[Anyone] Excellent Letter

[Thos Myers]

This gives a perspective no one has shown before, at least not in the
mainstream media ...


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The Secret Letter From Iraq Oct. 06, 2006 A Marine's letter home, with its
frank description of life in "Dante's inferno," has been circulating through
generals' in-boxes. We publish it here with the author's approval
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1543658-1,00.html

Written last month, this straightforward account of life in Iraq by a Marine
officer was initially sent just to a small group of family and friends. His
honest but wry narration and unusually frank dissection of the mission
contrasts sharply with the story presented by both sides of the Iraq war
debate, the Pentagon spin masters and fierce critics. Perhaps inevitably,
the 'Letter from Iraq' moved quickly beyond the small group of
acquantainaces and hit the inboxes of retired generals, officers in the
Pentagon, and staffers on Capitol Hill. TIME's Sally B. Donnelly first
received a copy three weeks ago but only this week was able to track down
the author and verify the document's authenticity. The author wishes to
remain anonymous but has allowed us to publish it here - with a few
judicious omissions.

All: I haven't written very much from Iraq. There's really not much to write
about. More exactly, there's not much I can write about because practically
everything I do, read or hear is classified military information or is
depressing to the point that I'd rather just forget about it, never mind
write about it. The gaps in between all of that are filled with the pure
tedium of daily life in an armed camp. So it's a bit of a struggle to think
of anything to put into a letter that's worth reading. Worse, this place
just consumes you. I work 18-20-hour days, every day. The quest to draw a
clear picture of what the insurgents are up to never ends. Problems and
frictions crop up faster than solutions. Every challenge demands a response.
It's like this every day. Before I know it, I can't see straight, because
it's 0400 and I've been at work for 20 hours straight, somehow missing
dinner again in the process. And once again I haven't written to anyone. It
starts all over again four hours later. It's not really like Ground Hog Day,
it's more like a level from Dante's Inferno.

Rather than attempting to sum up the last seven months, I figured I'd just
hit the record setting highlights of 2006 in Iraq. These are among the
events and experiences I'll remember best.

Worst Case of Deja Vu - I thought I was familiar with the feeling of Deja
vu until I arrived back here in Fallujah in February. The moment I stepped
off of the helicopter, just as dawn broke, and saw the camp just as I had
left it ten months before - that was Deja vu. Kind of unnerving. It was as
if I had never left. Same work area, same busted desk, same chair, same
computer, same room, same creaky rack, same . . . everything. Same
everything for the next year. It was like entering a parallel universe. Home
wasn't 10,000 miles away, it was a different lifetime.

Most Surreal Moment - Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and
unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact. We had put the
word out earlier in the day to the Marines in Fallujah that we were looking
for Bad Guy X, who was described as a midget. Little did I know that
Fallujah was home to a small community of midgets, who banded together for
support since they were considered as social outcasts. The Marines were
anxious to get back to the midget colony to bring in the rest of the midget
suspects, but I called off the search, figuring Bad Guy X was long gone on
his short legs after seeing his companions rounded up by the giant infidels.

Most Profound Man in Iraq - an unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area
who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines if he had seen any foreign
fighters in the area replied "Yes, you."

Worst City in al-Anbar Province - Ramadi, hands down. The provincial capital
 of 400,000 people. Lots and lots of insurgents killed in there since we
arrived in February. Every day is a nasty gun battle. They blast us with
giant bombs in the road, snipers, mortars and small arms. We blast them with
tanks, attack helicopters, artillery, our snipers (much better than theirs),
and every weapon that an infantryman can carry. Every day. Incredibly, I
rarely see Ramadi in the news. We have as many attacks out here in the west
as Baghdad. Yet, Baghdad has 7 million people, we have just 1.2 million. Per
capita, al-Anbar province is the most violent place in Iraq by several
orders of magnitude. I suppose it was no accident that the Marines were
assigned this area in 2003.

Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province - Any Explosive Ordnance Disposal
Technician (EOD Tech). How'd you like a job that required you to defuse
bombs in a hole in the middle of the road that very likely are booby-trapped
or connected by wire to a bad guy who's just waiting for you to get close to
the bomb before he clicks the detonator? Every day. Sanitation workers in
New York City get paid more than these guys. Talk about courage and
commitment.

Second Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province - It's a 20,000 way tie among all
these Marines and Soldiers who venture out on the highways and through the
towns of al-Anbar every day, not knowing if it will be their last - and for
a couple of them, it will be.

Worst E-Mail Message - "The Walking Blood Bank is Activated. We need blood
type A+ stat." I always head down to the surgical unit as soon as I get
these messages, but I never give blood - there's always about 80 Marines in
line, night or day.

Biggest Surprise - Iraqi Police. All local guys. I never figured that we'd
get a police force established in the cities in al-Anbar. I estimated that
insurgents would kill the first few, scaring off the rest. Well, insurgents
did kill the first few, but the cops kept on coming. The insurgents continue
to target the police, killing them in their homes and on the streets, but
the cops won't give up. Absolutely incredible tenacity. The insurgents know
that the police are far better at finding them than we are - and they are
finding them. Now, if we could just get them out of the habit of beating
prisoners to a pulp . . . Greatest Vindication - Stocking up on outrageous
quantities of Diet Coke from the chow hall in spite of the derision from my
men on such hoarding, then having a 122mm rocket blast apart the giant
shipping container that held all of the soda for the chow hall. Yep, you
can't buy experience.

