37. Still Threat Out There

Written: April 25 - 28, 2003

Friday, April 25th
Woke up at 0530z with the wind blowing pretty hard. There was no sand being kicked up so it wasn’t all that bad. However, I was quickly reminded that I was in a desert because within an hour or so, the sand began to lift into the air, creating a full-fledged sand storm. Granted, this sand storm was not nearly as bad as any of the ones we experienced in Najaf although the winds here did seem stronger.

Took some time to make 2 more Boboli pizzas and shared them with about 8 people. They all enjoyed them and I was sure to take a picture to send home in my next newsletter for my family.

Read the Stars and Stripes and saw pictures of the POW’s from the March 23rd incident. Also read an article about a buddy of mine from flight school, Mike Tomblin, and his front seater, LT King. King was the guy who was shot in the neck on the night of the Apache attack to Karbala on March 23rd when we first arrived in Rams. He is doing great and was so eager to get back in the fight that he was back in Iraq (with stitches from the shrapnel they removed) within a week or so! What an awesome leader!

Talked to Ken Martin who had guard duty last night. He said he saw a guy drive up within 500 meters of the perimeter, get out of his car and shoot a weapon across our camp. Ken wanted to shoot him, but the Sergeant of the guard called it back to the TOC and they told them not to fire. That is such B.S. The rules of engagement permit you to fire if you feel threatened or if your comrades are threatened and he clearly did...apparently the people sitting in the tent, not in the tower, didn't feel threatened.

Sam and CPT Hester flew to a location just south of Baghdad to pick up some U.S. KIA’s and take them to Doha.

Saturday, April 26th
Sand storms doing a great job of keeping us grounded from flying. Too much sand in the air and the visibility is down to a few hundred meters. Found out that Sam and CPT H had to land admisdt the sandstorm in Dogwood (area named after the callsign of the Navy LT who was shotdown by a patriot around April 2nd) and stay overnight. They had two bodies with them that began to stink quite bad after a few hours. SFC Harris eventuually found a refrigerator truck to cool the bodies until they could continue with the mission...our people are so resourceful!

Sunday, April 27th
Hung out amidst another sand and wind storm. Today was cold. So cold that I walked around with a blanket over me all day. Sand storms still not allowing us to fly.

Watched, “Red Dragon.” Good movie.

Monday, April 28th
Woke up at 0630z. It was definitely warmer outside than it was yesterday. I could feel the heat trying to penetrate the tent.

Went to our Company CP and pre-printed some envelopes so I can send more letters, more often. Also printed some picture collages to send home too.

Prepared to fly NVG’s tonight with Mike Swisher and then Shawn Holmes.

Mail is starting to flow to us again. It is and always has been sporadic, but it is coming. Please do not send homemade baked goods because they will mold before arriving. Two days ago, I received packages dated March 24th and 25th so you can see that it took more than a month to arrive. On the other hand, I did receive a package from April 7th on that same day.

Last night there was a small firefight at the front gate. Apparently, 2 trucks with guys in the back, came charging at the gate. An M-1 tank, that was guarding the gate, turned its gun on the truck and fired. Everyone jumped out of the truck before the impact. One guy was stuck inside. I guess they jumped back into the other truck and drove away. I heard reports that a few guys were captured but I haven’t heard anything to confirm that.

The news on television may not talk about hostilities much more, but things are still happening here. I think most of it is small pockets of resistance attempting small attacks on our forces. I heard that some U.S. forces were shot in Baghdad and the occasional attack still happens (like last night). Every night, while here at Balad, I have seen tracers flying up in the air followed by or preceded by flashes from explosions.

Clearly, there is still threat out there and to me it seems that although the number of hostile forces has decreased, in my opinion, the threat has increased, because now, it seems natural for us to let our guard down a bit because the large battles are not going on anymore. I will still keep my guard up as will everyone else here.

Didn’t do much else today. I helped Martin and Bailey burn shit today and managed to climb up on the hangar to take another picture of our living area.

I played Halo on the X-box with Alpha Company! I can’t wait to get our t.v.

Typed on the computer for a while before going to bed in an effort to respond to all the letters I received in the recent past.