TheAngryAmerican: May 2007

Days of our Lives

I really need to get better at updating but truly there really isn’t shit going on here, furthermore I really don’t know how much I can tell you without violating operation security. Basically what I did was look up certain keywords online to see what’s in the news and what’s not. Wow what a boring opening line so I guess I owe you readers some pictures and exciting stories. Let’s see….
It was another quiet night of patrol. We were rolling down a street that we had rolled down a bunch of times before. Hell we had even walked down this street before. Everyone scanning their area for IED’s and anybody lurking after curfew. An explosion ripped through the night, directly in front of us, a fireball then smoke and dirt engulf the vehicle in front of us hiding it from view. Immediately we clear the kill zone. All vehicles begin calling over the radio and giving status reports, everyone is ok. I check my gunner to make sure he is ok, and he is. I’ve been blown up before when I was here the first time and from experience I know that the IED that detonated on us wasn’t a big one, big ones suck way worse than that especially when they keep blowing up on you on every turn you make. We then observe movement outside the house in which the IED exploded. Myself and another vehicle maneuver on the house. My driver parks the car close to the courtyard wall outside a house nearby and my team and I dismount and hop on top of the hood of the humvee and then over the wall. We knock first; with no answer we begin to kick the door open. It’s a steel door that won’t budge. Fortunately I possess a big muscle head in my squad, he moves to the front of the stack, one kick and the whole door shakes violently and dust comes down off of the frame, the second kick blows the door wide open, he rolls out of the way as the rest of the team enters the team with speed, surprise, and violence of action that they have spent a lot of time training on. We clear the initial home and move to the roof. In Iraq most of the homes are connected or so close you can jump from roof to roof to move to a different home. We moved roof to roof to the target house, and enter from the top down. We meet up with two middle aged men and begin to question them, the windows in their home and car are blown out, and after further questioning it’s quite obvious they didn’t have anything to do with the detonation and they are pretty pissed off about the whole thing. We didn’t find those responsible for the IED and that’s just how it goes. Thankfully no one was injured though. My men performed with the violence of action that we have trained for and reaffirmed my belief that when the shit goes down they will be able to perform their mission as Infantry Men and close with and kill the enemy.
Not all nights are like that though. The other night a woman came to our trucks and apparently their home had lost power so her son went out to the generator to check and see if a wire had become disconnected and had not returned. We think he saw our vehicles and since it was after curfew he bolted. None the less we searched the area and questioned a few people. On the way back to our COB we were stopped by a man whose daughter had diabetes and her blood sugar level was really low and the insulin they had, had spoiled. We went into the house and let our DOC try and help her, the rest of the men in the platoon gave up treats and snacks to help her out. We stayed with her and the family until the Iraqi Police showed up and rushed her to the hospital. We then RTB and chilled out for the rest of the night. If you can call trying to sleep in the muggy heat with no AC chilling out.
So there is a glimpse into the day of the life of 2nd Platoon. That was a fun day. Sometimes they aren’t so fun and filled with home searches in the heat of the day while wearing 60lbs of gear coming off 48 hours of 3 on 3 off guard duty. We spend most of our time in our Company Operations Base (COB) out in sector and occasionally come in to the FOB for a couple days of rest and refit. This is where I get to see the true resilience of our generation. Young men straight out of high school who come into the military and come to Iraq and for the last 5 months endure sleep deprived nights and then move into 24 hours of patrolling pounding energy drinks to stay alert and water to stay hydrated maintaining security to keep themselves but especially their buddies from getting hurt. Snipers, IED’s, and small arms attacks are always a constant concern. When shit goes down they perform with a violence of action that you wouldn’t think the hollow eyed, pungent smelling young men could possess. It’s amazing. Yes I said pungent smelling. Imagine 4 days in 112+ heat no showers and only a change of shirt and socks…. Yummmy.
Thank you for your support and know that even through the negative press you can be assured that my men are out here doing what they got to do and they are good at it. Day in and day out through the heat and exhaustion they drive on. They bitch a little bit but that’s how you know your soldier’s are happy.
Until next time. Ruark OUT!!!!!!

Indulgence

5 months down and what I wouldn’t give for a fucking fat greasy cheese burger. We have cheeseburgers here at the chow hall. But I’m talking about fat ass, fast ass food. Those of you from the valley what do you know about a nice thick old school Effie’s burger. The kind so big it made the bottom bun soggy. But for you, who have no idea about Effies then a fat huge Wendy’s quadruple stack with bacon, I’m talking three bites and you’ll need stints. Or maybe some friggin Taco Time my favorite, the crisp meat burrito with the Taco Time hot sauce. I would eat crisp meat burritos, go to the bathroom throw up, and come back and eat more. Sometimes the food out here is good but other times it straight sucks, and if we are at the COB sometimes they give us some shit that dogs won’t even eat. If I could just go to a drive through and actually at this point I would stop at like 4 or 5 and get a value meal from each and pump that food into my face like it was life support…… No Roo, that’s bad for you its high in cholestoral. A lot of things are bad for you, hmmmm like driving down the street in Iraq. I don’t care man I can see it in front of me grease dripping down the side, ketchup and mayo and cheese squeezing out the sides. A nice fat side of fries, and a cold soda with the condensation on the side of the cup.
I like franchise restaurants as much as anybody, but if you grew up in the valley you can remember when we had only a couple of those. I grew up with the 410 that’s still there and me and my old man roll there every time I’m home to get a 410 burger and an order of curly fries, those greasy, greasy curly fries. I can’t forget Burger Ranch, I love me a ranch burger with some special sauce, once again throw the curlies my way. Anyone recall that Frosty place in Lewiston back in the day? Fazzarris, who doesn’t love that pizza? I don’t think you can be from Lewis Clark Valley and not love that pizza. When I’m in the valley I’m pretty food orientated. I grew up with grandparents and aunts that could cook like no other. The restaurants like BoJacks, and Zany’s, man I love those places. I’ve been around the world and coast to coast and my favorite places to eat are Italy, and home. What I wouldn’t do for some bite size steak, an Effie burger, and a couple crisp meat burritos. Anybody remember going to Taco Time or anywhere with a soda fountain and getting the swamp mix? Speaking of soda fountains what about Adams pharmacy on 6th street in Clarkston and getting phosphates???
Wow now that I’ve worked myself into a rabid frenzy, I guess this post was mostly for my people from the valley. Over 3000 miles away and the best food I’ve ever had lay in a valley where its 2 lane roads to get into and out of. Where you go to fly in and you actually fly over the damn town so you can hit your connect into the little airport. You usually take this shit for granted and I bet that most of you in the valley just drive by these great eateries. When was the last time you had you some bite size steak from BoJacks, or nice greasy cheesy cheeseburger because you’re watching your cholesterol??? When is the last time you indulged? Mine was 5 months ago. So if you go to any of these places send me some pics. I’ll appreciate them. If anybody makes it out to SoCal hit up some of the Alberto or Roberto burrito stands, the best burritos (next to crisp meat) reside in SoCal but that’s a different story.
Well I’m gonna go to chow and I’m expecting something brown runny and not to enticing. Until next time.
Ruark OUT!