From a friend:
My son Kyle is stationed in Old Baquba Iraq.
Kyle's platoon had the morning patrol assignment today. A man sitting on a porch waited until his patrol passed right in front of him, stood up and announced Allah Akbar (god is great), then detonated the bomb he was wearing killing himself and causing casualties/deaths of 7 American soldiers. A few minutes before Kyle's platoon left base to start their ill fated early morning patrol, the Captain of the base announced that he was going to Camp Warhorse for a meeting and would require the standard 3 Stryker convoy to transport him. One of the Strykers "must" be a Tank version that carry's the big 105mm tank cannon. It turns out that Kyle is one of only a handful of TC (tank commanders) on that base that are qualified to command this vehicle. His Sargent pulled him out of the patrol and assigned him the convoy duty. Kyle was just pulling into Camp Warhorse when he heard the attack on his radio. As you can imagine he feels guilty about not being with his men when the attack happened. Usually these convoys are the more dangerous assignments and he was dreading it, but not today. Today they did not take any incoming fire the entire route to Camp Warhorse. Very unusual he tells me. Kyle thought he was having a good day based on the premise that its a good day when nobody shoots at me. Kyle's Stryker was called to the area of the suicide bombing to lend "lock down" support for the evacuation of the wounded. He said terrorist know that we always come back for our dead and wounded. Its then that they usually set off the 2ND bomb during the confusion of tending to the wounded, or snipers start picking off rescue personnel......... As it turns out 2 of Kyles friends, guys he usually walks with took wounds to their heads. He is not sure if they made it or not. Six of the seven were airlifted out and only one was ambulatory. Meaning he was able to put his own fingers in his own wounds and climb into the Humvee to get back to base. Nobody else was that lucky.
Kyle sounded rattled/pissed but not harmed. He had to go back to Camp Warhorse to pick up the Captain and found a few minutes to call me from the phones there. Two weeks ago he was in Taji a place that is very safe by comparison. In Taji everybody knows the drill. Stay back 200 meters or die. Pull your vehicle off to the side of the road or die.....etc etc. Here in Baquba it looks like a cross between New York city and a really shitty part of TJ. Narrow streets that can only be patroled by foot and massive amounts of people all pressing in around you. All the buildings are 4-5 stories tall with open windows. Kyle said it is a sensory overload. You are watching the window, the parked cars, the hands of hundreds of people all around you, and trying to notice anything strange going on.........Sounds like a recipe for a nervous breakdown to me.......
Brothers Please pray for the safety of these boys in the most dangerous place in the world.
Thank you.
My son Kyle is stationed in Old Baquba Iraq.
Kyle's platoon had the morning patrol assignment today. A man sitting on a porch waited until his patrol passed right in front of him, stood up and announced Allah Akbar (god is great), then detonated the bomb he was wearing killing himself and causing casualties/deaths of 7 American soldiers. A few minutes before Kyle's platoon left base to start their ill fated early morning patrol, the Captain of the base announced that he was going to Camp Warhorse for a meeting and would require the standard 3 Stryker convoy to transport him. One of the Strykers "must" be a Tank version that carry's the big 105mm tank cannon. It turns out that Kyle is one of only a handful of TC (tank commanders) on that base that are qualified to command this vehicle. His Sargent pulled him out of the patrol and assigned him the convoy duty. Kyle was just pulling into Camp Warhorse when he heard the attack on his radio. As you can imagine he feels guilty about not being with his men when the attack happened. Usually these convoys are the more dangerous assignments and he was dreading it, but not today. Today they did not take any incoming fire the entire route to Camp Warhorse. Very unusual he tells me. Kyle thought he was having a good day based on the premise that its a good day when nobody shoots at me. Kyle's Stryker was called to the area of the suicide bombing to lend "lock down" support for the evacuation of the wounded. He said terrorist know that we always come back for our dead and wounded. Its then that they usually set off the 2ND bomb during the confusion of tending to the wounded, or snipers start picking off rescue personnel......... As it turns out 2 of Kyles friends, guys he usually walks with took wounds to their heads. He is not sure if they made it or not. Six of the seven were airlifted out and only one was ambulatory. Meaning he was able to put his own fingers in his own wounds and climb into the Humvee to get back to base. Nobody else was that lucky.
Kyle sounded rattled/pissed but not harmed. He had to go back to Camp Warhorse to pick up the Captain and found a few minutes to call me from the phones there. Two weeks ago he was in Taji a place that is very safe by comparison. In Taji everybody knows the drill. Stay back 200 meters or die. Pull your vehicle off to the side of the road or die.....etc etc. Here in Baquba it looks like a cross between New York city and a really shitty part of TJ. Narrow streets that can only be patroled by foot and massive amounts of people all pressing in around you. All the buildings are 4-5 stories tall with open windows. Kyle said it is a sensory overload. You are watching the window, the parked cars, the hands of hundreds of people all around you, and trying to notice anything strange going on.........Sounds like a recipe for a nervous breakdown to me.......
Brothers Please pray for the safety of these boys in the most dangerous place in the world.
Thank you.