Red Bull News Herd 'Round the Net

There has been a lot of news coming out of the deployment of 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (2-34th BCT) recently. Some of it has been exciting, as soldiers continue to aggressively pursue their respective missions. Some of it has been inspiring, as citizens build bridges from Iowa to Afghanistan. And some of it has been heart-breaking, as buddies, friends, and family mourn the deaths of soldiers killed in action.

Here is some of the latest Red Bull news in brief:

Injured Red Bull soldier may return stateside by end of week
In an April 25 update, the Des Moines (Iowa) Register reports that, following a April 23 combat incident in Afghanistan's Kapisa Province, Iowa National Guard Spc. Zachary Durham, 20, of Des Moines has been transported to a hospital in Germany, and may return stateside by the end of the week. He has talked with family, is reportedly in good spirits. Durham was shot in the same Kapisa Province attack that resulted in the death of another "Red Bull" soldier, Staff Sgt. James A. Justice, 32, of Grimes. Both soldiers are members of 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment--part of the Iowa's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (2-34th BCT). Funeral arrangements for Justice are pending.

'Hero' tribute video depicts Nichols funeral procession
The April 23 funeral of Spc. Donald L. Nichols, 20, was held in the Waverly-Shell Rock High School. Iowans lined much of the 15-mile distance from the funeral to the graveside service, holding flags, saluting, and otherwise standing witness. The 2009 song "Hero," by the Christian rock band Skillet, was played during an interlude at the funeral. The official video of the song is posted here; a tribute video to Nichols featuring the song is posted here. While the frenetic combination of music and pictures is a little dissonant--not at all in keeping with the somber, overcast mood of the day--it does a great job capturing depicting how many people were out to welcome Nichols home one last time.

Minnesota Red Bull soldiers to train Afghan security forces
Some 55 "Red Bull" soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard's 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 136th Infantry Regiment (2-136th CAB), headquartered in Rosemount, Minn., are preparing to deploy to Afghanistan on an Embedded Training Team (E.T.T.) mission. See news article here. Such a training mission may be similar to what Nebraska's 1st Squadron, 134th Infantry are doing during the deployment to Afghanistan with Iowa's 2-34th BCT.

Iowa Red Bull unit, Minnesota non-profit distribute clothing to Afghan civilians
Working through Afghan National Army personnel, soldiers of Iowa's 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment (1-168th Inf.) recently distributed 6,000 coats and other clothing items to Afghan civilians in remote villages in Paktiya Province. The clothing was donated, collected, and transported through the efforts of Rapport Afghanistan, a Minnesota-based non-profit started in 2010 by 1-168th Inf. alumnus Shawn Mingus, Chanhassen, Minn. Weather and transportation problems postponed delivery from January to April. “Rapport Afghanistan is a great example of outstanding, grass-root support from volunteers in America who donated time and money for a coat drive to donate warm clothes for the Afghan people who need them,” said 1-68th commander Lt. Col. Stephen Boesen. See Army news article here.

Southwestern Iowa soldiers capture insurgent moneyman
On the other side of the mission spectrum, two companies of 1-168th Inf. soldiers this month also helped 400 Afghan personnel conduct Operation Rainbow Valley, a traffic-control effort to snare insurgents operating in the Zormat District of Paktiya Province. The mission paid off when a highly sought-after insurgency financier was captured on his way home from market. “We’ve definitely taken the wind out of the sails of the insurgents for a while,” said Delta Company commander Capt. Kent Greiner of Nevada, Iowa. “We’re striking a nerve with them and we’re going to keep striking that nerve to see what happens.” See Army news article here.

Omaha World-Herald team returns to Nebraska
According to a blog-post earlier this week, the Omaha World-Herald's reporter-photographer team of Joseph Morton and Alyssa Schukar is returning stateside after spending nearly two months covering Midwesterners deployed to Afghanistan. Morton's interviews and insights have told the citizen-soldier story well, and Schukar's portraits of Midwestern men and women in uniform are like fine art. You can continue to follow their coverage here.

Des Moines (Iowa) Register feature on Red Bull women practically goes viral
An April 24 Des Moines Register Sunday news feature about Red Bull women in combat has since appeared in USAToday, the Army Times, and other venues. You can continue to read the Register's regular coverage of the 2-34th BCT deployment here.

