Friday, May 29, 2009

Six Month Summary


Okay I have far too long neglected the purpose of this blog. At first it was for practical reasons ie; didn't have internet access, concern for operational security, chain of command involvement in the blogging process, etc. But if I boil all of these down, all that remains at the bottom of the pan is excuses. Which I will make another post about but first I am compelled to give a somewhat involved/simple summary of my deployment to Iraq thus far. Because I no longer fear operational security(because I know the ins and outs now) and I certainly no longer have concerns about attention from the chain of command(the stimulation of being in Iraq has worn down to a dull hum for most of them now instead of the high pitch scream it was initially).

I arrived in Kuwait in the month of November 2008 and it was hot! I couldn't belive it. How could anywhere in the world actually not be cold in November? We recieved training, was given time to acclimate and get over our jet lag. It was an intersting little stay. It is where all Army and Air Force filter through before moving on to Iraq or Afghanistan so there is a constant flux of movement in and out of the post we were at. We were only there for about three weeks and then we moved on to Mosul, Iraq.

The flight was a little crowded but luckily short even though we flew to the northern most american post in Iraq, Forward Operations Base (FOB) Marez. Once we arrived here I had a feeling of doom at the realization that this place will become all too familiar with a little less than a year left to go. We were assigned living quarters that resemble cargo containers on cargo ships although surprisingly comfortable. Got a roommate that I miraculously get along with really well. And then told to get to work.

As I mentioned before our chain of command, especially at the top, had felt an invigorated sensation from being in a theater of war. So we enlisted men felt the negative side of the excitement of our bosses. They had a lot to prove and only a year to do it. Every task felt like we were a chicken victimized by a bad decapitation. We still had a head but it was holding on by a remnant of tissue, which my own father found, can prolong the chicken's life that much longer thus causing that much more of an eradic animal whose nervous system is making a failed attempt at self preservation while also causing that much more of a mess of blood and noise. That was us.




The first three or so months were this way. Our bosses had only this one chance to prove their mettle as combat commanders when the action in Iraq was beginning to die down do to the succes of the troop surge. The troop surge gave the armed forces the shot in the leg it needed to finally break the insurgents attempts to manipulate the weaker people of Iraq. Most Iraqis don't give a flip about who is charge. They just want to be able to care for their own and be left alone. Who the frick doesn't share that exact same sentiment I ask you!! Well, the few ruthless, idealogical radicals do and they wish to capitalize on the victimizable state that a post war torn country tends to have. And with an american Combat Operations Post (COP, a small version of a FOB) in almost every major part of every city do to the troop surge, the bad guys didn't have anywhere left to hide so the only chance they had was to get out of the way and go live their lives instead of needlessly ending it.

I went on leave in February to Utah. It was fantastic and didn't have a moment wasted to neglect. I had fifteen days to live life like I wasn't ivolved in a war and you better believe I wasn't going to let any of it be used unwisely. Went on some sensational dates with the wife which by the way I must pay tribute the success of my entire R+R. She is more than a magical dream of a partner in life but she ensures me with everything that she does that I will be happy for the rest of eternity and I will always have to be on my A game to keep up with half of the things that she does for me and my children. I love my wife! Spent the best quality time I could with the kids and we all went to Disneyland for about five days. And it had to end...

I didn't want it to end but I felt something that drew me back to FOB Marez. I had become close to the guys of my platoon and they had been working harder because of my absence. At least that was my concern anyway whether or not it was true, although I didn't want to leave it was time to get back to work. When I got back I found that a lot had changed while I was gone. I had a new Platoon Sergeant and we were working on building a burm around the entire city of Mosul, Iraq. A burm is a mound of dirt that follows the perimeter of a given target. It's a cheap way of fortifying a position or a city in this intance, to stop insurgents from bringing large amounts of explosives into the city.

We are vertical engineers. That means we build UP. Building a burm is for horizantol engineers, dozers, bucket loaders and the like. So naturally we were a little daunted by the switch up, ironic since our battalion motto is "Never Daunted". I know now that our motto is a form of propaganda to keep soldiers from feeling that maybe they are being asked too much... We continued with the burm for some time until it was completed. It was fun actually. It meant leaving the city often to where the war hadn't taken such a toll and being in a relatively safer area. The irony was though that just as we were rapping up the last of our mission, my squad leader Sergeant Guyton was involved in a grenade attack that injured him. Not badly but enough for a trip home. A million dollar wound as some might say. And that, to this point is the only "casualty" we have suffered to this point. May we not have another...

Since then we have been doing every type of chore that an engineer can be expected to perform. Most of the other guys in the Company have been building SEA huts.
SEA huts are a simple frame and roof. Not the fanciest feat of condtruction but still good practice for practical carpentry and other construction disciplines. But our Platoon has been doing that while also putting up conctrete barriers to further fortify our defenses, laying down concrete pads for some of the most bizzare things, which I will post about another time, Rapid Crater Repair (RCR pronounced "ricker")and any other "hey you!" type jobs that our bosses can think of that might be needful for the "War on Terror, terror, terror,....".


Which leads me up to now. I am healthy, happy, and am more than half way done with all this "SHtuff". Sorry that this post was so long. whew...glad to get it all down on written script of some kind though. Heavan knows I don't keep a journal. God bless and I will be posting regularly now so check me out when you get bored. I promise I will compound your boredom even more. :)