Christmas is Coming
Only 4 more days till Christmas. We have alittle radio with us that we listen to the AFN (armed forces network) radio station. They are now playing Christmas music. Hard to believe that it's that time of the year already. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to call my family on Christmas. You can probably tell, my lack of posts in the last few days that it's getting busy over here. We are starting to do patrols again on a daily basis for a few hours a day.
The other day was my first time interacting with the Iraqi people since we left our previous station. So, finally getting to go out and do some patrols again felt really good. As we drove around, Iraqi kids would run up and wave to us. Also, I saw a woman pick up one of her kids in the field and move toward the house quickly. At first I thought she was probably protecting her kid, afraid we might raid their house because we had stopped there for a minute checking out a suspicious fighting position. Instead, what she was doing was getting closer and whisper to the child and pointed at us with a smile. Other people were just curious and stopped what they were doing in the field and walked over by the road and stared at us. Later on, we were driving in the middle of the road with a care coming towards us. For some reason, I can't remember exactly why, we stopped in the middle of the road. This blocked the car, and the guys inside didn't seem to happy about us. One guy even had the nerve to stare us down. So, I gave him back a stern glare. We don't play around with these Iraqis when they try bold stuff like that. Also, we've been getting hit by mortars and RPGs the last few days. So, everyone is pissed with the locals just standing around like nothing is happening. It looks really suspicious to us. Anyway, doing that patrol really felt good to get out again. Should be doing a whole lot more.
The other day was my first time interacting with the Iraqi people since we left our previous station. So, finally getting to go out and do some patrols again felt really good. As we drove around, Iraqi kids would run up and wave to us. Also, I saw a woman pick up one of her kids in the field and move toward the house quickly. At first I thought she was probably protecting her kid, afraid we might raid their house because we had stopped there for a minute checking out a suspicious fighting position. Instead, what she was doing was getting closer and whisper to the child and pointed at us with a smile. Other people were just curious and stopped what they were doing in the field and walked over by the road and stared at us. Later on, we were driving in the middle of the road with a care coming towards us. For some reason, I can't remember exactly why, we stopped in the middle of the road. This blocked the car, and the guys inside didn't seem to happy about us. One guy even had the nerve to stare us down. So, I gave him back a stern glare. We don't play around with these Iraqis when they try bold stuff like that. Also, we've been getting hit by mortars and RPGs the last few days. So, everyone is pissed with the locals just standing around like nothing is happening. It looks really suspicious to us. Anyway, doing that patrol really felt good to get out again. Should be doing a whole lot more.
