Mr Krystal, Apache fighter pilot, at the range.

Patch of the 8-229th AVN (ATK)

8-229th AVN (ATK) Battalion Cmdr

A Soldier's Letter Back Home

Yo Brother!

Sounds pretty good, you getting married and all. Much happiness and joy to you and your bride.

Still enjoying my crazy "vacation" out here at the-beach-that-has-no-shore.

Hard to sum it up in words. It's not like The Longest Day or Bridge Too Far and those other war movies. And, nothing like Full Metal Jacket ("Get Some, Get Some!")

Pilots here throw toys out of the helicopters to the kids. The kids here chase helicopters, waving their hands in the air, running as fast as their little bare feet can carry them. It's hilarious.

I heard one soccer ball fell down and hit a chicken in somebody's backyard. Sent feathers everywhere. Guess they had chicken stew for dinner that night at that house.

Hours and hours of tedium with seconds of pure terror. Okay, maybe not so pure terror. Actually, the last several times we took rounds around here, people pretty much went on with business as usual.

I know that sounds weird. Don't know whether to call it bravery under fire, or just getting used to another situation.

Anyway, thought you'd enjoy hearing about my "vacation".

take care, bro.

SIGNED

MAJ Condor, Aviation, 8-229th

Flying Tigers! Attack!

History is EVERYWHERE in Iraq

Ballot Boxes - day before the election, Iraq

Apache Sunrise

Operation "One Hundred Smiles" in Iraq

Zarqawi - Retard or Moron?

I’ve been reading a little from Zarqawi. According to his own words, he pretty much has decided that 80% of the Iraqi population is anti-Iraqi. Considers the Kurds and the Shia’ worse than the Americans.

Maybe he had trouble with math as a kid at the madrassa, but 80% is more than half. That's a sizable majority.

And, his tactics reflect it. Running car bombs into crowds of civilians at market places and Shia’ mosques. Unbelievable bloodshed, with 700 civilian deaths this month alone from car bombs and such. He threatened those who wanted to vote in the elections this past January with death. Again, blood thirsty tactics. People who express their desires in an election are anti-Islamic, according to the kook.

Hardly the tactics of a revolutionary. Clearly, those providing the outside money funding Zarqawi care little for the people who live in this country. Those outside of Iraq have their own agendas, and the people here are just so many pawns to push across the board.

Or, blow to smithereens.

And, it turns out most of the support for the so called insurgency inside Iraq comes from the Sunni population. Read "the guys who backed Saddam". Yeah, them. The folks who helped kill some 300,000 Shia' and Kurds in the '80s and '90s.

If you read either Al Jazeera or the New York Times, you’ll read about the Sunni’s fear of a backlash from the Shia’ against the Sunni insurgent leadership.

The same folks that backed Saddam’s purges and slaughter for thirty years are now worried that some of the relatives of those purged might be looking for revenge.

You think?

Local Art Work at FOB Speicher

The Apache attack helicopter, aka AH-64A

Flying Tigers in Iraq

Sunrise in Tikrit

FLYING TIGERS

A little about the unit I am serving with. It's the 8-229th Aviation Regt, the Flying Tigers, no less. Great bunch of people.

The focus of so much of the modern literature of warfare is on the machinery of war. In this case, that would be the AH-64A Apache attack helicopter. All kinds of stats in JANES, if you need to know things like altitude, max. range, etc. Suffice it say, though, it is an awesome bit of flying firepower. More than a dozen Hellfire missiles can be launched from a single helicopter, for instance.

But, the weapon systems aside, it's really about the people.

Doesn't really matter if you're talking about an attack helicopter battalion or working at Walmart, you end up working with people.

So, rather than give you the facts about the Apache, I'm going to focus on the people here, instead.

More later. Take care.

Gary W Pearson

Sunrise in Tikrit

This blog is devoted to those who have given their lives to make a better world.

I know that sounds dramatic. But, being in what could be called the epicenter of the Sunni Triangle in the middle of this war, perhaps the drama is not misplaced.

Tikrit, the heart of the Sunni Triangle, is on the verge of a new day. As is the rest of Iraq, no doubt.

More later. For now, take care.