These are some of the puppies that were "gotten rid of."

For those that don't know what a Sea Stallion is think of a flying green banana, most people from Ventura County have seen these a few times flying overhead. The Sea Stallion can carry about 40 combat-ready Marines, and because of the size, we wondered out loud "How many wounded today and how many dead?" Being so close to the hospital keeps things in perspective. Hopefully it just had a lot of VIPs.

A few days ago on the way back from the supply run at the dump, we got a reality check. Five of us were riding in the back of a truck when one of the guys mentioned his old bones can only take so much. When I asked his age and the age of the others, it turns out our average age in the back of that truck was 44. I'm 43 and would like to know what happened to all the 23-year-olds. We've got grandfathers going to war, and the Army can keep us until we're 60. We're not complaining, we think it's funny, but the reality is "This isn't right."

I just returned from spending the night at the camp of the Iraqi Army, and it wasn't all that bad. I did find out though that we had four dogs there that we were kind of taking care of and had to "Get rid of them."

The Americans that I talked to said they tried to find them homes, but Iraqi people don't see dogs the way we do, and we didn't have much luck. I took pictures of the three puppies and Mama and will get them posted fairly soon. One of the pups was seen being dragged dead from behind a vehicle, there was nothing we could do about it.

The Command level people have made pets a violation of policy in theater. They were beautiful creatures and deserved better. We still have 80 pounds of dog food and no longer the need. The guys at the base did their best to shelter and hide the dogs and are really bummed out. The thing is we have what's called MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) and what they do is think of ways to sustain our morale and get a lot of money to do this, and all the guys needed was a puppy.

I think the Iraqi soldiers regret what our commander made the men do and show a very real concern for our well being. On every trip to the dump, we try to bring back as much stuff as possible for them to use. And believe me, a lot of the things we bring back are brand new -- I mean still in the wrappers. Lately the hot items have been rugs and mattresses.

Well that's all for now from Balad, Iraq. Today's word is Sah idnee - help me