letters from iraq.

a girlfriend of mine from beaufort is a marine in iraq and i recently e-mailed her (shamefully, it was the first time, and she's nearly on her way home). i asked her what her experiences were like and enjoyed her response so much, i thought you all might too, so i asked her permission to share it. our exchange is below. i like her last message because i think it shows several different sides of her; she's silly, and brave, and caring, and thoughtful, and many other things. read on:

Rikki: Life is great, my replacements have finally arrived and we are currently doing turnover with them. So I have about one more convoy to go on and that's it. The time flew and yes I am having a good time as usual. Could have done without some of the BS, but that is everywhere you go. Not really much news here, we are turning more and more control over to the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police so that is good. Other than that not much....

Paula: Sounds like you are fabulous at your job Rikki, as we all knew you would be :)... Will you come home after your next convoy? Anything you weren't expecting? Anything that surprised you? I'm very interested in hear about your experiences - so much of what we hear about here I feel like is just that, BS!

Rikki: Well it sounds like by the end of the month I will be able to come home for at least a couple days, but who knows maybe I will actually get a couple weeks. Of course if that is the case I will probably have to hit up Charleston for a couple days. However, I will definitely let everyone know when I am on my way home.

I guess in a way you prepare yourself to expect everything: the good, the bad, and the ugly. (Thought I would throw that one in) I have already had one of my classmates from school die from an IED (improvised explosive device). That hits home but in a way you already prepare yourself for something like that. Other than that the Iraqi's for the most part love Marines. I have even meet Iraqi's that believe in Jesus. One specifically told me that Allah is stupid (little bit of a language barrier, but that is the gist of how the conversation went) You can tell those who are educated and those who are not. The Iraqi kids run out as our convoy passes hoping we will throw candy their way. They love chocolate. They give us peace signs and the sort. Of course some of the elders stare us down and don't want us to be here, but oh well they have no choice.

Surprised well this is a new kind of war. They cower if we have a face to face confrontation (ex: fire fight). Most of the time it is a couple pop shots and then they run and hide and IED's being our biggest threat. It is very frustrating fighting a war when the majority of the time you do not see your enemy. We find weapon caches all the time; from small arms to RPGs, not anything really with Weapons of mass destruction. Of course some of their IED's are pretty large, piercing through our armor. They are getting smarter with their tactics and techniques, but of course we are basically doing the same thing. The reason being is because our mission right now is to train the Iraqi's so they can take over themselves. But the best way I can explain this is it is like giving candy to a baby, they're going to keep asking for more. That is the majority of the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police. They mean well and try their hardest, but they keep wanting our help, give us more, give us more, when they can easily support themselves. Of course we have that in America too so maybe we are getting closer to democracy. Slowly though they are improving and they are taking over what is theirs. Our job is to win their hearts and minds and still protect ourselves. They had nothing over here and now they have a lot, not really what we would consider a lot but more than they are used to so that is going to take time to adjust and get used to. They were able to vote, a larger voting turn out then we have in the US. This was an awesome site, going through Fallujah city on a convoy and the Iraqi civilians holding up their finger with the ink mark to show they voted, they were very proud. That is what we are doing over here. Both sides voted the Shiites and the Sunnis. Actual rumor (or truth) going around is "hey maybe if we just vote on it we can win", what a great concept I love it. Now the City Councilmen in Fallujah was just assassinated, but sometimes it is hard to tell on my level if it was the bad guys or good guys. Because they police their own too.

I guess that is it for now. I am doing my turnover so you can see I have a lot of time on my hands. I am almost to the point of boredom. I have a feeling my last few fays in Fallujah are going to go by very, very slowly. Oh well the time is near.

Oh and I am ready to see my dog! Poor Tazz getting trampled on by the other dogs. I am not there to protect him.