Goodbye To An Old Friend

On Saturday morning, my family lost an old friend. Milo, our dog, died of natural causes. This was a rough year for him as his health was failing and was having some seizures. My mother was relieved that I was able to make it home before he died.

Milo was a fun loving and very well behaved dog. He was liked by all the people who visited our home.

My Recent Vacation to NYC

To start things off...

You are looking at my lovely room at the West Side Inn in Manhattan. Don't let the professional web site confuse you; this place was exactly what I paid for in Manhattan-cheap.

To start things off, the flight to New York was alright, except for the small aircraft that experienced a large amount of turbulence, but nothing I'm not used to riding in military aircraft and helicopters. On a positive note, the jet stream pushed us along and put the flight 25 minutes ahead of schedule! Next up, took a taxi from LaGuardia Airport to our hotel only to find that check in time is 3PM; time on deck, 1PM. So, my buddy Cpl. Rahman and I pay $5 to store our luggage in the basement. After that, we tried very hard to use the elevator to take us back to the 1st floor, but for some reason, the elevator like going to the 6th first, then hit up some random floors on its decent to the 1st floor. What fun!

After lunch, we actually took a nap before heading out into the town. The first place we went to was the Rockefeller Center to check out the Christmas tree and other such happenings.


During our short 5 day stay in Manhattan, we went to a lot of places; Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Chinatown, Grand Central, Times Square, Guggenheim Museum, and many other places. Even went to a musical called Avenue Q.

Overall, it was a great trip that allowed me to experience New York's many landmarks and life in the Big Apple. It did wear me down with all the walking we did and trying to learn the subway system. Thankfully the transit workers didn't strike that weekend.

NYC

Well, with a long year behind me, I have finally arranged to take a short vacation. Originally I wanted to go on a cruise somewhere, but I decided to put that on hold to next year. Instead, I will be going to New York City and staying in Manhattan this week for 5 days. It's been a dream of mine to visit New York and now I get a chance to visit it for a bit. Some points of interest I am looking forward to seeing is the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, and the New York Stock Exchange. Of course there will be some quality shopping to do as well.
Any suggestions of places to go?

Nothing New

I have nothing new to report at this time. Though, this has me thinking, since my return, I don't think my posts are no where near as interesting as they were while I was in Iraq. So, who still likes to read these posts anyways?

By the way, I am doing various Toys for Tots this week throughout Columbus. So make sure to go out and drop off a toy in the box.

Thanksgiving

Well, as you can see, I was responsible for cooking the turkey this year. Actually, more like deep frying the turkey this year, which is something new for my family. I must admit, I was a little concerned about my lack of training on deep frying, but it turned out very well in the end and quite delicious, along with the rest of the fixins.

I would also like to take the time to recognize some things, this past year, that I am grateful for.

First and foremost, God's protection over my life and giving me the strength to continue on with the mission during the most trying times.

Family and friends. I have such awesome people backing me up that it just amazes me sometimes. I know that whenever I am gone, there are people who will take care of my mother and my mother will take care of me when I am gone.

The Marines. No better person than a Marine to cover your back in combat.

The Columbus community for showing tremendous support to Lima Company.

A End to a Great Weekend

This past weekend was the official welcome home for the Marines in Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines. It started on Thursday with the Columbus Veteran's Day Parade. Our company was welcomed home during the opening ceremonies in downtown Columbus followed by our participation in the parade. We were marched along the parade route where thousands of people cheered us on and thank us for a job well done. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures.

Then come Friday evening, the Columbus Blue Jackets honored our company by inviting us and a guest to the game. Before the start of the game, we all went out on the ice, was acknowledged, and received a 2-minute standing ovation. It was a really great way to be treated and I had the honor to participate in the color guard during the national anthem. It was a great game, with some great fights, but the Blue Jackets didn't win.

Saturday morning, we did a memorial service, at the drill center, for all of the families and friends of the 23 fallen warriors of our company. It was emotional for a lot of guys and even myself as I got the chance to meet some of the family of the men I fought along with, but didn't make it home.
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A grieving widow placed some roses upon her husband's memorial.

And the best part of my weekend, the celebration of the 230th Marine Corps Birthday on Saturday evening. It was a chance to see some of the other Marines, who came from other units, and we hadn't seen in over a month. And with the support from the community, we didn't have to pay for anything and got a room at the Renaissance Hotel.

Cpl Watkins, Sgt Taylor, Cpl Bunker, and Cpl McCauley

Beans

This is a story that I heard about while I was in Iraq and totally forgot about until I found this article. I remember hearing some guys talking about a sniper hiding a dog from our Sergeant Major, but I didn't know that they got the dog home. I just wanted to share this because it is a really cool story and I knew Corporal Boskovitch.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1500797/posts

Military Honors

Today at work started like all others; show up and sit down and do nothing for about 30-60 minutes. Well, it ended up that there was a funeral for a Vietnam Vet. and there was a need for a NCO to do it. So instead of sitting around doing nothing and cleaning weapons, I volunteered to go and perform military honors at this man's funeral. Since I was the NCOIC (noncommissioned officer in charge), I had to lead this thing and such. It was pretty easy since I already done every other role, except this time I had to present the flag to the man's daughter.

A bit of advice was given to me before I left from a sergeant. He told me to not look into the person's eyes when I present them the flag because the majority of the time, they are crying and I don't want to be caught up in it all and forget what I need to tell them. Well, I find it odd to not look at someone when you are talking to them. So what did I do, I looked into the daughter's eyes while presenting her the flag and she started to cry. Then I almost got into the whole emotions of it and had to take a second to stop. I was able to finish the presentation without too much of a problem. Overall, I'm glad to get a chance to perform this honor for the locals vets.

After the funeral, LCpl. Roessner and myself wanted to get some lunch at a nearby Max & Erma's. It was a great place to eat lunch and even better while wearing our dress blue uniforms because some guy wearing a red shirt paid for our meals. This guy just told our server and then left. We didn't get a chance to say thank you. I have find this odd that a lot of times that I do get a meal paid for at a restaurant, the person who does it usually just leaves without saying but a couple of words or nothing at all.

Proud New Owner

That's right, I'm now the proud new owner of a Glock Model 23 handgun. This is something that I have wanted since I turned the ripe old age of 21. Now I have seen my dream come true 4 years later. What better way to spend some of that hard earned combat pay?

Update: my Dell laptop is working once again and I didn't even have to reformat and start all over again. Thanks to the diligence of Aaron and his father. Though in light of recent events, and the fact that external hard drives are so friggin cheap, I am going to invest in one so I will not lose my precious files and pictures.

Its Official

Yep its official, I hate my Dell Laptop. Its been almost a month since it just went crazy on me and decided not to boot up and give me some weird error message. It worked fine during the many months of the summer heat and dust of Iraq, but on the way home, it gave up on me.
Normally, I wouldn't mind this all too much and would just reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything. Though this time, I have a great deal of pictures and videos from my deployment that I really can't live without. So right now, I am having Aaron and his dad look at it for me. There is hope, I think I will be able to save my personal files.

In other news, over the weekend, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines were honored at the Cleveland Browns game on Sunday. I was able to get a ticket to go and about 20 of us were put on the field during the singing of the National Anthem. It was a pretty amazing feeling hearing the whole stadium cheer for us. We were also able to meet the Romeo Crennel, the Browns head coach, and former Marine Commandant General Krulak. Overall it was a pretty good day, except when the Browns lost.

Also, work at the reserve center in Columbus is going pretty good. I mean, we come in at 0900 and leave by 12 or 1300. That a bad deal really. As for the work part, just cleaning a couple of rifles a day and today was the hardest day so far; we had to count all of the issued gear. That took about 3 hours, then went home for the day. Oh, I just got a phone call and now I don't have to work tomorrow! 3 day weekend, what to do...

Trouble Sleeping

One of the things I've been have trouble with lately is my sleep. This was never a problem while I was in Iraq, but now that I home I find it hard to sleep but 1-2 hours before I wake up. I usually just lay there and then fall back to sleep to only be awoken a couple of hours later. The reason for this is probably due to the amount of security/fire watch that we had to do during the night when we occupied buildings in Iraq. You could only get a few hours of sleep in before it was your turn to due an hour or more of watch. Now this makes it difficult to get a full night of sleep and makes me feel very groggy during the day. At the same time, I occasionally have some bad dreams involving combat related events.

