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29 febbraio Back in the saddle Well its been a while since Ive blogged on here. Lifes been pretty busy. Since I last blogged Ive been able to spend about six months at home then it was off to warrant officer candidate school and then to flight school, back home for 3 weeks and now Im headed back off to Iraq to fly medevac. Im gonna try to blog on here regularly again depending on the facilities available but not for probably another month. Im looking foward to it should be a new ball game. 19 ottobre nervous As the freedom bird gets closer and closer Im begining to have feelings
I never saw coming. Im starting to get nervous about going back to the real world and my real life. I am more nervous about going home than i was about coming here. Not that i dont want to go home i want to go home more than anything but there are so many worries , it just seems so irrational. Theres worries about readjustment back into the family, theyve all changed and grown so much. I know on the same token ive grown and im sure ive changed alot too. I really dont know how to describe all of the feelings or worries but they are there, tons of them. Most seem really irrational but no matter what i tell myself theyre still there. I guess in a way im almost sad to leave too. I guess its probably because im one of those people who if I start watching a movie no matter how crappy it is Ive got to finish watching it just to see how the story ends. I guess it might be kind of like that, weve done so much here and given alot to help this place and i want to see it pay off, i want to be able to bring my wife here in 10 yrs and say ... "see , see how much better this place is than in the pictures"
I am very excited about getting home though, my littlest girl is 16 mos old, she was born 2 weeks before i left. Ive been able to spend 2- 2 week blocks of leave with her but from pictures she has changed soooo much. My oldest is 6 she is getting huge too, Im kind of anxious to see how much shes changed too. aw.. I am truely blessed and i cannot wait to get back to my real life, cooking dinner and watching movies with my wife on the couch, waking up in my own bed, grocery shopping walking in the park with my girls.... so many little things i miss. almost here. The worst part of the wait is the fact that when we leave here we have to go to some base and sit there for up to a month for outprocessing ... doesnt that suck? yeah, but atleast well be on american soil right? anyways just figured id vent. 23 settembre days go byAbout a month ago my wife left for Air National Guard basic training. before that the longest wed ever went without talking was like 4 days. Boy... it sucks bad. Ive missed her for 15 months but Ive been blessed enough to have constant communications throughout this and my last deployment, so this is a first for me. I really never thought it would be so lonely. It has definatly slowed down the clock. Anyways. Things have picked up a little around here, Im pretty sure theyll keep pickin up till the elections but in this place you can never really tell. last year we were expecting an all out fight on elections but we saw nothing more than ieds (road side bombs)in the area we were at. Im not complaining though because time flys when youre having fun right? I have learned so much about myself and my life and what i want for me and my family since ive been here. I feel like coming home will be a second take on life. not that it was bad or ill spent before because i love the life that me and my wife have made ..its just ... its hard to explain but im excited to start the rest of my life with a fresh perspective. Aww and my little girls.... Ive spent only a month of leave with my youngest and shes 15 mos . its time to get to know her and catch up with my 6 yr old. Im just super excited. Well thanx again for youre positive comments and support, it means alot to us over here to hear positive things when all you ever see is protests and negative stuff on the news. Thanx again your friend in iraq Cat 22 settembre some facts on iraqDid you know that 47 countries have reestablished their embassies in Iraq? Did you know that the Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people? Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been built in Iraq? Did you know that Iraq's higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all currently operating? Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2005 for the reestablished Fulbright program? Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational?! They have 5 each 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment. Did you know that Iraq's Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 Bell Jet Rangers? Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion? Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers? Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks? Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities. Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations? Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October? Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%? Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consists of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations? Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004? Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a televised debate recently? OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW! WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW? OUR MEDIA WOULDN'T TELL US! Instead of reflecting our love for our country, we get photos of flag burning incidents at Abu Ghraib and people throwing snowballs at the presidential motorcades. The lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq serves two purposes. It is intended to undermine the world's perception of the United States thus minimizing consequent support, and it is intended to discourage American citizens. ---- Above facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense web site. 17 settembre Finaly an article worth readingWow,
I am beyond suprised and feel like i might be eating my words from my last entry, lol
I was looking through the news and I actually found a great article on the situation here in iraq. I just thought id share it. Go boston globe. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/09/16/good_news_from_iraq/ 13 settembre as not seen on tv The other morning we were on one of our routine presance type patrols
when we heard an explosion. We turned around and headed back towards the blast.
