Rest In Peace Crookston

Yesterday evening, Duncan Crookston passed away. He had been severely wounded in the EFP attack that had killed, Joel Murray, David Lane, and Randy Shelton, and had also wounded Joseph Mixson. When Duncan was evaced that night they had told us that he wouldn't make it through the night. He fought hard for 5 months, he had the Doctors at BAMC perplexed.

Duncan had come to my squad late in the year in 2006 right before we deployed to Iraq. The first time I met him everyone was like you gotta check this guy out he is the smartest dude ever. I walked down to one of the barracks room where he was hanging out and watched this kid complete a Rubix Cube in under 56 seconds. His knowledge of computers, and iPODs and PSPs and electronics were unchecked in the platoon, if you had a computer problem you called Duncan, you wanted games on your PSP, take it to Duncan, right before we left I had to have him come and fix my home PC because my wife couldn't get online to do her home work for college. Because of his technical prowess he was moved to the Radio Telephone Operator position in the Platoon. That pissed me off because I knew that Duncan was a good Soldier and I hated losing him. Over all it was the best decision because he was the most qualified Soldier for the job.

Duncan was many things to a lot of people. He was a son, friend and husband to a woman that stayed by his side the whole time he was at BAMC. My heart and prayers go out to her and Duncans family. He is definitely a hero, and a warrior. You fought so hard Duncan now you can be at peace. You made an impression and impact on all those whose paths your life crossed, we will remember your humor, your caring, your genius, and the bread you used to make with your bread maker. Anytime anyone picks up their PSP, or iPOD or opens a program that you got for them on their computer, they will always think of you and remember that no matter what you were always willing to help them. I will remember the Fedalayah water. Just a drop.

I know that when he went that Murray, Lane and Shelton were waiting for him, and because God called for him there isn't any better group of guys that he could be with.

Duncan will be missed but Never Forgotten.

Here is a letter that his mother sent out to us to better tell you about the battle that Duncan fought.

Dear Friends and Family,It is with great sadness I write to you today - Duncan passed away at 3:346 p.m. today after the decision was made to stop heroic measures. Duncan developed another infection over the past two days, the effects of which were causing him a great deal of pain and causing him to run a fever of 108* F overnight. The doctor who treated Duncan said he had never heard of anyone surviving such a high fever, and that normally the body did not allow itself to sustain such a high temperature for even 15 minutes, let alone the 2 hours Duncan suffered with it. The doctor said it was an indication the hypothalamus of the brain, which regulates body temperature, was damaged. He also advised us even though Duncan survived, he would have permanent and widespread brain damage that would eventually cause his organ systems to fail, and that his kidneys were already dialysis dependent, and he was quickly becoming ventilator dependent. Meaghun and I were asked to make a decision, and we chose to allow Duncan to die a dignified and peaceful death, so he was given a morphine drip and taken off the ventilator. He died about 45 minutes later surrounded by his beautiful wife, his mother, his battle buddy Joe Mixson and the hospital chaplain he had come to know during his stay. It is the closest thing to a "good death" one could ask for a young man who fought so hard and long, only to have the limits of his body betray him. Once we knew there was no chance of any sort of quality of life, we felt we could not ask this brave young man who lived life to its fullest to spend his remaining days hooked to machines with no chance of recovery.Words cannot express the gratitude we feel towards all those who offered support and prayer to Duncan and our families during the past 5 months. We can take away from this experience the knowledge that good people exist in this world, that evil is worth fighting or that reason, and Duncan was a proud example of a good person who did not stand by and allow it to flourish by doing nothing. Duncan would have been 20 years old tomorrow - he will be forever 19 now, and forever missed.Love, Lee Crookston

Engaging the Populace

I found this posted up around the area and I had to post it because its true of going out and talking to the Iraqi people. Some of it I think is that maybe our conversations get lost in translation between the Iraqi and the Interpreter, but it happens so often like after an RPG was fired at our COP no one in the area had heard the rocket launched. This is a no bullshit conversation between a Platoon Leader (PL) from one of our sister platoons, and a Local National (LN)

PL: Good afternoon.
LN: Hello hello.
PL: Do you mind if I ask you some questions about the mosque?
LN: Yes, yes there are a lot of people who go there to pray.
PL: Thanks, does this mosque broadcast a message to the area on Fridays?
LN: Yes it does, it is Shiia mosque so every Friday around 1215.
PL: It's 1230, did it broadcast a message today?
LN: Umm no, but it should soon.
PL: Ok, thanks, so last week it gave a message?
LN: No, I don't think this mosque gives messages.
PL: But I thought you just told me it should broadcast a message soon?
LN: What? NO. What mosque I don't know of any mosque around here.
PL: (Pointing to the mosque 100ft away) That mosque right there.
LN: I don't see a mosque.
PL: Is this guy serious?
RTO: I don't know?
PL: Sir, do you see that building, it has a dome and two huge blue and purple towers right in front of you... That MOSQUE?
LN: Oh wow, I've never seen that before, it must be new.
PL: So....
LN: I mean I'm new to the area I don't know anybody.
PL: You just told me a lot of people go to that mosque.
LN: What mosque?
PL: Ok, thanks for the help, I'll see you later.

We don't make this shit up. Seriously. Thank you to the PL from the sister platoon for relaying the info.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!

Ashura

The last couple of days have found us pretty busy. Today we were able to take a break and tend to maintenance with the vehicles and other annoying shitty admin things that have to be taken care of. The Iraqi's are celebrating Ashura right now. I don't know if celebrating is the right term, maybe morning the Ashura. Essentially the Ashura is "a major festival, the tazia (ta'ziyah). It commemorates the death of Husayn (also spelled Hussein), son of Imam 'Ali and grandson of Muhammad, on the 10th of Muharram, AH 61 (October 10, 680), in Karbala, Iraq. The event led to the split between the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam, and it is of central importance in Shia Islam. " Like any Iraqi holiday the streets and Mosques are decorated with the colors of Islam, Green is Islam, Red is Sacrifice, White is Purity, and Black being Martyrdom.

The beginning of our balls to the wallage, started by going out and taking pictures of billboards, to make sure that their were not any anti-ISF, or coalition sayings on them. This kinda prompted me to start taking more pictures of billboards here but that is for another post. The down side to this was driving up and down the main roads, which in recent days became a hotbed for EFP's. It snowed and hajj got all nutty and broke out the EFP's he had in the shed or something? After we drove around taking pictures of signs, we went and investigated some houses next to where an IED was found. The houses were just squatter shacks, built of mud bricks. I met some kids there who were actually not that annoying and very lovable, I seldom feel this way but I really wanted to take them home, maybe it was because they were about my daughters ages.

Damn the ground hog dayness of this place because I know we did some other shit but since I didn't write it down, I can't even remember what the hell we did. We did go out and try to give money out to local businesses and engage the population and hand out tip cards. We went out and secured an area and waited forever for someone to come out and do a meet and greet but low and behold said someone was running late so we waited an hour for nuthin. It was pretty cool because I got to meet the dude with the coolest mustache in all Iraq. I saw him walking as we drove by about a month ago, and I was totally stoked by his mustache, it was a muchacho mustache, a mustache that screams I'm a fucking bad ass. After talking to him in minced English and Arabic, this guy ended up being a pretty bad ass dude, in a good way.

