"UNITED STATES
MARINE CORPS."
WEEKLY JOURNAL"
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Msg.#1
Greetings from Iraq,
Hope this finds all doing well. Wow, what a way to spend a birthday. Getting up at one a.m. after 3 hours sleep to go to Miramar and fly to Iraq. Its weird how I have done this particular trip twice before, yet it doesn’t get any easier to say so long to friends and family. On the contrary, this is the more difficult trip since life right now is so good. I hated leaving so many in tears, but hope to share in the rejoice in 7 months from now. The trip here was long. A l3 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany, 3 hour lay over, then a 6 hour flight to Kuwait. Once there we got processed, received our combat ammunition load, and stayed aboard Camp Virginia for 2 days until our flight to TQ. The flight to TQ was on a C-l30 cargo plane which took about 90 minutes and was uneventful. Most flights still go only at night. During the day it’s mostly fighter planes so high you can barely see, and helos for CAS (Close Air Support) or MedEvac. The night before we arrived, the area had 2 IDF’s (Indirect fires) meaning mortar rounds launched into the camp. Our Security team also hit an IED. Neither event caused any casualties. More of a neusence then anything else. I am finally getting settled in and adjusting to the best I know how. I am located at a former Iraqi air base called TQ (Al Taquadaam) which is on the east side of Lake Habbaniyah. Our accommodations are bunkers. The larger bunkers now have wood walls in place of what was rolling doors. They are very roomy and serve our needs. My living quarters are a smaller bunker, but the Marine I am replacing has it set up well, and introduced me to many points of contacts to get “hooked up” with more comforts. (Pictures to follow in future e-mails) The temperature here has been around the ll2 mark. So not too bad. Only thing is where we are at is in the open and lots of dirt, so the heat bounces off the ground easily and makes it feel warmer than what it is. Well being that it’s the lst week, not much to report. I hope to send a update out each Sunday. May this find you and yours in the best of spirits. Take Care and until next week…GBA (God Bless America).
Mark
Msg.#2
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
We here in Iraq, all shared with New York and the rest of the country, at 08:46 the moment of silence in remembrance of 9-11. Never forget. May God Bless America.
M
Msg.#3
Happy Sunday to you,
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Hello once again to all family and friends. I truly hope you all had a good week. It was for me because as I sat here and looked at the calendar, It was nice to be able to cross another week off. Thus my time to come home, though a speck on the horizon at the moment, is a speck that is a little closer. The week here was quiet for the most part. We continued our RIP (Relief in Place) of our sister unit MWSS-374. They are a great unit and did a lot of good things while here and are eagerly looking forward to there return to the US. I made some new friends and wish them well on there trip back. The TOA (Transfer of Authority) happened on the 14th. That means they (374) are permanently relieved of duties here in Iraq and we (MWSS-373) have assumed the duties. Wow, what a bunch of formalities. Here is is in my own words: There done and leavin, were here and taken on the job! J The Marines here spent most of the week fine tuning what they already knew for the conditions they are now in. Chow here is really good for a surprise. As a matter of fact, the chow hall here is rated as the 2nd best in Iraq. The 1st being in the “Green Zone” in Baghdad. Now I don’t want this to sound like Im getting spoiled or am living the good life but the chow hall has 2 Main lines, a snack line, a different “bar” each day i.e. potato Bar, Seafood Bar, Cajun Bar, Bar-b-que Bar etc… It has a pastry area (I will admit my weakness for pumpkin pie was displayed twice this week), a salad bar, AND, get this, a Baskin Robbins 31 flavors ice cream bar. But they only have 5 flavors. If nothing else it gives the Major his weekly chocolate fix (x 3 scoops!). The last unit even collected DVD movies from folks and downloaded them onto a shared drive (1158 movies to be exact) so Marines can load them onto there external hard drives and watch when they are off duty. So some luxuries are available for the young Devil Dawgs which is good. As for me, I have no time for it. I am in the COC (Combat Operations Center) by 0530 getting briefed by the watch, I start reviewing adjacent units logs from the night. My days end with a out-brief to the late night duties and I am in the rack (or try to be) by midnight. So, long days for me where as I keep my Marines on 8 hour rotating shifts. As for events for the week, we only had one IDF (In-direct fire) which was a mortar launched in our direction. It impacted in the dirt on the other side of the flight line though. They aren’t the best shot. It is mostly harassing. Well, not much else going on. I love all the e-mails I have been getting and please forgive me if I don’t answer all of them individually. I read every single one of them and they put a smile on my face, but my responses are driven by Op tempo. I wish you all a wonderful week, enjoy your Sunday, and I look forward to next weeks Desert Express. Love and warmest regards. GBA.
