![](http://images2.fotki.com/v11/photos/4/49300/221476/alexiniraq-vi.jpg?1061697015")
Colleen
Posted on 08/23/2003 10:47:39 AM PDT by saquin
AL-FALLUJAH, Iraq--Soldiers from the 411th Military Police Company looked helplessly at one of their Armored Security Vehicles (ASV) as it sat in a roadside ditch dangerously close to flipping over. They had no vehicle powerful enough to lift the 29,850-pound ASV back onto the road. Platoon leader First Lt. Shannon Newell and her soldiers were in a potentially hostile area and she had to quickly decide what to do.It was late morning and the heat was becoming unbearable. Soon a crowd of people from the nearby village of As-Saqlawiyah, about 20 miles west of Baghdad, began gathering around them. The children chatted and laughed with the soldiers, while the adults looked curiously at the ASV. Then an elderly man dressed in a white robe approached Newell. Through a translator, he told Newell he was the leader of the village and owned a crane in Al-Fallujah, a city about 5 miles to the south. He wanted to send someone to get the crane and help the soldiers recover the vehicle.
In our minds we were thinking it would be a rickety crane, it would probably break or maybe they were just trying to set us up, so we were very skeptical, said Newell. But they were very insistent, and said it would only take 1 1/2 hours to get the crane, so we finally said "ok." About two hours later, a nearly brand new 50-foot construction crane, operated by a local villager, lifted the ASV out of the ditch and back onto the road.
"I was trying to figure out how we could possibly thank them, and I asked the old man if he needed some type of payment, and he said 'No' What he wanted was for us to come to his house and have breakfast with him," said Newell. "We were nervous about eating the food here and drinking the water, but we were really hungry and sweltering outside in all our gear, so we said 'ok.'"
Newell sent one squad into the village to conduct security operations, and left some soldiers to guard the vehicles, while she and the rest of her soldiers followed the villagers and the old man to his house.
The house was a modest, two-story home, said Newell. She and her soldiers had just entered when one of her soldiers, Staff Sgt. Michael Merzke, told her that the ASV's hydraulic system was blown and would need to be refilled with oil before it could be operated again.
The village leader offered to have Merzke driven into town to buy the oil. Merzke offered to buy the oil, but the old man shook his head and gave a wad of money to one of the village men. The villager, a young boy, and Merzke--who stands a towering 6-foot-five-inches--all crammed into the cab of a small Toyota pickup. An MP team in a HUMV followed as they drove into As-Saqlawiyah for oil.
Newell and the rest of her soldiers were inside the village leader's home being treated to ice-cold water and a meal of lamb shish kebobs in rooms cooled by ceiling fans.
Pvt. Jennifer Sperber, ate her meal with the women and children in a room at the back of the house. "They were really exited and happy to see us, and all talking to us even though we didn't understand anything they were saying," said Sperber. The women and children did their best to overcome the language barrier, trying to explain how old they were and show how they were related, she said.
The MPs finished their meal and tried to tell their hosts how full they were and thank them for the meal. " made a gesture trying to tell the women that the food was really good and they thought I meant we wanted more food. So, they brought out more lamb," said Newell. "It would have been kind of rude not to eat, so I told Sperber she had better eat it all. When she finished all she could say was 'Lt., I am so full!'"
Late in the afternoon, despite the protests of the men, women and children, Newell and her soldiers said goodbye and left the old man's home.
"They were sad to see us go," said Sperber. "They all gave us hugs and kissed us on the cheek."
"All our soldiers liked the experience," said Newell. "They were showing the people pictures of their kids, their wives and husbands. One of my soldiers had a Game Boy with him and all the little kids were sitting on his lap taking turns playing the game. When we left, the old man told me that he wanted us to come back for breakfast the next day. He told me that Iraq needs American friends," she said.
Wild Thing
Colleen
I have been busy lately with really f*cked up hours and schedules.
Still not rich but working.
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