"You guys have to go check out National Police check points that have been over run." "Wow that's gay." "After that we are linking up with 1st PLT to raid a Mosque in [Nasty Part of Town]." "Okay that's not so gay."
The main route we had been working on recently was empty and it was the middle of the day. Smoke from tire fires was in the air. Lately Sadr's militia went buckwhile coming out to fight. Fighting from Sadr City spilled east into Bravo Company's sector. Alpha, and Bravo and some elements from an Armored unit were in the midst of a heated battle in Bravo's sector uprooting militia men from the check points. We drove by a check point tower we had built and the side of it had been hit by an RPG. We drove past numerous check points that were abandoned. Reports of a certain checkpoint that had been taken over by JAM came across the net. We drove to the checkpoint and it was manned by a bunch of National Policeman. Maybe they were JAM but they were in uniform so it wasn't cool if we smoked them.
We finished up with the checkpoint tour and drove to the link up point. We waited for an hour for 1st to link up with the NP's and then to link up with us. Only one NP volunteered to come with us. We moved to the target block and set up a cordon. 1st hit the Mosque and they found several EFP's lots of explosives and weapons. Meanwhile gun fire and explosions went off around us. The LT took a team to a roof where they took small arms fire. An RPG flew up the street directly infront of the trucks of 1st Platoon and they clipped his ass. We rounded up the explosives into 1st's trucks and we were given the task to lead back. There was some argument about which direction we should travel and finally we went with the LT's pick of south when the consensus was to avoid the street the RPG was fired up. We moved slowly it was dark now. Air assets were in the middle of calling up "We have personnel with RPG'S moving u-" BOOOOOOM. An explosion followed by 2 bright blue flashes from transformers coming down lit up the road in front of me as I watched the lead vehicle disappear clouded by smoke. My mind flashed back to Sept 4th my hand on the handle of my door ready to get out and assist. Immediately 2-4's back up lights lit up the street as he came across the radio. "We're good! Backing up!" Everyone was good but the truck was fucked. The LT and my truck moved up to secure the intersection so that we could hook up and tow the truck back. Air assets were calling up people moving to our position. Small arms fire started to poor out of every nook and cranny. I told Hannibal to fire high and down the streets to keep people off of them, finally after so much small arms I told Hannibal to fire on a building where we saw muzzle flashes. Hannibal laid down a sustained burst on the building. With the truck hooked up we towed and fired our way out. We had to tow the truck in the middle of the night down one of Iraq's most dangerous routes. We made it back to the FOB with 1st safely and no casualties. 1st PLT had schwacked a couple of people along with us.
The next day we moved with 1st back to the COP as we went to cross the highway we heard small arms fire coming from our sector. 1st was out in front and had immediately started taking contact. An RPG flew past their lead vehicle soon after he was cut to pieces by a 240B. I believe that the fire died down as they realized how big our element really was. Burnt remnants of tires at almost every intersection, and no on was on the streets.
Later that night we found ourselves hitting another Mosque. 2nd Platoon was tasked out as the main effort. We moved down dismounted and stacked by the door. The breach element kicked in the door and threw in a flash bang. The stun grenade went off and my men flowed into the mosque. We searched from top to bottom and found nothing. Apparently it was bad intelligence. After we searched a couple surrounding buildings and coming up with nothing we headed back to the COP. Hours later we were told we had to go to the DAK and pick up equipment for the "beleaguered" NP's. We would be moving with a Platoon from Delta Company who were escorting a BSB element to pick up an Alpha company truck that had been destroyed. 1st moved dismounted to link up with the NP's. As we moved mounted to link up with said NP's I was monitoring Delta's net as we heard an IED go off, then minutes later another. It was delta they hit 2 IED's within 5 minutes of each other. We linked up with the NP's and drove to link up with Delta, they were about 10 minutes in front of us. Now it was to the point they were reconning by fire possible EFP's, and IED's. We were doing the same.
We made it to the DAK and linked up. A follow on mission came over the net and Delta was tasked to pick up a platoon from Alpha's COP. No sooner did they leave the gate then an Explosion ripped through the night, and then another. The Delta 2-6 element came over the net "They almost got us again we are good." What a lucky bastard this dude was eating IED's like pez just near misses every time. At about the same time Hannibal yells. "RPG on the roof!!!!" "Fire, shoot, shoot, shoot!" I yelled. Hannibal started laying waste to the roof tops. The other gunners picked up on his fire and put fire on the roofs, then Hannibal spotted another and let the 7.62 rain on his militia ass too. Meanwhile Delta was firing on the buildings with thier .50cal machine gun doing some serious demolition and remodeling. It was a steady gun fight until they pulled back into the DAK with Alpha. The thing is it was really about 1.5km from the DAK to Alpha's cop.
It was daylight now and the men from 2nd Platoon had been moving since 9am the previous day. With the NP equipment loaded and BSB still trying to load the Alpha truck up our element went out to secure the Route we would be traveling on. We drove down past the burnt out NP truck on the side of the road and got eyes on our egress route. Dco called up and told us they were moving, suddenly the air erupted in small arms fire from all angles, every vehicle 2nd platoon had started to fire. Kum spotted a guy with a machine gun down the street firing on us, he told Hannibal and seconds later his militia ass was looking for his 40 virgins. It was solid gun fire on buildings and down the street we were on. Hannibal's eagle eye picking them out then his deadly finger picking them off. C Wade in the lead truck was picking off guys in a window and he said it was like a video game, he would fire the guy would go down then come back up. After a final burst his ass didn't get back up. Delta moved out in front of us and we moved slowly. We saw a spot in the market where the militia had put an IED that had detonated on Delta. The market was burnt out they destroyed their own fucking market, and for what?
We made it back to the COP gun fire and explosions coming from muhallas around the AO.
Today I read a message from AlSadr's office calling for a cease fire. I would hope so because the only people suffering from their actions are their own people. They found that out when they hit a tank and then a tank and a Bradley moved up firing main gun and 30mm coax. DOOM ON YOU FUCKERS!
2 Soldiers from Alpha were killed and 2 severely wounded. Less than a week to go.
FUCK THE MAHDI
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Not Out of the Woods Yet
I told Kum to grab the AT-4 (medium anti-tank rocket launcher) and sling it on his back. With the recent spike in violence I wasn't about to start taking chances. My team leaders checked their men and prepped them to step out of the gate. No trucks were coming with us tonight. It had been a while since we moved dismounted through the sector and it was welcome stretch of the legs. The big iron doors squealed open and my men and I made our way out into the street. It was by my account just a familiarization walk as we had officers from the unit relieving us in our formation. We got our spacing and moved silently into the night. Checking roof tops and the sides of the roads through the green hugh of the night vision for any signs of unwanted company or things that go BOOM. We moved silently until a pack of wild dogs that roam the streets of Baghdad decided they wanted everyone to know we were out. In the distance we could hear our sister company's in contact and air weapons teams raining down death in the form of hellfire missiles and 30mm cannon fire. It was a short walk and before we knew it we were back in the comfort (if you can call it that) and safety (I use the term loosely) of our COP. Anticipation for contact was high considering all the shit going, but returning with nothing further to report is also a blessing in its own way. Then again going out and looking for a fight and coming back with out firing a shot is a real let down. I will compare the feeling to "BlueBalls" and saying that a majority of you will know how I feel. Try 14 months of "BlueBalls".
We pulled into the FOB this morning and I got out of the truck and shrugged my gear off. I'm tired, more tired than usual, the last couple of days have been interesting. The heat has picked up a bit and we are sweating a little more than usual. Along with the heat comes the crazies.
I took a look at the guys and I could see the fatigue in their eyes. The last two days have been long and interesting. Right before I got online the incoming alarm went off as I was getting my hair cut. I waited and waited and when I tried to leave they told me I couldn't go out yet. This was after a sufficient amount of time had passed. The FOB Nazi's were holding me hostage afraid that if I go outside into the big FOB of uncertainty that I would get whacked. Where are those guys when I roll out the wire. "Hey no Deuce you can't go its dangerous out in sector." I feel as though I live in a huge oxymoron.
I got online to check out the news to maybe find out a little more about what the hell is going on here. I read an article about how the Green Zone is "Under Seige"............ Wow. That's it, that's all the fucking news that is going on about recent events here. Have all the reporters gone home or they are just holed up in the GZ drinking mocha frappies and shit and a couple of rounds hit in the GZ so suddenly its under seige? I might be speaking out of turn but hey around the whole AO shit has gone a little loopy. If you call getting rocketed a few times Under siege then I don't know what you would call ol'Rocketmiyah? Under-apocalypse??? Just be thankful your not driving around in the IED laden streets of B-dad you fucking Burger King eating fucks. (I apologize for using Burger Kings name in vain) Explosions and gunfire are a constant more so now than it has been within the last month. Apparently some people not so happy with AlSadr are pissed and have been trying to step up. (That's according to the AP). On the roof of the COP you could look out and see smoke from JAM guys lighting tires on fire. Maybe they had just seen Blackhawk down on cable? I'm not understanding why they just couldn't wait till we left to start some shit. Now it feels as everyday that we get closer to leaving the more dangerous it's getting for us. To bad though we won't hole up. JAM has really picked a shitty time to give AlSadr the bird and start fighting on their own. You see, you have a shitload of trigger happy Grunts itching to settle a score, you wanna fight fuckheads????? Good!
