OT An update from Iraq - Long

My cousin Clinton sent this update out to let us know a little of what is going on.  If you look at the video clips, in the second of the 3, where they are singing, Clinton is the one to the left of the piano player.

 

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Camp Wareagle along the beautiful banks of the Tigris River.

Sorry its been so long since my last update.  But, hey we're fighting a war over here.

The big news is - its hot.  It was 109 today, and its still Spring time.  It will only get hotter.  Luckily Wareagle is along the Tigris so there is a little breeze off the River, and we have a ton of trees on the camp that provide some really nice shade. 

What have we been doing?  Well the main thing we have been doing is repositioning our camps in support of the security agreement brokered with our the Iraqis.  We've closed down several bases and moved forces around to other bases.  Apparently by JUN 30 we are supposed to be out of the cities, but right now most of our bases will be in this portion of Baghdad at the invitation of our Iraqi Army partners.  But, come JUN 30, apparently they will be in the lead for all operations and we will be supporting them.  Its kind of weird, but we'll figure it out.  The big rumor is at the last minute the government here will truly kick us out of the cities and we'll move to a big mega base outside of the cities.  Only time will tell though. Regardless, there has been a lot of work moving barriers around, housing for the troops and life support equipment.  Its been a pain to plan but it seems to have all come together.

There have been a few attacks lately, mostly Improvised Explosive Devices on our convoys and patrols, luckily no serious injuries or wounded.  The big thing is every few weeks the Iraqis blow a bunch of car bombs off.  Usually these are Iraqi on Iraqi violence used to try and incite sectarian violence, but so far it hasn't worked.  Lets hope it stays that way.

Thanks so much to all the good folks back home that have sent snacks, hygeine items for the troops, and instruments for our chapel.  Our little chapel here is really doing good.  Unfortunately for us, with the moves our little band is being split up, but that just means the new camp will get some talent and we'll have to find some more.  I've had several churches and groups send us instruments and music supplies, which actually works out great, as now we can spread the instruments around to support the different camps.  We are expecting one big shipment from a church in Louisiana that will really put us over the top and help round out two or three chapels.  Thanks so much. 

We have a big 5K race to celebrate Memorial Day on the camp, and if it works out I'll do it.  Something fun to change up the pace. 

Lastly - the new thing this rotation is to make a video.  We have 3 out right now on dailymotion.  If you get a chance go to www.dailymotion.com and type in the word ironhorsepao in the search tool.  We have 3 videos on there.  Two are from operations over the past two months, and one is of our little chapel band after the first shipment of instruments.  Finally, if you were on my list last deployment, one of my buddies put together a video montage on a site called vimeo.  It really shows how far this place has come and brought back a lot of good memories.  You should be able to open it by going to http://www.vimeo.com/4680616 or just copy and paste it onto the address bar on your browser.

Happy Memorial Day everyone and don't forget to remember our fallen warriors.  The picture is of two of my Ugandan buddies from the camp guard force and our drummer from the band.

Love to all,
Clint