Ah I remember what we did now..... We went and looked for supposed militia members renting out supposed houses, and my guys came across some old school jet fighter helmets, and flight suits in one house, and it turned out the guy that lived there was once a fighter pilot in Saddam's army back in the day.

Lately the militia has been threatening the locals, and people who are actually trying to help Iraq and make it better. We went to investigate this on the day before Ashura. People had the decorations up and the neighborhood was friendly enough. Our mission was to get out and talk to the people. You can always tell when your in a militia rich environment because the people will tell you "No meester no militia here this is a good area." They will also tell you "Everything is fine I cannot talk to you." After they tell us repeatedly at every house on the block that there is no militia you see these

Yup no militia here!

Other big indicators is if we try to get a young male alone to talk to him and his family starts freaking out. The people are either affiliated with the militia in some form or another, or scared to death of them. You won't ever really find a guy willing to rat out the militia because they know that if they are caught they are going to end up in some remote location with their head missing.

Muqtada called for a ceasefire among the Jaysh Al Mahdi to clean house as some have put it. Other news sources report that he is trying to get on board and make positive changes in Iraq. Hey I'm all for it. Its been quiet for the most part. Its frustrating because the militia is the major problem we have in our area, some will tell us fuck the Mahdi or spit at the name of Muqtada but you can't always tell if they mean it or if they are hiding it. Maybe they are part of a militia splinter cell and just don't like Muqtada for trying to make Iraq a better place. One thing is for sure is that the Iraqi people fear the militia, and if they would just take a stand against it and help us maybe we could make bigger gains in defeating them. Shit the Sicilians are starting to unite against the Costra Nostra. From what I understand the Jaysh Al Mahdi was formed in order to protect the Shiia from Sunni violence, then what it boils down to is that they actually bully and terrify their own people. I hope that one day we can just work together for the common good of Iraq because I think that it has every possibility of being a great nation.

Thats about it other than recieiving a lil info about a possible IED and going to investigate it as if we were some form of EOD. I hate that shit, "Um ya we have a possible IED at such and such grid and we are going to investigate it." Does it say EOD on my fucking shoulder patch? No. Why don't you have the experts look for that shit. The only time I seem to find the damn things is after they blow up on my fucking truck. No its not that I'm not looking for the shit, cuz I do. I look so hard that when I redeploy it will be months before I'm driving down the interstate not looking for them. It's that they hide the fucking things real good, not to mention that in my mind everything is a possible IED because it doesn't look right and if it were up to me I'd make EOD clear every 5 feet of road in front of me and we would never make it anywhere on fucking time. Ya ok! We'll go investigate it, like we are the fucking CIS for fucking bombs and shit.

Well till next time peoples.

DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!

Blood Brothers

Blood Brothers is a story that the Army Times published in a 4 part series about the men from Charlie Company 1/26 1st ID. They were the hardest hit unit in Iraq. I remember these guys from 2005 when they were getting ready to go home as units from the Division I was were coming to relieve them. They were smack dab in the middle of one of the worst places in North Central Iraq, a little place called Samarra, in a little piece of shit Patrol Base in the heart of the city. Their second trip would not be any easier in a place called Adhamiya.
It is a very good story, an unfortunate one. Once I started I could not stop reading. It reafirmed the reason why I serve, because heroe's like this actually exist in real life. If you got time check it out, a lot of it is unbelievable and heart wrenching. I'd ask that you pass it on to others so they can now also about the men from 1/26.

www.armytimes.com/bloodbrothers

Deuce Deuce OUT!!!

note: sorry couldn't get that link to turn blue so you could click on it but if you click on the title it should take you to the site, if not cut and past, if not then google it. I apologize for the inconvenience.

When Hell Freezes Over

Today was fucking wierd, we woke up this morning to snowfall. Thats right snow, fucking snow in Baghdad, and I guess according to Reuters, its the first time its snowed here in like 100 years. The Iraqi's were all excited and were quoted as saying, "Snow means peace." Boy oh boy the problems in Iraq were solved in one day by snow. I'm certainly excited, I hope that this means the war is over and we can finally go home.

The snow didn't stick though and it turned the dirt into a nice slushy mudtastic mess. You take 10 steps in this shit and your boots end up weighing about 10lbs. Probably the coolest thing though of it snowing here is that I videoed it and I think was the first person to have it up on You Tube. I can't confirm that but I can think what I want.

We did see kids out playing in the 'snow'. They built a snowman and it looked a little like this...

They were really getting into the spirit of snow, running around chasing eachother throwing mudballs and everything, making little martyr's in the mud. I'm kidding they really didn't play in the shit. It was definitely balls cold. I came out to the truck to find my seat completely fucking soaked nothing that a few garbage bags won't fix. Then after the mission I looked and some how managed to get mud stuck in the compensator of my weapon that was nice. Walking anywhere on the FOB has become a jim dandy, the mud just sticks to your boots like crazy and you track that shit everywhere.

Pretty fucking crazy though, it snowed in Iraq and I was here. Wow that really sucks. Here is the video my narration sucks but I wasn't going for any Academy Awards.

Deuce Deuce OUT!!!!

Shitting Out

You can see what a mess the wires are, and there is no standard as to the type of wire that they use.

All of these wires run to a generator. I'd hate to be that guy.

Warning! The following post will reference to shitting, pooping, dumping, defecating, dropping a deuce, dropping the kids off at school, sending another officer thru scuba, so on and so forth etc. etc. So if you are easily offended by poo then stop reading. If you continue to read you are voiding any or all rights to comment negatively. So with out any further ado.....





Well we kicked off the New Year with a stellar mission. Things were off to a great start as we were 15 minutes early to SP, coms were working great. Well we might have been 15min early and ready to go but the other platoon and the command element decided to make us wait for another hour, I got it shit happens. We waited no big deal understandable. Once everyone was up then we were off. We had to stop in one section of neighborhood and get out and talk to the folks and hand out tip cards in hopes that they will call us and rat out nasty no good types. We handed out candy to the kids and it was goin pretty well. Our whole day was planned out pretty much for the most part we knew exactly what and where and when we were going to be doing things. In the military and especially in the combat zone, as we and you yourselves have learned that sometimes that isn't always the case. FRAGO. Okay we had to go check out a Mosque with our friends the Iraqi National Police. Now for the most part I like to work with the NP's we have had some good times together, and for the most part they seem pretty motivated. Well we were on our way there and it seemed like one turn after another we would get snagged; on power lines. You have to understand that since we took over the place we are now, we have worked exceptionally hard to build a good re pore with the people in this area. Kind, and courteous respectful and so forth. [Now I'm about to leave a whole shit load of info out I'm sorry but its for the greater good, I'm sure you could go to any other news media outlet and read about the things I'm leaving out but I still have some time left with my career and don't want to jeopardize anything like that so I apologize.]


