Directory — Personal — Blog Details for "Eighty Deuce on the Loose in Iraq"

Eighty Deuce on the Loose in Iraq

Eighty Deuce on the Loose in Iraq
The life of a young Infantry team leader, his first experience in Iraq. Serving with the 82nd Airborne in Baghdad. A perspective of the war from boots on the ground.

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Articles

My number must almost be up...
2007-07-19 20:51:00
OK, well I'm going to make this a short entry, because I dont have much time but I just wanted to get this little story out there because it scared the hell out of me today. So my last post I was talking about how I almost got hit by Iraqi drivers twice with a 3rd close call. Well, wouldn't ya know, today I almost got crushed by a Iraqi driving pickup truck. Jesus! This is starting to get a little old.Basically we were walking along this road durring the busy "rush hour" type of Iraqi traffic. The sidewalk became impassable so we moved in to the street to bypass this one part. I was walking in between a parked utility truck and a pickup truck stopped in traffic. There wasn't much room to fit, so I went to make it quick but sure enough just as I was about to squeeze through, the dude started moving, and to top it off attempted to turn right, which would of crushed me. I immediately started pounding on the guys door and window (thankfully it didnt break) and proceeded to ye...
More About: Number

How many times can you ALMOST get hit???
2007-07-18 13:33:00
Alright well yesterday was my first day back out on patrol after almost a week off straight. The way our schedule works is we rotate guys in the squads off on patrol days, and I happen to have my day off work come at the right time to get 5 off! It was great not doing anything, but it came to bite me in the ass. For this day out was extremely exhausting. Add to it that the air was extremely dusty pretty much all day and it created a overcast, yet still hot and exhausting, dreary day.Well we did our typical market guarding and before lunch they dropped us dismounts off and we conducted a foot patrol through some of the neighborhoods. Nothing really special, for we pretty much just walked around, talked with some people, and just generally made our presence known. On our way back to our linkup point with the trucks (which was quite a ways away), we started to cross this one major road. There happened to be a lot of IA (Iraqi Army) guys there and they helped to stop the traffic ...
More About: Times

You'll go down in hisssstoooooryyyy...
2007-07-13 21:19:00
In case your wondering, the title comes from the last line of the "Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer" song. Didn't know how to really type that out!Well today was the day that I was scheduled to talk with the historian that I mentioned. I was origionally scheduled to meet with him at 230pm. I had stayed up late (since its worked out for me to have quite a few days off in a row) and so I was a little worried about getting up in time. I told others to make sure I was up and my buddy ended up staying up until 10am today, so he woke me up when he went to bed. I ended up getting up and running by the Hajji shop (Iraqi run shop) and bought a couple movies, a web cam and a microphone/earpiece things so I can make calls over the internet. One thing that is cool is that movies here only cost $1 or $2. And they have all the new movies on DVD pretty much as soon as they come out in the theater. The only thing is sometimes they are horrible, like some guy took a video camera into the theate...

Wow, that was a close one...
2007-07-12 19:50:00
Well, Im back to my sweet ass schedule now. Our schedule changes through different cycles and we've now switched into the easy cycle. And my turn at a day off is up next and it will end up working out to quite a few days off in a row for me! God its going to be nice. Today was good, although I didn't get to sleep in as long as Id like to. I woke early so that I could go down and get the internet setup in my room so I no longer have to go to the computer lab. This is so nice and I feel free now! :)Tomorrow Ill be able to sleep in a little more than I did today, although I do have an appointment to meet with a historian for my batallion. A historian? I was like "What the hell?!?" when they told me about that. Apparently theres like 8 or 10 people from the batallion he's going to speak with, and Im one of them. I can only guess that it has something to do with me and this blog, especially considering that almost everyone else he's talking to are of rank much more consider...
More About: Close

They say money can't buy happiness...
2007-07-08 01:10:00
Well, the past few days have been pretty nice. Not a whole lot of anything going on, and not much that we have been doing. A break is always nice. Pretty much all I've been doing is pulling guard shift in our guard towers that we have. This used to be a horrible experience, like Im sure I've talked about before, but now, its really not bad. They shortened the amount of time that we spend in there at a time, and the best part, the wired in electricity so we have a/c in there now!!! Now granted theres the big opening that we have to look out of, but they closed off the open doorway and it stays, comfortable in there. I dont sweat my ass off anymore, infact, I dont even sweat at all!!Hasn't been much excitement, other than the other day. Me and my buddy were in our tower when we heard a gun shot. Nothing suprising. We hear gun shots all the time, and unless its another firefight going down in the bad area, its usually just some Iraqi Army (IA)or Iraqi Police (IP) shooting warning sh...
More About: Money , Happiness

