Father said, "Son, don't let the man get 'cha..."

Happy Father's Day, everybody! It's all the same here in Iraq, I guess, just another day. We don't really celebrate anything here with any sort of pomp or excessive festivities. At any rate, it's still an important day, to remember all the sons and fathers over here.



In other news, I read the other day that the "surge" is complete. The BBC stated that the last combat brigade will be combat-ready in the next 30 days. Then what, I wonder? Will we begin seeing some miracles? Will the insurgency begin crumbling under the might of the American War machine? Doubtful, yes, but Gen Petraeus has said that his "plan" can now come to fruition with the addition of all the soldiers. I think that arming the locals is a better idea than increasing our trop numbers. They'll solve it themselves, and we're staring to see proof of that. The only thing we have to remember is that when it's time to go, we need to leave. These people that we're arming will not hesitate to take up arms against us once the spectre of al-Qaeida is no longer looming over them.



Well, back to the surge. It's been getting more and more crowded here at Camp Striker, what with the addition of (from what I've heard) one combat brigade and an aviation brigade. It took one of my roomates nearly forty-five minutes to run the "laundry cycle" of pick-up and drop-off. It took me nearly a half-hour to get a haircut the other day, and I only spent three minutes in the chair. The only facility here that can cope with the numbers is the shiny new dining facility that opened up several months ago. It's ok, but I sure wish they would open up another barber shop and laundry point.

All in all, I guess it's not too bad. At least we have laundry and hot food.