Major K.

Memorial Day

It is 116 degrees outside today, and the wind is blowing sand and dust everywhere.  Patrols go out and come back in.  Our guys have captured a few heavy-hitters among the arhabi in the past few days, and there has been what seems to be a corresponding decrease in bombings in our area.  A few other units have done likewise.  I am anxiously awaiting the results of the interrogations as I know that there are more out there.  Luckily, one less warrior has to worry about going to jail now for fighting them.  I am glad it is quiet outside, but today I keep thinking of the blood price paid by Task Force NightStalker:

SPC Travis Bruce

CPL Glenn Watkins

PFC Samantha Huff

I will say a few extra prayers today with these heroes in mind.  I hope that they have well appointed mansions. They are why I have so much to look forward to back home.  The chow hall was decorated in red, white and blue today, and there was a table set for our fallen comrades in the center.  They have given what Lincoln called "the last full measure of devotion."  I am eternally grateful.  Cal Thomas puts it nicely.

This is bogus...

This is stupid.  When you find out that you have a stupid rule, you should change the rule, not dig in your heels.  Gold Star Mothers is a good organization that apparently has a very foolish board of directors.  I'll be sending them an e-mail in support of admitting Ligaya Lagman for membership.  We have enough stupid rules.  Let's get rid of a few...

Nice of you to notice

When I first got here almost 4 months ago, Haifa Street was the worst area in all of Baghdad.  Casualties had piled up there and the unit that we replaced had earned over 50 Purple Hearts there.  It was considered a "no go" area because if you went in, you went in with no less than a Company of Soldiers. (100-120)  Between daily bombing and body count reports, that are considered the only things newsworthy here, someone in the media actually noticed that Haifa Street is no longer arhabi turf.  After a large shakedown by US and Iraqi forces, the Iraqi Army, which had formerly been afraid to go there, now roams it freely.  Other areas of the city still remain hot but nothing on the scale of what Haifa Street was then.  The other thing that should be mentioned is that this story is almost 2 months old, and it is just coming out in our press.  We had another success today here in our area, but I will have to let some time pass before I can blog about it.  In the meantime, to get the TRUTH, try these fact-checkers.  I like their statement of purpose.

Business as usual

We are working more closely with the Iraqi Army, and it is good to see.  Bridging the culture gap and teaching them the 3 P's is going to be a challenge.  There has been an uptick in bombings here recently, and fortunately, no one from my Battalion has been hurt.  Unfortunately, many Iraqi Police and civilians have been killed.  The arhabi seem to be focusing more and more on these "soft targets."  They did shoot two rockets at us that landed on our FOB.  They were the Chinese 107mm type and luckily both duds.  I saw the briefing on "Operation Squeeze Play" on the TV news and truth be told, it may be a fancy new name, but it's the same thing my unit has always been doing since we got here.  Every day we try to find the arhabi and put them out of business, but  we hadn't called it "Squeeze Play."

Surprising

Although I think he is a pompous windbag, I actually agree with Donald Trump on something.  I hope he pulls it off.

Disgusting

I can't help it.  I really should not be giving this piece of trash the publicity, but I would like to punch this guy in the solar plexus.  Maybe then he would not take his safety for granted.  The fact that we are protecting him bothers me.  Ugh!  Only in America....

"This We'll Defend"

The motto above come from the official seal of the US Army.  I first started thinking about them in earnest at a Harry Connick Jr. Concert at the Hollywood Bowl last August.  I thought "It must be nice to be Harry Connick."  But as I looked around, listening to the music, feeling the summer breeze on my face, sipping a glass of wine and holding my wife's hand, It dawned on me - again:  Connick, Shmonnick, It's good to be me!  I just took it all in; the great weather, music, food, drink, venue, and company.  I had received my mobilization orders a few days before, and knew I was really going to miss stuff like this.  "This We'll defend."  It's also something that I remember when missing wife, family and home now that I am here.  I have a great life back in the USA and I miss it a lot.  But having that great life is exactly what has brought me here.  We are fighting this war on their turf, not ours.  We do this for two reasons:  First, so that our neighborhoods, buildings and innocent civilians don't get blown up or shot by the arhabi as they did on 9/11.  This allows a lot of Americans to live in blissful ignorance of what war and real poverty are like.  The idea of the local police station in Anytown, USA being attacked with mortars and machine guns several times a week is inconceivable to Americans.  I like it that way.  Second, we fight on their turf so that they alienate themselves from their local sympathizers.  When a bomb goes off or a rocket impacts, it destroys the very roads, buildings and other infrastructure of the people that the arhabi claim to be fighting for.  This is why the Iraqis hate the arhabi, but a lot of them are still scared of them.

