[Ngtflyr]

2 months down, 1 to go here in Iraq. Hell'va way to celebrate New Year's, along with Christmas, Thanksgiving and both of my kids birthdays. Say a prayer for the guys hanging it out over here, not me personally, I am safe and sound in a HQ. Since I've been here we've had two special operators KIA, both in accidents, and sent five back to the states wounded, one a fellow crewmember in my airframe. The guys I work with are eliminating a lot of the really bad elements over here, for example last week we got the guy who captured/tortured and killed the two Army kids this summer. We go after the worst of the worst elements here Our guys are training the Iraqies to do more and more of their own ops, they are making progress in that area despite all you hear. It's better to have them doing the job because they don't have to operate under the same restictions our guys work under. The enemy won't engage us head on, but IEDs, mortars, snipers and accidents take their toll. We've lost 3000 good people so far and a lot of tax dollars. We owe it to those guys to finish it. Morale is good, it is a complicated task and will take time to finish the job. Certainly don't believe all the negativity you read and hear in the press. It is still grim over here and sometimes it seems like there is no progress, but it's not as bad as it is presented to you back home.