HAWKEYE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, what's up man? Things are going well, though it has started to warm up some. After every patrol we go on I come back soaked...can't imagine what the middle of summer is going to be like.
Thought I'd give you a heads up, I'll try and call tonight after I get done with my last patrol for the day. Not sure what time that's gonna be, but I can't imagine it'll be much later than 11pm here, which means 3pm back there. I don't know what your schedule is, or where you'll be, but I'll try and get ahold of you sometime today.
Good news is that we've got a somewhat firm schedule of leave dates, and I'm on the list for October!!! They're willing to work on specific dates, but won't have to worry about that one for a little bit yet.
Things going well? Talked to my mom last night and she said that the weather has been beautiful. Must be a nice change from the last month or so! Anything new and exciting to report?
I think I've finally gotten a plan together for my life...its about damn time, right? End result, med school by the time I'm 30. I think I can pull it off! There's still some variables right now, but I think I'm getting it figured out.
Ok...I need to go get my gear ready for the patrol coming up. Hope all is well!!!!
Talk to you later today!
Luigi
Thursday, May 24, 2007
6 march 2007
Hi everyone,
I can't remember the last time I wrote, so I figured it was probably time to write again. We've been really busy over the last couple of weeks; so much so that everything has blurred together, and I am forced to write about only those occurances that stand out in my mind. We've been running all kinds of different missions at all times of the day and night.
Since the last time I wrote, we've started to change some of the ways we're operating in the city. First, we're now starting to utilize the Humvee's instead of only travelling in the Bradleys. This is nice, as we're now able to negotiate some of the narrow or more residential streets in town that we'd never be able to travel in the Brads without knocking down the walls on either side. Not that we haven't thought about taking a Bradley down these streets, but its probably not going to boost our popularity with the town. The Humvee's also allow us to get a better view of the city, albeit through 4-inch bullet-proof glass. Not the most panoramic view, but better than the back of a Bradley. We've gotten to see most of the city this way, including several of the markets in town. No wonder they say not to eat the meat; the butcher shop just has meat hanging from the awning out front. Some of the shops look interesting, though I doubt if we'll ever be able to go shopping. The downside to the Humvee's is that there's not a lot of room when riding in the back seats. They're all bucket seats, and with all of my gear on its a fairly uncomfortable ride. The seat mount to the front seat is solid, so you can't stretch out your legs; this means I end up with my kneecaps at eye-level. The AC "works" to the extent that it will circulate the hot air in the cab, while tossing in so much dust that you can't tell if the cloud through which you're gazing is inside the vehicle or from the vehicle in front of you. Pros and cons to everything, I suppose.
Second, we're starting to do some patrols on foot during the day. This is a major change as the only time we patrolled on foot was at night, being as quiet as possible so no one knew we were there. It seems that as we patrol down the streets, everyone sits in the gateway of their courtyard to watch and wave at the Americans. This was a little disconcerting at first, having a neighborhood think of your patrol as a strange parade, but now we're starting to get used to it. We say hi (as best we can in Arabic) the the families and usually just smile and shrug when they start speaking to us; they smile back when the realize we haven't understood a word they've said. Some of us toss candy to the kids (who are everywhere!) making us very popular with the younger crowd and their parents. Even after a number of these patrols, no one has spoken harshly to us, though the women who are more conservatively dressed still turn their faces from us when we pass.
Most of the missions we've had recently haven't been planned. In fact, most of the time the only notice I get is when someone bursts through the aid station door and says they need a medic for a mission. We're usually in full "battle rattle" and out the door in under 2 minutes.
We've kept the bomb squad busy over the last couple of weeks; usually IED's to be taken care of, or weapons caches found in town. Usually I'm on the roof of a house with a team of guys making sure the area is secure; this also gives us a great vantage point to view the explosion. We were on a roof one time probably a good 500 meters from where the IED was located, and after they detonated it (with a sizeable amount of C4) we saw chunks of road, dirt and stone flying through the air; then we realized that they were flying towards us. Some were only the size of baseballs, but a few were the size of beachballs and volkswagens. Needless to say, we moved inside "with the quickness." We were out on the edge of town, so no buildings were damaged by it. This was where one of the IP's asked us if we wanted to shoot his RPG. Of course we said yes, but we had to call back to base for permission; it was denied, of course, but made for some interesting jokes between the IP's and us, even though we spoke very little of each other's language. It was on one of these missions that I covered a pair of my boots in tar; it was a warm afternoon and either it was melting, or had just been freshly tarred. It stuck to everything! In the end, we found some cardboard and stuck it to the bottom of our boots as we left the house. Just imagine 7 Soldiers rapidly exiting a house, covered in tar with cardboard stuck to their soles. Yeah...good stuff.
We've been doing a lot of short-notice raids lately. The IP's are doing a lot of the searching and interrogating, and we pull security for them outside the house. I've gone out on a number of those, including two today. Usually they turn out well, though several of them have ended up being nothing more than wild goose chases.
Sounds like we'll be staying here at least for several more months. There was talk of us leaving here for another area, but for the time being, we remain here. Its nice to have some idea of whats going on, and any projected missions. We're pretty happy with our life here, apart from a couple minor issues. We're away from the rest of the battalion, which means I don't have to see much of our bosses, or do things just for the sake of doing them. I heard some of the medics at the bigger base down the road a ways had to paint the helipad because a general was flying in. We did nothing in preperation for his visit, and upon his arrival we carried on like normal; we had a mission to run. Life out here is good.
Things are definitely starting to warm up; there are bugs everywhere, and the nights aren't nearly so cold. Its only in the upper 70's right now, which means for this region of the country we have about 70 degrees more to go until we reach the highs for the year. I can only imagine, and dread, what 140 degrees feels like, though we'll find out soon enough.
Ok, its about 4am, so I'm going to bed.
Thanks for all the letters, packages, emails, thoughts and prayers everyone has sent my way!!! I really appreciate it!
Hope all is well,
Troy
I can't remember the last time I wrote, so I figured it was probably time to write again. We've been really busy over the last couple of weeks; so much so that everything has blurred together, and I am forced to write about only those occurances that stand out in my mind. We've been running all kinds of different missions at all times of the day and night.
Since the last time I wrote, we've started to change some of the ways we're operating in the city. First, we're now starting to utilize the Humvee's instead of only travelling in the Bradleys. This is nice, as we're now able to negotiate some of the narrow or more residential streets in town that we'd never be able to travel in the Brads without knocking down the walls on either side. Not that we haven't thought about taking a Bradley down these streets, but its probably not going to boost our popularity with the town. The Humvee's also allow us to get a better view of the city, albeit through 4-inch bullet-proof glass. Not the most panoramic view, but better than the back of a Bradley. We've gotten to see most of the city this way, including several of the markets in town. No wonder they say not to eat the meat; the butcher shop just has meat hanging from the awning out front. Some of the shops look interesting, though I doubt if we'll ever be able to go shopping. The downside to the Humvee's is that there's not a lot of room when riding in the back seats. They're all bucket seats, and with all of my gear on its a fairly uncomfortable ride. The seat mount to the front seat is solid, so you can't stretch out your legs; this means I end up with my kneecaps at eye-level. The AC "works" to the extent that it will circulate the hot air in the cab, while tossing in so much dust that you can't tell if the cloud through which you're gazing is inside the vehicle or from the vehicle in front of you. Pros and cons to everything, I suppose.
Second, we're starting to do some patrols on foot during the day. This is a major change as the only time we patrolled on foot was at night, being as quiet as possible so no one knew we were there. It seems that as we patrol down the streets, everyone sits in the gateway of their courtyard to watch and wave at the Americans. This was a little disconcerting at first, having a neighborhood think of your patrol as a strange parade, but now we're starting to get used to it. We say hi (as best we can in Arabic) the the families and usually just smile and shrug when they start speaking to us; they smile back when the realize we haven't understood a word they've said. Some of us toss candy to the kids (who are everywhere!) making us very popular with the younger crowd and their parents. Even after a number of these patrols, no one has spoken harshly to us, though the women who are more conservatively dressed still turn their faces from us when we pass.
