On the other side of the world it’s just a slow Sunday in Fallujah. There is not much work to do, but where are you going to go? I guess this isn’t the time to get much feedback from the slowtwitchers in America. Unless some of you have insomnia.
I guess I’ll go eat some lunch. Maybe they will have cheesecake, the highlight of my day.
Chad
Awake here…can’t sleep.
0138 in AZ.
Dave
If was 0138 there then you must not be on daylight savings time. What is wrong with you Arizona people anyway? 
Chad
P.S. They had chocolate cheesecake with little shavings on top. One must enjoy the simple pleasures when all the larger ones are denied him.
Be safe & keep up the good work.
Slow Sundays are the best kind of Sundays, aren’t they? Especially in Fallujah.
Only Fallujah studs can eat cheesecake. If we do it here, we get fat.
Hey Chad – Don’t forget that there are a lot of us back home who won’t forget abou you. Kick ass, stay safe and enjoy your cheesecake. Thank you for what you doing.
Chad, my son the Marine deploys to Iraq in two weeks. It is reassuring to me somehow that your Fallujah life is at least sometimes “normal” enough that you can post to ST and eat cheesecake. (I would rather not know what it’s like the rest of the time, though.)
Thank you for posting.
Susan
Chad, be safe dude. When i was in the military we did not have access to things like the internet or even phones much of the time. How is you internet access? and how much do they moniter it? Just wondering how the life of a solider has changed since my day.
I agree the media sucks here in the States. Thanks for keeping us safe here at home. Keep killing the ones who want to kill us (our children & families) here at home.
Big Thanks!!
Smitty
hey man, stay alive over there. mind if i ask, on your ‘off’ hours (if you have such a thing) what can you do exercise-wise without putting your life, limbs, or family jewels at risk? anything or basically nada?
how do the temps. run day and night (highs, lows) in late July early Aug. over there in the middle east? what elevation are you at (if it is not classified)? how many people did Fallujah have before the war (to get a feel for the size and spread of the city).
not sure what your job is, but what do you observe day in and day out out in the streets? do you get out much on the streets? are you allowed, as active US military on station, to post your candid assessments of life over there? or does policy prevent you from stating much until you are stateside and/or separted? or something else?
your words would be interesting to read.
do stay alive.
I would rather not know what it’s like the rest of the time, though
I feel for you, but I disagree most strongly. I WANT to know as many details as possible about the job I am defacto ordering these men and women to do on my behalf. They are there directly because of you, me, all of us, the US voters, and I sure as hell want to know how they are being killed and what it is they are doing (and are being forced to do) all on my behalf.
Camp Fallujah is really pretty nice for military living it Iraq. I’ve heard it’s nothing like Bagdad, but I won’t complain.
Good points 1) It is reasonably safe; we took one incoming mortar round the other day, but we have a battery of 155s here that maul anybody who sits still for long, so not many insurgents want to bother us. 2) We have good chow halls. They even have Baskin-Robbins ice cream every evening. So far I just look at it at smile at the possibility since I don’t want to get into the habit of eating ice cream every day. 3) We have AC. Whenever I think of all the grunts out there doing the hard work, sweating their butts off, I am thankful for the AC. 80’s is now cool for me. 4) We have phones and internet. Even the infantry guys here have an internet cafe and phone center they can use. They have the best chowhall, which is only fitting since they do the dirty work. 5) Did I mention the AC?
Bad things 1) 120 degrees and you have to walk everywhere 2) Dust storms–they are really eerie. 3) We live in a prison. Well, not really, but we don’t go outside 15-foot high walls topped with wire, so it seems like it. 4) No indoor plumbing. The walk to do your business is about five minutes. Combine that with number 1 and things get ugly sometimes. Not to mention when you have to go in the middle of the night.
Still, I get to run every day and I am having my wife send out my bike, so I can’t complain. There are a lot of Marines out there living in far worse conditions; being shot at or mortared. Those guys are doing the dirty work. And a lot of them are young enough I could almost be their father. When you see them come back through the airports you should take the opportunity to thank them then. They all deserve it. Regardless of whether you agree with the politics of this war.
