EOD CSM

Remember-Every CSM was once a bird chested SPC that always had their hands in their pockets…

Today was a big day. After over two years in Command, I handed off the Guidon. For the last 25 months, I’ve commanded the Army instructors that create the next generation of EOD Soldiers, as well as all of the Army Officer students going through training. I further doubled as a BN HQ Company Commander. Trust me when I tell you the kids will be ok. The next generation of EOD Soldiers are humble and ready to get to work. They are capable and hungry. I’m incredibly proud of the students, instructors, and staff I had the privilege to interact with daily. I would not have been successful without them.

Senior Airman Elizabeth Loncki was 23 years old and carried a weight most of us will never understand. In Iraq, she served as an explosive ordnance disposal specialist. While others ran from danger, her job was to walk straight toward it. Every device she approached could be her last. Every wire she examined required absolute precision. Every mission meant the difference between lives saved and lives lost. She operated in Baghdad during some of the most dangerous months of the war. Her team completed 194 missions together—194 times walking into situations designed to kill without warning. Each mission demanded patience that most people don't possess and courage that can't be taught. She kept going. By early 2007, Elizabeth was nearing the end. Just 20 days remained before she would board a plane home. The countdown had started. Plans were being made. She had survived what seemed impossible to survive. Then came the mission she wouldn't return from. Elizabeth Loncki was killed in action doing exactly what she'd been trained to do—protecting others. There was no national headline. No moment of collective mourning. Her name was simply added to a growing list, though her life meant infinitely more than a line of text could ever capture. She didn't command battalions or make history books. She simply showed up, day after dangerous day, and did work that saved lives she would never meet. That kind of courage rarely makes the news. It's remembered in quiet ceremonies, in the hearts of teammates, and by families who carry the weight of that loss forever. This isn't about politics or policy. It's about a 23-year-old woman who chose service, who faced death repeatedly with steady hands, and who gave everything just days before coming home to the people who loved her. Her missions saved countless lives. Her name is Elizabeth Loncki. And she deserves to be remembered.

Iraq was attacked by the US during Ramadan and it sickening to know that the US is again going to attack Iran during Ramadan. The US apparently loves to strike Muslim countries during Ramadan and I am convinced it isn’t what these countries have done to violate international law but about who they worship.

what’s that red patch on his shoulder mean?