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April 16, 2005The days are flying by. I don’t even count the days
anymore. One day I
look at my watch and notice a date then I’ll look again and it has been 3 or
4 days. The has not been very many big events in my life since I have
written last.
Later in March we went on a patrol in the western city of Talafar. Talafar
is a strange city right now. Sometime when you go there it is very safe and
the street are crowded, other times the street are empty and the only people
you see are kids peaking around corners staring at you. The day we went the
patrol was the second type of day.
The platoon we were with setup a car checkpoint and they had one car try to
avoid them. So they chased after the car. The car ended up crashing into a
building and three men got out and started to run away. The platoon opened
fire and killed one, injured another, but the last one got away. If your
and Iraqi and you run away from us you get shot. The car had a weapons
cache in it. Three AK assault rifles, grenades, RPGs, and even a homemade
RPG launcher. It was good to get some bad guys. One of my best days by
far. I put the killed insurgent in a body bag. I could of picked the guy
up with one hand. He weight about 90 pounds. He was hit in the back of the
head. The injured insurgent wouldn’t shut-up, he said he had no idea that
the weapons were in it. We arrest a guy who had over 30 id cards in his
pocket, wrong place wrong time for him. The car was blown in place and we
then parted with the platoon. It was a great day. Two less insurgents now.
Last week we went on a goat grab down south. A goat grab is just what we
call it when we eat a bunch of Iraqi food. The police chief too us to his
hometown, a small village named Tag-Tag. It was crazy, the chief is so
afraid of getting killed he took the entire police force in Mosul with him
to his house. I have never seen so many Iraqi policemen in my life. Before
we got to the city, policemen were lining the street one on each side every
100 meters for 5 miles. When we pulled into the town the kids started
throwing candy at us. That was very strange. I’ve thrown a ton of candy to
kids, but I have never had one throw it at me before that day. I fed most
the Iraqi candy to a goat, the candy is nasty. But, a goat will eat
anything. We walked up to the house and were 6 or 7 huge pools of blood on
the side of the dirt path leading to the house. They killed the sheep that
day, at least I knew my food was fresh. We ate the normal Iraqi food.
Sheep or goat, hajji bread, rice, and fresh vegetables. The vegetables over
here are so good. The freshest you will EVER eat. Oh yeah I and forgot
about the chai tea, lots of that.
The main threat right now is suicide car bombs. The insurgent are
recruiting bombers in Iran and Syria. When every you hear about a suicide
bomb it’s not an Iraqi blowing themselves up, it is a person from another
country 95% of the time. Two or three go off everyday now.
Two days after the goat grab we responded to a suicide car bombing. The
bomb targeted the Iraqi police. One police man was killed and three were
hurt. We got there 10 minutes after the bomb went off. There were over 100
Iraqi police already there and all the wounded we enroute to the hospital.
The car bomb was already put out by the Iraqi fire dept. I was very
impressed by the responds of the local security forces. I put the policemen
in a body bag, same as the last guy only 90 pounds. We then looked at the
bomb closer. Nothing that exciting except the was a foot laying on the
street. It was burned black, I don’t think it was the bombers foot, mostly
like one of his victims.
One of the policemen who responded was a cousin of the man killed. It’s a
different kind of respond compared to an American. He fell to his knees and
started praying and crying. Right away too. I think the typical American
respond is to nothing at least right away. For most of us the first thing
we do is deny what just happened. American tend to looked stunned at first.
I remember hearing that there are 5 stages to mourning. Denial being the
first, I would like to see how that compares to an Iraqi verses and
American. I’m sure it is quite different.
Colonel Brown went a leave so the past week has been very slow. I’m getting
a lot of days off, something I really don’t like. I get very board sitting
around the base with nothing to do. I wish I could go out everyday.
Today our other section was hit by a suicide car bomb. Everyone is okay. I
don’t know all the details. But, I’ll write about it later. Well, times up
on this computer. Take care stay safe.
Gary
It’s been awhile since I wrote anything to you guys. I’m okay in case
you’ve been worrying about me. We have been working almost every day for
the past two weeks. Every scheduled day off something has happened. So we
go rush off to fix it or see what exactly is going on.
March 16, 2005
Today was the 17th anniversary of the chemical attacks on the Kurds. The
Kurdish guards who run the security on the main palace placed pictures of
the attack up for all of us to see. The pictures were very disturbing.
There were about 20 pictures placed, most of them showing dead women and
children. Two pictures stick out in my mind. One was of a cameraman
lightly kicking some women to see if she was still alive. The other was a
young boy about Seven years old. He was already dead. There was foam
coming out of his mouth and his eyes were rolled back in his head. His eyes
were pure white. He looked like he was trying too hid under a blanket when
he died. The whole time I was looking at the pictures was that I was four
years old at the time. It’s sad to see stuff like that, but I also feel
that it is good to see it too. It gives you new perspectives.
March 20, 2005
Today was going to be one of our scheduled days off. But, we were told that
a suicide bomber killed an Iraqi general. We had to go recover some
sensitive stuff that he had. The room the bomb went off in was destroyed.
It completely blew one wall off from the building. Instead of going thru
the door we just climbed over the bombed out wall. The bodies of General
Walid and the bomber had already been removed, but there were red blotches
of guts and blood all over the walls, ceiling, and floor. I accidently put
my hand in some goo before I put my gloves on. I made sure to wash my hands
extra good after that. The room smelled like the inside of someone’s body.
We recover all the items we were looking for, then we found what was left of
the suicide vest. Under that we found part of the bomber’s spine with a few
ribs still attached. They must have slide out of his chest when they
removed his body. So now I’m teasing my buddy about human BBQ ribs. He
thinks I’m sick. Maybe I am.
