I'm feeeeelin' it... You??
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
A Soldier's Desert Updates .. from Iraq
The following is an e-mail to a dad from his young son - a dedicated American soldier, who is standing on the front lines and fighting the war on terror in Iraq:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am writing on the tail end of a 32 hour, non-stop, qrf shift that had
us out on eight seperate missions. Those 32 hours were probably the most
stressful time in my life and held the single scariest moment every for me.
It started when we went in to extract our sniper team and took fire from
an ajacent house. A good friend of mine in the platoon was shot in the arm
and we had to emegency evac him. Another friend in third was shot three
times. They both survived. We levelled the house with 25mm fire and then
exfilled out.
We later returned to the house to search for bodies and raid the
surrounding homes.
Later, the hospital was was being attacked and an iraqi soldier was shot
in the thigh. our medics stop the arterial bleeding and we evac'ed him to
an LZ for the helicopter. We took sniper fire at the LZ and the IA guy
died at the scene because the iraqi doctors hooked up his breathing bag
wrong.
The next morning started the 32 shift. We got up at 8:00 for an EOD
call. While we were out there we rolled into a fire-fight between the
insurgents and the peshmerga, kurdish freedom fighters. one of them was
shot and the medic and I dismounted to work on him. We ran behind their
disabled tractor trailer where the body, his brother, and an EOD guy were.
The EOD guy was firing at the insurgents and we checked the body. He was
already dead. The insurgents were firing on the truck and had us pinned
down behind it. The trailer and tires around me were getting shot up while
I was firing back. an RPG punched throught the trailer but didn't explode.
this lasted about four minutes. The EOD guys were firing grenades into
the buildings while I provided supressive fire. For some reason one of
them decided to climb into the cab of the truck and was shot in the arm.
He fell back onto the ground and the medic started working on him while I
continued to fire. After we stablized
him, I provide supressive fire so they could get him on the bradley along
with the body and the peshmerga guy. after they were secure, i rushed to
the vehicle and we evac'ed to the fob. the eod guy lived.
this was probably the scariest time in my entire life. i was almost
certain all three of us were going to die and I prayed with all my heart
for deliverance. God is faithful and heard my prayers. We got back to the
FOB and prepped for a raid on the mosque that we were taking fire from.
The Raid went smoothly but we didn't find anyone.
After dropping off personel at the FOB we went back to the scene to blow
up the truck we were hiding behind. The tanks levelled it.
We got back to the hospital and went right back out to investigate two
bodies lying in a field. We rolled up and EOD sent the robot up to check
it out. Next thing we know, RPGs are flying at us and a grenade exploded
right next to my track. The kiowas flying overhead were taking heavy fire.
It was an ambush and the kiowas were getting hit bad. One was shot down.
We exfilled the area and secured the downed bird. We went back to the
hospital after this and were called out again to go recover a UAV, unmanned
aerial vehicle, which crashed. we recovered it and went back to the FOB to
drop it off.
After dropping it off we left return to the hospital. On our way we
rolled into another fire fight between insurgents and peshmerga. it was
like a rerun of the previous day. the insurgents had shot up a truck and
they were defending it. ironically, we were in the exact same spot. the
burnt out truck we destroyed was 20 meters from the new one. We dropped
ramp and I took the interpretor to find out what was going on. They we
screaming back and forth and we got a vague picture of where the fire was
coming from. Sniper fire came and I took the interpretor back to the
track. the peshmerga followed and were running around just yelling. The
next thing I know, an rpg detonated right next to the brad and the hot wash
swept into the back. that was enough for me and i screamed to the
peshmerga to take cover and to raise the ramp on the bradley. we proceed
to fire 25 mm at the building and actually called for the jets to drop a
500 lb bomb on the area. we pulled back but couldn't
pin point were the fire was coming from so the bombing was called off.
32 hours later we rolled back to the FOB and shut up the tracks. I
hadn't eaten for two and a half days, was horribly dehydrated, and more
exhausted then I have ever been. I probably would have cried if I hadn't
passed out. I slept for fifteen hours and probably could have slept for
more. Through all the chaos I prayed more prayers then I have prayed in my
entire life. My lips never stopped moving. Our God is an incredible God,
one who cares for us in the darkest moments. I begged him to make it stop
but he had other plans. Though I don't understand why he let it go on, I
know that it was for a good reason. What i do know is that he pulled us
through and gave us the courage to drive on. I also know that all of your
prayers have saved countless lives out here, including mine. God Bless all
of you for that. your letters and packages are wonderful surprises that
lighten my mood, but your prayers indirectly stop bullets and turn rpgs off
course. thank you so much for them.
i know these moments will not stop. we still have 8 months here but I
know that not one day will pass that God is not watching over us. I love
you all and miss you more than i can say. God bless you all and our
country.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Will keep you updated with more as the updates roll into my Inbox..and before you sign off, make sure that you say a little prayer for this soldier's safe return home..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am writing on the tail end of a 32 hour, non-stop, qrf shift that had
us out on eight seperate missions. Those 32 hours were probably the most
stressful time in my life and held the single scariest moment every for me.
