Ok, well... it's been a few days. We now have DIRLAUTH with the unit we are going over with. DIRLAUTH is one of those Army acronyms that means "Direct Liaison Authorized". To further explain... that means that we can now communicate directly to the Chain of Command of our gaining unit.
What does that mean for my blog? Well, nothing for now. Until I mobilize, I won't have much to write about. I am on leave right now, with nothing to really do. Our timeline is fairly clear as mud right at the moment, but the good news is that I will be able to spend Christmas and New Years with my family.
I'm ready for this mission. I have some very good soldiers going with me, and the mission itself will be very rewarding as well as challenging.
Stay tuned!!!
16 October 2008
14 October 2008
Still waiting...
Ok, I didn't want to clutter up my post about Pete with my useless drivel, so I will add it now. Still no official "orders" yet, but I did get the official tasker sent down from NGB. Looks like the punch out date now is 10 Dec 08 with a move out date of 12 Dec 08 to Camp Shelby, MS.
So, I am cooking off some much needed leave, spending time with friends and family, and just enjoying good food before I get sucked into the black hole of mobilization.
I am sorry that the blog has been slow... but, I warned you all! Just give me a chance, for once I start the deployment process, I will be VERY busy and have lots of information to add.
Until then, stay tuned. Oh, and don't hesitate to add comments... I like that very much. Let's me know that people are reading this stuff.
Cheers!!!
So, I am cooking off some much needed leave, spending time with friends and family, and just enjoying good food before I get sucked into the black hole of mobilization.
I am sorry that the blog has been slow... but, I warned you all! Just give me a chance, for once I start the deployment process, I will be VERY busy and have lots of information to add.
Until then, stay tuned. Oh, and don't hesitate to add comments... I like that very much. Let's me know that people are reading this stuff.
Cheers!!!
Sad News...
I woke this morning to a text message on my phone. A good man died last night at 1800 hours, in his home, with his family. He went peacefully, and without pain.
His name was Peter (Pete) Neves and was known by most as "Spartan". The man who created www.armyranger.com back in 2002. I stumbled upon AR.com (as we all call it) by accident, while I was in California attending DLI. I immediately signed up for the site, and Pete was one of the first people I exchanged email with, and began my vetting process.
His wit, and sense of humor had me rolling on the floor, and caused me to finally call him. That's when he let me know of his physical condition. He was fighting a very aggressive form of cancer, and it was spread all over his body.
Pete told me that he hid it as long as he could, for he had a young daughter, and that was his biggest regret... not to live to see her grown.
This man fought hard. Through the Brotherhood of the website, and the Ranger community... we all kept up with Pete's progress... and regression... and on several occasions, his death was... well, exaggerated... only to have Ranger Spartan log on and post something to make us all laugh. He was one tough son of a bitch... and he has given strength to us all.
I never got a chance to meet Pete in person. I have very mixed feelings about this... part of me wished I could have, but another part of me has Pete in my memory a certain way, and I am content with that.
This is a small bio of Peter, writen by one of my fellow Rangers on the board... I will use it here, to show a bit about Peter.
"Peter Neves served in 2nd Platoon, B Co, 2/75 from 1984-1987. Pete graduated Ranger School in Class #12/85. While in 2nd Ranger Bn, he served as a rifleman, AG, Machinegunner, went to HHC to work as the Bn Cdrs Driver/RTO (LTC Jefferey J. Ellis and CSM Leon-Geurerro), then returned to be a Team Leader. Pete departed as a SGT to the Q Course, where he graduated as an 18C. He later served in 2nd Bn, 1st SFG in the S-4 Shop.
In December of 2002, Pete founded ArmyRanger.Com. The site started off as a small chatroom type board where a few Rangers and Vets gathered to have fun. Pete also founded the Ranger Quartermaster, where he designed and marketed high quality Ranger items. Over the years, his vision became the cornerstone of the online Ranger community."
How does this effect me? Well... as I type this, I have tears well up in my eyes. Not so much tears of sadness... but of humility, and resolve. Pete was very sick towards the end. I mean, the man wasted away to 90 pounds. He looked like a walking skeleton... but he never lost his humor. He never gave up. He looked death in the eye so many times, and fought back... getting one more breath, one more hug from his little girl... from his wife...
There were times when Pete was out of his mind on pain killers, but his family stood beisde him. His Wife, his Daughter and all of his Brothers and Sisters within the community.
Ranger Spartan... you will be missed. You were liked by most, disliked by some... but were an inspiration to us all.
I can only hope that if I am ever faced with anything remotely close to this in life, I can face it with the honor and dignity that you faced it with my Brother.
Rest easy Pete. You deserve it.
Rangers Lead The Way!!!
