Liberating them against their will.

[Tobiasly]

Originally posted by dave
Many people in Iraq <b>are</b> gracious. Our own Tobiasly served in Iraq this year, and is now (thankfully) (mostly) safe in Kuwait. He can tell you about their gratitude first-hand.

I guess I didn't tell you guys.. my battalion is being sent back north into Iraq. We will be about 50 km south of Baghdad, not quite the fiercest part of the fight, but not quite as safe as Tallil either.

No internet either, so you prolly won't hear from me for a while. I'll try to take some more first-hand pictures for everyone.

We'll be up there until early January. We were supposed to be coming home in mid-November, but now they're keeping pretty much all Guard and Reserve units 365 days in theater, as opposed to 365 days total mobilization. Luckily it only took us a month to mobilize, and we were fairly close to home; some units took 4 or 6 months to mob, and they were halfway across the country.

Our only hope is that the administrative people who issue the extension orders will not get ours put out in time, in which case we will come home in mid-Nov. as originally planned!

As far as the person on the street in Iraq, there are all kinds. Some will indeed approach you, shake your hand, and thank you; others will give you cold stares as you drive by. But for the most part, people want to raise their family and be left alone. Usually they understand if we come in and search their homes, it is for everyone's benefit. The little things we do to help -- give their sick child medical care, give water and MREs to a hungry bedouin -- go a long way to increasing goodwill.