Most of the missions we've had recently haven't been planned. In fact, most of the time the only notice I get is when someone bursts through the aid station door and says they need a medic for a mission. We're usually in full "battle rattle" and out the door in under 2 minutes.
We've kept the bomb squad busy over the last couple of weeks; usually IED's to be taken care of, or weapons caches found in town. Usually I'm on the roof of a house with a team of guys making sure the area is secure; this also gives us a great vantage point to view the explosion. We were on a roof one time probably a good 500 meters from where the IED was located, and after they detonated it (with a sizeable amount of C4) we saw chunks of road, dirt and stone flying through the air; then we realized that they were flying towards us. Some were only the size of baseballs, but a few were the size of beachballs and volkswagens. Needless to say, we moved inside "with the quickness." We were out on the edge of town, so no buildings were damaged by it. This was where one of the IP's asked us if we wanted to shoot his RPG. Of course we said yes, but we had to call back to base for permission; it was denied, of course, but made for some interesting jokes between the IP's and us, even though we spoke very little of each other's language. It was on one of these missions that I covered a pair of my boots in tar; it was a warm afternoon and either it was melting, or had just been freshly tarred. It stuck to everything! In the end, we found some cardboard and stuck it to the bottom of our boots as we left the house. Just imagine 7 Soldiers rapidly exiting a house, covered in tar with cardboard stuck to their soles. Yeah...good stuff.
We've been doing a lot of short-notice raids lately. The IP's are doing a lot of the searching and interrogating, and we pull security for them outside the house. I've gone out on a number of those, including two today. Usually they turn out well, though several of them have ended up being nothing more than wild goose chases.
Sounds like we'll be staying here at least for several more months. There was talk of us leaving here for another area, but for the time being, we remain here. Its nice to have some idea of whats going on, and any projected missions. We're pretty happy with our life here, apart from a couple minor issues. We're away from the rest of the battalion, which means I don't have to see much of our bosses, or do things just for the sake of doing them. I heard some of the medics at the bigger base down the road a ways had to paint the helipad because a general was flying in. We did nothing in preperation for his visit, and upon his arrival we carried on like normal; we had a mission to run. Life out here is good.
Things are definitely starting to warm up; there are bugs everywhere, and the nights aren't nearly so cold. Its only in the upper 70's right now, which means for this region of the country we have about 70 degrees more to go until we reach the highs for the year. I can only imagine, and dread, what 140 degrees feels like, though we'll find out soon enough.
Ok, its about 4am, so I'm going to bed.
Thanks for all the letters, packages, emails, thoughts and prayers everyone has sent my way!!! I really appreciate it!
Hope all is well,
Troy
Friday, March 16, 2007
3/1/07
Hi Everybody,
We finally finished our mission rotation, which had us all over our entire sector. For two days we were out at the IP station across the Euphrates, helping with the recruitment of new policemen. In order to get there, we had to cross the bridge in town; we had done it in humvee's but they wanted us to take Bradleys across. There's just a little bit of weight difference, even if the humvee's are up-armored. A Brad weighs in right around 35 tons...and this bridge doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence. True, the bracings and beams are all steel, but the decking itself is just sheet metal tack-welded in place. No one was looking forward to this crossing. The dismounted guys (myself included) were going to get out of the Bradley, walk across and pull security as they drove over. Being on the ground gave us a little more confidence; so much so that we were joking with the vehicle crews about making sure they wore the little arm-floaties before they tried driving over. I suggested dropping a brick on the gas pedal, sitting on the top and steering with a broom-handle. Despite our helpful suggestions, the crews decided that they would only drive with the hatches open in case they did take an unexpected dip in the Euphrates. In the end, we all made it across safely. The one thing I did notice as we walked across was that the Euphrates is a lot cleaner than I had imagined. The water is very clear, and doesn't have a brown tinge at all; in fact it looks almost turquoise. The guys that had been over before had all told us how dirty the Tigris was up near Tikrit, and I think most of us were expecting the Euphrates to follow suit. However, it is very clean looking, though this may be because it is larger and faster flowing than the Tigris. Every time we crossed you could see people along the bank fishing, and near the bridge was a large flock of what appeared to be Coot.
Once safely on the other side we went to work; the infantry guys set up their security, and I went inside the compound to see about the days events. Turns out they needed another medic to help with applicant physicals; let me tell you...that was something else. Most of the applicants appeared healthy, but that didn't lessen my concerns about tuberculosis. In addition to having almost no personal hygiene, dentistry is still slow to catch on over here. Most of their breath could have cut through a bank vault. Our physical was pretty basic; check muscle strength, eye movement, pulse at rest and after exertion, and (with some trepidation) lung sounds. Most were clear, though a couple made us wish we had a portable x-ray machine at hand; but since no one had a coughing fit, we felt (relatively) certain we'll be ok. After their physical the applicants went on to a physical fitness test; it wasn't too tough as this was just to determine if they would be accepted into the police academy. I think it was only 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups and they had them run about 100 meters. It became immediately apparent that this is not a very physical society. There were a handful of surprises, though, as two or three of the applicants actually outran the Soldiers giving the test. Day two was much of the same, though I stayed with my guys outside on security. It always amazes me the different ways with which we keep ourselves entertained; debates over which superhero could beat the others, faults in movies we've seen, practical jokes, our plans for the future, and always stories from home. Out here, being easily amused is a virtue; especially if for the next 8 hours you'll be staring at the same stretch of road.
At first I was wondering how many people would show up to apply, but I needn't have wondered too long. There were so many applicants that we closed the gates early both days. They had filled the quota for the next class of the police academy with no problems. It was nice to see that the applicants all looked eager to be there. This may have been the fact that if accepted they would have a shot at a steady paycheck, but I'm hoping that they also were there because they want to help out their own country. Most of the residents we talk to in town sound like they trust the IP's, though we have found a couple that have had bad experiences. We're hoping to instill in them a sense of pride and integrity so that when we leave the whole system doesn't corrupt and fall apart. There is still a lot of work to be done, though. Progress is being made, though it is slow and tedious.
During the days we weren't helping at the IP station, we went for a couple foot patrols through the town. We usually hit part of the markets in town, which gives the commanders a chance to speak the the shop owners and purchase a couple items. On the last one they found a candy shop and spent a good deal of time "keeping up relations with the locals," i.e. buying a bunch of candy for cheap. Of course, we didn't know about this until later as all the joes (lower enlisted Soldiers) were on the street pulling security. The only thing we knew was that they were in a shop and took way too long, especially as this was during the warmest part of the day. We still managed to have some fun of our own; by pantomiming drinking to the owner of a shop, we had cool beverages run across the street to us by his little boy. We gave him a couple dollars and on his return trip one of my guys gave him a candy bar as well. This area of town seems much more "American-friendly" than some of the others.
At night we walk the streets again, this time knocking on doors and speaking to some of the residents. This is to get an idea of how the population feels about us, about the IP's and IA's, if they have any complaints or if anything needs to be resolved, and also to see if they know of any insurgent activity. They've usually been welcoming, and in several houses we've met people who speak English quite well. Our patrol last night had us walking across our entire sector; it wasn't too bad last night, but its not going to be fun after it gets really hot. We stopped at one house right on the banks of the Euphrates; it was nice even by our standards. Not many people can say their house looks out over one of the oldest rivers in the world. When we entered the courtyard there were 3 guys down at the rivers edge fishing and they wanted to show us their catch; its hard to tell what kind they were under night-vision, but they looked kind of like bass. I think they had 8 or 9 fish when they left. On our way back we walked through one of the markets so we don't take the same route back. In one place some of the residents had strung a volleyball net across the street and had a large game going. Its very apparent that this is a family-oriented society, and everyone in the neighborhood hangs out together in the evenings. We always surprise these groups because we try not to make much noise, and since we use night-vision we don't need flashlights; the end result is us appearing out of the shadows and causing a brief interruption of their game. As soon as we pass we heard the game start right back up, though.