I've talked with some of the other Marines and find this to be somewhat common occurrence. That makes me feel a little better and I believe with a little bit of time, things will eventually go back to normal for me.

Also, I wanted to take the time to give a thank you to Chugach Man, from Flickr, for giving me a 1 year Flickr Pro account. This will allow me to keep all of my pictures that I have posted this year and to contiune posting numerous pictures in the future with few limitations. So, take the time to view his work and leave a comment or two for him.

Homecoming

Well, it's been awhile since my last post and that is mostly due to the fact that I've been just relaxing these past couple of weeks (also my laptop died on me the last week in Iraq). If anyone is interested in what kind of homecoming we had, check out this link and watch the video because words can not desribe the show of support we got from the community.

http://www.nbc4i.com/news/5065738/detail.html

So far, I've been just relaxing at home and a large number of friends have came by to visit me. I've also had a chance to visit my older brother in Akron last weekend. In all, it has been really great to be back and see how everyone is doing. And, of course, being treated like a hero around town, which can be nice sometimes.

Now, I am back in Columbus working at my drill center because I volunteered to finish out my orders till January 3rd. Then its off to college again at Wright State University.

Heading Home

The soldier is alone... as he is never alone in battle

The weight of all he has seen and done bears down on his broad shoulders. The soldier's personal war is over: he is Heading Home.

-Thomas Kinkade



Lima Company is coming home tomorrow (Friday) morning.

Back in the States!

Finally, after a couple weeks of "decompression" time spent at Al Asad, Iraq, and in Kuwait, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines is finally back in the states.

Update

Just to let everyone know, I am ok. Also, I did not get into any trouble with my blog. Long story short, there was a officer, from the unit that relieved us, and he didn't like what I was posting about and said it was a breach of security. So, he notified my chain of command. My command looked at my site and didn't see anything wrong with it. In fact, they were pretty mad that this officer made such a big deal about it. As for taking some of the posts down, it was just a precaution that I made so that no one else of higher rank can look at it and form their own opinion. Hope that clears some things up.

Temporarily Unavailable

Sorry, some posts will be unavailable for a couple of weeks.

The O.C.

Due to the recent amount of free time I’ve had, I have been able to view a great deal of movies. After a certain point, we watch all the movies available and must find other things to watch. So, with that, we resort to watch seasons of television shows ranging from Las Vegas to Unsolved Mysteries, whatever our PX has available for sale. A buddy of mine sent me 4 seasons of Star Trek Enterprise and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it all and it entertained me for a good amount of time. For a while, my room was watching the seasons of Smallville. I never got too into the show. Recently, my room starting watching The O.C. and I must admit, I never thought I would watch a show like that, but the episode I saw was pretty interesting so I stayed around and watched the next 3 episodes. I am now addicted to watching the show and seeing how the drama unfolds. For those unfamiliar with the show, I can sum it up as a soap opera but geared towards a younger demographic.

So, in just 2 days, I managed to blow thorough the entire first season and now working on season 2. I know, my life is dull when I’m not out conducting missions or operations. By the way, the show also has some good music in it. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, check out The O.C.

Nearing the End

With less than a month to go before the company arrives at Camp Lejeune, NC, I have a growing excitement that my war will be over soon. In the last few weeks, we’ve been given a good deal of free time and rest and with it comes time to think. I’ve been reflecting on my last 6 months spent here in Iraq witnessing the horrors of war and also at the same time, the positive side of this war like the freedoms we have given the Iraqi people. I am also honored to work alongside some of the best Americans I have/will ever know.

At times, I wonder how much I have changed during my combat tour and how will I act when I get home. I’ve heard stories about some of our wounded that go home and have nightmares and tempers. I’ve talked to guys who have been here before and their experiences when they return home. Some say it takes only a couple of weeks to adjust back to civilian life, and others say up to a year before they readjusted. One thing I hear often is having a strong belief system makes the return easier to deal with. Let’s hope that is the case with me.

I also wonder how the culture has changed. I imagine there will be some new fads in clothing and some new crazy music that everyone knows and dances to or the effects of natural disasters. One thing I have noticed during my absence is the public opinion about this war has shifted from being favorable to unfavorable especially in my home state of Ohio. My view on this subject is quite simple: we are at war and yes, it will cost us lives. I don’t mean to be insensitive, just rather blunt. I volunteered to serve and I will continue to serve and fight until we all come home. If that means I won’t come home, then I fully understand that sacrifice and will be honored to have made it and I hope that my family and friends will understand that choice I have made. I believe most of the armed forces agree with that statement.

To end, our advance party (they leave before the main group to help set up our arrival) has recently left. Our relief will be here shortly and I have only a few more weeks of missions to look forward to before we leave the dam for one of the more luxurious bases nearby. With that being said, anyone who reads this and sends me mail, the 15th of September is the last day to send me anything while I’m in country.

Week of Hell

July 28 – August 3

With the completion of Operation Sabre and the loss of two more Marines from the company, we all wanted to get some much needed rest.

Early the morning after Sabre, our company was called up as a QRF (quick reaction force). Some special forces were conducting a raid nearby in which they had a number of insurgents run into a local building. The Special Forces did not have the manpower to take care of the insurgents, so they called us up to come and help them out. Well, as we were getting there, I saw a number of helicopters leaving the area. The Special Forces could not stay any longer, so they left us with the mess to clean up. Instead of risking our lives going into the building, due to booby traps, our company called in tanks to fire a few rounds into the building before a platoon made entry. In the end, the company just thought it would be better to call in an air strike to level the building. Therefore, it was just a nice show for us to watch the tank and air strikes destroy this building before we could go back to the dam once again for some rest.

The following day, the company was called up, once again, as a QRF for a situation with the snipers. We really didn’t know the full extent of the situation until we arrived on the scene to secure it. This situation was very terrible to deal with as we lost 6 snipers to an ambush. This is about all I can say about the situation that lead us to conduct a retaliation operation called Quick Strike.

It took another day for our company to get reinforcements from other companies in the battalion and other battalions. We were to sweep through several towns in the area to kill anyone that was responsible for the snipers’ death. Of course, as you all know, the beginning of the operation met with yet another disastrous event, the destruction of an AAV (amphibious assault vehicle) with 14 Marines inside.

I did not see the AAV get hit with the IED (improvised explosive device), though I was tasked with escorting our corpsman to the scene to see if we could help. It was obvious that no one could have survived, as the AAV had been flipped upside down and split down the middle like a V. There was one survivor, the driver of the vehicle. It is unclear on how he could have possibly survived, but we think the vehicle just came apart around him and dropped him on the road before the vehicle was flipped over. Just amazing that someone survived.

With such a terrible loss at the start of this operation, many of the Marines just put this behind us and continued with the mission. It was as if it never happened to some guys. We were getting callused from all the losses our unit has been dealt; 23 Marines killed in action in just 1 week of fighting with Lima Company suffering 13 of the 23. As for me, I knew some of the snipers and I also knew some of the guys in the AAV. How is someone supposed to feel about this? I find myself still in shock and kind of disbelief that this has happened. I don’t think I will fully comprehend all of this until I return home and actually have time to think about everything I have done and seen during my combat tour.

As for the operation, it was no different from the others; search house to house until you reach the end of town and this took about 1 week. I really don’t feel like breaking it down much further than that.


To the memory of the fallen warriors of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines:

Sgt. Justin F. Hoffman, 27, KIA August 3, 2005. A graduate of Ohio State, liked motorcycles and enlisted in the Reserves in his third year of college. His father, Robert Hoffman, was a marine, too.


Lance Cpl. William B. Wightman, 22, KIA August 3, 2005. Came from the small farming community of Sabina, Ohio, and joined the Marines after graduating from the local high school, where he was a fullback and captain of the football team and was also on the basketball and track teams. He played with G.I. Joe dolls as a child and told his family that was what he wanted to be when he grew up.


Lance Cpl. Edward A. Schroeder II, 22, KIA August 3, 2005. Was prohibited by his mother, a high school teacher of distinctly liberal views, from playing with toy guns as a boy.


Lance Cpl. Aaron H. Reed, 21, KIA August 3, 2005. A lean distance runner on cross-country and track teams, was the president of the class of '01 at Southeastern High School in Chillicothe, Ohio, where job opportunities are few and the military is a popular option. He has a brother serving in Afghanistan.


Lance Cpl. Grant B. Fraser, 22, of Anchorage, Alaska, KIA August 3, 2005. Enjoyed scaling rock walls and tickling ivories. He was a combat rescue swimmer, an avid scuba diver and actor.



