Landing In Iraq(london)
Hey guys,
This...well..recreation was done by me with the approval of my good buddie in 3 doors down, but i feel like it represents me, and yes there are times when i dont think i'll make it through with some of the things that i do, but i have made it once again tonite with another close call. Its a lil too close for comfort when im so close to getting back home, but heres the song first.
I woke up today in Iraq As the plane was touching down And all I could think about was monday And maybe ill be back around If this keeps me away much longerI dont know what i will do Youve got to understand its a hard life That im going through And when the night falls in around meI dont think ill make it through Ill use your light to guide the way Cause all I think about is you Well Baghdad is getting kinda crazy And the Sunni Triangle is getting kinda cold I keep my head from geting lazy I just cant wait to get back h ome And all these days i spend awayIll make up for this i swear I need your love to hold me up When its all too much to bear And when the night falls in around me I dont think ill make it through Ill use your light to guide the way Cause all I think about is you And all these days i spend away Ill make up for this i swear I need your love to hold me up When its all too much to bear When the night falls in around me I dont think ill make it through Ill use your light to guide the way Cause all I think about is you
And all these days i spend away Ill make up for this i swear I need your love to hold me up When its all too much to bear When the night falls in around meI dont think ill make it throughIll use your light to guide the wayCause all I think about is you.
Well thats how i feel everyday. I know that i could be gone in a split second. I trust...Trust in the faith that i have everyday. I believe in faith so much. It has gotten me this far, but there always is another side to a story. Well as far as yet another harrowing experience in the book of life for me, it was an eventfilled one. Heres how it started.... we flew out with Brass Monkey playing thanks to Holli and her family and AliAliAli's picture was about to fly off when i had some surgical tape in a bag and i retaped it..Whew! That picture means so much too me. She is a cute girl, and i want all of te cute girls and boys back home to know that we are fighting so that they can grow up without fear. I want them all to fear nothing. Please please please please dont teach your kids to be scared of things. Fear is what fuels these dummies over here. They live and strive on fear. Fear to keep people from working or going to school or just having a normal life. So as Brass Monkey was ending and reality set in. It set in when i remembered that i was gonna be lowered to the ground in a remote area of iraq to meet up with some Navy Seals who lost a Forward Air Controller to non hostile gun fire a few days ago. Now Non-hostile gun fire means usually or techinally suicide or accidental death. Anyhow, I was lowered with another Combat Controller and a PJ about 2 and a half miles from the Seals. We made radio contact with them as Cap and the crew were leaving. I was no longer safe. Well not safe within the helo. The ground is a dangerous place in iraq. YOu have Vehicle-Borned Improvised Explosive devices, snipers, dead animals packedd with explosives, "stalled or broken down cars" packed with explosives, and hell the list goes on. Well we went under the cover of darkness which is a help. I often wonder if the same moon that i looked at on this beautiful night is the same moon and stars that you guys look at night. So we move stealth like. I remember that this is my real job. A combat controller that works on the ground with special forces. Here i am this skinny kid from Texas that wanted to join special ops because of the girls, and now ive grown up and im not a father nor am i married. So WTF was i thinking back then at 17. I guess i was thinking like a 17 year old is supposed to think. Shit i dunno. So as we are moving slow but steady, fast but cautious, we spot three iraqis kids playing. We see them with night vison goggles on. This is a red flag. Normal muslim kids playing in the wee hours of the night isnt something that you see. I radioed using my throat and a special device via special ops to the other guys who were spread out about 50ish yards away from me that this wasnt right and we came to a halt. As the guy with the most stripes and seniority, i make the call to halt. Ya know when you have other peoples lives on the line you have to make the right choice. Damn now i see where CAP comes in being a hard ass. We halt for maybe 30 seconds in this deslote area of iraq...the country if you will. There are no sirens, or bridges or city life this is country iraq. I know that someone heard that helo, and they had to have radioed to our area to be on the look out for americans. I know it. I tell everyone to check there weapons and we wait. Now at 96 seconds of being in the same place i know that if they know that we are here they are getting ready and i know that