Okay, so I’ve been a dirtbag and haven’t written here in over a month. I will admit I have had some free time recently, but have been actively trying to do nothing during that time.. Anywho, here’s a quick synopsis of what’s been happening here in the suck:
As you have seen from the video from last month, the checkpoints have gotten gradually better over the course of our being here. Our battalion leadership sees some value in the keeping up of appearances, as they then look better both to the brigade leadership, and to the community. Lots and lots of paint, lots of Iraqi flags painted on stuff, and some quality of life improvements have increased morale. There is a noted increase in the pride of the soldiers out on checkpoints.
The battalion now has a new Sergeant Major, who has been more active working with the checkpoints, which has led to some of the ‘soldier issues’ having a viable avenue for being solved. He has been out with us on patrol, and does work the issues with the commander once back on the basecamp.
We got a visit from ABC news, which was overall a good experience. As usual, it turned a little too ‘dog and pony’ for my tastes, but compared to some of what I’ve seen, it wasn’t too bad. John Hendren (former ABC White House correspondent) did a good piece on how the transition of battlespace is going from U.S. to Iraqi hands. There was supposed to be a video segment on ABC World News Tonight, but I haven’t seen a link to any video available yet. The written piece is found here.
As it is wont to do here, sand blew in again from the west. Seeing the western sky getting dark where we are usually means I’ll be blowing rocks out of my head for a couple of days after the dust clears. Clouds from the north mean rain though, which is much more welcome. That doesn’t happen nearly often enough yet.
Overall, the people in the area are feeling more and more secure. Things we wouldn’t have imagined happening when we got here are occurring on a regular basis. I shot this picture back in August and have been meaning to write an entire blog post about it, but this short blurb will have to suffice. On our way back from “Nearby MegaFOB”, on what I’ll call ‘Front Gate Road’, there were kids playing soccer on the side of the road:
Out on the main highway, kids are going to school:
And on another trip back down Front Gate Road, we ran into a procession of vehicles full of people heading off to a wedding!
Life continues. It’s crazy at times, and at others its… well.. crazy.
ttfn,
-Raider 2
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