No time for a good BLOG post today...Maybe tomorrow.
This is, however, a VERY sad day for America and the World...Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States of America, died at his home in Bel-Air, California at the age of 93 today.
Welcome to Haroldholme!
I look forward to sharing ideas and life with you.
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Friday, June 04, 2004
Marvin John Heemeyer Goes Crazy with a Bulldozer in Colorado, destroying City Hall...I've been to that City Hall!
This guy went completely bonkers! But he took his time to pull off this act of revenge and Suicide by Cops....Dang!
When I first heard the story, I thought he'd been killed by the police...turns out he actually shot himself...
I copied this excerpt from Wikipedia much later....
Marvin John Heemeyer (October 28, 1951 – June 4, 2004) was a skilled American welder and owner of an automobile muffler repair shop. On June 4, 2004, frustrated over the adverse outcome of a zoning dispute, Heemeyer used a Komatsu D355A bulldozer modified with armor in the forms of steel and concrete to demolish the town hall, a former judge's home and other buildings in Granby, Colorado. The rampage ended when the bulldozer became immobilized. After a standoff with law enforcement agencies, Heemeyer died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Heemeyer used an armor-plated Komatsu D355A bulldozer to destroy 13 buildings in Granby, ColoradoHeemeyer had been feuding with officials and individuals in Granby, particularly over fines for violating city ordinances and a zoning dispute regarding a concrete factory constructed opposite his muffler shop that destroyed his business.
Background
Heemeyer lived in Grand Lake, about 16 miles away from Granby. According to a citizen who knew him, Heemeyer moved to town about 10 years prior to the incident. Friends of Heemeyer believed that he had no immediate family in the Granby-Grand Lake area.
John Bauldree, a friend of Marvin's, said that Heemeyer was a fun-loving guy. Ken Heemeyer said his brother Marvin "would bend over backwards for anyone." While many people described Heemeyer as a likable person, others said he was not someone to cross. Christie Baker told the Denver Post that Heemeyer threatened her husband after he refused to pay for a faulty muffler repair.
Heemeyer bought two acres of land from the Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency set up to handle the assets of failed savings and loan institutions. He bought the land for $42,000 subsequently agreeing to sell it to the Docheff family, which wanted the property for a concrete batch plant. The agreed upon price was $250,000 but according to Susan Docheff, he changed his mind and upped the price to $375,000 and at some later point demanded a deal worth approximately $1 million. This negotiation happened well before the rezoning proposal was heard by the town council.
Dispute with the city and preparations
In 2001, the zoning commission and the town's trustees approved the construction of a cement manufacturing plant. Heemeyer appealed the decisions unsuccessfully. For many years, Heemeyer had used the adjacent property as a way to get to his muffler shop. The plan for the cement plant blocked that access. In addition to the frustration engendered by this dispute over access, Heemeyer was fined $2,500 by the Granby government for various violations, including "junk cars on the property and not being hooked up to the sewer line." Heemeyer sought to cross 8 feet of the concrete plant's property to hook up with the sewer line.
As a last measure, Heemeyer petitioned the city with his neighbors and friends, but to no avail. He couldn't function without the sewer line and the cooperation of the town.
Bulldozer modification
Soon, Heemeyer leased his business to a trash company and sold the property several months prior to the rampage. The new owners gave Heemeyer six months to leave, and it was apparently during this time that he began modifying his bulldozer.
Heemeyer had bought a bulldozer two years before the incident with the intention of using it to build an alternative route to his muffler shop, but city officials rejected his request to build the road. Heemeyer complained the concrete plant had left dust on, and blocked access to, his business.
Notes found by investigators after the rampage indicate that the primary motivation for Heemeyer's bulldozer rampage was his fight to stop a concrete plant from being built near his shop. The notes indicated Heemeyer held grudges over the zoning approval. "I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable," Heemeyer scribbled. "Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things."
Heemeyer took about a year and a half to prepare for his rampage. In notes found by investigators after the incident, Heemeyer wrote "It's interesting how I never got caught. This was a part-time project over a 1½ year time period." Heemeyer was surprised that several men who had visited the shed last autumn did not discover the modified bulldozer, "especially with the 2,000 lb. lift fully exposed." "Somehow their vision was clouded," he wrote.
