Since we moved into and took over this battle space, I've been working directly with the Iraqi Army, or IA as we call them. We're the communications link between the Iraqi's and U.S forces in our area. We also show them how to effectively run their operations center, and track their elements on the ground. We're basically helping them further prepare to take over the complete operations here within their country.

      This being my 3rd time out here I've seen the IA grow, I remember when I was back here in early 2004 when they were just standing up we took them into battle along with us and the first sign of gunfire they'd drop their rifles and run. I've seen them make leaps and bounds in the way they run things when I came back here for my 2nd trip in 2007 they actually supported us a few times, and even though we were still running seperate operations at the time, they were able to hold their own a majority of the time. This time around they're actually starting to take charge of things little by little, and they're getting very good at taking control, we get reports all the time of them finding enemy equipment and actively engaging or detaining the enemy themselves.

    They've really come along way, and from what i've seen they are winning this war one day at a time, and we're now in the position of serving as the support, to help fine tune their operations behind the lines to make them more effective on the front lines. Even though I dont see this deployment being as exciting as my last, its good to see what progress has come over the years.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aWEO2aTqig

      Being away, it's never easy having to watch your children grow up through pictures and video's, you want to be there as much as possible from their first steps to their first words, but  I guess pictures and video's are better than nothing. My wife has been very good at sending pictures through e-mail so that I can at least see how he has progressed over the past 2 months, and I can say that even though we don't spend much time together he's already picked up on some of his fathers traits.

 Thats my boy...

  We did some fun training today that simulated a vehicle roll over, they had this machine that was in the shape of a hmmvee and it was put on a rotator that spun us 360 degrees around.

     At first i started out in the gunners position, which is the most dangerous in a vehicle roll over situation because we're the only one not secured by a seat belt and we're also standing out of the roof of the vehicle, everyone inside the vehicle when it rolls over is suppose to bring the gunner inside and hold him down... some how I ended up in a crew position with one of our heaviest sergeants as the gunner, i'm not a big guy and the guy on the other side of me wasn't much bigger than i was, this sergeant out weighed us both by probably 100 pounds or more and we all had gear on which ment more weight for us to try and keep stable as the vehicle was rolling. He of course put himself in this position on purpose, i just started laughing when he came up with the idea.

    So we get in our positions inside the truck and they tilt us 25 degrees one way and then 25 degrees the other way, we're yelling at the driver "WHAT THE F**K ARE YOU DOING GET BACK ON THE ROAD!!"( just trying to make it more realistic), then we get ready for the 360 degree roll over, the gunner gets inside and me and the other guy have him secured in between us and we clasp our arms together to keep him as stable as possible " ROLL OVER ROLL OVER ROLL OVER!!!" the guy in the intercom system yells "ROLL OVER ROLL OVER ROLL OVER!" we yell and the machine starts to spin the vehicle 360 degrees around starting to the left... we held on pretty good for the first part of it, but then my friend on the other side that was suppose to help me hold the big sergeant down let go and he was getting smashed on the window of the vehicle, i on the other hand maintained my grip of the good sergeant but it was like a grape trying to hold an orange stable in a tumble dryer... it just wasn't happening. then the vehicle stopped, on its side, i'm laughing my ass off because i'm getting choked out by my seatbelt and still trying to hold on to the big sergeant, then we start rolling the other way, now i got the weight of the big sergeant and my friend on the other side on top of me, i'm still laughing my ass off.

  Then we stop upside down, i try to get my feet on the ground before i undo my seat belt so i dont eat the roof of the vehicle... then i unstrap the big sergeant , and we get out our door and pull security as if it were a real life situation, then i notice another foot coming out of my door, it was my friend that was on the other side of the vehicle, the safties inform him that he must get out of his door, but he was so disoriented that he couldnt remember which door was his. So they just ended up letting him go out of the drivers door and we were all complete. And that was our day of training. 

      I have arrived in Kuwait and expected to head north to Iraq here shortly for the 3rd time. Its going to be a different type mission this time around, but hopefully its as much fun and exciting as the last time.

