Back outside the wire - an email from Seth

Dear Family and Friends,

I can't tell you how nice it was to return from five long days outside the wire and find so many e-mails awaiting me. I had planned on sitting down and writing a lot of individual e-mails to people, but as it turns out my squad got picked for another multi day mission kicking off tomorrow. I will be gone for between three to five days. One of the nice thing about going outside the wire is that it makes me appreciate Al Asad and my little room a lot more.

My last trip outside the wire was a good experience. It was a joint mission with the unit that we are currently replacing. I felt like I learned a lot, and our squad is more than ready to take over. We have learned more in these past few weeks then the whole entire time down at Shelby. During our mission I saw some interesting parts of the country. Part of our route took us along the Euphrates River, and then to a place called the Haditha Dam. We crossed over top of the Dam with our convoy, and saw a very beautiful lake on the one side, with the Euphrates on the other, it was quite a sight. Around this lake was quite a number of seagulls, which I never thought I would see in Iraq. Overall it was a good mission and a good learning experience.

I am getting ready to get my haircut by my own personal barber (Eli), then I am going to take a shower, watch a movie (also with Eli), then go to bed. I have an early wake up tomorrow because of our mission. I will e-mail more later, until then take care and I look forward to talking to you all soon,

Love, Seth