Still VERY BUSY

I finally got a day off! WOHOO! Lately, we have been working our ass off. Lately it has been about 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night, and almost out in the city twice as long as a normal 8 hour shift. Though, it has been very quiet. Probably that is a testament to all of our hard work lately. I won't be able to probably blog for 3 or 4 more days because of the work schedule.

Not much else has been going on. I have been watching season 1, 2 and 3 of the Family Guy for something to laugh about. It is funny out in the field, because when we are all just bull shitting with one another out in the city, we joke about stuff we see in funny movies or Family Guy. It is a great escape from reality.

You don't feel the stress put on you from all the dangerous stuff we have to do. Until, you go to sleep and start dreaming of bad stuff. Recently, I had a dream me and a buddy were in the United States but it was like Iraq where we were occupiers but the suburbs we were in very nice. Me and him raided a house, and as I looked out of the window I saw a car speed down the street and jump the curve onto the yard with grass. I yelled to my buddy "Fuck! It's a car bomb!" I ran but as soon as I started to run the car blew up and sent shrapnel all over through the house. My buddy was seriously hurt in the leg, I was miraculously unhurt. I woke up right after my friend was moaning from the pain and I ran to go an assist him. My buddies that had their vehicle hit by the suicide car bomber have report of having bad dreams every night of always seeing their truck getting blown up or something else. It is strange how you don't feel really nervous or stressed, but subconsciously, you are under alot of stress.

Update

I finally got some more time off. I have been working constantly lately, getting on average maybe 5 hours of sleep if I am lucky. We are really pressing hard against the enemy. Not giving him any time to re-group or anything like that.

Not long ago my buddies were hit by a suicide car bomb. None of our guys were hurt by the grace of God. Pieces of the suicide bomber's body were all over the place. A few fire fights have went on. I wasn't in any of them though.

Recently, we have been arresting alot of bad guys. It seems to have been making a difference. Hopefully it stays that way.

Extremely Busy

There has been alot of crazy shit going on over here. So, I have been way too busy working rather than having enough time and getting on here to blog about how everything is going for me. Sorry to those who are disappointed in me not being able to post more often.

Today it topped out in the high 90s. It was pretty damn hot. Also the amount of times we are going out is forcing us to get much less sleep then we used to get.

A few days ago we patrolled around a particularly BAD part of town. You could just look at some of the Iraqis and tell by their facial expression they want to kill you. I would think this little place, which for OPSEC reasons will not be mentioned, is just as bad if not worse then Fallujah before the Marines and US Army retook it from insurgents. There is definitely alot of bad guys and anti-American sentiment there. Recently, we've had some guys get hurt that were patrolling around in that area. It is funny how on one side of the street people like us, and the other side of the street it's totally different.

It's been a long time since I have been able to talk to my family. Mostly, I have been sending letters to them, but I haven't sent a letter in about a week. They must be really worried about me. Of course, I can't even tell them about what is all happening for security reasons, plus I don't want my mother to have a heart attack. The NCOs and Officers usually tell us we need to go talk to our families, but on 4 hours a night of sleep on average it isn't possible. So, I will have to wait till everyone cools down. I just mailed out a letter today though. I try to keep them from worrying by telling them funny things that happen at work. My mom likes to share my letters with the rest of my family and friends.

Pope Is Dead

Not much has been going on for me. I read in the news about an attack on Abu Ghraib prison by Al-Qaeda. Other than that, the news has been dominated by the death of the Pope. It really doesn't bother me at all, since I am not a Catholic. The guy was over 80 years old, it's sad, but he's lived a long life.

The weather is still pretty warm, it will only get even more hot outside. It sucks, but it's just apart of the job. Something you have to deal with when it comes. Just anything else, you can't let it get to you. Drink alot of water.

Hectic Day

All hell seemed to have broken loose yesterday. There were many fire fights and attacks going on all throughout the day. Some of our guys got stuck out for almost 24 hours straight. A car bomb went off taking out one of the armored vehicles. They had mass casualties, but only one that had to be flown out. It's alittle surprising the news hasn't covered this at all. Plus a bomb killed some innocent bystanders. Some of the guys were pissed off that they weren't out on the patrols out there because they wanted to get in on the action. For us it's almost like messing with our family. If you attack one of our family members, we all want a piece of you. There is no worse enemy than US Army Infantrymen and Calvery. However, I think it is a pretty dumb thing to wish to goto combat. It is not a fun experience at all. I quickly shut him up about it wanting to fight.

We all joked about how useless the WMR tent is for mostly our whole unit. We barely see our own guys there, but always a bunch of 3rd ID guys using all the equipment instead. I joked about how mostly you don't see alot of large sized Infantryman is because we are always out so busy doing Patrols and raids, while 3rd ID pogues usually have big guys because they have plenty of time to work out.

Alittle About Me

I just received a care package from my family. I got all kinds of nice things. Supplements and all for working out and some movies that I ordered from the History Channel that were sent to my home and then forwarded here. I ordered "Iraq War: Battling the Insurgents" from there. I got to watch it yesterday, it was decent alot of the stuff I already know. I'm a big history buff, so I always like to watch programs from the History Channel. Especially about World War 2. My grandfather fought in World War 2 and was nearly killed from infection he received from mortar shrapnel. He never talked about his experiences. It's not a family tradition to join the military and serve. I am kind of a super star back home. Not many people in my area have been in the military or have family that do. So, I get alittle more lucky with the girls than most other guys would. Plus, there is a ton of support for the troops back home. Even for some who don't agree with the war, they still support us. Which is awesome, because alot of soldiers had on their mind from seeing all the mass protests in New York City and other places that we would be spit on by our own people.

Not much has been going on. I am still on this detail which is keeping me inside the wire. Soon, my little R&R will be over and I'll be out back to doing what I normally do. This time, I got tons of candy to give out to the kids. It will all probably melt though if I try to take it with me. I'll do it anyway though. It at least makes me feel alittle better when we go out and do good stuff like that.