[johnny4ever]

Nicely done.
Thanks again for letting us have a window into life there. It is truly amazing to see your pictures and read about your daily events.

Stay Frosty

J

[landcrusher909]

Randy things went well today and i was told that delivery to the FPO would be on saturday (hope that makes sence to you) have a good day and William and his fellow Jr Air Force ROTC cadets wanted me to express there respect and pride in having the chance to make a diffrence Thanks Bro.

[BJ-44]

Nice wooden cell you got there Randy Are you sure you didn't get confined to Gitmo?! I'll send you some pics of our next 4WD excursion we will be camping at Sosu beach on the 28 29th.

[WristPin]

Thank you for your service. You all Great Americans.

Here are some pics that might take you back home. some colors of nature you havent seen in a while.





here is a short video
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l5...nt=Default.flv

[PacToy]

04-19-07

Nothing really new to report other than our convoy we sent to Baghdad yesterday was hit by a SVBIED. Everybody is ok except for a few minor dings. Today we trained the IPs we did our patrols and now we kicking back and relaxing a bit on our down time.

Today's weather was sunny with a strong and chilly wind out of Syria. I really hate the wind out here though. We get dust/sand all over us and our weapons. It all makes for a lot of cleaning. I would guess the temps today would range in the mid 70s to the mid 80s. Down right cold at night to boot.

1st pic) We caught an insurgent inside the wire. We believe at this time his motive was to crap on our clean uniforms in our goofy little laundry hut. We couldn't get any info out of him so we executed our famous catch and release program we have here in Iraq.

2nd pic) Another insurgent we caught inside the wire. We believe that his motive was to spread biological germs everywhere. We couldn't question him as our guard had already executed him on the spot.

3rd pic) On patrol this morning.

[PacToy]

04-19-07

Today's down time.

1st pic) A Marine on our satellite phone calling his family. He is however making good use of our HMMWV though as I never thought to use the rhino as a lounge chair.

2nd pic) Marines as always playing bones or cards.

3rd pic) Steaks on the grill. For this public report I have no idea how or where the steaks came from. This is a special event for us to say to say the least. Our Cajun Lt did a fine job of preparing and cooking said steaks. Beer would have really topped the day off.

[Dan_J-spec_fj62]

Pardon my Ignorance... but what purpose does the "rhino" serve? besides lounge chair? I'm really happy to hear everyone is ok after SVBIED attack. Keep safe Randy! We'll get you the beer to go with steaks when we're back on Okinawa!

Dan

[PacToy]

Originally Posted by Dan_J-spec_fj62

Pardon my Ignorance... but what purpose does the "rhino" serve? besides lounge chair? I'm really happy to hear everyone is ok after SVBIED attack. Keep safe Randy! We'll get you the beer to go with steaks when we're back on Okinawa!

Dan

Oh, Danny Boy, your not ignorant but lets just say the rhino has a booming responsibility.

Ok Dan, I'm holding you to your post comments.

[Dan_J-spec_fj62]

I thought it might have something to do with booming stuff... i just couldn't figure out how...

You better belive I will be held to my post comments!!!!! and steaks!!!!

Be safe!!

Dan

[PHAT MAX]

oooh oooh call on me i know!!!! only cause i asked my buddy last night!

[PacToy]

04-21-07

Today we started off the morning by ordering new parts and supplies for both us and the Iraqis. We also sent a early patrol out to keep the situation under wraps outside the wire.

I missed morning chow. So I snacked my way through the day on slim jims and peanut butter filled crackers. Then we went to early evening chow so we would be ready to go for our evening classes with the IPs and later our night patrol.

I got to tell you all that our young IPs are quite fun to bullshit with during the breaks in classes. Of course they are all young and wanting learn about us and how we do things but give them the chance to BS with you and they are a blast.

You know we teach them the military/police thing then they will teach us Arabic phrases and the like during breaks. They keep asking us for whiskey we think and we keep giving them dip to try. Giving them the dip brings on the laughter and good times for all except for..well, you can figure it out.

On our night patrol we made a change up. We made a faint and headed out into the desert on foot and came in from a different approach into town. If you haven't heard yet, the Iraqi dogs make great alarm systems. Even with all the hooten, howling and barking we still managed to surprise some bad guys.

So anyway, that was today's events. Didn't get many pics today that I can share so I will post a few random pics for everybody.

1st pic) Admin and supply run. Best part of the convoy is that we got to pick up our mail.

