Greetings from Iraq

[bushymonster]

Sir. I am new here and I will tell you what I tell every soldier I see when I see him or her, wherever I am. I think Bush is an a$$. I respect every man or woman that puts his or her life on the line for this country. I feel fortunate to be able to lay my head down and know that I am in the USA, the best darn nation in this world. I wished I could shake your hand and the hand of every soldier I have not seen and especially the ones that have gave their life so we can be free. If I see someone disrespect a soldier I will kick their a$$ or they will kick mine and I am disabled so it would more than likely be the latter. God Bless you and every other US soldier that has protected our wonderful free lovely country. I praise you sir and please keep your head down and come home safe and hopefully I will meet you. Keep safe.
Randy Hall

[hagfan72]

Well, Bushymonster, first off, thanks for the handshake offer. A man can never have enough people looking out for him. However, let's keep political talk aside, as comments like that about my Commander in Chief may offend some, and outright piss off others. Like him or hate him, he is doing what he feels needs to be done down deep in his soul.

Now, rugerdogdog, somehow, I missed your invite to shoot some PD's. But far be it from me to pass up an invitation like THAT!!! I live east of Denver, but maybe this summer, the wife, kids and I can take a trip out west and make a cast-n-blast week of it. Some fishing, some shooting, good wholesome family fun!! How about you? Do you have a wife/kids? PM me if you want to.

[OldSchool]

I tell ya, I sure am greatful for all the praise you fellas have shown, it sure makes a guy proud to know he is appreciated. Maybe someday my paycheck will show it too...

I sure wish I was back home though, one of my lifelong buds, whom I taught how to call song dogs just before I deployed, emailed me to tell me he got his first coyote.

Hope ya' all are having good luck too.

Will keep ya posted if somethin interestin happens.

Oldschool

[Rugerdogdog]

Hagfan, yes I have a big happy family also. A wife and 3 lovely daughters ages 2.5, 6, and 8. Matter of fact the older 2 just shot their new Cricket and Red Rider for the 1st time yesterday! And my big plan this year is to get my wife on Pdogs with her new 20 ga. slug gun!!!
The only problem with your plan is, well a couple things. Cast and blast would be great except to my knowledge there are no lakes anywhere near the Pdog spot. If we come back towards my neck of the woods, 2 hrs, there is fishing all over the place. I have 5 good lakes ranging from trout to pike within 20 minutes of my house, several more within an hour.
The summer is the other problem. I gets blazingly hot out there in the summer. Coming from that sand box 90 -100 probably would be no problem for you but it's tough on the wifes and kids. Also Utah in their infinite wisdom caved to the prairie dog huggers about a decade ago. Now there is a closed season from Apr1- June 15 if you care about that, wink, wink.
I went out last year on March 30 and Apr 15 and the puppies are already on the mounds so there are several double and triple opportunities. I had planned on hitting it real hard from about March 5th to Apr 1st and then see how hot it is June 16th.
Any chance you could make it out in the spring? Or if you are going to come that far, come a couple hours farther west for the fishing?
Also, Bushymonster, I agree with you a little but Hagfan is right. You could really get get the feathers ruffled making a statement like that around here, ESPECIALLY on THIS post. I have thought for a long time that a Political Forum would be a nice addition though, anybody else up for it??? Maybe somebody should PM Brian or the Glen(n)s. ???

[Dennis]

Two thumbs up and may God Bless all you guys and gals that allow us to enjoy the freedom we have. Thanks to you all. Be safe

Thanks again

Dennis

[YoteSmoker]

hagfan72- I have a feeling we are both stationed at the same home base in Aurora. When are you due to arrive home from your tour? I went coyote hunting last Friday in the Sterling area with a buddy also from here at the base. We didn't do any good calling yotes, but we did score on a few prarie dogs in the middle of the day. I used my 204 CZ Varminter and he was using my 223 Encore. This weekend, we are heading up to Pawnee to look for dog towns and see if we can't also call in a song dog or two. If you would like to go shooting/hunting in the future, you can e-mail me at randal.hardy_______(you know the rest)

[YoteSmoker]

PS hagfan- I read some posts and see you don't yet have a 204 but are planning to get one. In the meantime, upon your return, you are welcome to shoot my 204,223, or 243 and I'll be happy to work with you on loading for your future biodegradable pop up target launcher.

[pwking]

Hagfan and Oldschool,

Thank you and your fellow soldiers so much for your sacrifices. Even though the media makes it sound like we are losing, there are a ton of us back here that know our young men and women are taking charge.

We all know that you guys won't let us down, hopefully our politicians won't let you down. Keep up the good fight! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[OldSchool]

Thanks pwking and everybody,

Just a quick update before I go on patrol. Things are going pretty well with the Iraqi Battalion my team is training. We are starting a non-commissioned officer course next week. This will be tailored toward developing training and leadership skills as well as teaching several common tasks such as evaluate and treat a casualty, enter and clear a room...etc. Unfortunately classes will be pretty small due to the LARGE number of combat related tasks the battalion is conducting at any given day.

The iraqi battalion is very good at most every combat task but they lack in depth skills and also need refresher training on things just like our army. They have done a very good job with force protection and security though. Their hard work has made our sector one of the safest places in Baghdad.

Talk to ya all later I gotta roll.
Oldschool

[OldSchool]

Hi everyone,
Well things are changing again. My team and my Iraqi battalion are moving to a new area. Can't say where yet, will let everyone know after we get there. It is a little bit rougher area than where we are now but no worries. The Iraqi battalion has fought there before and should have no problem getting things under control. Old Al Sadr has ended his cease fire so we will see how things heat up over here. Of course he couldn't do this in the winter when it was cool, he has to start trouble when it starts getting hot. LOL
Well take care everyone. I hope your all getting in some good trigger time.

Oldschool

[Rick in Oregon]

Old School: Just when you get settled in, you get moved. Been there myself.

Go with vigilence, a sharp eye, and honor. Know that we're all still behind you guys, think about you all the time, and pray for your safe return. Keep us up to date when you get settled and you're allowed to divulge your approximate loc. I'm keeping track on my Nat. Geo. Mid East map.

And not to worry bud, there's still plenty of dogs out east where we discussed it the last time. Skippy the Squirrel is just about to pop his furry little head up now, so stay tuned for some 204 splat-factor in the near future. We've gone to calling them our "insurgent rats" on your behalf.

Stay safe.

[Rugerdogdog]

That is surprising that Mutada (I have no idea how to spell that!) is now shooting back and the media has not filled the news with it.
That does make them easier to find and defeat though, right? I hope so.
Keep your head down and your chin up....YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!
Godspeed.

[OldSchool]

Hey Rick thanks for the tribute. I am counting the days and watching my Randy Andersen vidoes till I get home.

Ruger, Old Sadr has ended his cease fire but things have not gotten bad yet. The problem is there are several Small Groups out there of his folks that broke away and never committed to the cease fire in the first place. Unfortunately they like using EFP's the most so finding them is not easy. But we are doing a good job defeating the EFP's before someone gets hurt.

Will updates again soon.

[hagfan72]

I hope that my boys are keeping you guys covered from above. Gotta love them airstrikes!

[OldSchool]

Well, Happy Memorial Day folks!

Things got wild here for a bit then we got it settled down again. Always something new here in the big sand box!
Thought I would enclose a picture of me on the left and two of my teammates after five days of fighting.


Take Care