Elections
Thanks for the OPSEC heads-up, Big Brother. But all OPSEC info like phase line names are fictional. I check my work before I post it. Just wanted to say again thanks for all of the emails and kind words. I do read every posted comment and email. I am sorry I can't get back to all you. This is the first time I have seen the internet in days. This past week, the line platoons only have time to wake-up, be on mission all day without coming back to the FOB, and getting in near midnite to get some sleep.
The soldiers of 2-63 AR BN are out there hardening the election sites and working around the clock to provide security for the Iraqis. I'm pretty excited about being out there for something historical. Not all my soldiers can be out there but I have guys begging to be taken out in sector. Seeing how bad these locals want the elections to happen has been pretty inspiring for us. I will be posting photos of the guys laying wire and dropping barriers when I have more time, probably after elections are over.
The soldiers of 2-63 AR BN are out there hardening the election sites and working around the clock to provide security for the Iraqis. I'm pretty excited about being out there for something historical. Not all my soldiers can be out there but I have guys begging to be taken out in sector. Seeing how bad these locals want the elections to happen has been pretty inspiring for us. I will be posting photos of the guys laying wire and dropping barriers when I have more time, probably after elections are over.
posted by REDSIX at 7:08 PM
31 Comments:
Thanks so much for even your brief comments about the elections. Please share more as soon as you can (afterwards, I'm sure!).
We're all on pins and needles over here...Believing in the best and bracing for the worst. You're all in our thoughts and prayers as usual, but even more so at this monumentous time. We're SO proud of you!
thanks for all you're doing. You have many prayers for your safety and the success of the elections from America.
Thanks for the info on the elections. Your blog is awesome, keep up the good great work.
Say hi to everyone over there with you, and stay safe!
-Josh
Email: (JoshGass AT bellsouth.net)
Be good. Be safe. And thank you, and your men.
Our local AM blowtorch caught a convoy of Iraqis on their way out of Salt Lake, heading down to LA to vote. Sentiments? "What's a few hundred miles when nobody is shooting at you?" "I've never voted before. (fiftyish guy, sounded like)" And lots and lots of thank you's to you guys over there for making it possible.
You are making history.
I'm green with envy.. tell all the guys we love em. Were rooten for you and the Iraqis. Go Go Go
Ricardo
From Dr Bonnie: Keep up the good work. I am SO excited abt the elections in Iraq. You are ALL doing a truly awesome job. Stay safe, and God bless you!
Wow. What you guys have done and what you are a part of is amazing. You're changing the face of the middle east. Good luck tomorrow. You guys and the Iraqi people will have a lot of prayers directed your way tomorrow.
IRAQ: WELCOME GENERATION-CHOICEMAKER
Man is earth's Choicemaker. He is by nature and nature's
God a creature of Choice - and of Criteria. His unique and
definitive characteristic is, and of Right ought to be, the
natural foundation of his environments, institutions, and
respectful relations to his fellow-man. Thus, he is oriented
to a Freedom whose roots are in the natural Order of the
universe.
an American Choicemaker
What you guys are doing is making history. I only wish idiots like Ted Kennedy *spit* could have one intelligent thought for a second and realize this.
I was listening to the radio interview of a man here from Iraq who was in CA voting for the first time. His voice started quavering and choking up as he said he really wanted the American soldiers to know what they were doing for him and his family and his country. You couldn't hear this voice without crying and thinking about all of you over there who are fighting for generations not yet born. We take freedom for granted, and you are giving all you have to give it to complete strangers.
Thank you isn't enough, but that's what I'll say. Thank you. For everything. And God bless you and keep you safe.
Whoops - made a mistake in my post (#10) - he was thanking all of the soldiers of the coalition, not just the Americans. I thank them, too.
Thank you for everything you're doing over there, including this blog.
Good luck, and good hunting, LT.
"We are like Jolly Green Giants roaming the Earth..with guns! These are great days we are livin', bros!"
Keep it up!
Somehow, I don't think the "big brother" commenter knows what the "LT" means in front of your name... Ditto that one guy who tried to tell you that pic of willy pete falling was instead something dropped from a c-130...(?)...Soldier of FOrtune magazine apparently makes us all experts. :)
Been reading for a while now, LT. Great stuff. Quick question:
Are there a lot of tankers with ranger tabs? Just curious...
Your blog here is both enticing me to wanna branch Armor even more than I wanted since I saw my first John Wayne Cav movie, and slightly intimidating me from it as well. How squared away you all seem is...intimidating. Speaking as an anonymous, nameless commenter (faceless, anyway), I can say stuff like that... I fear a day when an NCO tells me I'm "not his first LT" and unlike in your case, mean it with terrible scorn. I understand that's just a "in-front-of-a-crowd-naked" sorta impossiblity, but it still scares me. (again, it's refreshing to be so anonymous here)
YOur illustration of your experiences is enlightening; for example, your calling for fire in that one account made me value land nav even more... hehe. I laughed when they asked you for mils. Maybe you can reminisce about being a cadet, let alone a pre-camp MS-III.
Just thought I'd like to comment on the last several weeks I've read your stuff. And send you my well wishes.
