Letters from Mr Gonyo while in Iraq

Sept 15th 2009

Greetings family and friends,
Sorry for the delay since the last update and contact. The month of August began with hosting a conference, making a few trips and then preparing to go home for vacation. Vacation was fantastic!! I began my travel back home on the evening of the 2nd, spent a night in Kuwait, and was in Atlanta on the 5th. Karen and the Kids met me at our local airport and it was a very touching moment -- seeing how much the kids grew in the past 5 months was amazing. We spent a few days at home and around the area to allow me to adjust and to have visits from family. We had a birthday celebration for Meghan and her friends before leaving home and another series of presents and fun on the 12th of August for her 7th birthday (as we vacationed in Virginia Beach). Our first stop was Maryland to visit my brother Jeff and his family for a wonderful dinner and overnight stay in their home. We left Rockville and went to Fort Story (Virginia Beach area) to stay in the bay side cabins with magnificent views of the Chesapeake Bay. We did day trips to either the beach near our cabin, trekking to Busch Gardens, the Aquarium or just around the town stuff like mini-golf. On the way home, we stopped in Washington, DC for an overnight stay and a visit to the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum - Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center (near Dulles Airport). The kids thought seeing the Blackbird SR-71 Jet and the Space Shuttle Enterprise were cool, and they loved sitting in the cockpit of a Cessna. Although our vacation had to end... every day was special in its own way with memories that will help us until we are back together in February. Departing from Karen, Brendan, Meghan and Hunter was much harder this time, the two weeks was extremely special and knowing that another 5 months or more will pass before seeing them again made good-byes more difficult. My flights back were long, and settling back into the temperatures, food, time changes, catching up on work, etc took a few weeks to re-adjust. The temperatures are thankfully cooling off, I attached a photo of the thermometer on the first few days back... it was registering at almost 140 degrees!! September has brought cooler temperatures, and last night was almost breezy and cool as I walked back to my room from work. I have been traveling for key leader engagements and attached a few photos of trips at the request of some of your last emails.
I went to the Rotunda here at our Palace on September 11th to share a few moments as GEN Odierno (Multi-National Force Commander) and LTG Jacoby (Multi-National Corps Commander) held a very special and nice ceremony to remember 9-11 and Patriot Day. Some of you on this message remember our friends and brothers in arms who have given years of their (and their family's) time, some have shed blood here in this sand and some have paid the ultimate sacrifice since that day. Being here on September 11th this year was very moving for me -
Being back in New York was a huge change of mind-set and focus for a few weeks. We are getting close to our unit planning for returning home which is exciting and will be a welcomed balancing act. Our team of 26 is split between different divisions within the CJ3 - Combined Joint Operations Directorate (The Wolf Pack) and although we work for the same boss, we are employed as individual augmentees instead of as a unit. My jobs here have been excellent opportunities to learn and to grow professionally. Being on the staff of a strategic level headquarters and working in the Joint military and Embassy environment is fascinating. As great and fun and fascinating as it has been though, I am looking forward to spending time to prepare and coordinate for our return home. I can't wait to spend some more time with family and to return to work with the new knowledge and experience gained during this deployment.
I hope all is well for you and your families, I appreciate the support that many have provided to Karen and the kids, or to me. Thank you for everything, please stay in touch as you are able. Getting mail or a message from "Home" is always a nice reason to break away for a moment (and they are always great for a smile).

Warm wishes and Regards,

Jim

July 24th,

The Scouts here are local Iraqi children and some are the children of the Iraqi Soldiers from our area. We have interpreters and communicate with gestures and our best attempts at non-verbal communication or broken language exchanges (a good exercise to try with family and friends -- communicate without talking). I will talk with the team here and see if there is anything they want to try. My thought is to do something that helps share the cultures with each other that we can also take photos of and record to send the discs to each other. I think we could make the project go over several months and then show the pictures at the Blue and Gold? I will see if I can get some actual numbers for the kids here. Last week was well over 75 kids from all ages and both boys and girls. We did Karate, Soccer, Paper Mache and First Aid for almost 3 hours.

I will stay in touch and appreciate everything.

