The months have become weeks...

The new countdown has begun. The number has gone down from 12 to 3, and now it is back up to 10, but weeks are shorter than months. It's looking like late April I'll be packing my bags. Can't wait.
The Silver Lions (TF 1/68 CAB) ripped into Baqubah in January while I was on leave. Since then they've gone through some growing pains. Of course, as most new folks are, they came here excited about killing bad guys and driving fast. The first part they've done an alright job of, though right now killing bad guys isn't necessarily winning the war. Driving fast has had it's issues. Two KIA's and numerous injuries from HMMWV rollovers. 2-34 had two KIA's over 12 months. These guys have owned the ground for about 45 days and have matched numbers in a hurry. Both incidents were preventable, and hopefully as they spend more time on the ground they'll ease their nerves and figure stuff out.
Last night a complex ambush attacked a patrol in the hottest AO in Baqubah, and the guys seem like they handled it well. We went back to the ambush site this morning to conduct site exploitation (figure out what happened and try to gather some intelligence). I guess it would be natural to expect the locals to be somewhat shellshocked with an intense firefight only 6 hours before, but they weren't. In modern Iraq, the people simply mop up the mess and start running new power lines. There was almost no sign that the night before this street crowded with children had held witness to MK19's and 50CAL's unloading on numerous firing positions. That's just the way it rolls in Buhriz. Clean the shit up and get on with life. In Shah Allah.

Our New Home

Pre-leave, the decision was made to switch our living quarters. Across the FOB, the other CA team lived in a much larger building along with their TPT and THT buddies. Now that THT is gone and TPT is downsized, we figured it's time for us to move in and enjoy the inhouse showers and real standing walls. Last night the rain started to leak through the walls, but aside from that it's great. There's 12 rooms, meaning our whole seven person team is under one roof which makes mission coordination much easier. The TPT is also under the same roof with their 3 guys. The shower is right down the hall, and although there is limited hot water, it still beats walking through mud and rain. We have two sinks with running water, which has unimaginable results in regards to my daily personal hygiene. When it starts getting warm again we have a roof to tan on (good luck with that ryan). We're still working on the tiki bar.

Oh, by the way...
THT - Tactical HumInt Team
TPT - Tactical PsyOp Team

More pictures from the last few missions...