Wow, it is hard to believe, but it is 0700 on the 26th of October and I'm at Camp Shelby Mississippi. I have not seen this place in over eleven months. Honestly, when I left here I would have said, “I hope I never have to see this place again.” But now I’ll tell you that I love the look of this Mississippi paradise.
My whole trip went well. On the 25th at 035 we were scheduled to load a civilian flight which would take us north into Europe and then over Greenland and down though parts of Canada to some where in the US, and then to our final destination of Gulf Port, Mississippi. The process started at 1200 on the 24th when Navy customs came and searched our check baggage. We laid all of our stuff out on cots and they went though to make sure we didn’t have any thing not allowed. It didn’t take to long and we got out bags packed and out side to be picked up by the truck. Those bags were some of the tightest packed bags I had ever seen. No one wanting to carry a bunch of stuff on the plain crammed those bags to the max. It worked out good for me as all I had to carry on the plain was my computer bag.
After Customs came though we went to get some lunch, but that turned out to be a hassle more then anything. SGT Bryant, SPC Bridges, and myself went to get something to eat and came back and chowed down to make sure we weren’t late for anything that might come up. They told us we would be heading to Camp Ali Asaline (Kuwaiti base) at 1615. Well, guess what? We had some guys who decided not to show up early and when they called for us early we where missing personal. So the three of us who came back early were chosen to go look for those missing. We walked up to the shopping and MWR area looking for the missing troops—none to be found. We knew we didn’t have much time so we headed back to find that they had already returned and were waiting on us. They said we had four minutes to get back or they would have been leaving us, but nothing goes that smoothly in the National Guard and we were there for some time making sure we had correct numbers and everyone was present.
We loaded the bus and headed out. It wasn’t a bad trip but it did feel kind of strange. We had already turned in our ammo so on our trip though Kuwait all we had was an unloaded M4, not even knives or bayonets—they had to be put in check baggage which was on a different truck. But Kuwait isn't really that big of a deal. The bus ride lasted for about an hour or so and we were at Camp Ali Asaline. When we got there they gave us our briefings and then swiped our ID cards, showing that we were preparing to leave southwest Asia. We had to go though customs again for our carry on bags and then we waited for the time. Loaded another bus and headed to Kuwait City.
We got to Kuwait City and loaded the plain and took off to Shannon, Ireland. It was a good flight. I slept as much as I could of it. We made it to Ireland adding a new country to my list of those been to. Up until this deployment I had never left the forty-eight continental states. Now I have been to Germany, Kuwait, Iraq, and Ireland. After the plane had been fueled and restocked we loaded and took off to Banger, Maine. What a treat that was.
As we were coming down the hallway to the main lobby we were greeted by thirty or so people. Many of them Vets of real war such as Korea, Vietnam, and WW II. We were in the presence of some true heroes, and they were there to greet us. A group dedicated to returning soldiers has taken a room of the airport and used it as a welcoming center. They had drinks and cookies in there for us to eat and enjoy. The best thing was that they had about fifteen cell phones they were letting everyone use. Everyone was allowed to call home using them no matter where they were from in the states. It was a very special gift, their expression of kindness and love for the little service we have returned from. Then they called our number and it was time to load up once again for our final leg in the air as we headed to Gulf Port.
We pulled in and started to off load the plain and were greeted and welcomed home by a Major General and a Sergeant Major as the band played in the back ground. A small group of wives drove all the way to Gulf Port to meet their husbands and it was a good sight to see as they were reunited. We had a short formation and speech from the General and we got on the bus and moved north on our way to Camp Shelby. Got there and turned in our weapons, moved in the direction of our housing, and were welcomed by another group of wives, children, mothers and fathers. It was such a joy to see so many men returned to their loved ones. The First Sergeants got us to off load our baggage as fast as possible and we had our last formation so that the men could head to the hotels with their families.
It has been a long process. I have learned a lot; about life and myself both. I now have another ten to fifteen days left to SRP, which is getting changed back to National Guard from regular Army, and to wait on a bus to take us home. I hope to make it home as soon as possible so that I might be reunited to my friends and family, for good I hope. I am anxious to be going to Arizona to see my mom in Mesa for Thanksgiving. It will be right at 17 months that I haven’t seen her.
