RPG Attack

One of our platoons was hit today by an RPG round which fortunately did not seriously injure any soldiers in the vehicle. They walked away with small cuts and abrasions. The armor and protective glass on these vehicles definately did their job in protecting the occupants. Another of our patrols was attacked by a parachute grenade the other day which barely missed a vehicle and detonated in the road driving a hole several feet into the pavement. The RPG attack happened less than 100 meters from where I was passing out election flyers two days ago. The insurgents in the area are definately stepping up attacks ahead of the upcoming election.

A Tribute to a Fallen Soldier

This is something a soldier never wants to attend. It means one of your soldiers has made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. This soldier was honored for his service and dedication to duty by everyone on the base that was able to attend. He was killed in action while conducting a raid on suspected insurgent homes. I hope this is the last service I will attend while here in Iraq.

IED Threat

This is a picture of IED holes in the road near the Iraqi police checkpoint. The one on the right has been filled in, the one on the left is more recent. The targets of these IED's are Coalition Forces and Iraqi Security Forces. 3rd platoon in our company was recently hit by an IED consisting of a 155mm artillery round. Luckily the insurgents timing was off and it detonated between two vehicles and only caused minimal damage from shrapnel and rocks. You learn to memorize every aspect of the route including every pile of rocks and dirt, every piece of trash, and every dead animal. Any change could indicate placement of an IED. This is a crazy place to be where any piece of trash or pile of gravel could be the beginning of a very bad day .

Dismounted Patrol

This was a patrol I was on where several of our troops did a dismounted sweep looking for IED's and weapons caches along the road. In the distance is a Iraqi police checkpoint for vehicle searches. It is a bit unnerving to know that at any time you can be attacked and they will usually get the first strike. You only hope to react and engage decisively.

Iraqi Home

This is a picture of a home in Ad Dulayiyah. There is great disparity between the classes here. This is one of the nicer homes in the town.

Local Iraqi Market

This is an Iraqi market with vendors situated in little shops. The vehicles in this town are as interesting as the people here. Some vehicle barely run, some have bullet holes in them. The scary thing s any of them could be a VBIED set on taking us out. The things you see people transporting during vehicle searches amazes me sometimes. One of our soldiers opened up the trunk of a car and found a live full grown sheep stuffed inside, needless to say he had a hard time slamming the trunk back down because the sheep wouldn't put his head back down. I have searched nice vehicle that have had live chickens in the back. I have seen small pickups with full grown cows standing in the back. The damn cow is bigger then the vehicle. Some trucks are loaded with so much stuff that the load is as big or bigger than the vehicle. This is a crazy place to be indeed.

The Doctor Makes Housecalls

This was taken during a humanitarian mission within the volatile town of Ad Dulayiyah in central Iraq. Our company escorted a doctor from a different unit to various homes in the city where he looked at children who were sick or injured and provided what medical care he could. Unfortunately these are not the stories you read about or see on tv.

IED Detonation

This was a detonation of an IED while we were out on patrol. It was discovered and destroyed by EOD in a controlled detonation before it could cause any damage, injury, or death to Iraqi Security Forces, Coalition Forces, or civilians. I have seen EOD in action and they are a sight to behold. They have balls of steel.

Children of Ad Dulayiyah

This is one of my favorite pictures. We initially oulled a security halt during a patrol. I tossed some candy down to these children who were playing in their yard. The parents were definately anti-coalition here and would hit the kids when they went to pick up the candy, that didn't seem to phase the kids much however. They were to busy gathering up the candy anyways. Soon the kids came up to our trucks trying to talk to us, but we only knew a few arabic words so communication was difficult. We gave them hand lotion, shampoo, soap, more candy and some dinars to help their family. We were at the spot for quite awhile and the children ran these items to their parents who then seemed to change their opinion of our presence for the moment at least. The elder male of the family even walked the long distance of the driveway with a cane to see us. We gave him some bottled water to take back to his family. Overall I think we may have changed this families opinion slightly, or I would like to think so. The kids seemed happy to see us and posed for some pictures. It was a good experience overall.

ING Headquarters

This is the ING headquarters near the JCC where we pull 12 hour guard duty shifts. It is a necessary duty even though the hours are long and the duty is boring it serves as an effective deterrent on attacks. This is not a nice area and insurgent attacks occur frequently nearby. Chistmas was a miserable day because it rained all day and everyone on my team was soaked. At least we had Christmas dinner brought out to us so we didn't have to eat another MRE. It was good even if it was a bit cold. We had crab, lobster, shrimp, and various other entrees. New Years Day was good because our team had the day off so we could catch up on laundry and stuff. I will be moving to running operations shortly since the teams are established and know the routine. At least the hours will be better I think.

1ID: The Big Red One

Well this will be our combat patch when we complete our duties with the 1ID at FOB McKensie. I am glad we have the opportunity to be attached to a unit that has already been in country for over 10 months.