When we got there I was very impressed with what i saw. It had taken us maybe 2 minutes
to make it to the blast site, but when we got there the Iraqi police had everything under control
and had already found possable secondary devices and were clearing out the area with iraqi soldiers. This may sound litttle or maybe even ridiculous to some but it is a HUGE differance.
When we first came here, without our help it might have taken them 20 minutes to secure the area and put a handle on the situation if they didnt just leave. But what i saw on the ground the other morning was calm proffessionalism and know how within the local authorities.
Its just something you wont see on the news.
nothing here is perfect but we are winning victories here, Im
not talking about killing militans but were empowering the people to handle themselves
and to take on the duty of thier own security. There is still progres to be made but we are
accomplishing our goals here. Every day i see big improvements from more services runniing like trash trucks and roadside cleanup crews, Ive seen schools here that were beyond nasty when we got here cleaned up and fixed up beyond recognition, everywhere you look there are tons of city beautification projects which dont sound like a big deal but it helps people take pride and better care of thier city. Most of this stuff Ive wrote about before but It is still going on more and more everyday. anyone who thinks that were doing anything less than accomplishing our mission here in iraq is sadly mistaken. Id like to thank the people that visit my site for your comments, I Love reading them to my fellow joes and It gives us much pride. Thanks again. 25 agosto draggin by As the days here go by they seem to be getting longer and longer. We are so very close yet so far away.
 Were still seeing tons of changes here, the Iraqi Army are finaly in all matching uniforms, theyve gotten kevlar helmets and body armor and with the new uniforms thier seems to be a growing pride , like they .... well i dont know there seems to be a little more proffesionalism, While i know that they are not yet ready for us to leave this place I can see them beeing ready in the next couple of years. I believe most of us have a bit of pride in seeing the results of our hard work and sacrifices, I think all americans should have pride in the things that have been accomplished over here but with the media only pointing out the bad and people just not really knowing whats going on over here most people will just never have a clue. I try to stay away from things that coud offend people but this deal with this soldiers mother camping out at the presidents ranch demanding an explination is rediculous.
Maybe she just doesnt know how democracy works, how the president is one piece in the huge number of people it takes to send us to war, and say even for a second that it was soley his decision, Her son made a decision to join the militaty, for thousands of years as long as men have had disputes nations and peoples have had armys to fight thier battles, while not every army has been volunteer this one has been since veitnam, and anyone who raises his or her right hand and takes that oath knows that at some point he or she may be asked to place his or her life in the harms way to protect the values and beliefs of this nations people. It may sound cold and ill probably get some rude comments but I dont care. she shouldnt be asking our president why her son is not here she should be asking herself what values she instilled in her son to make him want to defend our freedom and way of life. Then she should ask herself if her crusade is a tribute to her son or if she is going against the very thing her son gave his life for. Ive never lost a son or daughter in combat and i hope i never have to. That is part of the reason why i am here. but I do know that myself and most of the joes I know would roll in our graves if our families did something like this.
Anyways Things like that just really get me riled up.
I hope I dont offend anyone but if i did its too bad i guess. If Hippies back home who have never dawned a uniform or given up thier freedoms for someone elses have the right to protest and say whatever they want , then its pretty safe to assume that I too have the right . right?