July 23rd,

I began working with the scouts here in Baghdad, and attended my first outing with them last Saturday (my first few hours away from work since leaving the states). We made paper mache volcanoes for the older boys, and paper mache balloons for the younger boys and girls. I did take photos and will send them back soon so you can post them on the site. If there is any interest in doing any kind of sponsorship program, they have patches here that would be a very cool reward for the boys that participate. I will wait to see what level of involvement (if any) that Pack 6 would like to have before bringing it up with the team here. I purchased a t-shirt from them last week so I can wear it instead of my uniform while on the outings, I will take a few photos of that too and it can be found on the website http://www.victorybasecouncil.org/ if you want to check it out.

eating foil packs smore's in iraq

It was great to see the Iraqi scouting kids last week, and to do something that was a reminder of home. I miss my family, miss the scouting events, and am looking forward to a chance to get home for a vacation soon. Best wishes and many thanks for the care packages. I sent a flag that I had flown over our palace and a thank you note - hope it shows a small percentage of how much your efforts have meant to me.

Thanks.

May 17th, 2009

Good Afternoon "Family",

Sorry for the impersonal bulk email send of compressed photos, but I have been trying to write to many of you over the past few months and never seem to have time to do 25-30 separate emails. Thanks for your continued emails and letters, they mean a lot to me and I have been very fortunate to have regular phone contact home and frequent emails. Life continues to be very busy, with our days normally beginning at 0700 in the office and ending at around midnight daily. The temperatures have begun the climb to stay at or around 100 degrees daily and I am told that we will soon have daily highs in the range of 115-125 degrees and that the evening temperatures will still hover around 90-100 degrees. I guess that is why this is a desert though. Most of the photos above are from last week, and I compressed them to save space and time. I hope all is well in your corners of the world, and that you and your families are doing well. I promise I will catch up on letters and emails at some point, until then please know my sincere thanks are sent to you daily as I hit my knees and remember those who have touched my life with kindness for so many years.

Jim

MAJ James C. Gonyo II
CJ3 - Future Operations (FUOPS)
Multi-National Force - Iraq
james.gonyo@iraq.centcom.mil
james.gonyo@us.army.mil
DSN: 485-5741
VOIP: 241-8930

April 20th:
I was there when President Obama came, but I didn't have the luxury of being able to hang out for an hour before to get a spot by the stage, and I am not a cute, young person so I didn't get on stage.... but I was close enough to see and video it and it was still exciting to be able to say "I was there". No problems with safety unless I trip while walking or puncture my finger with a staple or get a paper cut.
I am going to try to get involved with the cub scouts and boy scouts here, but the meetings are when I am super busy so I need to be here a little longer to work that in the schedule. If I do we can talk about some kind of exchange program (I don't want to say it too soon though). The kids sent me some great sheets for my bed with a camping theme and I think about the camp outs I will miss this year and get sad, but know that next year and plenty more years of scouting follow so I know I will make them up.
Thanks again, and give my best. Have fun at International night.

Jim

I have sent these pictures to Karen and the kids, and we work in the palace where President Obama visited which is in Baghdad (the palace is called al-Faw). The 1st photo is my unit on our first day or second day here and in the spot across from where the president spoke. The second photo is my battle buddy and I in a chair that was given to Sadaam by Yassir Arafat (it is near the entrance so it is a natural tourist spot for photos). We work very long days and I have not gone anywhere other than our office, the dining facility, the gym and our room for sleep.... If I get to venture out, I will look for some Iraqi money and trinkets to send back.
Good luck with the International night, and Thanks again for the card and pics you sent. Give my best to everyone please.

Jim

April 6th:

Our weather is not too bad yet, they told me that by June and July it is 100 degrees by 7 am.... so I don't think I will be running outside when it hits June. Our trip to get here brought us through Kuwait which was surprisingly cool in the evenings and rained for a few days while we were there. I have only 3 days here so far, but the temperatures are definitely better to acclimatize than if we came in June.

I don't really need much right now, but will share whatever you send. We have tons of coffee and tea, and the essentials -- but toiletries and snacks (especially gum) always are a hit. I will try to send photos soon, but I am working from 7 am until 11:30 pm most days (we don't have to come in until noon on Sundays so we can go to church and sleep in a few hours at least). Please share my best wishes with everyone and know that I will indeed stay in touch.

Jim

james.gonyo@us.army.mil

March 28th:

Hey Webelos! I just spoke with Karen, Brendan, Meghan and Hunter on the phone and am now in Kuwait and finishing a long day in the desert. We are 7 hours ahead of you now, I believe I jump to 8 hours ahead when I get to Baghdad, but will have to verify later. We had an opportunity to send an email or two and to call our families through the USO tent here in Kuwait. They are a great organization and remind me to be thankful for our extended family from Pack 6 so I wanted to just send something quick to say "Hi". I dont have a good permanent address yet but should soon when I finally get to my final camp. We live in tents here and they are not bad; they have plywood floors and although they are dusty, we get cots to sleep on and there is plenty of water for us to stay hydrated. We get healthy food and are busy enough to make the days go by rather quickly.