Three Red Bull blogs nominated for Fifth Annual Milbloggies Awards

Announced April 25, the Red Bull Rising blog has been nominated for a Milbloggie Award under the U.S. Veteran category. The People's Choice-style competition "recognizes military bloggers for their contribution to blogging, news and information, and to the military over the past year." Voting will close on Thurs., April 28, at 7pm EST/4pm PST, and no registration or log-in is required.

Two other blogs related to the 2-34th BCT deployment to Afghanistan, "My Yellow Ribbon" and "My Father's Voice," have been nominated under the U.S. Military Parent category. Please consider voting for these blogs, as well as:

• U.S. Army: "Life, Love & Truth" written by Illinois National Guard recruiter, "Afghan Journal" author, and Red Bull Rising guest-blogger Jeff Courter. Go Guard!

• U.S Marine: "Glory, Guts & Glitter," written by single-mother and Marine Christina Fawn. She writes with a bayonet, and will occasionally cut your heart out and make you like it. Plus, she's from Minnesota, and can find Camp Ripley on a map. So she's practically a Red Bull, too!

• U.S. Reporter: Tom Sileo writes "The Unknown Soldier," which routinely and sensitively celebrates the lives of U.S. military personnel.

• U.S. Military Supporter: The writer of "Little Drops ..." who uses the callsign "Kentucky Woman," has been a long-time supporter of Red Bull Rising, and has worked hard to introduce Charlie Sherpa around the Milblogger community. It's people like her that make the Internet worthwhile.

Click here for a Milbloggie ballot.

Vote This Week! The 'Red Bull Rising' Blog is Finalist in Fifth Annual Milbloggies

Red Bull Rising, a blog focusing on the largest deployment of Iowa National Guard soldiers since World War II, is a finalist in the Fifth Annual Milbloggies, a "People's Choice Awards"-style competition administered by Milblogging.com, a Military.com website.

According to the Milbloggies website, the award "recognizes military bloggers for their contribution to blogging, news and information, and to the military over the past year."

Readers can vote for the blog to receive an award by using a simple web-ballot found here.

Red Bull Rising appears under the "U.S. Military Veteran" category.

Voting will close on Thurs., April 28, at 7pm EST/4pm PST.

The Red Bull Rising blog can be found at: www.redbullrising.com. When it was started in December 2009, the Red Bull Rising blog was written from the perspective of "Charlie Sherpa," a soldier preparing to deploy to Eastern Afghanistan with the Iowa Army National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (2-34th BCT). When the unit mobilized without him in July 2010, Sherpa covered the unit's training at Camp Shelby, Miss., and the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif. while still in uniform.

A freelance writer and editor in his civilian career, Sherpa continued to write the blog after his December 2010 retirement following 20 years in the Iowa Army National Guard.

"I'm kind of a mash-up of a military-unit historian and citizen-journalist," Sherpa says. "I now write the blog more in third-person than from first-person perspective, but enjoy the ability to switch back and forth. I've also maintained the 'not-so-secret identity' because it's proved surprisingly useful in negotiating the spaces among officers, enlisted soldiers, spouses, and others."

Originally nominated in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Reporter award categories, Milbloggies contest officials apparently consolidated the nominations by listing Red Bull Rising under the U.S. Military Veteran category.

The editorial missions of Red Bull Rising blog are:

• To explain in plain language the roles, responsibilities, and routines of the U.S. citizen-soldier, with particular focus on the U.S. 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division.

• To illuminate ways in which citizen-soldiers past and present--as well as their families--can be remembered, supported, and celebrated.

"By telling our Red Bull stories, I hope to illuminate what makes the U.S. National Guard so unique in history, geography, and mission," says Sherpa.

"I'm still applying to embed with the Red Bulls in Afghanistan as civilian media later this spring," says Sherpa. "And, as soldiers and families know too well, a deployment doesn't end with a homecoming parade. There are months of recovering and resetting as units, as families, as friends, and as citizen-soldiers."

"Besides, the Red Bull continues to rise. The 34th Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team--the Minnesota Red Bulls--is headed to Kuwait and Iraq later this year."

To learn more about the Red Bull Rising blog, and its pseudonymous author "Charlie Sherpa," click here.

A list of all 2011 Milbloggies finalists can be found here.

