PaPaG
11-01-2007, 09:28 AM
My sister sent me this video as we sit and wait to hear when my Nephew gets his deployment orders. Recent Graduate of the Citadel Military Academy, top honors, sharp shooter, team leader, LT in the guard......
Video by a 15 year old girl, if this does not pull at your heart strings you are not human....
http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1
If she is not a proud American I don't know who is.....
rivrrts429
11-01-2007, 10:43 AM
Wow thats pretty powerful.
I think its easy for us to move through our day complaining about the "stupid" stuff that burdens us, yet is so miniscule (sp.) to what our troops are doing 24/7.
They don't have a choice what or where they are deployed, yet they give 110% everyday. It doesn't matter if we agree/disagree with the circumstances that brought us to war. Its about OUR TROOPS and how we appreciate their ability to risk their lives for our freedoms.
This video really brings it all into perspective. Its a fine line between life and death and it takes a special hero to know that at any point your time could be up.
So from the bottom of my heart I want to thank our Troops and Veterans for all they continue to do to keep my family and I safe.
Great post PapaG
Richard
Kazanski
11-01-2007, 10:49 AM
My sister sent me this video as we sit and wait to hear when my Nephew gets his deployment orders. Recent Graduate of the Citadel Military Academy, top honors, sharp shooter, team leader, LT in the guard......
Video by a 15 year old girl, if this does not pull at your heart strings you are not human....
http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1
If she is not a proud American I don't know who is.....
Brought a few tears to my eyes. My brother spent a year over in the middle east and said it was the letters and e-mail (when he was able to check them) that kept him going. Said that many of his friends stopped writing a few months into deployment, almost as if it were out of sight, out of mind. He came to realize when there is nothing else family is always there.
PapaG best wishes for your nephew and his deployment,What branch is he in? May the good Lord be with him every step of the way....if he needs or wants some extra letters send me his APO address when he gets it I would love to write him!
PaPaG
11-01-2007, 12:35 PM
Brought a few tears to my eyes. My brother spent a year over in the middle east and said it was the letters and e-mail (when he was able to check them) that kept him going. Said that many of his friends stopped writing a few months into deployment, almost as if it were out of sight, out of mind. He came to realize when there is nothing else family is always there.
PapaG best wishes for your nephew and his deployment,What branch is he in? May the good Lord be with him every step of the way....if he needs or wants some extra letters send me his APO address when he gets it I would love to write him!
My Sister and I have a lot of friends deployed, she always sends care packages with a group of families that we know that also have friends and family deployed. My nephew is in the Army, was waiting to get into Ranger school then Special Ops but he said if and when they deploy his unit he is going no matter what...as for your offer, That has to be one of the kindest jestures anyone has ever made to my family. I thank you for that. He is an American Hero in my eyes...Again thanks
PaPaG
11-01-2007, 12:36 PM
It made me cry ...thinking about my wife and friends protecting our freedom.......I miss my wife more than anything in this world
Atomickitn, I knew you would appreciate it as I did all the good people here on HB would...:)
PS I hope Windy is doing well, give her our best....
atomickitn
11-01-2007, 12:50 PM
I will ,thank you ......your family will also be in my thoughts as well.....I cant begin to tell you how much i worry every day......and this Is the toughest thing I have ever done......but for the sake and strength that windy needs from me ....I have to let her know every day ...how proud I am of her and how much I miss her , and how much I love her .....and that I am OK with all of it...:)
Kazanski
11-01-2007, 04:48 PM
My Sister and I have a lot of friends deployed, she always sends care packages with a group of families that we know that also have friends and family deployed. My nephew is in the Army, was waiting to get into Ranger school then Special Ops but he said if and when they deploy his unit he is going no matter what...as for your offer, That has to be one of the kindest jestures anyone has ever made to my family. I thank you for that. He is an American Hero in my eyes...Again thanks
They are all heroes in my eyes. I know what it's like to be in your shoes and it is with the deepest sincerity that I extent my offer.
atomickitn-Thanks to your wife as well. I had read her letter on the other post before it was taken off, and it took me back to when my bother was over there. You are fortunate that you get to talk to her often, it would be weeks between phone calls from him. I'm glad that he is home safe, but still think of the men and women over there often.
