This would be another joint patrol but this time the battalion commander was going to visit his Jundi. We had just entered Rawah when the patrol stopped. The commander got out of his vehicle and talked to some business owners. Bastian was visibly nervous. When we got rolling again, I couldn’t help but notice a Kodak Gold sign painted on one of garage doors. At the first checkpoint, I also noticed the Guard stomped his right foot and saluted the IA vehicle (this is a common practice also when the Jundi enter the battalion commander’s office). Later, we picked up the two MITT team members we dropped off the day before. We then headed to Anah, a city where several Republican Guard officers have retired. Bastian and the battalion commander visited Marines at a Marine operations center that had the Olympic symbol on the side of the building. The Marines were definately securing this building. There were gun emplacements on the roof. Several hundred meters away was a mosque too. A Marine told me that they take fire from this Mosque every night. Kent and I also photographed a foot patrol of Soldiers, Marines and Jundi leaving the building. The battalion commander didn’t seem to be phased by this hot area though. He was the only one wearing a beret outside the building. As we exited the city at a checkpoint, I also was told that a motorist in a vehicle detonated his explosive-laden vehice early here. Noone was injured. You could still see the schrapnel holes. From Anah, we went to a small village called Reyhana. Here, children came out of their homes on each side of the street to wave at us and greet us. The Jundi threw them small cereal boxes like Fruit Loops as they passed. I couldn’t help but notice some of these kids were at the most 2 years old. We stopped at another outpost where the walls of the former livestock buildings were knocked out. In one room where the Jundi lived, there were bare wires from the air conditioner/heater dangling from the unit to the outlet. On our way back, we stopped at the checkpoint we stopped at the day before where Kent almost got ran over. Here a Jundi told us that a mortar round has just landed several hundred meters away from the checkpoint. The checkpoint was locked down. I thought something was up because I noticed Marine Cobra helicopters flying overhead (like they were hunting for something) I also was told another suicide bomber detonated his vehicle. Once again, you could see the schapnel holes in the barrier. On the way through Rawah, the battalion commander stopped his Humvee in the middle of the road and got out once again. He was supervising portable heaters being dropped off to his Jundi at another checkpoint. This checkpoint also was near the corner where IEDs had been detonated in the past.