The piece of construction equipment used in the incident was a Komatsu D335A bulldozer fitted with makeshift armor plating covering the cabin, engine and parts of the tracks. In places, the vehicle's armor was over one foot thick, consisting of concrete sandwiched between sheets of steel to make ad-hoc composite armor. This made the machine impervious to small arms fire and resistant to explosives; three external explosions and over 200 rounds of firearm ammunition fired at the bulldozer had no effect on it. National Guard units were placed on standby orders by Governor Bill Owens.
For visibility, the bulldozer was fitted with a video camera linked to two monitors mounted on the vehicle's dashboard. Onboard fans and an air conditioner were used to keep Heemeyer cool while driving and compressed air nozzles were fitted to blow dust away from the video cameras. Food, water and life support were present in the almost airtight cabin. Heemeyer had no intention of ever leaving the cabin once he entered; the hatch was permanently sealed. Authorities speculated Heemeyer may have used a homemade crane found in his garage to lower the armor hull over the dozer and himself. "Once he tipped that lid shut, he knew he wasn't getting out," Daly said. Investigators searched the garage where they believe Heemeyer built the vehicle and found cement, armor and steel.
For armament the bulldozer was fitted with a .50 caliber semi-automatic Barrett M82 sniper rifle pointing out to the rear, a semi-auto FN FNC assault-rifle pointing out to the front, a .223 Ruger Mini-14 to the right, a 9mm Kel-Tec P-11 semi-auto pistol and a .357 magnum revolver he used to kill himself.
After the incident, the modified bulldozer came to be known as "Killdozer".
The rampage
On June 4, 2004, Heemeyer drove his armored bulldozer through the wall of his former business, the concrete plant, the Town Hall, the office of the local newspaper that editorialized against him, the home of a former judge's widow, and a hardware store owned by another man Heemeyer named in a lawsuit, as well as others. Owners of all the buildings that were damaged had some connection to Heemeyer's disputes.
Heemeyer's rampage resulted in 13 buildings destroyed, resulting in total damages estimated at over $7 million. The bulldozer also knocked out natural gas service to City Hall and the cement plant, and damaged a truck and part of a utility service center. Despite the great damage to property, no one besides Heemeyer was killed.
According to Grand County commissioner James Newberry, Grand County emergency dispatchers used the reverse 911 emergency system to notify many residents and property owners of the rampage going on in the town. Thus, many people were forewarned and were able to get out of harm's way.
Defenders of Heemeyer contended that he made a point of not hurting anybody during his bulldozer rampage; Ian Daugherty, a bakery owner, said Heemeyer "went out of his way" not to harm anyone. Others offered different views. The sheriff's department argues that the fact that no one was injured was due more to luck than intent. Heemeyer had installed two rifles in firing ports on the inside of the bulldozer,[15] and fired 15 bullets from his rifle at power transformers and propane tanks. "Had these tanks ruptured and exploded, anyone within one-half mile of the explosion could have been endangered," the sheriff's department said; within this range were 12 police officers and residents of a senior citizens complex.[citation needed] The sheriff's department also asserted Heemeyer fired many bullets from his semi-automatic rifle at Cody Docheff when Docheff tried to stop the assault on his concrete batch plant by using a front-end loader. Later, Heemeyer fired on two state troopers before they had fired at him.[16] The sheriff's department also notes that 11 of the 13 buildings Heemeyer bulldozed were occupied until moments before their destruction. At the town library, for example, a children's program was in progress when the incident began. According to Allen Best, there might have been casualties if local emergency response, allied with a dose of luck, hadn't worked so effectively. However, these claims are by their very nature unverifiable.
End of the rampage
One officer dropped a flash-bang grenade down the bulldozer's exhaust pipe, with no immediate apparent effect. Local and state police, including a SWAT team, walked behind and beside the bulldozer occasionally firing, but the armored bulldozer was impervious to their shots. At one point during the rampage, Undersheriff Glenn Trainor managed to climb atop the bulldozer and, in the words of Allen Best, rode the bulldozer "like a bronc-buster, trying to figure out a way to get a bullet inside the dragon."
Two things conspired against Heemeyer as he reduced the Gambles hardware store to rubble. His machine was belching smoke and leaking various fluids, and Gambles had a small basement. The bulldozer's engine failed and Heemeyer dropped one tread into the basement and couldn't get out. The bulldozer became stuck. About a minute later, one of the SWAT team members who had swarmed around the machine reported hearing a single gunshot from inside the sealed cab. The coroner stated that Heemeyer used his .357-caliber handgun to kill himself.
