News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
In their own words:
Bad Dogs and Such: Quick note to any local readers I might have... - If the US Army in your immediate area is being friendly, driving carefully so as not to knock down powerlines and, in fact, walking around your city to check things out, it is not in your best interest to start shooting at those walking Soldiers. Further, if you live in a neighborhood where you think you'd like some stuff - like, oh, say, new powerlines, or a park, or new sidewalks, or whatever - it is really not a good idea to allow people to shoot at the Civil Affairs element as they walk by. In addition to really moving your area down on the list of places that get money, that behavior attracts the attention of different Soldiers with a focus on activities other than improving your quality of life. (READ MORE)
Dena Yllescas: Another surgery update - Rob is out of surgery. Everything went well. They cleaned his leg wounds and debrised some dead tissue/skin from his legs. Before the surgery, there was talk of putting the wound vacs back on but they decided not to do it and continue with the wet to dry dressing changes for now. The plan for Wednesday is to take him back to surgery and try to close some of the skin around his right leg. That would be great if they can do this. Anytime they can close wounds it decreases the risk of infection. Unfortunately he did have to receive another 2 units of blood during surgery. The doctor said his body isn't doing a great job of clotting off the blood so it's unrealistic for him not to lose any during the surgery. I just continue to pray that the transfusions will decrease so that his liver can start working appropriately. (READ MORE)
Embrace The Suck: Dogs, And Ponies, And Sergeant Majors, Oh My... - November 17, 2008 2005 hrs. Well guess who showed up today. The Sergeant Major. Now for those of you who don't know who he is, he's the top enlisted man in our battalion and a pretty good guy from what I see so far. So I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt in reference the amazing amount of bullshit that flowed down the pipe today. However, no one else will be spared. We had to clean everything. I mean we have dirt floors here and we had to clean. Am I the only one who thinks its kind of pointless to clean rooms with dirt floors. I mean it was like a permanent haze of dust floating in the air all day. If I didn't know better I would've thought there were Jamaican's living in our barracks. My apologies to any Jamaican's that don't smoke weed. (READ MORE)
Jake's Life: Fun little video - This is a little commentary on a particularly long attack right outside our little base. I'm sitting outside our tent, and the building in the background is where the Brits live. The top of that thing has machine guns coming out of machine guns that are sitting on top of more machine guns, and the Brits LOVE firing all of them. On this particular day a British patrol was getting hit a couple hundred yards outside our walls, and the tower was supplying a little help. Guys would just sit outside their tents and cheer like it was a football game, letting out a few boos when they would choose not to fire a rocket, or applauding a particularly impressive machine gun burst. (READ MORE)
IN-iraq: Both sides trade rumors- Iraqi and U.S. - Baghdad- Some things you'd hear seemed like the game of telephone, the further they got from the source the less the made sense, others seemed eerily accurate. A few of the persistent beliefs and rumors from U.S. soldiers during my six-month reporting embed, (in no particular order): 1. If elected President, Barack Obama will pull U.S. soldiers out of Iraq and cut military spending and benefits. 2. Sons of Iraq, and Iraqi Police look the other way when terrorists plant bombs against the coalition. (READ MORE)
Alex Strick van Linschoten: Letter to the New President - I received this letter from a good Afghan friend of mine recently. As you can read in the short biography below, Orzala was involved for a long time in founding and building an organisation called HAWCA, one of the few local NGOs whose work I have always been genuinely and uniformly impressed by. She wrote these few comments in response to Obama’s election victory: “I witnessed a historical moment in Washington when I first learnt of Obama’s victory. I joined the crowed of victorious young and old on the streets of America’s capital that night, somehow with confusing feelings.” I say confused because I felt so proud to be in America when it happened, but I was unsure whether I should also be happy with what he would do in Afghanistan.” (READ MORE)
