Letters From Iraq

I'm still here, trying to figure out the next direction for this poker blog. I have a few poker-related ideas, but time has been a short commodity of late. In the meantime, I thought it might be worthwhile to create a series of recurring posts of emails from an actual soldier in Iraq -- my brother. Consider it a human interest series, if you want.

First, some explanations. My brother is stationed in Fort Carson, Colorado, "the Mountain Post", with the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment (3ACR), which consists of over 5,000 soldiers plus units attached. The regiment is broken down into several squadrons.

Regimental Squadron is at the top, and under it are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and Support Squadrons. In each of the numbered squadrons are units or troops, namely: Headquarters Headquarters Troop (hello, redundancy), Apache Troop, Bandit, Crazyhorse, Dragon, etc. This is a bit different from aviation and infantry units, which are called companies: alpha company, bravo, charlie, delta, and so forth. "The Cav is an entirely different beast", supposedly.

All troops but HHT are considered "line troops". My brother, along with all of HHT, supports the line troops. At this point, his rank is some sort of sergeant, his unit designation is "HHT 1/3ACR", and his MOS ("military occupational specialty", I believe) is cook -- but he can be out with the line troops on missions at any time. He left for his second tour through Iraq in March 2005; the first tour was from approximately May 2003, after the initial offensive, to April 2004, just before the insurgency really started getting bloody.

Anyway, here's his first email upon returning to Iraq after two weeks' leave in the US:

hello to all,

Well, I have internet accessability in my room and I talked to Cynthia at 0200 this morning. Right now it is 1945 Iraq time, which is 0945 Colorado time. I am doing good here, I no longer go out on missions anymore. Well so far. Leave was excellent. Sorry mom and dad, i did not call you before i went back. Cynthia and I went white water rafting and also went up to Cheyenne Wyoming for Frontier Days which is professional bull riding. But we had lots of fun. Mom and Dad I told Cynthia about the weekend of 8 September. Just call her and remind her, dhe would love to see you all.

If you look at a map of Iraq and look for Mosul. I am 2 hours west of Mosaul in the Sinjar mountain area. Its about 45 minutes from the Syrian border. Very nice weather in the mountains.

Right now i am in charge of the Dining area and all the cooks. My E-6 SSG williams is in charge of rations, and SFC Zahorsky stays in his room most of the time expect to go to meetings.

I love you'll and will write back whenever I have new news.