Happy Fathers Day!

What the news is saying....

This is just what the news is saying about the return home of our soldiers. As soon as I get enough time, I will get some pics posted on our blog. Also, there is a news link at the bottom of the article. It will take you to some video clips.

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Over 250 soldiers from Utah's National Guard have a lot of catching up to do Friday night. They just returned home from a 12 month deploy to Afghanistan. It's not often the sound a 737 draws this much excitement. “What is it like knowing that he's going to come off that plane in a matter of minutes?” asked a reporter. “Aw, my hearts jumpin!” said Tira Petersen, wife of a Utah soldier. Some family and friends of Utah's 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion hadn't seen their soldier in over a year, so when they walked onto the tarmac, you couldn't hold them back. “The whole time you're over there you're focusing on the mission, but you think of home, and you think of this day,” said Lt. Jared Jeppson, Utah National Guard. Many of these families are obviously eager to catch up; they say the internet and phone calls just weren't enough.“You sort of… you just… Woo! You can't keep it still,” said Julie Baird, mother of a Utah soldier. Eagle Mountain welcomed home soldiers from its city in parade fashion. They left a year ago, to provide intelligence so soldiers could protect Afghanis from the Taliban. But if you saw them then, you'd never recognize them today. “We wore civilian clothes, grew beards out, it’s a little different mission,” said Staff Sgt. Mike Jackson, Utah National Guard. Several soldiers said it gained trust, and convinced the Afghani people to work with them. “They wanted to do it for the good of Afghanistan, there are a lot of great people over there that want the fighting to stop, that haven't had the freedoms that we're so fortunate to have,” said Jackson. Although families say they're proud the work their of soldiers do, they're happier to have them back. “It was just really wonderful, it just… I don't… you're just so grateful,” said Baird.

A year ago we told you about two members of the 142nd who got engaged the day they left, Specialist Thomas O’leary and Specialist Trista Wynn. We caught up with them as they returned home Friday from Afghanistan. “How do make the relationship work when you’re in the middle of a war zone?” asked a reporter. “It’s easy as long as you love each other as much as we do. Everything just kind of falls into place. It’s just a lot of understanding about what the person’s job is and what’s necessary to support them and whatever time you get is just extra, and it makes it that much easier,” said Specialist Thomas O’leary, Utah National Guard. “Did he make it easier for you Trista?” asked a reporter. “He did he made it a lot easier,” said Specialist Trista Wynn, Utah National Guard. They even started planning their wedding during their deployment. “How do you plan a wedding in Afghanistan?” asked a reporter.Laughingly they both said, “The Internet! The Internet!” So far they’re planning on get married August 8th at the Tuscany Gardens in Roy.


http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-utah-soldiers-return-home,0,2706828.story

The best part of my day was...

Task Force Wasatch, call sign “Snowbird”

taken in Afghanistan.

This is my husbands unit in Afghanistan..... It was Chris idea to use the call sign Snowbird, named after his heaven on earth....Snowbird ski resort. Now, as you can tell with their logo stamped on the pic, the ski resort has recognized this, and let me tell ya the rewards and benefits have come and will keep on comin! Two words FREE STUFF!!! FREE SKIING! YAY! Ahhh, did I say skiing...sorry Chris! I meant SNOW BOARDING!! Its good publicity for the ski resort!

Now I can finally brag about him.....more pictures and stories to come.

LOVE YA' ALL!
(especialy the ARMY WIVES)

News Release...

142nd Military Intelligence Battalion

Soldiers Return from Afghanistan

DRAPER, Utah —Approximately 260 Soldiers from the Utah National Guard’s 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion will return to Utah from Afghanistan Friday, Feb. 27, following a 12-month deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The 300 Soldiers from the 142nd deployed in February 2008 to Afghanistan via Fort Lewis, Wash., and have been providing intelligence support to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and other Coalition forces as part of Task Force Wasatch. Soldiers arrived at Fort Lewis Feb. 18 and are undergoing demobilization processing at Fort Lewis this week. Arrival will be at the Utah Air National Guard Base adjacent to Salt Lake International Airport on two charter flights Friday at 5:45 a.m. and 6:45 a.m., respectively.

Charter flights typically run ahead of schedule, so media planning to cover the arrival(s) should plan to be on site one hour before announced arrival time(s). An advance party of 30 Soldiers of the 142nd returned from overseas Jan. 27.

Loving my Soldier...

Loving a Soldier isn't

always what they say.

And loving him

is a high price to pay.

Its mostly loving

with nothing to hold.

Its being young

yet feeling so old.

Remember he's thinking

of you everyday.

He's sad and lonely

from being away.

So love him, miss him,

And know he's saying,

"I just want to hold her..."

And always be proud

to love your Soldier!

He's a commin home!!!!!!!!!

Crap! It's almost February...

I may not get to see YOU as

often as I like.

I may not get to hold you

in my arms all through the night.

But deep in my heart I truley know,

Your the one that I love,

And I can not let you go!

Shh...don't tell Chris I told you...

...But tomorrow (today for him), January 7th, he turns 31 years old. YAY! Happy Birthday my LOVE!

If you wish to tell him happy birthday,

email him at palmerrlz@msn.com

Dedication to my Sweethearts

Well this will probably be the last opportunity to write on this because my computer is a government computer and will not let me get on these blog pages. I just wanted to tell my wife and daughter how much they mean to me. I love them with all of my heart and feel completely empty when we are apart. My wife is my strength. With her in my life I find that I can keep going through any obstacle. She motivates me to be a better person. She is my example. I see her and want to be like her. She melts my heart with her smile and kindness. Her beauty captivates me. She is like my life line, I need her to survive.
AnaLea is my little goose. My little bundle of energy. She is a sweet little girl. She makes me so happy and want to be a better person so that I can be the best Dad I can be. I love being her daddy.
These are my girls and I love them very much.