March 22, 2005
We went on a routine patrol with one of our infantry battalions. We stopped
at one house and went inside. My friend I stood guard at the opening of the
wall surrounding the house. We attracted about 10 kids right away. They
wouldn’t leave us alone. The just smiling and waving at us, so we would do
the same. One of the kids spoke a little English, he told us that he loved
listening to Michael Jackson, then he would start moon walking. There were
two boys and two girls who looked just like American kids. Blue-eyed and
blond hair. My friend told me that the boys looked just like him when he
was growing up. I looked around at all the other kids, and they looked just
like ME when I was growing up. Black-haired and dark. But at least I had
straight teeth.
We pulled over a car today and found something very interesting. Colonel
Brown loves to pull over cars for some reason. And we always find nothing
but smiling Iraqi. One time we pulled over a guy with Five million Iraqi
Dinars. But, today we pulled over four college students. In the trunk of
the car was a huge bong. It must have been three feet tall. Next to that
was some hashish. And next to the hashish was a college textbook titled,
“Introduction to Microbiology.” We let them go, we could care less of the
population uses drugs. Maybe it helps him study, or mellows him out before
a test.
March 23, 2005
Colonel Brown had a meeting with a sheik(tribal leader) south of Mosul. We
took the opportunity to visit some outposts and small town we rarely get to
see. We went to a small combat outpost, where about 10 American soldiers
work with 60 Iraqi soldiers. It’s good to see both of our militaries
working together. It’s one more step closer to home every time an Iraqi
soldier catches a terrorist rather than us.
One of the Iraqi soldiers was in his fifties and studied aviation in
England. He used to fly Mig fighter planes in the old army. He spoke very
good English, but it was weird talking to an Iraqi with an English accent.
He was polite, but spent most of the time chatting with our translator. He
must have been tired of telling his story to every American soldier by now.
After that we went to sheik Ra’ad house. It was in a tiny village and all
the houses in the area were made of mud and stone. All but his of course.
He lived in a stone house, but it was very modest compared to the houses in
Mosul. There severed us some food, and it was by far the best Iraqi meal I
have had out here. I don’t even know what kind of meat they gave us but it
was great. Sheik Ra’ad also had two great looking daughters. I commented
to our translator about that, he warned me, “You better not trying anything!
You might start a war!” I still don’t know if he was joking or if he was
serious. There were kids everywhere. One boy was who was about ten was
walking around with a pistol the entire time. It’s a little different over
here as you can guess.
March 24, 2005
We went to an orphanage today to hand out toys and some sports gear. The
orphanage was a huge compound in one of the most run down parts of the city.
But the place was very nice. When we walked in there was a soccer felid
set up and basketball courts. There was no one around so we just walked
inside, I noticed a large dinning area. And in the next room there was an
old man smoking a cigarette sitting on leather couch watching two young boys
playing a play station. Go figure a huge orphanage and there are only two
kids inside and both of them are playing video games. Maybe it’s not that
bad being an orphan here. We gave them a few soccer ball and they loved
that. They dropped the game controls right away and ran outside to kick
their new ball around. I think giving a kid a soccer ball is the equivalent
of giving an American kid an x-box. It’s the best gift a kid can get.
March 25, 2005
Today was our range day. We went about 10k south to an old Iraqi army
firing range. The plan was to run a small arms range in the morning and
fire our antitank missiles in the afternoon. The range in the morning went
well. But, in the after noon we tried to fire our TOW(Large-anti-missiles).
They miss fired and started smoking, while there were armed. So the two
missiles were off loading on ground and everyone just ran away! FAST! The
guys that blow up the roadside bombs had to come out to blow OUR missiles.
Very embarrassing.
We also shot our shoulder fired antitank missiles. Mine was a dud! And
everyone else exploded. So I can’t say I shot a missile launcher. But,
everyone else can.
March 27, 2005
I went to Easter service this morning. They held a special service at one
of the old Christian monasteries on Marez. The monastery dates back to the
6th century. It was very cold. It was a sunrise service. The first church
service that I have ever been to where apache gun ships constantly flew over
head. Or the first service where an ambulance was on stand by just in case
a mortar or rocket hit us. Well, that’s Iraq for you. After that we drove
to the air felid and Colonel Brown met with some general.
Well that’s what’s going on with my life. Sorry it’s been so long since I
have written anything. I’ll try to do better. If you have any questions
just ask. Take care stay safe.
Gary
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Monday March 7, 2005
Today there was a very significant event in the city of Mosul. The
battalion from the 82nd Infantry Division that was with us for elections
left, and we gave their old sector to the Iraqi. This is the first time
that the Iraqi army has had any control in Mosul. And it is only the second
city as far as I know where Iraqi even have a sector. Bagdad gave them a
very small sector, but here that have control of both sides of the river and
the most populated areas. It is a very big step for both Iraqi and American
forces. The sooner they can control the insurgents the sooner we can leave.
That’s the idea anyway. We are all hoping the Iraqi are up for the
challenge.
Tuesday March 8, 2005
We did the normal run around stuff in the morning. We took Colonel Brown to
visit the governor at his office. For lunch we ate at a new restaurant on
one of the bases. It was a mixture of Turkish and middle eastern food. It
was really good! They served us a salad and Turkish Pizzas. The pizzas
were about 4 inches around and have seasoned beef cooked on a flat crisp
pita bread. For the main meal I had a lamb kabob with more pita bread. And
we had Cheese bread for desert. The service was very slow, but that was
nice. It gave us all a long break in the middle of the day. And the food
was free which made it even better. Great food, I need to find a good
middle eastern restaurant when I get back. I’m sure there are a few in
Seattle.
