As a redskins and Chris Cooley fan, I just had to post this.
Chris Cooley accidentally exposes himself on his blog.
See, it is vitally important to have operational security while blogging. You don't know what might get out there.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/09/how_chris_cooleys_privates_hit.html#more
Monday, September 15, 2008
Operation Ant Spray has success
There has been an ongoing conflict in the backyard with the evil fire ants. As all good officers know, you must have an objective or end state. The end state for this operation is the removal of the fire ants from the Transue back yard. Whether it is causing them to migrate, or killing them all, both accomplishes this mission.
The ants are vicious, but also have key assets. They know the true meaning of selfless service, and teamwork is vital to their success.
Their center of gravity are the anthills - specifically the Queen. The critical vulnerability is their weakness to deadly chemicals.
The friendly forces, like all good Americans, are technically advanced. We have NBC capability, and aren't afraid to use it pro-actively.
The strategic mission of kill the ants began with Operation ant shake. This was a container where you would shake chemicals around the ant hill and then water it in. This only caused the ants to seek counterattacks and migrate to a new hill around the yard. The operation was a failure.
Operation ant spray was the branch to the failure of operation ant shake. This plan used a chemical warfare agent that hooked directly to the hose. Friendly forces then sprayed the entire yard with the deadly chemicals! Out of the 10-12 anthills before, it appears to be 2 left, and those on the periphery. The ants are in full retreat and now it is only a matter of re-applying the secret weapon to complete the exploitation before they can reconstitute and re-organize.
The mission is almost accomplished.
The ants are vicious, but also have key assets. They know the true meaning of selfless service, and teamwork is vital to their success.
Their center of gravity are the anthills - specifically the Queen. The critical vulnerability is their weakness to deadly chemicals.
The friendly forces, like all good Americans, are technically advanced. We have NBC capability, and aren't afraid to use it pro-actively.
The strategic mission of kill the ants began with Operation ant shake. This was a container where you would shake chemicals around the ant hill and then water it in. This only caused the ants to seek counterattacks and migrate to a new hill around the yard. The operation was a failure.
Operation ant spray was the branch to the failure of operation ant shake. This plan used a chemical warfare agent that hooked directly to the hose. Friendly forces then sprayed the entire yard with the deadly chemicals! Out of the 10-12 anthills before, it appears to be 2 left, and those on the periphery. The ants are in full retreat and now it is only a matter of re-applying the secret weapon to complete the exploitation before they can reconstitute and re-organize.
The mission is almost accomplished.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Air Force Brief
This week we've been having representatives from the other services come and talk to us about their capabilities etc. It's been pretty interesting.
Today was Air Force and he had the opportunity to have the students have a "discussion" with him on the reason Air Force personnel only go on deployments for 3-4 months compared with the Army soldiers.
We also discussed whether the Air Force should focus its new airplanes on air-air or have greater capability for close air support.
It's been an interesting week - tomorrow is our history class and we leave the 30 years war and move into early Napolean. Should be fun.
Today was Air Force and he had the opportunity to have the students have a "discussion" with him on the reason Air Force personnel only go on deployments for 3-4 months compared with the Army soldiers.
We also discussed whether the Air Force should focus its new airplanes on air-air or have greater capability for close air support.
It's been an interesting week - tomorrow is our history class and we leave the 30 years war and move into early Napolean. Should be fun.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Getting Started
Hello and welcome to my Blog.
This first post will be an introduction to who I am and a history of my military service.
I'm currently a Major in the United States Army. I am now undergoing training for system's engineering where I will learn more about installing and managing communications networks. I was a signal officer for most of my career where I was responsible for communications of the unit I was assigned to.
I joined the Army in 1997 after spending 4 years in ROTC at Wheaton College ROTC in Wheaton, IL. This was a fantastic experience and prepared my for my Army Service. After graduation I was commissioned into the field artillery. I served my first tour in Germany. Germany was a great assignment. I was stationed in a rural area and lived off-post where I was one of two Americans living in a little town. I spent my time in the Field Artillery as a fire support officer in an armor company and then as an artillery planner on a Brigade staff.
After two years in the artillery, I went conducted my "branch detail" into the signal corps. I went to Fort Gordon for training and then back to Germany to be a company executive officer. My job was to take care of the maintenance, supply, and administrative needs of the company. During this time we went to Kosovo in November, 1999-June 2000. I was sent to Camp Monteith where I was the senior signal officer on the ground as the company commander was at Camp Bondsteel. Along with normal military duties, I was in charge of installing civilian communications on the camp. That was a very satisfying experience.
