 | 3/28/08 -
Well all the
Red Dogs made it back home safe and sound. For that alone it was a
very successful deployment. We are happy to be back with our
families and friends. It was another great homecoming as my
neighbors went all out again showing their thanks, thoughts and
prayers. It was overwhelming and I thank all of them very
much. By the time the squadron returned life in Iraq was better
than ever. The surge has worked and we continue to see the success
of those efforts. Thanks again to everyone that sent emails,
letters and care packages. It really meant a lot to all of
us. I can't thank you enough for all your support. |
| 12/25/07-
From myself and all of the Red Dogs, we
wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. It is
Christmas day here in Al Asad but it is just another day when it comes
to fighting the war on terror. I flew two missions this afternoon
and I am standing strip alert until midnight. We played 'Operation Santa'
and dropped some candy out for the Iraqi kids on our flights.
I sure hope they enjoyed it. The squadron has had some great
success on recent missions finding weapons caches and vehicle improvised
explosive devices (VBIED's) and
destroying them. We continue to be very aggressive in hunting the
bad guys. We have seen on the news that they are finally
recognizing that the surge operations are having success. Al
Anbar Province continues to be the biggest success story here in
Iraq. The holiday season makes everyone a little more homesick but
I must say the support from back home has been amazing. We
received so many packages and I have to give a big "Thank You"
out to Coach Pat Goeckel and his students at Kell High School.
These kids sent 13 very large boxes of supplies to the Marines and
I think we will be set for a while. I even crossed off some items
on the 'Info Page' because we received so much. These kids have
such big hearts and their cards and letters were inspirational. I
can't thank them enough. The Kell sweatshirts were a big ticket
item since the temperatures have gotten into the teens. Never did
I think it would get this cold in Iraq and we are only in
December. My bike riding has suffered due to the cold but I still
try to make it to the gym every day. Just wish I could be
snowboarding with my boys!!! Although it has been cold our Marines
continue to do an amazing job. Our maintenance and aircraft
availability has been outstanding. Everyone is getting the job
done! Finally I want to tell my wife & kids that I love
and miss them very much and we will celebrate it big when I
return! Merry Christmas!!! |
| 12/15/07- Well
we hit the 1/2 way point in the deployment. We are on the back
stretch from here on. The Christmas decorations are all up but we continue to be very
busy and the flying workload has picked up. I have flown
over 95 combat sorties. Everything is still going well in the Al
Anbar Province but there is still a lot of work to be done. The
coalition forces are still hunting and capturing the 'bad guys'. It's actually been colder here than
Atlanta over the last few weeks. Temps range in the 60's for
highs, 30's - 40's for lows and the wind chill can really hit us
here. We have had a few rains and dust storms over the last few
weeks as well. I recently went over 1000 miles on my bike and I hope
to double that before we leave in March. That is a lot of laps
around Al Asad Air Base. I have dropped about 22 pounds. I
can't thank enough all the wonderful people and organizations back home
who have taken the time to send us letters and packages. It is a
great feeling knowing so many people care deeply about the military and
the troops away from home. I wanted to thank Terry Wilson
and Ray from the NARC bike team for sending me a bunch of cool biking
apparel. I look pretty stylish now when I ride. I also wanted to thank
Valley View Schools in Germantown, OH, Kennesaw Elementary, Baker
Elementary, Kell High School, Boca Raton
HS, and so many
church and community organizations for all the great letters and packages.
I have been overwhelmed by the support. **One note - Kennestone
Hospital and Wellstar sent us numerous cases of Starbucks coffee so we have enough
for the rest of the deployment (plus some). So I am taking coffee
off the list. |
| 11/26/07- Thanksgiving
in Iraq. Another holiday spent away from loved ones. While I
would much rather be with my family at our cabin in the North Georgia
mountains, every marine is focused on the mission at
hand. We continue to work and fly very hard and we continue to see
great success here in the Al Anbar Province. Flying over the cities and
towns we see more activity in the communities. Soccer must be the
national sport because we see matches being played at all the fields and
kids playing in the streets. Recent reports show that
attacks in Iraq have dropped more than 55% since the surge ops
began. On November 18th, the base held the Tour de Al Asad bike
race. It was a 15 mile course around the base and we had 5 Red
Dogs participate. With 3 of us finishing in the top 5. The
'old man' came in 5th! We have a lot of Red Dogs that now bike on
a regular basis. Although Thanksgiving was just another
day at work, the base did put on an extravagant
Thanksgiving Dinner. They went all out and the Red Dogs
shared all the duties so that every Marine could get down to the
dining facility to participate. It was a great morale
boost! Christmas decorations have started going up in the
squadron spaces. The weather has made it feel like that time of
year as lows have gotten into the 40's/30's. The good news is that
after the holidays we know we will be on the home stretch with only a
few months until we get home. |
| 1/3/07- We
completed our second month in country and are about 30% complete with
the deployment. The squadron has been very busy as a whole.
