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

Service

I wanted to do a small dedication to my grandfather who recently passed away.
I am sad that I cannot be there for my family as they grieve and it makes it
even more difficult to be here! My grandfather was a retired Lieutenant Colonel
in the US Army and I am proud to have had him pin me at my commissioning ceremony.
I can only hope that I made him proud with my service to our country.

Things are going alright here. This area has been getting more and more
hostile so that has been a bit on everyones minds!

Our Iraqi counterparts were here but they have gone on leave so we will wait
about another 5 days until they return. I am looking forward to working with
them even though I know it will be a pretty big challenge. Every time I go to
meet with any of the Iraqi's my interpreters have to remind me to be very serious,
almost angry because that is how Iraqi women interact with Iraqi men. As you can imagine this
is a very tough task for me!!

I have pictures I want to put on so I will update again very soon......
Missing Everyone and hope everyone is well!
Love Mickey

loving the animals....

little baby piglet.....


Piggy in the bird cage.....





The easter bunny......



Ok it is time for another update.....
Things are going alright here, Easter was actually nice!
I played Easter bunny and put candy out for all the
people on my team and then they had an Easter dinner at the
DFAC (Dining Facility) complete with non-alcoholic sparkling
grape juice!! Can you beat that! I am settling in well enough.
I definitely have the drinking from the fire hose effect going
on with all the information for my personnel job and our
Iraqi counterparts have not even arrived yet......
I have found a bunch of people to do short runs with,
so I run 2 times a day. They also got in 2 new treadmills!! BUT
of course one is already broken......it may have been the guy who was
running on it in his dress shoes!!
We have lost our pet dog goldie (or red, he has multiple names depending
on who you ask) but we did acquire a wild piglet for like two days until the Colonel made
us get rid of it! I am adding some pics of the piglet and of the General (the cat)!!
Hope everyone is well!! Thanks for the correspondence!! It is great to hear
from everyone......dont worry I will write back : )

traumatized.....

I guess I knew that there was a good chance that I might have to fire
my weapon while deployed here in Iraq!!
I just wasn't expecting that I would have to use it in self defense
against a pack of wild dogs while running.......
AND from this point on I will never
A. Run without my weapon (I have run with it every time so far)
B. Run by myself
C. Trust the dogs that live on this compound (not that I did before)
Here is how it went down....
We got back kinda late from a convoy and I couldn't find
anyone to run with.....
I went to one of my team mates and asked him if
he thought I would be OK running by myself.....
he said "yes, just make sure you have your 9M (which I did)
and maybe you should wear this reflective PT belt" I put on the
belt and was on my way. I was hauling butt around a 5K loop that
I had done about a dozen times when I came upon a pack of about
7 dogs in front of me......I continued forward yelling and stomping my feet at them
but they continued toward me. The lead dog got within about 3 feet of me
when I decided there wasn't going to be an easy way out of this......
I couldn't continue forward and I couldn't turn around and run! I moved to the side
of the road and tried to find a rock or something to throw at them, I couldn't find anything......
SO I took off my camel back and pulled out my 9......
When I cocked it to chamber a round the dogs backed off a little
but then they started towards me again. Behind them I could hear more dogs
approaching......
SO I fired a round into the ground right next to the dogs!
I wasn't trying to kill the dogs I was just trying to keep them from attacking me!
After I fired the round the dogs took off and at the same time an Iraqi soldier came out of the guard tower
and chased them off further.
I turned around and ran back with my 9M in my hand the entire time.......
I walked into our barracks and two of my team mates were standing in the hall....
they saw me white faced holding my 9 in my hand and were like " Oh No What Happened??"!!

Since my fun with the dogs I have now found a bunch of new running buddies and
I usually run with several different people in one day cause no one really runs more then 3 miles.
I get a little nervous when we come up on the barking dogs but they don't come too close when
there is a group of us.
Just another fun adventure in Iraq.....I am sure there will be more for me to share!!
In the mean time I have actually been having a good time getting to know our
interpreters and learning about their culture. I am the interpreter manager so it
is also a bit my job the know what is going on with them. They have also been feeding me
really yummy Iraqi food and good chi too!
I hope everyone is well......I seriously love getting the emails.....from everyone!
Much LOVE Mickey

waiting.....

