OT: Letter Home ** From A Marine in Iraq

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

A buddy sent me this one. Interesting it is. Butch

-------------------------

> Hey Everyone!

>

> Just wanted to check in and say hello and tell you that everything is

> fine here in Al Hillah, Iraq. I am living near the ruins of Babylon

> and got a chance to walk through the ruins and check the place out.

> It is amazing to see the history that has been bottled up here for 30

> years or more. I actually was in " Daniel's lions den. " Also got to

> see the famous lion of Babylon.

>

> Today the Marines re-dedicated a WWI British cemetery that had been

> trashed by the regime. There are UK soldiers buried from the Al Kut

> battle in WWI. There is even a headstone with the name " Harry

> Potter. " The regime had destroyed a cross and a local resident had a

> picture of it from 1972 and he gave it to the Seebees who rebuilt it

> for the dedication. Those Seabees are magic men and women. They are

> mostly reservists and all great at what they do. The Iraqi people

> were also very happy to help and said that they liked the cemetery as

> it was once a nice peaceful place and now it's back to good condition.

> Up until 2 weeks ago it was being used as a trash dump.

>

> Still miss Alicia and the kids something fierce and can't wait to get

> home. We are hearing that I'll be leaving here in mid-June.

>

> Have also started receiving packages from folks and I can't tell you

> how awesome that is. I would not send anymore at this point or they

> will be getting returned to me back in the states by the time they get

> out here. We've got a fresh supply of baby wipes and corn nuts (and

> power bars thanks to my father in law and Pam.)

>

> Also wanted to give you all straight scoop on the efforts going on

> here. The Marines and Army have made great strides in maintaining

> order and making this place stable again despite what you read in the

> press. As we know, some of them like to concentrate on the " conflict "

> angle and like to report bad news because it sells, but I can tell you

> I honestly see good things everyday. The people of Iraq are generally

> happy that we are here.

>

> I drove to Najaf and Karbala the other day and people were coming out

> of their homesd to wave to us and the kids all line the streets and

> say " GOOD MISTAH! " .

>

> Interestingly enough, I was with Bob Revoir and old class mate at NU.

> I went to Najaf to see Tom Lacroix, another class mate of mine, but he

> was off on a mission. While there, I ran into a guy I went to EWS

> with (Wiener) and an old TBS classmate, (Yankowski), so I'm never

> far from friends around this place.

>

> There is alot of work to be done and I read alot of stuff in my job

> that has press reports of people protesting and wanting us to leave,

> but in the Marine AO, I can tell you that people are glad to have us

> here. We hare training up their local police forces and trying to

> work with the good ones and flush out the bad ones. Things are

> improving on that front.

>

> The food situation is really good and people have enough food and

> water. There is a train heading north to our area with 800K metric

> tons of food - talk about a big dinner. The crops are about to be

> harvested and that is good too.

>

> We are coordinating with all kinds of Non-government agencies, who

> don't necessarily like to associate themselves with the military,

> unless they need security. They are doing good work too here. They

> assessed all our areas " permissive " which means more agencies can

> come in and work with reasonable expectation that it is safe.

>

> Schools are getting back to normal and hospitals are working. Flights

> have arrived with food and some of them commercial. Marines ate

> breakfast with a local school that wanted to show their appreciation.

> People seem generally relaxed and working toward fixing things. I

> think whatever protesters are around are old regime supporters who are

> mad they don't get free stuff from Saddam anymore.

>

> Gas is still an issue, but we're trying to fix that too. People wait

> in lines for gas, but they have it and busses are taking people where

> they need to go. It doesn't help that their own people looted most of

> the power grids and public utilities, but we're fixing that too.

>

> Schools and universities are getting back to business and power is

> steadily resuming. Interestingly, some areas are better than before

> and a lot of the breakdown in services happened before we even got

> here. One town had all 16 garbage trucks stripped of parts, but the

> Marines and Seabees are fixing them up so that trash can be collected.

> When you think of all the things that make a country run down to water

> and garbage, we've made HUGE progress in getting things back on track,

> so listen to the media with an eye of caution.

>

> Most of the media have not come down to the Marine AO because there's

> no bad news. Today a little girl was brought to the gate. She was 2

> and recently had a hernia operation that had gone bad. We took her in

> and MEDEVAC'd her and her family to receive treatment. Those little

> things never make the news. Little by little things are getting

> better and people should be proud of the young Marines and sailors

> that are out here making things happen instead of criticizing back

> in the states.

>

> So that's what's going on here from the horses mouth. Hit me with any

> questions you have and I'll be glad to answer them if I can. And if

> you hear people talking bad about what the US is doing now, think how

> hard it would be in our town to restore order. These folks are on

> track. Imagine, less than a month ago, there was a war!

>

> I'm looking forward to coming home and relaxing with the family.

> I miss all you guys and look forward to this summer.

>

> Take care!

>

> Semper Fi

> Neil