Lance Cpl. Christopher J. Dyer, 19, KIA August 3, 2005. Played the viola and was a champion diver, graduating with honors from Princeton High School near Cincinnati, Ohio, last year. He planned to enroll at Ohio State when he returned.


Lance Cpl. Michael J. Cifuentes, 25, KIA August 3, 2005. Proposed to his college girlfriend, Tara Reynolds, by showing her a bunch of photographs that included one in which he held a sign asking her to marry him. They planned to do just that when he got back in the fall. A graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, he had been a substitute schoolteacher.


Lance Cpl. Eric J. Bernholz, 23, KIA August 3, 2005. Was a devoted member of the Grove City Church of the Nazarene, in Grove City, Ohio, and poured his energy into acting in its plays and coaching church youth sports. He graduated from Grove City High School and sometimes talked of wanting to become a firefighter.


Lance Cpl. Timothy M. Bell Jr., 22, KIA August 3, 2005. Was also fond of motorcycles. His father, Tim, described him as "the last of the John Waynes, only tougher." His family said he had wanted to be a marine since age 6.


Cpl. David Kenneth J. Kreuter, 26, KIA August 3, 2005. Was married and looking forward to seeing his son Christian, who was born on June 14, for the first time. He had a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati. Other marines said he had been offered a chance at Officer Candidates School.


Lance Cpl. Nicholas William B. Bloem, 20, KIA August 3, 2005. Was home-schooled until his junior year and then attended Kent View Christian Senior High School, now Rainier Christian High School in Auburn, Washington, for a year where he and his twin brother were cheerleaders. Then his family moved to Montana where he graduated from Belgrade High School and signed up for service in the Marines in 2003.

Some of these Marines were attachments coming from 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, but nontheless, considered part of Lima Company.

Sabre

The easiest way for me to do this is just take one event at a time, so I will start with our short and simple 3 day op to clear 2 villages and an oil refinery near the dam. The only problem with that is that is was not so simple.

After just getting back from Hit, the company just had less than 2 days of rest before we headed back out for this op. It wasn’t too bad starting off. On July 27th, we cleared through an oil refinery outside Haqlaniyah, which only took about half the day before we returned to the dam. The following morning, left again for the village of Cykla; estimated time to clear: 2 hours.

We started to clear the village with no problems. The teams in my squad would bound with one another taking turns providing over watch while the other clears the next house. It wasn’t until about half way through the village before we started to take sniper fire, which was very inaccurate, and then heard machine gun fire in the center of town. My team took refuge in the nearest house while we figured out what was going on. 2nd platoon was engaged in a firefight with some insurgents in a house. It started with Corporal Williams kicking a door in and being met with a barrage of heavy fire. His fellow Marines were able to pull him out and continued to fire upon the house.

At this time, my team is just keeping over watch on the west side of town, just a block from the fighting. My platoon sent over its corpsmen and 2 squads set up on nearby rooftops surrounding the house with insurgents. I am unable to do anything but listen on the radio and hear about there being at least 5 insurgents running between 3 houses next to each other.

After we fired a large volume of rounds into the houses, my platoon got together our assault team so that we could fire a few shoulder mounted rockets. Around this time, 2nd platoon tried to make entry into the house with a squad, but was repelled with heavy gunfire. They also tried to get a squad of Iraqi soldiers to make entry, but once again failed. Around this time was when Lance Corporal Lyons was hit. While waiting for the rockets, an M1A1 Abram tank was called in to fire a few rounds with its main gun into the houses. They were able to take down an insurgent with its .50 caliber machine gun plus knock over some walls to get better view of the situation.

In the end, the company just pulled everyone back to allow an air strike. Even while withdrawing, we were still taking fire from these houses. Though after four 500 pound bombs were dropped, the insurgents fell silent. With 2nd platoon taking a large amount of wounded, we had to send them all back to the dam and have weapons platoon come out to help us finish clearing the village. The rest of the day went on without further incident. That day, we were able to kill 8 insurgents and destroy several safe houses they were using.

The result of messing with Lima Co, 3rd Bn, 25th Marines:


After staying in Cykla for another day, we proceed to the last village to clear and that went without incident. This allowed us to return back to the dam for some much needed rest, but would soon find out that we would not be getting any. More to come in a couple of days.


Lance Cpl. Christopher P. Lyons, 24, of Mansfield, died July 28 when his unit came under attack by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in western Iraq. Lyons only saw his 3-month-old daughter via Webcam. His wife, Bethany, was pregnant when he deployed. Still, "Chris never once complained about having to go," said Scott Miller, advertising director at the Mansfield News Journal, where Lyons was a sales representative.


Cpl. Andre L. Williams, 23, of Galloway, died July 28 when his unit was attacked with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in western Iraq. Williams, his obituary said, was known for drawing, being able to "talk the talk," and his love of Ohio State University and the Cincinnati Bengals. He was involved in Toys for Tots, and had two young children.

Sword

With the completion of probably the most miserable operation we have ever done, the company is looking forward to getting home soon. For this latest op, the company swept through the city of Hit in a matter of days. Then we help to set up a permanent base in the city. This base will remain in Hit for future units to operate out of along with a company of Iraqi Army. This is something new that the coalition forces are trying in the Al Anbar province. Instead of just clearing a city then leaving; we have set up a operating base to run daily patrols and other missions from.

The reason why it was a miserable op is mostly associated with the extreme heat we had to experience. With daily temperatures over 120 degrees Fahrenheit and having access to only a limited supply of ice meant for a long and hot day. That and doing patrols to try and find an enemy that doesn’t want to fight while trying to avoid IEDs. I did have a little bit of excitement when a vehicle would venture too close to our patrol. I did get to fire a couple of warning shots at vehicles and this one time a round ricocheted off the street towards a crowd of people. Thankfully, no one was hurt, just some pissed off people. If we weren’t doing patrols then it was manning guard posts throughout the day and night. Really just a long and boring op with little resistance.

Unfortunately, a weapons platoon patrol was hit with an IED that wounded a couple of Marines and killed one of our corpsmen. Along with 1 Iraqi soldier killed with a couple wounded. The corpsman was HM3 “Doc” Youngblood, Travis. He joined our company during our pre-deployment training at 29 Palms. He is married with 1 child and another on the way. I never talked to him, but from what other people say, he was a professional at his job and always maintained a positive mood when things weren’t going that well.


HM3 "Doc" Travis L. Youngblood
KIA July 21, 2005

On a more positive note, my squad, along with some Iraqi soldiers, got ahold of some teddy bears. We attached them to our helmets and did a patrol that way. We did get some odd looks from the adult population, but the kids really enjoyed seeing us. We passed them out along the patrol to the kids along with some candy. It was a good time.

Just to let you know...

I will be gone a while conducting a large operation, the first since Operation Matador. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, we are going to a dangerous city. Anyways, I just wanted you all to know that I won't be blogging anytime soon, but will return with a story to blog about.

2nd Half

With half the combat tour over with, I am looking forward to finishing the second half strong and getting home. With that in mind, things have been a little bit slower around here than what we’re used to. For the past couple weeks, we have spent most of the time here at the dam running short missions nearby. This has allowed me to get a good amount of rest. Meanwhile, my platoon is staying here at the dam while the rest of the company is conducting a long op out West. So that leaves us doing these short missions around the dam, which can last from a few hours to 24 hours. The best part is, there currently is a shamal, a sand storm, running around here for the last few days. With that going on, helo flights are grounded so that means our missions are also cancelled, most of them anyways. With that being said, there hasn’t been too much going on so that’s why I haven’t posted anything lately.

I have been in contact with a buddy of mine, who was injured in Ubaydi during Operation Matador. His name is Lance Corporal Scott Bunker. He is doing alright healing and being honored by the city of Kettering by calling June 14th Scott Bunker day. I think that is fantastic to hear people back home are treating him like a hero that he is.

Here is one interesting picture that I took while conducting one of our many patrols out into the open desert, surrounding the dam. This missile is like 8 or 9 feet long! Don’t worry, it appears to have been there for a long time and it is hollow on the inside.

Pirates?

