12/28/06

With the news of Saddam's impending execution we are bracing ourselves. I saw a news report on the SAT. TV that the anchor said something to the effect, that Saddam wrote an open letter that he told Iraqis not to attack the Coalition Forces upon his death.

I am not sure where he received that information from, because the letter we heard here he wrote was that he is inciting everyone one in this country and in the surrounding countries to rise up and attack the "invaders."

We most definitely believe that will be the case. According to the intel we are hearing about, they are going to execute him any day now.

From what we hear, they will quietly hang him without any advance notice, for the obvious reasons. Then show his body and disseminate statements from those who were there when they did it, to prove that he has passed.

Undoubtedly when this news is made public, all hell will break loose. At least that is what everyone is preparing for.

Already everyday, almost every patrol here is attacked. IED's, RPG's, SAF. Many times, more than one attack occurs during these patrols.

One soldier told me they hold the current record...5 IED'S, 3 RPG's and 4 SAF engagements...in one day...on one patrol...

We are still receiving mortar/rocket attacks on the camp pretty much every week, but no one has been injured by any of them, thank God.

We had a nice Christmas. Even here, the Christmas spirit was alive. Smiles were a little bigger, the handshakes lasted a little longer, as everyone wished each other a Merry Christmas.

It was not hard though to figure out looking around in the eyes of those present, everyone wanted to be somewhere else. We made the best of it.

We had a fruitcake eating contest which was about as funny as could be. Some soldiers got up and sang some carols and some other songs, and danced a bit. Everyone seemed to have a good time, all things considered.

A soldier told during the night he was so happy this tent was here, as it was the only place to go where he felt "normal". As soon as you step outside of this tent, you realize you are not in the real world anymore.

Also during the night, I ran across a couple of soldiers that this was their first Christmas away from home. I sat with them and talked as long as I could.

I remember my first Christmas away when I first went in many moons ago and it's hard. Knowing the usual family Christmas schedule, and thinking about what everyone at home was doing. I can definitely relate.

I hope my chats with those two helped them some, but I don't know.

I know who they are now, so I will watch over them as best I can from my vantage point.

Only a couple days to go till New Year's Eve. I have some stuff that was sent to me. Hats, noisemakers, plastic champagne glasses for our "fake" champagne, New Year's decorations, even a rig to do a balloon drop.

We will make it as happy an occasion as we can.

But I am happy it is almost over. This is one of the most difficult times for every soul here. I will be glad when it is over.

Today was very, very cold...in fact, it snowed. Only though for a couple hours early this morning...it all melted by the afternoon.

I walked out side and it caught me by surprise. I looked up saw it coming down. I later realized, that even as I did when I was a little kid, I ran inside and yelled to everyone it was snowing.

It was strange though. As everyone ran outside to see this regular occurrence of Mother Nature, there were those running out of the tent yelling back that they had never seen snow in their lives.

As we all stood outside letting the snow land on us, it was really odd hearing a couple guys talking. Saying this was the first time for them to see snow, and how cool it was.

In of all places...a desert in Iraq...