Chronicle of a modern warrior

Sgt. Ruffin

2008-08-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody
Just wanted to send along some pictures of my promotion ceremony from this afternoon. After two years 10 months in the Army, a 15-month deployment to Iraq and a paperwork battle with the Department of the Army, I have been promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
Since we have been back off leave after our return to the States, I have been filling the position of an NCO as Bravo Company's Senior Line Medic. I hope to be able to continue in this capacity, but as always things need to be fluid to ensure the unit is able to operate as successfully as possible.

The first picture is my platoon sergeant who "pinned" me. The term comes from when the rank was pinned to the collar, though on our uniforms the rank is attached by velcro to the center of the chest. With the pins, Soldiers of equal or higher rank would shake the newly promoted NCO's hand and hit the pins (hence the term "blood pinning")as a form of initiation or welcoming the SGT to the NCO corps. Today, this tradition carries on with a slight variation

In the last pic, the Soldier on the left (my right as I stand there) was promoted to Staff Sergeant, and the Specialist on the right (my left) received his Combat Medic Badge for actions taken while in Iraq.

Thought you would like to know
Troy

Home Safe Home

2008-03-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Troy called this morning to let me know that he his back in the U.S.

Troy's parents came out to celebrate the arrival of the 3rd ID back at their home base.

We look forward to getting to spend some time with troy during his post tour leave

Homeward Bound

2008-03-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Kuwait!
We finally arrived in Kuwait sometime early this morning, and have only a few hours left until we start the final steps before we head home. The biggest obstacle is going through Customs; I finally got all of my bags packed, and early tomorrow morning will have to dump them out to make sure I don't have any rocket launchers or tanks hidden in my duffle bag. Once we've finished our inspections, it then becomes a waiting game. We've been given plenty of time to go through Customs, so I'm sure we'll have the better part of the day to wait around.

I couldn't help but laugh last night as we were boarding the C-17 cargo plane that took us from TQ to Kuwait. There were two long lines of Soldiers slowly loading from the rear of the aircraft, and as I looked up and watched some of the first Soldiers start heading up the ramp I saw someones arm raised well above their head...just flipping off Iraq. I think he summed up our feelings quite nicely.

We're outta here!
Troy

3/22/08

2008-03-22T06:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody
I wanted to send out a quick email while I had the chance. Its official...we're finally coming home! I've got all my bags packed and ready to go; tomorrow we should be moving to the flight area of TQ to await our flight to Kuwait. Once in Kuwait, we should be there until sometime on Wednesday when we board the big bird bound for HOME!!!!! Project arrival is early morning on Thursday the 27th...just five days from now.
We've already torn down our aid station here and will be turning over supplies to the main aid station here on post. As of now, all of our efforts will be concentrated on getting home.
Since we should be arriving on Thursday, we won't start the re-integration classes until the following Monday, which will be nice; its strange to think that we'll actually get a weekend off!
Following the two weeks of classes, we'll be turned loose for leave; our start date should be April 12th, and be at least a month long.

Any more info I get along the way I'll try to pass along.

See you soon!!!
Troy

1/17/08

2008-02-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

Troy has received word through the rumor mill about their return home. His unit has started to pack up, and move kit into containers. It looks like they will be getting back the end of March. More to follow

1/15/08

2008-02-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the update man!!! And congrats on your new job! That's awesome. Sounds like you're really enjoying it, too. Thats great you'll be able to spend more time at home as you'll be working the proverbial "normal" schedule. Must be nice not to have to worry about working overnights or weekends, huh? So are you full time there, and no longer on staff at Midwest?
Trying to wade through the paperwork and check off all the appropriate blocks for recert through NREMT. Gotta love paperwork from 10,000 miles away. I think we'll be able to get it done over here, even though we should have 90 days after our return. But...better safe than sorry. I loved EMSLRC, but I'd rather not have to pay to go through it again...still paying off my first go-round, don't need to add a second.
Hopefully you got the two pics of the snow we received over here. It totalled just under 2 inches. i've got a couple more I still need to take off my camera so I can email them out to people. It was definitely different seeing everything white instead of tan. Too bad the snow only lasted about a day and a half. Its still below freezing most of the time, and if you look closely we can still spot the occasional patch of snow hiding in the shadows, but its few and far between.
According to our battalion commander, we've got less than 100 days remaining; definitely beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just another month and a half of ops, and we should start moving and turning over everything to the new incoming unit. Hopefully it all goes well.
Got another coin; this time from our battalion commander (Lt Col), and is the 2-7 Infantry Regiment's coin. Pretty cool; its actually a lot nicer than the ForceComm coin (4-star general) I have.
Still thinking about re-upping for Ft. Carson, CO. Also have been considering going to flight medic school. I've been looking at the new deployment schedule the Army has put out, and was somewhat surprised to learn that my brigade is schedule to return to Iraq the same month I'm supposed to be getting out. Yeah...that means I'd be stop-lossed even before I got on the plane! I'm not trying to get out of another deployment...just would like to do it within the "normal" confines of my enlistment contract. Plus, Colorado's a lot easier to get to than Georgia. If I get out there, maybe you and Christine could come visit for a weekend of skiing. We'll see...
Talked to Kelly a little while ago. He's still trying to get me to go SF, or at least SOCOM medic. Its always an option, and would be a heck of a challenge. But he said that he may be in Iowa sometime in April or May. When I hear back from him I'll make sure to let you know.
Anyway, hope everything is going well with your new job. I'm sure you'll do great things there, John.

Talk to you later
Troy

1/14/08

2008-02-17T13:23:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd say hi; not a whole lot to report, besides it being COLD!!! Doesn't help that there's nothing out here to stop the wind from Syria to Baghdad . oh well...thats what snivel gear is for, huh?
Finished "In the Company of Heros" and "Clan of the Cave Bear." Both great books!!! Really enjoyed both of them; I've left them in the chow hall for other people to pick up if they want.
Will try to get the day light pics of the snow off my computer tomorrow if I get the chance. Also, I got a short little video clip on my camera of one of my buddies sledding!!! He took a sign of the back of a humvee and bent the corners up so he could put his feet there, and took off down the hill. its pretty funny, but probably too large to email. Most of the snow is gone...it lasted for about a day and a half, but now the only places it remains is where the sun doesn't hit. It was sure fun while it lasted, though. You should have seen all the infantrymen and their snowball fights! Good times.
The Battalion Commander stopped by our "humble abode" today. I guess Paul overheard him talking about trying to give coins to deserving Soldiers, and he dropped my name in his ear. So, later this afternoon he stopped by the aid station and presented me with a coin. Its pretty cool looking, too. Its the 2-7 Infantry Regimental coin. Now I've got one from my battalion, division and major command ( Lt Col , 2-star general, and 4-star general respectively.) My collection is growing, plus we'll all get one for the deployment. Paul was really happy that it worked out; he was really happy with how I was able to take care of my guys with no direct oversight since we left Hit. He was bragging to everybody we saw this afternoon that I got a coin from the BC. Kinda cool.
Other than that, not a whole lot going on right now. Will have a couple things to take care of tomorrow, but nothing too big. I've been slowly working at typing out an email (aka abbreviated version of events since we left Hit) but it is taking more time than anticipated. I'm not sure anybody will read the whole thing, but it'll be nice to have a record (if somewhat abridged) of events over the past several months. I'll get it out when I can, but there's still a ways to go.
Just got off the phone with Kristen before I sat down at the computer to write you guys. Not too many people out right now as it is COLD and the wind is really howling...makes guys tend to stay inside next to the heaters (like normal, sane people). She's doing well, and is trying to get ready for her next semester of classes. I guess U of I doesn't start till next week; seems late, but then again its been a while since I've been in college. Can't WAIT to get my degree finished!!! That'll be really nice to have completed that step in the process.
Speaking of completing processes, we're trying to get everything together for my paramedic recert; the packet you mailed off will help immensly, thanks for doing that! Looks like I may have to spend several days on KV to be able to go through some classes with Doc Brown so I can check off the necessary blocks. I'm definitely not opposed to this, as it'll be a great learning experience, plus it'll be the only real test of knowledge I've had since I joined the Army.
Well...I should probably head to bed. 07 comes early...

Love you guys more than fresh-fallen snow!
Troy

1/10/2008

2008-02-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

Its been a long time since I last wrote, and as much as I wish this was a full update, I don't have the time. I am working on it, though. Since our computer time is limited, I have to type it on my laptop, put it on a thumb drive, and then transfer it once I'm in the computer room. It all works out, though.
I had to share these pics with everyone, though. Today started off cold and cloudy, but we didn't give it a second thought. I was originally told that I was to have a "down day" where I didn't have anything on the schedule. Those are few and far between, and are a much enjoyed break. However, this morning one of our NCO's stopped in the aid station and told me that we had a mission in 30 minutes...so much for a "day off." Our patrol consisted of checking out areas of interest out in the middle of the desert. Usually there's nothing but a whole lot of rocks and sand, though occasionally something is actually found. On our drive out it started raining, though it quickly changed to freezing rain. About 30 minutes later, there was no doubt about it...it was snowing!!!! That's right...snow in Iraq. I tried taking a couple pictures while we were out in the desert, but since everything is so monotone out there, the snow had nothing to contrast against. Our patrol lasted five and a half hours (which is a long time to sit in the back of a humvee and shiver), and it snowed almost the whole time. Nothing was really sticking at first, but it didn't take long for the ground to cool off and start to show a dusting of white. Its now many hours later, and the snow is still coming down. We're at an altitude of about half a mile, and things are cold enough that its sticking. I'll get a couple pics in the morning once I get up; from the looks of things, there will definitely be a layer of snow on everything.
Since my last email, we've moved several times; our current location is a train station in the far western Anbar province, which is a high wasteland. Its not mountainous, but there are plenty of large plateaus and hills in our area, though once you start decending towards KV everything levels out, and is flat for as far as you can see.
We're counting down until we start getting ready to move back to the States. Still looking at early April (I think) but of course that's always subject to change.
I wanted to get these pics out to you guys; we heard that they occasionally got snow up here, but not many of us believed it. Obviously, they were wrong! The weather has stayed cold for the last month, though the wind makes things even less enjoyable. Besides this snow, the only precipitation we've seen in the last 8 months has been a 5 minute shower that did nothing but turn the top layer of dust to mud.

I hope to email everyone again soon.

All the best
Troy

1/8/08

2008-02-17T13:17:00.001-08:00

HAWKEYE!
Hey, my dad said that you called the other night wondering what I've been up to. Pretty much the same old crap, different location. Living in a train station, driving a lot through the open desert looking for bad guys. I know, I know...sounds exciting. Don't worry...its not.
Heard you got a new job!!! Congrats, man! That's awesome! If you get the time, you'll have to tell me all about it.
Sorry this is so short, but I gotta run.

Later, John
Troy

12/23/2008

2008-02-17T13:14:00.002-08:00

Hey!
Finally had the chance to use the computer again. I got to our new home, only to be told that I was supposed to be on KV for our annual retraining event. So, the next morning I caught the convoy headed back down south. The training was actually a lot of fun, and I had a good time (except standing out in the freezing cold with none of my cold weather gear!) While I was there, we started talking about the upcoming events for 3rd ID and what it may mean for some of us. It looks like there is a lot coming up for us once we get back (starting in early 2009 for the "possible events"), and it got some of us talking about reenlistment. Some of the NCO's started talking to me about what I wanted to do, and some of them said that I really need to reenlist and go to a different unit as there are a lot of opportunities out there that we should be taking advantage of. Don't worry...I haven't signed anything yet!!! But, I've got the reenlistment NCO looking at a couple of things for me. I've pretty much decided that I won't reenlist unless they can get me Ft. Carson , Colorado and a slot in the flight medic school. I figure being a flight medic out there would be a LOT of fun, plus its a much easier drive than Georgia !!! And being right down the road from Brekinridge isn't a bad thing, either. We'll see...I still have to get him some stuff (like a copy of my paramedic card) before he can see what he can do. But I'll make sure to keep you guys in the loop before I do anything. It'd really only push me back about a year, plus it would get me to a base that I would love, doing a waaay cool job! I think it would probably help me get into med school and with those plans, too, as I would have more freetime to take classes and maybe even finish my degree before I get out of the army. Med school is still me end goal...not gonna change that one. I got to talk to our doc out here this weekend, too. Yeah...he just got me all the more pumped up about going to med school, and all the opportunities and residencies and how the scholarship program works. Sounds like a SWEET deal!

I got the first box today; its the one that had the salty jerky in it...not too bad, but definitely saltier than anything else you've made. It also had Da Turdy Point Buck, which I'm going to listen to after dinner. I may watch one of the Jeff Dunham DVD's tonight, too...depends on how tired I am. Its been a hectic weekend!
So our new home isn't too bad; we're living in a train station, much like the firmbase across the street from where we lived back in Hit. Its ok, but it means that we have to go outside to get to anything: bathroom, shower, chow hall, you name it. But, we're tough...we've survived this far, and a little cold isn't going to knock us down now! I haven't gotten my thermometer up and running yet, but I'll let you know what the temps are like when I do. I'm sure they're nothing like what you've got, though; too bad it doesn't measure wind chill! Most of us are still running around in just our uniform...the same thing we wore when it was 150 degrees outside...about 120 degrees warmer than it is now!!! But, I've got some cold weather gear in my bags that will probably be making more of an appearance here shortly.
The town is small, and we're pretty isolated, so there really isn't much going on out here. Its safer than where we moved from, so I'm sure you're happy about that. Of course, this place has its own unique "fragrance." This time we get to add sulfur to the usual aroma of feces. MMmmm...eau de Iraq ; I don't think it'd be much of a hit, though.
I just got back up here from KV this afternoon, and haven't done much unpacking. I've got 4, yes 4 giant boxes of coffee...and no coffee maker. But one of the guys has a coffee press, and I'm pretty sure I can get a water heater out in town, so we should be sitting pretty.
Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on. Tell everybody hi for me, and that I love them. Hope you guys have a great Christmas!!!

I'll try to call in the next day or two if I get the chance.
Love you guys!!!
Troy

New address

2008-02-17T13:14:00.001-08:00

Hey all,
Troy is moving to another small base with a different company and platoon. New address is below. Thanks, Tim

SPC RUFFIN, TROY
B Co, 3rd PLT, 2-7 IN BN
UNIT # 73431
KOREAN VILLAGE
APO AE 09371-3431

11/26/2007

2007-11-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

We actually had a semi-decent meal out here. We got turkey, roast beef and ham, but by the time I got to go to chow the turkey was already gone. I tried the ham (bad idea) and the roast beef was ok...so I filled up on mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. Yeah...talk about carbo-loading!

Christmas

I don't think we'll need anything to celebrate out here. I'm sure it will just be another day; missions as usual, which was just like Thanksgiving. Supposedly we're supposed to be moving shortly after Christmas, so we'll probably be packed up by then anyway. Seems like we just get settled in, and then they decide to move us again. Oh well...
Its actually starting to get kinda chilly around here. Its down into the low 40's at night...I think a couple of times its dipped into the upper 30's, but just for the night. Highs are probably upper 50's to low 60's still. You really notice the chill in the air when we're sitting on a rooftop overwatching the streets. Still haven't brought any of my "snivel gear" on the missions, but thats just because we usually walk around for a little while and warm up before we go and sit. In all honesty, I would probably take a knit helmet liner with me, though. Once we get set, we take our kevlars off and its pretty cold if the wind is blowing.
I can't think of any special requests for the package. Oh...actually, if you run across some of those hand warmers, a couple of those would be great. Other than that, I think I'm set.
I'm looking forward to getting back to Iowa. Glad that everything is going well there.

Things are kinda picking up around here. We've had some activity in the last couple of weeks that we haven't seen for quite a while. Its really got us back on our toes again. Everyone is ok; a couple of guys from the company we're attached to sustained minor injuries (especially compared to what they could have been) but I'm sure they'll be back in short order.
I guess we've got some big-wigs coming through sometime soon...so of course we've had to "tidy up the area." Doesn't make much sense, the whole country is covered in trash and garbage, and we're doing a police-call across our compound. Yay for brass.

Talk to you later, John
Troy

On the way back to the desert

2007-10-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

Troy’s last few hours home are upon us. If you would like to see or talk with him before his departure you better drop him a line soon. Troy departs the Cedar Rapids airport at 0600 tomorrow morning. It will take approximately a week of traveling before he returns to his unit in the western edge of Iraq. Troy promises to keep us up to date as he finishes his tour.

As the Picture shows, we really enjoyed having troy in town

Promotion

2007-10-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

It is my pleasure to announce that prior to his mid tour leave PFC Troy Ruffin was promoted. Troy has now earned the rank of Specialist. We are all proud of Troy for this milestone.

On the move

2007-09-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call today from troy.

He has moved off of the front lines, and is currently resting up at Al Assad air base. He should move next to Kwait. From there he will fly to Dallas, and finally home to CID.

We expect him home on Wednesday.

9/27/07

2007-09-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hey...I'm almost all packed up here, just have a couple things left to throw in my bad, and then I'll be all set to leave out of there. Got less than XXX hours till I hitch a ride to XXX, and from there begin the long journey home. When I start getting more information, I'll pass it along.
I'm wearing a brand new uniform, which looks waaaay out of place around here. Everyone else is wearing uniforms thick with dust and dirt from our daily activities, and here I sit in a bright, crisp uniform. I haven't worn anything this clean all year! Its kinda strange. I'm sure it'll get dusty/dirty on the drive tomorrow, so I'll pack a second one in my bag. It'd be interesting for people to actually see what we look like over here instead of the bright and shiny uniforms they see us wearing in the airports. But...they said we have to wear clean uniforms on our way home on leave. I'm not going to risk anything, so I've got on a brand new uniform, and one in my bag. Nothin's gonna stop me getting home!
Anything new in your neck of the woods? I'm sure I'll be spending a couple days at XXX, so I'll try and call sometime while I'm there.

