Lunch with General Lempke

Today, General Lempke, whom you can read more about here, flew in from Nebraska to visit our unit the 189th Transportation Company and the 67th Area Support Group (ASG). It was especially nice that the General was able to come down and meet with the troops since he could not make our Wayne/Norfolk send-off.

I walked out the door and boom General Lempke was right there in front of me, he knew who I was because his son is good friends with my cousin Joe. It was pretty neat standing there with the general talking about family back home and such. Along his side was my old commander from the 867th QM BN, Lieutenant Kernel Murphy and it was nice to see him as well.

By this time, troops were gathering around outside to get on the bus to go to the chow hall. While talking to the TAG (The Adjutant General) he handed me his coin, the two star coin as shown below. The other coin was given to me by SGM Shunk, the state Command Sergeant Major.
Front Side

Back Side

And then I got my picture taken with General Lempke.

My Address in Ft. Riley

My current address is: (no need to send anything I'm doing fine.)

For Regular Mail, Letters, Post Cards, etc.

648 ASG
Attn 189th Trans Co
SPC, Brown, John, HQ
5302 Ashby Avenue
Ft. Riley, KS 66442

and packages must be sent to:

189th Trans Co
Attn: SPC, Brown, John, HQ
7622 Shanks Street
Ft. Riley, KS 66442

Also, you might check out the program called Google Earth and try and find me!

Hardest Day of My Life

It's really hard to leave your loved ones for an extended period of time. I've never experienced this until today.

Luckily, I have a family that is very supported of me and my mission. I think their strength through this will in turn give me strength to do my best and complete my mission.

The folks in Wayne had a huge turn-out. It was quite a sight. I took some pictures, which may be a little shaky because I was on the bus. Prior to this deployment, I had never set foot in Wayne, NE. Didn't even know where it was located on the map. I can say though that the people of Wayne back the troops 110%. They showed this by numerous business signs that read "Good Luck" and "God Bless". I hope they know that everytime I read one of those signs it made me feel just a little bit at ease with the deployment. (And every little bit counts.)

Mom, Me, and Tara

Dad, Me, and Spence
...and here we go -

There were many supporters along the roadside from Wayne through West Point, Fremont, Lincoln, all the way to Beatrice. It was really surprising when one of the supports showed up at Ft. Riley holding up a sign that said "Good Luck 189th". It was very touching.

The local utility companies raised their booms and flew flags from them for a good block in Wayne. I thought that was very neat.

Last Day Off

Today we had the day off to spend with our families. I had a good time with Dad, Mom, Spence and Tara. Spence, Tara, and I took off to go get my haircut. Later that night we next to our motel room and played miniature golf and rode go-karts.

Me getting a haircut.

Tara got the first hole in one on hole one. However, I came out the winner overall!

Wayne Send Off Ceremony

Today we had our send off ceremony in Wayne at Wayne State College. Here are some pictures from the event.
To start it off we marched onto the field to a crowd of about 3000.

The Governor was present again for the second ceremony. Being a former Army guy hisself, I think he truely understand what we are going through.

This picture is of us in formation on the field. Our unit is made up of 4 platoons, HQ (Headquarters, which I am in), 1st Platoon, 2nd Platoon, and 3rd Platoon.

This is me standing in formation for the ceremony.

The final speech was given by our commander. I've known him from my Lincoln unit and I feel confident he can lead us through this adventure.

From Left to Right - Thanks to Jane, Jack, Ann and Tara for coming to the ceremony.

Ft. Riley - MUIC

Today I was assigned to be the 'personnel' representative for the unit and attend the MUIC (Mobilized Unit In-processing Center) with 7 other fellow soldiers. We met up at 4am in the Wayne Armory then drove to Lincoln and hopped on a UH-60 Blackhawk to fly us down to Ft. Riley. Below are the pictures from our flight.

This is our arrival at the airbase in Lincoln, as you can see the fleet of birds in the hanger. The white plane is the governor's jet.



The bird we flew on shown above is a UH-60 Blackhawk helicoptor.



These are the seats that we sat in. I was chosen for the assistant crew chief position in the bird so I had one of the seats pointing to the side of the craft as shown on the right side of this image.



The above picture is of our pilots, I sat right behind them.



Once in flight, I took some pictures of the surroundings. Right directly infront of me was a window that started at my knees and went to the top of the craft. We flew with this window all the way open. Good thing I had that 4-point harness holding me in, otherwise I would of fallen out!



This is me in my seat, note the window in front of me that was open during flight.





The last two pictures are of the bird taking off back to Lincoln after dropping us off in Wayne after along day in Ft. Riley.

Norfolk Send Off Ceremony

These are pictures from the Send Off Ceremony held in Norfolk.

Quite a large crowd. From what I hear tomorrow's ceremony at Wayne will be even bigger, like 3000 people.

Here is the Assistant Adjutant General giving his speech. He did a pretty good job. However, honestly, It kinda rubbed me the wrong way that the Adjutant General himself didn't come. (He heads up the NE National Guard and signs our orders to be deployed.) I hope he had a very good excuse. If I was in his position I'd think a deploying unit would be top priority.

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman gave a speech, which I thought was very sincere.

From Left to Right: Uncle Del, Aunt Avis, Me, Cousin Cindy, 2nd Cousin Thad. I was very happy they were able to take the time to come to the ceremony. (Thank You!)

