Ladies and Gentlemen:
Off and on for the past eight months you have all stoically dealt with my lag and packet loss issues. I have been humbled by the support I received from this community. For eight months I have dealt with a horrible disco rate, extensive packet loss, and insane ping rates. I do not recall anyone complaining too much about it. The next time you see me in the cartoon skies I will have a reliable connection so you will not have to wait three seconds to know if you killed me, or more specifically I will not have to wait three seconds to know I am dead.
The overwhelming support I have received from just about every player reminds me of why I was over here in the first place. As soon as I am home, I will upload pictures from Iraq so you can see what I have seen (also, I have to figure out how to load pictures).
At present, I am sitting in BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) waiting on the big bird to take me the heck out of here. I would like to give a synapses of what I have seen over here:
When we got to theater in late November of 2007 the average was about 110 attacks on coalition forces every week. My Brigade was assigned to operate in the Sadr City area of Baghdad. The Mahdi (SP?) Army was not too happy about us being there so they fought us hard from March until late May early June time frame. The end result was the surge worked and worked very well. We went from an average 110 attacks a week to an average of 10. The people of Iraq are working for us instead of against us. When I look into the faces of some I got to know here, I see the future of this country. The hard work and dedication they are putting forth will bear a sweet fruit for Iraq. I saw first hand the opulence of Saddam Hussien and his cronies. I walked through the halls of his massive palaces and saw the haphazard marble work (because if the workers did not work fast enough, they were shot). In our time here, we have built schools, renovated electrical and water works, repaired sewage lines and cleaned tons of trash off the streets. In 2006, I would not have considered leaving the wire with out my full clip, and by that I mean, if I was within 100 meters of the wire on the inside I was in full gear. It was not like that on this tour. Contrary to what the media is putting out, we are succeeding in Iraq.
I thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to escape this place and play this game. To Hitech (Congrats on getting hitched
)and his staff, I want to thank you for creating this game. To any and all I have had arguments with, forgive a flash-in-the-pan temper; I cannot remember what I argued about anymore. For everyone's support
. To my loving wife, I love you and miss you, after 15 months I will see you in four days!
WMTom
