Cpt Moroni

Before every mission I sit in the back of my truck and prepare myself to go outside the gate into.  In addition to other things I put my body armor on, my helmet, gloves and headphones.  I am always reminded of how it must have been anciently when soldiers donned their armor before going into battle.  It's at this time that I usually read something out of the scriptures and offer a prayer to ask for protection and success.  I have discovered many scriptures that all of a sudden mean a lot more to me now than before, especially  in the Book of Mormon.  The people of Nephi fought many wars and the reason they fought is clearly expressed in the scriptures.  When Captain Moroni and his Nephite army fought Zarahemna and his army of Lamanites we read, in the clarity and beauty which the Book of Mormon gives us, why the Nephites fought so hard even in the face of overwhelming opposition; 

"...the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.  And they were doing that which they felt was the duty which they owed to their God; for the Lord had said unto them, and also unto their father, that: Inasmuch as ye are not guilty of the first offense, neither the second, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands of your enemies.  And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed.  Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Laminites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion."

Alma 43:45-47

We Broke Another Truck!

Well, last night was exciting.  We had a short mission, but it was a full one.  We guarded some more construction work including some work on a police station right in the middle of Sadr City.  It was the first time that we got off the major roads and went deep into the neighborhoods.  We were guided by the infantry guys who work there everyday.  There were lots of bombed out buildings and places to hide bombs everywhere.  We got the job done and then things got a little exciting.  Just as we were leaving we ran over a kind of manhole that was at least 15 feet deep that was covered up by a piece of metal.  We didn't see it because the metal was covered up by dirt.  We were also driving without our headlights on for security reasons.  The two trucks in front of us passed over it without anything happening but we were not as lucky.  The piece of metal, which turned out to be a smashed up CAR got caught in our front tire and sucked under our truck.  We noticed the sound immediately even though we couldn't feel anything.  It took my truck commander (TC) 4 Iraqi crane operators and about 4 KBR workers to pry the car out from under the truck.  After about 20 minutes they got it free and I got to see it for the first time from my gun turret.  It WAS a car, or at least part of it,  just like my TC had told us.  It damaged our front brakes, completely ripping open the front brake chamber on one of the wheels, and dented up some of the protective plates on the bottom of the truck.  We made it home without brakes in one wheel.  It was quite a trip! 

Other than that we are safe.  Our truck has already been fixed and is ready to go out again with just some dents and scratches in the bottom.  If we are lucky, we won't break it any more!

TV on iTunes

I have discovered that TV programs on iTunes.  I guess I always knew they were there, but at home it didn't make sense to buy them.  I just remembered the other day that you could do it and here it makes a little more sense.  All of the network websites that let you watch the latest episode for free don't work over here.  They can tell that I am not in America from the server that I am going out of and apparently those programs are only authorized to be watched in the US.  That means I have to pay $2 per episode.  There are only a couple of shows that I like well enough to pay that much, but it is nice that it is available.  This certainly ain't our daddy's war!

What that means is that for the last couple of days I have been downloading episodes of my favorite programs that I have missed over the months.  Each episode take 8 to 10 hours to download and uses up just about all my bandwidth.  That's why I haven't posted anything lately.  Blogger doesn't like slow connections and won't let me log on when I am downloading.  I took a break tonight so I could write something.  

I have been on another mission.  This one only lasted one day.  That was nice.  It was to escort cranes and trucks that were removing a section of barrier that had been damaged the week prior in an attack on an American convoy.  No one was hurt, thank goodness.  It was another mission to the dangerous part of town.  Everyone was on edge.  The week before we had infantry support who cleared out area and provided overwatch of our position while the workers worked.  This time it was just us.  One of our trucks reported receiving gunfire, but we are not sure if they were just a little jumpy.  Everyone came home safely.  The truck that was supposedly hit is not from our unit, but was there to help the crane operators know what to do so we couldn't check afterwards to see if there were in fact bullet holes in the truck.  

For a while I had to direct traffic around the construction site from my turret with my spotlight and some chem-lights.  There was an Iraqi police officer that reluctantly tried to help.  After helping with a couple of cars that didn't seem to get the message at first, I threw him a honey bun from the turret.  He seemed happy, and was a little less reluctant to help after that!  It's all about making friends. 

