Book plug for an Iraqi Freedom veteran

Stryker: The Siege of Sadr City.

Stryker is a first-hand account of what happened in those streets during the final battle for Baghdad. It began as a confession, a letter to old friends, and an attempt to confront the things that I had experienced. My initial goal was to shed some light on what happened, the things I had to do, and why I’ll never be the same. As the project unfolded, however, it turned out that there was much more at stake than my own well-being…

The link is to his website, but it also automatically opens up his Kickstarter page, which actually has a concise description of what the book is about. So don’t have kittens if it opens up on you, even if it is a bit annoying. Turn on your j-script blocker, and it’ll go away.

H/T/ Bittersweetme

Little Girl Lost

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Major Bieger, I had seen him help rescue some of our guys a week earlier during another big attack, took some of our soldiers and rushed this little girl to our hospital. He wanted her to have American surgeons and not to go to the Iraqi hospital. She didn’t make it. I snapped this picture when Major Bieger ran to take her away. He kept stopping to talk with her and hug her. The soldiers went back to that neighborhood the next day to ask what they could do. The people were very warm and welcomed us into their homes, and many kids were actually running up to say hello and to ask soldiers to shake hands. –Little Girl | Michael’s Dispatches.

Published 14 May, 2005

This took place in Mosul, and the author called them the Deuce Four, which according to GlobalSecurity is the 1-24th INF.

Go read the whole thing. Although, it does makes one wonder who was really doing the killing of the 100,000 or so civilians during Iraqi Freedom.