News from Iraq

[UtterBlitz]

My brother went back over to Iraq recently. He was in Desert Storm when he first joined the Army. He worked on the Apaches and he was in the 101st airborne unit. He is no longer enlisted. He just recently went back over to Iraq to work as a contractor fixing helicopters and planes.

He has been sending email updates. I asked him if I could post them for you. He said it was fine. I am cutting and pasting his updates here, in case anyone is interested in what he is seeing over there.

My brother's name is Paul. Please excuse the spelling for I am sure he was typing fast and not for this kind of audience.

The temps are running in the 120s right now, and will probably be that way most of this month and next. I am drinking tons of water, but I'm getting really tired of having to get out of bed six times a night to pee. Lets face it a brisk walk to the water closet over sand and rocks in flip flops in the dark sucks. Not as bad as wetting the bed and having to explain that one to 10 other guys though. So far we are still stuck at Camp Arifan, our tools are stuck in customs and may not clear until Monday or Tuesday. Good thing I've got a computer to keep me occupied. There will be a total of six of us going to Taji when it's all said and done from this group; It looks like we will be working apaches. This is a helicopter base only, so no planes but hopefully a lot of attack helicopters flying in and out to scare the locals who are looking to hurt people.
I must say the Army has changed a lot since I was in. I never even dreamed of having a gym, swimming pool, sand volleyball court, RC car track, rec center with pool tables and first run movies, and Baskin Robbins ice cream at the mess hall. Still blows my mind to see active duty solders in civilian close in a war zone like they've got a day off. I don't believe that Taji will be this nice though since it is in Iraq. Kuwait seems relatively secure, just watch out for the locals when they get behind the wheel.

Well here it is Wednesday and still no tools from customs. Now were into the muslum weekend, Thursday and Friday so no chance of tools until Saturday. Don't worry about them feeding me, a man could get fat here really quickly if he wanted to. I eat a lot of salad with any meal I get, but I've got to stay away from the ice cream. I've been using the sore throat excuse to have one scoop a day right now. I don't believe that I'll have that option in Iraq anyway. Since this problem is almost gone, I'll tell you about it now. I didn't want to worry you, but four days ago my back acted up so bad I couldn't tie my shoes. So I was really happy to hear that our tools were stuck in customs and all we could do was sit in the tent and wait. I think getting sick triggered my back pain, since they are both going away at the same time. Walking around today helped a whole lot. Of course my nose won't stop bleeding, the sand is different here from Saudi Arabia, but I can't explain it. So I've just become accustomed to not breathing out of my nose. Other than that every thing is going as well as can be expected. I've got a pretty good group of guys to hang out with, and the tent is air conditioned with pleanty of computers and movies.
Today I went into Kuwait city with a few of the guys. Rich, the guy who looks like Rodney Dangerfield rented an SUV, so we had our own wheels. We went and ate at the Kuwait Towers, you should remember it from all of the gulf war footage. It's three pointy needles with a few round sections about two thirds of the way up, and one close to the top, right on the coast. We ate at the restaurant, and then went up to the observatory and looked over the city. I took a lot of pictures of Kuwait city, and one of each of the pictures they had of the devastation of the towers from Iraq invading. You can still see bullet holes in some of the structure. Oh we also got to see a wrecked out Rolls Royce sitting on side of the road, just abandoned must be nice to have that kind of cash just to walk away from a half a million dollar car.

He hurt his back last year pulling an engine out of a plane while working for Delta. It has caused him some problems.

This is going to be kind of brief since I'm on lunch break. I finally arrived in Taji last night at 1:00 am. We flew in on a CH47 Chinook from Balad which was very cool. They were running on night ops, so all lights out and tail gunner in place with rear deck open. Having a little CCR "Fortunate Son" music playing would have been very fitting. We were in the lead chopper with a second Chinook running just off to our right rear. I was a bit more aware that these things get shot at here, as opposed to my time in 90 91. It looks like life here at Taji will be pretty good. Both chow halls are serving good food. I've got a room in a small trailer with one other guy, and the AC will freeze you completely if you don't watch out. I'll be able to have Internet and a phone hooked up within a couple of weeks in the room. I know hardship tour right? We did take a look at the base yesterday, and got to see a Iraq tank graveyard and Chemical Alie's office building complex which is really close to my trailer. Other than that the sight seeing is over and it's down to work. I'll be working a Apache phase maintenance crew with some long hours. I did also get to see the Kuwait Airbase Ali Alsalean (sp?) that we destroyed with bunker busters in 91 on the way here. The bunkers are still in place, but the bunker busters really did a job internally on those places. Most of you should remember the night films showing the Air Force laying waste to that air field. I've got a bunch of pictures, but you all will have to wait until I have internet service so I can send them. That's all for now

This is where I asked him if I could post his updates.

I'm pretty sure I'm keeping anything confidential out of my updates. All of the places and base names are know here and abroud. Let's face it the locals arn't mortoring the bases by chance. So go ahead and post anything I send. I'll include so pictures as soon as I get my internet up and running in the room. Your right in the thought that our solders and working hard, and under not the best conditions. I got a chance to sit down with a Sgt whose working on training the Iraq police force and working on the exit statgy. He's doing a lot of convoys outside the wire, and there are a lot of unsafe places around here, and the Terrorist coming in from Seria are getting better at shape charges and suicide bombing, and the bombs are getting bigger. Say a prayer for any solder having to go outside the wire from any base here in Iraq.

I'll post more updates and pictures as he sends things, if anyone is interested.

[adarian_too]

They were running on night ops, so all lights out and tail gunner in place with rear deck open. Having a little CCR "Fortunate Son" music playing would have been very fitting.

Now that's my kind of atmosphere. As Lynyrd Skynyrd said in Sweet Home Alabama: "Turn it Up."

[psycho9985]

Kudos by the tons for your brother stil supporting the effort.I have a nephew in tikrit,he hasnt seen much action(thank God)still very proud of him for serving.:up:

[SFCRamFan]

Thanks for the updates UB. Prayers (and support) to your brother for his continued assistance (now as a civilian) and to my fellow soldiers, sailers, airmen and marines. Also, suggest some saline nose spray to your brother. The air is so dry it can cause you nosebleeds if you are not used to it.

:up:

[jkramsfan]

Our Thoughts To All The Men And Women Over There, And We Should All Thank Them For What They Do And Also Realize How Lucky We Are That We Can Sit In The Comforts Of Our Home And Talk About A Football Game On Our Computors.

[Nick]

Thanks for posting these, Utter. I hope everything goes well for your brother and the rest of our troops.

[UtterBlitz]

Thanks for the good thoughts. I thought it would be good to share some updates from him since many people have no contact with the soliders and they have no idea what life is like for these guys.

This time is much easier since we have contact by email.

I'll post updates that are of interest as he sends them.