A word from Iraq

A faithful reader forwards a message from Sergeant TF (his son) serving with the Marines in Iraq. Our reader writes regarding his son’s service:

This is his second deployment to Iraq and he was there countless times on classified missions…they’ve been away from any base camp for almost 3 weeks, living out of their packs (no showers, toilets, basic facilities) and on MREs…in that time he loses almost 15 pounds and they get little sleep…snipers, mortars, RPGs, IEDs and lack of Intel as coalition troops have never been there before, makes for long days in the heat…approaching 130 F…before they deployed, we raised about $5000 to buy them after market gear, and one of the items we bought was extra capacity camelbaks for better hydration — they’ve been a godsend…they’re exhausted, but will get a couple of days rest before they head back into the foray…again…

Sergeant TF writes:

Hello all, sorry for the absence, but I’ve been busy operating and all. Well, so far it’s been a dangerous and interesting push into enemy territory. We’ve been very busy taking sniper fire, finding IED’s, getting mortared and just plain old exhaustion. We’ve been doing well, a sniper took a shot at me and mortars landed damn close, I mean 50-60 feet. And the company has had a lot of casualties. Well, we’re hearing that we might be out of here by mid-August, I can only hope. This place sucks and our living conditions are way beyond anything I’ve ever had before. Well, I’m alive and I don’t know how long that will last or when I’ll get on-line again, but next time I do, expect an email. Take care…
Semper Fidelis,
TF
Sergeant
United States Marine Corps

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