Blessed are the days that we are released at noon. By the way which is like everyday so far. It sure is nice too let me tell you. Today we did PT for the first time as a squad (which is a bit of a fluke cuz were not supposed to do organized PT until after block leave). I've been running and biking a little on my own to try to get back into shape. Apparently humping around all sorts of heavy shit is a lot different then running in short shorts and a PT shirt. I took the guys on a slow run around the hill. As we neared one of the motor pools and explosion went off which for a split second had us ducking our heads a little. "Thats fucked up!" was the consensus. It was pretty funny though.
Block leave is getting closer to becoming a reality and I very much so plan to set up a slide show on here if anybody still reads. Not much to write about as my secret identity life is pretty mundane. We spend most of our time with just Soldier maintenance trying to get everyones affairs in order and such. This weekend Setz is trying to organize a Squad sky diving session so we will see how that works out.
Another thing I have noticed is that at times I find myself extremely fucking bored. I watched the show DEA the other night and those guys are out doing raids and what not and I was there on my couch routing them on like it was some kind of Superbowl of sorts. I haven't held a weapon in weeks and I miss it.
My children keep me thoroughly entertained though for the most part. My oldest daughter was discussing a business venture that her and her BFF were planning. They were planning to make bracelets and sell them at school. I was pretty impressed, she even had a name for these bracelets. She says "We even have a name for them." "Whats that I asked." "TWOTS." she simply replied. Hmmmmmm. I thought to myself my ears ring pretty loudly and I'm not quite sure she said what I think she just did. "What was that baby? What are you calling them?" "Twots you know its a twist with a knot at the end." she said obviously annoyed by my lack of hearing. At this point my wife has hit the floor laughing and the look on my daughters face is utter confusion, she doesn't understand what is so funny about her business idea. "Indeed. Well thats great." I said. "So your going to be selling twots at school then?" My daughter looked at me and shook her head then looked down at her mother on the floor with a puzzled look on her face.
Through gasps of air between gut rolling laughter my wife explained to my eldest daughter what a twot was. We all had a good laugh at her embarrassed expense. The next day when she got home I asked her if she had sold any bracelets at school, and she gave me a false laugh and a smirk.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Chillin
Well I've been home for a week and some change now. Nothing really going on to much, just getting rid of the jet lag and spending time with my family. Coming home this time was different than the first time, I'm not checking the sides of the roads for IED's or anything. I catch myself more just taking in the scenery (my wife hates when I drive). Kansas has some nice scenery to take in thats for sure. I haven't ate out as much as I thought though you know I had to hit up the Flame Broiled Mecca for a beastly steak burger. I can definitely understand why the dude in the commercial powered his way to the window.
Our week has just been filled with in processing stuff or reverse SRP if you will. Making sure that our admin stuff is squared away and doing some medical check ups, a lot of briefs about reintegrating into real life. We are pretty much out at noon every day which is really nice. Nobody I know so far has gotten into any trouble. I'm proud of those guys before we left I would at least get one phone call on the weekend but since we've been back they have stayed pretty low key.
With getting out of "work" early I had the opportunity to go to my kids school and have lunch with them which is very interesting. I had lunch with my youngest and listened to a heated discussion between 2 boys and a girl. The one boy was saying how he wished he could get bitten by a spider like in Spiderman so that he could have Spiderman powers. The other boy he was talking to was like ya that would be cool. A young lady who over heard their conversation butted in (like women do sometimes) and made an attempt to squash their hopes (also another trait of women) of being bitten by a radioactive Spider. They went on back and forth until it was almost time to go to recess. I told them if they eat their peaches that it would give them the ability to run faster. Since this privy knowledge came from an adult soon the whole table had wolfed down their peaches and were prepared to go outside and try out their new power.
That situation in itself was very different since I was able to communicate with the children and there was no language barrier. The kids in Iraq loved us and would surround us for hand outs and be talking a mile a minute in their native language and through broken Arabic and English we could communicate a little bit.
I did find that I have a few quirks and one being I cannot stand the sound of dogs barking. I have a dog and she is the sweetest but her barking drives me in-fuckingsane. The quiet is another thing, after the kids go to bed it is so quiet. In Iraq there usually is a generator somewhere in the back round or dogs, or birds or some thing. Since it is so quiet the ringing in my ears is amplified, or I guess noticeable now and it is so loud that it irritates me.