11 agosto gettin closer Its been over a year since many of us left our homes and loved ones. As we are getting closer to our "freedom bird" you can feel the stress levels rising. Most handle it rather well but you can definatly feel the tension in the air.I dont know any statistics but Id be willing to bet at least a quarter of the married men i Knew over here arent married anymore and Beeing National Guard soldiers, many do not know if they will have jobs when they return not to mention all the other worrys about returning to family life. It sounds kinda dumb huh? "worries about returning to family life" but there are alot alot changes in 18 mos. While were still months out we still have a job to do. Throughout this deployment Ive thought many times of home but not in the context of "When i get home....." Ive tried to keep from those thoughts , but here lately its been all but impossable. Its not good though. It makes time drag by extremely slow and it makes it hard to focus on the mission at hand.
Anyways
Things here are buiseness as usual, patroling the city , talking to kids and working with the police.
I guess i havent made any entries for a while because i havent really seen anything thats inspired me. Which might be because Its slowed down here or it might be because Ive been slightly preoccupied with goin home.
either way Im still lookin for things that are worth writing about so hopefully ill have some more meaningful or eventful entries soon. 18 luglio is it worth it? Many things have changed since we first entered this city. When we first arrived here 7 months ago
some people waved, the majority was indifferent , and in the southern parts of the city we were met with challanging stares, middle fingers and rocks. It was quite obvious that they didnt want us here.
I cannot speak for or about the unit that was here the year before us but since weve been here I truly believe weve made a huge impact on the people of this third largest city in iraq.
Weve had many frustrations challanges and dissapointments along the way. To be a soldier in this type of conflict is a very fine balancing act. The soldier in us is taught to make contact manuever and overtake the enemy.While that is still relevant when we make contact, I believe it is the american in us thhat we rely on more.
Its the american in s that wants these people to have running water, sewage line that dont flood the street, vaccinations for their children to grow up unplagued. Schools and supplies and the saftey to attend them so these children can grow up to make this a better place for thier children.
Its the soldier who mans the guns and vehicles that patrol this city day and night, but which part is it that feels great loss and anger when innocent people die at the hands of terrorists in this that has become OUR city?
I do believe that we are at all times soldiers and all times americans , but this is just part of the balancing act between staying and appearing tough and ready to put down any agressor who stands in the way of freedom and showing the mercy , kindness and compassion needed to help these people and give them hope and an example to follow.
after 7 months of hard work in this city the changes are quite obvious. From attitudes to city appearance.With the exception of a few small neighborhoodswere met daily with smiles, waves and open kindness where months ago cold stares and rocks were thrown. Even in the few places where we are still not too popular I cant remember the last time I was flipped off or had rocks thrown at us.
Houses and buildings are going up everywhere, Ive never seen so much building. Children who couldnt go to school before are now going. Clinics and hospitals who couldnt or wouldnt always help people now can and do. Many streets that have been littered with garbage for years have been cleaned up by the people.
You can see them taking pride in thier city thier government, and thier new found freedom. ou can see this all across te city from painting the curbs to planting trees , patching roads and putting in sewage and water lines.
The people who once were afraid to be seen with us in publicare now starting to stand up and take control of thier city. more and more we see people reporting suspicious activities, even apprehending and turning in people who plant and make bombs.
While the main stream media never misses a chance to point out a death toll or a setback, this is the Iraq I see. Ive never been to collage, Im no expert on people or countrys Im just a rifleman and this is what I see everyday.
Im a married father of two beautiful daughters. I missed the first year of my youngest daughhters life
and the first year of school for my oldest. Ive watched my wife work herself to the point of exhaustion playing the role of mother father, home maker, and collage student (among a list of other jobs) And if I were asked if I thought my time here was worth it I might have to stop and think about all Ive missed and all weve been through, but then Id think about how far this place has come andall the achievments that these people have made with our help, I know my answer would be yes.
07 luglio The fourth The fourth of july has always been one of my favorite holidays.
