Greetings From Mortar Land!

Running a blog has its ups and downs, but it's a blast. I've met some people who have changed my life -- or at least made it much more interesting. Major Jay Greeley, of the 101st Airborne left a comment on an old posting I had done linking to a Paul Gigot column in the Wall Street Journal. The Major knew Paul and his family from way back and they had played football together for many years. We traded a few emails. He started the subject line "Greetings from Mortar Land" and I just got his permission to share them. This great American has come out of retirement to go to Mosul as a safety officer. His first message pointed out that four rounds of mortar fire had landed within 500 ft of his tent that day. He told me to "remain calm and get low!"

But yesterday's missive knocked me out:

God Bless you and your family.. in the next year..

He has blessed me with this assignment. I serve soldiers...and my job is to
protect them and get them home. I have the best job and that is a fact. I
placed 20 more barriers yesterday that will prevent a car or truck from
cashing a gate. We will place more later too... that is to say we are
beefing up and not letting our guard down. Yes the ICDC guys are helping
everywhere and that frees up Americans. The local police are taking hits
too, but we are giving them new tools to help them get the crooks. It's
1930s all over again.. the mafia did not go away in Chicago when they caught
Al Capone...it did not go away when we caught Saddam...but
it has been cut significantly.

So all the best and just keep me informed.. I get to my email about 3pm
your time, every day.

ALL the best ..

Jay

"Blessed with this assignment." If I EVER complain about anything again you guys let me know.

Thanks to all who serve.

Posted by jk at January 2, 2004 08:51 AM