Monday, April 25, 2005
First Hand From Iraq
Heard from my Friend Jared in Iraq again. Here is his email, and I have added some emphasis.
Hello again from Mosul Iraq! I pray all is well with you and your families. Things are going well here in Mosul. Insurgent attacks are at an all time low. It feels good to look back at the trends of the past three months and see such a large change for the good. When we first arrived, the Mosul area had an average of 14 improvised explosive devices (ied's) detonate per day, 19 small arms fire (getting shot at) per day, and 6 car bombs per day. Now we are seeing numbers like 3 ied's, 4 small arms fire, and 3 car bombs per day. However, you don't really need the numbers to tell us this...as we roll to an ied site that has not exploded, we will pull up and locals will come up to tell us exactly where it is, when it was placed, and the type of vehicle that the people were driving. The local "tip hotline" is always ringing. The local people know that the Americans are here to help. 95% of the insurgents are not from Iraq but from other countries.
The other day, we responded to an ied call in a nice part of town. As we rolled up, the locals were out on the street. Their local "neighborhood leader" came up to us and told us that a car had pulled up to this empty lot, a man got out with a large burlap bag and placed it in the empty lot and then left. This information had come from several neighbors who reported it to the leader who then called the tip line. We sent a robot down to investigate the bag and determined that it had a remote control detonator on it. We informed the leader that we would have to blow up the device as it was not safe to transport. We informed the leader to tell the neighbors to evacuate the block, just in case there were some other explosives in the area that detonated and to open as many windows as possible (to keep the shock wave from shattering the windows). After all the people were evacuated, we
placed a charge on the device and set it off.
The explosive device had been filled with high explosives and it did shatter a few windows, however the way that we set the explosives, minimized the damage and no housed had any structural damage. After we blew the device, the neighborhood leader invited me and a few guys into his home to have tea. I'm not a tea drinker, but in the name of international relations I did have a small cup. As we left the neighborhood, there were approximately 100 neighbors outside of their doors waving at us and thanking us for keeping them safe.
1st Platoon is getting the rumors that we will be heading to FOB Sykes which is outside of the city of Tal Afar. Tal Afar is a city about 1/4 the size of Mosul (it is about 60 km west of Mosul). As many of the insurgents are coming through Syria, Tal Afar is the first major city in Iraq. The units that are at FOB Sykes are having some difficulties containing the insurgents and the local people live in fear from the insurgents. Right now we are not sure of the exact mission that we will be doing but I'm sure that it will be exciting. FOB Sykes is out in country and has a lot of open space. My address will still be the same as it is now so if you get a chance, please drop me a line to tell me how you are doing.
The guys of 1st Platoon are doing well. It is good to see the older sergeants taking the younger troops and teaching them. Yesterday, I walked around and found one sergeant teaching a private how to take apart and clean a 50 caliber machine gun. In the motor pool, a squad leader (staff sergeant) was teaching his squad about the engine in an armored HMMWV (humvee). It makes me proud to see the way they take care of each other and others. Last night a convoy was leaving at about 11:00 and although none of our guys were on the convoy, when a call came out for someone who knew about radios and how to get all of them in sync, two of my guys got up and went out to help them. The guys are truly working together as a team and go out of their way to help other people.
Right now our schedule has been three days of primary Task Force IED where we respond to about 3-5 calls per day. We then go on secondary for three days. This is when we work on our vehicles and weapons. We still get approximately 1-2 calls per day but it is not as hectic.Two nights ago we responded to the largest weapon cache we had seen since we got here. There were approximately 300 land mines, 1000 hand grenades, and 100 rockets. It was good to know that we got that many enemy weapons off of the streets.
I want to thank each of you for your prayers, e-mails, letters, and packages. God has truly blessed me with such a wonderful family and friends. There are few things that I or the guys enjoy more than mail of any kind. Continue to keep us in your prayers and remember 2 Timothy 2:3, "Endure hardships with us like a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
For God and Country, Jared
And while we are basking in military glory, check out this post from Allthings2all concerning the memorial for the Battle of Galipoli. The life cost of that battle, particularly to the Australians and New Zealanders was enormous. In addition to Catez' New Zealand take ont he matter, Scotwise gives us an Aussie view. They were, and are our allies. We too should honor their sacrifice.