We have had some time off and will have some more after our next mission.  It's nice having a couple of days between short missions.  I don't like it when it is a week off then a week on.  Time is passing quickly now though and I am already starting to think about coming home on my leave in about 6 weeks.  I am a little nervous about coming back when it is done though!

TIRED

After quickly writing my last post they told us that we would not have to go out again on that mission.  The mission is not over, but someone else will be finishing it.  We needed a break.  It was a barrier mission to Sadr City.  12 to 13 hour days in the most dangerous part of town.  Not only were the hours long, but the stress was high.  I just woke up after sleeping 10 hours!  I was exhausted.  We have a couple of days to recover before we have to go out again.  Up to this point I know that we have not had to do such a difficult, or dangerous, mission.  I think it is because our platoon does a good job and the higher ups are starting to trust us with more and more.  Thankfully nothing happened and we all got home safe (at least no one was injured in combat; one soldier tripped in his gun hatch and fell into the truck twisting his ankle really badly). There was action all around us though.  After the first night they found an IED that had been placed about a block away from us WHILE we were in the area.  A couple of soldiers were killed within a couple of blocks of our operation area the second night and last night we heard several large explosions nearby, but don't know what they were from.  That part of town is a little crazy these days with local elections set to take place in a week.  It might get better after they are over.  Probably not though.  It is the rough part of town.  It was the rough part of town before we got there, like south Dallas or southwest Fort Worth.  

On the bright side, in the short time that I have been here I have already seen lots of signs of progress.  The main highway that we travel on between here and Baghdad is in the middle of being resurfaced.  The northbound lanes have were recently finished for several miles and work has begun on the southbound.  We like coming home because the last 10 miles are smooth on fresh pavement without potholes or blast craters.  The Iraqis are doing the work, and they work during the day.  Every night we go out there is more fresh pavement waiting for us.  There is a bridge near our camp, on that same highway, that was bombed during the invasion.  Only the northbound side is open with a huge hole in the southbound side.  They have been working on that since I got here, and are almost finished cleaning the broken span up so that a new one can be built.  Everyday new material is delivered to the site in preparation for the construction.  I can see lots of bombed out buildings, but I can also see lots of new buildings and buildings under construction.  More noticeably since January 1st, I can see a lot more Iraqi activity, especially traffic.  They are leading more convoys and taking control of these clean up operations.  Lots of trash has been picked up.  It is a good feeling knowing that I am helping this country improve itself.  It will take lots of time and lots of money but the momentum is building.  

Now for a day of rest and relaxation!  I can get back to work tomorrow.

Mission that won't end

In the middle of a mission that keeps getting extended.

Will write when I have a day off!

Boredom

Well, we got our new truck ready in time.  It meant missed sleep and a missed opportunity for me to go to church, but it got finished.  We went on out mission, but it was only a one day mission so I haven't done anything since.  One thing to note was that we were the lead truck this time for some reason.  It went ok, but I don't like it as much as being number two.  Now we have just been sitting around waiting for our next mission which isn't for a couple more days.  The newness of this place is wearing off and I am really bored.  It's easy to get home sick and depressed when all you do is sit around.  There is not much to do, and it is cold outside so no one wants to go anywhere.  It's hard to relax though because I don't live with quiet people.  It's been hard, and getting harder.  I have to listen to vulgar rap music or loud talking or peoples' tvs or movies.  It wears you down after a while.  It gets to you.  Time is going by fast, but not fast enough if you ask me.

Getting Ready for our Next Mission

It has been a few days, but they have finally given us a new mission.  I will be leaving in a few days.  Until then I am still trying to get my new truck ready.  We have been working hard to get the maintenance guys to install everything that it needs including offering to do some of the work ourselves.  It has come down to a little solenoid, like the ones on old Ford starters, that they use to ground out the huge spotlights that we roll with that they don't have in stock and are waiting to receive on order.  I get to go again tonight and check to see if they have gotten any in and can finish the truck.  If not, because we won't have spotlights, we will have to borrow someone else's truck again!  I really hope it doesn't come to that.  

