Toecutter
What would DoG do?
For your enlightenment:
I'm still about a week out from beginning my trek back to the states, but considering it is Memorial Day weekend I thought this email would be appropriate to send. I hope you enjoy.
Well hello again from Iraq. I want to start off by saying thank you to all of you for emails, cards, care packages, thoughts, and prayers. I didn't always get to write everybody, I usually kept it to my Mom, sisters, and girlfriend...but it doesn't mean I was not thinking of all of you and very appreciative of your support. I also want to mention all my buddies at Fresno Fire Dept. and thank them for their support. The guys at the Firehouse are both family and friends and I look forward to returning to work. In this email, my final email, I will try to answer most of your questions, tell you about the country, people, men and women serving and some of the adventures. Since last time I left you, in Baghdad, I've traveled mostly South/Southeast to Numiniyah, Al Kut (90 miles from the Iranian border), Iskandariyah, and one other base I still have no idea where the hell I was at! I will say now that I apologize to my family for not telling you more before this letter, but I felt it best to not have you worry. Well let me begin:
The Country and People:
Initial response...It's hot and the people smell! Actually, there are some beautiful parts to Iraq and the landscape from the air reminds me very much of the the central valley. Yes, Fresno is similar to living in Iraq. There is alot of farmland and fertile soil with its irrigation systems being supplied by the Tigris and Euphrates. Temperatures for a couple of days reached the 110 deg.-115 deg. mark, but for the most part it has been comfortable staying at the high 90's low 100's. The worst part are the sand/dust storms that are blinding. In Al Kut the storms came and went for about a week. We all ended up with a cough and hacking up "lung butter" for the next two weeks! Life in the city is bustling. With the market places, traffic, and tight roads it can be almost overwhelming. The structures for the most part are stacked on top of one another. They are mostly made of adobe and there is no telling how many people/families you may find in one house.
The people are friendly and seem to be very appreciative of the Americans and the work we are doing in their cities. The children of course want candy, your watch, pens, flashlights, anything American. You have to make sure to button your pockets and secure your equipment because you can end up missing items. The fashion of the men ranges from a pajama looking ensemble of loose pants and shirt with some sort of sandals to the latest and greatest in 80's clothing. The women, of course, wear a beautiful ensemble of black cloth that covers them from head to toe with a slit for their eyes so they don't trip...very comfortable for the summer months. (I hope you catch my humor/sarcasm throughout this email
Life:
Sleep, showers, chow hall...not that bad. Depending on my location I slept in Palaces, trailers, tents, condemned buildings/Iraqi barracks. You could always count on your stuff being covered with dust and sharing a tent with a rat or two, spiders, and some other bugs I have yet to identify. For the most part we had hot showers and the water was even clear sometimes. We were always fed well. I usually stuck to chicken and rice but the beef curry was also quite delicious. In all seriousness it is amazing what we (United States) can bring to countries separated by oceans and continents. Imagine moving just one city of about 10,000 people and transplanting it half way around the world, let alone several cities. Water, electricity, sewer, communications, flying operations, security, medical, food, mail services, the list is endless and constant 24hrs a day 7 days a week. It is difficult to even put such an operation into words. All I can say is you would be in awe and proud to see what we do for the rest of the world.
For the most part life is pretty consistent. We eat, sleep, workout, brief missions, run patrols/humanitarian missions outside the wire usually working a 12-15 hour day and making it back to base to call the loved ones at home and ensure them nothing is going on and we are safe My experience here has been much different then my buddies that were here in 03' and 04' fighting insurgents in Baghdad and Fallujah. We still have our fire fights but not at the level of past years. Now we're more concentrated on High Value Individuals (HVI) and winning the "hearts and minds".
When I first arrived me and a group of guys were watching a CNN report and a suicide bomber had entered the market place killing 30+ "fellow" Iraqis. One of the guys who had spent a year here was heading home and made a comment that stuck with me. He said, "they (the news) will tell you about the thirty that died today but not the 100,000 people we help everyday." Maybe it is not eye catching enough or runs contrary to what the current mind set is regarding Iraq. This is where I will get "political" in this message, but it will be quick and painless. I have now seen and spoke with many Iraqi's and soldiers that have been deployed here three, four, and even five times. Since nobody seems to take the soldiers word because we must have all been brain washed and our opinions skewed, I will tell you what the Iraqi's say. From MY Experience, repeatedly Iraqi's would tell stories of how much better life is now that the American influence is here, NO not our Culture! But our influence. The schools, houses, water treatment plants, new poultry farms, reading materials and school supplies, plus the idea of government councils and not dictatorship...well life has never been so good! Now the big question...What if we leave? Death and destruction, cats and dogs living together it will be horrible! From the Iraqi's stand point it might be horrible. I learned from many Iraqi's it is not the disparity between Sunni's and Shiites that concerns them, but their neighbor to the east...Iran. I will say this, with out giving away the classified stuff, think about the neighbors of Iraq and their history, where the extremist groups are receiving their NEW weapons from, who is providing the training, and the identification of some of the insurgents and who they are connected to...are they really Iraqi?...sounds like a Tom Clancy novel. Personal opinion, we are here for something much larger. Okay, enough "foreign policy". Meet me for a beer and we can talk.
