Letter from Brian while he was in Iraq

June 19, 2004
to: Phil and Lonnie Eve


Hi Mom,

Happy Birthday. Sorry I didn't call.

I'm glad your e-mail is working. I was wondering why I haven't heard from you in awhile.

I got your package today, thanks!! Freddy had to laugh at that huge bag of pistacios because his friends own the farm where those particular pistacios came from. Weird, huh?

Freddy and I went to Qatar last week for our 4-day pass. Our trip there was rather eventful, and I figured you were probably praying for me. We had to go with a convoy to Balad, which is normally about a 2 hour trip, and then fly to Qatar. Let me explain how these usually work. Freddy and I caught a ride with another unit who had a convoy to Balad. We were in the back of some big 5-ton trucks, which had guns on them, and we all had our guns locked and loaded for the trip. Normally we don't see anything, and the agressive posture prevents most from messing with us. Anyway, we got about 45 minutes down the road, and one of our 5-tons broke down. So we had to stop and get out of the truck, which normally we don't do. The idea is to keep moving until you get there. But this truck broke down, so we had to stop and hook it up to the other 5-ton, and we towed it to the next army camp, where we left it. This delayed us about an hour, and we were mad that it delayed us so much, but fortunately nothing happened. Well, aother 45 minutes or so into the trip, we came up on a traffic jam. We drove around the few cars that were there to find another convoy had stopped the traffic. They got there about 5 minutes in front of us. So once again, we got out of the truck. They were out looking and found an improvised explosive device (IED) which is a roadside bomb. They stopped traffic and called the bomb squad. They showed up and were getting ready to send out their little robot, when rhere was a big explosion about 150 yards down the road. At first we thought the EOD (bomb squad) personnel detonated it, but it turns out that no, it was the terrorist who cammand detonated it with some kind of remote control. Then we found out that actually there was a daisy chain of several IEDs together. Two went off with that first explosion, then 5 minutes later another was command detonated. The 4th and final IED was finally detonated by our EOD guys.

We were grateful that that first 5-ton broke down, because we might have been the first through those IEDs, and I really wouldn't have wanted to find them the hard way. I decided that that truck breaking down was a miracle brought about because you pray for me. Thanks, Mom.

Brian

(Brian has pictures to go with this story. He'll post them sometime)