One of Ours

...Today when I went to breakfast at the KBR mess hall they were showing the CNN reports on what happened in Fallujah. I was just amazed. Tikrit can be "bad" but I don't think that even the Iraqis here, in Saddam's home town, would do something as barbaric as what happened in Fallujah...

...Last night we approved over $60,000 of US taxpayer money to pay for car accidents, wrongful deaths, and damage to houses and property caused by US soldiers. But money is a weapon here and there can be a positive impact from showing the Iraqis that we will not make ourselves immune from compensation when we've "wronged" someone. Yesterday, my soldier had to explain to an Iraqi claimant that his file had been lost in the transition between units and he should bring a copy back to file the claim again. He looked at SPC Sylla and said "That's okay, I trust you Americans to do the right thing." We were both amazed and gratified by that...

...We've all been working 18-20 hour days so far and you often hear someone complain that "this is a marathon, not a sprint!" Well a couple days ago one of the majors in our brigade (who just happens to be leaving the brigade in a few months) heard that and replied "NO! This is 2BCT and it's not a marathon, it's 365 daily sprints!!!" We'll see how long that lasts. If we all keep up this pace people will burn out very, very quickly.