There Goes Lunch

This has been a relatively uneventful stretch for Team Centaur, as we're largely occupied with administrative duties. It has also been pretty somber as our supported unit has taken some heavy hits in the past couple of weeks. Additionally, the headlines about the missing soldiers has a lot of us on edge. It isn't that we're necessarily concerned about getting ambushed and captured ourselves. It is mostly a desire to do more; to be more active in assisting the search.

Had a heart stopping moment on a mission not long ago. It is common knowledge that the reliability of the Iraqi police is sometimes suspect. So, as we were driving out of large housing complex past a police checkpoint, I was alarmed to see the police guard sprint away from our vehicle just as we pulled along side. I was sure that we were about to get hit with something that goes boom. What I didn't know was that Bob was up in the turret tossing soccer balls to the kids off the back of the humvee, and the policeman was preparing snatch one of the balls up for himself.

Duane and Bob were assisting one of the maneuver units on a mission that was supposed to have them back at the base in time for lunch. However, on the way 'home' an IED on the opposite side of the road erupted beneath the cab of a dump truck. According to Bob, the first thing that went through his mind was, "Damn. There goes lunch." Our guys stopped to render assistance to the driver of the truck who was pretty badly shaken up, but probably didn't have any life threatening wounds. Another highlight of this trip for them was watching our soldiers launch a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) smack into a telephone pole in front of an audience of enraptured Iraqi Army troops. Nice.