Chiff's blog: "????"

Another blog from myspace, mine, it was the first one i posted and our first times doing these patrols after being in country a couple of weeks!! So the other day i was out and about the infamous town of Kirkuk, heading home after a long day of just riding around, when BAM!!!! An IED hit the truck ahead of us, nobody hurt, no damage, nothing, but this was in the middle of town, and a soccer game going on no less....There wasnt even a flinch from the locals. So anyway we have to cordone off the area and wait for EOD to come out..............so..........aboot an hour later, maybe and hour and a half later, after almost having to shoot a bus that was barreling down the road, EOD finally shows up. Guess what they do........they get a damn metal detector out and walk right up to the detonation site. I thought it was humorous and worth writing about. But damn, they have some balls, like bowling ball size balls.

Okay Ya'll I just recently returned from a little trip to Baghdad, and well, i did not want to come back to good ole Kirkuk. Man that place has it all....lakes, palaces, like 5 dining facilities, lord who knows how many PX's, and one big antenae on a hill in the middle of the place. I must honestly say it was almost like that time i went to Qatar for R&R, yeah, only no beer. I dont see how the Fobbits can complain about being in Iraq. Nope, cannot see it. Now if you head into town, yeah you get shot at, and prolly blown up, that really sucks, but come on, how soldiers there really leave the base?? So we get our business done, and well we try and get a flight back, no luck, well....depends on how you look at it, i thought it to be fortuitous, a few more days in Baghdad!! SCORE!!!! Well, we finally get a flight to Balad, or shall i say LSA Anaconda, my good buddies are there, and well, we get locked down in the PAX terminal cause we have a flight back to Kirkuk in like an hour. I guess what i am trying to say is that if you want to get back to Kirkuk from Baghdad, go to Balad, and avoid Camp Spiecher, the armpit of Iraq, we have affectionately dubbed it Cp. Spanker. Yeah no point, no nothing, just saying that before you know it, Baghdad will be the R&R spot for Iraq.?? Fobbit-Soldier who does nothing but stay behind his/her desk, and does not leave the FOB. Does not get dirty, and live in an enviromentaly controlled office.

Just one of my blogs from my myspace, an oldie, but you guys and gals might like!! So today i was getting ready to head out once again. Usually these excursions last on ly 4 or 5 hours, but some times they can last from before the sun comes up and last well after the sun has set. Today was one of those long days we dread. It started after breakfast. Kowing that we were going to miss lunch we pack up on fruits, bread, sandwich meats, as well as drinks, gatorade, cola, and 7 up. Yeah we have a cooler, with ice. What a great invention, ice i mean. We get our trucks ready to roll, and head out at 0800. We drive around and pick up the I.P.'s (Iraqi Police) and start our patrols. This last for about 2 hours. We stop and set up a TCP (tactile control point) to stop and search vehicles, and people. We are teaching the IP to look for contraband, bombs, things like that. It turns out to be a fairly decent day. No real big problems, no explosions, no gunshots, a great day in my book. Now driving on our patrols kids like to run out and wave, give thanks, bego for food and money, the standard stuff. Sometimes we have extra candy that some hometowns send, you know, stuff that just comes in great commodities, hard candies, pens, pencils, paper, playing cards, stuff like that. Stuff that we enjoy, stuff from home that is hard to come by here in country at times. So at times we may find ourselves sharing with the local kids. You know, winning hears and minds. Today was no different. On the way back to the FOB we pass this brick wall with children sitting on top of it, begging. Well i had swapped seats with the gunner after we had dropped the IP. The day had turned out to be shoter than we expected so we had all this fruit left over. I start "tossing" those apples, oranges, and pears to the kids. Well there is little guy, at least it looked like a guy, standing on the wall with his arms open begging for chocolate, so i "tossed" him an orange. Well, i guess i "tossed" it a little too hard. It hit him in the chest and just blows him off the wall!!! I myself found a lot of humor in this and was trying hard to stiffle my laughter. The truck behind us was also privvy to this veiwing. I see the driver and the shotgun laughing their asses off!! So all in all, i felt bad for about 30 sec., maybe a minute at the most. I cannot help but find it hililarious. You just had to be there. I then get to thinking that i prolly just created another terrorist who is going to hate Americans, and their supporters. I figure i am just doing my part.

Well, this being my first blog here, not sure what to write about. Well, I am heading to Mobile, Alabama this weekend for some sort of fest type deal. I guess i am going down there with friends to have a good time and drink plenty of beer. I know i cant make up for lost time, but gosh darn it! I am gonna try!! With that being said, who is gonna meet me down there to PARTY!!!