Eric Jazak, USMC has settled in again in Iraq. Eric is serving his second tour as helicopter gunner. I have had the opportunity to meet with Eric a few times and have become close with his family. Both Eric and his brother Ryan Jazak are like brothers to me.

Although Eric would have you believe he is living comfortable in beautiful quarters, he's not fooling me. I've been there and I believe the military put myself and my group, The 101st Rock Division, in the best quarters they could muster up, and I still slept with one eye open! lol

Although a lot of his letter is in "military jargon," I still believe you can get the gist of what our brave guys and gals are going through overseas.

Eric writes;

All is well here,

I really don't need anything, but Paul and I are waiting for the Beef-Jerky .. hehehe.

I am still down in TQ. Living is great compared to last time. We are now in "cans." I started in SWA huts, like we lived in AQ, but now we live in "cans." They have this place set-up really nice. The "cans" are like little metal boxes. Our "can" has one window which gives us a great view of the blast barrier outside, hehehe. We have linoleum floors, two small beds, A/C, and a small wall-locker for each of us. To give you an idea, it's like living in the back of my trailer, only half the size, with two guys in it. Paul and I have a fridge and a microwave too. Yeah, the living is really good for us right now and I am thankful for it. All of the squadron "cans' are wired for internet, so when I am there I should be able to keep in better touch. To be honest, when I get back to the "can," all I want to do is sleep, so that is my priority.

Things are much quieter and slower this time around on the "shooting" end of things. Tons of convoy support and so forth as usual, but the shooting is few and far between for now. CASEVAC, CASEVAC, CASEVAC! @%#$&-ing bastards and their IED's! I HATE seeing our troops messed up when we do the CASEVAC's. We are up in the air almost 24-hours a day now. Two shifts, 12-hours on, and 12-hours off for flying, and a 2-hour overlap for crew swaps. That puts pilots and crew-chiefs on a 14-hour crew day, so by the time you are done, it is about an average of a 15-hour day.

I was at work for the better part of 17-hours yesterday and most of it was spent over Ramadi and Fallujah. Ground guys want us overhead all the time which makes it tough, but we know the mission and do it wholeheartedly. We give them whatever they want, when they want it. They know we are checking on stations, looking for a fight, so they do what they can to work us on our primary mission; Close Air Support! We have a good mission to support the ground guys, so that is important nonetheless. Our goal is to meet every mission 100%; no matter what the cost. Sometimes it's hard for the Marine aircraft-maintainers here, to see the end result of their efforts. These young kids work their asses off to keep the Huey's and Cobra's in the air, 24/7. They are saving lives every minute of the day!

I have not made it up to AA yet to see the 269 Gunrunners. I'm not even sure who's a familiar face around there anymore. Most of the senior crew-chiefs have moved on, but I still want to make it up there just to say HI.

We have AQ now for forward bases and that is it. AQ is now a vacation spot if you can believe that! We still do the occasional "snatch and grab," but no shooting or IDF's to be seen for months. Ground guys have that place on "lock-down" and most of the "bad guys" moved back down there. Two-years ago when I was there, it was like "The Wild, Wild, West!" It was the roughest place in the country, nobody was safe. Now, it is actually a model for the Iraqi Government. Sure we still support them, but the Iraqi Police and Military are on their own for the most part; which are the goals we are trying to meet down here. We send our troops up there for training because we are so busy here, we can't get any training for the new guys.

Kharma, Ramadi, Zaidon and Fallujah are our main efforts now. Those places still spawn some exciting events but not like it used to be. Even the ground guys are telling us we have made and continue to make HUGE progress over here. It is quite for them now, for the most part; ... relatively speaking, that is.

That's about it for me. Keep in touch when you get time.

Love you all and miss you like crazy,

Eric

Please write this great American and show your support for his efforts! You can just click and write to Eric at eric.jazak@tq.mnf-wiraq.usmc.mil

God Bless America! God Bless Eric Jazak and God Bless our Marines!

Ohhh, and "Beef Jerky!" ... It must be a Wisconson thing! I can wait to watch this guy sink his teeth into a slice or two of Geno's East Chicago Style pizza!

 

 

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