Christmas in Iraq (Please Read)

[paparock]

If anyone has any questions please PM me and I will answer as best I can. Even donating subscriptions to fishing magazines to be sent to units is a morale booster.

As we approach this Christmas season I hope we especially remember our young men and women fighting and dieing for our safety back home during this season. No matter how you feel about the Iraq war these brave young people desperately need your support. As a Vietnam Era veteran I now how much the lack of support hurts. These young soldiers volunteered to defend you and this country not a political party so please show that you care and support them! A gift from family if wonderful but think what a gift that lightens their load, brightens their days, or helps then survive another day from a total stranger from back home would mean to these soldiers fighting for their lives daily. Put a close loved one of yours there, if you do not already have one there, and think of what unexpected support from back home would mean to them.

Here is a link to the organization to which I belong and support. If you feel it is worthwhile remember our soldiers especially in Iraq this coming Christmas season. http://americansnipers.org/index.html

Today young men are fighting and dieing around the globe for this country. I send my contributions to the AmericanSnipers.org , an organization structured to helping those that are on the front lines of safeguarding our freedoms. Most people do not understand the role of Snipers today but if you are a soldier in the field they are your best friend as they are often your eyes and your guardian angles that can keep you alive when the stuff hits the fan and it's your life on the line. Please help them help working snipers in combat zones around the world. These snipers are deployed in the theaters of combat, both in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as other locations overseas. Their job is to help keep their fellow soldiers your brother, sister, father, mother, aunt, uncle, or cousin alive to come home not to just hunt the enemy as so many think. They observe the enemy often preventing ambushes, stop enemy snipers before they can fire on our troops, and a host of other duties that often exposes them to great danger as they are often alone in pairs that are venerable to the enemy if discovered. Many snipers have sacrificed their lives for the sake of their brothers as shown in the movie Black Hawk Down fighting impossible odds to protect fallen brothers or to prevent ambushes from happening in the first place. We are coming into the Christmas season when these men are out there facing death that we might be safe here. Can we not find a way to offer them some kind of Christmas present that might make the difference between another soldier's funeral and a family reunion this season?

Guys and gals, here is what one young sniper has on his mind, something to which many here may relate. "I am a Michigan resident myself and would love to get over to Wisconsin to do some fishing once we get back. From the magazines you sent it looks like the Musky fishing is just as good as the last time I was up there. If I make it up to Pulaski, I would love to take you out on the water to fish or range to do some shooting. Again, thanks for your support and please stay in touch. " Even fishing magazines are cherished to at least for a short time to be back home wetting a line and feeling that bass pulling to free itself. Anything but the life and death, they face each day.

[Lady Bass]

     I have family in the military.navy and the marines.my niece's husband john just got back from Iraq in october last year after serving 18 months over there.john is now back in virginia with the family.we got word that he signed up for another 6 months again..he wants to go back to Iraq again..so we are waiting patiently to hear when he'll go.speaking of writing to a soldier..I am doing that now with a marine.I sent him a small package and a three page letter with my dog's picture in it.he loved it and wrote four page letter back to me.

[paparock]

Learn more about this national organization at the following links.

http://americansnipers.org/pdfs/NY-Times-Article-Dec2104.pdf

http://americansnipers.org/articles.html

http://americansnipers.org/index.html

These are but a few of the hundreds of letters you can read for yourself on their site so check them out.

Letters from the field:

My name is SGT John xxxxxx currently deployed to Mosul Iraq with the First Stryker Brigade as a company level Sniper. I have a three-man team. For some reason the Stryker brigade figured a three man team would be better than the traditional two-man team. It has been working well for us. We are able to maintain a better degree of security as well as sustain ourselves on longer missions. To tell you a little about myself i have been in the army for approximately 4 and 1/2 years. I have completed army sniper school and graduated honor grad. I have attended the Marine sniper school at Camp Pendleton and have done sniper training with the Seattle SWAT team. I am always trying to improve my knowledge as a sniper to improve my lethality and survivability. I have been here in Iraq for 6 months now. When I return to the states I have a SOTIC date slotted so I will attend that as well when I return. I have been in the Sniper community for about three years. I have found that there is no better job in the military. When I get out, I am planning to continue my work as a sniper hopefully in a SWAT team or as a private security.