My days are all most over and my new adventure will start. Things aren’t as sure as I was hoping as I still have not heard from Georgetown College, but I am trusting in the Lord; that He is guiding my steps. I want to thank all of you for all of your prayers. They have been by far the greatest gifts anyone could have given. I don’t know where I would have been with out the hand of the Lord correcting me in my error if your prayers had not been with me. Nothing bad happened to me this entire deployment. I went out saying I was bullet proof, trusting in the Lord, and it turned out that it was more than that as He was always with me. In the rainy season it rained without end it seemed, yet there was never a time that it rained on me; when I didn’t have a cover of some sort to protect…where as most of my group will have the stories of being soaked while on the Brassfield-Mora OP. I never suffered any sever injury. A few colds along the way are the worst things that I can ever claim to. God has been kind and I praise Him for His mercy. Thank you once again, you who have prayed for me and encouraged me with your words and actions. May the God of grace, hope, and peace grant you with the blessings that I have enjoyed over the last sixteen months.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Monday, October 24, 2005
Leaving Today
I need to be brief because my time on the net is limited, but I wanted to let you have a little update. At the moment I am in Kuwait at Camp Victory. I flew out of FOB Bernstein on a Schnook and headed to Camp Warrior on the 21st. We left Camp Warrior on the 22nd and arrived here in Kuwait. All went well on both the helicopter ride and the C130 flight. The C130 flight was a little interesting when we had one or our engines go out. No worries though as the other three were enough to get us safely to our destination. To day we will go into lock down and have our baggage searched for any contraband. At some point we will be headed to Kuwait City to load a civilian jet which is scheduled to take off at 035 (1235am) on the 25th. Only about a day and a half and I'll be back on US soil. I cant wait. It has been a long trip.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Last Days
My time in Iraq is coming close to an end. Day from now I will be loading a Schnook and heading to Warrior, a base, to which I will then load a plain and head to Kuwait. We are so close to the end. Though the days are near the end, they are not over. Yesterday evening we were hit with a mortar which was a strong reminder. Lying on my cot I heard a loud hum. When I heard the sound I knew we were being hit with indirect. I wasn’t afraid though. When you hear a rocket or mortar coming you are usually pretty save, as you hear it when if flies over you. Then a split second later…boom! It hit. It was rather loud. I'm use to being in a bunker when it hits, but at the moment I'm staying in tents. But we aren’t that vulnerable as we have huge concrete barriers around us. None the less it was extremely loud. I got up, put my computer to the side, got my IBA (Individual Body Armor) and caviler on, and went out side to see where it hit. Most everyone was outside looking for the impact site and they said it hit in a field to the west of us and no one was hurt. So I went back to my cot to finish my movie. In the end it was no real big deal. Found out later the located point of impact and it was about 150 meters from our location. The kill radius of the mortar they used was only about 30 meters or so. So we were in no real threat. Yet, it was a reminder that we are still here and danger is still possible.
Around a week ago we had a convoy out on a mission and they were hit with an IED (Improvised Explosive Devise) hurting two members of our Eliminator group. That is the same group that lost three members in one IED attack back in August, one being from the Sparta unit. One had shrapnel to the head and one to the arm. No real reports were announced to us, but they did say that both made it. Not in our AO (Area of Operation), but in the AO of Third Squadron a soldier was killed by an IED last week.
It is a shame to lose a soldier, no matter when, but it does seem a little harder to lose one so close to the end. We have made it this far. But the time is almost over.
Around a week ago we had a convoy out on a mission and they were hit with an IED (Improvised Explosive Devise) hurting two members of our Eliminator group. That is the same group that lost three members in one IED attack back in August, one being from the Sparta unit. One had shrapnel to the head and one to the arm. No real reports were announced to us, but they did say that both made it. Not in our AO (Area of Operation), but in the AO of Third Squadron a soldier was killed by an IED last week.
It is a shame to lose a soldier, no matter when, but it does seem a little harder to lose one so close to the end. We have made it this far. But the time is almost over.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Anaconda
Well, at the moment I’m laying in my rack listening to Reliant K. It is 1705 and I'm pretty worn out. I woke up this morning at 09 and didn’t go to sleep until 0630 after lying in bed for an hour and a half trying to sleep, but things were just filling my head keeping me awake. When I woke up at 09 I used the latrine and headed back to bed for more sleep as I was still worn down pretty bad from a long night. But again, thoughts filled my head and sleep was not going to happen. After lying in bed thinking about grand things I finally got up at 1100 and headed to the showers to get up and ready for the day. On my way there I came to see that the shower was closed for cleaning so I just headed to the latrine to shave and clean up as best I could.
So ready to do what I needed to do I headed to the PX, the military store, to pick up some needed stuff, stuff I needed to mail home. After getting everything I went to the Post Office and sent my stuff to the Hill of Sugar. It was still kind of early, about 2ish, so I went to the MWR and got on the computers and talked to Nancy. We chatted for a while and then I made my way to the gym to shoot. My game isn’t very good, but better then when I first got here. Last night playing in a game I hurt my heal, not sure what is wrong with it but if I move my ankle fully extended it hurts pretty bad, so jumping wasn’t to good for it. Odd turns and high pressure aren’t good either. Plus my bad knees aren't holding up well after so many days streight of playing. So I took it easy and then I finished out with a good brick.
Then I went back to the PX and got some OJ and the CD I'm listening to now. Now on track three…not to bad, but I like K. So now I'm about dead, physically, after playing ball last night for three hours and staying up all night and then only getting two and a half hours of sleep. But mentally, I'm wide awake and even if I wanted to go to sleep, all I would do is lay here and think. Which wouldn’t be bad, most thoughts are pretty good ones. But I guess here in about an hour I’ll walk down and get some chow. On my way back I might stop at the Internet Café and post this blog, other wise it will be a day late, but that wouldn’t bother me to much.
I'm hoping to be heading back to Bernstein in the next couple of days. I have been here way to long, thirteen days now. And I've been away from my FOB for a month and five days. If rumors are true and I’ll be home around the 15 of November; then I should only have about 55 days left. That seems like so far off, but less then two months. Compared to the 9 months I spent on the front end of my tour before leave that isn’t much at all. But coming home was so amazing and refreshing.