Heemeyer's body was subsequently removed by police with a crane, though it took twelve hours for them to cut through the hatch with a blowtorch.
Go get the Wikipedia Article Here
When I first heard the story, I thought he'd been killed by the police...turns out he actually shot himself...
I copied this excerpt from Wikipedia much later....
Marvin John Heemeyer (October 28, 1951 – June 4, 2004) was a skilled American welder and owner of an automobile muffler repair shop. On June 4, 2004, frustrated over the adverse outcome of a zoning dispute, Heemeyer used a Komatsu D355A bulldozer modified with armor in the forms of steel and concrete to demolish the town hall, a former judge's home and other buildings in Granby, Colorado. The rampage ended when the bulldozer became immobilized. After a standoff with law enforcement agencies, Heemeyer died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Heemeyer used an armor-plated Komatsu D355A bulldozer to destroy 13 buildings in Granby, ColoradoHeemeyer had been feuding with officials and individuals in Granby, particularly over fines for violating city ordinances and a zoning dispute regarding a concrete factory constructed opposite his muffler shop that destroyed his business.
Background
Heemeyer lived in Grand Lake, about 16 miles away from Granby. According to a citizen who knew him, Heemeyer moved to town about 10 years prior to the incident. Friends of Heemeyer believed that he had no immediate family in the Granby-Grand Lake area.
John Bauldree, a friend of Marvin's, said that Heemeyer was a fun-loving guy. Ken Heemeyer said his brother Marvin "would bend over backwards for anyone." While many people described Heemeyer as a likable person, others said he was not someone to cross. Christie Baker told the Denver Post that Heemeyer threatened her husband after he refused to pay for a faulty muffler repair.
Heemeyer bought two acres of land from the Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency set up to handle the assets of failed savings and loan institutions. He bought the land for $42,000 subsequently agreeing to sell it to the Docheff family, which wanted the property for a concrete batch plant. The agreed upon price was $250,000 but according to Susan Docheff, he changed his mind and upped the price to $375,000 and at some later point demanded a deal worth approximately $1 million. This negotiation happened well before the rezoning proposal was heard by the town council.
Dispute with the city and preparations
In 2001, the zoning commission and the town's trustees approved the construction of a cement manufacturing plant. Heemeyer appealed the decisions unsuccessfully. For many years, Heemeyer had used the adjacent property as a way to get to his muffler shop. The plan for the cement plant blocked that access. In addition to the frustration engendered by this dispute over access, Heemeyer was fined $2,500 by the Granby government for various violations, including "junk cars on the property and not being hooked up to the sewer line." Heemeyer sought to cross 8 feet of the concrete plant's property to hook up with the sewer line.
As a last measure, Heemeyer petitioned the city with his neighbors and friends, but to no avail. He couldn't function without the sewer line and the cooperation of the town.
Bulldozer modification
Soon, Heemeyer leased his business to a trash company and sold the property several months prior to the rampage. The new owners gave Heemeyer six months to leave, and it was apparently during this time that he began modifying his bulldozer.
Heemeyer had bought a bulldozer two years before the incident with the intention of using it to build an alternative route to his muffler shop, but city officials rejected his request to build the road. Heemeyer complained the concrete plant had left dust on, and blocked access to, his business.
Notes found by investigators after the rampage indicate that the primary motivation for Heemeyer's bulldozer rampage was his fight to stop a concrete plant from being built near his shop. The notes indicated Heemeyer held grudges over the zoning approval. "I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable," Heemeyer scribbled. "Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things."
Heemeyer took about a year and a half to prepare for his rampage. In notes found by investigators after the incident, Heemeyer wrote "It's interesting how I never got caught. This was a part-time project over a 1½ year time period." Heemeyer was surprised that several men who had visited the shed last autumn did not discover the modified bulldozer, "especially with the 2,000 lb. lift fully exposed." "Somehow their vision was clouded," he wrote.
The piece of construction equipment used in the incident was a Komatsu D335A bulldozer fitted with makeshift armor plating covering the cabin, engine and parts of the tracks. In places, the vehicle's armor was over one foot thick, consisting of concrete sandwiched between sheets of steel to make ad-hoc composite armor. This made the machine impervious to small arms fire and resistant to explosives; three external explosions and over 200 rounds of firearm ammunition fired at the bulldozer had no effect on it. National Guard units were placed on standby orders by Governor Bill Owens.
