Burger King

This pic was takin a while back and has nothing to do with this post but I thought it was awesome. We went up in this house to search it and here this crazy bastard is in his tighty whities all burnt up and shit, his house smelled so bad we wanted to leave. He told us we could shoot him if he had anything. Anyway on to the post....

I’m back! I was out for a minute but I’m back. I missed rotation because I had to go to the CSH at FOB Washington. My cheek swelled up and I went to the dentist and he referred me to a specialist in the Green Zone. I took a Blackhawk ride out there and that was actually pretty nice. I always forget how much I enjoy flying until I actually get in a bird. It was really nice. The Green Zone I’m sure you all have heard is this secure zone in Baghdad where all the big wigs stay. It was pretty weird. Most of the people here that I met weren’t combat arms guys that go out of the wire. They had a mortar attack where 28 mortars came in at one time so everyone is pretty freaked out about that. I couldn’t leave the hospital to go down the street to get some heavenly Burger King without a battle buddy and full battle rattle, being my helmet, body armor and weapon. When I was told this I was like are you fucking serious this is the green zone for Christ sakes. The young soldier was offended and told me very matter of factly “Well we get mortared here.” My bad man, I didn’t really feel like getting into it and telling him we get mortared all the fucking time, and blown up, and shot at etc, etc…… It’s all good, though being the genius that I am, I waited for the shift change and grabbed my shit, minus battle buddy and walked my Combat Infantry ass down to the PX. Walk, shit I meant strutted my super duper, dope, ass kicking, hardcore, Infantry self down to that bitch ass PX in the pussy ass green zone. I got there and low and behold was the shrine other wise known as Burger King. I knelt before the house of Flame Broil and strolled into the PX to pick myself up a big Monster energy drink, then went back out and paid homage to the hajji behind the counter. I ordered up thou holy double whopper value meal and took my seat in the pew. I said a small prayer and asked the good lord to protect my soldier’s and my family and me and blessed him in all of his greatness as I sank my teeth into this juicy substitute of a real Burger King whopper, but it had been so long that my taste buds could not tell the difference. They erupted with glorious cheer at every mouth watering bite. Ummmmmmm. I pounded the Monster and after being totally fulfilled for the day I started to walk with a bite in my step back to the hospital. See I had to get back before the onslaught of diarrhea set in…. Anyway. I’m walking back thinking I’m king shit and I’ve just got away with the biggest caper ever suddenly my train of thought is derailed by the Mortar siren screeching through the air. “INCOMING, INCOMING, INCOMING!” BOOOOOOOOOOOM! That mortar landed close enough to shake the ground I was walking on, my hardcore Infantry ass broke into a run for the nearest bunker. “Shit! “ I said out loud. On the way down to the PX I saw a ton of bunkers and at the very time I needed one I couldn’t find one. I saw one down a side street and ducked in. The whole time I was thinking shit, they are probably getting accountability at the hospital and here my dumbass is hunkered down. I noticed that people were walking around so I high tailed it back to the hospital. I got there and I don’t even think they heard that one. I made it. It wasn’t really like I took a big risk but in hind sight had that mortar checked me out no one would have known WTF had happened to me probably for a while. Nice going SSG. Idiot lessoned learned. I know better than that shit, and I need to follow the law to the letter and practice what I preach. Just another moment of lapse in common sense due to the seduction of a Whopper. Idiot!
Asides from that when I was waiting to get seen for my cheek I had an opportunity to talk to a fellow Iraqi vet of 2005. I saw him and his face had about a days worth of growth on it and scratches all over it. His hand was bandaged up. We were mutually bitching about the lack of expedience on the behalf of the hospital staff. He asked what I was in for and I told him about my cheek. Obviously he had been blown up so I asked if he had got fucked up. He told me that just the night before his truck had run over a pressure plate IED and it had blown the front of the truck off. “Everyone alright?” I asked. He said the gunner had been thrown free of the vehicle and was there at the hospital. I saw him and miraculously he really wasn’t hurt that bad. The two dismounts in the back were unharmed, and the driver had been killed. It didn’t really dawn on me until later how nonchalantly we spoke of it. It was just shit that happens in war. I know from a leader’s point of view that he was probably hurting inside about losing a soldier but NCO to NCO unfortunately these are things associated with combat. SSG M was cool as hell. I went to fly out the next day and there he was checking out too. “Headed back already?” I asked. “Ya I gotta get the fuck outta here.” “Be safe brother.” “You to.” That was that, that is another reason why I love the military. You meet a guy and in 4 minutes it’s like your old friends. “Buddies” I think every soldier has a story about a “buddy”. I think every Soldier has like a hundred “buddies”. Then again most soldiers are full of shit and spin tails of woe with nameless “buddies”.