Some good news to report, a former Marine of 1st platoon, recently took a trip to drop off some ‘cargo’ at Abu Ghraib prison. While there, he came across a copy of Star Wars III on DVD. Some of you might be saying, “How’s that possible? It just came out in theaters!” Well, my answer to that question might go something like this, “Arrrrr! We be pirates!” Just kidding; there actually are a lot of bootleg DVDs available for sale through the local populace. So, we are just trying to do our part in stimulating the economy.

I must say, it was a very good quality pirated copy of Star Wars III. Since it was a former Marine of 1st platoon, who acquired the movie, he showed it to us first. It just made everyone’s day a whole lot better. A pretty good movie overall with some splendid fight scenes. I would recommend it to anyone.

In other news, I know that it’s been awhile since I have had time to write back to everyone who’s been writing me. So, I took a few hours of time I had to write a bunch of letters to you guys back home. Plan on getting one from me in about a week. Sorry for the delay, but I have been a little bit busy. Just know that when I read a letter from home, it brings me back there for those few minutes of reading and I thank you all for that. Plus, it gives me less of a ‘culture shock’ when I do return home and have been able to keep up to date on happenings back home.


To everyone who reads this blog or checks out my flickr pictures, I would like to say thank you for your support. The continued words of encouragement left as comments, means a great deal to me. I never imagined that I would have complete strangers from around the country and even around the world like Australia. I even had a few German’s, though I don’t hold that against them. I never told anyone about my flickr photos except my friends. Now, I have over 30,000 views of my photos and receive many compliments for my work. I’ve been able to allow friends and family members of Marines in Lima Co., 3/25 the opportunity to see their loved ones and allow the world to see this war through my eyes as a Marine Corps rifleman. This is just totally amazing to me. The best part for me, is just reading all the comments I get; even the bad ones on occasion.

To anyone who reads this:
Thank you once again. You have no idea how much you have touched my life. Hopefully, in some small way, I have touched yours.

New Market

With the completion of another operation, I am still realizing, there are sides to this war that I still haven’t seen yet.

My platoon was given the lovely job of firm base security, but not just any firm base, it had to be the battalion firm base. Needless to say, somehow blousing our trousers will somehow deflect bullets; well, that’s what some Marines on the battalion level would have you believe. We (1st Plt.) just want to stay as cool as possible with the summer temperature coming upon us.

It was a pretty easy job overall; 2 hours on and 6 off, most of the time, for 4 days. During the 1st day of the operation, our base started to take indirect fire, from mortars. It wasn’t something new to us, but it was pretty close on the 1st day. Unfortunately, while I was standing watch on the rooftop, I witness the death of a little boy from these mortar attacks on us. So far, I haven’t seen any civilian deaths while I was here, until now and it was the worst kind. I felt terrible to see an innocent boy be killed by an insurgent attack. The family circled around the boy and the father picked up his limp body, to take him inside the house. Shortly thereafter, they buried him in the graveyard nearby.

For the reminder of the time we were at this base, we continued to receive a couple of mortar attacks a day. The sound a round makes as it flies through the air is something I wish to never hear again. The reason, if you can hear it, then it will be landing near you. All you can do is get low and pray. We would then send out a quick reaction force to try to locate, and destroy the threat. Fortunately, no Marines were injured during our stay.

During one of these mortar attacks, which I have encountered before, I felt scared. With each round making it’s distinctive explosive thud, getting a little bit closer, with every attack, on our firm base. I remember thinking about what people told me back home. They said they were praying for my safe return. Then I was thinking, what if it is not in the grand scheme of things for me to make it home safe. I thought it would be a waste of time and it would be better for them to spend their time praying for me to have a sound mind in times like these. I don’t know why I thought of this, but I did and I just wanted to let it out because it was one of the times in which I felt scared. I will admit that, its war for crying out loud and I know my other Marines had similar fears. I think everyone here fighting, is scared. It’s whether or not they let that fear overcome their sense of duty.

I also have some more bad news to report. My company suffered another lose, this time from 2nd platoon. I’ve had the honor of knowing this good man last year during my UNITAS deployment to South America. He was my squad leader. I will miss you Sergeant David Wimberg. I’m glad you were able to shot that bastard who got you.

KIA May 25, 2005

And I continue on with the fight…

Fallen Warriors

I would like to let everyone know not only the names, but the faces of the Marines, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

“For He Who Sheds His Blood With Me Shall Be My Brother.”
In loving memory of the fallen warriors of 1st Platoon, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines:


Lance Corporal Wesley G. Davids, Ohio.
KIA May 11, 2005


Corporal Dustin A. Derga, Ohio.
KIA May 8, 2005


Private First Class Christopher R. Dixon, Ohio.
KIA May 11, 2005


Lance Corporal Nicholas B. Erdy, Ohio.
KIA May 11, 2005


Staff Sergeant Anthony L. Goodwin, New Jersey.
KIA May 8, 2005


Lance Corporal Jonathan W. Grant, New Mexico.
KIA May 11, 2005


Staff Sergeant Kendall H. Ivy
KIA May 11, 2005

You guys are truly missed and we aren't the same without you.

Here Is My Story

As most people who read this already know, my company was part of Operation Matador. We engaged in some heavy fighting and took some losses while conducting combat operations. Here is my story…

After conducting a large scale operation in our AO (area of operations), we went back to the dam for 20 hours before heading back out to Al Qaim. On what was one of the most uncomfortable 10 hour AAV (or Amtrak) rides through open desert, we finally arrived at Al Qaim. Though, Matador wasn’t going to kick off for a few days, my company took the time to enjoy the food and rest offered on base.

At the start of the operation, we had to wait for the Army to set up a bridge for us to cross the river. While the Army was doing this, we were staged just behind them and started to take indirect fire, mortars, from a nearby town of Ubaydi. My company repositioned itself outside the town by at least 1500 meters. I was standing up in the Amtrak providing security so I can see what was going on. I heard the occasional burst of machine gun fire from the town. Apparently, the insurgents were trying to shoot at our helicopters. Now keep in mind we are over 1500 meters away and the helicopters are roaming around us. There was no way those idiots were going to hit them! I found that quite amusing. Shortly after sitting around staring at the town, a stray round ricocheted off the ground about 25 meters from my Amtrak. I was surprised and got a little bit scared cause I never had a round land so close to me. So me and another guy, who was sitting on top of the Amtrak, quickly got back in. Soon afterwards, we realized that we were too far away from the town that they couldn’t hit us.

We then had a sniper get on top of the Amtrak and start checking out the town. But with no luck, couldn’t locate the source of the machine gun fire. After a bit of time, a bunch of us got back on top of the Amtrak to sit and lay down, because it does get hot inside. We sat there for a couple of hours just doing nothing. For some reason, higher ups didn’t want us to go take down the town because it wasn’t part of the major operation they had planned. Eventually, we did finally start moving out to take the town around noon; the hottest part of the day.

On the movement to Ubaydi, I stayed standing up inside the Amtrak providing security out the top of it (you can see all of this in my pictures on flickr). While moving closer to the town I can hear rounds fly over my head. They made a sound one would expect from a Hollywood movie; like a zip and zoom sound. Another new experience for me all together.

Once we reached the outside of the town, the Amtrak ramp went down and the Marines rushed out. Immediately, we came under machine gun fire. I got my team together and ran across the street to the first house while rounds were ricocheting a couple meters from me. That really didn’t bother me too much. My main focus was, believe it or not, was not to trip and fall and to run as fast as I can too cover.

As soon as I got to the first house, we were still receiving machine gun fire, but I couldn’t locate its source. Neither could the other team across the street from me. So, with out further delay, my team jumps the first wall of the house and started to clear the houses one by one. For the most part, the houses had no one inside or everyone who was inside was already all together sitting in a room. The people living there knew the drill and were waiting for us to come by. All while doing this, there was heavy weapons fire from all over the town. It was almost like a scene in a movie; Cobra attack helicopters were making attack runs with rockets, a Huey firing its mini gun, .50 caliber machine guns firing, grenade launchers and small arms fire was heard everywhere.

Luckily, the houses were built right next to each other. All we had to do was jump a 4 foot wall, on the roof, to get to the next house. This allowed us to maintain the best firing position. But I tell you what, after an hour of running around and jumping dozens of 4 foot walls, with 80 pounds of gear on, started to wear on us. Fortunately, most of the fighting had stopped within the hour of us entering the town.

