.

Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Cousin Andrew Williamson Reports from Afganistan



Cousin Andrew Williamson in Afganistan


From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello Williamsons!

Did you know we have a member of our extended Williamson family on active duty in Afghanistan?  Andrew Williamson is on his second deployment and sent the following email.  Before you read his update from the front, let's first place Andrew in the family tree for reference.























As far as I know, Andrew is the only member of our extended family currently on active duty in a war zone.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.  I would like to highlight all members of our family on active duty.  The good news, Andrew's deployment is nearly over.

I emailed Andrew a month or so ago and asked him to send a quick update from the front.  Andrew responded with the following email and photos.  




Andrew and his Platoon on patrol
Well this is my second tour in Afghanistan, the first was from April 2007 to July 2008 in Nuristan Province which is in the north eastern part of the country. This tour started in March 0f this year and we will be home before the 1st of September. It seems like this tour was almost as long as the first one but in reality it is almost a year shorter. I'm pretty sure it is because I have a family of my own now and I miss them like crazy. 

Our mission during this deployment was to prepare the Afghan National Army to take over and do everything on there own instead of NATO forces running the show. We spent a little more than half of our time doing patrols with ANA to villages in the area. The rest of the time we supported a Route Clearance Package, which went up and down the main roads clearing all the IEDs. Sometimes we did this on our own which was a little scary. 

Our Platoon was very fortunate not to lose any of our guys. We had a few guys get injured but all are doing fine now. We are also very successful during our time here. The ANA we worked with are a completely different group, a complete night and day difference. We also found many caches of weapons and IED material, along with about 15 IEDs on the roads. 

All in all this was a good deployment. We didn't lose anybody and we were successful in our mission. Its definitely time to go home though. The guys are ready to get out of here and see there families and get back to normal life. I cant wait to see the family and the new house. 

i hope that works for you Victor, I will try to send some pics later on but It might have to wait till we get home. The Internet is not so hot here. 


 Another of Andrew's photos.  Afghanistan resembles Utah in may ways.
Strange to think such a beautiful place could be in such a mess!


We are all proud of Andrew and the service he is giving our country.  Andrew's email is 
 andrew.williamson2@us.army.mil  If you'd like to drop him a line.

Simply,
Victor