On our way back to our base we were hit with an roadside bomb. It went off
right next our stryker. We were about 5 meters away from it when it went
off. All I saw was a flash of bright light surrounded by fire and outside
of the fire was black smoke. After it went off, I ducked inside the stryker
and took cover. My roommate Dennis Palucki was riding in the hatch closes
to the bomb. He fell flat on his back inside the stryker after the blast,
his arms were covering his face when I looked down at him. At first I
thought he was dead. He didn’t move until I started shaking him to see how
he was. He was fine. Just a little rattled. I think we both still have a
headaches. There were no injuries to anyone.
After we knew everyone was okay we went back to the site. There was a huge
crater left. The bomb was made out of a ready made explosive by the looks
of it. There was very little shrapnel. It most likely was TNT or something
similar. We detained two guys who were in the area and cleared a house
nearby. But, we didn’t find out who set the bomb off. After about 15
minutes of looking around we hear the insurgent trying to hit us with
mortars. They can’t aim the tubes for crap so they were not close at all.
But, after the firing started we decided to leave.
The stryker was not damaged at all. No tires blown. Just a few sandbags
torn up for the bomb. Which is easy to fix. Well I have to good now times
up on this station. Take care stay safe.
Gary
February 21,2005
Today we got to do something really cool. A new Iraqi battalion was having
a
ceremony to celebrate their creation. We did the usual stuff, Colonel Brown
meets with the governor and the new battalion commander then the
Iraqis did
a military parade. It was neat seeing it. And you could tell that
their were proud
to be there. The battalion was made just before elections
and the sector they
were controlling had zero acts of violence.
After the ceremony we got to tour some ruins outside the city. The ruins are
over 3000 years old and date back to the time when the Greeks took over
most
of the Middle East. You could see the Greek influence. Most of the
buildings
left standing were Greek temples to the gods. Some statues of the
gods were
still there also. One of Apollo and another of Poseidon. At some
parts the
stone structures were over 60 feet tall. It was very cool.
Then we went back to the site of the ceremony and ate some Hajji(Iraqi)
food.
I always like eating it, even thought I know how and who prepares it.
Iraqi
never wash their hand, let alone pots and pans. They only rinse them
off. And
they don’t us toilet paper so they wipe there ass with there hands.
But, the food
was good. The made us some lamb. Killed that day. They pretty
much killed it,
then skinned it and then put the WHOLE thing in a pot 3 feet
tall. Add a little water
and heat it up. So you can image how
much fat is left on it. The food in served on
a circular pan with a 2 foot
diameter. It’s scooped up with a ladle and dropped on
the pan. Our pan had a
chuck of fat at least 5 pounds. We ended up taking Hajji
bread and dipping
it in the lamb broth and eating the bread. It was still good event
thought
it sounds disgusting. It was also two months since I got hurt today. I’m
still not 100%. But,
I’m getting close. Before my right leg was stronger
than my left, not it’s
the other way around.
March 2-3, 2005
We went on a two day mission. We visited Talafar and we went to a new
city
for us named Sinjar. It is very close to the Syrian boarder. The city is
very
old and we drove thru the oldest part of town, we must of cut over 100
power lines with the strykers.....oh well. I always like driving around in
the
old parts of cities. You get to see the people closer up. And most of
the population lives in the old parts. In the residential parts of the
cities you
see women and children who love you and in the business sections
of cities
you only see men. Most of whom don’t care for Americans too much.
That was the first day, the next day we travel down south to visit an Iraqi
general at his house. And eat some more Hajji food. His house was half
farm, half day care. He has 14 kids so we talked with them while Colonel
Brown was meeting with them. I swear this country has the cutest little
girls,
but the ugliest women. It’s very strange. The food they served was
about
the same as described above, it just had some vegetables. The radishes
they gave us were size of baseballs. They were good. And the pickles were
great.
March 4, 2005
We got the day off today. That was our reward for going two day straight.
While were standing around, we heard three explosions about 1000 meters
away
from us. Not one of us filched. I guess we’re getting used to stuff blowing
up.
Another guy I know was killed today. He was the platoon sergeant that
took
over for Sergeant Mack after he was killed. The Sergeant killed
today was
also in my company back at Fort Lewis. I’m not going to
give his name out,
because it just happened. He was a good guy, and
just like sergeant Mack you
thought he couldn’t be killed. He was a
tough guy. He was killed by a sniper
after one of the explosions we heard.
Well that’s what’s going on over here. The weather has been clearing up.
And
getting warmer. It’s full blown spring here. Take care stay safe
Gary
If you want picture of anything just ask. I’ll try to get you what you
want.
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February 20,2005
We are continuing out slowed down paced since the elections. We only go out
once a day now. And most days we get off before 5pm. I’m getting a little
tired of it. I would rather be outside in the city from morning till night.
But, the rest of the infantry battalions are busy. The insurgent have
regrouped and have step-up there attacked. The number of roadside bombs and
a suicide car bombs have increased.
We have lost 4 or 5 guys since my last email. Three in the span of 30 hours.
Most of our loses are from car bombs. It’s pretty much the only way to
take out a stryker. Eight others were hurt my a drive by shooting. It was
with a small caliber machine gun so most of them are okay. There are about
six guys walking around with a limp. A tank also was disabled by a RPG.
Only the track was damaged and they shot the main guy at a minaret on a
mosque that is about 1000 years old. The minaret almost fell over. It was
awesome, I don’t want to be on the wrong side of our tanks ever. Most of
the insurgent that attacked the tank were killed by the main gun.
The temperature is warming up. After we had snow for one day the average
high is in the mid-sixties. And clear sky most of the time. It’s raining
right now. It the only rainfall since the snowstorm. It feels like spring
over here, and last week felt like winter. I keep asking people when it is
going to start to warm up. Most think it will be mid-March.
My friend made a funny comment the other day. He said, “I’ve turned off all
of my deep thinking! It helps past time. All I do now is work, sleep and
play video games. And when I play the games I have to play them on easy so
they are no challenge at all.” I just hope he can turn his “deep thinking”
back on when we get back. He’s coasting right now. I don’t think he knows
what the date is, he might not even know what month it is.