For visibility, the bulldozer was fitted with a video camera linked to two monitors mounted on the vehicle's dashboard. Onboard fans and an air conditioner were used to keep Heemeyer cool while driving and compressed air nozzles were fitted to blow dust away from the video cameras. Food, water and life support were present in the almost airtight cabin. Heemeyer had no intention of ever leaving the cabin once he entered; the hatch was permanently sealed. Authorities speculated Heemeyer may have used a homemade crane found in his garage to lower the armor hull over the dozer and himself. "Once he tipped that lid shut, he knew he wasn't getting out," Daly said. Investigators searched the garage where they believe Heemeyer built the vehicle and found cement, armor and steel.
For armament the bulldozer was fitted with a .50 caliber semi-automatic Barrett M82 sniper rifle pointing out to the rear, a semi-auto FN FNC assault-rifle pointing out to the front, a .223 Ruger Mini-14 to the right, a 9mm Kel-Tec P-11 semi-auto pistol and a .357 magnum revolver he used to kill himself.
After the incident, the modified bulldozer came to be known as "Killdozer".
The rampage
On June 4, 2004, Heemeyer drove his armored bulldozer through the wall of his former business, the concrete plant, the Town Hall, the office of the local newspaper that editorialized against him, the home of a former judge's widow, and a hardware store owned by another man Heemeyer named in a lawsuit, as well as others. Owners of all the buildings that were damaged had some connection to Heemeyer's disputes.
Heemeyer's rampage resulted in 13 buildings destroyed, resulting in total damages estimated at over $7 million. The bulldozer also knocked out natural gas service to City Hall and the cement plant, and damaged a truck and part of a utility service center. Despite the great damage to property, no one besides Heemeyer was killed.
According to Grand County commissioner James Newberry, Grand County emergency dispatchers used the reverse 911 emergency system to notify many residents and property owners of the rampage going on in the town. Thus, many people were forewarned and were able to get out of harm's way.
Defenders of Heemeyer contended that he made a point of not hurting anybody during his bulldozer rampage; Ian Daugherty, a bakery owner, said Heemeyer "went out of his way" not to harm anyone. Others offered different views. The sheriff's department argues that the fact that no one was injured was due more to luck than intent. Heemeyer had installed two rifles in firing ports on the inside of the bulldozer,[15] and fired 15 bullets from his rifle at power transformers and propane tanks. "Had these tanks ruptured and exploded, anyone within one-half mile of the explosion could have been endangered," the sheriff's department said; within this range were 12 police officers and residents of a senior citizens complex.[citation needed] The sheriff's department also asserted Heemeyer fired many bullets from his semi-automatic rifle at Cody Docheff when Docheff tried to stop the assault on his concrete batch plant by using a front-end loader. Later, Heemeyer fired on two state troopers before they had fired at him.[16] The sheriff's department also notes that 11 of the 13 buildings Heemeyer bulldozed were occupied until moments before their destruction. At the town library, for example, a children's program was in progress when the incident began. According to Allen Best, there might have been casualties if local emergency response, allied with a dose of luck, hadn't worked so effectively. However, these claims are by their very nature unverifiable.
End of the rampage
One officer dropped a flash-bang grenade down the bulldozer's exhaust pipe, with no immediate apparent effect. Local and state police, including a SWAT team, walked behind and beside the bulldozer occasionally firing, but the armored bulldozer was impervious to their shots. At one point during the rampage, Undersheriff Glenn Trainor managed to climb atop the bulldozer and, in the words of Allen Best, rode the bulldozer "like a bronc-buster, trying to figure out a way to get a bullet inside the dragon."
Two things conspired against Heemeyer as he reduced the Gambles hardware store to rubble. His machine was belching smoke and leaking various fluids, and Gambles had a small basement. The bulldozer's engine failed and Heemeyer dropped one tread into the basement and couldn't get out. The bulldozer became stuck. About a minute later, one of the SWAT team members who had swarmed around the machine reported hearing a single gunshot from inside the sealed cab. The coroner stated that Heemeyer used his .357-caliber handgun to kill himself.
Heemeyer's body was subsequently removed by police with a crane, though it took twelve hours for them to cut through the hatch with a blowtorch.