It started when we went in to extract our sniper team and took fire from
an ajacent house. A good friend of mine in the platoon was shot in the arm
and we had to emegency evac him. Another friend in third was shot three
times. They both survived. We levelled the house with 25mm fire and then
exfilled out.
We later returned to the house to search for bodies and raid the
surrounding homes.
Later, the hospital was was being attacked and an iraqi soldier was shot
in the thigh. our medics stop the arterial bleeding and we evac'ed him to
an LZ for the helicopter. We took sniper fire at the LZ and the IA guy
died at the scene because the iraqi doctors hooked up his breathing bag
wrong.
The next morning started the 32 shift. We got up at 8:00 for an EOD
call. While we were out there we rolled into a fire-fight between the
insurgents and the peshmerga, kurdish freedom fighters. one of them was
shot and the medic and I dismounted to work on him. We ran behind their
disabled tractor trailer where the body, his brother, and an EOD guy were.
The EOD guy was firing at the insurgents and we checked the body. He was
already dead. The insurgents were firing on the truck and had us pinned
down behind it. The trailer and tires around me were getting shot up while
I was firing back. an RPG punched throught the trailer but didn't explode.
this lasted about four minutes. The EOD guys were firing grenades into
the buildings while I provided supressive fire. For some reason one of
them decided to climb into the cab of the truck and was shot in the arm.
He fell back onto the ground and the medic started working on him while I
continued to fire. After we stablized
him, I provide supressive fire so they could get him on the bradley along
with the body and the peshmerga guy. after they were secure, i rushed to
the vehicle and we evac'ed to the fob. the eod guy lived.
this was probably the scariest time in my entire life. i was almost
certain all three of us were going to die and I prayed with all my heart
for deliverance. God is faithful and heard my prayers. We got back to the
FOB and prepped for a raid on the mosque that we were taking fire from.
The Raid went smoothly but we didn't find anyone.
After dropping off personel at the FOB we went back to the scene to blow
up the truck we were hiding behind. The tanks levelled it.
We got back to the hospital and went right back out to investigate two
bodies lying in a field. We rolled up and EOD sent the robot up to check
it out. Next thing we know, RPGs are flying at us and a grenade exploded
right next to my track. The kiowas flying overhead were taking heavy fire.
It was an ambush and the kiowas were getting hit bad. One was shot down.
We exfilled the area and secured the downed bird. We went back to the
hospital after this and were called out again to go recover a UAV, unmanned
aerial vehicle, which crashed. we recovered it and went back to the FOB to
drop it off.
After dropping it off we left return to the hospital. On our way we
rolled into another fire fight between insurgents and peshmerga. it was
like a rerun of the previous day. the insurgents had shot up a truck and
they were defending it. ironically, we were in the exact same spot. the
burnt out truck we destroyed was 20 meters from the new one. We dropped
ramp and I took the interpretor to find out what was going on. They we
screaming back and forth and we got a vague picture of where the fire was
coming from. Sniper fire came and I took the interpretor back to the
track. the peshmerga followed and were running around just yelling. The
next thing I know, an rpg detonated right next to the brad and the hot wash
swept into the back. that was enough for me and i screamed to the
peshmerga to take cover and to raise the ramp on the bradley. we proceed
to fire 25 mm at the building and actually called for the jets to drop a
500 lb bomb on the area. we pulled back but couldn't
pin point were the fire was coming from so the bombing was called off.
32 hours later we rolled back to the FOB and shut up the tracks. I
hadn't eaten for two and a half days, was horribly dehydrated, and more
exhausted then I have ever been. I probably would have cried if I hadn't
passed out. I slept for fifteen hours and probably could have slept for
more. Through all the chaos I prayed more prayers then I have prayed in my
entire life. My lips never stopped moving. Our God is an incredible God,
one who cares for us in the darkest moments. I begged him to make it stop
but he had other plans. Though I don't understand why he let it go on, I
know that it was for a good reason. What i do know is that he pulled us
through and gave us the courage to drive on. I also know that all of your
prayers have saved countless lives out here, including mine. God Bless all
of you for that. your letters and packages are wonderful surprises that
lighten my mood, but your prayers indirectly stop bullets and turn rpgs off
course. thank you so much for them.
i know these moments will not stop. we still have 8 months here but I
know that not one day will pass that God is not watching over us. I love
you all and miss you more than i can say. God bless you all and our
country.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Will keep you updated with more as the updates roll into my Inbox..and before you sign off, make sure that you say a little prayer for this soldier's safe return home..
Finally....I do own some Cyber Real Estate!
Aaaaah... Never knew what it takes to be a blogger and here I'm..Thanks to those techies @Blogger who made it so easy for ametuers like myself to do this CyberSquatting..Lets see what I come-up with inthe days to come..Either you will be bored to death reading me.. Or I'll be bored to death trying to come-up with something interesting..