Hope all is going well! Can't wait to see you again, John

Troy

09/13/2007

2007-09-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

Can't wait, man!!! Tentative day for me to leave here is Oct 2. I figure travel time is probably 3-5 days. Will keep you posted, though.
Been getting your emails

Nothing too exciting out here, other than one of my guys burning his balls. Seriously...a flare was set off and it burned his thigh and penis/scrotum. Yeah...2nd degree burns, and his dick is on a long road to recovery. Probably will lose a large chunk of skin off his balls, too. But, gives him a great pick-up line: Hey baby, wanna see my war wound?
Anyway, should probably go...

On the move update

2007-08-27T06:06:00.000-07:00

As I figured, things have changed regarding the move. We're still heading to the same general area, but my destination has changed a little bit.
From our company (B Co), our 3rd platoon is being attached to E Co (engineers) to help augment their capabilities. At first, the plan had been to have one of the E Co medics cover the platoon, and I would stay with Bravo to cover the platoon we would be getting from D Co. This, however, has changed, and I am now flying out Thursday (I think) to E Co's area of responsibility. I'm actually happy with this change, as I have done most of my missions with 3rd platoon; they all know me and are confident in me and my abilities, and I know how they work. I think this is going to work out in everyone's best interest.
My address is changing just a little; all that is changing is the platoon assignment.

PFC RUFFIN, TROY
B Co, 3rd PLT, 2-7 IN BN
UNIT # 73431
KOREAN VILLAGE
APO AE 09371-3431

Still don't know much about the area for which we'll be responsible, or specifics on living conditions. As so much of this is up in the air, and it doesn't appear that any more information will be passed down to us, I am taking the "worst-case scenario" standpoint and anticipating not having the chance to use the phone or internet after I leave here on Thursday. If that is the case, my next chance to use them will be when I arrive at one of the larger bases on my way home on leave. Still don't have a confirmed date yet, but I have been told I'll be on the first or second flight out for the month. Rough estimate is 6-10 October, but will have a more definitive idea when I start my travels back towards the States.
I have most of my gear packed for the upcoming move; just the stuff I need on a daily basis left to throw in my bad. I'm also stuffing my aid bag with as many extra supplies as it will hold. For now, it sounds like I may be close to one of the established aid stations, though I don't want to be caught without the supplies I need.
The nice thing is that I'll be running missions right up until I leave for our new "home." This is definitely helping the time pass quickly. I haven't been keeping a calendar or anything, but we should be right around the "halfway point" for our deployment. We've heard talk of our return date being anything from mid-March to early April; most of us have decided to take the latest date and shoot for that...if we return any earlier it'll just be icing on the cake.
Not much else to report from here. If anything pops up in the next couple days I'll pass it along.

Best wishes
Troy

On the Move

2007-08-23T06:05:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,
Not much new to report regarding the move. As of right now I'm slated to fly to our new base on the 4th of September, so its coming up pretty quick. We won't know much more until we get there; the first two weeks will be spent doing some recon of the area to figure out where they want to put all of the different units. From what we've heard, while at Korean Village (our initial destination) our living conditions will not be so great; more than likely it will be 80 men in a tent, limited showers, and in all reality no chance to use the phone or internet. Once we move away from the base, we'll probably be building our own little outpost for either a platoon (25 or so Soldiers) or company (approx. 150 Soldiers) sized element. If thats the case, we won't have phone or internet up for a while; initial estimates are 2 weeks to 2 months. So, looks like I'll be going to back to snail-mail for a while.
We have our new address, which can be used already as we will be arriving around the time the first mail makes it there.

PFC RUFFIN, TROY
B Co, HQ PLT, 2-7 IN BN
UNIT # 73431
KOREAN VILLAGE
APO AE 09371-3431

We're still trying to find some background on why its called "Korean Village," but from what we've been told, apparently it used to be the center of a large Korean population around the time of the Korean War. Not sure why anyone would want to move to Iraq, nor are we sure if they were from North or South Korea. We'll see if we get any more info when we get up there.

I'll write again soon,
Troy

2007-08-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

08/13/2007

2007-08-13T20:20:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,
Its been more than a month since I last wrote, so I thought its probably time that I write again.
The previous month has been somewhat interesting. There have been a lot of changes in how we operate in town, and for a while we weren't running any patrols or other missions. This made for some very bored medics. We went from running three or four missions a day to coming to a screetching halt. Not sure if its ADD or what, but we certainly were getting restless. This is part of why I volunteered for the mission out into the middle of the desert.
We were told that we had a mission where we'd be supporting a Marine operation; our job was to provide a blocking position as the Marines swept through the desert, rooting out any possible insurgent cells or training camps. We were told that the mission would probably last up to a week, and be prepared to "rough it." There were no buildings where we were headed, so we'd be living out of our humvees. So we get packed and head off into the wide open desert, not sure of what we'll see.
The morning we left, it was briefed that we were supposed to be traveling at about 25mph to make sure that all of our vehicles could keep up. Great...this is going to be a long drive. As soon as we start down the road, the mechanics call up that their truck is having a hard time even making 25. Eventually the get the cobwebs blown out, and the truck is able to keep up. We make it to the one base between our town and our destination in the middle of nowhere. We link up with the rest of our group; all in all we have more than 30 trucks, and over 100 Soldiers, to include infantry, scouts, tankers, mechanics, and some support personnel. The drive out to our "destination" takes us about 6 hours, and it is well over 130-degrees, and some of the humvees don't have AC. This is not an enjoyable Sunday cruise. It got so bad that the truck in front of me started weaving on the road, and then came to a very sudden stop. I see the truck commander (TC) hop out and run around to the driver's door. He throws the driver's arm over his shoulder and starts pulling him out of the truck; even with all the water he'd been drinking, he still was dehydrated. I hop out and go take a look: eyes rolled into the back of his head, and not exactly all there...yep, time for an IV. So I run back to my truck, grab my aid bag and stick him right there in the middle of the road. His TC didn't even see me setting up the line; when he came around from his side of the truck after calling up to the convoy commander, the IV was already done. "Dang Doc, that was quick! You don't mess around, huh?" We put him in the medic's humvee (they sent two other medics with us) which had amazing AC, so he could cool off and take the rest of his IV. 45 minutes later and he was fine...back up and at 'em.
The drive took so long that we had to stop the convoy to fuel; we had a giant fuel truck with us, and we had a line of trucks on either side filling up...didn't even turn off the engines, just gas and go.
We finally got out to the area we were supposed to be staying at for the first night; it was on a little plateau so we could see the surrounding area. There was nothing out there; we landed smack in the middle of nowhere! For as far as the eye could see was nothing but sand, rock, and more sand. The place was flat, too, so we really didn't have to worry about anyone sneaking up on us...we had about 10 miles of warning before they would have even been close! When we stopped I went to all of the trucks from my company and made sure they were drinking water, and gave them a quick safety brief on the wildlife. All the snakes in Iraq are poisonous (to the point where they'll kill a healthy man) and there are 9 species of scorpions that can kill you. Not to mention the other little critters that make life miserable. So they're a little cautious at this point. As I get back to our truck, the gunner yells down at me to kill the spider running through our little "campsite." Yeah, it wasn't a spider, it was a scorpion; the first one we'd seen, and we hadn't even been there an hour. Turns out, sometime that night one of the guys got up to answer nature's call; on his way out he heard a "hissing noise," and started backing away. One of the other guys knew what it was: a soft-scaled viper, which, had he been bitten, would have killed him. Awesome...this trip is starting off with a bang.
We move out from the large assembly area to our respective areas of responsibility to assume our blocking positions. We find a little ridge on which to make camp, and proceed to set up tarps off the side or back of our humvee. We pounded in metal fence posts and then lashed the tarp to it; even though it was early morning, we knew that it was going to get ugly later on in the day and we were going to want some shade. Once the shade had been established, we started pulling out cots and turning it into "home." Life out there really wasn't all that bad; we had ice in our coolers (thanks to the freezer truck with 1,800 bags of ice), we had "food" (Meals Ready to Eat, or MRE's, which have a shelf life of more than a decade), and the only thing we had to do was watch the horizon for anybody trying to get through our line. Sometime during the day I looked up and saw some trucks way out on the horizon, so I let the other guys know about them. They started scrambling for gear and weapons until I told them where to look. Most of the guys couldn't see them because they were miles and miles away. After ten minutes or so, they could finally see things moving along the horizon. After that the guys were giving me grief for my "binocular vision." At least we know they can't sneak up on us! Turns out they were the Marine trucks on their push through the desert.
At one point while we were out there it hit 138-degrees...in the shade!!! Things were a little toasty. But, we had a pretty good breeze that kept things tolerable. We split our group in half, and in the afternoon they returned to our make-shift assembly area after driving through miles and miles of nothing looking for anyone. I think they saw one shepard all day, and that was it.
Around 5 or 6 that evening a sand storm started blowing in, so we decided to make sure our tarps weren't going to blow away. One of the trucks had guys filling sandbags to anchor their tarp. While one of the guys was digging, he had an unexpected guest. Since it was so hot out, we all had "unbloused" our pants, so the pantleg was open and allowed a little air to circulate. As he was digging, a scorpion ran up his leg unbeknownst to him. In the middle of digging, he got stung; thinking that it was a cactus he dropped his pants looking for the offending thorn. His search unsuccessful, he hikes up his pants, only to be stung two more times. Now searching in earnest, he spots what appears to be a large spider; after closer inspection he realizes that it is, in fact, a scorpion. He reaches down to brush it off, and manages to get stung again on the knuckle. So he and his group all start yelling, and one of the other guys manages to gorilla-stomp the critter into oblivion. He comes walking over (pants still at half-mast) saying he's just been stung. I have him take a seat on my cot so I can take a look at the injection sites. At that time, a big gust of wind pulls a fence post out of the ground, and promptly smacks him in the back of the head. (This was the same guy that nearly stepped on the viper the previous night. Poor guy was having a rough day) The injection sites were only a little red, and he felt fine except for some moderate burning in his leg. After inspecting what was left of the scorpion, I figured out that it was a non-lethal species (claws were too large and telson was too small) The only thing I had with me to give was some benadryl and ibuprofen. I called it up to the medics back at the large assembly area to make sure we didn't have a "mandatory evac" order while we were out there. After what felt like a revisitation of the Spanish Inquisition, they decided that they agreed with what I had done, and if he wasn't having any further symptoms he could stay out there if he wanted. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get much sleep that night because of the pain. Wish I had had something more to give him, but unless he got shot, I couldn't give him any morphine.
We packed up the next morning and moved probably 20 miles down the road. This trip shouldn't have taken very long, but one of the mechanic's trucks got a flat, and they took almost 2 hours to fix it.
Finally at our new area of responsibility, we start setting up shop again. Same thing; tarp out, cots assembled and cold drinks close at hand. This is our third day out there at this point, and we're expecting it to go on for at least several more days. Around 2 pm we get the call that the mission is over, and to pack up to move back to our respective bases. Thinking that we'll be home in just a few hours, we set to the task at hand with a purpose. I don't think we'd ever stowed our gear so fast.
Turns out, we were in for a much longer mission. The same truck that got a flat blew another tire on our way home. On large trucks, the left side is reverse-threaded so the nuts don't spin off the tires going down the road; the right side is normal, though. These mechanics (who's job it is to know this) spend almost three hours turning the wrench the wrong way. During this, the convoy commander's truck breaks down; guess it had enough of the heat just like the rest of us. So now we're waiting for the tire to be changed, plus hook up the dead humvee because the wrecker they brought is already towing a humvee that broke down the day before. 4 hours after we stopped, we finally start moving again.
We're not half a mile down the road before the mechanic's shop truck blows the hoses off the engine. Great...we figured we were spending the night out there. But, at least this set of mechanics could reclamp an engine hose.
12 hours after we started our return trip we made it back to base. However, this didn't lighten our mood. While we were gone, the generator that powers our building had blown up, literally. Apparently the battery got too hot and exploded all over the generator. This left the majority of the building without power. The aid station still had lights, but the AC was out of freon and only blew in hot air. So, it was at least as hot inside the aid station as it was outside. Thankfully we had enough power to run a couple fans, which is the only thing making sleep a possibility in there. As of now (almost 3 weeks later) we still don't have AC. The temperature in the aid station is right around 95 through the day; not exactly the ideal location to treat a heat injury, but so far we're doing ok.
For once the rumors are true; we are, indeed, moving. Our move should happen sometime around the end of the month, and will be at a larger base further west than where we are now. We don't have a lot of details about where everyone will be living, or if we're planning on setting up any platoon or company sized outposts, so we'll have to get there first before we learn any of that information.
Apparently the base has an Army Trauma Team assigned to it, and has its own aero-medical evac unit (should be the Blackhawk medevac helicopters), so that makes our job a whole lot easier. Not sure what our mission will be out there. At one point, the base was used to do border patrol between Iraq and Syria, and we may end up doing some of that, though information is still forthcoming. Two of our three duffle bags have to be packed by this weekend to be loaded into the big shipping containers; thats the biggest pain associated with moving: having to pack all of our stuff. Especially after we've spent more than 6 months turning this little "hole" into a home. Oh well...we figured we'd end up moving before our tour was over anyway, we just wish it wasn't so hot when we have to move.
The nice thing about the move is that we'll get up there, do a couple weeks of "right-seat/left-seat rides" where the outgoing unit shows us our new sector, we'll run for a couple weeks, and then I get to come home on leave! I'm hoping that with everything going on, time will go by really quick and October will be here before we know it!
As of now, we're still doing missions out in town. Nothing really exciting, just the usual patrols. A lot of the city council doesn't want us to leave because we've done so well getting the city back on its feet again. Hopefully the incoming unit of Marines keeps the forward momentum that we've gained so we don't have to come back in here and do it all over again. They have a tendency to be a little heavy-handed and trigger-happy when it comes to a new town. Hopefully this new unit is different.
Other than that, we're trying to get all the immunizations and shots done before we move bases. Right now we're in the middle of trying to get everyone's PPD test done making sure they don't have Tuberculosis. Out here, though, its a genuine concern as most of the population wouldn't know what it is if they contracted it. So far we haven't had any positive reactions. Lets hope it stays that way.

Thats about all from my end of the world. I'll let you know how the move goes, and once we get there we should have a new mailing address, too. I'll send out some pictures from the desert mission so you can see just how desolate the landscape really was.

Best wishes
Troy

7/22/2007

2007-07-22T17:52:00.000-07:00

Haven't had the chance to get those pics ready to send yet; our power's been out most of the night...generator decided to run out of fuel. Its got a 1500gal tank on it, and it ran dry. Yeah...well done there. Hopefully it decides to stay running since without it we don't have any AC. We'll see...
Should have time to get those pics off to you tomorrow sometime. I think you'll be impressed.
Sounds like you guys have had a good time with your mom in town. What all did you guys do?
Had a little bit of excitement today...I got to play firefighter this afternoon. Something in the burn dumpster exploded and caught several of our hesco barriers on fire. The hescos are just a tough cloth inside a wire frame that we fill with sand/rock/dirt for cover. Plus, there was a bunch of wood and crap out there too that was burning. So, off we go (four of us) armed with a couple cases of water and one shovel. I think it took about 30 minutes, but we managed to put it out. My clothes still smell like smoke too; probably from when I was trying to shovel dirt onto the hotspots. Oh well.
Hit my personal best in the gym the other day. Benched 205 pounds 9 times (needed a little help with the 10th); not bad for me, considering I weight just over 170. I'm happy because just a couple months ago I could hardly do 4 sets at 135lbs. Everybody's asked what I'm taking to get gains like that...I'm not even taking protein shakes, and we've got guys here spending hundreds of dollars a month on all kinds of crap.
So our schedule is still pretty boring; I've been on one mission in the last week. I'm starting to lose my mind...there's only so much here you can do to kill time. I've gone through so many books; guess I'll just have to ask around and see what other people have. The guys are doing a lot of blocking positions and traffic control points...nothing where they need a medic out there; at this point I think I'd rather be out there just sitting in a Bradley than being bored out of my skull back here. Hopefully this changes sometime soon.
Well, the AC should be running again in the aid station. I think I'm gonna head to bed.

