We often times hear the word "Hero" when referring to those of us that have served in our nations current military actions abroad, in particular with the Reserves and Gaurd that have been pulled from their homes and families to do their duty. I must say that I and countless others appreciate the intentions. I just believe personally that the word is overused and taken too lightly.

Maybe I'm old fashioned but I've always been taught and believed to this day, that all of us have a duty to our country, and the fulfillment of that duty ought not to be considered "Heroic". Even though I consider the entire generation of WW 2 a "Heroic" generation, they will simply say they were just doing their duty. I say this because in the entire year I was in Iraq, aside from those that made the "Supreme sacrafice", I only met one person that even came close to being thought of as a hero, SSG Baliscao of the 100th/ 442d Inf. And yet his actions were ignored by our officer corps while each and every officer in "Task Force Konohiki" recieved a "Bronze star" for "Meritorious conduct". They and few others recieved this award on the 19th of December 2005 during deactivation cermonies on LSa Anaconda. It wasn't the awardees fault, it is the fault of the Officer Corps in general.

I would like to explain what it was that SSG Baliscao did and then compare it to what the Officers and others did so that the reader can understand my disdain for the "Bronze Star" heroes.

In November of 2005 a convoy from FOB O'Ryan was heading south on MSR Tampa enroute to a meeting with other elements of the coalition forces. In this convoy were elements of TF Konohiki and the 101st ABN. The convoy was attacked with an IED that struck the vehicle of a Colonel from the 101st. The entire vehicle recieved the brunt of an enormous blast that ripped through the vehicle and nearly tore off the lower leg of this Colonel. As pandomonium errupted SSG Baliscao rushed foward, exposing himself to harm, and saved the life and limb of this Officer. From what I was told from our people there if not for the actions of SSG Baliscao the Colonel may have died. That's the first life he saved, he and he alone.

About five days later he would save another life on FOB O'Ryan. Captain K was driving past a security detail when he was flagged down by on of the guards. One of the female soldiers ther was having breathing difficulties and near panic. Captain K rushed to our bunker and summoned SSG Baliscao. As soon as SSG Baliscao arrived the soldier stopped breathing and lost consciousnes. She was having an alergic reaction to medication and the heat had taken its toll. SSG Baliscao did what he gets paid to do and brought her out of it, saving his second life in a week.

The third life was saved in my last entry during our actions in the village of Abyiachi. SSG Baliscao has saved the lives of of field grade officer, an enlisted female soldier and a Iraqi citizen shot by our element.

I remember walking up to Doc Baliscao and patting him on the back and asking how it felt to be a hero, he replied by saying "Don't hand me that hero stuff, I'm a medic and that's what we do!". How true.

However SSG Baliscao did much more then what was asked of him. On countless occasions I've seen him pick up his weapon and medical bag and moved side by side with the Infantry and Iraqi soldiers. He always kept himself in top physical condition and always strived for excellance in the execution of all his duties. He is a damn good NCO.

Now let's talk about the "Heroes" that recieved the "Bronze Star". First I must say that it is a "FACT" that it was decided long before we even arrived in Iraq that virtually all officers would recieve "Bronze Stars". This can easily be verified by looking at the percentage of Officers from th 29th BCT that did not recieve one. Not one officer ever did anything even close to what was just described. Some of the officers left the wire maybe one time a week. All the officers that had office duty recieved "Bronze stars". I talked to one officer from the 29th BCT and she had no idea why she recieved the award and never left the confines of the LSA.

Some of the officers did a geed job but nothing they weren't supposed to do already in the execution of normal duities. Some officers even recieved the award when they should have been "Court Marshalled". For example, one officer lost a laptop computer with all the defensive information and supply routes for the entire region, another officer asked an Iraqi soldier if he could "F---K" his wife or sister but both of these men recieved the Bronze Star for "Meritorius" conduct, please.