Notes From Iraq: Effects of War, Part II: The Children - As I noted in my most recent column, one of the most common sights soldiers see in Iraq is trash. As products of a rebuilding government, garbage-strewn fields are everywhere. But far more profound is the collateral damage left in war's wake. Children may be safe physically, but the lives of many of them are a far cry from what we are accustomed to seeing in the States. And that view is often heartbreaking. A bony boy of about five runs barefoot through the trash. In hot pursuit is an older girl, hopping over a sun-bleached juice carton. They resemble children playing at the beach. But instead of being soaked with seawater, they are covered in dust. When playtime is over, these children will not be washed and wrapped in clean clothes. (READ MORE)
Big Tobacco: Which One's Pink? - I’d like to introduce to Pink. No, no, not the pink I like to think about, but a real-life female private who is serving in Iraq right now. Note to all of the men out there: There is roughly one woman for each eight men in Iraq. Odds are, the guy she wants to sleep with will not be you. So open your laptop and watch some porn because odds are that is the only sex you will get for the next year. Get over yourself. Now back to the main point of the story: everyone always talks about that girl that was sleeping with people on the FOB. But what if she had a voice? What if she wasn’t that girl you heard about, but that girl you knew? Is her story any less valid than mine, or Suspect’s or Joe’s or LT G’s or even Toby Nunn’s? Pink brings a different perspective on the entire cohort of horny infantryman roaming the FOB… but I’ll let her explain that for herself: (READ MORE)
Pink's War: I'm Keeping My Fingers Crossed - Over the past few weeks we have been starting to get our replacements in. I've met quite a few of them and they are a fun bunch, a lot of nice people. I've extended to stay in country for another year and when I put in my packet, I couldn't stay with the unit that's replacing us, they were not accepting COADOS, so I extended with another unit in a different part of Iraq. As soon as they accepted my packet and gave me my paragraph and line number, the unit replacing us decides they'll take a few COADOS people. Damn my luck. (READ MORE)
News from the Front:
Iraq:
Soldier's diary sends mother on mission of her own - BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- The diary of a local corporal killed in Iraq sent his mother on a painful but inspiring journey. The 37 pages helped the mother of Jonathan Santos walk through her son's final days and ultimately led her to an unexpected discovery. "My brother went off to Vietnam," said Doris Santos, "but he came home. So (I thought) Jonathan would come home. I thought he'd come home." (READ MORE)
Hammer Co. Transitions to Over-watch - JOINT SECURITY STATION HOR AL BASH, Iraq - The government of Iraq didn’t let their Sons of Iraq members down as payday operations at Joint Security Station Hor al Bosh, northwest of Baghdad, kicked off, Nov. 10. Another page in Iraqi history was written as the first of 343 payments of 354,000 Iraqi Dinar went to Sons of Iraq members in the Hor al Bosh area. Prior to the payday activity, coalition forces made equal payments of $300 to each SoI. (READ MORE)
Terrorist leadership, bombing networks disrupted; 18 detained - BAGHDAD – Coalition operations further dismantled al-Qaeda in Iraq’s terrorist leadership and bombing networks throughout Iraq on Monday and Tuesday, as forces captured four wanted men and detained 14 suspected terrorists. Forces continued to strike terrorist leadership in Iraq Monday night. During an operation in Bayji, about 160 km south of Mosul, forces detained one man believed to be associated with a terrorist leader in the city. (READ MORE)
MNSTC-I commander talks leadership at Ar Rustamiyah Military Academy - AR RUSTAMIYAH – Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, Commanding General of NATO Training Mission – Iraq and Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq spoke about leadership to the cadets of the Basic Officer Commissioning Course at Ar Rustamiyah Military Academy Nov. 16. Helmick highlighted the importance of human rights and implored the future Iraqi officers to demonstrate leadership and responsibility. (READ MORE)
ISF, CF kill 2 terrorists, capture 4 during operations in Mosul - MOSUL, Iraq – Two terrorists were killed, and four men detained during two intelligence-driven operations in Mosul Nov. 16-17. On Nov. 16 at approximately 11:10 p.m, police with the Emergency Response Battalion 3 along with Soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, killed two terrorists during an operation in the Al Amel neighborhood. The ERB officers also consficated one 9 mm pistol and two fragmentary hand grenades. (READ MORE)
