Hey everyone,
Here are some more pics from my buddy, Greg, in Iraq and his latest e-mail.
"hey all,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (I know its late) Thank you for all the well wishes and food and cards and packages and thoughts. They bring a little color to this drab place.
I am back in Fallujah right now. The operation we took part in I guess was a success. I just had dinner and watched a little football on the TV in the chow hall. I am completely full. I was only getting about two MRE's a day out there and I never really ate the whole thing. So, the chow hall food is taking a toll on me right now.
If you were wondering what I was doing out there, here is the skinny; Bravo was out providing artillery support for some sweep and clear ops by tanks, AAV's, and some Recon companies. What I got to do was provide security for the Explosive Ordinance Disposal techs. This job took me all over the place; from the open desert to the farm land right up against the river. It also got me lost in the middle of the night in strange places. But that was my fault. I was in charge of the convoy and security. This was a little jarring at first because the day we got to our position, the XO says to me that I need to get a security team up and ready for EOD and that I am leading it. This was hard because it was an entirely unknown AO (Area of Operations). So for ten days, I rolled with a Navy EOD team. These guys were great and one was from up the road in Vancouver, WA. We got to go all over the place and see lots of big explosions. And we got to get lost a few times at night. We heard a fire fight one night but I guess it was from across the river. And I almost had to shoot a cow. The damn thing started to charge. Thankfully, I didn't have to shoot a cow and scare the two little girls that were walking with it but had to run off when a HUMVEE with a machine gun came down the road. I swear, there were some tight roads in these villages. Its all dirt roads randomly laid down. Crazy for navigation. One night we were up for 27 hours. Tracks had dug up 300 artillery rounds with a whole lot more other stuff. That night it got down to 28 degrees. I couldn't feel my toes.
Anyway, I am sorry for the crazy email. I have to get back to work tomorrow but tonight I have the night off. Happy New year! I think I will go to bed soon. I'm pretty tired. We got done with our movement around 0630 this morning and I finally went to sleep around 0800. Well, I should be in good comm with everyone until I have to go back out again.
Again, thank you all for everything. I love you all. Take care
Greg"
Here are some more pics from my buddy, Greg, in Iraq and his latest e-mail.
"hey all,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (I know its late) Thank you for all the well wishes and food and cards and packages and thoughts. They bring a little color to this drab place.
I am back in Fallujah right now. The operation we took part in I guess was a success. I just had dinner and watched a little football on the TV in the chow hall. I am completely full. I was only getting about two MRE's a day out there and I never really ate the whole thing. So, the chow hall food is taking a toll on me right now.
If you were wondering what I was doing out there, here is the skinny; Bravo was out providing artillery support for some sweep and clear ops by tanks, AAV's, and some Recon companies. What I got to do was provide security for the Explosive Ordinance Disposal techs. This job took me all over the place; from the open desert to the farm land right up against the river. It also got me lost in the middle of the night in strange places. But that was my fault. I was in charge of the convoy and security. This was a little jarring at first because the day we got to our position, the XO says to me that I need to get a security team up and ready for EOD and that I am leading it. This was hard because it was an entirely unknown AO (Area of Operations). So for ten days, I rolled with a Navy EOD team. These guys were great and one was from up the road in Vancouver, WA. We got to go all over the place and see lots of big explosions. And we got to get lost a few times at night. We heard a fire fight one night but I guess it was from across the river. And I almost had to shoot a cow. The damn thing started to charge. Thankfully, I didn't have to shoot a cow and scare the two little girls that were walking with it but had to run off when a HUMVEE with a machine gun came down the road. I swear, there were some tight roads in these villages. Its all dirt roads randomly laid down. Crazy for navigation. One night we were up for 27 hours. Tracks had dug up 300 artillery rounds with a whole lot more other stuff. That night it got down to 28 degrees. I couldn't feel my toes.
Anyway, I am sorry for the crazy email. I have to get back to work tomorrow but tonight I have the night off. Happy New year! I think I will go to bed soon. I'm pretty tired. We got done with our movement around 0630 this morning and I finally went to sleep around 0800. Well, I should be in good comm with everyone until I have to go back out again.
Again, thank you all for everything. I love you all. Take care
Greg"