Chad
I answered some of your questions in another message before I saw your post, but here are some more.
I run every morning at sunrise, mostly because it is usually 85-95 degrees then and it is bearable. The temp doesn’t drop here at all in the evenings and it will still be over 100 at 10 or 11 at night. Others PT at lunch, but I suspect they are going to the gyms, not running outside for an hour.
I arrived early July and since then the daytime temp has ranged from a low of about 105 up to 120 degrees. Nightime lows are 85-90. I think we are pretty close to sea level here. Camp Fallujah is outside the city about five miles. It used to be a pseudo-military facility and palace for one of Saddam’s sons. We kind of trashed the palace when we took it, but now it is used for all kinds of office space. There is a big courtyard here with fountains and picnic tables and a big pool. We turned all the stuff off, but they were living high while their people ate dirt.
I haven’t been into the city. As a staff weenie we don’t go out much. Like I said above, the infantry grunts do the dirty work. I attend a lot of meetings and I have a much clearer picture of the complexity of the situation here. The real job here is to teach the Iraqis to take control of their own destiny. For thirty years their choices were limited.
There is also a whole religious component that I don’t even understand, even after doing some research on it.
Some places in this country have figured out the best way to get rid of us is to cooperate and let the government/election process run its course.
The saddest thing to me is that the insurgents are killing their own people. Except that a lot of the insurgents are not even Iraqi. They just came to kill Americans and if a few Iraqis go down, well, then that’s life.
A while back a suicide bomber tried to kill some soldiers or Marines, I can’t remember which, who were giving out candy to children. A whole neighborhood lost their future. Some Iraqi’s blame us because we came here to help. Others understand it’s the terrorist doing the killing.
At some point the Iraqis will have to stand up and take control of their future. Until then we try to keep the peace and help them build infrastructure. In the end the typical Iraqi just wants to have food, a job, electricity and some security, just like everyone else. There is no reason a country with this much oil should be so far behind the rest of the world. Well, there is one reason. Their dictator kept it all for himself.
So that’s about all I can say.
Chad
I haven’t been into the city. As a staff weenie
you are a funny guy. i would imagine a sense of humor can be pretty damn useful in place like that.
all very interesting… --thanks a lot for a tiny glimpse into Dante’s world.
Still, I get to run every day and I am having my wife send out my bike, so I can’t complain.
I take it the PC’s are on the bike that is coming? I had been wondering how they were standing up to the dust storms and what the environment they were in. Now it seems they aren’t there yet. Hope they get there before you return home. Does that also mean a long delay after you return to get your bike back?
I enjoyed meeting you and your wife at Du nats. Stay safe.
Frank
There are a lot of Marines out there living in far worse conditions; being shot at or mortared.
This is not sounding good. My son is Marine Corps infantry (anti-tank assaultman) and expects to be sent to the Syrian border.
Susan
Actually, the PCs and my pedals and bike gear are here. I put them in my seabag. My wife went to visit family for a while when I left, so she hasn’t been back for long. They lay old tank tracks across the road for speedbumps, (I caught on with my toe one night and wiped out. When it’s dark here, it is really dark) so I decided the road bike wouldn’t cut it. I had it packed and ready to go just in case the roads were good enough to ride here. Now she is sending the mountain bike out. I haven’t used it much lately, so I figured it may as well make the trip.
Chad
This is not sounding good. My son is Marine Corps infantry (anti-tank assaultman) and expects to be sent to the Syrian border.
Susan
Then he is one of the guys that we all ought to be thanking.
He isn’t from Twentynine Palms is he? That’s were I left from.
Chad
Hurry home. I want to head out that way and do some training this winter.
He was at 29 Palms in June for CAX (Combined Arms Exercises), but has been back at LeJeune for the last month. He got home last night for his 2-week pre-deployment leave.
He said the training at 29 Palms was top-notch–best he has had since he enlisted. (Yes, he enlisted–throwing away a 4-year ROTC scholarship to do it. I cannot understand this testosterone thing.)
What were you doing at 29 Palms? I thought that was a Marine Corps place.
Susan