Just another day in Iraq

Thanksgiving was just another day in Iraq. The city was silent and the cool Autum night brought a solitude only soldiers feel. We were well fed, but the memories of times passed were present in all our smiles. We only have a few months to go before Iraq becomes a memory. Surviving a war is a full time job.
We have been patrolling the city but the majority of the protection falls on the hands of the Iraqis.
The elections are coming and we will have the chance to hear the Iraqi voice once again. The Coalition Forces are getting ready as back ups.
Good night USA,
Thanks for all the letters and box of goodies.
I hope one day to get the chance to repay you.

Waiting

We wait for the next three months to pass so we can have Iraq as a memory. The city rests, we have captured many terrorists in the last few days. We have not finished yet.
One of our patrols was ambushed a few days ago; two terrorist pigs were killed and 4 were captured.
Everyday we go out in missions with the intent of either killing the terrorist pigs or capture as many as we can. I like them dead, but must just give up because they are not as commited as their leaders.
I feel no regret when their half destroyed bodies are loaded in trash plastic bags. One strange thing that is happening with the Iraqi Security Forces is that they show the same victory feeling once the shooting is over.
Last week, an Iraqi Army patrol brought five terrorist pigs to the jail. We were pulling security for a larger force when we saw the LT walking with his troops guarding the terrorists and waiting for transportation. As we started to share smokes, water and some candy an Iraqi soldier saw that one of terrorist was trying to hide from us. The Iraqi soldier told the Iraqi LT about it and then the LT told us that the terrorist was acting kind of strange because we were there. At that moment the police arrived to pick them up and the Iraqi police CPT was told about the terrorist acting strange. Well, three hours later the police CPT came back and told us that the terrorist pig who was acting strange was the head of a terrorist cell in the town and had killed a lot of people.
The Iraqi soldiers that had made the arrest were so happy and proud that they told us the story of the arrest over and over. The funny thing was that we also felt proud of them.
We are no longer the first line of protection, we are the third. If the Iraqi Police gets in trouble, they call the Iraqi Army, if they can not handle the problem; we are called to help out.

A night for grey eyes

As the sun sets here in the desert, the city lights come to remind us that civilization has ways to survive.
The only gunfire we hear are from the police officers directing traffic. The IP are out in force and the Iraqi Army patrols the city, showing the people who is in charge.
In a midnight patrol, outside the compound I saw the stars, Orion was back to show us our way home, the stars were bright tonight, the same stars that warriors from other countries and other times had seen.
I have been here in another life, centuries ago with different uniform and different weapons. The sound of war was not strange to me, the smell of death was familiar, I have felt this fear before.
I have seen those grey eyes before, I heard her voice say a name and I felt her hand guide my way.
It was an echo in the desert, just a whisper calling me.
The cold wind of night has an artic feeling of desperation.
Shaking under the star light, counting my heartbeats, I have visions of a love never seen.
Maybe not in this lifetime, but her voice, her eyes and the smell of her hair wash away the misery I feel in this cold night.

Another night in Iraq

In one of those ugly nights were we knew we were going to get hit by the terrorist pigs, one patrol went out to check things out and found itself in an ambush.
This was the radio communications between a maneuver unit and the HQ. I was able to listen as the fight was going on about 1 kilometer from our location.
B16: RX where do you want us? over.
RX: Dog element is reporting that insurgents are by your location, over.
B16: Dog, this is B16. Do you have anything better than..... Holy shit, that was a RPG.
A27: I see them, they are at the corner, three, just went behind the big bulding.
Dog: B16, the IP is reporting about 10 insurgents by your location, over.
A27: RX we got two but the fucker with the launcher went around the corner.
B16: I see the others running, going south, can you cut them off? over.
A27: Roger, I will see if I can cut them off and send them your way, over.
(Every time the Americans talked over the radio we could also hear gunfire, plus we could hear the sounds of crew served weapons and a couple RPGs fired because we were not that far away. RPGs are loud)
RX: B16, A27 I need a SITREP, over.
B16: Hold on, RX, we are trying to cut them off by Check Point 123, over.
A27: B16, those fuckers are going your way, I just saw them.
B16 : FUCK, the mother fucker just shot an RPG at us, he missed. Fuck!!! that was close.
B16 : Did anybody see that fucker? over.
B13: Roger, he is under you!!!!!!
B16 : Say again, over.
B13 : The idiot is under you, over.
(B16 is a track vehicle)
At that moment A27 had already taken out two terrorist pigs and was reporting that there was another on the ground wounded and the medic was working on him. There was no more fire.
After securing the area, the crew from B16 came out and:

B16: R/X, this B16; the fucker that shot the RPG at us got ran over by my Bradley, he came out to shoot the RPG, he missed and was not able to get out of the way on time. Over.
RX : B16, roger. Any casualties? over.
B16: Negative, but this fucker is going to leave a permanent mark on the street, over.
A27: RX this is A27 we need an ambulance for this guy, I don't think he is going to make it. Our medic is working on him, over.

The terrorist pig didn't make it. After the fight the soldiers found indications that there had been more terrorist pigs killed but they had carried the bodies with them.


That is the reason the terrorist pigs don't fight us one to one, not even 20 to one.
There is no better reward than seeing their guts splattered all over the Iraqi sand.
IEDs are something different. Those things kill more Iraqi civilians than Coalition Forces soldiers. IED makers are treated "different" by the IP.