Getting Shelled ...

Greetings Friends and Family. I was on the phone with M (our daughter) when the cell showed an incoming call. I pulled it away to see that it started with 1-996-XXX-XXXX. I recognized !!!that as our soldier so I said farewell to M and switched over. After opening pleasantries, I asked "What's new?" The reply came back, "Well, other than we just got shelled by mortars, nothing big." WHOA NELLIE!!! He said it so nonchalantly I couldn't believe I had heard him correctly, so I asked again. Sure enough, they had just been fired on in their FOB.

To make sure I was understanding correctly, I looked to Wikipedia for some help ... "A mortar is a muzzle-loaded indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocity, short range, high-arching ballistic trajectory." In other words, it lobs exploding munitions into the middle of your home. As we were talking I could hear someone talking over the PA in the background. K took a break from our conversation to listen. I asked what they said and he replied, "I'm not sure, but I'm sitting next to my team leader and he's not moving, so I think I'm okay to talk." We had another 20 minutes together on the phone, uninterrupted.

His housing has changed. He said they they are no longer in one large tent. Instead he is staying in "CANS". That probably is an acronym for something, but he described them as container units with 2 cots inside. He is staying with "Garcia". It appears , however, they Kyle will not be moving north in January as previously reported. Now he is saying that they will probably remain in their current for the entire deployment (318 days remaining). In fact, he says that they may move some of the troops who are currently up north down to his location. That will make an already over crowded situation even worse.

The other news was that Kyle has received a Brigade coin as well as the Battalion coin I mentioned in the last blog entry. I asked, "How many other guys in your platoon received that?" He replied, "None." Sounds like he continues to do well and distinguish himself as an exceptional soldier. So much for now ...