Hurricane Katrina

I read on the internet early this morning of the destrution that this horrible storm has left in it's wake. They had a video showing how bad everything was. I can't believe that so many people were killed. I wish I was home right now, they would probably call for help from the national guard and I would so love to help these people. This is something I can understand and know that I am making a difference. I don't understand my role in this war; I don't know if I am making a difference because there really isn't a way to measure it. I hope the areas affected by Katrina are able to recover as quickly as possible and that no other people are hurt.

calling home

I thought you all might like to have a visual image of where your sweeties are calling you from. Here's a few pictures of our lovely internet cafe'. Hope you enjoy.

I crave the normal life

Our cooks here have been getting creative lately with breakfast. I came in one day to something that looked like a pastry. It was french toast cut in half and encrusted with sugar and cinnamon. It was really really good. Then the next day they had the same thing only this time each half of french toast was stuffed with cherry pie filling, absolutely wonderful. I can't wait to see what else they have up their sleeves.

I made some more tea today, haven't done that in a while. I found that you only have to leave the bottles outside for about 5 minutes really, it's just that hot outside.

I've been in a bit of a funky mood lately. The time here is catching up with me I guess. I'm so tired of being away from everything. Watching the new reports of hurricane katrina in the chow hall yesterday made me feel a little better. I grew up in south Georgia on the coast (Brunswick), so hurricane season was almost like another sports season. We had the weather channel on all the time to see when the next hurricane was coming. So in a weird way, getting to watch the news report as she made landfall was kinda comforting. I guess cause it's normal. The more time that I spend in Iraq the more I grow accustomed to this routine. I don't want that to happen. I don't want this place to become 'normal' to me.

Three and a half months in...

Days are starting to go by a little faster as I get more used to this place. It’s funny what you can get used to when you have to. I was so afraid of this place when I stepped off that plane and took my first step into Iraq; it’s a very unique experience I must say. Nothing is the way I pictured it and the reality of the situation is far more real.

On the convoy down to FOB St. Michael’s, I rode in a fuel truck filled to the brim with JP8 and all I could think about was what would happen if an IED were to hit our truck. It didn’t help seeing craters from previous explosions all along the road. Somehow, being locked and loaded and ready to go didn’t seem to calm my nerves. I arrived safely on the FOB and quickly tried to make my small place more ‘homey’ by putting up a few pictures and unpacking a few things. I started my job right away on a 12 hour rotating schedule. I began to adapt to my routine as I thought of the year to come. There would be no more trips to Wal-Mart in the middle of the night, no more sleeping on a bed, no more eating at Willies Wienie Wagon (those from Brunswick, GA know what I’m talking about), no more consumption of alcohol, no more safe surroundings, and no more Randy (my husband). Things just got serious.

Everyday seems like the day before it and it’s only because of my job that I can even keep track of the days here. Most of the time I have no idea what is going on outside of this little FOB and I like it this way. For a while I was the radio telephone operator (RTO) for my unit here and it was hell. I was hearing everything that happened outside on our patrols and convoys. Some days were better than others, but the bad days were sometimes very bad and it was hard to fully comprehend that stuff. I just did my job and tried not to think about it too much. I will never take anything for granted anymore. I was glad when they changed some people’s jobs around, I didn’t like knowing everything that happened to our guys out there. Sometimes ignorance can be bliss.

For the people that stay inside the wire, we cannot comprehend many of the things that our guys on patrol must deal with everyday. It’s just like those of you at home will never understand what it’s like here and we will never understand what it’s like to for you being at home worrying about us. It doesn’t matter how well you are able to describe things, it has to do with actually experiencing it. Sometimes I wonder what is the most difficult, putting yourself in danger everyday or having someone you love in danger everyday. Either way, it’s not a pleasant thing and the frustration of the situation is bound to set in pretty quickly. I’m frustrated, my husband is frustrated, and a lot of the guys here I know are frustrated. I can hear it in their voices when they call home. But we’ll be back before too long and then everything will be okay again. But for now, we just keep doing the job that our country is asking us to do and hope that we make a difference here and back home.

