News and Personal dispatches from the front lines.
In their own words:
Sergeant Grumpy: Words from the past - I don't know much about the debates in Washington, but I know more about the fighting in Basrah than anyone other than the men in my unit. And whatever the "truth" may be, I can say that I have completely changed my view on this occupation. while there are a great many wonderful Iraqis, many partiotic men whom I have fought side by side with, what has happened in Basrah is ..... a debacle? No not sure what the words are. Embarassing for sure. But that is not the point of this post. I want to thank my Mom for sending me something my Grandfather carried with him during WWII. From his mother, I'll bet she never imagined her great grandson would be carrying it through IED attacks, rocket and mortar attacks, and ambushes in Iraq. (READ MORE)
Iraq: The Purgatorium: Tower Guard Reflections - One of the Ugandans that I work with enlightened me with some incredible information that I did not know. He told me, in a very matter-of-fact manner, that American women fuck dogs. And that's where gonnorhea comes from. You can't make this shit up. It's cool watching Strykers roll out at night, when they turn the lights off so you can't even see them, you just hear the high pitched whine of the engine, and before you know it, you can't even hear that anymore. I never knew we were such stealthy bastards. (READ MORE)
Yellowhammering Afghanistan: That which doesn't kill me... - We at Camp Vulcan were recently surprised by an old friend, one who is lucky to be alive. The Khogiani police chief who was in the IED strike with one of our district teams a few weeks ago stopped by for a visit. Both of his legs were in casts but, despite initial reports, he still has both of his feet. The district sub-governor had the chief in a makeshift bed in the back of his SUV and brought him by to see us. Cpt. Knueven, the mentor who works with the Khogiani chief, was with him when his police truck was hit by the IED. He lead the rescue effort for the chief and his assistant, the only two passengers in the truck. (READ MORE)
IraqPundit: Alas, Poor Mookie - The reporting on the testimony so far of Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker has matched Washington's gloomy weather. The sensible WaPo editorial writers say that maybe some things changed on the ground in Iraq, but the debate here has not changed. "What hasn't much changed is the partisan debate over Iraq, which as Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) lamented, remains resistant even to established facts," they write. The Democrats insist there has been no progress at all in Iraq since the surge began. The editorial says, "Gen. Petraeus and Mr. Crocker have gotten more confident about calling the surge a success, and rightly so." (READ MORE)
Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal: Dominoes - Fighting in a counterinsurgency war isn’t always sleepless cycles of constant patrols and trying to decipher incomprehensible link diagrams. There are the finer moments; moments and events whose effects on my soldiers’ morale and spirits can’t really be quantified with a pie chart or a PowerPoint slideshow. For example, after particularly grueling bursts of patrolling, I try to ensure that the platoon’s area reconnaissance missions go through Anu al-Verona’s outlying southern village. I tend to be awesome like that. The reasons for these excursions, while transparent enough, are numerous: the chai provided by the village’s Sheik is always excellent; I’m referred to on sight as LT Talib, which appeals to both my inner and outer swashbuckler; the security plan for our stop is clear-cut and allows for minimal overwatch and maximum dismounted personnel; and, of course, the dominoes always await. (READ MORE)
LT Nixon: Iraq News (9 April) - The Good: Navy Seal, Petty Officer 2nd class Michael Monsoor, has been posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for courage in Anbar Province in 2006. He's is the fourth recipient since 9/11. Sadr has cancelled the mass protests for today to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, but has threatened to lift the ceasefire. Meanwhile, joint operations continue in Sadr city to target militia thugs, and the Kurdish Peshmerga might join in on the operations according to the KRG President Barzani. The Bad: A prominent Sahwa sheikh has been assassinated (probably by Al-Qaeda terrorists) in Diyala, while 11 soldiers have been killed since Sunday (mostly in Baghdad). (READ MORE)
LT Nixon: Obama-maniacs Try to Portray SSG Bellavia as a Racist Goon - Disclaimer: I never wanted this election to be about race. Frankly, I could care less about the color of someone's skin, and I think Sen. Obama has clearly stated that he isn't into getting race involved with the Presidential debates either. But when some clown accuses a respected Iraq vet of making racist remarks, I'm not sitting on the sidelines like a mushroom. Fight fire with fire as Metallica once said. SSGBellavia has served our country with distinction and honor and is an all-around good dude who I talked with via email a couple of times. He's been doing the Vets For Freedom tour to get support for politicians in DC who want to see "victory" in Iraq (Ms. Robin has photos here). (READ MORE)
ETT PA-C: No Appropriate Title - Well, 9Apr08 has arrived. Things are spinning up in order to spin down, at least for us. The trickle exchange of new for old is occurring as you read this. Soon I'll be moving and you'll hear me bitching about the Romanians and Bulgarians on the internet and in the PX as I did about a year ago. To the right is Goddard's comment about the Romanians stood for quite a while before I removed it. As a reminder, "Those Romanians love them some internet!" It's hard to believe (not really) that almost a year has passed since he said that and soon there after we parted ways, half our team north and half west. Soon we'll be coming back together and heading home to our respective places to assimilate. (READ MORE)
