I have been in Texas on business and not had time to post more information on Jeff. Since arriving in Baghdad a month ago I have only had 2 calls but I do get emails every 3 to 5 days. He is doing well.
He called on the morning of Christmas Eve and then again on Jan 3rd. They had been working so hard he did not even know it was Christmas Eve until the night before he called (Wed night Dec 23rd).
His platoon spends a lot of time on patrol and manning their Foreword Observation Point (FOB) check point Their patrols are both foot patrols and mounted patrols (humvee)
On Christmas day he was on patrol all afternoon and evening which meant his platoon did not get a Christmas dinner that the rest of the troops got. Their Sgt stopped at an Iraqi road side cafe and they ate chicken. Jeff got food poisoning and was drop dead sick in bed for 2 1/2 days (from Sat evening to Tuesday afternoon). I got mad over that one - I wonder where his company commander ate on Christmas? I bet it was not a road side chicken.
Jeff said they were mortared 4 times on Christmas day. I asked how close and he said “close enough to make you jump about a foot.” They had a mortar land about 3 feet from their FOB when Jeff was not working. The men heard it coming and jumped into their armored humvee and no one was hurt.
He said his company spends a lot of time checking ID cards. There are a lot of Iraqi’s working for the Americans who live inside the green zone (it’s 6 square miles with his company being responsible for their own sector.) When they check ID cards they send shooters to the roof of apartment buildings and then go door to door checking ID cards – no one runs with guns on the roof.
Their battalion commander told them that they have solid intelligence that their work has thrown a wrench into plans for more suicide bombers in the green zone.
Jeff lucked out on New Years day – his CO and First Sgt had to go to a meeting outside of their sector and they took Jeff as an extra gun. He said the cafeteria where they went was great – he had the best meal in a month. (the food where they normally eat sucks)
Yesterday he told me that some Iraqi’s had obtained a list of phone numbers from the phones that the troops use to call home. These people had been calling these numbers in the states and telling the people who answer that they have their soldiers. The Iraqi’s demand money from the relatives – so the CO is making all the troops inform their families that this is a big scam.
I had sent Jeff 6 new pair of contact lens in his last care package. He told me yesterday that they cant wear contacts. The army still worries of a chemical attack and if they wear contacts they are afraid they will melt in his eye if there is a problem. His Sgts told him that they and he get “article 15’s” if he is caught with contacts in – se he wears his army issue glasses – otherwise known as birth control glasses. (He said he takes them off for photos)
One of Jeff’s best friends (Martin Harris) is in “B” Company. Jeff went through Basic and jump school with Martin. “B” Company is out on Hyfa Street in the market outside of the Green Zone about 2 miles away from Jeff’s “C” Company.
Hyfa street is when the insurgents execute election workers. Since Dec 7th they have had 8 purple hearts from grenades that are thrown by kids. The insurgents pay kids $100.00 to toss a Grenade. None of the Americans have been seriously hurt yet but they get in gun fights almost every day and have killed a number of bad guys. Two in one skirmish and then they were attacked by 24 people and most were killed (no Americans were hurt)
Below is a email that came this morning :
Dad
I got my photos on a CD for you Ill get them in the mail tomorrow. It may take a while because they hold the mail until they get a full load before they send it back to the states. Seeing as how its basically just letters it takes along time to add up.
Today there was a car bomb at checkpoint 12 which is like 100 meters from the main gate of our fob. The nick name for checkpoint 12 is assassins gate. I guess Iraqi’s think its a week point into the green zone.
It was such a big car bomb that a friend who was 5 miles away said it sounded big. I am not sure exactly what happened. I am pretty sure it went off near the ING (Iraqi National Guard) guys not the Americans. I was sleeping, because we were out on patrol until 2:00 AM this morning, and all of a sudden BOOM. The hole palace shook. We thought for sure that a mortar had landed upstairs. All the dust came off the walls and a bunch of shit got knocked over. All our windows are boarded up but the ones in the smaller buildings near us, like the Internet place, all got blown out and this building is on the opposite side of our FOB as check point 12.
We had a big mamorial service for a national guard soldier that died here. He was training the Iraqi National Guard wich is dangerous because they are one of the main targets for the bad guys.
Well I am going go eat I have to go back up to the guard tower in a few hours for 4 more hours - it
f@3&* sucks up there.
Jeff
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According to the news today there were 10 dead Iraqi Police Officers and 60 wounded from the suicide bomb.
I also want to make it clear that I make an effort to edit out anything I feel would compromise the safety of our troops before I post it to my web board.
When the photos come I will post them.
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