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Here is one of my entries into my journal while I was in Iraq. I've really been not saying much about what I did over there because much of it was classified, so alot of what I wrote in the past was about my opinions of the war and some of the minor events that took place on a daily basis. This is just a glimpse of the other stuff we had to do.
Journal:
24 June 03
Another hot ass day in Baghdad. Not a DAMN cloud in the sky. I don't even remember the last time I've seen a fucking cloud. This weather is so frustrating sometimes. Having to go outside and pull force protection on this big house. I walked over the Iraqi guard outside, Aesa and we talked alittle while about how his family was doing and about targets he told us about for us to hit. He is kinda like our little spy who goes out and gets intel for us. We've taken down like 15 Fedayeen cells operating already. These punks are all about waving their guns in the air and shouting to kill Americans and how brave they are around a tv camera. Then, when we bust the door down, we've had a few literally shit their pants and we come in with such fierosity, they don't even know what to do because they're scared shitless. How impressive.
It's been awhile since I've seen any action after April. So, I'm pretty pumped up for this raid we are about to do in a few hours. Gotta do fuckin PCIs on my equipment, making sure it all works. This shit gets really old after doing 15 raids. Plus having to do it at night, you're all fucking tired and not motivated. The first time, you are nervous, not knowing what to expect. Maybe some asshole will pop out of the window and throw a frag outside. Or maybe the door is booby trapped. Then you get addicted to it after your first sucessful raid. Then after a bunch it becomes really irritating. I hate doing night time raids, especially when we have follow on missions. You come back and just rack the fuck out in your bed.
We just had some crazy shit happen during the raid. We rolled out pretty late. Can't say what time, mission sensitive. My position was the .50 cal on one of the hmmwv's, we were the first vehicle in the little convoy. My job was to cover down the road, and just in case we really need to reach out and touch a hajji, I have the .50 cal. It felt like 90 degrees even at night, still hot as hell. Our objective was this block with a decent sized house with a hajji who is apparently in the Fedayeen higher ranks and the fucker has been paying off people to attack Americans. They passed the photo of a facial shot taken from a camera of the guy we are after, so we all should be able to get this guy if it came down to me having to do it. We rolled over to the house, and just before we were going to breach the fence surrounding his house, we spot the asshole peaking out of his window and quickly disappear. Immediately, one the guys pointed his weapon at the window but the guy was gone in a flash. Everyone ran their asses off to get back to the hmmwv's. It was time to lock the neighborhood down and make sure the cock sucker doesn't escape. We flew down the road, I had to hold onto the .50 to make sure my ass didn't fly out of the turret. Each one went to a different corner on the city block. There we waited for like 13 minutes, until over the radio you could hear the other team say they spotted the guy running with a handgun in his right hand. One of the guys said to fire over the dudes head to get him to stop. So, one of the guys fired close to 10 warning shots as this guy was running through the field, he didn't even turn back to look he just kept running. Finally, the team leader said "fuck it, take him out" and the next shot went into the back of the Hajji's head. 200 meter shot, it was an unbelievable shot, especially with the guy only using a 4x Acog scope on his m4. The medics ran over to the guy and started giving him IV's, and see if maybe they could save him. There was nothing they could do. So, we just put the body on a hmmwv and stopped by one of the morgue. His brother, who turned him in, we told him we were sorry. He looked really disappointed in his eyes and just said "I just wish he didn't run." We got back to our building we are staying in, and I at some snacks and finally went to bed.
Journal:
24 June 03
Another hot ass day in Baghdad. Not a DAMN cloud in the sky. I don't even remember the last time I've seen a fucking cloud. This weather is so frustrating sometimes. Having to go outside and pull force protection on this big house. I walked over the Iraqi guard outside, Aesa and we talked alittle while about how his family was doing and about targets he told us about for us to hit. He is kinda like our little spy who goes out and gets intel for us. We've taken down like 15 Fedayeen cells operating already. These punks are all about waving their guns in the air and shouting to kill Americans and how brave they are around a tv camera. Then, when we bust the door down, we've had a few literally shit their pants and we come in with such fierosity, they don't even know what to do because they're scared shitless. How impressive.
It's been awhile since I've seen any action after April. So, I'm pretty pumped up for this raid we are about to do in a few hours. Gotta do fuckin PCIs on my equipment, making sure it all works. This shit gets really old after doing 15 raids. Plus having to do it at night, you're all fucking tired and not motivated. The first time, you are nervous, not knowing what to expect. Maybe some asshole will pop out of the window and throw a frag outside. Or maybe the door is booby trapped. Then you get addicted to it after your first sucessful raid. Then after a bunch it becomes really irritating. I hate doing night time raids, especially when we have follow on missions. You come back and just rack the fuck out in your bed.
We just had some crazy shit happen during the raid. We rolled out pretty late. Can't say what time, mission sensitive. My position was the .50 cal on one of the hmmwv's, we were the first vehicle in the little convoy. My job was to cover down the road, and just in case we really need to reach out and touch a hajji, I have the .50 cal. It felt like 90 degrees even at night, still hot as hell. Our objective was this block with a decent sized house with a hajji who is apparently in the Fedayeen higher ranks and the fucker has been paying off people to attack Americans. They passed the photo of a facial shot taken from a camera of the guy we are after, so we all should be able to get this guy if it came down to me having to do it. We rolled over to the house, and just before we were going to breach the fence surrounding his house, we spot the asshole peaking out of his window and quickly disappear. Immediately, one the guys pointed his weapon at the window but the guy was gone in a flash. Everyone ran their asses off to get back to the hmmwv's. It was time to lock the neighborhood down and make sure the cock sucker doesn't escape. We flew down the road, I had to hold onto the .50 to make sure my ass didn't fly out of the turret. Each one went to a different corner on the city block. There we waited for like 13 minutes, until over the radio you could hear the other team say they spotted the guy running with a handgun in his right hand. One of the guys said to fire over the dudes head to get him to stop. So, one of the guys fired close to 10 warning shots as this guy was running through the field, he didn't even turn back to look he just kept running. Finally, the team leader said "fuck it, take him out" and the next shot went into the back of the Hajji's head. 200 meter shot, it was an unbelievable shot, especially with the guy only using a 4x Acog scope on his m4. The medics ran over to the guy and started giving him IV's, and see if maybe they could save him. There was nothing they could do. So, we just put the body on a hmmwv and stopped by one of the morgue. His brother, who turned him in, we told him we were sorry. He looked really disappointed in his eyes and just said "I just wish he didn't run." We got back to our building we are staying in, and I at some snacks and finally went to bed.
