E-MAIL FROM IRAQ

[mattys281]

Got this note from my little brother today. He's a combat engineer in the army & is now doing his second tour in Iraq on a route-clearing assignment. I don't believe anything he woud send to us is classified, but just in case I blanked out all the location names. The rest is as reported from the kitty-box:

 

Well I have finally arrived at FOB xxxx about 5 days ago, and this will

be my final destination for the immediate future. Because of the

maintance requirements of route clearance vehicle we have to stay at a FOB

where we have the proper logistical support as oppose to the rest of the

task force that is living out of COP's in xxxxxx. We still will be

clearing routes through xxxxxx but will stay libing here and just drive

down, it is about 30 miles or so. It does mean that we have to clear all

the way down there though and it makes our routes rather long and on

average it takes anywhere from 8 to 20 hours to do a route depending on

how much stuff we find. The up side though is this is huge FOB with a

bigger PX then Baumholder, a pizza hut, subway, Greenbeans coffe,

cinabun, a whole haji flea market, a pool, 3 DFAC's, and about the same

amount of gyms. Internet cafe's are everywhere but we can have it hooked up

to our rooms once we move into our permanent

barracks which we are still building.

As for xxxxxx itself it is a (poo) hole! We have started our right seat

rides as soon as we arrived and were attacked the second day out. An EFP

was fired through the wall they are building and shot right over the

vehicle in front of my vehicle hood. We then found a second that we shot

apart with a 50 cal. After destroyinng their second EFP they decided to

shoot a couple RPG's and AK's at us from some bombed out buildings. We

returned fire with our 50's and out tank support leveled like three

buildings with their 120mm's. I do not know if we got them but they

stopped shooting! We got hit again today with 2 more EFP's and they damaged

2 huskies but in bothe incidences no one was hurt. We have all been put

in for Combat Action Badges already and only been here less then a

week! IMy time is up and I have to go but I will keep you all informed!

 

[Coues Sniper]

Your little bro is a hero man . God bless him and all our troops.

[tjhunt2]

Thanks for sharing. We sometimes forget that there is bigger problems than our hunting rights being changed. We are all blessed and should thank our lucky lives we have the likes of your brother and all the other armed men and women in our armed forces protecting what some just take for granite. Thanks for sharing and God Bless your brother, his safe return, and this great country of ours.

 

TJ

 

 

[azpackhorse]

mattys281,

 

A big thank you to your little bro, may God see him home safely. This really hits home for me as my youngest son is about to inlist.

[bobbyo]

Matty thanks for sharing this. I feel it is real important to hear from the hero's who are doing the real work. This also saddens me that the resistance they face is still so strong. Why arn't the Iraqi's patroling their own roads?

[25-06]

Hey Matty, Tell your bro that he has our support and prayers from all of us here at CWT.

[KGAINES]

God Bless your brother Matty, my prayers are with him and all our troops.

[Redman]

Thanks for sharing,

 

Puts things in perspective.

 

It's funny how complacent we humans can be and how resilient we can be at the same time.

 

Here I sit on my leather couch, watching TV and surfing on my laptop, while your little brother is at war.

 

I will think about him before I bitch tomorrow at work.....

 

Redman

[mattys281]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I've had a real bad feeling in my gut since I found out he was headin back over & getting this in my in-box didn't help any. I've never served myself, but my little bro here is a lifer in the Army & my older bro is a lifer in the Corp. The older has been to Kuwait & Afghanistan already, & this is the youngers second trip to Iraq, plus he did a stint in Kuwait. I believe in starting what you finish and think it would be irresponsible to withdraw all our troops when the Iraqi gov. & military are still too unstable to deal with their own problems, but on the other hand I feel like my brothers have already done their share & want them home. Conflicted. I've always found it amazing how you can take U.S. soldiers & dump them in the worst places on the planet, yet when you read their letters & see the pics, you still see smiles & read up-beat words. My older bro came back with a truckload of funny stories from Afghanistan, including pictures of a bunch of Marines out golfing on their "course" they built in the bomb-dump. Standing on the rim of an impact crater (or the tee-box, as they called it) & driving for the the hole, which was really an empty oil can they burried in the sand a couple hundred yards away. Guess at least they didn't have to worry about the greens being too choppy, since there wasn't any greens anyway. Carrying on like that when just a day or two before they were hunkered down in bunkers while they took mortar fire.... amazing. Of course, my older bro is one of those types that can find a way too have fun no matter where he is, & based on the collection of jarheads he's brought home over the years, it's safe to assume he's not the only Marine with that personality.

[Rembrant]

I also pray for these brave men's safety, every day, every time I think of them throughout the day, and I think of them a lot. My third son is in Afganistan.

I meet with his wife for lunch on a regular basis. she was asking me if continual prayer is effective when God knows the beginning and the end of all things, if fate is already decided, and what if our selfish prayers may be against what God's will is. She wonders, if God knows what we want/need the first time we ask, are we bothering Him by continually asking for the same thing?

These are the kinds of questions that a person under pressure asks. This is a person pressing into the core of her very being and into her relationship with God because of the love for her husband.

For anyone who may want to, read:

Luke 11: 5-9

Luke 18: 1-3

John 14: 13-14

2 Corinthians 7: 9-10

I like the "Message" version alot.

I don't know why a God that created all things would give boneheads like me the time of day, but He seems to want to talk with us alot.

May God bless all those wonderful brave men!

Mike

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

Your little bro is a hero man . God bless him and all our troops.

 

 

+1

 

Your family and many families like yours are what make this Country Great!! God Bless....