    It was 3pm on a Thursday after noon when I received the call from my wife saying that the doc wanted to take the baby out a week earlier due to a rise in her blood pressure, I had already been working on getting down there on the 27th and spending an extra week with the family before they send us on block leave on the 1st of August.
   I immediately notified my sergeants of the situation and they informed me that the most i would be able to get out of it was 4 days to include the date of the birth and it would scrap any other plans i had. I then called my wifes docs office and requested them to e-mail me a note about the change in situation so that it would help secure my approval to go home for 4 days to be there for the birth of our child.
  Friday rolls around and i still haven't got any word of weather i was clear to go home or not. Its the end of the day and we're getting a safety briefing from our commander and 1st sergeant and the 1st sergeant asks if anyone is traveling on a pass this weekend... I raise my hand " well did you get approved" " I dont know 1st sergeant" " come see me after this formation" "Roger 1st sergeant."

     I report to the training room and we begin to look for the pass paperwork that i put in the day prior, and my platoon sergeant walks in and says that my paper work is still on his desk. I sprint back to the shop to get it and sprint back my platon sergeant is already in a meeting with my 1st sergeant i walk in and hand him my paper work and get to the position of parade rest, the 1st sergeant starts asking me quetions about the situation and my platoon sergeant is there backing me up trying to sell the 1st sergeant on approving me to get out of there... He gives me a lecture on why i havent moved my family up there yet and writes down a note for the commander on a sticky briefing him on the situation... "have you bought this ticket yet?" "negative 1st sergeant." I wait there for an hour and finially i get word that i am approved... I call my wife and run upstairs to my room to hop online and buy a ticket.

  I hop on the plane at around 600 Saturday morning and i get bumped from coach to 1st class all the way to san diego, so that was nice... my wife picks me up and we go run some errands before heading home... We spent some good quality time together with our children and got what we could ready  to take to the hospital with us. Sunday night we go out for her last meal before her operations because she's not allowed to eat for a certain amount of hours prior to being cut open.

   Its now 830 Monday morning, and we get up and get ready to roll out to the hosiptal, making sure we're not forgetting anything as we walk out the door...On our way to the hospital we make a stop at the gas station so that i can pick up some energy drinks i knew for some reason that i'll be needing them. We arrive at the hospital at 945 am 15 minutes ahead of schedual, fill out some paperwork and they show us to the room... i text my family and she texts hers the information so that they can come visit and what times they are allowed to visit. i'd already been sipping on one of my energy drinks so i was a little jittery at the time, I remember when the nurse came in to give the i.v. i was asking if i could do it,,, my wife just shook her head and said no... they put 2  1000 ml bags of lactated ringer fluids into her before bringing her into the operating room, they said they would be back to get me in about 10 to 15 minutes.
   I dont know if it was the energy drink kicking in or straight nervousness or maybe a combination of both but i started to pace the room looking at the clock wondering when they were going to come back to bring me in... 10 to 15 minutes seemed like forever, then finally the nurse walks in and says they're ready for me and she walks me to the operating room where they have a screen up and my wife has both arms strapped down to the table with one of those air masks attached to her face, the surgeons are in there chatting away like its usual business i can smell the burning flesh as i walk in there. the doctor points me to my seat right next to my wifes head, i'm asking her if she's ok and stuff like that trying to look into the reflections of the lights to see what the doctors are doing... after a few moments the nurse asks me if i want to see my baby... then i start to hear the crys.. i get around the screen and they are just pullilng him out, they cut the embilical cord and bring him over to this table where i cut the rest of it off... they wrap him up and we bring him over to my wife she gives him a few kisses and we make our way to the nursery room where they're going to clean him up.
    As i wait for the nurse to get everything ready for his bath i sit on this rocking chair holding my new born son, and tell him about his family thats waiting to meet him and he was just laying there looking at me sticking his tongue out at me... thats definaltly my boy... the nurse gives him a little wipe down and brushes his hair, takes his foot prints and wraps him up again... i roll him back into the room where his mom is now she's still unable to move, because of the numbing meds that they gave her before they cut her open...they hooked up another I.V. bag but they didnt advance the cathader all the way so it ended up swelling her forearm and hand up a bit... i told her they should have let me do it, then they tried to re stick her but were unsuccessful on 2 tries so they just basically said forget it and that she didnt need it anymore... A lot of family came to visit, the changing of the first diaper was an adventure in itself.. it was me my brothers and my dad tasked to change the first diaper, that didnt go so well.... I had already downed 2 of my 3 energy drinks the last one was my big 32 oz monster drink that i was saving for the next days trip back.