While clearing the houses, my squad ran across several large weapon caches just sitting in empty houses. You can see some of them in my pictures. One house in particular, had dozens of RPG warheads, Russian rockets, and several RPKs with hundreds of rounds. Since we didn’t want to deal with the possibility of it being booby trapped, called in the combat engineers to blow up the cache. I tell you what, I’ve seen some large explosions since being here, but I’ve never seen anything like this, so close. We blew up an entire house while I was only a block away. The explosion sent debris hundreds of feet into the air and blew out every window within a block. It was very cool to see this. Once again, you can see what’s left of the house in my pictures.

By evening, we only got half way into the town and were about to pull back to a firm base. On the last block, of the last house we were going to clear before we leave, hell broke out. My team, with a team from weapons platoon, was clearing one block and the rest of 2nd squad was with 1st squad clearing the block parallel to mine. My team was on the last house of the block when all of the sudden I heard machine gun fire nearby. I was providing security in front of the house when I heard this. Immediately, I ran through the house to the roof. Still hearing more shots, I get to the roof where I left a guy from my team up there for over watch. He said shortly after hearing the machine gun fire, 2 insurgents ran out the back of the house. My guy was on the rooftop behind that house and was able to engage and kill both the guys. They didn’t even see it coming.

From my position, I was able to see clearly into backyard and the back rooms of the house where the machine gun fire came from. Next thing I know, I hear on the radio that we got casualties. What happened was a team from 1st squad was about to make entry into the house when they got torn up by machine gun fire from inside the house. We took 3 casualties right away from that. Then that’s when my guy dropped 2 men running out the back door. They threw in smoke inside the house and a grenade to retrieve the casualties. After the smoke cleared, a team made entry into the house to secure it. They went through the house and made it to the backyard to where the dead insurgents lay. The platoon sergeant told my guy good job and dropping the men and went back inside to pull out a RPK used against us. A couple of Marines left through the front of the house, while 2 stayed in the backyard.

Apparently 1 of the Marines in the backyard went back inside and went to check out a closet to clear it. As he turned the knob, a hail of rounds hit him. The other Marine in the back yard ran back inside and exchanged gun fire for only a second before he had to run back to the backyard. I was able to witness the whole exchange of gun fire. It was horrible and I couldn’t believe that 1 Marine made it safely to the backyard. My platoon then made another entry into the house to retrieve the fallen Marine only to be repelled by a heavy barrage of machine fire from an unknown location inside the house. The amazing thing about all of this, is how well disciplined these insurgents were. They waited patiently inside the house and only opened fire when they knew everyone was inside the house. All the while screaming, “God is great!” in Arabic. All the while, I am standing on the rooftop just watching and not being able to engage because I might hit friendly forces towards the front of the house.

The insurgents were able to fire through several concrete walls with armor piercing rounds. While our 5.56 mm rounds from the M16 could barley penetrate 1 wall. After 2 unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the fallen Marine, we could no risk any more casualties and with a fallen Marine inside, we couldn’t use any bigger weapons on the bad guys. Then the call came to me over the radio. I could still see the Marine inside and was asked whether or not he was dead or alive. A call I never wish to make again, but due to the situation, I had to do it. The fallen Marine never moved since he got hit and I could see a pool of blood from under him. I informed my command that there was no movement from the body. With that call, higher ups called in a M1 Abram tank. My team was ordered off the rooftop to open up a free firing direction for the tank. I had to relocate a block down and joined the snipers. I could do nothing else that night but watch.

After a long day of fighting, my team was pretty drained, and I was experiencing heat exhaustion, so we just rested on a rooftop with the snipers. After what seems to be several hours, the explosive sound of a tank firing was heard followed by a large cloud of orange fire. The 1st tank round lit a propane tank next to the house and the car in the drive way burst with flames. This was followed by 6 more rounds, some of them meant to destroy bunkers. A team from my squad made a another entry into the house with 4 grenades to help clear out the rooms. Yet again, the team entering the house was greeted with a large volume of machine gun fire. One of my buddies, in my squad (2nd), was seriously injured from this. My squad leader was able to pull him out of the house.

After all of this, the company decided to call in air to drop a 500 pound bomb. This was something my platoon commander didn’t want to do, but had to follow the order cause we were given 10 minutes before the bomb was being dropped. By this time, it was a little past midnight. We rushed to get back to a firm base, set up nearby, and waited for the bomb to be dropped. With much anger, the 1st bomb was a dud and the 2nd one totally missed the house. We had to wait till daylight before heading back out to the house to retrieve our fallen Marine.

My platoon cautiously approached the house in the morning. By this time, we knew the insurgents were firing from below the house. So just to be sure, we fired two rockets into the house from a nearby rooftop. Causing the floor to collapse on the insurgents. We think that they either bleed to death over the night or the collapse killed them. After we retrieved our fallen Marine, threw a grenade into the hole, where the insurgents were at, to be sure of their death. This ended the long ordeal with 2 KIA Marines and 5 WIA.

This was the most intense, frightening, and chaotic experience I have ever had. One thing that kept me going, was the fact that I knew I was surrounded by a bunch of Marines watching my back.

The next couple of days, my platoon was assigned to watch a road and block it. It allowed us to get some rest and deal with our losses. Believing we saw the worst of war; we were wrong. There really isn’t much to say about the following day when 1st squad’s Amtrak got blown up from a IED (improvised explosive device). It was just amazing to know that 1 Amtrak rolled over the IED, then my Amtrak did, but 1st squad’s set it off. It was a horrific scene to watch and not be able to do anything knowing that we couldn’t get all the Marines off the vehicle before it went up in flames and soon the ammunition inside was cooking off due to the fire. We lost 6 more Marines that day, 4 from my platoon and numerous casualties from the fire.

The higher ups thought it best that my platoon get back to the rear to deal with everything that happened. They had us do group counseling to talk about what happened and our friends that we have lost. It was hard, but in the end, I think it was a good way to deal with our losses.

War Is Hell

There is a saying that war is hell. I now know why. And just when I thought I have seen the worst of things, it got a whole lot worse.

In case you don't know, stories about my platoon:
MSNBC: Demise of a hard-fighting squad
Lima Company HQ focuses on helping anxious families
Lima Company Hit Hard By Fighting
Deadly firefight in a desert town shocks marines
A crippling end for Marine squad

There Was a Fire Fight!

Spent 7.62 Brass
Originally uploaded by nukeit1.

My title comes from a line from the movie, Boondock Saints, when Willem DaFoe's character describes a crime scene. I just love the way he says it and I think it is appropriate for what my week was like. It goes something like this...

My platoon, by itself, was on a civil affairs mission to a town we recently been to and made use of their schools. It was going good and somewhat fast. On the way out of the town, we dismounted our AAVs and walked alongside them down a street. We were checking on some graffiti that we marked out on a previous mission. There were a good number of kids and adults in the street. I was even giving some candy to the kids.

My platoon was in the process of loading back on the AAVs to head back home. 3rd squad was the lead element with 2nd, my squad, in the middle, and 1st squad last. As we were loading up, a Marine in 3rd squad saw a guy quickly approach a man standing along the street. This man whispered briefly into the other man's ear and within seconds, he had the children run into their houses.

Right when my squad was all loaded in the AAV and 3rd squad was in the process, they (3rd) saw a man run across the street carrying a RPG. I heard this sent over the radio and we immediately disembarked and ran to an abandoned police station that was right next to our vehicle. As my team was running up the stairs to the roof that's when I heard it all begin.

The rapid fire of a RPK machine gun followed by returning fire from 3rd squad. As I got to the roof, I tried to locate where this was all coming from. At this point, I still didn't know where we were taking fire from. I knew it was directed at 3rd squad, but I couldn't see any of it due to the numerous trees nearby. The whole fire fight lasted about a minute or two. After a few minutes of being on the roof, my team then returned to the street to provide security for the AAVs while the other squads attempted to push forward to flank the enemy. We were unable to catch or kill any of the enemy fighters.

My platoon secured the area and begun questioning the locals about the enemy fighters. Later find out that there were four armed men carrying 3 RPKs and 1 RPG. The fire fight was started with the RPG, but luckily the round bounced off the street and did not detonate. 3rd squad immediately took cover from the fire, but due to the well placed firing positions of the enemy, 3rd could not return accurate fire without losing their cover. The 4 armed men took off right away in a car and crossed the bridge to another town. No casualties for either side.

