Watch that car!

It was maroon, moving towards us. "Car on the right!" I yelled to my gunner, standing in the hatch of our truck, "make him stop!"
Warnings were out about a VBIED, or car bomb, and every weirdly acting car was suspect. There was the taxi that makes me suspucious. What about that car on the on-ramp?
Nothing happens and we roll back through the gates. I calm down and breathe deeply. I start thinking about a nice nap in my hooch, some cold water in my fridge and maybe a couple of chapters in the book I have been reading.
All in a day's drive.

Take a Ride With Me

The other day we had to make a run "outside the wire". So I gathered up my platoon (I am filling in for our platoon sargent while he is on leave), explained what we were doing and what needed to be done. The day came and off we went! Come take a ride with me.
Out the gate we go-don't forget to load your weapon and put your earplugs in! Fasten your seat belt, (yes really) and here we go.
We drive through a small neighborhood. If it wasn't for the trash laying everywhere and the funny looking cars and buses, you would think you were in a neighborhood of the U.S.A. Everyone dresses like, well, us and our waiting to cross the street, sitting in an outdoor cafe drinking coffee, shopping, heading to work or just standing around talking.
As we zoom down the street, I think, how much nicer this place could be. Will it be?
Then the serenity is broken by a "pop!" and I hear over the radio, "warning shot fired"-someone got to close to our little convoy.
We complete our mission so we decide to stop and play tourist-tourists with an M-16. Hey mom! Look at me, here I am at the famous sword momument in Baghdad. It is big. Two large swords arching upward and crossed at the top. I momument to a war-a futile war that as my buddy remarked, not one inch of ground was gained. All those lives lost. And still more are dying-VBIEDS, IEDS, drive bys, you name it, they are killing each other. I heard just today-where are the protests against this? (reference Newsweeks' fiasco a while back).
Well, our photo moment is done and we load back up, check our weapons once more and go home, for a meal, shower, and bed. ...Until next day when I have to put that suit of armor on again...

Its Getting Hot Over Here

I don't mean temperature wise, even that is must enough, but the bad guys are getting very active with the temperature. Like some kind of insect on the Discovery Channel that becomes more active with the warming days. I wou ld take the nice cool days earlier in the year, but noooo! we have to act up in the heat! No doubt if you follow the news that you are aware of the events over here, so I don't need to rehash all of it. Let's just say that my trailer shook again this afternoon.
My job took me near some cool helicopters today, and I "played tourist" and out came the camera. My camera has a video feature and I have some really neat video of helicopters landing and taking off. Now I just need to get a ride on one of those babies!
Along with the heat also come the bugs. Mosquitos, and the notorious sand fly (not flea). The sand fly can make you itch, itch and sick, or itch and very sick. It is very small and I think those black dots flying around me are sand flies. Soooooo.....at night or at dusk I smell like deepwoods off or some other insect repellant. Ignore all the activist chants, wear your deet!