I got back to good ol’ Rusty unscathed and my platoon was still outside the wire at the COP. It felt good to be back and I was weary about not being with my men. My thoughts constantly going between my family and my extended family. I was a little relieved to not be outside the wire and away from possible IED’s and EFP’s waiting for me out there. At 5am the next morning I was reminded that even inside the wire we are still not completely safe as I’m awakened to the sound of the incoming alarm. I stood at my door when I heard the first round impact into the barracks about 100m behind me. Do I run and run the risk of possibly getting hit on the way to the bunker or do I hunker down here and hope they adjust fire the other way. Another hits and the explosion is further away, another lands even further and 2 more explode going away from me. I don’t bullshit when I hear the siren after that. Just this morning at 2am I heard the siren coming off of gate guard and I hauled my ass to the bunker. Mortars the indiscriminate killer. I ran into Setzer as he was just back from leave and was excited to hear of stories from the real world.

The Platoon returned from the COP and as it was it would be the last time we would assume guard at Pathfinder COP. 8 hours after they returned we found ourselves together again pulling security on a gate. Swapping stories of what had happened at the Green Zone with me and what had gone down at the COP in my absence. It’s funny because every time a guy comes off of leave we are all so eager to hear what that person did on leave. We ask all sorts of questions, did you do this, did you do that? Months leading up to RnR we are discussing what we are going to do, and some of the guys say how drunk they’re gonna get and how much food they are going to eat, and what kind of sins they are going to commit. When they get back it’s a question and answer session about the things we talked about that they were going to do. This bit of conversation takes up a good bit of guard duty. The soldier fresh from the world informs us of what was going on back in the world. Our main source of news is Stars and Stripes and the occasional Army Times. I guess we could keep up on current events better using the internet but people are to busy trying to e-mail friends and family.

Today we guarded the gas station again and I’m happy to say as far as I know, nobody stole any gas. We are here keeping Iraq safe one CITGO at a time. The Iraqi’s played the Saudi’s today at Soccer and at about noon, the Iraqi’s I’m guessing took off to home to watch the game. They got ghost quick, so quick I was like oh shit we are about to get hit. Through further deliberation we determined this Soccer game was the equivalent of a Super Bowl or something. Later we learned the Iraqi’s won and they celebrate by firing Ak’s in the air. Setzer and I were in the phone center when we heard a loud pop. We both thought that somebody had a negligent discharge. We looked in the direction of the pop and saw a hole in the ceiling. Apparently an AK round came through the ceiling and hit a soldier in the shoulder and bounced off of him and landed on the floor. He wasn’t hurt, but we were all like holy shit. The guy started laughing and shouted in the phone “This must be my lucky fucking day.”.
Just want to take a second to thank my friends that hooked me up with fine lap top I’m typing on at this time. Thank you so much!
I hope I haven’t bored any of you to bad… Thank you for your support. Until Next time!
RUARKOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

TO BE OR NOT TO BE??????????

