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Hey all. If you didn't notice I dropped off legacycentral a while ago. I'm an Infantryman in the Oregon National Guard. I got called up about the middle of October. Then spent six months training up for Iraq. I have been here in downtown Bagdad for three months now. Things have been good overall and I must say that the Iraq you see on the news is not the one I'm at. Not that it's not dangerous here and things don't go boom in the night (and day). Most of the people I meet are very nice and support us being here. More so after the power handover last week. I spend almost all my time here on the street, day and night, on foot and in HMMWV's. I do raids on houses looking for weapons, ammo, explosives, and al-qada. (yes, they are here) The thing I do most when I'm going around is wave at the kids and people. They come out of thier houses when we go by just to wave at us and say Hi. The kids are great! We do a lot of good here and the people see that. Well, I need to get back to work. Someone drink a cold one for me...
Todd

Good to see you're not MIA, in Iraq or on this board

Good luck out there, and be safe. Kick some al-queda ass for us

It's very good to hear from you K and keep up the good work. Keep your eyes sharp, your mind clear and stay safe.

That's burly that your doing raids! That must be some crazy shit. When is your tour up? Keep in touch so we know you're safe.

Great to hear positive stories coming from Iraq. From one American to another, I truly appreciate what you're doing. Stay safe so you can come home and dick around with your car in a safe, fairly carefree, environment.

May the Force be with you!

-Brian

Good luck. It must be nice that people appreciate the risks you're taking. Most of the news shows the hold-out strongholds and they focus on them.

I just read that Iraqi police threatened to kill al-Zarqawi vigilante-style if he doesn't leave Iraq immediately. I hope they find him.

Everyone I know supports the troops whether or not they agree with being there. To all good luck and thanks.

Steve

eastbaysubaru wrote:Great to hear positive stories coming from Iraq. From one American to another, I truly appreciate what you're doing.

^^^^^^^^^^

evolutionmovement wrote:
Everyone I know supports the troops whether or not they agree with being there. To all good luck and thanks.

That would be me.

Good luck and thank you for sacrificing for your country

yeah I wondered what happened to you k, glad you are ok.
now get back here in one piece.

My son just got back from a year+ tour in Baquabah about two months ago. I hope you like hot weather, because the summers are brutal there.

Keep up the good work for our country and be careful.

-Mark

I was in Aswan in November and it was 103 degrees, I can't imagine Iraq in the summer.

Steve

Ya, and now add all the weight of field gear battle dress on top of that! My god, talk about hot, I can't even imagine.

I had not heard about the threat to al-Zarqawi, but that is exactly what this place needs. The concept of freedom is hard for them to grasp, but I hope we'll turn them around to it. They need more people to stand up and say "this is my country" and work to make it better. I do a lot of work with the Iraqi National Guard (they used to be called ICDC) most of our patrols are with them now. They just got trucks (Russian jeep like) and they fly thier flag on top of them. The looks we get are from shock to wild cheering.
The heat is bad, it's been up around 110-120 and it sucks. It isn't as bad as it sounds, totaly dry air helps a lot. That and you just get used to it, somewhat. The body armor traps all kinds of heat. It also stops bullets so I can't say to much bad about it. It's got hard plates in the front and back, I can pound on my chest and feel like Superman Well, the internet is going good so I should be on as often as I can.
Feel free to ask any Questions you want about things over here.
Here are some pic's I've taken: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze20ea2/Index.htm

Yeah, it was dry heat in Egypt, too, so the breeze off the Nile did cool you down so it wasn't like 103 in Florida. Still I wouldn't want to be wearing all that gear (or I guess I would in your case). Is the armor plate a ceramic? If it is can it stop multiple rounds?

How's everyone's morale there? The press makes a big deal out of what went on at the prison. While I don't condone what went on, they make the rest of the guys there look bad as if they had anything to do with that crap.

I feel guilty being here and wich everyone there could make it back unhurt as possible physically and emotionally.

Steve

It's good to hear that things are better than how they are portrayed over here day and night 24/7 on CNN. I was on the fence about the politics of going over there but if it's helping out people then I support it. Either way I support our troops. You guys are all that stands between us and the chaos of terrorists.

Yes the plates are a ceramic type, they will stop multiple 7.62mm /.308 That's good if you don't know.
Morale is good as far as I can see. It's hard here, and away from family for the married guys. Away from anything normal for everyone. Americans don't do to well with different cultures, they don't want to change.
Everyone was pissed about the prison. Those wimps sat there in a safe job and made mine more dangerous. We treat the Iraqi people as well as we can. It hurt me to see someone I detained for a minor thing scared, Real scared. He didn't do anything aganist us. And I feel like the bad guy now because of that crap.