Tag Archives: Acute Politics

Combat lesson

Posted on June 28, 2007 | Comments Off on Combat lesson

Back in Iraq from home leave, Teflon Don counts the ways combat has changed him:

"I own the ground I walk on, and you’ll have to go through me if you want to take it. I’ve made it through nine months in what was once called the ‘triangle of death’; that area of Iraq that last year saw nearly thirty percent of those serving within it earn the Purple Heart. I’ve learned, as I think most combat soldiers do, to truly ‘not sweat the small stuff’. If a situation doesn’t threaten death or injury, I can’t trouble myself to care too much about it."

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Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

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Home leave

Posted on June 17, 2007 | Comments Off on Home leave

Teflon Don is blogging his home leave. He seems to have arrived, but mentions this stop in Dallas:

"After another long stretch in the plane, we landed in Dallas. The people in Dallas are great–my first glimpse of America included a fire truck spraying an arc of water over the plane to welcome us home. Inside, the terminal was almost bare, but there was a still a small crowd that went to the airport at 6 a.m. to greet us."

Some veterans groups, particularly Vietnam veterans, organize these welcomes. Glad to see they’re still doing them at DFW. I guess the firetrucks were organized by the airport. "No one was rude," he writes, as if he expected some might be.

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Posted in Iraq, Texana, The War, Troops

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Incoming

Posted on April 11, 2007 | Comments Off on Incoming

"A few days ago, the loud siren sounded, and the ‘big voice’ speakers bellowed ‘INCOMING! INCOMING!’. A group of new Marines scattered like ducklings under the shadow of a hawk. Several ran around the corner of a concrete barrier and into a group of us chatting on as though nothing had happened. We watched as they collected themselves and tried to pretend as though nothing had happened, and then returned to conversation."

More news from the front by Teflon Don at Acute Politics

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Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

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Smoke

Posted on March 18, 2007 | Comments Off on Smoke

More good reporting/writing by Teflon Don on why Friday in Iraq is the day for car and truck bombs:

"There’s all kinds of smoke in Iraq. There’s the plumes that signify a fire- white for wood or reeds, black for vehicles, and grey for buildings. Mushroom clouds mean a bomb of some sort- white or grey, especially with a lot of dust, for an IED, and black for car bombs."

UPDATE  Omar at Iraq the Model on why the chlorine bombs, which TD also refers to, could be a good turning of the screw for us. 

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Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

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