Where's Bekah?

Has anyone that deployed with us heard from Bekah Holmes (Torbert)? She seemed to fall off the earth when she and Isaac left 1ID. Come to think of it, Isaac disappeared too for that matter. I've tried sending her emails through AKO, but I'm sure she wants to have nothing to do with anything that says army!

I was just curious how they and their baby (toddler now?) are doing.

Later y'all,

Rob

Letter from Brian while he was in Iraq

June 19, 2004
to: Phil and Lonnie Eve


Hi Mom,

Happy Birthday. Sorry I didn't call.

I'm glad your e-mail is working. I was wondering why I haven't heard from you in awhile.

I got your package today, thanks!! Freddy had to laugh at that huge bag of pistacios because his friends own the farm where those particular pistacios came from. Weird, huh?

Freddy and I went to Qatar last week for our 4-day pass. Our trip there was rather eventful, and I figured you were probably praying for me. We had to go with a convoy to Balad, which is normally about a 2 hour trip, and then fly to Qatar. Let me explain how these usually work. Freddy and I caught a ride with another unit who had a convoy to Balad. We were in the back of some big 5-ton trucks, which had guns on them, and we all had our guns locked and loaded for the trip. Normally we don't see anything, and the agressive posture prevents most from messing with us. Anyway, we got about 45 minutes down the road, and one of our 5-tons broke down. So we had to stop and get out of the truck, which normally we don't do. The idea is to keep moving until you get there. But this truck broke down, so we had to stop and hook it up to the other 5-ton, and we towed it to the next army camp, where we left it. This delayed us about an hour, and we were mad that it delayed us so much, but fortunately nothing happened. Well, aother 45 minutes or so into the trip, we came up on a traffic jam. We drove around the few cars that were there to find another convoy had stopped the traffic. They got there about 5 minutes in front of us. So once again, we got out of the truck. They were out looking and found an improvised explosive device (IED) which is a roadside bomb. They stopped traffic and called the bomb squad. They showed up and were getting ready to send out their little robot, when rhere was a big explosion about 150 yards down the road. At first we thought the EOD (bomb squad) personnel detonated it, but it turns out that no, it was the terrorist who cammand detonated it with some kind of remote control. Then we found out that actually there was a daisy chain of several IEDs together. Two went off with that first explosion, then 5 minutes later another was command detonated. The 4th and final IED was finally detonated by our EOD guys.

We were grateful that that first 5-ton broke down, because we might have been the first through those IEDs, and I really wouldn't have wanted to find them the hard way. I decided that that truck breaking down was a miracle brought about because you pray for me. Thanks, Mom.

Brian

(Brian has pictures to go with this story. He'll post them sometime)

Brian's Pride

This is evidence of the success of Brian's PT regimen while we were deployed!

Rocky Horror Christmas Cake

These pictures were taken when we went to FOB Normandy (I think) as part of our the BQ's Holiday Tour around Iraq. It was made by the locals, and they apparently don't have any idea about keeping the icing from melting - even though they live over there! Maybe they just don't know how to make cakes - too busy making bombs!

Anyway, enjoy the photos. I have a few more I'll put up.

Shalom, y'all!

Rob

This is Brian's computer illiterate mother . ..

I am so sorry about how these pictures got posted on here. The last one needs to be the first one. There are two that are in the "title" column under "Pictures of Brian before . . . ", and "his Jr. Hi band". These should be first. Please forgive my ignorance. Next time I'll know that's how they come on here and I'll try to plan it correctly. Enjoy the pictures, anyway.

Graduation from high school

Brian, and his friend "Tac" playing for Tuba Christmas.

Brian and his Big Band performing for a New Year's Eve dance.

Brian enjoying a Christmas at a lodge in Red Lodge, Mt. He's on vacation from college.

Practicing at home.

Brian and Mike Sanderson demonstrating their "invention" - Brian will have to explain this one!

High school freshman. Home coming parade.

Jr. Hi band. Brian is the middle trombone

Some pictures of Brian before the 1ID knew him!

Christmas, 1987. I guess everyone gave him ties and he liked them all. Couldn't decide which one to wear, so he wore them all!

MadCamel

This is Marcus doing the "MadCamel" and some other Marcus favorites.

BQ in Iraq

Here are a few of the BQ in Iraq. Members were Me, Rob, Gary, Bekah, and Marcus. Also a picture of the bombed out palace from a helicopter. This was one of three presidential palaces on the compound where we lived. It was off-limits due to the fact it took three cruise missiles in the early stages of the war.

Greetings

Brian, I ran across some pics from the marching show in Berlin, with the NYPD Pipes and Drums. In one pic, pre-gig, the fearless leader.....
....the next pic is what happens to the fearless leader after having to deal with all of us rowdy kids.... :)
Ah, those were the days..... :)

More photos from Brian

Before I started using google services lice Picassa, I used Webshots. And here are my photos from there. There are quite a few pics of the band there, including some from Iraq. Enjoy!

By the way, It would be cool for someone else to post some photos, too. Here are some direcions on how it is done.

My Early Days

Here is a pic of the first group of guys I did real jobs with in our BQ. It was interesting in that everyone in that group was a Specialist (E-4), except Kit, who was a Corporal (still E-4) by this point. This gig was at a Fancy Schmancy Christmas dinner in Graf, if I remember correctly. Must have been December of 1998. This group was Moose, Tom, Me, Chris, and Kit. That group was a lot of fun. I remember once Tom brought a 5 Liter keg of German beer to an evening rehearsal. Bad idea. (I'm trying to keep this blog from becoming a "one time, when we were drinking" collection of stories, but hey, what are you going to do?)

This pic is Moose and I at our first marching show in Hamburg. If I remember correctly, this was both of our very first job with blues, and we had to borrow them to get them in time for the gig. Hence, the service stripes with only a rainbow ribbon. For those of you who like beer stories, this marching job was interesting in that every day we were there the facility provided the band with something like ten cases of beer each day. The band never drank much (it was discouraged before the gig, and we usually left right afterwards). So, Moose and I collected as much of this beer as we could carry on the bus. Something like 12 six-packs of bottles each. Germany is cool!

Brian Eve's Bio

Here is my bio. Please leave yours here, too!

I was in the 1ID Band from 1997 to 2005 in Bamberg Germany. I married Diane shortly before deploying to Iraq, and we have had a home in Munich ever since. Now I work in Schweinfurt with Child and Youth Services helping middle school kids with their homework. I play in an amateur big band in Munich called oTunes on occaision. My wife has a fancy job with the German Patent Office. I joke that I mooch off of her for a living (not far from the truth). I am hoping to get a job closer to home sooner or later, as we still just get to see each other on weekends, just like the old days.

Drop a line here and say 'hi!'

Sonthofen 1999

Here are a few old pictures I dug up. Great memories. Could be February 25, 1999. This little town was way down south in Bavaria in the German Alps. We went there every year to play for a German NBC unit, if I remember right. That is, until the commander of the unit went to Prenzlau, then we went there every year.

This first one is most of the Big Band we had at the time. Left to right is Will, Jim, Randy, Brian, Teal, Brian, Keith, Tom, German POC, Jesse, Brian, Gary, Mike, Matt and Bob (I think).

Here is Buck O Buck, Juck O Nuck E Suck with a couple of the local ladies.
Here is the band playing. I think this is the day I was promoted to Corporal.

Enjoy,

Brian Eve