So it’s been like 3 months already deployed here in this Land called Iraq. We have endured and escaped death too many times here. We have treated many casualties of our own to include the ones (the Iraqi’s) I didn’t care to treat. Was this a ethical for me to feel this way? I hated this place. We all had to shit in a can and smell the poop from the person and person’s before us. Flies would land on our ass as we crapped. Sweat would come down us. I was sick of this…Even the Iraqis would use the makeshift toilets and of course they don’t use toilet paper. You would see water bottles all over the ground cause they use their bare hands to wipe their ass. And again…the Sand Storms..Who would not want to be here.
Days go by with no word on when we are leaving. Phone lines sometime work and sometimes don’t. There was only one phone line in our company for the rest of us…….Other options are to walk on the other side of the FOB where the AirForce was. It just sucked because of the heat, but then Sand Storms would come unannounced. We all walked to this statue of Saddam and was graffiting it. We got spray cans from the company. We even pissed on the statue and took turns. On the outside, we see wild dogs just looking at us. I could just shoot them with no care. Further on in the outskirts was the home of Abraham. There was actually a tour over there but I didn’t go. Scared or not, I didn’t want to take any chances.
By June, we got our redeployment Op-Orders. We were all happy. The 86th CSH is being sent home back to Fort Campbell, KY. You know what, even though alcohol was unauthorized, I drank some. It came out of nowhere. Believe that or not but I had some in my hand. I won’t tell the source but alcohol is alive and well downrange. Everyone was just happy to get that word. We finally left Iraq in July 2003. The Unit that we supported, the 101st, were ordered to stay for a year………………
