June 04, 2007
News from the front
U.S. Army Lieutenant Michael Bradbury (second from left) somewhere in Iraq.
A friend's nephew is currently serving with the U.S. Army in Iraq; he periodically updates his loved ones on the progress being made on the ground. Here's his latest report.
The past few months have been interesting, to say the least. As expected, the rising temperatures have brought increased activity from the bad guys (hereafter referred to as “Abu”); we have now entered what is referred to as “sniper season,” but as always Abu’s self esteem issues have proven detrimental to his accuracy.
Due to a cultural belief that having a stock on a weapon makes it a “woman’s rifle,” the AIF remove them from their rifles, making the weapons almost impossible to aim. Actually, the culture of the region has worked to our benefit in several other ways, usually resulting from the concept of “enshallah,” or “as God wills it.”
Since nothing can happen unless God decrees it, it is an exercise in futility to actually take the time to aim a weapon, and although firing a fully automatic rifle (minus stock) with one hand from a moving vehicle at a patrol of 20 heavily armed Soldiers in four up-armored HMMWVs might seem to be a touch risky to some of us, it seems to make perfect sense to Abu.
Although I agree with him about God’s supremacy, I also believe He gave me the good sense to use the tools I have, but my theological debates with the enemy have been less than frequent.
The OPTEMPO, or Operational Tempo (basically how much we are expected to do in the fight), of the past three months has led to a serious lack of opportunities to get myself into the same amount of trouble I normally do. However, it did not prevent me from falling into an open sewer while I was out playing with Abu, much to the delight of my “friends” in the company.
The Hollywood depictions of firefights failed completely to prepare me for reality, as never once did I see the hero in the movie running through the night after the enemy suddenly disappear up to his waist in an open manhole, nor did they show him sliding on wet tiles and doing a face plant into a wall after the bad guys fired an RPG at him.
Those of you who knew me while I was growing up are probably not very surprised about these adventures. Maybe it is time I realized that I may be the Hollywood sidekick with the funny name instead of the steely-eyed movie lead.
LT Bradbury snapped this picture on the ride back to base after a day spent hunting terrorists.
Even with the setbacks we have suffered recently, there are always reminders of the reasons we had to come to this country, and reasons why I continue to be proud of what we are doing here.
We are fighting an enemy who has no qualms about targeting civilians, whose deaths are seen as simply a means to an end, namely destroying the reputation of the fledgling government.
Two weeks ago, nine SVBIEDs (Suicide Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices, or car bombs) were detonated in my sector within 30 minutes of each other, all targeting Iraqi Police compounds. In order to clear a path to these compounds, a series of VBIEDs were used to wipe out a market that straddled one of the avenues of approach to one of the compounds, and at a second site, a VBIED destroyed two schools that happened to be adjacent to a police station, killing two young girls.
Although I generally try to gloss over the atrocities and brutalities I have seen here, it is becoming more difficult to do so, as I fear that distance has made it far too easy for many back home to minimize these acts or to convince themselves that things were not really as bad as they were made to seem.
I do not wish to emphasize the negative, as many in the media make a living doing, but I believe it is necessary for my fellow Americans to understand that we are not just riding around Iraq getting blown up and shot at; we are combating an ideology that teaches the murder of innocents, and the more we shirk from that fight, the more innocents we will allow to die, and I personally believe that doing so would in fact make us in part culpable in their deaths.
Although not all of you (or the rest of America) may agree with me about the justness of our presence in Iraq, we are here now, and we have the opportunity to make a difference for the better in the lives of these people, and in my belief it would be more than shameful to fail to take advantage of this opportunity.
The Army continues to surprise me with the opportunities it has afforded me. I have now gone into battle (or to be correct, I have “conducted combat operations”) in HMMWVs (humvees), M1A2 SEP Abrams tanks, M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, a Blackhawk helicopter, Strykers, an LMTV, my boots, and a Cessna.
The greatest surprise came two days ago when my battalion commander informed me that he was giving me an Infantry platoon, which, being an Artilleryman, I was not expecting. This means that as of September 1st, I will be leaving my family in Demon Company and joining Third Platoon, Apache Company. Obviously, it will be an enormous responsibility, and I am going to spend the next three months attempting to learn everything that is Infantry, but it is also a dream come true, and it is difficult to describe how excited I am about it.
I am sure you have all heard on the news that we Active Duty fellows are going to be spending a few more months here in the Middle East than we had originally planned, so it may be a bit longer before I see some of you again, but I want each of you to know that you are in my thoughts and prayers, and I look forward to seeing you all again, take care of yourselves,
One love, homies,
Mike
We have a thousand reasons for failure but not a single excuse.
-Rudyard Kipling
Good luck to LT Bradbury in his new assignment; may G-d keep him and his men safe.
If you'd like to tell him his efforts are appreciated, you can e-mail him at michael.bradbury@us.army.mil.
LT Bradbury's previous message can be found here.
Posted by Mike Lief at June 4, 2007 07:54 AM
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Comments
Thanks for this fantastic post, Mike. Lt. Bradbury reminds us what is at stake and how lucky we are to have guys like him defending this country from a brutal and savage enemy.
Posted by: Bill H. at June 4, 2007 11:02 AM