a hell hath no scorn...

I was asleep for about 2 hours when i got the call- mission, report to the TOC (Tactical Operation Center). at 0015 hours in the middle of the night it takes you a while to get your chi going...

We got an intel report that i thought was rather shady, but after your 2 cents of objection/input, orders are orders... so we linked up with our Iraqi counterparts for the operation. after hearing the operations brief i felt even less "warm and fuzzy" about the mission... whatever- i could always use a little adrenaline rush.

I was team leader of a search team, teamed up with a commando iraqi squad, the iraqi LT was cool and a real professional, a nice change, and focusing on our mission of counter insurgency- being curtious and kind, but careful.

The mission- find a pissed off chick with a vest that goes boom... thats about as much as i can tell you but I can say that waking up families in the middle of the night is not a smart thing to do....

I got to vent to you, and i dont want to say that IT WAS POINTLESS!!!!!!, put us in danger on a mission that could only yield a 1 in a 1,000 chance of finding anything. but i go where I'm ordered.. despite my team chief retard decisions. It sucks that i can better paint the picture, but thanks for hearing the frustration.

One situation- actually pretty funny:
We entered one house and I told the female searcher (you have to have a female soldier search the females unless you what a revolt on your hands) to stay right behind me. She was pretty new, but did well, and hugged my 6 o'clock. anyway, when got into a house and we separate the males and females, but as we were about to search this one lady, she started screaming "Alla Akbar!!!!!!!" I dont know if you have seen many videos of the terrorist attacking us, but right before they push the detonator they always say "Alla Akbar" (God is Great). so we got this lady screaming this in the middle of her living room, and knowing what we were looking for.... my interpreter looked to me and said "oh S*&T its her!!!" I felt my blood get cold, and waited for the blast..... but it didnt happen.... it turned out that she was crazy and her husband explained that she was nuts and apologised. So on that note, I cleaned the poop out of my pants (jk) and we went on to the next house.

anyway- that is whats pop'n in my neck of the woods. If you are feeling patriotic and want to see a couple movies that can paint a pretty go picture of what is going on over here, check out "the Lucky ones" and "Hurt Locker" sorry, not sure about the rating. Of course there are Hollywood errors and drama, but it hits some real scenarios that we see a lot.