Well before the shit started to splatter upon the fan roughly about 3 days ago. We were out into the wee hours of the morning trying to make our little piece of shitty highway safe for all who travel the road. We were up all day and all night and when we got back to the FOB I crashed. I slept hard until about 2pm. I woke up conducted the 3 S's and mozied my happy lil 11B firm buttocks down to the PX. When, hark what do I see? People walking in 2's and in 3's. Under their arms what do they hold? Mops, brooms, and drawers of plastic mold. Oh what is that what could it be? What is their patch, oh I must see. Oh yes it is our relief, its the Ivy of 4th ID.
Boy was I happy they are here, and even last night they went out on a dismounted patrol with us. Later the novelty wore off as I went to the phone booth and it was packed with people that just fucking got here. You can't help but hold a grudge as you go use your creature features around the FOB, mainly internet, and phone and find people that have only been in country a couple days yacking and typing away. Meanwhile we've been away from home for 14 months and out at the COP for the last 9 days, and all you want to do is make a call and here is this doosh that just copulated with his significant other only maybe a couple weeks prior sucking up phone time. I'm not bitter though cuz soon I will be going home!
Like I said with sudden hemorrhoid flare up the days have become longer and are at the most dangerous since we are so close to popping smoke.
I would tell you about our "Assault" into the swimming pool to grab 40 armed men, but uhhhh it was pretty fucking stupid.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!
We pulled into the FOB this morning and I got out of the truck and shrugged my gear off. I'm tired, more tired than usual, the last couple of days have been interesting. The heat has picked up a bit and we are sweating a little more than usual. Along with the heat comes the crazies.
I took a look at the guys and I could see the fatigue in their eyes. The last two days have been long and interesting. Right before I got online the incoming alarm went off as I was getting my hair cut. I waited and waited and when I tried to leave they told me I couldn't go out yet. This was after a sufficient amount of time had passed. The FOB Nazi's were holding me hostage afraid that if I go outside into the big FOB of uncertainty that I would get whacked. Where are those guys when I roll out the wire. "Hey no Deuce you can't go its dangerous out in sector." I feel as though I live in a huge oxymoron.
I got online to check out the news to maybe find out a little more about what the hell is going on here. I read an article about how the Green Zone is "Under Seige"............ Wow. That's it, that's all the fucking news that is going on about recent events here. Have all the reporters gone home or they are just holed up in the GZ drinking mocha frappies and shit and a couple of rounds hit in the GZ so suddenly its under seige? I might be speaking out of turn but hey around the whole AO shit has gone a little loopy. If you call getting rocketed a few times Under siege then I don't know what you would call ol'Rocketmiyah? Under-apocalypse??? Just be thankful your not driving around in the IED laden streets of B-dad you fucking Burger King eating fucks. (I apologize for using Burger Kings name in vain) Explosions and gunfire are a constant more so now than it has been within the last month. Apparently some people not so happy with AlSadr are pissed and have been trying to step up. (That's according to the AP). On the roof of the COP you could look out and see smoke from JAM guys lighting tires on fire. Maybe they had just seen Blackhawk down on cable? I'm not understanding why they just couldn't wait till we left to start some shit. Now it feels as everyday that we get closer to leaving the more dangerous it's getting for us. To bad though we won't hole up. JAM has really picked a shitty time to give AlSadr the bird and start fighting on their own. You see, you have a shitload of trigger happy Grunts itching to settle a score, you wanna fight fuckheads????? Good!
Well before the shit started to splatter upon the fan roughly about 3 days ago. We were out into the wee hours of the morning trying to make our little piece of shitty highway safe for all who travel the road. We were up all day and all night and when we got back to the FOB I crashed. I slept hard until about 2pm. I woke up conducted the 3 S's and mozied my happy lil 11B firm buttocks down to the PX. When, hark what do I see? People walking in 2's and in 3's. Under their arms what do they hold? Mops, brooms, and drawers of plastic mold. Oh what is that what could it be? What is their patch, oh I must see. Oh yes it is our relief, its the Ivy of 4th ID.
Boy was I happy they are here, and even last night they went out on a dismounted patrol with us. Later the novelty wore off as I went to the phone booth and it was packed with people that just fucking got here. You can't help but hold a grudge as you go use your creature features around the FOB, mainly internet, and phone and find people that have only been in country a couple days yacking and typing away. Meanwhile we've been away from home for 14 months and out at the COP for the last 9 days, and all you want to do is make a call and here is this doosh that just copulated with his significant other only maybe a couple weeks prior sucking up phone time. I'm not bitter though cuz soon I will be going home!
Like I said with sudden hemorrhoid flare up the days have become longer and are at the most dangerous since we are so close to popping smoke.
I would tell you about our "Assault" into the swimming pool to grab 40 armed men, but uhhhh it was pretty fucking stupid.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Reup if your crazy....
Well........ I did it again. 4 more baby 4 more. I didn't get any money. I did get my choice of duty station. I can say its non deployable and I'm really excited about that. Its off to Relaxin Jackson when I'm done here.
Its actually pretty sweet. Since 2001 I've hardly been home at all. I was in the New York Guard and after 9/11 they kept me busy and away from home. Out of the last three years I've been home for 7 months of it. I'm excited to actually be able to be home and be a father and husband. Part of me will miss being deployed, thats what we do, its what we train for. I don't really know what I'll be doing in Jackson but I do know I will not be deploying.
A couple of people have told me that it will be range cadre or assisting with the training of the new recruits that go through there. That will be cool I love to train soldiers.
It was really a mutual decision between my wife and I. She only wanted me to take a tactical halt for a while. I knew ever since I was a kid this is what I was going to do. I love it, I love the people, I love to lead and I love to teach young Soldiers. I love being in the company of heroes.
It was crazy though as my wife and I talked about life since 9/11 and how much I haven't been home. Babies became big kids and I missed pinnacle moments in their lives. I know for the next 3 years (depending on my work schedule) I will be around for birthdays, Christmas's, and all that other normal guy stuff that everyone else gets to enjoy. What the remaining years have instore after that I don't know. The way most of us have to look at life in the Military is one deployment at a time.
In 1995 a punk ass kid from small town Washington walked into a Marine recruiter office, and was later wisked away to MCRD San Diego, 12 years later here I sit in Iraq for the 2nd time, with another 4 years ahead. Its been a strange and wonderful trip. I've seen and done things I never would have imagined. I'm doing what I dreamed about when I was a kid watching Tour of Duty and playing with GI Joes. Hopefully now that I'll have some stabilization I'll be able to attend the schools I've been trying to go to for the last 10 years. Most importantly I'll be able to watch my kids grow up live and in person. We will see what the future holds.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Picture Page Picture its time to grab a pen and a pencil....
Its me and Setz packing up things and putting them away.... Ohhh its getting close.
2nd Platoon PUNISHERS. 2nd to None.
DOC sleepin in the truck.
No thats not dirt on my lip.....
SGT Mildog fellow former Marine, turns out we were on the same boat together and also went to the same CAX never knew eachother but been to the same places.
Locals playing soccer on the field we had made for them.
Big splosion.... It was big.Thursday, March 20, 2008
ASS IN 9
Ok so I know that I said I was going to post pictures (lied) I know I said I was going to post a thrilling new post in the never ending saga to bring peace to Iraq (lied). Not really I didn't really so much lie as I did maybe misinform- DON'T JUDGE ME! I learned it from the military! Well I mailed the lap top home today so its one less thing I have to carry on the freedom bird when and if I do so make it on said imaginary airplane. Due to a series of misfortunate events i.e. sleeping in, I didn't quite get on there and write what I said I was. I will though.......... Pictures, I got the pictures on a thumb drive and when I get back out to the COP I will upload them. It seems as if the MWR computers inherited viruses from peoples thumb drives so they don't let them load up anymore.
Right now I'm supposed to be back at the chews going through my Soldier's computers checking for porn and inappropriate pictures, i.e. savage death shots, and burnt up trucks and the like. I'll get to that soon enough. The PL came up to me and told me I was to do this and that later he would go through and "Spot check". The word Spot Check really aggrivates the shit out of me. Especially when said Spot Checking will be done by a man who is younger than me and has less time in the Army than my shaving kit. Spot checking I know must be done. It's supposed to be done. Never the less to me it screams "I DON'T TRUST YOU!" Although I do spot check my team leaders, not that I have any doubts in their abilities to accomplish the mission, but at this point I have more time and experience in these things than they do in which my PL does not.
I tell the PL "Well if your gonna do that why don't you just check em, and then that way we are not wasting time double dutching." Then we got into this whole conversation about what spot checking is. He has his views and I have mine. It really could be that its my time of the month and had he initially come up and handed me 100 bucks it still would've made me butt hurt.
I later went to chow and encountered the PSG and he told me that when we get to the COP we have to do a 100 percent ammo count. I know these things have to be done but they get under my skin and what time they pick them to be done at or by. Sometimes it doesn't make any fucking sense. Last time (in Iraq) we did the ammo count we were mission complete pretty much not punching the wire anymore. Does that not make more sense then to conduct the count after we're done punching the wire? Its probably just today getting on my nerves. I might need to sleep in. All these very small issues are annoying the shit out of me.
