Mike is doing fine. He got to come home for two weeks in Sept. and it was just
> what he (and we) needed before returning for another 6 months. He lives in a
> parking garage between what they call the pyramid building(used to be some
> sort of ministry offices for Saddams' govt.) and the tomohawk building (was
> hit by tomohawk missles during the invasion of 2003) The temperature has
> dropped from being 125+ to now only in the 90's. Hes freezing I'm sure. ha.
> Some rain is expected too, which makes everything really messy, since they
> sleep in a garage. He sleeps in a bunk bed and they have created 'rooms' with
> plastic sheeting and divided up the garage that way. There are bathroom
> facilites, tho MIke says they are really gross. And he eats well in a chow
> hall, which is within walking distance in the base that has been set up for
> our troops. His division is called (I think) The Steel Dragons.
>
> The entire area is called the Green Zone. It is an area about 3-4 miles in
> perimeter that blocks of Baghdad City with barricades and barbed wire. They
> train the Iraqi national guard in the Green Zone and that is the operating
> base for the coalition forces and the seat of the new Iraqi government. It is
> a complete city, with cafes, bazaars, shops and businesses, but each person
> that comes and goes, has to be screened as they go through the checkpoint that
> MIke guards at times. That is where so many Iraqis are being blown up by
> explosive devices (IEDs) and car bombs, sometimes mortars because the terrorists don't want them helping our trooops. They are dying in far greater numbers than our forces. That proves
> they WANT their freedom and desire to better their lives. Mike has made
> friends with some Iraqis that come in to clean his porta johns or do their
> laundry, then learns they have been blown to bits. In fact, he has an Iraqi
> CHRISTIAN friend now that he worries about. He is so in awe of their bravery
> and courage to keep coming, even though they see their countrymen killed daily
> and their families threatened. He knows we are doing a good thing, in spite of
> all the difficulties.
>
> But, Mike has seen some awful things because these people are blown apart
> every day, trying to help us. It has been very difficult on him...esp. when he
> sees the children killed and maimed. He had some real issues with God about
> that (if He is control, does HE care??..God has a wonderful plan for my life?
> What about these kids??...stuff like that) So that was another benefit of
> having him home so we could discuss these things. Please pray for him and the
> other troops. This is a psyhological war every bit as much as a war with
> weapons. The media, the terrorists (they use the psychological tactic of
> TERROR), the ignorant and uninformed, and leftist socialist communist liberals are hurting
> our troops more than any bullet or mortar.
>
> I sent Mike a movie called FahrenHYPE 9/11 that I HIGHLY recommend for
> everyone in America to see. It is an answer to the stupid movie MMoore made
> Fahrenheit 9/11. It is not a nasty 'tit for tat', but a reasoned, somber
> discussion of this war and has the people that Moore exploited in his movie.
> Please rent it and show it to as many people as you can (HOllywood video and
> Blockbuster have it) He loved it and is passing it around. i am going to send
> more too!
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