After walking the town for hours we finally got back to base. Most of us had just dropped our gear and grabbed a Gatorade when we heard gun fire in the distance. This isn't uncommon, but when it kept going we realized something was up. Without even knowing what was going on we just threw our gear back on and headed to the Bradleys. (We may have been on foot for the patrol, but we knew we would take the Brads on this one.) After we loaded up we got the radio call that one of the IP stations had gotten attacked. We rolled out and took a house by the IP station; by this time the firing had ended, and we were there in case they came back or if we learned where they had gone. Apparently this house had been hosting a tupperware party or something as there were almost 30 people there. As soon as we had secured the house one of the guys (in broken English and gestures) told me he needed to go to his house because his wife was there with their baby. Why it was so important that he leave right then I never understood, after all he left her there. But in the end we escorted him and his 2 boys home which was only 4 houses down the street. By the time another Soldier and I got back from our escort trip, we were told to head to the IP station to take pics of any bullet holes in the building. I think there may have been 10. Its obvious that there was a lot more outgoing rounds than there were incoming, especially since we listened to most of the "fire fight" and it sounded like WW III had just begun. (My guess is that a couple people had taken some pot-shots at the station, and everyone in the building had returned fire.) After another hour of driving around town and securing deserted stretches of road, we were finally ordered back to base for the night.
Even though I'm off our mission rotation I'm still going out for a 24+ hr mission sometime today. We're running concurrent missions, which means for a while we're going to get even less down time. One of us has to go on the OP, and we'll have another medic out with the patrols and raids. Its not too bad, as I'd rather be out on a mission than sitting here doing nothing. If there are kids in this house they're going to make out pretty well, as I've received several bags of candy in the mail. The resiliency of the children never ceases to amaze me; these children have learned of war not through movies or tv or video games, but with their own eyes, living through it in their own town, often in their own homes. And still they smile. Hope is a powerful weapon.
Time for dinner, and after that I need to pack my gear for tonight. Since its starting to warm up I'm sure we'll be carrying more and more water as the summer drags on.
Thanks for all the emails and packages!
Be back in a couple of days,
Troy
We finally finished our mission rotation, which had us all over our entire sector. For two days we were out at the IP station across the Euphrates, helping with the recruitment of new policemen. In order to get there, we had to cross the bridge in town; we had done it in humvee's but they wanted us to take Bradleys across. There's just a little bit of weight difference, even if the humvee's are up-armored. A Brad weighs in right around 35 tons...and this bridge doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence. True, the bracings and beams are all steel, but the decking itself is just sheet metal tack-welded in place. No one was looking forward to this crossing. The dismounted guys (myself included) were going to get out of the Bradley, walk across and pull security as they drove over. Being on the ground gave us a little more confidence; so much so that we were joking with the vehicle crews about making sure they wore the little arm-floaties before they tried driving over. I suggested dropping a brick on the gas pedal, sitting on the top and steering with a broom-handle. Despite our helpful suggestions, the crews decided that they would only drive with the hatches open in case they did take an unexpected dip in the Euphrates. In the end, we all made it across safely. The one thing I did notice as we walked across was that the Euphrates is a lot cleaner than I had imagined. The water is very clear, and doesn't have a brown tinge at all; in fact it looks almost turquoise. The guys that had been over before had all told us how dirty the Tigris was up near Tikrit, and I think most of us were expecting the Euphrates to follow suit. However, it is very clean looking, though this may be because it is larger and faster flowing than the Tigris. Every time we crossed you could see people along the bank fishing, and near the bridge was a large flock of what appeared to be Coot.
Once safely on the other side we went to work; the infantry guys set up their security, and I went inside the compound to see about the days events. Turns out they needed another medic to help with applicant physicals; let me tell you...that was something else. Most of the applicants appeared healthy, but that didn't lessen my concerns about tuberculosis. In addition to having almost no personal hygiene, dentistry is still slow to catch on over here. Most of their breath could have cut through a bank vault. Our physical was pretty basic; check muscle strength, eye movement, pulse at rest and after exertion, and (with some trepidation) lung sounds. Most were clear, though a couple made us wish we had a portable x-ray machine at hand; but since no one had a coughing fit, we felt (relatively) certain we'll be ok. After their physical the applicants went on to a physical fitness test; it wasn't too tough as this was just to determine if they would be accepted into the police academy. I think it was only 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups and they had them run about 100 meters. It became immediately apparent that this is not a very physical society. There were a handful of surprises, though, as two or three of the applicants actually outran the Soldiers giving the test. Day two was much of the same, though I stayed with my guys outside on security. It always amazes me the different ways with which we keep ourselves entertained; debates over which superhero could beat the others, faults in movies we've seen, practical jokes, our plans for the future, and always stories from home. Out here, being easily amused is a virtue; especially if for the next 8 hours you'll be staring at the same stretch of road.
At first I was wondering how many people would show up to apply, but I needn't have wondered too long. There were so many applicants that we closed the gates early both days. They had filled the quota for the next class of the police academy with no problems. It was nice to see that the applicants all looked eager to be there. This may have been the fact that if accepted they would have a shot at a steady paycheck, but I'm hoping that they also were there because they want to help out their own country. Most of the residents we talk to in town sound like they trust the IP's, though we have found a couple that have had bad experiences. We're hoping to instill in them a sense of pride and integrity so that when we leave the whole system doesn't corrupt and fall apart. There is still a lot of work to be done, though. Progress is being made, though it is slow and tedious.
During the days we weren't helping at the IP station, we went for a couple foot patrols through the town. We usually hit part of the markets in town, which gives the commanders a chance to speak the the shop owners and purchase a couple items. On the last one they found a candy shop and spent a good deal of time "keeping up relations with the locals," i.e. buying a bunch of candy for cheap. Of course, we didn't know about this until later as all the joes (lower enlisted Soldiers) were on the street pulling security. The only thing we knew was that they were in a shop and took way too long, especially as this was during the warmest part of the day. We still managed to have some fun of our own; by pantomiming drinking to the owner of a shop, we had cool beverages run across the street to us by his little boy. We gave him a couple dollars and on his return trip one of my guys gave him a candy bar as well. This area of town seems much more "American-friendly" than some of the others.
At night we walk the streets again, this time knocking on doors and speaking to some of the residents. This is to get an idea of how the population feels about us, about the IP's and IA's, if they have any complaints or if anything needs to be resolved, and also to see if they know of any insurgent activity. They've usually been welcoming, and in several houses we've met people who speak English quite well. Our patrol last night had us walking across our entire sector; it wasn't too bad last night, but its not going to be fun after it gets really hot. We stopped at one house right on the banks of the Euphrates; it was nice even by our standards. Not many people can say their house looks out over one of the oldest rivers in the world. When we entered the courtyard there were 3 guys down at the rivers edge fishing and they wanted to show us their catch; its hard to tell what kind they were under night-vision, but they looked kind of like bass. I think they had 8 or 9 fish when they left. On our way back we walked through one of the markets so we don't take the same route back. In one place some of the residents had strung a volleyball net across the street and had a large game going. Its very apparent that this is a family-oriented society, and everyone in the neighborhood hangs out together in the evenings. We always surprise these groups because we try not to make much noise, and since we use night-vision we don't need flashlights; the end result is us appearing out of the shadows and causing a brief interruption of their game. As soon as we pass we heard the game start right back up, though.
