Hello All,

Tonight I’m pulling LNO duty; basically I’m a liaison between my unit and higher headquarters here in Iraq. Nope, not for my 8-up (see FUBAR) battalion but the battalion that is running base operations here. Why does a company need to supply a LNO instead of its parent battalion? Take this as a sign of who’s squared away and who’s 8-up.

Life here is becoming pretty regular and a little boring as well. The company is grooving into the missions and the gray areas are coming into focus. We still have some confusion within our chain of command, but this LNO gig should help out. We’re working 12-hour shifts every day, but there are down days and it’s not too bad. There hasn’t been any enemy aggression in this area lately but we’re keeping our eyes open.

I don’t know what to tell you all. We’re here. We have no idea who will be relieving us or when they will get here, and honestly, I’m beyond caring. I ’ve come to accept this fate and all that comes with it. Nobody promised me a fair or good life, and I’ve got to make the best of each day that comes around.

Life here isn’t bad. A Burger King just opened down the road at the Air Base and yesterday I had my first whopper in a very long time. It tasted so good it was almost like home. I still miss Mom’s cooking more.

DVD players are very big here. After a 12-hour shift there are still plenty of things to get done like weapons and vehicle maintenance, daily S-2
(intel) briefings, personal hygiene (big time here) and eating a hot meal. But after all that you’ve got just enough time to watch a flick, or on a down day (or night for my platoon) it’s a good way to relax. Some troops brought laptop computers, others bought portable DVD players from the PX and everybody shares the DVD’s.

I’ve decided that I will probably take that commission when I get home, but I’m not looking forward to seven months of training that comes with it (2 months in the Basic Officers Leadership Course and 5 months at the Chemical School. Yippie). I’m going to try and put it off as long as possible for my employer, my civilian employer that is. They’ve been great through all this, and I owe then a lot. The folks in the office sent me 11 boxes of goodies, including at least a case of Ramen noodles that I shared with the company when we were in the Kuwaiti desert. Everybody enjoyed them and it was a nice break from the usual Army chow.

I wonder how much at home has changed. I wonder how much I have changed. I wonder if they’ve finished construction on Dodge Street in Omaha yet. Probably not. It’s only been 8 months.

I love you all,

Will

PS – If anybody tells you that morale is good here, they don’t live here. Things were getting kinda ugly when we first arrived, but we’re holding it together. What else can we do?

Hello All,

Well the weather is turning cold here. The days of sweltering heat are fading into nights of biting cold like the Missouri River in late April (Yep, been there, done that). It's nice not sweating all day in the sun, and there's also a nice wind storm that blows in around 1030 or 1100 every day. Nice that is until you remember that there isn't so much sand here as there is dust that billows up and tries to block out the sun.

There is a second enemy here that I am determined to hold back at all costs. Flies. They are everywhere, and when you consider that we have open sewers where the 'gray' water from the showers runs into it's not surprising. Personally I think of it as a health risk, but considering where I'm at, not much of one.

The food isn't bad, and they have midnight meals too so that's looking up. A good night is a quiet night, and so far that's about all we've had. There was one incident with a trip flare... a little pucker factor. Maybe a 7 on a 1-10 scale. Turned out to be nothing more that a dog running around in the night.

I love you all,

Will

Hello All,

Well I've been trying to decide on what I can and cannot tell you all about life here in Iraq, remember OPSEC and the safety of my soldiers is priority. I've been back and forth on this issue, and like hiking up a mountian I'm going to err on the side of safety and no talk about my mission.

So what am I going to tell you all about? Something that I think is cool. Night Vision.

Night Optical Devices, better know as NOD's are cool. They take a black night and turn it into a black, white and green day. I'm not positive on how they work, but I know that 2 AA batteries is all you need for a night turned to day and an edge over the bad guys that really can't be measured.

Want to know what's even cooler that NOD's? Driving with NOD's. Oh yeah baby! Take a cool concept and take it to the next level by adding a little action. I haven't had a chance to do it in a while, and it took a couple minutes to get back into the swing of it all, but in no time at all I was crusing down the dusty goat trails of Iraq with no lights and hitting only the ruts that I wanted to. I've always been a little bit of an adrenelin junkie, and this was a nice fix for a boy without a parachute.

I know that most people reading this will never get the chance to drive without headlights, but I reccomend it highly. Is it worth joining the Army? I doubt it, but it does rock.

