Thread: Greetings from Baghdad

God bless you man.

Keep safe out there dude! My thoughts and prayers are with you

Thanks for serving our country, man!

It's good to hear your doing well, too!

Originally Posted by DOMS

Thanks for serving our country, man!

It's good to hear your doing well, too!

I second!

Thanks for serving our country, man!!


Serving our country? How.


Waiting for DUMBS to reply.

Originally Posted by Witmaster

Hello my Friends,

I'm finally able to get a message out to all of you despite the worst internet service I've ever experienced in my life. Good to see the board is still active.

I'm good. Right now I'm batteling off a cold from all the dust and climate differences but still, I'm none the worse for wear.

Overall everyone here is doing good. The Gym on my FOB is pretty nice. I try to catch it early in the mornings when it's not so crowded. Evening times seem to be the worst time.

Diet isn't a problem here except you really have to exercise self control. The food is amazing and they give you a TON of it. Plenty of fresh fruits, veggies, whole grain cereals and lean protein. Jodi would be pleased.

I don't have a lot of time right now but I did want to touch base.

Hope everyone here is doing well. I'll report back in soon.

Cheers!

nice to hear from you. keep in touch, and i hopw all goes well for you

hey Wit, Nice to hear from you, hope your time there seems to go by fast...

hey Wit, nice to hear from you hope your time there seems to go by fast.

what the fuck when i hit reply i get spammed with an ad for muscle gains....

Stay safe I've shipped packages to Afganistan seems alot you guys work out over sea's to pass the time. The Food reminds me of fire camp man I could pack on the pounds fast it was gravy and something everyday

Hey, nice hearing from you Wit. Take care in that arm pit of a country.

Good to hear. Stay safe, brother.

Keep safe Wit.

Thanks All.

I’ve got a moment to offer you a first-hand account of our activities here. Like many of you, I would sit and watch the TV and wonder, “Just what the hell are we actually doing over there?” Well, here’s a brief “Unclassified” report from my limited perspective.

My Unit has assumed command of the Iraqi Correctional Officer (ICO) Program. Our mission being to train and stand-up enough qualified ICO’s to facilitate the removal of American Troops currently operating in that capacity. The ICO program is a vital step in returning Iraq over to manage itself and allow the United States to execute a responsible withdraw without handing the country over to the terrorists and/or Iran.

It’s a challenging task. Many of the ICO’s apply for these jobs at great risk to themselves and their families. Still, they are very proud to be a part of this vital building block and remain focused on the tasks at hand.

So… I suppose to address “Smoothy’s” question of “How…?” I can only offer the fact that we are working extremely hard to facilitate the exodus of American Troops by building the trust and confidence of Iraqi people, enabling the government to stand up on it’s own, and facilitating the smooth transition of command and control from our hands to thiers. In short, we're not giving them the fish...We're TEACHING them to fish. Sometimes we still have to bait the hook and cast the line for them, but at the end of the day they'll be the ones reeling in the fish. That's our goal.

That is a very abbreviated explanation but I’m restricted by time and security issues. Regardless, I suppose a certain "someone" still wishes a terrorist would get me with an IED. Ironically, it’s his right to say such things and his freedom of expression that we continue to fight for.

Ok… enough of my rambling. Now that I have a semi-solid connection to the Net, I’ll be sending out more frequent updates and what-not.

Thanks to all for your outstanding support. I’d like to, above all else, acknowledge my beloved wife who is riding this deployment out like a pro. She’s the biggest blessing in my life.

Peace to you all