Sir Mcsleepyhead's blog: "Random thoughts...."

The temperature is rising and donkey cart caravans are still funny too me. It is the strangest thing. I've been in Iraq for six months now and I see donkey-drawn carriages on the street daily. However everytime I see one, I laugh. I dont know why,I guess its for the same reason that people will giggle when someone passes gas or something. All I can think of is that song "Let me ride that donkey!".I guess the heat is starting to get to me.......

This has been a tough year so far. The holidays came and went, they were just another day over here. No family to get together for Thanksgiving dinner,no Santa.The new year came in with a bang as rockets came at the stroke of midnight. No Rockin New Years Eve with Dick Clark though and no Easter Bunny. Instead, we were on mission hard charging and vigilant, finding comfort and family amonst eachother. For us veterans, we know the bond that is shared between combat soldiers. We are like fathers of men who are experiencing a brotherhood and kinship that they wont find anywhere else than on the battlefield. There is not a single soldier who would not lay down his life for another. It is an unspoken thing but we all live and die by that.

We have experienced that first hand as we lost a member of our platoon recently. A sniper took the life of one of our own and injured another. It was the sting of battle we were all dreading. It was the inevitable. However, this what we do. Our fallen soldier was sent off right. I was tragically honored to carry his body wrapped in the American flag and put him on the helecopter home. He was going home and he didnt have to fight anymore. Plato once wrote "Only the dead have seen the end of war....". These are moments you never forget. Ten years from now I will remember that day and it will feel like it was just yesterday. These are some of the moments that bring our brotherhood even closer. The other soldier is in the USA and is expected to make a full recovery. If it wasnt for the medic and another soldier he would have surely bled to death and died within minutes. Young men........some not even old enough to drink yet. But this their responsibility and duty. Some might think its a heavy burden,but its not to them. I cannot tell you how proud I am to see how these young men developed. We have trained them and "raised" these young men to be combat soldiers. It is an honor to lead them into battle. They will never stand under anyone's shadow.

Day to day life has been everything but routine. As the mercury is rising, so is our "op-tempo". We have done everything from targeted raids with the Iraqi Army and police,kicking in doors and disrupting insurgent cells.To setting up rebuilding projects for schools and other infrastructure projects. But yet we still find the time to hand a child a soccer ball or teddy bear. I still find the time to laugh at the occasional donkey cart......