Well folks,
Tomorrow I leave for Iraq. Just a few last minute packing things to go. We will fly from Cherry Point, NC to Ireland for a layover (!) and then on to Kuwait. From Kuwait to Al Asad. The good news is that I will get all of January tax free because I will make it to Kuwait before Feb 1.
Thanks to all those who have sent me there well wishes; thankfully I will only be in country for about 4 months. I have apparently been in Camp Lejeune for so long that they are bring me back in June to go to a new job/duty station.
I will keep everyone updated as to the goings on over here and post a lot of pictures.
By the way, if no one answers the movie I posted, it's over to Vee!
Capt Todd
Our very best wishes & prayers follow right along with you Captain Todd!
A "lay over" in Ireland! make sure to tip your hat to all your O'Brien ancestors - especially in Co Clare (the great Clan O'Brien stronghold).
I hope you at least will have time for a Guinness!
oorah!
mary ann
Todd 
I will await your news impatiently and from France you will always be in my thoughts and prayer .
I hope that you will have a good flight and that all will go well there low!!
With all my affection
Vee 
Under every white cross of American Cemetery of Colleville (Normandy), sleeps a piece of Freedom
With tons of love and best wishes. Godspeed, soldier.
Will look forward to your posts and emails. I hope the days pass quickly for you, so you can come home and be re-united with your family.
From all of us, to you!
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter 'Monday' Poniedzialek
540th Combat Engineer - H&S Company
YES CAPT. OBRIEN, GODSPEED AND MAY HE WATCH OVER YOU.
Stopover in Ireland,huh. Maybe same place the 34th Divn. went and
prepared for No. Africa. Roque
Roque J.(Rocky) Riojas
Stopover in Ireland,huh. Maybe same place the 34th Divn. went andprepared for No. Africa. Roque
Well, I'll read all about it in DFWSTT (Dogfaces Who Smiled Through Tears for the uninitiated). I'm bringing it with me. I'm not going to be able to smuze with the local ladies like you did every night, however!! 
Maj Todd O. USMC, Retired
Grandson of LTC John O'Brien
Well, I'll read all about it in DFWSTT (Dogfaces Who Smiled Through Tears for the uninitiated). I'm bringing it with me. I'm not going to be able to smuze with the local ladies like you did every night, however!!
It's tough when a married guy goes yonder and
not 20 yrs. old. I'm happy that you are taking the
book with you. Rocky.
Roque J.(Rocky) Riojas
It's tough when a married guy goes yonder andnot 20 yrs. old. I'm happy that you are taking the
book with you. Rocky.
Rocky,
I have no doubt that you can still get into trouble if left to your own devices.....You give me hope....
"Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend, inside of a dog, it's too dark to read" Groucho Marx
Rocky,I have no doubt that you can still get into trouble if left to your own devices.....You give me hope....
HOPE? hmm----just, a hot tomale. rocky-- 
Roque J.(Rocky) Riojas
Some of you have seen these before, but I wanted share for the group some pictures from Iraq. I was waiting until I was able to load them up to Picasa and just add the links here.
Here's me at Camp Virgina, Ku. I had been there in 04 but it was "Camp Victory" at the time.
Here are my living quarters at Al Asad. They are appropriately called "Cans" - the walls seperating the three rooms in the one bigger unit must be made out of aluminum. You can hear the guy in the next room breathing at night. Last time I was in a squad sized tent for 8 months so no complaints here. Rocky, sure beats a mud whole, yes? I remember those days when I was in artillery.
Outside
Inside (I didn't bother to clean up.)
The base mosque (off limits)
Another view
Need any more proof men run Islamic society?
One of the MRAP vehicles
The Cinnabun (yes, Cinnabun) and BK.
And if you are saying to yourself, "Well jeez! It's so sad they can't have pizza and fried chicken, too!" don't worry. . .
And finally, this is a bunker and the basketball court (just past it in the flood lights) at night in a sand storm.
I'll have more later. Signing off from Iraq. . . .
Maj Todd O. USMC, Retired
Grandson of LTC John O'Brien
As you stated, it sure isn't home and sure isn't luxurious, but beats the hell out of past alternatives. That's for sure!
I read the accompanying link and had to include this here:
In 2008, a member of the Special Forces wrote a note on the door of a MRAP. The note reads "This truck saved my life as well as 5 others on 02 Apr 08 at 2300 in Basrah, IZ."
That wraps it up nicely in a nutshell!
If you run out of reading material, I will issue a library card from my private collection. Just yesterday received a few thousand pages (two books) from my friend, Hugh Ames, 82nd Airborne. Nice presents indeed. He wanted to thank me for working on his website.
All the Way to Berlin - James Megellas (82nd Airborne's most decorated officer)
and
All American - All the Way - Phil Nordyke
I also bought Builders and Fighters - US Army Engineers in World War II - general editor, Barry W Fowle
So...
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter 'Monday' Poniedzialek
540th Combat Engineer - H&S Company
God Speed Capt. May HE bewith you during your tour.
One good thing is, you won't have to worry about, being
on the lookout for U-boats. Those are nice pics. you posted.
Keep us posted and before you know it, you will be back in
the good ole U S of A. Think of me when you you are having S.O.S.
ole doggie
Roque J.(Rocky) Riojas
Here are some new pictures of me here in Iraq. If tere was something else to take pictures around here I would post them, but now that you've seen the Burger King, you've just about seen it all.
As Thoreau wrote in Walden, "I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well." Same goes for pictures, yes?
This is me in a sandstorm yesterday. It actually got darker and oranger as the day went on.
Here's me enjoying a stogie with some of the fellows.
Maj Todd O. USMC, Retired
Grandson of LTC John O'Brien
Well I can't speak for the gentlemen of the forum, but I think I can speak for Vee, Darlene, and the other lovely ladies of the board, and say; keep those photos coming! 
We love 'em!
I am sending greetings this morning from Gettysburg. Getting ready to take a self-tour. You get a CD which you play in the car while touring the battlefield. Cool! That's very good this morning, for it is pretty damn chilly out. The weather so far has been great, but there's a nip in the air today! Brrrr!
But, I will take our weather over YOUR weather, this morning. Sepia-tone photos are one thing; orange skies and wind storms, quite another! 
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter 'Monday' Poniedzialek
540th Combat Engineer - H&S Company
Here are some new pictures of me here in Iraq. If tere was something else to take pictures around here I would post them, but now that you've seen the Burger King, you've just about seen it all.As Thoreau wrote in Walden, "I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well." Same goes for pictures, yes?
This is me in a sandstorm yesterday. It actually got darker and oranger as the day went on.
Here's me enjoying a stogie with some of the fellows.
cAPT. I REMEMBER MY FIRST STOGIE, WINTER OF '43, MOUNTAINS OF ITALY, RIDING IN A JEEP
WINDSHIELD DOWN AND MY BUDDY SAW THAT MY FACE WAS WHITE INSTEAD OF BROWN. HE STOPPED
THE JEEP LIT A CIGAR AND SAID PUT IT IN CENTER OF YOUR MOUTH---BUT-- DON'T INHALE!!
WRONG, I DID AND I LIKE THE TASTE OF SMOKE AND THAT'W WHAT STARTED ME SMOKING.
QUIT IN '85. FEEL GOOD. JUST AN OLD DOGFACE. ROCKY
Roque J.(Rocky) Riojas