My final bitch for now, we had a brief at the wee hours of the morning and it was over quickly so we decided to hit the chow hall for some breakfast. We waited an hour for it to open when we noticed people going into the front door. Taking the cue and thinking that they had opened fifteen minutes early we mozied on up to the door and went inside. Pretty much the whole DFAC staff which are civilians and Soldiers started bitching that they weren't open yet and being pretty rude about it. Well we didn't unlock the fucking door, so we waited in the breeze way for them to "Open". They opened and we got in line. At the DFAC in Iraq its ran by KBR and all of the people that serve the food are foreigners, from all sorts of different countries. Here the servers are Soldiers. I got in line to get my omelet, and the women making it was an E-4 a pregnant E-4 and she complained the whole time, did a shitty job making my omelet and took for fucking ever. In the box at least the dude though we didn't speak the same language understood ham, cheese, and mushroom, and could cook more than one omelet at a time, and moved down the line for some scrumptious bacon, and there was a male E-4 behind the counter. "Bacon." I said. I watched this high speed individual serve me up some scrambled eggs, you know of course I have an omelet and I really want so more fucking eggs? I tell him bacon again but this time a little louder. Fuck me I thought to myself at least the dude in Iraq could understand me. Well I ended up with a shit ton of eggs and some bacon.
Thats an update of my now boring but blessed life I apologize for stealing precious moments of your day. Once I become not so lazy I'm going to try and set up a slide show and probably in the future go over things that happened in Iraq that I forgot about or ready to talk about.
Thats it for now. Once again thank you for all of your support.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!
Our week has just been filled with in processing stuff or reverse SRP if you will. Making sure that our admin stuff is squared away and doing some medical check ups, a lot of briefs about reintegrating into real life. We are pretty much out at noon every day which is really nice. Nobody I know so far has gotten into any trouble. I'm proud of those guys before we left I would at least get one phone call on the weekend but since we've been back they have stayed pretty low key.
With getting out of "work" early I had the opportunity to go to my kids school and have lunch with them which is very interesting. I had lunch with my youngest and listened to a heated discussion between 2 boys and a girl. The one boy was saying how he wished he could get bitten by a spider like in Spiderman so that he could have Spiderman powers. The other boy he was talking to was like ya that would be cool. A young lady who over heard their conversation butted in (like women do sometimes) and made an attempt to squash their hopes (also another trait of women) of being bitten by a radioactive Spider. They went on back and forth until it was almost time to go to recess. I told them if they eat their peaches that it would give them the ability to run faster. Since this privy knowledge came from an adult soon the whole table had wolfed down their peaches and were prepared to go outside and try out their new power.
That situation in itself was very different since I was able to communicate with the children and there was no language barrier. The kids in Iraq loved us and would surround us for hand outs and be talking a mile a minute in their native language and through broken Arabic and English we could communicate a little bit.
I did find that I have a few quirks and one being I cannot stand the sound of dogs barking. I have a dog and she is the sweetest but her barking drives me in-fuckingsane. The quiet is another thing, after the kids go to bed it is so quiet. In Iraq there usually is a generator somewhere in the back round or dogs, or birds or some thing. Since it is so quiet the ringing in my ears is amplified, or I guess noticeable now and it is so loud that it irritates me.
My final bitch for now, we had a brief at the wee hours of the morning and it was over quickly so we decided to hit the chow hall for some breakfast. We waited an hour for it to open when we noticed people going into the front door. Taking the cue and thinking that they had opened fifteen minutes early we mozied on up to the door and went inside. Pretty much the whole DFAC staff which are civilians and Soldiers started bitching that they weren't open yet and being pretty rude about it. Well we didn't unlock the fucking door, so we waited in the breeze way for them to "Open". They opened and we got in line. At the DFAC in Iraq its ran by KBR and all of the people that serve the food are foreigners, from all sorts of different countries. Here the servers are Soldiers. I got in line to get my omelet, and the women making it was an E-4 a pregnant E-4 and she complained the whole time, did a shitty job making my omelet and took for fucking ever. In the box at least the dude though we didn't speak the same language understood ham, cheese, and mushroom, and could cook more than one omelet at a time, and moved down the line for some scrumptious bacon, and there was a male E-4 behind the counter. "Bacon." I said. I watched this high speed individual serve me up some scrambled eggs, you know of course I have an omelet and I really want so more fucking eggs? I tell him bacon again but this time a little louder. Fuck me I thought to myself at least the dude in Iraq could understand me. Well I ended up with a shit ton of eggs and some bacon.
