New home in Dora

My original Company, Alpha, lost an LT about a week ago to a roadside bomb. He ended up with 2 broken arms and some facial injuries, but is otherwise fine. He's back "home" now in DC recovering at Walter Reed. Because of that, I got pulled back into A Co to take over that platoon (which happened to be my original one numerically...2nd).

I've been here 3 days now. I've been on 2 patrols and 1 'raid'. So far that has accounted for 1 firefight that lasted a few minutes, a couple mortar rounds that landed within 100 meters of our truck while we were staging inside a National Police station, and numerous "shots fired' in our direction with no way to shoot back (no positive target to shoot at...).

It's definitely been interesting so far. I must say, it's kinda nice. There really is an actual fight going on in Iraq. And watching these young men do their job is a thing of beauty. Our short engagement started with nothing more than my gunner shouting "There's a man on the roof!" then he started going off with his 240. We stopped and immediately all the doors opened as the two guys in the back got out and took up firing positions. Me? I was stuck. The trucks have so much armor that when the back door is open...i can't open mine. In the mean time I got to sit in the front seat calling up the report with an armored funnel behind me. Good times. We eventually maneuvered forward onto the building (right after I got my door open...I wasn't missing that part) and cleared the one we took fire from and several others. Found nothing. It's easy to leave when you have an AK and wear sandals.

The "raid" in Dora market today was the second big thing. I have a feeling the first will be fairly routine soon...but the raid was something intended to be bigger. Gen Casey and NBC news were supposed to show up, but I think the rain kept them away. Dora Market is the place that is supposed to be used as a staging area for attacks on the Green zone in Baghdad as well as Sadr City. Essentially we spent around 8 hours clearing all the shops/buildings. Not nearly the fight that was anticipated. We did take a couple mortar rounds while we were staging, luckily nothing was hit considering how many trucks were bunched together before we moved out, but otherwise it was quiet. No complaints...just a whole lot of work. Breaking locks isn't easy. And my platoon alone went through several hundred. That's a tribute to young men using brute strength and one really cool saw (which hopefully there'll be pictures of soon...).

Well, that's my briefing for today. I have to get to bed...need to rather. I get up to go on patrol soon. Dora is my new home. I'll be spending a lot of time there...