But do you want to know what the coolest thing about NOD's? I knew you did. The coolest thing about NOD's is sneaking up on somebody that doesn't have them. Nope, I haven't been out making trouble for the Iraqi's (I am still a REMF, remember) but once upon a time there was a young soldier with too much time on his hands and trouble on his mind. Oops, out of time (it actually took me 3 20-minute sessions to write this.... big time computer problems here... sorry, but it also took a combined time of 4.5 hours to get those sessions) but I will say that a young troop (not me this time) learned an important lesson about checking his "6" and learned an impotant lesson in the pundgent smell of urine (again, not mine) and how hard NOT to hit someone when they don't expect it.

I love you all,

Will

PS - Ok, here's the deal. I'm getting ANOTHER new mission and it's just as good as the last... ok, I lied. It sucks as bad as the last but not much more dangerous. At least this is a calm area of the country. Most of the locals are friendly, on the surface at least, and it is encouraging.

Hello All,

Immediately after we crossed the berm there was a HUGE anti-tank ditch, maybe 30 feet deep and 40 feet wide. It is designed to force tanks to use the highways to maneuver and creates a ‘kill box’ where Iraqi tanks and Anti-Armor could engage and bottleneck our troops. Not a bad idea if we didn’t have bridging equipment that allowed us to roll right over the ditch and aircraft that destroyed Iraqi Armor at will. I’ll give the plan a D+ but only that high because the idea came from the Russians during WWII.

Next came the human detritus left after an advancing Army. There were loads of people along the road. Some were standing and waving, others were cursing and there was a Company of children alongside the road begging. For anything. They were dirty and little and cute and made me think of Jake and how lucky he is to be at home. But then I thought about their parents letting them get so close to a road filled with semi-trucks and huge military vehicles that could crush their little bodies beyond recognition. The kids were within 10 feet of traffic, and added another element to my worries for the trip. I was already trying to watch the roadside for ambush and IED’s, the overpasses for jerks dropping rocks and bombs, civilian traffic to the front and the rear for drive-by shooting threats and now I had to worry about little kids. Great. There are some people in this world that are just wired wrong… and those were their kids.

The beggars and civilians tapered off as we traveled north, and the countryside turned from the khaki sand of northern Kuwait into small patches of green farmland here and there. They looked like small family farms and there were women and children working in them. Every other field was surrounded be a fence which, from a distance, looked to be made from branches of trees. Due to the lack of trees, anywhere in the region, I doubt that to be the case. Due to security reasons and mission I wasn’t able to stop and investigate but I’ll bet that someone reading this internet page already knows and can share with the rest of us.

Farmland ended abruptly as the terrain was consumed with large berms of sand marking the defensive perimeter of the Iraqi Army. On the west side of the road they were arranged in concentric circles around a central hilltop and to the east they stretched on for miles into the horizon. These earthen berms did little to stop the advance of coalition forces proving the maxim, “Mountains and seas can be overcome, so can any obstacle built by man.” Maybe I should make that grade a D-.

The defensive lines went on for a few miles, and there were some HUGE concrete slabs alongside the road in the breakdown lane. Perhaps the diameter of an above ground swimming pool and twice as high. I can only imagine that they were designed to stop traffic along the highway, or at least slow down a blitzkrieg like the advance to Baghdad.

More farmland appeared and more Iraqi’s working it. There were some children along the road waving and smiling. I’d like to think that they are oblivious to everything that happened and see us as liberators of their country, but I doubt it. Too many of their parents were probably killed or jaded or just plain frustrated with having a foreign Army on their soil. I really can’t blame them. I’d be pissed off if another country occupied mine as well. The road stretched on and on like that until our exit. Defensive perimeters and farmland overtaking each other, mile after mile as a madman tried to hold onto power. I wonder how many families were displaced for Saddams misguided defensive plan? He might be thinking right now that UN inspectors are not that bad after all. Dolt.

When we finally got to Tallil Air Base, without incident (thank God), it was time for chow, and something cold too sounded good to help ease back the tension of the trip. My buddy Mac looked over and asked, "What do you think of Iraq?"

Looking down at the talcum power-like dust and then at the bombed out buildings around us, I replied honestly. "I think it sucks."

I'm giving Saddam an F. Him standing up against the US Army was a lot like me fighting Mike Tyson. Stupid. Not kinda stupid, it's like the retarted stupid of a raving lunatic who thinks he can fly because glitter looks like magic fairy dust. Some kids don't learn the first time that the burner on the stove is hot, and then there are kids that shouldn't have kids of their own. Wanna guess which one is Saddam?

This had better be worth it.