Even before 9/11 it was a day (or couple of days) where you were guarenteed to see old glory flyin and everyone showed some form of patriotism. Here in Iraq we are all reminded of how much we love our country every time we wake up and a million times every day, for the fourth we had hamburgers and hot dogs on our home made barbaque , we had the local police over and everyone chipped in for fireworks. It was nothing like home but with our cheap iraqi fireworks (not half as good as the ones a home) and our flares we made our point. to the local population. I think our point was the same one america made when we decided to deploy our army, you can bomb us , you can attack us, you can do whatever you want to us , but we are americans, We Love our country, and you can try your best to break us but the american spirit is unfaultering. It was one of the best times Ive had over here. For a couple hours the whole company ( minus the poor guys guarding the perimeter) was together like a bunch of kids on recess.Of course thoughts of home and the wife and kids made it hard but for the most part it was the most relaxed time Ive had here. 24 giugno a close oneIt was morning, around maybe 0900 . just another joint mounted patrol with the local police station, Today Im driving. As we arrive to the police station we see the usual policeman opening the gate to the makeshift rock trash and stick fence \barrier around the compound. The policeman at the gate called inside on his radio to let them know we had arrived. Todays mission just like i said, the usual mounted (in vehicle) patrol around the city. Nothing great , jst the daily grind. We let the police lead the patrol so we follow them out the gate and into the city. Driving through the middle class dirt road and clay dungheap neighborhood, the stench of sewage baking in the sun is un unforgetable odor. The majority of the nieghborhoods here have no sewage lines although more and more can be seen beeing dug every day , they have a hole in the bottom of the wall where all of tie waste runs into the street into big pools, anyways we drive looking for anything out of place or suspicious looking. In the states that isnt necessaraly too hard but here where alot of the streets are lined with trash and poorly maintained it is kind of hard to tell what is out of place or not but after a couple of months certain things start to stick out to you. The biggest killer in Iraq right now is IEDs (improvised explosive devices usually a mortar or artillary round attached to some detanation device) or VBIEDs (vehicle bourne IEDS). most IEDs we find well get a call that a man dropped a bag (usually a gunny sack) in the road and left it there so well go investigate and if it seems threatening well call EOD (bomb disposal) and sometimes we find them by driving too close to them and they go off. But VBIEDs are the bad boys. Theyre the ones that always make the news. They are extremely hard to spot especially if done right and we almost never find them. We just respond to thier awful destruction. Most VBIEDS have like 4 or 5 rounds in them which makes them far more devastating then the average one round roadside IED. Anyways so these are the main threats we are looking for. that and showing our preasance in the city. Well as we wind through the roads about an hour into the patrol we come back by the cemetary we passed on our way out and a very attentive squad leader and an Iraqi policeman notice an abandoned pick up on the other side of the cematary that wasnt there 30 minutes earlier. So a couple of police dismount and hoof it across the cemetary to check it out while we make our way through the alleys and side streets around the cemetary to check out this vehicle. As we pull up the police urge us to check in thhe back of the vehicle because the back end of the truck is sagging considerably. So my Squad leader tells me to pull up next to it so he can look in thhe back. So we pull up right along side this suspect vehicle, he gets out and looks at the truck for a minute and decides that it is a threat so he gets in and tells me to pull up away from it So we pull up a little bit and call for the Iraqi EOD but theyre busy so we call the airforce EOD and they say itll be about an hor so meantime we gotta hang out and guard this suspect vehicle. So we sit in the >110 sun waiting for the EOD to arrive when finaly the Iraqi EOD shows up. Well we pull a little ways farther down the road and turn the vehicle so we can observe these guys at work. well within 5 minutes thier guy is in his bomb suit skipping down the road toward his objective looking like some lost dark teletubby skipping down the road. well He gets there and does a quick once around the vehicle and then he goes in. maybe 3 seconds later hes out and moving quick. He gets back to his vehicle and confirms that it is a VBIED. So they manuever to where they can shoot at it without inflicting civilian casualties and they shoot it multiple times and nothing happens. Next thing you know 3 Iraqi EOD guys