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.