DAY 27 / DEC 25

DAY 27 / DEC 25

So this is Chirstmas. Thus far, I can’t complain, no mortars have hit us – it’s like an Iraqi Christmas present. Its evening time and we just heard three big booms. We laid on the floor and waited. I thought, “what a bitch it would be to have someone get injured now, they would do a blackout and no one could call home on Chirstmas.” But, not long after that, the PA system came on and informed us that the explosions were OUTGOING rounds. After that, I’m glad I’m on our side and not on the receiving end of those rounds. They felt as big going out as the ones did coming in yesterday. We shoot a lot bigger guns.
The day was a usual day, woke up, showered, skipped breakfast, and called home. I wanted to email something, but had no luck getting to a computer. I plan on going out tonight to call home during the daylight hours there. I figure if I call around 2230 my time, it’ll be 1230 at home and 1130 at my mom’s house where my other kids will be.
We went to lunch, but the line was around the block so to speak, and I didn’t want to wait that long outside with a huge bunch of people in a wide open space. Too big of a target for me. I went back to the CHU and had an ice cream sandwich that I had saved later. It was later.
Eventually, I had an actual meal. The DFAC served Christmas dinner. We had ham and turkey, and mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and green beans and corn and good stuff. It was decent, but nothing like whats at home.
Apparently, the big guns that made all of the racket a bit ago was from Paladins that rolled in today. The 3ID Paladins were at another FOB, firing counter-battery from their, ours are here now, and make big BOOMS when they go off. It’s nice that we have them handy, maybe make the enemy think twice about shooting as us again.
The other exciting event of the day was seeing some of our equipment finally arrive. I don’t know what we have yet, but I’ll go find out for sure tomorrow. The Commander should be in tomorrow as well.