Heavy heart, many thanks

Army Specialist Cory M. Poast is stationed in Mosul, Iraq, about 6,189 miles from home in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Cory is with the 84th Engineer Battalion/523rd Engineering Company. He's injured his ankle a couple of times while working with a unit of heavy equipment operators.


My ankle is doing better, and I am finally walking without a limp. Hopefully no long term damage has occurred.

I will be returning to my family soon! I would like to thank everyone that supports us troops. Thank you for sacrificing your time. Thank you for caring. Thank you for your willingness to reach out. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for making me smile. Thank you for making me cry. Thank you for the donations. Thank you for the prayers........ (I heard them, way over here) Thank you for warming my heart. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for your support. Thank you for worrying. Thank you for your recognition. Thank you for understanding. Thank you for all you do for the troops! It's people like you that keep us going! All of you! We love you very much! We will continue to help keep our country safe and free! When I think of all the support I've gotten, I start to get a heavy heart, and tear up. I then wipe that tear up, put it in my fist, and hold it close to my heart.
- SPC.CORY POAST

Wisconsin soldiers hold hill in southern Iraq

Staff Sgt. William Poor is in charge of a recon unit stationed on Safwan Hill, about 6,676 miles from home in Juneau, Wisconsin. The National Guard released this video and the accompanying photos yesterday. You can read the National Guard press release here.



The press release includes photos of some of the soldiers from the units on the hill. They are based in Appleton and Fond du Lac. All the images were made by Specialist Tyler Lasure.


Spc. Stephan McEssey, Fond du Lac, keeps watch from the outpost atop of Safwan Hill. McEssey and other Company C soldiers provide a bird's-eye view for troops down below.












Staff Sgt. Poor (left), shows Command Sgt. Maj. Edgar Hansen (right) around the outpost. Hansen is based in Baghdad.













The brothers of Safwan Hill: Specialist Kyle Bestul (right) and Specialist Kory Bestul (left) of New Holstein.














Pfc. Kevin Lewis, Kaukauna, mans an M-240B machine gun at one of the guard towers on the hill.











The units on Safwan Hill near Camp Bucca are Company C, 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry, Fond du Lac, and Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2-127, Appleton- Steve

Last big mission cut short

Cory Poast, a member of an engineering unit that operates heavy equipment near Mosul, wrote this last week:
packing for a 3 week mission out in the sheeeot.........should be the toughest one yet.......however...........i'm happy to say.......this is the LAST big mission !!!!!!........of the deployment!!!!.....that means we are close!!!!!!!

It has been said that nothing goes as planned in the military. So it was for Cory, who wrote this update.
I AM BACK FROM THE ... MISSION WITH ANOTHER SPRAINED ANKLE






















Photo - Cory on the mend earlier this summer with his first ankle sprain.

Of Interest: DOD is asking what you think about social media for military personnel

Click here for more information.

No time to chill, but at least we're on the night shift

Here's the latest from Nick Druecke who is spending the summer, and the rest of the year, at Camp Taji, Iraq, roughly 6,339 miles from his home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.


Things are heating up in the very literal sense. The nights here have broken the hot point, over 100 almost every night. The days as you can imagine are even hotter, pushing into the (one hundred and...) teens every single day. It isn't letting up any time soon. August is notorious for being really really really hot here, the only thing I have to look forward to is that we work the night shift now. Going to work at 1500 (hottest part of the day) does kind of suck, but actually working at night is much preferable.

We have been amping up the training lately, both physical and mental. This includes going to ranges, forced marches, and army knowledge classes. Also preparing for promotion boards, which is a task all in its own. Trying to memorize pages of creeds, and countless military regulations and doctrine. It can be mentally daunting at times. In general however things are going well, albeit very slow. I recently found out that one of my friends from home just redeployed to Ft. Campbell. I also discovered that another one of my high school friends is here with a guard unit, at Camp Victory I think.