Talk to you all later, take care stay safe
Gary
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| 2/11/05 There is not much going on over here. The secretary of defense
came to
visit Mosul today. I didn't see him but we were planning on taking him
around the city to see stuff. The plan changed this morning and he ended up
flying to meet with an Iraqi general.
We got shot at a two days ago, actually i should sayajor Sims got shot at.
A sniper took two shots at him and hit our .50 cal sight. The sight is
about the size of small paperback book. And it costs $40,000. So we had to
get that replaced. We think the sniper was less than 50 meters away. Good
thing we were moving pretty quick when he shot. They caught him the next
day after he hit a guy from one of the infanty battialons. They also found
some "intresting stuff" that should lead to the capture of more insurgents.
It SNOWED two days ago also. I saw a palm tree covered in snow, that was
crazy. We ended up getting 2 inches. I'll send some pictures if you ask for
them. Take care stay safe
Gary
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2/8/05
Post-election Mosul
Post election Mosul has been slow. The number of attacks has gone down, but
two soldiers have been killed in the last two weeks. One soldier was killed
by a landmine that went thru the stryker, the other by small arms fire. The
elections were a clear defeat for the insurgents and we all think that they
didn’t expect that. The “no-roll” was the main reason for the successful
elections. Only one voter was killed out of the ten of thousands that went
to the polls. And he died because an Iraqi soldiers had an accidental
discharge and it killed the voter.
On January 31 we went on a mission to pick up all the votes from the
northern areas of Iraq. It took three large trucks to carry all the votes
and over 12 strykers to carry the election workers. We hauled nine Iraqi,
and every one of them kept thanking us for the chance to vote. One said,
“George Bush” and gave a thumbs-ups, then they all started doing it. I
could tell they all were very grateful and excited for the opportunity to
have a voice in their government.
A few days later I was awarded a medal for what happened on December 21 in
the dinning facility. I have mixed feelings about it. I think every other
soldier would have done the same thing I did. I wasn’t hurt that bad, so I
helped people. Anyway I was awarded an ARCOM with valor. Awards are
strange in the army. The lower enlisted always get shafted and the officers
and senior enlisted get higher awards for the same type of actions. I don’t
know how many people have told that I would have gotten a bronze star if I
was an officer. But, I don’t think I deserve anything at all. I watched a
video put out by the insurgents about the bombing. It was disturbing. It
showed them all planning the attack, they even pin-pointed the exact spot to
detonate the bomb. Then all the insurgents embraced the bomber and it then
cut to the dinning facility. It was a strange feeling for me when it showed
the bomb going off. I knew exactly what I was doing, where I was, and what
was going thru my mind. I can’t describe it nor do I want to, at least for
a few months anyway. I’ll think about it after I’m out of Iraq.
On February 4 we were driving around the city and were hear that a police
station was under attack. We were the first one’s to respond. On the way
in we saw an ambulance going the other way. We all expected there to people
wounded when we got there. It took us a long time to get there, we got lost
about three times. On our final approach in we received some small arms
fire. None of saw where the shooting was coming from, but it wasn’t hitting
our strykers so we kept moving along. When we reached the station and no
one was in sight. The station looked deserted. Six of us got off to clear
the building. It ended up being my buddy Anthony Abas and me clearing
almost the entire building, the other four people got distracted by two huge
pools of blood on the bottom floor. A few minutes later two policemen
showed up and told us what happened.
It was the first day the police have been there since November. None of
them had any weapons and the station was attacked my 6 insurgents. Two
policemen were killed and the rest ran away. The wounded were taken to the
hospital by the ambulance that we pasted earlier. The policemen that showed
up were a bit rattled but not injured. We picked up and left after another
unit showed up.
A female suicide bomber blew herself up outside of the only hospital in
Mosul. 12 policemen were killed along with four civilians. She called the
policemen over the help her and when they got there she donated the bomb.
Female suicide bombers are rare but not unheard of over here. It’s the
first female bomber in Mosul since I got here. I’m still convinced there
are ten-times more good things happing over here than bad events. Well, my
time is up on the computer.....take care stay safe.
Gary
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January 27, 2005
The city is really slowing down. There is a “no-roll” in the city of Mosul
and the Iraqi are not allowed to drive their cars or park them along main
roads. The idea behind it is to prevent the insurgents from moving car
bombs and mortars around the city. The streets are deserted. There are
over Two million people living here and you don’t see one car around, it’s
wild. All you see are kids playing soccer. They must really love the
elections because school was canceled.
Our platoon was hit by a roadside bomb today. It was a small one, maybe
only one artillery shell or a few mortars. The stryker in front of us got
hit the worse. They had two flat tires, the only other damage to the
stryker was a small quarter-sized hole in the storage rack on the side of
the vehicle. We were right behind them when it blew. All I hear was a loud
boom, then I ducked in my hatch and we drove thru the smoke from the blast.
We were all showered with dirt and tiny pieces of the road as we pasted.
Like I said it was a small one, I don’t think it would have done much damage
to a humvee.
Colonel Brown then went to a meeting with a bunch of general and some press.
They wanted to hear what we were anticipating for the elections. Then we
all loaded up and took them on a tour of some combat outposts in the city.
We had Brian Williams, the anchor of NBC nightly news on our stryker. I
hear that in the inside of our styrker was on the news too.
January 28, 2005
This was a slow day. The only significant thing that occurred was a
accident that killed some of our special operations guys. I saw the wreck,
it was a mess. Everyone there shook up by what happened. Two more soldier
who shouldn’t of died in Iraq.