Mark
Msg.#4
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Happy Sunday to you,
I hope your favorite football teams are winning. Well, another week in the history books. Hard to believe I have been gone 3 weeks. Some days it seems like 3 months, other times 3 days. But being away from my Ter, it seems like an eternity. This week was for the most part quiet. We once again had another IDF (In direct fire) at 2 o’clock in the morning. What a way to sound reveille. But as most cases, there aim is off and it didn’t cause any damage or injuries. They sure like to blow up that dirt I guess. They say its always the calm before the storm. I am wondering if that will be true for yesterday started Ramadan. Just FYI, Ramadan is the Muslims most sacred holiday and is a month for fasting which is deemed as a process of purification. They fast from dawn to sunset. This is a total fast to include no water, food, sex, or smoking. Spend the time in prayer. So with that lil synopsis, the reason we say calm before the storm is they will be more active at night. They also do large gatherings at the mosques which make easy civilian targets for the insurgents. So we shall see how it goes. Here on camp its not bad. I found out the other day why the chow hall here is rated #2 in the country. I normally eat 2 meals a day. A small breakfast and either lunch or dinner (I alternate each day). The other day I gave in at breakfast and had an omelet. But for lunch I had breaded shrimp, crab legs, and lobster tail. It was good. Not as good as in the states, but very good still. Sure beats the 1st time here when we ate MRE’s for 7 months. Well, we are keeping busy (to work off that chow) by way of projects here. Kind of funny, before leaving home, I was hauling a lot of dirt from the front yard to the back for landscaping. Little did I know how that would help here. There is a lot of moving of dirt. We are clearing an area to build some hut, re-surfacing a parking area, and building a hanger for the flying squadron to use as a maintenance bay. We also have a project or 2 otw (outside the wire), but I cant and wont discuss those. Other than that all is well and I hope the same is with you all. Time for me to stop here, and focus on work. So until next week, may each day be the best day of your life. GBA
M
MSgt M.A. Coates
.MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Msg#5
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Happy October to all,
I can hardly believe that it has been 4 weeks now that I have been gone. Time continues to fly in one way and drag in others (I miss you Ter). It has been a relatively good week this week. We continue to battle the IED’s that the insurgency puts out on the roadways. It has become a daily mission. We have numerous engineering projects that we are taking on on the base as well. Today started off on a real positive note. One of my Marines was promoted to Sergeant today. He requested to the Commanding Officer the honor that I be the one to put on his new Chevrons. It is truly a highpoint and highlight of a senior Marines career. I have done this for many of my Marines in my career, but this one was special. The young man didn’t know it, so I told him the honor was mine to promote him. I told him how my step-daughter (actually I told him our daughter) got promoted to Sergeant in the Army just a couple of weeks ago. I told him how we were hoping that it would be before I left for Iraq so that I could make the drive up to Fort Hunter Leggett and promote her. Well, that wasn’t meant to be, so my Marines promotion I said represented him and her. I’m very proud of my Marines here. I’m proud of what they did to get here, what they are doing now, and what they will accomplish in the future. I’m also very proud of our daughter Nina, whom serves our great country in the US Army. So again, today was a great honor for me. Congratulations again to my Marine Sgt Sanchez, and our Soldier / daughter, Nina. With that said, I’m going to stop here. I know it does not seem like much it going on, but trust me when I say we are busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. I just can’t divulge the information. When I return, I plan to do the “Final Update” which will give a better synopsis of what we do / did and things we saw. May the fall season bring cool, happy sunlit days for all. Stay safe, and all my love. GBA
MSgt M.A. Coates
h3>MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Msg.#5
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Hello everyone,
A happy day to you all and hope this finds you doing well. From time to time I get a chance to get on-line a read the news and it seems as if fall is upon us all. I get to see the beautiful trees from different parts of our country and it’s nothing short of beautiful. Temperatures here have dropped to mid 90’s during the day to the low 70’s in the eve. So actually it has been quite comfortable of late. As far as beauty, I can’t see it here with the exception of one thing and that is their sunsets. Mainly due to all the dust in the air, but I must admit they are most soothing. Well, the 5th week has come and gone. During the middle of the week we had a little surprise by the insurgents. I guess took a day off from prayer and decided to shoot a couple of small mortars into the camp. Right in the middle of the noon hour. Three of them landed on the base. One near our mess hall, one near our exchange, and one near our headquarters. Miraculously, even with so many folks out going to lunch, or getting something from the px, no one was injured. The damage was shown by the crater in the ground and a 7 ton truck with a hole in the tire and radiator by the shrapnel. The enemy has no way of seeing in camp so for them it’s a launch a rocket, hope it hits something, and run away before they get a lock on us for return fire. So, there not the best shots. All the same, don’t really want one landing at my feet either. Friday the base alarm came on again while I was out for a run. Needless to say I hit the deck in a thick layer of soft dirt, otherwise known as moon-dust, waited a few minutes, and then ran for the nearest shelter. Only to find out it was a false alarm. Ughh. Normally I wouldn’t mind it being a false alarm, but this time… Middle of the day, 97 degrees out, just finished doing lap #8 (which is equivalent to 3 miles), and sweaty. So naturally that moon-dust stuck to me like cake batter. When I did my sprint to the nearest hard structure, I felt heavy. Oh well, at least nothing was incoming. This morning I worked on a generator with some Lebanese workers. It made me ponder on all the nationalities that I have encountered in the last 5 weeks. So far I have met military or civilian personnel from Lebanon, Yugoslavia, South Korea, Australia, Great Britain, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Germany, Italy, and Uganda. Wow, talk about a trip around the world. I try to make small talk with each to learn more about there countries and way of life. Today the head Lebanese worker (known as Big Cheese) was looking forward to going back to Lebanon next week for a 2 week vacation. He has been here 2 ½ years and gets 2 weeks off every 6 months. Hopefully tomorrow I’m going to stop by his quarters and join he and his brother for a cup of coffee. I can’t make promises on anything since life here is event driven. If you all happen to read a article in time from a Marine officer who is coming home from being stationed in Fallujah, you will see that it is the same. He, like me in one of my updates, started his letter off by saying its hard to talk about what goes on here since our lives are run on the classified side. Nevertheless, a good letter. That’s it for now, may this new week be the best one of your life. Stay safe. GBA