I tend to forget the blessings of home when I’m there: going to church, when ever I want to just to hang out and not only on Sundays; going out to eat with friends, and it be okay to just sit there for an hour or so and talk and the food be good; driving for hours back and forth to Atlanta and it being one of the best days of all; eating dinner with my family in Christ; talking to Dustin for an hour at two in the morning when he comes in from spending the evening with Anna; getting to see such a couple as them in love; sitting though the edifying teaching of Sam in Sunday school; sitting in Tim’s office and chatting like we use to; discussing the current events with Angie; playing games in Erin’s new and awesome room with cool friends; eating the Miller’s food; getting to pick up some one who can’t drive yet at 6:30 in the morning for prayer breakfast; no-school day; beating my Aunt in ping-pong; talking to my mom on the phone with out a delay after every word; spending a day with my family and meeting my newest cousin; going to poets and buying frozen chi and hanging out in the bookstore; telling Nancy something I thought was a secret; going shopping with Leah and her finding me appropriate pink clothing; listening to Rye tell me I'm not suppose to where pink; watching Kara play volleyball; seeing Caleb get sack like Josh did when he didn’t have a O line; seeing Cookeville beat the Warriors again; talking to some one about something that actually has importance; standing in the youth room talking to Kayla as if I had never left; watching Brit paint some words on the wall; surprising Nancy on my return and getting hit; surprising Leah on my return and getting hit; hiding under a cloth from Dan when I first came back; bring a gift of chicken to the Benningfield’s and King’s; seeing David Miller run his mouth over stupid stuff; to see Joel so happy with his new girlfriend; driving Doug’s huge truck during the scavenger hunt and making a few people man, sorry; spending my last morning in Sparta with two of the coolest little kids, whom I would now call friends; talking to Ronda as she tried to pry info out of me; waking up around 7 everyday and having a purpose to get up; seeing rain; being rookie of the day at corn hole as I won every game, sorry…a little prideful; eating at Red Lobster and having the worse customer service I have ever seen and listening to Erin pray for her; seeing Rye’s dorm room and meeting her friends; talking to Phuong about my plans as we waited for the girls to get done shopping; going to Atlanta and the only thing we come back with was something for someone who didn’t even go; about dieing as a trucker tried to run us into a wall, twice; about hitting Kara in Kristie’s Kia; going to Hidden Hollow and just walking around; seeing a movie on my second day back with some good friends; listening to Leah say that fake fog smells like wet feet; taking my cousin Nicki shopping, playing put-put golf and all three of us so bad that we cheat almost every hole; talking theology with my Aunt Sue on the way back for Pigeon Forge; playing disk golf and getting my “bottom” kicked hard by Josh and Lance, but beating Jojo…haha; getting my debit card unauthorized because I spent more in two weeks than in the past year; having Nancy there to back me up; having the excellent customer service people of Belk help me find something nice to wear; getting chewed out because I don’t try my clothes on before buying; finding out that I bought the wrong size and hearing, “I told you so”; Dustin taking the shirt because it fit him fine enough; me wearing his shoes for the most part of the last week; having to label all my clothes so I’ll know which ones are mine when they are all in his closet; seeing my friend’s faces; hearing my family’s voices; starting to hear what is going on in the lives of those I love; and I could go on forever.
There were some things that I didn’t like though: letting some one down by not meeting them like I said I would; seeing some one hurt by my foolish words; paying so much for gas; it being only 15 days; people standing for me in church, as if I had accomplished something; seeing a woman, who was a friend, once married to a friend of mine now living with another man; her having kids and them no longer being in church; it being as if it was no big deal, as if divorce isn’t that big of a concern, as if a man and woman’s marriage isn't a picture of Christ’s marriage to the church; having to tell so many that progress in Iraq is so slow; people trying to get political with me; seeing how Tim has no help in the youth ministry because most people at church are so lazy and they only care about themselves; hearing about the worst revival preacher to ever come to FBC and most of the church thinking he was the best thing since sliced bread; finding out that one of my good friends has an illness and she doesn’t even seem to care enough to make the preventive measures to keep it from getting bad; seeing one who I have looked up to for so long act so foolish because his plans for his son’s future aren’t going as he planned; saying good bye to everyone I love so much.
Well, as you can see the good out way the bad greatly. All in all, I don’t think a better leave could have been possible. So now I'm about to come home to leave again though, only not over the sea this time. I’ll be heading to Georgetown, God willing, in January. I'm not accepted yet, Nancy has just mailed in the paper work, but I trust that this is where God is leading and that will be further evident when I'm accepted and there. I can’t wait to start. I'm so old and so far behind, but all things are according to His good pleasure and I wouldn’t give up my past for anything in the world. The past 4 years, since my graduation, have been the best years of my life. I have learned so much and made so many friends. I don’t think I would be here now if I hadn’t been where I was then. Further showing that, “all things work to the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” So that is where I’m headed, and I can’t wait.
Okay, I’ve said enough for now so I’ll sign out. I love you guys. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A brother in Him,
So ready to do what I needed to do I headed to the PX, the military store, to pick up some needed stuff, stuff I needed to mail home. After getting everything I went to the Post Office and sent my stuff to the Hill of Sugar. It was still kind of early, about 2ish, so I went to the MWR and got on the computers and talked to Nancy. We chatted for a while and then I made my way to the gym to shoot. My game isn’t very good, but better then when I first got here. Last night playing in a game I hurt my heal, not sure what is wrong with it but if I move my ankle fully extended it hurts pretty bad, so jumping wasn’t to good for it. Odd turns and high pressure aren’t good either. Plus my bad knees aren't holding up well after so many days streight of playing. So I took it easy and then I finished out with a good brick.