Go get the Wikipedia Article Here
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
What we Know Now About Our Deployment - And Another Core Team Meeting
I created a “What we now know” document to try to figure out what is going on with our deployment. Here ‘tis:
What we now know/believe regarding our deployment
Dates:
AT04 - 10-17 July at Camp McCain
Log Inventories – 30 July through 5 August
MOB SRP - 6-10 August at Cp McCain - this will require 150 pax per day incremented over 5 days
MOB Date – Unknown, but possibly on/about 15 August
Early Deployment of 10% - possibly by 1 August (15 days prior to MOB Date)
Remaining 90% - 3-4 days prior to MOB Date
New MTOE goes into effect 1 July 2004
Desk top computers will not deploy
Laptops can deploy - but may be taken up by MOB station and another one reissued.
We've (the 155th) been alerted to a possible deployment in support of OIF.
We (the 155th) will probably be reconfigured to an Infantry Brigade prior to deployment.
We (the 155th) has split up Annual training into five (5) AT periods:
1-155 IN goes to McCain 12-19 JUN
150th Engineer BN goes to Shelby 19-26 JUN
Main BDE goes to McCain 26 JUN - 3 JUL
2-198 AR BN goes to McCain 10-17 JUN
2-114 Goes to McCain 31 JUL - 7 AUG
Elements of the 11th ACR will be OPCONNED to us (the 155th) prior to deployment.
The Colonel feels we'll probably receive our MOB Order prior to AUG.
We will be fielded with new equipment. This is part of the Army's "Equip, Train, Deploy" model. It will include improved body armor and Up-Armored Hummers...It is saving many lives right now. In fact, if we go to Iraq (highly probable!) we won't even start North out of Kuwait until we have it.
Once we are in-country, we'll be there for at least 365 days.
Once we are in-country, we will not receive any fillers. Our highest level of strength will be the number of soldiers we bring with us.
Our biggest enemy will be lack of discipline.
The change (handover) of Government occurs at the end of JUN - Most officials believe there will be an increase in insurgency/IED use.
If we're deployed to Iraq (highly probable), it takes 11 days for mail to travel, and 5 days for the IRC (Red Cross) to get a soldier out of a remote area in an emergency...Family Support Groups are of the utmost importance, get your .mil email address ASAP, and start using it.
Weather and Environment WILL BE harsh wherever we go, get out and run NOW! Don't worry about PT clothes, you won't be wearing those when you run during missions.
We won't be "Guardsmen" when we deploy, we'll be Active Duty. Get in that mentality. Also, wherever we go, the people there are not our friends. We simply have a job to do, and we're going to do it.
We (Det 1, HHC 2-198 AR) have drill at 0700 for all NCO's, Formation at 0730 on 5-6 JUN. We will focus on Weapons and Communications training, 100% Inventory, Family and Soldier (SRP) readiness, and probably (hint, hint) unconventional PT. Bring everything you've ever been issued, and bring padlocks. You should also bring any documents you can get your hands on, such as Marriage Licenses, Birth Certificates, Civilian Education, Orders, Medical info, Mortgage and Rental Contracts, etc. It's YO MONEY! We will work long and hard, and you will be hot, sweaty and tired at the end of drill. This is good.
All soldiers who require BASIC / AIT may mob later and catch up after completing MOSQ but this has not worked well in the past. Don't count on it.
ID all medical non-deploying ASAP
REPS will not mob until training completed.
OCS/SMP/ROTC will not mob
P3 profiles will MMRB to determine deployability
Temp. profiles have 60 days to get well or will not deploy
Officers who require OBC/OES may not deploy unless they can complete within 60 days past the mob date
Begin cross-leveling now to create a shortage list. BP to forward to Bde S1 soon.
Security clearances will be a big problem - Start the process now. An interim clearance can be requested if the ESPQ packets are already started and no derogatory comments are listed.
ID all dental Cl 3 now. Money is available to fix now before they get them pulled at the mob station.
BP to conduct deployment briefs to your soldiers families - We will get a brief format to you soon.
Pull a list of all ING soldiers in your units and start calling them - tell them "welcome back to your unit" because they will be coming back one way or they other.
ETS will be adjusted due to stop loss
We will be able to put E6 and below in E5 and below slots - we can double downward but not upward
ID soldiers who have already performed duty for OIF, OEF and/or Noble Eagle. Their deployment clock has already stated and they may not be able to deploy unless they volunteer.
Notify all spouses to attend the Unit MOB briefings - those that attend have fewer problems. Begin scheduling these briefs soon. Plan on 3-4 hours in length due to questions.