PaPaG
11-01-2007, 09:51 PM
Great Post...thanks for the link.
How can we really forget the effort and the love these boys and girls have sacrificed for our country. I have watched this little clip more than 10 times so far today. Each time it gets me a bit more sad but a lot more patriotic. I think its time to do something about that. wouldn't it be great if all the HB's wrote a post card to 1 man or women over seas fighting for our freedom. Just think if we all agreed to just 1 post card, short, polite, full of pride and respect and letting them know we envy their strength and we love them all....... I think we would change our boys and girls hearts for at least one day don't you....Just my .02
Who ever wants to join me I would offer paying the postage for the first 2000 post cards. Lets see if anyone would be interested. If any of you have a better program please let me know, I want to do more than I am now for our men and women who are fighting for, giving us, and will forge forward and fight somemore to keep our country free and and safe....
Not So Fast
11-01-2007, 10:42 PM
What they are forced to go thru over there is something I can't even begin to comprehend. The hardships and the danger is just not of this world. I read about it and it makes me sick to my stomach. I really dont think I could handle having one of my 3 boys over there:( God bless them and bring'em home, safe!! NSF
TheCarDudes
11-02-2007, 05:45 AM
My brother-in-law is in Iraq on his 3rd tour of duty. This one was supposed to be for 12 mos but was extended to 14 mos due to the "surge." He left only one month after getting married last year. His new wife anxiously awaits his return home. He is coming home in December just before Christmas. Upon return, they entire brigade/platoon goes through a 2 week re-integration process. Unbelievable what has been going on in all of these soldier's heads that this is necessary.
He is truly a special type of person. God bless all these men and women who risk their lives for us each and everyday. He writes to all of his family and friends weekly. I have enclosed a copy of his most recent email so you can see what they go through over there.
Here is his letter.
Hello all. It has been awhile, I think almost a month.
Operations have slowed down a little, but now any free time we have has
been taken-up by the business of redeployment. Many, many tasks must be
accomplished for us to get out of here. It is a royal pain, but these
are definitely tasks that we do not mind doing.
The weather is absolutely beautiful. It is in the high 50's/low
60's at night, and the daytime highs have been in the 80s this week,
once in while climbing up over 90. According to the locals, the rains
are coming soon. The days are often overcast, and it looks like it
really wants to rain, but just hasn't gotten around to it yet. Rain
will be a double-edged sword. The mud will be miserable to deal with,
but the number of attacks against us will go even down even further.
The terrorists don't do rain. They crawl back under their rocks like
the vermin they are.
American deaths in September were at their lowest level since
June 2006. This is yet another indicator that the surge has been very
successful. History may look back and see 2007 as a turning point in
this whole sad episode. I certainly hope so. The only bad thing is
that it took 160,000 troops - an unsustainable level - to be this
successful. What will happen when we begin drawing those numbers down
over the next 8 months? Will the Iraqi Army and Police be able to pick
up the slack? I certainly hope so. We've lost five men in this
battalion, not a large number. However, there are five mothers, five
fathers, 1 wife, and five children who have their worlds shattered by
the loss of these men. For their sake, and the sake of all who have
died and those they have left behind, I hope that Iraq does not
backslide into violence after we begin leaving here. Let not this all
be in vain.
Nationally, Al Qaeda in Iraq has been devastated by the surge.
Around here, we've done our part by killing and capturing dozens of
fighters and a few higher level leaders whom our intelligence indicated
were Al Qaeda fighters.
The Turks are threatening to do military excursions in northern
Iraq. If you have not been read into the situation, there is a
terrorist organization called the PKK, short for Kurdistan Worker's
Party. This organization has been around for a long time, and their
goal is to establish an independent Kurdistan, consisting of parts of
Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. These terrorists have been very active of late,
striking targets in southeastern Turkey and then seeking shelter in the
northern Iraqi provinces that make up the semi-autonomous Kurdistan
region of Iraq. Last week, they killed 12 or 13 Turkish soldiers, and
it was the final straw. The Turkish legislature has given the green
light for the Turkish Army to begin a campaign in Northern Iraq.
