CCTAU's son in the ARMY

[SouthLink02 8]

[SouthLink02 8]

If there were men like your son in FEMA, everything would have gone perfectly!

[Ranger12 46]

Looks like a squared-away soldier to me!

AIRBORNE! HOOOOOAAAAA!

[CCTAU 3,312]

Broke his ankle during PT yesterday. Would not allow the doc to put a cast on it. They did force him off combat duty for three days. But he swears he'll only let them splint it. Told them he couldn't get his combat boot on with a cast. Goes back tomorrow for a bubble splint. I would like to see them force him to heal. He is the gunner on a humvee. Says all he needs to do is stand up there and shoot.

For those of you unfmiliar with the 506th, they go out every day looking for a fight. He intends to be there with his brothers if anything goes down.

He is deployed with the 1-61 Cav of the 506th RCT of the 101st Airborne. They do not like to sit around.

Please pray for a speedy and complete heal.

[saniflush 0]

Got em in my thoughts and prayers. They will force him to do what he needs to do as far as healing is concerned.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

Thoughts and prayers to him. He sounds like a special young man.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Prayers sent. God bless him and his compatriots over there.

[CCTAU 3,312]

New update. Bates is now in a MITT unit helping train the Iraqi Army. He is based just outside of Sadr City. He is the only non-com in his 9 man group and they say that as soon as possible, he will go before the board. This means he could become a Corporal within 14 months of joining. That is the good news. The bad is that there are only 9 Army and 9 Marines where he is stationed. The rest are IA and Blackwater personnel. The Mahdi militia gave them till May 1 to get out or be killed. They are still awaiting the attack. Despite all this, he is very satisfied about where he is. They ar treated with a huge amount of respect and have better facilities. He even has DSL now.

The other day his humvee was hit by an IED and flipped. Thank God noone was injured. The passenger helped pulled him down as the vehicle was flipping. Not a pretty thought.

One thing you will not hear about on the news, when they are out with the IA and shooting starts, an Iraqi soldier steps in front of each of them. The IA told them that it was their job to die for their country and if any American dies, it is a disgrace upon them. The IA thnked them for being there, but insists upon doing the dying. Which is fine with me.

Keep the prayers coming. His leg is still healing. His Staff sgt. has taken him under his wing and really likes him, so this is much better than the last guy he had. All of his old unit are home right now for a month. He volunteered for this position but feels he made the correct decision. Most of the other guys in his old unit said they will not re-up. He felt there was just no room to advance. So he volunteered for this assignment. But he says he is learning a ton of new things and meeting many different people. The gates to his compound are guarded by African soldiers who salute everyone. The Blackwater personnel are a wealth of info. And his unit all are very well trained. So for a young man looking at a career in the Army, this is the place to be.

I will try to link a few more photos later.

Thanks for all your prayers.

[saniflush 0]

Thanks for the update!

[JohnDeere 0]

New update. Bates is now in a MITT unit helping train the Iraqi Army. He is based just outside of Sadr City. He is the only non-com in his 9 man group and they say that as soon as possible, he will go before the board. This means he could become a Corporal within 14 months of joining. That is the good news. The bad is that there are only 9 Army and 9 Marines where he is stationed. The rest are IA and Blackwater personnel. The Mahdi militia gave them till May 1 to get out or be killed. They are still awaiting the attack. Despite all this, he is very satisfied about where he is. They ar treated with a huge amount of respect and have better facilities. He even has DSL now.

The other day his humvee was hit by an IED and flipped. Thank God noone was injured. The passenger helped pulled him down as the vehicle was flipping. Not a pretty thought.

One thing you will not hear about on the news, when they are out with the IA and shooting starts, an Iraqi soldier steps in front of each of them. The IA told them that it was their job to die for their country and if any American dies, it is a disgrace upon them. The IA thnked them for being there, but insists upon doing the dying. Which is fine with me.

Keep the prayers coming. His leg is still healing. His Staff sgt. has taken him under his wing and really likes him, so this is much better than the last guy he had. All of his old unit are home right now for a month. He volunteered for this position but feels he made the correct decision. Most of the other guys in his old unit said they will not re-up. He felt there was just no room to advance. So he volunteered for this assignment. But he says he is learning a ton of new things and meeting many different people. The gates to his compound are guarded by African soldiers who salute everyone. The Blackwater personnel are a wealth of info. And his unit all are very well trained. So for a young man looking at a career in the Army, this is the place to be.

I will try to link a few more photos later.

Thanks for all your prayers.

235397[/snapback]

Blackwater represents everything wrong with the Iraqi war.

[DKW 86 7,419]

Prayers and thoughts are with him...

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Blackwater represents everything wrong with the Iraqi war.

235738[/snapback]

Take it to the political forum, genius.

Thanks for the update, CCTAU. He and his comrades are in my prayers. Pass along my family's gratitude to him.

[CCTAU 3,312]

Had to sleep with the box or his buddies would eat them.

Humvee hit by IED. He was the gunner. Got down just in time. Not him in pic.

Relaxing in humvee. Note riot control device.

On patrol. Note new body armor on shoulder:

Continue prayers. As you can see, he is being kept safe by prayer.

[CircleDrill 178]

God bless him and your family.

[Ravad 77]

Prayers for all of you.

[japantiger 4,051]

God Bless him and he other 160,000 over there. I really like seeing the advancements in body armor.....unheard of in my day.....very gratifying to see us putting this much energy into protecting the grunts....

[CCTAU 3,312]

Bate's received his CIB Saturday. Common for a soldier in battle. But uncommon is the actual CIB. The retired Army Major who passed this CIB along to him sent this:

As a matter of documentation this CIB was present at Normandy (the Day of Days), Holland, Bastogne, Germany and then into Laos. When I had it was in the A Shau valley of Vietnam, the Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill), Tet Offensive, Sinai (Yom Kippur War as 11H advisor, TOW, to the IDF) and Grenada (my only combat jump). You will be adding to its colorful history there in Iraq.

Pics:

We are extremely proud of him. Continue to pray. He is in harm's way every day.

[Ranger12 46]

Of all the different badges a soldier can get, that is the one to be the proudest of.

[japantiger 4,051]

OoohhhhRrrraaaaaahhhhhhh

Congratulations to your combat veteran....

God Bless him and his brothers.....

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Awesome! Pass along my thanks to him for what he is accomplishing over there. Keep us up-to-date.

God bless him and my family's prayers are with him and his brave compatriots every day.

[saniflush 0]

What they said....ALOT!

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Wow. All I can say is wow. I do think about you guys every day.

[CCTAU 3,312]

Prayers please. Things are really ugly in Baghdad right now. If it shoots or gets shot at, he's there.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

He and his comrades are in 'em everyday! God bless him.

[CCTAU 3,312]

supposed to get his 2 weeks heading towards Kuwait on Aug. 7th. Should touch down in Atlanta Aug. 9th, his 19th birthday. Will be good to see him. Pray for safe journies. And if you uwant to go to Hartsfield to greet the troops, I'll try to find out the time.