Adam's Base, Camp Bucca hit June 9

For us, this was huge. In the media it was a tagline to larger events that happened in Baghdad that day. My mom doesn't usually watch the Sat. morning news, but that day she did and saw the news scroll across the screen. She called who she could and we all prayed. Later that day, Adam called to say he was fine but couldn't/wouldn't say much else. There wasn't anything on CNN, but Fox had a blurb. Elizabeth

From FoxNews:

In southern Iraq, an apparent rocket attack at the U.S.-run Camp Bucca military prison killed at least six detainees and wounded 50, the military said. No American casualties were reported.
The U.S. military oversees more than 20,000 inmates at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq and Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport. Military officials refuse to give a breakdown of how many prisoners are at each facility but say the majority are at Camp Bucca.

Email Grandpa Stone sent out:


Grandchildren all,Sarah got a Fox News release: ATTACK KILLS 6, INJURES 50 DETAINEES at Camp Bucca. No American casualties. (Praise the Lord.) This is Adam's camp. Please keep him in your prayers and remember Sarah and Rex. They must be going through a trying time.Love,Gpa Stone

Andrew's appendectomy June 3

Late Sunday night of June 3 Andrew had terrible stomach pains and ended up going to the ER with my mom and Kristen. Later that night he had an emergency appendectomy - they got it before it burst! Andrew has had a lot of pain and has tired easily but is healing well. Please pray for his continued recovery.

Glass half empty - They probably are looking to God's peace in his timing, as this happened only 3 days before he was to be covered by health insurance with his new job! Glass half full - We all praise God this happened here with both of their families around to help and not while they were in CA in a little apt. and no family around.

I will get Andrew on here to tell about his new job and surgery himself....

Elsie

Adam arrives in Iraq

Hey everyone, Again thank you for the emails and prayers, your words of encouragement are always welcome as these times can be trying more than not. This past Thursday, I beleive, we made our 30 min helicopter ride from Camp Beuring in Kuwait to Camp Bucca in the very sothern part of Iraq. Our mission as a unit is still to run the Iraq Correctional Officer Training Academy (ICOTA). Currently I am assinged as the ICOTA Administrative NCO (non-commisioned officer). I was told by my command that I was chosen for the position due to my "outstanding organizational skills." So thats good, anyway its a great job because I provide logistical support the ICOs (Iraqi correctional officers) as they train each other through out the work week. My possition keeps me behind a desk, in air conditioning, with free internet access (which is huge over here) and the ability to calll home on my DSN line (a secure phone line the army sets up). So the position definately has its perks. Although to say we dont know how long we will be in our current positions, due to the continued changing needs of the Army. So i will definately enjoy it while I am in the position. We are currently living in 11 man tents, on cots. We are supposed to be upgraded in housing to "Pods", which are little appartments for two personel. This move is supposed to take place in around a month or so. Luckily the tents have AC, which is great cause the high right now is around 110 degrees. Please again feel free to email, now more than ever, as I am able to respond daily. Thank you again for all the support and prayers-Adam Rogers

Adam arrives in Kuwait

Hey there family and friends, Well I’ve finally made it to theatre! Kuwait is warm, sandy and barren, just the spot to spend a nice one year paid vacation. The base camp that I am currently at is not my final stop where I will be spending the next year but it is close. Due to operational security I won’t be able to share certain points of information so I will be speaking in generalities when it comes to location and other mission sensitive topics. Over time these points of information will be able to be shared, but until that time I won’t be able to share many specifics. Anyway things are going great here. Yesterday was 109 degrees during our training. We are here in Kuwait for a little while to get acclimatized and get used to the 7 hour time difference. While here they are having us do some minimal training to keep us busy and out of trouble. One of the bigger events of the past couple of days has been my promotion. I wasn’t promoted as far as grade or rank but rather position. I was moved up to the position of squad leader from team leader. So now instead of just being in charge of 3 lower enlisted personnel, like your privates, I am now in charge of 2 teams, which consists of two team leaders and between 3 to 4 team members. As far as the military life goes this is a huge jump in responsibility as I am now in charge of other NCOs (Non-commissioned officers, like me), especially since one of them out ranks me in time in grade and time in service. Anyway needless to say I was thrilled as my platoon sergeant picked me among my four other peers for the position. Other than that all is progressing as usual. We are being told that we will be moving to out final destination soon, but that also we are a lower priority company, so the transportation resources are being used for other companies. So again, needless to say we are staying flexible as the Army is keeping us on stand-by. For those of you that may not have heard, Morgan Dee Webb my girl friend of 11 months said yes to the big question on May 7th during a surprise proposal. We have been engaged now for less than 15 days and already picking out locations and dates for the up coming big event. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she truly does have the hard job of the two of us as she is finishing her degree back home and beginning to plan the wedding. Which reminds me to thank you all for the continued prayer and support during my time here and back at Ft. Bliss, your continued emails, letters and packages are always a welcome sight at the end of a long day, so thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Which also reminds me, for all those of you who have continually asked if there is anything you can do to help or support my mission here, I have found one request thus far. Other than an occasional email through an internet café, my main line of communication for a while for calling home/Morgan will be through an AT&T calling card. If you would like call the following 800 number with the provided pin number and add some minutes using a credit card. I will continue to use this same calling card during my deployment until other preferred cheaper ways to communicate become available, when that does I will let you all know. Again thank you for all your support and prayers. From Kuwait-Sergeant Adam RogersDial 1-800-269-7241 Pin # 439-288-1735 Follow automated operator instruction to add minutes with credit card over the phone.

Family Updates

Hello all. We haven't been doing a very good job keeping this up-to-date, but there is a lot to add. I will endeavour to catch everyone up on some of Adam's emails and to also write everyone again to they can log on and add their own updates. Hope all is well, Elizabeth