A letter from the commander...

Families and Friends of A. Company, Task Force Wasatch,

We are in the final months of this deployment. It has been difficult for all of us, and there is no doubt that we have had divine providence and protection from the enemy. I am sure you will hear many tales of success and hardship when your soldiers come home. However, we have not completed our mission and it is not yet time to relax or let our guard down. We are in a time when it would be easy for us to send and receive messages home that would, in effect, lower our physical, emotional and spiritual vigilance.

Over the last few months we have earnestly strived to focus our attention on strengthening the Government of Afghanistan by weakening Taliban and terrorist threat. As you are aware, our soldiers are arrayed throughout the country performing their missions with extreme success. I am very proud of our soldiers as I am sure you are. There are two things I need from you to keep us all focused and sharp these last few months.

The first request is that you continue to encourage and love your soldier. Nothing strengthens out resolve and spirit like letters, emails and packages from home. Some of my Operating Bases do not have easy access to internet or phones, but packages and letters arrive (albeit weeks late). Secondly, I cannot express more earnestly the importance of you keeping faith with us, praying for us and being that beacon at the end of a long and tough road. I hear from several soldiers that their communities and families constantly pray for us and that is a relief to me as their Commander. I sincerely thank you for your thoughts on behalf of our soldiers and I truly respect your sacrifice. Just so you know, the miracles we have experienced have little to do with out innate grit or tough training regime. Our fortune is rooted in our individual and collective strength-of-character, our honorable service and our personal integrity and the favor that affords us with the Almighty. I appreciate all your efforts to keep that favor, to raise our spirits and to ensure our hearts are comforted. I am very fortunate to lead these soldiers and I thank you for teaching them the values that make them the people they are.

Respectfully,
MAJ Richard A. Montoya
A Company, Task Force Wasatch
Commanding

Chris...

Chris doesn't put caption with these pics. I have no idea what to say, when telling you about them. I do know that he is safe and excited to come home for two weeks. He also got promoted to Staff Sargent this week! Yahoo!!! Congrats Chris!

Ahh...

Chris loves kids.
Seeing him surrounded by these kids almost
makes me want to have another one.

My man is....

...so HOT!

Do you like my man's truck?

Yup this is "HIS" vehicle! Its "HIS" means of transport and run to the local grocery store vehicle. Who am I trying to kid? There is no such thing as a local grocery store. But, where ever he does go, this is what takes him from point A to point B. I am quite jealous! Are you?

Something new from Afghanistan...

Missions and tomato fields...

Hey everyone I was told you don’t get enough info about what is going on here well I have a few stories to tell you of the last few days. On the 30th of June I went on a mission for a few days with the Infantry guys. It was pretty cool, most of the details I will save for later I don’t want anyone to worry too much about me. We went to a couple of villages in search of Taliban fighters I talked to a lot of really nice folks and ate some authentic Afghan food. (I’m still feeling the effects of that food that is why Emily is sending me some Pepto.) We slept on the outskirts of the villages on the ground or in the trucks where ever there was room. For me it was on the ground huddled closely with my trusty M4 rifle and my body armor. One of the nights while I was on guard duty with my Friend Pete we saw some wild wolves come out of the mountains. I was up on the MK19 (which is a really cool automatic grenade launcher) with my night vision goggles and Pete was watching the night vision cam on the front of our truck when we saw the wolf come by us again and walked over to our interpreter and sniffed him, I asked Pete “Do you think we should kill the wolf?” he said “naw he won’t eat much because there is not much to eat.”
I laughed, well the wolf sniffed him and then left. Pretty cool huh? During those few days I went on a lot of patrols with those infantry guys and I loved every minute of it, it was fun. We walked through a lot of crappy terrain, and tomato fields I also lost 7 pounds during those days because of how bad I was sweating. It got super hot during the day and freezing cold at night, but that is how it goes in the mountains of Afghanistan . One of the most spiritual experiences of my life happened over the mission as well, the company commander of the infantry company I went with was an LDS member that asked me for a blessing right after getting information that he and his soldiers went on a very dangerous mission, no Mom I didn’t go on that one, during the blessing the spirit prompted me to tell him as long as he stays close to the spirit no harm would come to him and his soldiers and always ask for the Lord’s advice in prayer and he would be guided in the right direction. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong I almost fell over because my body became so weak. Soldiers in my observation during battle either draw nearer to God or draw further away from him. I feel like I am getting closer to him because when we go out on those patrols and through the villages we have no one else we can rely on to guide us in the right direction. Let me explain some of the pictures, the first four pictures are of my pre road trip to where we went. I always take a picture before hand, then one picture in the truck and one of some of the trucks heading out with us. After that is a picture with one of the towns we went to in the back ground. I have a picture of me pumping some water for a nice cold bucket shower and then the picture after that is my bed next to our MRAP (that is that big truck). After that I put a picture with me and some of the villagers, also a picture with me in a tomato field waiting for the go ahead to enter the village, there is also a picture of my friend Emerson sitting in the same tomato field but you can’t see his face just him from the back. Then the rest are just some random photos.
Well I think about everyone everyday, and I miss my wife and baby girl so much. That is about it for now.
Later

pics from afghanistan...

Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to work I go...
The dress I had made for Emily!

Over here in Afghanistan...

I went on a mission, not to long ago, this is where I slept. I am in my uniform because we went on this particular mission.
Me with some Afghanistan soldiers.
We don't have any toys or candy to give the kids, but they love to receive pens!

AnaLea's future dates...

Gentlemen, you are going to have to get

past this guy,with this gun,

to get to his lil Goose!

Keep in mind that Christopher has a couple of medals

for his marksmanship skills.

Yes, that is sweat....