Sleep? You'll get all the sleep you want when your dead!

So its kind of crazy when I think about a couple years ago, just before I joined the Army, how much sleep I used to get. I would say on average I would get 12-14 hours of sleep a day. I know, its pretty crazy. I remeber thinking how when I joined the Army that I was going to be screwed because I knew Id never get that much sleep again. Boy was I right!

So with that said, a little about my last outting. We headed out on what was going to be a long time outside the wire. Everything started off normal. Typical stuff to check out and whatnot, and to be honest not a whole lot of excitment. Go figure. For lunch, we ended up making a pit stop at this other base that I've been wanting to go back to for a while. The reason for this is because there is a massage lady that works there!! YES!! It definatly hits the spot after being out on patrol wearing all our gear to take a quick little bit to relax and get a rub down. And its pretty damn cheap too. So that definatly felt good and I was in a good mood, ready to head out. Again, not a whole lot to report on out there.

Towards the evening we started getting some info on a possible raid for us to go on. Alright, finally, something exciting. As things began to fell into place we began to learn more about what was going on, and this was going to be a good one.

Well later that night we headed out towards the target house. My squad was tasked with securing any escape routes. Another group was to go in and grab the guy. Well we all got into position and the raid was underway. It went off without a hitch, for the guy had no clue we were even there until they were busting down his door to grab him. Durring the raid tho, people were coming outside from all over the place. Most of them were just wondering what was going on, but you can never be for sure and it always gets you on edge. Fortunately being night, we have quite the advantage and we use it to its fullest.

Once we grabbed the guy up they brought him out to my squad to secure, and I was the closest one. I took one look at him (he was about 50-60 lbs heavier and about 2-3 inches taller than me) I decided I needed to make sure he couldn't do anything so I put him on his knees. Granted he couldn't see and he was zipcuffed, but still. Not taking any chances. Once the guys inside were done, we headed out of there. We ended up have to take the guys back to our intelligence guys for some questioning and by the time that was done, there was only 3 hours until we had to get up and take them to the detention facility. Great, 3 hours of sleep and then back out again. Uggg!

The guy ended up being exactly who we were looking for. In fact a lot of people had been looking for him. He was a semi-big player. The best part is that we made this happen on our own, without the help of the traditional Army intelligence and raiding philosophy. We got our intel our selves, planned everything and made it happen on our own. This isn't the first time we've done this, and it wont be the last. The best part is we've been catching some important people and I know people have got to be noticing. Yeah boys, thats how WE do it.

The next day was quite the long day, and we didn't really end up doing a whole lot, catching catnaps here and there when we could. We lucked out and ended up scoring a trip to the Green Zone to do something, but for us it meant big PX and Burger King. YEAH! It was great. When the day was all said and done, we headed back in to base. Everyone was exhausted and we all crashed immediately. I think I ended up sleeping almost 12 hours. The only reason I got up when I did is because I though we were going to be moving buildings, but we didn't end up doing it, so just another relaxing day. Much needed after all the hard work we put in the day before. Even though it sucks, its at least worth it when we catch guys that are responsible for attempting to and killing Americans. All just in another days work! ;)