Then I went back to the PX and got some OJ and the CD I'm listening to now. Now on track three…not to bad, but I like K. So now I'm about dead, physically, after playing ball last night for three hours and staying up all night and then only getting two and a half hours of sleep. But mentally, I'm wide awake and even if I wanted to go to sleep, all I would do is lay here and think. Which wouldn’t be bad, most thoughts are pretty good ones. But I guess here in about an hour I’ll walk down and get some chow. On my way back I might stop at the Internet Café and post this blog, other wise it will be a day late, but that wouldn’t bother me to much.
I'm hoping to be heading back to Bernstein in the next couple of days. I have been here way to long, thirteen days now. And I've been away from my FOB for a month and five days. If rumors are true and I’ll be home around the 15 of November; then I should only have about 55 days left. That seems like so far off, but less then two months. Compared to the 9 months I spent on the front end of my tour before leave that isn’t much at all. But coming home was so amazing and refreshing.
I tend to forget the blessings of home when I’m there: going to church, when ever I want to just to hang out and not only on Sundays; going out to eat with friends, and it be okay to just sit there for an hour or so and talk and the food be good; driving for hours back and forth to Atlanta and it being one of the best days of all; eating dinner with my family in Christ; talking to Dustin for an hour at two in the morning when he comes in from spending the evening with Anna; getting to see such a couple as them in love; sitting though the edifying teaching of Sam in Sunday school; sitting in Tim’s office and chatting like we use to; discussing the current events with Angie; playing games in Erin’s new and awesome room with cool friends; eating the Miller’s food; getting to pick up some one who can’t drive yet at 6:30 in the morning for prayer breakfast; no-school day; beating my Aunt in ping-pong; talking to my mom on the phone with out a delay after every word; spending a day with my family and meeting my newest cousin; going to poets and buying frozen chi and hanging out in the bookstore; telling Nancy something I thought was a secret; going shopping with Leah and her finding me appropriate pink clothing; listening to Rye tell me I'm not suppose to where pink; watching Kara play volleyball; seeing Caleb get sack like Josh did when he didn’t have a O line; seeing Cookeville beat the Warriors again; talking to some one about something that actually has importance; standing in the youth room talking to Kayla as if I had never left; watching Brit paint some words on the wall; surprising Nancy on my return and getting hit; surprising Leah on my return and getting hit; hiding under a cloth from Dan when I first came back; bring a gift of chicken to the Benningfield’s and King’s; seeing David Miller run his mouth over stupid stuff; to see Joel so happy with his new girlfriend; driving Doug’s huge truck during the scavenger hunt and making a few people man, sorry; spending my last morning in Sparta with two of the coolest little kids, whom I would now call friends; talking to Ronda as she tried to pry info out of me; waking up around 7 everyday and having a purpose to get up; seeing rain; being rookie of the day at corn hole as I won every game, sorry…a little prideful; eating at Red Lobster and having the worse customer service I have ever seen and listening to Erin pray for her; seeing Rye’s dorm room and meeting her friends; talking to Phuong about my plans as we waited for the girls to get done shopping; going to Atlanta and the only thing we come back with was something for someone who didn’t even go; about dieing as a trucker tried to run us into a wall, twice; about hitting Kara in Kristie’s Kia; going to Hidden Hollow and just walking around; seeing a movie on my second day back with some good friends; listening to Leah say that fake fog smells like wet feet; taking my cousin Nicki shopping, playing put-put golf and all three of us so bad that we cheat almost every hole; talking theology with my Aunt Sue on the way back for Pigeon Forge; playing disk golf and getting my “bottom” kicked hard by Josh and Lance, but beating Jojo…haha; getting my debit card unauthorized because I spent more in two weeks than in the past year; having Nancy there to back me up; having the excellent customer service people of Belk help me find something nice to wear; getting chewed out because I don’t try my clothes on before buying; finding out that I bought the wrong size and hearing, “I told you so”; Dustin taking the shirt because it fit him fine enough; me wearing his shoes for the most part of the last week; having to label all my clothes so I’ll know which ones are mine when they are all in his closet; seeing my friend’s faces; hearing my family’s voices; starting to hear what is going on in the lives of those I love; and I could go on forever.
There were some things that I didn’t like though: letting some one down by not meeting them like I said I would; seeing some one hurt by my foolish words; paying so much for gas; it being only 15 days; people standing for me in church, as if I had accomplished something; seeing a woman, who was a friend, once married to a friend of mine now living with another man; her having kids and them no longer being in church; it being as if it was no big deal, as if divorce isn’t that big of a concern, as if a man and woman’s marriage isn't a picture of Christ’s marriage to the church; having to tell so many that progress in Iraq is so slow; people trying to get political with me; seeing how Tim has no help in the youth ministry because most people at church are so lazy and they only care about themselves; hearing about the worst revival preacher to ever come to FBC and most of the church thinking he was the best thing since sliced bread; finding out that one of my good friends has an illness and she doesn’t even seem to care enough to make the preventive measures to keep it from getting bad; seeing one who I have looked up to for so long act so foolish because his plans for his son’s future aren’t going as he planned; saying good bye to everyone I love so much.
Well, as you can see the good out way the bad greatly. All in all, I don’t think a better leave could have been possible. So now I'm about to come home to leave again though, only not over the sea this time. I’ll be heading to Georgetown, God willing, in January. I'm not accepted yet, Nancy has just mailed in the paper work, but I trust that this is where God is leading and that will be further evident when I'm accepted and there. I can’t wait to start. I'm so old and so far behind, but all things are according to His good pleasure and I wouldn’t give up my past for anything in the world. The past 4 years, since my graduation, have been the best years of my life. I have learned so much and made so many friends. I don’t think I would be here now if I hadn’t been where I was then. Further showing that, “all things work to the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” So that is where I’m headed, and I can’t wait.