During this whole thing I never got scared or anything like that. I was mostly curious on who was shooting at us and where were they at. I definitely got excited as I thought this was the moment I have trained and waited for 3 years, but still to this date, I have yet to fire my rifle. Not even a warning shot! One of the Marines in my team thought it was funny when this whole thing started how I was just up and walking around on the rooftop carrying my rifle in one hand and had a small snack of trail mix in my other hand; occasionally eating it while trying to figure out where the firing was coming from. What can I say; I'm not going to let the insurgents interfere with my snack time.

Indirect Fire

Today started alright, except for the fact that we had to wake up at 0315 for a short, 1 day mission; just more house searches. While conducting house searches, my platoon was moving at a very good speed. We were in fact, going to get done several hours early. Right when we called up our AAVs to load them and head back to the dam, we started to receive indirect fire; mortars. Though, at this time, I am used to it and it really didn’t bother me because I know the dumb asses you fire them can’t hit anything. Though, a broken watch is right twice a day, they did not hit us this time with the 2 rounds fired.

We got back to the dam and what do you know, as soon as we all start getting off the AAVs, we got 3-120mm mortar rounds. This time, it was closer, like 200 meters away. Once again, the enemy hit out in the desert with no harm caused except some frayed nerves. We did have a mortar round strike our base a little bit ago and injured some Marines, so we don’t like to see them this close.

Then, during dinner, I was happily eating some decent chow, with our fellow troops, the Azerbaijanis (It is a country near Russia). When all of the sudden, I hear the distinct loud, explosive thuds of mortar rounds landing nearby. I thought they struck the dam right above the mess hall. Everyone in the mess hall just stopped eating and looked at one another. Faces of concern we’re on everyone, which some might say it could be fear, but we all try to hide it because well, we’re Marines. Moments later, another explosive thud from another mortar round. This time, a little bit farther away.

Due to the fact that I was hungry from a long day, I continued to eat as well as everyone else because I refuse to the terrorists interrupt my dinner. A couple minutes have passed when the call for ‘corpsman up’ was made. This did concern me because this probably meant someone was hurt. Luckily, not a single body was hurt.

Within minutes of all this, we already had our mortar tubes set up and were rocking off rounds in retaliation. Weapons Company loaded up on humvees and rolled out. Snipers were stationed high with their rifles and spotting scopes in an attempt to kill the a**holes who dare attack us.

The indirect fire count for the day came to 5. A new record since being here, so apparently, we are really pissing off some terrorists. And that is what they are—terrorists.

Adopt-A-Platoon

To balance out bad days with some good ones; I have received packages from two people via adopt-a-platoon. I had no idea that my name was in such a system, but apparently it is a non-profit organization that hooks up people with troops around the world. I was pleasantly surprised to find that a man from Pennsylvania and a lady from New Hampshire have sent me some nice care packages and letters. I just think that is awesome to have someone I don’t even know, write to me when I am half way around the world. I have friends back home that don’t write, yet these strangers will.

I just want to acknowledge and say thank you to Mr. Dave Benner of Pennsylvania and Ms. Candy Brown of New Hampshire.

Sunday at the Dam

Today was a rare day in which I was able to be at the dam on Sunday. So, I was able to go to the first 3rd Bn., 25th Marines Non-denominational church service. This was the 1st service I've been to in a long time; the reason being... the other services offered are geared towards Catholic and Roman-Catholics. It was refreshing to be able to go to service and praise and worship God.

In other news, I just wanted to say thanks to Joel for getting a German translation for me. Though, hard to read, but interesting none the less. Also, to everyone else leaving me comments. I never thought I would have so many people from around the world read my blog and checking out my pictures. It's kinda crazy when I think about it because I didn't think it was all that grand. Anyways, thanks for the support.

Foot Inspections

Just to vent some of my built up stress and anger towards the way things can be in the Marine Corps infantry. Though, I am proud to be serving, some things really get to me and this is one example. The other day, my platoon just came off a 3 day operation. All we did was sit on a road and blocked all the traffic with a rotation of 6 hours on, 6 off. The evening we come back, the platoon sergeant calls a platoon meeting. He then proceeds to ask a Lance Corporal in the platoon to show him the problems with his feet. The LCpl shows his feet to the platoon sergeant and they look alright.

Apparently, the LCpl’s feet, as he tells it, ‘were white and soggy.’ Basically, they looked like he just got out of a long bath with pruny feet. Now, keep this in mind, we have 2 Marines, in the platoon, on light duty because of feet problems. Our platoon sergeant then asks this young Marine when the last time he took off his boots was. The LCpl responded with this, “the last time we were at the Dam.” This, by the way, was 3 days prior. This was an incredibly stupid thing to do, especially when the temperatures are reaching 100s.

The platoon sergeant was furious that the squad leaders and fire team leaders weren’t doing their jobs. I can understand why he would, but then we proceeded with a little speech about the platoon sergeant is now going to micromanage the platoon since the squad and fire team leaders can’t do their jobs.

The platoon then proceeded with a feet inspection done by the squad leaders. With no new foot problems to report, the platoon sergeant then tells that we all will start using foot powder everyday. In addition, he does not like to see dirty socks hanging in our rooms. He says that while in the rear, we should be changing our socks everyday. I totally agree with this. The problem I have is Marines, in our platoon and in the other room, are the cause of most of these ills. Not to mention that their room absolutely reeks of a deathly aroma of feet.

Due to these defects, the platoon sergeant wants another feet inspection in one hour; 2230, that’s 10:30PM for those non-military. So, the grumpy bunch of Marines in 1st platoon goes back to our rooms and we apply foot powder and take down our socks; well, my room does anyway. 2230 rolls around and we partake in another foot inspection; this time done by the fire team leaders. Same as last time, no new foot problems to report and everyone now has foot powder on their feet. One problem, the platoon sergeant sees that there are still socks hanging up in our living quarters. So we have another foot inspection in another hour; 2330 or 11:30PM.

This time, a pissed off platoon goes back to our rooms and corrects the faults. We wait till 2330. We get back in a line; this time for a foot inspection done by our buddy. As before, no new foot problems to report (really, what foot problems can develop in 2 hours while wearing shower shoes?). The platoon sergeant inspects the rooms again, and still finds hanging socks! “This is ridiculous!” I thought to myself as I sit awaiting further gloom in my life. These problems were coming from the other room with a bunch of deficient fire team leaders and 1 squad leader. After another talk by the platoon sergeant about how we can play these games all night, we were able to go to bed after this 3rd and last foot inspection.

Basically, I really hate it when only a few in the group screw up and the higher leadership punishes everyone else for their defects.

Germans

Something very interesting has come to my attention recently. It seems as though some Germans have taken interest in my blog and also quite a likening to my flickr pictures. I was wondering why my blog all of the sudden reached over 1000 hits and at the same time, my flickr photo stream has been viewed over 8000 times! Some individual pictures were viewed over 1200 times! That’s crazy I thought to myself. It wasn’t like this last week. Then I got an anonymous email through blogger and this is what it says:

Sorry, it's me again. If you wonder, why so much traffic is on your Blog, look here: http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19837/1.html
Most of the germans a laughing about this, maybe you understand...and find somebody to translate, it's about you!!!

Also, I got another email that was sent merely minutes before the anonymous one and it is from a German! I won’t show the email address, but here is the message (I had to slightly edit the content):

Hi Fighter *g*
Sorry about laughing, but an hard soldier, who is posting about war, tells something of the mother's accident. Thats,wahat we call "Blender" in Germany. Like a Fake-Rolex,it sems to be something other, than it is in reality...
I hope, you will land fron your "warrior-trip"... Thik only, if somebody would come in your house, only why Bush is an asshole and does much s**t. Nice thoughts? I think not...
Greetz,Megablaster
Quit German Airforce before they gone to war :-)

So, if anyone out there can help me out by translating what the German web page says about me that would be great. Heck, any of you Germans out there want to do this for me, that would be fine as well.

By the way, I’ve been to Germany and I liked my experience and the country itself was wonderful. I don’t mind if you all read what I have to say and learn about my experiences in this war. But please, keep your political thoughts to yourself. I’m not writing these blogs to be anything political or whether or not going to war was right or wrong. I am writing my experiences so that my family, friends, and any one else for that matter, know what I’ve been doing. Letting them see a more positive side, sometimes, to this war that is not shown on any news network. And the sacrifices that my fellow troops have to make, and most importantly, the sacrifices that the Iraqi people make to combat the terrorists in Iraq.

