Day 81

Things are kind of boring here. Our team has sunk into the three days on, three days off routine. It is frustrating because we don't get to fire at real targets, They just have us on standby. We go out to the stryker in full kit for a few hours a day and occasionally fire test rounds.

One day a sergeant called in on the radio saying they were taking mortar fire. He got us a grid to fire at, and once we got the necessary approval from all the higher ups it turned out that we couldn't fire because another unit was occupying that area. It's like having your hands tied. Occasionally the guards up on the roof will take fire from the fields or the edge of the palm groves in the distance. Just a few shots from an AK sends a ton more people up to the roof to start firing at an unknown target. Even if they see where they were, they quickly scurry away leaving us to fire our big machine guns into the dirt.

On the other hand things are going smoothly. The hit and run mortarman has not landed a round inside the compound for days. We targeted a suspected location and fired some mortar rounds to let him know we can hit back. The bravos are hauling in suspected terrorists for questioning from their raids and from anonymous tips. Word has it we're making more progress in the area than previous units. Credit is due to our commanding officer and the rest of the leadership.

I continue to read action novels to the point of eye strain. Right now I'm finishing up 'Brotherhood of the Rose' By David Morrel, then it's on to 'The Lost World', sequel to 'Jurassic Park'.

Day 68

Things have changed a bit and our mortar squad has been assigned to the JSS forward observer base. We have two four man teams that will rotate out every five days or so. The JSS as it's called is located in an area known for terrorist attacks. They fire their mortars at us almost every day and they're pretty accurate. We have to get in full kit; vest, helmet, weapon and eye protection, any time we leave the building. If they fire at us, our mortar team waits for a grid (target coordinates) to fire back. Unfortunately it's hard to locate them and we feel like sitting ducks. Our mortar team is a new addition to the team of infantrymen that stand guard over and patrol around the compound.
The building we occupy is shared with the Iraqi police force. They are generally not to be trusted and are considered crooked. The building itself is light blue and has camo netting on top. The camo net looks like tackle used for fishing which makes it look like a marina or a seafood restaurant, strangely enough. The inside is dingy with supplies stacked up the walls. At least there's air conditioning and a refrigerator for cold drinks.
The other night they had us working. The second cavalry unit just handed over the building to us and we want to set it up our way. About 40 of us filled sand bags for an hour or so then unloaded 5 pallets of bottled water from the back of a flatbed truck. They sent us all kinds of goodies like chips and soda and fruit too. It took an hour or so to unload all the boxes off the truck and then hand them up the stairs. We all had our vests and helmets and weapons which makes it all the harder. I just wish more was getting done over here, a lot of our resources and man power is going to waste. Slowly we're catching the bad guys. But we can only delay the inevitable, which is a clash between the shiites and sunnis to decide their new government.

Day 59

Time has been going fast. I haven't been able to make it to the computer because we have been busy with patrols. Routines in the army generally get easier as time goes on, but it can be tough to get the ball rolling. My job is to pull rear guard out the back of the stryker vehicle Alpha 51 attached to 4th platoon. We go out in convoys of 3 vehicles or more (usually more) and guard the highway that connects Baghdad to the north. A lot of roadside bombs are planted along this route and every so often insurgents will attack with small arms fire and RPG's. We've taken a few casualties.
So we get a mission - You're going out with three other vehicles from 0000 to 0600 to patrol route tampa. We gear up the stryker with the mortar equipment a few hours early, get radio communications set, and coordinate with the other vehicles. Then we roll out the gate and sit on the median enforcing curfew. Sometimes we are with abrams tanks, heavy armor humvees and strykers. We have to wait for them, because there's no way to identify them.
My vehicle has been lucky enough not to "hit contact" in over ten missions. This is lucky. This is also not to say that we haven't run into trouble. A suicide bomber blew himself up at the Iraqi army traffic control checkpoint. Civilians have been shot on our shift and bombs have hit convoys very close to us.
Last night we went to the Iraqi army compound to stay the night. We were a quick reaction force if needed. Me and the driver of our vehicle, PFC Thompson ventured into the compound itself, an old building stripped to the essentials. There was a squad of Iraqi soldiers hanging out in one of the rooms and they welcomed us. We proceeded to play dominoes, watch some TV and then eat food. They put a tray of vegetables and beef patties on a small table on the floor. We removed the dominoes from the table and loaded the vegetables into pita bread and ate. Then we had tea. What nice people. I new some words in Arabic and they could pick up enough English that we could have a conversation. The food was fit for the weather and left us with a good feeling in our stomachs.