The PKK terrorists definitely deserve to be punished. However,
it would be bad all around to have a Turkish invasion. It is bad enough
that they routine shell northern Iraq with artillery. The Turks
occupied much of what is now Iraq for hundreds of years. There are old,
crumbling Turkish forts all over the country, including one that is just
a few miles away from our base. The Arab people have long memories.
We are finally beginning to crush the terrorists and keep the level of
violence down all across the country. We don't need the Turks rocking
the boat. Worst case scenario, they invade and for some reason our
deployment gets extended. It's a long-shot, but I don't want to chance
it.
It may not have hit the news wire, but Special Forces operating
in our battalion's sector arrested an Iraqi National Parliament member
who was attending a large, clandestine meeting. A source had given us
information that the gathering was an Islamic State of Iraq meeting.
The Islamic State of Iraq is something akin to a political wing for Al
Qaeda in Iraq. However, you won't find them running for parliament
seats. They are an underground government, but are very well organized.
The fact that they have a member of the National Parliament
supporting their activities is a bit surprising to me. We all know
that the Iraqi Parliament is corrupt and partisan, but I did not think
that they would have any members supporting the Islamist movement. The
Islamists want to create a theocracy based on Sharia law, which is what
the ISI is all about. There would be no more parliament or elected
leaders. Basically this parliament member, by supporting the ISI, is
actually laying the ground work to put himself out of a job. Now THAT
is dedication to the cause.
We have continued with the artillery live fires and have had
mixed results. Twice, we have found IEDs that were already emplaced in
the targeted area BEFORE we began firing. Sometimes the terrorists are
getting out there before we start shooting. The fires have been random,
with no patterned times or targeted areas, so the terrorists have just
gotten lucky. We'll get them sooner or later.
The artillery fires have had an unintended consequence,
unfortunately. We may be furnishing the enemy with supplies to create
IEDs. After receiving a tip, Ra'ad and I went out on a raid in late
September. We had heard that a prolific IED emplacer who was
responsible for dozens of attacks per month was at his home. We had
been waiting for this guy to show up after learning where his house was
and getting a source to tell us when he was present. Unfortunately, we
did not have a picture of the man and the source was unwilling to
positively ID him for us for fear of being killed. We surrounded the
town to stop anyone from leaving. Of course, we were detected going in
and when we got to the guy's house he was not there. He had most likely
slipped out the back as soon as he saw us coming and was probably hiding
out somewhere in the village.
Gathering all of the military aged males in one spot, Ra'ad's
men and my guys had to go door-to-door to try and find him. No luck.
He either had a really good hiding spot, or he was mixed in among the
crowd. We searched for about four or five hours, and never him. It was
very frustrating. Ra'ad ended-up arresting his brothers, who were
suspected of assisting him in his IED activities. We did find some
possible bomb-making materials at his house, but not the "smoking gun"
that would allow us to blow up the house. Too bad. What we found were
a sack of ball bearings, which are commonly used as projectiles in
suicide vests and IEDs. We also found some of our own artillery
illumination canisters, which he apparently has been gathering after we
shoot.
You see, when an artillery illumination round functions, it
ejects a big piece of lithium attached to a parachute. This piece of
lithium burns for a time and floats down over the target area. Lithium
burns extremely bright and it does a very good job of lighting the
target area. The lithium charge is housed in a steel container, which
is in-turn housed inside the bullet-shaped artillery projectile that is
actually loaded and fired from the howitzer. After the illumination
round functions, this canister simply falls to the ground. These
canisters are small, and very light. We can only assume that he
intended to fashion some sort of IED out of them, similar to using one
of the propane tanks I had mentioned in the last email. Such an IED
would not be very powerful because of the small size, but it just goes
to show how resourceful these terrorists can be.
Overall, IED activity in our area of operations is WAY down.
