Hillah, Iraq. We didn’t do much yesterday, which is not surprising given the success of the birthday party. Today we did a quick mission over to the Police Headquarters, mostly as a reason to get out. I have asked the Marines to donate songs to the mix CD, with limited success. If they don’t bother […]

Hillah, Iraq. Tonight we went hunting IEDs. This did not seem like an inspired piece of planning to my untrained mind. Actually, we were going to hunt people setting up IEDs, which even upon clarification of our mission, did not stand out as a remarkable bit of clever thinking. Presumably, booger eaters planting IEDs would […]

Hillah, Iraq. The Justice League is planning a mission for tonight, but I am off the roster because I have to be up all tomorrow to provide air for the visiting Iraqi Prime Minister and various Coalition Generals. Speciously, this is a good thing as it means I don’t have to stay up all night, […]

Hillah, Iraq. Standing by all day in a posture ready to call air strikes in the protection of visiting dignitaries and General officers is not nearly as exciting as one might think. While it may have appeared to the untrained observer that I merely sat around watching movies in the Team Room, eating Pudding Cups […]

Hillah, Iraq. Vehicle fixed, we opted to execute our ‘IED hunting’ mission again. We did so in the middle of the day this time, which made it slightly more tolerable. It is easier to see ‘suspicious’ details in the day. Plus, as everybody knows, there are no zombies or mummies to worry about. Lately, the […]

Hillah, Iraq. The regional commander for the Green Berets has decupled their required paperwork, which had a profound impact on our operational tempo. The administrative requirements of our mission formerly consisted of mission proposals and after action reports. Now the Green Berets are required to fill out forms, submit reports, and reports summarizing the reports, […]

Hillah, Iraq. Being deployed is not hard for the reasons one might think. It is not the shortages, the physical discomfort, or the bad food. One gets used to gunfire. Mosquitoes and stench are tolerable, and I am amazed how one’s definition of ‘sanitary’ is sliding with regard to public bathing facilities and lavatories.The worst […]

Hillah, Iraq. I wanted to get out of town. There is nothing going on of late, so when we sent a group up to Baghdad, I jumped at the opportunity to hit the road. I even burned a brand new CD for the trip. There was a particularly heavy sand (dust, really) storm blowing. This […]

Hillah, Iraq. The day passed by pretty slowly. It was hot, and there was no wind. The dust hung in the thick air, tiny hypnotic motes. We were eating dinner when one of our intel guys burst in with the news that our informant knew where Terrorist Z was. For operational security, I cannot tell […]

Hillah, Iraq. After chasing Terrorist Z, tonight’s mission to capture a weapons dealer seemed somewhat pedestrian. We loaded up, met SWAT, and rolled down south. The neighborhood was right off the road, which makes this sort of operation relatively easy and successful. The assault force turned off the main road, ran down a canal for […]