Happy 4th of July from Kuwait

Westminster's Department of Planning, Zoning and Development Director Thomas Beyard, 56, departed for a 400-day rotation with the Maryland Army National Guard late last summer.

Beyard joined the Guard in 1997 after years with the Army Reserve. He has worked for the city of Westminster for close to 24 years.

Until his return, his position is being filled by interim Director Steve Horn.

Beyard sends occasional correspondence to Patch and we will post his letters and photos as we receive them.

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To all, from Camp Buehring, Kuwait, I wish you a Happy Fourth of July.
 
Our day started at 0500 with a nice Fourth of July 5K run. We had between 20-30 from out unit and all did well. We got a nice t-shirt for participating and we took a group photo when we finished.
 
Today is a day of minimal manning to give Soldiers a chance to reset, as well as to celebrate the day. We have one group of Soldiers traveling to the Embassy in Kuwait City to participate in a special cook-out and barbeque. At Buehring, we are having a block party this afternoon and special permission was granted for some minor fireworks tonite.
 
Our clock continues to wind down for our re-deployment. Later this week, an advanced party for one of the units that will replace us will arrive in theater. Then, for the remainder of the month, this same process will happen - new units arrive and current units prepare to leave. It is critical times, as we have to continue our mission, while at the same time preparing to leave as well as working with our replacement unit to prepare them to take the mission.
 
The culminating event will occur on 10 August. Then we have our TOA (transfer of authority) ceremony, when we turn the mission over to our replacement unit, the 35th Combat Aviation Brigade from Missouri. We will case our colors, meaning will roll up our colors and place the case over them. This symbolizes that our mission is complete.  Soon thereafter we will be heading to Ft. Hood to demobilize and then home.
 
It has been a tremendous year for the 29th CAB. I have tried with my messages back home to allow you to better understand what we have been doing. Hope I have been successful.
 
Regards,
Tom