Mark
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Msg#6
Hello all,
Wow, half way through another month. Halloween will soon be upon us and we look forward to it. We figured that we shouldn’t count days to go while here since its so long and kind of depressing when you think about it. I mean, just look at it. We still have 22.34 weeks, 156.39 days, 3753.37 hours to go before we leave (that’s based on a 21 March return date, but can be + or – a week). So it looks a lot better to count holidays, of which there are only 9 in the eyes of all of us here. Halloween, Marine Corps Birthday, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, MLK B-day, Presidents Day, and finally Super Bowl Day! So in that perspective, I should be home before you know it, but never soon enough. It’s been a busy week this week. No attacks to us here just busy with mission and project planning/conducting. We had to adjust a lot of what was planned due to we have had visibility advisories all week and thunderstorm conditions. Friday was the worse. Around 6 pm we got a heavy wind that made visibility all of 100 feet at best. Dust flying everywhere and coating everything. Then as if someone turned off that switch and turned on another, the lightening showed as did the heavy rain. It only lasted about 30 minutes, but was enough to make most things have a mud coat to them. Talk about miserable. Today we have a thunderstorm warning for the entire day again. It’s 3 pm and so far so good. The other day my nickname that my mother gave me showed in true colors. The name was “Super klutz”. Thanks mom L We had a forklift hit an electrical line and caused it to arc. I was called over to survey the situation. The driver of the forklift did exactly what he was supposed to do. Don’t adjust anything, just turn the equipment off, and move away from it. Needless to say he left the forks parallel to the ground at a height of 5 feet, eleven inches. I know that because that’s the same height as the goose egg on my forehead from not paying attention and walking right into the forks of a 7000 lb forklift. I quickly had to scan the area while in pain to ensure no one saw what an idiot I was for a few seconds. Score: Forklift-1, Mark-0. Well, not much more on this end. Ramadan will be over with in another week so it will be interesting to see how the Iraqi’s and the insurgency act. The norm is the last three days they gather for feast the last all day and into the night. A celebration if you will. This also makes situations at times more dangerous. Day by day, that’s all most of us can do. Well, until next time, may you all have a safe and wonderful week ahead. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. They are truly appreciated. My love to all. GBA
Mark
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
I fwd this to you in case you have other friends that know of folks here to pass on the wealth. Best wishes..
Mark
Subject: Free Stuff for Troops.
We have run these thru ACS, JAG
and MWR, and all appear legit.
If you know someone in Iraq or Afganistan
or their family members, please forward this info. Semper Fi.
Free computers for r spouses or
parents of deployed soldier in ranks E1 - E5.
- Free phone cards.
-to sign up for
sponsoring soldier care packages for theater.
- free shoebox care package.
-free cookies.
- lowest airfare available.
- free care packages.
- free air travel for Emergency Leave,
and for the family members of injured soldiers to travel to Medical
facility.
free care packages (your
family member signs up to have sent to you).
- free care
packages.
- get
adopted to receive stuff.
Mark
Msg.#2
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
We here in Iraq, all shared with New York and the rest of the country, at 08:46 the moment of silence in remembrance of 9-11. Never forget. May God Bless America.
M
Msg.#3
Happy Sunday to you,
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Hello once again to all family and friends. I truly hope you all had a good week. It was for me because as I sat here and looked at the calendar, It was nice to be able to cross another week off. Thus my time to come home, though a speck on the horizon at the moment, is a speck that is a little closer. The week here was quiet for the most part. We continued our RIP (Relief in Place) of our sister unit MWSS-374. They are a great unit and did a lot of good things while here and are eagerly looking forward to there return to the US. I made some new friends and wish them well on there trip back. The TOA (Transfer of Authority) happened on the 14th. That means they (374) are permanently relieved of duties here in Iraq and we (MWSS-373) have assumed the duties. Wow, what a bunch of formalities. Here is is in my own words: There done and leavin, were here and taken on the job! J The Marines here spent most of the week fine tuning what they already knew for the conditions they are now in. Chow here is really good for a surprise. As a matter of fact, the chow hall here is rated as the 2nd best in Iraq. The 1st being in the “Green Zone” in Baghdad. Now I don’t want this to sound like Im getting spoiled or am living the good life but the chow hall has 2 Main lines, a snack line, a different “bar” each day i.e. potato Bar, Seafood Bar, Cajun Bar, Bar-b-que Bar etc… It has a pastry area (I will admit my weakness for pumpkin pie was displayed twice this week), a salad bar, AND, get this, a Baskin Robbins 31 flavors ice cream bar. But they only have 5 flavors. If nothing else it gives the Major his weekly chocolate fix (x 3 scoops!). The last unit even collected DVD movies from folks and downloaded them onto a shared drive (1158 movies to be exact) so Marines can load them onto there external hard drives and watch when they are off duty. So some luxuries are available for the young Devil Dawgs which is good. As for me, I have no time for it. I am in the COC (Combat Operations Center) by 0530 getting briefed by the watch, I start reviewing adjacent units logs from the night. My days end with a out-brief to the late night duties and I am in the rack (or try to be) by midnight. So, long days for me where as I keep my Marines on 8 hour rotating shifts. As for events for the week, we only had one IDF (In-direct fire) which was a mortar launched in our direction. It impacted in the dirt on the other side of the flight line though. They aren’t the best shot. It is mostly harassing. Well, not much else going on. I love all the e-mails I have been getting and please forgive me if I don’t answer all of them individually. I read every single one of them and they put a smile on my face, but my responses are driven by Op tempo. I wish you all a wonderful week, enjoy your Sunday, and I look forward to next weeks Desert Express. Love and warmest regards. GBA.
