5 Aug

I flew our first combat mission yesterday and my first day mission in Iraq. It was a little anti-climatic since we spent most of the day waiting for a dust storm to pass. By the time it finally cleared we could only do the last leg of our mission which was just up to Al Asad and back. It was at the very last of our duty day and the crewmembers weren’t too happy since they had already closed up the aircraft. I though it was worth it because it allowed us to get an idea of how the missions flow, the radio calls (there are a lot more of them than in the Army sector), and getting in and out of the passenger/cargo pickup points. It is going to help us on our night mission tomorrow. The Marines have been very helpful but it will be nice when they leave. Right now we are working in corners of their offices and most of our stuff is still packed in Milvans not to mention that our aircraft are parked over a mile away. It’s only a few more days then we will have a year to ourselves. On another good note the modification to our UHF radios that we have been pushing for since April and just installed works great. It probably doesn’t mean anything to you guys but for us being able to talk secure UHF with the Marines is a wonderful thing. I finally got the housing list tonight so I can start planning out the internet system and it looks like I will be getting my own room!
Dust H 117 L 92