On a good note though we did have Nacho's for dinner and they rocked. Well I have to skee dattle and go call the misses then I will conduct Operation check for inappropriate photo's. Finish packing whats left of my gear, play some Call of Duty Roads to Victory on the old PSP, read my book and then go to bed, and not in that particular order.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
Right now I'm supposed to be back at the chews going through my Soldier's computers checking for porn and inappropriate pictures, i.e. savage death shots, and burnt up trucks and the like. I'll get to that soon enough. The PL came up to me and told me I was to do this and that later he would go through and "Spot check". The word Spot Check really aggrivates the shit out of me. Especially when said Spot Checking will be done by a man who is younger than me and has less time in the Army than my shaving kit. Spot checking I know must be done. It's supposed to be done. Never the less to me it screams "I DON'T TRUST YOU!" Although I do spot check my team leaders, not that I have any doubts in their abilities to accomplish the mission, but at this point I have more time and experience in these things than they do in which my PL does not.
I tell the PL "Well if your gonna do that why don't you just check em, and then that way we are not wasting time double dutching." Then we got into this whole conversation about what spot checking is. He has his views and I have mine. It really could be that its my time of the month and had he initially come up and handed me 100 bucks it still would've made me butt hurt.
I later went to chow and encountered the PSG and he told me that when we get to the COP we have to do a 100 percent ammo count. I know these things have to be done but they get under my skin and what time they pick them to be done at or by. Sometimes it doesn't make any fucking sense. Last time (in Iraq) we did the ammo count we were mission complete pretty much not punching the wire anymore. Does that not make more sense then to conduct the count after we're done punching the wire? Its probably just today getting on my nerves. I might need to sleep in. All these very small issues are annoying the shit out of me.
On a good note though we did have Nacho's for dinner and they rocked. Well I have to skee dattle and go call the misses then I will conduct Operation check for inappropriate photo's. Finish packing whats left of my gear, play some Call of Duty Roads to Victory on the old PSP, read my book and then go to bed, and not in that particular order.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Shorter than a Midget on His Knees
Where the fuck have you people been? Oh ya its me that dropped off of the net. Well quite frankly I just haven't felt like writing and really nothing significant has happened for me to write about. There probably has but most likely I've been really lazy. Anymore we are just doing the same old shit day in and day out. Not like the wahabi's haven't noticed either, they are pretty smart like that. Dusting off the old Kalashinikov's and RPG's to come out and take pot shots and such. Clever little fellas.
Packed my bags tonight its getting close really really close. Its interesting all the conflicting information that we keep getting about what the hell is going on. You'd almost think that these people haven't done this shit before......... Oh yeah. They haven't. Needless to say I'm a tad frustrated but at this point its to be expected. Fuck it just go out to the COP one last time burn some shit barrels, say good by to my kiddie friends down the street (today Setz gave away his T.V.). Come back to the FOB do play the connex game, hurry up and wait and we will be on that bird baby. Soon really soon.
Nothing really going on to much sorry to disappoint really. All we've been doin is playin combat engineer and occasionally hanging the ol' arse out on the side of the road trolling for VBIED's. Any day is as dangerous as the next, we are still on a roll just missing EFP's or hajj will set them out right after we leave to taunt us, but we have something for that ass big man so keep it up. The next time you think your being sneaky you'll wind up with a 2nd asshole somewhere in the vicinity of your forehead! hehehehehehehe.
I'm gonna post some pics later to those faithful readers that keep coming back and cursing me for not writing anything new, I apologize. I'm just as bored as you are, between dodging road side bombs and rockets and what not.
Well stay tuned and I'll post some pics and hopefully a little better post on the next one. TTFN.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!
P.S. Blogger the damn spell check still doesnt work readers are going to really start to notice that I have the IQ of an Infantryman soon if you don't fix that shit!
Packed my bags tonight its getting close really really close. Its interesting all the conflicting information that we keep getting about what the hell is going on. You'd almost think that these people haven't done this shit before......... Oh yeah. They haven't. Needless to say I'm a tad frustrated but at this point its to be expected. Fuck it just go out to the COP one last time burn some shit barrels, say good by to my kiddie friends down the street (today Setz gave away his T.V.). Come back to the FOB do play the connex game, hurry up and wait and we will be on that bird baby. Soon really soon.
Nothing really going on to much sorry to disappoint really. All we've been doin is playin combat engineer and occasionally hanging the ol' arse out on the side of the road trolling for VBIED's. Any day is as dangerous as the next, we are still on a roll just missing EFP's or hajj will set them out right after we leave to taunt us, but we have something for that ass big man so keep it up. The next time you think your being sneaky you'll wind up with a 2nd asshole somewhere in the vicinity of your forehead! hehehehehehehe.
I'm gonna post some pics later to those faithful readers that keep coming back and cursing me for not writing anything new, I apologize. I'm just as bored as you are, between dodging road side bombs and rockets and what not.
Well stay tuned and I'll post some pics and hopefully a little better post on the next one. TTFN.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!
P.S. Blogger the damn spell check still doesnt work readers are going to really start to notice that I have the IQ of an Infantryman soon if you don't fix that shit!
Monday, March 03, 2008
Dogs and Pony's
What? You guys in a hurry?There is probably nothing so unnerving then walking up and down one of the most deadly pieces of highway in Iraq ok ya there is. It’s setting up a traffic control point on said highway. Especially after we’ve gone after terrorists who are known to build and traffic vehicle born IED’s (VBIED- [V-BEDS]). What makes it worse is knowing the destructive power a VBIED has. I’ve been near to these massive explosions caused when some fuckhead loads up a truck or car with as much explosives as he can. They are fucking crazy. I think the people that don’t respect them are those who have never been near one.
Somewhere up the chain someone figured that doing these TCP’s along major thoroughfares was a stupendous idea. Once you stop traffic it takes about 5 minutes for that shit to back up about 400m with cars jam packed 3 lanes. Anyone who has ever driven on the belt way or any major freeway and has seen what an accident will do to the traffic has an idea of what I’m talking about. Take that and put it in a place where Snipers live on the left and right of you, maybe some one has a VBIED in the garage near this place (its not like they don’t know what were doing we have kind of fell into some patterns) and plans on hooking up with 40 some odd virgins on this lovely day. I forgot to mention that in the past there were a couple of RPG attacks on this lil stretch of lovely asphalt.
D-Roll searching a truck with a dead sheep and a live sheep in the back. Good job D-Roll, yes yes you do have to search the dead sheep it might have a bomb up its ass. Ok D-Roll roll up your sleeve time for the live one.My job in all of this is to initially stop traffic. Me and my boyz have some tricks up or sleeve to try and mitigate the risk for all those involved. –I’m not telling you but if you’re in the military and want to know what they are feel free to comment and I’ll e-mail it to you. The men of 2-2, our piece of the pie is to stop traffic and begin to funnel it to the search guys. The search guys have it the worst but that’s as far into that as I’m gonna go. Use your imagination. We do all this all the while you couldn’t fit a BB up our asses. One day we got Froggy and handed out Newspapers to those stuck in traffic. Hindsight being what it is makes me think “What the fuck was I thinking.”
Attempting to get traffic to stop and move in an orderly fashion, with a little help from the National Police.That’s all well and good and we’ve somewhat got a system down and we really do what we can to mitigate risk. Honestly I just don’t see the logic behind it. Seriously if you got some bombs in your trunk and your coming down the highway and you see traffic backed up, are you gonna take the risk and wait? Now don’t sit there and Armchair General because anything your thinking we’ve thought of……. Trust me!
Here’s the meat and potatoes of all this. If you’ve been in the military or hell if you work some where that has “Big Bosses” you will know what I’m talking about. You know that when the head cheese comes around, a General, Congressmen, Regional Managers, what ever it may be, you know that things get dumb. Clean isn’t clean enough and on the fine day I’m describing the idea was for said General to “See us out there.” The whole day’s events were orchestrated and timed for us to out walking up one of the deadliest highways so the General could “See” us. You think this guy saw a dismounted element on the ground on the side of one of the most deadly roads in Iraq and stopped? No, he didn’t. I’m not even sure if he waved. This isn’t the first time we’ve played this game. The honorable Senator Joe Liebermann once came out to visit the market in our sector. It happened to be as hot as donkey balls (that’s really hot) and we walked it once to secure it which is Officernese for kill time. Something I learned you can count on with VIP’s is that they will always be late, so that your ass can hang out in the breeze when they come through they are gone faster than when they arrived. Senator Liebermann walked about 300m got his picture taken and rolled out. We waited for 3 hours that day for him.
I get it everyone wants to look good, but if you already look good then why go out of your way. I understand the Army side of it, and the political side of it. It’s a game and you just have to play it. My problem with it is that the pawns have names, families and lives. Why do something for the sake of just doing it to show face when it doesn’t have any tactical value?
The walk up the road for the General- we had already been doing that shit, the TCP’s we set up before that they do serve a purpose for the most part. Do we like doing them? Fuck no!! They are dangerous as hell. You know as well as I do when big heads come around mid management likes to put on the Dog and Pony show.
Here is a video to give you an idea of the magnitude of these fucking VBIEDS its an old video that I found on YouTube but you'll get the idea.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!
Monotonous Monotony
With everyday as monotonous as the last I really haven’t felt like posting all too much. Since the last post there are 2 COP rotations of shit that I didn’t write about. Mostly we’ve just been walking down the damn highway and setting up traffic control points in the hopes that we will catch someone transporting something on the main highways.
We did go out on a raid we were the support element so we were basically hanging out the whole time making sure nobody tried to make a mad dash to freedom. 3rd Platoon was main effort and pulled some bad guys stashing weapons and explosives in the house. The most fun thing we did was go and look for a piece of equipment out in town.
We got the call to go find the piece, we rolled up into the market area, and it was dark and early morning. No one was stirring around. There were a couple of guards and we decided it best if they hung out with us and kept their mouths shut. One guy was either drunk, guilty or both but he started to cry like a baby. The other guards we had with us were obviously chastising him in Arabic for being such a lil bitch.
We approached the building that the equipment was last seen getting up there was another story. We decided to enter a house 3 doors down went to the roof and started our best impression of Spiderman climbing over walls going roof to roof to get to the building we needed to be on. Any other time this shit would be rather easy but toting around the bulkiness and extra weight provided by our gear makes it more of a pain in the ass. One point we had to scale a ladder more or less made of twigs and the only place to climb up was right next to the edge of the 2 story building.
We made it to the top of the 3 story building and begin searching. Youngness fired a flare out of the 203 to illuminate the area. We looked and didn’t find shit. (Apparently we didn’t look good enough but I’ll get to that.) After not finding the equipment we started searching house to house. Going to the roofs of big buildings and looking out towards the surrounding areas.
Setz and I spotted a tall ass building, probably the tallest building in the area. It was probably a 7 or 8 story apartment building and as luck would have it the door was chained and locked from the inside, and wouldn’t you know it…. We didn’t bring the fucking bolt cutters. Normally I would just blast it with the shotgun (well maybe not this one) but hey we didn’t bring that either. Someone faltered on their fucking PCC’s and PCI’s. I’ll take the blame for that one.
We had some options, fire a 203 smoke into it and bust it, put my frag on it and blow it the fuck away, or just wake someone up to come down and let us the hell in. We chose the least destructive of the options and nicely knocked upon the door. We were able to wake up some of the residents and they came out to the balcony and we yelled “Hey come down and let us in!”, we even had some passer’s by (at this point the people are starting to wake up and go to work) yell up for us and tell them to come down and unlock it. One dude even came down the stairs and stopped about 10 steps from the door and turned his ass around and went back to bed.
At this point I was fucking furious and was 5 seconds away from blowing the fucking door out of existence but the LT came around the corner with some bolt cutters. Once they realized we were going to cut the chain to pieces they wanted to come down and unlock it. Sorry folks you had your fucking chance. We cleared every dumb ass room and floor all the way to the bloody hell top. I’m here to tell you that shit was the tallest building in our AO. Here is a little known fact, Setz is afraid of heights….. We searched surrounding roof tops from our lofty vantage point. When we get a call of a revised location for the equipment. The revised location takes our silly asses right back to the very first building we were on. At this point we have been looking for about 4 and a half hours. Yes if your thinking it was on that first fucking roof, you’ve got it. I have to put that one on the LT cuz he was the one over on the side it was found on. Lesson, never let your LT look for shit cuz if it’s in front of him he isn’t gonna find that shit.
We did go out on a raid we were the support element so we were basically hanging out the whole time making sure nobody tried to make a mad dash to freedom. 3rd Platoon was main effort and pulled some bad guys stashing weapons and explosives in the house. The most fun thing we did was go and look for a piece of equipment out in town.
We got the call to go find the piece, we rolled up into the market area, and it was dark and early morning. No one was stirring around. There were a couple of guards and we decided it best if they hung out with us and kept their mouths shut. One guy was either drunk, guilty or both but he started to cry like a baby. The other guards we had with us were obviously chastising him in Arabic for being such a lil bitch.
We approached the building that the equipment was last seen getting up there was another story. We decided to enter a house 3 doors down went to the roof and started our best impression of Spiderman climbing over walls going roof to roof to get to the building we needed to be on. Any other time this shit would be rather easy but toting around the bulkiness and extra weight provided by our gear makes it more of a pain in the ass. One point we had to scale a ladder more or less made of twigs and the only place to climb up was right next to the edge of the 2 story building.
We made it to the top of the 3 story building and begin searching. Youngness fired a flare out of the 203 to illuminate the area. We looked and didn’t find shit. (Apparently we didn’t look good enough but I’ll get to that.) After not finding the equipment we started searching house to house. Going to the roofs of big buildings and looking out towards the surrounding areas.
Setz and I spotted a tall ass building, probably the tallest building in the area. It was probably a 7 or 8 story apartment building and as luck would have it the door was chained and locked from the inside, and wouldn’t you know it…. We didn’t bring the fucking bolt cutters. Normally I would just blast it with the shotgun (well maybe not this one) but hey we didn’t bring that either. Someone faltered on their fucking PCC’s and PCI’s. I’ll take the blame for that one.
We had some options, fire a 203 smoke into it and bust it, put my frag on it and blow it the fuck away, or just wake someone up to come down and let us the hell in. We chose the least destructive of the options and nicely knocked upon the door. We were able to wake up some of the residents and they came out to the balcony and we yelled “Hey come down and let us in!”, we even had some passer’s by (at this point the people are starting to wake up and go to work) yell up for us and tell them to come down and unlock it. One dude even came down the stairs and stopped about 10 steps from the door and turned his ass around and went back to bed.
At this point I was fucking furious and was 5 seconds away from blowing the fucking door out of existence but the LT came around the corner with some bolt cutters. Once they realized we were going to cut the chain to pieces they wanted to come down and unlock it. Sorry folks you had your fucking chance. We cleared every dumb ass room and floor all the way to the bloody hell top. I’m here to tell you that shit was the tallest building in our AO. Here is a little known fact, Setz is afraid of heights….. We searched surrounding roof tops from our lofty vantage point. When we get a call of a revised location for the equipment. The revised location takes our silly asses right back to the very first building we were on. At this point we have been looking for about 4 and a half hours. Yes if your thinking it was on that first fucking roof, you’ve got it. I have to put that one on the LT cuz he was the one over on the side it was found on. Lesson, never let your LT look for shit cuz if it’s in front of him he isn’t gonna find that shit.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Super MOM
My wife wrote this blog on her MySpace so I thought that I would share it with you. Its not so much a glimpse into the average day of the Army Wife but just like out here not everyday is an average day.
Sophisticated Dance Productions
So...We went to Kansas City this past weekend so the girls could dance in a competition. I have to admit, I always seem to get so stressed out and I worry that they will fall on stage, or get scared and run off (well, I worry about our youngest daughter getting scared anyway...we all know the oldest girl isn't afraid of getting in front of people and doing her thing..lol).
Well let me tell you all- it was one of the most stressful competitions yet. You all know Tristan is still in Iraq so of course I made yet another trip to a competition alone. (My mom did fly in from Florida to help with our son, but the dance stuff still gets left up to me!) We arrived in KC on Friday night and by the time dinner was over, the boy had a fever...of course. What would an already stressful weekend be...without a sick three year old? I basically prayed that the girls wouldn't get sick before Sunday and we went on with the weekend.
The girls have been trying very hard to save their money that they earn so on Saturday, I took them to the mall for some real shopping! In case you don't know..we don't exactly have the greatest shopping in the Kansas area! It was a long exhausting day, but they both some how managed to spend all of their hard earned cash....and their Dad's too! lol
The night however, seemed to be less successful. Our son was up almost the entire night crying with a fever and I was so tired and stressed the next morning I almost skipped the whole damn competition and drove home! Okay- I wanted to go home, but I always say those things and never really do it! I'm pretty much a push over when it comes to my kids!
Imagine- a blizzard....a three year old with a fever...no sleep...hair...makeup...costumes....lots of props to transport in the blizzard... don't forget dropping half the props in the mud....and......another sick kid...my seven year old dancer who was supposed to dance her very first solo on stage in approximately one hour...ya- wasn't exactly the enchanting morning I had prayed for.
I told her she didn't have to dance (even though there would be no refund on the funds....:(, but my little princess pulled it off anyway!
Our youngest daughter danced her very first solo, Broadway Banana, not long after showing us all what she had for breakfast in the parking garage and wouldn't ya know it? She won a Platinum Award...and even won...get this...THE TITLE!!!!!!! She won overall high score for the age category of 4-8yrs and she got a trophy half as big as she is! She also won a beautiful purple sash and fifty bucks! When they called her name, I cried...I couldn't believe that she won after all the throwing up and every thing! I was the proudest Mommy in the whole theatre!
Our oldest daughter did awesome also! She won a Platinum Award for both of her solos, Letters From Daddy, and New York, New York! She also received two special awards...The Liza Minelli Award and The Tribute Award for her lyrical for Daddy! She got second runner up for the Jazz (9-10yr old) Division and I swear she was beaming for her sister when she won...even though most of the time she pretends to hate her!
My girls made me so proud this past weekend and I have never felt so excited for them. I can't believe my youngest daughter is getting so big...and what a trooper! Our oldest daughter never ceases to amaze me with her spirit and pizazz! Although the weekend started out to be the worst weekend ever...it ended on a positive note, that I'm sure none of us will ever forget! My little Liza and my Broadway Banana....I am so proud!
Only one thing could have made it better.....Daddy. We love you and we miss you! These were for you! We can't wait to see you! xo, "your 3 girls"
PS. Thanks to Miss Samantha for these awesome dances and the love for dance she instills in all of her students! I am so thankful to you for being the first.....and our constant! Thanks also to Miss Jewel for letting us use the studio and to our Studio J Family for taking us in...we love you and miss you lots!
Sophisticated Dance Productions
So...We went to Kansas City this past weekend so the girls could dance in a competition. I have to admit, I always seem to get so stressed out and I worry that they will fall on stage, or get scared and run off (well, I worry about our youngest daughter getting scared anyway...we all know the oldest girl isn't afraid of getting in front of people and doing her thing..lol).
Well let me tell you all- it was one of the most stressful competitions yet. You all know Tristan is still in Iraq so of course I made yet another trip to a competition alone. (My mom did fly in from Florida to help with our son, but the dance stuff still gets left up to me!) We arrived in KC on Friday night and by the time dinner was over, the boy had a fever...of course. What would an already stressful weekend be...without a sick three year old? I basically prayed that the girls wouldn't get sick before Sunday and we went on with the weekend.
The girls have been trying very hard to save their money that they earn so on Saturday, I took them to the mall for some real shopping! In case you don't know..we don't exactly have the greatest shopping in the Kansas area! It was a long exhausting day, but they both some how managed to spend all of their hard earned cash....and their Dad's too! lol
The night however, seemed to be less successful. Our son was up almost the entire night crying with a fever and I was so tired and stressed the next morning I almost skipped the whole damn competition and drove home! Okay- I wanted to go home, but I always say those things and never really do it! I'm pretty much a push over when it comes to my kids!
Imagine- a blizzard....a three year old with a fever...no sleep...hair...makeup...costumes....lots of props to transport in the blizzard... don't forget dropping half the props in the mud....and......another sick kid...my seven year old dancer who was supposed to dance her very first solo on stage in approximately one hour...ya- wasn't exactly the enchanting morning I had prayed for.
I told her she didn't have to dance (even though there would be no refund on the funds....:(, but my little princess pulled it off anyway!
Our youngest daughter danced her very first solo, Broadway Banana, not long after showing us all what she had for breakfast in the parking garage and wouldn't ya know it? She won a Platinum Award...and even won...get this...THE TITLE!!!!!!! She won overall high score for the age category of 4-8yrs and she got a trophy half as big as she is! She also won a beautiful purple sash and fifty bucks! When they called her name, I cried...I couldn't believe that she won after all the throwing up and every thing! I was the proudest Mommy in the whole theatre!
Our oldest daughter did awesome also! She won a Platinum Award for both of her solos, Letters From Daddy, and New York, New York! She also received two special awards...The Liza Minelli Award and The Tribute Award for her lyrical for Daddy! She got second runner up for the Jazz (9-10yr old) Division and I swear she was beaming for her sister when she won...even though most of the time she pretends to hate her!
My girls made me so proud this past weekend and I have never felt so excited for them. I can't believe my youngest daughter is getting so big...and what a trooper! Our oldest daughter never ceases to amaze me with her spirit and pizazz! Although the weekend started out to be the worst weekend ever...it ended on a positive note, that I'm sure none of us will ever forget! My little Liza and my Broadway Banana....I am so proud!
Only one thing could have made it better.....Daddy. We love you and we miss you! These were for you! We can't wait to see you! xo, "your 3 girls"
PS. Thanks to Miss Samantha for these awesome dances and the love for dance she instills in all of her students! I am so thankful to you for being the first.....and our constant! Thanks also to Miss Jewel for letting us use the studio and to our Studio J Family for taking us in...we love you and miss you lots!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Leisurely Stroll
We made a turn on the road just before the one we were about to walk on. A bright spot light from a tank signaled the lead vehicle to stop. The unit in front of us was "interrogating" a possible IED. Communication between our convoy and theirs told us it would a moment until the EOD team planted a charge on the possible IED and detonated it in place. 30 minutes went by and we got the 5 minute warning. Some of us broke out our cameras and begin to video hoping to catch the explosion. I held mine up to my night vision believing I would film the bright flash. I stopped taping for a minute to conserve memory space on my camera and wouldn't you know it they blew that fucker. It was a pretty lack luster explosion and we weren't able to see a damn thing.
The IED defeated we pressed on and faced down one of the deadliest routes in all of Iraq. We were given the word to dismount. D-Roll and myself left the comfort of the humvee (if you can call it that) and moved up to the rest of the dismounted element. The road was deserted since it was sometime after curfew. The air was cool and crisp with a hint of burning in the air, a combination of many things burning, trash, tires and whatever burns in the wee hours of an Iraqi morning. We posted up to the sides of the road in some meager hope that we would be able to spot an IED before it detonated on our exposed bodies or vehicles. For some strange reason I feel safe outside of the truck than I do in it. Technically we (the Company) have never actually seen an IED before it has detonated, during my last trip here I never saw an IED unless it exploded. Where we get the idea that we are going to see them, I have no fucking clue. I have seen the devastation an IED can create, I've seen it a couple of times. I've felt the heat and the power from 155mm artillery rounds, and various sized EFP's. I try to keep my mind from drifting into the realms of what one might do detonated on a lonely exposed soldier. I focus on the ground around me and the surrounding rooftops. I forgot to mention that this stretch of road is known for its RPG's and precision small arms fire.
I try my best to put in perspective and make sense of what we are doing, but it doesn't. I try to come to some common ground and recall the old addage- "Is it worth the loss?" No matter how I try to trick myself into agreeing with the logic behind this mission I can't. It doesn't matter though, we've been walking for about thirty minutes now. The silence is broken by packs of dogs barking at us, and that spreads down to the full length of our convoy. We only cover a couple of klicks and cross over. We dip into the familiar muhallahs of our sector and cruise back to the COP still weary of the possible EFP threat. We know that no route is safe as we've been hit in residential neighborhoods before. Its always the same, we get back into the vehicle and bitch about the mission we just performed but as we get closer to the COP the chatter becomes silent as our senses become accute to every abnormality in the road around and area around us, until we are safely behind the closed gate of the COP.
Another day down, another day like so many other days when we've done the same or similar thing in a few days we will forget about which time it was that we walked down some stretch of road devining for bombs. It will all become a tangled memory of our trip to Iraq. If everyday is groundhogs day then we only one more day to go. One day at a time hoping and praying for nothing to happen between now and the one day that won't be groundhogs day that will find us on a bird in Kuwait.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
The IED defeated we pressed on and faced down one of the deadliest routes in all of Iraq. We were given the word to dismount. D-Roll and myself left the comfort of the humvee (if you can call it that) and moved up to the rest of the dismounted element. The road was deserted since it was sometime after curfew. The air was cool and crisp with a hint of burning in the air, a combination of many things burning, trash, tires and whatever burns in the wee hours of an Iraqi morning. We posted up to the sides of the road in some meager hope that we would be able to spot an IED before it detonated on our exposed bodies or vehicles. For some strange reason I feel safe outside of the truck than I do in it. Technically we (the Company) have never actually seen an IED before it has detonated, during my last trip here I never saw an IED unless it exploded. Where we get the idea that we are going to see them, I have no fucking clue. I have seen the devastation an IED can create, I've seen it a couple of times. I've felt the heat and the power from 155mm artillery rounds, and various sized EFP's. I try to keep my mind from drifting into the realms of what one might do detonated on a lonely exposed soldier. I focus on the ground around me and the surrounding rooftops. I forgot to mention that this stretch of road is known for its RPG's and precision small arms fire.
I try my best to put in perspective and make sense of what we are doing, but it doesn't. I try to come to some common ground and recall the old addage- "Is it worth the loss?" No matter how I try to trick myself into agreeing with the logic behind this mission I can't. It doesn't matter though, we've been walking for about thirty minutes now. The silence is broken by packs of dogs barking at us, and that spreads down to the full length of our convoy. We only cover a couple of klicks and cross over. We dip into the familiar muhallahs of our sector and cruise back to the COP still weary of the possible EFP threat. We know that no route is safe as we've been hit in residential neighborhoods before. Its always the same, we get back into the vehicle and bitch about the mission we just performed but as we get closer to the COP the chatter becomes silent as our senses become accute to every abnormality in the road around and area around us, until we are safely behind the closed gate of the COP.
Another day down, another day like so many other days when we've done the same or similar thing in a few days we will forget about which time it was that we walked down some stretch of road devining for bombs. It will all become a tangled memory of our trip to Iraq. If everyday is groundhogs day then we only one more day to go. One day at a time hoping and praying for nothing to happen between now and the one day that won't be groundhogs day that will find us on a bird in Kuwait.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Department of Redundancy Department Department
Picard makes some new friends.
"Sure sir, I would be happy to hump around this enormous piece of shit to set up in SKT, its a great idea." I didn't but Baum did.
The boys from 3rd Squad celebrating their time back at the COP.Ahhhhh back at the FOB for a little re-fit action. The last bunch of days out at the COP weren’t really that bad. Asides from giving you way to much time to think and little enough sleep to let your mind run rampant. When we gave it up to 3rd ID they made some rather nice changes and additions to the COP. The power actually stays on and I’ve already mentioned some of the other MWR additions. The food isn’t that bad it’s for the most part the same as it is at the FOB. To be quite honest I wouldn’t mind just stayin the hell out there and not coming back in except to swap out laundry.
We rotated out to the COP and we set in on COP security, which wasn’t that bad because 3rd ID made improvements in that area too. 1st Platoon went out and set up some small kill teams to try and curb the IED threat. Though the next day the insurgents decided to show us that no matter what we do they will find a way around it, as an IED exploded on a convoy the very next day. No one was hurt except for a concussion. The next night we found ourselves set up in SKT. Iraq has packs upon packs of wild dogs roaming the streets and it becomes a severe pain in the ass trying to snoop and poop into a nice hide site when one dog sniffs you out and he starts barking then every other dog within ear shot starts barking. It literally sounds like hundreds of dogs giving up your position. I can’t stand it dog barking sets me off in a bad way and I wish that we had suppressors, a blow gun something, and I would leave a hundred dead dogs in my wake. (Its not that I hate dogs I only hate dogs that can get us killed.)We wandered around the AO looking for a high speed spot to set up that would allow us to snuff out Iraqi bomb putter inners. The slice of terrain we had chosen looked good from a map but once down on the ground didn’t really afford us good line of sight or concealment for the place we wanted to observe. Like anything else we made the best of a bad situation and waited. The sun came up and we stayed put a little longer, and then moved out. Later that day 2 IED’s would explode where we had been watching. “HAHAHAHHA DOOM ON YOU AMREEKI!!!” What a kick in the nuts.
We took turns with 1st as far as COP security and missions. Our next mission would involve us walking down a major highway looking for road side bombs and some other shit. This idea has become very popular with some commanders. Hey lets walk down the fucking road we are more likely to see bombs, I don’t know if this strikes any of you as a fucking short sighted idea, maybe someone out there is route clearance or EOD out there that is reading let me know what you think of that. I don’t feel to extremely stupid though as I read about some other Soldiers searching individuals before they could enter a market fair. This after 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up in a market. There is definitely some smooth thinking behind that one too. “Hmmmmmm how do we keep suicide bombers from entering a market??? We will individually search them. Yessss yesss super idea, as this will put me in no direct danger because I will have my subordinate soldiers execute this mission whilst I sit in my CP and read SIGACT’s and call for sit reps. While they are there searching for suicide bombers, that will give me time to write myself up for a Bronze Star.”
Meanwhile the soldier is in the market searching people for bomb vests and weapons.
“Hey Sergeant um this guy has a Suicide Vest on what do I do?”
The ‘Good Idea Fairy’ has been flying her ass off like crazy around here. We took a stroll around the neighborhood showing the insurgents that we ain’t skeered. At the end of the day the last thing we had to do was hit a block of some supposed bomb maker guys. We hauled ass up to the target block to find out that the streets were clogged because the 2 of the head honcho’s decided to come out and watch us take down some houses. They were nice enough to park their vehicles in such a fashion that we had to dismount 5 blocks away and run to the target street. We took down the houses and found one guy we were looking for. Day time raid nothing much to talk about there it was quick dry and to the point. The only shitty thing was not being able to pull up close because of operation “Dog and Pony”.
All in all being back in the old sector isn’t too bad the COP is actually a nice place to be. The way our focus is shifting I’m none to happy about that, and we’ve picked up the pace in a serious way. We’re down to under 60 days left and just have to maintain so we can all go home with no more incidents. The cease fire is supposedly due to end here coming up shortly so we will see what happens. Its weird though that I do take some what of a sense of pride in walking up "One of the most deadly routes" in all of Iraq, but at the same time I feel vulnerable and completely retarded. I know better than this but some how a high education enables a man to think that this is an effective idea. It may be for all I know. Remember I never claimed to know a whole lot.
Ahhh who is this adorable medic standing beside me?Well until next time folks.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
A Transmission from the Death Star
The Death Star is now fully operational, due to being busy as fuck and walking down major IED laiden thorough fares I have not had time to really sit down and BLOG. Once I get back to the FOB I will sit down and let you know all about the serious fucking dumb shit we've been upto, I'll post some pics and all of that fun stuff.
Life here isn't really to bad we have some new ammentities like showers, and this high speed MWR room with really fast internet and phones and such. The food is a l0t better though it wasn't tonight because we had pizzaghetti what ever the hell that is. All I know is that very soon I'll be able to shit through a straw. We still have the old wooden shit houses which are a far cry better than porta johns. Its not as hot as hell right now (which by the way thats where the Spear's mother is gonna burn because of her piss poor parenting) so its not to bad. We still burn poo though I haven't had a turn yet but hopefully its coming soon. The gym is still a little shabby but I think were close to 60 days now so that shouldn't be to much of a problem. SHOWERS we have showers out here now. Water is limited so you have to conserve water so I'm conserving I took a shower about 3 days ago when we stopped at the FOB for about 3 hours of sleep so my uniforms a little crispy but not full blown stand up by itself. Well give me a couple days and I'll let you know all the juicy details of the drama that has unfolded in the last couple of days. Stay tuned and I'll talk to ya later.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!
Life here isn't really to bad we have some new ammentities like showers, and this high speed MWR room with really fast internet and phones and such. The food is a l0t better though it wasn't tonight because we had pizzaghetti what ever the hell that is. All I know is that very soon I'll be able to shit through a straw. We still have the old wooden shit houses which are a far cry better than porta johns. Its not as hot as hell right now (which by the way thats where the Spear's mother is gonna burn because of her piss poor parenting) so its not to bad. We still burn poo though I haven't had a turn yet but hopefully its coming soon. The gym is still a little shabby but I think were close to 60 days now so that shouldn't be to much of a problem. SHOWERS we have showers out here now. Water is limited so you have to conserve water so I'm conserving I took a shower about 3 days ago when we stopped at the FOB for about 3 hours of sleep so my uniforms a little crispy but not full blown stand up by itself. Well give me a couple days and I'll let you know all the juicy details of the drama that has unfolded in the last couple of days. Stay tuned and I'll talk to ya later.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Laid to Rest
Duncan was laid to rest on Febuary 2nd in Denver. The Denver Post covered the service. The Patriot Guard was out in full effect. I have never been to a service in the states, my wife has gone and she said that the support from the Patriot Guard is amazing. These Patriots provide escorts for Soldiers, and Marines coming home to be laid to rest and there show of force from what I understand is awe inspiring. I received a comment in Rest In Peace Crookston from Nightsapper and he said-
"Snowed 2 inches overnight - fresh white blanket on the ground. Cleared off for sunny blue sky for the funeral and cemetary. Clouded up afterwards. Just shows that God looks after His own.Patriot Guard Riders, VFW and Legion all there. No protesters.Your bro and his family & friends were well looked after by us Veterans there and along the way. We got your back, here in Colorado.CTM and get home safe as you can.Hooah"
I have read about the vast amount of supporters that came out to show their respect for fallen hero's such as Murray, Lane and Shelton. Theresa who is a friend of Duncan's aunt posted a comment and it painted a picture for me of the many people who came out to show respect and support for the fallen hero, forever 19 of Denver Colorado.
I attended Duncan's funeral today in Denver. I did not know Duncan but his aunt is a dear friend of mine and we are members of the same church. I thought you might want to know about the funeral.You could tell it was a military funeral from a block away. An honor guard of grizzled Vietnam-era veterans lined the walks leading into the main entrance, standing at attention and holding large American flags. They wore biker outfits and jackets or vests with their military patches on them. These war-torn soldiers had come to honor one of their fallen sons. I had to stand at the edge of the walkway for a few minutes to collect myself, it was so moving.As I entered the foyer, there was another honor guard of young soldiers standing in a line in the hallway. They were there to escort the casket into the chapel.The chapel was at capacity so the overflow area into the gymnasium was opened up. They clearly did not expect so many to attend because 15 minutes before the funeral was to begin, men were unfolding extra chairs. Ultimately, they filled even the stage at the back of the room and guests were standing in the halls and at the edges of the room. I would guess there were more than 800 people in attendance.Duncan's mother is an animal control officer for the city of Lakewood. Scattered throughout the audience were not only her fellow uniformed animal control officers, but Lakewood police and fire department officers. There were also officers from Denver and from the Sheriff's department, and many, many military personnel.Most of the speakers at the service were fellow church members who knew Duncan. In fact, I sat next to someone from my own ward who had been Duncan's Young Men's advisor a few years ago. I was touched that each of the special speakers was, himself, a former soldier who had seen combat. One had even been injured in Iraq within the last three years.They read the letters that you have posted on this blog, from you, his Staff Sergeant, and from his mother. They also read a letter from the Chaplain at the hospital in Fort Sam Houston and from Duncan, himself, written to his wife two days before he was injured.His wife spoke. As I listened to her, I was struck by how she was just an ordinary person who, in the last five months, blossomed into an extraordinary young woman. Her husband was so horrifically injured that the nurses had to warn each of his visitors, and even battle-worn visitors were shocked at his condition. And yet Meaghan stayed by his side every day for five months and spoke of how she fell in love with him all over again every time she walked into the room.Her cousin spoke briefly, telling about how they used to set up a baby monitor to listen to Meaghan talk to Duncan on the phone, and how they lost track of how many times she said, "Babe, I love you".I was touched by the constant evidence of Duncan's courage. Clearly, through the trials of the last five months, when his fight for life left his body shaking as he struggled for each breath, even when he was asleep, this young man grew into someone not just heroic but divine. His aunt told me, privately, that his family felt like he had promised to come home to his wife, and he did. They knew that his chances were very slim and felt like the last five months were given to them to embrace one another and to say goodbye.Duncan's influence will be felt throughout this generation. I am only one of many who is a better person for having prayed for him and shared, however distantly, in his passing.Bless you,Teresa in Colorado
Deuce Deuce OUT!!
Memorial Guest Books to pay your Respects to Duncan
Denver Post
Legacy
"Snowed 2 inches overnight - fresh white blanket on the ground. Cleared off for sunny blue sky for the funeral and cemetary. Clouded up afterwards. Just shows that God looks after His own.Patriot Guard Riders, VFW and Legion all there. No protesters.Your bro and his family & friends were well looked after by us Veterans there and along the way. We got your back, here in Colorado.CTM and get home safe as you can.Hooah"
I have read about the vast amount of supporters that came out to show their respect for fallen hero's such as Murray, Lane and Shelton. Theresa who is a friend of Duncan's aunt posted a comment and it painted a picture for me of the many people who came out to show respect and support for the fallen hero, forever 19 of Denver Colorado.
