a worthy cause.....

OK the holidays are approaching rather quickly and my
Military Transition Team here in Kirkuk, Iraq has decided to
put packages together for children in the area. We have decided on
The Kirkuk Orphanage and Yured School. We are asking people
we know to please send school supplies and children's clothing
that we can distribute to both of these places.
Here is a list of things needed.....
paper
binders
pencils
crayons
markers
water colors
coloring books
note pads
small toys (non-battery operated)
shoes
clothing (the children at the orphanage range from months old to 16yrs old
but most are toddlers to middle school age)

My address here in Iraq is

CPT Michelle Kelly
12MTR/Unit 70009
K1/FOB Warrior
APO AE 09338

Thanks so much for your support and help. Please feel free to email me with
any questions or just to say HI......mickeyld@gmail.com

Mickey

internet

I have attempted to write this blog entry 6 times now.......
and since none of them got saved or posted I have
decided that I am going to write more often but the entries
wont be as long. So please bear with me if there are
random incomplete thoughts on here with poor
grammar!
I was thinking today of the many people here who
are overall pretty prejudice about the Iraqi's. Then tonight
we watched the movie Full Metal Jacket. Yes it was the first
time that I saw it in its entirety and I realized this.......
This is my first deployment to Iraq. I have been fortunate
enough to not have anyone close to me killed over here so
when I work side by side with Iraq's it is not much of a problem.
Even though some of the people that we work with on a
daily basis were not always "supporters" of the US Army!!
I have been given a little better understanding how others
view this country based on their backgrounds which are
very different from mine........I do still believe
that it is important to try not to have preconceived notions
about a country on a whole but it must be so hard to
work with people who the last time you were in this country
they were trying to kill you or you were trying to kill them!!

Those are my random thoughts for the day and I will publish this and
write again very soon!
I miss everyone VERY much and hope that everyone is well!!
Mickey

back in Iraq

I am finally back in Iraq and back to K1. I got to spend
15 days back in the states visiting with family and friends
which was WONDERFUL. Then on Monday the 29th of June
I left Albany Airport for Atlanta Airport to catch as flight
to Kuwait in route to Iraq. I landed in Kuwait the evening
of the 30th.........I left Kuwait on the 8th of JULY!! I spent
over 8 days stuck in Kuwait due to sand storms. It was
horrible. Some people dont think that being stuck in Kuwait
is so bad because they have a McDonalds and other fast
food places to eat. I dont really eat at those places so I spent
the 8 days sleeping during the day (because of the heat) and
then staying awake all through the night. The USO in
Kuwait was very nice. I would get up at about 6pm and go
to dinner (which I considered breakfast),
then I would go to an accountability formation to be told that
there were no flights to Kirkuk. After that I would go for a
run, read a bit before heading to midnight chow which was lunch.
Breakfast of course was dinner. It was a strange
cycle that I am still recovering from........
The best thing that came out of being stuck in Kuwait was that I was
so excited to actually get back to IRAQ that I bypassed the sadness of
missing the family. I NEVER in my life thought that I would be EXCITED to
be in Kirkuk, IRAQ!!! It has been a crazy week since I have been back. I
have just been playing catch up and visiting with my Iraqi counterparts.
Hope everyone is well!
I will write again very soon.
Mickey

R & R

Sorry for such a delay in updating the blog. It has gotten a little busy here. Of course I bring a lot of it on myself but I dont really mind. Currently I am trying to get ahead on all of my duties so that I can go on leave. I am very excited that I will get to come home and see family and friends. It is bittersweet to know that I will come home then leave everyone again. Also its a little tough to leave here........I know crazy RIGHT! I have tried to make it a point in my life to enjoy everyday! Sometimes we spend so much time looking forward to something rather then enjoying the present. Then time flies when the good stuff is happening. I want to be just as excited for tomorrow as I am for the day that I arrive in NY. Ok, that is not exactly going to happen but I am going to make the best of the situation! I have found things here in Iraq that I do enjoy. I have met people, Americans and Iraqi's that I truly just enjoy spending time with. I also enjoy my job as an advisor. It has been a little tough the past few days because the regiment has 31 people who have not been paid in over 7 months! I cant imagine not getting paid for 7 MONTHS. Anyway I am trying to help them resolve these problems. There in not much that I can do but help them use there system to track and follow up on where the paperwork is. Needless to say, my company commander is one of the ones who has not been paid and he is pretty down about it!
Other then that things are going well here. I have been able to really stay on a good running schedule with the awesome running partners that I have here. I am just really looking forward to coming home. I hope everyone is well!
SEE you soon!
LOVE Mickey