During June and July, we would get four, five, six IEDs per day in our
Battalion area. Now we get, like, one per day and sometimes none at
all. We have decimated the IED cells in the area by capturing and
killing dozens of IED emplacers and through confiscating thousands of
pounds explosives and IED materials. The return of cold, rainy weather
will hopefully put an end to most of the IED activity altogether. One
of our most successful tactics continues to be the demolition of houses
in which we find weapon caches and IEDs.
A couple of weeks ago, LTC Ra'ad and I destroyed yet another
house in which we found an improvised roadside bomb of a variety I had
not seen yet. I wrote before about the propane and acetylene tank
bombs, which are common. This one was fashioned out of a metal, five
gallon can similar to something in which you would store roofing tar.
His wife was quite hysterical as Ra'ad ordered her to gather her things
and clear out. I felt badly for her, because her terrorist husband has
ruined her life. However, every time I see one of these Iraqi women
weep for her son or husband after we capture them, or when we destroy
their home, all I need to think about is how many women in America weep
for their sons, husbands, and fathers that were killed by the very same
type of bomb that this terrorist Iraqi woman allowed into her home. Any
sense of pity or remorse fades away rather quickly. The more houses we
destroy with captured IEDs, the more clearly the message will resonate
within the ranks of the terrorists: if we catch you with an IED stored
in or around your home, you will lose your house. Ra'ad, especially,
loves to destroy these homes. Ever since that dump truck bomb destroyed
his house back in May, he has taken a personal interest in demolishing
as many terrorist homes as possible. Again, it is that revenge thing
that all Arabs seem to embrace. This time, however, it is working to
our advantage.
Speaking of Ra'ad, he had another attempt on his life this past
week. Late on the night of the 13th, my command post received a report
that an IED went off near Ra'ad's Headquarters. According to the
information I received, one terrorist and a donkey were killed when the
guy botched the attempt at emplacing the device. I went to bed,
thinking nothing of the incident.
The next day I found out what REALLY happened. Ra'ad was
visiting a friend of his, a local mukhtar (tribal leader) in a village
just outside of the base which houses his HQ. While there, the
explosion happened on the outskirts of the village near the main road
which passes close by. Indeed, the terrorist had accidently detonated
the bomb. The bomb killed him, the donkey on which he was transporting
it, and it killed another man with him as well. The other man was
wearing a suicide vest, and was Saudi Arabian. The man who botched the
IED emplacement was the mukhtar's cousin, and he new that Ra'ad would be
there that night (evidently, he visited the village frequently). As
best as we could figure out, they were trying to hatch a plan where
either: A) They detonated the roadside bomb to draw Ra'ad out of the
house, and then the Saudi would get close to Ra'ad in the ensuing chaos
and detonate his vest, or B) The Saudi would run into the house and
detonate his vest, and then the roadside bomb would target the "first
responders" as they attempted to enter the village and lend aide to the
wounded. I'm not sure what kind of security contingent Ra'ad had with
him that night, so it is impossible to know if the Saudi would have been
able to get close to house.
If not for the accidental detonation, who knows what may have
happened. God was watching out for Ra'ad once again. The man has 9
lives. He has been attacked and escaped unhurt many times. His
Battalion went to Ramadi in 2005 to help the Marines with their campaign
for six months. While there the truck in which he was riding was struck
by an RPG. Two other men in the truck were killed, and one other
seriously wounded. Ra'ad walked away with barely a scratch. He has
been hit with IEDs at least twice that I know of, and has walked away.
Of course, there was the dump truck bombing of his house. I still don't
know how we all walked away from that one. Now this. And these are
just the events that he has gotten around to telling me about! I'm sure
there are others.
Ra'ad's brother Agab also had an assassination attempt against
him this week. Agab is the police chief of the largest city in Ra'ad's
area, the town of Al Hadr (the Hatra ruins - where they filmed the
opening of The Exorcist - are just outside of Al Hadr). One of his
police officers got bribed by the terrorists and planted a bomb in
Agab's office. Luckily, it was discovered and disarmed. In all, they
detained four officers who were suspected of taking part in the
conspiracy.