I love you all,
Will

PS - I'm on a time limit for internet access, and the bad part is that I can't write on a PC in headquarters and transfer it over via floppy. They've taped off the floppy drives in an effort to stop viruses running around here. I'm not sure but it seems a little futile to me, but then again, so does the idea of bringing democracy to a repressed people.

Hello Everyone,

Greetings from Iraq! I know that it’s been some time since my last post, but the worm has turned for us and let me tell you all about it.

We left Camp Patriot last week for a little camp on the border. It’s official name is Udali, but I decided that it should be named Um-Bop (the song got stuck in my head). I was only there for one full day filled with a futile attempt to re-qualify with our weapons. It was a lot like the last time we fired (if by ‘like’ you mean nothing like it at all) except that it was on a short range (25 meters) with stationary targets and over 100 degrees hotter. Oh, and the sand made things more than a little interesting. The wind wasn’t sand storm blowing, but when you’re in a prone position it’s amazing how fast that crap gets into your weapon and causes problems. My new religion (after Christianity) is weapons cleaning. We are constantly cleaning our rifles in the attempt to hold back the desert.

The day started out pretty good. I had managed to NOT be put on range safety or NCOIC (Non Commisioned Officer In Charge) and was enjoying the morning heat and blowing sand on a personal level. But the fates had other plans for my day, not to mention the piss-poor-planning from our Battalion (did I mention that they were running this goat rope) and my plans were quickly changed. An NCO was needed to run one of the ranges, and all the other NCO’s were already firing, so I was quickly volunteered (AAARRRUUUGGGHHH!). It could have been worse but there was no tower or PA system so my voice was quickly hashed out screaming against the wind. The soldiers firing didn’t all have goggles (their own fault) and had to fight to keep their eyes open against the blowing sand. The guys that actually fought this war deserve a beer just for trying to shoot in this shit.

No one was hurt, and that’s probably because no one could identify the Battalion commander. Talk about most wanted list, everybody hates that prick. We all got through it, but spirits were low from the heat, sand and frustration of trying to keep weapons functioning. I had to amend the firing procedures so that the troops would have a minute to clear sand from their weapons, but as time went on everyone was catching on to ‘sand prevention’ (Here’s a nod and a wink to an old family friend that sent me condoms for my weapon. Thanks Leah.).

By the time we headed back to Camp Um-Bop (do you have it stuck in your head
yet?) we were all a little cranky, but the thought of hot chow and a cold shower lifted spirits across the board. Oh, and the tents at Camp Um-Bop had A/C too! Sweet.

The next day the advance party (with yours truly included) was supposed to meet at 0630 to be briefed and then move to Camp Cedar 2 or Tallil Air Base. Which one? Good question, we didn’t know but we showed up at 0600 and were ready to roll at 0615. Around 0640 the OIC (Officer In Charge), a Major from Battalion (Surprise), walked out of his tent and gathered us around him. There were 6 soldiers from my company and 10 from Battalion, including 2 Majors and 3, count ‘em, 3 Captains. I haven’t seen this many officers in one spot since a General landed his helicopter at our base camp during Annual Training 2001.

I was going to tell you about the mission briefing before we headed across the Berm (Iraqi Border). I’ve told you all what a good OPORD consists of, and that’s what a convoy brief should include with the addition of maps. Should is the operative word. We got the following: “We’ll drive out the gate and take a left. Travel a couple miles and take a right, another x miles then a left for like 3 hours and then the turn is marked on the road. Any questions?” My third question was about a map for every vehicle (it’s Army regulation that every truck has a map) and the Major's response was, “We won’t need them.” That’s when I stopped talking to the Major and started talking to God. At least I know that he has answers.

Right before we crossed the Berm there was a sign that said, “Do not throw food or water to civilians or children along road.” Besides bad grammar I was confused. We were to be traveling down a 4-lane highway, who would let their kids stand beside something like that and beg? I would soon find out.

I don’t mean to leave this like a cliffhanger, but I’m almost out of time here. I’ll write the rest of the story ASAP.

I love you all,

Will

Greetings to all of you,

Know it has been quite a while since Will has posted. Just want you all to know
that we heard from him today. His unit has arrived at their destination safely and are preparing to carry out their new mission. Sorry, but that is all the info I can give you at this time. He sends his greetings to all.

Little Jake is home from the hospital and loves being with Mom and Dad. Grandma and Grandpa visited this past weekend and did their best to fulfill their mission of spoiling him :>)

Until we hear from Will again...............

Will's Mom