Best Tent

In tent city, the guys have been decorating and trying to make their spaces a little homier. Some of the guys have strung up tarps to make shades for their ‘porches’. One group of guys went as far as to put up plastic pink flamingos up around their tent and they certainly aren’t raising the property value. The area around them is referred to as the old ghetto or the projects. I live in the slightly nicer area (called simply the new ghetto). The only difference really is that our tents have tarp partitions and little nicer air conditioners. We make fun of a lot of stuff around here; we find it helps if you just laugh at stuff instead of letting it stress you out.

I picked this tent as my winner of best all around because they have their eye on the prize (HOME!). They got the miles wrong, but you can’t blame them for trying. It actually feels like we’re a whole planet apart sometimes. But I’m actually only 6891.93 miles from home (ha!...only 6,891!)

While we were apart

-For the first time ever, we had salad at dinner. I can’t believe I got excited over a salad. But now we're out of ranch dressing (oh well, you can't have everything).
-We have been without white milk for over a week now but now have a small supply. We had some guys so desperate for cereal; they used chocolate milk or banana milk instead. I don’t think the strawberry milk has been touched.
-No slip mats have been put into the showers here. Shower floors can be now crossed off the ‘enemy’ list
-The new PX was closed for almost two weeks for some mysterious reason. It opened back up unceremoniously the other day. Now I can buy American made products again, though I’ll still probably just buy the much cheaper Iraqi products. (note: the PX is the only place to get soda made in the US here. The Iraqi coke just doesn’t taste the same)
-An Iraqi restaurant/store opened a few days ago on the FOB. The chicken’s pretty good, but the pizza is just un-American (they don’t put tomato sauce on their pizzas here).
-"We've been gone for over three months already?! How many do we have left again?"

We will meet again in Fiddler's Green

A memorial service was held Friday afternoon for our four fallen soldiers. A few days ago, some of the soldiers went around the FOB gathering up all the chairs they could for the ceremony. Needless to say, when the memorial service started, all the seats were full and people were standing in every available space and were spilling out of the building. Earlier in the week, the small stage was supposed to have held four comics who would have filled the room with laughter. Instead, the stage now held the helmet, rifle, boots, and dog tags of our four fallen heroes.


Many people spoke, offering a memory of those departed. They spoke of their smiles and jokes, their hard work and soldiering skills, their determination and willingness to fight, and most of all their friendship. One speaker spoke of how we shall never forget these brave men; this was how we were to honor them. That we should not think of how bad it was that these men died, but rather how great it was that men like this lived.



The ceremony carried with it many of the military’s dearest traditions. The most poignant of these was the roll call tradition. The first Sgt of the company of the fallen soldier stands at attention and begins to call the roll. As each name is called, the soldier stands to attention and says, “Here.” When the name of the fallen soldier is reached, his name is called three times with a pause between each call. Upon the third calling of his name, a soldier in formation is suppose to announce, “First Sgt, SPC/SGT_______ who was once a Rough Rider, is now reporting to a much higher authority. May God bless him.” Taps was played by one of the soldiers here and a twenty-one gun salute was given in three volleys by seven servicemen. Bagpipes played our four brave soldiers a prayer of amazing grace as many mourned such a great loss. You could tell from the faces of everyone present that these guys were loved tremendously and that they will be sorely missed. May God bless the family and friends of these courageous soldiers, these boys will live on in all of our memories.



The fallen soldier from E troop asked for this poem to be read if anything should happen to him.

Fiddler’s Green
Halfway down the trail to Hell,

In a shady meadow green
Are the Souls of all dead troopers camped,
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddlers' Green.

Marching past,
straight through to HellThe Infantry are seen.
Accompanied by the Engineers,Artillery and Marines,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.

Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene.
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he's emptied his canteen.
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers' Green.

And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge of fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddlers' Green.

***UPDATE***

A new post should be up soon. Thanks for hanging in there with me guys.

An email from SGT Kirchner

Just checkin out your blog, might remember me i used to be the co's driver, evaced to walter reed after getting blown up by mortar. anyway first one to walter reed,[another soldier] is here, he is doin well and is in VERY good spirits (left arm ampute). My surgeries are mostly complete and i will probably be seperated from the army due to my disabilities, [another soldier] will obviously be seperated out. here at walter reed us patients mostly fill out paperwork, va claims, etc. and sit around and try to joke about our injuries, the spirit and morale of the patients here is great, everyone tries like hell to keep a positive attitude and make the best of their situation. we trade drug cocktail recepies to figure out what works best for an arm amputaion or a major leg burn or nerve pain (chronic nerve pain seems to be the worst) and we all keep each others spirits up. please tell cpt moore that i now have a no salute profile as my rt. arm is pretty messed up, so he has the priviledge of being the last person i saluted. Tell everyone that they are not forgotten here the support from the people here at home is wonderful and helps to keep us driving through the pain. please let cpt moore also know i am going to be transfered to Ft. Macpherson in atlanta on monday the 15th of august. i am getting out of walter reed !!!!!! stay safe, WEAR YOUR BODY ARMOR AND KEVELAR, and let everyone know that i pray for all of all of you to return safely, i cringe daily when i watch the news and fear for the next person wounded or killed, i hope none of you ever makes it to reed and that none of you are hurt.

Sincerely,
Sgt. Kirchner, James L
HHC 1/108th AR
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Washington, DC

P.S. Please stop in at the Batt Aid station and see SFC Battaglia and 1LT Ray and let them know that i am doing well and that the aid I recieved at the aid station from the medics there made the difference between my life and death, and also the speed of my recovery which, by walter reed standards, has been remarkable. most soldiers here average a year stay, i was released in less than 3 months. I will always be indebted to the medic platoon.

THANK YOU!

bonnie, frances, cindy thurman, uprit, sarah meng, john sibert, susie hillman, delsa smith, melissa mckenzie, pam, mrs. bohannon (your son told me to say hi), the iced tea wife, rebecca, corey, gramma & grandad, anyone else that reads along... and one cutie-pie of a husband!!

thanks for reading and thanks for all the emails and comments!!! You should be seeing some articles of mine posted on the AJC website very soon, but don't worry, this site will remain active. thanks for all the support guys!

SPC Schreck

A few notes

Several days ago one of our patrols got hit by an IED and some of the guys I know got hurt. They were taken to the hospital in Baghdad for a while and just got back yesterday. One of my roommates and I made a few of them cards and put them in a bag with some candy and snacks for them. I saw one of the guys today and he looked like he was doing very well.

I went to the gym for the first time since I left Ft. Stewart. Our original gym burnt down with the rest of the Chicken Factory and has since been relocated to one of the tents in "tent city." They actually managed to rescue a whole set of weights from the fire after everything stopped burning, though they look like they'd fall apart if you tried to lift them. We have a few new sets of weights, some benches, and an elliptical machine (I can't believe it!). I worked on my legs and my abs mostly. I should start going more often, but it's hard because of the lack of motivation. I'm going to need a drill sgt.

These past three days we have had the most incredible chow. First it was lobster and king crab legs, then huge ribeye steaks, and yesterday we had the most tender smoked ribs I've ever had. I have got to hand it to our cooks, they're amazing. Hopefully we don't all of a sudden shift to the less appetizing menus now.

The first rotation of leave has started and some of the guys and gals here are winging their way to the states as I speak. My roommate is leaving today if the weather permits. I'm not sure when my leave will be yet exactly. They announce leave then end/beginning of every month, so I won't get too much notice. I signed up to take leave in (a particular month) although I may not get it. My very first wedding anniversary will be in (a particular month), and I really don't want to miss it. But if I can't be home then, we can always just celebrate it when I get back. So look for all of our guys painting the town red in the ATL or Savannah or Alabama or a town near you very soon.


(Another note: Randy and I have been married for 5 whole months! big smile.)


SPC Schreck

Orange Haze

I really didn't want to get up this morning. I would have been perfectly content to simply sleep the day away, but unfortunately my alarm clock was very insistent that I wake up. I let it go off three times before I finally got up and then I had to rush to get ready for work. I knew right from the start that is was going to be one of those days. As the sun came up, we noticed something very odd about the sky. There was a huge cloud of sand hung in the sky, everything took on an orange-colored hue. I haven't seen anything like this since I arrived in May, and we've been through some pretty bad sandstorms already. The wind was blowing gently, providing a cool breeze. You could literally taste the sand that hung in the air and it was hard to breath. It was also very hard to see. About 1o feet was as far as you could see, and after that there was just orange haze. Around about 9am it started to burn off a bit, but the sun was still hidden by all the dust in the air which made the temperature outside surprisingly comfortable. (Then some more stuff happened that was rather unpleasant.)I knew I should've stayed in bed.

little surprises

Just a little reminder to all, that there is beauty in all things, even Iraq. This country is full of beauty, it's just hard to see it through the violence, the poverty, and the war-torn cities.

much violence

This is all too much, too many of our guys have died all too quickly. It's very hard to hear this every other day or so, it absolutely breaks my heart. Another 3 of our soldiers perished two nights ago in an attack. It's hard on everyone here and everyone in the 48th, to be reminded all too soon that life is so very fragile.

But life continues here in Mahmudiyah, the days keep on going. Things are well in our little FOB, everyone seems to be in better moods here, or maybe it's just me. I've been talking to more and more people lately and have even been smiling on a regular basis. I think that once you are really used to a situation, you come to embrace it. I have made several good friends here that always make a point to stop into the internet center and talk to me. A new one on the list is one of my roommate's friends from AIT. He's part of the company from Alabama, we just call them Bama'. He came in and was talking a mile a minute about all the stuff he's done outside the wire. he loves his job and plans to go career military. He showed me a whole bunch of pictures and videos of the many patrols he's done. He said that if they would let him, he'd go out twice every day. His group has been fortunate to have not been hit yet. His platoon is taking on a little project. They are trying to get a U.S. organization to sponsor one of the children in our sector. This little Iraqi boy is severely disformed and lacks proper medical care for his condition. He has to walk on his hands with his legs dragging on the ground behind him. But poor medical care is a sad fact of many of the children in the area around us. Hopefully once the violence has stopped here, we can bring in charitable organizations to help these children.

SPC Schreck

When the trailer is rockin'

I woke up to explosions this morning, the artillery was at it again. They shot off some yesterday in the early morning that were incredibly loud. The explosions shook the whole internet trailer, making all the weapons and folding chairs that were on the shelves fall to the ground. Everyone jumped up and rush to get their gear on. One of the fisters was just sitting there and was like, "It's just outgoing rounds guys." The rounds continued for a while or so, keeping the little trailer rocking with the vibrations from the explosions. The explosions are annoying when they go off while you're trying to get sleep, but comforting as well.

I've noticed a new fashion trend among some of our soldiers here. Some of the guys and gals are attaching small stuffed animals to their vests. I ran into one of these trend-setting soldiers while coming out of the chow hall. He's a medic and he has a teddy bear wearing a loin cloth attach to his vest right above his ammo pouches. He said that it's helpful when he treats some of the children here. He lets the kids hold the bear while he examines them. Some guys have even gone to decorating their vehicles. They've attached everything from patriotic bumper stickers, heads of beanie babies, and flamingos to their humvees. It kinda reminds me of how pilots used to paint pictures of stuff on their planes. It's fun little stuff like this that brings a few smiles to some of the soldiers' faces here.

The power went off early this morning, I thought it would come back on in a few hours or so. It's been seven hours now, and still no power. The little internet trailer is baking, it's so hot in here. We can't get a decent breeze flowing because we're surrounded by concrete barriers. The power is never out this long, I hope my tent's air will be working when I get off work, otherwise there will be no afternoon nap. But at least I have some cold drinks now, courtesy of a very nice PFC from the stress tent. Thanks!

SPC Schreck

A sad week

For the second time this week, we went into a commo blackout, which everyone knows is a very bad thing. They don't tell me what has happened, they just tell me to close the phones down and I am left to only imagine what has happened. I don't have to wonder for very long, because word travels quickly among the soldiers here. One of my medic friends comes in for his usual visit, he used to be with the second foot. I know he was upset over the first attack, those four soldiers who were killed earlier this week. I was upset too. I had had the chance to know them when they were in Ft. Stewart with me, but it never happened that way. I only remember some of their faces faintly. My friend and I started to talk, and he brought up the blackout. He told me that it was another four guys that were blown up. My heart sank at this new and tragic loss, and I could feel anger also growing inside. Another four souls from that unit, have they not suffered enough? A total of eight soldiers dead in one week, how are their comrades going to cope? I think about how their families are going to receive the news, and it makes me very sad. Families should never have to go through things like this, they shouldn't have to loose their fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, daughters, sisters and husbands and wives. But that is how things happen in war. Somebody has to go, somebody has to fight the wars of our nation, somebody has to make that sacrifice. My heart goes out to all that have lost someone dear to them, you are in my thoughts and prayers. Also, for those of us still standing, I can only hope that we will all make it home to you. We miss you all very much.

SPC Schreck