SoldierBoy here. I've been quiet since summer, but figured you'd appreciate a shot of what's going on here in the Sadbox. Remember us? We're still here.
It's been that kind of day. Our patrols were hit by not one, not two, but three EFPs in the space of two hours. Only good luck and poor placement by the bad guys saw to it that they inflicted minor damage and injuries rather than deaths. As a topper, another conventional IED destroyed an Iraqi Police truck just out of our sector, adding one dead Iraqi policeman and several bystanders. All this kept us pretty busy all day long. The base is still a giant mudpit from rains yesterday, there's still months to go on my tour, and I haven't had a good night's sleep since October.
Greetings from FOB Rustamiyah, Baghdad.
The week's been little better. Tuesday was much like today, IEDs and EFPs one after the other. And there's growing murmurings in the press and on the street that the 6-month unilateral cease-fire called by Muqtada al-Sadr is going to expire without renewal very soon. He called the cease-fire after open street-fighting between his Jaysh al-Mahdi militia and the Badr Corps, the militia loyal to the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a party very closely tied to Iran and in control of the Ministries of the Interior and Defense. He called the cease-fire for his own reasons, but the resulting huge drop on violence has been hailed by the dimmer talking heads as 'Proof! Proof!' of the success of the 'surge'.....a peace that may soon come to a sharp and bloody end.
The 'surge' units, of which we are one, are inevitably going to be leaving soon. We have to, we can't stay deployed indefinitely, and we're already close to the 'must-go' deadline. The cease-fire may end just as we have only a few months left, and then the available US forces in Iraq will drop by thousands. A synchronicity of events that is very unlikely to be quiet.
And if it does happen while we are still here, as I expect it to, we'll be right on the frontline. Our sector straddles the fault line between JAM and Badr territory, and when they're not sniping at each other, JAM loves nothing more than to strike at the occupying infidels. We see more EFPs than half of Baghdad. And when JAM fires the starting gun and calls game-on, we're going to be the first to know.
I saw on the news in the chow hall the "BREAKING NEWS" story of the night is the announcement that the Iraqi Government has nearly completed its team to begin negotiations for a Status Of Forces Agreement with the US, authorizing our continued presence indefinitely. The mere announcement of the proposal in December prompted al-Sadr to release a public letter denouncing the US presence and PM Maliki's government. An actual SOFA will enrage JAM and every Iraqi (70%+ of them) that doesn't like the occupation. Even more irritating was the news item that as a part of the negotiations, the Iraqi Government would be seeking a redefinition of the US mission, with us largely confined to bases, not patrolling as now. I barked at the TV right there in the chow hall "Then what the Hell are we even doing here?!" We're going to deploy for 15 months at a stretch halfway around the world to sit on a besieged FOB all day long? Why? What the Hell are we doing?
I don't even know what the point of my mission is anymore, beyond dragging this out until January 20th so Mr. Bush can claim 10 years from now that we were still winning when he left, and that anything bad that happened after that was the other team's fault. Oh yes, saving face, I forgot that. We can't pull out and let the world think we are limited in our powers and will. As if every day we spend stuck here doesn't show the whole world our limits. For this I keep watching friends go home on stretchers or in boxes, so that we don't look bad. I'm sure they're comforted by that. Dulce et decorem est, pro patria mori...
No, I take it back. I know my mission. As SFC B put it months ago "Screw all the politics, my job is to make sure we all come home alive." And that's what it is, making sure all my brothers come home alive.
Forgive my mood, and my writing. I'm tired, cold, and absolutely fed up with this country and this tour. Too long from home has worn away at my morale, and fatigue has eroded my writing skills. I'll try to get back into the habit of writing more often. I know there are a few of you who worry when I'm quiet for too long, and I've been bad about it since I got back from leave.
I just hope there aren't a lot more weeks like this. We haven't sent any more guys home in a wooden coat this month, but this week it was 'a close run thing', as the Duke of Wellington put it. I'll try to stay out of trouble.