Hi to everyone from Iraq

[PepperDude]

Hi everyone,

Greetings from Ramadi, Iraq. I haven't been in the forums regularly for a long time now. That's because my reserve unit was activated last October. We did our training at Camp Pendleton and 29 Palms California. Camp Wilson at 29 Palms is one of the worst places a Marine can live in but it's a great place to train. Things are so bad at 29 Palms that Ramadi Iraq is like a vacation resort in comparison. Here in Ramadi, we have just about everything we need except for a few amenities. Chow is outstanding—we are even provided with a stir fry bar, sandwich bar, milk shake bar, specialty (cooked food) bar, ice cream bar, and dessert bar. Yes, we are well fed. Our living conditions are much better than they were at 29 Palms. I share a very small room with another Marine but at least it's our own little room as opposed to a huge squad bay where we have no privacy.

I'm in Personal Security Detail platoon (PSD) so we take VIPs around the city and area of operations. Our officers have meetings with Iraqi VIPs in many different places. We're one of the busiest platoons in our unit. That's a good thing since it will make our time here go fast. We're supposed to stay here for 7 months and we got here at the very end of March. Things are quiet right now in our AO and I hope it stays that way. The Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army have virtually taken over all the city. Very soon they won't need us anymore. And that's a good thing for our military and the Iraqis.

In my spare time, I read and watch sci-fi (but of course!).  I finished reading Dune a few days ago and am quite impressed by the very detailed universe Frank Herbert created. I have the first two books of Star Trek Destiny and other sci-fi books waiting to be read. I don't have comic books here because I don't want to ruin them. The sand here gets into everything. That's why I bought a cheap laptop and backup hardrive to watch movies and TV shows. I have the first seven seasons of Smallville and I'm hooked. I just finished watching season 2. I'm not the only one watching—at least 7 other Marines also stay up late watching teenage Clark Kent's full-of-drama life. I'm also watching Battlestar Galactica from season one. I never got a chance to watch it from the beginning and I now realize how sad that is. This show is (was) too good. I'm thinking about catching up on other sci-fi shows while I'm here. I'm thinking about Enterprise, Stargate SG-1, The 4400, and Babylon 5. Which one should I choose next? Are there any other shows that ya'll recommend me watching?

I'm so going to miss the Star Trek movies. I don't really want to resort to watching a bootleg version of it but it's so tempting. There's a bootleg movie shop onbase so I may just buy it when the shop gets it. Aw man. . .

Well, I have to go now. Laters,

PepperDude

P.S. Here are some pics of my deployment.

[PepperDude]

I don't know how to add subtitles to the pics. Anyway, those pics were taken in mid-April. It was a cool thing to watch that huge sandstorm make its way to us. It was huge. Once it hit, it only lasted for about 90 minutes and kept on going.

The picture with the Palm tree was taken a week before the big sandstorm hit us. It almost looked like a little piece of Mars here on Earth. It was definitely cool. Here are more pics of me. Some of these were taken in California.

Pic 1. Taken at Camp Pendleton. I don't have as much gear here in Iraq (thankfully) and I have a different weapon.

Pic 2. Also at Camp Pendleton. We hooked up an X-Box 360 to a projector in our squad bay. I believe that's Call of Duty 4.

Pic 3. Me posing.

Pic 4. That's me trying to do the Vulcan salute.

Pic 5. That's just one example of how we lived uncomfortably (to put it mildly) at 29 Palms. Not a great place to live in as you can see. But that's how everyone lives for those 5 weeks and then when we get to Iraq it's 10 times better. 

[PepperDude]

I forgot to post pics about my fellow Marines.  One Marine who is part of our vehicle crew is missing because he's taking the picture. 

[Rico]

Pepperdude!!!  Man, great to hear from you!  Amazing pictures and very interesting to hear how things are going over there for you.  I know we all wish for your safe and speedy return to the States.  Also, know that you have all of our support and respect for doing what you and your fellow marines are doing.

As far as captioning pics, you did it the best way.  When you attach them, they just show up at the end of the post.  Really great pics and love to see more when you have time.  Do you get a chance to interact with the local people very much? 

Anyway, glad you are doing well.  As far as SF on TV, glad you are enjoying "Smallville."  It's still going strong and will be back for a season 9 next year too.  I like the show a lot.  I would watch "Enterprise" if you can.  It's a good series and very under appreciated - in my opinion.

Take care man and stay safe!

[Bryancd]

Jose!!!! Dude, great to hear from you! Amazing pictures and thank you so much for your service, we are all in your debt. Very appropritae you read DUNE while dodging sandstorms! Be safe and stay in touch!

[billybob476]

From a guy who has buddies in Afghanistan right now, thank you for your service.

I guess you weren't at the camp where JJ and the cast showed up and screened the new Trek movie?

Stay safe and come home soon.

[Meds]

Welcome back my friend. Great to hear off you.

