Ar Ramadi

Hello all, I am writing from Ar Ramadi where myself and SSG Kolar have
traveled to make a visit to one of our teams. As usual, the travel
here was no pick nick. We started in Balad by making a C-130 flight
to a Marine air base called TQ. The flight only took 20 minutes but
we didn't get off the plane until 0300 this morning. TQ is a very
rustic-looking (sand and dirt everywhere, shabby buildings, hesco
barriers for protection) base almost exclusively inhabited by the
Marines. Once there, SSG Kolar and I made an attempt to sleep in a
large open area of bunk beds that smelled badly probably due to five
years of sweaty guys sleeping on the same matresses. We actually
slept for about 2 hours and then got up and readied ourselves for what
we thought was going to be a quick convoy to Ramadi. We were to meet
up with 125 Infantry at 1000 and then role from there to Ramadi and we
were supposed to arrive around 1100. Once we met our friends from the
Infantry, we were informed that we were making a slightly longer trip
than we had expected. We were apparently going to Falujah to pick up
some extra people who needed to go to some little JSS (joint security
station) in Ramadi and then we would end up at Ar Ramadi about an hour
and a half later. The drive to Falujah was pretty cool, what with the
sights of a blown and shot up city attempting to rejoin civilization.
In addition, it was in the middle of the day so that means lots of
civilian traffic. I took lots of pictures and movies that I'll try to
upload for all to see but honestly, it will blow your mind. Once we
arrived in Falujah we noticed that our MRAP (the mine resistant,
ambush protected vehicles that we have to ride in thanks to Joe Biden
that really are very nice) had run over a .50 cal round and that the
round had exploded and flattened one of our 6 tires. Our delay at
Camp falujah happened to be right around lunch time so SSG Kolar and I
jokingly talked about going to Falujah for lunch. Lunch was good and
after changing two tires weighing over 400 pounds we were back on the
road to Ramad. The trip to Ramadi was uneventful but all in all the
convoy lasted over 5 hours and my tailbone really hurt. I plan to
stay a few days here and will then make the trip in reverse back to
Balad. I'm sure I'll have lots more to report.