I attended Duncan's funeral today in Denver. I did not know Duncan but his aunt is a dear friend of mine and we are members of the same church. I thought you might want to know about the funeral.You could tell it was a military funeral from a block away. An honor guard of grizzled Vietnam-era veterans lined the walks leading into the main entrance, standing at attention and holding large American flags. They wore biker outfits and jackets or vests with their military patches on them. These war-torn soldiers had come to honor one of their fallen sons. I had to stand at the edge of the walkway for a few minutes to collect myself, it was so moving.As I entered the foyer, there was another honor guard of young soldiers standing in a line in the hallway. They were there to escort the casket into the chapel.The chapel was at capacity so the overflow area into the gymnasium was opened up. They clearly did not expect so many to attend because 15 minutes before the funeral was to begin, men were unfolding extra chairs. Ultimately, they filled even the stage at the back of the room and guests were standing in the halls and at the edges of the room. I would guess there were more than 800 people in attendance.Duncan's mother is an animal control officer for the city of Lakewood. Scattered throughout the audience were not only her fellow uniformed animal control officers, but Lakewood police and fire department officers. There were also officers from Denver and from the Sheriff's department, and many, many military personnel.Most of the speakers at the service were fellow church members who knew Duncan. In fact, I sat next to someone from my own ward who had been Duncan's Young Men's advisor a few years ago. I was touched that each of the special speakers was, himself, a former soldier who had seen combat. One had even been injured in Iraq within the last three years.They read the letters that you have posted on this blog, from you, his Staff Sergeant, and from his mother. They also read a letter from the Chaplain at the hospital in Fort Sam Houston and from Duncan, himself, written to his wife two days before he was injured.His wife spoke. As I listened to her, I was struck by how she was just an ordinary person who, in the last five months, blossomed into an extraordinary young woman. Her husband was so horrifically injured that the nurses had to warn each of his visitors, and even battle-worn visitors were shocked at his condition. And yet Meaghan stayed by his side every day for five months and spoke of how she fell in love with him all over again every time she walked into the room.Her cousin spoke briefly, telling about how they used to set up a baby monitor to listen to Meaghan talk to Duncan on the phone, and how they lost track of how many times she said, "Babe, I love you".I was touched by the constant evidence of Duncan's courage. Clearly, through the trials of the last five months, when his fight for life left his body shaking as he struggled for each breath, even when he was asleep, this young man grew into someone not just heroic but divine. His aunt told me, privately, that his family felt like he had promised to come home to his wife, and he did. They knew that his chances were very slim and felt like the last five months were given to them to embrace one another and to say goodbye.Duncan's influence will be felt throughout this generation. I am only one of many who is a better person for having prayed for him and shared, however distantly, in his passing.Bless you,Teresa in Colorado
Deuce Deuce OUT!!
Memorial Guest Books to pay your Respects to Duncan
Denver Post
Legacy
Saturday, February 02, 2008
F-U-C-K-E-D A-G-A-I-N
Hello, readers! Do you want to sing the 2nd Platoon Punishers song today? Whats that? You do, well thats nifty! I'm going to teach you how and then I want you to sing it outloud in front of your computer so everyone in your house or office, or where ever your at can hear. Does everyone know the old Mickey Mouseketeer song? You know the one M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E. You know it? Good now hum it out a little bit get it into your head ok now to the same tune the 2nd platoon song goes a little something like this.
COME ALONG LETS SING THE SONG OF WHAT THE DID TO YOU AND ME
F-U-C-K-E-D A-G-A-I-N
FUCKED AGAIN
FUCKED AGAIN
FOREVER THEY WILL POUND OUR BUTTHOLES DRY- DRY-DRY!
and then you just repeat. It only has one verse but its pretty sufficient I would say. Now readers whenever you feel like your getting fucked over you can sing the Punisher song too.
Here I sit in my room where my heater decided to give up and quit strangely enough after hajj came in and cleaned it. Its cold enough to see my breath and the folks at the mayor cell said that the maintenance was routine so it would probably be a while. If my shit don't work tonight guess who else's shit ain't working tonight? I'll be doing some black ops so don't tell anybody.
Back to the opening with the Punisher song thats because today this very Saturday that I write to you we were supposed to be in the Green Zone, we were supposed to have left yesterday. Right now we should be in civilian clothes freezing our asses off in the pool and eating decent food. We are supposed to be at freedom rest where all the other platoons got to go. Then from there we were supposed to be able to go to Liberty and get motorized turrets put on our humvee's and that would have been Oprah Winfrey tits because Liberty has a giant PX and Taco Bell and Burger King, Popeyes Chicken, and a fucking Pizza Hut. We would've been out of old Rusty for about 6-7 days....... But NOOOOOOOOOO! Apparently a couple of the terrorist groups and or organizations, don't want to realize that the surge is working and have decided to come out and play and bomb the fuck out of some shit. With this comes the reasoning that its to dangerous for our platoon to go on freedom rest. They must not realize that I will face a thousand IED's to eat a BURRITO SUPREME, if anything is worth danger or fighting for I say let it be a WHOPPER, A BURRITO SUPREME, POPEYES CHICKEN AND A FUCKING MEAT LOVERS FROM PIZZA HUT. Now the terrorists have done fucked up Deuce Deuce can't get his fast food fix that he was looking forward to, stay in your homes militia men for my hunger and lust of some Nacho's and Burger King fries have been directed towards you and I will have my Flame Broiled Jihad against you and all who stand in the way of me and high cholesterol. I've also just watched RAMBO 4 multiple times so now your really fucked! Bitch!
Ladies and gentlemen of the blogosphere not to be out done by getting the big green weenie on some freedom rest, our last 2 months here will be spent at our Luxurious COP that we had relinquished to the terds from 3rd ID. HURRAY!!!! In all the infinite wisdom of the big Army since shit went south they think that since when we were in charge of that area and it was all good then terd took it over and it went shitty. [ Not that I'm bitching because some units have been in the COP for the whole 15 months just about.] Maybe they see that on their map somewhere but its been my experience, and mind you I do not have a college education and I can barely remember high school and this is my own poorly educated opinion, but- its been my experience that the violence is somewhat seasonal, in Samarra back in 05 I remember at least 3 offensives big ones being done to retake the city, the same in Baquba, the same in Fallujah, and Mosul. The units go there claim that the big bad man has been defeated and then a couple months later Violence in a bad way sparks up. Its on the web man you can read about this shit. Hey but when the unit goes home the big speech is "We were responsible for bringing stability to the region." The unit that took the place over for you when they get home they say the same shit. I don't have the answers and maybe I'm way off on this one but hey thats my 2 cents.
So anywho its back to the Death Star and from what I understand its now "Fully Operational."
I'll leave you with this a bored video by Garrison, the same soldier that brought some of you the beaver dance.
ENJOY!
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
P.s. Dont forget your Punisher song.
PSS I apologize for the spelling and grammatical errors as my spill chack duznt werk 4 sum reesin.
COME ALONG LETS SING THE SONG OF WHAT THE DID TO YOU AND ME
F-U-C-K-E-D A-G-A-I-N
FUCKED AGAIN
FUCKED AGAIN
FOREVER THEY WILL POUND OUR BUTTHOLES DRY- DRY-DRY!
and then you just repeat. It only has one verse but its pretty sufficient I would say. Now readers whenever you feel like your getting fucked over you can sing the Punisher song too.
Here I sit in my room where my heater decided to give up and quit strangely enough after hajj came in and cleaned it. Its cold enough to see my breath and the folks at the mayor cell said that the maintenance was routine so it would probably be a while. If my shit don't work tonight guess who else's shit ain't working tonight? I'll be doing some black ops so don't tell anybody.
Back to the opening with the Punisher song thats because today this very Saturday that I write to you we were supposed to be in the Green Zone, we were supposed to have left yesterday. Right now we should be in civilian clothes freezing our asses off in the pool and eating decent food. We are supposed to be at freedom rest where all the other platoons got to go. Then from there we were supposed to be able to go to Liberty and get motorized turrets put on our humvee's and that would have been Oprah Winfrey tits because Liberty has a giant PX and Taco Bell and Burger King, Popeyes Chicken, and a fucking Pizza Hut. We would've been out of old Rusty for about 6-7 days....... But NOOOOOOOOOO! Apparently a couple of the terrorist groups and or organizations, don't want to realize that the surge is working and have decided to come out and play and bomb the fuck out of some shit. With this comes the reasoning that its to dangerous for our platoon to go on freedom rest. They must not realize that I will face a thousand IED's to eat a BURRITO SUPREME, if anything is worth danger or fighting for I say let it be a WHOPPER, A BURRITO SUPREME, POPEYES CHICKEN AND A FUCKING MEAT LOVERS FROM PIZZA HUT. Now the terrorists have done fucked up Deuce Deuce can't get his fast food fix that he was looking forward to, stay in your homes militia men for my hunger and lust of some Nacho's and Burger King fries have been directed towards you and I will have my Flame Broiled Jihad against you and all who stand in the way of me and high cholesterol. I've also just watched RAMBO 4 multiple times so now your really fucked! Bitch!