I really treasure the country we have back home, and therefore willing to be here to defend it.  I like that my wife does not have to worry about the door being kicked in at night, nor does she worry about getting blown up driving in to work.

The picture above was taken on New Year's Eve 2004.  It was a great night.  I had a really bad cold but did not care.  I was home on leave for 2 weeks after being trapped in west Texas for mobilization and training for the preceding 5 months.  My wife and I decided to throw a party as a "last bash" before a year in the sandbox.  It seems like it was so long ago.  We went all out.  We rented tables and chairs for the back yard, borrowed some heat lamps, bought too much food and drink and invited more people than would really fit in our little house.  We also decided to pull out the fancy threads and told our friends and family that they had the option to go fancy as well if they would like.  It was a blast.  We had a roaring fire in the outdoor fire pit, and was plenty of eating, drinking, cigar chomping, and general merriment as is appropriate for a New Year's party.  All of this because first and foremost, I was lucky enough to be born in the USA.  "This We'll Defend" - indeed.

Here we go again...

Some sleaze published a photo of Saddam Hussein in his underwear.  Now the witch-hunt is starting.  Another resource-hogging investigation will ensue, and somebody will probably get punished.  Has everyone forgotten that this guy is a mass murderer?!  So someone leaked a photo of him in his skivvies - Big Deal.  His leftover cronies are trying to blow us up.  I feel no pity for him, only contempt.

Thanks!

Just a quick note to say thanks again from the bottom of my heart to all that have sent stuff or made donations to support purchasing some of the gear that will help us be more effective.  I have just received the first two boxes of MP3 recorders.  As I mentioned before, the response has been awe-inspiring, so much so that I put JJ in charge of handling the influx.  He is working closely with Soldiers' Angels and has set up an offshoot of this blog to handle anyone else who is helping.  Thanks again, you folks are great!

Infighting

Sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia is one of the greatest concerns here in the triangle.  There have been growing rumblings here by the Sunnis that they are being persecuted by the Shia dominated government.  Much of this is fiction, but not all.  After 30 years of Sunni oppression, many Shia still think that they have scores to settle.  By now most of the press has heard of the call by some leading Sunnis to shut down their Mosques for three days to protest the murder of a couple of Imams, by yet unknown assailants.  The Sunni Imams are pointing the finger at the Shi'ite militia known as the Badr Corps.  We shall see what the real truth is in time.  They also object to the large number of Sunnis being detained by the Iraqi Security Forces.  This protest call was issued by the Association of Muslim Scholars, the same group that called for Sunnis to boycott the general election back in January. - Bad Move.  I don't know why they keep giving bad advice, and it keeps getting followed. 

We met with two Imams yesterday that voiced this grievance to us.  We responded as we have every time that they complain about the Iraqi Army, that if they would get off of the sidelines and point out the arhabi to us, we could go about taking them out of circulation more surgically, and everyone wins.  They throw their hands up and claim not to know anything.  No military force has the precision of a scalpel, but we are more like a sword while the Iraqi Army is like a chainsaw.  If they want precision they have to help us help them.  Therein lies the frustration.  Many people come forward with information, but it is not always good information.  We spend a great deal of time and effort to make sure that our targeting of suspected arhabi is verified and legitimate.  The Iraqi Army merely casts a wider net.  These are some of the growing pains of learning to live in a free society after 30 years of tyranny.  Progress requires participation.  It is a shame that most taxi drivers and shopkeepers here understand this better than the influential Sheikhs and Imams.  Meanwhile, the bombings continue. 

This has been a significant event here, and a cause for concern, at least in the short term.  The new Prime Minister has banned all raids on Mosques by Iraqi Security Forces as a first step to calming the tensions.  We have been asked before to accompany the Iraqis on raids, as our reputation for the 3 P's is well known.  Baby steps folks, new military units are always rough around the edges.

The news media focus is primarily on the Sadr protest.  As I have mentioned before, he is practically a non-issue.  He is a young radical, trying to build stature based on his late father's credentials and reputation.  He only has a few thousand followers, which is comparatively tiny here.  He is "sound and fury, signifying nothing."  I also wish they would quit describing him as "burly."  He is FAT!   Those media types love their sound and fury though....