2nd pic) A sign that welcomes travelers to Iraq. That is what is written in English down at the bottom. I have no idea what the Arabic writing says.

3rd pic) Our Marines on the border.

[landcrusher909]

good to hear from you randy, we really enjoyed the bbq pics, Will wants to know if it was beef or camel steaks ? have a safe day

[webelk6]

Originally Posted by PacToy

1st pic) This is the front of our SWA hut. Notice our little satellite dish there?

2nd pic) This is a view on the inside of our SWA hut. We call it the jack shack.

3rd pic) This my little cubicle that I call home. This is where I keep up with family, friends, mud and write these posts from. We made the SWA hut into the jack shack otherwise it would be a squad bay. Every cubicle is made by the dweller of said cubicle. This is how I configured mine. Every cubicle is different but this one is mine.

I like the fact you have your sidearm protecting your chew. And how many different types do you have there?

[PacToy]

Originally Posted by landcrusher909

good to hear from you randy, we really enjoyed the bbq pics, Will wants to know if it was beef or camel steaks ? have a safe day

Wow! Good question from Will. I never thought about what kind of steaks they might be. We just found them in a deep freezer so therefore we had a BBQ.

I'm assuming and pretty sure they were beef steaks but I can not confirm nor deny that as fact. I'll have to ask somebody.

They were very good and our Cajun Lt did a fine job spicing them up and burning them on the grill.

[PacToy]

Originally Posted by webelk6

I like the fact you have your sidearm protecting your chew. And how many different types do you have there?

Good eye! I think I just got done cleaning it from the way that picture looks. Usually I hang it on a nail in my cubicle or it is holstered on my patrol belt when we are out and about.

I have my M4 w/ 203 and my M9 in that pic that you can see. Plus I have a few other devices that go boom in there too.

[Dan_J-spec_fj62]

They looked like "flash-bang's" to me ... is that right? or did i miss something?

It took me a bit to explain "flash-bang" to my wife .... that should have been a simple explination but it wasn't...

Oh well, Yuki hopes you stay safe Randy!

Dan

[apeterson]

keep safe.... I enjoyed reading this!

[Overlander 80]

thanks PACTOY - very cool that your keeping us in the loop - definitely a side of things you don't get to see otherwise. 5000

[splitshot]

Hey Randy, anything new?

[PacToy]

Yesterday (04-23-07) we had a very big sand storm come through our area. It put a real hurtin on our operations. The sand storm also made everything dusty and even took out the refer trailer refer that our tray ration meals are in. Explains why we had no hot chow today on our COP. Looks like we will have a few days of straight MREs to come. I also seem to have found out that even though we are in a SWA hut, my cubicle has a nifty little leak that allowed a stream of red dust to fall on my face all night long. Murphy's Law as always.

Today 04-24-07

We made a convoy run to KV. We finally got to eat in a very nice chow hall where you actually had choices of food to choose from and it was GOOD too! I had sliced pork, corn, rice w/ brown gravy if anybody cares.

While at KV we found out that the new ECM unit we were to have installed wasn't complete and therefore couldn't be installed. So we ended up turning the whole convoy into a Log run and grabbed as many items from supply, the post office and the little PX as we could. Still the best part was the chow and mail. Those together made it all worth the effort.

While at KV I found out I have an addiction. I'm addicted to stall graffiti. You know you are addicted when you hunt down the stall with the most smut in it. Yep, that is me. I do this every time I need to drop the kids off at the pool and the KV stalls have nice white walls in them that make for some good smut writing. Some pretty interesting stuff to be seen and read in there ya know! Hey, I'm not a writer, I'm a reader. The best part if you take a glance at the Iraqi stalls on KV they do the same thing except in Arabic.

There is a good bit more I would like to tell all the mudders but I'm exhausted and tired. We have a busy day tomorrow and I need to get to sleep soon.

Here are few pics from yesterday and today.

1st pic) The orange sky before the sand storm.

2nd pic) When the storm actually hit. Not the same area shot as by this time we were out in the IP's squad bay when the brunt of it hit. This is taken from the IP's squad bay.

3rd pic) The convoy's long trek back to our COP.

[PacToy]

Originally Posted by Dan_J-spec_fj62

They looked like "flash-bang's" to me ... is that right? or did i miss something?

It took me a bit to explain "flash-bang" to my wife .... that should have been a simple explination but it wasn't...

Oh well, Yuki hopes you stay safe Randy!

