For all of you guys who have been asking about my son for the last year (and helping me with your kind words, thoughts and prayers) I am glad to report that he’s is out of Iraq and in Kuwait as I write this. He leaves Kuwait to come home either Thursday or Friday.

I cannot begin to tell all of you how much your emails and posts meant...so I guess I‘ll just say a great big THANK YOU!

Please let him know that there are a lot of Americans that appreciate what he has done for us and our Country. My family is one of those parts of America.

Dan

Give him our thanks for his service. Gods speed on the bird home!

Coming home ... always a wonderful time!

Congratulations to you and thanks to him for his service. I hope you enjoy a great homecoming very soon.

Rock & Roll!

So, when can I buy him a beer or three?

Rick,


Here's to a safe return for your son! Oh wait, I guess I need a beer for this, be right back.

OK back now, and drinking to the safe and uneventful return home!

Congrats, you must be a proud pappy by now!

Mark

Rick

Rick,

Glad to hear he is home safe.

Rick, that is great news. Thank your son from all of us here on AR for what he has done for all of us and this country.

Hog Killer

Rick,
Glad to hear that he is coming home! Please extend to him my heartfelt thanks and admiration for his service to this country and to all of us.

Rick,

Excellent! A big Thank You and Well Done to your son. Congratulatons to him on accomplishing his mission.

For you; I personally know & understand the daily stresses and the relief from them you will now have. Especially living with the seemingly inate ability to pick-up and hear an Iraqi news bulletin from either radio or TV unconciously. We've both done the subliminal double-take everytime a report of violence and body count comes over the air waves.

As we've spoken with each other before on this topic, my son has until the end of May '06 to finish his tour - please keep your fingers crossed for him for an additional couple more months.....

One down, two to go! Oooohraaah!

Hey Rick, Glad to hear the good news.

Seems like Saturation Cookie-Cutter Bombing of known Terrorist areas would shorten the entire mess. But that is not real popular with some segments of society.

Semper Fi

Great news. Even those that don't believe in the war are proud of our troops. They have to be the best ever deployed.
Take Care!

Rick, great to hear. Thank him for me. Looks like I am going to make Reno this year after all. Would love to buy the two of you a beer if you can make it.

Over the last year I sent my son and his guys many of the wonderful and gracious comments from many of you on this forum and I can assure you that each and every one of them played a part in lifting their spirits at times when that was just what was needed.

quote:

Originally posted by Customstox:
Rick, great to hear. Thank him for me. Looks like I am going to make Reno this year after all. Would love to buy the two of you a beer if you can make it.

Chic,

I will try my best to make it up there but I think my daughter-in-law and granddaughters would slit my throat if I tried to snatch my son away for more than a hour or so when he gets home!

Rick As a father i can imagine how relieved and proud you are. I would imagine you will be able to sleep a little better now. I love it when i read GOOD news.

a big welcome home for all of us WELL DONE

quote:

Originally posted by 300 H-H:
Rick As a father i can imagine how relieved and proud you are. I would imagine you will be able to sleep a little better now. I love it when i read GOOD news.

I’ve aged ten years in the last 18 months...and grown a few thousand more grey hairs in the process!

Give him a big Welcome Home from my Family as well!

My folks went through it during the first Gulf War and from his perspective the relief and the welcomes are quite healing!
You can breathe now! Nate

That's great Rick. Let me know when he's back and I'll take you both out to dinner. I live in Saugus so I'm right around the corner.

Jer

quote:

Originally posted by Gerry:
Rick,

Excellent! A big Thank You and Well Done to your son. Congratulatons to him on accomplishing his mission.

For you; I personally know & understand the daily stresses and the relief from them you will now have. Especially living with the seemingly inate ability to pick-up and hear an Iraqi news bulletin from either radio or TV unconciously. We've both done the subliminal double-take everytime a report of violence and body count comes over the air waves.

As we've spoken with each other before on this topic, my son has until the end of May '06 to finish his tour - please keep your fingers crossed for him for an additional couple more months.....

Will do Gerry!

Just because my son has left does not mean my thoughts and worries for all the other “sons’ in Harms Way will not continue. Obviously, it is “different†but that doesn’t lessen the thought.

Gods speed to you and your son and he will stay in my thoughts and prayers.

quote:

Originally posted by Rhys898:
That's great Rick. Let me know when he's back and I'll take you both out to dinner. I live in Saugus so I'm right around the corner.

Jer

Hey, Jer...welcome aboard on AR, and nice to have you as a neighbor. My son and his wife and daughters live up in Marysville so dinner might be a problem!

He is going to be coming through this way though on his way to San Diego sometime soon because we both want to visit the family of one of his guys that didn’t make it back.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:
Hey Rick, Glad to hear the good news.

Seems like Saturation Cookie-Cutter Bombing of known Terrorist areas would shorten the entire mess. But that is not real popular with some segments of society.

Semper Fi

NUKE IT AND TURN IT INTO A GLASS PARKING LOT. I LOVED OL' BARRY.

RICK, GIVE THE YOUNG MAN A BIG HUG FOR ME.