Biggest Mystery - How some people can gain weight out here. I'm down to 165
lbs. Who has time to eat?

Second Biggest Mystery - if there's no atheists in foxholes, then why aren't
there more people at Mass every Sunday?

Favorite Iraqi TV Show - Oprah. I have no idea. They all have satellite TV.

Coolest Insurgent Act - Stealing almost $7 million from the main bank in
Ramadi in broad daylight, then, upon exiting, waving to the Marines in the
combat outpost right next to the bank, who had no clue of what was going on.
The Marines waved back. Too cool.

Most Memorable Scene - In the middle of the night, on a dusty airfield,
watching the better part of a battalion of Marines packed up and ready to go
home after over six months in al-Anbar, the relief etched in their young
faces even in the moonlight. Then watching these same Marines exchange
glances with a similar number of grunts loaded down with gear file past -
their replacements. Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said.

Highest Unit Re-enlistment Rate - Any outfit that has been in Iraq recently.
All the danger, all the hardship, all the time away from home, all the
horror, all the frustrations with the fight here - all are outweighed by the
desire for young men to be part of a band of brothers who will die for one
another. They found what they were looking for when they enlisted out of
high school. Man for man, they now have more combat experience than any
Marines in the history of our Corps.

Most Surprising Thing I Don't Miss - Beer. Perhaps being half-stunned by
lack of sleep makes up for it.

Worst Smell - Porta-johns in 120 degree heat - and that's 120 degrees
outside of the porta-john.

Highest Temperature - I don't know exactly, but it was in the porta-johns.
Needed to re-hydrate after each trip to the loo. (Bob says they always
wondered why the porta johns didn't explode! --MRM)

Biggest Hassle - High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work than a
rocket attack. VIPs demand briefs and "battlefield" tours (we take them to
quiet sections of Fallujah, which is plenty scary for them). Our briefs and
commentary seem to have no affect on their preconceived notions of what's
going on in Iraq. Their trips allow them to say that they've been to
Fallujah, which gives them an unfortunate degree of credibility in
perpetuating their fantasies about the insurgency here. Biggest Outrage -
Practically anything said by talking heads on TV about the war in Iraq, not
that I get to watch much TV. Their thoughts are consistently both grossly
simplistic and politically slanted. Biggest Offender: Bill O'Reilly.

Best Intel Work - Finding Jill Carroll's kidnappers - all of them. I was
mighty proud of my guys that day. I figured we'd all get the Christian
Science Monitor for free after this, but none have showed up yet.

Saddest Moment - Having an infantry battalion commander hand me the dog tags
of one of my Marines who had just been killed while on a mission with his
unit. Hit by a 60mm mortar. He was a great Marine. I felt crushed for a long
time afterward. His picture now hangs at the entrance to our section area.
We'll carry it home with us when we leave in February.

Best Chuck Norris Moment - 13 May. Bad Guys arrived at the government center
in a small town to kidnap the mayor, since they have a problem with any form
of government that does not include regular beheadings and women wearing
burqahs. There were seven of them. As they brought the mayor out to put him
in a pick-up truck to take him off to be beheaded (on video, as usual), one
of the Bad Guys put down his machinegun so that he could tie the mayor's
hands. The mayor took the opportunity to pick up the machinegun and drill
five of the Bad Guys. The other two ran away. One of the dead Bad Guys was
on our top twenty wanted list. Like they say, you can't fight City Hall.

Worst Sound - That crack-boom off in the distance that means an IED or mine
just went off. You just wonder who got it, hoping that it was a near miss
rather than a direct hit. Hear it practically every day.

Second Worst Sound - Our artillery firing without warning. The howitzers are
pretty close to where I work. Believe me, outgoing sounds a lot like
incoming when our guns are firing right over our heads. They'd about knock
the fillings out of your teeth.

Only Thing Better in Iraq Than in the U.S. - Sunsets. Spectacular. It's from
all the dust in the air.

Proudest Moment - It's a tie every day, watching our Marines produce
phenomenal intelligence products that go pretty far in teasing apart Bad Guy
operations in al-Anbar. Every night Marines and Soldiers are kicking in
doors and grabbing Bad Guys based on intelligence developed by our guys. We
rarely lose a Marine during these raids, they are so well-informed of the
objective. A bunch of kids right out of high school shouldn't be able to
work so well, but they do.

Happiest Moment - Well, it wasn't in Iraq. There are no truly happy moments
here. It was back in California when I was able to hold my family again
while home on leave during July.

Most Common Thought - Home. Always thinking of home, of my great wife and
the kids. Wondering how everyone else is getting along. Regretting that I
don't write more. Yep, always thinking of home.

I hope you all are doing well. If you want to do something for me, kiss a
cop, flush a toilet, and drink a beer. I'll try to write again before too
long - I promise.



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