And of course, the rest of the gang - Tara, Me, Dad, Mom, and (Spence taking the picture!). I appreciate your support!

Military Packing

Today I started packing my gear. We basically get 3 duffle bags and one carry on. I've also checked out a foot locker which will go directly to Iraq, so I'm going to load that up with some good stuff I'll need! Here are some pictures of my afternoon of packing...

Wayne - Day 8

Not much happened today, for PT we played basketball which was pretty fun and some-what relaxing compared to other PT days.

Here are some pictures of some of the packing that has been happening around the armory. The majority things have already been packed but some stuff remains. All the gear we take goes on what's called a conex, a big metal container, then is shipped overseas. The idea is that by the time we get to Iraq, our stuff will be there. (We're keeping our fingers crossed!)

Wayne - Day 7

Like every morning, we kicked it off with PT, and it was quite the workout. After the normal stretching and calisthenics, we ran about 4 miles. Running everyday has started to take a toll on my legs. Today the outside of my calf felt like it was going to explode. Here's a pic of me after the run.

(P.S. - That's Army sweat there)

I also had a nice surprise today. Tara, my fiance' made the trek up here to have dinner with me.

Wayne - Day 5

Today we hit it hard - at work and PT. We started off with PT this morning at 8 am. I was so tired since I drove in from Lincoln this morning at 4:30 am.

We kicked of PT with doing our usual stretching followed by 100 sit-ups and 100 push-ups in sets of 10. After that we did a 2 mile run. My lung capacity isn't really good right now so I struggle a bit in the running. Hopefully it will start to improve quickly.

About 10 am we started our work of getting all of the personnel documents in order for the ~190 soldiers that will be deploying. The majority of soldiers that have missing files is because we don't have a current copy of their mortgage or rental agreement. It's important that we have this document because it affects how much the Army will pay them for their housing allowance.

That's about it for today. Checked back into my Super8 room. This one is a lot better, the TV actually is bigger and working. But my WiFi Internet access is only at 18 Mbps where the previous room locked in at 43 Mbps. Oh well, it still works!

Pictures from this weekend

Here are some pics that we took over the weekend at the Veterans Memorial Garden in Lincoln.

Wayne - Day 4

The first Friday... and continuation of the grind. I'm glad it went fast because I left for Lincoln at 4:30 for the weekend. Not much else to write but that it will be nice to see Tara, Spence, and Mom & Dad.

First Day of PT

This morning started out with a change. We've been told that we now will do Physical Training (PT) every day. We started out by stretching for about 20 minutes followed by about 50 push-ups and a couple minutes of flutter kicks, see this demo.

The we went on a run for about 5 miles... that was quite something since I haven't ran that far for a loooong time. I didn't do too bad actually, my biggest problem is breathing, I kept running out of breath. As soon as my lungs catch up, I should do better.

I figure this experience will be a good opportunity to get in shape. Therefore, I will periodically track my weight and measurements when I get a tape.

Current weight: 220 lbs.

My Contact Information

There are many ways to contact me. I'll keep this post updated as it will change when I go to Ft. Riley and Iraq. Currently you can contact me as follows:

Cell Phone: (402) 617-0493 (I get crappy reception in the armory, so leave a message.)

E-Mail: jrbrown3@hotmail.com

Website: http://www.jrbrown.org

MSN Messenger: Add jrbrown3@hotmail.com - MSN Messenger can be downloaded here.

Skype: Add jrbrown3 (Will not be used until I disconnect phone service, before I leave for Iraq)

Wayne - Day 2

Today was pretty dry... I tried to track down about 3000 missing deployment files, and was lucky enough to find them. I also began to track down soldiers who need to provide proof of mortgage or rental agreement so I can make sure they get paid for that.

I found out that we are starting PT tomorrow... which will be nice because it will be good to get in shape a little bit!

Joke of the Day

This is hanging up in my office...

NOTICE

It has been brought to our attention that we have been working with 4 suspected terrorists.

Bin Sleepin, Bin Loafin, and Bin Drinkin have been apprehended, but officials were unable to locate anyone fitting the description of the 4th member: Bin Workin

Police are confident that anyone here who looks like he's Bin Workin will be very easy to spot.

Arrival in Wayne

Today I arrived in Wayne, you can see a map of the state that Wayne is located right in the middle. It took about 2.5 hours to get here. I ran into road construction in Fremont and on US-15 which leads into Wayne.

My day was spent working with a sergeant from Lincoln, who gave me some quick training on what I'm going to be doing. Basically what it boils down to, is that I'll be handled all personnel requests, promotions, insurance, dependents, accountability, etc.

Surprise - You've got orders...

After having a wonderful weekend at my Aunt Jane and Uncle Denny's cabin over the weekend, I had a bit of a rude awakening in the morning. At about 9:30 Tara's mom called her and told her the Guard was trying to get a hold of me. My old section sergeant from the 867th Quartermaster Petroleum Supply Battalion was the one calling, so that made me wonder. I called them back and found out that actually my orders kicked in today and they were expecting me in Wayne today.

I was shocked... Nobody ever called me to let me know this! I figured I had the next two weeks to continue getting ready for the deployment. I explained this to my commander, and he understood and asked me to be there tomorrow morning.

So tomorrow I'm off to Wayne, NE to train up and start preparing to deploy.