Mark
Msg.#4
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Happy Sunday to you,
I hope your favorite football teams are winning. Well, another week in the history books. Hard to believe I have been gone 3 weeks. Some days it seems like 3 months, other times 3 days. But being away from my Ter, it seems like an eternity. This week was for the most part quiet. We once again had another IDF (In direct fire) at 2 o’clock in the morning. What a way to sound reveille. But as most cases, there aim is off and it didn’t cause any damage or injuries. They sure like to blow up that dirt I guess. They say its always the calm before the storm. I am wondering if that will be true for yesterday started Ramadan. Just FYI, Ramadan is the Muslims most sacred holiday and is a month for fasting which is deemed as a process of purification. They fast from dawn to sunset. This is a total fast to include no water, food, sex, or smoking. Spend the time in prayer. So with that lil synopsis, the reason we say calm before the storm is they will be more active at night. They also do large gatherings at the mosques which make easy civilian targets for the insurgents. So we shall see how it goes. Here on camp its not bad. I found out the other day why the chow hall here is rated #2 in the country. I normally eat 2 meals a day. A small breakfast and either lunch or dinner (I alternate each day). The other day I gave in at breakfast and had an omelet. But for lunch I had breaded shrimp, crab legs, and lobster tail. It was good. Not as good as in the states, but very good still. Sure beats the 1st time here when we ate MRE’s for 7 months. Well, we are keeping busy (to work off that chow) by way of projects here. Kind of funny, before leaving home, I was hauling a lot of dirt from the front yard to the back for landscaping. Little did I know how that would help here. There is a lot of moving of dirt. We are clearing an area to build some hut, re-surfacing a parking area, and building a hanger for the flying squadron to use as a maintenance bay. We also have a project or 2 otw (outside the wire), but I cant and wont discuss those. Other than that all is well and I hope the same is with you all. Time for me to stop here, and focus on work. So until next week, may each day be the best day of your life. GBA
M
MSgt M.A. Coates
.MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Msg#5
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Happy October to all,
I can hardly believe that it has been 4 weeks now that I have been gone. Time continues to fly in one way and drag in others (I miss you Ter). It has been a relatively good week this week. We continue to battle the IED’s that the insurgency puts out on the roadways. It has become a daily mission. We have numerous engineering projects that we are taking on on the base as well. Today started off on a real positive note. One of my Marines was promoted to Sergeant today. He requested to the Commanding Officer the honor that I be the one to put on his new Chevrons. It is truly a highpoint and highlight of a senior Marines career. I have done this for many of my Marines in my career, but this one was special. The young man didn’t know it, so I told him the honor was mine to promote him. I told him how my step-daughter (actually I told him our daughter) got promoted to Sergeant in the Army just a couple of weeks ago. I told him how we were hoping that it would be before I left for Iraq so that I could make the drive up to Fort Hunter Leggett and promote her. Well, that wasn’t meant to be, so my Marines promotion I said represented him and her. I’m very proud of my Marines here. I’m proud of what they did to get here, what they are doing now, and what they will accomplish in the future. I’m also very proud of our daughter Nina, whom serves our great country in the US Army. So again, today was a great honor for me. Congratulations again to my Marine Sgt Sanchez, and our Soldier / daughter, Nina. With that said, I’m going to stop here. I know it does not seem like much it going on, but trust me when I say we are busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. I just can’t divulge the information. When I return, I plan to do the “Final Update” which will give a better synopsis of what we do / did and things we saw. May the fall season bring cool, happy sunlit days for all. Stay safe, and all my love. GBA
MSgt M.A. Coates
h3>MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Msg.#5
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Hello everyone,
A happy day to you all and hope this finds you doing well. From time to time I get a chance to get on-line a read the news and it seems as if fall is upon us all. I get to see the beautiful trees from different parts of our country and it’s nothing short of beautiful. Temperatures here have dropped to mid 90’s during the day to the low 70’s in the eve. So actually it has been quite comfortable of late. As far as beauty, I can’t see it here with the exception of one thing and that is their sunsets. Mainly due to all the dust in the air, but I must admit they are most soothing. Well, the 5th week has come and gone. During the middle of the week we had a little surprise by the insurgents. I guess took a day off from prayer and decided to shoot a couple of small mortars into the camp. Right in the middle of the noon hour. Three of them landed on the base. One near our mess hall, one near our exchange, and one near our headquarters. Miraculously, even with so many folks out going to lunch, or getting something from the px, no one was injured. The damage was shown by the crater in the ground and a 7 ton truck with a hole in the tire and radiator by the shrapnel. The enemy has no way of seeing in camp so for them it’s a launch a rocket, hope it hits something, and run away before they get a lock on us for return fire. So, there not the best shots. All the same, don’t really want one landing at my feet either. Friday the base alarm came on again while I was out for a run. Needless to say I hit the deck in a thick layer of soft dirt, otherwise known as moon-dust, waited a few minutes, and then ran for the nearest shelter. Only to find out it was a false alarm. Ughh. Normally I wouldn’t mind it being a false alarm, but this time… Middle of the day, 97 degrees out, just finished doing lap #8 (which is equivalent to 3 miles), and sweaty. So naturally that moon-dust stuck to me like cake batter. When I did my sprint to the nearest hard structure, I felt heavy. Oh well, at least nothing was incoming. This morning I worked on a generator with some Lebanese workers. It made me ponder on all the nationalities that I have encountered in the last 5 weeks. So far I have met military or civilian personnel from Lebanon, Yugoslavia, South Korea, Australia, Great Britain, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Germany, Italy, and Uganda. Wow, talk about a trip around the world. I try to make small talk with each to learn more about there countries and way of life. Today the head Lebanese worker (known as Big Cheese) was looking forward to going back to Lebanon next week for a 2 week vacation. He has been here 2 ½ years and gets 2 weeks off every 6 months. Hopefully tomorrow I’m going to stop by his quarters and join he and his brother for a cup of coffee. I can’t make promises on anything since life here is event driven. If you all happen to read a article in time from a Marine officer who is coming home from being stationed in Fallujah, you will see that it is the same. He, like me in one of my updates, started his letter off by saying its hard to talk about what goes on here since our lives are run on the classified side. Nevertheless, a good letter. That’s it for now, may this new week be the best one of your life. Stay safe. GBA
Mark
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Msg#6
Hello all,
