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The temperature is rising and donkey cart caravans are still funny too me. It is the strangest thing. I've been in Iraq for six months now and I see donkey-drawn carriages on the street daily. However everytime I see one, I laugh. I dont know why,I guess its for the same reason that people will giggle when someone passes gas or something. All I can think of is that song "Let me ride that donkey!".I guess the heat is starting to get to me.......
This has been a tough year so far. The holidays came and went, they were just another day over here. No family to get together for Thanksgiving dinner,no Santa.The new year came in with a bang as rockets came at the stroke of midnight. No Rockin New Years Eve with Dick Clark though and no Easter Bunny. Instead, we were on mission hard charging and vigilant, finding comfort and family amonst eachother. For us veterans, we know the bond that is shared between combat soldiers. We are like fathers of men who are experiencing a brotherhood and kinship that they wont find anywhere else than on the battlefield. There is not a single soldier who would not lay down his life for another. It is an unspoken thing but we all live and die by that.
We have experienced that first hand as we lost a member of our platoon recently. A sniper took the life of one of our own and injured another. It was the sting of battle we were all dreading. It was the inevitable. However, this what we do. Our fallen soldier was sent off right. I was tragically honored to carry his body wrapped in the American flag and put him on the helecopter home. He was going home and he didnt have to fight anymore. Plato once wrote "Only the dead have seen the end of war....". These are moments you never forget. Ten years from now I will remember that day and it will feel like it was just yesterday. These are some of the moments that bring our brotherhood even closer. The other soldier is in the USA and is expected to make a full recovery. If it wasnt for the medic and another soldier he would have surely bled to death and died within minutes. Young men........some not even old enough to drink yet. But this their responsibility and duty. Some might think its a heavy burden,but its not to them. I cannot tell you how proud I am to see how these young men developed. We have trained them and "raised" these young men to be combat soldiers. It is an honor to lead them into battle. They will never stand under anyone's shadow.
Day to day life has been everything but routine. As the mercury is rising, so is our "op-tempo". We have done everything from targeted raids with the Iraqi Army and police,kicking in doors and disrupting insurgent cells.To setting up rebuilding projects for schools and other infrastructure projects. But yet we still find the time to hand a child a soccer ball or teddy bear. I still find the time to laugh at the occasional donkey cart......
Veterans Day was yesterday and we are well past the one year mark in our deployment so I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on our year here and some lessons learned. First off I just wanted to extended my gratitude to the friends,family and even strangers who have supported me and my fellow soldiers along the way. It is an unpopular war,but It makes me feel good to know that everyone is behind us back home.
As we reach the end of our deployment I look at my fellow soldiers and myself and cant help but think how much we have aged. We as a platoon, have grown so much together. The closeness of a combat soldier is like no other. For a year we have lived together, worked together,fought together,sometimes fought eachother,sweat together,bled together,laughed together,and cried together. In a way Im kind of sad we are almost done because once we return back to America, most will be moving on. Many are getting out,many are going to different units and very few will be staying in the platoon.Upon our arrival our "band of brothers" will slowly break up until it is no longer.Then it will be time to form a new "band of brothers". But this is how the Army operates. I have been in the Army more than a day so I know it well,but it still makes me a little sad.
So much has happened this year,it is hard to know where to begin. We have maintained a sector that had the potential to be horrific but we held it down. Not by an iron fist but with a gentle hand,showing our teeth only when provoked.I can honestly say that we have made a lasting impression on the people in our sector because of the relationship we created with them. Many hours of our missions are spent just spending time with the people. They invite us into thier homes and thier hospitality is inpeccable. I have learned that Iraqi cuisine is delicious.The food here is far more fresh than in the states. No additives and no preservatives. It is a running joke amongst the Iraqis that the reason why soldiers get sick from eating thier food is because it is too rich for Americans. I got sick one time for about 3 days and have been fine since.I think it says something about our platoon to have this kind of relationship especially being as close to the belly of the beast as we are. We are reveered as polite professionals by the people. We are men of our word, we know the language, we know thier culture, we know thier needs, and we are general bad asses when we need to be, forcing the insurgents out the neighborhood. They have publicly fled from us in broad daylight because of the sheer precision violence we brought to them. In addition we had a lot of help from the locals out and about,pointing us in the right direction to the agressers. It is in my opinion that the people of Iraq are tired of the violence to include militia members. Hope is on the horizon for this country.
As we close on our departure date, things seem tougher now more that ever. We are still conducting misiions and will continue to do so until our relief arrives in about a month or so. everyone is taking that extra step to be cautious. We are too short to have any more incidents. All of us have brushed with death on more than one occasion.Every day I wonder how Im still alive and walking. A 120mm mortar exploded through a tin roof just 10 feet above my head. The blast alone could have killed me and the thousands of pieces of jagged shrapnell should have killed me. But I walked away with a ring in my ears, a headache and a tiny scratch on my ear.There isnt a single soldier in my platoon who doesnt share a similar story. Weither it was an IED attack,RPG attack,sniper, and so on. We have seen it all.
I have learned that 15 months is a looooong time! As I said before I feel like I aged 10 years physically mentally and emotionally. Im just plain tired and numb. I have been here so long that I wonder how Im going to function back home. It is amamzing at the things you adapt to when you are deployed. For an example anywhere I go,I always have a plan. I know where all the cover is and I plan my route carefully to maximize it. I do it now automatically without thinkng about it. Every step of the way is carefully calculated. I wonder what it will be like to not have to worry and contantly scan for threats.
As always thank you everyone for your continued support.I have just a few months left here so please keep me and my guys in your prayers.
