Memoirs written in prose of Sergeant Robertson, Damon M. USMC while in Iraq | ...with frequent appearances of King Hammurabi.
If you are new to this journal, make sure to start reading in chronological order by scrolling down to the bottom of the oldest post in October 2004. Damon's letters from August 20th, 2004 - October 23rd, 2004 were all added to this blog on Oct. 23rd, 2004. All subsequent letters are posted in real time.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Dear Family and Friends: [i sent this yesterday but my immense skill with computers, namely the address line at the top of the screen, prevented most of you from getting this] I looked at a map today in TIME magazine. Apparently the base I'm on is smack dab in the middle of what the media considers to be "rebel occupied territory" in Iraq. Some things you might find interesting: I know I've mentioned the nature of the insurgents before, but let me clarify given what I've learned in the last week. I spent some time near the Syrian border, speaking with some Civil Affairs Marines. They're the ones who go into villages and towns, "hot" or not, and give out soccer balls to kids and talk with the mayors and meet with varied interest groups. One day before I arrived, they'd lost ** marine(s) to a vehicle-borne i.e.d. I don't remember if I expressed this to any of you yet, but it was the first time I've ever participated in what we call "Final Roll Call." The names of the deceased are read off one more time. Their rifles, held by one of their comrades, are smartly turned barrel-end down, the bayonets firmly thrust into the ground. Another marine places the helmet on top of the butt-stock, another places the fallen Marine's boots in front of the rifle. Everyone present passes by the weapons to say goodbye one last time. Why these men died... Former Baathist party members and other various (foreign govt sponsored) terrorists have set up camp in Syria. They hire former Republican Guard members to plant i.e.d's (improvised explosive devices, if you *somehow* missed that term in the news), place pre-aimed rockets or mortars, etc. Generally speaking they've moved well beyond ever engaging us even on a squad level, knowing that we have enough firepower and training to turn them into hamburger. Instead, they set off an i.e.d. or drive an explosive truck into a convoy, then fire a rocket or two, maybe empty a magazine at us from an automatic rifle, and split. I guess we killed all the stupid ones (the suicide bombers notwithstanding) and what's left are some (apparently) well funded and well organized insurgents. Iraqis, by in large, don't do this. Understand this point. Most of these men, and i mean a large majority of them, aren't Iraqis. They aren't the poor guys you see in the villages struggling to fix the only truck "this side of the waddi." They're young, disenfranchised, hate-filled foreigners who come across the border. They don't have an objective like "win the war" or even "make Americans go home." They're just here to get a piece of "infidel" flesh. Think about that for a second. They set up roadblocks, kidnap contractors, terrorize the world by beheading people and sending the tapes to Al Jazeera. I watch the news, what little of it is actually broadcast to us, but even before I left the United States, I saw a trend. The beheading thing doesn't get condemned. It's like we're supposed to assume that "yeah, those guys are crude, murderous sons of B*es," but no one, not even the people who decry our mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, say one thing about these *Very* disturbing gangs of thugs that get off on holding defenseless truckees on the ground and chopping away. Maybe I'm missing it. Or maybe the "gap" I see is intentional: decry US policy, whine about the length of troop deployments, show the grissly pre-death teasers on the 11 o'clock news, then just leave it to the people to figure out that "Well, if we weren't there, none of this beheading BS would be happening. Damn that white house. Oh yeah, and four more soldiers died on their way to deliver medical supplies to AL WHEREVER, but I guess we can't blame them because we're imperialistic conquerers and should feel guilty for having the power to do what we've done." Alright. Doing my best not to get political. Really just trying to talk about the news. ... But another thing, if you can stomach it, is something that my friend Gretchen preaches valiantly about, and I ask you to consider this point carefully and evaluate how, when, and why you speak about the work we (the military) are doing over here (if you ever talk about us over pizza and beer at all). "You can't support the troops if you don't support what they're doing." This makes a lot of sense. The same people who whine and complain about how long we're here, citing our safety and well being and their immense concern and love for us, are usually the same