So we are waiting for our Iraqi unit to come back from their initial training south of here. It will be exciting when they actually arrive because we will have daily interaction as advisors to their unit. In the mean time we have been settling in after spending a lot of time with the outgoing team. It was great to hang out with new faces and have people to run with. They left three days ago and we are on our own now which is a bit scary (not really!) The past few days we have been getting into our new rooms ready and doing some serious spring cleaning. It is very dusty here. Actually that is the interesting part about Iraq (especially northern Iraq) It is not sandy at all. When most Americans think of Iraq they think of sand and camels like the pictures I put up of Kuwait but it is not like that at all. There is grass here and quite a bit of water, at least right now there is because the summer heat has not actually hit yet! Where I live we have a little American compound that is right in the middle of an Iraqi Army compound. When I go out running I stay inside the Iraqi compound BUT I am required to carry my 9M with me whenever I leave the gates of the US compound. Which means that I go running with my 9M.....it has been an interesting obstacle that I am learning to overcome. Of course there are a lot of things that I am adapting to but the worst is missing family and friends. I don't think that I will ever get used to not being able to call when I just need to say hello......

On that note I am still VERY VERY lucky, we have it much better then a lot of the soldiers that were here before me did. 

I hope that everyone is well and please feel free to just drop me an email and say HELLO. It helps! (mickeyld@yahoo.com in case you don't have it)

Oh yeah the pics are of the donkey's that live here! They are awesome and they LOVE to eat those honey buns!! 

correction......

Sorry its "transfer of authority".....(RIP/TOA)!!

1 Month DOWN.....

Hello and Sorry for taking so long to update! I have finally made it to Kirkuk and its was an interesting trip. It took us 2 days to get here and two overnights in random places with all of our bags!! Anyway we made it here and its been nothing but work work work.......
We are doing a "relief in place" and a "transfer of command" (RIP/TOA) and its alot of info!!
I am the personnel officer and the driver of one of the MRAPS. This does not include our advisor duty to the Iraqi soldiers! SO there is a lot to cover from the out going MiTT team to us!
There have been some fun times since we have been here.....the team that is leaving actually has a few runners on it so I have had running buddies, YEAH!! Also there are some pets here.....there are TWO Donkeys, that are very cute (named Fungston & Bobby)! And a cat that we are pretty sure just had kittens under the con ex. Cats are good cause they keep away the mice! Also there is a dog names Goldie, well he has a lot of names! In my next update I will explain more about where we are staying and how this whole thing works but for right now I must go to bed.....I need some sleep after our first convoy!!
Much LOVE to everyone......
Mickey
P.S. I would love for everyone to send me pics!!! I have a wall in my room that I want to cover with the faces of people I care about!!

Near Beer!!

Ok so its a day late but Happy St. Patricks day everyone!! So I decided that for my own sanity (and my job) I will be enforcing the celebration of every Holiday that I can come up with while deployed!! My job on the team is accountability for all personnel AND to be the party planner!! I am MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) for the team! So on St. Patty's day everyone had to run the St. Patty's day 5K here! Ofcourse my running ablity was the talk of the town leading up to the race....I tried to tell them that running was my thing but they did not listen! So I had a few guys to run with for the first 1K then it was just me : ( ! It was a fun race even though my groin is still strained from my fall from the horse at Mahlon's before I left........
Anyway the second part of our St. Patricks day fun was to get some food coloring to dye the "near" beer GREEN (near beer is beer without any alcohol....hence the "near")!! ok getting food coloring from the Iraqi's in the DFAC (dining facility) is not as easy as it sounds! BUT I made it happen and we had our green beer. I have alot of pictures from this joyous day that I will put up when I get some wireless internet......

Hope everyone is well!

Much Love,

Mickey

reality.....

Ok so here comes a little seriousness......
not my usual MO but sometimes it comes out in me!
I was feeling just a little bothered today about heading up north for our real mission.
At first I thought it was because of the 6 coalition personnel that were
killed in that area this morning but it is a bit more then that........I am being sent to do a mission and no matter how well I do my mission my safety does not increase as my days pass.....I am no less likely to have my convoy struck with an IED the 1st day then I am on the last day!!! It is a harsh realization that is very unsettling! I can hope that the area calms down and that the attacks become less likely but that is out of my control.......I will not let this burden me BUT I will do all that is in my power to keep myself and my team safe!! I am not sharing this information to make people worry any more then they already do......I just wanted to share my feelings and the reality......
Much Love to Everyone and prayers out to the families all those who have fallen.......

Finally I am a part of the "real" army....

A few days ago I had a defining moment as a member in the military......
There is this saying that goes around in the army about what a small world it is and I had never actually experienced it. Because of my specific job up to this point my exposure to other military members was actually very limited. So I could never actually share the sentiment!! UNTIL.....I was leaving the DFAC (Dining Facility) in Kuwait. I was there with two of the other girls from my team and a LT from Ft. Riley. We decided to get a picture together since we would not be seeing the LT again. We asked the next two people who came out of the DFAC if they could take the pic for us. After they were done the one soldier turned to me and asked me if I used to be SPC Kelly.....I was in shock!! It was a soldier that I had gone to AIT (Advanaced Individual Training) with when I was enlisted (in like 2004)!!! Finally I got to share the sentiment of what a small army this is!!
Much Love,
Mickey

P.S. I must give a shout out to Lizzy.....HAPPY 21st......wish I could have been there to celebrate with you!!!

