He got the call this morning, just before he was leaving his place to come over for the Thanksgiving feast. Rotten timing, but what can you do?
He works for a security firm contracting with the DOD. He will be doing site security, executive protection (bodyguarding) and whatever else they need.
The fun part is, he will be providing services to Boot & Coots International Well Control, the world’s premier oil well blowout guys (if you saw Fires of Kuwait you know what I’m talking about). Check them out here- http://www.bncg.com/index.htm . Be sure and look at the bios of Red Adair, Boots Hanson and Coots Matthews, they were really incredible guys.
Anyway, he’ll be in Kirkit (spelling?) mostly, plus wherever the smokejumpers need to go. This hitch will be three months, then he’ll probably do another three month in the spring.
I am a little worried about the part of the world he’s in, but not about him or what he’s doing. He is a former special operations soldier (Ranger & SF) and he has the best of the best watching his back.
I love you, kid. Godspeed and bring your ass back home soon.
I’m sure he has seen some pretty rough situations before this so it sounds like he’ll be as prepared as anyone can be for such things. My best wishes to him!
After what happened in the green zone this morning, I am kinda glad that he’ll be out in the oilfields mostly. It’s a lot easier to evaluate a potential threat from 800 yards away (if they are there, they’re bad guys) than from 3 feet coming around a corner. Kirkuk is out in the oilfields, about halfway between Bagdad and Mosul.
Well, his flight got pushed back until tomorrow, so I got to have lunch with him today (and he gets to see X in concert in LA tonight!). Frankly, I don’t know how they got him a flight at all, this being the big travel weekend and all. It wa snice for him to have some extra laundry and packing time, though. By this time on Monday, he should be in Iraq.
It was a nice lunch (Charlie’s Chili, the best), our parents were there, and no tears, at least until he was driving away and my mom lost it. I was okay, I gave him one of my chips (12 step program) for good luck, since they’ve always worked for me!
Just remember that the news services generally only show us the bad bits - good news isn’t newsworthy - the situation in Iraq is very much better than it appears.