Tag Archives: Teflon Don

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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Blown tire on the Buffalo

Posted on June 5, 2007 | Comments Off on Blown tire on the Buffalo

One of better milblogs in Iraq that hasn’t shut down, courtesy of Teflon Don:

"The last time we recovered the beast was just after we started working in Falluja– EOD had set up a controlled detonation of an IED, and assured the BUFFALO crew that they were far enough away to be clear of the blast. Long story short, they weren’t, and we had to tow it back and replace three tires before heading back out to restart the mission. Ironically, the one time the BUFFALO was seriously damaged by an IED, we managed to clank all the way home before the shrapnel rattling in the cylinders destroyed the engine."

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Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

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Technicolor Iraq

Posted on May 20, 2007 | Comments Off on Technicolor Iraq

Teflon Don reports on the effects of a thunderstorm. Notice his blog is now part of Pajamas Media:

"Somewhere to the south, a bolt of lightning hit the power grid, and the horizon light up with the turquoise strobes of exploding transformers. Distant lights began to wink out and disappear- the oncoming tide of blackness washed ever closer as transformers continued to light up the sky. The blue light was joined by the steadily flashing golden pink glow of a downed power line. As we continued to roll towards Camp Falluja, we passed the power line still sparking and glowing on top of a concertina fence. The air smelled sharply of ozone- it also smelt cleaner than it has in weeks."

He doesn’t like what the new PJ ads do to his format. They are jarring. Hope it pays well. 

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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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North of Karma

Posted on March 5, 2007 | Comments Off on North of Karma

The lunar eclipse from mounted patrol in Iraq:

"At some point while we were digging up the bomb, all the lights down the road went out, leaving the scene [lit] only by the ghostly half-light of the moon. As we pulled off down the road, even that pale illumination faded- the lunar eclipse had come and stolen the light."

Good piece from Teflon Don. 

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Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

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The view from the dark side

Posted on February 19, 2007 | Comments Off on The view from the dark side

Teflon Don gets down as he preps for patrol:

"You can think of it as duty- you have a job, and that job requires violence. You can hate- the easiest of all excuses, and the most exhausting. You can look at it as simple survival- if you don’t kill him, then he’ll kill you. However you justify it, you are still in a war, and people will still die. It wears on everyone- the American deaths, the ‘collateral damage’…the innocents killed when some faceless murderer blows himself up in a crowd. Yes, even the enemy dead take their toll."

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Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

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The death of friends

Posted on February 13, 2007 | Comments Off on The death of friends

Teflon Don, a recently promoted specialist in Iraq, on the IED deaths of three of his platoon:

"Time is supposed to slow down when you’re in the moment, not when you’re hearing of it. The next four hours are glacial- slower and colder than I could have thought…the breeze twisting dogtags around a rifle like a devils windchime, and carrying once again the plaintive notes of the bagpipe playing Amazing Grace."

A good, although sad, read. Condolences, Don.

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Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

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