this is an article from the brigade magazine.
September 26, 2008
good news: word is that we should be back stateside before christmas. this is not officially on paper yet, but when the supply guys who have to ship containers back and organize logistics say something about
a move i believe them. we are tearing down our cop and moving back to the fob in a couple weeks. we will still be doing operations in this area but this move is the first step towards going home.
bad news: apparently i talk like this guy.
i always considered myself a westerner. a new mexican. yet this midwestern blood that pumps through me continuously seeps to the surface and forces its presence to be felt. i am on the radio alot and have to say “cop 821″ many times. now this is pronounced just like it is spelt. you say it just like you say the word that means police officer. apparently i like to pronounce it as “cahp” like i am from the mean streets of grand forks.
this that and the other September 18, 2008
that’s right hair mayonnaise!
sit around and watch iraqis cut back door deals. the sum of our deployment in one shot.
just like the billboard with this one
somebody sent rc cars that we promptly destroyed
restless infantrymen
wow September 9, 2008
this morning i felt something i haven’t felt in a long time. beautiful humidity. you can smell the water in the air. it was amazing. possible thunderstorms the next three nights. highs dipping between 105 and 108. i know it sounds dumb giving you the weather report, but this is big news. it is about time for the weather to turn for the better.
from the you couldn’t make this up if you tried file: a new email came down from the brigade we are attached to. Now when you are on the fob if you are accosted by the brigade sergeant major or his minions you must also know the safety focus of the week and the catchphrase of the week. Just so you know this week’s safety focus is seatbelts and the catchphrase is speedracer. this one man is trying to single handedly dig the army’s grave.
signs this “war” needs to end September 5, 2008
We have five towers around our cop. They are nothing more than stacks of hollow concrete cylinders with a flat piece for a floor that has a large hole in it. There is nothing else inside except a ladder. Well the other week our brigade sergeant major told everyone that towers now need to have platforms in them. So today we had two iraqis show up that are contractors with battalion. The said it will cost $7,000 to construct and will take 3-4 weeks. We start tearing down the cop in a month.
The brigade we are attached to had four accidental discharges the other day. An accidental discharge is whenever a round leaves your rifle and you’re not in a fight. Nine times our of ten these happen at clearing barrels, which are barrels shoved in the ground at the entrance of every base. Whenever you enter you have to place your muzzle in the barrel and clear your weapon. Now twenty years ago an accidental discharge went no higher than your squad leader. A few years ago this was a non-event. If you shot the barrel the attitude was “that’s what it is there for.” In 07 that stopped and they started calling them negligent discharges. Then the battalion commander was the authority, then the brigade commander, and now the division commander. So what that means is that if someone fails to clear the weapon properly and shoots a barrel, whose only reason for existence is to get shot, then that soldier and their entire chain of command up to brigade commander have to go talk to the division commander who is in charge of all of baghdad. I can’t even imagine another way to waste people’s time more.