In one of my last posts I told you to tell you rep to send us home. Someone then asked if I believe the US should pull out. I'm not a politician, I'm just a Soldier boots on the ground for the 2nd time in Iraq. I shouldn't bitch cuz there are some Soldier's out here doing a 4th year. Everything I write in this blog is personal opinion based on my personal experience and views. I'll tell you straight up I want to go the fuck home and with this extension pending for 15 months here I'm not down with that. I personally don't feel like we have progressed at all since I was here in 05. I do feel the enemy has made leaps and bounds in their ability to kill us though. I don't have all the answers and I can't tell you how to fight and win this. There are people in lofty positions paid ridiculous amounts of money to determine that. I don't see the whole picture at my level. All I see is a street littered with trash as I drive down it hoping that it is not hiding an EFP or IED, that might kill me or my Soldiers. I see the people scowl at us in some neighborhoods and wave at us in others. I wave at Iraqi Army soldiers and they don't wave back. I do know that Soldiers have been killed by EFP's blown on them within eye sight of Iraqi Army check points. I just read in Stars and Stripes how some bank guards made off with 282 million dollars worth of AMERICAN cash. If that doesn't make your asshole pucker I don't know what will. You think its easy to keep up motivation and a positive attitude towards this deployment when in 6 months you haven't seen a single change in your area? When top level leadership is quoted in news paper saying that the solution in Iraq must be a political one. Even the Prime Minister of Iraq was quoted as saying they don't need us here and can do it on there own. Then that makes me think what the fuck are we doing trolling around for IED's or EFP's?
Don't get me wrong I love to Soldier, I love Soldiers and I love to lead them. They are really the only people I like to associate with. They have hearts of gold and balls of steel. Willing to lay their lives on the line for the man to the right and left of them. They are my second family. I love my job I love serving the United States of America. I swore to defend her from all enemies foreign and domestic, I will. They say progress in this war will take a long time to achieve. If you worked on something that took you out of your families lives for over 2 years now and had nothing really to show for it would you support it? There are many other factors to the way I feel but I'm not going to get into them at this point. The question is do I think we should pull it out. Yes and no. I would hate to pull out and say it was all for not. I would love to see this thing through. I would like to pull out and go home and spend time with my family and watch soccer games and see them grow up and be a part of that. At the level I'm at right now I just don't see the difference and a lot of it just doesn't make sense to me.
I raised my hand and took the oath so I'm here now. I love my job! I love to get shot at nothing gets your heart going like rounds flying at your dome piece. I love near miss IED's and EFP's. There is nothing like knowing that a huge piece of copper meant to dismember you and kill you has over shot your truck and landed in someones living room. The reason I do it is for my Soldiers. I will go out and perform my duties and I will continue to motivate them and prepare them to fight and lead them into harms way and do my damnedest to bring them home alive. I know that they will do the right things, and pull the trigger when they have to and put themselves in harms way whether it makes sense or not. I know they have my back and will be there for me and eachother when the time comes. The men I serve with are my heroes they are brave, compassionate, and emulate selfless service. Should we pull out? That's not up to me. Will SSG Ruark and his men continue to accomplish missions in order to promote security in Iraq? Your damn right. Will we bitch about it? You bet your sweet ass we will!

A couple of Pics

The men from 2nd Squad 2nd Platoon minus 2 who are on leave, from left to right Droll, Young, Picard, Garrison, Kumbier, kneeling Sartor, and me.
Young having a Coors before we roll out.
At the gas station on the outside mostly women dressed in the black dress wait to get Kerosene. Its like 115 degrees out.
Kids do the damnedest things?

Authors Note

I know that some of these posts are getting long as hell. Just bare with me. With the last 2 rotations we got screwed and had to go back out on our refit days. I was using a friends laptop to write the post and then once complete I would get online and transfer it onto the BLOG. Now my friend is gone on leave and I have no laptop to use so I have to goto the hajji computer center and get online and post. The down side to this is that sometimes we will come back in and there will be a "Commo Blackout" which happens when a Soldier from the FOB has been killed. I will try to update as often as I can with content that I hope keeps you interested if you have any requests then feel free to leave me a comment. If you happen to have an extra laptop laying around that you would like to send to me I will be glad to give you my address! The other downside to having to post on the fly is not being able to get my thoughts in order. There is a time limit to the computer influenced by how much money you want to pay. Thank you once again for your support, and passing the blog addy to your friends and relatives.
RuarkOUT!

Till the Wheels Fall Off

Garrison, Droll, and me on the roof.

.....So anyways there we were sweating balls on a roof top trying to over watch a road that was known for taking Soldiers lives. We were nearing the end of the mission and from this particular roof top we couldn't really see shit. It was Garrison, Droll and me up there hunkered down within the cover of the walls around the roof. "Fuck it! Just stay down until they call us to exfil. Ain't no use pokin are heads around and gettin hit by a sniper right at mission end." I said reflecting on the week prior and events that had led us to this day that we were supposed to be on refit but were instead nearing the end of a 10 hour bullshit clearing mission.

