Gatekeepers

Well for all of you BF1942 Desert Combat fans, I have made some valuable use of my time. This is the after-kill victory dance-on-the-grave-of-your-opponent move.

First one –>  010116562.AVI    This is the other one –>  DC

Wow, if this new bin-Laden message is actually real, it’s basically an admission that they are on a losing side in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite what we hear in the press all the time. Unsurprisingly though, the headlines on CNN are about “New Attacks Threatened”. How is that even news? Did they ever say they weren’t planning on attacking us. Plus, if they weren’t extremely crippled by our efforts so far, why would they “warn” us before attacking?

This is one of the best indications to date that the good guys are actually winning the war on terror. Hopefully most people will view it as encouraging regardless of the spin.

Update: Wow, what do you think the press would say if Bush came out and say “Yeah, we may nuke any country that executes a terrorist attach against us” like this other world leader did.

Well, I think my time here (in Iraq) is pretty short. A good thing. My conscience is quite clear and I wash my hands of this base. During this tour, our squadron and shop management was atrocious. Fortunately these lemmings are only my temporarily assigned co-workers. With the exception of being away from loved ones and the horrible leadership, this was a pretty fun trip. I have got to know some new people and some old. The guy on crew with me now was in my basic training flight (almost 8 years ago). We recognized each other instantly. The trip home will be an experience I am sure. They are trying some newer system out for troop movement, and it has plenty of bugs in it. Where is that suggestion box again? I will try to get some photos of me up here soon. See ya, Charlie

Well the weather here completely sucks. It has rained off and on for a few days, and there is mud everywhere. We went and played some basketball in the new gym. It’s called the Bastogne gym. The Army guys here with us are from the 101st Airborne. They get to name a lot of the things around here. Easy Company was also the 101st Airborne. They even have kept the same logo (spade). There are a lot of different regiments under each Division (I hope I got that right). This is an Air Force base playing host to the Army. Kirkuk is also called FOB Warrior. Most of these FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) are owned by the Army, so we are unique. We have a base newsletter called the Krab Kronicle if you really care to read it. KRAB is our airfield designator. A pilot would look it up as ORKK. It is funny, some of the Calvary guys here (helo pilots) actually still wear cowboy hats, just as a link to the past, I guess. After basketball, we went for coffee at our AAFES Coffee shop. They make it pretty good for us. A little taste of home goes a long way. I grabbed a couple of tacos from Taco Bell. It tastes pretty much just like home, only more expensive. For 2 tacos, it ran me $2.50. What a racket. Must be those import fees. I have been trying to strighten up my area in order to pack everything, so I can go home. I have been missing Vanessa pretty good the whole time. Don’t ever take anyone or anything for granted, I guess. I get to talk with her on the phone about 2-3 time a week. E-mail is good too, but the phone makes her seem a bit closer. Here is a picture of our tower. 

You can see the AA gun there. We think the other contraption (right of the old engine) is an aircraft de-icer. I guess its Muslim crossing. Don’t run over any one. For those of you who play Desert Combat, we have our own mobile spawn point. I better hit the hay. I have to be up at 0400.

Here is a photo of me with an H60. This is a similar airframe to the one that recently crashed in Iraq. This one is a medical helo, and does not have weapons mounted on it. The big red cross gives it away. In this war, specifically dealing with the insurgents and terrorists, the rules of the Geneva Convention do not mean much. For them at least. The U.S. is still fully compliant with the Laws of Armed Conflict and other international rules. It must be hard to always play fairly, when the other guys are cheating. One thing that we had to do recently that I thought was pretty lame was carry our M-16s without any ammunition. This makes us more of a combatant, without any means to protect oursleves. Well, if you count the melee attack, then I guess we are not totally hosed. It works in Halo, so…