Some days, a year long deployment feels like it is crawling by. Other days, you look down at your watch and realize the date. We have nearly been here for four months now. And we moved the trailers that we would live and work in two weeks ago now. I am just now writing about it! Read more »
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. With this in mind, we plotted our route between two Iraqi Army bases. Instead of driving a known route, which would be the shape of a crescent moon, we elected to try a new route for the first time.
So there we were… Read more »
In building our team’s patrol base, we have looked high and low for readily accessible building materials. Recently, we went to pick up a load of plywood. The following pictures depict the events. Read more »
Last night, I stopped at the door of Lieutenant Jeremy “Jay” Alaniz of San Antonio, Texas on the way back to my room from calling my wife. I knocked on the door firmly and heard him say, “Just a second.” I had no idea what I had coming to me.
Today the weather was fabulous with a high of 89 degrees!
Bags on the airfield
Connaugton, Connaroe, and Major Brott (bossman)
Staff Sergeant Murrell
So there I was...
seated towards the front of the passenger cabin of the Chinook, which is an aircraft that looks like an olive drab school bus with helicopter blades attached, with the rest of my team at 1500 feet. Despite the constant airflow similar to standing in front of a man sized fan at a gym, sweat poured down our backs underneath our helmets and body armor. The only light came from the instrument panels and the moon.
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.