Like I said, I've been in country for about 6 months and we have faced allot of problems over here with employment that the schools do not teach so it's made my job pretty difficult. We have been able to adapt and overcome our challenges but unfortunately, it has been at our own cost because the unit does not see the reason we need different gear than the line platoons. We have had to purchase rappelling harnesses, rope, carabineers, and flack vest's that allow us to seat the rifles in our shoulders better, along with other comfort items. On April 9th all hell broke loose here in Mosul and we were up on an OP. My shooter spotted approximately 150 personnel with RPG's and AK's inter mixed with civilian personnel. He was able to fire three shots before the crowd dispersed. He killed two and wounded one at a 430 meters while under indirect fire. Now the shot does not seem that difficult but if you add the fact that he was firing from the 5th story out of a 12 degree loophole and the persons were running. I am proud of my shooter for making those shots. We were in heavy fire for about 5 hours that day and in all my company killed about 30 NCF and sustained no friendly injuries. I just thought I would tell you a little bit about us.

SO anyways I heard about this program through Strykernews.com. They had an article and I was curious about this program, for we are always looking for newer equipment and better tactics. I have no idea how this program works but I am proud to be a sniper when I see fellow snipers in the community are back home looking out for us snipers over seas fighting this horrible war on terrorism. Myself and my team wanted to relay our thanks to those snipers back home for all the support. I am curious to hear more about this program and how we can get a "Sniper Care Package." Thank you very much for all your support, and in the words of the greatest man that ever shot "Keep your head down, and your powder dry," Carlos Hathcock. I've also attached a pic of myself and my team. I am in the middle. My shooter SPC Furman on the right and my RTO SPC Peters ako "Rabbit"

Sincerely,

SGT John xxxxxx

Army

Mosul Iraq

Hello Adopt a Sniper!!!

I'm currently deployed in Iraq with xxxxxx, a National Guard unit attached to xxxxx. I was a sniper for xxxxxxxx from 1999 through 2001. I graduated from the US Army Sniper School in July of 99, Class 5/99. My partner served with xxxxxxx, and was a sniper for a year on the Korean DMZ in the 1/506th. He is also currently a full time sniper for the xxxxxx Police Department.

I have to say we didn't expect to read about anything like what you've done for us snipers. Until now it seems we were misunderstood and under utilized. Now we are in demand and are working hard to do our jobs with half the gear. My partner and I have shelled out thousands on gear and we are still in need. We are part of a section that they have created for the line companies to use during operations instead of having to use Battalions scout snipers for every company Op. They added one additional team made up of competent soldiers we hand picked and trained ourselves right before deploying overseas. We are a hard working section and we've had to pretty much fund ourselves as far as gear. Our biggest problem is always commo between team 1 and 2! And there have been plenty of times when we've had to resort to 100 feet of 550 cord to signal one another from our prospective hides. There have been times when we've had to basically play telephone to get in contact with one another. The 126 radios we have are in short supply and we end up with one SINGARS or a 126 that usually malfunctions. I'm sure you understand how this can be a huge problem, not being able to communicate. If you could spare us some radios that will add a little reliability to our operations it would be greatly appreciated. We also have a pretty solid M14 with us, but the optics they issued to us along with the rifle is a joke. The rings they gave us wouldn't hold a zero on a Ruger 10/22. It was an obvious rush job to field some M21 look-alikes. The scopes were given to the engineers to help them spot IEDs, and we were left with a spotter weapon with no optic. I had a Leopold VX2 sent to us from home but was damaged along with the rings. If it would be possible to send us a Leopold VX 3.5-10 mildot with picattinny rings for our M14 it will give us the capability of tandem and quick follow on shots, and the variable magnification will help greatly with field of view in urban environments, which could have come in handy a few times already.