We were supposed to be on refit this day but actually refit was supposed to have been the day before and on this day of Operation Clear Retardedly was supposed to be our day off. Not for 2nd Platoon Cco. We had come in the previous day after 6 long days of COP. We were in long enough for us to conduct the 3 S's (shit, shower, and shave) pick up laundry eat hot chow. During this time I'm waiting around after completing the list above trying to get my chill on and suddenly I hear WUMP BOOOOOM. Oh well lahahahahlahhah. Then I hear a rocket scream in and explode. I go over to my roomate and I'm like "Ume wake up man incoming!" I run outside and head towards the latrines to make sure no one is in there and is headed to the bunker. BOOOOOOOOOOOOM. Holy fuck that one was close. I stop short and run my ass to the bunker. Everyone from the platoon is in there. A total of 9 rounds hit the FOB during that attack. Just another day in Iraq, shortly after we made sure everyone was ok and started getting ready to head back to the COP. 0300 rolled around and we woke up and made final preparations for the mission. The purpose of the mission was to find an IED cell to Facilitate freedom of movement in AO Ranger. We rolled out and our first objective was a school that insurgents had used to fire at CF (Coalition Forces) along the main road, and also command wire had been found used to detonate IED's and EFP's. We searched the school and the playground (if you could call the trash laden field that). We kicked in a couple of locked doors and popped locks on lockers. Nothing. We didn't find shit. In the distance we could here small arms fire. Bravo company to our flank was already engaged. We moved out to our next OBJ (objective) and began to search neighborhoods and houses. We searched a big ass apartment building which supposedly someone saw a guy grab an AK out of a water container on the roof and hide it. So my men and I moved to the roof and looked. Mental picture- 5 soldiers exposed on a roof checking water containers for a roof in a neighborhood known for enemy Sniper activity. I radio down that its clear and we didn't find shit. Well that just wasn't good enough for the command so they had to come and check. Well buddy if you don't fucking believe me then don't send me and expose my men and I to possible sniper fire not to mention smoke our balls out on the roof. We spent a ridiculous amount of time on this one fucking building and didn't find a damn thing. We actually probably pissed the tenants off and made some more terrorists. We then moved on down the road to the next house. Since we had taken so long pumping the neighbors cat on the apartment building we were now behind the time line. What happens now you ask? Well in order to maintain the time line we rush. The process goes as so- We enter the house and clear the house from bottom to top of possible bad guys get the family into one room and then begin searching the house for evidence of possible anti coalition force activity. Wellllllll once you fall behind the time curve certain Platoon Leaders rush you through. "2-2 you need to hurry up we need to move to the next house!" "Roger Sir!". This shit pisses me off. Instead of trying to do good searches and maybe run the risk of finding some shit now your just bullshitting and quite frankly its a waste of fucking time if were not gonna take the time to really search and find shit then why bother. The men and I have sweated our asses off doing these half assed searches, searched over 500 homes and have found jack shit. During this mission we didn't find shit. I don't know if the other companies found shit but we didn't. In order to facilitate freedom of movement throughout A/O Ranger! 5 days after this big mission actually 2 days ago from the time I post this another Soldier from Bco is killed and 3 WIA. IED in AO Ranger!