Close Calls/Bad Days:
I can hear my buddies now "did you get shot at or blow stuff up. Did you bring back a terrorists head...what about an Iraqi woman, tell us those stories!" Yes, Yes, No, No. I was only shot at a couple of times two memorable times were both on helicopters. Once over the city of Baghdad where we got hit and landed briefly to do a systems check then took off again. All that went through my mind was, "why do I have the seat next to the door and I wonder if getting shot hurts as bad as it looks." As usual, it was supposed to be a quick hop from one location to the next and I had a young kid from our support section that was delivering equipment, I was supposed to be responsible for him. He showed up that morning with a cell phone and 8 magazines fully loaded for his M-4 rifle. I along with a couple of other guys joked with him. We had our M-4's but they were in our bags and besides we already had the M-9 handgun holstered to us and the flight was routine. "Tink, Tink, Tink...Holy S!%t they're shooting at us!" Long story short, he had the last laugh.
Getting shot at, mortared, or rocketed becomes somewhat routine but don't get me wrong it is still scary as hell. When the mortars or rockets do come in you lay in your bed, listen to your IPod, or debate with the other guys if you should get up and run to the bunker or not. Some of the close calls include a rocket coming through one guys trailer and not exploding. The rocket blocked the doorway so he had to step over it to get out...took his Sergeant a half hour to talk him into stepping over the damn thing! Another guy got out of bed and left his tent to go to chow, mortar attack came in and when he returned to his tent there was a piece of shrapnel that had ripped through his pillow. A buddy of mine went to pick up a helmet on the side of the road until he noticed the a wire protruding from it (booby trap)...he instead made a call to Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). My closest call and "bad days" include, a night flight when tracers lit up the sky and our gunners started returning fire (I once again was by the door...damn it!), getting mortared and as I'm running to a bunker a mortar explodes between myself and another guy. He takes shrapnel to his torso and legs, I go untouched (thank you for your prayers and lighting those candles). I call my girlfriend (we have a disagreement), a soldier commits suicide a day later and I lose my IPod and eventually my girlfriend (via email!).
In all seriousness, in bad situations the spirit of the soldier becomes evident. Whether it is a bad day in Iraq or bad news from home we try to be there for one another. One example of that spirit is my buddy Bruce (22 yrs. old, from Buffalo, NY strong New York accent) his mother died from cancer while he was here. He left Iraq for 15 days to attend the funeral then returned to duty. When asked why he didn't stay home he told me his older brother is in the Army serving in Afghanistan his younger brother is joining when he graduates high school and Mom knew this is what we signed up for. She didn't want us to stop because of her...it was her contribution to this country. I told him if I could buy him a beer I would, instead we settled on bottled water.
The worst days are when a soldier dies. Three different units I was with we lost some brave souls...one (22yrs. old) hit by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), one (25 yrs. old) by sniper fire, another (20 yrs. old) committed suicide (60 days left and on Mother's day weekend), and today I must mention one more soldiers death. This email was supposed to reach all of you yesterday but we are not allowed to use the internet or phones when a soldier from our unit dies. The unit does not want the family to accidentally find out until they are "officially" notified. Their vehicle was struck by an IED 3 soldiers wounded 1 killed in action...these deaths and their ages reminded of words Ronald Reagan once wrote:
"It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars afar away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray-haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives, the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember."
Well, I won't keep any of you any longer. For the subject of war I tried to keep the mood light and pass on a couple of "war stories". I know it is more than what may be happening in Fresno, but trust me it is nothing compared to what so many of our soldiers have endured. It really would make you proud to see these men and women in action. Many of them have served multiple 15 month tours, been wounded, lost a buddy, and still they return to serve. My few adventures and my short duration in country, I merely live in the shadow of these great men and women. One last thing, I promise, I forgot to mention is your service at home. To often it goes unrecognized. I can not begin to tell you how much it means and how important it is to everyone over here to have family, friends, spouses and even strangers that support them, send them packages and provide them with the shoulder to lean on when times are tough. I know for my family and loved ones it was difficult sometimes, but thank you for everything. An email, letter, phone conversation or some chocolate chip cookies never meant so much. Enjoy your beers and barbeque's...and well, I'll keep looking for my damn IPod! Happy Memorial Day weekend.