Training program opens doors for local Iraqis - BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division Baghdad Soldiers have begun providing heavy equipment training to Sons of Iraq and recently released detainees through government contractors. The program, run by Soldiers from MND-B’s 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, with assistance from members of the outgoing 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), is intended to provide Iraqi citizens of northwest Baghdad with a higher quality of life and heightened job opportunities. (READ MORE)
Task Force Gold, GoI partners for progress, peace in Baghdad - CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq – Mutual respect, trust and understanding are what make partnerships successful, and commonly held goals are essential for strong bonds of partnership. For the Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers of the 926th Engineer Brigade, it is respect, trust and mutual understanding that underlie the relationship that exists between the brigade’s Task Force Gold and the representative of the Government of Iraq, who coordinates and oversees reconstruction project work in OE Gold-Sadr City. (READ MORE)
MoD hosts ‘Civil Service Excellence through Training’ event - BAGHDAD - The Iraqi Ministry of Defense hosted their ‘Civil Service Excellence through Training’ event at the Ministerial Training and Development Center in Baghdad Nov. 13. The MTDC is one of the leading civil service training centers in the country, hosting students from across the Government of Iraq and setting the standard for excellence through its training programs. (READ MORE)
Second day of payment for Salman Pak SoI by GoI - CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – More Sons of Iraq in Salman Pak Mada’in Qada received their first payment on Nov. 14. Since the pay activities began, more than 2,700 members of the SoI have been paid in the Salman Pak area by the GoI. The 1st Battalion, 35th Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division facilitated the payments at the brigade headquarters in Salman Pak. (READ MORE)
Muthanna security forces enables cure in Iraq - CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq – Noor Muhammad, a seven-year-old girl from Rumyitha in Muthanna Province, came to a cooperative medical engagement Nov. 1 with an earache her father could not cure. After a few minutes with American and Iraqi doctors, she happily walked away with care instructions and medication. The Iraqi Security Forces in the Muthanna Province partnered with Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and Muthanna’s Provincial Reconstruction Team during this medical engagement located near Contingency Operating Base Adder. (READ MORE)
MND-B engineers clear the way for contractors to take over trash pickup - BAGHDAD – Army engineers are making things a lot easier for Iraqi contractors to clean up trash on the streets of Baghdad. The project, in conjunction with 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment’s Task Force Iron Gimlet, calls for engineers to remove large rubble and debris so that Iraqi contractors are able to clean up trash. (READ MORE)
MND-B Soldiers discover mortar rounds in Rashid - BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers discovered a weapons cache Nov. 16 in southern Baghdad’s Rashid district. At approximately 8:30 p.m. in the Jihad community, Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, MND-B, discovered five 82 mm mortar rounds and an undisclosed amount of detonation cord while on patrol. (READ MORE)
Coalition forces capture one wanted man, detain five suspected terrorists - BAGHDAD – One wanted man was captured and five suspected terrorists were detained Sunday and Monday as Coalition forces continued to degrade al-Qaeda in Iraq’s bombing networks. On Sunday in Kirkuk, Coalition forces targeted a wanted man who reports suggest is an AQI regional leader with ties to Tamim province improvised explosive device attacks. (READ MORE)
ISF discover, reduce IED in Mosul - MOSUL, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces found and disarmed an improvised explosive device in the Wade Hajar neighborhood at approximately 12:30 p.m., Nov. 16. The IED consisted of four rocket propelled grenade warheads hidden in a push cart. The 1st West Explosive Ordnance Disposal team disarmed the IED and brought it back to the station to destroy it. (READ MORE)
VBIED in Jalula kills 4 civilians, 6 IP - JALULA, Iraq – A vehicle-borne improvised explosive device killed four civilians and six Iraqi Police in Jalula Nov. 16. “Our upmost heartfelt compassion goes out to the family, friends and loved ones of both who died, as well as those injured as a result of this heinous attack,” said Maj. Chris Hyde, 25th Infantry Division spokesman. “We will vigorously and expeditiously work with our Iraqi Police and Army counterparts to find those responsible for this callous attack on the citizens of Iraq. When found, they will be held accountable for their actions.” (READ MORE)