Well during the days leading up to the most HOOAH mission ever we did Small Kill Teams, COP security, and Gas Station Babysitting! One particular SKT Droll, Garrison and I were set up on a berm right across the street from an Iraqi Army check point. "Well SSG Ruark why are guys overwatching a road right next to an IA check point?"you ask. Well young grasshopper listen up and I'll tell ya. See the IA are doing such a great job policing their own country that just at the beginning of this month Aco lost a soldier from an IED strike 100m in between to IA towers. Now I've been up in the Towers and you can see a great distance along the road and could possible pop someone a new asshole if they decided to try and dig in along the road side. So anyway we were helping them out without letting them know we were there you dig? Man we layed in the prone there for like 3 fucking hours and let me tell you about laying in the prone with IBA (Improved Body Armor) on for 3 hours. It sucks like slamming your dick in the door, or for the ladies like stubbing your toe. Its getting close to time for us to leave when this nice stray piece of shit dog rolls up on our position and starts barking. BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK. For 20 minutes, then bam-pop. "2-7 this is 2-2 did you just fucking shoot?" "Nope wasn't me." Then again bam dirt flies up 3 feet in front of me and the dog hauls ass. Bam-POP! That time the round flies right over our heads. "2-7 this is 2-2 we are taking fire." I recognize the familiar sound of rounds flying past my face from previous encounters, now we are trying to find out where its coming from. Again the shot passes over. When your being shot at and its close you can here the round breaking the sound barrier as it flies by you. I look and I can't make out any muzzle flashes. A convoy rolls by and the fireing stops. I'm so proud of Droll and Garrison because this is the first time that they had been shot at and I got to be there. I felt like a proud father. I looked back at Droll and said "That shits HOOAH 'eh?" Droll gave me a kinda funny look and shook his head. I'm guessing the IA at the check point may have been suspicious of the dog barking in regards to our location and decided to pop shots at us. They didn't know we were there and we didn't reveal ourselves afterwards. Shortly after we maneuvered back to the trucks and headed back into the COP.

Once again I realize that we are so much more reactive then proactive. We wait till a couple of Soldiers die on the MSR before we set up and over watch it. The shitty thing is, is that the IED or EFP detonations happen within sight of the IA towers, and check points. Even with the over watch we are reminded of how crafty these little bastards are. We assume COP duty and later in the night an IED detonates just down the street from our COP on the MSR and the convoy thats hit shoots wildly into the night. That same spot would blow up again just a day later. Our last patrol day before the mission and our lack of refit, would be going to a gas station and hanging out there for 7 hours to make sure that ACF (Anti Coalition Forces) aren't stealing gas and taking it back to their neighborhoods and selling it for cheap. You have to understand a legitimate gas station in Iraq will have at least a line 2 miles long or longer of people waiting to get gas. The government is trying to cut back on people buying gas and selling it on the roadside like a lemonade stand.

Well this last 6 days kind of blended together we went and did some more gas station action. Which is really fun because you sit in the truck for 7-8 hours and hope nobody has laid any I love you bombs on your egress route. Watch hajj get all pissed off waiting in the sun all day to get gas or kerosene, and drink ice cold waters out of your cooler and try not to fall asleep because just the day before you had COP security and did 24 hours of 3 on 3 off. Its about as much fun as a prostate exam! We ended up the rotation with escorting a General through the market. A market that right before we got here had a VBIED (vehicle born improvised explosive device) detonate on a street corner killing a bunch of people. That was fun. I sweated my ass off really hard there, I got played by a little girl. She was laying on the ground with a bandage on her head with a blanket over her and her mom fanning her so I gave them like 10 bucks. About 10 minutes later and a 100m up from where I first saw them Picard calls out to me "Hey Sergeant you got played!". He then pointed to the little girl and her mother passing me up looking all happy. She smiled at me and all I could do was smile back. "You little shit!" I said.

Today is another refit day but its not. We are heading back out to the COP later on. So we will have done 22 days pretty much straight. HOOAH. Please encourage your house representitive to get us out and send us home if you could be so inclined. Once again Thank you for your support!
Ruark OUT!