Dan

Dan,

No, those are not "Flash-Bangs". Those are smoke grenades with a couple of 203 cluster/parachute flares and few mags. My patrol belt which is not in the picture has the boomers.

Please tell Yuki to remind you of your promising post comments when we are back on Oki again and I will do my best to stay safe.

[Benson]

Pactoy,

Packages mailed for you and Cpl Gallindo today. I have no idea how long they will take to get there.

Stay safe.

[PAFJ]

PacToy... great thread! Thanks for sharing your Iraqi experience w/ us; and as always, thanks for your service and the great job you guys and gals are doing.

Stay safe over there!

[PacToy]

04-26-07

The last two days have not been as calm or normal as usual. Kind of turning into the wild wild west for smugglers and turf spats.

Yesterday we had been back from our morning patrol for a couple of hours when we heard sporactic gun fire. We didn't think much of it as this is Iraq and gun fire is common. Most of the times it is Iraqis at the CP that believe a certain vehicle is posing a threat by its mannerisms. A burst of AK fire into the air is usually all it takes to get the driver of said vehicles attention. However, this time we a got a QRF call to head into our AO because of the shots. We mounted up and headed in. On scene all was quiet and nobody but workers were around. Seems to have been a turf spat between the Iraqis and which area was theirs. Seems like a waste of time until.

All was quiet as we were sorting things out with the IPs when the Lt pointed out some semi-trucks moving in from out of the desert. This is a big no no and is a technique for the smugglers trying to get around our VCPs. I tried to radio the COP that we needed a couple of trucks to get out and stop the two semi-trucks. I could tell by the radio traffic that the trucks from the COP were not going to make the stop in time. I ran down two 2 other Marines who came on the QRF with us and told them what was up. We had no time to intercept by vehicle so we made a mad dash down the road on foot to intercept the trucks and intercept them we did. It seems that it is a good international stop sign when Marines drop to a knee and take a bead on your face to actually stop your vehicle (In this case anyways). We already had the bad guys out of the trucks and at gun point when our back up and security got on scene. I myself took four of them into custody after a search and pat down. Everything went well and no shots were fired by the Marines and nobody got hurt and we took 8 into custody.

Today the Iraqis we have been training caught two semi-trucks smuggling in used cars. After we interviewed them we turned them over to the IPs. It will be up to them to take action on these drivers.

This morning a resupply convoy came and two of my buddies were on it. One buddy was from my battalion back at Camp Pendleton and my other buddy I hadn't seen in 12 years. All was good and made for a good day for me.

Today's weather was hot with a dry wind coming out of the east. Today for chow I got a big helping of chicken and broccoli w/ carrots.

So there you have a short version of our last 24 hours.

I would like to hear some stories from other service members too, please!

1st & 2nd pics) With all that is going on in the House and Senate. It is just the front and back of a traveller's sign.

3rd pic) This is one of the semi-trucks that was trying to smuggle in used cars for "parts".

[swank60]

Why does this does this photo seem to warrant the caption:

I'm in yer drawerz, stalin' yer junk!




About two weeks ago I had a run-in with an owl here at the house. He was one big dude, sittin' up on the roof hootin' away. Owls rock.

[splitshot]

Do you have problems with those sand storms fawking with your equipment?

[landcrusher909]

Randy be careful cutting open the top of the box i just found out from Will there are letters on the top didnt want you cutting them in half. have a safe day and we went out last thursday and had a good run we will have pictures for you soon ,

[IronYuppy]

Hey Randy.

I'm really enjoying the "diary".

Besides all the brown food, is there any local culture to speak of? Like is civilian tv or radio still on the air? What do the LIPs do for "fun" (besides eat, that is ), and do you guys join-in at all?

How's the dating situation? Middle-Eastern girls can be hawt!

[IronYuppy]

Originally Posted by PacToy

...I have no idea what the Arabic writing says.

...

I can. It says "If you can read this, you are too close"!

[PacToy]

Originally Posted by Benson

Pactoy,

Packages mailed for you and Cpl Gallindo today. I have no idea how long they will take to get there.

Stay safe.

Originally Posted by landcrusher909

Randy be careful cutting open the top of the box i just found out from Will there are letters on the top didnt want you cutting them in half. have a safe day and we went out last thursday and had a good run we will have pictures for you soon ,

Hey Thanks guys! We should have a mail call on our next convoy. That convoy should roll in sometime here in the not too distant future. I'm pretty darn excited about this next mail call. I will definately let you all know how it goes.