After walking the town for hours we finally got back to base. Most of us had just dropped our gear and grabbed a Gatorade when we heard gun fire in the distance. This isn't uncommon, but when it kept going we realized something was up. Without even knowing what was going on we just threw our gear back on and headed to the Bradleys. (We may have been on foot for the patrol, but we knew we would take the Brads on this one.) After we loaded up we got the radio call that one of the IP stations had gotten attacked. We rolled out and took a house by the IP station; by this time the firing had ended, and we were there in case they came back or if we learned where they had gone. Apparently this house had been hosting a tupperware party or something as there were almost 30 people there. As soon as we had secured the house one of the guys (in broken English and gestures) told me he needed to go to his house because his wife was there with their baby. Why it was so important that he leave right then I never understood, after all he left her there. But in the end we escorted him and his 2 boys home which was only 4 houses down the street. By the time another Soldier and I got back from our escort trip, we were told to head to the IP station to take pics of any bullet holes in the building. I think there may have been 10. Its obvious that there was a lot more outgoing rounds than there were incoming, especially since we listened to most of the "fire fight" and it sounded like WW III had just begun. (My guess is that a couple people had taken some pot-shots at the station, and everyone in the building had returned fire.) After another hour of driving around town and securing deserted stretches of road, we were finally ordered back to base for the night.
Even though I'm off our mission rotation I'm still going out for a 24+ hr mission sometime today. We're running concurrent missions, which means for a while we're going to get even less down time. One of us has to go on the OP, and we'll have another medic out with the patrols and raids. Its not too bad, as I'd rather be out on a mission than sitting here doing nothing. If there are kids in this house they're going to make out pretty well, as I've received several bags of candy in the mail. The resiliency of the children never ceases to amaze me; these children have learned of war not through movies or tv or video games, but with their own eyes, living through it in their own town, often in their own homes. And still they smile. Hope is a powerful weapon.
Time for dinner, and after that I need to pack my gear for tonight. Since its starting to warm up I'm sure we'll be carrying more and more water as the summer drags on.
Thanks for all the emails and packages!
Be back in a couple of days,
Troy
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Bad Mustache March
Bad Mustache March
As often happens in War boredom overcomes the most stout hearted soul. Our valiant cotton bailers have fallen into the log honored tradition of watching hair grow. The men of the unit have gotten together and decided to grow bad mustaches. So, until Troy decides to shave this I vote that we no longer refer to troy by the name his parents bestowed upon him at his birth. I feel that troy more aptly resembles someone names Luigi.
Enjoy your mustache Luigi. We can't wait to get you home
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Another week has passed
Hello Everybody,
Another week has come and gone, and as usual, I'm not sure where the time went. This is a good thing, as if every week passes as these last several I should be home before I know it. Again it was busy, though towards the end of the week our mission was the most boring to date.
Our only real excitement came as I was on the 24-hour OP from the 13th-14th. That night we headed into the city to find a house overlooking one of the busiest streets in town; one of particular interest to both us and the insurgents attempting to plant IED's. The walk out wasn't too bad, until our point man (the guy at the front of the group) led us through a "wadi." These are usually some type of drainage ditch, as most of this country is without any type of sewer system. This one was much larger than we had anticipated, and after several steps, left no doubt in our minds as to what we were stomping through. Once we overcame that particular obstacle, we found a house that looked like a good hiding spot. This time the gate was easy to get through, and the front door didn't pose much of a problem either. Once inside the front room, we were greeted with another door that led to the remainder of the house. One of the guys took two kicks, and we were through. Now comes the humor of the situation; as there were no lights on in the house, all we saw was a door that, upon trying the knob, was locked. Once we had secured the house, we turned on some of the lights so we no longer were relying upon our NOD's (night optical devices); the funny part was that when we inspected the inner door that had just been kicked in, not only did he kick the door the wrong way (meaning that it opened out rather than in) but the key was still dangling from the lock. Smart on their part, but looking for keys isn't what naturally comes to mind when we're trying to sweep a house. Live and learn, I guess.
The occupants of the house were the two wives (this remains a polygamous society) and their five children, ranging from about 2 to 14 or so. To the surprise of everyone, one of the girls about 10 years old looked like she belonged on the beach in California rather than this city in Iraq. She had light brown hair, was light-complected, and most starteling of all had bright blue eyes! We couldn't help but stare as she moved from their bedroom to the kitchen. One of the sergeants said "You think that's something, wait till you see an Iraqi with red hair." Still haven't seen that, but I'm sure it'll be tough to miss! As usual, our interpreter will talk to the family, and after we pay the family for damages to the house (in this case two doors) we try talking to them. A couple of us, including myself, have begun to pick up a little Arabic. Its a tough language, but the family always seems to smile, though its usually the smile one would give a young child as it struggles to form sentences. At one point, the little girl with blue eyes tried asking me a question; upon realizing that I had no idea what she asked, she mimicked putting a ring on her hand and pointed at me, asking if I was married. The rest of the guys in the squad thought this was hysterical, and I was teased relentlessly for hours. Oh well...at least I didn't scare her!!!
We didn't use the roof this time, which I was greatful for, but opted to watch from the windows instead. As we peeked around the still-drawn curtains, we had a nearly unimpeded view of the street; only about 50 meters of the road was obscured by a building further down the road. We passed the day peeking through a window, and occasionally trying to learn more Arabic from the family. As night began to fall, we started watching the road more intently, as the insurgents try to use the cover of darkness as much as they can. We heard on the radio that there was a group of people digging in the road, but they were hidden behind the building, obscured from our view. The Bradley down the road engaged them, and then several more Bradleys arrived on the scene. We called them on the radio from the house, and it was decided that there probably wouldn't be much more insurgent activity in the area, so we beat feet to the vehicles 100 meters down the road, and got a ride back to base instead. Beats having to walk back!
Later the next day about 12 of us loaded up and headed to one of the bases close by; our mission: fill 750 sandbags and bring them back. We managed to load 500 before we got word to bring back what we already had. We weren't disappointed, as everyone's back was sore by that point. Back to base for some Motrin and bed.
Since Friday we have been on "static positions" throughout the town, supporting a large-scale raid the Iraqi Police were doing. This means that we've been cooped up in the back of a Bradley for 6 hours on, and then had 6 hours off. We've been on this rotation now for about 4 days solid. This wouldn't be so bad if it was possible to sleep in the Brads, but we all found it nearly impossible, especially since we had all of our gear (including my aid bag) plus whatever we wanted as far as drinks, food, and stuff to pass the time. The worst part about it was how uncomfortable the seats are; they're definitely designed for function and not comfort, a fact to which our back-sides can attest. Mostly we just sat around and told stories; things we did growing up, what we did for fun, what we want to do on our mid-tour leave, and of course whats the first beer we're going to drink when we get back. After spending that much time with the guys, we all know a lot about each other. The good news is that the rotations should be slowing down, and we shouldn't have to go out for at least another 8-12 hours. We may actually get a full-night's sleep!!
The greatest news we received was about an hour ago; there was hot water for showers! For the first time since I left Kuwait, I was able to take a real shower, and it was hot!!! May not seem like much, but after about a month this really made our day! We're hoping that the plumbing is now fixed, but we're not holding our breath.
We're all doing well; seems as though everyone has finally gotten over the cough/cold that was going around. This is music to our ears as medics, as we are running low on most of the meds we'd been passing out. After 3 days of solid rain things are finally beginning to dry out again, though we're not sure how much more of the rainy season is left.
I thought of one thing that anyone could send if they wanted; I always try and give candy to the kids after we take over their house...some small token of good-will, I guess. I don't need a years-production from the candy shops, just a couple bags of the small candies and sweets to hand out. I'm just envisioning a Brock's truck backing up to the front gate of our compound, "delivery for Troy Ruffin...is he here?" I only need a couple bags, and I should be good...its not like I'm in someone's house every day, just a day or two out of the week.
Ok, I should go...need to finish some things around here before I turn in for the night.
Hope everyone is doing well. Keep the emails coming, its always nice to hear whats going on back home.
Thanks for the support and prayers!
Love you guys,
Troy
Another week has come and gone, and as usual, I'm not sure where the time went. This is a good thing, as if every week passes as these last several I should be home before I know it. Again it was busy, though towards the end of the week our mission was the most boring to date.