Pay special attention to single soldiers. They may have unique problems that must be dealt with also i.e. apartment leases, storage of household goods, etc.
Get a copy of the briefing "Better Than a Shoe Box" for the family readiness briefs.
Look hard at Family Care Plans during AT04
3/85th TSB will probably be our trainers
Camp Atterbury, Indiana will probably be our MOB Station
Address While you are there:
your name
your address
Soldiers Name
Soldiers Unit (most important)
Camp Atterbury
P.O. Box 5000
Edinburgh, IN 46124-5000
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Looks like we may only be able to bring 10% of our unit strength on about 15 days early (around 1 Aug?). The remaining 90% on 3-4 days prior to mob.
Pay special attention to the province of Babil. Some indication that this would be 155 AOR. We would be under control of 1 MEF.
Fallujah
-------------------------------------------
FedEx Core Team meeting notes:
Core Team meeting 6/2/04.
Joann, Anita, Harold
Ray reaches one year in July. It is my plan to end our contract at that time.
Chris will pay for Venu and one other contractor for June, splitting the charge across two cost centers.
Status report, Anita has not gotten to this yet. She’s working on Results and Objectives.
Rotating time off. Joann has a list of 1st Quarter requests.
Old timeoff requests…Anita usually keeps previous year in a folder and two to three years in another folder. VRC gets all others for long-term storage.
Friday, Joann will do an exploratory interview Rashawna Crenshaw this week. Roshawnda and Daryl Harvey have shown an interest.
Harold needs to call to get procedure for obtaining Contractor claims. Today.
Move DVX reports to production. Will start the process today.
POD alerting piece. Ray will work on this. Need to check to see what the cost for Ray and Venu are. Chris Connors wants to let the tracker-tracers go….need the alerting piece for this.
Harold will get a copy of NDA.
FY’05 Objectives. How do we do merit increases? Ask Michael Clark about this.
Renewing timesheets. Need to get Bob to approve.
Harold Taylor will call Chris and get Vendor Accounting contacts to get the contractors paid by Chris.
Pulse Survey Tuesday at 10 AM.
Monday we pick up seven interns around 12pm.
Demo of system to Ken Masterson.
What we now know/believe regarding our deployment
Dates:
AT04 - 10-17 July at Camp McCain
Log Inventories – 30 July through 5 August
MOB SRP - 6-10 August at Cp McCain - this will require 150 pax per day incremented over 5 days
MOB Date – Unknown, but possibly on/about 15 August
Early Deployment of 10% - possibly by 1 August (15 days prior to MOB Date)
Remaining 90% - 3-4 days prior to MOB Date
New MTOE goes into effect 1 July 2004
Desk top computers will not deploy
Laptops can deploy - but may be taken up by MOB station and another one reissued.
We've (the 155th) been alerted to a possible deployment in support of OIF.
We (the 155th) will probably be reconfigured to an Infantry Brigade prior to deployment.
We (the 155th) has split up Annual training into five (5) AT periods:
1-155 IN goes to McCain 12-19 JUN
150th Engineer BN goes to Shelby 19-26 JUN
Main BDE goes to McCain 26 JUN - 3 JUL
2-198 AR BN goes to McCain 10-17 JUN
2-114 Goes to McCain 31 JUL - 7 AUG
Elements of the 11th ACR will be OPCONNED to us (the 155th) prior to deployment.
The Colonel feels we'll probably receive our MOB Order prior to AUG.
We will be fielded with new equipment. This is part of the Army's "Equip, Train, Deploy" model. It will include improved body armor and Up-Armored Hummers...It is saving many lives right now. In fact, if we go to Iraq (highly probable!) we won't even start North out of Kuwait until we have it.
Once we are in-country, we'll be there for at least 365 days.
Once we are in-country, we will not receive any fillers. Our highest level of strength will be the number of soldiers we bring with us.
Our biggest enemy will be lack of discipline.
The change (handover) of Government occurs at the end of JUN - Most officials believe there will be an increase in insurgency/IED use.
If we're deployed to Iraq (highly probable), it takes 11 days for mail to travel, and 5 days for the IRC (Red Cross) to get a soldier out of a remote area in an emergency...Family Support Groups are of the utmost importance, get your .mil email address ASAP, and start using it.
Weather and Environment WILL BE harsh wherever we go, get out and run NOW! Don't worry about PT clothes, you won't be wearing those when you run during missions.