Okay, I’ve said enough for now so I’ll sign out. I love you guys. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A brother in Him,
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
I'm Almost There
Well, I have made it to Kuwait. It was a good flight, though very long. Don't have much to say, I'll try to write more when time allows. I love you guys and thanks for the best 15 days ever.
Your brother in Christ,
Your brother in Christ,
Thursday, June 02, 2005
The Days Seem to be Getting Worse
Well, this isn't a good story. Thing sure have started to get crazy lately. IED's are on the rise. We've been hit with indirect twice, one only being about a week ago. A while back, maybe 10 days, a VBIED hit the mayors office of Tuz and caused some damage, killing 4 and injuring 9. Today another VBIED hit. I'm not sure on the location. Some have said the mayors house but the latest story is showing that it was at a local cafe. Again no soldiers were killed. I'm not sure on the details of the story. But the info that is coming out is that between 20 and 30 people were killed. I don't know the numbers of IA to civilian. But that is a lot of deaths. Again the trend seems to be that the insurgents have moved the majority of their attacks away from US soldiers and have started to attack there own people.
It seems that the current deaths in this country, resulting from attacks, have been on normal everyday civilian. So I ask that you pray for the people of this providence, and the whole country, and that you would ask God to deliver them from the terror that is around them. God bless you all-
It seems that the current deaths in this country, resulting from attacks, have been on normal everyday civilian. So I ask that you pray for the people of this providence, and the whole country, and that you would ask God to deliver them from the terror that is around them. God bless you all-
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
I Have Finally Written and I Have a Little to Say
Well, unfortunately the internet has gone out so I guess I will find this a good opportunity to write about things that have happened since the last time I wrote. I wish that I had not taken so long because so much of what has happened I’m sure I have forgot. But anyways let me begin.
About a month ago or so on one Wednesday night a brother in Christ was baptized at the Peacemaker Chapel. As awesome as it was that our brother followed in his commitment to the Lord, it was so amazing that he was an Iraqi. I don’t know his real name, nor could I type it if I did because I would be putting him and his family at risk, but we call him Joseph and he is one of our interpreters. He is of the Assyrian community which is a long line of Christians who hold to the Orthodox and Catholic tradition. He was a believer before coming to the Peacemaker Chapel but had never followed in a believer’s baptism. He had only been baptized as a baby by the sprinkling of water.
So we had our service and then we gathered around a makeshift pool that the Chaplin used to submerge him. It was a good time. There were about 14 of us present and afterward we gathered as we always do and sang amazing grace as we held hands. I thank God that there are men in this county like Joseph, who are willing to follow his Lord in a commitment such as baptism. He was worried to some degree though to the fact of finding a wife, as are many of our interpreters who are believers in Him. We take it for granted how luck we are in America not only to have our religious freedoms, but that so many wonderful Christian women are out there for us to marry, God willing. In this county the men are not nearly as lucky.
For the most part this county’s people fall under the sects of Muslim, as I’m sure most of you know. The government has never been a threat to the Christianity of Iraq. Christianity teaches peace and submission to government so during Saddam’s reign the Christian community kept the peace and Saddam repaid them by not persecuting them. But the common folk of Iraq are different. The times are changing and religious freedoms are becoming more and more every day, but there are still the radicals who wish to destroy everything that is not their own. So the Christians of Iraq must to some degree hide their faith until they felt led by the Lord to share it. Not only are their very lives threatened by some one knowing there allegiance but so are there families. So with such a threat a man seeking a wife in a culture where marriages are arranged is something that is almost impossible. Some men even have to hide their faith from there family, there father, who is the one responsible for choosing the bride. So pray for these men who have been given a new life. Ask God to give them protection, clear testimonies, and a possibility to marry a woman who loves the Lord as they do. As for the women, in this culture women never leave the side of a male relative or a trusted friend of the family so I have only been able to meet a few and I am forbidden to talk directly with them as this is a sign of disrespect toward the man. Though I have never met them I am sure that the Christian women posses the same hard ships as the men in this county, so may God give both of them strength and peace in such a difficult place.
Now let me tell you a story that only few have ever heard. It is the legend of the fobbit. You may ask what a fobbit is, but know that many of them are out there. Some of you have heard of hobbits. But a fobbit is a far more hated thing. In the far off land of Iraq there are solders that go to fight. But some of them never get to see the battle, but live in their little holes while others go out and avenge the evil of this far off land. The thing that is so amazing about a fobbit is that it was once just like a normal man. To look at him you would never notice the difference. But very different is a fobbit from a normal man. Not is strength, nor in character, but in service. The places where men go to live, in Iraq, while they fight against the evil men who lie in the sand waiting for there opportunity to kill, are called FOB’s, and a FOB is nothing more then a base with a fancy name, Forward Observation Base.
And so there is where you get the name of the hideous thing we call fobbits. They are men who are not given the opportunity, or who are too scared, to go out of these sand mounds which protect us. And before my very eyes I was being transformed into this nasty varmint. But thanks to the power of darkness (the night) and the need of light I was renewed back into my old self. We were going on a night mission to provide illume support for one of our teams which was to go in and search for an insurgent. As we drove though the gate I could feel my normal human strength being given back to me. We went out and set up and waited. Then they decided they needed illume support in another part of the our AO so we moved out again and then finally at the break of day they said our help was no longer needed and we moved back the FOB to get some rest after a long night. We never got to shoot, but at least we had left the FOB, if only for a short 7 hours and I was no longer in the fobbit transformation stage. And the guy they were after they found and brought back for questioning.