January 29, 2005
This was the day that we really expected the insurgent to hit us hard. The
insurgents wouldn’t be able to intimate voters if the started to do it on
the 30th. It was a very quite day in Mosul and it surprised me. We visited
a few polling sites and talked to the Iraqi soldiers that were guarding the
sites. I was looking at the posters for the ballots. And I asked some of
the soldiers who they were going to vote for. They really got excited
telling me what party they were going to vote for the next day. All their
faces lit up and they were proud that they had an opuritunity to vote.
The other section of our platoon which includes the DCO(Deputy commanding
officer) and our Sergeant Major went to Talifar. They ran into some contact
and the DCO got shot in the arm. I don’t know the whole story, but he could
have avoided the whole thing. He was shot right as he was raising his rifle
to shot back. He was lucky he could have been hit in the face. The other
section also wrecked one of their strykers on the same trip. One of the
rear hatch guard was briefly knocked unconscious. He’s okay, but he’ll be
down for awhile. It was a rough day for the other section.
January 30, 2005
Election day was not that bad at all. There were thousand of voters out on
the street all day. Which was good to see. The insurgent never made a
serious attack. A few bombs went off in Mosul and I hear that there were a
few suicide bombs in Bagdad. But, I don’t think the average person was
intimated. We took a reporter for CBS nightly news around today. I don’t
remember here last name, but here first name was Kimberly and she was the
senior middle east. We took her and her cameraman to the one of the sites
and there were over two thousand people standing in line. The cameraman
said the it was the superbowl for him. Both of them were very excited by
what they saw. At one point a bomb when off about two thousand meters away.
It did faze the people they just kept standing in line. All the kids on
the streets disappeared, but line remained.
The reporter interviewed Major Sims. So if you want to see my boss just
watch the next CBS nightly news. The elections went by smoothly. Anyway I
have to go my time is up.
Gary
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1/25/05
Hey everyone. I haven't wrote for awhile because nothing has been happing
lately. The city has slowed down because the insurgents are planning for
the elections. I have even gotten a few days off this week....it was nice.
The sergeant that replaced sergeant Mack was hurt two days after Mack died.
Then two days ago their platoon leader was killed. I have a friend in the
platoon, i haven't talked to him but i'm sure that he's not taking it good.
That would be hard to deal with, losing all of your leadership in less than
a week.
I'm not going to be able to check my mail for a few days. We are doing 24
hour operations at one of the Iraqi military bases thur the elections.
Yeah!!! 24 hours day for 4 days around Hajji. I hope i get to eat some of
there food. So suprise me with some emails. I'll talk to you all later.
Gary |
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January 13,2004
In the last three days we have had three soldiers killed. One person I knew
pretty well. He was killed by a roadside bomb. His name was Sergeant First
Class Mack. He was one of those soldier that you would think that couldn’t
die. He was as hard as a rock. He used to be in my company before he move
to an infantry battalion to be a platoon sergeant. I don’t know much about
what happened. I just know it was a bomb and he was hit in the neck. The
other two soldier that died were non-combat related. I don’t really want to
go into how they died, other than they died needlessly. Both were in
separate events.
The day Sergeant Mack died we were driving with the DCO(Deputy commanding
officer). Some contractors who work for a security company named triple
canopy came too. I rode in the back with a retired special forces guy.
That was fun. It’s always interesting to sit and listen to SF guys tell
stories. He told me about his trips to southeast Asia and Afghanistan.
Goat, which was is name or at least what he told me to call him, was all
about killing Hajji(Iraqis). “All I want to do is grease me some Hajjis.”
He kept telling me that, I just smiled and nodded. Whatever.
That’s all that has been going on over here. I got Friday off and drove
around all Saturday. Just thought I would write you all to tell you I’m
alright and safe. 14 more days till the elections, which should be very
violent. Hopefully this is as bad as it gets over here. And it will clam
down after the 30th. Take care stay safe.
Gary
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January 10,2004
The last few days have been very uneventful. Earlier this month we picked
up some new strykers and I’m stuck driving one right now. I consider it a
demotion, I hate driving. Right now I’m in the process of training up a new
driver. The only good thing about driving is the down time. When you stop
anywhere it’s a chance to get some extra sleep. I must get 4 hours a day.
Or I take time to read a book.
A few days ago we were sitting in the PX parking lot when a guy walked up
and asked to look around in the stryker. He was a stand-up comic, and he
was performing his act to soldiers in Iraq. We put him on the spot and made
him tell us a joke, which wasn’t funny at all. But, he was a nice guy
anyway and very impressed with the strykers. We were with the DCO(Deputy
commanding officer) that day, he walked up and then invited the comic to
come with us on a mission. The comic’s face lit up and he gladly took us up
on the offer. The mission was only going to take an hour then we planned on
returning. We even let the guy ride around in the city in a hatch. He was
pumped about that until we gave him a weapon and told him how to us it.
Then when we left the gate he started shaking. I was driving so I didn’t
get to see it, but I heard it was funny to watch. The ended up making it
the whole trip. We stop at a Kurdish compound, and he stayed with us while
the DCO met with the Kurds. He must of asked us over 60 questions. He was
very interested in the Kurds and the Iraqi Army. He made the comment, “Why
don’t I hear about this on the news!!” We all laughed at that. We made it
back okay. I guess that guy will have a story to tell the rest of his life.
Life continues as normal. I wake up do PT, then go to work. Go where ever
the boss wants and then I do some more PT at night. My leg is almost 100%.
The doctor found out that I was running five days after I was hit and he
ordered me to stop running for two weeks. I have begun running on the
treadmill. The calf is holding up okay.
That about all that is going on over here. Well I have to go my time is up
on the computer. Take care stay safe
Gary
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SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1December 2004
Things have been really heating up in Mosul this last month. December was
a crazy time. I worked a mass causality incident all by myself in the first
week.
