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As we flew into Maine on the evening of February 17th, this was our first sight of the United States in almost a year. It was, needless to say, a beautiful picture.

Including the time spent preparing for the deployment, we've been at it now for more than two years. The last one has been a long one. The work was not the hard part; it was having to be away from our friends and family. However, it's always remained evident that everyone back here did everything within their power to remind the members of the unit that we were not forgotten. Prayers, packages, letters, and emails reminding us of the reasons we serve flowed non-stop.

From every soldier in the 166th Engineer Company, thank you to all. Your contributions to us have meant more than you'll ever know.

It's good to be home.

Final Entry

SPC Bailey Bullock
166th Engineer Company
2nd Platoon

To be totally honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to write this last entry. Things have been winding down and we have all had tunnel vision on our last main objective: getting home. Our missions are completed, our connexes are loaded, and our bags are packed. You, our friends and families, and our lives back home are our focus now. So, you can see how it has been a little hard to find the focus to write, but in the end, I found I had some parting words to say.

Every time I think about it I am amazed that all this is actually coming to an end. There have been times over the last 11 months when it seemed like it would never end, and others where time flew by. Over the last few weeks I haven't been able to keep from reviewing it all in my head. I think back to when we first reported to Winfield, to my platoon's first mission to FOB Wolverine, and to these last weeks spent here at Sharana. Like all things in life, when looked back upon them, there are things I remember that make me proud and others that are a disappointment. But I have come to a conclusion, one that sums up my feelings about this deployment: if I had the choice, I would do it all again. I have experienced things that few ever will and that I will probably never again. I have learned more from the soldiers around me than I ever thought possible. I have made friendships and experienced a bond with my fellow soldiers unlike anything I have ever known. It has been an experience of a lifetime. We have served our country well, to the best of our ability as a unit, and I am proud of what we have accomplished.

To those of you who have followed these entries over the past months I want to say “Thank You” for reading what I have had to say. When I was first asked to do this by MAJ Thompson, I wasn't sure how it was going to go. To be honest, I was a little nervous about it. But to my surprise and delight, writing these entries has been an unexpected gift. I never realized how much I would enjoy it and how rewarding it would be. It has been my honor to write to you.

Again, I want to thank all of you for the support you have given us during this tour. I hope you know how important you have been. You have all made the difference for us. I wish you all the best and I can't wait to see you when we get home!

The Best Time

The above photo is probably one of my favorites from our time here. It was taken a couple of weeks ago as our soldiers were preparing their personal gear for inspection by Customs. It's my favorite because it signals the end of our time here and that our mission is near completion.

We're not yet home, but we're close...very close. This is also, historically, one of the key times that risks are the greatest. Soldiers are relaxed, have their guard down, and are generally not mindful of the many risks that still surround us all in a combat zone. I have to fight it every day. I want so badly to start thinking of home and daydreaming of a return to normalcy. Everyone does. Regardless, all of our leaders here are doing a fantastic job of protecting everyone. It's common knowledge that risks and threats here remain abundant, and we all discuss it openly every single day to ensure we don't forget.

Construction projects continue, but their number is diminishing. We only have a few that remain, and within the next couple of weeks those will either be completed or passed on to our replacements, the 226th Engineer Company, from Winfield, Kansas.

We're in full swing with inventorying our tools and equipment that will be handed off to the 226th Engineer Company. All other preparations have been made, and we've started the sending information back to Camp Atterbury for the de-mobilization process in Indiana. Our time there, however, ought to be short-lived (only a few days based on what we're hearing), and we should quickly be on the road from Indiana to Alabama.

If all goes well, the 166th Engineer Company soldiers will be back on U.S. soil in the next few weeks, and we'll all be home toward the end of February.

Life is good.

With a Little Help from Our Friends

Some of our folks shown above, enjoying the game in their new t-shirts. Details below. Other photos posted at al.com (courtesy Tom Gordon).

