Friend in IRAQ

Conversation took place 21 September 7:30 pm
IncrediblyX = Me
Kamumo = Peter R. Tan, Field Medic for US Marines a.k.a. Doc, Hospital Corpsman, Biomedical Equipment Technician. He is one of my closest friends since I’ve joined the Navy and he is now in IRAQ.


Kamumo: hey exion!!!!
IncrediblyX: hey
Kamumo: guess where i'm at?
IncrediblyX: where?
Kamumo: ar ramadi
IncrediblyX: how is it?
IncrediblyX: how do you have access to the internet?
Kamumo: you have to pray for your life, we just got mortared 9 times this evening
Kamumo: we have internet access/cafe but is slow as shit
Kamumo: it feels different if someone is shooting at you and firing RPG
Kamumo: we had to dismount twice on the way here
Kamumo: its scary as shit here dude
IncrediblyX: which marine group are you with?
Kamumo: ar ramadi is worse than fallujah
Kamumo: 2nd battalion 5th marines
Kamumo: 1st mar div
Kamumo: it's almost 4 am here
IncrediblyX: wow
IncrediblyX: I feel bad for you right now
IncrediblyX: :-( how many corpsman are with you?
Kamumo: over here was the 2nd corpsman who died
Kamumo: he was from 2nd battalion 4th marines
Kamumo: there's plenty of us
Kamumo: yah they're trying to kill us here
Kamumo: living conditions here sucks, i haven't taken a shower for 4 days
Kamumo: no water
Kamumo: and its hot as shit
IncrediblyX: got a camera?
IncrediblyX: take pictures
IncrediblyX: hopefully you come back and show us what it's like over there
IncrediblyX: how are the locals? hostile?
Kamumo: oh, btw, a blast is very very scary
Kamumo: yeup
IncrediblyX: man, that sucks dude
Kamumo: once we get internet connection at our bas i'll send you some
Kamumo: dude, just think of it this way, every local here wants you dead
Kamumo: and i'm standing here where 2 hrs ago 4 mortars hit this place
IncrediblyX: do you want me to send a care package?
IncrediblyX: where you are at right now?
Kamumo: and i can't even take a shit or piss because all the portajohns are outside and you might get blown off
Kamumo: i'll send you an email of my address
Kamumo: ar ramadi
Kamumo: i don't know it on the top of my head
IncrediblyX: do you move around a lot?
IncrediblyX: what do you need or want?
Kamumo: i've been here an hour just trying to access my yahoo email
Kamumo: no, not a whole lot
IncrediblyX: I'll try to find something while I'm still here in fucking wichita falls
Kamumo: i need/want to go back there in the states!!!
Kamumo: i'm good so far
Kamumo: i'm not trying to get on convoys that much because it's IED bonanza outside
IncrediblyX: IED?
IncrediblyX: what's that?
Kamumo: improvise explosive devise
Kamumo: device
Kamumo: and they're pretty deadly, we had 4 when we were trying to get here, got ambushed too
Kamumo: i'm telling you straight out
Kamumo: the truth
Kamumo: it's fucking scary here
IncrediblyX: I believe you
Kamumo: i can't say how many died here so far
Kamumo: but if you get pulled
Kamumo: try to get fssg or something
Kamumo: not division
IncrediblyX: I'm probably going to get pulled, the Navy is rotating everybody
IncrediblyX: I'm already expecting it
IncrediblyX: you had a choice between fssg or division?
Kamumo: get fssg
Kamumo: that's my best advice
Kamumo: and if your going to division
Kamumo: make sure if your shooting at something
Kamumo: make sure its dead or destoryed
Kamumo: nope
IncrediblyX: you got a weapon?
IncrediblyX: 9mm baretta?
Kamumo: m16a2
Kamumo: i've fired it
Kamumo: and let me tell you, you don't want to be into a fire fight
Kamumo: no 9mm, they say that is not a weapon
Kamumo: trust me, you'd rather have a m16 with you
IncrediblyX: heck, I would arm myself with both
IncrediblyX: just in case
IncrediblyX: can you sleep?
Kamumo: some do
IncrediblyX: or is there explosions everywhere?
Kamumo: but i'm fine with my betty
Kamumo: nope
Kamumo: we just got woken up by that mortar
Kamumo: everyday
Kamumo: we don't even know if its counter battery or they're actually bombing us
Kamumo: there's a lot of shit out here
IncrediblyX: how big is your division?