Thats an update of my now boring but blessed life I apologize for stealing precious moments of your day. Once I become not so lazy I'm going to try and set up a slide show and probably in the future go over things that happened in Iraq that I forgot about or ready to talk about.
Thats it for now. Once again thank you for all of your support.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Finally
I sit here posting this one from the comfort and safety of my own home. Hanging out with my wife and she finishes up some homework she has due on Monday. It felt like forever from Rusty, to BIAP, to Kuwait and then to here. I stay in Kuwait was nice and short and they have the Customs portion down to an exact science it seems. With customs knocked out we were herded into the waiting area until our plane was ready for us. The weight of 15 months slowly started to drift away as the pilots roared away from Kuwait. We ate a light meal on the plane watched a movie and before we knew it we were in Germany. A quick pit stop and much needed smoke break for all the smokers and we were back on the bird for the long leg of the flight. I sat next to Doc so I had access to the best sleeping aides. When I woke up I saw the green hills, and forests of Maine. We were almost home, we were finally in the good ol' U, S, of A. We landed in Bangor Maine and were greeted by veterans of WWII and Vietnam and several other volunteers. They had free cell phones for us to use and also took a bunch of pictures which they posted seethepics, check out you might even see me in a couple of those.
We landed in Kansas and had to take care of some admin type things before we would head down to the ceremony. We mustered into the building and they formed us up. Everyone was thinking the same thing, "Hurry the fuck up." We've been waiting around for days now lets do this. We filed off one rank at a time into the main area where the families were waiting. I was one of the last people to come out and as the first entered the building you could here the cheering from the families watching to see which hero was theirs. They played the National Anthem, a quick prayer, and an even quicker speech from some Colonel I didn't even now and with a dismiss from the 1SG the families poured out of the bleachers. I saw mine, made my way to them, my daughters jumped in my arms. My son was a bit more hesitant but it was 3am after all. He came to me and I picked them all up. Tears welled up and in my eyes and spilled over it felt so good to embrace them instead of just their pictures. All the times that I spent wondering if I would ever get to this day all that emotion surfaced. My son spoke to me and it was so weird hearing his tiny voice in person I laughed.
We went home and settled down for essentially what was left of the night. I dozed off for about 2 hours when I opened my eyes my sons head was level with the bed and he was staring at me. He took off running and I woke up and went down stairs and made him breakfast. We didn't do to much that day. My daughter had soccer practice and before that I wanted to go see my friend. We drove to the Fort Riley cemetery and I walked among the rows of fallen heroes until I came across a newer looking marker. I knelt next to my friend and set a flag down for him and some other things. I thanked him for watching over us, and once again assured him that he will never be forgotten.
Today was great as my son woke me up early and told me "Daddy you need to come down and make me breakfast." No one can resist such an offer and I picked him up and treated him to some Trix. (Hey thats what he wanted!)
Home finally and it feels so good to be here. It was great when Setz came over and brought his family. His little girl played with my kids and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was happy to be home and was completely in love with his lil lady. Everything is pretty surreal. Sleeping in a nice comfy bed next to my lovely wife. Raiding my own fridge, not having to walk 30m to the shitter, having my own private personal shitter, channel surfing.
When you are gone its like stepping into a time warp and when you come home you are hurled into ever day life. Apparently from what I understand the K-State students are excited to have the battle hardened Soldier's home apparently one lucky student was escorted out of a window by one of the returning Soldier's.
I know this post is pretty random but there is a lot of things going on right now. The jist of it is that I'm home. Finally, this time I really never felt like these days would get here. Thank you once again to all of you that have came here to read about what goes on over there and for all of your support. All of our friends at Soldier's Angel's, Books For Soldiers, and our friends from 15 minute Lunch. To everyone that stopped by. I really do appreciate all of your support.
