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Published: November 9th 2006
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Waiting in Kuwait
I'm in the middle Greeting From the Sandbox,
Our battalion has arrived in Iraq about two weeks ago. At first things were pretty slow, but the last several days have been very busy. It’s good to be busy though. The company that my Scout team is working for is using us right, and I feel like we are going to be able to make a difference in their area of operation. We are mostly working to keep our company informed and safe. That type of mission brings with it a certain amount of satisfaction.
The scouts were billeted in 30 man tents temporarily at first, but unfortunately temporary has turned to semi permanent. Some of the guys have strung up ponchos and blankets to get some tiny amount of privacy. It’s like a shanty town. Almost all of the rest of the battalion is in permanent housing. It’s a little frustrating.
There’s always a little animosity between people who go outside the wire and people who rarely leave the FOB (fobbits). Often fobbits will treat you like you’re inconveniencing them when you go to them for some service. The other day, so of out soldiers were trying to install new armor on our vehicle. As they fumbled with mechanic’s work, several mechanics were busy playing football nearby. One mechanic was supervising because he was obligated. With something as important as protective armor, you would think they would be more helpful. Sorry, I’m venting. The truth is, while we all envy the benefits the fobbits have, none of us would trade places with them. I would feel ashamed.
This FOB has a huge junk yard on it that the Army is not allowed to get rid of. Some important Iraqi businessman says that it is vital to some infrastructure in the area, so were stuck with it. I’ve never lived in such an ugly place, but being a kid at heart, I went exploring. Actually, many of us did. You’d be surprised what useful things you can find in a junk yard when you’re living in a tent. We’ve found old explosive crates to store our gear. The crown jewel is a table Dustin and I found. It’s a 6 foot folding table like you would find in a cafeteria. It’s a little warped and broken, but it stands and supports our laptops. It serves as the dividing line between our two “rooms.” It has also been commandeered as the Recon Team Two Planning Area. We can it the “War Room.”
It’s too bad I can’t talk more about missions, but most of that would be hard to explain anyway. What I can talk about is the funny stuff. Our battalion area is really muddy and wet (at least what I’ve seen). One of our guys, Jesse, really struggles with keeping his footing. Unfortunately, he is also the guy carrying the radio. Radios have really come a long way, but they are still heavy and hard to carry. We caught a ride with the company that we support yesterday, and they have this high view of scouts. For most of you who haven’t had the opportunity to learn about this type of thing, the scout platoon is made up of the best infantrymen in the battalion. Basically, it’s the best 30 guys out of 800; so there’s a bit of a reputation when you’re around the other companies. They generally look up to you because they’re taking you somewhere to do some mission that they don’t know about or understand. They’re just told, “Hey, take these scouts to this spot,” or “Go get the scouts from here.” The best is when they’re on guard duty. We’ll call them on the radio and tell them we’re approaching and they can’t even see or hear you yet, then they say, “Hey, where the heck did you come from?” Of course, we do everything we can to propagate this reputation. When we show up for a mission, we don’t talk much, and we look really serious. All that brings me up to a mission we had recently, we had caught a ride with the unit we work for. We were looking all serious and quiet. Then Jesse got out of their vehicle. He took two steps in the mud and completely ate it right in front of them. We all laughed our butts off. It’s hard to maintain a reputation as a steely-eyed killer when you can’t take three steps without falling. In his defense, we have all fallen out there. In fact, a few days ago both my feet slipped out from underneath me, and I went completely horizontal before I hit the ground. Now who said war wasn’t fun.
I really want to share some of my reflections on my bible studies while I'm here with you. I don't think that I really have anything new or brilliant to say, but I have been seeing things a little differently since I've been here. One thing that really struck me when I was in a chapel service recently was that Jesus was deployed, too. It's really hard to be deployed. You live in substandard housing. You're isolated from the home and family you love. You have no freedom - at all. No privacy, etc. Jesus suffered all of those things. I really look up to the WWII Vets, The Greatest Generation. They were away from home for four years or more. Well, Jesus was deployed for 33 years. He was isolated from his home and family. He lived in a hovel compared to his heavenly mansion. He suffered far more that any modern soldier. He fought Satan everyday of his life, so that He could adopt me into his family. When you think about it, we are deployed, too. Our citizenship is in heaven, if we have accepted Jesus as the Lord of our life. This world is a hardship duty station. It is temporary. Live today know that your true life and future is in heaven, and do all you can to help other gain their "citizenship" as well.
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Franco
Franklin H
Thanks for sharing your account there, most of all for what you're doing for our Country. My deepest gratitude to all of you, even the fobbits. :-}