BLACK DAY

well its about time that i play catch up a little bit.... today is our black day.... we get one of these a week... it means we are off and cant be called in (i don't believe that though).... so far however, we haven't been called in and no one has fucked with our off days.... I'm still wary and wont fully put the guard down until I'm really comfortable with the routine.....ROUTINE...lol.... i don't really know that we have a routine.... depending on how you look at that it could be considered a pro or a con...

the section i now belong to is EOD security... its really not a bad gig at all... whenever something happens in sector, we go out to assess, interrogate, or destroy whatever it is that we are going out for.... we get to blow shit up almost daily :).... the calls we go on are always different... it keeps things new and exciting....

during the week we are either primary or secondary.... while on primary we pull a 24 hour shift in the CP.... during that time any thing that happens, our team responds to it... as soon as we roll out the secondary team assumes primary in the CP until we return...if another call comes thru while primary is out in sector secondary takes it....once we get back, secondary then goes away... this happens all day long....some days we have nothing happen and don't go anywhere, other days we are out 5-7 times that shift.... the average so far though is about 2-3 missions per primary shift, and less then one mission per secondary shift.... not bad at all... each mission last about 2 hours, so we spend an average of 4-6 of our 24 hour shift on mission most primary days.... while at the CP during our shifts, we do what ever we want as long as we are with in ear shot of each other in case a call comes thru... we watch movies, play xbox, volley ball, horse shoes, Internet, wrestle, pranks, fight, sleep, whatever it is we want... the freedoms that allude most in Iraq, are prevalent in our section... we work hard and play hard and no one on the outside looking in messes with us....

as soon as our primary shift ends we immediately assume secondary.... while on secondary you have alittle more advantages... one, your allowed to hang out in your own room.. while on primary you cant, you have to be in the CP.... two, you can also go to the PX, MWR, gym, and other places like this while on secondary so long as you sign out and take a radio with you.... and three, you get to take showers.... you obviously cant on primary... this is all well and good but as soon as primary gets a mission, everything you were doing stops... you now have to get in uniform and get to the CP to assume primary....

we play this game 6 days a week.... 24 as primary, 24 as secondary, 24 as primary, 24as secondary, until that 7th day... that day is our black day... it is suppose to be the day that we are untouchably off.... this is my third black day since I've been here and so far i cant say that this isn't true.... i will later go to play basketball and maybe make a PX run... other then that, black days only mean no missions...

in a nut shell, that's my new job... i like the guys I'm working with and the missions we run.... so far we've responded to IED's, rockets, VBIED's, bomb making parts, post blast, RKG3's, and other shit... the way the job is structured allows the time to fly... its a pretty sweet gig..

OK quick back story to these pics... this was the first mission i went out on with my new team... we responded to a VBIED ( a VBIED is pretty much a car that's packed with explosives... it drives to its destination and detonates...) the car was mangled, and taking to this junk yard.... while we were there on the ground, something happened.... i was scanning the tree line and all the sudden, BANG..... one shot fired.... at first i didn't know who fired or from where... all i knew was that it was loud and close... i quickly took cover behind a near by car and started to assess the situation.... i look around and i saw that no one else was taking cover or paying the shot fired much attention.... BAFFLED, i was.... i remember saying to myself "what the fuck is going on".... i look up and see a crowd of soldiers stand around a PVT with a scared look on his face... the others around him were his NCO's.... they were all smiling from ear to ear... i get up and walk over to them... this is the conversation that ensued...

ME: what the hell happened?

SOME NCO: (smiling) nothing, he just got alittle scared.

ME: scared? what the fuck did you shoot at?

PVT: sgt. a dog tried to attack me....

I look around for a quick second, and see no dog..... now I'm smiling...

ME: was he big...

PVT: roger sgt. he was coming at me...

ME: did ya get um...

PVT: negative sgt.

ME: did he disappear.

PVT: negative sgt. hes under that car over there....

ME: oh...

I go and look for the dog and sure enough hes chained and under a car...

ME: hey killer, hes chained up....

PVT: roger sgt. he was coming at me...

ME: did he bite you.

PVT: negative sgt. but he had his mouth open....

ME: oh... was he yawning...lol

PVT: negative sgt.

ME: how close was he to you when you fired....

PVT: like two feet...

ME: oh.... and hes a big dog I'm guessing

PVT: roger

ME: lol... so how the fuck do you miss a big dog that's two feet away from you bro..

PVT: i don't know sgt...

ME: lol, did you give him a warning shot...

PVT: negative sgt...

ME: alright man I'm just fucking with you relax...

he was at this point still worked up... alittle excited, alittle afraid... i thought it was funny and so did his NCO's... he didn't get in any trouble, but i bet he will have a hard time living this down back at the fob with his platoon....


ok back and to the right is where the dog was chained up... this red van to the right is the car the dog hide under after almost getting shot...




this is a side view after the shot was fired... i tried and tried to get the dog to come out for a picture but he refused.... i throw pop tarts and muffins at him but he wouldn't budge...