Our only real excitement came as I was on the 24-hour OP from the 13th-14th. That night we headed into the city to find a house overlooking one of the busiest streets in town; one of particular interest to both us and the insurgents attempting to plant IED's. The walk out wasn't too bad, until our point man (the guy at the front of the group) led us through a "wadi." These are usually some type of drainage ditch, as most of this country is without any type of sewer system. This one was much larger than we had anticipated, and after several steps, left no doubt in our minds as to what we were stomping through. Once we overcame that particular obstacle, we found a house that looked like a good hiding spot. This time the gate was easy to get through, and the front door didn't pose much of a problem either. Once inside the front room, we were greeted with another door that led to the remainder of the house. One of the guys took two kicks, and we were through. Now comes the humor of the situation; as there were no lights on in the house, all we saw was a door that, upon trying the knob, was locked. Once we had secured the house, we turned on some of the lights so we no longer were relying upon our NOD's (night optical devices); the funny part was that when we inspected the inner door that had just been kicked in, not only did he kick the door the wrong way (meaning that it opened out rather than in) but the key was still dangling from the lock. Smart on their part, but looking for keys isn't what naturally comes to mind when we're trying to sweep a house. Live and learn, I guess.
The occupants of the house were the two wives (this remains a polygamous society) and their five children, ranging from about 2 to 14 or so. To the surprise of everyone, one of the girls about 10 years old looked like she belonged on the beach in California rather than this city in Iraq. She had light brown hair, was light-complected, and most starteling of all had bright blue eyes! We couldn't help but stare as she moved from their bedroom to the kitchen. One of the sergeants said "You think that's something, wait till you see an Iraqi with red hair." Still haven't seen that, but I'm sure it'll be tough to miss! As usual, our interpreter will talk to the family, and after we pay the family for damages to the house (in this case two doors) we try talking to them. A couple of us, including myself, have begun to pick up a little Arabic. Its a tough language, but the family always seems to smile, though its usually the smile one would give a young child as it struggles to form sentences. At one point, the little girl with blue eyes tried asking me a question; upon realizing that I had no idea what she asked, she mimicked putting a ring on her hand and pointed at me, asking if I was married. The rest of the guys in the squad thought this was hysterical, and I was teased relentlessly for hours. Oh well...at least I didn't scare her!!!
We didn't use the roof this time, which I was greatful for, but opted to watch from the windows instead. As we peeked around the still-drawn curtains, we had a nearly unimpeded view of the street; only about 50 meters of the road was obscured by a building further down the road. We passed the day peeking through a window, and occasionally trying to learn more Arabic from the family. As night began to fall, we started watching the road more intently, as the insurgents try to use the cover of darkness as much as they can. We heard on the radio that there was a group of people digging in the road, but they were hidden behind the building, obscured from our view. The Bradley down the road engaged them, and then several more Bradleys arrived on the scene. We called them on the radio from the house, and it was decided that there probably wouldn't be much more insurgent activity in the area, so we beat feet to the vehicles 100 meters down the road, and got a ride back to base instead. Beats having to walk back!
Later the next day about 12 of us loaded up and headed to one of the bases close by; our mission: fill 750 sandbags and bring them back. We managed to load 500 before we got word to bring back what we already had. We weren't disappointed, as everyone's back was sore by that point. Back to base for some Motrin and bed.
Since Friday we have been on "static positions" throughout the town, supporting a large-scale raid the Iraqi Police were doing. This means that we've been cooped up in the back of a Bradley for 6 hours on, and then had 6 hours off. We've been on this rotation now for about 4 days solid. This wouldn't be so bad if it was possible to sleep in the Brads, but we all found it nearly impossible, especially since we had all of our gear (including my aid bag) plus whatever we wanted as far as drinks, food, and stuff to pass the time. The worst part about it was how uncomfortable the seats are; they're definitely designed for function and not comfort, a fact to which our back-sides can attest. Mostly we just sat around and told stories; things we did growing up, what we did for fun, what we want to do on our mid-tour leave, and of course whats the first beer we're going to drink when we get back. After spending that much time with the guys, we all know a lot about each other. The good news is that the rotations should be slowing down, and we shouldn't have to go out for at least another 8-12 hours. We may actually get a full-night's sleep!!
The greatest news we received was about an hour ago; there was hot water for showers! For the first time since I left Kuwait, I was able to take a real shower, and it was hot!!! May not seem like much, but after about a month this really made our day! We're hoping that the plumbing is now fixed, but we're not holding our breath.
We're all doing well; seems as though everyone has finally gotten over the cough/cold that was going around. This is music to our ears as medics, as we are running low on most of the meds we'd been passing out. After 3 days of solid rain things are finally beginning to dry out again, though we're not sure how much more of the rainy season is left.
I thought of one thing that anyone could send if they wanted; I always try and give candy to the kids after we take over their house...some small token of good-will, I guess. I don't need a years-production from the candy shops, just a couple bags of the small candies and sweets to hand out. I'm just envisioning a Brock's truck backing up to the front gate of our compound, "delivery for Troy Ruffin...is he here?" I only need a couple bags, and I should be good...its not like I'm in someone's house every day, just a day or two out of the week.
Ok, I should go...need to finish some things around here before I turn in for the night.
Hope everyone is doing well. Keep the emails coming, its always nice to hear whats going on back home.
Thanks for the support and prayers!
Love you guys,
Troy
Sunday, February 11, 2007
All that gear
Me with all my gear. Helmet and body armor with plates capable
> of stopping armor-piercing rounds on the front, rear and sides, 210
> rounds of 5.56mm ammo on the front, 2 medic pouches with Kerlix and
> tourniquets in front of my ammo magazines, another medic pouch on the
> side with more gear, earplugs for long rides in the Bradleys, and a
> pouch up top that is good for holding...well,
> nothing. M-4 carbine with the close-combat optics
> sight (just a red dot, no magnification), the "ganster grip" up front,
> with a flashlight; the flashlight has a pressure switch I taped onto
> my grip, just squeeze my left hand and the light comes on. 9mm pistol
> on my right thigh, plus 30 rounds of ammo. Medic bag on my left
> thigh, more gauze, tourniquets, occlusive dressings and 14ga needles
> for chest injuries. Soft elbow pads in my sleeves, and hard shell
> knee pads which are very hot in the summer. 3 liter camelbak between
> my body armor and my aid bag, and lastly my aid bag with enough
> supplies to treat my entire squad if necessary; fully equipped for
> intubation, surgical crics, I have a BVM, several IV's, drugs,
> splints, and a whole lot of gauze. Oh yeah, I forgot...2 10mg
> Morphine auto-injectors in my left shoulder pocket.
> Like the pic says...way too much gear. But, better safe than sorry.
> I always leave the aid bag in the vehicles if I can help it; I have
> enough supplies on me to stabilize a casualty till we get back to the
> Bradley. On our walking patrols I use a big satchel instead; makes it
> less obvious that I'm a medic...just one of the guys. Its better that
> way.
>
> So...thats about it. Hope you like the glimpse of my life here in
> Iraq. I'll try to keep taking pics and send out a couple cool ones
> when I can.
>
> Miss you all!!!
> of stopping armor-piercing rounds on the front, rear and sides, 210
> rounds of 5.56mm ammo on the front, 2 medic pouches with Kerlix and
> tourniquets in front of my ammo magazines, another medic pouch on the
> side with more gear, earplugs for long rides in the Bradleys, and a
> pouch up top that is good for holding...well,
> nothing. M-4 carbine with the close-combat optics
> sight (just a red dot, no magnification), the "ganster grip" up front,
> with a flashlight; the flashlight has a pressure switch I taped onto
> my grip, just squeeze my left hand and the light comes on. 9mm pistol
> on my right thigh, plus 30 rounds of ammo. Medic bag on my left
> thigh, more gauze, tourniquets, occlusive dressings and 14ga needles
> for chest injuries. Soft elbow pads in my sleeves, and hard shell
> knee pads which are very hot in the summer. 3 liter camelbak between
> my body armor and my aid bag, and lastly my aid bag with enough
> supplies to treat my entire squad if necessary; fully equipped for
> intubation, surgical crics, I have a BVM, several IV's, drugs,
> splints, and a whole lot of gauze. Oh yeah, I forgot...2 10mg
> Morphine auto-injectors in my left shoulder pocket.
