As our frequent blog readers know, the 314th Public Affairs Operations Center is nearing the end of its tour here in Iraq, but the mission goes on. 

Yep, they went through the same training at the 314th PAOC Soldiers. (Photo by SSG Danny E. McCormick)

The United States is committed to staying the course and helping our friends in Iraq to rebuild their nation (each of us in the 314th has many friends that we will be sad to leave).  Part of that ongoing mission here includes supporting the flow of information, and the Combined Press Information Center and the Media Operations Center at the U.S. Embassy here will continue to be front and center in that important mission.  Though the name of the U.S. military heaquarters here will change in the near future, our press conferences, embedded media coordination, English and Arabic language press releases, escort missions, media credentials, and answers to media queries at the press desk will continue. 

And, who will carry out this mission, you ask?  The Soldiers of the 318th Public Affairs Operations Center from Forest Park, Illinois, of course!

They also got to enjoy all that Fort Dix, NJ had to offer. (Photo by SSG Danny E. McCormick)

Soon after this Army Reserve unit arrives in Baghdad, the Soldiers of 314th will work with our successors to ensure we pass on the knowledge we have gained.  We’ll walk them through the places where we have gone (and point out the ones we can’t visit anymore), explain the challenges we had and how we overcame them, and introduce them to our U.S., Iraqi and other friends and colleagues who made our year here more productive and enjoyable.

Some of you readers have asked what you can do to support U.S. Soldiers here in Iraq after we leave….and to answer you I say this:  support the 318th the way you have supported us.  Send them cookies, pray for them, help their families back home, and keep paying your taxes (someone has to pay our wages, right?).  Also, you can get your fix of online info from sunny Baghdad, Iraq by visiting their blog at www.318thpublicaffairsoperationcenter.blogspot.com, where you can continue with news and views of deployed Army Reserve Public Affairs Soldiers (the best job in the Army).

To the members of the 318th, we DEFINITELY welcome you (remember, sooner is better), and we encourage you to follow our lead.  As we did, reach out not only to the far reaches of the world’s Internet community of strangers, but also to your friends and families back home.  You never know whose life you will positively affect or what changes you might bring.  Each of you 318th Soldiers has a powerful tool at your fingertips — so take what we have done, make it your own, make it better (and as the administrator of the 314th blog, I am required by Army regulation to ask you to do it in accordance with AR 530-1).

So, now it's time for them to leave those MREs behind and come on over to Iraq for a year. We'll keep the lights on for you 318th! (Photo by SSG Danny E. McCormick)

And, to our friends, families and loyal 314th blog readers, continue to follow us here as we begin our journey back home over the next few weeks.  Our story is not yet over!