Then a couple of days later another mission was planned and this was one in which we knew we would fire. For this one we headed north to an area outside of Dakuik. It is a smaller city then TUZ, but still of decent size. We set up and were ready to shoot. We had some problems with the communication so it took longer to shoot then we would have liked. The purpose of the mission was to train and to hit an area close to the training camp of some who we don’t like. They have not yet done anything warranting a full blown attack but we wanted to send some TNT their way to let them know we are watching them. I think when they heard the explosion—they got our point.
The location we were at was a nice place and I was unfortunate in not having my camera with me on that day. Because of the dryness of the land a huge waterway has been built. I don’t know the correct name for it, but it looks like an aqueduct from what I know of them. It was about 20 feet wide with embankment that could be walked down. It didn’t look to deep, but I was wrong. After sitting in one place for so long our large size gained the notice of some local youths. Three kids, ages 13, 14, and 15 years old, came up and started talking to me. They didn’t speak well but knew the words for the stuff they wanted. All they did as we sat there was ask for water, food, candy, and American money. If these kids have learned anything from America it is greed. But I doubt it is an American thing since all of the Iraqi Army guys I have worked with do nothing but bag for stuff too. But they were good kids and then eventually went swimming in the waterway. I said early that I thought it shallow but I was wrong, and I saw that as the younger two started diving into the water.
Well, after a short swim, which I wish I could have enjoyed, we started talking and I finally gave in and gave them some water to drink. See, when we are sitting in a place we can’t give stuff out because we don’t want a crowd to gather around us, not even children. In this country it is no odd thing for them to use children as a means of killing Americans. I was weary of having the children come close to me but I thought it better for them to be near me then to be near any of the others tracks. But once they got up close to us, and even more so after they went swimming, I could see that they had nothing to cause me any damage.
Now it was time to fire the guns. I told the youths to hold there ears as it got ready to fire. It was pretty loud and the youths enjoyed the show. They were waiting to hear and see the explosion, but since we were shooting at a target about 25000 meters away seeing and hearing was not going to happen. But we were using a rocket assisted round which at about 20 second after firing you will hear a loud hiss sound as the rocket kicks in, and the kids like that. The one gun raid had finally finished firing its eight rounds and we were ready to move out. The children after seeing the show were ready to return home receiving nothing. So as they were leaving I climbed down and got a MRE for each of them and they returned running fast. I handed then out to them and they were pretty happy and thanked me and they were off.
On the same day that we were out firing an explosion happened in Tuz. Some one had made a VBIED (Vehicle Borne IED) and had hit the mayor’s office. From the stories I got four people had died and some were officials of the mayor’s office. The mayor himself was not hurt but some 9 people were. From a friend of mine on location, blood was everywhere. He is a deputy in the civilian world and he said it was one of the worst things he had ever seen. The group that he is apart of missed the blast by only a few seconds, thankfully they hadn’t left any earlier then they had. No US Forces were hurt in the blast, and the VBIED driver was killed in the blast.
A couple of days later another mission came down. One of the longest ones yet, it lasted from 0200 to 1000. I was not one of the lucky ones who got to go on this one so I don’t really have much to say about it but that as they were entering the FOB an explosion happened to the southwest of the FOB. It wasn’t that big of a deal for me but that it came from the direction of Tower One, one of our towers. I saw that the SOG, Sergeant of the Guard, was up there at that location so I wasn’t too worried about it. Come to find out the explosion was an IED that had been set up on the road to our south. Thankfully, our group was coming in the north side of the FOB this time. The IED that blow up didn’t hurt anyone but did destroy one of the Hum-V’s.
A day or so after that a solder was killed. I don’t know the full extent of the story because it happened not in Peacemaker Territory but in Warrior Country which is 1st Squadron AO. The story I heard is that a Hum-V was traveling down the road and a taxi stopped in the middle of the road and made a U-turn right in front of them causing the driver to slam on the breaks and turn to try to avoid it. As he was doing so the Hum-V started to tip till if finally flipped all the way over. The soldier who died was the gunner and the impact of the Hum-V on top of him as it flipped over was too much resulting in him loosing his life. I don’t know the soldier, and if I did I wouldn’t but it on here, but I do ask that you pray for the family that is grieving over their loss.
Then this last Sunday I was at church and one of the Majors was telling the Chaplin that another IED had hit that morning and one of the soldiers was hit with shrapnel in either the arm or leg. It wasn’t a major problem and one of the local docs took care of the problem and he was good to return to duty.
Later on that day I was on Tower Five pulling my duty and I heard a small explosion to the back of me. I couldn’t tell what it was or from where it came but I was waiting for one of the Towers in the Southern sector of the FOB to call it in. So as I was looking back monitoring the radio-BOOM- what I thought was a mortar landed about 300 meters from my location. I called it up to the Main Gate and Peacemaker X with is the main guys in charge. All of a sudden a Hum-V shoes up and tells us we have to go do crater analysis. My new Chief, SGT. Linebarger, and CPL Crawley take off and go to the site. They get there and send in the info. It turned out not to be a mortar but a rocket fired from about 3 miles away. The blast didn’t hurt anyone as it landed a good ways away from any thing. But I must say it was the most excitement I have had since I got here. Getting hit with rockets and mortars was something common at Brassfield-Mora, but here, those things don’t usually happen. As weird as it is to say, it was kind of fun. It made my day a little better having some excitement that didn’t hurt anyone.