Members of my 1st platoon came within about 8 feet from death a
couple of weeks ago. 1st platoon has been detached from my command
since June. They were "given" to A Battery because A Battery had the
largest population areas to deal with in the Battalion AO. My good
friend CPT Ivan Sugai, the A Battery Commander, need the extra manpower.
It was not that much of a problem for me, since I have Ra'ad's very
capable force available to me. Ivan does not have the luxury of any
large, competent IA force with which to work in his area of operations.
While carrying-out a mission, the platoon struck a massive,
sub-surface IED very near the spot by which Ivan lost three of his men
in July. This time, however, they got very lucky. The IED - which
consisted of a couple of hundred pounds of homemade explosive - was not
buried directly in the middle of the road. Instead of removing the
asphalt and burying the bomb that way, the terrorists had found a
portion of the road with a sloping shoulder and burrowed in sideways
under the road surface to lay the bomb. By doing it this way, the road
surface was completely undisturbed, which better camouflaged the IED.
When the terrorists remove and then re-plant asphalt after burying an
IED, you can tell that something is wrong and it hopefully give you
pause. Not this time.
The only bad thing about emplacing the IED from the side is that
it is almost impossible to get the charge directly under the center of
the road. The bigger the excavation, the more likely that the road
surface will collapse, so it has to be limited in width. Limited width
means that it is difficult to dig in very far, very quickly. So, the
IED ended-up being closer to the side of the road then in the middle of
the road.
Luckily for my men, they were driving down the side of the road
that did not have the bomb directly underneath it. It detonated when
the first vehicle passed by. It was a passive infrared device (PIR)
that triggered the bomb. PIR devices are the same type of device that
triggers the doors to automatically open for you when you go into a
grocery store. When the RHINO device on the first Hummer crossed the
PIR beam, it initiated the bomb. The RHINO is simply a long attachment
that we place on the front bumper of our Hummers. It sticks out about
six feet in front of the vehicle and serves to trigger any PIR bombs
that the vehicle is about to pass by. Better to have the bomb detonate
six feet in front of the vehicle then directly next to it. Sometimes a
few feet are the difference between life and death. It was on this day.
The Hummer was rocked by the explosion. The crater was large
enough to drive another Hummer into it. However, since it went off
about six feet in front of - and about four feet to the side of - the
vehicle, all it did was crack the fiberglass hood, break the mirrors and
headlights, and damage some of the antennas. The crew got walloped by
the blast wave, with the gunner receiving a concussion, but no one was
seriously injured. Had the IED detonated directly under the vehicle,
they would all be dead, or darn near. I think that God is protecting my
men. Keep praying for us, please.
To close, I read today in the Erie Times that several Reserve
and National Guard units in western PA - including the one in Erie -
have been put on deployment alert. God bless them. Like I said earlier
in this letter, I feel that in the past year all of our efforts have
left the country a great deal better then when we arrived. I hope we
have made the environment just a little bit safer for these troops.
These PA National Guard units are equipped with the Army's new Stryker
combat vehicle. The Stryker is a great weapon, and has been very useful
for urban combat conditions. It also provides very good survivability
against IEDs, much better than Hummers. These guys will be
well-equipped. If you know anybody in the guard, know that they will be
ready for this fight. Say a pray for them too. God bless, and see you
next time.
- D
atomickitn
11-02-2007, 06:39 AM
wow....nice read, thanks.....god bless....from what I know there are to be several troops comming home around xmas, and when they do they will be passing thru windys watch......everything and everybody that will be going home has to go thru navy customs...in kuwait
ULTRA26 # 1
11-02-2007, 07:53 AM
My sister sent me this video as we sit and wait to hear when my Nephew gets his deployment orders. Recent Graduate of the Citadel Military Academy, top honors, sharp shooter, team leader, LT in the guard......
Video by a 15 year old girl, if this does not pull at your heart strings you are not human....
http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1
If she is not a proud American I don't know who is.....
Extremely touching. Thanks
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