Like I was saying about building a trust with the locals, within 30 minutes of driving we really probably fucked that up. Not on purpose by any means, we know better you don't piss these people off you just don't. Bad shit happens when you piss them off, some of you may think "Well were the baddest, bestest military on the block who gives a fuck?" You can think that shit from the safety of your armchair back in the states but in the real world bad attitudes towards the locals can shift their support in the bat of an eye, and any angry local can become a trigger man or whatever else. Needless to say its like raking your nails across the chalk board watching this unfold. We actually damn near take out a transformer, I think we actually did as I watched the blue sparks chase each other on the power lines and heard the loud popping noise that it makes as they do so. We get out and apologize to the people and issue them claims cards to be reimbursed at their closest FOB.


We get to the objective and sweep it then set up security and wait for the other platoon to join us. We wait, and wait and wait, then they join up with us and now we have to wait for permission to enter the mosque. Other times we have done this the old unit was pretty quick to give us the yay or nay, the new unit... well we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally they said it was ok if the Iraqi Security Forces with us went in. Well they didn't find shit. Finally it was time to go home, and nobody was looking forward to this drive considering the amount of people that were probably sitting home pissed off, and cold because the Amrekee's had knocked out their power. Can't blame them I'd be pissed off to. I have to paint you a little image of the Iraqi power dilemma, only so many people are connected to the local power plant, the majority (at least where we are) rely on other Iraqi's that own big huge diesel generators. They have lines strung up like cob webs across the streets and sometimes on make shift line poles. They are relatively low and not very sturdy, so if you have a really tall vehicle then the chances of you ripping them down are pretty damn good.


We made it home without incident but everyone was really nervous.


Ok so now on to shitting. I come back to the truck after hours of pulling security and the first thing Kum tells me is that Hannibal shit in the truck, well thats not new to me because I remember another time that Hannibal and shit in the truck out on mission. The reason I'm writing about this is I thought it might be interesting for you to know how creative Infantrymen can be when it comes to taking a shit with no available facilities. The mission I just discussed was about 10 plus hours of being out. Sometimes you just get that twist in your gut where you know your gonna have to shit out, but are no where near any place where you can. For me back in the world its always Wal Mart, we go there after eating Chinese and suddenly I'm smitten wit da shittin. I go to the front of the building to the bathroom but usually discover that some how some one has figured out how to shit on the ceiling making the bathroom unfit to use, my trick is to go to the back of the store and use the shitters back there. I digress.


Well I wasn't as impressed with Hannibal this time as I was the first time. The first time many moons ago he had to go and some how managed to shit into a Gatorade bottle. Perplexed? Amazed? Yes I was, I didn't actually see the bottle so I was a nay sayer, it couldn't be done. Could it? Just to prove the theory, Setz shit in a Gatorade bottle, and we all held it and looked at it as if it was some mysterious artifact, like a ship in a bottle except it was shit in a bottle. He said that bottle emplacement is key.


Well this time that Hannibal shit in the truck he used a Styrofoam 'to go' plate. This idea was made popular by Setz, who during a gate guard shift found himself with 'the pain' and with no where to go, improvised a shitter out of a Styrofoam 'to go' plate. I was on the other gate and just braced myself against a wall the old fashioned way. Your probably wondering, well if you guys shit on the go what do you wipe with? Well faithful reader as men who are experienced in shitting on the move you never go anywhere without your handywipes! You either have a big thing of them in the truck or you carry your individual packets on your person. If you have faltered and forgot your wipes, you can cut away the bottom part of your undershirt, or just use your finger. When we are in the field we rely on trees or use our entrenching tools which fold over and you can sit on the shovel part with one cheek, placement of the tool is critical because you don't want to shit on the handle. To be courteous to your fellow soldier you dig a small hole then cover it up when your done, or you can be a dick and leave it exposed in the hopes that your fellow soldier may step upon it during a night patrol.


There is one more problem when shitting in the vehicle- the smell. Now Kum found that by smoking upto about 3 clove cigarettes you can eliminate the odor. I was quite impressed because had they not told me I would have never known that Hannibal and shit out in the truck. The most important part of shitting while out on patrol is security, security, security. Make sure your battle buddy is pulling security for you while you shit, it would be a shame to catch a round in the ass with a terd half hanging out of it.


There you have it, amazing isn't it? If you have any questions about shitting on the go feel free to comment and I will consult our experts to make your on the go shitting experience a pleasant one. Thank you.


Deuce Deuce OUT!!!!!

2007 A YEAR DEPLOYED

2-1 Your always with us!
2nd Platoon before we left Kansas
1st Squad 2nd Platoon
The original 2-2 before we left for Iraq.

How my son's known me most of his life.

Here it is 2008 a new year, though it doesn't feel new. I look forward to 3 months of 2008 and god willing going home to my family safely. In January of 07 we departed Kansas and arrived in Kuwait where we waited and trained at Camp Buerhing, then from there made our way North to Baghdad Iraq. I remember talking to my friend SGT Joel Murray and talking about the first time we had been in Iraq and that nothing had really changed in reference to where we were waiting to catch our bird to take us to Rusty. Later on in October I found myself waiting at that same place waiting for a bird to take me home on RNR. I didn't think I would find myself there reminiscing about my friend who was killed on September 04, 2007. I thought that at the end of the deployment we would be back there at that marshalling area talking about all the fucked up shit that went on during our deployment.


We arrived at FOB Rusty with only a handful of us combat vets and the rest bright eyed cherries with no idea about being blown up and shot at. Who were romancing the idea of being at war. We took up residence in a burned out Spaghetti factory in the heart of an Iraqi neighborhood. No frills no gimmicks, and not much time for rest. Coming in for refit days you could see the exhaustion in their eyes, sunken and black around the edges. It wasn't all bad because many good times were had out there and we bonded as a Platoon. We were attacked with rockets, mortars, improvised claymores, and EFP's. All close calls with no or mild injuries. The device would explode just in front of us or on the vehicle with a near miss, just taking out engines or tires. SGT Murray looking over at me and saying "That was a bitch ass IED." The radio call would come over that everyone in the truck was ok, then we would either dismount and start searching houses or just Charlie Mike (continue mission). I sat out on an OP (observation post) where dogs gave away my position and we started taking small arms fire impacting around our position, I look back at my guys and smile and assure them that this shit is hooah. When I went away to BIAP I get an e-mail telling me my truck was destroyed by an indirect 120mm rocket. One rocket took out all of our trucks as the platoon was headed out to mount up and conduct mission. We were on stand by for missions to go put barriers up around a gas station to keep snipers from shooting our guys in the gas station, only to be told to stand down because of a crane being down, or people not showing up with the equipment. Then one day we went to 'assess' where the barriers would be emplaced and before we even got to the fucking gas station a 10" EFP took away from us 5 guys. 3 of them forever watching over us, and 2 of them who's lives were drastically altered for ever.


We pulled together and looked for strength from one another. We weren't defeated just determined. We grew to hate barrier missions, though we've accomplished several after the fact, even though the locals move them anyway. There is a road and a turn that we take only a few hundred meters away from where we lost our dear friends, and every time we take it we look ahead and are reminded of the deadliness of our adversaries. We never let the memories dim and talk about the good times we had with those we lost. We continue the mission pulling bad guys from the night, trying to make friends during the day. We live day to day until those days become weeks and the weeks become months and we find ourselves able to see light penetrating the blackness. Under 100 days and time slows as attacks have picked up around us.


