Letters from Our Soldiers

Good evening trudy!

You are always too kind and generous with your words. I am indeed honored to be part of this team, and complete the last 6-months of my ~15-month deployment doing the most honorable job I can think of.

Congrats on the office space, and the news article -- you are taking HOME to new hights! Keep kicking butt, for it is people like you that keep us going.

(1) Poonam and I had an outstanding time in Australia. Although we severely underestimated the cost of living and traveling down under, we very much enjoyed the journey.
(2) I moved bases (off the Embassy compound and onto a traditional military base).
(3) I have a completely new job.
(4) My tour got extended by 2-months, now with an Estimated Departure Date (EDD) of 31 JUL 2010.

---- BREAK ----

Just before leaving for Australia, my boss (2-star Army General) informed us that our office was down-sizing. Although I would have continued to give 150% wherever "they" (Army) would re-assign me, I elected to not let the Army tell me where to go if I could help it this time. I had to tread carefully of course, still had to do everything while maintaining proper military chain-of-command. I reached out a friend at the main base and through a few conversations and some "brute force" on my part (as other orgs were trying to take me....simply because I was an "available warm body"), I landed a job at an office I wanted to work at when I first arrived here,...the Personnel Recovery Division (PRD). The PRD is the "POW/MIA" office in Iraq that deliberately does everything humanly possible to locate and rescue/recover all US personnel (military and civilian) that have been deemed captured/missing in Iraq (including back to first Gulf War in 1991). So effective 4 FEB 2010 (after returning from Australia on 2 FEB 2010, I had to rapidly pack and move,...not so easy in a war zone), I had the honor of becoming the Senior Intelligence Office (SIO) for the PRD, which is nominally assigned for an military service member coming from a previous active duty station (i.e., not available to reservists looking for a deployment). We have 18 cases, with the 18th case being a US citizen that was kidnapped/captured on 23 JAN 2010. This is our hottest case....we are working 0800-2330 each day, 7-days a week. I am drinking not from a fire hose, but from a river! Aside from the challenges (which I invite), I absolutely love this job....the team is absolutely phenomenal at what they do,....the closest match to my old Shuttle CEE team! Lastly, I apologize in advance for not being as responsive to emails as I have been in the past. New address is as follows:

NEW ADDRESS:
Ketan S. Chhipwadia
USF-I J34 PRD
APO AE 09342

---- BREAK ----

Please continue to think of my fellow service-members both here in Iraq, and around the world, as they do their part to allow friends and family in the US to live well and with the opportunities no other nation offers. We continue to "take the watch."

Thank you for everything you do.

--
V/R,
- LCDR KC Chhipwadia, USN
Honored and Proud to Serve
ADOVIM

Hand-written letters from soldiers. Click images to view larger.

Trudy,

I am sorry that I have not written more. It seems like just yesterday I was getting here and all of sudden, a year has gone by. We have recently finished turning in all of our equipment. It looks like we will be departing in the next 48 hours or so. We will head to Kuwait shortly thereafter. We are on the outprocessing glidepath as of now. With the change in force structure as a result of the drawdown, it is unclear if there will remain a team like our here at this location.

We should be in Kuwait for a few days followed by a few days at Fort Riley. After that, we will be given orders and sent off on our separate ways. As of now all but one of us has orders. LTC White is off to Fort Leavenworth to be a history instructor at the Command and Staff College. MAJ Welch is off to be a student at the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. MSG Threatt and MSG Bivens are on their way to be 1SGs at Fort Benning (Columbus), GA. SFC Garcia is heading to Fort Bragg, NC. SSG Mello is on orders to be an instructor at the US Army Signal School, Fort Gordon (Augusta), GA. SSG Norman is heading back to the Hospital at Fort Riley, KS. MAJ Adams is still waiting on his orders and I am off to be a student at the US Army Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS.