> Like the pic says...way too much gear. But, better safe than sorry.
> I always leave the aid bag in the vehicles if I can help it; I have
> enough supplies on me to stabilize a casualty till we get back to the
> Bradley. On our walking patrols I use a big satchel instead; makes it
> less obvious that I'm a medic...just one of the guys. Its better that
> way.
>
> So...thats about it. Hope you like the glimpse of my life here in
> Iraq. I'll try to keep taking pics and send out a couple cool ones
> when I can.
>
> Miss you all!!!
Saturday, February 10, 2007
one heck of a week
Hi Everybody
So no pictures in this update, though I promise I'm working on them. This week was incredibly busy; my platoon was up on the rotation for missions, which meant any missions that were assigned, I rolled out on, as well as having to respond to the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) too. QRF rolls for anything that happens in the city, such as shootings, IED explosions, and anytime we get info on where one of the high-priority bad guys are; generally when things go bad and they might want a medic around.
So, Sunday night we're supposed to have a raid looking for one of the head bad guys' driver, but the air was "red" meaning that we had no air support, so the mission got scrubbed till further notice; this just meant that we were up till about 2am waiting. I had a mounted patrol (in the back of the Bradleys) making sure everyone knew that we were still in town. Kind of hard to miss a giant armored vehicle, but hey...why not? Monday night we had a walking patrol; no Bradley, just a 9 infantry guys and I out strolling through town. This was definitely an exciting time; I'd never been on foot in town, so this was my first chance to really see what this town looked like, though most of the time we're looking down alleys and scanning rooftops making sure no one is going to shoot at us. But, it was night, and we have night-vision goggles, and the bad guys don't. We own the night, and they know that, so very little happens on these patrols. Still, doesn't mean the adrenaline isn't pumping. We went out about a mile from base and took over a house. Almost all of the houses have courtyards, so our first obstacle is getting through the gate; if we can't pick it from the outside, we toss over the lightest guy and have him unlock it from the inside. From there, we hit the door and take the house. This usually comes as a bit of a surprise for the residents, who at the time are sleeping. In charge a squad of heavily armed Soldiers, and proceed to occupy the house. After the house is clear of weapons, we set up observation points, generally on the roof, and watch the roadways, making sure no one is out doing anything stupid. Turns out, stupidity was running pretty low this week, and nothing happened. So, after scaring the snot out of a household, we thank them for their time, give them a couple dollars, and head on back to base. Not so bad, except that we still have to walk there, at night in a hostile city. We're quiet...very quiet, but there's one kicker; at night the city is full of dogs, and they all bark as we pass, generally letting everyone know exactly where we are. We can't shoot them as that would make even more noise, and the carcass is an easy spot to hide IED's. Talk about a Catch-22. We're still thinking of creative ways to solve this little problem. Walking with night vision isn't as easy as one would assume; we focus them for distance so we can see whats out there, but this leaves anything up close blurry....like the ground. I'd gotten pretty good at figuring out what was solid and what I needed to avoid, except for one spot. I was walking down a small bank, and everything looked solid; turns out I was wrong. I promptly sink my boot into muck almost as deep as my boot is tall, nearly falling on my face in the process. The last guy in the stack, my platoon sergeant, snickers and pulls me free of the quagmire. I'm sure I'll catch all kinds of grief for this back on base, but for now, silence is the name of the game. As soon as we got back to base, I was told QRF was rolling out to some big fire-fight in the city; this was news to us, as we had just returned and didn't hear anything like that. We heard some sporadic bursts, but nothing that would qualify as a sustained gun battle. Turns out it was nothing, but I still didn't get to bed till after 4am.
Up at 6:45, its now Tuesday, for pre-mission gear checks before we roll out for an Area of Operations (AO) patrol; generally making sure no bombs have been planted in the roads since we were last there. However, this mission was scrubbed as well. I would have gone back to bed, except that now people are coming into the aid station cause they're sick and its tough to sleep. I wouldn't have gotten much sleep anyway, as we got called out on QRF shortly after that. They got passed some info regarding the whereabouts of one of the guys they're trying hard to apprehend. So, into the Bradleys we go and race off into town. As usual, the info was about 5 minutes too old, and they had already left. We did, however, get to see the Iraqi Police (IP) in action, and it seems as though they know their stuff. Hopefully they'll be taking more responsibility in town, and we'll be doing less and less. Thats the plan, at least. So, after trying to track this guy down unsucessfully, we returned to base empty handed. For the rest of the evening we plan for and rehearse our upcoming raid late that night. There are two houses we're supposed to be taking down; both are supposed to harbor known terrorists, and we're hoping to catch them while we're sleeping. After rehearsing the plan ad nauseum, we're told to be back, fully geared in just over two hours; that equates to about an hour of time to sleep. Back up, blurry-eyed and ready to get this over with, we load into the Brads and descend on these houses. Only two occupants total, though there was enough incriminating evidence to detain them both. At the time I thought the old guy was going to have a heart attack, which would have made my life very interesting, but he eventually calmed down, and we took them back to one of the bases. After standing around at the base long enough to watch the sun climb well over the horizon, our commander had finally filled out enough paperwork to turn them over, as well as killing several large trees.
Its now Wednesday morning, and we got back to our base just in time to keep the cooks from tossing out the last of what was left of breakfast. Around 11 I finally crawled into bed to catch a couple hours of sleep; I think I got 3. My boss decides that we're going to clean the aid station; clean the shelves, reorganize our supplies, reseal the cracks in the windows and walls as best we can, and try to make it appear like an actual aid station. This was, is, and will always be a work in progress. However, after 5 hours or so of kicking up a giant dust cloud, we managed to make the place look respectable; as for now, we're just trying to steal some bleach for the floors and we'll be happy. After dinner, QRF is again activated as one of the fuel trucks broke down in town, and we need to pull security for the mechanics to tow this giant bomb-on-wheels back to base. Luckily it broke down right next to an IP station, so we were pretty secure. As soon as I drop my gear, one of our translators (Kevin, a pseudonym we've given him to keep his real name a secret from the insurgents in an attempt to keep both he and his family safe) comes into the aid station saying he's been cut. I never got the full story, but apparently he and an IA soldier were playing around, and he managed to get stabbed in the shoulder blade. Its not my job to figure out what happened, I just fix them so they can do more stupid stuff. He's got a good 3/4 to an inch long cut over his shoulder blade that definitely needs stitches. We've been given the "green light" by our PA to do sutures if the need arises, so long as the cuts aren't too complicated. So, no time like the present to work on my technique, as well as teach the other medics there. I did the first one, and they did the last 3, each one taking turns putting in a stitch. I must say, after we were done, it looked like a doctor did it. Pretty much pros! We were all happy with the way they turned out, and everyone learned something in the process. Thankfully this was all for the day, and I was able to get about 5 hours of sleep before we were up and at it again.