Later, John
Troy

July 4th update

2007-07-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody
Its been a while since I last wrote, and since I have a little time before my next mission, I thought I'd try to send out an email and let you all know what we've been up to.
As we all knew would happen, the weather here has gotten extremely hot. Since we don't have a thermometer here on our little base, we don't have a day-by-day report of the weather, but it has been over 120 on more than a few occasions. Typically the temperatures are between 115 and 120, though it can easily climb higher. Even with all the heat, we still are keeping a high operations tempo; we've been running missions day and night, and on a number of occasions have been out walking through town during the hottest part of the day. The local population has a better idea regarding the heat than we seem to; during the most intense part of the day, they close down most of the shops and they go home since very few people are out at that time anyway. The shops reopen sometime in the late afternoon and remain open till after sundown. We are sure that we are the butt of jokes when the locals see us walking around wearing all that gear in the middle of the day; we usually just joke about being able to speak Arabic when we walk past them, and even though we don't know for sure what they're saying, it can't be far from "Stupid Americans...only they would be out walking in this head." Oh well...at least they know we're tough, if a little lacking in intelligence. At least we haven't had any heat injuries.
Read an interesting article in the newspaper we receive over here; it had to do with the rumors that are going around Iraq regarding the American troops. Some we're sure are the propaganda spread by the insurgents, such as Americans eating babies and stealing children, or that the airborne troops dye their berets with enemy blood (their berets are maroon). Some rumors we're not sure where they got their start. My favorite is the idea that Americans have a "cold pill." I thought this was a pill for the common cold, but I was wrong; apparently a lot of Iraqis believe that we take a pill that keeps our bodies cold and enables us to wear all that gear out in the sun. Boy don't we wish!!! Another rumor is that we all wear x-ray glasses that allow us to see through cars, walls and even people's clothing. We're not sure if they are referring to our sunglasses, or if they're talking about our night vision; I suppose if you didn't know what our night vision goggles were, it could be easy to think that. However, we don't mount our NODs on our helmets until it gets close to sundown, and we usually don't see the crowds of people at night like we do during the day.
Over the last month we were in the midst of a struggle to move us to a different area of the Anbar Province. My battalion of about 1,000 Soldiers is "on loan" to the Marines, and the Marine general in charge of this area wanted us moved out of this city and closer to the Syrian border. They wanted us to be running border patrol missions, trying to stop the flow of arms and combatants from Syria into Iraq. Our Army bosses didn't think this was a good idea, especially since we've got a pretty good relationship with the local Sheiks and the city council. In the end, we won; this means that we'll be staying here for at least a couple more months. We're pretty sure that we'll end up moving before our tour is finished over here. There's good and bad to moving; it won't be a lot of fun having to pack up everything and move out of this area, but if/when we do move it'll mean that this city is up and running on its own and doesn't need our direct supervision. For now we're happy with staying right here where we are. We heard that if we had moved to the bases closer to the Syrian border we'd be without AC, phones, internet or showers...definitely a step backwards. Our home may not be much to look at, but at least its home. Its dirty, it smells, and we don't have a lot of creature-comforts, but at least we can call/email and take a shower every once in a while.
Things around town have been quiet for the most part. There've been a couple incidents, but for the most part the town is doing pretty good. All of our guys are still doing very well and have suffered no injuries apart from the usual bumps and bruises. The big obstacle that we're trying to fix is the electrical supply to the city. In a neighboring town, some insurgent blew up the power plant that supplies all the power to the city. So for the last couple of weeks the locals have been living without AC or lights. Some of the bigger houses have generators, but its usually only the wealthier families that can afford those. Most of the population have taken to sleeping in their courtyards or on the roof (they're all flat roofs over here) since its a lot cooler outside at night, plus they don't have to worry about dew. A couple of nights ago we went into a house and I was checking to make sure the courtyard was secure; it was dark and as I was going around the corner of the house I almost tripped over a sleeping child. Thankfully I didn't wake her, as I'm sure that would have been a rather frightful awakening. Always something to keep us on our toes.
About a month ago we had to give up one of our medics to cover for another unit that was short; that left us with 3 medics instead of 4. We've definitely been "earning our keep" with all the missions we've been on. I just hit my 200th mission this afternoon, and we're not yet half-way through our tour. So far we haven't had any problems covering all the missions that have come up, and have all been sharing the increased load. Brown (the medic retasked for a month) left in early June, and from then until November we'll be running with 3 instead of 4 medics. He was working in the aid station through June, and is now on leave, and the next three months in a row we will have one of our medics rotating back to the States for R&R. I think we're more than happy to take on a little extra work because we know that our break is coming up soon. Usually we can even out the schedule to make sure no one medic gets swamped, but there have definitely been days where I've gotten back off a mission at 4 in the morning and had to get up two hours later to head back out again. At least it makes the time go by quickly.
I was helping out our Marine counterparts with some screening physicals for the Iraqi Police applicants. We got to chatting during a break and one of them said that they'd be Stateside within 90 days; I did some quick mental calculations and told him that I had more than 90 days before I went on leave! Most of the Marine units here do 6 to 7 month deployments, and then usually come back after 6 to 12 months off. We keep giving them grief because with the new rotation the Army has handed down, all of our Active Duty units do almost 3 of their deployments in a single go. They usually counter with something along the lines of "I'll drink a beer for you guys when I get home...and you still have 8 months to go." Point taken.
We had another incident with a humvee last night, but thankfully I wasn't sitting in it at the time. All of our vehicles have internal fire suppression systems, which is nothing more than a big bottle of Halon and an activation switch. (I can hear all the fire and hazmat guys cringe at that one) Halon is the gas used in the system to put out the fire, but its not something you want to be around when it goes off. Last night as guys were loading their gear into a humvee the Halon system somehow got activated. Thankfully we were still inside the wire and not cruising down the road. It wasn't a full purge of the system, but rather a partial discharge; unfortunately one of the guys took a blast right to his face. He was lucky, though, and after I flushed his eyes with a couple bottles of water he was still able to go out on the mission. He's just really lucky he didn't take a big breath of it, as we probably would have had to medevac him out of here.
The city is slowly getting its feet under it. We've been doing a lot of missions with the Iraqi Police in the hopes that someday they will be able to stand on their own. During one of our missions we ended up in the house of a city council member, and since we weren't on any time constraints, we sat and had a long conversation with him. He said that the general attitude in the city is good; shops are open that haven't been in business in over a year, new homes are being built everywhere, the schools have good attendance, and the people feel safe walking down the streets. He said that this wasn't possible more than 6 months ago; he said that they are lucky our unit was the one assigned to this town, because he feels we have taken a genuine interest in rebuilding his city. He said that there are still people who don't want us here, but that they want even less for us to leave. Baby steps...
We just finished another mission; we've been doing pretty good at locating people on our "bad guy" list. Either they're getting complacent, or we're getting better at it. We're also starting to see a lot of information coming in from the local people themselves; just last week someone tipped off the IP's about a weapons cache in a cluster of houses by the river. Sure enough, there was a large stockpile of weapons; normally our bomb squad likes to blow it up in place, but since the neighborhood was friendly to us, we didn't want to give them any reason to change their minds. They took it back to one of the other bases and later that night they shook the sandbags we have in lieu of windows. Its definitely nice to see some positives steps being made.
Its 5:30am, Happy 4th of July! Not sure if theres anything special planned here, but I'm sure they'll come up with something. Since we were out so late, I'm hoping to get a chance to sleep; right now I'd take sleep over festivities. One of the lieutenants was joking with a bunch of lower enlisted guys saying that they were going to be able to shoot off flares and rockets and throw grenades and all kinds of stuff that goes "boom!" They got so excited and were about to run off and prep their stuff when he told them he was just kidding. It'd be fun, but we'd probably scare the town pretty good if we started going through our arsenal...best not to chance it.

I think thats about it from my end. My 25-hour day is finally at an end, so I'm gonna go rack out, or at least until someone kicks my bed and tells me to get up for our next mission...we'll see how long this actually lasts.

Best wishes to all
Troy

the changes

2007-07-02T06:24:00.001-07:00

I recently posted a new picture of troy in Iraq. I was struck by the transformation from the fun light hearted kid from Iowa to the Soldier I see in the picture. I thought you might like to see the comparison a little closer.

The picture on the right was Troy just as he was deploying to Iraq, and the second was taken recently after he has been in country for some time.

Updated picture

2007-07-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

A new picture of Troy

Quite the change from just a few short months ago

Updated address

2007-07-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

A quick note from troy's dad

PFC, Ruffin, Troy

Bravo CO, 3D PLT, 2-7 INF

Unit # 73431

Camp HIT

APO, AE 09333-3431

Troy wanted me to pass on his correct address. The one I have been sending to everyone “HHC” gets to him but not near as fast as “ Bravo CO ” so please use the address attached.

Thanks.

Tim

tour extended

2007-06-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

some of you know that troy left for Iraq shortly after January of 2007. His tour was to last 12 months, and he would return home in the early months of 2008. Recenty word came down that troy would be extended until at least April of 2008.

My apologies

2007-05-24T21:03:00.002-07:00

To all who read this blog. I have not been loyal about updating and posting this site. I have just posted everything since march. I hope everyone is well.

JSH

My apologies

2007-05-24T21:03:00.001-07:00

To all who read this blog. I have not been loyal about updating and posting this site. I have just posted everything since march. I hope everyone is well.

JSH

24 may 2007

2007-05-24T21:02:00.002-07:00

So "Murphy" decided to pay us another visit yesterday. Like most of his visits, it involved the vehicles, though this time it was a humvee and not a Bradley. Looking back, its now comical, though at the time laughter was the furthest thing from anyone's mind.
The day started off straight-forward enough; our mission was to escort the Physician's Assistant (PA) to a clinic in town and let him do his thing, which essentially means that we were his private taxi service.
When we prepped the vehicles, the only thing apparent was that one truck was low on fuel but had plenty to make the trip to Camp Hit where we were to pick up the PA. Once on the base, we were able to fill up the truck without much difficulty. This is where things stopped going our way.
After the PA showed up with a medic humvee, we all piled back in the vehicles to take off...the truck I'm driving (which has one person riding "shotgun" and the guy in the turret gunning) won't start. Apparently the battery is low, and needs to be jumped; out come the monster-sized cables...it still won't start. We decide that we can run the mission without this truck and start moving all our gear into the 3 remaining vehicles. Someone walks by and just on a whim tries to start it, which it does. Gear now goes back in the original vehicles, and we start moving. We're not even out the gate and another problem strikes...one of the radios isn't working properly. So we shuffle the order of trucks so that the one with the radio problem is in the middle in case something goes wrong (that way they won't get left behind on accident.) We now have 3 trucks from our infantry company and the one truck with the PA and two medics, one to drive and one to gun. We have to go back to our original base to pick up an interpreter, and drop off a sick Soldier. In the meantime, they've managed to fix the radio.
We get to the clinic in town and park the trucks so we can pull security down all the roads; since the building is on a corner, this means we can't see 2 of the other trucks. The PA does his thing, and we're turning around to head home, thinking that our day is done...here is where Murphy pulls out his masterpiece. I'm now driving the truck which is in the rear of the column, following the medic humvee driven by a guy whom I wouldn't trust to hold a spork. This guy misses the turn, and since I can't see where the other trucks are, I don't realize anything is wrong for another block. When it finally becomes apparent, we make the call over the radio and attempt to turn the truck around; the streets are too narrow, so I have my gunner back me into an alley so I can start what would have been a 3 (or more) point turn. As soon as I put the truck back in "D" it dies. Nothing is wrong with the gauges, but nothing will get this truck to restart. I'm angled about 45-degrees in the wrong direction, but the medic truck can squeeze past to get close enough to jump us. We try for half an hour to get this truck to restart, with no luck; during this time, I discover that my door will not open, but since I'm not going anywhere for the time being it doesn't pose much of a problem. Its now approaching noon, and all we want to do is get back to the base, so we decide we'll just tow it back. Would have been a good plan, with only three small hitches; A) we can't free the tow-rings on the front bumper, so we'll have to tow the truck backwards (these trucks don't have useable side mirrors and have a solid back, so no rearview mirror, either), B) the truck (already overweight because of all the armor) no longer has any power steering and C) with no power we have no AC...not even a fan to keep us cool. But hey...things might work, right?
We now have to push the truck into the street so we can hook the tow strap to the back bumper; in the meantime, we've drawn quite the crowd of civilian onlookers. We later joked that it was like a Saturday morning when your mower breaks and all of your neighbors come over to drink a beer, offer advice and stare at the broken piece of equipment. At one point, we even had some of the residents helping push the truck.
With the tow strap on, we start moving; unfortunately, my truck is still at an angle, and I almost immediately end up running into a wall...much to the merriment of the onlookers. After pushing my truck into the approximate line of travel, we try this again with some success for about 20 feet. We're now faced with our first obstacle...a tight, 90-degree corner. We made sure that the driver of the towing humvee knew to take the corner extremely slow, since I'd be trying this "dead stick." Apparently, he thought slow meant "go as fast as you can," since thats what he did. High school physics teaches that any heavy object in tow tends to take a wider arc than whatever is pulling it, and thats exactly what we did. Physics also says that an object will stay in motion until acted upon by another force; for me, that other force was a wall, which acted with great force to bring us to an abrupt halt. During our brief but wild ride my gunner (who is giving me directions, since we're facing backwards) is yelling for me to turn, and eventually just hangs on for dear life; he later said that the instructions were more for his benefit than mine, and that he could have said anything but it wouldn't have mattered. For the second time in 5 minutes I've hit a wall; since its on the right side of the vehicle no one can get out to see whats going on. After much exclaiming and threatening of grievous bodily harm to the driver towing me, he finally bumps us off the wall enough that I can get straightened out on the road. As we try this once again, we scream over the radio that if the driver doesn't take it slow around this next corner he would soon find himself as the next visual aid for our internal anatomy classes.
After successfully negotiating this corner we have a stretch of road approximately a kilometer long, so all I have to do is keep the truck in the middle of the road. It is at this point that the temperature inside the truck is now approaching 150 degrees, and we still have a long way back to base. The next obstacle is the fact that the intersection where we need to turn is a giant sinkhole, negotiable only on one side but that safe path has a giant dip approximately 5 feet deep; the sinkhole also adds to the problem that to go left we first must turn right to circumvent this lurking disaster. This is the corner the driver should have flogged the truck for all its worth, but instead he took it slow; the result: my truck coming to rest at the bottom of the dip. After many attempts and further threats, we're finally pulled clear; however, the driver of the towing humvee stopped without announcing his intention and we promptly slammed into him, further invoking the wrath of all occupants of my truck. My humvee is now facing the base, so the truck that was previously towing us can now push us the remaining .5km back to base. The logical method would be to slowly make contact, and then once the trucks are bumper-to-bumper begin to push; he instead opted for the "slam into the backend...over and over and over" method, even though by this point we were screaming at him over the radio how he needed to be driving. Besides being a bone-jarring ride, this also presented a problem as we approached the gate to the base. We have barriers set up in a serpentine fashion so that no one can simply ram the gate at full speed; the problem is that at every turn the Bradleys have started digging more dips (like the one at the intersection we just negotiated.) After being slammed into, we don't have the requisite momentum to make it up the far side of the dip; his answer: take a running start and hit us harder! We finally made it to the motorpool where the mechanics could attempt to fix our broken and battered humvee, where we actually had something go right for the first time in hours...my door opened on the first try. Unfortunately, after I peeled myself out of the truck I was immediately greeted by the driver of the tow/ram humvee who's first words were "That wasn't my fault you hit that wall...it was yours." If only looks could kill...

Besides that little adventure, things continue to go well. We're constantly seeing improvements made throughout our town; bridges have been repaired to accomodate vehicles, new businesses have begun to open up along the river, the city government has become more self-sufficient, and the IP's have earned more trust from the residents (enough trust that they are now receiving tips from locals regarding possible insurgent hideouts and weapons caches.) This once very dangerous town has really started to turn itself around.

I hope you got a laugh out of Murphy's latest escapade, I know we sure did though not for several hours afterwards. Just goes to show that all the planning in the world can't stop Murphy's Law.

All the best,
Troy

2007-05-24T21:02:00.001-07:00

Wanted to share some pics with everyone.

Pic 1: These are the type of choppers that we flew on from Al Asad (the air base) to Camp Hit. They're big, which may be tough to determine from the pic. We had about 30 people plus all of our baggage per chopper.

2: This is a typical street towards the edge of town. The pic was taken through the window of my humvee, which is why it looks like it was taken with a dirty lense. The buildings that face the road are all little shops, selling everything from candy and sodas to food and car parts.

3: While we were out on a mounted mission some of us dismounted to talk with the locals and make sure we could get the trucks around corners. This kid came up to us and started talking, even though we had no idea what he was saying. I gave my camera to the gunner in my truck and told him to take a bunch of pics; this was my favorite that he got.

4: We hit the wall they're looking at; hence us being out on foot making sure we could get the trucks around the corners. There wasn't much damage done to the wall, just a little plaster broken off.

5: Taken from a high point in the city while we were out on a foot patrol. Gives a little idea of what the town looks like.

I'll keep taking pics, and eventually I'll have time to resize them so I can send them out.