In the end, this has been a fairly challenging and rewarding deployment. The Guardians saw definite improvements in the capabilities of the Iraqi Federal Police. They grew their ability to conduct unilateral operations, their medical capacity increased fourfold. Their ability to collect, analyze and gather intelligence is light years ahead of where they were when we arrived. They now have the only trained Route Clearance Capability in the entire Federal Police Structure. They have a functioning and viable civil affairs and public information staff. We assisted in the planning, coordination, and execution of missions that removed nearly 40 tons of debris from the busiest route in Baghdad. We helped the Federal Police field a battalion's worth of armored security vehicles and we developed a program to coach, teach, and mentor the young Iraqi Non-Commissioned Officers. All in all, it was a pretty good year.

All of what I wrote would not have been possible if we did not have the motivation to keep going. You all were a big part of that. We always knew that we had the support and prayers from you all back home. The care packages were a definite morale booster. We cannot thank you all enough for taking us in and making us a part of your family. We can only hope to repay your kindness sometime in the future.

Thanks again and please give everyone our best.

Duty First!!!

MAJ Tabat

STEVEN TABAT

Letter from a soldier. Click image to view larger.

Hand-written letter from the soldiers. Click images to view larger.

Letter from Ron Kidd. Click image to view larger.

Dear Ms Knotts,

On behalf of the men and women of the 407 Expeditionary Communications Squadron at Ali Base in Iraq, I wanted to thank you for the kind and generous gifts you sent for the holiday season. We received a package that as best I can tell had items donated from all over. I apologize for not singling out anyone in particular who contributed to the package, my folks went through it pretty quick, especially the single folks that are not getting a lot of other packages. Let me say thanks again, so you know how much your gifts are very much appreciated. I obviously found your business card and decided to send an email and attach a photo for you to share with everyone involved.

A quick snapshot of us. We are a 65 person squadron tasked with providing all the communication needs to about 500 AF personnel here at Ali Base, Iraq. We just rotated in and are beginning a 6 month tour. The majority of personnel are from Tinker AFB in Oklahoma, but we do have a few from a mixture of other locations, as well, to include my duty station in Germany. Much to our excitement we received your gifts just a couple days before Christmas and they were gone before I knew it. The goodies and treats are appreciated, but even more than those, simply knowing that folks back home are thinking about us means more than you can imagine. Getting cards and letters from back home is a real morale booster, especially during the holiday season. For a lot of my folks, this is their first deployment, and first time away from family and loved ones during the holiday season. I've attached a photo of us gathering in our common area where I place the care packages for the folks to sort through.

I am the First Sergeant for this small group of folks and this is my second deployment. My job is simple.....people. I'm charged with ensuring that the health, morale and welfare of those under my supervision are taken care of. My job is pretty easy when we get packages like that from "home".

Once again thank you very much for the kindness shared.

Proud to Serve,

Kevin

///signed///
KEVIN D. ERNE, SMSgt, USAF
First Sgt, 407 ECS

I received a package from you today. I would like to thank you for it. What you are doing is a great thing and a help to myself and my soldiers. We appreciate your gifts because they help us out and know that people care. So thanks again and keep up the good work.

Dave

Good evening and Happy New Year my good friend!

Received qty-4 care packages over the past week --- sorry did not write sooner --- its been busy. Qty-3 of them have hats and small blankets that were clearly made with a lot of love and care. Please thank the person that put their heart into these.

The fourth package has some internal "battle damage" --- the loose Ketchup packets exploded,....probably from being jostled around,...contaminated a good portion of the box contents. May I suggest that the packets be put in a small ziplock bag? Just a thought for your consideration.

V/R,
- KC
ADOVIM

Trudy-

I am the commander for Bravo Company, 209th Aviation Support Battalion. You recently sent a care package to me for my unit -- I just wanted to let you know that it was received yesterday and I distributed the goodies. My favorite item was probably the hand-knit, camouflage cap, but the dominoes were certainly a hit with the guys. We tend to pool our resources here and offer goodies like yours to everyone -- it is otherwise hard to ensure 300 guys all get something.

I'm entirely grateful for your consideration and generosity! Incidentally, I'm a '96 TCU Alum -- so it is that much better coming from Texas. To have such wonderful support from a complete stranger is inspiring and helps us focus on our purpose here. Thanks for all you do -- it truly does enable us to be better Soldiers. All the best in the New Year, may you and yours be blessed with health, happiness and prosperity!

Cheers
Will

WILLIAM M. DUNN
MAJ, AV
Commanding
B/209th ASB

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