Wow. That letter brought tears to my eyes.
How's it going back in good 'ol Dallas? I hope all is well with you...Here is what happened with me over the last couple days.
First off, it seems as soon as you roll into Iraq from Kuwait you go into a twilight zone, what a dump it is up there. TRASH everywhere...I don't know how they live like that. We took small arms fire just south of Baghdad, it was like they knew we were coming. Talk about feeling like a sitting duck. Thank god, no IED or RPG's..just small arms fire. I had forgot how much one's heart races when getting fired at. I fired two full magazines...back, when the firing started, we sped up (the convoy), thank god no one was injured. Appearently this is a common thing on convoys..the bigger attacks make headlines or if a soldier dies. I get back and heard that 5 soldiers were killed in or around Baghdad. It's just freaky.
Then on the way back down here it was a little further south that we got fired at again, this time there was either a IED or a RPG that was fired. It hit near one of the vehicles..no one was injured...thank god! Talk about being scared...but that feeling of "I can't believe someone is trying to kill me" just filled my mind. At one end of the spectrum, now that i've experienced it, you don't really think too much about it when it happens, it's after the fact that you think how fucking luky one is to make it back all in one piece. I hope I don't end up on another one anytime soon.... One good thing they do have up there are great places to sleep, they get their own rooms..real barracks, and great food...but NO THANKS, not everytime you step foot off that camp someone has the intent of killing you...NO THANKS!!!
I can't say for sure with all the rounds I fired if I hit anyone or not, we didn't stick around to find out either. I've got to run, but that was pretty wild...Take care and take it easy!!