"BOB'S" LETTERS HOME - 3 April, 2004
For me it� been OP8 for almost a week and I� bored. Spc. H, from support platoon, and I have been sitting for 12 straight hours. Every once in a while we hear gunshots but nothing close.
Yesterday Centurion X-ray kept calling up and asking if we had any audio or visual on explosions or gunfire. I believe their acquisition machine was out of whack due to the strong wind. It� sensitive and picks up birds flying or planes taking off from TQ and reports them as massive explosions. But it� good to have as a warning device.
Now and again we ramble the perimeter to see if anyone is planting IEDs or getting on base. I�e never had to fire a warning shot but I� willing to do that, besides that� a better reason than dust to clean my weapon. In certain spots of the wire you can see where the little bastards have put a board on the wire to cross over. I� love to catch one of those idiots. I� be proud to have at least one detainee notch on my belt. Today two guys sat on the berm near OP7 until I waved them off. They walked away and sat behind the berm as if scoping out the area. I called it in and Cpt. S said not to worry unless they were in the wire or firing on us. Eventually they walked to Habaniyah and we moved back to OP8.
I� waiting for the day when I don� have to be out here at 0630 every morning. This morning we changed our clocks an hour ahead to match the States. The guys in my room talked while I tried to sleep and I told them I needed quiet; heck, we� lost an hour of sleep because of the time change! I was pissed off as they could have played Play Station 2 in the day room, read their books there, and finished their snacks outside. I� looking forward to the day and place where I dictate what goes on around me while I sleep!
Spc. T, the platoon� last guy to go on leave, came in from Baghdad last night. He� a morale booster and it was good to have him back. He went to Wichita, Kansas, and unpacked his stuff into his apartment with his new fianc. That� not bad if you get home for two weeks to do it. Yet he also went to Manhattan, Kansas, for a divorce lawyer. Sounded like a blast of a time in the States.
Today we had the funeral ceremony for the 5 engineers killed Wednesday. I wasn� there and that was all right with me. It� hard both mentally and physically to do that. We�e lost around 20 soldiers and officers since we arrived here Sept. 18th of last year. We had Col. C. of Devil 6 for the occasion, along with the 1st Engineers LTC and higher level people. It� sickening that they only come here when it involves death; they never pop over to see their toughest guys in action.
Heck, in Fallujah they�e scared to do nighttime missions at all. That� why they have IEDs go off a few miles outside their gates in the morning and why giant truck bombs rock both Champion base and Camp Junction City. It� both good and bad to be with the heavy hitters like 1-34 Armor Task Force.
I got a speech from Sgt. H about calling him instead of Centurion X-ray first. But he� never set up the order of precedence before and it pissed me off. I know Centurion has a Field Grade officer, Maj. or above, in there at all times. Most of the time it� only one person at our X-ray, Hell raiser, and I can� always count on them to give me reliable advice about what to do if I see suspicious characters outside the wire. Sgt. H. likes to come in here during the day to play Nascar on Play Station 2 while Thomas listens to the radio. What a great leader! I say, �ET THE EXAMPLE MY NCO.�
Last night Apache shot a guy with a HEAT (High Explosive Antitank) round from a tank. Of course he was toast, he had no chance. Probably his two buddies escaped. The three of them had approached our wire, the Apache OP spotted them, and fired. They may or may not have been setting an IED. Despite excessive force, we accomplished the job.
I� still waiting to hear whether or not I�l be going on leave. The other night C. told me that I was going but that was canceled when the BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) run fell through.
For now I�l finish this letter and get something to eat.
Love �ob�/p>
"Bob's" Letters Home from Habiniyah (near Ramadi and Fallujah)