We fall under a new unit that took over and with change of command comes change. Higher ups that don't like one thing or another and seem to make changes just to make them. "Hey I don't like boonie caps you can't wear them!" Is that really relevant? I guess it could be argued that is relevant in the good order and professionalism of the United States Army. Roger! I will enforce the standard HOOAH!


2nd Platoon is still stomping. We have learned a lot about the ever changing situation here on the ground, we bitch a lot but we remain flexible. Remember? Semper Gumby!!


Happy New Years, and Holidays, from the men of 2nd Platoon and Charlie Company. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. 12 months down, 3 to go.


DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!

More Holiday Pic's

If you notice Doc is staring at my boobs.
The LT in his elf hat.
Hannibal didn't have a Santa hat so he wore his stalking. Yes I know its stocking but you would have to know hannibal to understand the joke...
Youngness, jingle this....
AHHHH Sherranno you make sucha cute lil Reindeer.

MERRY CHRISTmas

2nd Platoon on Christmas day in front of the C-RAP's
PULL MY C-RAP YOU DAMN REINDEER!!!!
Me and my roomie!
Ahhhh shit Garrison 4 more!
You make daddy very proud young padawan!



Well Merry CHRISTmas!!! Ya the post is a little late going up but we were experiencing Internet difficulties for a little bit.
Christmas Eve, we found ourselves on gate guard. It wasn't to bad we took our new C-RAPs (MRAP) down and spent guard duty in comfort and style. It didn't start out as interesting as our last time guarding the gas station. When we were at the gas station one early morning, we happened to notice two dogs going at it (humping). Everyone started to cheer and root the dogs on. Then something happened where the dogs fell over each other and it looked like the male dog had mounted the female dog in the missionary position. That was great, I wonder if dogs would call it 'people style'. Well they finished and tried to part ways except they were stuck together. They were both butt to butt and trying to go different ways but they were stuck. Usually you would have to pay for entertainment like this but not on this dreary morning. One of the Iraqi's that worked at the gas station sees this going on and goes over and points and laughs and tries to shoo the dogs away. Well it really wasn't like they were going anywhere, so he walks away and comes back with a mop handle and starts beating them. That seemed to do the trick though it looked to be quite painful. Are you laughing hysterically yet? NO?!? Well maybe you had to be there........ What were we talking about again...... Hey maybe dogs humping doesn't interest you but you try sitting one place for hours on end, then you would get a kick out of something as trivial as a dog shitting. One of the guys will see a dog shitting then he'll point it out to everyone, "Hey look that dogs taking a shit!!" then we get all excited and we are like "Oh hell ya!!" So you could possibly imagine how thrilled we were to see these dogs in such calamity.... Oh yeah any way.....
.....So ya there we were at the gate the lonely gate. Our relief came out and told us Merry CHRISTmas. I looked at my watch and realized that we had just spent CHRISTmas eve together in the C-RAP. It sure didn't feel like CHRISTmas. In a way I was glad to spend it with my extended family. The next morning we woke up and got the whole platoon together. One of my guys was re-enlisting on Christmas day. We got the Platoon outside and dawned our Christmas hats, snapped a few pics, and other soldiers walking by decided to stop and snap pics of our little spectacle.
Myself and Baum held the flag for Garrison as he once again swore his oath to defend his country from all enemies foreign and domestic. It was another very proud moment for me. Both Setz and Gar, I've watched them from when they were just shithead cherries, and they have come up and really molded into outstanding Soldiers, all the men from 2nd Squad have. Then being there to watch them voluntarily continue their careers in the Army is really a humbling experience. Where ever they go I know that they will do great and be successful, and I wish them all of the best.
After the ceremony I went and called my wife, I figured that the kids would've woke her up way early and all of the presents would have been opened seeing that it was about 8am stateside. I called and she let me know that she had just gotten up and the kids did see what Santa brought them but they hadn't opened any presents yet. I could hear the kids in the back round freaking out so I told her I'd let them get down to business and I would call later.
I screwed around for a bit and Setz and I went and had Christmas dinner at the chow hall. The chow hall was all decked out for the holiday. I was hungry as hell since earlier in the day I went to have breakfast but the chow hall was closed for the preparation of the Christmas meal. The grab n go line was open so I thought I could get a egg mcmuffin, but all they had was cereal and sandwiches. No problem. I told the little Indian, or Pak guy that I wanted a tuna fish sandwich with mayonnaise. I guess what he thought I said was I wanted 2 sandwich's. No no just one sammich guy, with tuna fish and mayo. Ya so he slaps a shit ton of mayo on the bread and closes it and hands it to me..... No, for fuck sake t-u-n-a-f-i-s-h. Who the fuck orders a mayo sammich? Needless to say I was starving all day.
After some turkey and stuffing we went down to the phone center where the line wasn't really that bad about a 30 minute wait. I got a chance to talk to all the kids and find out what they had gotten for Christmas, they were a little more interested in the toys than to talk and I can understand that so my wife and I chatted, exchanged I love yous, and holiday greetings, I went back to my trailer and went to bed.
We awoke the next day to a busy schedule. None of us were to happy about the plan of events for the day since they were all to much like the events that happened on SEPT 04. Everyone was a little on edge but we were able to make it through our list of tasks without incident. We went out to give business grants to local businesses and we went to a school to see if there was anything that we could help them out with. We then went to a Christian church which looked like they building an addition to. I know it sounds odd to you but you would probably be surprised as to how many Christian Church's there are, not a lot but more than you would expect. We returned to the FOB and showered up and got ready for bed.
Later that night I get a knock on my door and told that we need to be ready in 45 minutes to go get a bad guy. I tell my team leaders and they have the men and equipment ready in 20. We have done this so much now that its almost a second nature to us. We rolled out, and our platoon was the supporting effort. It was probably one of the fastest snatch and grabs we've done in a while. That was it, got the guy came back and went to bed. Those are good days!
About 3 or 4 months left to go which equals out to just about an eternity. Time feels like its slowing down considerably. Thank you for your continued support. Merry belated CHRISTmas to all!
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!

Filling in the Blanks

Kum, Me, Setz, and Sartor
My driver, me and my gunner they don't call our truck Optimus Prime for nothin!
It gone what?


Ok so here it is 3am and I'm sick from a summer sausage binge, and inspired by another blog I just read. I'm gonna try to cover time from right before I went on leave to the time I got back and now............. Cue dream sequence...