Ladies and gentlemen of the blogosphere not to be out done by getting the big green weenie on some freedom rest, our last 2 months here will be spent at our Luxurious COP that we had relinquished to the terds from 3rd ID. HURRAY!!!! In all the infinite wisdom of the big Army since shit went south they think that since when we were in charge of that area and it was all good then terd took it over and it went shitty. [ Not that I'm bitching because some units have been in the COP for the whole 15 months just about.] Maybe they see that on their map somewhere but its been my experience, and mind you I do not have a college education and I can barely remember high school and this is my own poorly educated opinion, but- its been my experience that the violence is somewhat seasonal, in Samarra back in 05 I remember at least 3 offensives big ones being done to retake the city, the same in Baquba, the same in Fallujah, and Mosul. The units go there claim that the big bad man has been defeated and then a couple months later Violence in a bad way sparks up. Its on the web man you can read about this shit. Hey but when the unit goes home the big speech is "We were responsible for bringing stability to the region." The unit that took the place over for you when they get home they say the same shit. I don't have the answers and maybe I'm way off on this one but hey thats my 2 cents.
So anywho its back to the Death Star and from what I understand its now "Fully Operational."
I'll leave you with this a bored video by Garrison, the same soldier that brought some of you the beaver dance.
ENJOY!
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
P.s. Dont forget your Punisher song.
PSS I apologize for the spelling and grammatical errors as my spill chack duznt werk 4 sum reesin.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Good Lookin' Out
The day after the memorial we suited up and rolled out the gate for one of our infamous 'meetings'. Right before we rolled out we caught word that on the route we take to get there some local nationals chased away some undesirables that were apparently digging a hole in the road for a nice fat bizomb. Well EOD rolled out and cleared the area. After that our alert was even higher than it usually is. I was scanning looking at everything hoping that I would be able to identify an IED before it identified us, which usually isn't the case. Needless to say pucker factor was high. We made it to the 'meeting' sans explosions. Minutes later after arriving we recieved a call that Delta Company had been hit at one of the places we had just driven past, only minutes before. We had driven past that same fucking spot, the exact same fucking spot, only minutes before. As we sat at the meeting my gunner Hannibal heard several more explosions in the vicinity. As we prepared to leave we heard a huge explosion that vibrated through the vehicles and it had exploded about 600m from our position. This explosion had also happened at a place where we drove past. We rolled out with seats sucked up our ass's in pucker factor 10. We made it back to the FOB without incident but it was a pretty tense drive. Thank god no one was killed from Delta Company, the information that I've heard has been conflicting on his injuries and as far as I know only involved his foot and the soldier is stable.
I woke up this morning not looking forward to the task at hand. Especially more so when I found out 3 more IED's had hit random units during the early morning hours. Oh boy!!! Well we rolled on out in search of some people doing something bad- supposedly. We found some random weapons, and encountered the same old story- "No, misster, no Militia we are all good great gravy, nothing is wrong......etc....etc....etc". I definitely was feeling like I was making a huge difference. I got to talk to an LN and I asked him some questions that I had about the Jaish Al Mahdi in my never ending quest to know my enemy. He told me that the JAM is over 600,000 strong. This isn't the first time I've been told this by ISF. But like everyone else when you start asking about the JAM they get mum real quick.
All together it wasn't a bad mission, and from my point of view we didn't accomplish shit but I'm sure on somebody's report it will be a huge hit. I went to a class on how to speak to the locals and they told us to not threaten them. The reason for this is that they don't give a fuck. Especially the Shiia after being oppressed by the Baathist party for so many years, they know that there isn't a damn thing that we can do to them that would even equal some of the atrocities that Sadaam commited towards them. Hey maybe threats from us work on some but for the majority we are just wasting our breath. Confused? You probably are but I can't tell you any more without saying too much as we've discussed before. I apologize its not that I want to but I know you understand.
The culmination of the night is when some LN's approached us and said they had found a grenade on their roof and they believed that someone had thrown it on there to get rid of it. We had some National Police (ISF) rolling with us so they went to go and investigate. They found the grenade and a bayonet and when they went to search some surrounding houses the arrested a guy where they found him to have a bunch of different style military uniforms and some body armor. The grendade turned out to be a US issued flash bang. The NP's took the guy in and we rolled out. Here I sit writing to you so everything worked out hunky dory.
I have this strong feeling that the guys from 2-1 were looking out for us yesterday we dodged 2 fucking IED's thats just to crazy to be coincidence. We looked hard to find anything in the road. It's just that they are hard to find, and unfortunately somebody else found them the hard way. No deaths as far as I know though.
Well I hope that my posts from here on out are as boring and bland as this one is. To make up for it here is a little vid that someone threw my way from a MySpace bulletin. Its Montel Williams representing the Soldiers on FOX news.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!
I woke up this morning not looking forward to the task at hand. Especially more so when I found out 3 more IED's had hit random units during the early morning hours. Oh boy!!! Well we rolled on out in search of some people doing something bad- supposedly. We found some random weapons, and encountered the same old story- "No, misster, no Militia we are all good great gravy, nothing is wrong......etc....etc....etc". I definitely was feeling like I was making a huge difference. I got to talk to an LN and I asked him some questions that I had about the Jaish Al Mahdi in my never ending quest to know my enemy. He told me that the JAM is over 600,000 strong. This isn't the first time I've been told this by ISF. But like everyone else when you start asking about the JAM they get mum real quick.
All together it wasn't a bad mission, and from my point of view we didn't accomplish shit but I'm sure on somebody's report it will be a huge hit. I went to a class on how to speak to the locals and they told us to not threaten them. The reason for this is that they don't give a fuck. Especially the Shiia after being oppressed by the Baathist party for so many years, they know that there isn't a damn thing that we can do to them that would even equal some of the atrocities that Sadaam commited towards them. Hey maybe threats from us work on some but for the majority we are just wasting our breath. Confused? You probably are but I can't tell you any more without saying too much as we've discussed before. I apologize its not that I want to but I know you understand.
The culmination of the night is when some LN's approached us and said they had found a grenade on their roof and they believed that someone had thrown it on there to get rid of it. We had some National Police (ISF) rolling with us so they went to go and investigate. They found the grenade and a bayonet and when they went to search some surrounding houses the arrested a guy where they found him to have a bunch of different style military uniforms and some body armor. The grendade turned out to be a US issued flash bang. The NP's took the guy in and we rolled out. Here I sit writing to you so everything worked out hunky dory.
I have this strong feeling that the guys from 2-1 were looking out for us yesterday we dodged 2 fucking IED's thats just to crazy to be coincidence. We looked hard to find anything in the road. It's just that they are hard to find, and unfortunately somebody else found them the hard way. No deaths as far as I know though.
Well I hope that my posts from here on out are as boring and bland as this one is. To make up for it here is a little vid that someone threw my way from a MySpace bulletin. Its Montel Williams representing the Soldiers on FOX news.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Goodbye
2nd Platoon will never forget.
2nd squad says goodbye we miss you.
Davis and Rod will never forget.In a somber mood this morning we slogged our way through the mud on our way to the chapel. We made our best attempts to kick the mud off at the door and took our seats to bid farewell to a friend that had fought so hard for so long. In the wake of Duncan's passing memories of September 4th were brought to the forefront of our thoughts. Mixed feelings about what if this and what if that.
We settled in our seats and waited for the rest of the battalion and special guests to arrive at the chapel. For the most part I kept my face burried in my memorial pamphlet staring at Duncans picture, and reading his bio over and over. All of us did. The memorial began by sad songs playing to a slide show of pictures of Duncan that members of the platoon had put together. You could feel and hear the emotion build in the hearts of second platoon, grown men fought back tears, and many unsuccessful. Shortly after we regained our composure as the Chaplain brought us to our feet and the National Anthem was performed. The chaplain delivered the invocation, and the scripture reading. We seated in silence as our battalion commander took the podium and spoke about Duncan, and how he had went to see him at BAMC during his leave, my throat lumped up as he spoke about giving Duncan his Commendation medal and Combat Infantry Badge.
Our company commander got up and spoke on Duncans behalf. Through this everyone was alright. LT Hart spoke about his RTO and reminded us of differences and similarities of their nature. His voice broke as he read a part of the letter that Duncan's mother had sent out, and as his voice broke ours did as well. Next SPC Davis spoke about his friend. Duncan and Davis had become close during the deployment, and we learned of Duncan's desire to be in the military at an early age, we were reminded of Duncan's intelligence and stubbornness, his caring, and his will to fight and carry on. We were given a small glimpse into Duncan's life and how he eventually married his childhood sweet heart, a woman that was unbending in her devotion to Duncan and stayed by his side until the end.
Any attempt to remain stoic had left my control and I cried, I was not alone. Next SPC Hughes Duncan's fellow RTO and talked about his friend and battle buddy. He reminded us of Duncan's wit and warm friendship, as he talked about watching LOST episodes and Duncan giving Hughes a techno beat and Hughes said "What am I supposed to do with that?" Duncan simply replied, "Well you rap don't ya?".
Final roll call was conducted, and after 3 times of Duncan's name being called followed by an eery silence, the firing squad conducted their salute, it was crisp and clean, all rifles firing as one, and you could barely make out the commands from outside. Then TAP's began to play. Anytime I ever here that played I will remember always the men killed on September 4th and the man that fought so hard to stay alive. I will never be able to hear TAP's played without welling up. I'll remember Randy and his huge smile, David and his goofyness, Joel and his dry humor, and Duncan and his technical prowess. Those traits are only the tip of the iceberg.
2nd Platoon says goodbye to Duncan, inspired by his will to fight, devastated by his body's inability to carry him through it. We all thought that we would get to see him again. I know I did. One day we will. For now 2-1 has an RTO to overwatch from the OP in the sky.
You will never be forgotten.
Deuce Deuce OUT!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
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
Saturday, January 19, 2008
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!!!
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!!!!!!
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