Thursday we spent several hours finishing up some of the cleaning we didn't get to the day before, and did a couple of classes on meds and anatomy/physiology. My platoon was given a 24 hour observation position (OP) that night, so that afternoon I was in briefings, and I spent the evening refitting my gear for a day-long operation. Normally, we don't worry about what we carry, as we're either not out that long or we have the Brads close at hand. However, now you have to carry 3 meals ready to eat (MRE's) and water to last the whole day, as well as anything else you'll need, i.e. snacks, poncho-liner (which is like a blanket, affectionately nicknamed our "woobie"), toilet paper, etc. We strip down the MRE's, taking everything out of the packaging that we can in an effort to conserve weight; I left everything I thought I might not eat, even went so far as to bring only one spoon. My kevlar, body armor (stuffed with medical supplies and 210 rounds of ammo) plus weapons and aidbag are very heavy, and I didn't want to add more than I needed to. After getting everything ready, its about 11pm, and I need to be up at 2 am so we can roll out at 3. I figured I'd be able to grab at least 2 hours of sleep; this, however, wasn't to be. One of the IA's came in after having fallen down a flight of stairs, spraining his knee. Took a while to figure out what was going on, but in the end all he needed was a couple of tylenol and an ACE wrap for his knee. Now its almost midnight, and apparently one of the interpreters had been acting funny, so they searched his room for drugs. One of the NCO's came in wanting to know what this blister-pak of pills contained. Oh great...they're Valium. No, they're not used for knee pain, and no, thats not how we dispense them. Yeah, so he's on drugs, and now everybody is bringing me pills to figure out what they are. After this stampede dies down, its 1:30am, and I'm supposed to be up in 30 minutes. No sleep for me tonight.
Thursday morning around 2:20 we do final gear check, last minute route-briefing, and determine the order the teams are supposed to leave. Since my team, consisting of 5 other Soldiers along with 2 IA's and a terp (interpreter), will be farthest from base, we leave first; off into the city again, in search of a house to take over. Besides the dogs, our trek is uneventful, if not a little straining on the shoulders. We find a house we think looks good, and after half a dozen attempts get the gate open. We pile into the courtyard, shut the gate behind us, and look at the door; this thing looks like its about to come right off the hinges, so we assume it should be easy to break open if need be. No one answers the knock, so they attempt to kick it in. Another lesson in why not to judge a book by the cover; this door was reenforced with steel, and wasn't about to budge. The owner of the house eventually comes to the door (after we broke out most of the glass) and says "Yes yes, I open." He opens the door, and calmly sits down on the couch. Hmm..something tells me he's done this before. No weapons in the house, so we put the family back in the bedroom and set up our guard posts. I'm left downstairs to watch the family with the terp "Mike" and the two IA's. Its cold in the house, and its even colder on the roof two hours later when I'm on the radio. Freezing on a roof, teeth chattering wishing I had some hand warmers isn't exactly how I pictured my February in Iraq. Could be worse, though. As we switched out shifts, 2 of us could sleep for a couple of hours, which was really nice, but not nearly long enough. Thanks to some screwed up rotation, I ended up pulling more guard shifts than the infantry guys, but I didn't mind. I ended up talking to the IA soldiers, or at least trying to. I'm starting to pick up some Arabic, but there was still a lot of gestures, confused looks, and lots of laughs. Oh well, it helps pass the time. The insurgents are getting smart, and now are giving kids candy to walk up and down the streets, looking for us on rooftops and in windows. Thus is the mindset of our enemies. As it got dark, we stopped sleeping and put more eyes on the roof watching for activity. My last shift on guard found me peering through a hole in the stone railing at a large open section of road. At one point, I thought I saw 4 guys walking down the street; however, it turned out it was only a couple of bushes. I could have sworn these bushes had gone strolling down the street, but no, they were definitely stationary the whole time. After we hit our 24 hour mark, we gathered our gear, payed the family for the broken glass and for missing work, we once again headed into the night, back to the security of our base. One of the NCO's told the other guys he didn't want to hear any complaining cause "Doc pulled more guard than anybody, and ya don't hear him gripin'." Got back to base just after 3, called home (and probably sounded like a zombie) and climbed in bed shortly after 4:30am Friday morning for some much needed rest, with the added bonus of having a completely blank schedule for the day. My platoon was finally off our mission-status rotation, and only had to pull guard on the base. My duties, however, keep my in the aid station, and won't be on guard much, if at all, since we need a medic there at all times. But, since the other line medic is out on an OP right now, I'm back on QRF, but hopefully nothing comes up. If it does, it'll probably only be for a couple of hours.
So, there was my week. Sorry it was so long, but it'd been a while since I last sent out an email. No injuries, and really the only "booms" were controlled detonations of IED's that were found by our bomb squad . One was REALLY close to our base walls, and nearly shook me off the litter I was sitting on...I think the bomb squad had a little too much fun with that one.
Life is good, and for now don't need anything specific. If you survived this email, grab a drink and let me know how you're all doing. Thank you all for your letters, emails, thoughts and prayers.
Best wishes from far away,
Troy
So no pictures in this update, though I promise I'm working on them. This week was incredibly busy; my platoon was up on the rotation for missions, which meant any missions that were assigned, I rolled out on, as well as having to respond to the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) too. QRF rolls for anything that happens in the city, such as shootings, IED explosions, and anytime we get info on where one of the high-priority bad guys are; generally when things go bad and they might want a medic around.
So, Sunday night we're supposed to have a raid looking for one of the head bad guys' driver, but the air was "red" meaning that we had no air support, so the mission got scrubbed till further notice; this just meant that we were up till about 2am waiting. I had a mounted patrol (in the back of the Bradleys) making sure everyone knew that we were still in town. Kind of hard to miss a giant armored vehicle, but hey...why not? Monday night we had a walking patrol; no Bradley, just a 9 infantry guys and I out strolling through town. This was definitely an exciting time; I'd never been on foot in town, so this was my first chance to really see what this town looked like, though most of the time we're looking down alleys and scanning rooftops making sure no one is going to shoot at us. But, it was night, and we have night-vision goggles, and the bad guys don't. We own the night, and they know that, so very little happens on these patrols. Still, doesn't mean the adrenaline isn't pumping. We went out about a mile from base and took over a house. Almost all of the houses have courtyards, so our first obstacle is getting through the gate; if we can't pick it from the outside, we toss over the lightest guy and have him unlock it from the inside. From there, we hit the door and take the house. This usually comes as a bit of a surprise for the residents, who at the time are sleeping. In charge a squad of heavily armed Soldiers, and proceed to occupy the house. After the house is clear of weapons, we set up observation points, generally on the roof, and watch the roadways, making sure no one is out doing anything stupid. Turns out, stupidity was running pretty low this week, and nothing happened. So, after scaring the snot out of a household, we thank them for their time, give them a couple dollars, and head on back to base. Not so bad, except that we still have to walk there, at night in a hostile city. We're quiet...very quiet, but there's one kicker; at night the city is full of dogs, and they all bark as we pass, generally letting everyone know exactly where we are. We can't shoot them as that would make even more noise, and the carcass is an easy spot to hide IED's. Talk about a Catch-22. We're still thinking of creative ways to solve this little problem. Walking with night vision isn't as easy as one would assume; we focus them for distance so we can see whats out there, but this leaves anything up close blurry....like the ground. I'd gotten pretty good at figuring out what was solid and what I needed to avoid, except for one spot. I was walking down a small bank, and everything looked solid; turns out I was wrong. I promptly sink my boot into muck almost as deep as my boot is tall, nearly falling on my face in the process. The last guy in the stack, my platoon sergeant, snickers and pulls me free of the quagmire. I'm sure I'll catch all kinds of grief for this back on base, but for now, silence is the name of the game. As soon as we got back to base, I was told QRF was rolling out to some big fire-fight in the city; this was news to us, as we had just returned and didn't hear anything like that. We heard some sporadic bursts, but nothing that would qualify as a sustained gun battle. Turns out it was nothing, but I still didn't get to bed till after 4am.
