Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Visit Korea from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

4th Squadron-7th Cavalry Thanksgiving from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

Soldiers from 4th Squadron ,  7th Cavalry volunteering to help out the local community. The Soldiers visited the Bohwa Welfare Center and the Kasan Migrant Workers Center. The Knights of Columbus organized the event as part of their “Meals on Wheels Program.”  The Knights and Soldiers served up Thanksgiving dinner and spread some cheer. The festivities ended with a play. Children from Yongsan’s, Holy Family Parish put on a Thanksgiving Day show.

1BSTB Thansgiving Day from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

I’m PFC Shawnte Lonnette. Today was a really exciting day for the DFAC.  It’s Thanksgiving for the soldiers here in Korea and all I can say is that it is a blessing.  Everyone was coming up to us thanking us for our service and telling us how great the meal was.  I felt really honored to be cooking today just as any day but it felt extra special today.  A lot of my battle buddies came in and were down and out because they’d rather be home with their family but I had to remind them that they were with their new extended family and to be thankful for that.  Just knowing that there were once soldiers that fought in Iraq or Afghanistan on several holidays and some never made it back to their families made me appreciate being here in Korea with all my newfound friends. Well we’re still on standby to know if we won the DFAC competition, hopefully we did.

We have been running around for days on end and have been spending some long nights trying to make everything perfect.  Yeah, it got a little hectic and tempers went through the roof but we still maintained to put out a great feast. We did so good the three star general gave us a coin.  All in all the day was absolutely amazing and I’m thankful to be working with such great people whom I know have my back.  So I leave you with this, even though times get hard and you feel as though you’re not going to make it at times just think about the ones who have it worse than you and see that you can get through the tough times. Peace and Love.

SGT Tharaldsen: Manchu Mile from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

The 2nd Bn, 9th Infantry Manchu’s conducted the Manchu Mile today – a 25-mile roadmarch with rucksack that commemorates the 85-mile march that the regiment did in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. SGT Tharaldsen of Demon Company carried a video camera and got us these clips.

Manchu Spouse Challenge from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

Almost thirty spouses reported for PT formation at 05:45. We marched to Carey Fitness Center for Tae Kwon Do PT where Grand Master Yi guided us through a light workout. Next, a quick run around Carey Field and combat drills: lifting an ammunition canister, an obstacle course, grenade toss and high crawling. We ate a hot breakfast and were fitted with NVGs. Our job was to navigate a maze and complete a recon mission. After the maze, we were able to get up close and personal with static displays.

The afternoon was spent preparing to fire M4s on the live fire range. Instructors taught us about the M4 and weapon safety. We ate MREs for lunch and took a bus to the live fire range. At the range, we donned body armor and each had an opportunity to shoot 20 rounds from the M4. Last was a two-mile road march back to 2-9 HQs carrying weapons and assault packs. All the Battalion Soldiers were waiting for us, cheering us on.
At the end of the day, we were exhausted and sore.

We went home with a sense of camaraderie, feelings of accomplishment, and pride in ourselves and our Soldiers.

Lisa West

American Gladiators Visit to Camp Casey, Korea from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

The American Gladiators paid a visit to Camp Casey. After a ride on some tanks courtesy of 1st Bn, 72nd Armor Battalion, they attended an event in the evening at Carey Fitness Center to challenge Soldiers in various sporting events. Photos from the event are also on Flickr.

The Iron Brigade did a 5.8 mile run on the 26th of October commemorating the birthday of the 2nd Infantry Division. Short video from the run is above and a few photos from the morning have been uploaded onto Flickr.

Iron Brigade Run for 2ID’s Birthday (Camp Hovey, Korea) from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

Lisa West, the 1st HBCT Family Readiness Coordinator, shot some video of 1st Battalion, 15th Field Artillery’s Family Day. Family members came to the field to see up close what the ‘Gun’ battalion can do.

Lisa West: Guns Battalion Family Day from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

SPC Shaw: Shoothouse from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

Heres a clip from SPC Shaw of 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry as they conduct dry-fire training at the ’shoothouse’. The ’shoothouse’ is an urban operations training facility for Soldiers. Today they were practicing dry runs in preparation for conducting a live fire shoot later in the week.

PV2 Winsted: Convoy Life Fire from IRON BDE on Vimeo.

PV2 Winsted from Echo Company, 302nd BSB shot some video for us from their convoy live fire training. Take a look.