PG 5
Wow, I turned around a few days ago and realized that we, Multinational Battle Group-East, had already been here for 30 days. Where has the time gone? It seems like just a couple of days ago we were making that midnight flight into Kosovo. It makes me wonder how much we can affect the mission here with time moving so quickly.
Mnbg-e CSM
The Soldiers of MNBG-E are working hard after finally settling in. The progress we’ ve made since we departed Fort Bragg is phenomenal. Soldiers successfully completed the mission readiness exercise at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, certifying their preparedness to assume the mission here in Kosovo. With the execution of the Transfer of Authority ceremony, the next phase of this deployment began. We bid farewell to the Soldiers of the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade and welcomed in the responsibility of KFOR 17. As always, the Soldiers of the 525th and those Soldiers and multinational partners that have become a part of the 525 family have risen to the challenge of KFOR 17 and are prepared to execute for success.
Since being here I’ ve been fortunate in that I have had the ability to travel a little bit. I attended the Kosovo Security Forces Warrior Leadership Course graduation June 22. The pride on their faces was precious. The Liaison Monitoring Teams of Joint Readiness Detachment-East have invited me on a couple of occasions to visit with them at local schools. It is always humbling to be treated so graciously and always as an honored guest by the local population. Their continued support of NATO forces is espoused every day. As I travel from one place to another, I’ m struck by the same thoughts that I have had on numerous occasions in the past, in other places around the world. People are people wherever you may be. They want basically the same things. They want to live their lives and to be happy and to enjoy life. They don’ t even have to be rich, they just want to be able to have pride in themselves and what they do and who they are. I can only hope that by the time we leave, someone’ s life here can be as greatly enriched as mine already has been.
So thank you MNBG-E for making the first 30 days such a huge success and for making the time pass by so fast. Enjoy this deployment and embrace our mission here as the next 8 months will go by quickly.
Lightning! On the move!-Lightning 7
PG 5