it out (assuming the mail isn't lost or blown up in transit).
Some people have asked me if I will be needing anything when I am gone. Well, while in California, I really won't be needing too much, but in Iraq I will. Here is a list, but if you think of anything else, surprise me. Also, if you can get travel sizes, that would help a lot.
hand sanitizer, antibacterial wipes, baby wipes
athletes foot cream/powder
cough drops
q-tips
Tylenol, etc...
sunscreen
lotion
neosporin, anti-itch cream
tissue packs
deodorant, mouth wash, shampoo
eye drops, vitamins
Any kind of snack or candy will be great (please no chocolate due to heat) power bars, gatorade mix, sugarless gum, canned fruit, hard candy, etc...
batteries (AA/AAA)
ziplock bags, insect repellent (DEET)
journal paper, paper, pens, envelopes, computer spray
seek & find puzzles, nerf balls
pictures, books, magazines, DVDs
Alright, that's about it for now. Please pray for me to have strength and guidance. I am proud to be serving and helping give Iraq freedom. If all goes well, my tour in Iraq will only be about 7 months. Take care and I hope to hear from you soon.
Friday, January 07, 2005
Finally Ready
It's Friday night and I made it home alright to finish some things real quick before I go back tomorrow morning. For some reason, they (my superiors) have been nice to us and let us go an hour early today and half hour yesterday. Next, we get off tomorrow at 1300 and don't have to come back till Sunday at 1600. I don't know; when someone who is mean to you and all of the sudden is nice, something real bad is going to happen. The suspense grows, but at least the week is pretty much over with and we are finally ready to go.
A funny little story was told to me today by my platoon sergeant. I asked him if it was OK to carry my laptop, in a case, as a carry on to the plane. He then asked me if I was a designated laptop carrier. I said no, since it isn't government laptop; it's mine! The sergeant then told me how it might be a bad idea since it might get damaged and not make it back home cause of the environment and such. Also, the company is apparently short of laptops and if I do carry my laptop, I will then be designated as a laptop carrier. Which means that my personal use of the laptop will be 2nd to the company's use of the laptop. So basically, they can use it whenever they want. Funny; I don't remember Lima Company ever giving me some money to help me buy MY laptop. Of course, me being a inferior rank and person, in the Corps eyes, I just politely said roger that and carried on with my day and packed it in my overstuffed seabag. During that time, I was thinking on how wonderful it will be when they try and take my laptop from me and give it to fricken admin so they can pretend to be doing something important like typing or drinking coffee, while I am patrolling the streets looking for insurgents. I don't think it will happen. They would have to remove it from my ninja grip only after I am dead. Well, I thought it was funny and so did a few other Marines.
A funny little story was told to me today by my platoon sergeant. I asked him if it was OK to carry my laptop, in a case, as a carry on to the plane. He then asked me if I was a designated laptop carrier. I said no, since it isn't government laptop; it's mine! The sergeant then told me how it might be a bad idea since it might get damaged and not make it back home cause of the environment and such. Also, the company is apparently short of laptops and if I do carry my laptop, I will then be designated as a laptop carrier. Which means that my personal use of the laptop will be 2nd to the company's use of the laptop. So basically, they can use it whenever they want. Funny; I don't remember Lima Company ever giving me some money to help me buy MY laptop. Of course, me being a inferior rank and person, in the Corps eyes, I just politely said roger that and carried on with my day and packed it in my overstuffed seabag. During that time, I was thinking on how wonderful it will be when they try and take my laptop from me and give it to fricken admin so they can pretend to be doing something important like typing or drinking coffee, while I am patrolling the streets looking for insurgents. I don't think it will happen. They would have to remove it from my ninja grip only after I am dead. Well, I thought it was funny and so did a few other Marines.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
1st Day of Duty
Well, today was the 1st day of my activation and it went pretty slow. As a matter of fact, all I did was sign my orders, do another gear inspection, and got one of the new flak jacket covers (they are all brown and contain IR inhibitors). The rest of the time was pretty much sitting around reading a little bit of Spare Parts and fighting off sleep. Thankfully, they will only keep us 0800 to about 1700. I might even get off early Saturday and be able to come in a little bit late on Sunday; won't know till later this week.
From what I can tell, the other Marines are positive about our mobilization. We just don't like to put up with this 1st week of waiting around doing paperwork and such. Just to let everyone know, I will be sending out a email later this week with my address and some other information. If someone wants the information and I don't email them, then talk to Pastor Larry or leave me a comment. I can't really put such information here due to operational security. That's all for now. I will try to blog and flickr as much as I can in the coming months.
From what I can tell, the other Marines are positive about our mobilization. We just don't like to put up with this 1st week of waiting around doing paperwork and such. Just to let everyone know, I will be sending out a email later this week with my address and some other information. If someone wants the information and I don't email them, then talk to Pastor Larry or leave me a comment. I can't really put such information here due to operational security. That's all for now. I will try to blog and flickr as much as I can in the coming months.
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