The only really consistent thing I have going on is the gym. I go to the gym at least once everyday, unless it's my off day (once a week). It's a pretty good way to work off all of the frustration this place builds up. The only better way to do it would be to have a drink! Which is illegal here "under general order number 1..." We hear that constantly, anybody who has deployed will know what I mean. That "rule" has a million little things that fall under it, it's pretty much a catch-all for anything fun. Things are going along, as things do. That's all I have to report.

Live from Iraq,

- Nick

Detainee ops clip, by request

Some readers have had trouble openining the detainee ops video on the official site, so we've uploaded here for your convenience.

I aim to be Madison's million gallon man in Iraq

Staff Sgt. Jason Klingbiel of Madison, Wisconsin, is an Airman deployed 6,400 miles from home at Sather Air Base, west of Baghdad. He is assigned to the 115th Fighter Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard. Klingbiel says he is on a personal mission to pump more than a million gallons of jet fuel.


Right now, the existing record is approximately 1,006,000 gallons issued in a four month rotation. Records are kept to account for all the fuel issues and receipts, but issue records tend to be kept locally, if anything, to spur a sense of challenge. For me, ersonally, it helps make the deployment go faster, effectively racing the clock.

Often, fuels flights have what are called, "million gallon clubs," where they recognize people who have issued over a million gallons of fuel in a month. Only one person has hit a million gallons over the course of the entire rotation since 2006, and I decided I wanted to reach that million, if not exceed it.

I have one day off during the week. While I have attempted to come into work on my day off, I was immediately sent home (away from my work center) by my supervisor.

Once an aircraft calls in for fuel, the controller is responsible for gathering information such as the type of aircraft, where it's located, how much fuel they want and of what kind, a tail number, and ultimately assigning a truck to a driver to deliver the fuel. The driver arrives at the aircraft, arranges for payment in U.S. dollars if the aircraft does not have an agreement with the Defense Energy Support Center, and pumps the fuel. Once the fuel issue is accounted for, the truck can be sent to the fill stand, the R-14, to refill. Other tasks within this career field include the superintendent, who is effectively in charge; lab, who is responsible for the purity of the fuel, which is tested weekly on each tank/bladder, fill stand, and truck, along with sampling every incoming shipment of fuel prior to acceptance; and cryogenics, who is responsible for refilling the 50 gallon liquid oxygen carts which then are used to support the breathing oxygen systems on the aircraft and possibly liquid nitrogen, which is used for the aircraft tires and struts.

The R-14 is actually a trailer-mounted hydrant system, in that it can be fully packed up and airlifted out of the area when it's no longer needed. Included on the physical R-14 itself are two inlet connections, a pump, filter separator, meter, and outlet valves for an 1.5 inch over wing hose, or a pair of 3 inch diameter hoses for pressure refueling (as seen in the photo).

What I like most about what I do is working with the different aircraft. I have worked not just with U.S. aircraft, but also some from the former Soviet Union, still with their original Aeroflot stripes. It's entertaining, when you begin to service a given aircraft, and maybe one or two people from the crew barely know English. Often, the easiest means to communicate is by way of a calculator, as they show how much fuel they need, you show them your price sheet, and they would then point to the amount they want. If they are not U.S. aircraft, the transaction is done in cash, U.S. dollars, often totaling into the thousands of dollars.

I've been with the Wisconsin Air National Guard since August 2008. Prior I enlisted for six years in the Active Duty Air Force, where I was stationed at Aviano Air Base in Italy, and Holloman AFB, New Mexico. On the civilian side, I work as a line service technician at Dane County Regional Airport, for Wisconsin Aviation.

Most of my family lives in the Madison/Dane County area, my grandparents live in Lodi on Lake Wisconsin, and I have an uncle and aunt that live in Barneveld.

- Jason

Photo - Staff Sgt. Jason Klingbiel, 447th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron fuels distribution operator, connects a fuel hose from an R14 fuel unit to the bottom loader of his R11 fuel truck at Sather Air Base in Iraq on July 20, 2009. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Johnny L. Saldivar)