Checking in...

[Audioholics]

Man, when I heard that story I almost wet myself...

 

[Sheep]

Man, whats with all the potty jokes?

Keep it up!

SheepStar

 

[Matt34]

It's offically "hot" here.

9:30pm and still 108 degrees...todays high according to the weather channel said 116 but our thermostat outside at 5:15pm said 123.

 

[Audioholics]

I no longer think Florida is hot.

 

[Matt34]

Clint,

I'll still take the dry heat over that humidity in the south. Was stationed in Louisiana for 3 years..... I was straight miserable out in the field.

 

[Sheep]

Clint,

I'll still take the dry heat over that humidity in the south. Was stationed in Louisiana for 3 years..... I was straight miserable out in the field.

Agreed. In july I'm heading up north (in BC) and the weather is just awesome. Dry heat, a 8 hour long drive, and at the end, a music festival and a glacier fed lake.

Can't wait.

SheepStar

 

[majorloser]

Clint,

I'll still take the dry heat over that humidity in the south. Was stationed in Louisiana for 3 years..... I was straight miserable out in the field.

We like our air to be "full bodied".

Us native Floridians just get dizzy if you put us in that dry thin mountain air (over 100 foot elevation)

 

[Matt34]

some new pics, only took me an hour to upload these four.

The start of our patrol we check on the Iraqi police and there checkpoints.

Beast as the copilot.(Yes we are going the wrong way down the highway.)

Kids, I try and keep some candy on me for em.

End of the patrol, she's hot and tired.

I have a dozen more but it takes forever to upload with this connection.

 

[billy p]

Beats my 9 till 5

all I can say "WHAT AN EXPERIENCE" keep the pic's coming & stay safe!!!!!!

 

[race4aliving]

Great pictures Matt, I sure am proud of all you folks (and critters too Beast).

 

[The Dukester]

Hey, Matt,

Are you sure you are on the right planet?! That one pic looks like there are two suns setting! Great pics!
We sure thought about you all on the fourth! Thanks for your service!!!

Duke

 

[Ax-man]

Great pics Matt, beautiful co-pilot ... you two, and every other soldier over there stay safe and alert. Thanks a million!

 

[Sheep]

Wow, beast is skinny.

Although, all dogs look skinny compared to mine.

SheepStar

 

[mulester7]

Wow, beast is skinny.

Although, all dogs look skinny compared to mine.

SheepStar

....Sheep, does that dog of yours ever get some of your cabbage?....mercy, what a smaller dog can do....right up close with no noise whatsoever....you find your head lying on the back of the couch with your face melting down both sides....you look back around and the dog looks so innocent....your face continues to melt.....

 

[Matt34]

Wow, beast is skinny.

Although, all dogs look skinny compared to mine.

SheepStar

My wife thinks so too but she is also the one that let my german shepard get up to 114lbs when I was in Kosovo. Before I had left he was between 80-85lbs

 

[Matt34]

....Sheep, does that dog of yours ever get some of your cabbage?....mercy, what a smaller dog can do....right up close with no noise whatsoever....you find your head lying on the back of the couch with your face melting down both sides....you look back around and the dog looks so innocent....your face continues to melt.....

Nothing like waking up with a big shepard nose two inches away from yours with big brown eyes looking so pathetic and as soon as you make any kind of movement they go berserk cause they think as soon as you wake up you must cater to there every need. I have to feed em then kick em outside before I can even go use the restroom.

 

[mulester7]

Nothing like waking up with a big shepard nose two inches away from yours with big brown eyes looking so pathetic and as soon as you make any kind of movement they go berserk cause they think as soon as you wake up you must cater to there every need. I have to feed em then kick em outside before I can even go use the restroom.

.....Matt, you know how dogs act and what they need for sure....how are things going for you at your location in Iraq?....any action close?....any word on at least a schedule of the withdrawal of American troops?.....

 

[Matt34]

.....Matt, you know how dogs act and what they need for sure....how are things going for you at your location in Iraq?....any action close?....any word on at least a schedule of the withdrawal of American troops?.....

Things are going pretty well in our sector. These 3/67 Armor guys that I work for are a bunch of Texans(Ft. Hood) so they don't put up with any BS. We've been rounding up the bad guys and trying to get the Iraqi police/army running on there own(that in itself is a huge undertaking). Two big things right now is curtailing the amount of corruption in all levels of the government and trying to stop the Sunni on Shitte(and vise-versa) violence.
The rumor mill is another problem we are having, if you remember a couple days ago that car bomb that killed 66 people in that market, well that is in our area of operation. A rumor got started that we(U.S forces) set it off. When we tried to respond to it we got rocks and feces thrown at us, they wouldn't let us in for 48 hours. We get alot of that too because of the nightly curfew, they think because we are the only ones that are suppose to be on the roads at night that we must be setting the IED's up. That is what happens when 85% of the population have no kind of schooling whatsoever, the people here can be very ignorant at times.

We have lucked out in the past few weeks though and put a big damper on the IED and mortar attacks with the raids we've been doing but they are still plenty of them out there. The insurgents are studying us 24/7 so you gotta be on your toes.

I got to unfortuntaly see the remains of two kids after a 155mm mortar landed near a police station that they were playing next too. The insurgents like to take pop shots at the checkpoints and stations cause they can do it quick and easy before any response force can be mobilized. They usually get one or two mortars launched off the back of a truck then cover it up and drive off, all in a matter of seconds.

Sometime in 2007 there is suppose to be a small(very small) draw down, I believe Gen. Casey stated that a couple weeks ago. No one around here is holding his breath though.

 

[loserwife]

I'm glad to see you're taking care of my favorite doggie!

After all that heat she deserve a piece of the bed.

 

[Matt34]

Well, my interweb time has drastically been reduced. My laptop took a crap on me two weeks ago and noone here can fix it. I'm either going to have to send it back to my wife or get a new one, either way I'm not going to be on much for the next month or so.

So I'm still alive and kickin, just not in the cyber-world for awhile.

We got mortared again today and had a 107mm rocket land 50m from where Beast and I where. It was a direct hit on the gym that required medavacs for 5 soldiers inside, luckily the round exploded on the topside of the building before penatrating through the roof. It hasn't been a very good week for us here.