Dear Friends and Family of Bette Sue Strasburger,

Thanks to all of you so much for taking the time, effort, and cost
required to send to us the Alabama t-shirts. I can assure you that all
of it is VERY much appreciated by all of our soldiers and that the
shirts will be put to good use on the 7th during the game.

Again, I can't thank you enough. I'll post photos of our soldiers
watching the game at our website as soon as possible (after we recover)!

Sincerely,
MAJ Lee C. Thompson
166th Engineer Company
Task Force Builder
FOB Sharana, Afghanistan


RE:

To Our Heroes in Uniform from Alabama:

Enclosed in this box are shirts to help boost your Roll Tide spirit
while you watch the championship football game on January 7th.

They come to you with love and admiration from the friends and family of
Bette Sue Strasburger of Montgomery, who recently saw Matt Lauer on the
"Today Show" interviewing troops in Afghanistan, with a soldier waving
an Alabama shirt jumping in and out of camera range.

Bette Sue though how wonderful it would be to get Alabama shirts to our
local women and men on military bases far away, so through the miracle
of the internet and in the spirit of the Holiday Season, she put
together the resources to make this happen in less than a week!

God be with you in your mission and help you return home to Sweet
Alabama safely.

Roll Tide

Draft Old Guys

While the thoughts below weren't written by SGT Loyd Wright, they were passed on by him in an email recently. He (pictured on the right) recently had a birthday on December 13th, and SFC Mike Adams (pictured on the left) also had one on December 22nd. We were all fortunate enough to be here to celebrate with them both. SGT Wright's message immediately came to mind:


New Direction for War:

I am over 60, and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists. You can't be older than 42 to join the military. They've got the whole thing back to front. Instead of sending 18-year-olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 35.

For starters, researchers say 18-year-olds think about one thing every 10 seconds. Old guys only think about that a couple of times a day, leaving us more than 28,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy.

Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry.' We are impatient, and letting us kill some jerk that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for a while.

An 18-year-old doesn't even like to get up before 10 a.m. Old guys always get up early to run to the restroom. Besides, like I said, I'm tired and can't sleep and since I'm already up, I may as well be up killing some fanatical jerk.

If captured, we couldn't spill the beans because we'd forget where we put them. In fact, name, rank, and serial number would be a real stretch.

Boot camp would be easier for old guys. We're used to getting screamed and yelled at and we're used to soft food. We've also developed an appreciation for guns. We've been using them for years as an excuse to get out of the house, away from the screaming and yelling.

They could lighten up on the obstacle course, however. I've been in combat and didn't see a single 20-foot wall with rope hanging over the side, nor did I ever do any push-ups or sit-ups after completing basic training. Actually, the running part is kind of a waste of energy, too. I've never seen anyone outrun a bullet.

An 18-year-old has the whole world ahead of him. He's still learning to shave, to start up a conversation with a pretty girl. He still hasn't figured out that a baseball cap has a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head.

These are all great reasons to keep our kids at home to learn a little more about life before sending them off into harm's way.

Let us old guys track down those dirty rotten cowards. The last thing an enemy would want to see is a couple of million angry old guys with attitudes and automatic weapons who know that their best years are already behind them.

Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Snow...

1LT Sam Smallwood
166th Engineer Company
3rd Platoon

3rd Platoon's latest mission was to build a battalion Tactical Operations Center (TOC) for the 27th Engineer Battalion. Even though we had some foul weather in the beginning, we still managed to build the 40’ x 90’ building with 14 interior rooms in 21 working days. These guys busted their butts all day long, every day, to get this mission accomplished. We worked 7 days a week until this building was complete. We had crews split up in the beginning, some pre-fabbing trusses for the roof, and some pre-fabbing footers for the floor and some people cutting all the studs for the walls. We had to maximize our productivity by being as creative and efficient as we possibly could. We couldn’t have accomplished this mission without the help and support of the 168th Engineer Company. They lent us a small crew of carpenters to help us out and Major Jones and his staff was at our beck and call for assistance with getting any BOM or extra equipment to get this job accomplished. This was truly a team effort and I’m very proud of how hard the soldiers worked on such a high profile project this late in our deployment. I know these guys are worn down and I had to be careful not to push them too hard because, by this time, everyone is tired and worn down and fuses are short. We have had nothing but compliments from the 27th Engineer Battalion on how great the building looks and how fast we were able to get it built. This was just another testimony to how good of a job these guys have done on this deployment, and, hopefully, this will be our last major project that we have to do (we still have a lot of things to get ready to return home at this point). We would also like to thank everyone who sent us care packages and Christmas cards during the holidays.

