What I've Seen so Far

I have been in country for 3 months now. The time has flown by; seems like yesterday that I was eating my Christmas dinner at Brassfield-Mora. Brassfield-Mora was a nice FOB (Forward Observation Base). It was really small and in a lot more hectic part of the country. But as for the FOB itself, it was rather safe and calm. We were only mortared there a few times. The number is unsure because some of them didn’t land to close to us and we had hard times knowing what was a mortar and what was just some other, not so important, explosion.

One thing that is important to understand about Brassfield-Mora and even here at Bernstein is that even though I am never in much danger, except for the mortar occasionally, there are men who daily are going out on missions risking their lives for our safety. They go out and don’t receive any glory for what they do, but it is them who deserve the praise. One would constantly here stories about convoys that would go out and they would constantly get attacked by small arms (AK 47), RPG’s (Rocket Propelled Grenades), and IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices).

I remember one day sitting in line for the MWR, were we use the phone and computers, and a young soldier, 19, was talking about what has happened in his short time in country. Here is a kid, only out of basic for a few months, placed in a unit headed to Iraq (3rd Infantry Division), placed on a Colt team to perform a mission which he wasn’t trained for specifically, given a ROE (Rules of Engagement) that benefits the enemy more then the soldier, and he spoke of being shot at more then he could count. That is simply amazing to me and I look up to him for his service.

I’m much like a cook or the guy at the gate pulling guard. My mission as artillery is to support the guys doing the missions out on the streets. They are the true heroes. The only thing I do that is hard is being away from my loved ones, but even the business man has to do that. So don’t become complacent to the combat that is happening over here because of my writing. I can only write about what I see and for some reason God has given me a pretty easy trip.

While I was at Brassfield-Mora I didn’t get to see much. I sat in a tower that over watched the city but the people were pretty normal to us. Not in what they did, but how they lived. They woke up in the morning around 5 to 6 and were heading off to their jobs shortly after. Some drove out of the city to there employer, others stayed in the large city of Samarra. There was a large oil refinery that employed a lot of people, many were farmers, and many were shepherds (a career that I really enjoyed watching and seeing work), and others had jobs in service I’m sure. But other than the general not much was seen that was so amazing to talk about, except the religious building.

In Samarra there are two main religious buildings: Stairway to Heaven and Golden Mosk. Both are important to the religious people of the city but the Stairway to Heaven is one that is important to the whole Muslim community. I have noticed that the Muslims are much like the Christian community of the world. They have one core beliefs that they hold to that makes them all one faith, but they have a huge amount of doctrinal differences that cause them to separate. For some reason the Sunni people were the ones who found favor in the former dictator Sadam Hussein and they have the more astounding mosk such as the Golden Mosk. The Stairway to Heaven (common name given among U.S. soldiers) is a far more important religious object that is important to all of the denotations of the Muslims. It is believed to be the Tower of Babel, which is talked about in the post-Flood chapters of Genesis. Of course they know as well as everyone that it isn’t the original tower, but it is one of the most cherished buildings in the Muslim Faith.

Since I've been to Bernstein, which is out side of the city Tues (not sure on proper spelling) and roughly 75 miles away from Iran, I haven’t seen as much in structural objects, even though there is a very nice mosk in the city but nothing compared to the mosk of Samarra, but I have been blessed to see many more of the people and even able to speak so some of them.

One of the nice things about being at Bernstein in that we are with 278th people and that basically factors down to the fact that they are good country people for the most part. At Brassfield-Mora the interpreters were treated as outsiders by both the 1st and 3rd Infantry Divisions. Here they are accepted. They eat chow with us and talk to us like we are one of them and them one of us. The coolest thing is that when I went to the Chaplin’s service I got to actually meet my first Iraqi’s. They are Christians and they told us that there are many Christian churches in Tues. I was shocked at first but they said that Sadam didn’t have a problem with the Christians because they are a peaceable people who didn’t cause problems, unlike the other Muslim sects: Kurds and Shiites. I saw how that fit well with what Paul and Peter taught about obeying the government and why it was that Sadam wouldn’t worry to much with such a small group of people.

Then a mission came down and a few men were requested from my battery. I was chosen for the mission and I was ready to go. I had long waited for my chance to get out and see something. Our mission was a simple one of escorting personal from this FOB to another. It was an amazing trip that I hope not to soon forget. Driving though Tues was a blast. People filled the streets and sidewalks. One thing I found odd was that along the street hundreds of cars were lined up for some reason. I came to find out that they were waiting of gas. Crazy that a country that has so much petroleum would have a problem with fuel but there must have only been one gas station in the whole town. The price for fuel was about 50 cents, American money, pre a gallon. But due to the lack of stations people might have to wait in line for hours upon hours and sometimes the station would close for the night and you might find your spending the night on the street waiting for it to open the next day. The sad thing is that there are these men who go to the gas station and buy a bunch of gas and put it into these plastic jugs and then sell it on the side of the road. They sell a gallon, which should be 50 cents, for around $3. In the states one might find that good business practice but here it is just a devilish method of ripping people off because they don’t have much of a choice; wait in line the whole day or get ripped off horribly. Another thing that makes it so repulsive is that it is clearly against the law and yet they do it right along the street. There is no law enforcement in the country so people do as they wish.

As we continued along to the destination we went though many small little villages. One of the most amazing things I saw as I journeyed though these towns was children running to the road to give is thumbs up. Children playing games would stop, children riding there bikes would lay them down, children a hundred meters off the road would come running just go give us a thumbs up. I think that says a lot. This is the future of this country and by some grace of God they have found favor in us. I'm not saying that we are some great people and that the world deserves to praise us for anything, but I believe this task is just and it is good to see that so many agree, because if the parents didn’t like us the children wouldn’t like us. So the next time you hear some one say how these people don’t want the U.S. here, ask them, “When was the last time was you talked to the people of Iraq, or even just simply drove though the towns?” Because I have talked to them (I have had two say they love my America and wish to come to my country…as if it were mine or something), I have seen them, and they like the Americans and are grateful for what we are doing. Yeah, they are ready for us to leave and for them to take over of their own county, but they know why we are here and are glad we are here. It is like everything though, a few bad apples will ruin the bunch, and that is all it is—just a few who don’t like us and all the media does is glorify them.

So pray for these people. Pray that God will bless them in their government and if it be His good pleasure that He might give to them the salvation He offers to all. God be with all of you; your brother in HIM.