Going back to right before I went on leave we were looking for a real dick... A real dirty dickhead. Not only was this guy a dick but he was a smart dick. Our schedule was in tattered ruins from trying to get this guy. We would be up at all hours of the night waiting to go, but no then we turn around and do something else in the morning. Nobody gets a sleep schedule locked down and we were tired fucking dawgs. I was biting my nails and didn't want to fall into the 6 day curse. More than one Soldier that we knew had met his end 6 days prior to RnR. I'm very superstitious out here. I can't help it. I was so tired and finally on the day I was supposed to catch my bird outta here I was at all of wits end. I flew from here to BIAP where I tried my best to stay awake in hopes that the rest of the trip I would spend in deep slumber. I actually ran into 3 guys that I knew from the General's PSD from my last trip to this summer vacation package.
Well the whole time I was gone they tried to get this dick, and like I said he was a slippery fuck. They actually picked up someone close to the guy and Mr. Dick was pissed and made all sorts of threats to us. Well I returned from leave not rested but sick as a dog. I was thinking something like bronchitis or pneumonia or something I still haven't stopped hacking. I wasn't able to do shit for like 2 or 3 weeks. Nothing was really going on, then one morning I was awaken by the sound of alarm to rush my ass to the bunker while some bastards outside the fence launched 9 fucking rockets in. You could here them screaming through the air. SSKRRREEEEEEETCH KABOOM! The alarm would go silent we would funnel out a little then the siren wales again, and just stayed on continuous. We were all so pissed off it sucks to feel helpless like that. Then in the distance we heard the bark of a M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle letting loose hell from its 30mm cannon. Then the Apaches came in launching rockets. We are all a bit excited but at the same time disappointed cuz this took like 20 fucking minutes of wondering which rocket might land a little to close for comfort. Ahhhh it felt so good to be back to Rocketmiyah.
I can't remember all the missions that we went on because everyday is like groundhogs day here. We did go out on a couple to get ol' dick. To no avail. But to get a dick you have to think like one. One night we went out and, SURPRISE! It wasn't us that grabbed him but it was our plan, and he had no where to run. He eventually tried hiding under a carpet. Seriously his fat ass crawled under a rug and tried to lay flat. No really! It was a good time though. Nothing more than I like watching my men use a 12gauge like a master key and flow into a room with the grace of ballerina's dance recital. Its a beautiful think I tell ya.
Not all of our missions thus far have been barrels of fun. It almost felt like for a while they were picking on poor old 2nd Platoon. We did rise to the occasion though performing duties for certain training teams........ Then getting stabbed in the back by certain training teams..... I won't go any further with that. Your welcome anyway. Then the best ones we get picked for are these barrier missions. Where we go out and play Combat Engimaqueer. Imagine if you will grunts such as us, out there in the midst of darkness, with a group of Iraqi contractors. Now imagine if you will the large Texas (or T) barriers and jersey barriers that are loaded on the Iraqis trucks. Well what we do is get out and place these behemoths, while they are suspended below a crane, driven by an Iraqi, with two Iraqi's on the ground, we are telling them where to put them through the interpreter or through hand signs, then they tell the crane operator, up, or down, or left, or right. These things are absolutely fucking huge and if one fell on you, well that's it. You could easily crush your foot also, or in my case a very large piece of concrete chipped off the top and thank Jesus I was wearing a helmet, that thing rattled my bones. Ahhh but fuck it, its like playing with big ol' blocks in a neighborhood where people want to kill you. Shit how would you feel if you woke up to T barriers in front of your house as you try to maneuver around them just getting out of your drive way, and the normal way you take to work has been blocked off???? It all serves a purpose though......... 2nd Platoon is up to the task. Why were probably the best Infantry barrier putter uppers there are in these parts...... Don't quote me on that. Seriously some of the neighborhoods that are doing this, I guess its what some would call a gated community and some folks like it. I don't know how many or if that's even true but if I knew even half of something I probably wouldn't be here.
But for now we are just kinda sittin idle, waitin for our boys to get back. We did just get some of the new MRAP's. I know that isn't a secret cuz a lot of the Iraqi's out in sector know this due to them not having any power because they don't want to raise their power lines to accommodate the size of the vehicles. Those stupid bastards! They'll learn by golly. You would think they don't realize that we done been here for more den a couple o years, and they need to adjust to what were doin. Hell, it ain't our problem no how them dere Irrrocky's go with no power in da middle of winter. Ya so that truck you've all heard so much about in the press and everything, and in the words of Caroline from Poltergeist "They're heeeeeerrrrree". Thats all I'm going to say about that to avoid crucifixion.
Were hangin in there with CHRISTmas right around the corner. The trees, and the lights are up, the stockings are hung by hundred mile an hour tape with care, in hopes that St. Nick soon will be here. Once again thank you for all of your support.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Christmas Wish

My wife found this video on YOU TUBE. She posted it on her MySpace, and she wrote that this is how her and the kids feel. I do always try to take in to consideration, the things going on back at home. Then when I stop and I think I do realize how much I have actually missed out in the last 3 years. How much sacrificing they have to do back home. My wife took my girls to a dance competition in Pennsylvania, the other dance moms were civilian moms. They all got a room togther and in the morning were at odds as to why my wife and my 2 girls weren't ready to go. My wife does everything by herself she has no help. She essentially leads the life of a single mother, the one added stress to that is hoping that uniformed men don't show up to her home to deliver a message that would shatter the family.
My daughter broke her arm earlier in the year and I spoke to her about it, and she brought up the fact that everytime she gets hurt real bad that I'm never there. My son is three years old now and I've only been to one of his birthday parties, my daughters have gone to Regional Dance Finals competitions, and I've not been able to see them perform. Everytime I call home my son's vocabulary has jumped leaps and bounds.
My wife makes, the cupcakes, plans the parties, builds the school projects, cooks the meals, goes to to Dance, she does everything by herself, and she has a husband. I'm not complaining this is the life we chose.
As it gets closer to the end of the deployment I don't see really anything different from when we started. I felt that way the last time we were here, nothing changed. Then a new unit gets here and does the same thing, at the end tries to sum up all of its accomplishments into one big adda boy, but the fact remains it's the same as it was when you got here, and the unit before you did the same things we did, and the unit before them and so on and so forth. We should feel as though we captalize off of the success of the unit before us, but we don't, we make small accomplishments and call them our own.
I definitely don't have the answers, and I don't know what they are. I'm neither politician or a college educated commander. I'm just a high school educated Infantry Squad leader boots on the ground, trying my best to keep those around me alive. We are a tool of policy and democracy. I'm a father to 3 children and a husband to a busy wife. We are a career military family. I watch my kids grow up through slide shows on MySpace. My kids score winning goals at the Soccer game to look back and see their mother cheering for them. They perform their hearts out on stage and look out into the ground to see their mother cheering for them. My sons concept of a father is that he is always 'at work'. My wife will hang stockings and put up the Christmas tree, and on Christmas eve go to bed alone, and be woken up at the crack of dawn to eager children trying to get down stairs and see what Santa brought them, and they will wait for me to call so that they can tell me what they got for Christmas. I will wait in a long line behind other dads, and moms eager to hear what Santa left for their children. Afterwards, we will probably go to chow then go back to our rooms and await the next mission in an effort to "Get violence down to a maintable level for Iraqi Security Forces."
At this point I'll end my sesnseless rambling and leave you as confused as I am.
I hope that all of you have happy holidays. Maybe Santa will drop by and pick me up.......

