E-mail from a service contractor in Iraq

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - E-mail from a service contractor in Iraq

Posted: 9/16/2004 11:35:54 AM EDT

This is an e-mail forwarded to me by a very good friend. Thought you lads might find it interesting

-Hep

********************************************************************

This is my brother in-law's friend who works for a food service company
that's helping our troops over in Iraq. Apprently they pay him very well
$150,000 or so for his services, so he took the job. This is one of his
emails.

PJ

Hello everyone,
Well, things have been crazy over here. First things first though. I
have been told to notify everyone back home not to send me any information
that is specific about where you live or work. Do not send phone numbers or
addresses...OK? I rode over to my camp on a chinook and the experience was
really crazy. It was a night flight. The tailgate of the helicopter was open
and a gunner was sitting facing out the back with a 50 caliber machine gun.
I felt kinda safe untilI realized that if there was any shooting going on,
that the bullets would more than likely be coming back at him. We landed
without incident. We got to the camp at about midnight and once we were far
enough away from the helicopter I heard many explosions off in the distance.
Turns out that my hooch (hooch is the trailer where I live) is very close to
the artillery unit. I discovered just how fast I can get out of bed when the
first howitzer went off. My entire hooch shook like you wouldn't believe. If
someone was video taping that, I am sure it would have been funny- but I
wasn't laughing at the time. The next day I was at work bright and early and
met my supervisor. He gave me the lowdown of what is expected of me. I am
supervising 180 employees in a dining facility, and I have 8 supervisors to
keep an eye on as well. The kitchen has eight galleys and we put out about
20,000 meals a day. The facility was originally built to handle about 6,000,
so you can imagine how hectic it is around there. The camp is very close to
to the fighting and is constantly being hit by mortars. When someone from
the camp gets killed, they shut down all communications until all the family
members are notified. There was a communications blackout for the last two
days. We had a memorial service yesterday for a soldier that was killed two
weeks ago. It brought a tear to my eye. These guys are coming back from the
field tired, hungry and mentally exhausted. These terrorists are cowards
too, you have to be careful about what your seeing on the TV. The DEFAC
(dining facility) has TV's in it and we are watching the news in total
disbelief. Don't believe everything you see on there. The terrorists are
hiding out in mosks and in peoples homes in the slums. They are cutting
holes in the roofs of the houses and firing mortars out of them. They are
using innocent people as shields because they know that we not engage them
under those circumstances. This is what is happening in Basrah and Falluja
right now. If the people try to resist the terrorists, the entire family
will be killed. Also turns out that two days ago the chinook transport that
carried me from the other camp was hit by a rocket and caught fire. They
were forced to have an emergency landing and fortunately nobody was hurt.
Times up gang, I gotta go. I will write more soon.

-Vic

Posted: 9/16/2004 11:38:33 AM EDT

[#1]

very interesting indeed

Thanks for sharing and best of luck to him.

Posted: 9/16/2004 11:39:14 AM EDT

[#2]

Thanks

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - E-mail from a service contractor in Iraq

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