If you aren't able to get us this specific gear, any help of any kind will be greatly appreciated. I know these things are expensive because we've spent a bank already. Thank you so much for even offering this kind of help to the sniper community, especially the ones seeing combat overseas!! It made me feel good just reading the article in the paper. In addition, knowing someone hasn't forgotten about us, makes us do our duty that much better.

Thanks again

RR

Army

Operation Iraqi Freedom

FOB xxxxxx

You guys are the HEAT!!! Thank you, and my Marines thank you. Fellow Americans like you keep us on the path. It means more than you can imagine.

Silent Souls and Semper Fidelis,

SSgt XXXXXXXXXXXX and the rest of XX/XX Scout Snipers

Please let all who donated and contributed how grateful we are for their support and efforts. It's because of folks like them and yourself that we continue to crawl outside the wire each night and "even the score". Thank you and God Bless.

-SSG A

[Troutfisher]

There are several people at my church that I know that are in Iraq, Afghanistan, and even a soldier on duty at the border, helping to keep out illegals from our county.  Remember this Christmas when you are sitting on your couch watching TV and having it good that there are soldiers overseas fighting for your rights and liberties.  Against the war or for the war, America needs to come together and support our troops and why they are over there.  Latte sipping Hollywood celebrities know nothing about what goes on overseas, as do much people who watch ABC, CBS, and other evening news stations.  The only way you can get true, reliable information is from a soldier.

God Bless Our Troops and Come Home Safe When The Job Is Finished.

[RottManK9]

I've been there and done that, more than once and IT SUCKS!  We had people who shared with us and showed us support like I've never seen before, and I've been doing this for almost 16 years!  Your support means so much to so many.  It's hard being away from home and family this time of year.  Your support is one of the best gift's ever given.

Jon

[paparock]

With donations you can get some of the items below plus a few others you can view at the site. Remember this money goes to our soldiers in actual combat.

There are three videos here: http://americansnipers.org/index.html

Donation is $15 each shipped within the USA.

Donation is $20 each shipped within the USA. Up to four bracelets will be shipped via first class bubble envelopes.

Double clutchback pewter pin measuring 2.5 inches

One Pewter Rifle Pin for each $10 donation when choosing this option, shipped within the USA.

Donation is $5 each shipped within the USA.

Americansnipers.org Vinyl Sticker, 5.5 inches by 4.75 inches, actual sticker is white.

If ordered with other items, sticker will ship separately.

One Rubber Bracelet for each $7 donation, shipped within the USA.

[Top]

Its great to see people stepping up to the plate for these brave soldiers!  You would be AMAZED at how much we spend on things that while some might say are extravegant for instance last time I was in Iraq were were not issued camel backs, They said that  when you have your canteens you don't need those.. well guess what... they are being issued now! HOOAH!!! ... but it just makes life MUCH nicer when you have the stuff that just "works" better.

My thoughts and prayers go out to soldiers everyday... and now that the holidays are coming up its nice to see that others are remembering that they are over there especially during the holidays.. it REALLY sucks being over there... I freely admit  when I had to spend christmas there  I cried like a baby it sucked so bad, missing my family and all... so PLEASE just do SOMETHING for these guys... its amazing the force we have.. and 100% of it is VOLUNTEERS ... GOD BLESS the US Army and GOD BLESS the United States!

AL

[Guest avid]

great stuff.  Really cool.

I donate to this organization that gives out dog tags.  I have a bunch hanging on my wall

[paparock]

That is great to hear Avid, thank you for your support!!!

I carry one of my old "dog tags" in my wallet and the other on my key chain. It has my name and blood type for the time it just may be needed. It means a lot to me to try to support these young soldiers so they do not go through the homecoming I experienced during Vietnam. It seems the mood in the country is turning more that way and that REALLY bothers me. Some of these brave souls gave died for us and some have given up limbs or the ability to walk while some people seem not to appreciate their sacrifice. If I could have my wish every American that sees a soldier, especially a wounded one, would greet them with true kindness and the warmth of compassion in their heart for their service. Put politics aside and realize these are America's finest and all are volunteers there for you, your children, and their children. They stand between those that mean us harm and us, not for politics nor for war, for no one hates war more than those that have experienced it do.