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.