Wildwilly
May 18th, 2004, 14:48
May 18, 2004
Received a cell phone call this a.m. from our grandson Larry as he was waiting for his next request for assistance somewhere in the Sunni Triangle. He sounded fine. He had 5 new stitches in his hands from broken glass while fighting in a city and he doesn't know whether it was from a bullet that shattered the glass or when he broke it out so he could shoot as they cleared a building of enemy troops. He said the last three weeks have been the most intense close combat since he has been there (15 months). He is in a rapid deployment force that some days lounge around their vehicles (120 degree heat now) and then other times it is close combat for hours on end.
He has not had a hot meal in 3 weeks...just MRE's (meals ready to eat) and have not had a shower in the same period. He said they all stink something fearful.
Last week his Humvee was ambushed as they secured an illegal weapons cache and in the process fought their way out and killed 17 Fedayeen, but lost another of his men. Two others were wounded but have returned to action. He now has 3 men of his original squad of 12 left.
Stars and Stripes, the Army Newspaper, has interviewed this Scout Platoon when they noticed that this unit of 30 men had over 50 purple hearts and numerous other medals.
He is proud to be one of three men with a new expensive rifle that has a laser sight, and a night vision scope that can pick up targets out to 500 yards.
He asked that the prayers continue...so far it is working. He expects to rotate out sometime before 2010...in actuality...sometime this summer. He's got two girls writing him, so his morale seemed O.K.
Larry
Larry is my coworker, and his grandson Larry has been in iraq for a couple years (he had one break where he came back for a month)
Received a cell phone call this a.m. from our grandson Larry as he was waiting for his next request for assistance somewhere in the Sunni Triangle. He sounded fine. He had 5 new stitches in his hands from broken glass while fighting in a city and he doesn't know whether it was from a bullet that shattered the glass or when he broke it out so he could shoot as they cleared a building of enemy troops. He said the last three weeks have been the most intense close combat since he has been there (15 months). He is in a rapid deployment force that some days lounge around their vehicles (120 degree heat now) and then other times it is close combat for hours on end.
He has not had a hot meal in 3 weeks...just MRE's (meals ready to eat) and have not had a shower in the same period. He said they all stink something fearful.
Last week his Humvee was ambushed as they secured an illegal weapons cache and in the process fought their way out and killed 17 Fedayeen, but lost another of his men. Two others were wounded but have returned to action. He now has 3 men of his original squad of 12 left.
Stars and Stripes, the Army Newspaper, has interviewed this Scout Platoon when they noticed that this unit of 30 men had over 50 purple hearts and numerous other medals.
He is proud to be one of three men with a new expensive rifle that has a laser sight, and a night vision scope that can pick up targets out to 500 yards.
He asked that the prayers continue...so far it is working. He expects to rotate out sometime before 2010...in actuality...sometime this summer. He's got two girls writing him, so his morale seemed O.K.
Larry
Larry is my coworker, and his grandson Larry has been in iraq for a couple years (he had one break where he came back for a month)