Winners will be announced at the Sixth Annual Milblog Conference to be held April 29-30 in Arlington, Va.

Iowa Red Bull Soldier Killed in Kapisa Province

Staff Sgt. James A. Justice, 32, of Grimes, Iowa, was killed approximately 10 a.m. Sat., April 23 when the helicopter-borne Quick Reaction Force (Q.R.F.) of which he was a member came under small-arms fire in Afghanistan's Kapisa Province. The small force had been attempting to secure the crash site of a 2-person OH-58 "Kiowa" scout helicopter assigned to another U.S. Army unit. Also injured in the attack was Spc. Zachary H. Durham, 21, of Des Moines. Both are members to Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment (1-113th Cav.), an Iowa National Guard unit headquartered in Camp Dodge, Johnston, Iowa.

The 1-113th Cav. is part of the 3,000-soldier deployment to Afghanistan of the Iowa National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (2-34th BCT). As "Task Force Red Bulls," most of the 2-34th BCT is responsible for helping the Afghan government, military, and police secure the provinces of Parwan, Panjshir, and Laghman, as well as portions of others. Some units deployed with 2-34th BCT deployed have been assigned under other task forces and other provinces, but Kapisa is not one of them.

Coalition forces operating in Eastern Afghanistan, to include Task Force Red Bulls, are assigned under the active-duty Army's 101st Airborne Division, which operates as "Combined Joint Task Force-101" (C.J.T.F.-101). According to the CJTF-101 website, Kapisa Province is the responsibility of Task Force La Fayette, comprising French coalition forces.

According to Iowa National Guard officials at a Sunday night press conference at Camp Dodge, the Alpha Troop soldiers had earlier conducted a patrol in the Parwan security zone surrounding Bagram Air Field ("BAF"), when CJTF-101 requested soldiers to immediately secure a Kiowa scout helicopter that had made a "hard landing" in Kapisa Province. The cause of that landing is still under investigation. The Iowa soldiers were assigned the QRF mission because they were "readily available" at Bagram Air Field, said Iowa National Guard spokesman Col. Greg Hapgood.

While guard officials were unable to characterize either the type of weapons or the intensity of the attack that killed Justice and injured Durham, they did say that Justice died at the scene. After the QRF traveled from Bagram to the crash site via UH-60 "Blackhawk" helicopters, landed, and came under attack, "pathfinders" trained in establishing landing zones were dispatched from 101st Airborne Division and inserted into an area south of the crash site. Air Force pararescuemen were also dispatched and inserted near or onto the site.

According to Iowa guard officials, a U.S. Air Force A-10 "Warthog" and additional armed U.S. Army Kiowa helicopters arrived to eliminate the immediate enemy threat. Justice was reportedly killed and Durham wounded while moving off their landing zone, which at the time was considered "hot" and still under fire. Durham has since been evacuated to Craig Joint Theater Hospital, Bagram Air Field. His injuries were not specified by officials.

Justice is a 13-year veteran of the Iowa National Guard, and deployed to Afghanistan with the 2-34th BCT only last February. "One of his goals was to get on this deployment," said Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Schaefer at Sunday evening's press conference. "He wanted to get into the fight." Prior to mobilization, he was employed full-time by the Iowa National Guard, and Schaefer had been his supervisor. Schaefer described Justice as level-headed, hard-working, and easy to talk with. "He had an ability to lead soldiers and have them follow."

Justice had previously deployed to Kuwait (2001), Egypt's Sinai Peninsula (2003-2004), and Iraq (2005-2006).

Justice is survived by his wife, Amanda Jo, and a 3-year-old daughter Caydence Lillian, of Grimes; his father and mother, Larry and Lillian Justice, brother Kenny Justice, sisters Denise Christensen and Christy (Kevin) Lingle of Manilla.

A family statement released via the Iowa National Guard reads in part:

James Alan Justice meant many things to every person he encountered. He was the funny best friend named "Juice" that could be counted on when needing to be cheered up; the uncle who always knew just what to say and when to hand out hugs; the son who was his parents' pride and joy; the father who loved his little girl more than anything in the world and couldn't wait to have more children; and the husband who loved to put a smile on his wife's face.

Funeral arrangements for Justice are pending.

Earlier this month, two other Iowa National Guard "Red Bull" soldiers were killed and others wounded in separate combat incidents, and in different Afghan provinces.