I think our green care package from the Tigers may still have items in use and we have been very lucky to find a ton of support and sustainment items where ever we have been so far. I told Karen about our last US stop when I spoke with her earlier today.... we were in Portsmouth, NH for our final fuel stop and we were greeted at Pease AFB by about 200 people (veterans, families, girl scouts, and cub scouts to name some of the groups).... anyway, the moment was one of the big deals for us and meant a lot because they were able to represent and share our last moments in the USA as representatives of you and the people we all love and may have not been able to properly say good bye to. The big thing I requested of Brendan is that he continue to work with the families of our Den, because his passage to Boy Scouts is so important. I know he also has some positive and trustworthy role models from the parents of our Den while I am away. Thanks for that, it means more than any words can express in an email. Please stay in touch and know that I often talk about you all and I miss my chance to be with the Pack 6 family a few times a month.

Best wishes, and many thanks for everything. God Bless.

Jim

James C. Gonyo II

MAJ, IN, NYARNG

Logistics Officer

53rd Army Liaison Team

james.gonyo@us.army.mil

June 2009

Good Afternoon Family and Friends,
Today marks the Army's 234th Birthday and Flag day. Here in Baghdad, there will be a short, well-done ceremony to honor the history of the Army and our Flag. Our morning temperatures were 118 degrees when I saw the thermometer so the ceremony is thankfully inside. This week's photo is of me and CPT John Stenson (the other logistics officer with our team). John is from the Glens Falls area, and is on his second tour with the Army Liaison Team, and he is a genuinely exceptional person. I have enjoyed working with him and getting to know him more over the past year that we have been working together. His efforts are always 100% of his ability, his word is always truthful and his focus is always on the team. I share that with you to let you know the type of people that I am surrounded by every day while here. The obvious hardships of being away from our families, homes and loved ones is much easier to endure when you have a solid network of people to talk with and to share the unique bond of friendship that comes from those shared hardships. COL Machina, our commander, has done a great job checking up on us and making an effort to sit with us or stop us to make sure things at home and at work are going well. Our unique situation is that even though we are deployed as a unit, our assignments in the headquarters buildings and within the CJ3 directorate means that we seldom see one another. I actually ran into one of our soldiers on Friday for the first time since April 3rd, and had a chance to talk with him for a few minutes.
My cool stories for the week.... I had an unexpected email from my very close friend and former room mate from the Department of Corrections - Tom Lobur - after several years of no contact. We lived together in apartments for several years when we first started in the Department of Corrections after our academy. He is from Akron, NY (western NY, outside of the Buffalo area) and I don't even know if we had email addresses to share back then. Anyway, after I left the department, Tom moved back to the Western part of NY, and we lost contact. He found my email information while checking for cub scouts links online.... thus finding the PACK 6 web page and my photos and letters home to the young men of our local pack. So, thank you also to Steve Corby, Wendy Cucci and our Pack 6 family for indirectly helping reconnect me with another source of "home" and a great guy. Bonuses for the week was getting some packages from Mom and the folks in her office, hearing about Brendan's rocket launch and scout picnic (THANKS to Mr. Cucci and family for your help AGAIN), and of course hearing Karen and the kids on the phone.
Your emails always give me a chance to break away (at least mentally) for a few minutes a few times a day. I love to hear the updates, get your jokes, see the photos, and to reflect on the fact that I am extremely lucky to have a strong network of friends and family. I appreciate everything you do, send, share and represent for me; it is humbling and makes it very easy to go through each day with a smile and a solid will and effort to both do my best and to help others so that my representation of what "We" are is a positive experience for others. Whether your role is as a brother or sister in an organization, a family member, a fellow service member, neighbor or a friend you have helped me in your random acts of kindness, your example and your actions. This has been one of those weeks in my life that the realization of that has become evident. The small examples above are only a few things worth sharing. Every day is good.
I hope your week and month are great. Now that temperatures are rising in the US and the kids get ready for their finals and last weeks of school, I hope your days are full of things that make you smile. I look forward to another great week-- it is time to get back to work. Best wishes until I get some more photos moved over and can send them.

nnDnn; YITB; Yours in Scouting; and Warm regards,

Jim