Next Stop...Home!
Frank
I'm still about a week out from beginning my trek back to the states, but considering it is Memorial Day weekend I thought this email would be appropriate to send. I hope you enjoy.
Well hello again from Iraq. I want to start off by saying thank you to all of you for emails, cards, care packages, thoughts, and prayers. I didn't always get to write everybody, I usually kept it to my Mom, sisters, and girlfriend...but it doesn't mean I was not thinking of all of you and very appreciative of your support. I also want to mention all my buddies at Fresno Fire Dept. and thank them for their support. The guys at the Firehouse are both family and friends and I look forward to returning to work. In this email, my final email, I will try to answer most of your questions, tell you about the country, people, men and women serving and some of the adventures. Since last time I left you, in Baghdad, I've traveled mostly South/Southeast to Numiniyah, Al Kut (90 miles from the Iranian border), Iskandariyah, and one other base I still have no idea where the hell I was at! I will say now that I apologize to my family for not telling you more before this letter, but I felt it best to not have you worry. Well let me begin:
The Country and People:
Initial response...It's hot and the people smell! Actually, there are some beautiful parts to Iraq and the landscape from the air reminds me very much of the the central valley. Yes, Fresno is similar to living in Iraq. There is alot of farmland and fertile soil with its irrigation systems being supplied by the Tigris and Euphrates. Temperatures for a couple of days reached the 110 deg.-115 deg. mark, but for the most part it has been comfortable staying at the high 90's low 100's. The worst part are the sand/dust storms that are blinding. In Al Kut the storms came and went for about a week. We all ended up with a cough and hacking up "lung butter" for the next two weeks! Life in the city is bustling. With the market places, traffic, and tight roads it can be almost overwhelming. The structures for the most part are stacked on top of one another. They are mostly made of adobe and there is no telling how many people/families you may find in one house.
The people are friendly and seem to be very appreciative of the Americans and the work we are doing in their cities. The children of course want candy, your watch, pens, flashlights, anything American. You have to make sure to button your pockets and secure your equipment because you can end up missing items. The fashion of the men ranges from a pajama looking ensemble of loose pants and shirt with some sort of sandals to the latest and greatest in 80's clothing. The women, of course, wear a beautiful ensemble of black cloth that covers them from head to toe with a slit for their eyes so they don't trip...very comfortable for the summer months. (I hope you catch my humor/sarcasm throughout this email
Life:
Sleep, showers, chow hall...not that bad. Depending on my location I slept in Palaces, trailers, tents, condemned buildings/Iraqi barracks. You could always count on your stuff being covered with dust and sharing a tent with a rat or two, spiders, and some other bugs I have yet to identify. For the most part we had hot showers and the water was even clear sometimes. We were always fed well. I usually stuck to chicken and rice but the beef curry was also quite delicious. In all seriousness it is amazing what we (United States) can bring to countries separated by oceans and continents. Imagine moving just one city of about 10,000 people and transplanting it half way around the world, let alone several cities. Water, electricity, sewer, communications, flying operations, security, medical, food, mail services, the list is endless and constant 24hrs a day 7 days a week. It is difficult to even put such an operation into words. All I can say is you would be in awe and proud to see what we do for the rest of the world.
For the most part life is pretty consistent. We eat, sleep, workout, brief missions, run patrols/humanitarian missions outside the wire usually working a 12-15 hour day and making it back to base to call the loved ones at home and ensure them nothing is going on and we are safe
My experience here has been much different then my buddies that were here in 03' and 04' fighting insurgents in Baghdad and Fallujah. We still have our fire fights but not at the level of past years. Now we're more concentrated on High Value Individuals (HVI) and winning the "hearts and minds".When I first arrived me and a group of guys were watching a CNN report and a suicide bomber had entered the market place killing 30+ "fellow" Iraqis. One of the guys who had spent a year here was heading home and made a comment that stuck with me. He said, "they (the news) will tell you about the thirty that died today but not the 100,000 people we help everyday." Maybe it is not eye catching enough or runs contrary to what the current mind set is regarding Iraq. This is where I will get "political" in this message, but it will be quick and painless. I have now seen and spoke with many Iraqi's and soldiers that have been deployed here three, four, and even five times. Since nobody seems to take the soldiers word because we must have all been brain washed and our opinions skewed, I will tell you what the Iraqi's say. From MY Experience, repeatedly Iraqi's would tell stories of how much better life is now that the American influence is here, NO not our Culture! But our influence. The schools, houses, water treatment plants, new poultry farms, reading materials and school supplies, plus the idea of government councils and not dictatorship...well life has never been so good! Now the big question...What if we leave? Death and destruction, cats and dogs living together it will be horrible! From the Iraqi's stand point it might be horrible. I learned from many Iraqi's it is not the disparity between Sunni's and Shiites that concerns them, but their neighbor to the east...Iran. I will say this, with out giving away the classified stuff, think about the neighbors of Iraq and their history, where the extremist groups are receiving their NEW weapons from, who is providing the training, and the identification of some of the insurgents and who they are connected to...are they really Iraqi?...sounds like a Tom Clancy novel. Personal opinion, we are here for something much larger. Okay, enough "foreign policy". Meet me for a beer and we can talk.