I'll keep posting as I continue to sort things out and get my thoughts and feelings and everything in order. I did eat at AppleBees today and that was great not the best but its a 5 star compared to the KBR DFAC. Alright folks thank you again, and to all my brothers still out there stay safe and godbless.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!
Pitcher's
Coming back from the DAK and these guys were looking all tough until the bullets started flying.
This is a busy street and nobody was out and they parted a set this NP truck ablaze seconds after this pic was taken we started receiving heavy gun fire from all sides and found ourselves in a fire fight until we got back to the COP.
Back at the COP shooting militia pidgeons.
The cooks had left us to fend for our selves. Here Davis and Setz are grilling frozen lasagna and they used diesel fuel for extra flavoring.
Chilling in BIAP waiting for the bird to take us to Kuwait.
Me on the bird going to Kuwait.
America land ho!
The good and true Red White and Blue!!!!
D-Roll and Naughton Keep occupied at Bangor.
HOw do you keep grunts well behaved at the airport? Put one of those whirly quarter things in the Airport.Ok I was really gonna try to make whitty comments for all the pics but the format for this shit is really kicking my ass and pissing me off.
Deuce Deuce Out!!!!!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Half Way There
Just making a pit stop about 11 teen hours to go...................
deuce deuce alviederzein...!!!!!!
deuce deuce alviederzein...!!!!!!
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Purgatory
Well, I'm in Can'tWait now fucking finally got in here this morning at 3am tried to throw myself into a medicated slumber until somebody decided to wake me from it. As if I needed anymore time awake in the nightmare that I'm already living. We were stuck in limbo in Iraq for awhile waiting for a flight out. Finally got the word to go and boarded a big Chair Force plane. Nothing like sitting elbow to elbow with all your gear, bag, body armor, and weapons. The plane roared to life and we were off. We all cheered and breathed a sigh of relief to be the fuck off the ground and headed south. The pilots pulled into a steep climb which produced more cheers, hands went up into the air like some kinda psychotic roller coaster ride. The cheers from the Grunts in the back motivated the pilots for more gut wrenching maneuvers in a giant airplane. I'm sure the pilots were having a grand ol' time, and I was too I'm not gonna lie. Then they did one more and instead of cheers there was mostly grounds. I smiled happy to be making distance between Iraq and me. Not out yet but close enough to smile.
We touched down in Kuwait and were hurried on to bus after bus, some not having time to pee after the big plane ride, and took the opportunity to hang the wang out the window of the bus and piss on the go. I'm wondering what the bus driver in the bus behind us was thinking when both sides of our bus sprung a leak.
Kuwait is nice, I like it its find sand, its a little humid and your most positively out in the middle of no where. Nothing as you drive from camp to camp. Pitch black emptiness, and its quiet. We arrived at the camp and down loaded the gear. Unfortunately I was a man short because do to a serious fucking miscount they told us the plane was full and we had to drop 2 people. Sorry if your last name starts with Z, and Y. Then we get here and they tell us that a small portion will have to stay behind for the next flight. Most of us were pretty pissed and WTF was thrown out at will. The boyz of Charlie lucked out as we all made it on. We have a good portion of Charlie on the way home as I write these words. We were broken up a little bit, but shit as long as everyone makes it home I'm cool with that.
Honestly I can't even believe I'm here and its so close to going home. Granted I was here about 6 months ago for RnR but that was a lot different, I was going back to the shit hole and was uncertain whether or not I would get to be on the trip home. I find myself thinking of Joel and things we would be talking about, about how the pad in BIAP had changed and the deployment and all. I can't help but feel a little empty because I know that we did not bring everyone home. It kinda feels as though we left them there in Iraq. I know in my heart though that they are at peace on American soil in a better place, together watching over us. How else really could you explain everything that happened during the uprising and none of us being hurt or killed.
I'll be here for a few more hours, not gonna give you any times cuz that would just be really stupid of me but I will let you know when we are all kissing American soil, and our families. In the meanwhile I've to make a pit stop to get rid of the pizza thats seeping its way through my colon. Kuwait is great! They have a McDonalds here of all things. The internet is kinda pricey 5 bucks for an hour and considerably slower. Riddle me that one. Thats all the update I have for now. To all my brothers still in the shit keep your heads down and your trigger fingers itchy! To everyone else no shit, I'll catcha you on the flip side!
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!
