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Bret deployed with his Air Force Unit in the summer of 2005.
Below are the accounts of that trip. . .
 
 
From:    Bretford.Brogoitti@blab.centaf.af.mil 
To: 
Subject: Arrived In Iraq
Sent:      Tuesday, August 16, 2005 5:58 PM


Hey All –

Well I have been here for a few weeks now and have pretty much settled in. Despite all the rumors, this place does have the comforts of staying at any Army Post in the states, with the exception of the heat (120+ daily) and the dust, dust, dust that is like a fine talcum powder and gets everywhere. 

We are all living in tents that are double-“Wrapped” to protect against the sun/heat. But we do have a adequate air-conditioning that keeps me under a blanket, even during high-noon. But the tent provides me a cot, light and wall locker. This was an open bay ten-man tent, but the previous occupants, from many rotations ago, shredded other tents and creates soft walls between all the personal space. So although you hear everything, you do have a little privacy.

And speaking about hearing everything, our housing (tent) area is closest to the aircraft parking ramp. And Balad AB has the busiest Aerial Port I have ever seen! 24hrs a day we have C-130s, C-141s, C-17s, commercial cargo carriers, and C-5s fly in. . .and we hear everyone of them takeoff and/or taxi. C-5s are so large, they can hold 6 Greyhound buses. Plus lots of construction all over the base adds to the fun, especially when they kick up the dust. But I wear ear plugs which greatly help drown out the noise of it all. However, it doesn’t help when one of our F-16s take-off. That wakes you us every time and there is no sleeping around that.

Balad AB is the Wal-Mart distribution center for all of Iraq. It is flown in here and shipped out to our forces all throughout the country. The Army took it over during the initial opening days of the war because it was centrally located and had the best facilities (of what was left of them) of any former Iraqi installation. Its 10,000ft+ runways made it idea for the Air Force to land the vast arrays of cargo aircraft here as well.

The facility has a 24hr BX, Burger King, Subway, Baskin Robbins, and 24hr dinning facilities. The food here is great. We have Steak & Lobster night every week and other cool foods all the time. But it doesn’t come cheap. KBR, the US contractor, charges the US Gov’t $28 for every meal I eat. I want to especially thank Bob, who pays his taxes, for contributing to my meals.

There is a 9 hour difference between Balad AB and Houston (11 for Los Angeles) due to that Iraq observes DST. I work the night shift here when things are much more busy. However, it has kept my sleeping habits more on par with Houston time. And it has allowed me to call Terri for a couple of minutes every night and back at work during the normal duty day when things finally slow down a bit.

Bottom line, things are pretty good here considering it is Iraq. I thank all of you who have sent me “be careful” letters and prayers for my safe return. Please also be thinking of my Army, Marines, and Navy brethren as well as they really are putting their lives in harms way over here. They have some really bad stories of life outside the gate and it is good to know we have them protecting our way of life too.

Terri sent this out to most of you, but my snail mail address will be -

Capt. Bret Brogoitti
332 AEW/EAMXS/ANG AMU
APO AE 09315-9997

 
From:    Bretford.Brogoitti@blab.centaf.af.mil
To: 
Subject: Hello From Iraq - 2nd Letter 
Date:     Sun, 18 Sep 2005 01:27:04 +0000 


Hey All –

Still alive and well here in Iraq. Yes, it has become what they call “Ground Hog Day” here at Balad AB. . . Same routine, different day. There is not much to do but work and sleep. I am not allowed to leave the base, so I try and make the most of the amenities they offer here, including the $28 meals paid for with Bob’s taxes.

We are here helping the ground troops catch the bad guys by flying air support missions. And occasionally we help knockout the insurgents too. But in those cases, we are really only used when the Army/Marines guys get pinned down and need air support to roll-in and help get them out.

I celebrated my 36th B-day here in August, so we went to the base theater for the first time with some of my buddies and watched “The Dukes OF Hazard” starring Jessica Simpson. This was the original theater built for the Iraqis who were stationed here at Balad before we took over. Of course it was remodeled for US forces use. The theater was really decked out. It has a balcony and Dolby Digital Surround Sound! Jessica sounded really great!

Of course, when Terri gets on this big screen, she will sound and look even better!

I also had a Pizza Hut meat lovers pizza for dinner, bought by the guys in my shop for my B-day. We do pay out of pocket for Pizza Hut, as well as the Subway and Burger King. The only bad thing is that this Pizza Hut does not deliver :-(

I plan to take a month off after I get back and work on the house, go to the Texans Seattle game in Seattle with some friends, and finally fly back out to Los Angeles to pick up Terri and drive back to Houston with all her stuff. So much for a nice quite life when I get back.

Thanks everyone who offer me care packages, but I really do have the comforts of home when it comes to buying things. I can even buy a laptop, DVD player, and racks full of DVDs. And we have a little grocery store for snacks and other sundry items if we need. But it is really only those stationed at this base and the Green Zone in Baghdad that has this luxury. Most of the troops out in the field don't have this type of comfort that serve in Iraq. Some of them serve in pretty barren and/or hostile outpost. In fact, most come to this base for there R&R (rest & Relaxation). That’s just the benefit of being in the Air Force, they put there planes where they are well protected (for the most part), and my job goes where the plane are stationed. But I will have some nice unclassified war stories when I get home (sorry Robert, the secret JFK files will have stay here at Balad).

Looks like I will be home by October if as goes well... but they are having trouble finding us airlift home. The Air Force is good about getting us here on time, but has no priority in getting us home.

Enjoy the pictures below.

Also, incoming mail to this military account is marginal at best we discovered. If you reply to me from this point on, be sure it it to my brogoitti@att.net account. This military account will be deactivated in a couple of days since I will be heading for Al Udied Air Base in Qatar in a few days. I will be there for a week or two before heading back to the states.
 
 
One of my Squadron co-workers continued on a tradition that was practiced at other Air Force units that on regular deployments.  His wife contacted all of our spouses to have them make personalized pages that would be assembled for the "Official" calendar in the Squadron Ops at our deployed location.  It was a personalized touch that help us feel at little more closer to home.  None of us knew about this until it was on the wall the first day of our arrival. 
 
Below are the pages that Terri made and secretly sent.  She made the most pages and made everyone else complain that I had way too many pages.  Just shows who loves me more ;-)  
 
 
July 30, 2005
 
 
August 12, 2005
 
 
August 22, 2005
 
 
August 28, 2005
 
 
September 16, 2005
 
 
September 20, 2005
 
 
October 2, 2005
.
 
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