Happy Birthday, USA.

Bob Krumm has a report of 1,215 soldiers reenlisting this day in Iraq.

This country is lucky to have such citizens. They make it possible that, as Washington wrote to Moses Seixas, "...everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."

Enjoy the day, yourselves, your family and your country. Have a fig. And remember.

...“You probably have time to put on pants, Sir.”

LT G relates his and his platoon's experiences during the recent Mahdi army 'revolt' in Iraq.

I want to send SSG Bulldog more milkbones.

Rules of Engagement.

In which, LT G appears to finally decide that asking forgiveness is a better choice than asking permission.

It's no fun being in charge.

Well, heeeelllllooooo Ashleigh.

Iowa Soldiers Deploy

They don't call it the suck for nothing.

LT G got dumped. I saw that in peacetime, and it sucked then. At least he's taking better than his CPT did.

Prince Harry wins his spurs.

I'm sure Grim approves.

I want to know if he helps clean the .50.

Oliver Twisted.

LT G among the urchins. One of his men may end up acting the part of Mr. Brownlow.

Home is where the heart is. Or something like that.

LT G makes a pit stop and goes. Back. Out. There.

Things aren’t right here, anymore. Or maybe we’re the ones who aren’t right, anymore. I don’t know. Either way, it’s time to go. Time to go back out there. Where the Wild Things Are. Where the paranoia is justified. Where we now know comfort. Where we ride and die and die to ride and ride to die like every scout before us intent on making his way home or making his way to Fiddler’s Green, and no other options exist. Where we fixate on an edge we can’t describe or even prove exists, but feel every time we leave the wire because it sends our senses spinning into a poisonous clarity only the transcendent and reckless drug addicts should ever have to comprehend. We don’t do it for the thrills, though. And we don’t do it for our country, either. Not like we thought we would. We do it because we’re doing it and it seems like we’ve always been doing it so we will continue to do it for the same reason. Only the simplicity of that statement matters. We continue our movement back out there. Where we belong.

Way to channel Paul Baumer. I think I'm beginning to worry about the LT. Well, at least his mom knows what's on his mind. I guess that's something.

“A man that tall must be able to see the whole world.”

LT G and his troops conduct a presence patrol somewhere in Iraq.

Men against fire.

LT G gets shot at for the first time.

War is war is war.

LT G needs some sleep.

Embracing the Suck.

I've now followed a number of soldiers' blogs as they write about their experiences 'over there'.

The most recent I've started follow is LT G.

Read his words at "Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal".

The LT has a way with words. And, unlike most, he's introduced his fellow soldiers.

(via Acute Politics)

Writing your own epitaph. Or something like that.

Blogger Andrew Olmstead was killed in Iraq, and left something behind to be published in case of his death.

Read it here.

May the earth lie lightly upon him.

(via Instapundit)

By the Numbers.

Good job, Soldier. Have a safe trip home.

Ok, they're all there now:

WASHINGTON, May 30, 2007 – The fifth and final brigade of the troop surge has arrived in Baghdad and should be fully operational by mid-July, the deputy director for operations on the Joint Staff said here today.

So, operational by mid July, which means we ought to have a good idea whether this whole thing is yielding results by September.