Afghanistan:
ANSF, Coalition forces kill 38 militants in Helmand province - KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition forces Saturday night killed 38 militants in the Nahr Surkh District, Helmand province. ANSF and Coalition forces were conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol when they positively identified armed militants operating in the area. The combined forces engaged the militants with direct and supporting fires, killing 38 militants and destroying two militant vehicles. (READ MORE)
Commandos, Coalition forces kill four insurgents and destroy drug facility - KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Afghan National Army Commandos of the 205th Commando Kandak and Coalition forces destroyed an insurgent drug processing and distribution facility after engaging enemies in the Spin Buldak district, Kandahar province, Nov. 15. The combined forces discovered the remote, isolated drug processing and storage facility after receiving reports of illegal activity in the area. (READ MORE)
ANP, Coalition forces target al-Qaeda and Haqqani foreign fighter networks - KABUL, Afghanistan – Five militants were killed and 18 detained during ANP and Coalition operations aimed at dismantling the al-Qaeda and Haqqani foreign fighter networks in eastern Afghanistan, Saturday. In Zurmat District, Coalition forces detained a significant al-Qaeda associated militant, known to finance militant operations and to assist Taliban leaders with the movement and training of Arab and foreign fighters into Afghanistan. (READ MORE)
Coalition forces provide medical care to severely injured 14-year-old boy - KABUL, Afghanistan – Coalition forces Friday provided medical care to a 14-year-old boy who had been severely injured by an improvised explosive device in Shaheed Hasas District, Oruzgan province. The boy is currently in stable condition. The boy was riding a donkey on a dirt road near his village when the donkey stepped on an IED. (READ MORE)
ANSF, Coalition forces kill 5 militants in Oruzgan province - KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition forces Friday killed five militants in Shaheed District, Oruzgan province. ANSF and Coalition forces began searching a compound while conducting a foot patrol. As they entered the compound, militants engaged them with automatic weapons. (READ MORE)
Afghan civilian accidently killed in Qalat - KABUL, Afghanistan – One Afghan civilian was accidently killed when insurgents attacked a joint coalition and Afghan National Police patrol. The mounted patrol received direct fire from the insurgents in Qalat located in Zabul province, early Nov. 15. The Afghan National Police and coalition team returned fire, killing one insurgent. However, one grenade fired by coalition forces overshot its target, killing a civilian. (READ MORE)
Afghan, Coalition forces capture insurgent leader in Ghazni province - KABUL, Afghanistan—An elite Afghan National Police unit, assisted by Coalition forces, detained a key insurgent leader in an early morning raid in Espandi village, Ghazni province, Nov. 14. The combined forces conducted the raid after receiving credible information from local officials on the location of the insurgent, capturing him within minutes of initiating the operation. (READ MORE)
ANSF, Coalition forces detain Taliban leader in Khowst province - BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition forces detained a Taliban leader in Wurzi, Khowst province Nov. 9. ANSF and Coalition forces detained Laeek Shah, a Taliban commander, during a patrol without incident. (READ MORE)
Ministry of Interior, Coalition forces investigate incident in Khost - KABUL, Afghanistan – The Ministry of the Interior of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in conjunction with Coalition forces are conducting a joint investigation into an incident that occurred early yesterday evening in Khost province involving Coalition forces and suspected armed men. The Coalition forces stopped three suspect vehicles on a road northeast of Khowst District. (READ MORE)
Afghan officials, Coalition forces investigate claims of civilian casualties in Shah Wali Kot - KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan government officials, Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition forces Thursday traveled to Shah Wali Kot district, Kandahar province, to investigate claims of civilian casualties. Results of the joint investigation to date indicate that there were 37 civilians killed and 35 civilians wounded in a battle where an ANSF-Coalition forces patrol was ambushed by insurgents in the village. (READ MORE)
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