richhermes
03-27-2007, 03:38 PM
A high school classmate of mine is currently in Iraq and sent this update. Thought some would like to read a soldier's POV.
Dear Family and Friends,
I apologize for the mass e-mail, but I wanted to write as many as I could to provide an update, and let you know that I’ve been back in Iraq for a month now. While over here last year I really enjoyed hearing from a lot of people, and the several e-mail exchanges really were a great distraction. So if you have questions or updates of your own, please drop a line.
I am now the Executive Officer (or XO) of 5th ANGLICO (Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company), and we are headquartered at Al Asad Air Base in Western Iraq, but we have teams spread throughout the Euphrates River Valley. Our mission is to link USMC as well as Air Force and Army aircraft with U.S. Army and Iraqi Army units on the ground and to serve as a liaison to the Marine headquarters that is in charge of the Al Anbar Province. It’s a very diverse and interesting mission to say the least. You can check out our web site, but honestly it is still very modest and a work in progress. We plan to add a lot of photos of the Marines and Sailors over here and their families as they do things together back in Okinawa. https://public.iiimefdm.usmc.mil/5anglico/default.aspx
Last year I commanded a platoon that varied from 40-60 Marines and Sailors depending on the ever changing missions, and I lived at the headquarters of the 1st Iraqi Army Division in Habbaniyah. Great experience and I had a chance to visit there again and see some friends and familiar faces when I led the advance party on a tour of all of our team locations. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on perspective) that may probably the last time I leave “Camp Cupcake” for a while. It really charges your batteries to see the Marines out there doing a tremendous job, sometimes under tough conditions, and – using one of our colloquialisms – it’s a “varsity mission” that they do every day.
As far as ‘how things are going’ over here… well I’m happy to see and report improvements. I first got here in Feb 2006, and when I went home, I read books critical of the war effort because I was worried that we were just on a treadmill, and I needed some perspective. I returned in Feb 2007, and some things are stagnant, but others are noticeably improved. Now I only know about Baghdad of what I read in the news like you, and I have no clue about the rest of Iraq we never hear about, but I feel pretty comfortable with what’s happening in Al Anbar. Here’s a few vignettes:
- A Marine major who was finishing his second tour in two years (much like me) in Ramadi stated unequivocally to me, “We’re defeating the insurgency in Al Anbar” when I was there inspecting the equipment we were inheriting from him. He has keen insight, and I consider him a realist.
- The Chaplain at Mass this past Sunday talked about how last week he was walking the streets in Hit with the Army Task Force Commander there, and he spoke with a teacher, then a man who said he was a barber. So the Army lieutenant colonel shed his helmet and flak jacket and got a haircut and invited him on his base saying he had a lot of soldiers that needed a haircut. Last year, Hit was bad, but they had a battle in January of this year in which a bunch of foreign fighters were killed, and ever since then, the place has been quiet.
- I enjoyed a cigar last night with some officers who just came into our camp in preparation to go back on a ship and return to California. Their battalion worked in the area between where I am and the Sryian border, and they said it was fairly quiet the whole time. They did have several tough casualties, but compared to two years ago when it was referred to as the “Wild West”, this is a dramatic improvement.
- The Sunnis out here have decided that they have had enough of the Al Qaeda and the foreign fighters, and they are publicly siding with the Americans. The “Surge” is still on going, but it really does seem hopeful especially since the Sunni Sheiks are working with the Americans. As a result, there are a lot more Police, and the recruiting for the Army is picking up, although they are still woefully undermanned. The Sheiks have all the power; when they say its okay to join the Police and the Army, then they do it. The best part of the surge is that it will allow us to go to places that have been safe havens and hold them rather than raid those areas and leave s we’ve done in the past.
- We are changing some fundamental tactics and how we operate. Not sure how or if it will be better, but coupled with cooperation from the sheiks, it really has promise.
The insurgents are still really nasty. Did you see this in the news? A bomber who got through the checkpoint because he had children in the car then ran away and blew it up with the kids in the car. I’m seeing attacks in areas that were calm last year, but that could be because we’re there now. More noticeably is the stark decrease in attacks in hot spots like Fallujah and Ramadi.
All that said, this is still a dirty war, and good men and women are still dying. Maybe I’m seeing a good week, or a good month, and next month an event could happen that flushes all this progress down the toilet. Maybe we’ll pull the plug on this too quickly, and the Army will fall into sectarian lines. The Iraqi Army is good and growing, but not that good and not growing that quickly. And the Police are there, but a lot of those guys were probably planting IEDs a few months ago. Sounds like the government is getting its act together and talking reconciliation, but a few assassinations could mess everything up. As one Iraqi said, “All we can do is hope.”
For me, I miss my family terribly, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. I’m glad to be doing my part, and then I’ll be even happier to go home. Life is good on Okinawa. In my short 5 months at home Nina and I played a lot of golf, spent a lot of time hiking along the rocky coastline at low tide with the kids, and enjoying some tasty cocktails by the fire outside.