2-1 Memorial Slide Show

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about what happend on Sept 04. When we talk the names of the fallen come up in conversation associated with warm, or funny memories. Shortly after that happend on the Sept 04, a couple soldiers, from the platoon and company got together and made a couple of songs that conveyed the loss and the pain that we all felt on that day. We instantly put together a slide show of all the pictures that we had of them so that there faces would never fade from memory. A few of us were chosen to deliver the Eulogies for the fallen at the memorial service held for them here. I was chosen to talk about SGT Joel Murray. I don't think that any words, or my feeble command of the english language could do any justice to the caliber of man that Joel was. Soldiering is different from any other profession in the world, especially being the Infantry and deployed to the combat zone. You live and eat with the same people day in and day out for months on end. Your down time is spent talking about everything from home, and family, to how many times you've masturbated in the last ten minutes. Nothing is taboo, and you know everything about that man to your left and your right. You know that he would die for you and you for him. When tragedy strikes its like losing a family member. You wonder how their family is doing and how that persons children are going to grow up not knowing their parent. I just want everyone to know how extraordinary these men were, and how great they are, brave, bold, fearless, are only a couple of adjectives used to describe them because I could honestly sit at this computer and go on for hours.
On that very day 2 soldiers in that truck lives were also changed forever. Joseph Mixson a strapping 6 foot man lost both of his legs. Some of the guys have talked to him and I try to see whats going on with him through his myspace, he sent us a video and he sounds very up beat, but thats him, when he was here with us he is so uplifting to be around, full of life and energy, and truly an honor to know him.
Duncan Crookston, suffered burns over 80% of his body and was a triple amputee. Some of the guys have had an opportunity to talk to his wife, and she had said that he was doing better than expected. From the get go they told us that he wasn't going to make it, but he is strong and he is still with us. He is a very smart young man, who god has a plan for. We are all pulling for you Duncan and we can't wait for the opportunity to be able to talk to you.
We miss you both so much but, we thank god that you guys are alive and safe at home with your families.
The events that happened on that day are very surreal. The sights, the sounds, the smell. Not a Soldier that got out of their vehicle that day had as much regard for his own life as he did for those who were still trapped in the truck, which was on fire. SSG Ume was the first to the scene with SPC Serrano hot on as heels pulling security for him, Ume ran around frantically pulling the men he could get to out of the truck which was burning wildly and had gotten hot enough to 'cook off' rounds. My truck arrived on the scene and I didn't even have to tell my team leaders what to do, they immidiatly tried to fight the fire with fire extinguishers, and fire blankets. We set up a casualtie collection point using the safe side of my vehicle and began to move the guys away from the burning truck to that safe side. Bullets were going off do to the extreme heat of the blaze and you could hear them bouncing off the concrete, and my truck and zipping by. No one stopped to think of their own safety but more so to get those that needed us, out of harms way. Our medic was cool and collected and did what he could for who he could. We then put the casualties in the trucks and sped them to the nearest FOB. Elements from our 1st Platoon, the BC's PSD, and Bravo Company had been near by and came to assist us.
One day I might go more in depth with details, but for now its for only us and the families to know.
Hughes our FO put together a slide show for me along with the song he and his guys wrote. If you would like to check out more of his music check out http://www.myspace.com/jkansas43.

Heres a little slide show Memorial Tribute. We love U All!

Veterans Tribute Videos

I found these videos on the Fort Riley website, the first video is a Veterans day tribute and the other is a Big Red One Strong video.

The Veterans Tribute





Big Red One Strong
my roomate is the guy doing the tug o war.



Enjoy!! Deuce Deuce OUT!!!!

RNR

Its Deuce Deuce, HouseHold 6 and our little fire team in the Magic Kingdom, watch out Mickey!
Me HouseHold6 and my little machine gunner!
Taaaadaaaaa we are about to ride Pirates of the Caribean, I said we were riding it I didn't claim that I could spell it!
Nothing like overpriced face painting at Disney World. The Pirate cracks me the hell up though.
Dedicated to my fallen brothers RIP.
Well RnR was a blast. It felt so good to go home and see my kids, they got so big from the time I was away and my son was talking so much more than when I had left. Once again it was strange to enter the big gates of Atlanta’s International Airport, so many people carrying on with life, it is just weird seeing Americans, dressed casually or in business attire. Atlanta is a giant hub for military travel so a lot of people don’t pay you any mind. A few people came up and thanked me and shook my hand and that was pretty cool. It was a long ass ride from Kuwait to Germany, then from Germany to Atlanta. We got to ATL early in the morning which had me pretty excited that meant I was going to be home sooner than I thought. I boarded my plane in ATL to take me to my connecting hub in Philly, the folks on that flight were really great they let the guys going on RnR off first then I boarded my flight in Philly to my final destination of Binghamton. I sat watched and waited for the plane to get there, I listened to a guy all dressed up business man style talk to “Marty” on the other end telling him how the big boss was going to be pissed that not a lot of vendors turned up for the “show”. I wondered if I could ever be a business man like that, a life where I’m not carrying a rifle or leading Soldiers on the battle field. His whole gig seemed very unmanly to me.

My flight touched down early in Binghamton and I deplaned and noticed my wife had not yet made it to the Airport. Minutes later I see her running with balloons, signs, and kids in tow. She was so upset that she hadn’t been there to see me get off of the plane. The poor woman, my son decided to shit his pants, and then she got stuck in construction on the way to the Airport. I didn’t mind one bit I was home and in her arms where I belonged. We drove back down through the construction where she pointed out the different construction workers that she had swore at and flipped off. The first order of business for me was some new shoes considering I didn’t have any civilian shoes.

While at home I got to do so many things the first was watch my girls perform in a dance recital, and it was amazing they both have accomplished so much and there skills have improved a lot since I saw them dance last. My youngest daughter had her very first solo in front of people and we were pretty nervous but she came out like a star with enough energy to power a county. My oldest daughter did a solo performance which was a dance dedicated to me. I was amazed and damn near broke into tears. It was so good to be home.

We then packed up the car and headed south to Florida, (I forgot to mention all the painting and stuff on my wife’s car, like welcome home and such things) we got a lot of honks and waves and whenever we stopped everybody welcomed me home. We got to Florida after I drove straight through; rested one day then went and hit up Sea World. Sea World is really cool and owned by Anheuser Busch and Anheuser loves the military, and the military loves them. It was Halloween and the park was prepped for ghouls and ghosts of different shapes and sizes, we did our time there headed home and got our costumes on for a long awaited trick or treat session. You see in the last 4 years I have not been trick or treating with my kids because of deployments, so this one was extra special. We hit up a really fantastic neighbor hood in Florida, nothing less than million dollar homes, my kids had filled their buckets twice. We went as characters from Grease, my son and I were T-Birds, and my Wife and youngest daughter were pink ladies and my oldest daughter was Bad Sandy.

A day or so after that we went to the best most magical place ever, Disney World. I love Disney there is so much to do and see there that you can’t do it all in a day it’s impossible. I’ve been to Disney a dozen times since Kara and I have been married and I have a great time every time we go. We also had a great opportunity to go back to Vero Beach. I love this place I love Vero, it’s nice quite and on the ocean. Kara’s aunt hooked us up with accommodations at the Disney Resort there. We were definitely living the high life. Its then that I realized that I could be that business guy as long as it involved me making lots of money so one day I can have a condo on Vero and enjoy the ocean. I woke up early one morning and just walked down the beach, and I could’ve gone forever. Everyone loved the resort you had beach access and pool activities it was a blast. We also hit up MGM, Animal Kingdom, and did another day at the Magic Kingdom. MGM was really cool my kids are huge fans of High School musical and they got to dance with some of the people that were promoting HSM2. They were pretty excited.