PS
If anyone from 2/16 is reading this trying to get info on when we we are coming back keep contacting your FRG rep or go to the website. I understand that some FRG's really don't have a clue about whats going on right now (I know from talking to my friends who are married and my wife) but just keep contacting them if you haven't got an answer as of yet. I apologize for not putting anymore than I already now but unfortunately I cannot do that on a public website. I apologize for the inconvenience but we will be home soon.
We touched down in Kuwait and were hurried on to bus after bus, some not having time to pee after the big plane ride, and took the opportunity to hang the wang out the window of the bus and piss on the go. I'm wondering what the bus driver in the bus behind us was thinking when both sides of our bus sprung a leak.
Kuwait is nice, I like it its find sand, its a little humid and your most positively out in the middle of no where. Nothing as you drive from camp to camp. Pitch black emptiness, and its quiet. We arrived at the camp and down loaded the gear. Unfortunately I was a man short because do to a serious fucking miscount they told us the plane was full and we had to drop 2 people. Sorry if your last name starts with Z, and Y. Then we get here and they tell us that a small portion will have to stay behind for the next flight. Most of us were pretty pissed and WTF was thrown out at will. The boyz of Charlie lucked out as we all made it on. We have a good portion of Charlie on the way home as I write these words. We were broken up a little bit, but shit as long as everyone makes it home I'm cool with that.
Honestly I can't even believe I'm here and its so close to going home. Granted I was here about 6 months ago for RnR but that was a lot different, I was going back to the shit hole and was uncertain whether or not I would get to be on the trip home. I find myself thinking of Joel and things we would be talking about, about how the pad in BIAP had changed and the deployment and all. I can't help but feel a little empty because I know that we did not bring everyone home. It kinda feels as though we left them there in Iraq. I know in my heart though that they are at peace on American soil in a better place, together watching over us. How else really could you explain everything that happened during the uprising and none of us being hurt or killed.
I'll be here for a few more hours, not gonna give you any times cuz that would just be really stupid of me but I will let you know when we are all kissing American soil, and our families. In the meanwhile I've to make a pit stop to get rid of the pizza thats seeping its way through my colon. Kuwait is great! They have a McDonalds here of all things. The internet is kinda pricey 5 bucks for an hour and considerably slower. Riddle me that one. Thats all the update I have for now. To all my brothers still in the shit keep your heads down and your trigger fingers itchy! To everyone else no shit, I'll catcha you on the flip side!
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!
PS
If anyone from 2/16 is reading this trying to get info on when we we are coming back keep contacting your FRG rep or go to the website. I understand that some FRG's really don't have a clue about whats going on right now (I know from talking to my friends who are married and my wife) but just keep contacting them if you haven't got an answer as of yet. I apologize for not putting anymore than I already now but unfortunately I cannot do that on a public website. I apologize for the inconvenience but we will be home soon.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
A giant fucking Leap
Ohhhhh SHIT SON!!!! I just got done having DA DA DA DAAAAAAA...... BURGER KING!!!!!! and a nice cold monster. Thats right ladies and gender benders we have made it the fuck off of Rocketmiyah. Fuck Rocketmiyah you can have that shit. We made it off and trust me haaj gave us a pretty sweet send off.
We had our CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) ceremony early on in the afternoon. The SGM and BC had just finished with my Squad and started on 3rd when I hear the faint but familiar screeching of a Rocket flying over head. The alarm failed to registar that one until it hit, and I laughed out loud and thought to myself, "Hell ya! Our platoon would get rocketed during the CIB ceremony." The SGM yelled out "Incoming!" just as the siren started to blare. We all broke ranks and hauled ass for cover most of us laughing. Simmons was right behind me and I yelled "Stay away from me you son of a bitch!" He laughed and said "What?" I know those fucking rockets follow that asshole. With rockets done and exploded we finished up the ceremony and moved along the streets to eat our final lunch at the haaj restaurant.
