Greetings All
Well, it’s a little somber over here now what with all of the casualties and we just learned that a Black Hawk crashed with 12 people going down. There were 8 civilians plus 4 military crew members but we don’t know the capacity of the civilians. Also, in talking with some law enforcement advisors, their jobs are getting riskier as well.
We had a lot of activity last night. Based upon what we could learn, the insurgents were firing anti aircraft rounds (presumably at helicopters) except that it was raining so much, there weren’t too many choppers in the air. The .50’s were firing back at them and it became an all out shoot out. It sounded so close that the few of us left in the office broke out the M-4’s. We honestly thought the battle was that close. We have a bathroom adjacent to the office so I went in there and closed all of the lights. That way I could safely look out and not have my carcass in the back light. I was watching what looked like fireworks going off except these were detonating in the sky. It was pretty amazing. The actual gun fire was about 400 yards plus from us but it sure sounded closer. It finally quieted down. I was told today that the fire was anti aircraft fire directed at an Apache Helicopter running in stealth mode. I don’t know if I buy that completely as the Apache can track where fire is coming from and has an assortment of weaponry that literally can pulverize most anything. Well, we were ready but we didn’t fire a shot which is probably good because if we are shooting, the I/Z is in really deep do-do.
I was talking with a counterpart special agent with USAID. He said during the fire fight, all of the USAID employees were coming to him for security. He said he was telling them to go the contract guards as all he is issued is a 9mm pistol. All I could say to him is carry a lot of spare magazines. We all laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation.
On the good side one of the Army snipers made a kill shot on an insurgent sniper at 1,230 meters. I sent a bunch the article. If someone else wants it, e-mail me and I’ll forward it to you. What a shot that was. He aimed 12’ high and hit him in the chest. The bad guy had already killed one of our soldiers. He must’ve thought he was safe as he was standing in a window of a high rise.
We made it through the Holidays. Gee that was tough. I mean even though we were all together, it was still lonely. Some guys had tears in their eyes. Then I missed my Mom’s 92nd birthday and also Cheri and my wedding anniversary.
We had a mortar come in at Adnan Palace. I’ve got a picture of a car that was destroyed even though it was 50-60 yards from point of impact. One guard was injured slightly. He was lucky not to be hurt more.
It sure poured rain last night. The good news is my hooch didn’t leak over the bed area. The bad news is that it sprung a new leak right over where my plastic trunk is. Of course I had it opened and my clothes got wet. One of my co-special agents had an electrical short in his hooch. He called KBR and three guys show up at 3:00 A.M. They truck in a ton of mud all over a rug that he had bought to keep the place clean and told him they couldn’t fix the electrical. Then he had to move to another hooch. He asked if KBR did carpet cleaning. The three amigos didn’t respond to his request.
Now that the rain is falling, this place is turning into a mud hole. First it was dust, now it’s mud. And we’ve got it good. I can only imagine what some of the FOB’s look like.
While jogging I got to talking with a Marine guard in a tower and asked if I could come up and take a look. He made me stand behind the pill box because I didn’t have body armor or Kevlar on. I was able to see over the T walls and observe that the back T wall is only about 150 yards to the Tigris. The Tigris might be 200 yards wide and the Red Zone is on the other side. What a view! Unfortunately we are prohibited from taking pictures of it. So, I’ll have to find some other high ground.
I’m getting really close to day 90 in country and I can feel it. I’m not as tolerant and I am completely livid with the attitude at headquarters. It’s like they are doing us a favor by having us here. If I decide to end my tour, it’s not going to be due to the danger or the investigations, it’s going to be the bureaucracy that will push me out. It’s like they aren’t happy unless they are making us miserable whether it's travel vouchers, time reports, or trying to schedule leave to go home. I need to get home to get my tooth crowned so I do have an ace but we’ll see how it works this time.
Two of my close associates are leaving and are not returning . That’s really bumming me out now but I can understand their circumstance and their frustrations.
It’s amazing the amount of guys that I’ve met here that are bow hunters. We are all thinking about what we would have to do to open an archery range here. God, would that be super? One fellow made a couple of hunting videos so I’ve been watching those. He wants to go to Africa to hunt. It’s almost doable from here. If I could only get Cheri to meet me there!! Can you see her looking like Merrill Streep in “Out of Africa?”
I finally got my voice back and was able to sing at mass. Fr. Dennis is still trying to get his voice back. He is sure is a good priest.
Well, I’d better get this off before another week goes by. Have a good one and I’ll keep in touch. Bob
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