I love Florida and that’s where I hope to end up one day. There is so much to do and it’s just beautiful down there. With my having to go back looming closer we packed up and headed back to New York, so that I could participate in a Veterans Day assembly at my kids school. The school always does a tremendous job when it puts this on and recognizes veterans from the community, the students put in names of those that they know who serve and they are recognized and given a certificate and a flower. It really teaches the kids to respect the men and women who fight for their country.

To top it all off Kara’s father had a Thanksgiving dinner for me before I left. It was great Kara’s family came over and we had turkey and ham and everything. I read my kids one last bedtime storey, tucked them in and kissed them goodbye. At 4am my wife drove me to the airport and kissed me good bye. No matter how many times you do it, it never gets any easier.

The whole time I was home the men from Charlie Company where never far from my thoughts and the events that happened on Sept 4th were at the forefront. When I’m here my thoughts and my heart are always with my family wondering what they are doing and thinking about them and the good times we have had together. I just happened to be headed home on Veterans Day, so every line I hit I was ferried to the front, which was all great except that I really was in no hurry to get back here. Before we boarded the plane in Atlanta that would eventually take us back to the Middle East they paraded us around the airport and everyone stood and clapped for us.

Everyone that I talked to that had gone on RnR before me said it had gone to fast. I didn’t think so at all. I did so much with my family and spent so much time with them it felt like a good while that I was at home. 10 months away from your wife and kids is a long ass time. They learn and grow so much its unbelievable. My son was talking so much and he is so smart, at the same time he is a bad little dude, he reminds me of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. My daughters are so smart it blows me away with the things that they learn in school wow. Well only 3 months left respectively and we will be home, god willing. I’m going to try and go be a Drill Sergeant when we get back so hopefully I can keep my ass in the states for a bit.
To my mother in-law thank you for letting us stay at your house and watching the kids for me and Kara, and to my Aunt Jen and Uncle Pete thank you for letting us into the parks and putting us up at the Resort, and watching the kids for us, thanks to my father in-law for everything that you do, your generosity never goes unappreciated and I will do my best to make it up to you thank you for all you do for our family. Thank you to everybody that made this RNR one of the great ones we love you so much.

I love you Kara and I can’t wait to come home for awhile and maybe take a trip just for us. Thank you for all you do raising our kids at home, most people don’t recognize the sacrifices that you make as a military wife. You are truly the best!
Deuce Deuce OUT!

Home Video Experimentation Time

I filmed this one a while back its Anderson or 'Anderpanties' as we lovingly refer to him doing his hand interpretation dance in the turret to James Blunts 'Your Beautiful'. After a minute you can see him real good. Its real bumpy at that part in the road so excuse the jumpiness at first.... Enjoy.




DeuceDeuce OUT!!!!

Single Digit Midget

The lovely Sewage Plant
F-Town vacation paradise.
Shit trench this is an old pic they are a bit bigger now.
I'll be offering these as time shares soon.

One thing that hasn't changed that makes me reminisce about the last time I was here, is the smell. It constantly smells like shit here. This fine piece of real estate that we call home is encompassed by shit. There is a land fill directly to the north and to the east is a sewage plant and so depending on the direction of the wind you can catch a good wiff of shit or burning trash or a mixture of both. Last time I was here I remember it always smelling like something was burning. Not only that the dust, the dust is always is in your nose, that fine Iraqi soil. Ahhh the Cradle of Civilization. Right, the Cradle after the kids take their diapers off and smear shit all over themselves and everything they can get their hands on.

It's been awhile now and we are still on this awkward schedule. I might be safe in calling it a graveyard shift, though I don't think anybodies sleep pattern is quite right. I'm so close now to RnR time decided to slow down and the calender decided to stretch out.
The other night was a long one, we started early going out and making huge strides in the Iraqi security plan (enter sarcasm). We then went after a shit head living in a shit strewn nasty neighborhood. Pucker factor was high, it is anytime we roll out now a days. It was dark as hell as we stalked through the trash ridden streets on our way to pluck a filthy terrorist from his home and throw his bitch ass in prison. Maybe if we are lucky he will get ballsy and then we can put an asshole where his forehead is. 2nd Platoon's responsibility on this particular mission is to prevent said bad guys from getting away by cutting off their possible escape routes. We roll up to the block and the main effort turned off, we jumped out out of the trucks and had to run to our position. It was dark, we were wearing night vision, the road was shitty, we were wearing 65lbs worth of equipment and time was of the essence. We hit the ground running our asses off. Have you ever ran down a road that was not well kept and full of sink spots and cracks? No? Have you done it in the dark? No? Oh ya I forgot to mention the IED threat too while running on this particular route. The whole time I'm running I'm not thinking about the lack of oxygen in my lungs nor the pain in my ankles from hitting sink holes, nor the numerous times where I almost fall, I'm thinking "Fuck me!! Don't blow up road!" I'm counting out my pace in my head as we run, D-Roll and Me out in the front. The LT told me 300m and I counted 200m when Setz caught me and says the LT wants you back there. "What the fuck?" I walk back to where he was with my squad and post security.

The day light creeps on us as the main effort scours the objective for the target. I can't even say honestly if we got him or not. Supposedly we were in the same neighborhood as another terd, FRAGO (FRAGO is basically a change or addition to an Operational Order but to keep it simple its a change of mission) and we move down into the slum and start searching for penis head 2. Its cooled off now so the flies are back out in force. In these slums there are holes in the back of the buildings where shit water flows out and into the street and into a shit trench dug down the length of the block. The water is a dirty ass gray, and when the flies land on your face you can't help but think how many bowel movements has that little fucker sucked up prior to landing on your grill piece. It was a no go for Penis Head 2 so we headed back to the trucks and mounted up. Now for the worst part, the drive back to Rusty. You can put me on the ground all day, but no one likes to ride in the trucks. We make it safely back to Rusty, after 12 hours of being on the ground. I woke up tonight at 1900 (thats 7pm for you non military time telling folks). Right now its 130am and a day closer to family and fast food, and fresh air. I'm now what they call a 'single digit midget'. Time left till I go on RnR is in the single digits. Soon I'll be shorter than a midget on his knees.

Till the Next post......
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CONGRATS TO ALL MY HOOAH ASS 2ND SQUAD HARDCORE KILLERS THAT GOT PROMOTED
SPC D-ROLL, SPC HARDCORE SARTOR, SPC YOUNG, AND EVEN SPC PICARD THE RETARD.....

Song Dedicated to the Fobbits

Here is a little vid slide show put together by, who I don't know. The song is by two Soldiers Fagan and Cotto. I don't know them either but the song is funny. This is dedicated to those who don't punch the wire and tell other peoples war stories. Its dedicated to those who don't punch the wire but sit in a tower and can't fucking keep insurgents from placing EFP's right in front of their towers that kill those who do punch wire. The song has foul language so if that offends you don't hit play. The song makes fun of POG's(People Other than Grunts, pronounced pogue)and FOBBITS and if that bothers you then don't hit play. If you are a FOBBIT and you do have tower guard and no U.S. personal have had been wounded or killed in front of your Tower or within sight of it then this isn't directed towards you, but if you are one of those who go up into the tower and read magazines, jerk off, or sleep, or whatever it is the fuck you do up there besides pull security this is for you and if your offended I don't give a fuck do your fucking job, who knows when you will have your chance to roll out and I bet you'll be praying that who ever is up there is paying attention. For everyone else enjoy the song, its pretty funny. Once again thank you for your support. If you are easily offended simply don't hit the play button. Thank you once again and enjoy. THE INFANTRY IS THE BEST!
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!!