I went on longer than I planned, so I’ll end it by saying if you want to write, my address is:
5th ANGLICO, Det A
Unit 38552
FPO AP 96606-8552
Take care and Semper Fi, Bruce
Dear Family and Friends,
I apologize for the mass e-mail, but I wanted to write as many as I could to provide an update, and let you know that I’ve been back in Iraq for a month now. While over here last year I really enjoyed hearing from a lot of people, and the several e-mail exchanges really were a great distraction. So if you have questions or updates of your own, please drop a line.
I am now the Executive Officer (or XO) of 5th ANGLICO (Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company), and we are headquartered at Al Asad Air Base in Western Iraq, but we have teams spread throughout the Euphrates River Valley. Our mission is to link USMC as well as Air Force and Army aircraft with U.S. Army and Iraqi Army units on the ground and to serve as a liaison to the Marine headquarters that is in charge of the Al Anbar Province. It’s a very diverse and interesting mission to say the least. You can check out our web site, but honestly it is still very modest and a work in progress. We plan to add a lot of photos of the Marines and Sailors over here and their families as they do things together back in Okinawa. https://public.iiimefdm.usmc.mil/5anglico/default.aspx
Last year I commanded a platoon that varied from 40-60 Marines and Sailors depending on the ever changing missions, and I lived at the headquarters of the 1st Iraqi Army Division in Habbaniyah. Great experience and I had a chance to visit there again and see some friends and familiar faces when I led the advance party on a tour of all of our team locations. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on perspective) that may probably the last time I leave “Camp Cupcake” for a while. It really charges your batteries to see the Marines out there doing a tremendous job, sometimes under tough conditions, and – using one of our colloquialisms – it’s a “varsity mission” that they do every day.
As far as ‘how things are going’ over here… well I’m happy to see and report improvements. I first got here in Feb 2006, and when I went home, I read books critical of the war effort because I was worried that we were just on a treadmill, and I needed some perspective. I returned in Feb 2007, and some things are stagnant, but others are noticeably improved. Now I only know about Baghdad of what I read in the news like you, and I have no clue about the rest of Iraq we never hear about, but I feel pretty comfortable with what’s happening in Al Anbar. Here’s a few vignettes:
- A Marine major who was finishing his second tour in two years (much like me) in Ramadi stated unequivocally to me, “We’re defeating the insurgency in Al Anbar” when I was there inspecting the equipment we were inheriting from him. He has keen insight, and I consider him a realist.
- The Chaplain at Mass this past Sunday talked about how last week he was walking the streets in Hit with the Army Task Force Commander there, and he spoke with a teacher, then a man who said he was a barber. So the Army lieutenant colonel shed his helmet and flak jacket and got a haircut and invited him on his base saying he had a lot of soldiers that needed a haircut. Last year, Hit was bad, but they had a battle in January of this year in which a bunch of foreign fighters were killed, and ever since then, the place has been quiet.
- I enjoyed a cigar last night with some officers who just came into our camp in preparation to go back on a ship and return to California. Their battalion worked in the area between where I am and the Sryian border, and they said it was fairly quiet the whole time. They did have several tough casualties, but compared to two years ago when it was referred to as the “Wild West”, this is a dramatic improvement.
- The Sunnis out here have decided that they have had enough of the Al Qaeda and the foreign fighters, and they are publicly siding with the Americans. The “Surge” is still on going, but it really does seem hopeful especially since the Sunni Sheiks are working with the Americans. As a result, there are a lot more Police, and the recruiting for the Army is picking up, although they are still woefully undermanned. The Sheiks have all the power; when they say its okay to join the Police and the Army, then they do it. The best part of the surge is that it will allow us to go to places that have been safe havens and hold them rather than raid those areas and leave s we’ve done in the past.
- We are changing some fundamental tactics and how we operate. Not sure how or if it will be better, but coupled with cooperation from the sheiks, it really has promise.
The insurgents are still really nasty. Did you see this in the news? A bomber who got through the checkpoint because he had children in the car then ran away and blew it up with the kids in the car. I’m seeing attacks in areas that were calm last year, but that could be because we’re there now. More noticeably is the stark decrease in attacks in hot spots like Fallujah and Ramadi.
All that said, this is still a dirty war, and good men and women are still dying. Maybe I’m seeing a good week, or a good month, and next month an event could happen that flushes all this progress down the toilet. Maybe we’ll pull the plug on this too quickly, and the Army will fall into sectarian lines. The Iraqi Army is good and growing, but not that good and not growing that quickly. And the Police are there, but a lot of those guys were probably planting IEDs a few months ago. Sounds like the government is getting its act together and talking reconciliation, but a few assassinations could mess everything up. As one Iraqi said, “All we can do is hope.”
For me, I miss my family terribly, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. I’m glad to be doing my part, and then I’ll be even happier to go home. Life is good on Okinawa. In my short 5 months at home Nina and I played a lot of golf, spent a lot of time hiking along the rocky coastline at low tide with the kids, and enjoying some tasty cocktails by the fire outside.
I went on longer than I planned, so I’ll end it by saying if you want to write, my address is:
5th ANGLICO, Det A
Unit 38552
FPO AP 96606-8552
Take care and Semper Fi, Bruce