Final Jeopardy

SPC Bailey Bullock
166th Engineer Company
2nd Platoon

There is a growing sense of finality here on FOB Sharana. Things are on the downward slope; missions are coming to an end, footlockers are being packed, and cargo containers are being loaded. We are now down to less than 50 days, and the reality of our return home is setting in. Of course we are all ready and excited to return to our family, friends, and lives back home, but I can't escape a sense of sadness at the same time. There is no question that a deployment is a unique situation with its fill of challenges, sacrifices, and hardships. But there is no denying the bond that it creates within a unit. Despite differences and aggravations that unavoidably occur when a group of people are constantly around one another for an extended period of time, there is a bond, a permanent link, that occurs at the same time. There are sayings that have no meaning outside of our group; there are jokes that will forever be inside. There are memories of experiences we shared which we will all carry with us. These things now belong to us, are a part of each of us, and they will be from now on. We have gotten to know one another well and are now so used to each other. I know I don't speak only for myself when I say that it is going to be hard to leave these people. We have become a part of each others lives, and when we get home and that is gone, it will be tough.

In my last entry I questioned how this deployment has changed each of us. I believe it is this bond that has done the changing. I know that months down the road, we will all fall back into our routines at home and work. Life will be as it was before. But I truly believe that each of us in this unit will not be as we were before. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that we are going to come back different men and women than the ones that left home almost a year ago. What I mean is that I believe this bond will forever add something to who we are. We will come home more than we were when we left.

I know this is a break from my normal style, but I want to take a second to explain the title of this entry, because it has been named in honor of a soldier I have served with over here. He is SSG Richter, and he came to the 166th Engineer Company from the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR). He and a few others will be the first of our unit to return home (this is due to the fact that IRR soldiers have different deployment orders). In fact, they have already left us and are heading home now. SSG Richter and his – and my – buddy SSG Mabry are big fans of Jeopardy. From what they have told me, they usually watched it together when they were both actually here on FOB Sharana at the same time, which has been a challenging feat to accomplish. The other night we were sitting in the chow hall, trying to eat the food, and the night's episode of Jeopardy was brought up and whether or not the they were going to watch it. The statement was made that it could be their “Final Jeopardy.” That's when it hit me. Our lives and experiences over here will soon be coming to an end. The routines and habits we have developed will stop. The friendships we have developed, as they now exist, will change. Some of us will still be relatively close to one another, geographically speaking, but things will never again be as they are now. It filled me with a sense of impending loss. We are all soldiers, so we will "man up" and deal with this change just as we dealt with the adjustments to deployment life, but we will feel the loss just the same. I now know it is part of it, but it is an unpleasant part, and one I didn't see coming. I am honored to have had this opportunity to serve with men such as SSG Richter, SSG Mabry and many others, whom I now call friends. I will miss them.

While SFC Sanderson couldn't physically be here for the photograph, it's amazing what can be done with Photoshop!

From left to right: MSG Bernard Carnes, SFC Shane Sanderson, SSG Osten Richter, SFC Louis Stephens

Merry Christmas

Click Here

Success Story

This entire program made possible because of Robin at www.Guitargal.com and because of the efforts of SGT Robert Persch:

Snowball Fight

Snow Is Here, Christmas Just Around the Corner

So, the snow WAS here. 99% of it has melted now, but we're assured that more is on the way. Either way, Christmas is on the way. Decorations are plentiful, and more find their way in the mail to us and on our walls every day. We can't be at home with our friends and loved ones there, but there's no doubt that we're loved.