E True Hollywood Stories - Infantry Guys: What They're Really Like
2007-07-03 19:01:00
Infantry (n.) - soldiers or military units that fight on foot, in modern times typically with rifles, machine guns, grenades, mortars, etc., as weapons & a branch of an army composed of such soldiers. Mission of the Infantry - To close within the enemy by means of fire and maneuver, to defeat or capture him, or to repel his assault by fire, close combat and counter attack.That being said... I know that most peoples perceptions of the Infantry tend to be the guys that are just in the shit, day in and day out. Always putting their lives in danger. Hard tough men doing the dirtiest of dirty work. Those who willing place themselves at the gates of hell and kick the door in and rush in. Well, in some ways you would be correct. But for the most part we are just everyday normal guys, that just happen to choose a job that isnt sitting at a desk. A job that puts us face to face with our enemies, ready to kill, and only the greater of whom survives. But on an average, day to day life...
More About: Hollywood , Stories , Guys , True , Ally

Iraq - The Ultimate Suckfest
2007-06-30 21:07:00
Alright well the last patrol that I just got off of was a very, very, very long and crappy time. It seemed as if the time would never pass and we would never make it back into base. But eventually time did pass and we finally made it back home. Just seemed like an eternity out there this time.To start out, we ended up doing the usual market babysitting that apparently, the 82nd Airborne, a prestigious unit full of strong battle heritage, has been tasked with a job that the Iraq i Army and Iraqi Police should be doing. But anyways. We dismounted through one of the markets to look around and make sure everything was all well. We got a couple new guys in not too long ago, and I had one of them on my team. This meant an extra eye on that guy to make sure he was doing what he was supposed to. Not to mention that he's not used to how everything is and what to do, so I also would have to give him pointers and tell him what to do. Its a learning process and I understand that. Noth...
More About: Ultimate , The U

A trip I'll never forget...
2007-06-24 13:17:00
So basically this all revolves around the past 2 days in which I was finishing my preparations for, attending, and returning from my NCO of the Quarter board. An experience that will live with me forever...So a couple of days ago, I was doing some of the last bit of my studying and was trying to get as much information on the actual board that I could, when I discovered that the location of the board was not even going to take place at the base that I was out. Wow, what a suprise, and no one had a clue. Thank God the board got pushed back another day so we had time to try and figure all of this out.The day before my board, was supposed to be spent studying all day. I had a good bit of the information down, but there still were a few things that I had just recieved and needed to study on. Well, it didn't go quite as I planned. First off we ended up having a layout for our platoon where basically we lay all of our platoon issued gear out, and they go through and check everything and ...
More About: Trip , Forge

About a week in review
2007-06-20 13:50:00
Alright so I haven't really posted much lately, but to be honest, I've been pretty damn exhausted. The schedule lately has been a little different, and on top of the heat and sitting in a guard tower, and studying my ass of for this board I have in a couple days..... well Im just plain exhausted, physically and mentally. Im feeling good about this board, but Im not going to lie. I sure as hell can't wait to get it over with so I can finally stop studying and cramming my head full of information! AHH!!So a few nights ago, we had a raid that we went on. We were looking for these guys that we've been trying to get our hands on, and we were ready to go at it hard. Was to be a quick one. In, grab em, out, go kinda thing. Well my team was the first to go into the building. My personal favorite, because well, thats where the biggest rush is. Although I will admit that I dont really get the rush that I used to when we would do raids. No more butterflies or nothing. Dont know ...
More About: Review , Week

I wonder if you can hear my stomach growl...
2007-06-16 22:25:00
So I was chilling with my buddy outside last night. We ended up having to pull 11 hours in the guard tower, and after that was done had to do some other 'guard' type stuff. Was a long night and durring our break between the 11 hour shift and this new one, we were outside smoking and just talking. Well, like anything here, our conversation steered towards back home and we got on the subject of food that we really missed and places that we liked to eat out. After going back in forth for a while, I decided that there were some places that I wanted to eat at while I was on leave and I didn't want to forget about them. So I started a list! :) Its not a final list, but here it is as it stands today. I will continue to add places as I think of them, but this is what I got for now.*Not appearing in any order*Chipotle - They have by far the best burritos. Its like a subway, where they have all the ingredients in front of you and they make it as you choose stuff. And they are HUGE...
More About: Hear , Stomach , Grow , I Wonder , Mach

Sleep? You'll get all the sleep you want when your dead!
2007-06-13 02:19:00
So its kind of crazy when I think about a couple years ago, just before I joined the Army, how much sleep I used to get. I would say on average I would get 12-14 hours of sleep a day. I know, its pretty crazy. I remeber thinking how when I joined the Army that I was going to be screwed because I knew Id never get that much sleep again. Boy was I right!So with that said, a little about my last outting. We headed out on what was going to be a long time outside the wire. Everything started off normal. Typical stuff to check out and whatnot, and to be honest not a whole lot of excitment. Go figure. For lunch, we ended up making a pit stop at this other base that I've been wanting to go back to for a while. The reason for this is because there is a massage lady that works there!! YES!! It definatly hits the spot after being out on patrol wearing all our gear to take a quick little bit to relax and get a rub down. And its pretty damn cheap too. So that definatly felt good a...
More About: Dead , Sleep