Luck Worn Thin

“PATHFINDER MIKE THIS IS PATHFINDER ONE-SEVEN”- the initial call was quick and frantic. I could barely make out the transmission; regardless it made my blood chill and the hair on my neck stand up. “PATHFINDER MIKE THIS IS ONE-SEVEN!” This transmission came across a little more clearly. The urgency in his voice was mixed in with a little fear and sounded frantic. Now time began to slow down. The call was made for Pathfinder Mike a couple times until someone else had to relay. After what seemed an eternity but was actually only mere minutes the communication started to flow more smoothly. “Pathfinder 1-7 this is Pathfinder Mike go ahead.” “WE NEED EVAC NOW- REPORTING ONE CASUALTY GUN SHOT WOUND TO THE FACE DUE TO SNIPER FIRE OVER!” His voice is cracked and urgent almost pleading. “Fuck!” I think it’s happened it finally happened. The worst scenarios are running over and over in my mind. It was mid afternoon and I had just assumed guard duty in an OP on the roof when I heard the frantic call over the Radio. The name of the soldier comes over the radio. This soldier had recently come back from r-n-r. He was home for the birth of his daughter. “HE IS CONSCIENCE HE IS TALKING BUT HE IS BLEEDING BAD WE NEED EVAC NOW!!” The other platoons that were down go into reaction mode. A QRF is mobilized in minutes and they blast out the gate and haul ass to rescue our down comrade. “WE ARE TAKING SMALL ARMS FIRE!” To the guys on the roof watching their man bleed out it must have seemed like an eternity but things were moving rather quickly. “WE NEED TO GET HIM OUT OF HERE NOW!! WE NEED EVAC!!” The QRF reach the location and speed the soldier away to the nearest FOB. From there he is flown to a higher treatment facility. From what we’ve been told he was moved to Germany and is waiting to go home but he is going to make it. The bullet was of small caliber and entered and passed through his neck thankfully missing vital arteries. My good friend who was there told me the incident later, and a long with another good friend who was there this is what happened.

That Platoon was set up in an OP overlooking a road. My friend and the Soldier were talking about what they were going to do when they got home. A shot rang out and everyone hit the ground. My friend looked over to see the Soldier down holding his neck. “FUCKKKKKK” the Soldier yelled. My friend jumped onto and began to administer first aid, reaching into the Soldier’s first aid pouch to put a dressing on the wound. The entry wound was in the neck and it had a solid stream of blood pouring out if it. “Ah fuck!” my friend was thinking. “He got hit in an artery!” That wasn’t the case but I wasn’t there and if I had been in that situation I would’ve thought the same thing. They moved the Soldier down to the stairs and as they exited the building onto the street they began to receive small arms fire. They returned fire, and waited for evac. As they waited my friend noticed that the collar of the Soldiers body armor was frayed. That’s when he noticed the exit wound. He then applied a bandage to the other side of the soldier’s neck. The medevac arrived and sped off with the wounded soldier. The other Soldiers had to wait for the QRF to arrive to leave the sight of the ambush. The QRF pulled up seconds behind the EVAC. The Soldiers then mounted up with the QRF. The command called out that the shot had most likely originated from across the road which was a good 500m. My friend told me he believed it was a ground shot from no more than 50 meters. The thing is we always think that snipers take their shots from a good distance but this is not always the case. Along with this short sightedness we fail to look any closer than 300m so the sniper actually has time to get away. The sniper’s here tend to shoot from ground platforms like vehicles from distances within 50m of the target. Regardless the QRF went to the building in question and cordoned it off and searched the building and came up with nothing.

The rest of the time at the COP went by slowly. We stayed for 5 days this time. The men were tired and miserable. I guess that’s why they call us Grunts. We all knew that what had happened to that Soldier was bound to happen sooner or later. I was wondering myself when our luck was going to run out. It seems like we still have a little left. The incident brought that thought to the fore front of everybody’s minds. When will it happen? Who will it be? All of the other Companies in the Battalion have lost Soldiers. Charlie has been fortunate as of yet. We lost one but not forever he was lucky. I hope that he gets to stay state side with his second lease on life. Though from what I have been told about him he won’t want to. But who knows? We can only hope that Charlie Company can make it through the rest of the deployment unscathed. We all knew the inherent risks of the profession in which we voluntarily chose to perform. Until next time.
RuarkOUT!

Movement to Boom

Murrdawg holding an RPG round that they found off an anonymous tip.


