Man, I am tired.
We crossed the berm into Syria yesterday morning about 3 hours after I emailed you. The Chaplain and I spent all night going from platoon to platoon giving mini services. Lots of nervousness out here, but these guys are ready for a fight. This is not Iraq, everyone KNOWS why we are here and what we need to do.
The CH was in the TOC and I hung out with some of the BN scouts who got stuck on guard duty. Talk about a grumpy bunch of troopers. I can sympathize from my scout days. Nothing worse than being a high speed scout and getting stuck guarding the perimeter of the TOC.
But their bad luck was my good luck. I convinced one of the squad leaders to let me play with the optics on a Stryker and watch part of the fight.
They are headed into the fight now.
You probably already heard we took casualties. Our firepower is intense, but even so, the Stryker is vulnerable when facing enemy armor. We lost two in our BN. I don’t know the status of the guys on board, and can’t really say even if I did. But I know it was not good.
Funny, yesterday I mentioned the Javelins. We had guys on the berm with them this morning as the Syrians tried a counter attack to stop up the hole we were advancing through. The Javelin gunners did a great job.
“POP! Woosh!”
“BOOOOOOM!!!!”
It was intense to watch. I’m surprised the enemy gunners did not return much effective fire on the berm we were firing over. Granted, they had M1’s advancing on them, MGS in support pounding their emplacements and 155mm raining down on them.
I have a super secret way to get emails to you, so I’ll keep you posted as long as that lasts. I also have pictures, but need to get them off my camera. Gotta go.