Later that day we finished cleaning and the 1sg came by inspected rooms and we moved out to the assembly area. We loaded our rucks onto a truck and then moved to the helo pad. There was at least over 100 of moving in a single file line with body armor, helmets, weapons, and assault packs moving to the helo pad in a single file line that stretched at least about 200m. Suddenly- WAAAAA WAAAAA WAAA INCOMING INCOMING INCOMING. With one bunker in sight we made a mad dash to it as we heard the rockets scream over and impact near by. A rocket makes a distinct sound when it reaches its final destination its weird its like a crushing sound followed by boomness. With all this shit on not all of us could make it in and we hunkered out side. With that close call behind us we finally made it to the pad. As we waited haaj decided that one more attack would be nice and we heard the sirens again and close, it was if someone was calling in our movements as once again the rockets impacted nearby. One final rocket attack at Rocketmiyah no one hurt and we were waiting for the birds. You know who I was standing by every fucking time??? Simmons that right! Simmons the fucking Rocket magnet. He told me I didn't have to worry that we was good luck. I had to remind him of the guy running behind him from the rocket attack a couple of days ago that caught a hot piece in the back. Everytime we could hear the chop of the rotorblades people would cheer then we would realize they weren't ours and everyone would sigh. It was kinda like a big rollercoaster ride. Eventually the birds landed and we boarded. Everyone hoping the bird would take off soon to avoid any rockets if haaj cared to share again. The bird pulled power and lifted into the night the cabin erupted with cheers as we were off.
No more Rocketmiyah. Right now were in limbo in transit waiting for that big bird to send us into Can'tWait. I won't say where though if you've been to Iraq you know! I will say that they have a big PX (Not as big as the big big PX nearby) and you heard it in the begining the church of Flame Broil. I still have the after taste of Whopper lingering on my taste buds. Maybe not so much as lingering but dancing and playing and making love to my toungue! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Not to much longer folks and the big National Lampoons Iraqi vacation will be a not so distant memory for me and my days of sitting on the porch sippin my Sweet Iced Tea with my wife and kids in SC are just down the street.
Well thats it for now and I'll let ya know as soon as the men from Charlie 2/16 are safe at home. Back to the reality of real life in the real world. Until then.........
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!
UPDATE
Apparently we got out of there just in time as I came across this hot little article on yahoo. Rocketmiyah
We had our CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) ceremony early on in the afternoon. The SGM and BC had just finished with my Squad and started on 3rd when I hear the faint but familiar screeching of a Rocket flying over head. The alarm failed to registar that one until it hit, and I laughed out loud and thought to myself, "Hell ya! Our platoon would get rocketed during the CIB ceremony." The SGM yelled out "Incoming!" just as the siren started to blare. We all broke ranks and hauled ass for cover most of us laughing. Simmons was right behind me and I yelled "Stay away from me you son of a bitch!" He laughed and said "What?" I know those fucking rockets follow that asshole. With rockets done and exploded we finished up the ceremony and moved along the streets to eat our final lunch at the haaj restaurant.
Later that day we finished cleaning and the 1sg came by inspected rooms and we moved out to the assembly area. We loaded our rucks onto a truck and then moved to the helo pad. There was at least over 100 of moving in a single file line with body armor, helmets, weapons, and assault packs moving to the helo pad in a single file line that stretched at least about 200m. Suddenly- WAAAAA WAAAAA WAAA INCOMING INCOMING INCOMING. With one bunker in sight we made a mad dash to it as we heard the rockets scream over and impact near by. A rocket makes a distinct sound when it reaches its final destination its weird its like a crushing sound followed by boomness. With all this shit on not all of us could make it in and we hunkered out side. With that close call behind us we finally made it to the pad. As we waited haaj decided that one more attack would be nice and we heard the sirens again and close, it was if someone was calling in our movements as once again the rockets impacted nearby. One final rocket attack at Rocketmiyah no one hurt and we were waiting for the birds. You know who I was standing by every fucking time??? Simmons that right! Simmons the fucking Rocket magnet. He told me I didn't have to worry that we was good luck. I had to remind him of the guy running behind him from the rocket attack a couple of days ago that caught a hot piece in the back. Everytime we could hear the chop of the rotorblades people would cheer then we would realize they weren't ours and everyone would sigh. It was kinda like a big rollercoaster ride. Eventually the birds landed and we boarded. Everyone hoping the bird would take off soon to avoid any rockets if haaj cared to share again. The bird pulled power and lifted into the night the cabin erupted with cheers as we were off.