     After all the visitors leave, the nurse comes up and helps us move down a few floors because they were expecting alot of people in on the current floor that we were at the next day. So we get down to the 2nd floor and the room is a lot smaller than the one we were previously in. i'm going online on my phone trying to get me a ticket back to Washington the next day, while at the same time trying to take as much care for our son as possible and spend more time with him while my wife was recovering... i guess all the caffine from the energy drinks had worn off and the coffee that i drank on top of them wasnt doing any good cause i passed out, my wife tried to wake me up by poking me with a pen because she still hadn't gained full strength back in her lower body to get the baby when he was crying but i was too far gone i didnt even feel the pen poking me. i was only out for a few hours though before i got up and tried to help out as much as i could before i had to leave.

  On Tuesday I called my brother to see if he could get me a ride back to our place so i can pick up my stuff  and head to the airport, my flight was schedualed to leave at 630pm so i wanted him there by at least 430pm that way it would give us time to get to the airport. We had some more family come thru to visit including our 4 kids they were so excited to meet their new little brother... i was looking at the clock and it was getting closer and closer to 430 and my brother still wasnt there yet, i called him and he informed me that he was picking up my mom and that they would be there in a few...
     Yeah a few was a little bit longer than expected, they didnt end up getting there till about an hour later....As soon as he got there i kissed my wife and kids good bye and said a quick goodbye to everyone as me and my brother rushed down the elevator and into the car to head towards the apartment... as we were driving there the traffic lights were out so it was kind of a long line getting to where we needed to go, we get thru all of that and then he misses the turn to get into the parking lot thats closer to where i live at so we have to drive down to the next turn and i hop out and run to my building while he moves back to the other parking lot... i go in pack up all my stuff really quick and run out the door back up to the car... we're already thinking of a back up plan to get me back up to Washington in case i dont make my flight... we make it to the airport at 625 pm i go to check in and it says that i'm too late... they schedual me on the next flight out and inform me that at my next stop i'll only have 15 minutes to get to my next terminal... i get to my next destination and my plane has to wait on a parking spot, and on top of that i have to take a shuttle to my next terminal... i'm looking at my clock and thinking i can't miss this next plane... they finally park and let us off i run out to where the shuttle buses are and they take me to where i need to go, i sprint to the terminal thats heading for Seattle and they're just going into the final boarding stage, I get on the plane and take my seat...Safe!

   As the attendants were passing out drinks and snacks, one of them noticed that i had a military bag that i carried on board with me and asked if i was still in the service, i told them yeah, i was just home to witiness the birth of my son.they congratulated me, i told them thanks and i took a nap all that had happened that day had warn me out...i woke up as we started landing in Seattle and there was a plate of food on my tray, "i dont remember ordering this" i asked the guy next to me if it was his and he said "no" so i had to eat it in a hurry and i thanked the attendant as she came by to pick up my tray, we finally land in Seattle and before the pilot lets us off the plane one of the attendants makes an announcement about a service member who just had a child and is on his way back to work the whole plane started aplaudding, and as i was walking off she asked if she had embarrassed me, i told her no and said thanks again... it was around 1120pm when we arrived in Seattle... i was already thinking about what i was going to do when i got back to the barracks, and counting how many possible hours of sleep i'm going to get before i have to head back into work..
     When i got to the bus stop at the airport i found that i had missed the last bus that left a minute before my plane arrived, so i was stuck there till 435 in the morning... i texted my wife to find out how her and the baby were doing i didnt want to wake them up incase they were sleeping i received a call back that they were doing fine... then i called a taxi to schedual one to meet me at the bus stop out in Lakewood to take me back to post at around 530... Since my phone was pretty much on its last legs as far as battery life i stayed up all night playing this poker game i found in my bag and playing on my computer, the bus finally got there on time at 435 and i caught what ever shut eye i could till it got to my final stop where the taxi was waiting for me.. and i made it in to work on time... It was an adventure, and even a little stressful... but in the end it was all very much worth it.



I would like you all to meet Raiden Esparagoza Gajo, born 20 July 2009.

Watching Tv in the hospital with daddy.

Getting kisses from mommy.

One big happy family