it will be more than three guys or girls or children or animals waiting to do us harm. I tell the CCT(stone) to get on his radio and call for a bird in the sky. He radioes back that we dont have a threat. I tell him to fucking do it! He does and we find that the nearest bird(jet) is the Navy guys and they are about 11 minutes away. CAP is gone, but this really wasnt a job for that type of aircraft, but he would have done it. I tell the guys that we will end radio contact unless neccesary and we to proceed to the next point via the mission. They do now this jet is 10 mins and 20ish seconds away. Then Boom! A mortar goes off. A SHREEK then Boom! another one...well so much for a suprise attack!I realize that what ever smart guy back at base(this is why i dont want to be a officer) put our drop point right in the bed of enemy when we should have been outside of the enemy with a viewpoint of them. FUCK! I break radio silence and tell the guys that the mission is aborted and i made radio contact back to base and i let them know of the error. I knew it was the asshole army guy that was fresh out of westpoint! What a fucking dummy. Then another Mortar...this time closer. Stone wants to return fire but i tell him to hold on because of the tracer rounds that will come out and light illuminates whenever you fire a weapon. Then Boom! from 40 yards away. We all keep our composure and move to a safer loc. We trek up a hill and we see the enemy. Theres at least 20 of them.. running around like a chicken with there heads cut off! They are firing in an area that they think we are in, and stone takes his handgun, and i tell him to put that away. I inform him that we are very very very far away but we are close. Not close enough to do any damage with a handgun. Now realizing that we must fight our way through with 8+ minutes until the nearest help comes we spread out and get in defensive positions and decide to fight for our lives. So i fire the first shot and i tell the guys before the shot is fired that we have limited ammo and that we need to perserve it. Via night vison i fire the first shot...a person falls. They drag him away, and the guy to the right falls. Someone else shot the guy who was dragging the wounded. 7 minutes and counting. Stone puts out a call to the pilots to cut all COM until they are within the strike zone. I know that they were flying at supersonic speed. Burning fuel and costing tax payers a bunch. I know someo f you my ask how can you think of that in a time like this but i did. So we continue to fire and the fire back with heavy artillery and we fire back. Then someone has a customized russian made weapon(which i will not name due to securtiy reasons) that they roll out and begin to chop down everything within a 120 yard radius. I duck and listen as the bullets and trees and dirt and rocks ignite sparks. At least 1000+ rounds were fired from various locations and we just hunkered down. Shit was falling on me and the bullets kept coming. I tried to curl up in a ball and i just took it. After they ran out of ammo or they tried to restock everyone let everyone know that they were ok and here we are 4+ mins until its time and i take precison shots at these guys and we are running low. The numbers of insurgents are mounting fast. They are growing. The more we will the more they mulitply. I quickly realize that this was a t raining camp maybe. 2+ mins left and we are continuing to take strategic shots and we get radio contact that says they are on the way. Then I tell smoke to gather the coordinates quick fast and in a hurry and i tell him to call in the airstrike on our own position. This is the worst call to make. For a combat controller to call a airstriike outside of the comfort zone says alot. Hell this pilot asked that we repeat this request 4 times. im sure he didnt want to be a friendly fire story back home. We told him and we continued to fire on the enemy until i heard the roar. The song of the engines coming to our rescue. Stone called in the coordinates we took cover and they bombed the dog shit out of the enemy. All killed, no living, woman..children...and bastards dead. The area smokes. The back of the Pjs uniform is singed. We trek on and view the carcass of the dead. We praise the Navy guy for his expertise..he flies off, and we haul it too the army guys who cant belive that we are alive and we call in air strikes for them and evac a wounded solider and make it back to base camp. I checked my weapon and my handgun had one clip left and my main weapon had only 7 bullets left. Damn i needa get out of here ...even if its only for a little while... i hope that this guy will be punished for what he has done...prolyl not but i can hope...
nite
This...well..recreation was done by me with the approval of my good buddie in 3 doors down, but i feel like it represents me, and yes there are times when i dont think i'll make it through with some of the things that i do, but i have made it once again tonite with another close call. Its a lil too close for comfort when im so close to getting back home, but heres the song first.