Hello again from Mosul Iraq! I pray all is well with you and your families. Things are going well here in Mosul. Insurgent attacks are at an all time low. It feels good to look back at the trends of the past three months and see such a large change for the good. When we first arrived, the Mosul area had an average of 14 improvised explosive devices (ied's) detonate per day, 19 small arms fire (getting shot at) per day, and 6 car bombs per day. Now we are seeing numbers like 3 ied's, 4 small arms fire, and 3 car bombs per day. However, you don't really need the numbers to tell us this...as we roll to an ied site that has not exploded, we will pull up and locals will come up to tell us exactly where it is, when it was placed, and the type of vehicle that the people were driving. The local "tip hotline" is always ringing. The local people know that the Americans are here to help. 95% of the insurgents are not from Iraq but from other countries.
The other day, we responded to an ied call in a nice part of town. As we rolled up, the locals were out on the street. Their local "neighborhood leader" came up to us and told us that a car had pulled up to this empty lot, a man got out with a large burlap bag and placed it in the empty lot and then left. This information had come from several neighbors who reported it to the leader who then called the tip line. We sent a robot down to investigate the bag and determined that it had a remote control detonator on it. We informed the leader that we would have to blow up the device as it was not safe to transport. We informed the leader to tell the neighbors to evacuate the block, just in case there were some other explosives in the area that detonated and to open as many windows as possible (to keep the shock wave from shattering the windows). After all the people were evacuated, we
placed a charge on the device and set it off.
The explosive device had been filled with high explosives and it did shatter a few windows, however the way that we set the explosives, minimized the damage and no housed had any structural damage. After we blew the device, the neighborhood leader invited me and a few guys into his home to have tea. I'm not a tea drinker, but in the name of international relations I did have a small cup. As we left the neighborhood, there were approximately 100 neighbors outside of their doors waving at us and thanking us for keeping them safe.
1st Platoon is getting the rumors that we will be heading to FOB Sykes which is outside of the city of Tal Afar. Tal Afar is a city about 1/4 the size of Mosul (it is about 60 km west of Mosul). As many of the insurgents are coming through Syria, Tal Afar is the first major city in Iraq. The units that are at FOB Sykes are having some difficulties containing the insurgents and the local people live in fear from the insurgents. Right now we are not sure of the exact mission that we will be doing but I'm sure that it will be exciting. FOB Sykes is out in country and has a lot of open space. My address will still be the same as it is now so if you get a chance, please drop me a line to tell me how you are doing.
The guys of 1st Platoon are doing well. It is good to see the older sergeants taking the younger troops and teaching them. Yesterday, I walked around and found one sergeant teaching a private how to take apart and clean a 50 caliber machine gun. In the motor pool, a squad leader (staff sergeant) was teaching his squad about the engine in an armored HMMWV (humvee). It makes me proud to see the way they take care of each other and others. Last night a convoy was leaving at about 11:00 and although none of our guys were on the convoy, when a call came out for someone who knew about radios and how to get all of them in sync, two of my guys got up and went out to help them. The guys are truly working together as a team and go out of their way to help other people.
Right now our schedule has been three days of primary Task Force IED where we respond to about 3-5 calls per day. We then go on secondary for three days. This is when we work on our vehicles and weapons. We still get approximately 1-2 calls per day but it is not as hectic.Two nights ago we responded to the largest weapon cache we had seen since we got here. There were approximately 300 land mines, 1000 hand grenades, and 100 rockets. It was good to know that we got that many enemy weapons off of the streets.
I want to thank each of you for your prayers, e-mails, letters, and packages. God has truly blessed me with such a wonderful family and friends. There are few things that I or the guys enjoy more than mail of any kind. Continue to keep us in your prayers and remember 2 Timothy 2:3, "Endure hardships with us like a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
For God and Country, Jared
And while we are basking in military glory, check out this post from Allthings2all concerning the memorial for the Battle of Galipoli. The life cost of that battle, particularly to the Australians and New Zealanders was enormous. In addition to Catez' New Zealand take ont he matter, Scotwise gives us an Aussie view. They were, and are our allies. We too should honor their sacrifice.
