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Yesterday I had the chili macaroni MRE with the MRE cheese and McIlheney's Tabasco in it, and the MRE crackers, best eats I've had in a week!  I put two of the little bottles in it, which was one bottle two many for me, my hair was sweating!  Supposedly there is a new cheeseburger MRE, but I haven't gotten one yet.  The MKT is still worse than nothing, but they do have fruit and pudding, and Kool-aid, so it's worth going just for that. They brew, or de-concentrate, or whatever, the worst coffee in the universe.  They should get an award for it.  They never fail to disappoint.  Since no one's had any mail from home in about a month, all the good coffee is gone and all the field Mr. Coffees are gathering dust. Even the SEAL's are drinking this vile crap.
 A truck hit a mine in front of us yesterday. It's not a safe place to drive, like Atlanta, only different reasons.
 Burn firstaid is the most needed skill as far as 1st Aid goes, we see it every day, far more than blunt trauma, punctures etc. Never would have thought but there it is.

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I hope someone else gets some mail soon too, I'm starting to feel bad.  Lots of guys, after the 4th address change and still no mail, didn't give this one out.  Now those few who did are getting mail, and most [others] are furiously scribbling home the new address.  Bone heads, but can you blame 'em?  Apparently someone wrote their congressman about how effed up the mail is, and it went all the way to the White House.  Apparently W. got pretty bent out of shape and gave them 4 days to get it fixed or people will get relieved.  So what they have done is brought all the undelivered mail from all over the theater to _________; it arrived day before yesterday, 144 semi trailers full!  They also moved all people in theater who has a postal MOS [job description], and they are sorting and shipping frantically around the clock to meet the president's deadline.  Shame it had to come to that, but there it is.  You can do your job properly in the first place, or you can attract the attention of someone who is going to MAKE you do your job properly.  Anyway, sounds like the mail will be fixed this week.

 

Sean received a package from his brother Eddie only five days after it was mailed.  I don't think that will be the norm, but it's certainly impressive and very encouraging.  Plus, apparently, it was the best package in the history of mail call.  So . . . Yea, Eddie!!!!!!  And thank you!

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Dear Jack,
     Today while we were out on patrol an Iraqi farmer came running out to our Humvee and asked us to stop.  He told us that bad men had come during the war and put a big missile on his farm, and it was still there!  He was very afraid of it!  So I went with him, and sure enough, a large missile called a SAM that bad guys use to shoot down American airplanes, was on his farm!
     I took some pictures of it, and marked its location on my map.  Then I called some Navy guys called SEALS on my radio.  They are experts in blowing things up, and they said that tomorrow, they will come and destroy the rocket, so that the farmer can use his fields again!  The farmer was so happy!  I was happy too, and the SEALs were happiest of all, because they LOVE to blow things up!
     I have attached a picture of the missile to this email.  Will you show the picture to Mick, and tell him the story?
I love and miss you, Jack,

DA.

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This a very good article, an accurate reflection of our everyday existence in Baghdad. Sector 37 is one of my sectors and is mentioned here.  I know that Autistic school though have never visited it. The heat is a bitch, and that's the bottom line. Fortunately for me, I don't do many foot patrols, I'm usually in a humvee.
The split of who is for us and who is against us varies by area, some are as much as 90% for or against us. They do always tend to tell us what we want to hear, a holdover from Saddam's rule. If you talk to them long enough, and ask the right questions, they give you a clearer idea.
Can you please forward the article to Nikki and point out the part about the autistic school to her?
Sean

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excerpt from newspaper article:

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'Protected by U.S. Soldiers'


At 11:30, it was 103 degrees as the patrol arrived at the Rami Institute for
Autistic and Slow Learners, a house on a side street with a big lime tree in
its walled front yard.

On a green chalkboard, written in English and Arabic, was the message, "This
building is protected by U.S. soldiers. We will use deadly force to protect
this building."

Bravo Company is determined to help the school, in part because it has been
attacked. People who don't like the school, Callan said, "break in, pop
shots, terrorize them to get them to leave."

The soldiers left their weapons stacked in the yard, under guard. "It scares
the kids," he explained.

They also left their grim "game faces" outside. In the small school, they
knelt and talked gently with the children, encouraging them to
respond.Callan put his helmet on one child's head. He visited all
five classrooms. They lingered for more than half an hour.

As the squad prepared to leave the school, Pvt. Ian Hanson, who had been
standing guard out front, was having a playful debate with a local
teenager."I'm not a baby, you're a baby," said the 19-year-old from the Fox River
town of Little Chute, Wis. "You're two years younger than me. I'm a long way
from home. You're living at home."

The soldiers looked pleased with themselves. They liked helping the school.
They admired its teachers, and their hearts went out to the children.

But outside, neighbors took a very different view of the troops' visit to
the women who run the school.

"We're not against the presence of the school, we're against the presence of
the Americans," said Saif Din, 23. "We don't want them here."

He and his friend, Mohammed Ahmed, 22, said they suspected the soldiers were
having sex with the women inside. "Only God knows," Ahmed said. "I
haven't seen it with my own eyes. But I've heard about things."

"We don't like it," said Din, wagging his finger. "We don't like it."

For a moment, they debated the occupation. Electricity was better and
looting had waned. But the phones still did not work, and public
transportation was a mess. The Americans dissolved the Iraqi army,
depriving hundreds of thousands of a salary. And the future?

"The future is obscure," Ahmed said. "Their goals aren't clear."

"Their goals are clear," Din answered. "They're here to occupy us."

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