'Luckily for us, our enemy is a lousy shot'
Editor's note: The Sun earlier published a series of letters from Army Spc. Shaun Loun, a 1997 NorthKitsapHigh School graduate serving in Iraq. Due to renewed violence, he sent this update.Spc. Shaun Loun
For The SunApril 9, 2004 Dodging mortars and grenades

Things have definitely been heating up here. Iraqi police stations are being attacked viciously and already a lot of soldiers have been killed this month. The Marines have Fallujah under siege and are moving in. It's a conflicting time for my fellow soldiers and me. Here we are getting ready to leave Iraq -- only around two weeks out -- and it seems that the war is heating up. For the past few days we have been working 18 to 20 hours a day, reacting to violence and protecting various facilities. So it was no real surprise when someone came in (Wednesday) and told me to get everyone who was left in the platoon to move to the gate. "You've got five minutes to get to the gate and meet up with your tracks (our platoon's Bradley fighting vehicles)." There were only about 10 of us at our base at the time -- the rest of our platoon was already out reacting to various attacks. We left a minimum number of people back to man our guard posts and rushed to the gate. The tracks rolled in and we met with our platoon. Our platoon leader, 1st. Lt. Skellenger, briefed us on what was going on. "All right, we are rolling with Cobra (a tank company)," he said. Our mission was to clear a square where a police station had been attacked and overtaken earlier in the day. It was a hot spot. We were rolling in with seven tanks, our four Bradleys, two dismount squads and a company of engineers. "We leave in seven minutes," Skellenger said. "Mount up." As we got ready to load into the vehicles, mortars began to explode around our base with a series of deafening booms. It was an oddly cinematic effect, and it perfectly accented the fact that things were getting hot around Baghdad. We climbed into the tracks as the explosions continued around our island. My squad (minus those we left back for guard) was all piled into one Bradley fighting vehicle. After about a 10-minute drive we slowed, then stopped on a bridge. Suddenly there was another thunderous explosion. The enemy was firing rocket-propelled grenades at us. Three or four exploded ahead. Luckily for us, our enemy is a lousy shot most of the time. After a minute we rolled on and entered the square. My squad was still in the back of the vehicle as more RPGs exploded outside. A few seconds later we heard the distinctive thump-thump-thump of one of our Bradleys firing its 25mm gun. A series of explosions followed. "Yeh, get some!" one of the guys yelled. Staff Sgt. Gress up in the turret of our Bradley was excited. "Holy s--t! He just wasted 'em." "Let us out!" I yelled. Others voiced a similar sentiment. We are infantry, and don't like sitting around when there is fighting to be done. We wanted to hit the street so we could put our weapons into play. Just then -- ka-boom!!! Someone had fired another RPG down an alley at us -- and hit a building instead. Our good luck was continuing to hold. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to us in the back (probably about 10 minutes), the ramp was dropped, and we hit the street. I am a team leader now, and I put Pvt. Forth and Spc. McDaniels (my team at the time) into position about 35 feet from a good-size fire. The fire was actually a car, melting at a good rate and putting out a noxious cloud of dark smoke. The car had just been on the receiving end of the 25mm cannon. One man made it out of the car, minus a leg. I'm unsure if any more were in it at the time ... the smoke was clouding our view of the road we were watching. Shooting and explosions continued around us for a few minutes, but no one appeared from the area we were covering. The engineers went to work and three large explosions were heard -- they were destroying three IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that were all placed within a block of each other. Someone was really hoping to do some damage to us. We secured the area for about an hour as other soldiers swept the surrounding area, chasing down insurgents. Finally we returned to our base around 2 a.m. and grabbed a few hours of sleep. There is talk of extending our time here in Iraq. We all hope it doesn't happen. After nearly a year, we are ready to go. If we get extended, then so be it. We are ready to fight. Either way, though, I think these next few weeks are going to be interesting. Yes, I think it's possible things might get downright exciting around here. Some bad guys want to go toe-to-toe with us. That is fine with all of us -- it's really been too quiet around here anyway. They're about to feel the force of our strike, and they're not gonna know what hit 'em. •••