newscasters who decry the policies *we* are implementing day in and day out. Some days I figure "yeah, Kerry is right. We could use 40,000 extra trigger-pullers over here," but then I gag on my own incredulity when the next sentence he utters is something about a "more sensitive war." Meanwhile, for those of you who love Kerry and hate it when I talk trash about him because you feel you can't fire back at me... I get fairly irritated when I hear upbeat assessments of this country. Why? I've seen some of the I.P.'s, iraqi police, and even some of the newly constructed iraqi army. More on the I.P's, though: these guys are *young*. We're talking anywhere from 14-mid twenties. I didn't know my butt from a hole in the wall when I was 14. You hear and read in the news constantly that "more iraqi policemen abandon their posts in the wake of more militia violence" and no one outright calls them cowards or questions the quality of training they've had, but I bet a lot of us think it. I did before I met them. In truth, I couldn't speak to any of them, but I saw a motivated and small group of very young barely-men who wept when their Marine friends died. I'm talking *wept*. One held a hand over his face he cried so much, and even then the tears streaked out from the sides to flow down both cheeks. These guys call the MP's at night sometimes, saying "So and so is in town, they're doing such and such, please send help" but some knuckle-head, weighed down by the "we don't have enough manpower to spare" concern, says something like "deal with it yourself." And then the boy hangs up the phone in disbelief and goes outside where some very scary men are standing, carrying way more ammo and way more firepower than he and his fellow police can handle, and listens to them tell him how they're going to rape and gut his mother and burn his house to the ground. This kid joined because he believes what us Marines believe. There's something worth fighting for. Yeah, and it pays a little extra money so his little sister can attend the school in town and she won't grow up to be a piece of burkah-clad, baby-producing furniture like her our sad old mother. (i've seen these people in their own village. don't doubt me yet, folks) So what do you do? you aren't clint eastwood. you don't have enough bullets to kill these thugs, and if you inform in them, well, they'll just start acting like they did when Saddam was around and make good on their threats. You go home. You drop your weapon, leave the police station, let them blow it up who gives a damn, and maybe the next day you show back up at the Marine base for a debriefing and you gingerly take another AK47 and forty rounds (if you're lucky) and head back to town to provide a veneer of security and hope that those scary MF's with the big mustaches (like you can't grow yet) don't come back into town for awhile. ... Not an easy transition, this one. Remember: there are greedy, rich, and despotic people who don't want this to occur. Oil companies, dick cheney, and Kerry's red diaper aside, most of the stories you guys hear and read are MISSING THE POINT. Rumsfeld was right the other week when he said "the road we're on is not a gradual upward slope leading inevitably to victory." Courage, sacrifice, and lot of prayers and some friggin bullets. And a man like him who understands what sort of difficulties we face when an indigenous population loves what we do and a very small and well funded group of insurgents hate us very, very much. Remember what he said about politics? that his boss (Bush) told him that his job was too important to get it mixed up in politics/presidential debate? No one in the media (thank NBC) bothered to play that soundbite. They just focused in on the guy who asked about how long deployments would be. They didn't even give airtime to the sob who asked about what kind of shiny piece of medal bling he'd get for toughing it out here for six months. Nah. Who cares? We just wanna whine about when our boys are coming home and make the men/women here out to be victims in an international conspiracy of rich men vying to stay rich and get richer. But we support them, the poor pawns. Such a shame so many of them die so we can drive our suv's to soccer practice! ... hope the irony of the situation (and its misrepresentation) is not lost on you. ... People call this place "the wild west" where I am. It's wild, and we're in the west, and it's not a pretty place nor comfortable nor safe by any stretch of the means. I wish sincerely these IP's had the chance & means to nut up and play hard ball like our forefathers did "on the range" of American history/mythology. They could use a good Eastwood or a Bronson, or maybe just a group of motivated Yassifs that're "tired of the crap and aren't gonna take it anymore." But back then, in our country's turbulent infancy, the outlaws didn't carry RPG's. ... love you all. :D
# posted by chevas @ 7:42 PM 