Iraqi Army

Finally we have started working with our Iraqi Counterparts. Our MTR (Motorized Transportation Regiment) has just stood up so they are not fully manned. This means that people keep changing positions and they don't have any supplies yet to include desks, chairs, and pens! It is tough to try to advise a unit that is not ready to function on their own. I am lucky with the transportation company that I am advising because they have assigned a commander to the company already. As far as the S1 that I am supposed to be advising they have not yet filled that position so I am working with a Lieutenant that will be replaced at some point, hopefully in near future. I have enjoyed my interaction with my counterparts so far and my Company Commander makes some amazing Chai!! Actually he doesn't make it the "Chai boys" do......they are pictured below!!
I am hoping that everyone is well and I am looking forward to being home in JUNE!!
Take Care- Mickey


P.S. OH man I almost forgot.....we had a BBQ with our interpreters on Monday that was AMAZING! we ate, we drank (COKE) and the interpreters danced.....I also made kabob! (pics coming soon..... )


Here is one of the LT's on the left CPT Mohammad in the middle and the Sergeant Major on the end!



Here is a Pic of me and my Iraqi counterpart CPT Mohammad!

some explaining.....

I thought I would begin with a picture of me shooting my 9. But this is where it starts......I have now been here long enough that I have a routine. I have gotten into the swing of things. Working with the Iraqi forces (to a degree as we just started that), working with my interpreters and going on convoys. I can honestly say that while I was on the fencing strip or in the long course pool at the olympic training center I NEVER imagined that I would be here! NOT so much in Iraq but in a place where I didn't leave the US compound without a loaded weapon or two! While getting ready for convoys we have to review the latest ways that US forces were attacked so that we would know what to look for. Being lucky enough to have an extra 27 pounds of armor draped over me for my own protection! These are just a few of the daily things that I don't really think about much anymore......they are just everyday occurrences!
Let me clarify what this US compound that I live on consists of. There are about six buildings total within the compound. All of the buildings are barracks except one which is the DFAC (dining facility). Inside the DFAC are two small rooms for eating and one room where the food is self served and of course a kitchen. The entire complex is gated, surrounded by HESCO barriers and concertina wire. Even when I consider how small this area is I would much rather be here then on a FOB. In my opinion this country and its people are getting a bad rap and its mostly due to the fact that a lot the Coalition Forces here are stuck on these FOB's (Forward Operating Base) and they have little to NO interaction with Iraqi people. Even here I am limited to interpreters and Iraqi soldiers. I don't ever see how the rest of people of Iraq live or how they are as a culture. I have been all around the world. Sometimes I only spent three to four days in a certain place but I get to see more in that short amount of time then most people in the military do in the YEAR that they spend in this country. That is crazy! My main point in this entry is that there are a few things in life that no one can really understand unless they have done the same thing. I only hope to give you an idea so that you know what the service men and women you see all the time have gone through.
Thanks again and I hope everyone is WELL!!
I will write again soon! Mickey

whats new.....

So it has been a really busy week for me!
I have been doing a lot of work to get my interpreters
straight as they are now being taken over by
a new company. It is crazy the amount of paper work
that is needed. Also this is my first pay period to
put in time sheets myself. SO in the end this requires a lot of
time being spent at Warrior to straighten out all these
issues. Then I left to attend an S1 conference in Tikrit.
I was actually very impressed by the conference. It was an opportunity
to talk about the main issues that are going on with the Iraqi Armed
Forces and how we can best help them with these issues. This is
very important as we try to set the Iraqi Armed Forces up
to have a viable military that can stand on its own without
the help of Coalition Forces. It will be interesting to see
when I return to Kirkuk how the interaction with my Iraqi
counterpart goes and how much guidance I am able to give.
Ok I must go now but I will update as soon as I return....
Much Love
Mickey