Third Way Dispatch

Editors Note: This arrived recently from Sean, who is continuing his recovery in Phildadelphia:

Here is the last Dispatch I wrote from Fallujah. It was still on my notepad back in our room in the barracks when I was medevaced. I got my notepad back when I got all my belongings back from Iraq.

Dispatch – May 10, 2006 Fallujah, Iraq

This past week was a sad one for Charlie Company. A sergeant from a transportation company attached to Charlie Company, who was gravely wounded in the vehicle-borne IED attack I wrote about in my last Dispatch, passed this week. Also, Charlie Company lost its former company commander this week. He was embedded with the Iraqi Army and was also killed by a vehicle-borne IED, this one a mammoth one—a truck packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives, as well as numerous artillary and mortar rounds. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these fallen Marines.

Suicide bombing was sadly the theme of the week, it seems. Earlier in the week, I was awoken in the morning by a loud explosion that shook our compound. About 70 Iraqi men had gathered outside our compound to sign up for service in the Iraqi police force. A man with a suicide vest walked up amidst the crowd and blew himself up, killing seven. It was a very ugly scene for those who were on guard post to witness it. Interestingly enough, the muhajadeen groups in Fallujah disavowed this attack and pledged to seek revenge on those responsible.

It is getting steadily hotter here. A few days ago, my squad patrolled for eight-and-a-half hours in 100+ degree heat. Every person has their limits, and I think I nearly found mine that day. At a certain point, I stopped sweating, which is a sign of dehydration. Others threw up and cramped up. By the end, my feet were on fire and my back was hollaring. When I got back to the barracks, I hung my cammies up to dry. They were literally dripping because they could not absorb more sweat.

Mercifully, we were given the next day off. I think I actually slept for 15 hours straight! The best thing about the day off, though, was it gave me a chance to make my first telephone call to my wife. The connection wasn’t great and we ultimately got cut off, but it was wonderful to hear her voice.

Lest it sound like everything here is doom and gloom (or blood and sweat), know that it is not. Back at the barracks, we are, as Marines like to say, continually improving our position. Thanks to packages from home, our living conditions are cleaner and better organized than when we first arrived and we all have tons of appealing food options to supplement, and in some cases replace, our MREs. The hot chow we receive for dinner also seems to be improving.

Those in charge here have begun to do a better job of task-organizing and assigning the myriad of little tasks that need to get done, from sweeping the halls and taking out the trash to cleaning the hygiene trailers and setting up and stripping down the chow line, so that those of us on the bottom end of the enlisted food chain aren’t woken up once every hour-and-a-half during the six hours we’re trying to sleep to perform these tasks. We also now have two computers for the company with Internet access. There are obviously many more Marines than computers, but if you can get to where they are when you have a bit of time to wait in line, you can check your email.

Most importantly, our little band of brothers here in our compound in the center of Fallujah is really coming together as a family. Across many sorts of divides, we are becoming very close-knit. When rest is thin and tension is thick, we act as if we hate each other, but in our downtime it becomes apparent that we really do enjoy (increasingly so every day) each other’s company. As for me, I’m honored to be a part of this little family.

If you must know, my nickname is “Barndog” and my team leader likes to sign off when communicating with me over the radio by saying, “Roger that, Echo 3 Bravo. Vote Republican.” It’s O.K., though. I just reply when we’re back at our barracks, “You know, I think I will vote Republican. I feel a little bad for them. The way things are going, they’re going to need all the help they can get this fall!” ;)