Planning Director Beyard Checks in From Iraq

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

To all,  

Hello again from Taji, Iraq. As I am sure you have seen in the news, Operation New Dawn, as the war in Iraq  is called, will officially end on December 31, 2011. Based on agreements between the United States and Iraq, all US Soldiers must leave Iraq by December 31, 2011. So in addition to completing our normal aviation missions, we also prepare to move out of Iraq to another location.
 
As a combat aviation brigade (CAB), the 29th CAB will be the last CAB to serve in Iraq in a very historic war. This war is one of the longest in US history. I remember the day it started in March 2003, I was deployed the first time at the height of the surge in 2006-07 and now I am deployed again as the war ends. Our aircraft fly each day in support of the mission and our flight crews continue to do great work. I have flown on our aircraft many times and I admire the skill and courage of the crews as they fly about Iraq. Our aviation professionals, including flight crews, aircraft maintainers, refuelers, etc. have done outstanding work. And they are backstopped by great cooks, ground mechanics, medical professionals and others, who are just as important to our work. Without a total team effort, it would not be possible to be successful. I tip my hat to all these great Americans and pass along my thanks and respect.
 
Sometimes we have the opportunity to do things out of the ordinary. Recently, as part of our key leader exchanges with the Iraqi military, I had the opportunity to visit an Iraqi water production and bottling factory and a bread factory. Most interesting about the bread factory, while the ingredients of the bread are the same as here - flour, water, etc. - the process is very different. I had the chance to show my skills in making bread. Unlike our bread, Iraqi style bread I made was very thin. It is cooked by patting the dough into a thing pizza shape and then sort of slapping inside against the wall of a very hot oven. Once it is cooked, it is taken out to cool. The bread looks sort of like a pizza crust, but without any toppings. This type of bread is very common in the Middle East and tastes very good.
 
I also had the opportunity to travel to Baghdad again last week. I saw a very large mosque under construction. As I fly about Iraq, mosques are very common to see and easy to identify. The large mosque I saw, which I am told will be the largest mosque in the world, is simply huge. I also flew over Saddam's former Al Faw Palace, one of the huge palaces that Saddam built for himself. It is a very big structure (I have been inside it before), surrounded by lakes full of fish. It is also interesting to look at the street life as you fly over Baghdad. I wonder what people are doing and how they are taking care of their families. I must say that even for a city that has been severely affected by a long war, Baghdad is still a sight to see.
 
As the war will soon come to a close, reporters from all over the world are making their way to Iraq to see the end come. We recently had a crew from NBC visit Taji to gain a better understanding of these historic times. Often, you don't know the journalists at all. However, in this case, the journalist is one I have seen many times on national television - Richard Engel, chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News. He is a leading middle east expert and his perspectives and thoughts about Iraq and all of the Middle East were very interesting to me as we talked during one of our meals together. He and his crew came to see Taji and we showed them our current "home". Since he had visited Taji many times before, I am sure he saw many differences from earlier times when Taji was a bustling base with over 20,000 Soldiers. 
 
In closing, I hope you are prepared for the Christmas holidays. We are getting ready here and are planning a Christmas party complete with goodies and more. I am sure we will even have holiday decorations and a Christmas tree, and even Santa Claus.
 
I have included some photos for you to see: the first is me making bread, Iraqi style; the second is a Blackhawk helicopter high over Baghdad - photo taken by me from a nearby Blackhawk; the third is a photo of Saddam's Al Faw Palace, that was used by Saddam Hussein and for a long time by the US military; the fourth is me with the new large mosque under construction in the background; and last is a photo of me and NBC correspondent Richard Engel.
 
Regards,
Tom