We won't be "Guardsmen" when we deploy, we'll be Active Duty. Get in that mentality. Also, wherever we go, the people there are not our friends. We simply have a job to do, and we're going to do it.
We (Det 1, HHC 2-198 AR) have drill at 0700 for all NCO's, Formation at 0730 on 5-6 JUN. We will focus on Weapons and Communications training, 100% Inventory, Family and Soldier (SRP) readiness, and probably (hint, hint) unconventional PT. Bring everything you've ever been issued, and bring padlocks. You should also bring any documents you can get your hands on, such as Marriage Licenses, Birth Certificates, Civilian Education, Orders, Medical info, Mortgage and Rental Contracts, etc. It's YO MONEY! We will work long and hard, and you will be hot, sweaty and tired at the end of drill. This is good.
All soldiers who require BASIC / AIT may mob later and catch up after completing MOSQ but this has not worked well in the past. Don't count on it.
ID all medical non-deploying ASAP
REPS will not mob until training completed.
OCS/SMP/ROTC will not mob
P3 profiles will MMRB to determine deployability
Temp. profiles have 60 days to get well or will not deploy
Officers who require OBC/OES may not deploy unless they can complete within 60 days past the mob date
Begin cross-leveling now to create a shortage list. BP to forward to Bde S1 soon.
Security clearances will be a big problem - Start the process now. An interim clearance can be requested if the ESPQ packets are already started and no derogatory comments are listed.
ID all dental Cl 3 now. Money is available to fix now before they get them pulled at the mob station.
BP to conduct deployment briefs to your soldiers families - We will get a brief format to you soon.
Pull a list of all ING soldiers in your units and start calling them - tell them "welcome back to your unit" because they will be coming back one way or they other.
ETS will be adjusted due to stop loss
We will be able to put E6 and below in E5 and below slots - we can double downward but not upward
ID soldiers who have already performed duty for OIF, OEF and/or Noble Eagle. Their deployment clock has already stated and they may not be able to deploy unless they volunteer.
Notify all spouses to attend the Unit MOB briefings - those that attend have fewer problems. Begin scheduling these briefs soon. Plan on 3-4 hours in length due to questions.
Pay special attention to single soldiers. They may have unique problems that must be dealt with also i.e. apartment leases, storage of household goods, etc.
Get a copy of the briefing "Better Than a Shoe Box" for the family readiness briefs.
Look hard at Family Care Plans during AT04
3/85th TSB will probably be our trainers
Camp Atterbury, Indiana will probably be our MOB Station
Address While you are there:
your name
your address
Soldiers Name
Soldiers Unit (most important)
Camp Atterbury
P.O. Box 5000
Edinburgh, IN 46124-5000
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Looks like we may only be able to bring 10% of our unit strength on about 15 days early (around 1 Aug?). The remaining 90% on 3-4 days prior to mob.
Pay special attention to the province of Babil. Some indication that this would be 155 AOR. We would be under control of 1 MEF.
Fallujah
-------------------------------------------
FedEx Core Team meeting notes:
Core Team meeting 6/2/04.
Joann, Anita, Harold
Ray reaches one year in July. It is my plan to end our contract at that time.
Chris will pay for Venu and one other contractor for June, splitting the charge across two cost centers.
Status report, Anita has not gotten to this yet. She’s working on Results and Objectives.
Rotating time off. Joann has a list of 1st Quarter requests.
Old timeoff requests…Anita usually keeps previous year in a folder and two to three years in another folder. VRC gets all others for long-term storage.
Friday, Joann will do an exploratory interview Rashawna Crenshaw this week. Roshawnda and Daryl Harvey have shown an interest.
Harold needs to call to get procedure for obtaining Contractor claims. Today.
Move DVX reports to production. Will start the process today.
POD alerting piece. Ray will work on this. Need to check to see what the cost for Ray and Venu are. Chris Connors wants to let the tracker-tracers go….need the alerting piece for this.
Harold will get a copy of NDA.
FY’05 Objectives. How do we do merit increases? Ask Michael Clark about this.
Renewing timesheets. Need to get Bob to approve.
Harold Taylor will call Chris and get Vendor Accounting contacts to get the contractors paid by Chris.
Pulse Survey Tuesday at 10 AM.
Monday we pick up seven interns around 12pm.
Demo of system to Ken Masterson.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Monday, May 31, 2004
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