We have completed over 1300 combat sorties and our maintenance
department has done a tremendous job of keeping these aircraft up and
flying in a very tough operational environment. We currently
have the Discovery Channel imbedded with the squadron and they will be
with us for 6 weeks documenting the 'Red Dogs' and the current
state of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Al Anbar Province continues
to show great progress and the number of incidents continue to track
downward. The Iraqi military is taking full control of many areas in Al
Anbar. The local populace has also been instrumental in
driving out the insurgents and cooperating with coalition forces.
But we still have a lot to do to accomplish the mission. We
continue to hunt down and disrupt the insurgents and support our Marines
and coalition forces on the ground. The 'Red Dogs' will also be
celebrating the 232nd birthday of the Corps this week.
This gives us time to reflect on the history, the traditions and the
legacy of the Corps and the pride we all share of earning the title of
Marine! The weather has cooled off and is very close to the
weather in Atlanta. The highs have been in the 70's/80's and
the lows have dipped down into the 50's which can be downright cold when
we swap out crews at midnight. Again I want to thank everyone who
sends emails and packages. We appreciate everyone thinking of us
and it is nice to know we have so many patriotic Americans. We
look forward to getting home but we remain focused on the mission at
hand. |
| 10/9/07- We
made it past our first month here in Iraq. The squadron has been
very busy flying over 500 combat hours and doing a great job supporting
the coalition forces on the ground. The weather has cooled with
highs in the 90's and lows in the low 70's and high 60's. Soon we
will be wearing jackets. We did have a big rain storm the other
day which seemed strange in the desert. It smelled terrible
after. I think everyone has settled in well and the Marines are
working very hard. Thanks to everyone who has sent packages.
Mail and email are probably the best morale booster for the
troops. It still remains relatively calm in the Al Anbar
province. Ramadan ends in a few days and it was very peaceful this
year. I'm sure you don't hear much on the news about this province
since it has been so quiet but just a year ago and before this place was
the wild, wild west and the heart of the insurgency. It is amazing
to see the success and to see the Sunni people taking most of the
responsibility for driving out this insurgency. The Iraqi army and
police forces are in full swing here and we support them on many of our
missions. They are doing a great job as well. |
| 9/18/07
- We are all settled in and have taken over all the Light Attack
missions in our area of operation. Weather has been good but a
little hot (112 to 103). All the Marines and Sailors in HMLA-773
are motivated and working very hard to get the job done. The
squadron has an official website at http://www.2maw.usmc.mil/mag29/hmla773/default.asp.
I have added an info page for things most of the Marines need if you
want to send packages. Chuck Norris came out to visit the
troops which is why I think it was quiet in the Al Anbar province
because nobody wants to mess with Chuck Norris, especially the bad
guys. I appreciate all the emails and the thoughts and prayers I
have received. It does make my day to get an inbox full of
emails. I try to answer all of them but it might take me awhile
sometimes. |
| 8/30/07 -
Email Change: My new email will be allan.jarvis@aa.mnf-wiraq.usmc.mil |
| 9/7/07 - Well
we made it to Al Asad, Iraq. It was a good trip until we hit
Kuwait. We flew from NAS Atlanta on a 6.5 hour flight to Shannon,
Ireland where we had a little over an hour layover. They opened
the bar for us at midnight and we drank a few Guinness. We then
flew direct to Kuwait International which was another 6 hour
flight. The temperature in Kuwait was a balmy 125 degrees.
We took an hour & 1/2 bus ride to Camp Virginia to get checked in
prior to our departure to Iraq. We were in Kuwait for about 20
hours. We departed out of Kuwait aboard an Air Force transport that had
no air conditioning so it was one of the most miserable flights we had
ever been on. With the temperature about 110 on the aircraft and
wearing all our combat gear we all lost a few pounds. We made it
to Al Asad and have been getting settled in. Our living conditions
are very good but we are a ways away from the main part of base.
We are getting all our check-in briefs and will start flying
shortly. I will try to update this again in a few weeks! |
| 8/27/07
- We are getting down to the last week in country. Of course it
has been very hectic and will continue to be so until we depart.
Packing for the deployment is probably the most stressful aspect as you
try to make sure you bring everything you will need to sustain you for 7
months. I will post a list of items that the troops need and want
if anyone wants to send care packages. You can send them to me at
the address below and I will distribute them out. |
|
The 'Red Dogs' will deploy in September and be assigned to the Al
Anbar province. The squadron flies the AH-1W 'Super Cobra' and
UH-1N 'Huey'. The squadron will be responsible for providing
close air support, convoy escort, reconnaissance and utility support for
the multi-national forces. This will be the second deployment for
the squadron who also spent 18 months in Afghanistan from Oct 03 to Apr
05. This will be my second deployment to Iraq. I will use
this website to keep family and friends updated on the deployment. |
|
The squadron has spent the last 3 months conducting flight and ground
training to include participating in 'Desert Talon' in Yuma, AZ.
This was a combined exercise that allowed us to fly and train with all the
Marine Corps squadrons that we will be in Iraq with. In addition, it provided an opportunity for us to work with the
forward air controllers and convoy commanders that we will support
while deployed. |