charge this thing at a dead run (no pun intended) they dive in and start throwing out wires and all kinds of stuff. Then they start pulling out rounds. They tore the vehicle completely apart. they found between 15 and 20 rounds in this one vehicle!!! Incase you dont understand the magnitude, let me say that one round at close range has a fairly good chance at killing or wounding the crewman at least on that side of the vehicle, 2 and its probable , 5 and thhe vehicles gonna be toast. There was between 15 and 20 and we stopped 5 feet from it for at least 2 minutes. There is no question that had the perpatratures succesfully triggered the device while we were there ( and there is no known reason why they didnt) our vehicl and probably the one behind us wouldve seen our last mission here. The only explanation I have as to why were still here is divine intervention. God was watching out for Joe that day. It definatly makes you think and ponder. Its far from the first close call but it is one that wouldve been certain death. and definatly one to make you think. 17 giugno why were here?Just another morning in sector. On a mounted patrol, this morning im the gunner. As i ride in the 50.cal turret Im amazed at how beutiful a sunrise can be despite the trash filled street. It isnt the first time Ive marveled at how beautiful it can be , even with the mud hut complexes and piles of trash. Is it so beautiful because Here you have nothing to look foward to but the little things ? Or is it because Im never up to see sunrise back home , and if I am Im in a rush to get to work? Or is it because it is awe inspiring? Maybe a conbination. I am also amazed at some of the things we are ordered to do around here. One day we left the safe house and we were patrolin the city as usual and we were told to stop a car so we do assuming the car looked suuspicious or something but whhen we dismount I come to find out that we were stopping to Tell the kurdish occupants of the vehicle that he could not display the kurdish flag on his vehicle or the kurdish leader that they had a picture of on the car. To understand the situation I guess you must first understand that the Kurdish are very proud people . they are the ones that have been fughting off sadaam and his regime for years. They have pretty much owned and governed the northern territory for years.well these people have 2 political partys the PUK and the PDK well i guess they united to make the PAK and they had thier nominee get elected for pretty much the equivelent of govoner of thhe northern state of iraq so these people were celebrating. They ( a whole lot of them) were putting kurdish flags and pictures of thier leader on thier cars and driving around town and partying. This is nothing abnormal , they do the same for weddings or anything else, well anyays, We find out that were supposed to stop everyone of them and tell them to take them off because we didnt want it starting problems with the arabs or the turks. That just does not seem right. I dont know of one of us that wasnt pretty upset about the whole deal. Here we are, here to bring freedom and democracy to these abused peoples and the Kurdish( if anyone) imbrace it and really see it working, they get thier people voted in so they are celebrating and we come in and tell them they cant. strip thier flags and banners and pictures down. These people were truley offended. I was honestly concerned about some of them coming back with guns. And these people couldnt understand , I had one ask me in english" Do we not cooperate? Are we not your friends?" ...I mean what am i supposed to say to that? These Kurds love us , and they help out more than i could explain.and here we are telling them they cannot exersize one of the freedoms that we ourselves hold so dear. anyways, I know that there are reasons why we did what we did and I know that I am but a grunt and the higher ups must have reasons for the things that they do because we all have the common goal to bring freedom to these people but I figured Id write about it because it was a frustration. Im sure if they wouldve came out and did the job they wouldve stopped after seeing the reaction of the first few cars. Anyways. thats all i have for now. Just cheap thoughts of a rifleman. 09 giugno back to guard mount taday was another great adventure filled day of guard mount!!! well...it was guard mount. sitting in a concrete tower in the blazing iraqi sun for eight hours by yourself.... trying to maintain conscienceness. its just mind numbing.it wouldnt be that bad if you had someone to talk to or if you could read or something , but " We are not the airforce troop, if you want to read in the tower you need to cross over into the blue" yeah.Every now and then well get gun shots or hear an explosion or something but about the most exciting thing we ever SEE is the local kids messing around on thier "stunt donkeys" sometimes theyll ride backwords or stand on its back to show off as the animal is running down the road full bore through traffic, its really amazing hes never been hit but I guess the show must go on. it really sucks. It is definatly the most dreaded duty around here. You could ask any joe and hed rather march around town in the blazing sun for 12 hrs with a 60lb pack on than sit in one of those damn towers for 8 hrs. There is the exceptional people though. Anyways, nothing exciting or good here today.just figred I had to write something about the activity known as guardmount. 