Letter from a Soldier

The following is a letter from my friend Rachel's brother who is currently in Iraq. The letter speaks for itself. May God bless our troops.

L

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Merry Christmas from Iraq,

This will likely be the last update that I write before I return home to Fort Benning. I will then give an after action review and get around to the all important task of the thank you notes that are so overdue.

Christmas in Iraq doesn't seem like Christmas at all. We work the same hours, doing the same things as every other day...well, that may not be true for the support and logistics people who mostly have the day off, but we infantry and armor types are doing the same stuff as always, just on a slightly decreased volume. One of the only thing that has made it feel like Christmas is the 5 packages that I have received in the past five days full of lickies and chewies (Army talk for candies and snacks). The books are appreciated as well. The scumbags decided to send us some Christmas presents as well, in the form of a rocket and mortar attack on the FOB that lasted about an hour and a half. No one was killed and there was only one minor shrapnel injury that required 4 stitches and the guy getting returned to duty. The most important part of their gift was their hitting the generator that powers the area that I live in…talk about hitting a guy where it hurts. Not that they were trying to do so, but they got a lucky shot, and suddenly we were without lights and water. The happy ending to the story is that KBR (Kellogg, Brown, & Root – we love those guys) yanked one of the generators that was powering their own living area in order to ensure that we soldiers had lights and hot water. If I ever meet a person who complains about that company in front of me, they will likely pick themselves up off the ground wearing a bloody nose.

This has been a big year for Iraq. To think that a year ago this nation was in the middle of major upheaval seems foreign. Places like Fallujah, Baghdad, Ramadi, Baqubah, and Mosul were the scenes of constant attacks by IED and small arms fire. This year has seen the tide change in the Diyala province of Iraq. In our province during the election for the constitutional congress last December, there were over 500 incidences of violence be they mortar and rocket attacks, SAF (Small Arms Fire), and IEDs found and detonated. In the referendum in October, the Iraqis took the lead on securing their own elections. This allowed us to do virtually nothing except provide logistical support and forces in reserve during the elections in December. The number of attacks dropped drastically as well. From the elections of 2004, we saw 40% fewer attacks during the referendum, and over 75% fewer attacks during the elections. The Iraqi security forces have truly taken the fight and risen to the occasion. I will not lie and say that I have been entirely optimistic, but this seems to be a genuine desire on the part of the Iraqis to own their own country. If you think about what has been attempted here in the last 3 years, the enormity of it is overwhelming. A despot who terrorized his neighbors and threatened the world with Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological weapons was deposed and is facing justice in a way that he denied to his people. Terrorist have shifted their focus from attacking our soft underbelly in the United States, and are instead choosing to meet us in Iraq, where they must play the game at a serious disadvantage. There is the birth of an actual democracy in the Middle East, and as the President said, democracies are not normally aggressors. Think about the gamble that our nation took in this. We have given away the lives of over 2000, and the health of 10 times that number. We have spent several hundred billion dollars prosecuting a war that history would have said was futile. The threat against the United States decreases as the rest of the world sees that we will not cut and run till the task is complete and the enemies of freedom are dead. This is greater than our support of the British in WWII, and defending France in WWI. Those were established democracies that merely needed defending. Iraq was among the worst dictatorships in a region of despots. To be willing to prove history wrong, and create the first Islamic democratic Republic in the history of the world says that the President is either visionary or insane. Though by no means complete, it seems that every step that the Iraqis take to create a peaceful democratic society shows the man to be more visionary. We need not fear this society exporting terrorists to our shores, and the Iraqis> have shown more and more willingness to decrease hostilities with their neighbors.

Christmas in the desert is a little odd. Dinner was outstanding though. I call it dinner because it is a cross between lunch and supper and lasts from noon to 7pm. Today's menu includes fresh and cured ham, roast beef, turkey, salmon, shrimp, lobster, crab legs, and scallops. Au gratin and mashed potatoes, sautéed onions and mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, dressing, green bean casserole, cranberry dressing, and fresh dinner rolls complete the array. There is sparkling cider, egg-nog, and punch to drink, and a vast dessert table with about 6 different types of pie. The commanding general of the 101 st Airborne Division, Major General Turner, stopped by and donned a hat and apron and served the meal along with the rest of us officers. That was the one thing that made this holiday seem real. For a few minutes it felt like I could tell the guys that I have lived with for a year thanks for a job well done by just handing them a plate with green beans and dressing on it. Nothing can repay the debts that we owe each other, and the debts that we owe those who have fallen.

I write this in honor of Captain Joel Cahill, killed on November 6th in Ad Dawr by an IED. He was perhaps the finest Infantryman that I have ever known, and is survived by his wife Mary and two daughters Faith and Brenna. I wish you all a safe and Merry Christmas from Iraq and know that we fight so that my son and Joel's daughters may grow up in freedom and prosperity and can celebrate Christmas at home surrounded by family and friends who will die from old age rather than violence. I would rather be there with you all, but am happy to know that I am paying the debt of freedom for my son, just as my father did for me back in the 70s.

I wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the land of sand and scorpions.

Captain Jason Allen
Infantry, US Army