The next week was the quietest time of the month. My platoon
sergeant got
replaced because the Sergeant Major didn’t like him. Two weeks
later he’s
in Germany, he was hit by a roadside bomb. I got the news today
that he
will have to lose in left eye due to his injuries. I think we took
a few long
drives outside the city the rest of the week. The third week was
when
the suicide bomber struck the dinning facility. I got a ball-bearing
stuck
in my leg and a week off. After a quite Christmas, the city has
heated up
the last week of the year.
Two days ago one of our infantry battalions was in a huge fight. One
US
soldier was killed, but 25 insurgents were killed. The guys on the
ground
kept calling in air strikes, over and over. Two fighter planes kept
scarfing the ground for about an hour. They were in the area so long a
fuel
plane was flying overhead, so the fighters could refuel on the battle
site
instead of having to leave the area for jet fuel. After the chow hall
bombing, we all were thankful that only one soldier was killed.
It’s a
relief to hear one instead of 22.
The same day the soldier was killed our company had a special ceremony.
The
unit was given combat patches(These are worn for being with a unit
in a war
zone for more than three months), the infantrymen were given
CIB(combat
infantry badges), and Sergeant Becker and I were given
our Purple Hearts. A
two star general was there. He pinned my Purple
Heart on, I would rather
have it be Major Sims. Who cares about a
general I never met, I wish my
boss could have done it. The general
told us the normal general officer
stuff, “I’m proud of each and everyone
one of you.......”
Some new units are coming up to Mosul next week. The generals are
determined not to let Mosul turn into a situation like Fallujia. Four
battalions are coming up here, one from the 82nd airborne, one
from
25th infantry division, and two battalions with tanks and
Bradley fighting
vehicles. Mosul in now the focus of operations in Iraq.
The number one
hot spot. The new units will double our force in northern
Iraq.
Two more strykers were added to our platoon. Along with some
new people to
man them. January will be an interesting and
challenging month. Elections
are at the end of the month. We
don’t know what to expect. Well three
months down at least
nine to go maybe more. Take care stay safe and Happy
New Year!!
Gary
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December 27, 2004
Today was my first day back with my platoon after the bombing. I didn't’t
enjoy my time off. I was board and frustrated the entire time. It was nice
to get back in my hatch and do my job as an air guard on the stryker. I the
only thing I think I will miss is the option to sleep in or take a nap in
the middle of the day.
They held the first two memorial services for soldiers killed today. I
attended, it was the first memorial service I have gone to. The first one
was not that tough to go thru. It was for two combat engineers in the
Virginia National Guard. The next one was for soldiers in one of our
infantry battalions. The unit lost four soldiers. One was a captain I knew
fairly well. He was a company commander. It was a good service. At the
end they showed a slide show with music in the background. They showed
pictures of the four killed, then went to slides of the chow hall after the
bombing. It was the fist time I have seen photos of the chow hall. I broke
down and started to cry. It was hard to look at them. Most of the pictures
were of soldiers helping other who were hurt. One picture stood out to me,
it showed two soldiers carrying another inside the building. The figures
looked like shadows because the smoke from the bomb formed a cloud. I’m
glad I was able to attend. It was one of those things that are painful,
but your glad you had the chance to go thru it.
Afterwards we picked up some new strykers for our platoon. We now have six,
which makes us the biggest platoon in the brigade. I’m stuck driving one
for awhile. That shouldn't’t last long.
Near the end of the day my leg started cramping up. It was a little painful.
I think it’s because I was standing for both services. Climbing on top of
the stryker over and over took it’s toll too. I should be okay in a few
days, I’ll get used to it.
December 28, 2004
I was able to talk to Sergeant Steele on the phone today. He's in good
sprits still. He's at fort Sam Houston in Texas right now and should be
back at lewis by the end of the week. He's still not sure if he's going to
be able to keep his right pointer finger. The doctors keep saying yes then
no. He said he talked to a social worker, and told her that he wanted to
stay in the army. She looked at him like he was crazy i guess. He's
looking forward to getting back home. He wants to go back to school and
finish getting his masters degree.
Well my time is up on the computer take care stay safe
Gary
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christmas here was boaring for me. My entire platoon had to take Colonel
Brown out to visit the troops. I wish i could have gone with them. Not
because it's a fun missions. But, because i had nothing to do all day.
The highlight of the day was getting the hole in my leg repacked with gauze.
I played Halo 2 with the medics at the aid station. I worked out twice
yesterday. I ran on a ellipical even. I did 5 miles in a little over 40
minuntes. Not bad. I'm hoping to go back to work on monday. I just have
to convice the doctor i'm good.
Take care
Gary
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I got my x-ray on my leg yesterday. I don't have anything left in my
calf.
The doctor thinks that i was hit by only one ball-bearing. One of my hits
being an entry wound tand he other an exit wound. I guess that make sense.
The hole they pulled the ball-bearing out of is pretty deep. Right now i
have a 2 inch cut on my inner calf. The cut is 1 inch deep and i have to
get it packed with gauze everyday. I'm becoming better friends with the
medics up at the aid station. I asked them if i could repack my cut today
and they left me do it. That was cool. It hurt more when i packed it than
if they would have done it. Oh well.
I'm i can walk a little better now. I don't think that i will be able to
run for a few more days however. I'm going to try to get back on duty the
day after christmas. I don't know if the doctor will let if fly.
CNN is doing a special on the bombing on christmas. They asked me if i want
to sit on a panel of 9 soldiers and tell a reported what i saw. I declined.
I have no problem sitting down with someone and talking about what
happened. I just don't like idea of them tellling others what i saw and
did.
I don't think i did anything special. I did what i was trained to do and
what needed to be done.
I'm already getting very board. Today everyone got up at 0330 to do a
mission. I miss going out into the city. Being back alone sucks. well
take care and stay safe
Gary
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I wrote this the night of the bombing.
Tuesday December 21, 2004
Many of you have already hear about the bombing of a chow hall in Mosul.