I gotta make some double time now because I was lazy last time in and didn’t post. Now that shit is biting me right in the damn ass. Well the days all blend together anyway. “What’s today?” “Who gives shit? Its groundhogs day!”
Well 2 xs out ago??? Whatever. The day started off gay enough. We played soccer mom and took people from point A & B. That was fun. Because driving around in Iraq is such a recreational high. Then we had to go do ‘Happy Town’. Happy Town is when somebody fucks up we have to go out and kiss some serious ass. This particular incident is the result of another unit getting blown up in our sector and then got attacked by small arms fire. Well they turned to and started lighting up the area and apparently hit a little girl and killed her. Who bares the brunt of this? We do because it’s our sector. Though it wasn’t our unit we all wear the same uniform. We rolled to the block and went house to house looking for the family. I don’t think that we actually confirmed that it was our guys that hit the girl though. Later that afternoon- our LT usually waits until the hottest part of the fucking afternoon to do this- we went and conducted SWET assessments. These little gems are the shit. Our task, conduct SWET assessments, our purpose to build trust with the local populace and make buddies. SWET is where we go out to the local Iraqi’s and fill out a survey about their sewer, water, electric and I really don’t know what the T stands for. Honestly I really don’t give a shit either. This is how it works out, we roll up to a block, and we dismount and knock on a door. “May we come in and ask you some questions about the neighborhood?” “Well geez meester armed amreekee do I really have a fucking choice since you are parked out in front of my house with a platoon of armed soldiers in front of my fence? Sure!” “So how is the sewer?” “Well meester amreekee since you had to wade through a foot and half of it outside my home and then stomp it all around inside my house I would say it’s not that great eh? Its fine.” “How’s the water?” “Well since I have offered you some water and you watched me pour it out of a bottle into a glass and you and your men won’t drink it I’m guessing your thinking it’s probably bad. Its fine.” “How is the electric?” “Boy oh boy meester you are a master of the obvious aren’t you. There are no lights on and you see the AC unit in the wall there and it’s not on and its 115 degrees outside what do you think. Its fine.” “ You ever see any bad people here?” “No this neighborhood is fine, though were scared it’s good no terrorists here.” “Great that’s good to hear.” “So meester what are you going to do with this questions you have asked me?” “Well hajj we’re gonna give this to our higher and its gonna go up to their higher and then its gonna go to their higher and so on and so forth until it’s so lost that nothing is going to get done about your problems. Have a nice day. Alrighty men next house. HOOAH!!!!” Meanst while outside in the searing heat on a wobbly knee where they have been for 45 minutes are your favorite heroes. Swet assessment, no shit sweating our asses off in the open waiting for a hot sniper to poke holes in us. Sometimes we’ll do this shit for like hours. Man it fucking sucks. I’m sure they serve a greater purpose but on mine and the men’s level we don’t see it so we don’t appreciate it. Later that night we conducted ‘Movement to BOOM’, meaning we drove around. No seriously we just drove around. No really. Really!
We assumed COP security the next day. It was chill we had gate and along with gate comes the JSS where we go to the Joint Security Station and hang out with IP and IA. It’s such a warm reception there. This time we had the MP’s with us which made things even more chill. Later that night we had to prep for a raid. I was at the gate bullshitting with Setzer when our conversation was interrupted by one of the 240B machine guns opening up. I look up to see incoming SAF as well with tracers impacting one of the OP’s on the roof. I hear Murray come over the radio saying he had taken SAF and returned fire to let them know he meant business. Later Murray tells me that he looked up to see tracers headed right at his face. He dropped down and squeezed off a burst in the general direction of the SAF. We didn’t get to sleep much, because we had QRF (Quick Reaction Force) duties for the raid that night. No joy it didn’t go off. Oh well. Night turns into day and we move from gate to roof. Too much fun. Good day though nothing happened. Once again night turns into day and we move to patrol. We conduct a raid once again coming up with jack and shit. We roll to the FOB with minimal sleep under our eye lids. The men are tired. I’m tired. I’m fucking tiiiiiiiired. Change of Command coming up though so we have to inventory everything and conduct a layout. We get in and conduct the 3 S’s. Shit, shower, and shave. Throw on PT’s and take all of our shit down to a tin roofed building with no AC. The layout takes 6 hours some of the men have been going since 3am and before that doing 3 on 3 off. Once complete we can chill. Next day there is no sleeping in we have another inspection, and right after another layout. It takes the better half of our day off. We get together at the end of the day to finish Soprano’s season 7 and guess what? Fucking hajj only has 4 episodes on it.