Ric that's great. My nephew got back to months ago, and started the NYPD academy this week. It's great to see the lads move forward. Tell him thank you, many times.

The world OWES your son greatly, and likewise the other brave people of the U.S. military fighting the good fight.

rick

i meant to tell you also, give yourself a hug. i sweated through a similar experience when my son was in the gulf war.

paging back in my memory banks from 'nam i had a lot of bad dreams about that young man. all you can do is pray and hope they come back.

congrats to you and your son. thank him especially for carrying on the tradition of the american fighting man.

quote:

Originally posted by STINGER:
rick

i meant to tell you also, give yourself a hug. i sweated through a similar experience when my son was in the gulf war.

paging back in my memory banks from 'nam i had a lot of bad dreams about that young man. all you can do is pray and hope they come back.

congrats to you and your son. thank him especially for carrying on the tradition of the american fighting man.

I served in Vietnam also and that really creates a paradox when your son is in a war. It’s helpful because you know what’s really going on...and it’s terrible because you know what’s really going on!!!! Sometimes ignorance is bliss I guess.

Thank God, Rick. He'll remain in my prayers until he's on your doorstep.

I'm sorry not everyone in his unit made it home. Let them all know how grateful we are for their service and that we will be forever indebted to them.

quote:

Originally posted by ForrestB:
Thank God, Rick. He'll remain in my prayers until he's on your doorstep.

I'm sorry not everyone in his unit made it home. Let them all know how grateful we are for their service and that we will be forever indebted to them.

Thanks a million, Forest!

I’m going to print out all of the wonderful posts and emails I got from a bunch of you guys and give them to my son. I sent him some of them while he was there and he and his guys REALLY appreciated all of the kind words and support.

Don't know you well Ric except from here, didn't even know your son was over there, but I'm truly happy for you and your family that he's out of harms way. He and all our men and women in uniform are a source of great pride for me, thank him for us.

Rob

Rick,
I am sure you have seen the superbowl ad with the young soldiers in uniform walking through an airport. I was in SEATAC Airport(seatlle) in the last year and the same thing happened. A group of 15 or so returning. I was standing and smileing at them and they could see it on the faces of those in the airport. Then someone started applauding and everyone stood and joined in. It was on one of the wings at SEATAC and you could hear it continue as they walked down past the other gates. I get pretty emotional and had tears in my eyes. I was not the only one. These young men and women were beaming as they walked by the applause. I absolutely loved it. A moment I will never forget.

I was lucky enough to get to spend some time with Rick's sons unit when they were at Ft Bliss prepping for their deployment. You couldnt ask for a better group of guys. They were all very dedicated to being examplary soldiers and their pride in themselves and as unit really showed.

Some of you may remember in SEP 04 when members of AR sponsored a BBQ for these guys. It was a great time for them. Here are some pics for you all as to remember them before they went.

Unfortunately some of the guys in those pictures didn’t make it.

My son’s outfit has the terrible distinction of having the highest ranking KIA so far in the Iraqi War, Col. William Wood.

From an news paper article:

The battalion commander, Col. William Wood, was killed by a roadside bomb Oct. 27 as he responded to another explosion that had mortally wounded another soldier. Since mid-September, the Night Stalkers have lost 11 soldiers and more than 100 have been wounded. The 105-member Delta Company lost four men in eight days.

Every man in Delta has experienced the blast of a roadside bomb.

"We've been taking it bad," said Dirkse, of Ontario. "We've been hit well over 100 times. I lost count after 80."

Soldiers now stay away from Humvees when they can, preferring Bradley fighting vehicles or M-1 tanks instead. But even those cannot withstand the more powerful bombs. Recently, one 60-ton Abrams tank was lifted off the ground when it hit 1,000 pounds of explosives, leaving a 15-foot-wide crater. Two soldiers were killed in the blast.

quote:

"Ek was net só gelukkig om lewend te wees," skryf kpl. Ben Wasson in 'n e-pos aan een van sy instrukteurs. Hy het in Desember verlede jaar saam met 'n klomp van sy makkers in Afganistan in 'n RG-31- mynbestande voertuig gery.
Source: Beeld, SA day paper, 13 January 2006.

Translated roughly:
"Cpl. Ben Wasson reported in an e-mail to one of his instructors that the only reason they came alive out of a massive landmine explosion were because they were travelling in a South African build RG-31-antimine vehicle."

The American army ordered 148 of the RG-31's to be used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rick- You know how I feel as we have e-mailed back and forth before. God speed to you and yours. Now i have one less youg hero to pray for. I told my wife that he was on his way home and she broke down and cried. She saw how upset I was when he had that little incedent a few months ago. That, and we have raised two find oung men ourselves and we bleed with every mother and father who has sufered such a lose. He and his kind are serving and suffering so my grand baby will have a better world.

God Bless you, him and America.
Judge Sharpe
I support the President, the war, our troops, our right to own and keep arms, freedom of relogion, freedom of speech, due process of law, and the right to remain silent, and all of the other rights we have in this wonderful country of ours.

Rick,

I add my thanks to your son and all those who are serving.

Steve