Enjoy!
Troy

7 may 2007

2007-05-24T21:01:00.001-07:00

Hey
I've been trying to write again for the last couple of weeks, but haven't had the time to sit down and write another update. Things around here have really gotten busy, and it doesn't appear that this will be changing any time soon. Our schedule has changed again, as well. My schedule used to be 6 days of missions, followed by 3 days of stand-by for QRF because the rest of our platoon was on guard duty. Normally, QRF wasn't called that much, so those 3 days were a chance for us to rest. Now they have changed it so that there isn't 3 days of straight guard duty, its all mixed in with the other rotations. This means that we have three 3-day rotations, all of which run missions.
So far the only time that this has really been rough was when we're on the QRF rotation. The standard for us is that at any time of the day or night, we have to have a team of guys out in the Bradley ready to roll (meaning full battle-rattle, etc) within 5 minutes of the call. "The call" is someone from the command center grabbing a bull-horn and screaming up the stairwell "QRF, QRF, QRF!!!" Usually its just a drill, though occasionally we'll actually roll out on something. If on the drill we don't make the 5-minute mark, the drill doesn't count, and we can usually expect to be woken up in the middle of the night for another one. QRF switches between the squads in my platoon so the guys aren't on QRF for more than a day out of the rotation. QRF also has the job of doing a mounted patrol every morning sometime around 5-6am. This can make for some very short nights, and very early mornings; this is especially true when we have a late mission the previous night, a QRF drill at 2am or so, and the patrol at 5:30am.
As I stated when I started this email, its now 2 days after I had enough time to start this email, and I now have a couple more minutes to write. I'm hoping not to be called away, though the likelihood of this is slim to none.
Over the last couple of weeks since I last wrote I have broken the "100 mission mark." As of right now I think I'm sitting somewhere around 120 and always climbing, thanks to our new schedule and high operations-tempo (op-tempo for short).
They say the summer always shows an increase in insurgent activity, and it seems this place is no different. I don't know if this is actually the case, or that our intelligence unit now has so many more contacts that we're learning about things that have been going on without our knowledge. Either way, we've certainly been busy.
The weather has gotten dramatically warmer, and in just a few days. We had been in the 70's and 80's for a couple weeks, had two days in the 90's and its been well over 100 for almost the last week. The humidity isn't nearly that of coastal Georgia where we are stationed, but is considerably higher than the rest of Iraq due to our proximity to the Euphrates. Earlier today I was at the big base, "Camp Hit," down the road less than 10 miles, and the humidity is almost nothing out there. Its incredible the change just a few miles can make. Our concern now is to get everyones air conditioning working; many of the units in the Soldiers rooms don't work, including the one in the aid station. They say we're supposed to get a new one in the next couple of days, but I'm not holding my breath. At night it will cool down some, though the aid station acts as an insulator and keeps the room temp right about 90, much warmer than any of us would like.
Our trip to Camp Hit this morning was to get our humvee's A/C filled with Freon. The mechanics aren't sure how long it will last, but for now at least they blow air that is somewhat cooler than it used to be. We think they may keep the inside of the trucks around 110, which is much better than what they had been. Thankfully we haven't had to use the Bradleys in a while, which is nice because they don't have any A/C, just a fan in the back.
On top of the weather, we've been dealing with some sort of viral stomach bug for the last several weeks. I think we're finally on the trailing end of it, which is definitely a cause for celebration. None of the medics were affected by it, but we had plenty of Soldiers come down with it. Loperamide/Immodium was more than worth its weight in gold!!!
On several occasions, we have run missions during the day, and then been out all night as well. Right now one of the medics is in the aid station trying to grab a catnap before he has to go back out again.
A couple nights ago we were on a raid that looked promising. Several hours later, we ended up back at the same house. While this mission was wrapping up, we received a call from base that we had a follow-on mission. Apparently, the IP's found a car in town that was still running, but had no one around it. Once we wrapped up at the house, we headed across town to set up around the car to make sure no one got too close. Thinking that it might be a car bomb, our bomb squad was called out to assess the situation. After having been there for an hour, we finally got the radio call that they were leaving the big base down the road. At that point we knew we were in for a long night. After sending out their little robot, nicknamed "Johnny 5" from the movie "Short Circuit," they placed a charge to blow the trunk open. It didn't work...only the blasting cap went off. Finally they succeeded in opening the trunk, along with blowing off both rear tires. After they wrapped up, we headed back and arrived at base shortly after 6am. It had been a very long night.
We continue to do a lot of training with the IP's in town. All of them have gone through an academy, and now we provide on-going training; several times we have had civilian police officers show up and help out. Their training has included everything from the use of handcuffs, weapons training, eithics classes, to arrest and detention classes. They have been used in a lot of our operations, especially when we go on raids; all of this is building up for the eventual transfer of authority, when we step back and they take over.
On one of our last missions I think they gained a healthy amount of respect for all the gear we carried. The mission was to hit three houses at once instead of one at a time; this prevents people from running, but it also requires more people. We had a lot of IP's with us on this one, and due to the area we were operating in, it was decided we would walk there and back. We made sure the IP's were "geared up" as best as possible before we left; the walk out wasn't so bad for them, but there were more than a few that were hating the walk back. One of them had a machine gun that is similar to one we use, but it is much lighter; at first he had it resting in his arms, then across his shoulders, and at the end of the mission had it hanging in one hand as he trudged back. None of them were carrying anything close to the amount of weight we were, and they were hurtin' after that walk. Its tough though, because this is not a very physical society.
As part of our way of warning system, we use flares that are fired from a metal cylindar about 3 inches wide and about a foot long. The gunners in all the humvees have them up in the turret with them just in case. Yesterday we were rolling out on a mission just like we do any other day; we were still inside the wire when the gunners flare got loose and rolled into the truck. I saw it fall in and had enough time to realize "BAD!" The flare tumbled, then landed on the cap used to ignite the blasting cap that sparks the flare. It sounded like a bomb went off inside our truck!!! The whole truck filled with smoke as all 5 of us scrambled to get out. I was sitting behind the driver and manage to get my door open, though try as I might I could not get my left leg up enough to step out of the truck. Finally I had enough of the smoke and threw myself head-first out of the truck. Since I couldn't see at the time, I failed to notice two very important facts: A) the truck was still in drive, and rolling right along, and B) the driver had already left the truck. This meant that after I hit the ground and rolled, I immediately saw the tire coming straight for my legs; once I had again rolled myself to relative safety, I looked up to see the driver performing a near-perfect 3-legged race with the humvee as he desperately tried to hit the brake. As the truck ground to a halt, I was back on my feet running to the truck to grab my aid bag (lightly toasted, but still in good shape) and make sure the other guys were OK. Once we realized no one was hurt, we couldn't help but laugh; we must have looked clowns trying to escape their burning circus car! Nothing important was damaged in the blast or the several small fires afterwards, so we concluded that we were still able to continue with the mission...until one of the doors wouldn't close. With the up-armored humvees, each door weighs around 400 pounds and has a latching system that has to be in proper alignment to work. In this case, it had somehow gotten off track, and now wouldn't keep the door closed. With two bad occurances in less than 10 minutes, we decided it was not meant for us to go on the mission.
Last month we started sending guys on their 2-week leave; the 14 days starts when they hit the US, not when they leave here. This is a good thing because it sounds like anywhere from five to seven days until they're back on home soil; total time away from the unit is about a month because of the travel time. So far we've been able to keep up the same pace with fewer guys without much of a problem. All four of us medics will be going on leave right in a row; the first in July, and I will be the last in October. We know we're going to be extremely busy trying to cover 4 platoons with 3 medics, but we all know that it'll be worth it.

Thanks for all the letters, packages and emails I've received. I'm still working on emailing more pictures.

I need to head to a briefing for another mission,

Best wishes
Troy

15 april 2007

2007-05-24T21:00:00.002-07:00

Hey guys-
Haven't had much time recently to write, and since our morning mission got bumped back to 10am or so, I thought I'd write a couple lines.
Not a whole lot of celebrating on my birthday (April 1). I think the only thing I did was do my best to stay inside and avoid the sand storm. It never got too bad, as visibility was about 25 meters at the worst point. One of the guys said that it will get so bad we won't be able to see our hand in front of our face. Great. But, we should have a couple weeks still before the big storms usually hit.
I'm sure most of you have read about the Secretary of Defense extending the Active Duty Army tours in Iraq from 12 to 15 months. We found out just like many of you did; I was on the internet checking my email and saw a headline on Yahoo news about the extension. They usually try to give the military 48 hours advanced notice on stuff like that, but I guess they were worried about it leaking before the official announcement. So, we found out just like the rest of the world. The guys here have taken it in stride, as usual. I think a lot of us were expecting to be extended in some fashion, though I don't think any of us expected it to be Army-wide. As of now, we haven't received any new orders, which means that we haven't officially been extended, though we know they're coming. There hasn't been hardly any complaining, mostly because we all know its not going to do any good. A lot of guys' reaction was "Oh....well, OK. Gear up, we've got a mission in 10 minutes." Business continues as always. As with many things in the military, humor is usually a constant companion, and this is no different. One of my guys said, "We're not getting extended, they just canceled our flight in January and rescheduled for April." At least we won't have to be here for two summers!!! Looks like I'll spend both my 25th AND 26th birthdays in Iraq. Not many people can claim that one.
On one of our many foot patrols, our lieutenant came up to me and asked if I had a band aid. I looked at him a little strange and asked what was wrong. Apparently a kid had cut his finger, and the LT wanted to give him a band aid. It took my by surprise at first; here I am carrying a giant aid bag, and I don't have a single band aid on me. I have plenty of trauma dressings, gauze, needles, IV supplies and airway adjuncts...and no band aids. But then again, why would I need them? If one of my guys asked me for a band aid out on patrol I, along with the rest of the guys, would point and laugh, and pass along the age-old military words of advice: Rub some dirt in it, drink water, drive on. Its an Army thing. However, this wasn't one of my guys, so I couldn't just laugh at the kid. We went to one of our vehicles close by and dug through the first aid kit till we found band aids. I wish I would have gotten a picture; me dressing this kid's cut finger, surrounded by 50 more kids watching. We didn't have an interpreter with us, so after much gesturing and speaking very loud and very slow (by both myself and the kids) I finally found his brother and conveyed some simple instructions. I'm just hoping I don't see him in town still wearing the same band aid.
Just over a week ago things were definitely starting to warm up. It was easy to tell when you'd just gotten back from a foot patrol; the body armor we wear doesn't breathe, so it traps heat and sweat, and we end up soaked but only where we're covered with body armor. Makes for an interesting appearance. However, we were reminded that this is only April, and summer is going to be much much worse.
Several days ago I was in bed when I heard a huge boom. So I jumped out of bed and headed for my aid bag, thinking that someone had dropped a mortar into our compound. Turns out, it was a thunderstorm!!! This was something new; we'd had plenty of rain before, but never an actual thunderstorm, just like we have back in the States. A bunch of people congregated outside the main door to watch the lightning; I think for a lot of people it was a reminder of home. However, the novelty soon wore off the next morning, as everything had turned to mud and the storm showed no hint of letting up. That afternoon it finally stopped raining, but not before our entire compound (not to mention the town itself) had returned to the quagmire state we had first seen upon our arrival. Two days later, it rained again. Things continue to dry out, though they are taking their sweet time. With the rain has come cooler temperatures, though I'm not complaining. Along with the mud comes problems walking at night, as a lot of the mud will appear flat but may be waist-deep. One of my unfortunate sergeants found this out first hand. The NOD's we wear are monocles, so our depth-perception is strangely skewed, not to mention that everything is green; you can imagine that this would make walking in mud tough. We were out on foot and had to cross a rather innocuous appearing ditch. It was maybe only 3-4 feet across, but apparently his stride just wasn't long enough. I was already on the other side and heard him squelch into the mud, and then his verbal reaction (that went on for quite a while). He had sunk nearly up to his waist, and didn't look like he was going anywhere fast. We finally extricated him from the mess, and then caught a big whiff of the mud...and other substances. Needless to say he wasn't very happy for the rest of the mission.
At last count, my mission tally is right about 90, though I'm sure I've forgotten to mark a couple. I did some quick math and was thinking that I'd end up with about 500 missions at the end of our tour, but I think it will be much more than that. For starters, we're running a lot more missions than we did the first month or two we were here, not to mention our rotation has changed. It used to be 4 days of missions, then 4 days of guard. Its now changed to 6 days of missions and 3 days of guard duty. The last 3 days I've done 7 foot patrols and 3 missions in vehicles, and we still have three more days before they go on guard duty. When my guys are on guard I usually try to catch up on sleep (though that usually doesn't happen), along with repack/refit my gear. With all the foot patrols we've been on (usually lasting an hour or more) we've gotten used to the weight of all our gear; even my aid bag doesn't seem so bad now.
I've got some new pictures, and will try to get them sent out soon. They show the town a little more thoroughly than the last ones I sent.
Its late, so I should finally head to bed.

Hope all is well,
Troy

1 april 2007

2007-05-24T21:00:00.001-07:00

I guess its been quite a while since I sent my last real "update" email. That may be because we've been running pretty hard these last couple of weeks.
To begin with, the platoon of our guys had to close down the "combat outpost" they had been inhabiting for the last couple of months, and move all of their stuff back here. This also included setting up defenses in a building very close to the bridge in the pictures. While they were doing that, we had to cover the rest of their missions, which meant we were working overtime. This lasted for about a week, and was just about done last weekend. This meant that we have all four medics living (or at least storing their gear) in the aid station, which is quite cramped. Once the transition was complete, we began manning the building they had fortified in town; this allowed us a presence in town without having to occupy someones house for the day.
We had a rotation set up, every other day for six days, followed by 3 days of guard here at the firm base. The idea behind switching out platoons every other day between here and the out-post seemed sound at first; however it didn't quite take into account our schedules. While out at the building we ran foot patrols several times a day, and when we rotated back here to the firm base, we were up on mission status. They split up the missions between the two squads in my platoon, but as there's only one of me, I end up going out on all the missions. This made for some long days, and some very short nights. The two squad leaders in my platoon are both crazy and love to go on foot patrols. This eventually developed into a competition of "who can go farther" or "who can stay out longer." Not that I would normally mind, but these guys were only going out half of what I was. One of our last rotations to the out post had us up at 5am, walking out (a couple mile hike), along with a patrol in the morning, afternoon and night, getting up at 5 and walking back here to the firm base. Already low on sleep, we then step onto mission rotation, and have another three missions planned for the day. Wake up at 5am again to do the same thing all over. 6 days of this gets a little tiring, and thankfully our commanders listened to us. The new rotation is still being worked out, but it should be 3 days there, 3 here, and 3 on guard. We'll see how it all works out. This last rotation put my total over 70 missions, with a lot of them on foot.
While we're at the out-post, we've been sampling the local cuisine. We were somewhat timid at first, having heard stories of the after-effects of eating their food, but now we regularly eat their food. Normally its for lunch, and we have a couple different places we frequent; we try not to go to become repetitive, so we switch shops. We usually end up buying the kabobs, which are not what we normally thing of as a kabob. They grind up the meat (we think its lamb) and after seasoning it, form it around a stick (hence the "kabob" name) and cook it. Its served on bread which is a cross between tortillas and pitas, and if we're lucky we get the sour cream/cucumber sauce, too. $5 gets enough food to split between two people, which is great.
We've slowly been making improvements both here and at our new out-post. The first improvement to the out-post was simply to sweep the floor; we ended up with a bucket of dirt off the floor. We've since installed a freezer and hung more lights, so at least we can see and keep our water cold.
Besides the events of last saturday night, things have stayed relatively quiet. During our foot patrols we normally ask some of the residents how things are going, and if they know of any insurgents in the area. We're always given the same answers; things are good, there's no insurgents, and when are we leaving? We hope they're telling the truth, but its tough to know since we always rely on our interpreter.
My Dad sent our Company Commander's letter out a couple days ago; it should give a little better idea of what life is like here than the one from our Battalion Commander. This last letter was sent a while ago, so things have changed some since then. We're still burning everything, and the smell is everywhere, but its no worse than some of the streets in town.
We've helped out with Iraqi Army recruiting, our commanders are in constant meetings with the city council, and we've delivered a lot of supplies to the school system here in town. On the list of things to accomplish is fix a bridge in town; this one just spans a drainage canal, but is tough to negotiate since there's a hole in the middle of it. We met a man in town that said he knows how to fix it, so we're trying to get that set up. One of our goals is to come up with projects that the residents can accomplish themselves, hopefully with as little assistance from us as possible.
The kids in town still see us as a parade, and will flock to the street we're on just to watch us walk past. Of course, the possibility of candy doesn't hurt, either. We've learned to be picky where we hand out candy, because if we don't we end up with a mob of 100 kids all following us asking for candy. The kids always ask for "chocolata," which we thought everyone understood. Apparently, it didn't get through to everyone. We were in town one afternoon and after passing by a particularly loud group of children, our gunner (who sits in a hole in the roof of the truck) stuck his head down and asked us "So what does chocolata mean?" We started laughing because we thought he was joking; nope, he was serious. He felt kinda sheepish after we told him.
With the warmer temperatures and amount of standing water in the area, mosquitos have now topped the list as greatest natural resource for the area; dirt has now been pushed to number 2. We're trying to treat the water around here, but its a continual, and often losing battle. Thankfully we have a lot of deet, and even more permethrin, the Army's best "kill-anything-that-flies-and-lands-on-you" spray. However, we're pretty sure this stuff would cause cancer in any lab test. They say it won't, and since the idea of malaria sounds really bad, we're taking the risk and using the spray.

There really hasn't been much that stands out over the last couple of weeks, as its all tends to blur together, especially when we're so short on sleep. Hopefully I'll get the chance to write more frequently, as that will help keep things a little more clear in my mind.

As its after 2:30am, I should get to bed.

Hope all is well!
Troy

2007-05-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

1 april 2007

2007-05-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

Hey-
Wanted to share a couple pictures with you guys; let you see what part of the town looks like. I know when I arrived here I had no idea what the city was going to look like, and a lot of it really surprised me.
The first picture is looking across the bridge spanning the Euphrates that we took the Bradleys across (somewhat skeptical if it would hold the weight). This is the only bridge in the area that crosses the river, so it is very important to us that it remains intact and safe. Along the Euphrates is quite a sight; first off there are actually things growing! Some of the houses along the river are amazing, and have a spectacular view. Not everyone can say their house overlooks a river believed to be one of the oldest in the world. The far bank is lined with palm groves; however, once beyond the groves, vegitation quickly dies out.
Pic #2 is looking up river towards what most of us believe are the ruins of an ancient Roman foot bridge. Iraq was part of the Roman Empire until sometime in the 8th century AD, when the spread of Islam began the collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire, and would spread as far west as Venice, North Africa and eventually parts of Spain. It is amazing to be seeing such sights, but the ruins also bring to mind an interesting question; since the ousting of the Romans, how much has actually changed? This town is a culture shock all of its own, as the people here live both in the 21st and 8th centuries; most houses have electricity, a satellite dish for cable tv, cars in the garage, and children go to school, however the people still wear the same garb as they did back then (robes and sandals), and the culture hasn't changed much since the invasion of Islam. Everywhere you look is a collision of two worlds, two very different periods of time.
Pic 3 is one of the mosques we can see from a building we occupy in town, as well as part of the street. It doesn't quite give the full picture of what the streets in town look like; most of them have much more trash.
The last pic is of the mosque right across the street from our outpost in town. This is the one that blares the "call to prayer" into our windows 5 times a day. You can see the speakers about 3/4 of the way up the spire. This pic offers a more typical view of the buildings that line the streets.
On further escapades through the city, I'll try to get some pictures that give an accurate representation of what it looks like on the streets or in the market.
Hope you enjoy a glimpse of our town!

More to follow soon,
Troy

31 march

2007-05-24T20:55:00.002-07:00

Below is a newsletter to our Family Readiness Group (FRG) from Troy ’s B Company Commander CPT Fitch.

Tim
Another six weeks down here. A lot has happened in the last few weeks. Our Company went through a RIP (Relief-in-Place) of the Company that was previously serving in Hit. The RIP consisted of a few parts. The first phase was building our combat power, getting all of our soldiers here to Firm Base 1, getting our vehicles and containers shipped here, and getting acclimated to our new home away from home. Some of the things we have had to acclimate to include the weather, our living conditions, getting used to all of the systems here (chow, showers, daily operations, etc...),and studying maps in order to better learn our new battle space. Upon our arrival, we conducted a right seat ride with A Co. 1-36 Infantry Regiment. Initially they continued operations with our leaders going on missions with them. On 5 February, we completely took charge of the AO.

Initially, our Company spent a lot of time inventorying all of the property we were taking over: HMWWVs, Sniper Rifles, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, radios, etc... Nothing glamorous, but certainly something necessary. Soldiers for the most part, spent their time improving the defenses on our bases; Firm Base 1 for 1st and 3rd platoons, and on COP-3 for 2nd Platoon. Meanwhile, the Headquarters soldiers spent time learning how to run and support the Company's day to day operations while leaders shadowed their outgoing counterparts in order to observe their tactics. The days were long, usually starting work at around 8 AM and getting to bed around 1 AM, but we knew we had a lot to learn and didn't want to waste the few days we had with the soldiers who had been on this terrain for the past year. They certainly had a lot of useful information to pass on and we incorporated that into how we would run our daily operations.