Doc in the Box: Head in the Sand, Eye on the Lens - Sorry about not raising it up, I’m in the middle of working on the unit midterm cruise book video and the project has taken up a rather large footprint on my brain. By virtue of being the guy behind the camera, I tend to get caught in the side jobs of putting all of the pictures I took together into a cohesive whole. It’s a little bit of pressure on me because it’s not one of those jobs someone gets trained at doing, just something I’ve picked up over time. Each time I do a new project, I add to my skill set and gather up newer more expensive equipment but nothing can really cut the time back on looking at thousands of pictures and videos and putting them all together. (READ MORE)
Major John: New Faces, New Places - Some of my new best friends...heh. These British soldiers make sure your humble correspondent stays as safe as possible. Right now things are OK - I have been busy, busy and busy. But today, Allah willing and the wadi don't rise, I can catch up on things. I just wanted to let everyone know I am still out there. The interesting stories will alas, have to wait some time to come. (READ MORE)
Toby Nunn: 9 April any year of our Lord's - Throughout the past week, the contact with you readiers has been awesome. I have been able to reconnect with those I had lost contact with and met some cool new cats. The picture to the left and on teh bottom are from a gentleman Leigh Buckner that contact us through a great friend and share his thoughts, pictures and ecperience with us. I have included his message: “I enjoyed the show! I could feel my stomach tighten when I saw the fuel trucks. It's been 40 years. I was a convoy commander in the Central Highlands of Vietnam for almost a year. The equipment is so much better now but the same bad feelings are still there. I had a jeep with a gunner in the rear, two M-60 machine guns, and a couple of radios. We had guntrucks spaced in the convoy for security.” (READ MORE)
CSMBones: Bagram, four years later - I returned to the scene of our past triumphs and hard work a few weeks ago. I was waiting for the arrival of the Good Boy Club to take me to my temporary B-Hut. 1st Army was there to meet us instead. Base OPs is now the building of the Force Pro Company. Everything inside that represented the first six rotations has been painted over and erased. That is fine, I could still see the evidence of our hard work all over the base while we were there. We did that mission well Major John. I did find this tiled unit patch outside of the Havey Tower on the way to the Dragon DFAC. (READ MORE)
Coming Home:
The Angry American: 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. (READ MORE)
News from the Front:
Iraq:
Six detained in Coalition operations - BAGHDAD – Coalition forces detained six suspected terrorists during operations Tuesday and today targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq in Baghdad and northern Iraq. Using information from an operation Feb. 23, Coalition forces captured an alleged al-Qaeda in Iraq – or AQI – leader and one other suspect in Bayji Tuesday. The same day, Coalition forces targeted other suspected terrorists in Baghdad during an operation in the city and detained two men. (READ MORE)
IED weapons making facility destroyed in Diyala - TIKRIT, Iraq – While conducting clearing operations, Coalition force Soldiers discovered an improvised explosive device weapons making facility in Diyala Province April 8. The facility was determined to be an imminent threat to Coalition force Soldiers on the ground, and after the area was cleared of any civilians, a U.S. Navy F-18 destroyed the facility with a 500-pound bomb. (READ MORE)
IED attacks wound 17 Iraqi citizens in Tuz - SALAH AD DIN, Iraq – Two improvised explosive devices detonated in the city of Tuz, located approximately 50 miles south of Kirkuk, at approximately 12:30 p.m. April 8. The first attack occurred inside a mobile phone shop in a marketplace wounding 17 Iraqi citizens. The second attack was near a high school, and resulted in no injuries. (READ MORE)
UAV kills 2 criminals - BAGHDAD – A U.S. Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle observed a group of criminals with weapons attacking Iraqi Security and Coalition forces with small-arms fire in northeast Baghdad April 9. The UAV fired one hellfire missile at 3:30 a.m. and killed two of the armed criminals. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Army soldiers discover hundreds of mortar rounds - CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 25th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division discovered a weapons cache containing nearly 300 mortar rounds near Rushdi Mullah April 7. The cache contained 283 60 mm mortar rounds, four 120 mm mortar rounds, six smaller mortar rounds, three rocket-propelled grenade warheads, two pre-made cinderblock improvised explosive devices and 24 fuses. (READ MORE)
U.S. Special Forces destroy AQI training camp, find large weapons cache in Jazeera Desert (Balad) - BALAD, Iraq – U.S. Special Forces destroyed an al-Qaeda in Iraqi training camp and large weapons cache during a multi-day operation April 2 to April 5 in the Jazeera Desert. Acting on intelligence reports, U.S. SF Soldiers conducted the operation to verify enemy activities at an old radar station. The station was reportedly being used as an insurgent training camp and weapons cache site. (READ MORE)
Numerous Criminals Detained, Caches Found During Operation Estonia - FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Iraqi Security Forces detained numerous criminals and found two caches during Operation Estonia March 29 - 30 in the Iraqi cities of Hamza and Hashmiyah. “Operation Estonia was an operation to combat extremists who had occupied the town of Hashmiyah,” said Maj. Tony Campbell, from Colorado Springs, Colo., G-3 adviser and deputy team leader with 31st Military Transition Team, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division. “I was surprised by the tenacity of the extremists; they fought hard but the Iraqi Security Forces still prevailed in the operation.” (READ MORE)
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