[jedijeff]

Best of Luck Pepperdude, and stay safe. I admire your courage and if you have to watch the new Trek Movie on Bootleg, I am sure everyone will understand. Hopefully you will be home in time to get the DVD release.

[Geekyfanboy]

Pepperdude... you're a ROCKSTAR!!!! Thank you so much for your service to our country. The pictures were great and I'm glad to hear things are going well over there for you.

As for Sci fi series.. like Rico said... Enterprise would be a great start, 4400 was really good and if you haven't seen Farscape you might want to check that out.

I would love to send a care package over to you, anything you miss having from the US? Also PM me the address so I can get this to you.

[moyer777]

PEPPERDUDE!  Man I miss you!

My Nephew Private Isaac Bale is stationed by you. 

THANK you so much for your service to our country.  You rock.  I am blown away by your commitment and bravery. 

That said sir, I'm praying for you even today-  I suggest some other DVD's that you might enjoy-  Earth 2 was great, Seaquest DSV, Alias was intense, well, and you know Star Trek-- any of the seasons of any of the series would put a smile on your face!

Are  you able to listen to podcasts?  Many of us on the forum have them now, you could smile a lot with your earphones on.  Anomaly, Knights of the Guild, Waffle On, Champodcast,Take Him With You, and of course the grand daddy.. Treks in Sci Fi- Rico even did another attic of my mind cast the other day! Am I missing any of us?

I agree with Kenny.  You are a ROCKSTAR!

[Meds]

Amazing photos and how wicked that you are playing call of duty 4, you're actually doing the real thing, risking your life and then go play it on xbox, love that. I do Waffle On podcast and i would be proud beyond belief if you and your chums would give us a listen. Stay safe.

[PepperDude]

Thanks everyone; your support means a lot. These past several months have been interesting and full of ups and downs. Having cool people like you to interact with is uplifting. I didn't have much time at all during training to access the internet. Sometimes we worked 16 hour days especially during the last 5 weeks and without Internet access. So I'm glad that I have more time now that we've pretty much settled in. However, Rick, listening to any podcast will be hard. I only get 30 minutes at the internet center because there's usually somebody in line waiting. On top of that, the download and upload speeds are quite slow. I tested the connection yesterday and I was getting between 9 kbps to 20 kbps trying to download the podcast--yeah, really slow. Supposedly, my platoon commander is looking into all of us paying for a satellite Internet connection. If that happens, I'll spend a lot more time in my room downloading podcasts and surfing the net. :-).

I definitely post more pictures over the following weeks. I'll post pics of the Iraqis too. To anwer you question, I really don't get to interact with civilians very much. I interact a lot more with the Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army. In fact, I had Iraqi food for lunch one time with a few IPs. It was very interesting. They were friendly but we also know that insurgents have infiltrated their ranks so I had to keep my guard up too. One of them wanted to give me money in exchange for 9mm rounds! That was funny because there's no way we'd ever do that--we're professional. Yet he asked other Marines the same thing; so they still have some ways to go in their professionalism. I certainly wish I knew a lot more Arabic so I could have more meaningful interaction with the Iraqis. Our combat engineers, or the Marines in our line (grunt) companies probably have more interaction with civilians. Overall though, we're disengaging more and more. The IPs and IAs have taken over virtually the entire city. We even don't give away candy or soccer balls to the kids anymore (I'll write more about that later).  I forgot to mention that the food was excellent.

Wow, a ninth season for Smallville; I didn't know that. Very cool. I think I will definitely watch Enterprise after I finish Galactica. Then I'm going to watch Farscape since I know ya'll have talked so much about it.

Hi Bryan! Man, whoever said getting deployed gets one in shape was lying. I was in better shape before I was activated. I'm not as fast anymore and I think I can do fewer pull-ups too. Oh well. Yeah, Dune was a good book to read while being here. How are the sequels? It seems that Frank Herbert didn't have to make sequels. Paul Atreides was triumphant.

Billybob, no I wasn't at that camp. JJ and the cast went to an Army camp. I saw the little news byte on Armed Forces Network at the chow hall. They were some lucky dogs I tell you. I also read on Rico's podcast notes that the movie was screened in Kuwait. I missed the screening by a couple of weeks. I was there for about 36 hours before coming to Iraq.

I'll keep ya'll posted about what's going on around here. In fact, I'll create a new thread and post the updates that I've sent to my family and friends (two so far).

[Bryancd]

Actually, Jose, I would read the prequel books next, the ones written by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderssen, "House Atreidis" "House Harkonen" and "House Corino". They take place in the generation just before and leading into "DUNE".
I wouldn't worry about your fitness, just stay safe! The type of physical activity you do right now is so different from long, consistant aerobic training. I can assure you once you get home, you will be right back in the swing of thing fast!

[davekill]

Hey Pepperdude good to hear from you, great photos!
It's weird to see the outdoor lights come on when the sandstorms roll in.

If your looking to catch-up with another good sci-fi series, I suggest SG-1.
The Colonel Jack O'Neill character always cracks me up.

Stay safe,
Dave