Wow, half way through another month. Halloween will soon be upon us and we look forward to it. We figured that we shouldn’t count days to go while here since its so long and kind of depressing when you think about it. I mean, just look at it. We still have 22.34 weeks, 156.39 days, 3753.37 hours to go before we leave (that’s based on a 21 March return date, but can be + or – a week). So it looks a lot better to count holidays, of which there are only 9 in the eyes of all of us here. Halloween, Marine Corps Birthday, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, MLK B-day, Presidents Day, and finally Super Bowl Day! So in that perspective, I should be home before you know it, but never soon enough. It’s been a busy week this week. No attacks to us here just busy with mission and project planning/conducting. We had to adjust a lot of what was planned due to we have had visibility advisories all week and thunderstorm conditions. Friday was the worse. Around 6 pm we got a heavy wind that made visibility all of 100 feet at best. Dust flying everywhere and coating everything. Then as if someone turned off that switch and turned on another, the lightening showed as did the heavy rain. It only lasted about 30 minutes, but was enough to make most things have a mud coat to them. Talk about miserable. Today we have a thunderstorm warning for the entire day again. It’s 3 pm and so far so good. The other day my nickname that my mother gave me showed in true colors. The name was “Super klutz”. Thanks mom L We had a forklift hit an electrical line and caused it to arc. I was called over to survey the situation. The driver of the forklift did exactly what he was supposed to do. Don’t adjust anything, just turn the equipment off, and move away from it. Needless to say he left the forks parallel to the ground at a height of 5 feet, eleven inches. I know that because that’s the same height as the goose egg on my forehead from not paying attention and walking right into the forks of a 7000 lb forklift. I quickly had to scan the area while in pain to ensure no one saw what an idiot I was for a few seconds. Score: Forklift-1, Mark-0. Well, not much more on this end. Ramadan will be over with in another week so it will be interesting to see how the Iraqi’s and the insurgency act. The norm is the last three days they gather for feast the last all day and into the night. A celebration if you will. This also makes situations at times more dangerous. Day by day, that’s all most of us can do. Well, until next time, may you all have a safe and wonderful week ahead. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. They are truly appreciated. My love to all. GBA
Mark
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
I fwd this to you in case you have other friends that know of folks here to pass on the wealth. Best wishes..
Mark
Subject: Free Stuff for Troops.
We have run these thru ACS, JAG
and MWR, and all appear legit.
If you know someone in Iraq or Afganistan
or their family members, please forward this info. Semper Fi.
Free computers for r spouses or
parents of deployed soldier in ranks E1 - E5.
- Free phone cards.
-to sign up for
sponsoring soldier care packages for theater.
- free shoebox care package.
-free cookies.
- lowest airfare available.
- free care packages.
- free air travel for Emergency Leave,
and for the family members of injured soldiers to travel to Medical
facility.
free care packages (your
family member signs up to have sent to you).
- free care
packages.
- get
adopted to receive stuff.
Mark
Msg.#4
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Happy Sunday to you,
I hope your favorite football teams are winning. Well, another week in the history books. Hard to believe I have been gone 3 weeks. Some days it seems like 3 months, other times 3 days. But being away from my Ter, it seems like an eternity. This week was for the most part quiet. We once again had another IDF (In direct fire) at 2 o’clock in the morning. What a way to sound reveille. But as most cases, there aim is off and it didn’t cause any damage or injuries. They sure like to blow up that dirt I guess. They say its always the calm before the storm. I am wondering if that will be true for yesterday started Ramadan. Just FYI, Ramadan is the Muslims most sacred holiday and is a month for fasting which is deemed as a process of purification. They fast from dawn to sunset. This is a total fast to include no water, food, sex, or smoking. Spend the time in prayer. So with that lil synopsis, the reason we say calm before the storm is they will be more active at night. They also do large gatherings at the mosques which make easy civilian targets for the insurgents. So we shall see how it goes. Here on camp its not bad. I found out the other day why the chow hall here is rated #2 in the country. I normally eat 2 meals a day. A small breakfast and either lunch or dinner (I alternate each day). The other day I gave in at breakfast and had an omelet. But for lunch I had breaded shrimp, crab legs, and lobster tail. It was good. Not as good as in the states, but very good still. Sure beats the 1st time here when we ate MRE’s for 7 months. Well, we are keeping busy (to work off that chow) by way of projects here. Kind of funny, before leaving home, I was hauling a lot of dirt from the front yard to the back for landscaping. Little did I know how that would help here. There is a lot of moving of dirt. We are clearing an area to build some hut, re-surfacing a parking area, and building a hanger for the flying squadron to use as a maintenance bay. We also have a project or 2 otw (outside the wire), but I cant and wont discuss those. Other than that all is well and I hope the same is with you all. Time for me to stop here, and focus on work. So until next week, may each day be the best day of your life. GBA
M
MSgt M.A. Coates
.MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Msg#5
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Happy October to all,
I can hardly believe that it has been 4 weeks now that I have been gone. Time continues to fly in one way and drag in others (I miss you Ter). It has been a relatively good week this week. We continue to battle the IED’s that the insurgency puts out on the roadways. It has become a daily mission. We have numerous engineering projects that we are taking on on the base as well. Today started off on a real positive note. One of my Marines was promoted to Sergeant today. He requested to the Commanding Officer the honor that I be the one to put on his new Chevrons. It is truly a highpoint and highlight of a senior Marines career. I have done this for many of my Marines in my career, but this one was special. The young man didn’t know it, so I told him the honor was mine to promote him. I told him how my step-daughter (actually I told him our daughter) got promoted to Sergeant in the Army just a couple of weeks ago. I told him how we were hoping that it would be before I left for Iraq so that I could make the drive up to Fort Hunter Leggett and promote her. Well, that wasn’t meant to be, so my Marines promotion I said represented him and her. I’m very proud of my Marines here. I’m proud of what they did to get here, what they are doing now, and what they will accomplish in the future. I’m also very proud of our daughter Nina, whom serves our great country in the US Army. So again, today was a great honor for me. Congratulations again to my Marine Sgt Sanchez, and our Soldier / daughter, Nina. With that said, I’m going to stop here. I know it does not seem like much it going on, but trust me when I say we are busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. I just can’t divulge the information. When I return, I plan to do the “Final Update” which will give a better synopsis of what we do / did and things we saw. May the fall season bring cool, happy sunlit days for all. Stay safe, and all my love. GBA
MSgt M.A. Coates
h3>MWSS-373 Ops Chief
M
MSgt M.A. Coates
.MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Msg#5
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Happy October to all,