I'm not worried about your OPSEC posture, I'm worried about your attitude towards bullets. If you can't see, have your driver move the damn tank! If you leave Protected Open to climb out yer hatch and see better, you're liable to find one of the only terrs who can actually shoot, and then who's gonna be running Armor Branch in 12-15 years?
Keep your head down, and you might just keep it.
Best of luck with the mission. I hope you can see news photos of the expatriate Iraqis voting around the world, including in America. Yeah, two years ago we all thought that we would be busy neutralizing WMDs by this time. Still, these events are surely worth it too, both for the security that a democratic Middle East will give our country, and for the hope it'll inspire in oppressed people everywhere.
A young man from my church was in the war in spring of 2003, in Bradleys. Now he's rotated back for a year, to help with the elections. Hope someone there will teach him how to blog!
What an historic and unprecedentant day this has been for Iraqis and in the Arab world.
There is universal yearning to vote and determine your future through representative gov't, and today millions of Iraqis turned out to begin to implement the first step towards determining their own future, and did so under the all to real threat of death.
They lined up, they voted, and the images of them doing that, of them smiling and jumping with excitement, will remain with me forever. Freedom is intoxicating!
Sadly some Iraqis died while exercising their right to vote, and they are my heros: ordinary people who risked their lives to do something that WE take for granted, VOTE.
I shed tears of sadness, and tears of joy, as I watch this HISTORIC day unfold in Iraq.
This day has come about with much loss of life, for deployed Americans, coalition members, and Iraqi security forces, all of them heros in my eyes, and they will not be forgotten. Today, their deaths are being honored as millions of Iraqi's vote, and as the seeds of democracy and freedom take root.
FREEDOM IS MORE POWERFUL THAN FEAR AND THE POWER OF THE BALLOT HAS OVERCOME THE POWER OF THE GUN!
Let that message ring loudly through the Arab nations.
A NEW IRAQ HAS BEEN BORN!
You are taking part in an important place in history. You are actually one of those who are helping to shape it. Its great that you are recording your activities and feelings, you will value those memories more and more as time goes by, Good luck from an old WW2 Combat Infantryman who advanced behind tanks a few times.
I awoke this morning to here the good news of the turnout in the Iraqi elections. You guys are making history. All of you should be proud. I cannot wait to what the nay sayers in the main stream media will say now. Stay safe!
Kevin G.
St. Louis, MO
Who has the heart to break the bubble of all these people... I don't...
Your posts are so realistic in the way you tell them. They are so personal...
I just hope that you will still be human enough when you return to continue something in writing. You have some talent.
To "Anonymous" above regarding, "I just hope that you will still be human enough when you return":
I try to be a lady, so I'm not going to tell you what I really think of you.
Of course, most combat soldiers struggle to rejoin the rest of the human race when they come back (and most do it successfully). It's one of the many sacrifices inherent in their service. But that's not what your post was about. You are quite a piece of work! Find someone else to harrass, you jerk!
I was up almost all night following the elections. Ok.. there was the Aussie Open going on too. It was awesome to see people coming out to vote. You guys made it possible. Hats off to you.
One question though, in your opinion, what was the turnout like in the Sunni Triangle? All news reports say the shias and the kurds votd in strength but the Sunni turnout was still an unknown.
Thanks,
Vinod Venugopalan
Thanks LT! Like another famous American said "This is one small step for Man, one giant leap for Mankind." You and your guys played a HUGE part in that 'giant leap' and I will never forget my debt to you for doing so.
I'd take you on my flank anyday.
NO job or task should inherently involve someone sacrificing their humanity and sanity. There is no way to justify that.
My intention was not to belittle his job, but to point out something that many people are not willing to accept. Because this is a public blog/forum, civil discourse, discussion, and debate is allowed.
The comments here are all praises of the highest degree, it was about time some people said somethings that lean a bit the other way. In that way, the reality of the situation can be seen and understood better.
I truly mean everything I said in my prior comment.
Eddy,
If you are the person I referred to above, I apologize if your comment had the best of intentions. Perhaps the events of the day and some people I've talked to recently left me reading a little too much into it. I checked yoru profile and saw you are an 18-year-old college student. Please consider what it implies when you tell someone that you hope they "come back human enough."
You had a ringside seat at history today. I hope the view was made even sweeter by the knowledge that you and your men were part of the army of liberation which resulted in the resolute, happy faces of the voters.
You have done a great job. It's one small step for a unit and one big step for the world. Keep up the good work and keep posting.
The elections went better than anyone ever hoped. A lot of us back in the U.S. (and hopefully a lot of people in Iraq) know who put their asses on the line to make it happen.
Well done.
tbrosz
You are making history in the process of making the United States and the world a safer place. We are tremendously proud of the job you're doing.
I wish my friend Ken Hendrickson could have lived to see the elections in Iraq. He was killed by an IED near Fallujah on January 24, 2004, while serving with the 957th Multi Role Bridge Company of the North Dakota National Guard. And that's why I'm also extremely grateful for the work your unit did in that terrorist hell hole.
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self the country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success
Be nobleness
And every gain divine!
Just had your Blog site forwarded to me. Great stuff.
You guys are making us proud and what you are doing will change the history of the Middle East and the world. That freedom thing is infectous and will spread.
Keep safe and stay strong. THANKS FOR BEING THERE FOR US>
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