07 giugno just another day....Nothing new here, just another day in Iraq. I woke up around 8 am and put my gear (my body armor, kevlar helmet, and my "goody bag" filled with flares smoke grenades zip ties gunny sacks , maps binoculars, medical equipment and a sincgars radio) into the truck because we are the QRF quick reaction force today which means we have to be able to be anywhere in the city in 10 minutes to respoond to any ali baba activitys anyways. Then went about to do our squads chore for the day.Each squad for each platoon has an assigned task each day. ours today was exterior which includes picking up the outside area around our house, taking out the garbage and cleaning up around a couple of the towers, nothing big. after that I went to our chow hall which is just a roof with wood and screen wals around it where you walk through with a plate and pick up your morning ration of slop from a green bucket.We live in a "safe house" within the city so our food gets cooked on the main base about 15 minutes away and its cooked early morning so any positive things you might be able to say about this food at the chow hall are pretty much taken away by the time it gets here it is mushy flavorless slop.so anyways, I went through inspecting the slop and decided that it was not worth the stomache ache this morning so I went with the cereal and the rehydraded non spoilable milk After I got back from that I decided to change into my pt clothes and go for a run. our area is real small so you just end up doing like a million laps if you wanna get anything out of it but in order for me to get selected for flight school I must pass my run test when I get home and Im not the greatest runner to start with so I gotta run more, anyways after thatI took a shower put my clothes back on and came back to my area to wait for my wife to wake up and get online so I could get my daily dose. the days not over yet but It seems the restof it will go without anything worth mentioning. Ill talk to my wife, maybe gnaw on the evening slop and maye get to bed withou beeing called out. well nothing exciting.just another day...
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we are soooo close to our freedom bird. They always say that the last month or so actually i think they say 60 days is when most units take the most casualties because of complacency. well i really dont see that around here. every joe i know is wearing saftey eqip theyve never worn before and are on higher alert and i think we all have the mentality of " i aint goin out this close to home" . when in sector theres not alot of time to think about home but every single second in "the house" is spent thinkin on home. There are just so many things you miss. And here there is just so much time to think about things that if you dont come home with a new outlook on life and whats important then i dont know how. 
.after that was done I went back to my "room" we technicaly live in 1 room with like 40 somehin guys but we turned it into a plywood paradise. I still room with 2 other guys but it is more than adequate beeing that were soldiers at war and all. anyways. Once there I lay in my rack in a somewhat vegetative state drifting in and out of conscience ness. ( we had a pretty late night last night)I think it was some where around ....hmmm.... I dont recal the time but we ended up having to go pick up some guy that the Iraqi army detained who claimed to be an american. unusual but whatever, so we mounted up our uparmored humvees and I climbed up into the gun turret and inspected my 240 B machine gun to make sure it was mission capable to hit thhe street and go pick this yahoo up and find out what the deal was . well it was at an army check point a couple of miles away so we got there quick and found the road backed up pretty bad, but beeing joes and driving bigmean looking humvees with big mean looking guns on top we somehow managed to make it through the traffic fairly quickly, when we got up there and started talking to the army guys (IrAQI) we found out that the guy dissapeared.hmmm....imagine that huh? they said he was white though.which kinda makes a person wonder.we honestly have had guys from other units just change into civilian clothes and go walking around down town. until the police pick them up. theres only been a couple but they have been so lucky.apparantly they dont hear about the ramp ceramonies on the base almost every day where theyre sending some joe home in a box. some people just live in a fantasy land. anyways |
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