I can hardly believe that it has been 4 weeks now that I have been gone. Time continues to fly in one way and drag in others (I miss you Ter). It has been a relatively good week this week. We continue to battle the IED’s that the insurgency puts out on the roadways. It has become a daily mission. We have numerous engineering projects that we are taking on on the base as well. Today started off on a real positive note. One of my Marines was promoted to Sergeant today. He requested to the Commanding Officer the honor that I be the one to put on his new Chevrons. It is truly a highpoint and highlight of a senior Marines career. I have done this for many of my Marines in my career, but this one was special. The young man didn’t know it, so I told him the honor was mine to promote him. I told him how my step-daughter (actually I told him our daughter) got promoted to Sergeant in the Army just a couple of weeks ago. I told him how we were hoping that it would be before I left for Iraq so that I could make the drive up to Fort Hunter Leggett and promote her. Well, that wasn’t meant to be, so my Marines promotion I said represented him and her. I’m very proud of my Marines here. I’m proud of what they did to get here, what they are doing now, and what they will accomplish in the future. I’m also very proud of our daughter Nina, whom serves our great country in the US Army. So again, today was a great honor for me. Congratulations again to my Marine Sgt Sanchez, and our Soldier / daughter, Nina. With that said, I’m going to stop here. I know it does not seem like much it going on, but trust me when I say we are busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. I just can’t divulge the information. When I return, I plan to do the “Final Update” which will give a better synopsis of what we do / did and things we saw. May the fall season bring cool, happy sunlit days for all. Stay safe, and all my love. GBA
MSgt M.A. Coates
h3>MWSS-373 Ops Chief
MSgt M.A. Coates
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Msg.#5
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Hello everyone,
A happy day to you all and hope this finds you doing well. From time to time I get a chance to get on-line a read the news and it seems as if fall is upon us all. I get to see the beautiful trees from different parts of our country and it’s nothing short of beautiful. Temperatures here have dropped to mid 90’s during the day to the low 70’s in the eve. So actually it has been quite comfortable of late. As far as beauty, I can’t see it here with the exception of one thing and that is their sunsets. Mainly due to all the dust in the air, but I must admit they are most soothing. Well, the 5th week has come and gone. During the middle of the week we had a little surprise by the insurgents. I guess took a day off from prayer and decided to shoot a couple of small mortars into the camp. Right in the middle of the noon hour. Three of them landed on the base. One near our mess hall, one near our exchange, and one near our headquarters. Miraculously, even with so many folks out going to lunch, or getting something from the px, no one was injured. The damage was shown by the crater in the ground and a 7 ton truck with a hole in the tire and radiator by the shrapnel. The enemy has no way of seeing in camp so for them it’s a launch a rocket, hope it hits something, and run away before they get a lock on us for return fire. So, there not the best shots. All the same, don’t really want one landing at my feet either. Friday the base alarm came on again while I was out for a run. Needless to say I hit the deck in a thick layer of soft dirt, otherwise known as moon-dust, waited a few minutes, and then ran for the nearest shelter. Only to find out it was a false alarm. Ughh. Normally I wouldn’t mind it being a false alarm, but this time… Middle of the day, 97 degrees out, just finished doing lap #8 (which is equivalent to 3 miles), and sweaty. So naturally that moon-dust stuck to me like cake batter. When I did my sprint to the nearest hard structure, I felt heavy. Oh well, at least nothing was incoming. This morning I worked on a generator with some Lebanese workers. It made me ponder on all the nationalities that I have encountered in the last 5 weeks. So far I have met military or civilian personnel from Lebanon, Yugoslavia, South Korea, Australia, Great Britain, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Germany, Italy, and Uganda. Wow, talk about a trip around the world. I try to make small talk with each to learn more about there countries and way of life. Today the head Lebanese worker (known as Big Cheese) was looking forward to going back to Lebanon next week for a 2 week vacation. He has been here 2 ½ years and gets 2 weeks off every 6 months. Hopefully tomorrow I’m going to stop by his quarters and join he and his brother for a cup of coffee. I can’t make promises on anything since life here is event driven. If you all happen to read a article in time from a Marine officer who is coming home from being stationed in Fallujah, you will see that it is the same. He, like me in one of my updates, started his letter off by saying its hard to talk about what goes on here since our lives are run on the classified side. Nevertheless, a good letter. That’s it for now, may this new week be the best one of your life. Stay safe. GBA
Mark
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Msg#6
Hello all,
Wow, half way through another month. Halloween will soon be upon us and we look forward to it. We figured that we shouldn’t count days to go while here since its so long and kind of depressing when you think about it. I mean, just look at it. We still have 22.34 weeks, 156.39 days, 3753.37 hours to go before we leave (that’s based on a 21 March return date, but can be + or – a week). So it looks a lot better to count holidays, of which there are only 9 in the eyes of all of us here. Halloween, Marine Corps Birthday, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, MLK B-day, Presidents Day, and finally Super Bowl Day! So in that perspective, I should be home before you know it, but never soon enough. It’s been a busy week this week. No attacks to us here just busy with mission and project planning/conducting. We had to adjust a lot of what was planned due to we have had visibility advisories all week and thunderstorm conditions. Friday was the worse. Around 6 pm we got a heavy wind that made visibility all of 100 feet at best. Dust flying everywhere and coating everything. Then as if someone turned off that switch and turned on another, the lightening showed as did the heavy rain. It only lasted about 30 minutes, but was enough to make most things have a mud coat to them. Talk about miserable. Today we have a thunderstorm warning for the entire day again. It’s 3 pm and so far so good. The other day my nickname that my mother gave me showed in true colors. The name was “Super klutz”. Thanks mom L We had a forklift hit an electrical line and caused it to arc. I was called over to survey the situation. The driver of the forklift did exactly what he was supposed to do. Don’t adjust anything, just turn the equipment off, and move away from it. Needless to say he left the forks parallel to the ground at a height of 5 feet, eleven inches. I know that because that’s the same height as the goose egg on my forehead from not paying attention and walking right into the forks of a 7000 lb forklift. I quickly had to scan the area while in pain to ensure no one saw what an idiot I was for a few seconds. Score: Forklift-1, Mark-0. Well, not much more on this end. Ramadan will be over with in another week so it will be interesting to see how the Iraqi’s and the insurgency act. The norm is the last three days they gather for feast the last all day and into the night. A celebration if you will. This also makes situations at times more dangerous. Day by day, that’s all most of us can do. Well, until next time, may you all have a safe and wonderful week ahead. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. They are truly appreciated. My love to all. GBA
Mark
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
I fwd this to you in case you have other friends that know of folks here to pass on the wealth. Best wishes..
