Recently, General David Petraeus, Commanding General Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), met with my team and a few other teams to discuss the current status of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the importance of our mission. Though the majority of the briefing was classified, I would like to share with the readers of the Roanoke Valley what I can.
On May 12, my family and I began a 15-month period of separation—deployment. Though my wife and I had known of the date months in advance, that did little to ease emotions around my departure to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Falcon in Baghdad. Actually, the benefit to short-notice orders is that they allow only enough time for compliance. Instead, family time and denial gave way to reality at the moment of goodbye.
In a few weeks, I will deploy for at least a year to Iraq as a captain in the U.S. Army. While there, I plan on writing a regular column in hopes of connecting the readers of The Roanoke Times to deployed U.S. soldiers.
I will describe daily life, explain idiosyncrasies of soldiers, and give an update of the situation on the ground. I will answer questions by e-mail and regular mail once I have an established address. If nothing else, this communication will help me feel like I am part of the Roanoke Valley community again.
Rich Connaroe graduated from Northside High School in 2000 and VMI in 2004. Now a Captain in the U.S. Army, Connaroe begins a one-year deployment to Iraq in August. During that time, he plans to make regular blog posts that he hopes will connect readers of the The Roanoke Times to U.S. soldiers who are deployed in Iraq.