Helicopter ride.....

So my chinook ride did not look anything like that BUT it was super cool! It was at night and I was advised to sit in the back because that is where you have the best view!! I was so excited on the flight line that everyone was making fun of me cause it was my first time flying on a chinook. I have never experienced the feeling of being lifted straight up off the ground!!! The Chinook is the fastest helicopter that the US military has which is a bit suprising for its size! The only downside to this trip was the loading and unloading of ALL the bags from the chinook!! I nearly got blown over with two huge duffles on me when the chinook took off again.....

So I just wanted to give an update on my amazing chinook ride. I will write again soon and put in my two cents on how I feel about the mission that I am being sent on and my role in this "war". It will surely be interesting.........

I really hope that everyone is well and please if you have any questions or want to know anything specific just ask !

Love Mickey

BTW I have to insert pics from the internet because we are never allowed to take any photos : (

more pics.....

Jill and I at the range.......

The range as we watched the sun rise......

Me, Jill and Leslie, not so happy to be in the sand.......

My cot......yup its really confortable.......

PIC's!!

The white camel......

more cute camels.....
Me, CPT Meyer and CPT Shipp with camels behind us........
We wanted to go pet them but we were not allowed to cross the road!!

Camels and .50 CAL's.....

Sorry it has been a while since my last blog BUT we were "out in the field".....yup I said it....."out in the field!!" I didn't know that when you are deployed you actually go "out in the field" cause technically you are in the field!! 

SO we finished up with MRAP training earlier this week and I got a BUNCH of pics of the camels....even a pic WITH the camels!! I learned a lot from the MRAP training and feel much better about the vehicle that I will be driving in Iraq. Then we were given Humvee's (yea I dont get it either) for our range and convoy training. I zeroed in my M4 (the updated M16) and shot the 240B (Machine Gun). We did not have a medic on the range therefore we could not fire the .50cal....BOO!!! We stayed "out in the field" over night and got up early this am for our simulation training. We were doing convoy training with simulated enemy contact and IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices). I was a driver which meant I didn't get to be a gunner and shoot up everything but I had a very important job of searching for disturbances in the terrain that could be IED's and of course driving. I took the liberty of going off road in my Humvee when we were finished so that I could "get used to driving in the sand". My TC did not think this training was necessary and promptly told me to pull over. Now I am back and in my cot getting prepared for ONE last day of training here in KUWAIT!!  YEAH!! next stop IRAQ.....we shall see what kind of adventures await me there!!!

Take care everyone and I will write again soon.

Mickey

Oh and I will add pics tommorrow..... 

Drivers Training

Here is a pic from the internet of the MRAP (I am not allowed to take pics of our vehicles). It is a MINE RESISTANT AMBUSH PROTECTED vehicle. When we get into Iraq these are the vehicles that we will be driving. We have spent the last 2 days doing hands on training on this vehicle and drivers training. It is nothing like driving a humvee (HMMWV).....it is more like driving a dump truck. It will be my job as the operator to do all the "PMCS" (preventative maintenance checks and service) so I have been learning a lot.  I am tired from driving all day so I will write more soon.....Hope everyone is well!!

So there I was.....

I have decided to do this blog so that I can inform family and friends about all the "fun" I am having on my deployment. Actually I just wanted to allow anyone who wanted to have a little inside glimpse, from my point of view of what a deployment looks like. Here I go......

Where to start.....getting here was a small adventure in itself. Each person I was traveling with had 4 HUGE duffel bags 1 LARGE ruck sack and a weapons case for every second person. We flew commercial for the first part of the trip and needless to say Delta did not know what to do with us or our bags (pic)!! After over 48 hours of buses, planes and more buses we arrived in Kuwait. The FOB that we are on is a small one for transient soldiers. We will stay here for almost two weeks for training. I am living in a large 60+ person TENT with cots....yeah I thought the bunk beds were bad! I am in a bay with only 3 other girls right now so I am thankful for that. The bathrooms on the other hand I am not thankful for......you have your choice of a far away porta-johny or an even farther away "hard" toilet. Which is a real toilet in a portable little room. None of which smell very good. The showers are in another portable building and only have showers and sinks in them.  And of course you must cross the sand to get anywhere. The sand is a chore in itself. We have been here less than a week and we have experienced 2 really windy days (we are still trying to figure out what exactly constitutes a sand storm), where sand ends up in places you never knew existed. The Q-Tips come in super handy. So the living conditions are......interesting......more on that soon!

My plan is to be able to update at least once a week but I am not able to promise anything. We have heard that where we are headed we will have internet which may mean that I can write more often. Please feel free to ask any questions on this site but know that some I may not be able to answer. 

Until I can write again.....keep in touch!!