The snow you'll see in the next few photos was short-lived, but the forecast calls for more tonight. It won't likely stay long either, with our average temperatures in the mid-30's. Our local forecaster, SSG Rusty Edmonson, claims that the weather will be turning MUCH colder after the turn of the year.





Even with the colder temperatures and the challenge that presents to receiving materials and moving our soldiers around the battlefield, the work goes on. Our departure is nearing, but we'll clearly have a part in continued operations here until JUST before that day arrives. The need for the work we do is soon to increase exponentially with the new troop surge.

Typo - Correction

The 920th Engineer Company, contrary to a previous post, is from New Mexico, not Arizona.

Change

SPC Bailey Bullock
166th Engineer Company
2nd Platoon

The thought just occurred to me as to who we are at this point in the deployment. By this time we are all well adjusted to our roles here. We each know our job. We each know the people that we work with and spend time with. But the question just occurred to me: are we different now from when we first left? This question seems to be more and more relevant now that our return home is getting so close. I think in the backs of many of our minds it is one that bothers or even scares us, because the answer is probably “Yes”.

It is very easy to miss change over time. Sudden changes are almost always noticeable, but they are also the most infrequent. Most often in life, in my experience, change is gradual and lengthy, thus it can easily be missed unless you look for it. When I look back at this deployment, I can see how I have adapted to my environment. My language is a little more like a sailor; my definition of clean is a little looser; even my daily habits of sleep and eating are far different than what they were at home.

I don't want to sound like this is a big surprise. It is inevitable for change to occur. For us to be able to function effectively and do our duty, we have to adapt to the situations we find over here. It is part of our training from the very beginning. But what we can't forsee is what will stick with us as a result of adapting. An experience like this can't help but change who you are, even if just a little.

Knowing this, questions begin to arise: how will these changes effect my life at home and are there changes that I can't see? Will they simply fall away once I'm out of this unique situation, or are some of them permanent? Are all of these changes good? Will our families and friends back home understand them, like them, or hate them? Will we be able to turn them off if we need to? I can't say, and don't think that I'm supposed to be able to.

I've seen the commercials on Armed Forces Network talking about the adjustment back to life at home and shrugged them off like most people. While the commercials may be melodramatic, I now see that the issue is real. The return home is a big change for us as well as our families and friends, and it is full of uncertainties that are somewhat unnerving.

I tell you all of this to ask for your understanding and patience when we get home. Even though we are coming home to you, those we know and love, it is going to be an adjustment for all of us again. If we have some bad habits that really grate on you, cut us a little slack. Give us some time. We are still the men and women that left last February, just with a few amendments. And whatever the result of the changes in us that occurred as the result of this deployment, please keep in mind that they are part of our service. They are part of the sacrifice that we all have made to serve our country, and I truly believe that we will all come home better for the experience.

The Lost Platoon

1LT Sam Smallwood
166th Engineer Company
3rd Platoon

The members of 3rd Platoon were attached to the A Company, 62nd Engineer Battalion not long after arriving in Afghanistan. We were sent to FOB Shank from FOB Sharana, from which the rest of the 166th Engineer Company and the majority of the 877th Engineer Battalion operates. Shortly after arriving to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shank we were sent out on our first mission to build COP McClain. My platoon consists of 35 personnel, but we usually never had more than 20 to 25 people out on the COP at any time due to R&R or other small duties or projects that we would have going on at FOB Shank. 3rd Platoon built 4 b-huts (about 20' x 30' in size) for command and control purposes and built 5 guard towers for force protection. We also built 32 tent floor structures for housing and one for a dining facility. We put in 12 to 14 hour days, 7 days a week for the two months we were out on this project. We lived in tents with make shift plywood flooring with no heating or air conditioning in them, sleeping on cots in pretty tight quarters. We took bottle water showers and washed our clothes in 5 gallon buckets. We often ate our meals out in sandstorms which occurred almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Getting building material was always hectic and we didn’t have many tools at all to work with when we began, but these guys didn’t let that get in their way as they pushed forward every day. Despite all of our problems with logistics and tools these guys still finished this project ahead of schedule. All were hoping that, once we completed this project, we might get to work on future missions at FOB Shank where we would have 3 hot meals, hot showers, and heated/cooled rooms for a while. That wasn’t to be.

