Our Troops Need Support

A friend forwarded a letter from a tanker in Iraq that letter is in the extended entry below. While I believe in our purpose and believe that we are doing the right thing, it's good to remember the sacrifice made on our behalf. Re-building a nation is no easy task; but the rewards for a job well-done could truly make the world a better place.

Not every story is a good one, not every face smiling, and not every letter home glows with happiness.

This young troop sounds like he could use some support. I'll be getting an address later where we can send care packages to this kid and his compatriots; I know that he has a loving family, but it would be nice to show some appreciation in a more direct manner.

If you'd like to participate in sending a care package, leave a note in the comments section. I need to gather some info before the package can be sent, and I'll forward that info along as needed.

Dear Mom and Dad,

It has been a few days since I wrote, but that gives a few days worth of story to write about. I am writing this letter on a paper from a notebook I confiscated on a raid that we did where there was a room full of Iraqi army supplies. This notebook was supposed to be issued to an Iraqi soldier but made it into my hands instead. I’m also writing this letter in my driver’s hole on the tank because we were on QRE on the night shift.

Two of the local towns or villages around here are called Tarmia and Arabachee with balad just up the road a ways to the North. About five days ago the people in Tarmia started rioting and gathered enough people to overrun the police station and hold the local policemen at gunpoint with AK-47s . They also were starting fires all over town and were trying to let us know that they don’t like us.

Alpha company was closest so they were called out that night to the town. When they got to the police station everyone scattered so no arrests were made. The next day we went to Tarmia and raided 5 houses making 6 arrests of men whom local snitches noticed leading the riots. After that some Apache helicopters called on the radios saying that people ere gathering in Arabachee and they wanted us to move in to that town and make sure nothing got out of hand. That was probably the biggest gathering of Saddam loyalists that I have seen my whole time here. There was about 200 people waving signs and pictures of Saddam. Others were waving Iraqi flags. When they saw us coming they all started running towards our humvees. When they got closer you could
see that some of the men were carrying large knives like machetes. Other people started throwing rocks, hitting the humvees from everywhere. When we drove out of the gathering, which was long enough to be a parade. We drove up the road and parked in a spot where there was about 20 feet between us and the road. It didn’t take long for the people to follow us the other way down the road. We all got out of the humvees and had our weapons ready to fire when they paraded by us again. It was all the same shit again with rocks the size of apples being thrown at us. A couple of them almost hit me and if I wouldn’t have moved they would have. But we weren’t allowed to fire at them. Arabachee is one dirty little town. Most of the people there hate us and are still Saddam loyalists. Sometimes I feel like the Americans shouldn’t even be here. Sometimes I think we should raid every house at one time until we find some trace of Saddam, catch the 5 and get the hell out of dodge. I’m sick of trying to be some hero that I’m not. I’m sick of driving past some kid on the street, seeing him wave and smile and then turning around to get another look to see him tossing a rock in the air to throw at me.

Nothing seems to be changing here.

Love