Sleepless In Rustamiyah

Me and D-Roll cramped in the VW
Picture me Rollin!

Its been a minute and I know this. Just really haven't felt like posting to much. We really haven't been doing that much either. A couple things here and there but not much. Today we punched wire and it was great, everyone was itching to get the hell out of the FOB. September was a shitty month for 2/16IN, in addition to the casualties that we from Charlie took, Delta lost SPC Josh Reeves, and Bravo lost SFC Doster. May they rest in peace and our hearts and prayers are with them and their families.

Today was a busy day, we were up early and on the move taking the CO to his meetings and then acting on some tips and hit a couple of objectives on the way back. They were nothing but dry holes but it was definitely nice to hit the streets again. I actually had a lot of guys on the ground with me which was different usually it was just myself, Droll, and Setz, and occasionally Pic or Young,or Garrison. Today most of the guys were on the ground with me and it felt great. I will admit it is edgy riding in the truck, you never know which stretch of road or corner might have that EFP waiting for you. We definitely don't want to experience what we did on the 4th again. We punched the wire a couple times before today, hit a couple of objectives. One we hit and brought back a VW piece o' shit. The Iraqi National Police drove it back to Rusty for us, and then at the gate Droll and I volunteered to drive it in the wire. Well it ran out of gas so Droll and me steered it to the gate and then I went in and left Setz and his crew to guard it while EOD came to inspect it. EOD came and did there thing so Setz and his crew hooked up the car and towed it through the gate and headed towards the motorpool to drop it off. Anderson was steering. They were taking the shortest route to the motorpool but found it blocked. Setz called the Soldier over who was blocking the road and asked him if they could just go through and what the fuck the road block was for. Apparently General Petreaus was parading down the FOB driving in a Red Mercedes. The guard let my boyz through and they passed the General with piece of shit VW in tow and Anderson's ass steering it.

We have two new additions to 2nd Squad, SPC Horton came to us from Delta Company, and we moved Picard over to first squad to serve as a team leader, and we got SPC Gillespie. Also finally D-Roll made his E-4. Its about time and I'm so proud to have watched him rise through the ranks. Though he wears the rank of an E-4 he has been acting in the capicity of an E-5.

Only 16 more days until my ass hops on a freedom bird for some much needed rest and relaxation. I can't wait. Ya wanted to mention after much wait I finally got the final episodes of Soprano's and all I got to say is "WHAT THE FUCK?!" I apologize for it taking me so long to post. I suppose maybe some of you are waiting to hear about what happened on the 4th of Sept. Below is a link to a Stars and Stripes article and it is fairly accurate. Thank you all once again for your support!

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56574&archive=true

DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!

Baby Steps

The memorial was held for Sgt. Murray, SPC Lane, and SPC Shelton, on September 14. It was a good service but I don’t think it gave us the closure that we thought it would. The memorial was videoed and will be sent to the families of the fallen. 2nd platoon will never be the same without those men. Quite honestly anyone that was touched by them will never be the same. Days move forward and time moves on and I know that they would want us to carry on. We have 8 months left in this place and have to take them just one day at a time. We have been out on 2 missions since September 4th. Our first mission was a night raid to go get some grimy terrorist known for smuggling things into and out of a well known country that harbors terrorists, and assists the insurgents in their fight against us and Iraqi security forces. 1st Platoon was the main effort and we were the outer cordon. I was not alone feeling uneasy on the drive to the target house. My men and I lead out for our element, though 1st Platoon led the way there. We drove to the point where we split off and my driver hauled ass to the backside of the building to prevent the bad guy from running away. We immediately dismounted and sealed off the back of the block while 1st entered the house and grabbed the guy. We mounted up and moved out; we made it back to Rusty without incident. It was good to get outside the wire again.

Our next mission was one where I think we were all agreed that it was well not worth the trip. Ours is not to question but to do. My men and I lead out to our first destination, if it’s going to happen it’s gonna happen, but we will not let these fuckers intimidate us. We drove up the route that had taken our brothers only a week before, we made a right turn onto a different road and we all stared up the road before we made the turn looking as if to catch a glimpse of the sight that had changed everybody’s life on that fateful September day. It was only 300m up the road but it was well out of eye sight. We made it to our first destination, waited for the Commander to finish his meeting. We then rolled out to our second objective. A place we had been before looking for someone who supposedly did something, my men and I had actually searched the house before but someone was not convinced that there was nothing in the house. My men dismounted a block from the target house and moved to the gate. We entered and cleared the home and searched it for a second time, and for a second time found nothing. 1st Platoon lead out on the way back to Rusty, another mission down and one more day closer to the end of another month.

Thank you to everyone that continues to support us, Sgt Murray, SPC Lane, SPC Shelton, SPC Crookston, and SPC Mixson. Thank you for your prayers and your words of support. I would like to say thank you to two organizations that are really amazing and that’s Books for Soldier’s and Soldier’s Angels. These programs are outstanding, I had gotten a letter from a rep from BFS, she had actually sent me the last book I received and also reads the blog. BFS put the names of our fallen on there memorial site and she knew their names not just from here but from them having used BFS. Soldier’s Angels is also a fantastic support system for Soldiers and I know that they contacted another member in the Platoon about Crookston and Mixson and wanted to send their support to their families and also the families of the fallen soldiers. If any of you are interested in volunteering for one of these great organizations, simply Google the website and check it out. BFS how it works for us is we send in a request for a book, or movie, or video game and BFS gets our request and then within 2 weeks you receive what ever you ordered. Soldiers Angels as far as I know they have different teams, letter writing and volunteers that send packages to soldiers. If one of our guys isn’t getting any mail we send his name and address in and the volunteers from Soldier’s Angel’s will send him letters, and packages.

I also googled the names of the fallen and I came across some memorial websites for them if you would like to check them out.
http://joel-murray.memory-of.com/
http://legacy.com/BayCity/Soldier/Story.aspx?Page=FSStory&PersonID=94069787
http://legacy.com/GB/GuestBookView.aspx?PersonID=94069782
http://legacy.com/GB/GuestBookView.aspx?PersonID=94069786
Thank you again.
Ruark OUT!!!

In Loving Memory.....

SGT Joel Murray, KIA Sept 4, 2007
PFC Randal Shelton, KIA Sept 4, 2007
PFC David Lane, KIA Sept 4, 2007
PFC Duncan Crookston, WIA Sept 4, 2007
PFC Joseph Mixson, WIA Sept 4, 2007

We miss you guys and wish you and your families all of our support. God bless you and your families. Please know that everyone did all that we could do. To Crookston, and Mixson hang in there guys we are praying for you. Down and not out. I miss you Joel. I keep waiting for you to come out and say something funny to me and to bullshit with me. We miss all of you. Gone but you will never be forgotten. We love you. You guys are my Heroes, real Heroes.

For everyone who reads these are some of the finest men I have ever had the honor to serve with. Please pray for those who are wounded, and those who left to overwatch us from the great OP in the sky, and especially for their families because they are the ones who need it the most right now. Thank you for all of your support.
Roodawg OUT!