Up at 6:45, its now Tuesday, for pre-mission gear checks before we roll out for an Area of Operations (AO) patrol; generally making sure no bombs have been planted in the roads since we were last there. However, this mission was scrubbed as well. I would have gone back to bed, except that now people are coming into the aid station cause they're sick and its tough to sleep. I wouldn't have gotten much sleep anyway, as we got called out on QRF shortly after that. They got passed some info regarding the whereabouts of one of the guys they're trying hard to apprehend. So, into the Bradleys we go and race off into town. As usual, the info was about 5 minutes too old, and they had already left. We did, however, get to see the Iraqi Police (IP) in action, and it seems as though they know their stuff. Hopefully they'll be taking more responsibility in town, and we'll be doing less and less. Thats the plan, at least. So, after trying to track this guy down unsucessfully, we returned to base empty handed. For the rest of the evening we plan for and rehearse our upcoming raid late that night. There are two houses we're supposed to be taking down; both are supposed to harbor known terrorists, and we're hoping to catch them while we're sleeping. After rehearsing the plan ad nauseum, we're told to be back, fully geared in just over two hours; that equates to about an hour of time to sleep. Back up, blurry-eyed and ready to get this over with, we load into the Brads and descend on these houses. Only two occupants total, though there was enough incriminating evidence to detain them both. At the time I thought the old guy was going to have a heart attack, which would have made my life very interesting, but he eventually calmed down, and we took them back to one of the bases. After standing around at the base long enough to watch the sun climb well over the horizon, our commander had finally filled out enough paperwork to turn them over, as well as killing several large trees.
Its now Wednesday morning, and we got back to our base just in time to keep the cooks from tossing out the last of what was left of breakfast. Around 11 I finally crawled into bed to catch a couple hours of sleep; I think I got 3. My boss decides that we're going to clean the aid station; clean the shelves, reorganize our supplies, reseal the cracks in the windows and walls as best we can, and try to make it appear like an actual aid station. This was, is, and will always be a work in progress. However, after 5 hours or so of kicking up a giant dust cloud, we managed to make the place look respectable; as for now, we're just trying to steal some bleach for the floors and we'll be happy. After dinner, QRF is again activated as one of the fuel trucks broke down in town, and we need to pull security for the mechanics to tow this giant bomb-on-wheels back to base. Luckily it broke down right next to an IP station, so we were pretty secure. As soon as I drop my gear, one of our translators (Kevin, a pseudonym we've given him to keep his real name a secret from the insurgents in an attempt to keep both he and his family safe) comes into the aid station saying he's been cut. I never got the full story, but apparently he and an IA soldier were playing around, and he managed to get stabbed in the shoulder blade. Its not my job to figure out what happened, I just fix them so they can do more stupid stuff. He's got a good 3/4 to an inch long cut over his shoulder blade that definitely needs stitches. We've been given the "green light" by our PA to do sutures if the need arises, so long as the cuts aren't too complicated. So, no time like the present to work on my technique, as well as teach the other medics there. I did the first one, and they did the last 3, each one taking turns putting in a stitch. I must say, after we were done, it looked like a doctor did it. Pretty much pros! We were all happy with the way they turned out, and everyone learned something in the process. Thankfully this was all for the day, and I was able to get about 5 hours of sleep before we were up and at it again.
Thursday we spent several hours finishing up some of the cleaning we didn't get to the day before, and did a couple of classes on meds and anatomy/physiology. My platoon was given a 24 hour observation position (OP) that night, so that afternoon I was in briefings, and I spent the evening refitting my gear for a day-long operation. Normally, we don't worry about what we carry, as we're either not out that long or we have the Brads close at hand. However, now you have to carry 3 meals ready to eat (MRE's) and water to last the whole day, as well as anything else you'll need, i.e. snacks, poncho-liner (which is like a blanket, affectionately nicknamed our "woobie"), toilet paper, etc. We strip down the MRE's, taking everything out of the packaging that we can in an effort to conserve weight; I left everything I thought I might not eat, even went so far as to bring only one spoon. My kevlar, body armor (stuffed with medical supplies and 210 rounds of ammo) plus weapons and aidbag are very heavy, and I didn't want to add more than I needed to. After getting everything ready, its about 11pm, and I need to be up at 2 am so we can roll out at 3. I figured I'd be able to grab at least 2 hours of sleep; this, however, wasn't to be. One of the IA's came in after having fallen down a flight of stairs, spraining his knee. Took a while to figure out what was going on, but in the end all he needed was a couple of tylenol and an ACE wrap for his knee. Now its almost midnight, and apparently one of the interpreters had been acting funny, so they searched his room for drugs. One of the NCO's came in wanting to know what this blister-pak of pills contained. Oh great...they're Valium. No, they're not used for knee pain, and no, thats not how we dispense them. Yeah, so he's on drugs, and now everybody is bringing me pills to figure out what they are. After this stampede dies down, its 1:30am, and I'm supposed to be up in 30 minutes. No sleep for me tonight.
Thursday morning around 2:20 we do final gear check, last minute route-briefing, and determine the order the teams are supposed to leave. Since my team, consisting of 5 other Soldiers along with 2 IA's and a terp (interpreter), will be farthest from base, we leave first; off into the city again, in search of a house to take over. Besides the dogs, our trek is uneventful, if not a little straining on the shoulders. We find a house we think looks good, and after half a dozen attempts get the gate open. We pile into the courtyard, shut the gate behind us, and look at the door; this thing looks like its about to come right off the hinges, so we assume it should be easy to break open if need be. No one answers the knock, so they attempt to kick it in. Another lesson in why not to judge a book by the cover; this door was reenforced with steel, and wasn't about to budge. The owner of the house eventually comes to the door (after we broke out most of the glass) and says "Yes yes, I open." He opens the door, and calmly sits down on the couch. Hmm..something tells me he's done this before. No weapons in the house, so we put the family back in the bedroom and set up our guard posts. I'm left downstairs to watch the family with the terp "Mike" and the two IA's. Its cold in the house, and its even colder on the roof two hours later when I'm on the radio. Freezing on a roof, teeth chattering wishing I had some hand warmers isn't exactly how I pictured my February in Iraq. Could be worse, though. As we switched out shifts, 2 of us could sleep for a couple of hours, which was really nice, but not nearly long enough. Thanks to some screwed up rotation, I ended up pulling more guard shifts than the infantry guys, but I didn't mind. I ended up talking to the IA soldiers, or at least trying to. I'm starting to pick up some Arabic, but there was still a lot of gestures, confused looks, and lots of laughs. Oh well, it helps pass the time. The insurgents are getting smart, and now are giving kids candy to walk up and down the streets, looking for us on rooftops and in windows. Thus is the mindset of our enemies. As it got dark, we stopped sleeping and put more eyes on the roof watching for activity. My last shift on guard found me peering through a hole in the stone railing at a large open section of road. At one point, I thought I saw 4 guys walking down the street; however, it turned out it was only a couple of bushes. I could have sworn these bushes had gone strolling down the street, but no, they were definitely stationary the whole time. After we hit our 24 hour mark, we gathered our gear, payed the family for the broken glass and for missing work, we once again headed into the night, back to the security of our base. One of the NCO's told the other guys he didn't want to hear any complaining cause "Doc pulled more guard than anybody, and ya don't hear him gripin'." Got back to base just after 3, called home (and probably sounded like a zombie) and climbed in bed shortly after 4:30am Friday morning for some much needed rest, with the added bonus of having a completely blank schedule for the day. My platoon was finally off our mission-status rotation, and only had to pull guard on the base. My duties, however, keep my in the aid station, and won't be on guard much, if at all, since we need a medic there at all times. But, since the other line medic is out on an OP right now, I'm back on QRF, but hopefully nothing comes up. If it does, it'll probably only be for a couple of hours.
So, there was my week. Sorry it was so long, but it'd been a while since I last sent out an email. No injuries, and really the only "booms" were controlled detonations of IED's that were found by our bomb squad . One was REALLY close to our base walls, and nearly shook me off the litter I was sitting on...I think the bomb squad had a little too much fun with that one.
Life is good, and for now don't need anything specific. If you survived this email, grab a drink and let me know how you're all doing. Thank you all for your letters, emails, thoughts and prayers.
Best wishes from far away,
Troy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
