a letter from steve

Hi everybody, our internet is still down, so I am typeing this fromthe MWR. Last night I went on a mission with the Security Forces,the Iraqi Police, and the Iraqi Army. We were to raid a house sincethey were stealing fuel from a fuel refinery, and useing the money tofund AlQuita (SP). We did not know what time it was going to be at,so after I finished chatting with Becky yesterday morning I went tothe meeting place, but no word yet. So we were sent away, and told tocheck in every so often. I went back to my tent, and played games onmy computer. At lunch there was still no word as to if we were stillgoing, or if it was canceled. So After lunch I went back to my tent,and just layed down for about 1 hour, just resting, not doing much.At about 3:00 we were finially getting the trucks up and running, andour stuff loaded. About 4:00 we headed to the TOC for the missionbrief so it was on!! So after the mission brief we headed back to thetrucks, got our gear on, and loaded up. We headed to the clearingbarrel (to load our weapons), when we were notified that somepaperwork was not compleated. So we pulled over to the side while theconvoy commanders went to finish the paperwork. We sat around foranother hour and a half waiting for word if they were going tocontinue with the mission, or if it was going to be canceled. Atabout 7:00 we are heading down the road to the Iraqi Arny station tomeet with the Iraqi Army, and the Iraqi Police. We are at thecompound for about 30-45 minutes going over drills with them so theycan perform the house clearing. We head to the house, turn off ourlights, and park a few houses away. The security forces along withthe IP, and IA head to the house for the raid. I just stayed in thecar waiting for something to happen. We were there for about an hourand a half to almost 2 hours waiting for them to finish. Apearentlythere was nothing to be found only had 2 guys there arrested forweapons violations. After all this fun we came back home here to theFOB. We got back about 11:30 at night, and I went straight to bedafter I showered. This was the most exciting and interesting day yet,even though nothing happened. I'll talk to you later.Love you,Love Steven