No more Rocketmiyah. Right now were in limbo in transit waiting for that big bird to send us into Can'tWait. I won't say where though if you've been to Iraq you know! I will say that they have a big PX (Not as big as the big big PX nearby) and you heard it in the begining the church of Flame Broil. I still have the after taste of Whopper lingering on my taste buds. Maybe not so much as lingering but dancing and playing and making love to my toungue! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Not to much longer folks and the big National Lampoons Iraqi vacation will be a not so distant memory for me and my days of sitting on the porch sippin my Sweet Iced Tea with my wife and kids in SC are just down the street.
Well thats it for now and I'll let ya know as soon as the men from Charlie 2/16 are safe at home. Back to the reality of real life in the real world. Until then.........
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!!!
UPDATE
Apparently we got out of there just in time as I came across this hot little article on yahoo. Rocketmiyah
Friday, April 04, 2008
So Close but so Far Away
The last couple of days have been really busy. 2nd Platoon's done there left and right seat rides and traded places with our replacements. We've turned in our gear and other equipment. Today me and my roomie just finished field daying our room. Earlier this morning Val and I were out burning left over junk when suddenly the incoming alarm went off. The burn barrel was only mere feet from the bunker so both of us calmly made our way to the bunker. That is until the rocket landed on the other side of us and a huge chunk of shrapnel made a whirring sound as it flew over our heads. We then leaped into the bunker and started laughing. Even though we are not going out anymore we are still dodging rockets. Once again Simmons comes up lucky as he was running for the bunker the guy running behind him got hit with a piece of shrapnel, on the 28th Simmons vehicle was hit with an EFP, before that an incoming rocket landed right behind him as he was coming back from the shrapnel. Note to self, stay away from Simmons the remainder of the time I'm here.
Our last missions pretty much consisted of driving around to IA and NP checkpoints to make sure they were out doing their jobs. During the uprising all of the checkpoints had been abandoned. Driving around sector that day it was just completely different, stores were opened, people were out, the roads were congested. I laughed when we rolled up to one check point and there were only 2 NP's there. No wonder why they ran, shit I would run too if someone left my ass hanging out in the wind like that. "Here you go men, you two sit here and hold down the road!" Right?
We had to go have a pow-wow with the head doctor this morning. They wanted to get a feel for where every bodies heads were at since Sept 4th. She did most of the talking and we for the most part clammed up. We talked about the events together with each other, but it almost seems harder to talk about them in front of everyone, especially when an outsider is present. Those guys were our family, our brothers its something only the families of the fallen and we can understand.
Yesterday we attended the memorial of the 2 Alpha Company soldiers who were KIA, Specialist Durrell L. Bennett, and Private First Class Patrick J. (PJ) Miller. The Chapel was packed with Soldiers who came to pay their respect. I didn't know them personally but being so close to going home it hit everybody pretty hard. They will never be forgotten.
The days are coming to an end for us in Iraq real soon. I will post again when we are out of here.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
Private First Class Patrick J. (PJ) Miller
Our last missions pretty much consisted of driving around to IA and NP checkpoints to make sure they were out doing their jobs. During the uprising all of the checkpoints had been abandoned. Driving around sector that day it was just completely different, stores were opened, people were out, the roads were congested. I laughed when we rolled up to one check point and there were only 2 NP's there. No wonder why they ran, shit I would run too if someone left my ass hanging out in the wind like that. "Here you go men, you two sit here and hold down the road!" Right?
We had to go have a pow-wow with the head doctor this morning. They wanted to get a feel for where every bodies heads were at since Sept 4th. She did most of the talking and we for the most part clammed up. We talked about the events together with each other, but it almost seems harder to talk about them in front of everyone, especially when an outsider is present. Those guys were our family, our brothers its something only the families of the fallen and we can understand.
Yesterday we attended the memorial of the 2 Alpha Company soldiers who were KIA, Specialist Durrell L. Bennett, and Private First Class Patrick J. (PJ) Miller. The Chapel was packed with Soldiers who came to pay their respect. I didn't know them personally but being so close to going home it hit everybody pretty hard. They will never be forgotten.
The days are coming to an end for us in Iraq real soon. I will post again when we are out of here.
DEUCE DEUCE OUT!!!
Rest in Peace
Specialist Private First Class Patrick J. (PJ) Miller
Monday, March 31, 2008
Fuck the Militia
"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!!!
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!!!
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!!!!!
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