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<DIV><FONT size=2>We recently received this message from a friend, fighting in
Iraq. I thought that it might be of interest for everyone to hear things
from a young soldier's perspective.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>If you think about it, we truly are "opening the space" for
the Iraqi people to live in peace.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Judy Spady</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV id=IncrediOriginalMessage><I>-------Original Message-------</I></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV id=receivestrings>
<DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" <i><B>From:</B></I> <A
href="mailto:ltdbdunn1980@hotmail.com">Daniel Dunn</A></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" <i><B>Subject:</B></I> Moving
again</DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Hey All:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Alrighty, You all can un-pucker your fourth points of contact (I’ll
give a lesson on that when I get home if you don’t
understand). Let’s recap all that has happened. I
flew on the 20th and landed evening of the 22nd in Kuwait, then went to
Camp Buehring, which is a pushing base, not receiving (going north, not
coming south). At that point I was supposed to go to the 506th
infantry, the same unit in “Band of Brothers.” Then, about a
week later, we left and flew into Iraq, landing at a small airbase in our
Brigade sector. Upon landing, I learned I would be going to 1st
Battalion, 503rd Infantry instead, and almost four days later, right after
Election Day here, we arrived at Camp Correigador, home of the
503rd. The history of THAT unit is that it was the only
Parachute Infantry Regiment to go to the Pacific theatre in WWII, and
earned its nickname of “The Rock,” by landing on The Island of Correigador
outside the Philippines. The island was famous for being
impenetrable.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Now, after being assigned, Brigade has asked for personnel to stand
up a special unit. They’re calling it a MAT or Military
Assistance Team (similar to MAG in Vietnam). The purpose is to
train local Iraqi Security Forces to begin taking control of the
nation. Ladies and Gentleman, if you want this war to end, then
wish me the BEST of frickin luck. This is the KEY to the US
leaving. And God knows I want that as much as any mother,
father, wife, etc. I do so because I was Mortared Last
night. Not hit by mortars (take a breath mom) but in the Dining
Facility and heard them coming in…WALKING in. They came closer
and closer, four of them. We waited for the fifth that never
came. It was just a little taste of war, but it was sourer than
fifteen-year-old grapes soaked in lemon juice found at the bottom of a
latrine. Makes you heart beat quickly. Luckily, no
casualties and we got back at them with some new high tech stuff we
got.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anyways, this is a good job. I’ll be at Brigade
Headquaters (which is why this doesn’t have an APO address yet), out of
the way most of the time, and when I’m on the streets, it’ll be with other
guys watching over Iraqi Troops, and, for those of you who know that my
hope is to one day join the Special Forces, this is a GREAT
start. That’s what SF does all the time!</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Spent Election Day at a small Marine Airbase called Al Taqueddum (or
TQ for short). The information about the events around us was
been sketchy. We heard most of the action is in Baghdad, with
some small pockets around us. Sitting in the tent, we heard
four large explosions off in the distance, and ran out to
see. We watched as two Marine Corps Cobra gunships attacked
targets on the ground near the town of Falleujah. We could see
the tracers and everything, including smoke on the
horizon. Occasionally you’d hear .50 cal’s shoot up at the
choppers and they’d climb high out of range. Then the shooting
would stop and the helicopters would go back down and engage
again. We thought an AC-130 was going to clean up, but it just
circled over the area once and landed.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Predator drones fly over constantly. It sounds like a
lawnmower in the sky! It’s kind of an odd sight, but damn, cool
thing to see. Not sure on the policy for photos, so I hold off
on that. Plus the light was waning, so it might not have turned
out very good.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We stayed in a tent about a football field away from the airstrip so
we see and hear all this air traffic. It made sleeping at night
tough, and I usually had to use ear plugs or my iPod to drown out the
noise of the aircraft, especially the -130’s and the Cobra’s on night
missions (we’re on a Marine controlled Airbase right now).</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>There’re these small local vendor store (we call a “Hadji-shop”) that
you can get things you’d never see in America. They have
bootleg DVD’s (most of which are still in theatre’s in the US, but low
quality in video), and VERY inexpensive electronics (but questionable
about legality on those), as well as Cuban Cigars for very cheap (2 for
$10, in comparison to a good Montecristo No. 2 in the US (non-Cuban) for
$16…don’t ask how I know).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Something I want you all to know (in case the Media f**ks THIS one
up) there WAS a 72% turn out at the Iraqi polls. There were
over 5,000 voters in Falleujah alone, which is good considering that ended
not two months ago. It ALMOST makes it all worth
it. I won’t tell what the cost was, because it isn’t my
place. It’s not THAT high in comparison to most of what we’ve
done, but…You also need to remember that every voter that DID go out
risked their life. The insurgents ran video ads on TV that said
they’d kill any voters in the street. These people live in
absolute TERROR of these people. Insurgents regularly chop
heads of in public squares, kill whole families for US support, and often
indiscriminate against US and civilians. Meanwhile, the US
builds schools, immunizes children, pays for our damages AND the
insurgents damages…I don’t tell you this as propaganda or to gross you
out, I say it out of shit I have REALLY seen first hand. This
war truly isn’t about oil or WMD’s, at least not to us ground
pounders. It’s about ridding these people of a scared
lifestyle.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Yesterday I talked to one of the Iraqi Commando force that is
attached to the 503rd. When I say talked, I mean tried to break
the language barrier, and for the most part, did fairly
well. We talked about families, and fighting, and stuff like
that. We traded dollar for Dinar and signed them for each
other. It was cool talking with someone from another world
(which again, goes to reinforce that I might be the right guy for this new
job).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anyways, I won’t scare you all anymore. I just want all of
you to know that WHATEVER the media says, it’s not all that bad over
here. IEDs don’t go off every day, and when they do, someone
doesn’t always die, mortars arne’t shot into Us compounds everyday, and
when they do, we’re not usually hit or killed, and someone doesn’t die
everyday over here. Yeah, that’s not to say people are getting
hurt and dying, but that’s part of the job. It does just like
the cop on the beat who’s shot by a crack dealer-we just see more of it
over here. You do the job, and you accept the hazards, dangers
and costs. You just do your best to make what your doing worth
the cause. BELEIVE me, these Iraqi citizens appreciate
it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Take care all.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Daniel "Soldier Boy" Dunn</DIV>
<DIV>2LT, IN</DIV>
<DIV>2BCT/2ID</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></TD></TR>
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