His name was Peter (Pete) Neves and was known by most as "Spartan". The man who created www.armyranger.com back in 2002. I stumbled upon AR.com (as we all call it) by accident, while I was in California attending DLI. I immediately signed up for the site, and Pete was one of the first people I exchanged email with, and began my vetting process.
His wit, and sense of humor had me rolling on the floor, and caused me to finally call him. That's when he let me know of his physical condition. He was fighting a very aggressive form of cancer, and it was spread all over his body.
Pete told me that he hid it as long as he could, for he had a young daughter, and that was his biggest regret... not to live to see her grown.
This man fought hard. Through the Brotherhood of the website, and the Ranger community... we all kept up with Pete's progress... and regression... and on several occasions, his death was... well, exaggerated... only to have Ranger Spartan log on and post something to make us all laugh. He was one tough son of a bitch... and he has given strength to us all.
I never got a chance to meet Pete in person. I have very mixed feelings about this... part of me wished I could have, but another part of me has Pete in my memory a certain way, and I am content with that.
This is a small bio of Peter, writen by one of my fellow Rangers on the board... I will use it here, to show a bit about Peter.
"Peter Neves served in 2nd Platoon, B Co, 2/75 from 1984-1987. Pete graduated Ranger School in Class #12/85. While in 2nd Ranger Bn, he served as a rifleman, AG, Machinegunner, went to HHC to work as the Bn Cdrs Driver/RTO (LTC Jefferey J. Ellis and CSM Leon-Geurerro), then returned to be a Team Leader. Pete departed as a SGT to the Q Course, where he graduated as an 18C. He later served in 2nd Bn, 1st SFG in the S-4 Shop.
In December of 2002, Pete founded ArmyRanger.Com. The site started off as a small chatroom type board where a few Rangers and Vets gathered to have fun. Pete also founded the Ranger Quartermaster, where he designed and marketed high quality Ranger items. Over the years, his vision became the cornerstone of the online Ranger community."
How does this effect me? Well... as I type this, I have tears well up in my eyes. Not so much tears of sadness... but of humility, and resolve. Pete was very sick towards the end. I mean, the man wasted away to 90 pounds. He looked like a walking skeleton... but he never lost his humor. He never gave up. He looked death in the eye so many times, and fought back... getting one more breath, one more hug from his little girl... from his wife...
There were times when Pete was out of his mind on pain killers, but his family stood beisde him. His Wife, his Daughter and all of his Brothers and Sisters within the community.
Ranger Spartan... you will be missed. You were liked by most, disliked by some... but were an inspiration to us all.
I can only hope that if I am ever faced with anything remotely close to this in life, I can face it with the honor and dignity that you faced it with my Brother.
Rest easy Pete. You deserve it.
Rangers Lead The Way!!!
01 October 2008
The waiting game...
The phone rang, but I didn't get it... due to the fact that I was in a movie. So, the Commander left his voice message for me to listen to later. I paraphrase...
"Sarn't, give me a call as soon as you get this. This is Major XXXXX".
By the sound of his voice, my heart sank. I just knew that one of my joe's had been in a car wreck, or was killed, or something of that nature. So, I dialed his number back.
Somberly, he broke the news that I was slated to deploy back to Iraq. "Cool Sir, when?" I said.
"October 1st" was his reply.
Ok, that annoyed me a bit. That gave me just a bit over 30 days to prepare. I started getting into overdrive. I knew what lay ahead, since I had been down this road three times before. Not alot of time, but hey... Soldiering was never easy.
As the days wore on ahead... the lack of information was amazing. A million questions, but no answers. We had leases to break, jobs to inform, child care to accomodate, lives to put on hold... but nothing in writing.
As the time ticked away, so did the mobilization date. It turned from October 1st, to November 1st. Okay, a little better, but... tick tock, tick tock. Still no orders.
Just yesterday, I was informed that the MOB date is NOW December 12th. WTF???
Still, nothing in writing. Man, this sucks.
"Sarn't, give me a call as soon as you get this. This is Major XXXXX".
By the sound of his voice, my heart sank. I just knew that one of my joe's had been in a car wreck, or was killed, or something of that nature. So, I dialed his number back.
Somberly, he broke the news that I was slated to deploy back to Iraq. "Cool Sir, when?" I said.
"October 1st" was his reply.
Ok, that annoyed me a bit. That gave me just a bit over 30 days to prepare. I started getting into overdrive. I knew what lay ahead, since I had been down this road three times before. Not alot of time, but hey... Soldiering was never easy.
As the days wore on ahead... the lack of information was amazing. A million questions, but no answers. We had leases to break, jobs to inform, child care to accomodate, lives to put on hold... but nothing in writing.
As the time ticked away, so did the mobilization date. It turned from October 1st, to November 1st. Okay, a little better, but... tick tock, tick tock. Still no orders.
Just yesterday, I was informed that the MOB date is NOW December 12th. WTF???
Still, nothing in writing. Man, this sucks.
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