Sour Swinger Predominantly follows my Army & Iraq Deployment. Also has some Geek, School, and other talk.

My brigade, 56th SBCT, has suffered its second KIA. Spc Chad Edmundson of Williamsburg, PA died on the 27th of May. He suffered fatal wounds from an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) while on a dismounted patrol in Abu Ghraib. His death hits closer to home for he’s not only in the same battalion but his company and mine share some of the same battlespace.

The blast that killed Chad also injuried 3 other soldiers though not seriously. Also 16 Iraqi civilians were injured. Three of them seriously. My platoon had just conducted a mission in the very same location the day previous. Kinda brings about an odd feeling.

This was displayed during the Memorial Ceremony at Camp Liberty, May 30. Many soldiers had gathered to remember their fallen comrade.

The first soldier to get killed in action was SSG Mark Baum of Quakertown, PA.

Official DoD Announcement
Area soldier killed – Altoona Mirror
Central Pa. soldier dies in roadside blast in Iraq – Philadelphia Inquirer
Soldiers Remember Comrade in Memorial Ceremony – Stryker Brigade News

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Rhoads and I took a trip over to Camp Victory to fly a flag on top of the palace there. We managed to find a major who would then take us on a tour of the palace. Below are a few of the pics. You can see all the pics here. There’s about 50 of them.

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This is the second set of photos from Camp Taji from waaaaaay back in February. You can view the entire set of pics here. There’s about 40 of them. I highlighted a few of the good ones below. Curious in seeing the first set? Click here.

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I have pictures!!!! Yesterday I gained access to a new internet connection during a QRF mission. It supplied DSL speed so I spent several hours pulling down all its bandwidth to make some highly needed updates and changes to my websites & servers that I couldn’t beforehand. I also managed to upload pictures galore. This first set is from Camp Taji from waaaaaay back in February. You can view the entire set of pics here. There’s a little over 50. I highlighted a few of the good ones below.

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No this video is not from my camera. SSG Wentzel aka Guitar Hero bought this expensive Nikon camera which supports HD. Select the fullscreen button (those 4 little arrows at the bottom right) to get the full HD effect. Also, thanx to my step-mom for uploading this vid.

Panoramic View Camp Victory Lake from Sour Swinger on Vimeo.

A short clip in HD that shows one of the lakes found here on Camp Victory. Not quite what one expects when you think of Iraq. Thanx to Guitar Hero for the video.

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These pictures are from a joint patrol of my platoon and the Iraqi Army. Unfortunately this specific day doesn’t register in my head and I don’t remember this exact mission. After a while they all seem the same really. The Army has been occasionally embedding Combat Camera in our missions. Photos were taken by Spc. Donte Baltimore. I linked each pic to its free downloadable high res copy.

The DVIDS mission is to serve as a turnkey operation that facilitates requests for Public Affairs video, audio, still imagery and print products; coordinates interviews with soldiers and commanders in a combat zone and provides an archive for ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

Basically, DVIDs is where the military official posts audio, video, images, news, etc relating to any current combat operation. Everything is DOD authorized to be released to the public.

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I want to talk about all the donations received so far that are going to the kids and thank everyone for their support. I’ve received more then I ever thought. My room is so overrun, that I began having issues on space. After all the floor and locker space was taken, I was forced to start consuming my bed space. Haha. I eventually had to put up a large shelf because I’m still expecting more boxes to show up.

Many friends and family have started sending me donations following my Children of Iraq post. I know I was originally saying get everything in before June but now it looks like you’re clear to continue sending me stuff up until the end of July. I’ve received shoes, books, notepads, candy, food, stuffed animals, games and much more. Thank you all!

My platoon sergeant got his church, Beaver Lutheran, to send candy for us to throw to the kids. To his and everyone’s great surprise….they sent 100lbs worth! I know, holy cow right? Our current problem now is trying to hand out more candy then what we are getting in. Haha.

Somehow, Wilton High School of Connecticut got my name and has sent roughly 100 new pairs of socks to pass out to the soldiers. Hopefully they don’t mind that their socks have been going to the kids instead. This is one of many examples of soldier donations that get redirected to the children. Honestly, the soldiers are well saturated in supplies. Thank you Wilton High School!

The last donator I’d like to thank here is Simone Sauers. She helps run Berks Enduring Freedom group which gathers donations for soldiers. Just one week out of the blue, a horde of boxes started showing up. The group had assembled 2 boxes per soldier. One box full of food and the other of supplies. Food wise there was apples, girl scout cookies, chips, chocolate, candy, pretzels, etc. The supply box had a DVD, toiletry items, music cds, yo-yos, some small clothing apparel, etc. Everything in both boxes was zip-locked too. I wouldn’t be surprised if both boxes contained 50-75 dollars worth of supplies. Times all the soldiers in my company equals a lot of supplies! Of course we’ve been handing most of it out to the kids. Thank you Berks Enduring Freedom!

Now I have also been receiving soccer balls from Kick For Nick, however I’m writing a specific post just for them. Though I’d still like to say thank you for all the balls and socks that they have been sending. Kick For Nick was the first children donations I started to receive and continue to be my main supporter in sending what seems like an endless supply of balls.

If anyone would still like to send supplies for the children of Iraq, post a comment saying so and I’ll shoot you an email with my mailing address. Once again, thank you to all back at home who are sending supplies and helping supporting us soldiers. It means a lot to us.

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