What a week. I have just returned from another trip around Iraq and what a week it was. Of course I did my normal duties while visiting our units down in Ramadi but I also got a chance to do some other things. Our first stop on our trip was to our Bravo boys who just moved over to a new base. They are in their same area they have been patrolling, just a new base. They now have it better than I do. When you first look at the base they are on, you get the feel of a nice gated community with sidewalks and pavement. The base was a former compound of Saddam’s and there are 2 palaces within the base. Saddam’s old getaway and his son’s palace. I didn’t get a chance to go in them but hopefully on my next visit I can take a peak. The atmosphere at Bravo is pretty upbeat. The guy’s there are content with their situation and like me are just counting down the days. While I was down there, myself and my boss got offered a chance to go out on a dismounted patrol which means it was all by foot. With such nice hospitality, I couldn’t say no. It was a short patrol through a “safer” neighborhood but this is Iraq. So I was alert and stayed on my toes the whole time. During our patrol, we had passed some families out in the yard and the children were out playing in the yards having fun. One of the guys in the patrol had brought along candy and was passing it out to the children as we went. At one point, the rear of the patrol had called up to the front and said a child needed medical attention. We stopped there and sent our medic back to link up with the rear of the patrol and gave the child medical care. I believe she had fallen and had cut herself pretty badly so the medic went back and cleaned up her wound, basic things and gave her some candy. The family was grateful for us stopping to assist. While walking through this neighborhood, I got an impression I was walking through Philly or NYC. Some of the houses were dilapidated but in the driveway would be a beautiful Bronco or Caprice Classic.

Our next stop was at the “soccer team”. This particular family is very friendly to Coalition Forces and they try to keep their neighborhood cleaned up. We stopped there for a few minutes talking to the family through the interpreter. The children were out prancing through the yard playing those endless games that children can play without using a lick of energy. I sometimes wonder what goes through these young minds as they see foreigners walking through their yard. Do their parents explain to them in the simplest ways who we are and what we are trying to do? Do they understand that we are trying to make a safer place for them to live and grow up in? I guess these are questions I may never get answered and can only hope that some how, some way they know that we are not the bad guys.

After the little discussions with the family, we headed off to finish up our patrol. As we crossed over a road onto the other side, we started to head back in the direction of the base and we came across a beautiful house. The patrol leader wanted to know if we wanted to stop in. I thought to myself, what are we just going to barge in? The patrol leader stepped up to the door with the interpreter and knocked on the door. The gentleman opened the door and immediately started smiling and asking us to come in and sit down. It turns out that we were in the nephew of a sheik’s house. It seems our guys stop in there regularly to talk with him. He is a very prominent person in the area with a bit of influence. He was very courteous to us and offered us to sit down and relax. Of course you can’t really relax but it was nice to sit down for a few minutes. He then brought out tea for us which was excellent. They were in small cups with about a teaspoon in a half of sugar at the bottom of the cup. The tea, which he called chai, was the best I have tasted in awhile and after finishing the small cup I was wired. The gentleman told our interpreter he wanted the company commander to come out for dinner one night and we happily obliged to set it up. During the conversation, the funniest thing was said. We had asked the guy if he could turn off his spotlights in his yard for they blinded the guys on guard duty at the base. He said of course, that he would turn them off and that he would be marked with a certain color. If the guards saw anyone else in his yard or near his house after hours to shoot them. I couldn’t’ believe this guy said that. He said he wanted to get rid of the bad guys. After our little chat, we headed back to the base. Myself and my boss had to get ready to head out to our next leg of the journey. I will continue another time for this post is already gotten pretty long.