 Our new home at FOB O'Ryan.  Pfc. Harris at FOB O'Ryan. The white shack will be the shower point and water will run off into the pond. |
We got the word quite unexpected that we would be going to FOB O'Ryan and leave the good life of the LSA behind. Life on a FOB is another world compared to the relative safety and abundance of creature comforts of the LSA. For the last six days, we have been loading and moving into our new home, a former ammunition bunker in the middle of a swamp. We no longer have indoor plumbing and, for the moment, no showers. We have been given two Porta-Johns and bottled water for hygiene. Our food is now tucked in in plastic containers and no mention of a "Bakers Square" type dessert display case. We get stale boxes of cookies now, and lots of them. Gone are the theatre with three movies a day, the two Olympic size pools, Burger king, Subway, Coffee Bean, 24-hour internet cafes and phones, the four entree dining facilities and root beer floats, the lighted streets and women. But we could always have it much worse and don't take what we do have for granted. The first group here didn't get anything close to what we now have, even on the FOB.
Our reason for leaving Anaconda made no sense whatsoever, but in the Army a lot of stuff fits in that catagory. Our mission of partnership with the IA suffered slightly simply because everything had to stop while we made the move. I can't say specifics but we just don't have the resources to do two things at once. The standard Army reason behind our move was to be closer to those we train. Sounds good, but I would ask, "Did it enhance the training at all?" The answer would be NO! I am reminded of the words of a Roman soldier that fit many situations. His name was Demetri Arbutius and here's what he said:
"We trained hard, and just as we began to form into teams, I learned we were to be reorganized, and what a wonderful method this can be for creating the illusion of progress, while in effect creating confusion, inefficiency and demoralization."
Although it only slightly demoralized us, it sure is a good example of what not to do. On the plus side, we lost some personnel back to Bagdad. Two of them being the guys that really got on my nerves with all the talk of children being potential killers. I'm glad they're gone and things seem less stressful. We won't be driving out the wire as much and seeing all the kids along the road but it's still a great feeling to see them wave and smile at us when we do.
Because things are so much more primitive on the FOB, my entries won't be as frequent, I've got to put on 60 pounds of gear and go a tactical two miles to e-mail, but soon we will have access within our bomb shelter. Like I said before, we've got it pretty good compared to the first group.
I'm scheduled to attend more IA training and will do my best to keep the readers informed on the Iraqi progress to independence and us leaving here. Of course, we'll never completely leave now, but we will relinquish complete responsibility to the IA and its citizens.
=JUST SERFING AND CAUGHT YOUR STORY. I WILL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE.I HAVE A SON W/THE 1/128TH FROM WISCONSIN AT FOB ORYAN
Thanks for everything you do. My husband, SPC Burrier, is also at FOB O'Ryan with the 1/128. If you see him tell him his wife says "Hi" and I miss him.
Hello,
I am with the 1-128 Fiel Trains we opperate out of LSA Anacond and visit the FOB 3 times a day every day of the week. We escor the food and mail and personnell back and forth on the log pacs. And take care of getting you loved ones to the Pax Terminal so they can go on leave.
-jake
Good Morning,
I was at FOB O'Ryan from March 12, 2004 until December 28, 2004. I arrived home in January of 2005. I think of all you guys over there often. I hope you are doing as well as you can especially in this heat. The news back here is not good, the media is horrible, Rumsfeld was asked if he thought the American public was turning against the war and he replied that he believed the American public was being pushed against the war by the media, he is right. Just remember though that most people still not only support you but also support what you are doing. Keep up the good work, stay strong and keep the faith. I am so very proud to be a part of this Army of today, so full of America's best and brightest. By the way I was a company fire support officer while over there but felt more like an infantry squad leader most of the time. My FOs performed brilliantly in every task they were assigned, from conducting raids, to providing security at city council meetings to training Iraqi National Guardsmen, we conducted a three week bootcamp on the FOB in August of last year, the ING Company was pretty good, at least we thought so, hopefully they still are. Take care.
Sincerely,
Mike
hello and i just want to say thank you and my husband is also there. he is with 3/320FA. take care and God bless
hello and i just want to say thank you and my husband is also there. he is with 3/320FA. take care and God bless by the way, my family is from Oxnard. My cousin owns Yolanda's Mexican Rest.
I was also at O'ryan with the ND boys of the 141st engineers, the trailblazers. O'ryan isn't nearly as bad as it sounds. sure we didn't have subway and movie theaters, but we also didn't have loads of brass walking around making daily life hell. i would not have moved to LSA for a million bucks!
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