I woke up today in Iraq As the plane was touching down And all I could think about was monday And maybe ill be back around If this keeps me away much longerI dont know what i will do Youve got to understand its a hard life That im going through And when the night falls in around meI dont think ill make it through Ill use your light to guide the way Cause all I think about is you Well Baghdad is getting kinda crazy And the Sunni Triangle is getting kinda cold I keep my head from geting lazy I just cant wait to get back h ome And all these days i spend awayIll make up for this i swear I need your love to hold me up When its all too much to bear And when the night falls in around me I dont think ill make it through Ill use your light to guide the way Cause all I think about is you And all these days i spend away Ill make up for this i swear I need your love to hold me up When its all too much to bear When the night falls in around me I dont think ill make it through Ill use your light to guide the way Cause all I think about is you
And all these days i spend away Ill make up for this i swear I need your love to hold me up When its all too much to bear When the night falls in around meI dont think ill make it throughIll use your light to guide the wayCause all I think about is you.
Well thats how i feel everyday. I know that i could be gone in a split second. I trust...Trust in the faith that i have everyday. I believe in faith so much. It has gotten me this far, but there always is another side to a story. Well as far as yet another harrowing experience in the book of life for me, it was an eventfilled one. Heres how it started.... we flew out with Brass Monkey playing thanks to Holli and her family and AliAliAli's picture was about to fly off when i had some surgical tape in a bag and i retaped it..Whew! That picture means so much too me. She is a cute girl, and i want all of te cute girls and boys back home to know that we are fighting so that they can grow up without fear. I want them all to fear nothing. Please please please please dont teach your kids to be scared of things. Fear is what fuels these dummies over here. They live and strive on fear. Fear to keep people from working or going to school or just having a normal life. So as Brass Monkey was ending and reality set in. It set in when i remembered that i was gonna be lowered to the ground in a remote area of iraq to meet up with some Navy Seals who lost a Forward Air Controller to non hostile gun fire a few days ago. Now Non-hostile gun fire means usually or techinally suicide or accidental death. Anyhow, I was lowered with another Combat Controller and a PJ about 2 and a half miles from the Seals. We made radio contact with them as Cap and the crew were leaving. I was no longer safe. Well not safe within the helo. The ground is a dangerous place in iraq. YOu have Vehicle-Borned Improvised Explosive devices, snipers, dead animals packedd with explosives, "stalled or broken down cars" packed with explosives, and hell the list goes on. Well we went under the cover of darkness which is a help. I often wonder if the same moon that i looked at on this beautiful night is the same moon and stars that you guys look at night. So we move stealth like. I remember that this is my real job. A combat controller that works on the ground with special forces. Here i am this skinny kid from Texas that wanted to join special ops because of the girls, and now ive grown up and im not a father nor am i married. So WTF was i thinking back then at 17. I guess i was thinking like a 17 year old is supposed to think. Shit i dunno. So as we are moving slow but steady, fast but cautious, we spot three iraqis kids playing. We see them with night vison goggles on. This is a red flag. Normal muslim kids playing in the wee hours of the night isnt something that you see. I radioed using my throat and a special device via special ops to the other guys who were spread out about 50ish yards away from me that this wasnt right and we came to a halt. As the guy with the most stripes and seniority, i make the call to halt. Ya know when you have other peoples lives on the line you have to make the right choice. Damn now i see where CAP comes in being a hard ass. We halt for maybe 30 seconds in this deslote area of iraq...the country if you will. There are no sirens, or bridges or city life this is country iraq. I know that someone heard that helo, and they had to have radioed to our area to be on the look out for americans. I know it. I tell everyone to check there weapons and we wait. Now at 96 seconds of being in the same place i know that if they know that we are here they are getting ready and i know that it will be more than three guys or girls or children or animals waiting to do us harm. I tell the CCT(stone) to get on his radio and call for a bird in the sky. He radioes back that we dont have a threat. I tell him to fucking do it! He does and we find that the nearest bird(jet) is the Navy guys and they are about 11 minutes away. CAP is gone, but this really wasnt a job for that type of aircraft, but he would have done it. I tell the guys that we will end radio contact unless neccesary and we to proceed to the next point via the mission. They do now this jet is 10 mins