Close Calls/Bad Days:
I can hear my buddies now "did you get shot at or blow stuff up. Did you bring back a terrorists head...what about an Iraqi woman, tell us those stories!" Yes, Yes, No, No. I was only shot at a couple of times two memorable times were both on helicopters. Once over the city of Baghdad where we got hit and landed briefly to do a systems check then took off again. All that went through my mind was, "why do I have the seat next to the door and I wonder if getting shot hurts as bad as it looks." As usual, it was supposed to be a quick hop from one location to the next and I had a young kid from our support section that was delivering equipment, I was supposed to be responsible for him. He showed up that morning with a cell phone and 8 magazines fully loaded for his M-4 rifle. I along with a couple of other guys joked with him. We had our M-4's but they were in our bags and besides we already had the M-9 handgun holstered to us and the flight was routine. "Tink, Tink, Tink...Holy S!%t they're shooting at us!" Long story short, he had the last laugh.
Getting shot at, mortared, or rocketed becomes somewhat routine but don't get me wrong it is still scary as hell. When the mortars or rockets do come in you lay in your bed, listen to your IPod, or debate with the other guys if you should get up and run to the bunker or not. Some of the close calls include a rocket coming through one guys trailer and not exploding. The rocket blocked the doorway so he had to step over it to get out...took his Sergeant a half hour to talk him into stepping over the damn thing! Another guy got out of bed and left his tent to go to chow, mortar attack came in and when he returned to his tent there was a piece of shrapnel that had ripped through his pillow. A buddy of mine went to pick up a helmet on the side of the road until he noticed the a wire protruding from it (booby trap)...he instead made a call to Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). My closest call and "bad days" include, a night flight when tracers lit up the sky and our gunners started returning fire (I once again was by the door...damn it!), getting mortared and as I'm running to a bunker a mortar explodes between myself and another guy. He takes shrapnel to his torso and legs, I go untouched (thank you for your prayers and lighting those candles). I call my girlfriend (we have a disagreement), a soldier commits suicide a day later and I lose my IPod and eventually my girlfriend (via email!).
In all seriousness, in bad situations the spirit of the soldier becomes evident. Whether it is a bad day in Iraq or bad news from home we try to be there for one another. One example of that spirit is my buddy Bruce (22 yrs. old, from Buffalo, NY strong New York accent) his mother died from cancer while he was here. He left Iraq for 15 days to attend the funeral then returned to duty. When asked why he didn't stay home he told me his older brother is in the Army serving in Afghanistan his younger brother is joining when he graduates high school and Mom knew this is what we signed up for. She didn't want us to stop because of her...it was her contribution to this country. I told him if I could buy him a beer I would, instead we settled on bottled water.
The worst days are when a soldier dies. Three different units I was with we lost some brave souls...one (22yrs. old) hit by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), one (25 yrs. old) by sniper fire, another (20 yrs. old) committed suicide (60 days left and on Mother's day weekend), and today I must mention one more soldiers death. This email was supposed to reach all of you yesterday but we are not allowed to use the internet or phones when a soldier from our unit dies. The unit does not want the family to accidentally find out until they are "officially" notified. Their vehicle was struck by an IED 3 soldiers wounded 1 killed in action...these deaths and their ages reminded of words Ronald Reagan once wrote:
"It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars afar away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray-haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives, the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember."
Well, I won't keep any of you any longer. For the subject of war I tried to keep the mood light and pass on a couple of "war stories". I know it is more than what may be happening in Fresno, but trust me it is nothing compared to what so many of our soldiers have endured. It really would make you proud to see these men and women in action. Many of them have served multiple 15 month tours, been wounded, lost a buddy, and still they return to serve. My few adventures and my short duration in country, I merely live in the shadow of these great men and women. One last thing, I promise, I forgot to mention is your service at home. To often it goes unrecognized. I can not begin to tell you how much it means and how important it is to everyone over here to have family, friends, spouses and even strangers that support them, send them packages and provide them with the shoulder to lean on when times are tough. I know for my family and loved ones it was difficult sometimes, but thank you for everything. An email, letter, phone conversation or some chocolate chip cookies never meant so much. Enjoy your beers and barbeque's...and well, I'll keep looking for my damn IPod! Happy Memorial Day weekend.
Next Stop...Home!
Frank