The city of Hit and the surrounding areas (Haditha, Ramadi, Fallujah) have consistently been the worst areas in the country. Yes, you hear a lot of stuff about Baghdad , but don't forget, its a city of 8 million people. Also, since the Green Zone is there, that's where all of the reporters live, since for the vast majority of reporters, they are too scared, won't, or aren't allowed to travel to most parts of the country (especially places like Hit). A/1-36 lost a large number of Bradley Fighting Vehicles here due to mostly IEDs. They also had a lot of small arms contact (AK-47s mostly), snipers, etc... All in all, not a very friendly place. Our company wasn't nervous, but we certainly knew we would find ourselves in bad situations eventually.

Initially, we were expecting a crazy time. Often, the insurgents will "test" new units by launching an unusually large number of attacks when a unit first arrives there. We prepared up for a slew of IEDs, sniper attacks, and mortars, but so far, it hasn't come. The lack of enemy activity, I believe, can be attributed to our proactive approach to things here. We had a Marine Company attached to us that discovered a large number of caches south of Hit which severely disrupted enemy activity and we just completed a large operation where we supported the IPs in clearing the city of insurgents and establishing an outer cordon to keep them out. The cordon, in conjunction with our proactive patrolling, has kept the enemy at bay for the time being.

At this point, we have been away for about 6 weeks. We have pretty much settled into our daily routines and have held down the fort. 2nd Platoon does not live with us, but they are only about a mile away and they visit every day. They are fairly self-sufficient and enjoy being on the Euphrates River . They grill their own food from time to time and return to FB1 for their fair share of supplies and meetings. Please do not worry, they do have sufficient food and water!

The soldiers here are in pretty high morale, all things considered. The food has gotten better and MRE's have not been a part of our daily diet. We are slowly improving in the cleanliness, which is difficult considering that we burn all of our trash. Furthermore, burning refuse (take on drum of refuse, add gasoline, light, and stir) 24/7 leaves a particularly unpleasant odor hanging throughout the building, and that smell never seems to go away. On the bright side though, you actually start to get used to it. The other thing that is keeping morale high is being on a Firm Base on our own. I know it sounds crazy, but I would rather be here right now than at any of the huge, plush bases in Iraq , even the ones that have Burger Kings, KBR-run chow halls, and porcelain toilets.

With all things considered, we are proud of each other and the loved ones that support our efforts. Thank you for your support. Continue to send your blessings and prayers for our same return home.

18 march

2007-05-24T20:55:00.001-07:00

Ok, so this was too funny not to write home about.
I get woken up this morning around 6:30 because theres a mission and their platoon medic had been out most of the night. I took it so he could get some sleep. It was just supposed to be a patrol that normally lasts a couple hours. This was not to be.
Things started out well; we left at about 7am and stopped in town, spoke to some of the residents and gave out a bunch of candy to the kids. On our way between our second and third stops we get a call that we need to respond way to the south because another company is apparently taking some sniper fire. Ok...no problem. We roll out there and attempt to set up some security. Here's where things go wrong. While trying to position the Bradleys we have to roll through some pretty serious mud. Anyone who's gone mudding before knows not to follow in the leading vehicles tracks or else you might get high-centered and end up stuck. Apparently, the same theory applies out here as well. Cruising along in the mud, our 35-ton Bradley grinds to an abrupt halt. I'm thinking that there's no way we can get a Brad stuck...I'm wrong. No amount of rocking or steering is going to get us out of this quagmire. Figuring that this will be a simple fix, we hook our tow cable to the other vehicle and they begin to pull us out. It works...at first. We end up stuck for a second time. As they move around for a better position, they get stuck! Trying every trick we can think of succeeds only in covering a number of us in mud. So, our pride bruised, we hop on the radio and call for the wrecker. They head towards us, with the commander as well. Great. They made easy work of freeing us from the muck as this wrecker is designed to pull tanks weighing double that of a Bradley. While we had been trying to free ourselves, two more Bradleys got stuck several miles down the road. As a convoy, we all head towards the immobilized Brads. There's nothing for us to do, and at that point we'd been gone about 6 hours so we broke out the MRE's (meals ready to eat) and had lunch while we waited for the wrecker to do its job. Then we get the radio call...now the wrecker's stuck, and the track on the commander's Bradley has slipped off. All 5 of us in the back of our Brad looked up from our food and just shook our head. Yep, that figures. The wrecker has a giant winch on the front, and apparently managed to free itself, though the two Bradleys were still suck, and the track needed to be fixed on a third. Over the course of the next two and a half hours, they finally managed to unstick and fix all the vehicles, while managing to stick and free a humvee in the process. At long last we were able to return to base, slightly muddy if nothing else. All in all, 4 Bradleys (one of them twice), 1 wrecker and a humvee all ended up stuck in the mud; and that was just our company. Others from the rest of our battalion were having the same problems. We finally rolled back onto base at 3:45; eight hours and fourty-five minutes after we left that morning.
Since I left in a hurry this morning, I didn't get the chance to shave. I tried taking care of that as soon as I got back. I managed to shave half my face before the battery on my razor ran out of juice. I had to pull the razor (and a number of hairs) off my face so I could recharge it. Deciding I didn't want to walk around half-shorn, I finished with a blade and called it good.
That's been my day so far. But, if this is the worst my days will ever get, I think I'll be ok with that. However, I think I'm going to head back to the aid station and attempt to avoid any other "email worthy" incidents.

Hope all is well with everyone!!!
Troy

16 march

2007-05-24T20:54:00.002-07:00

The following newsletter is from one of the 2-7 In Commanders to the families of the Soldiers serving in Iraq .

Tim

Greetings from Camp Hit in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq ! It’s now March and we can’t believe how fast time has gone by! After spending about 2 ½ weeks completing our training in Kuwait , the Task Force moved north under the control of MAJ T.K. Kelly and CSM Sam Coston while the company commanders and I attended a counterinsurgency training course in Taji , Iraq . It was a challenging, but well executed movement and all Cottonbalers arrived safely to begin our relief in place with TF 1-36 IN near the end of January.
Just over a week later, we officially took control of the sector and your Cottonbalers began making our new home into their home and improving all our positions. We also began to engage with both the local Iraqi leaders and the Iraqi population in our area. I had many hours of discussions in dimly lit, smoke-filled rooms; drinking chai (tea) with my Iraqi counterparts from the city of Hit, the Iraqi Police, and the Iraqi Army. It became clear to us that the people of Hit wanted to take steps to improve security and that there were some potential opportunities we could exploit. The previous unit, TF 1-36 IN had worked hard to bring the situation to a point where these opportunities presented themselves. Two days before we officially took over, we conceived the basic plan for an operation where we would support the local Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) while they cleared the city of Hit of what they viewed as a relatively small number of terrorists and foreign fighters. Just 8 days after assuming control of the sector, TF 2-7 IN and our local ISF launched OPERATION SHURTA NASIR (Police Victory). The operation lasted about 4 days and addressed not only the Iraqi Police goal of killing or capturing many remaining terrorists operating in the town, but also our goal of establishing two additional police stations and several key checkpoints in and around the city of Hit . By nearly tripling the police facilities in the city and helping to design almost a “gated community” in Hit, it was our hope that they could better maintain security after the clearing operation…and as of this writing, our plan has worked.
We’re now spending our time assisting the Iraqi Police force in improving each of the new positions we seized during the operation. In order to guard against the likely insurgent counterattacks, each station or checkpoint requires considerable force protection materials in the form of sandbags for bunkers, wire to control pedestrian access, and concrete barriers to control vehicle access. Your Cottonbalers have spent a great deal of their time and energy helping gather, deliver, and place these materials to ensure the success of our Iraqi partners.
Immediately following the operation which involved a 3-day pedestrian and vehicle curfew for the 40,000 inhabitants of Hit, I met with the fledgling city council and then over 30 sheikhs representing the diverse tribal network of the city. The people were very pleased with the security situation, but naturally brought up the problems you would expect when the infrastructure of a war-torn city has been neglected for months. The city mayor and I attempted to appeal to the people to work together to clean up the town and rapidly repair the infrastructure. The next day, I suggested the city mayor, the chief of police, and I take a daylight walk through the Hit city market and then down a portion of the city’s main street to demonstrate our confidence in the city’s security situation and show the people we were a team committed to improve their quality of life. This singular event achieved results far beyond what I had imagined and truly threw everyone for a loop – including the enemy and the local population.
Word spread of the situation in Hit in the days and weeks that followed as we reached security levels which hadn’t been experienced here for nearly a year. Along with their Iraqi partners, our Soldiers now patrol the streets of Hit day and night both mounted (in vehicles) and dismounted (walking). They engage with the population everyday and are learning every street, alley, tribe, family, shop, etc. in their sectors. The terrorists have tried to rain on our parade a few times, but as of this writing, our Iraqi partners have remained strong and we take steps everyday to help them succeed. As a team, we remain on the offensive whenever possible since defending against a terrorist attack is very often futile. Instead, we’re going after their resources and making the environment unattractive to them through our joint presence, hardened facilities, ever-improving infrastructure, and the support of a population confident we’ll take care of them. Clearly, Iraqi success is our success at this point and much of our time day is spent acting as facilitators, teachers, coaches, mentors, social workers, psychiatrists, or judges for our Iraqi partners. Though their culture is much different from ours, they do have a tremendous desire to succeed and are not shrinking from the dangerous tasks they perform everyday.
Though the bulk of TF 2-7 IN is here in Hit, we have two platoons of our C Co serving with TF 3-69 AR and one platoon serving with TF 5-7 Cav – both in Ramadi. We also have a squad from B Co serving as the personal security detachment for the Brigade Commander – also in Ramadi. We keep close tabs on them and by all accounts, they’re doing great work…and, of course, you and I would expect nothing less!
As always, we appreciate the tremendous support we receive from both the Rear Detachment, led by CPT Neil Johnson and SFC Frank Miller, and the Cottonbaler Family Readiness Group. We appreciated the Valentines cards, the baked goods, and all the other “surprises” you’ve been sending our way! Thanks to all the true heroes who graciously volunteer your time and energy to take care of our Soldiers!
Before you know it, April will be upon us, and we’ll be sending our first Soldiers back home for R&R leave!

LTC Doug Crissman…Able 6

15 march

2007-05-24T20:54:00.001-07:00

Hi Everybody,
We finally finished our mission rotation, which had us all over our entire sector. For two days we were out at the IP station across the Euphrates, helping with the recruitment of new policemen. In order to get there, we had to cross the bridge in town; we had done it in humvee's but they wanted us to take Bradleys across. There's just a little bit of weight difference, even if the humvee's are up-armored. A Brad weighs in right around 35 tons...and this bridge doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence. True, the bracings and beams are all steel, but the decking itself is just sheet metal tack-welded in place. No one was looking forward to this crossing. The dismounted guys (myself included) were going to get out of the Bradley, walk across and pull security as they drove over. Being on the ground gave us a little more confidence; so much so that we were joking with the vehicle crews about making sure they wore the little arm-floaties before they tried driving over. I suggested dropping a brick on the gas pedal, sitting on the top and steering with a broom-handle. Despite our helpful suggestions, the crews decided that they would only drive with the hatches open in case they did take an unexpected dip in the Euphrates. In the end, we all made it across safely. The one thing I did notice as we walked across was that the Euphrates is a lot cleaner than I had imagined. The water is very clear, and doesn't have a brown tinge at all; in fact it looks almost turquoise. The guys that had been over before had all told us how dirty the Tigris was up near Tikrit, and I think most of us were expecting the Euphrates to follow suit. However, it is very clean looking, though this may be because it is larger and faster flowing than the Tigris. Every time we crossed you could see people along the bank fishing, and near the bridge was a large flock of what appeared to be Coot.
Once safely on the other side we went to work; the infantry guys set up their security, and I went inside the compound to see about the days events. Turns out they needed another medic to help with applicant physicals; let me tell you...that was something else. Most of the applicants appeared healthy, but that didn't lessen my concerns about tuberculosis. In addition to having almost no personal hygiene, dentistry is still slow to catch on over here. Most of their breath could have cut through a bank vault. Our physical was pretty basic; check muscle strength, eye movement, pulse at rest and after exertion, and (with some trepidation) lung sounds. Most were clear, though a couple made us wish we had a portable x-ray machine at hand; but since no one had a coughing fit, we felt (relatively) certain we'll be ok. After their physical the applicants went on to a physical fitness test; it wasn't too tough as this was just to determine if they would be accepted into the police academy. I think it was only 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups and they had them run about 100 meters. It became immediately apparent that this is not a very physical society. There were a handful of surprises, though, as two or three of the applicants actually outran the Soldiers giving the test. Day two was much of the same, though I stayed with my guys outside on security. It always amazes me the different ways with which we keep ourselves entertained; debates over which superhero could beat the others, faults in movies we've seen, practical jokes, our plans for the future, and always stories from home. Out here, being easily amused is a virtue; especially if for the next 8 hours you'll be staring at the same stretch of road.
At first I was wondering how many people would show up to apply, but I needn't have wondered too long. There were so many applicants that we closed the gates early both days. They had filled the quota for the next class of the police academy with no problems. It was nice to see that the applicants all looked eager to be there. This may have been the fact that if accepted they would have a shot at a steady paycheck, but I'm hoping that they also were there because they want to help out their own country. Most of the residents we talk to in town sound like they trust the IP's, though we have found a couple that have had bad experiences. We're hoping to instill in them a sense of pride and integrity so that when we leave the whole system doesn't corrupt and fall apart. There is still a lot of work to be done, though. Progress is being made, though it is slow and tedious.
During the days we weren't helping at the IP station, we went for a couple foot patrols through the town. We usually hit part of the markets in town, which gives the commanders a chance to speak the the shop owners and purchase a couple items. On the last one they found a candy shop and spent a good deal of time "keeping up relations with the locals," i.e. buying a bunch of candy for cheap. Of course, we didn't know about this until later as all the joes (lower enlisted Soldiers) were on the street pulling security. The only thing we knew was that they were in a shop and took way too long, especially as this was during the warmest part of the day. We still managed to have some fun of our own; by pantomiming drinking to the owner of a shop, we had cool beverages run across the street to us by his little boy. We gave him a couple dollars and on his return trip one of my guys gave him a candy bar as well. This area of town seems much more "American-friendly" than some of the others.
At night we walk the streets again, this time knocking on doors and speaking to some of the residents. This is to get an idea of how the population feels about us, about the IP's and IA's, if they have any complaints or if anything needs to be resolved, and also to see if they know of any insurgent activity. They've usually been welcoming, and in several houses we've met people who speak English quite well. Our patrol last night had us walking across our entire sector; it wasn't too bad last night, but its not going to be fun after it gets really hot. We stopped at one house right on the banks of the Euphrates; it was nice even by our standards. Not many people can say their house looks out over one of the oldest rivers in the world. When we entered the courtyard there were 3 guys down at the rivers edge fishing and they wanted to show us their catch; its hard to tell what kind they were under night-vision, but they looked kind of like bass. I think they had 8 or 9 fish when they left. On our way back we walked through one of the markets so we don't take the same route back. In one place some of the residents had strung a volleyball net across the street and had a large game going. Its very apparent that this is a family-oriented society, and everyone in the neighborhood hangs out together in the evenings. We always surprise these groups because we try not to make much noise, and since we use night-vision we don't need flashlights; the end result is us appearing out of the shadows and causing a brief interruption of their game. As soon as we pass we heard the game start right back up, though.
After walking the town for hours we finally got back to base. Most of us had just dropped our gear and grabbed a Gatorade when we heard gun fire in the distance. This isn't uncommon, but when it kept going we realized something was up. Without even knowing what was going on we just threw our gear back on and headed to the Bradleys. (We may have been on foot for the patrol, but we knew we would take the Brads on this one.) After we loaded up we got the radio call that one of the IP stations had gotten attacked. We rolled out and took a house by the IP station; by this time the firing had ended, and we were there in case they came back or if we learned where they had gone. Apparently this house had been hosting a tupperware party or something as there were almost 30 people there. As soon as we had secured the house one of the guys (in broken English and gestures) told me he needed to go to his house because his wife was there with their baby. Why it was so important that he leave right then I never understood, after all he left her there. But in the end we escorted him and his 2 boys home which was only 4 houses down the street. By the time another Soldier and I got back from our escort trip, we were told to head to the IP station to take pics of any bullet holes in the building. I think there may have been 10. Its obvious that there was a lot more outgoing rounds than there were incoming, especially since we listened to most of the "fire fight" and it sounded like WW III had just begun. (My guess is that a couple people had taken some pot-shots at the station, and everyone in the building had returned fire.) After another hour of driving around town and securing deserted stretches of road, we were finally ordered back to base for the night.
Even though I'm off our mission rotation I'm still going out for a 24+ hr mission sometime today. We're running concurrent missions, which means for a while we're going to get even less down time. One of us has to go on the OP, and we'll have another medic out with the patrols and raids. Its not too bad, as I'd rather be out on a mission than sitting here doing nothing. If there are kids in this house they're going to make out pretty well, as I've received several bags of candy in the mail. The resiliency of the children never ceases to amaze me; these children have learned of war not through movies or tv or video games, but with their own eyes, living through it in their own town, often in their own homes. And still they smile. Hope is a powerful weapon.
Time for dinner, and after that I need to pack my gear for tonight. Since its starting to warm up I'm sure we'll be carrying more and more water as the summer drags on.
Thanks for all the emails and packages!

Be back in a couple of days,
Troy

14 march

2007-05-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

HAWKEYE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, what's up man? Things are going well, though it has started to warm up some. After every patrol we go on I come back soaked...can't imagine what the middle of summer is going to be like.
Thought I'd give you a heads up, I'll try and call tonight after I get done with my last patrol for the day. Not sure what time that's gonna be, but I can't imagine it'll be much later than 11pm here, which means 3pm back there. I don't know what your schedule is, or where you'll be, but I'll try and get ahold of you sometime today.
Good news is that we've got a somewhat firm schedule of leave dates, and I'm on the list for October!!! They're willing to work on specific dates, but won't have to worry about that one for a little bit yet.
Things going well? Talked to my mom last night and she said that the weather has been beautiful. Must be a nice change from the last month or so! Anything new and exciting to report?
I think I've finally gotten a plan together for my life...its about damn time, right? End result, med school by the time I'm 30. I think I can pull it off! There's still some variables right now, but I think I'm getting it figured out.
Ok...I need to go get my gear ready for the patrol coming up. Hope all is well!!!!

