Well, I’ve been on Active Duty since January, and in Iraq since May. It’s been about 10 months since my last post. (Bless me father, for I have sinned.)
What do I do? I’m an executive officer for an HHC company in an infantry battalion, here in Ramadi.
Why am I writing now?
So I can lure you to my hard-hitting, ‘boots-on-the-ground’ “News and Commentary from the trenches” website:
Just read the whole thing. It was worth the read, despite the yellow-on-black color scheme being really hard on my middle-aged eyes.
Your writing manifestly doesn’t suck. Far from it. And I appreciate reading about life ‘on the ground’ over there, and what it’s like for you guys.
Thanks in particular for the list of rebuilding activities that your outfit has been involved in. I would consider myself a fool to believe the Administration’s propaganda, but when you tell me about things you can personally attest to, that I believe.
You might want to mention in the blog where Ar Ramadi is in Iraq. I gather from Mapquest that it’s ~80 miles west of Baghdad. We hear that different parts of the country are very different in terms of the level of danger they present. lno - sure you can, if you feel like blowing yourself up. ‘If you bleed, you lead.’
Excellent blog! Keep up the good work – your perspective really is valuable to those of us at home who only have the news and the Administration’s spin doctors to let us know what’s going on.
Very nice! I especially like that you’re fighting ignorance in the military (re: Jessica Lynch bashing) and trying to get rid of the term “haji”. I don’t know that Iraqis would find it offensive, but it doesn’t feel too right. The haj is a very serious thing to Muslims, so I wouldn’t feel right especially if it’s used in a derisive manner.
BTW, are you familiar with some of the stuff from Tamerlane or The Muslim Guy* here?
[sub]*The Muslim Guy had a couple of “Ask the…” threads right after September 11th. Haven’t seen him around here in a while.
To answer your question, Cranky, it takes about 2 weeks for mail to get to the soldier here in Ar Ramadi. I’ve had it take 9 days, I’ve had it take six months. But 2 weeks is a reasonable planning figure.
That’s about what it’s taking me to actually access the SDMB on this system out here. Slow and slower.
As for the color scheme, yeah, I was concerned about eye fatigue.
I always liked the distinctive, white-on-blue look of Andrew Sullivan’s website, www.andrewsullivan.com , and wanted my own look, too.
Now, Andrew’s recieved some of the same complaints, that the white-on-dark color scheme is hard on the eyes. His site has a button that enables readers to change the color scheme to something more conventional.
I will do that, as this site develops. Not sure if I can do it on Blogspot directly, but if this gets off the ground, I may be able to hire someone in the US to take care of those things for me.
Besides–I’m not intending for the site to be read in one long sitting. I’d rather people came in once every day or two and just read the new stuff, and kept up that way.
So please do keep coming back. I update a couple of times each day.
Good reading Hickory6. It’s nice to get some perspective on the situation over there from a writer who doesn’t have an obvious agenda to push along with it.
In case nobody has said it lately, thank you for the job you’re all doing over there.
I know it must be especially tough being away from home with the holidays coming up. If you and your troops are wanting for anything (not sure how I could ship lobster tails - sorry) just say so and I would be happy to do what I can.
Your blog is very well written, and contains firsthand information of the kind that is extremely hard to come by. Thank you for taking the time to help all of us stay a little more informed. It’s also more than a little humbling for a kid back home to read about the realities of what some of my peers are going through for their country.
Thank you for what you’re doing over there. I wish nothing but safety and success for you and every other American stationed in Iraq. Take care of yourselves (sounds like you guys are adept at that) and come home safe, alright?
Thanks for puting this up Hickory6. I appreciate the direct link to some of what our forces in the field are facing. For reasons that you’ve pointed out, I’m not comfortable with all of the the news media’s reporting.
I’ve got a couple of questions. What kind of internet access do you have, and how common is internet access for the troops there? Is what you can post subject to any restrictions and how are such restrictions enforced? And do you know of any similar blogs or journals from others military members in Iraq?