Operation Stay On Line

Yet another completion of a week long operation. Basically, did the same thing we have been doing; house searches, searching fields and farms (while staying on line in a good looking formation), and the occasional raid. There were some highlights about this op. Like the day my squad had to stand security over a fish market. The stench was horrendous and we had to stay there for most of the day. I’ve upload a picture of how they stored fish; Iraqi just keep it on ice and when it thaws out, it drains to the outside.

My squad has also been unofficially designated as the mountain goat squad. Why you ask. It seems like every time there is a cliffs or high ground, we have to be the ones to go up to and check it out. I also ran across a lot of rooms, if that’s what I can call them, built in the caves of these cliffs. People build up mud brick walls and make a little room. From what I have seen, people just use them as storage rooms. I’ve found one full of corn feed. Once again, check out my pictures on flickr.

This past week has also included a lot of action for the Marines of Lima Co. Just to let you know, my platoon, so far, is the only one who has yet to engage in a fire fight or take small arms fire. One of the platoons did get ambushed and it turned into one of the longest fire fights since Fallujah. Can’t get too specific on the details. There was one night when we had 4 separate engagements in one city. Rumor has it, there were at least 30 funerals the following day.

Near the end of the op, we ran across a large weapons cache. It had all kinds of explosives, rifles, ammunition, and machine guns. To set an example to the terrorists in the area, we blew up the house. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a before picture, but did take an after picture; so check it out.

Almost forget, I was part of a raid that netted a high value target. This guy had computer CDs with some pretty crazy stuff on them and even a poster of Osama bin Laden with a lot of stupid writing on it.

If anyone is interested, here is a link to a web site that has adopted our company. It shows all related news stories about us: http://www.reminderpublications.com/marine/marine.html. You will have to look for the link on the left side bar.

Corporal

Finally after 2.5 years as a Lance Corporal, I am being promoted today to the rank of Corporal. That is E-4 which in the Corps means I will become a Non-Commissioned Officer. I am very excited about it. One because I get more pay and two I will be treated a little bit better with the perks that comes from being a NCO in the Marine Corps. Technically, I am supposed to be promoted tomorrow on the 1st of the month, but due to operations, that can't always happen. So if any one reads this and sends me mail, please make the switch to Cpl. McCauley. Thanks.

First Combat Experience

Well, what can I say? I am now a combat veteran, though I really don’t feel like it. I always think of combat vets as old guys who went to Vietnam. Now, I will be one to replace those ranks of veterans. To express some of my experiences on this blog, I hope to remember these times and better myself later in life.

First off, I just got back from a 2 week operation called River Bridge. My company went from town to town clearing each house by house, vehicle by vehicle. We even went through a lot of farming fields. Searching, just searching for anything that would kill us whether that be illegal weapons or explosives. For the most part, we confiscated single barrel shotguns, extra AK-47s (they are allowed 1 per household), occasional handgun, and even a little bit of explosives. We even detained a few people along the way. Some days lasted 24+ hours and we had to learn to sleep an hour here or there during the day to keep us going.

One thing that I would like to let people know about is how friendly some of the Iraqi people are to us even though we enter their homes and conduct a very thorough search of their belongings. We were offered food, tea, and candy, even from a man who I just cut off his lock into his shop down the street. We also went into empty houses or buildings, though sometimes we did not have that choice, and went “firm.” Which means we set up security outside the house and secured the inside as well. Then we took a short break usually to eat lunch or sleep for the night. I found this odd when we had to kick people out of their house even, but we usually let them stay. Even with all this going on, they gave us blankets and food at night. This was truly shocking for me to witness.

That brings me to my next point: breaking into their homes and businesses. This is something that has to be done when the occupants are not home. I got pretty good at it, especially when we had to enter about 50 shops in a row. I am now very proficient in hammering, cutting, or kicking in doors, locks, and gates.

Children generally like us in the towns I’ve seen. Marines hand out candy to them and talk with the ones that can speak a little bit of English. Plus, they treat us kind of like celebrities; asking for our names to be written on their hands. Generally, it is always a good sign to see children around us because Iraqis won’t let their children get hurt by these terrorists.

The biggest complaint I have about my job is the load I have to carry on my shoulders and back. Back in the States, they always tell us to train like we fight, but for some reason they would never give us a full combat load to train with. What I mean by full combat load is this: flak jacket with SAPI plates, Kevlar helmet, camelback with 3 liters of water, 7 full magazines of rounds, a couple hand grenades, a few grenade launcher rounds, binoculars, extra first aid supplies, and other mission essential gear like night vision goggles, breaching kit, flash bangs, and trauma bags with the occasional AT-4 anti-tank rocket launcher. For me, this load is about 50-60 pounds of constant weight put upon my shoulders and back. My shoulder hurts so much that I can barley move my arm to feed myself. So, anyone who wants to send me some good pain killers and icy hot, I would be in your debt. Unfortunately, the mobile PX only comes around here twice a month and sometimes I am out doing ops.

Now for some interesting things that happened on this operation. My platoon did not receive any small arms fire, though other platoons did and it was sniper fire or a RPG that went between two AAVs (Amphibious Assault Vehicles, this is what we use most of the time). The first time I heard an explosion, not our own, was when I was sleeping at our firm base we set up in town. It was a mine that blew up the front of a humvee just outside the wire. Suffered a few casualties and everyone will live. This is not a sound I like to hear wake me, but nonetheless, something I realize I will experience a lot of.

We lost some coalition forces, Iraqi Freedom Guards, during an IED explosion with a brief fire fight. Our Abram tanks were able to roll out and help them out by blowing up a building hiding the insurgents. I did not witness this, but was able to hear the fight in the distance. The Iraqi Freedom Guards are a well trained force that I respect and admire. We lived together for short periods of time and was able to work side by side with them clearing houses. We are also fortunate that they can enter mosques and conduct other operations that the U.S. can’t do.

All this never really scared me like I thought it would until I had my experience with an IED up close. This happened near the end of the operation and we just rolled up into a new town early that morning. Startled the usual house searches and when we got to the second house, I was providing security outside for my team when all of the sudden I was hit with this shock wave followed by a very loud explosion. I turned around and saw a very large cloud of smoke rolling into the air about 200 meters behind me on the road we just rolled up on 30 minutes prior. Luckily, no one was injured and shortly thereafter, weapons platoon lit up a speeding car with a large amount of gasoline in the trunk shortly after the explosion. They killed 2 Iraqis that is believed to be a SVBIED (Suicide Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device). One tactic that the terrorists here use is a IED followed up with a SVBIED. After this all occurred, my team was in front of the platoon who was in charge with searching the area. I was walking down the same road where the IED 200 meters behind me went off with a possible daisy chain of 155mm IEDs along that road. I’ll say just this, I was very aware of my immediate surroundings and where my team was moving the remainder of the mission.

I think this will sum up everything that I did for about 2 weeks here in Iraq. I do have some other stories, some tragic and some pretty funny like my squad literally sitting next to an IED for about 5 hours before we noticed it. Thankfully the detonator was broken, so we were told.

Different Time Zones

One thing that I have come to hate about being on the other side of the world is the fact that I am 8 hours ahead of everyone that I know back home. So, when it is 8PM for me, it is only 12PM back home. So that means that people are usually still at work and such. This causes a problem when I get a chance to use the phones. First, I must wait like 2-3 hours to use the phones (sometimes the wait is longer). Then, I have 30 minutes to call people. Usually I make a call to my mother, then to other family and friends. The only person who I virtually always get is my mother, other than that, I have an extremely hard time getting ahold of people back home. This saddens me because I would like to talk to my friends and see what's up. Email works, but voice is better is a faster way to carry on a conversation.
In other news, I hate stairs, the smell and taste of sulfur in the air, and the long periods of boredom that results when one's country occupies another. Plus, not knowing what I will be doing tomorrow, or the fact that I don't even know what I will be doing today kinda sucks as well. I suppose it doesn't really matter because when I do find out stuff, it usually changes anyways.

A High Powered Freedom

A High Powered Freedom

High upon a block suppressant, concealing the liquid might of nature.
High above a valley, lights scattered and squandered.
Almost a vivid reflection of the stars above, the stream blocks the conjoining pattern.
A constant power wind rushes over the peak, grazing across the remianded lake off into the distance.
I feel a sense of flight, a sense of longingness to fly. And fly far away I shall into the distance.
Away from the sulfur scented ways, far from the moans of machines, I take a breath, a somber and longing lover’s breath.
Smiling from my companion’s image and notional scent, I close my eyes and take my flight.
Across the gorge and through the trees, I open my eyes and find my way back leaning against the rail.
Weapons slung standing amongst the wire and armor.
Reiniforced turrets and heavy guns in place, I find myself oddly and silently at home.
A smooth sadness accompany with an empty heart. I zoom out to my self, a mere soul.
A non-significant Marine standing guard over your costly freedom.
A freedom that you complain, a freedom that costs you so little.
Sleep safe America and know that my food tastes better day after day.

