Time to Move North**

**Note this was written on Tuesday 22 May but due to operational security (OPSEC) this was published today since no troop movements are announced in advance, especially when you're one of the Soldiers that will be in the red zone that given day and time.




My Uncle Ken an Army Air Corps WWII Pacific Theater veteran once told me prior to me leaving for Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield/Desert Storm to keep my head down because somewhere out there on the battlefield there was a piece of munition with my name on it and I needed to make sure that the munition and I never met at the same place and the same time. That being said, it was definitely time for me to leave the IZ and move north to Taji where I will be managing the project for the remainder of year. Twice within a time span of less than 48 hours two rocket rounds landed within 50 yards or my hootch! Sunday morning 20 May we got hit with a couple of rocket rounds, while running towards a duck and cover when the siren went off you could hear one round flying overhead at a low altitude and then you couldn’t hear anything but branches falling off the palm tree. As luck would have it the round was a dud and didn’t explode behind the row of trailers directly behind my hootch. The EOD guys had to come and remove the round.

Last night when I got back from work I noticed some yellow crime scene tape ala CSI Vegas blocking off the last trailers on both sides of the walkway where I live and the trailers directly behind those and the shower and toilet area. I asked someone what had happened and they told me that something that would have made Sir Thomas Crapper mad, the latrine trailer AKA “The Shitter” took a direct hit from one of the two rockets that impacted in our area, the other one exploded nearby but did not hit anything. One of our Sergeants Majors was running towards the duck and cover and when the round hit was thrown on his ass and received a mild concussion besides getting his head rung pretty bad. This morning I got a glimpse of what remained of the trailer, it was a twisted piece of metal with bits of metal, tin, porcelain strewn about the area, the sandbags kept most of the debris from seriously injuring anyone since it took the impact of the shrapnel and metal from shed. Surprisingly no one was injured by the shrapnel and that could be attributed to the Army working us long hard hours spending your taxpayer money in a very prudent manner, and that many of us go to Church often to ask for some divine guidance out here! The only inconvenience was going to the latrines and taking a shower (since that trailer was also damaged), but we managed.

I packed most of my belongings and after going to work this morning headed back to the hootch picked up the stuff I was going to take with me to Taji and bid the hootch a short farewell, knowing that I would be back for a couple of days sometime soon. After taking one last look of the twisted heap I now have a new friend and that friends' name is cement, especially a building with a roof made of cement. Metal trailers may be nicer than some of the cement barracks that we live in, but after seeing what a rocket did to a metal trailer I am a true believer of a hardened shelter!

Goodbye IZ and Taji here I come!