From: Michael Mabee
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 10:25 PM
Subject: 20 March 2004 FRG update

20 March 2004
FOB Speicher
Tikrit, Iraq

Families:

I'm sure once the soldiers get a chance to email or call home today, the
rumors are going to start (and Col Briere & Barbara's phones will start
ringing...) Here's the official information.

This morning, FOB Speicher received another volley of indirect fire.
This happens from time to time (but not nearly as much here as in other
places in Iraq). Indirect fire means something that is shot in an area
that the shooter can't see. (Such as mortars or rockets, but we do not
know exactly what type of fire it was right now.) The soldiers heard and
felt several loud booms in rapid succession and then the attack was
over.

There was no damage and no injuries. The indirect fire landed in an open
area with nothing around.

We do not believe that the enemy has the ability to target specific
things in our camp and just occasionally lobs in a few wild shots and
then runs. This is what as known as harassing fire. Unfortunately it
will probably happen from time to time. This time, they just blew up
some sand, and that was about it.

In other news. Today we had a visit from Major General Batiste (First
Infantry Division Commander) and Command Sergeant Major McCarty (First
Infantry Division CSM). The 167th CSG is supporting the First Infantry
Division (Also known as the "Big Red One"), providing, food, water,
fuel, showers, laundry, maintenance, etc. It was a good visit and we
found out the MG Batiste is from New Hampshire.

Last week was very busy for all of the soldiers of the 167th CSG. All of
the soldiers worked with their counterparts from the 64th CSG, the group
that we are replacing, to learn from them before they leave to go home.
Actually, the process is called a RIP (Acronym for Relief In Place) and
so what we are doing in Army terms is RIPing with the 64th CSG. Gotta
love army lingo. Most of the 167th soldiers spent the week working here
at FOB Speicher. On Tuesday, we are having a "TOA Ceremony" (another
acronym for Transfer of Authority) and that will be when the 167th CSG
officially takes over responsibility for support in our AO (Area of
Responsibility). Please pay attention to these acronyms. There will be a
test later.

A few of us logged some serious miles last week. Before the 64th CSG
leaves, they brought us to many of the sites where we have personnel or
where we will be providing support. Three drivers, SGT Brickley (COL
MacKenzie's driver), PFC Mavroudis (my driver) and SGT Boles (gun truck
driver) drove 1,435 miles since 9 March 2004. We have seen many areas of
Northern Iraq including Balad, Ba'quaba, Mosul, Kirkuk and Tikrit.

Some subjective observations. As you travel further north toward Mosul
or Kirkuk the terrain changes and the area goes from rolling hills to
more mountainous area. Traveling to Mosul reminded me of Fort Bliss
Texas, with vast plains and unvegitated mountains in the distance. This
kids run out to the side of the road in the northern areas and wave.
They have learned the "thumbs up" and many of them flash a thumbs up.
When you pass poorer areas, the children motion to their mouths (wanting
us to throw them food). It's very hard, but we can't throw them food. It
is much to dangerous for us to do this - they will run into the highway
and I've already told you about the traffic over here. We don't want
them to get hurt. We also can't stop the convoy (for our soldier's
safety), so we just have to drive past them.

The attitude seems different in Tikrit and down by Balad. The kids wave
much less. One spit towards us as we passed on the way to Ba'quaba. I
wonder what his parents told him. But then further down the road, some
other kids gave us the thumbs up, so I felt better. Maybe that first kid
was just a brat.

Sheep. There are more sheep in this country then you can possibly
imagine. There are usually one to three shepherds (sometimes a donkey
and a few cows) and always a dog or two. Most of the adults just watch
us pass by, but in the north if there are kids, they almost always wave.
Sometimes, the sheep are grazing in the grassy median between the
highway lanes. We saw a ton of donkey carts over by Al Khalis and
Ba'quaba. That was quite interesting. Something we don't see much in the
states. I think I'd like a donkey cart when I get home. It might be
safer than my motorcycle. Not quite sure where I would keep it though,
so it's probably a bad idea.

The three drivers I mentioned (SGT Brickley, PFC Mavroudis and SGT
Boles) deserve special praise for the jobs they have done this week.
It's hard driving for hours at a clip in this terrain without stopping.
They dealt with the crazy traffic, horrible roads and we even went over
some very interesting Army floating bridges. Also, our Machine Gunners
have been fantastic. They have a very hard job standing up for hours in
the back of our gun trucks (imagine standing up in the back of a pick-up
truck bumping along down pretty terrible roads), but never a complaint.
Every time I look back, the gunners are vigilant, looking out for
everybody in the convoy. Some of the gunners who were out with us on
various missions this week were SPC Alcide, PFC Hartford, SPC Anderson,
SSG Cobb and PFC Wiggin. These are great soldiers and their families
should be very proud of them.

As I said, most of the soldiers of the 167th spent most of the week at
FOB Speicher and we are now ready to take over the mission on Tuesday as
the result of their long hours and hard work. We have a really good crew
here at the 167th and I'm sure that this unit is up to the huge tasks
ahead of us.

"Granite 7"

Michael Mabee
Command Sergeant Major
167th Corps Support Group
Tikrit, Iraq