On return to Germany, I was promoted to Captain and went back to Fort Gordon for Captain training. While there I met my wife (to be) Kristina who was a nurse at Fort Gordon. After a whirlwind romance we got married in Hawaii where she was attending a course before arriving at Fort Hood Texas.
At fort Hood, Texas I was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division in summer 2001. The 1st Cav was an exciting place for a signal captain as they were one of the first units undergoing the Force XXI communications transformation. I was assigned to a Battalion in the 1st Brigade undergoing transformation and worked for over a year on getting them ready. After that, I was assigned to the Engineer Brigade and then the Aviation Brigade as a Brigade S6. I deployed to Iraq as the Brigade S6, making sure the helicopters and commanders had the communication support needed.
While in Iraq I assumed command of the signal Battalion Headquarters Company at Camp Liberty. Not only was I in command of the Headquarter, but being deployed I was also responsible for the communications of camp liberty. I had satellite, a large extension node, 2 node centers, about 10 small extension nodes and a cable platoon - effectively about 3 companies worth of normal equipment and about 350 soldiers. One of our main tasks we completed was building a fiber network throughout all of Camp Liberty to let our communication assets leave the base camp and be used tactically. Here's the link to the Army Signal Magazine Article about the installation.
On return from Iraq, I went to the Army Human Resources Command where I was involved with planning the distribution of Army Officers. It was a difficult assignment, but fulfilling in seeing the Army from a strategic standpoint.
I'm now back at Fort Gordon where I'll be attending school for the next year before my new assignment.
Well, that's a bit about me and the perspective that I would be blogging from. As an active duty military officer, do not expect to see any political views on this blog. We might have views, but we obey the orders of whoever the nation votes to place in charge and it is not our place to publically comment on policy.
"The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
This first post will be an introduction to who I am and a history of my military service.
I'm currently a Major in the United States Army. I am now undergoing training for system's engineering where I will learn more about installing and managing communications networks. I was a signal officer for most of my career where I was responsible for communications of the unit I was assigned to.
I joined the Army in 1997 after spending 4 years in ROTC at Wheaton College ROTC in Wheaton, IL. This was a fantastic experience and prepared my for my Army Service. After graduation I was commissioned into the field artillery. I served my first tour in Germany. Germany was a great assignment. I was stationed in a rural area and lived off-post where I was one of two Americans living in a little town. I spent my time in the Field Artillery as a fire support officer in an armor company and then as an artillery planner on a Brigade staff.
After two years in the artillery, I went conducted my "branch detail" into the signal corps. I went to Fort Gordon for training and then back to Germany to be a company executive officer. My job was to take care of the maintenance, supply, and administrative needs of the company. During this time we went to Kosovo in November, 1999-June 2000. I was sent to Camp Monteith where I was the senior signal officer on the ground as the company commander was at Camp Bondsteel. Along with normal military duties, I was in charge of installing civilian communications on the camp. That was a very satisfying experience.
On return to Germany, I was promoted to Captain and went back to Fort Gordon for Captain training. While there I met my wife (to be) Kristina who was a nurse at Fort Gordon. After a whirlwind romance we got married in Hawaii where she was attending a course before arriving at Fort Hood Texas.
At fort Hood, Texas I was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division in summer 2001. The 1st Cav was an exciting place for a signal captain as they were one of the first units undergoing the Force XXI communications transformation. I was assigned to a Battalion in the 1st Brigade undergoing transformation and worked for over a year on getting them ready. After that, I was assigned to the Engineer Brigade and then the Aviation Brigade as a Brigade S6. I deployed to Iraq as the Brigade S6, making sure the helicopters and commanders had the communication support needed.
While in Iraq I assumed command of the signal Battalion Headquarters Company at Camp Liberty. Not only was I in command of the Headquarter, but being deployed I was also responsible for the communications of camp liberty. I had satellite, a large extension node, 2 node centers, about 10 small extension nodes and a cable platoon - effectively about 3 companies worth of normal equipment and about 350 soldiers. One of our main tasks we completed was building a fiber network throughout all of Camp Liberty to let our communication assets leave the base camp and be used tactically. Here's the link to the Army Signal Magazine Article about the installation.
On return from Iraq, I went to the Army Human Resources Command where I was involved with planning the distribution of Army Officers. It was a difficult assignment, but fulfilling in seeing the Army from a strategic standpoint.
I'm now back at Fort Gordon where I'll be attending school for the next year before my new assignment.
Well, that's a bit about me and the perspective that I would be blogging from. As an active duty military officer, do not expect to see any political views on this blog. We might have views, but we obey the orders of whoever the nation votes to place in charge and it is not our place to publically comment on policy.
"The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
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