Talk to you later today!
Luigi

6 march 2007

2007-05-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
I can't remember the last time I wrote, so I figured it was probably time to write again. We've been really busy over the last couple of weeks; so much so that everything has blurred together, and I am forced to write about only those occurances that stand out in my mind. We've been running all kinds of different missions at all times of the day and night.
Since the last time I wrote, we've started to change some of the ways we're operating in the city. First, we're now starting to utilize the Humvee's instead of only travelling in the Bradleys. This is nice, as we're now able to negotiate some of the narrow or more residential streets in town that we'd never be able to travel in the Brads without knocking down the walls on either side. Not that we haven't thought about taking a Bradley down these streets, but its probably not going to boost our popularity with the town. The Humvee's also allow us to get a better view of the city, albeit through 4-inch bullet-proof glass. Not the most panoramic view, but better than the back of a Bradley. We've gotten to see most of the city this way, including several of the markets in town. No wonder they say not to eat the meat; the butcher shop just has meat hanging from the awning out front. Some of the shops look interesting, though I doubt if we'll ever be able to go shopping. The downside to the Humvee's is that there's not a lot of room when riding in the back seats. They're all bucket seats, and with all of my gear on its a fairly uncomfortable ride. The seat mount to the front seat is solid, so you can't stretch out your legs; this means I end up with my kneecaps at eye-level. The AC "works" to the extent that it will circulate the hot air in the cab, while tossing in so much dust that you can't tell if the cloud through which you're gazing is inside the vehicle or from the vehicle in front of you. Pros and cons to everything, I suppose.
Second, we're starting to do some patrols on foot during the day. This is a major change as the only time we patrolled on foot was at night, being as quiet as possible so no one knew we were there. It seems that as we patrol down the streets, everyone sits in the gateway of their courtyard to watch and wave at the Americans. This was a little disconcerting at first, having a neighborhood think of your patrol as a strange parade, but now we're starting to get used to it. We say hi (as best we can in Arabic) the the families and usually just smile and shrug when they start speaking to us; they smile back when the realize we haven't understood a word they've said. Some of us toss candy to the kids (who are everywhere!) making us very popular with the younger crowd and their parents. Even after a number of these patrols, no one has spoken harshly to us, though the women who are more conservatively dressed still turn their faces from us when we pass.
Most of the missions we've had recently haven't been planned. In fact, most of the time the only notice I get is when someone bursts through the aid station door and says they need a medic for a mission. We're usually in full "battle rattle" and out the door in under 2 minutes.
We've kept the bomb squad busy over the last couple of weeks; usually IED's to be taken care of, or weapons caches found in town. Usually I'm on the roof of a house with a team of guys making sure the area is secure; this also gives us a great vantage point to view the explosion. We were on a roof one time probably a good 500 meters from where the IED was located, and after they detonated it (with a sizeable amount of C4) we saw chunks of road, dirt and stone flying through the air; then we realized that they were flying towards us. Some were only the size of baseballs, but a few were the size of beachballs and volkswagens. Needless to say, we moved inside "with the quickness." We were out on the edge of town, so no buildings were damaged by it. This was where one of the IP's asked us if we wanted to shoot his RPG. Of course we said yes, but we had to call back to base for permission; it was denied, of course, but made for some interesting jokes between the IP's and us, even though we spoke very little of each other's language. It was on one of these missions that I covered a pair of my boots in tar; it was a warm afternoon and either it was melting, or had just been freshly tarred. It stuck to everything! In the end, we found some cardboard and stuck it to the bottom of our boots as we left the house. Just imagine 7 Soldiers rapidly exiting a house, covered in tar with cardboard stuck to their soles. Yeah...good stuff.
We've been doing a lot of short-notice raids lately. The IP's are doing a lot of the searching and interrogating, and we pull security for them outside the house. I've gone out on a number of those, including two today. Usually they turn out well, though several of them have ended up being nothing more than wild goose chases.
Sounds like we'll be staying here at least for several more months. There was talk of us leaving here for another area, but for the time being, we remain here. Its nice to have some idea of whats going on, and any projected missions. We're pretty happy with our life here, apart from a couple minor issues. We're away from the rest of the battalion, which means I don't have to see much of our bosses, or do things just for the sake of doing them. I heard some of the medics at the bigger base down the road a ways had to paint the helipad because a general was flying in. We did nothing in preperation for his visit, and upon his arrival we carried on like normal; we had a mission to run. Life out here is good.
Things are definitely starting to warm up; there are bugs everywhere, and the nights aren't nearly so cold. Its only in the upper 70's right now, which means for this region of the country we have about 70 degrees more to go until we reach the highs for the year. I can only imagine, and dread, what 140 degrees feels like, though we'll find out soon enough.
Ok, its about 4am, so I'm going to bed.
Thanks for all the letters, packages, emails, thoughts and prayers everyone has sent my way!!! I really appreciate it!

Hope all is well,
Troy

3/1/07

2007-03-16T07:09:00.001-07:00

Hi Everybody,
We finally finished our mission rotation, which had us all over our entire sector. For two days we were out at the IP station across the Euphrates, helping with the recruitment of new policemen. In order to get there, we had to cross the bridge in town; we had done it in humvee's but they wanted us to take Bradleys across. There's just a little bit of weight difference, even if the humvee's are up-armored. A Brad weighs in right around 35 tons...and this bridge doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence. True, the bracings and beams are all steel, but the decking itself is just sheet metal tack-welded in place. No one was looking forward to this crossing. The dismounted guys (myself included) were going to get out of the Bradley, walk across and pull security as they drove over. Being on the ground gave us a little more confidence; so much so that we were joking with the vehicle crews about making sure they wore the little arm-floaties before they tried driving over. I suggested dropping a brick on the gas pedal, sitting on the top and steering with a broom-handle. Despite our helpful suggestions, the crews decided that they would only drive with the hatches open in case they did take an unexpected dip in the Euphrates. In the end, we all made it across safely. The one thing I did notice as we walked across was that the Euphrates is a lot cleaner than I had imagined. The water is very clear, and doesn't have a brown tinge at all; in fact it looks almost turquoise. The guys that had been over before had all told us how dirty the Tigris was up near Tikrit, and I think most of us were expecting the Euphrates to follow suit. However, it is very clean looking, though this may be because it is larger and faster flowing than the Tigris. Every time we crossed you could see people along the bank fishing, and near the bridge was a large flock of what appeared to be Coot.
Once safely on the other side we went to work; the infantry guys set up their security, and I went inside the compound to see about the days events. Turns out they needed another medic to help with applicant physicals; let me tell you...that was something else. Most of the applicants appeared healthy, but that didn't lessen my concerns about tuberculosis. In addition to having almost no personal hygiene, dentistry is still slow to catch on over here. Most of their breath could have cut through a bank vault. Our physical was pretty basic; check muscle strength, eye movement, pulse at rest and after exertion, and (with some trepidation) lung sounds. Most were clear, though a couple made us wish we had a portable x-ray machine at hand; but since no one had a coughing fit, we felt (relatively) certain we'll be ok. After their physical the applicants went on to a physical fitness test; it wasn't too tough as this was just to determine if they would be accepted into the police academy. I think it was only 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups and they had them run about 100 meters. It became immediately apparent that this is not a very physical society. There were a handful of surprises, though, as two or three of the applicants actually outran the Soldiers giving the test. Day two was much of the same, though I stayed with my guys outside on security. It always amazes me the different ways with which we keep ourselves entertained; debates over which superhero could beat the others, faults in movies we've seen, practical jokes, our plans for the future, and always stories from home. Out here, being easily amused is a virtue; especially if for the next 8 hours you'll be staring at the same stretch of road.
At first I was wondering how many people would show up to apply, but I needn't have wondered too long. There were so many applicants that we closed the gates early both days. They had filled the quota for the next class of the police academy with no problems. It was nice to see that the applicants all looked eager to be there. This may have been the fact that if accepted they would have a shot at a steady paycheck, but I'm hoping that they also were there because they want to help out their own country. Most of the residents we talk to in town sound like they trust the IP's, though we have found a couple that have had bad experiences. We're hoping to instill in them a sense of pride and integrity so that when we leave the whole system doesn't corrupt and fall apart. There is still a lot of work to be done, though. Progress is being made, though it is slow and tedious.

During the days we weren't helping at the IP station, we went for a couple foot patrols through the town. We usually hit part of the markets in town, which gives the commanders a chance to speak the the shop owners and purchase a couple items. On the last one they found a candy shop and spent a good deal of time "keeping up relations with the locals," i.e. buying a bunch of candy for cheap. Of course, we didn't know about this until later as all the joes (lower enlisted Soldiers) were on the street pulling security. The only thing we knew was that they were in a shop and took way too long, especially as this was during the warmest part of the day. We still managed to have some fun of our own; by pantomiming drinking to the owner of a shop, we had cool beverages run across the street to us by his little boy. We gave him a couple dollars and on his return trip one of my guys gave him a candy bar as well. This area of town seems much more "American-friendly" than some of the others.
At night we walk the streets again, this time knocking on doors and speaking to some of the residents. This is to get an idea of how the population feels about us, about the IP's and IA's, if they have any complaints or if anything needs to be resolved, and also to see if they know of any insurgent activity. They've usually been welcoming, and in several houses we've met people who speak English quite well. Our patrol last night had us walking across our entire sector; it wasn't too bad last night, but its not going to be fun after it gets really hot. We stopped at one house right on the banks of the Euphrates; it was nice even by our standards. Not many people can say their house looks out over one of the oldest rivers in the world. When we entered the courtyard there were 3 guys down at the rivers edge fishing and they wanted to show us their catch; its hard to tell what kind they were under night-vision, but they looked kind of like bass. I think they had 8 or 9 fish when they left. On our way back we walked through one of the markets so we don't take the same route back. In one place some of the residents had strung a volleyball net across the street and had a large game going. Its very apparent that this is a family-oriented society, and everyone in the neighborhood hangs out together in the evenings. We always surprise these groups because we try not to make much noise, and since we use night-vision we don't need flashlights; the end result is us appearing out of the shadows and causing a brief interruption of their game. As soon as we pass we heard the game start right back up, though.

After walking the town for hours we finally got back to base. Most of us had just dropped our gear and grabbed a Gatorade when we heard gun fire in the distance. This isn't uncommon, but when it kept going we realized something was up. Without even knowing what was going on we just threw our gear back on and headed to the Bradleys. (We may have been on foot for the patrol, but we knew we would take the Brads on this one.) After we loaded up we got the radio call that one of the IP stations had gotten attacked. We rolled out and took a house by the IP station; by this time the firing had ended, and we were there in case they came back or if we learned where they had gone. Apparently this house had been hosting a tupperware party or something as there were almost 30 people there. As soon as we had secured the house one of the guys (in broken English and gestures) told me he needed to go to his house because his wife was there with their baby. Why it was so important that he leave right then I never understood, after all he left her there. But in the end we escorted him and his 2 boys home which was only 4 houses down the street. By the time another Soldier and I got back from our escort trip, we were told to head to the IP station to take pics of any bullet holes in the building. I think there may have been 10. Its obvious that there was a lot more outgoing rounds than there were incoming, especially since we listened to most of the "fire fight" and it sounded like WW III had just begun. (My guess is that a couple people had taken some pot-shots at the station, and everyone in the building had returned fire.) After another hour of driving around town and securing deserted stretches of road, we were finally ordered back to base for the night.
Even though I'm off our mission rotation I'm still going out for a 24+ hr mission sometime today. We're running concurrent missions, which means for a while we're going to get even less down time. One of us has to go on the OP, and we'll have another medic out with the patrols and raids. Its not too bad, as I'd rather be out on a mission than sitting here doing nothing. If there are kids in this house they're going to make out pretty well, as I've received several bags of candy in the mail. The resiliency of the children never ceases to amaze me; these children have learned of war not through movies or tv or video games, but with their own eyes, living through it in their own town, often in their own homes. And still they smile. Hope is a powerful weapon.
Time for dinner, and after that I need to pack my gear for tonight. Since its starting to warm up I'm sure we'll be carrying more and more water as the summer drags on.
Thanks for all the emails and packages!

Be back in a couple of days,
Troy

Bad Mustache March

2007-03-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

Bad Mustache March

As often happens in War boredom overcomes the most stout hearted soul. Our valiant cotton bailers have fallen into the log honored tradition of watching hair grow. The men of the unit have gotten together and decided to grow bad mustaches. So, until Troy decides to shave this I vote that we no longer refer to troy by the name his parents bestowed upon him at his birth. I feel that troy more aptly resembles someone names Luigi.

Enjoy your mustache Luigi. We can't wait to get you home

Another week has passed

2007-02-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

Hello Everybody,
Another week has come and gone, and as usual, I'm not sure where the time went. This is a good thing, as if every week passes as these last several I should be home before I know it. Again it was busy, though towards the end of the week our mission was the most boring to date.
Our only real excitement came as I was on the 24-hour OP from the 13th-14th. That night we headed into the city to find a house overlooking one of the busiest streets in town; one of particular interest to both us and the insurgents attempting to plant IED's. The walk out wasn't too bad, until our point man (the guy at the front of the group) led us through a "wadi." These are usually some type of drainage ditch, as most of this country is without any type of sewer system. This one was much larger than we had anticipated, and after several steps, left no doubt in our minds as to what we were stomping through. Once we overcame that particular obstacle, we found a house that looked like a good hiding spot. This time the gate was easy to get through, and the front door didn't pose much of a problem either. Once inside the front room, we were greeted with another door that led to the remainder of the house. One of the guys took two kicks, and we were through. Now comes the humor of the situation; as there were no lights on in the house, all we saw was a door that, upon trying the knob, was locked. Once we had secured the house, we turned on some of the lights so we no longer were relying upon our NOD's (night optical devices); the funny part was that when we inspected the inner door that had just been kicked in, not only did he kick the door the wrong way (meaning that it opened out rather than in) but the key was still dangling from the lock. Smart on their part, but looking for keys isn't what naturally comes to mind when we're trying to sweep a house. Live and learn, I guess.
The occupants of the house were the two wives (this remains a polygamous society) and their five children, ranging from about 2 to 14 or so. To the surprise of everyone, one of the girls about 10 years old looked like she belonged on the beach in California rather than this city in Iraq. She had light brown hair, was light-complected, and most starteling of all had bright blue eyes! We couldn't help but stare as she moved from their bedroom to the kitchen. One of the sergeants said "You think that's something, wait till you see an Iraqi with red hair." Still haven't seen that, but I'm sure it'll be tough to miss! As usual, our interpreter will talk to the family, and after we pay the family for damages to the house (in this case two doors) we try talking to them. A couple of us, including myself, have begun to pick up a little Arabic. Its a tough language, but the family always seems to smile, though its usually the smile one would give a young child as it struggles to form sentences. At one point, the little girl with blue eyes tried asking me a question; upon realizing that I had no idea what she asked, she mimicked putting a ring on her hand and pointed at me, asking if I was married. The rest of the guys in the squad thought this was hysterical, and I was teased relentlessly for hours. Oh well...at least I didn't scare her!!!
We didn't use the roof this time, which I was greatful for, but opted to watch from the windows instead. As we peeked around the still-drawn curtains, we had a nearly unimpeded view of the street; only about 50 meters of the road was obscured by a building further down the road. We passed the day peeking through a window, and occasionally trying to learn more Arabic from the family. As night began to fall, we started watching the road more intently, as the insurgents try to use the cover of darkness as much as they can. We heard on the radio that there was a group of people digging in the road, but they were hidden behind the building, obscured from our view. The Bradley down the road engaged them, and then several more Bradleys arrived on the scene. We called them on the radio from the house, and it was decided that there probably wouldn't be much more insurgent activity in the area, so we beat feet to the vehicles 100 meters down the road, and got a ride back to base instead. Beats having to walk back!
Later the next day about 12 of us loaded up and headed to one of the bases close by; our mission: fill 750 sandbags and bring them back. We managed to load 500 before we got word to bring back what we already had. We weren't disappointed, as everyone's back was sore by that point. Back to base for some Motrin and bed.
Since Friday we have been on "static positions" throughout the town, supporting a large-scale raid the Iraqi Police were doing. This means that we've been cooped up in the back of a Bradley for 6 hours on, and then had 6 hours off. We've been on this rotation now for about 4 days solid. This wouldn't be so bad if it was possible to sleep in the Brads, but we all found it nearly impossible, especially since we had all of our gear (including my aid bag) plus whatever we wanted as far as drinks, food, and stuff to pass the time. The worst part about it was how uncomfortable the seats are; they're definitely designed for function and not comfort, a fact to which our back-sides can attest. Mostly we just sat around and told stories; things we did growing up, what we did for fun, what we want to do on our mid-tour leave, and of course whats the first beer we're going to drink when we get back. After spending that much time with the guys, we all know a lot about each other. The good news is that the rotations should be slowing down, and we shouldn't have to go out for at least another 8-12 hours. We may actually get a full-night's sleep!!
The greatest news we received was about an hour ago; there was hot water for showers! For the first time since I left Kuwait, I was able to take a real shower, and it was hot!!! May not seem like much, but after about a month this really made our day! We're hoping that the plumbing is now fixed, but we're not holding our breath.
We're all doing well; seems as though everyone has finally gotten over the cough/cold that was going around. This is music to our ears as medics, as we are running low on most of the meds we'd been passing out. After 3 days of solid rain things are finally beginning to dry out again, though we're not sure how much more of the rainy season is left.
I thought of one thing that anyone could send if they wanted; I always try and give candy to the kids after we take over their house...some small token of good-will, I guess. I don't need a years-production from the candy shops, just a couple bags of the small candies and sweets to hand out. I'm just envisioning a Brock's truck backing up to the front gate of our compound, "delivery for Troy Ruffin...is he here?" I only need a couple bags, and I should be good...its not like I'm in someone's house every day, just a day or two out of the week.
Ok, I should go...need to finish some things around here before I turn in for the night.
Hope everyone is doing well. Keep the emails coming, its always nice to hear whats going on back home.
Thanks for the support and prayers!

