Well, the last two weeks have brought little in the way of mission accomplishment and lots in the form of little frustrations. Seems like every step forward is up hill and accompanied by two steps back.
As you can see, since the last time I was on here has been a couple weeks +. Since then, I have moved two times and am expecting a third move. Addresses are in flux and internet connectivity is sporadic and restricted. When I do have internet, the firewalls are always blocking the places I would want to get to... (Face-book, this blog, and G-mail specifically).
Since I last blogged, I have met Major General Mills and written about 46 pages of reports, taken a Physical Fitness test and exercised more in the last few weeks than in a long time. The pull-up challenge had to stop because some of the places we were waiting for movement to didn't have the bar... but I am now running again and getting faster each and every time.
Thank you all so very much for your prayer and support. I really appreciate them and your patience. I am now going back through my e-mail in-box and will be doing my best to reply to your e-mail. At this point I also have a .mil account, but don't have that address on this computer... Colleen, when you read this, please post that address on here if I don't beat you to it.
The camp I am on now is a polar opposite to the little Police station I was living at in Ramadi! Yeah, can you believe it, I was actually out in the city of Ramadi, one of the most violent cities in Iraq over the last few years. Well, the Iraqi Police have really cleaned that place up and quelled most of the violence. They still have their incidents, but so does every other city. Although we were really safe there, we were constantly vigilant.
The stuff we did there. Man. Daily I wished I could write about it and really tell the stories. Some of the stuff we did there still blow my mind.
Remember on 3 November when I thanked you for your prayers? Yeah, this picture tells a little of that story: (I will post it when the internet cooperates... but at least I have the text up, right?)
That is a bullet-hole in the ceiling of the hooch right next to ours. When the bullet came in through the roof, it was about 12 feet from where I was sitting. Sgt Garrett was on Camp Ramadi, but he would have likely been about the same distance from it had he been there. Apart from a little ventilation in the roof, the bullet caused no other known damage. We are assessing it was celebratory fire, based on the near vertical trajectory of the round. Where we are now, that type of incident is more likely to happen in the states than here (so no worries!).
We got to go to each of the 5 Precinct Headquarters and work with the IP's there. (I will post a pic or two from those adventures as well). We made those trips out into the city 2-5 times a week and any time we left the wire was a good opportunity for positive interaction.
We had to stay sharp on our skills, so monthly we went to ranges, got to send some rounds down range and review our standard operating procedures.
Iraqi police had negligent discharges of their AK's about 3-4 times a week. We had to re-review how to handle their weapons safely.
We worked directly with the IPs in the handling of their detainees and probably helped to prevent countless abuses.
We made a difference out there in that city and in the lives of those we worked with. In the words of our 1stSgt, we worked ourselves out of a job.
I will write more later...
Semper Fi,
m
As you can see, since the last time I was on here has been a couple weeks +. Since then, I have moved two times and am expecting a third move. Addresses are in flux and internet connectivity is sporadic and restricted. When I do have internet, the firewalls are always blocking the places I would want to get to... (Face-book, this blog, and G-mail specifically).
Since I last blogged, I have met Major General Mills and written about 46 pages of reports, taken a Physical Fitness test and exercised more in the last few weeks than in a long time. The pull-up challenge had to stop because some of the places we were waiting for movement to didn't have the bar... but I am now running again and getting faster each and every time.
Thank you all so very much for your prayer and support. I really appreciate them and your patience. I am now going back through my e-mail in-box and will be doing my best to reply to your e-mail. At this point I also have a .mil account, but don't have that address on this computer... Colleen, when you read this, please post that address on here if I don't beat you to it.
The camp I am on now is a polar opposite to the little Police station I was living at in Ramadi! Yeah, can you believe it, I was actually out in the city of Ramadi, one of the most violent cities in Iraq over the last few years. Well, the Iraqi Police have really cleaned that place up and quelled most of the violence. They still have their incidents, but so does every other city. Although we were really safe there, we were constantly vigilant.
The stuff we did there. Man. Daily I wished I could write about it and really tell the stories. Some of the stuff we did there still blow my mind.
Remember on 3 November when I thanked you for your prayers? Yeah, this picture tells a little of that story: (I will post it when the internet cooperates... but at least I have the text up, right?)
That is a bullet-hole in the ceiling of the hooch right next to ours. When the bullet came in through the roof, it was about 12 feet from where I was sitting. Sgt Garrett was on Camp Ramadi, but he would have likely been about the same distance from it had he been there. Apart from a little ventilation in the roof, the bullet caused no other known damage. We are assessing it was celebratory fire, based on the near vertical trajectory of the round. Where we are now, that type of incident is more likely to happen in the states than here (so no worries!).
We got to go to each of the 5 Precinct Headquarters and work with the IP's there. (I will post a pic or two from those adventures as well). We made those trips out into the city 2-5 times a week and any time we left the wire was a good opportunity for positive interaction.
We had to stay sharp on our skills, so monthly we went to ranges, got to send some rounds down range and review our standard operating procedures.
Iraqi police had negligent discharges of their AK's about 3-4 times a week. We had to re-review how to handle their weapons safely.
We worked directly with the IPs in the handling of their detainees and probably helped to prevent countless abuses.
We made a difference out there in that city and in the lives of those we worked with. In the words of our 1stSgt, we worked ourselves out of a job.
I will write more later...
Semper Fi,
m
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