My brain is mush!
2007-06-09 15:19:00
Alright well yesterday was quite a busy day for me. Basically, for the past couple weeks I have been studying my ass of for my E-5 (Sergeant) promotion board. Basically to make rank of Sergeant or above you have to attend these promotion boards where they ask you questions on subjects of leadership and general soldier knowledge you should know. Its quite the thing to study for because there is so much to know and so much they can ask.Well, it had already started off a little tougher than I had expected because normally the day before your board, you get the day off so you can get a full day to finalize any studying and just get in the right mindset. Due to the mission we had yesterday I did not get that day off. I was a little upset, but its ok. Adapt and overcome right? So I finished my little cram session that night and went to bed pretty early.The next morning I woke up and those of us going to the board headed up there to find out when we would be going and to get our in...
More About: Brain , Mush

Its getting HOT in here... so take off all your clothes!
2007-06-06 13:26:00
For those of you that dont know that song, its Nelly "Hot in Here". Well everytime I think about how damn hot this place is, that song comes into my mind. If only it were that easy! If I could just take off some of my clothes, Id be happy. Im from Phoenix, AZ so I'm used to the heat, but my God its a different beast here. Back home this time of year I'd be wearing sandals, shorts and a t-shirt. Probably wouldn't be outside durring the middle of the afternoon unless I had to. Well out here, I HAVE to! Not to mention I HAVE to wear boots, pants, an undershirt, long sleeve jacket, and then throw on 50 or so pounds of gear. Yeah, lets just say that it sucks enough just sitting in the truck with the A/C going (though be it the A/C is not that good). I think Im going to try to find one of those things for my page that displays the current tempature here. We'll see.So today I have decided is probably one of the days that I've never been more hot. I can't really think of ...
More About: Clothes , Cloth

And the song plays on...
2007-06-05 19:58:00
Well it is official. In light of the article that was written about my blog, as well as its appearance in the Stars & Stripes MiddleEast edition (which we recieve here in Iraq) I've ended up speaking with many people about my blog. I've discussed things about what should and shouldn't be said as well as other just useful information about just simply portraying the right image. I've gotten word from several in my chain of command that it is ok that I continue my blog, and some have even encouraged me. For that I'm greatful.So I've decided that I will do just that. My old posts will still be inaccessable for now. I'm going to have people review ones that Id like to keep up to make sure they are ok to put on and if there's any corrections that need to be made. Give me time because this is going to take some work. But I should be back to posting regularly here in a few days.Thanks to everyone for the emails and the words of encouragement. Its been great to hear from ev...
More About: Song , Plays

More to come?!?
2007-05-31 23:46:00
Stay tuned as more developes on this....*UPDATE 3 June 2007*I'll include a link to an article written by an excellent writer with many great articles under his belt, Robert Weller (AP Denver). Thank you Robert for this article and even the consideration to write such a thing. I must admit that through conversations with Robert, Matt Burden, as well as others, that I have decided to pursue continuing my blog. Just give me time as I work out the details.http://www.armytimes.com/news/200 7/06/ap_militaryblogs_070602/

This is the end... for now
2007-05-19 00:27:00
Well I just wanted to let everyone know that I will no longer be post blogs on my site anymore and have made my old posts inaccessable. It has come to my attention from others in positions where they have more knowledge on this subject than I, that I was saying things that needed not and should not have been said. For this I am deeply troubled for I never meant for ever such a thing.I began this project simply as a way to keep track of everything that I did while here in Iraq, so that I would have a detailed account of my deployment here. As word spread and people began coming to my site to check things out and with the positive responses I recieved, this project turned from a personal thing to one in which I hoped so allow people a view through a tiny window into the world of the American soldiers fighting a war for peace in a country halfway across the globe.My intention was never to give any information that may be used inadvertantly by anyone, even including our ever more comput...

I'll be gone for a little while...
2007-05-13 12:09:00
Just wanted to let yall know that this is probably the last post that I am going to be making for a short little while. I will be heading out to do a mission that will keep me away from computer and internet access for a little bit, so don't worry if Im not posting for a while. I'm not being shut down, and Im definatly OK! :)I will be keeping a brief log while Im gone, so as soon as I get back I will make sure and throw up some posts of anything exciting, or dull, that happened while I was gone. Again I want to thank everyone who reads my blog, and especially those that check in and follow the story of my deployment on a regular basis. I greately appreciate you all taking the time out to even visit my site, yet alone comment on post and send emails of encouragement like many have. Thank you.If you do leave a comment or email while I am gone, I know the comments will not show until I moderate them, so when I return I will add them all to the post/s. Emails, just give me time ...
More About: Gone , Little , While , Litt

More articles from this author:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6