Love you guys,
Troy

All that gear

2007-02-11T18:56:00.000-08:00

Me with all my gear. Helmet and body armor with plates capable
> of stopping armor-piercing rounds on the front, rear and sides, 210
> rounds of 5.56mm ammo on the front, 2 medic pouches with Kerlix and
> tourniquets in front of my ammo magazines, another medic pouch on the
> side with more gear, earplugs for long rides in the Bradleys, and a
> pouch up top that is good for holding...well,
> nothing. M-4 carbine with the close-combat optics
> sight (just a red dot, no magnification), the "ganster grip" up front,
> with a flashlight; the flashlight has a pressure switch I taped onto
> my grip, just squeeze my left hand and the light comes on. 9mm pistol
> on my right thigh, plus 30 rounds of ammo. Medic bag on my left
> thigh, more gauze, tourniquets, occlusive dressings and 14ga needles
> for chest injuries. Soft elbow pads in my sleeves, and hard shell
> knee pads which are very hot in the summer. 3 liter camelbak between
> my body armor and my aid bag, and lastly my aid bag with enough
> supplies to treat my entire squad if necessary; fully equipped for
> intubation, surgical crics, I have a BVM, several IV's, drugs,
> splints, and a whole lot of gauze. Oh yeah, I forgot...2 10mg
> Morphine auto-injectors in my left shoulder pocket.
> Like the pic says...way too much gear. But, better safe than sorry.
> I always leave the aid bag in the vehicles if I can help it; I have
> enough supplies on me to stabilize a casualty till we get back to the
> Bradley. On our walking patrols I use a big satchel instead; makes it
> less obvious that I'm a medic...just one of the guys. Its better that
> way.
>
> So...thats about it. Hope you like the glimpse of my life here in
> Iraq. I'll try to keep taking pics and send out a couple cool ones
> when I can.
>
> Miss you all!!!

one heck of a week

2007-02-10T19:42:00.000-08:00

Hi Everybody
So no pictures in this update, though I promise I'm working on them. This week was incredibly busy; my platoon was up on the rotation for missions, which meant any missions that were assigned, I rolled out on, as well as having to respond to the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) too. QRF rolls for anything that happens in the city, such as shootings, IED explosions, and anytime we get info on where one of the high-priority bad guys are; generally when things go bad and they might want a medic around.
So, Sunday night we're supposed to have a raid looking for one of the head bad guys' driver, but the air was "red" meaning that we had no air support, so the mission got scrubbed till further notice; this just meant that we were up till about 2am waiting. I had a mounted patrol (in the back of the Bradleys) making sure everyone knew that we were still in town. Kind of hard to miss a giant armored vehicle, but hey...why not? Monday night we had a walking patrol; no Bradley, just a 9 infantry guys and I out strolling through town. This was definitely an exciting time; I'd never been on foot in town, so this was my first chance to really see what this town looked like, though most of the time we're looking down alleys and scanning rooftops making sure no one is going to shoot at us. But, it was night, and we have night-vision goggles, and the bad guys don't. We own the night, and they know that, so very little happens on these patrols. Still, doesn't mean the adrenaline isn't pumping. We went out about a mile from base and took over a house. Almost all of the houses have courtyards, so our first obstacle is getting through the gate; if we can't pick it from the outside, we toss over the lightest guy and have him unlock it from the inside. From there, we hit the door and take the house. This usually comes as a bit of a surprise for the residents, who at the time are sleeping. In charge a squad of heavily armed Soldiers, and proceed to occupy the house. After the house is clear of weapons, we set up observation points, generally on the roof, and watch the roadways, making sure no one is out doing anything stupid. Turns out, stupidity was running pretty low this week, and nothing happened. So, after scaring the snot out of a household, we thank them for their time, give them a couple dollars, and head on back to base. Not so bad, except that we still have to walk there, at night in a hostile city. We're quiet...very quiet, but there's one kicker; at night the city is full of dogs, and they all bark as we pass, generally letting everyone know exactly where we are. We can't shoot them as that would make even more noise, and the carcass is an easy spot to hide IED's. Talk about a Catch-22. We're still thinking of creative ways to solve this little problem. Walking with night vision isn't as easy as one would assume; we focus them for distance so we can see whats out there, but this leaves anything up close blurry....like the ground. I'd gotten pretty good at figuring out what was solid and what I needed to avoid, except for one spot. I was walking down a small bank, and everything looked solid; turns out I was wrong. I promptly sink my boot into muck almost as deep as my boot is tall, nearly falling on my face in the process. The last guy in the stack, my platoon sergeant, snickers and pulls me free of the quagmire. I'm sure I'll catch all kinds of grief for this back on base, but for now, silence is the name of the game. As soon as we got back to base, I was told QRF was rolling out to some big fire-fight in the city; this was news to us, as we had just returned and didn't hear anything like that. We heard some sporadic bursts, but nothing that would qualify as a sustained gun battle. Turns out it was nothing, but I still didn't get to bed till after 4am.
Up at 6:45, its now Tuesday, for pre-mission gear checks before we roll out for an Area of Operations (AO) patrol; generally making sure no bombs have been planted in the roads since we were last there. However, this mission was scrubbed as well. I would have gone back to bed, except that now people are coming into the aid station cause they're sick and its tough to sleep. I wouldn't have gotten much sleep anyway, as we got called out on QRF shortly after that. They got passed some info regarding the whereabouts of one of the guys they're trying hard to apprehend. So, into the Bradleys we go and race off into town. As usual, the info was about 5 minutes too old, and they had already left. We did, however, get to see the Iraqi Police (IP) in action, and it seems as though they know their stuff. Hopefully they'll be taking more responsibility in town, and we'll be doing less and less. Thats the plan, at least. So, after trying to track this guy down unsucessfully, we returned to base empty handed. For the rest of the evening we plan for and rehearse our upcoming raid late that night. There are two houses we're supposed to be taking down; both are supposed to harbor known terrorists, and we're hoping to catch them while we're sleeping. After rehearsing the plan ad nauseum, we're told to be back, fully geared in just over two hours; that equates to about an hour of time to sleep. Back up, blurry-eyed and ready to get this over with, we load into the Brads and descend on these houses. Only two occupants total, though there was enough incriminating evidence to detain them both. At the time I thought the old guy was going to have a heart attack, which would have made my life very interesting, but he eventually calmed down, and we took them back to one of the bases. After standing around at the base long enough to watch the sun climb well over the horizon, our commander had finally filled out enough paperwork to turn them over, as well as killing several large trees.
Its now Wednesday morning, and we got back to our base just in time to keep the cooks from tossing out the last of what was left of breakfast. Around 11 I finally crawled into bed to catch a couple hours of sleep; I think I got 3. My boss decides that we're going to clean the aid station; clean the shelves, reorganize our supplies, reseal the cracks in the windows and walls as best we can, and try to make it appear like an actual aid station. This was, is, and will always be a work in progress. However, after 5 hours or so of kicking up a giant dust cloud, we managed to make the place look respectable; as for now, we're just trying to steal some bleach for the floors and we'll be happy. After dinner, QRF is again activated as one of the fuel trucks broke down in town, and we need to pull security for the mechanics to tow this giant bomb-on-wheels back to base. Luckily it broke down right next to an IP station, so we were pretty secure. As soon as I drop my gear, one of our translators (Kevin, a pseudonym we've given him to keep his real name a secret from the insurgents in an attempt to keep both he and his family safe) comes into the aid station saying he's been cut. I never got the full story, but apparently he and an IA soldier were playing around, and he managed to get stabbed in the shoulder blade. Its not my job to figure out what happened, I just fix them so they can do more stupid stuff. He's got a good 3/4 to an inch long cut over his shoulder blade that definitely needs stitches. We've been given the "green light" by our PA to do sutures if the need arises, so long as the cuts aren't too complicated. So, no time like the present to work on my technique, as well as teach the other medics there. I did the first one, and they did the last 3, each one taking turns putting in a stitch. I must say, after we were done, it looked like a doctor did it. Pretty much pros! We were all happy with the way they turned out, and everyone learned something in the process. Thankfully this was all for the day, and I was able to get about 5 hours of sleep before we were up and at it again.
Thursday we spent several hours finishing up some of the cleaning we didn't get to the day before, and did a couple of classes on meds and anatomy/physiology. My platoon was given a 24 hour observation position (OP) that night, so that afternoon I was in briefings, and I spent the evening refitting my gear for a day-long operation. Normally, we don't worry about what we carry, as we're either not out that long or we have the Brads close at hand. However, now you have to carry 3 meals ready to eat (MRE's) and water to last the whole day, as well as anything else you'll need, i.e. snacks, poncho-liner (which is like a blanket, affectionately nicknamed our "woobie"), toilet paper, etc. We strip down the MRE's, taking everything out of the packaging that we can in an effort to conserve weight; I left everything I thought I might not eat, even went so far as to bring only one spoon. My kevlar, body armor (stuffed with medical supplies and 210 rounds of ammo) plus weapons and aidbag are very heavy, and I didn't want to add more than I needed to. After getting everything ready, its about 11pm, and I need to be up at 2 am so we can roll out at 3. I figured I'd be able to grab at least 2 hours of sleep; this, however, wasn't to be. One of the IA's came in after having fallen down a flight of stairs, spraining his knee. Took a while to figure out what was going on, but in the end all he needed was a couple of tylenol and an ACE wrap for his knee. Now its almost midnight, and apparently one of the interpreters had been acting funny, so they searched his room for drugs. One of the NCO's came in wanting to know what this blister-pak of pills contained. Oh great...they're Valium. No, they're not used for knee pain, and no, thats not how we dispense them. Yeah, so he's on drugs, and now everybody is bringing me pills to figure out what they are. After this stampede dies down, its 1:30am, and I'm supposed to be up in 30 minutes. No sleep for me tonight.
Thursday morning around 2:20 we do final gear check, last minute route-briefing, and determine the order the teams are supposed to leave. Since my team, consisting of 5 other Soldiers along with 2 IA's and a terp (interpreter), will be farthest from base, we leave first; off into the city again, in search of a house to take over. Besides the dogs, our trek is uneventful, if not a little straining on the shoulders. We find a house we think looks good, and after half a dozen attempts get the gate open. We pile into the courtyard, shut the gate behind us, and look at the door; this thing looks like its about to come right off the hinges, so we assume it should be easy to break open if need be. No one answers the knock, so they attempt to kick it in. Another lesson in why not to judge a book by the cover; this door was reenforced with steel, and wasn't about to budge. The owner of the house eventually comes to the door (after we broke out most of the glass) and says "Yes yes, I open." He opens the door, and calmly sits down on the couch. Hmm..something tells me he's done this before. No weapons in the house, so we put the family back in the bedroom and set up our guard posts. I'm left downstairs to watch the family with the terp "Mike" and the two IA's. Its cold in the house, and its even colder on the roof two hours later when I'm on the radio. Freezing on a roof, teeth chattering wishing I had some hand warmers isn't exactly how I pictured my February in Iraq. Could be worse, though. As we switched out shifts, 2 of us could sleep for a couple of hours, which was really nice, but not nearly long enough. Thanks to some screwed up rotation, I ended up pulling more guard shifts than the infantry guys, but I didn't mind. I ended up talking to the IA soldiers, or at least trying to. I'm starting to pick up some Arabic, but there was still a lot of gestures, confused looks, and lots of laughs. Oh well, it helps pass the time. The insurgents are getting smart, and now are giving kids candy to walk up and down the streets, looking for us on rooftops and in windows. Thus is the mindset of our enemies. As it got dark, we stopped sleeping and put more eyes on the roof watching for activity. My last shift on guard found me peering through a hole in the stone railing at a large open section of road. At one point, I thought I saw 4 guys walking down the street; however, it turned out it was only a couple of bushes. I could have sworn these bushes had gone strolling down the street, but no, they were definitely stationary the whole time. After we hit our 24 hour mark, we gathered our gear, payed the family for the broken glass and for missing work, we once again headed into the night, back to the security of our base. One of the NCO's told the other guys he didn't want to hear any complaining cause "Doc pulled more guard than anybody, and ya don't hear him gripin'." Got back to base just after 3, called home (and probably sounded like a zombie) and climbed in bed shortly after 4:30am Friday morning for some much needed rest, with the added bonus of having a completely blank schedule for the day. My platoon was finally off our mission-status rotation, and only had to pull guard on the base. My duties, however, keep my in the aid station, and won't be on guard much, if at all, since we need a medic there at all times. But, since the other line medic is out on an OP right now, I'm back on QRF, but hopefully nothing comes up. If it does, it'll probably only be for a couple of hours.
So, there was my week. Sorry it was so long, but it'd been a while since I last sent out an email. No injuries, and really the only "booms" were controlled detonations of IED's that were found by our bomb squad . One was REALLY close to our base walls, and nearly shook me off the litter I was sitting on...I think the bomb squad had a little too much fun with that one.
Life is good, and for now don't need anything specific. If you survived this email, grab a drink and let me know how you're all doing. Thank you all for your letters, emails, thoughts and prayers.

Best wishes from far away,
Troy

hot spots

2007-02-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

It appears that the third infantry division has suffered its first casualty since deploying to Iraq. No news from troy, but this does not appear to be his base.

The following story covers the memorial service.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/atramadideaths070206/

Operation Package continued

2007-02-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

Several people have approached me about putting together care packages for deployed soldiers. The following list was compiled by the Iowa National guard. I would happily collect items to put together to ship for Troy, and his unit.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Deployed Soldier Care Packages Ideas

We have received numerous inquiries about sending items to our overseas deployed Iowa National Guard soldiers. The items below have been identified by our soldiers as items that they would like to receive. Normal toiletry items are available to most of the soldiers through supply channels and the post exchanges. The units' overseas addresses are listed lower on this page. We will remove unit addresses from this list approximately 30 days prior to the unit's redeployment to the United States. Please understand that the Iowa National Guard does not have the resources to provide mailing and shipping of items to the soldiers. The soldiers will greatly appreciate your support. Thank you!!!

Chips Ahoy cookies, individual packages.
(Big bags often fill with dust if not eaten right away.)
Other kinds of cookies!!
Pasta and sauce
Spices
Smoked oysters and sardines
Squeeze butter
Pringles chips
Individually-wrapped licorice
Microwave popcorn
Ramen noodles
Macaroni & cheese
Olives, pickles, peppers
(lots of bubble wrap around these items)
Cereal bars
Microwave pasta that doesn't need refrigeration
Hot cocoa mix
Soup mix
M&M's
DVD's
Koozies to keep water bottles and cans cool.
Newspapers
Magazines
AA batteries
D batteries

Air freshener, stick-ups, Fabreeze
Holiday decorations
Holiday cards
Address book with names & addresses
Canned air to blow dust out of electronics
Stress relief squeeze balls
Sewing kit
Lysol wipes / wet wipes
Poker chips
Board games
Shoe laces for gym shoes and boots
Brown t-shirts
Boot socks
Underwear
Hand warmers
Inflatable seat cushions
Razors
Ink pens
Word Puzzle books
Icy/hot patches
Air activated heat wraps for sore muscles
Foot spa
Microwaveable plates and bowls, paper plates
Foot powder
Vitamins
Paperback books

These are links to help you put care packages together

http://www.iowanationalguard.com/PublicAffairs/Duty/CarePackageInfo.htm

http://www.anysoldier.com/WhatToSend.cfm

http://www.anysoldier.com/HowToSend.cfm

http://www.bragg.army.mil/18abn/sendingmail.htm

http://www.brandonblog.homestead.com/A_Soldiers_Blog_Care_Packages.html

http://www.treatsfortroops.com/

http://www.kansas.gov/ksadjutantgeneral/Library/Care%20packages%20for%20Military%20members.pdf

Setteling in

2007-02-03T15:37:00.001-08:00

Hey-
Things remain calm for the most part in our sector; nothing major has really happened, which is good. Last night the "fly boys" were having a good time; we heard multiple jets screaming overhead for quite a while. Not sure as to what they were up to, probably trying to suppress mortar teams, but they were certainly making a good display out of it. It would not have been a good idea to be out trying to do something stupid last night; apparently the threat of having a 2,000 lbs bomb dropped on your head is sufficient enough deterrent.
Small groups of Soldiers from the outgoing unit have already begun to leave; they're all ready to get out of here, and they're already making plans to have a beer when they get back together. They're all based out of Germany, so I'm sure they'll be having quite the celebration.
Went out on my first mission today; everything went as planned. The only minor hitch was when they realized they hadn't told the medics they were going to need one of us. So there I am, laying on my bunk reading, and a Lieutenant barges in my aid station; "Doc, we need to you roll out with us, time now," meaning that I was already late for a mission I didn't know about. Oh well; improvise, adapt and overcome. 5 minutes later I'm cramped in the back of a Bradley with my aid bag between my legs, my rifle hooked to my gear, and side arm on my thigh. I have come to realize that my 6' 1" frame is not designed for the Bradley. I barely fit without any gear, but with my helmet on I am forced to cock my head to the side the whole time. Not the most comfortable ride in the world, but 35+ tons of armor certainly makes up for it. We were doing a simple route recon; making sure nothing stupid was being done, and that there was nothing in the road that would go "boom." Not a bad way to start my trips "outside the wire." We've gotten good at preventing them from planting any bombs in/on/near the roads; seems like the current tactics are working well. My only views of the city today were through a tiny porthole-type window about the size of a 3x5 index card, though it doesn't take a panoramic view to tell that this is not a very nice city; trash, rubble and stagnant water are evident in every area of the city. Sanitation is apparently a foreign concept here.
Most of the outgoing Soldiers claim that 3rd ID have brought with us the plague, as nearly everyone has come down with some type of cough or sniffle. We're waiting on resupply for most of the OTC meds we've been giving out; hopefully they arrive with the next convoy in the next couple of days.
Speaking of arriving, we have started to get mail. This is much sooner than most of us have been expecting. We get supplies every 3rd day on our convoy which we call LogPak (logistical package), along with mail, meds, and water. Unloading the LogPak has now taken on a much greater interest.
We were down to two medics today (actually just one when I was out for my mission) as the others were out on 24 hour observation missions. These are generally scattered through the city, watching major roadways and preventing the placement of any ied's. Seems to be working, so we'll be doing a lot of these as we completely take over our sector.
We've only been here for just over a week, and already we're finding ways of combating the boredom. Several of us have taken to playing several games of dominos throughout the day, and usually after dinner as well. Plenty of people play ping pong, there's usually a poker game going on somewhere in the building, and there's always people watching movies. I've been going through our "library" of accumulated books and reading some of the more interesting ones. Most are obscure, though I did find Deception Point by Dan Brown, which was surprising. Also, when all of the medics are actually here, I'm usually teaching a class on something. Our "peripheral nervous systems" class had to be pushed back as we had two short-notice missions come up, both lasting 24 hours.
As the outgoing unit begins to leave, and we have a little more room to expand, we've begun to clean and improve our new home. Most of these improvements are funcional in specific, as there isn't much we can do to make this place more asthetically pleasing. The broken plaster, bullet holes and RPG craters do add a certain ambiance of their own, though. Still, I doubt this place would come close to a 5-star rating in the "real world," but we're just happy to have a solid roof and actual beds to sleep on. I believe plumbing is high on the order to be improved; working showers before the heat of summer hits is a good idea. We shall see...
Thanks for all the emails I've been getting. Its nice to have word from home; I usually check my email first thing in the morning, around 5:45-6:00am. Funny to think that I'm starting the next day as most of you are just ending the previous one.
Ok...back to the aid station for me; I'm sure someone needs something for the sniffles.