Lance Corporal Cohen, A.J.

Operation Iraqi Freedom III

Due to lack of internet access that I will soon have, I don’t think I will be able to keep much of a blog on here. I will try my best with letting my thoughts and such come out on here. In light that someone will have a better understanding of what a Marine goes through/does here in Iraq...
After a long 63 hours of traveling on many various kinds of transportation, buses, helo, commercial flight, and C-117, I finally arrived here in Hadithah Dam last week. Pretty nice place; definitely a lot better than 29 Palms. The chow is remarkable compared to the trash I got at Camp Wilson in California and we finally have a hard floor instead of sand. Too bad I will be leaving soon for another mission that will last for an unknown amount of time and it will be a somewhat remote location; hence no internet for awhile after this.
In other news, we still have to deal with a lot of BS that I thought would have ended when we entered a combat zone; i.e. can’t wear beanies while in the base, had a couple company size formations, on top of a dam might I add, and still have no toilet paper in the heads. On a positive side, tomorrow I will finally be able to go outside the wire and start doing my job. Something that I’ve been training for and waiting for about 3 years now.

29 Palms

Here is an update of what I’ve been doing for the 2.5 weeks. Unfortunately, there is no internet access at the field camp where we are staying, but I am able to have 1 day of liberty to main side and therefore be able to do this.

Our unit has been training mostly in the basics of infantry because it is said that is where a lot of mistakes are made. Spent sometime doing BUST (Basic Urban Skills Training) like clearing rooms and building. Learning about satellite patrolling, through a city, which involves individual fire teams of a squad taking a street each. We also did EMP (Enhanced Marksmanship Program) to better our firing skills in confined spaces. This weekend, we begin our RCAX (Revised Combined Arms Exercise) which involves a lot of live fire ranges on the squad, platoon, and company level. After that, we are being shipped to March Air Force base for SASO (Security and Stabilization Operations) training and that involves basically what we are doing in Iraq right now: policing operations. At the end of SASO, we will be doing a 3 day exercise of it which involves role players, setting up a firm base, and conducting security patrols. After that, we are going to be pretty much done and waiting for further word of our fly out date.

Life here at 29 Palms kinda sucks; we live at a field camp which has hooches that have a hard rood, but sand floors. So everything I have is getting covered in dust. I get to sleep on a cot most nights and it is really cold at night here. It uses to be in the low 30s, now it is in the low 40s at night. Oh, no heaters in the hooches. It does warm up quite fast when the sun is out; like 70s sometimes. I am starting to get used to life here, so I don’t hate it as much as I used to, but still miss home. I try to go to church on Sunday’s, when they let us, but it is not very good. Try and merge Protestant, Catholic, Roman Catholic, and have a Lutheran chaplain. It leans more towards Catholics than anything I think.

Funny thing about here is that the base in Iraq, where we are supposed to be going, is better than this misery. I hear that it will have hard floors and roofs, internet access, and better chow compliments of Halliburton. Plus, locals are contracted to clean our rooms; a nice added benefit of being in a combat zone I guess. That’s it for now. I will post again next month if they don’t take away our liberty to Las Vegas again (1st had 4 days liberty, then no liberty, now 2 days).

Lance Corporal McCauley

Lance Corporal McCauley
Originally uploaded by nukeit1.

This is just a picture of me fully equipped for combat. More pictures will soon come, though internet use is not available at my camp in 29 Palms. I am on liberty for 1 day, so this is all I can do till next month's liberty in Vegas.

Goodbye Everyone

It's that time. I will be flying to California tomorrow and begin my intense training. If you didn't get a email from me about what I am doing, my address, and such, then contact me via email and I might be able to get something to you soon. Well, here is what I send out minus my address.

Well everyone, it is time for me to say my final goodbyes. I will be flying to California on Monday for some serious training to prepare me for Iraq in March. My unit is out of Columbus, Ohio and is called Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines (or 3/25 for short). I just wanted to take this time to thank everyone for such tremendous support I get, from you, for what I do. It means a great deal to me and it makes it easier knowing that I have a lot of people that care and love me back home. Thank you once again.

I will have very limited access to email and really won't know till I get there. As soon as I know my address in Iraq, I will try to get it out to everyone. When I do get to Iraq, the Marine Corps has a new system in place that you can type me a message on line and it will be sent via email to the post office in Iraq, printed, and then sealed in a envelope. In about 24 hours it is delivered to me. I can not reply the same way. Here is the link: http://www.motomail.us/. Please keep in mind, that you can't do this until I am in Iraq. By the way, I hear it takes about 2 weeks for me to get mail in Iraq and about 1 week for me to send it out (assuming the mail isn't lost or blown up in transit).
Some people have asked me if I will be needing anything when I am gone. Well, while in California, I really won't be needing too much, but in Iraq I will. Here is a list, but if you think of anything else, surprise me. Also, if you can get travel sizes, that would help a lot.
hand sanitizer, antibacterial wipes, baby wipes
athletes foot cream/powder
cough drops
q-tips
Tylenol, etc...
sunscreen
lotion
neosporin, anti-itch cream
tissue packs
deodorant, mouth wash, shampoo
eye drops, vitamins
Any kind of snack or candy will be great (please no chocolate due to heat) power bars, gatorade mix, sugarless gum, canned fruit, hard candy, etc...
batteries (AA/AAA)
ziplock bags, insect repellent (DEET)
journal paper, paper, pens, envelopes, computer spray
seek & find puzzles, nerf balls
pictures, books, magazines, DVDs
Alright, that's about it for now. Please pray for me to have strength and guidance. I am proud to be serving and helping give Iraq freedom. If all goes well, my tour in Iraq will only be about 7 months. Take care and I hope to hear from you soon.

Finally Ready

It's Friday night and I made it home alright to finish some things real quick before I go back tomorrow morning. For some reason, they (my superiors) have been nice to us and let us go an hour early today and half hour yesterday. Next, we get off tomorrow at 1300 and don't have to come back till Sunday at 1600. I don't know; when someone who is mean to you and all of the sudden is nice, something real bad is going to happen. The suspense grows, but at least the week is pretty much over with and we are finally ready to go.

A funny little story was told to me today by my platoon sergeant. I asked him if it was OK to carry my laptop, in a case, as a carry on to the plane. He then asked me if I was a designated laptop carrier. I said no, since it isn't government laptop; it's mine! The sergeant then told me how it might be a bad idea since it might get damaged and not make it back home cause of the environment and such. Also, the company is apparently short of laptops and if I do carry my laptop, I will then be designated as a laptop carrier. Which means that my personal use of the laptop will be 2nd to the company's use of the laptop. So basically, they can use it whenever they want. Funny; I don't remember Lima Company ever giving me some money to help me buy MY laptop. Of course, me being a inferior rank and person, in the Corps eyes, I just politely said roger that and carried on with my day and packed it in my overstuffed seabag. During that time, I was thinking on how wonderful it will be when they try and take my laptop from me and give it to fricken admin so they can pretend to be doing something important like typing or drinking coffee, while I am patrolling the streets looking for insurgents. I don't think it will happen. They would have to remove it from my ninja grip only after I am dead. Well, I thought it was funny and so did a few other Marines.

1st Day of Duty

Well, today was the 1st day of my activation and it went pretty slow. As a matter of fact, all I did was sign my orders, do another gear inspection, and got one of the new flak jacket covers (they are all brown and contain IR inhibitors). The rest of the time was pretty much sitting around reading a little bit of Spare Parts and fighting off sleep. Thankfully, they will only keep us 0800 to about 1700. I might even get off early Saturday and be able to come in a little bit late on Sunday; won't know till later this week.

From what I can tell, the other Marines are positive about our mobilization. We just don't like to put up with this 1st week of waiting around doing paperwork and such. Just to let everyone know, I will be sending out a email later this week with my address and some other information. If someone wants the information and I don't email them, then talk to Pastor Larry or leave me a comment. I can't really put such information here due to operational security. That's all for now. I will try to blog and flickr as much as I can in the coming months.