Much like our first mission, our second one was to go out and build Combat Outpost (COP) Sanchez. This mission was practically identical as far as what we had to build and the living conditions we had to endure, but this time we were blessed with a little more experience, the majority of our tools, and a lot of our building material on hand. As a result, we only had to put in about 10 hour days, and we even took an occasional Sunday off. These guys filled what little spare time they had by playing cards, throwing the pigskin around or just watching movies on their computers. Most guys have bought local cell phones so that they're able to keep in touch with their loved ones back home, which is a big moral boost. Just as with the first project we completed, we finished ahead of schedule. Finally, we would be going back to FOB Shank for our next mission.

By this time, our sister company the 168th Engineer Company had came to FOB Shank and replaced A Company. We were happy to see some familiar faces and hoped that life would improve now that we were working with people from our own battalion. The 168th Engineer Company has done a good job of looking after us, but for all they have done we were still not really a part of their unit. That is what gave us the feeling of being "the lost platoon." We were not with our own company, and we never felt like we really belonged to someone. On the other hand, I believe my guys just became more resilient, and I am very proud of how they've performed and of the level of morale they've maintained. We have been lucky in that about half of our platoon has previously deployed, so their experiences have really helped the ones who had not had these experiences in the past. Another positive factor has been SFC Willingham, our Platoon Sergeant, who has already served during a deployment in this role. His leadership and experience has been vital to the success of our platoon, proving himself again to be a very good leader who really knows how to get the most out of his Soldiers. With that in mind, he's also someone who is very approachable and is willing to talk to the guys anytime of the day or night. I know I have learned a lot from him and am very happy that I had him as my Platoon Sergeant.

We have been involved with many mission here at FOB Shank, from building more Guard Towers, to doing various QA/QC projects, to monitoring local national laborers, to going out and doing winterization missions. I currently have a squad out building a conference room for a General out on another FOB. My last group of soldiers will be leaving for R&R this week, after which time we should start our last mission and the task of preparing for our redeployment back home. I just wanted to let the folks back home know what the Vernon detachment has been doing. I have seen articles put on our websites or sent back to papers back home, but I have seen very little mentioned of these fine soldiers, so I just wanted to write down a few lines to let the loved ones of these soldiers back home know what good work they have been doing and that what we have been doing has helped out our fellow soldiers on the front lines in harm’s way every day. We've made their living conditions more bearable. I would just like to end this article by saying these are a great bunch of soldiers and that, again, I am very proud to have been their Platoon Leader. I just can’t wait for all of us to be back home with our loved ones.

Members of 3rd Platoon: 1LT Sam Smallwood, SFC Walter Willingham, SSG Richard Fant, SSG Jay Cain, SSG Mike Lindsey, SGT Mike Wisdom, SGT Craig Pennington, SGT Carlos Flynn, SGT Shawn Gottwald, SGT Lakeesha Hannah, SGT Aaron Crossfield, SGT Jamar Miles, SGT Thomas Welch, SGT Melvin Bradley, SGT Jerry Johnson, SGT James Walker, SGT Joe Brown, SGT Robert Smith, SGT Loyd Franks, SPC Nathan Smith, SPC Augustus Owens, SPC Bernardo Burkette, SPC Derrick Vincent, SPC Samuel Estep, SPC John Caddell, SPC Brian Stansel, SPC Brandi Lawrence, SPC Charlotte Phillips, SPC Joshua Silas, SPC Bobby Liverman, SPC Derek Clingan, SPC Dwain Kindleberger, SPC Reginald Johnson, SPC William Brown and SPC Wessley McClain.

We had a few soldiers get assigned to duties back at FOB Sharana, they were SFC Jerry Nalls, SFC Shane Sanderson, SSG Dennis Stewart, SPC William Dimon, SPC Robert Miller, SPC Christopher Warnack, SGT Loyd Wright and SSG Russell Edmonson