My Big Brother in Baghdad - 4

This just in from my Bro:

Mom, sorry it took a few days for me to get a reply back to you. Things are very busy here. We had another attack this evening. Guys on the other side of the fence decided to send a couple of S-5k rockets (USSR type) our way. No one was hurt.

Yesterday morning at around 1:45 am, our team responded off base to recover a vehicle. Our convoy consisted of our EOD team, the recovery team (contractors) and Army security. We went about thirty mins out to where the vehicle (semi truck) was located. It was off the main road and in bad shape. The truck was burnt up, rolled over and it looked like someone had used a cutting torch on it to steal parts off it.

Our team checked the area and truck carcass for booby-traps and IEDs. Once we gave the thumbs up, the contractors moved in with their equipment to recover the truck, now at about 2:45 am. The truck was badly damaged and the contractors were having problems getting the truck remains on to the recovery vehicle snapping at least one chain.

By 3:30 am, the bad guys zeroed in on us and started firing small arms at our position. The army had the contractors move to the other side of the convoy and we started to return fire. We had two good volleys, before a couple of Apaches helicopters moved in and the bad guys high tailed it. After the shooting ended, the decision was made to leave the vehicle where it lay and our convoy mounted up and headed back to Base. We were back on base by 4:30 am. All in all, a kind of an exciting night/morning.

Well, besides the attacks and the gun fire, things here are going great. The food is OK and I can eat as much as I want. Today we had lobster tails (I'm not kidding). Yesterday it was steak and king crab legs. Good food helps to keep the moral up. Now if they could give us a good pay raise. There are few contractors based here. They stop by our shop every few days and are making 210K - 240K a year to work here in Iraq doing some of the same work I'm doing. Go figure.

Well it is late here and it is time to hit the hay. I hope everyone is well and don't worry about me. I'm having a good time.

Stay safe and have fun