Mark
Subject: Free Stuff for Troops.
We have run these thru ACS, JAG
and MWR, and all appear legit.
If you know someone in Iraq or Afganistan
or their family members, please forward this info. Semper Fi.
Free computers for r spouses or
parents of deployed soldier in ranks E1 - E5.
- Free phone cards.
-to sign up for
sponsoring soldier care packages for theater.
- free shoebox care package.
-free cookies.
- lowest airfare available.
- free care packages.
- free air travel for Emergency Leave,
and for the family members of injured soldiers to travel to Medical
facility.
free care packages (your
family member signs up to have sent to you).
- free care
packages.
- get
adopted to receive stuff.
Mark
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Msg#6
Hello all,
Wow, half way through another month. Halloween will soon be upon us and we look forward to it. We figured that we shouldn’t count days to go while here since its so long and kind of depressing when you think about it. I mean, just look at it. We still have 22.34 weeks, 156.39 days, 3753.37 hours to go before we leave (that’s based on a 21 March return date, but can be + or – a week). So it looks a lot better to count holidays, of which there are only 9 in the eyes of all of us here. Halloween, Marine Corps Birthday, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, MLK B-day, Presidents Day, and finally Super Bowl Day! So in that perspective, I should be home before you know it, but never soon enough. It’s been a busy week this week. No attacks to us here just busy with mission and project planning/conducting. We had to adjust a lot of what was planned due to we have had visibility advisories all week and thunderstorm conditions. Friday was the worse. Around 6 pm we got a heavy wind that made visibility all of 100 feet at best. Dust flying everywhere and coating everything. Then as if someone turned off that switch and turned on another, the lightening showed as did the heavy rain. It only lasted about 30 minutes, but was enough to make most things have a mud coat to them. Talk about miserable. Today we have a thunderstorm warning for the entire day again. It’s 3 pm and so far so good. The other day my nickname that my mother gave me showed in true colors. The name was “Super klutz”. Thanks mom L We had a forklift hit an electrical line and caused it to arc. I was called over to survey the situation. The driver of the forklift did exactly what he was supposed to do. Don’t adjust anything, just turn the equipment off, and move away from it. Needless to say he left the forks parallel to the ground at a height of 5 feet, eleven inches. I know that because that’s the same height as the goose egg on my forehead from not paying attention and walking right into the forks of a 7000 lb forklift. I quickly had to scan the area while in pain to ensure no one saw what an idiot I was for a few seconds. Score: Forklift-1, Mark-0. Well, not much more on this end. Ramadan will be over with in another week so it will be interesting to see how the Iraqi’s and the insurgency act. The norm is the last three days they gather for feast the last all day and into the night. A celebration if you will. This also makes situations at times more dangerous. Day by day, that’s all most of us can do. Well, until next time, may you all have a safe and wonderful week ahead. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. They are truly appreciated. My love to all. GBA
Mark
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
I fwd this to you in case you have other friends that know of folks here to pass on the wealth. Best wishes..
Mark
Subject: Free Stuff for Troops.
We have run these thru ACS, JAG
and MWR, and all appear legit.
If you know someone in Iraq or Afganistan
or their family members, please forward this info. Semper Fi.
Free computers for r spouses or
parents of deployed soldier in ranks E1 - E5.
- Free phone cards.
-to sign up for
sponsoring soldier care packages for theater.
- free shoebox care package.
-free cookies.
- lowest airfare available.
- free care packages.
- free air travel for Emergency Leave,
and for the family members of injured soldiers to travel to Medical
facility.
free care packages (your
family member signs up to have sent to you).
- free care
packages.
- get
adopted to receive stuff.
