LETTER FROM ZACHARY IN IRAQ
Hey Mom,
Aug. 21, 10:03pm
Today we did the layout of all our crap. It wasn't as bad as I expected. We pulled everything out and the new lieutenant came and inspected it. He barely looked at any of the stuff we laid out and continued on. A little annoying but at least it is over now. New Lieutenant? We have a new lieutenant now for one of our platoons. He acts as the platoon leader the platoon leader he replaced was fired after one of the trucks in his platoon hit an IED while driving on a route they shouldn't have even been on and the driver was injured. I'm not for certain that's why he was fired but it happened really soon after. The driver who was hit got really lucky. The IED blew a hole through into the engine and through the floor of the drivers hole. Luckily the blast shot right through the middle of the drivers legs. The metal bent around his legs and he only ended up with shrapnel in his legs. He will be returning to duty shortly. He was my neighbor in the barracks back at Ft. Lewis. I'm glad he wasn't killed.
Iraq is strange you are never really scared. When you first get here you know people have been getting injured and killed but you don't know any of them. Than slowly but surely the longer you are here the chain of people who are dying or getting hurt starts getting closer and closer to you until it is the guy who has been working, eating, sleeping, shitting, showering, laughing, bitching alongside you for the last 5 months. Then you don't so much get scared but start to realize that this is actually happening and you just drove by the hole that blew someone you know up. Still everything just seems so routine now, even getting blown up. So you still are never really scared. Maybe we're all crazy.
Today hasn't been the best of days for me. All day I've felt like a soda can that has been left in the freezer and slowly swells up until its bust and sprays all over everything so that you have to throw it away or try to clean it but it still ends up having a sticky residue on it.
I got stuck going and picking up a bunch of steaks, hot dogs, beans, charcoal, soda, etc. with another guy. I guess we're going to have a troop cookout before our next big mission begins. I hope it goes allright. So far the "morale boosting" barbecue has only created more details for us to do. Getting the food, setting it up and so on. Who knows maybe I'm just being really pessimistic.
Our mission that is coming up is going to be something very different from what we are used to. We've never really trained for anything like it. My bunk is near where the commander all the leaders always discuss their plans about where we are going and what we'll be doing. I have a habit of overhearing what we'll be doing and stressing out about it. I try not to listen now because I'd rather just hit the ground and go task to task instead of knowing everything we're going to accomplish and worrying about it. I have to remind myself it isn't my job to worry about those things its my job to just do it. I think that is partially why I'm so wound up all the time.
I've been trying to keep some sort of journal but it is really hard for me to write anything. I've always got all this stuff on my mind but once I go to write I just blank out and don't write anything.
I was sleeping on the roof of a building out in a city one night and I realized that the stars in Iraq are aways moving. I know that's sounds crazy but you look at the stars and all the lights in the skies are moving. There are so many helicopters, planes, jets, unmanned aircrafts, etc. up there all the time is looks like the stars are moving. Just thought it was weird.
I enjoyed reading what little Malan wrote in your last email. He is eating salad dressing plain now? What is that all about? Ask him if he would write me more. He is a crazy kid.
I guess that is all I have to say for now. I need to get some sleep I have a lot of preparations to take care of for this mission coming up. Goodnight
Zac D.
Aug. 21, 10:03pm
Today we did the layout of all our crap. It wasn't as bad as I expected. We pulled everything out and the new lieutenant came and inspected it. He barely looked at any of the stuff we laid out and continued on. A little annoying but at least it is over now. New Lieutenant? We have a new lieutenant now for one of our platoons. He acts as the platoon leader the platoon leader he replaced was fired after one of the trucks in his platoon hit an IED while driving on a route they shouldn't have even been on and the driver was injured. I'm not for certain that's why he was fired but it happened really soon after. The driver who was hit got really lucky. The IED blew a hole through into the engine and through the floor of the drivers hole. Luckily the blast shot right through the middle of the drivers legs. The metal bent around his legs and he only ended up with shrapnel in his legs. He will be returning to duty shortly. He was my neighbor in the barracks back at Ft. Lewis. I'm glad he wasn't killed.
Iraq is strange you are never really scared. When you first get here you know people have been getting injured and killed but you don't know any of them. Than slowly but surely the longer you are here the chain of people who are dying or getting hurt starts getting closer and closer to you until it is the guy who has been working, eating, sleeping, shitting, showering, laughing, bitching alongside you for the last 5 months. Then you don't so much get scared but start to realize that this is actually happening and you just drove by the hole that blew someone you know up. Still everything just seems so routine now, even getting blown up. So you still are never really scared. Maybe we're all crazy.
Today hasn't been the best of days for me. All day I've felt like a soda can that has been left in the freezer and slowly swells up until its bust and sprays all over everything so that you have to throw it away or try to clean it but it still ends up having a sticky residue on it.
I got stuck going and picking up a bunch of steaks, hot dogs, beans, charcoal, soda, etc. with another guy. I guess we're going to have a troop cookout before our next big mission begins. I hope it goes allright. So far the "morale boosting" barbecue has only created more details for us to do. Getting the food, setting it up and so on. Who knows maybe I'm just being really pessimistic.
Our mission that is coming up is going to be something very different from what we are used to. We've never really trained for anything like it. My bunk is near where the commander all the leaders always discuss their plans about where we are going and what we'll be doing. I have a habit of overhearing what we'll be doing and stressing out about it. I try not to listen now because I'd rather just hit the ground and go task to task instead of knowing everything we're going to accomplish and worrying about it. I have to remind myself it isn't my job to worry about those things its my job to just do it. I think that is partially why I'm so wound up all the time.
I've been trying to keep some sort of journal but it is really hard for me to write anything. I've always got all this stuff on my mind but once I go to write I just blank out and don't write anything.
I was sleeping on the roof of a building out in a city one night and I realized that the stars in Iraq are aways moving. I know that's sounds crazy but you look at the stars and all the lights in the skies are moving. There are so many helicopters, planes, jets, unmanned aircrafts, etc. up there all the time is looks like the stars are moving. Just thought it was weird.
I enjoyed reading what little Malan wrote in your last email. He is eating salad dressing plain now? What is that all about? Ask him if he would write me more. He is a crazy kid.
I guess that is all I have to say for now. I need to get some sleep I have a lot of preparations to take care of for this mission coming up. Goodnight
Zac D.
posted by Barbara Buttel @ 1:58 PM
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