Sweet dreams are made of these...

So the other day I was off in la la land when I began to have, not suprisingly, a dream about being here in Iraq. I was walking across this parking lot on my way to the chow hall when mortars started coming in. They wern't landing close to me so I just continued to walk on my way. I distinctly remeber looking over and seeing the dust clouds rise from the impacts, one, two, three. Then small arms fire erupted...

It was at this point that I awoke to the sounds of smalls arms fire while I lay in bed. It was still kind of early, but now, no matter how hard Id try, I would not be able to go back to sleep. As I was slowing waking to my new day, the incoming warning sirens continued to blare a warning to those yet to of found cover. More mortars began to impact. These sounded very far away, and they were definatly small; probably 60mm size. Nothing like the ones from the other day, none the less still potentially deadly. Small arms fire continued as more and more rounds impacted in this place I call home. I didn't get a count, but it wasn't as many as the barage the other day, but more than the norm. Good morning Iraq.

Although the day would start off on a bad note, it ended up being a pretty good day. Mainly, my internet was fixed and back up! YAH!

The next day we ended up heading out for our patrol and we found out that one of our platoons was ambushed the day before. They were in the trucks and drove in to some heavy fire from AKs, a couple machine guns and RPGs. One RPG hit a truck and obliterated the engine. Rounds were hitting the trucks at a greater number than normal and one of the gunners joined the lucky day club. Apparently a round struck him in the head, but off to the side. It entered into his helmet, looped around the back and back out the front of the other side. God was again watching down, for he only received 5 stiches and we picked him back up from the CSH (Combat Support Hospital) the next day. The crazy thing was, no only was this ambush a new thing for the area we're operating in, but these guys seemed to be better shots than what we've seen in the past. But once again it was the platoon that is the only one that seems to find trouble these days that wandered in to this. How do they always manage to find it?!?

I guess a couple of the areas we operate in have had some increase in the levels of insurgent and militia activities. Attacks, IED, small arms, etc, have increased against US troops and Iraqi troops/police. If this trend continues, I feel this Ramadan, which is set to begin Sept 13th, might be a crazy one. Guess we'll see.

Today we participated in a joint operation with the Iraqi Army as they raided a few buildings in search of something. Im not real sure what they were looking for, but Im pretty sure we ended up empty handed this time. No suprise there. The best part of the raid was watching the Apache pilots showing off as they flew around, doing tight turns, flying low over our heads and doing some cool looking aerobatics. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and now I'm getting ready to bed down before a LONG day tomorrow. Be excited, be be excited!