That was a couple of days ago and not much has happened since then. Sorry it took so long to write, but for a long time there wasn’t anything to say, and once the stuff started coming, I just didn’t have much time. I’ll try to be better about it from now on.
DISCLAIMER: To all who are fobbits-no disrespect meant.
About a month ago or so on one Wednesday night a brother in Christ was baptized at the Peacemaker Chapel. As awesome as it was that our brother followed in his commitment to the Lord, it was so amazing that he was an Iraqi. I don’t know his real name, nor could I type it if I did because I would be putting him and his family at risk, but we call him Joseph and he is one of our interpreters. He is of the Assyrian community which is a long line of Christians who hold to the Orthodox and Catholic tradition. He was a believer before coming to the Peacemaker Chapel but had never followed in a believer’s baptism. He had only been baptized as a baby by the sprinkling of water.
So we had our service and then we gathered around a makeshift pool that the Chaplin used to submerge him. It was a good time. There were about 14 of us present and afterward we gathered as we always do and sang amazing grace as we held hands. I thank God that there are men in this county like Joseph, who are willing to follow his Lord in a commitment such as baptism. He was worried to some degree though to the fact of finding a wife, as are many of our interpreters who are believers in Him. We take it for granted how luck we are in America not only to have our religious freedoms, but that so many wonderful Christian women are out there for us to marry, God willing. In this county the men are not nearly as lucky.
For the most part this county’s people fall under the sects of Muslim, as I’m sure most of you know. The government has never been a threat to the Christianity of Iraq. Christianity teaches peace and submission to government so during Saddam’s reign the Christian community kept the peace and Saddam repaid them by not persecuting them. But the common folk of Iraq are different. The times are changing and religious freedoms are becoming more and more every day, but there are still the radicals who wish to destroy everything that is not their own. So the Christians of Iraq must to some degree hide their faith until they felt led by the Lord to share it. Not only are their very lives threatened by some one knowing there allegiance but so are there families. So with such a threat a man seeking a wife in a culture where marriages are arranged is something that is almost impossible. Some men even have to hide their faith from there family, there father, who is the one responsible for choosing the bride. So pray for these men who have been given a new life. Ask God to give them protection, clear testimonies, and a possibility to marry a woman who loves the Lord as they do. As for the women, in this culture women never leave the side of a male relative or a trusted friend of the family so I have only been able to meet a few and I am forbidden to talk directly with them as this is a sign of disrespect toward the man. Though I have never met them I am sure that the Christian women posses the same hard ships as the men in this county, so may God give both of them strength and peace in such a difficult place.
Now let me tell you a story that only few have ever heard. It is the legend of the fobbit. You may ask what a fobbit is, but know that many of them are out there. Some of you have heard of hobbits. But a fobbit is a far more hated thing. In the far off land of Iraq there are solders that go to fight. But some of them never get to see the battle, but live in their little holes while others go out and avenge the evil of this far off land. The thing that is so amazing about a fobbit is that it was once just like a normal man. To look at him you would never notice the difference. But very different is a fobbit from a normal man. Not is strength, nor in character, but in service. The places where men go to live, in Iraq, while they fight against the evil men who lie in the sand waiting for there opportunity to kill, are called FOB’s, and a FOB is nothing more then a base with a fancy name, Forward Observation Base.
And so there is where you get the name of the hideous thing we call fobbits. They are men who are not given the opportunity, or who are too scared, to go out of these sand mounds which protect us. And before my very eyes I was being transformed into this nasty varmint. But thanks to the power of darkness (the night) and the need of light I was renewed back into my old self. We were going on a night mission to provide illume support for one of our teams which was to go in and search for an insurgent. As we drove though the gate I could feel my normal human strength being given back to me. We went out and set up and waited. Then they decided they needed illume support in another part of the our AO so we moved out again and then finally at the break of day they said our help was no longer needed and we moved back the FOB to get some rest after a long night. We never got to shoot, but at least we had left the FOB, if only for a short 7 hours and I was no longer in the fobbit transformation stage. And the guy they were after they found and brought back for questioning.
Then a couple of days later another mission was planned and this was one in which we knew we would fire. For this one we headed north to an area outside of Dakuik. It is a smaller city then TUZ, but still of decent size. We set up and were ready to shoot. We had some problems with the communication so it took longer to shoot then we would have liked. The purpose of the mission was to train and to hit an area close to the training camp of some who we don’t like. They have not yet done anything warranting a full blown attack but we wanted to send some TNT their way to let them know we are watching them. I think when they heard the explosion—they got our point.
The location we were at was a nice place and I was unfortunate in not having my camera with me on that day. Because of the dryness of the land a huge waterway has been built. I don’t know the correct name for it, but it looks like an aqueduct from what I know of them. It was about 20 feet wide with embankment that could be walked down. It didn’t look to deep, but I was wrong. After sitting in one place for so long our large size gained the notice of some local youths. Three kids, ages 13, 14, and 15 years old, came up and started talking to me. They didn’t speak well but knew the words for the stuff they wanted. All they did as we sat there was ask for water, food, candy, and American money. If these kids have learned anything from America it is greed. But I doubt it is an American thing since all of the Iraqi Army guys I have worked with do nothing but bag for stuff too. But they were good kids and then eventually went swimming in the waterway. I said early that I thought it shallow but I was wrong, and I saw that as the younger two started diving into the water.