Things have started changing here because of the new Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that the US has with the Iraqi government.  If you didn't know already our legal authority to be here has been turned over from the UN to the Iraqi government.  We are now guests at their request and not occupiers anymore.  That means that we are handing over control of all the bases and eventually all the operations.  We have to follow their rules.  We have been having meetings to discuss what changes we will have to do to comply with all of this.  Basically for me it means that I cannot force a car to pull over to let our convoy by.  If they want to drive next to us I have to let them.  I figure most people will still pull over, but they don't have to any more.  It also means more scrutiny if any incident does happen.  Like if one of our crane drivers (see previous posts to find out my opinion of those) hits a car!  It has almost happened.  I hope I never have to fire my weapon, but if I do that would also come under more scrutiny.  It makes our job more complicated, but it is also a necessary step for these people to get their country back.  Eventually the Iraqis will be in command of my base and an Iraqi unit might even replace us on convoy security.  In fact on our last mission an Iraqi convoy passed us up as we were pulling guard duty.  They were doing the same thing complete with their own gun trucks, crane and flatbed trucks with concrete barriers on them.  The more they do it the less I have to.  

New Truck Smell

Well, they finally gave us our new truck today!  I am really excited about it.  It still needs a lot of work to be ready to roll out of the gate like adding spotlights all over it and all of the radio and electronic jamming equipment, but we have been working hard to get maintenance and commo (communication section) to get on with the work.  We have three or four more days before our next mission and we want it ready by then.  We have been rolling in an older truck that doesn't have all of the armor on it that the new trucks have.  In fact the older truck is just like the one I drive back in Ft Worth except with some metal plates welded to it.  The new truck is one of those huge MRAPs.  It weighs 25 tons and has room for seven people.  We only have three so there is a lot of extra space for our gear and for snacks.  It's like a big SUV!  It is nice to be able to break in a new truck.  We got to open all the boxes full of tools and extra equipment that comes with the truck and it even has that new car smell.  We get to tell maintenance how we want everything set up.  We get to load our gear in it like we want it and get to keep it that way.  It will be nice not having to borrow other peoples' trucks when we go on missions to places too dangerous for our previous truck.  I just hope that we get it ready in time for our next mission.  Now I just have to figure out how to plug up my iPod to the new system so we can have some entertainment on the road.  

Glorified Guard Duty

The past couple of nights I have been guarding construction workers as they set up a blast walls.  It is not the funnest mission we have to do.  We drive our 30 ton trucks down to the construction site and sit in them until their night's work is done.  We can sit for as much as six hours guarding them just in case.  We bring lots of snacks and empty gatorade bottles.  The snacks are to keep us awake and the gatorade bottles are for convenience (so we don't have to get out of the bullet proof truck).  All the snacks that you at home send me are put to use during these missions.  This mission we didn't quite make it to lead scout, but we were moved up to 2nd truck.  That means that we lead the convoy and set it's pace.  The lead scout is as much as one km ahead of us so we are the first element in the actual convoy.  I have to have good eyes, but not as good as the scout.  It is fun being up front instead of at the back.  I can see farther out in front and can anticipate things better.  It also carries with it some prestige.  For this mission we escorted some construction equipment driven by local nationals (LN...our name for Iraqis).  I had my hands full looking out for danger and making sure the crane driver behind me didn't get lost.  There were some close calls as I think the driver was later to be discovered to be RETARDED (notice the sarcasm).  He almost hit several parked cars on the side of the road and missed rear-ending us by only a couple of inches.  They told us in training that leading LN or TCN (Third Country Nationals...non Iraqis but not American) was like herding cats, but now I've seen it for myself.  Apparently he was a better crane operator than a crane driver and we finished our mission ahead of schedule.  

I like going out on missions.  It is too easy to get depressed and home sick sitting around here with nothing but stupid little stuff to do.  Missions keep me busy and happy.  I get beat up standing in the gun turret by the bumpy roads and feel like I fell down the stairs when I get back at the end of the day, but I am getting used to it and it isn't as bad as it used to be.  The only real problem is the cold.  It was near freezing the past couple of nights and I ride in an open hatch.  All that motorcycle riding in the winter is paying off!