and 20ish seconds away. Then Boom! A mortar goes off. A SHREEK then Boom! another one...well so much for a suprise attack!I realize that what ever smart guy back at base(this is why i dont want to be a officer) put our drop point right in the bed of enemy when we should have been outside of the enemy with a viewpoint of them. FUCK! I break radio silence and tell the guys that the mission is aborted and i made radio contact back to base and i let them know of the error. I knew it was the asshole army guy that was fresh out of westpoint! What a fucking dummy. Then another Mortar...this time closer. Stone wants to return fire but i tell him to hold on because of the tracer rounds that will come out and light illuminates whenever you fire a weapon. Then Boom! from 40 yards away. We all keep our composure and move to a safer loc. We trek up a hill and we see the enemy. Theres at least 20 of them.. running around like a chicken with there heads cut off! They are firing in an area that they think we are in, and stone takes his handgun, and i tell him to put that away. I inform him that we are very very very far away but we are close. Not close enough to do any damage with a handgun. Now realizing that we must fight our way through with 8+ minutes until the nearest help comes we spread out and get in defensive positions and decide to fight for our lives. So i fire the first shot and i tell the guys before the shot is fired that we have limited ammo and that we need to perserve it. Via night vison i fire the first shot...a person falls. They drag him away, and the guy to the right falls. Someone else shot the guy who was dragging the wounded. 7 minutes and counting. Stone puts out a call to the pilots to cut all COM until they are within the strike zone. I know that they were flying at supersonic speed. Burning fuel and costing tax payers a bunch. I know someo f you my ask how can you think of that in a time like this but i did. So we continue to fire and the fire back with heavy artillery and we fire back. Then someone has a customized russian made weapon(which i will not name due to securtiy reasons) that they roll out and begin to chop down everything within a 120 yard radius. I duck and listen as the bullets and trees and dirt and rocks ignite sparks. At least 1000+ rounds were fired from various locations and we just hunkered down. Shit was falling on me and the bullets kept coming. I tried to curl up in a ball and i just took it. After they ran out of ammo or they tried to restock everyone let everyone know that they were ok and here we are 4+ mins until its time and i take precison shots at these guys and we are running low. The numbers of insurgents are mounting fast. They are growing. The more we will the more they mulitply. I quickly realize that this was a t raining camp maybe. 2+ mins left and we are continuing to take strategic shots and we get radio contact that says they are on the way. Then I tell smoke to gather the coordinates quick fast and in a hurry and i tell him to call in the airstrike on our own position. This is the worst call to make. For a combat controller to call a airstriike outside of the comfort zone says alot. Hell this pilot asked that we repeat this request 4 times. im sure he didnt want to be a friendly fire story back home. We told him and we continued to fire on the enemy until i heard the roar. The song of the engines coming to our rescue. Stone called in the coordinates we took cover and they bombed the dog shit out of the enemy. All killed, no living, woman..children...and bastards dead. The area smokes. The back of the Pjs uniform is singed. We trek on and view the carcass of the dead. We praise the Navy guy for his expertise..he flies off, and we haul it too the army guys who cant belive that we are alive and we call in air strikes for them and evac a wounded solider and make it back to base camp. I checked my weapon and my handgun had one clip left and my main weapon had only 7 bullets left. Damn i needa get out of here ...even if its only for a little while... i hope that this guy will be punished for what he has done...prolyl not but i can hope...
nite
posted by ME at 4:11 AM
5 Comments:
Jeez. I hope and pray you get to leave there soon! Praying for y'all as always! hugs!~mama
ps the wind and rain are here!
Oh my lord! It's unbelievable that you had this sort of day. I know you have these days a lot but shoot, this is so scary and having to make these decisions with minutes ticking away and everyone's life on the line? I'm all teary here reading this, it just makes me so damn sad. It seems like a never-ending situation.....I wish I knew what else to say.
Suz said it best....as always stay safe, lots of prayers and positive thoughts!
Geesh, I was at the edge of my seat reading that. GET HOME!
Hope you get a break here soon. Sounds like the pressures on there.
The stars and moon are the same everywhere. It's just where you are that sets the mood. You're in a nasty place, that probably doesn't seem real..so it doesn't seem like we could possibly be looking at the same thing.. But, we are.
Haley
I just sat here and read this to AliAliAli and Sto Sto.. I'm behind on blogging.
I'm glad I read things backwards so I know you are coming home.
Post a Comment
<< Home