Well, after a short swim, which I wish I could have enjoyed, we started talking and I finally gave in and gave them some water to drink. See, when we are sitting in a place we can’t give stuff out because we don’t want a crowd to gather around us, not even children. In this country it is no odd thing for them to use children as a means of killing Americans. I was weary of having the children come close to me but I thought it better for them to be near me then to be near any of the others tracks. But once they got up close to us, and even more so after they went swimming, I could see that they had nothing to cause me any damage.
Now it was time to fire the guns. I told the youths to hold there ears as it got ready to fire. It was pretty loud and the youths enjoyed the show. They were waiting to hear and see the explosion, but since we were shooting at a target about 25000 meters away seeing and hearing was not going to happen. But we were using a rocket assisted round which at about 20 second after firing you will hear a loud hiss sound as the rocket kicks in, and the kids like that. The one gun raid had finally finished firing its eight rounds and we were ready to move out. The children after seeing the show were ready to return home receiving nothing. So as they were leaving I climbed down and got a MRE for each of them and they returned running fast. I handed then out to them and they were pretty happy and thanked me and they were off.
On the same day that we were out firing an explosion happened in Tuz. Some one had made a VBIED (Vehicle Borne IED) and had hit the mayor’s office. From the stories I got four people had died and some were officials of the mayor’s office. The mayor himself was not hurt but some 9 people were. From a friend of mine on location, blood was everywhere. He is a deputy in the civilian world and he said it was one of the worst things he had ever seen. The group that he is apart of missed the blast by only a few seconds, thankfully they hadn’t left any earlier then they had. No US Forces were hurt in the blast, and the VBIED driver was killed in the blast.
A couple of days later another mission came down. One of the longest ones yet, it lasted from 0200 to 1000. I was not one of the lucky ones who got to go on this one so I don’t really have much to say about it but that as they were entering the FOB an explosion happened to the southwest of the FOB. It wasn’t that big of a deal for me but that it came from the direction of Tower One, one of our towers. I saw that the SOG, Sergeant of the Guard, was up there at that location so I wasn’t too worried about it. Come to find out the explosion was an IED that had been set up on the road to our south. Thankfully, our group was coming in the north side of the FOB this time. The IED that blow up didn’t hurt anyone but did destroy one of the Hum-V’s.
A day or so after that a solder was killed. I don’t know the full extent of the story because it happened not in Peacemaker Territory but in Warrior Country which is 1st Squadron AO. The story I heard is that a Hum-V was traveling down the road and a taxi stopped in the middle of the road and made a U-turn right in front of them causing the driver to slam on the breaks and turn to try to avoid it. As he was doing so the Hum-V started to tip till if finally flipped all the way over. The soldier who died was the gunner and the impact of the Hum-V on top of him as it flipped over was too much resulting in him loosing his life. I don’t know the soldier, and if I did I wouldn’t but it on here, but I do ask that you pray for the family that is grieving over their loss.
Then this last Sunday I was at church and one of the Majors was telling the Chaplin that another IED had hit that morning and one of the soldiers was hit with shrapnel in either the arm or leg. It wasn’t a major problem and one of the local docs took care of the problem and he was good to return to duty.
Later on that day I was on Tower Five pulling my duty and I heard a small explosion to the back of me. I couldn’t tell what it was or from where it came but I was waiting for one of the Towers in the Southern sector of the FOB to call it in. So as I was looking back monitoring the radio-BOOM- what I thought was a mortar landed about 300 meters from my location. I called it up to the Main Gate and Peacemaker X with is the main guys in charge. All of a sudden a Hum-V shoes up and tells us we have to go do crater analysis. My new Chief, SGT. Linebarger, and CPL Crawley take off and go to the site. They get there and send in the info. It turned out not to be a mortar but a rocket fired from about 3 miles away. The blast didn’t hurt anyone as it landed a good ways away from any thing. But I must say it was the most excitement I have had since I got here. Getting hit with rockets and mortars was something common at Brassfield-Mora, but here, those things don’t usually happen. As weird as it is to say, it was kind of fun. It made my day a little better having some excitement that didn’t hurt anyone.
That was a couple of days ago and not much has happened since then. Sorry it took so long to write, but for a long time there wasn’t anything to say, and once the stuff started coming, I just didn’t have much time. I’ll try to be better about it from now on.
DISCLAIMER: To all who are fobbits-no disrespect meant.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Some of My Iraqi Army Friends
Here is a picture from Tower 5 of me standing with some of the IA (Iraqi Army) soldiers who have joined us in defending our base. Some of them have been in service for years, where as others only months. They none speak fluent English which makes it hard, but what little we can say we enjoy the conversations.
Chapel of the Peacemakers
This is the Chapel of the Peacemakers. It is a small building that holds about 25 people and is an awesome place to be. Captain (Chaplin) Clark is the primary spiritual advisors of the 2 Squadron Peacemakers and joined in service with him is SSG Dewey Young of Sparta (member of Gum Springs). These two men have done a lot for the Christians and non-Christian by providing a loving and caring environment for all who wish to partake. On the inside are wonderfully paneled walls and ceilings done by the two of them with banners provided by churches in Tennessee. "Blessed are the Peacemakers."
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