Letters from "over there"

[Hugh]

I got these two emails from a nephew that is in Baghdad. Thought you guys might find them interesting:

This is a story that I just received from someone in the military. Not
bad reading but I took the names out.

Wayne Traywick
KBR Government and Infrastructure
IT/ Communications Supervisor
LMCC/Supply Chain Management System
Baghdad, Iraq

Afghanistan

Hi everyone.

I'm still alive but freezing my tail off. We got 8 inches of snow last week nd it reached 5 degrees below zero that night. That's not why I'm e-mailing though. You may have heard about a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul last Thursday. It was at one of our FOB's (Forward Observation Bases) about 27 miles from here.

But the real story is why no one was killed. We employ several thousand Afghans on our various bases. Not to mention the economy that is fed by the money these locals are making. Anyway, there is this one Afghan that we call Rambo. We have actually given him a couple of sets of the new ACU uniforms (the new Army digital camouflage) with the name tag RAMBO on it. His entire family was killed by the Taliban and his home was where our
base currently resides. So this guy really had nowhere else to go.

He has reached such a level of trust with US Forces that his job
is to stand at the front gate and basically be the first security screening.
Since he can't have a weapon, he found a big red pipe. So he stands there at the front gate in his US Army ACU uniform with his red pipe. If a vehicle
approaches the gate too fast or fails to stop he slams his pipe down on their hood. Then once the gate is lifted the vehicle moves on the 2nd gate where the US Army MP's are. So he's like the first line of defense.

Last Thursday at 0930 hrs a Toyota Corolla packed with explosives and
some ******* that thinks he has 72 Virgins waiting for him approached
the gate. When he saw Rambo he must have recognized him and known the gig was up. But he needed to get to that 2nd gate to detonate and take American lives. So he slams his foot on the gas which almost causes the metal gate to go up but mostly catches on the now broken windshield.

Rambo fearlessly ran to the vehicle, reached thru the window and jerked
the suicide bomber out of the vehicle before he could detonate and commenced to putting some red pipe to him. He detained the guy until the MPs got there. The vehicle only exploded when they tried to push it off base with a robot but no one was hurt.

I'm still waiting for someone to give this guy a medal or something.
Nothing less than instant US citizenship or something. A hat was passed
around and a lot of money was given to him in thanks by both soldiers and
civilians that are working over here.

I guess I just wanted to share this because I want people to know that
it's working over here. They have tasted freedom. This makes it worth it to me.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE


Another interesting e-mail that I got from a friend.
Names have been removed.

The first part of this e-mail is from a friend of mine, who is on his third three month TDY to the Kurdish area of Iraq. I find his remarks more interesting than the e-mail he forwarded. Enjoy!!!


Friends,

This is an updated version of previous similar pieces....very much worth reading if you want to know reality here among those doing the fighting.

You should since there is little reality going on in our capital at this moment. The troops are again in this war holding up as they have in all our wars and they are professionally peerless and are again the unsung heroes of this generation. Will skip the "if's" but this is one war that was completely lost in Washington and was definitively winnable, without a doubt in my mind. As is Afghanistan now, where we need more NATO and American forces since resources were siphoned off to Iraq too early, it is winnable.

This is where, remember, we went to get those who killed so many on 11 September 2001 in America.


Most important section of this piece is towards the last one third describing how the enemy adapts and their tactics, witness the choppers being hit this last week.


Folks, it's time to get smart about this part of the world and this war on terror and don't fold your support and blame the media and our leadership as was done in the early Seventies. Unlike Vietnam, the ripples of leaving this fight unfinished here and Afghanistan will affect our children and grandchildren for decades and will change the way we live for the worse, significantly and permanently. It will not be easy but I must repeat (must be done). Without a doubt in my mind, there is no other option for the American people. A new military crew is on its way here, NATO is doing a hell of a job (and they need more NATO troops), so give them a chance.


If the sectarian war in Iraq goes out of control and our troops are sustaining excessive casualties in a feckless effort to stop Sunnis and shiesâ?? from killing each other, we can move north to Kurdistan and establish a very secure and safe sanctuary to continue our efforts to eradicate Radical Islamic group in due course. It is not all or nothing. Kurds are people we all can respect and they have demonstrated success better than we have in this war. This has not been discussed in the Baker Hamilton Report, which the Kurds despise by the way, but, folks; it is a viable and doable option, if our unrealistic effort to form an Iraqi democracy fails.


Everyone will be watching the Super bowl tonight here. Hope there is recognition for our troops. Say a prayer yourself for them in your Church and at home today and everyday for them. They need it in this fight. It is a difficult fight since too often all they hear in a nanosecond is a shock wave and blast. The rest is the luck of where you happen to be at that moment. You do not even get a chance to see an enemy. And, by the way, most of this comes their way due to Iranian involvement in this war over the last FOUR years, which unusually you have just begun to hear about since the last election. You figure......


Didn't mean to get so long-winded but this war is at a very serious stage and it will be the decisions in Washington in these weeks ahead that will affect our country for the rest of our children and grandchildrenâ??s lives for the rest of this Century......


Sincerely and seriously,