Next day we are cut a break and don’t roll out till later. It was pretty nice. We had some lay out shit to do out at the COP and then waited for it to get 112 before we went and conducted SWET my balls off assessments. This time it wasn’t so bad, we only did a couple and rolled back to eat. I was surprised. We then went on stand by for a raid. Who is on assault? 2nd squad YAAAAY. You would think that but I was a little miffed as far as the conditions. Going into that would be giving you too much information but let’s just say it was retarded. As we are waiting a rocket slams into the side of the COP. We had fueler's there putting gas into the tank for our generators. Ol’ boy freaked out and jumped off the tank and left the hose running in the tank. It then shot out spraying JP-8 everywhere going crazy. I was laughing my ass off. It was like a movie or something. Most of us are just numb to it now and don’t even do anything when explosions go off. During rehearsals a fighter jet flew low over the COP and there was a bunch of people that ducked and hit the dirt. Thank you for the show you guys gave me a good laugh. Thankfully the raid didn’t go. The next 2 days we pulled security with nothing further to report. Nice and restless. Our AC in our sleeping area went out so finding a place to sleep for 2 hours before your next guard shift is a little difficult. If you have ever tried to sleep when its muggy ass 100 degrees out you know it’s next to impossible.
Blessed patrol day comes to us to break up the monotony of security days. Our first task of the day is to take detainees that 1st Platoon apprehended back to the FOB for in processing. This was pretty nice we got to go back in and eat. We went back out and broke up into sections. The PL’s section went out to scout sites to set up surveillance kill team. They got an anonymous tip and hit a house and found some rockets and other goodies. They detained 2 local nationals. We hauled ass to the FOB to in process them into the D-Ha, with hopes of staying in and not having to go back out. Fat fucking chance. We roll back out into sector. We stop and myself, Picard, Garrison, the PSG, RTO, and DOC I think, dismount. Garrison, Pic, and I walk through the shadows and into a small meadow next to some houses. We use the wind to cover our movement through the tall grass and set down in a little swampy area over looking one of the main roads. There is a house maybe 10 meters to our south. We are separated by tall reeds. I set my team up in a 360. Picard and I overwatch the road and Garrison with the SAW watches our 6. The purpose of this is to make sure nobody is planting IED’s on the main routes. If they do then we waste em. We wait (and hope) for 3 and a half hours. Mosquitoes having a feast upon us. We probably contracted some high speed malaria. Only time can tell. We pulled out and mounted up and headed back to the COP. We try to stay off roads that are targeted with EFPs and IEDs. We come off of a side street and make a left on to a wider street. I’m thinking this street is a lot like the other one we get hit on its nice and wide. Hmmmm. Bright light, smoke, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. It happened like it usually happened the other times. Time slows the truck rocks, the heat of the blast comes into the truck through the turret, the acrid smell of cordite and smoke burns the nostrils. The ringing in my ears is loud. The last two times we were hit it was the truck in front of us. I knew immediately it was our truck this time. “Is everyone alright” I say the words but no one replies. The truck starts to slow. I think to myself “Fuck somebody’s fucked up and the truck is immobile.” Once again and louder I repeat myself “Is everyone ok?” Kumbier, Hancock, and Droll tell me “Roger we are good.” Seconds have gone by. “Drive!” I say when I realize the truck is still mobile. “2-7 this is 2-2 we are good we are mobile we are driving through.” We link up with the trucks in front of us. I take my gloves off and run my hands over the gunner making sure that he is alright. “Good thing I had my ear pro in.” my gunner says. “No shit eh.” We say fuck it and roll back to the COP. I get out and look at the truck. It was a good aim but shitty timing thank god. Another EFP, meant for Hancock riding in the gun. They missed and it tore up some shit we had on our back hatch and fucked up our AC. Nothing to bad though. The guys go and get checked out by our medic to make sure everything is good. No sooner do we get done and are still counting our blessings. Kumbier gets a Red Cross message. His grandmother passed. “I think she was looking out for us brother.”
We roll back into the FOB and our here for 20 min when there is a commo black out is put up. Another Soldier from FOB Rusty is killed. The day before that Bravo Company lost a soldier. Charlie is again lucky for another day.
RuarkOUT!