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
Msg#6
Hello all,
Wow, half way through another month. Halloween will soon be upon us and we look forward to it. We figured that we shouldn’t count days to go while here since its so long and kind of depressing when you think about it. I mean, just look at it. We still have 22.34 weeks, 156.39 days, 3753.37 hours to go before we leave (that’s based on a 21 March return date, but can be + or – a week). So it looks a lot better to count holidays, of which there are only 9 in the eyes of all of us here. Halloween, Marine Corps Birthday, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, MLK B-day, Presidents Day, and finally Super Bowl Day! So in that perspective, I should be home before you know it, but never soon enough. It’s been a busy week this week. No attacks to us here just busy with mission and project planning/conducting. We had to adjust a lot of what was planned due to we have had visibility advisories all week and thunderstorm conditions. Friday was the worse. Around 6 pm we got a heavy wind that made visibility all of 100 feet at best. Dust flying everywhere and coating everything. Then as if someone turned off that switch and turned on another, the lightening showed as did the heavy rain. It only lasted about 30 minutes, but was enough to make most things have a mud coat to them. Talk about miserable. Today we have a thunderstorm warning for the entire day again. It’s 3 pm and so far so good. The other day my nickname that my mother gave me showed in true colors. The name was “Super klutz”. Thanks mom L We had a forklift hit an electrical line and caused it to arc. I was called over to survey the situation. The driver of the forklift did exactly what he was supposed to do. Don’t adjust anything, just turn the equipment off, and move away from it. Needless to say he left the forks parallel to the ground at a height of 5 feet, eleven inches. I know that because that’s the same height as the goose egg on my forehead from not paying attention and walking right into the forks of a 7000 lb forklift. I quickly had to scan the area while in pain to ensure no one saw what an idiot I was for a few seconds. Score: Forklift-1, Mark-0. Well, not much more on this end. Ramadan will be over with in another week so it will be interesting to see how the Iraqi’s and the insurgency act. The norm is the last three days they gather for feast the last all day and into the night. A celebration if you will. This also makes situations at times more dangerous. Day by day, that’s all most of us can do. Well, until next time, may you all have a safe and wonderful week ahead. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. They are truly appreciated. My love to all. GBA
Mark
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
I fwd this to you in case you have other friends that know of folks here to pass on the wealth. Best wishes..
Mark
Subject: Free Stuff for Troops.
We have run these thru ACS, JAG
and MWR, and all appear legit.
If you know someone in Iraq or Afganistan
or their family members, please forward this info. Semper Fi.
Free computers for r spouses or
parents of deployed soldier in ranks E1 - E5.
- Free phone cards.
-to sign up for
sponsoring soldier care packages for theater.
- free shoebox care package.
-free cookies.
- lowest airfare available.
- free care packages.
- free air travel for Emergency Leave,
and for the family members of injured soldiers to travel to Medical
facility.
free care packages (your
family member signs up to have sent to you).
- free care
packages.
- get
adopted to receive stuff.
Hello all,
Wow, half way through another month. Halloween will soon be upon us and we look forward to it. We figured that we shouldn’t count days to go while here since its so long and kind of depressing when you think about it. I mean, just look at it. We still have 22.34 weeks, 156.39 days, 3753.37 hours to go before we leave (that’s based on a 21 March return date, but can be + or – a week). So it looks a lot better to count holidays, of which there are only 9 in the eyes of all of us here. Halloween, Marine Corps Birthday, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, MLK B-day, Presidents Day, and finally Super Bowl Day! So in that perspective, I should be home before you know it, but never soon enough. It’s been a busy week this week. No attacks to us here just busy with mission and project planning/conducting. We had to adjust a lot of what was planned due to we have had visibility advisories all week and thunderstorm conditions. Friday was the worse. Around 6 pm we got a heavy wind that made visibility all of 100 feet at best. Dust flying everywhere and coating everything. Then as if someone turned off that switch and turned on another, the lightening showed as did the heavy rain. It only lasted about 30 minutes, but was enough to make most things have a mud coat to them. Talk about miserable. Today we have a thunderstorm warning for the entire day again. It’s 3 pm and so far so good. The other day my nickname that my mother gave me showed in true colors. The name was “Super klutz”. Thanks mom L We had a forklift hit an electrical line and caused it to arc. I was called over to survey the situation. The driver of the forklift did exactly what he was supposed to do. Don’t adjust anything, just turn the equipment off, and move away from it. Needless to say he left the forks parallel to the ground at a height of 5 feet, eleven inches. I know that because that’s the same height as the goose egg on my forehead from not paying attention and walking right into the forks of a 7000 lb forklift. I quickly had to scan the area while in pain to ensure no one saw what an idiot I was for a few seconds. Score: Forklift-1, Mark-0. Well, not much more on this end. Ramadan will be over with in another week so it will be interesting to see how the Iraqi’s and the insurgency act. The norm is the last three days they gather for feast the last all day and into the night. A celebration if you will. This also makes situations at times more dangerous. Day by day, that’s all most of us can do. Well, until next time, may you all have a safe and wonderful week ahead. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. They are truly appreciated. My love to all. GBA
Mark
MSgt M.A. Coates
MWSS-373 Ops Chief
“Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to smash a fly with a sledge hammer”.
I fwd this to you in case you have other friends that know of folks here to pass on the wealth. Best wishes..
Mark
Subject: Free Stuff for Troops.
We have run these thru ACS, JAG
and MWR, and all appear legit.
If you know someone in Iraq or Afganistan
or their family members, please forward this info. Semper Fi.
Free computers for r spouses or
parents of deployed soldier in ranks E1 - E5.
- Free phone cards.
-to sign up for
sponsoring soldier care packages for theater.
- free shoebox care package.
-free cookies.
- lowest airfare available.
- free care packages.
- free air travel for Emergency Leave,
and for the family members of injured soldiers to travel to Medical
facility.
free care packages (your
family member signs up to have sent to you).
- free care
packages.
- get
adopted to receive stuff.
Mark
Subject: Free Stuff for Troops.
We have run these thru ACS, JAG and MWR, and all appear legit.
If you know someone in Iraq or Afganistan or their family members, please forward this info. Semper Fi.