IncrediblyX: is there a lot of you guys?
IncrediblyX: have you saved a lot of lives?
IncrediblyX: Do you hear corpsman up a lot?
Kamumo: it's a batallion
Kamumo: yah there's a lot of us, yup we've save lot of lives already
Kamumo: yup
Kamumo: that too
IncrediblyX: man, you're going to get lots of medals, Purple Heart etc
Kamumo: tell people over there try to get division
Kamumo: try to get a vacation in sunny iraq
Kamumo: i'm not trying to get medals here
Kamumo: i just wanna go back in one piece
Kamumo: but im telling you, it fucking sucks here
Kamumo: from where were at
Kamumo: i'm here until april
IncrediblyX: April???
IncrediblyX: Fuck, that's a long time!
Kamumo: yup
Kamumo: it's 7 months
IncrediblyX: I can't believe it, that blows
IncrediblyX: when did you leave for IRAQ?
Kamumo: yup
Kamumo: tell all the basic tech not to fail out cuz they need them here badly
Kamumo: 30 august
Kamumo: i'm going to be here almost a month
IncrediblyX: sure
IncrediblyX: I'm going to spread the news
Kamumo: it's way different this time
Kamumo: not like oif 1
Kamumo: chances of getting killed is 20 percent
Kamumo: that's not a good percentage
Kamumo: and the army is fucking up big time
Kamumo: army has it all over here
Kamumo: they are living it up
IncrediblyX: how is the army fucking it up?
IncrediblyX: do they have to fight as much as you guys?
Kamumo: but what does the marine get? nothing
Kamumo: thy're chicken heads
Kamumo: yah they do when they have a big op
Kamumo: but mostly the marines take care of things
IncrediblyX: Hmmm....
IncrediblyX: That's what I've heard
Kamumo: dude its no joke here
IncrediblyX: there's hardly any army instructors here, because everybody's in IRAQ
Kamumo: i havent felt scared in my whole entire life when that ied exploded on us
IncrediblyX: are you guys guarding a position?
Kamumo: yah, well the army is not even getting out as much, they're living it up here, they have everything that you can imagine
IncrediblyX: that isn't good
IncrediblyX: that's not fiar
IncrediblyX: fair
Kamumo: yup we're guarding the whole ar ramadi area
Kamumo: just go on to search ar ramadi, you can take a good glimpse
Kamumo: hey what can you do
IncrediblyX: that must be a big place, let me see...
Kamumo: i hope the army do they're part
Kamumo: i don't think any army bmets would do any good
Kamumo: they'll be shitting in their pants already
IncrediblyX: army BMETS do motor pool
IncrediblyX: they probably don't do any real bmet work
Kamumo: yah well most of them ran over our humvees with their damn tanks because the tanks think that they'll be hurt with a small arms fire, which why would they think that?
Kamumo: i do my part here, i try to maintain the generators here
IncrediblyX: are you there as a BMET or corpsman?
Kamumo: 8404 baby (8408 = field medic for the marines, aka hospital corpsman)
Kamumo: 8479 is only a plus
IncrediblyX: why are you working on generators? somebody must be slacking
Kamumo: yup tell em a bmet got pulled for division
Kamumo: i'm helping out the other CEB's and S4
Kamumo: if they only need help
IncrediblyX: good for you
IncrediblyX: how is the food?
IncrediblyX: are you eating MREs? (MRE = Meal Ready to Eat = Not very tasty)
Kamumo: we only eat twice a day
Kamumo: sometimes we eat mre's for a week
Kamumo: yup it sucks
Kamumo: can't do laundry or take shower if there's no water in the water bowls or tanks
IncrediblyX: what if you run out of water?
IncrediblyX: you guys do laundry by hand?
Kamumo: we just wait and pray that the convoy gets here
Kamumo: hand or haji washing machine
IncrediblyX: are you even able to brush your teeth?
Kamumo: yup, water bottles
Kamumo: we got plenty of those
Kamumo: hey exion gotta go, time is up
IncrediblyX: okay
IncrediblyX: good luck!
IncrediblyX: I'll prey for you
IncrediblyX: don't forget to give me your address
Kamumo: i'll email you my address here, just give me a post card or something
Kamumo: thanks dude, yup i will, good luck in school
IncrediblyX: :-)
Kamumo: bye
IncrediblyX: bye
Kamumo signed off at 7:31:24 PM.