joerockhead

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I recieved this from my Friend in Iraq -

First let me say "whew!" the election stress-athon is over. I thank all of you whom sent me cards, goodies and the thousands of dollars! hee hee. I shared of course with my team and the children of Iraq! Many things are new to them, of all things I think "ice" fascinates them most, wierd... it takes an X box video game set- up for American kids. Clearly these little ones here impress me with their appreciation of anything we give them.

We have recieved lunch from the people here a few times, very good. Lamb and stone bread, for dessert, fruit and coffee. The coffee didn't cut it for myself, it was served in a cup the size of a thimble and 50% sugar.

The craziness that was everyday from Christmas until a couple days ago in preperation of the huge historical event was a smash hit. We escorted our equipment operator Seabees to over a hundred sites in Karbala and Najaf placing over 800, two ton barriers. Too many trips back and forth to count. Each trip we held our breath leaving the gates of the base, knowing how badly the insurgents wanted this election NOT to take place. Each day was a relief, we only had one incident. Before we put any barriers around the polling sites (to keep car bombs out) we perform a "sweep" of the area. In old city Najaf (it all looks old to me) this area is like hundreds of years old in architecture (all of Iraq looks that way to me) anyhow, this old area of narrow roads and pretty much tenament housing, we found 5 grenades taped together with the pins pulled and placed inside a 5 gallon can of gas. The intent is that the gas eats away the tape relasing the spoons on the grenades, this of course makes a huge bomb. We found it before the tape melted. On election day itself, the military was everywhere, but not to be seen by the public as this is the Iraqi election and not ours right? However, we were in the wings loaded down with every type of weapon at our disposal sitting in our Humvees from 5qm to 10pm in case something happened....all day we were freaking out thinking "oh my God, shits going to hit the fan" all we heard was how horrible it was going to be and that the insurgents had all these big plans, so we sat all day "puckered up" (if you know what I mean)....the call never came, not for us, not for the Army, not for the Marines. Success!

Many of the towns we went to, we were followed by hundreds of kids chanting "good, good, mista (mister)" I have video of this, they were all jumping up and down and pumping their fists in the air, quite a site for sure. It is this generation that we try to win the "hearts and minds" of, to make a lasting impression before they are ruined or recruited to become future insurgents, which is actually happeneing. Some of our trips have been to go into small villages and give away soccer balls, shoes, clothing, blankets, of course candy at all times. Part of my daily load up is to make sure cases of different candy is loaded to throw out into the crowds. We have over a thousand pictures and video clips. I will always remember what I was doing and where I was in January 2005.

Next up for the TMT team is to spend the next 2 months living out of our Humvees as we relocate personnel and equipment from one camp to another covering the entire country and thousands of miles, it's convoy madness in this country I'm telling you. We are sooo lucky, because convoys go as fast as they can, but still streched out over 3 miles fast is only 60 miles an hour. Basically we are like that carnival game where the ducks float by and you shoot them. Lucky for us these ducks are "packing" an arsenal, so the insurgents don't want to mess with us...so far. It's like this saying "What if worms carried guns, the Robins wouldn't f..with them" stupid I know, not my jhoke.

Time for me to go, this took all my pc time.

Juana!

how comforting is to hear stories like this from an actual protagonist... this how we know that the sacrifice of our soldiers is not in vain regardless of the motives of some people (left and right)...and that they still have hope things are going to change...

if you email him back tell him that the guys at webrats and msyelf are proud of a professional soldier and compassionate man... good job... also tell him they are in our toughts and prayers every day... and we hope for them a fast and safe return...

Juana!

joerockhead

I just did. Thanks Juana.

Go NAVY!!! :happycow:

AmorMiHombre

I don't know what else to add and just wanted to let you know that i read the email and hope your friend gets home soon and continues to do such great work...it's nice to hear stories like this as opposed to that video in the other thread.

Dante0827

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This is so good to Hear. Considering most Media pounding. All I have to say is they are in my Prayers. Semper Fi. and may God Bless you all.