Tag Archives: iraq

It’s In The Courtyard: Pages From My Pocket

Posted on August 25, 2016 by

In this week’s edition of Pages From My Pocket: Intel Every soldier is a sensor. That aside, there are a number of ways that battlefield intelligence can be collected. The very nature of our Cavalry Squadron was RTSA: reconnaissance, surveillance, … Continue reading →

Posted in War Stories & Vignettes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council Me, Please: Pages From My Pocket

Posted on August 18, 2016 by

In this week’s edition of Pages From My Pocket: Reconciliation This one comes from our time in the Surge. Post-Baghdad the Regiment moved to Ba’qubah in Diyala province. Diyala was where Abu Al Zarqawi had been hiding before the U.S. … Continue reading →

Posted in War Stories & Vignettes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

QRF -This Sux: Pages From My Pocket

Posted on August 11, 2016 by

In this week’s edition of Pages From My Pocket: QRF Ah – QRF; the Quick Reaction Force.  I’ve written a few brief blurbs about being on QRF here and here. But as goes, there are hundreds of other stories about … Continue reading →

Posted in War Stories & Vignettes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Purple Heart Day — Pacific Paratrooper

Posted on August 7, 2016 by

August 7th is National Purple Heart Day. It doesn’t seem to be a day on calendars, there isn’t a card for it, and there are no cakes – nor should their be, if you ask me. What today is, to … Continue reading →

Posted in War Stories & Vignettes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Winds of Change: Pages From My Pocket

Posted on August 4, 2016 by

In this first edition of Pages From My Pocket: Change Notes on the changing tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP’s) used by AIF (anti-Iraqi forces) Circa June, 2005. Upon returning from Tal’Afar, but before we moved down to Rawah, we had done … Continue reading →

Posted in War Stories & Vignettes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Introducing the “Pages From My Pocket” Series

Posted on August 3, 2016 by

I recently spent a weekend overhauling the storage space under the stairs leading down to the basement and furnace room. Doing so allowed me to get rid of some crap I had been keeping stored that was of no real … Continue reading →

Posted in War Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Can’t Make These Things Up

Posted on July 19, 2016 by

We had a sniper problem.  Plain and simple, what began as opportunistic or harassment fire escalated into a full-scale issue.  It all was at and around the Castle in Tal’Afar (the old Ottoman Empire fortification that ringed the central hill … Continue reading →

Posted in War Stories & Vignettes | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Assumed Risk (Border Ops Part II)

Posted on May 9, 2016 by

This is in continuation to the assumption of risk piece I wrote about here. It was May 2005, and we were about to rotate off of the Syrian border in Rabiah for the last time (so we thought).  We had … Continue reading →

Posted in War Stories & Vignettes | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bringing Some History to History…

Posted on May 8, 2016 by

A long time ago in what seems like an entirely different life, far far away, I used some of the blood money I was making while downrange to procure something different. Something special. Something timeless, and unique. I bought an … Continue reading →

Posted in War Stories & Vignettes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

V is for Valor

Posted on April 29, 2016 by

I have on occasion eaten my own words, and I am fine with that fact. Every one of us gets humbled at some point in time in our lives (sometimes over and over) and these moments hopefully make us better … Continue reading →

Posted in War Stories & Vignettes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments