This was a particularly sad Memorial Day for the Animal Squad. We had to add one of our own to the 1/34 BCT’s photos of fallen heroes. It took us a week before we could release the news, because his family left their den for the summer several weeks ago, and we had to search for them.

Teddy was a great team leader. I’m going to miss him.

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This week I got to go on a patrol with some of the human soldiers! I went with a patrol from the 134th BSB (Brigade Support Battalion). It turned out that one of my buddies from my POLARCOM reserve unit was part of this patrol! It was sure fun to see him. Here’s a picture of us together:

I helped him prepare for the mission by loading a few coolers full of ice into the vehicle. We polar bears need to bring LOTS of ice on patrol with us, so that we don’t overheat. My friend, 1st Sergeant Olson, stopped by to inspect us and to make sure we were prepared for our mission with enough water, ammunition, and ice (that’s 1SG Olson in the middle):

I asked if I could be a gunner for this mission, but after trying for several minutes, the soldiers determined that they could not get the gunner’s harness adjusted to fit a polar bear:

While we were on patrol, we stopped at a nearby school and dropped off some supplies. The kids were sure happy to see us! We gave them notebooks and pens and things like that, and they were very thankful. It was great to see them attending school, although it was sure disappointing to see what terrible shape the building was in.

Here is a picture of the schoolchildren with MAJ Simer and with two of my other friends, Amy and Jeremy (no, this is not the same Amy as MAJ Simer’s cub – she hasn’t grown up THAT fast). I couldn’t be in the picture – we were worried that Iraqi children might be afraid of a polar bear, so I was pulling security.

After we stopped at the school, we had lunch with some local leaders. They sure served a lot of food! I was very pleased with that. They roasted two whole sheep – one that they cut up and served to all the humans, and another that they served to me whole. That was very nice of them. For the humans, they served the roasted sheep on a bed of rice, with flat bread, vegetable soup, and fruit. Everyone ate with their hands (or paws) while sitting on the ground, which is the tradition for a luncheon of this sort. It was pretty neat. Here is a picture of Jeremy eating lunch with some of the Iraqi dudes.

On the way back, I got to be a Truck Commander (TC). Here I am watching the road and looking out for IEDs:

When I got back, MAJ Simer told me that I needed to file a trip report explaining what happened on the mission:

I had a great time on this mission! I’m sure happy that those soldiers let me go with them. It was nice to be meeting and helping some Iraqi people.

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