You must be very proud of your son. Not only is he a brave warrier but he can write very well. It helps, of course, to have something to write about and he certainly does!
Not enough is said about the maturity of returning troops. I began college in '72 during the era when returning troops from the Vietnam conflict were being torn down as, "baby-killers" and "mercenary" whereas my own assessment of them was that they were much more self-possessed and mature than their critics.
(Off the subject but, I didn't understand the citicism in calling them "mercenaries" because I was brought up on stories my Dad told about serving in the China-Burma-India theater of WWII in the company of two of the world's most feared and respected mercenary forces, the French Foreign Legion and the Gurkhas. The Legionaires lived off the Burmese jungle for months at a time and the Gurkhas dispatched Japanese snipers with their knives.
I understood later by reading history that mercenaries got a bad name in the Dark Ages by just going around medieval Europe pillaging for their sustainance. Many rulers hired the local mercenaries to go to war against a neighbor, just to make them stop pillaging their lands. Many wars were started just this way!)
Back to my main subject. Our present military forces are best any nation has ever fielded. As just one example, I recently made a friend of a marine sergent who was here TDY. He has a B.S. degree in history and is interested in military history. He recently applied to a seminary and wants to return as a military chaplain. He makes his living bossing an aircraft ground crew. He can shoot rings around me with my own guns! He knows more about military tactics and strategy than most of the world's top military leaders and he's a JUNIOR NCO! Any force, regular or irregular, that goes up against these people has a very tough mission.

-91

Sure-Shot...

Two days ago, I was greeting passengers as they entered the cabin of my airliner. As a young man entered the cabin, he asked me if there was any place to hang a suit bag. I said that about the only thing to do with it was lay it in an overhead bin. I liked the sharp look of the young fellow so I asked him what was in the bag. It was the U. S. Army Sargent Major's flag being transported across the country. I told him it could hang up front with us. In a brief exchange, I let him know that I had been in the U. S. Army many moons ago.

After the flight, he asked me if I still had my dog tags and gave me another with the Warriors Ethos as a thanks...

I will always place the mission first... I will never accept defeat... I will never quit... I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I can't tell you how that simple piece of tin has brought back such a flood of memories after so many years. I thank God for men like your son who are willing to place the responsiblility of the world in their young hands and carry it on their broad shoulders.

I'm seeing lots of the young fellows, obviously solders, traveling as of late. Most are on their way home. I was joking with one yesterday as he entered the airplane, his baseball cap looked like it had been chewed on by my ranch-dog. He smiled and told me those were bullet holes. It had been strapped to a ruck and took a few rounds through it... I hope your son soon joins the ranks of these fellows as they take in a new, full meaning of what it is to be free!

Thanks guys, unfortuneately my son just got extended for four months because of the unrest, they are sending him and his entire unit south to three of the hot spots. Looks like it will be awhile before he can get leave to come home.

I'm truly sorry to hear this news Sure-Shot. I hope you continue to post his updates. He remains in my prayers.

Sure-shot,
I'd just like you to know that most Canadians support and honour the efforts of your young men in Iraq and elsewhere.
Even though our Liberal govt. did not have the spine to support our friends in a time of need, we truly believe in and admire America's defense of all our freedoms. My son is 26 and we were talking about how we would feel if he was in Iraq, just can't imagine what that must be like.
God bless you and your family, I pray your son will be home safe with you soon.

Bryan

My prayers are with your family and all our military in harms way.
May God Bless you on this Easter Sunday.
SFT

My prayers are with your family and all our military in harms way.
May God Bless you on this Easter Sunday.
SFT

Sure shot,

Sorry to hear bout your son, he will be in my prayers also. My three are out of the sandbox for now. I fear two of them will return. TV news just said Cental Command has requested to more highly mobile Battalions.

fltcrkhilbily

You know I am praying for all.. ..

Thanks for posting this Sure-Shot. I have a 17 year old son who is thinking about joining instead of going right to college. I told him it is his choice and I would support him either way. I just wish these liberals we hear on tv with their negative bs would just go away and shut up.

I think the liberals are bordering on being traitors by undermining our troops while they are in harms way. Every time I hear one of them I wonder who will continue to fight our troops in the hopes they will be pulled out if it is made bloody enough. If we present a common solidarity these folks would know how it will end and stop the fighting.

[QUOTE=Sure-Shot]I think the liberals are bordering on being traitors by undermining our troops while they are in harms way. Every time I hear one of them I wonder who will continue to fight our troops in the hopes they will be pulled out if it is made bloody enough. If we present a common solidarity these folks would know how it will end and stop the fighting.[

Sure Shot: I couldn't agree with you more. It truely makes me angry when I read the one-sided press and negative reporting this war is receiving. The troops need our support, not second-guessing and hand-wringing. God Bless your son and all the rest of the sons and daughters doing our fighting for us over their. May they all come home to us heros and victors. --Mykal