And then you started to worry about me. Was I there? Am I okay? The
answer to both questions is yes. I was there, and I¡¯m okay. I did slight
injury to my leg however. This is what happened the 20th of December.
We rolled out at 0930, we had to stop at a FOB to do a
CIB(combat-infantryman¡¯s badge) ceremony. A CIB is a badge worn when
someone with the job of infantryman is in combat. Colonel Brown, Sergeant
Major Adams, and General Ham shook every soldier¡¯s hand an then pinned the
CIB on them. I watched a little bit of the ceremony, but I got bored with
it quickly. I then joined my friends to drink hot coco around our stryker.
We loaded up and went to FOB Marez, delivered a few gifts to the lower
battalions. Then went to the chow hall.
I really didn¡¯t feel like eating, I was snacking the whole morning and
didn¡¯t have much of an appetite. Which is unusual for me. It even crossed
my mind to skip lunch, but I didn¡¯t. On the way to the chow hall I spotted
Sergeant Steele, Colonel Brown¡¯s driver. He was on radio guard. I asked
him if he wanted me to bring him anything. He said, ¡°No, I¡¯m good.¡± But
for some reason I asked again. Same answer. I have no idea why I asked
twice, I wish he would have taken me up on the offer. He ended up getting
hurt.
I ate a grilled cheese sandwich and some horrible rice for lunch. Yuck!
Half way thru eating, Sergeant Buggy said he was going to relive Sergeant
Steele on radio guard, so Steele could get something to eat. I finished my
meal last got up, slung my weapon and walked at a fast pace to catch up with
my buddies who already left.
I made it about 10 meters when I was blown back by the explosion. It
wasn¡¯t loud to me. I fell on the ground on my left side, facing the bomb.
I saw a flash of orange, going skyward. Instantly the light was replaced by
black smoke, as dark as black smoke can get. I knew I was hit before I
moved on the ground. My right leg was injured. I crawled to my left for
cover, I thought it was a mortar at the time. Realizing there was nothing
there I moved right under a table. I waited for about 3 seconds. Nothing
more was coming in.....I knew I had to get to my aid bag in the stryker. I
still had not looked at my calf. I got up and ran to my vehicle. I was
able to run so I must be okay I thought.
When I got the strykers Sergeant Buggy was outside asking what happened. I
told him to put some gloves on, ¡°Your coming with me.¡± I grabbed my aid
bag and handed it to him. Then I looked at my leg. My right calf was
soaked with blood. I had a small scratch on my forehead, which looked worse
than it was. I decided not to put a bandage on right away, other people
would need them. By this time sergeant Buggy had taken off with my aid bag.
I was pissed off, I was useless with the bag. I ran inside, yelling at
the top of my lungs, ¡°Sergeant Buggy! Sergeant Buggy! Where are you?¡±
He popped out of nowhere and gave my bag, then he took off to help others.
I then took a look around, to size up the situation. People were running
everywhere. Others were standing around getting in the way, a look of
confusion on their faces. Other were giving aid. Others were grabbing
liters to carry the wounded. Many were working on people who couldn¡¯t be
saved. I ran to the first person I could find. He had a head injury, I
thought he was going to live. Another medic was there, so I helped load him
on a liter. Then took off to help another.
I then saw Colonel Brown walking, trying to help. He stuck out like a soar
thumb. He towered over everyone else,(he¡¯s 6'7"). He was okay, thank God.
I found out later that he had just walked thru the chow hall doors. If
the bomber had waited 30 seconds the brigade commander would have died.
I moved on, so many people were working on friends who were dead or going to
die. There were many stories of soldiers getting killed right next to a
soldier who was untouched. When there are so many people hurt like this you
have to cut you loses. You need to realized that some people who are alive
are not going to make it. You have to give aid to soldiers who have a
chance of making it. I told one group of people to stop working on a man
who was missing his face. His arm was hamburger. I didn¡¯t stick around to
see if they would listen. There was a Chaplin moving around in the fray. I
told him to tell others to treat only people who could be saved. He did
what I asked.
There were so many people giving aid. I figured it would be better for me
to run the much needed supplies to them. I ran from one injured soldier to
another, giving out bandages and other things. By this time most of the
wounded were moving outside of the chow hall. There were three huge
CCP(casualty collection points) outside. There was one soldier who was
sitting in a bunker, not getting any medical attention. He had a
ball-bearing in his chest. Right in the middle, I think it went right thru
his breast-bone. He was breathing okay. Then a civilian contractor from a
security company named Triple Canopy walked up. He helped me. We put on an
Asherman chest seal. I hooked up an IV bag, while he got the needle ready.
I handed him the bag and told the injured soldier he was going to be okay.
I took off and helped a man with burns to his arms and face. A sergeant
from one of the infantry battalion was there too. I knew he from a school
we went to together. We covered the burns then I moved on again. Again I
moved from hurt person to hurt person. Digging thru my bag for what others
needed. A truck used for hauling freight pulled up. We loaded the wounded
up there. Then the trucked moved to the hospital. This CCP was now empty.
I went to the other two to see if they needed help, they only needed
supplies. By one of the CCP a small morgue was being set up. I didn¡¯t
count how many there were. But, by the size of it there were about 10
bodies there.
I walked back to the strykers. Everyone was there but Sergeant Steele.
None of us had seen him since Sergeant Buggy had relived him on the radio.
I then rolled up my pant leg to look at my injury. I could see on hole on
the back of my right calf. It was still bleeding, but not very much. I had
used all or given up all of the bandages in my bag. But I carry one I my
body armor. I climbed in the stryker and got it. When I was putting the
bandage on myself Colonel Brown walked up and handed me an auto-injector of
morphine. He had a sad look on his face. Most of the people hurt were his
soldiers. I gave him back the morphine. I didn¡¯t want to take it, I
wasn¡¯t in that much pain and others needed it more than me. Still no one
had heard anything on Sergeant Steele. I quietly suggested to one sergeant
that we should go look in the morgue. He agreed, and we walked there. He
wasn¡¯t there. Which was a good sign. The black body bags were getting
loaded up on trucks when we got there. The dead had their ID badges taped
on top of them. The Iraqi army solders who where killed had IRA(Iraqi
Regular Army) in scotch tape on top of their bags. The sergeant and I
walked back to the strykers. We loaded up and drove to the hospital.
Everyone was accounted for except for Sergeant Steele. Two people in our
platoon were hurt so far. Sergeant Becker and me. Sergeant Becker was hit
in the back of the head with a small bb. About the same size of ball used
in a bb gun. He can a small cut, but he didn¡¯t need any stitches.
When we got to the hospital Major Mackey, the brigade XO(executive officer),
told me to go inside the hospital to get treatment. I protested because I
knew there were too many people that needed help. He said, ¡°Then you¡¯ll
wait to get helped.¡± Colonel Brown, Major Mackey, Sergeant Becker and I
went inside. The building was packed. It seemed almost as desperate as the
scene in the chow hall. Colonel Brown¡¯s first priority was to find his
driver, Sergeant Steele. We found him right away. He was hurt, but he was
going to be fine. After Colonel Brown left him I talked to Steele. He was
hit by 5 or 6 ball-bearing. They all grazed him taking a small chunk of
skin with it. He was hit on the side of the neck, right elbow, both sides
of his hips, right leg, and right pointer finger. His finger was white, it
was dying. It was half attached. I thought he still would be able to keep
the finger. The bandages he got on scene were coming off. So I put new
ones on as we talked. He was in good sprits. Thankful to be alive. After
10 minutes of talking a doctor came up and told Sergeant Steel that he was
going to be MEDAVAC to another hospital in Iraq. I said goodbye to him and
found Colonel Brown that Sergeant Steele was going away. He thanked me and
he too said goodbye to Steele. Later on I was told that he was going to
lose his finger.
At that time the hospital was still overwhelmed. They were working on
people outside of the hospital because all the beds were filled. Major
Mackey came up to me and told me that I would have to wait till we got back
home to get treated. I was walking back to the strykers when I saw a
civilian contractor who works on strykers standing around. He was looking
for one of his guys. I walked him up to the main desk where paperwork is
done. The two people manning the desk were taking notes from everyone. I
looked thru their papers to see if the name of the missing mechanic was
there. I didn¡¯t find it. I told the civilian to come back later. And
wished him luck on finding his guy alive and safe.
I found some hydrogen peroxide and I then cleaned out Sergeant Becker¡¯s
head and my leg wound. Walked back to the strykers, and waited to leave. 10
minutes later incoming mortars started coming in. There were very close.
We all ran inside the armored vehicles and waited for the shelling to end.
I was worried about the people still working on the wounded outside the
hospital getting hit. After the mortars ended four of us ran outside to
look to see if anyone was hurt. Someone else had to carry my bag, by this
point I couldn¡¯t run very fast because my leg was cramping up. One Mortar
landed less than 50 meters from us. We ran to the back of the hospital to
see that no one was hurt back there. That was a relief. Then Major Mackey
gather us all up to head back to FOB Freedom.
The drive back was uneventful. My new platoon sergeant told me to ride down
below in the stryker. He didn¡¯t think I would be an effective air guard in
the condition my leg was in. I pretty much told him that it was my hatch,
and I could walk so I could at least stand and fight in a hatch. That¡¯s
the nice version of what I said anyway.
After we got back I then went to the aid station. I took the bandage off to
discover that I was hit twice in the leg. One looked like a small scab was
forming over it, the other looked like a 1 inch deep hole in my skin. They
cleaned it out and then saw a quarter-inch ball-bearing in my leg. They
made a cut and pulled it out. I¡¯m keeping the ball-bearing for now. They
packed the cut up and dressed the other one. I was ordered to get an X-ray
with in the next week because there still might be one ball-bearing in my
leg. I personally think there is one. I restocked my aid bag and left.
They did an excellent job of patching me up. I have the next week off.
Light duty is all I¡¯m allowed to do for the next couple of days. They
tried to confine me to quarter for 24 hours, but I talked them out of it.
Looking back there was one thing that stuck out. Earlier in the year I took
a class taught by some retired special forces guys. It was a class on how
to protect an VIP in a combat situation. They cover the fundamentals of
close-quarter shooting and many other things. But, the most important thing
they taught was how to mentally prepare yourself for combat situations.
Everyday we received a lecture. One was about what do you do if you get
hurt in combat? Or what do you if 10 guys are charging you? It made me
think. And it helped today. Before I got in Iraq, I was already prepared
to get hurt, I knew exactly what to do. I knew right away that I needed to
get my aid bag. Once I knew that my injury was not life threading I was
good. And I was able to perform.
Right now I don¡¯t know how many people were killed. My guess is over 30.
I talked to one of the medics at the hospital, she said that they brought
over 20 dead bodies from the chow hall. It was people not wanting to give
up on their friends. Currently there is a debate going on exactly what
happened. Some feel that it was a suicide bomb other a 122mm rocket. I¡¯m
leaning towards a suicide bomb. I would bet money on it.
I don¡¯t really know how to end this. I¡¯m okay, and I¡¯m going to get a
purple heart. At least now I don¡¯t ever have to pay for car plates again.
I get to have one with at purple heart on it. I can walk now, a little
slower than normal. I should be 100% by the end of Christmas. Take care,
stay safe and Merry Christmas!
Gary
Good news, my old platoon Sergeant Avila will be able to keep is eye.
Sorry about all the misspelled words and bad grammar I wrote this is a
hurry.
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