Miss you all very much!!!

medical scope

2007-02-03T15:36:00.001-08:00

Ya know how we always wondered just how much an Army medic is allowed to do without someone watching over their shoulder? Yeah, well I've got a pretty good idea now. Granted, nothing much has happened, but my company is out on our own base, and the only medical providers are the other three medics and myself. We got a little visit from our PA the other day, and he was pretty impressed with the way things look; we've got a nice little aid station set up, with a good stock of supplies, including drugs from NSAID's to narcs, creams to antibiotics. Dude, we've pretty much got carte blanche out here. He said whatever we need to do to keep our guys alive and healthy, do it. He just wants us to check in if we think we need to prescribe antibiotics, in case it needs a follow up, though I'm pretty sure after a month or so, he'll tell us to stop buggin him and do whatever we've been doing. I've got surgical cric kits, my intubation roll, suture kits and Histo-freeze for wart/cyst removal. This is true rogue medicine! Most of the stuff the outgoing medics have done (and us to some extent) would put people in jail back home!!! The nice thing is that if we can't handle it, two minutes down the road we've got an air-evac set up on another base with at least one MD/DO. I think you'd dig it, man!
I've been teaching a lot of classes to the infantry guys, making sure they know how to treat their buddies if I'm not right there immediately. Even these guys know needle decompressions and IV's! Of course, the basic medic can do surgical crics, so everyone is able to do more than their civilian counterparts. I've also been giving a lot of classes to the other medics in my company; tonight we're starting the autonomic nervous system including sympathetic and parasympathetic responses. In the last week, these guys have learned almost every drug in our cabinet by heart. Pharm 101 took on a whole new importance once we got here.
You asked if there was anything you could send; if possible, if you could get your hands on some filter needles and send them my way, I'd be greatful! We've got a lot of meds in break-neck vials, but no filter needles; we've been able to get around that by just giving it IM. Not the greatest solution, but it works; improvise, adapt and overcome.
So whats new with you? Last time we talked I was still in Kuwait, and Freya had just recovered from being spayed. How's Christine? Getting excited for October? You've gone back to school, right? How's that going? Let me know how things are going for you back in Iowa. Got an update from my folks this morning; apparently its rather Arctic-like...can't say I miss that, though I do miss the snow.
Anyway, its time for chow, so I should go.

Hope all is well!!
Talk soon,

Troy

Home sweet hole

2007-02-03T15:35:00.002-08:00

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Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:46:11 -0800 (PST)
From: "Troy Ruffin" View Contact Details Add Mobile Alert
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Subject: Home sweet...hole
To: "Brandewy" , "Kelly Calhoun" , "Colvin" , "Nicole Crocker" , "Cheyenne Cudddeback" , "Gregg Duethman" , "Tammy Gibb" , "John Halbrook" , "Bryan Humphreys" , "Sarah Hurt" , "Sara Knecht" , "Dennis Knowling" , "Erica Knowling" , "Maureen Knowling" , "Rick Knowling" , "Cami Kos" , "Kristen Lindholm" , "Luci" , "Jill Miksch" , "Dan Paulsen" , "Sigrid Pelton" , "Pam Persons" , "Sean Persons" , "Amy Rath" , "Caitlin M Ruffin" , "Deb Ruffin" , "Erin Ruffin" , "Tim Ruffin" , "Nichole Sallee" , "Kathryn Schoel" , "Elizabeth Shehorn" , "Jane Smalley" , "Kayla Sondrol" , "Christy Stutzman" , "Andrea Thrapp" , "Carrie Tope" , "Roy Werner"
Hey everybody,
Finally made it to our new base in Iraq. I got bumped from a flight twice, then we finally got a flight with 3 hours notice. We left Kuwait around 1030 on the 23rd, and landed in Iraq just after noon, so it wasn't a long flight...just uncomfortable. We were crammed into a C-130 with all of our gear. Not exactly a 1st-class ride. I had just dozed off when I woke up in near zero-gravity; we were starting our descent into Iraq, and the pilots were doing a "combat landing." Basically, its diving for the deck, with an occasional cork-screw just to spice things up. Its supposed to make it harder to shoot at the plane since they're always changing directions, all it did was make some kid sick in the back.
After getting on the ground, we had a couple hours to kill before we caught a helicopter out to a base close to our little "fire base." Once there we were given a little chow, and hung out until we finally packed into Bradleys to get here...our new little home. Theres one main building here that could be either an old hotel or maybe a barracks; doesn't resemble it too much any more with the sandbags, the wire, and the holes in the walls. Since the unit we're replacing is still here, things are, and will remain, a little cramped for a couple weeks. These guys are so happy to see us right now, as I'm sure we will be in about a years time.
The other three medics and I will end up bunking in our aid station, which is a lot nicer than we were expecting. They have it stocked pretty well, and have divided the room with a set of lockers; front half for patient care, back half for us to live. We've got two sets of bunk beds, which means space is going to be very tight for the next year. For the first time in almost 2 weeks, I slept on an actual bed last night; since Kuwait we've only had those old canvas cots. Hopefully once our predecessors move out, we'll be able to spread out a little bit. Besides the aid station, things are pretty rough. There's two shower heads that "work" enough to dribble water on you, though its debateable if you're cleaner before or after the shower because of the questionable water supply. Drinking the water is way out of the question; everything is done with bottled water. Outside the compound there is standing water everywhere, and trash just thrown about. There are a couple windows on one of the upper floors that we can take quick peeks from; pretty much a ghetto. It reminds me a lot of a bad town in Mexico; don't drink the water, don't eat the food, watch out for standing water, and walk around the trash...except there's not too many people shooting at you in Mexico. So far there has been no hostile actions here since we've arrived...we're hoping to keep it that was for as long as possible. The head medic that we're replacing has been a great source of information; we were up last night till after 1am picking his brain and trying to get the most out of his experience. We've got a couple weeks to learn from him, but there were so many questions we wanted to ask. Sounds like they've got a really good operation set up, and hopefully the transfer will go very smooth.
Chow here is ok...its prepared by Army cooks, which isn't the best, but at least its edible, and we know its clean. I have a feeling that we'll all end up loosing a little weight, though.
I need to get back to the aid station; wanted to let you all know that I'm here, we're all safe, and that I actually have a roof over my head. I'll email again soon with a little more info.

Love you guys,
Troy

Moving Soon

2007-02-03T15:35:00.001-08:00

Hi Everybody,
Wanted to let you guys know that I'll be moving north very soon, and we're not sure what kind of facilities they'll have there. For the first couple of days we should be ok, as we'll be at an Air Base before we head to our soon-to-be-home. The only problem with us moving is that they're not sure how they're going to fit that many Soldiers on our FOB. Its only designed for a battalion (about 1,000 Soldiers), but my battalion is taking over for the one there...1+1=2,000 troops. Things are gonna be cramped for a little bit.
Was medical coverage for our last range today. Some of the Bradley's still hadn't zero'd their big guns, and had to do that before we could leave. I got to experience our first sand storm. Its not as much fun as one would think. It wasn't nearly as bad as the ones they have up north, as we could still see about 100 meters the whole time. It probably wouldn't have been so bad, except the Humvee I was in, had a broken door...the one I was sitting next to. Instead of latching, they had to bungee cord the thing closed. "A" for effort...but the result was somewhat less than perfect. Oh well...just another story in an already growing list.
I'll email again as soon as I get the opportunity.
Thanks for the emails from back home!

Love you g

Operation Package

2007-02-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

All,

As per a conversation with Maj Halbrook, I would like to start Operation Package. Operation Package would "Adopt" Troy Ruffin's Platoon or Company for the duration of their say in Iraq.

This would include letters from home, goodies, things like that.

I would also like to have CAP pick up the postage. I do not know costs, regs, or anything like that yet, but I will know more by the end of the day.

Other problems is that Ruffin needs to get us on the OK list to get packages.

Thoughts??

Jimmy

1-19-2007

2007-02-03T15:33:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,
Things remain much the same as before; more ranges, classes, and attempting to scrounge medical supplies. They say we'll get a bunch when we get north, but i still didn't want to go empty-handed. Made some friends down at the clinic here on base, and they're hooking us up with some of the basics, kerlix, tourniquets, motrin...nothing too outrageous, but its a start.
Biggest news of the day is that we finally got our address for where we'll be in Iraq (I'll post that at the bottom.) Everyone was happy to see that on the board this afternoon.
Been teaching some medical classes to the infantry guys; for some its like trying to train a rock, but for most of them they're taking to it quite well. They're all eager to learn, especially when they know its for their buddies that are to their left and right. Afterwards, they reciprocated by teaching me all about the heavier machine guns that they carry. Interesting quid pro quo.
Some of our unit has already begun shipping north; the first flight left this afternoon, so it shouldn't be more than a couple days and we'll be joining them. I'm sure we'll be a sight for sore eyes to the unit we're replacing; they've been deployed for 15 months, the last 9 where we are headed. Rumors continue to fly about us getting extended, but since we've been over here not even a week, I'll keep thinking good thoughts that it'll just be a standard 12 month-tour. The big question is regarding the troop-surge, and what that will do to the rotation as far as relief. I think they said the unit that was supposed to replace us will be over here around June/July, and that their scheduled replacement will be right behind them. Who knows...nothing to do but keep driving on.
Not much else to report; our train-up is about done, so we'll have a couple easy days over the weekend before we hop on the northbound C-130 and set up shop for a year. I'm actually looking forward to leaving this camp because I'm tired of living out of my duffle bags...my "great bag of convenience." Its anything but "convenient" because you can never find what you need, and end up burying whatever it is you're looking for. It'll be nice to have a semi-permanent "home" to live out of.

My address is:

PFC Ruffin, Troy
Bravo Co, 3d Plt, 2-7 INF
Unit # 73431
Camp Hit
APO AE 09333-3431

Hit is actually the area we'll be in, but its pronounced "heat." We've been told mail takes about a week to 10 days from the states, which isn't bad considering the miles it has to travel, and all the hands it passes through. Mail in general will be greatly appreciated, and I'll do my best to respond, though it may have to come in the form of an email. We'll see what life is like, along with the facilities we'll have on our FOB (forward operating base.)

Some of you have asked if I'll get to come home at all while I'm here. I'll have 2 weeks R & R, rest and relaxation. Right now I've put in for the 2d and 3d week of October, so it'll be a while. John, I've heard good things about getting what we've requested, so I'm staying hopeful about being there for the wedding.

That's about all for now. Thanks for the emails, the thoughts and prayers and continued support.

I'll email again before we head north.

Love you guys,
Troy

Greetings from Kuwait

2007-02-03T15:32:00.002-08:00

Hey Everybody!!
Finally got access to a computer and wanted to let you all know how I'm doing, and where in the world I am. Since Sunday around 3:30pm local time (which is 8 hours ahead of Eastern) I've been in Kuwait. Before we left the States, I got put on baggage detail, which means I got to load everybodies gear into the belly of the plane. The nice part about that, was that I got a seat in business class which made the flights a whole lot better. We flew out of Savannah, GA at around 4:30pm EST to Liepzig, Germany, which was right around 8 hours of flying time. I've flown a lot, and its been a long time since a landing made me nervous! We kinda came down on one wheel, bounced, and then came down like we were supposed to. I'm counting that as two landings! My buddy Andy (another medic in my unit) said that was the first time he's landed in a plane in almost 4 years; he was in the airborne, so he always left the plane before they landed. In Germany I took an Ambien...great drug!!! I was out before we even moved, and the next thing I know we're descending into Kuwait City!
We drove for about 2 hours to Camp Buehring, which is where I am now. Kuwait is much like you would expect a desert to be, flat, brown and devoid of any features. There's nothing out here! We literaly drove by nothing for 2 hours. The camp is big, as its the main entry point into Iraq for all military members. They actually have more restaurants than we did back on Ft. Stewart! My first meal in Kuwait...Chinese food. Go figure.
We've been doing a lot of good training here; classes on intel gathering, cultural awareness, to IED recognition classes Today we did some medical labs, and roll-over drills (in the event our driver decides to roll a Humvee). Dates are still up in the air as far as when we actually head north, but we should be here at least another 5 days or so.
Its actually been chilly here; I've been wearing my Gortex jacket every morning. At night its actually cold, especially with the constant wind. Its probably in the 30's at night, maybe low 40's when we wake up. Yesterday it rained all day, from before dawn to well after dusk. The whole camp has been turned into a quagmire, but things are slowly starting to dry out; however, there is still standing water in many places. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that we went to the firing "range" yesterday, in the rain, the cold, and the muck. I put range in quotes as it was just a couple of targets stuck into the ground, not a whole lot of planning went into this. No backdrop, no berm to fire into...but since there's nothing there for as far as the I can see, we didn't have to worry much. I got my M-4 zero'd well; most of the infantry guys thought I wouldn't be able to shoot well at all, and I ended up out-shooting most of them. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have 20 years of experience, either. I spent last night cleaning my weapons, since they ended up with sand/muck all over them. I've been given an M-4, which looks like a shorter M-16; it works well for me since I'll be getting in and out of vehicles a lot.
Everyone's spirits are pretty high, especially since we're living in relative luxery for our time here. Trying to "live it up" before we have to move North where we won't have anything like this. From what we've been told, we're moving into a rather spartan base. We won't even have port-o-pottys; like in the movie "Jarhead" we'll be burning everything instead. I'm lucky, though; medics aren't allowed to perform care for 48 hours afterwards, which basically exempts us entirely from that joyful little job. I'm not complaining.
I'm living in a giant tent with half of the infantry company I'm attached to, so I'm getting to know some of the guys. The sergeant in charge of our platoon has done a great job taking me under his wing and letting me know how things run. He's happy he got me as a medic, and I'm happy he's my platoon sergeant, so things are going to work out just fine. The guys are great; crazy, just like most infantrymen, but they're a great group of guys.
I don't have an APO address yet, but should get it before we move North. I'll make sure to get that out to you.
Gotta go...time for chow.

Love you guys!
Troy

EFMB babby

2007-02-03T15:32:00.001-08:00

Hey Guys,
Just wanted to share a couple pictures with you, let you know what it was that I was after these past two weeks. I successfully completed the course; I was one of 25 that made it, and we started with 178. Not too bad.
I'll write more later, but as for now I'm going to shower and finally climb into bed. I've only been up since 2am this morning.
Hope all is well
Talk to you later,
Troy

Troy departs soon

2007-02-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,
Thought I'd share some pictures with you. These were taken at the formal party for the infantry company I'm attached to as a medic. It was in Savannah at a microbrewery, hence the drinks in most people's hands. The food was good, and it was an open bar which kept everyone in "cheerful spirits." The uniform we're in isn't the standard "Class A" uniform; the shirt is white instead of green, and the bowtie instead of the necktie. My roommate had difficulties keeping his bowtie from listing, as is obvious in some of the pictures. It worked out, though, because most people were listing by the end of the evening, so I'm sure his tie looked just fine.
The second pic is 3 of the 4 medics attached to Bravo Company, 2-7 Infantry Battalion. The 4th wasn't there because his wife was due with their child any day. The Soldier on the left is my boss, Corporal Goeman; my roommate is on the right (with the crazy tie) Specialist Harding. For those of you with a keen eye, Goeman is still wearing Specialist rank; he was promoted about a week after this event.
Pic 3 is the Company Commander, Captain Fitch with the three of us. He's in charge of everyone in Bravo Co., around 150 Soldiers.
The last one is me and Harding with our Battalion Commander, Lt. Col. Chrisman. He's the boss of approx. 1,000 Soldiers that make up 2-7 Infantry Battalion.

The Soldiers at this event are those with whom I will be running missions in Iraq. All three of us were treated quite well during the party, and more than a couple drinks were shared that evening.

Things continue to be finalized down here in Georgia as we prepare for our departure next week. Only a few issues remain, and they will all be taken care of by Friday. All of our gear that remains will be packed and ready to load before the weekend; after that its just a waiting game until we draw our weapons, load the bus to the air field in Savannah, and board the plane for a long, long flight to Kuwait. I plan on giving myself a hefty dose of benadryl to make the flight as short as possible. Better living through chemistry!

I'll do my best to send updates after we get overseas. I'm going to a base that hasn't been "modernized" as much as the larger ones, but they promise we'll have access to the internet...we'll see.

Happy New Years!!!