Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Cheating on My Boyfriend

My boyfriend is "just" a pilot. Don't get me wrong, helicopter pilots are real sexy...I mean, to watch those huge machines defy gravity, and some of the landings they do...it's impressive. But when it comes to combat, despite inserting infantry troops into certain areas, they mostly have a view from the sidelines. Thus, I never get any really good American Hero stories from him...so I have to cheat on him, and find those stories elsewhere.

I found this story via Toni:

Yesterday was nuts. The day began early, with a coordinated attack from two car bombs, a suicide bomber, mortars and small arms fire. We were hit from two sides, simultaneously, as car bombs breached our perimeter, rattled our compound, and a suicide bomber attempted to make it through the breach. Mortars and small arms fire from the opposite side of our Patrol Base complimented the wave of suicide fighters.

[...]
Almost none of us were fully dressed. Many were wearing nothing more than shorts, aside from their body armor and helmet. I was wearing flip-flops, a t-shirt, and pants. One Soldier was wearing one boot, one flip-flop, knee pads, and shorts. A few were only wearing their boxers, body armor and helmet. There was every combination of shorts, boots, flip-flops, t-shirts, and boxers being worn.

This story is reminiscent of the how the Kentucky National Guard MPs rebuffed their ambush a few weeks back. It's a great account, humorous and feel-good (only if, of course, no US soldiers wounded and a few Anti-Iraqi Forces dead is feel-good for you).

My favorite part is about the battalion commander's pride:

Yesterday, after the attack, he rushed down here again, to survey the scene. I have never seen anybody so happy. We had thwarted the enemy attack that he worried about more than any other and we suffered no casualties. I do not think he stopped smiling, from the time that he entered the Patrol Base, until the time that he left. It seemed that he could not pat enough backs and shake enough hands. His hands must have been red and tender as he left, and his throat must have been hoarse from telling Soldiers how proud he was of their performance.

It's a good read, and it made my day!

Note to Boyfriend: Don't worry, you are still my biggest hero!

3 Comments:

Blogger Sminklemeyer said...

nice.

3:58 PM  
Blogger Teresa said...

From a few things my son said when he was home for Christmas... this was even before they left for the Stan... I think they are doing much much more than we know about - they just aren't talking.

5:22 AM  
Blogger Household6 said...

To be honest CVG, I'd much rather the hubby have nothing of interest to talk about than to have a hair raising tale - I am such a pragmatist but no news is good news.

Household6

3:03 PM  

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