Purify celebration

One of my favorite pictures of the year. Always nice to see players (especially out of state players like Maurice here, who have only been in the program a short time) show emotion. Just thought I'd share it with you. 10 days until we stomp CU...

Kansas City here we come!

Unbelievable. Just when I thought all was lost, that another once-promising Husker season was about to completely fall apart, that we were going to let yet another game we dominated early get away from us and slip through our grasp ... we delivered one of the most thrilling endings to Husker game in recent memory, and quite possibly in the history of the program. I can't even describe in words how much it thrilled me to see our team, at it's lowest of low points, with the odds against them and their backs to the wall, come together on the road in a hostile environment and put together a stunning drive for the ages. The image that is burned into my memory is a shot the ABC cameras showed late in the game of our bench, all on their feet, arms interlocked, just hoping, praying that our offense could regain their 1st half form and put together one last drive to steal a victory on the road that would punch our ticket to the Big 12 championship game and deliver a North division crown. To see our team come together like that when it mattered most was a thing of beauty. I think it's fair to say that our team (Billy C especially) would have come under heavy fire back in Nebraska if we let yet another early lead dissolve. Congratulations to: Barry Turner, for making the comeback possible with a huge field goal block; to Todd Pederson (who only had 10 catches on the season coming into this game - he had 7 against the Aggies) who was doing his best Jerry Rice impression on the final drive, making big catch after big catch; to Zac Taylor, who stayed cool and calm in the pocket and seemed to make all the right reads when it mattered most; and last but definitely not least - Maurice Purify. All I can really say is that Purify is a weapon that this Husker team has desperately needed, and he adds a dimension in the red zone that our offense hasn't had in years. Let's hope our team can keep this momentum going and finish off this season on a high note.

Huskers vs Tigers

Well, needless to say our beloved Big Red were in desperate need of a statement win yesterday, and by golly, they delivered. After the disappointment and heartache of the Texas loss combined with the embarrassment and failure to rebound on the road against Oklahoma State, I was getting sick and tired of losing and was worried I might be watching another once-promising Husker season slip away. However, we were able to pick ourselves up off the mat and deliver in a must-win situation at home. Huge win for coach Callahan and the program. Hopefully the Bugeaters can keep the big mo rolling, win our next two against aTm and the vermin and roll into our highly anticipated rematch against the Longhorns on a hot streak.

The S-1 section continued their bar-b-quing ways last night, with an added twist. We rolled with gourmet burgers on the grill, and added SSG Johnson's nachos as a nice pre-game warm up. Needless to say, I was unable to move for a good hour afterwards. Pics below.

Our designated grill master (also the mastermind behind the nacho plate), SSG Johnson, keeping a close watch on the progress of our burgers, with moral support from SGT Kane and SPC Fleck.
Adding the fixings. There was another grill going last night with regular burgers, but here in the S-1 "normal" just doesn't cut it. American cheese, swiss cheese, and bacon - that's what we call taking it to the next level.
Burgers are ready for show time and are the centerpiece of our spread inside the office. Nicely done Brad.
Yours truly, attempting to crush a giant double bacon cheesburger. I get full just looking at this picture.

Game Time part two

More pics from out Huskers/Longhorns shin-ding last night.

College Gameday is on ... starting to get pumped up for the game. MSG Aldag brough out his white Husker flag, which is signed by the entire team, for good luck.
SPC Benes, the reigning HHT soldier of the month, was the "grillmaster in training" all night. In this picture, MAJ Teegerstrom is giving Beans some tips on how to tame his monster, Grill Zilla. I'm sure Benes came away from the night a much-improved grillmaster, thanks to MAJ T's fine tutelage.
I turned off the flash on this photo, to capture SPC Benes taming the fire-breathing monster that is Grill Zilla.
Left the flash off on this picture also to give an idea of just how dark it was out there. We had one or two lights, and the glow of the plama screen tvs helped also. The crowd is starting to gather, anticipating the clash of the titans that awaits.
Another shot of our setup. You can see the awesome spread of food that we enjoyed, and you can also spot the 2nd tv, in the top right corner. Iraq isn't the best place to watch a Husker game, but I think we did a pretty good job considering the location.

One last point about the Husker game last night. For those of you who might be second guessing Callahan's decision to throw the ball to Nunn on 3rd down late in the game to ice the victory, I reccomend you check out what happened in the Notre Dame - UCLA tilt. UCLA was in a position similair to ours - underdog team, with a small lead late in the game (17-13), trying to ice the upset victory. UCLA had the ball on their own side of the field, just like NE did. UCLA came to their 3rd down crossroads, and decided to run the ball. Their coaches were willing to punt the ball back to Notre Dame, which sports a high-powered offense that had been restrained most of the night - eerily similair to the 'Horns offense being held in check for the most part by the Blackshirts. UCLA ran the ball on 3rd down, Notre Dame burned their last time out, and then UCLA punted the ball to the Golden Domers with a shade over 1 minute left on the game clock. Notre Dame, with no time outs and 80 yards of green grass between them and the end zone, needed a touchdown to win the game. What do you suppose happened, my loyal readers? Notre Dame went right down the field in the blink of an eye, scoring a touchdown in only 3 plays. UCLA got the ball back with time to run one final play, which ended in a sack. Ball game. Notre Dame pulls out the victory, 20-17, ruining the Bruin's upset bid. Personally, I'm fine with the play call to throw - we had a chance to ice the victory and beat Texas, and we went for it. Something to chew on as we all try and recover from the heartbreak of last night's game.

Game time

First off - wow. What a ballgame, and what a rough ending. 30 or so diehard Husker fans over in in Iraq were taking in the game together, and thought we might be witnessing the first big "signature win" in the Bill Callahan era. What a way to lose. Heartbreaking is the only word that comes to mind. Hopefully our team can get up off the mat and win our remaining Big 12 games and earn a second shot at the Longhorns in the Big 12 title game. I was hoping I would come into work this morning feeling better about this whole thing, but I just can't get the bad taste of it all out of my mouth.

Now that we have that out of the way, I'll share with you some photos from happier times. The 11:10 am kickoff back in Lincoln gave us an awesome 7:10 pm kickoff here in Iraq, which was very condusive to our grilling plans. The time slot also brought out a ton of Husker fans that aren't quite diehard enough to wake up at 2:00 am and listen to the Big Red over the radio. The atmosphere before the game was great. We had multiple grills going, plenty of ice cold beverages, tons of food, two plasma screen tvs and lots of Husker fans ready to take it to the Burnt Orange. This first batch of pictures focuses on the grilling portion of the evening.

A matchup versus Texas calls for the best - big, juicy steaks. Here are our heroes, seasoned, tenderized, and ready for showtime.

"Grill-Zila" MAJ Teegerstrom's ballyhooed grilling monster was rocking and rolling for hours last night. We didn't want our steaks to fight hamburgers and brats on the the main grill space, so we opted to fire up a couple of smaller charcoal grills for our beauties. In this shot the coals have just been fired up, still a ways away from grill time.
Our grillmaster, SSG Johnson, preparing to plop our main course on the grill. The flash from my camera gives the illusion we were grilling in optimal lighting conditions - do not be fooled. We were basically cooking in the dark, and SGT Kane and I had to assist our grillmaster with flashlights, so we could observe the progress our steaks were making.

Gorgeous. Just a few more minutes until we feast.
SSG Johnson, SGT Kane, and myself, killing some time until the food is ready to go.

Shout outs - showtime

This Saturday's big game versus Texas has officially gained even more importance. The word on the street is that the short and sweet shout-out video that I taped a few weeks ago (see my post covering this here) will be played on the HuskerVision jumbo screens this Saturday at some point during the game. This has not been declared a 100% certainty to happen, but my source tells me that the chances are good that this is going to be the game. So, if you're one of the lucky few who have tickets to the game and plan on viewing the Huskers game live, in person, keep your eyes on the big screens for a possible shot of yours truly from Iraq. (Nicki - I'm talking to you!)

Husker game

You want to know how soldiers in Iraq take in a Husker game? I figured you would, so I took some pictures of the S-1 crew listening to the NU vs Troy game. We all had to wake up at 3 a.m. in order to listen, but for a diehard Husker fan sleep is a crutch. Enjoy.

I don't know about you all, but when I see look at this picture I don't see SFC Kerchal - I see Tony Soprano. The similarities are striking. Both are leaders of men, in charge of a "crew", carry a 9MM pistol at all times, intimidating, and both have issues keeping hair on their domes. Now if we can just convince our commander to buy us an Escalade to cruise around Anaconda with, we can really pull this off.

Here I am at my battle station, operating the radio feed over the internet and monitoring a live statistical feed, both courtesy of UNL's official Husker site. We have had remarkably good success with the radio feed, considering our location. I'm trying to see if my new Larry the Cable Guy Husker hat can meet "lucky hat that must be worn during Husker game" status. So far so good - we're 1-0 together. Give me a few more wins, and we'll talk.

SSG Tunnison, pictured in the center of this photo, is the master chef of our Husker listening parties. His cheese/hamburger chip dip is outstanding. Notice the score predictions on the white board - we are all very competitive. No one hit the nail on the head with an exact prediction for the Troy game, but SFC Kerchal and I came the closet, so we called it a tie.


SFC Kerchal and I, digging in to the snacks. I'm enjoying some of SSG Tunnison's delicious dip. Cheese dip and n/a beer at 3 a.m. is the definition of Husker football dedication, in my book.

Shout-out

Our Squadron PAO (Public Offairs Officer) is SFC Shultz. He is the editor and man in charge of our bi-monthly newsletter, and runs all public affairs type matters within the Squadron, including covering newsworthy events, interviewing soldiers within the Squadron, taking pictures, and sending news stories and information back and forth between the soldiers here in Iraq and media outlets back home. Yesterday he organized a Husker shout-out with the local PAO officer here at Anaconda. Soldiers volunteered to shoot a short (30 seconds or so) video clip, saying hello to family and friends back home and wishing the Huskers well for this season. The goal is to get these shout-outs played on the HuskerVision screens at a Husker home game some time this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Anyways, just in case you never get a chance to see the video, I had SPC Benes take a picture of me on the set, capturing this magic moment. I have my Larry the Cable Guy hat on in the picture, but I decided against wearing it for my shout-out. Wanted to maintain my militray image and what not.

Larry the Cable Guy

Larry the Cable Guy hails from the state of Nebraska. As we all know, if you are born in NE, you have roughly a .05% chance of not being a Husker football fan. Larry does not fall into the .05 percentile. He is an avid Husker fan, and has recently shown his devotion to NU by investing millions into the program by purchasing his own skybox, and has also made a habit of showing up to Husker practices. Earlier this week we received a care package, courtesy of Larry himself, full of Husker gear. Boxes of woodland camo Husker hats and red "Git-r-done" Husker t-shirts were sent over as gifts to us Husker fans doing our thing over here in the desert. See below for a picture of yours truly, modeling this fine Husker apparel.