Motivation

SPC Jeremy Pierce of the Oregon National Guard, who was wounded in Iraq out on a convoy in August, is walking a month "ahead of schedule" on a prosthetic leg.

"I've got motivation," Pierce said by telephone not long after that magical stroll, which went on for nearly 15 minutes, long after the video camera was turned off. "I want to hurry up and return to my normal life and stay in the Guard, you know? I want to get back to duty."

There are pictures and a video at the Statesman Journal site. Handkerchief recommended.

41st IBCT Update

Two Oregon National Guard soldiers in a convoy were killed Friday by a bomb blast in eastern Baghdad. A third was wounded severely enough to be taken to Germany for treatment.

My brother is fine; he was back at base during this convoy. Names have not been released, but please keep the families in your thoughts/prayers.

UPDATE: They are Sgt. Earl D. Werner, 38, of Mondovi, WI and Pvt. Taylor D. Marks, 19, of Monmouth, OR. Mondovi is SW of Eau Claire.


Here's the fury-inducing part:

Whether or not it fits in this story, I thought I'd pass along something that the Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Fred Rees, told me about the blast that severed the leg of SPC Jeremy Pierce earlier this month. He said the Guard had heard that the blast was from what's called an explosively formed penetrator, a more sophisticated type of roadside bomb that poses dangers even to mine-resistant vehicles. Such EFPs are widely believed to have come into Iraq from Iran.

I assume that's the same controlled-by-mullahs Iran the Clown-in-Chief wants to invite to D.C for milk and cookies, no matter how many of their citizens or ours they kill.

41st IBCT Update

Apparently war has stopped being "boring."

My brother's unit is protecting supply convoys, and he was in one of two trucks hit by an IED last week. No injuries--they're using "new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles" and apparently they work. Quick, nobody tell that clown who quadrupled government spending and now claims we have to cut defense programs...

41st IBCT Update

My brother's unit arrived in Iraq last Tuesday. On Friday a report about three servicemen killed in Basra, no names given totally freaked me out...until I got home from work, accessed my e-mail, got out a map, and realized he was actually hundreds of miles away. Spent the weekend feeling really stupid. I need a big black-and-white outline map of Iraq to color in provinces and label cities, like you do with the U.S. in grade school (or used to, anyway).

Chatted with him on Facebook for an hour or so tonight, mostly about Star Trek (don't ask). Here's a photo of him (bald spot and glasses, he says) and some of his fellow soldiers hanging out in Kuwait.

Everything's been quiet so far--he says "war is boring"--and it can just stay that way as far as I'm concerned. :)

41st IBCT Update

I didn't take this photo, obviously. :)

The 41st IBCT is still doing some training in Kuwait.

The Iowa Army National Guard 186th Military Police Company was deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and again in 2007.

Pvt. Joel Taylor

I got an e-mail this afternoon from my brother, during a layover in Leipzig en route to Kuwait. So the 1st Battalion, 186th Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oregon Army National Guard is on their way.

At the family reunion last week, someone finally got around to getting me a picture (never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tape drives minivan full of CDs). I believe it's from when my folks went out for the mobilization ceremony in May.



We're dorks, but we're patriotic dorks, dammit.