I feel nothing but disgust when I think of all the men of WW2 that really fought for years in two war zones and came home with just a couple of campaign ribbons. Many of us that are sickend by such disregard for tradition and history blame our most recent Army chiefs of staff for the current medal and ribbon lust. One would think looking at this as simply doing ones duty is enough as do men like SSG baliscao, but sadly this is not the case. The people that recieved these "Phonie" awards are not to blame and i don't mean to embarass them but it's just pitiful.

It was early December of 2005 and we, Task Force Konohiki, were in the process of being relieved by elements of the United States Marine Corps. Part of the relief process is to familiarize our relief with the local area and explain the pros and cons of each. Today was the first day for the Marines and we would be doing a route patrol of Konohiki Five-zeroes area of expertise. The main town would be a small town nestled on the banks of the Tigris river just south of LSA Anaconda, Abyiachi. I was not real familiar with this town or area because my assinged element, Konohiki Five-five, was assinged the area west of MSR Tampa, away from the Tigris.

Our convoy of four vehicles raced along the narrow canal roads and over the narrow bridges to avoid exposure to IED's, the roads in the area were heavy in explsion sites and it was pretty creepy seeing all the obvious ambush attempts. I was driving and we had a full complement of men today, meaning five men. We were assinged the six posistion, that's the trail vehicle and the responsibility of rear (six) security. I could very easily see why one out of four deaths in Iraq is by vehicle accident, we were racing at a high rate of speed and going over very narrow passages, having an immature officer that liked to scream and curse constantly didn't help matters.

As we pulled into the village of Abyiachi on this Friday morning tension seemed very high, much higher than usual. Abyiachi is not what any of us would call user friendly. It may have been because it is the holy day for Muslims or perhaps because everytime I can remember we were ambushed coming out of this town, in any case tension seemed high.

As the lead vehicle pulled into town the rest of us fell in behind him and took up strategic positions, all drivers and Gunners stayed with their respective vehicles while everyone else dismounted and started moving into town, with extreme caution.

We had been in town maybe five minutes with the engines running and my wearing the radio headphones I couldn't hear anything going on outside my protective cocoon, our gunner was watching the six so he had his back to the rest of the element. I noticed that all at once everyone that had dismounted began to dive for cover and had raised their weapons to engage and kill. Obviously shots had been fired and we were under attack, our so it seemed. As usual there was a flurry of activity on the radio as the commander, Konohiki six, tried to ascess the situation. At some point in there I heard the call to have the medic come foward, our medic SSG B would probably have to expose himself to harm in order to save another life, he had already done so (saved a life) twice in the last ten days. SSG B was one of the best medics and soldiers I've ever met and I got sick to my stomach thinking he might soon be exposed to hostile fire and death. But he is a medic and that's what they do. My mind raced with different possible scenarios just ahead of me, just a hundred meters in front of me a lot of rounds had been fired and some humen being was down bleeding. "What just happened?.

We all checked our sectors for possible snipers and bomb throwers, if it was one of our men down up ahead we would find the person responsible. I thought of the tactical situation and immediate threat. We were four lightly armed vehicles and about twenty men on a narrow street with high walls and building all around us, we could be easily trapped and caught in a gauntlet of fire had there been any enemy intentions on an ambush this would be a good time for it. We had reinforcments just ten minutes away and could defend ourselves untill then, it was just a thought going through my mind, I'm sure I wasn't alone in the rapid scenario mode.

We were soon told to mount back up in our vehicle and secure the twelve o' clock posistion so the medic could bound foward and treat the wounded. I kept hoping and praying that as I moved foward I wouldn't pass a set of blood drenched DCU's or worse, American body parts. As we slowly crept foward I saw what was obviously an Iraqi man on the ground covered in blood I could also see the vehicle he had been driving and saw the windows had been shot out, I felt relieved none of "our guys" were down. We moved foward to secure the foward posistion and kept the citizens of Abyiachi at a safe distance from us. I dismounted and readied my grenade launcher scanning the walls and building for any retaliatory fire.

In a matter of perhaps ten minutes the local Iraqi Army had been summoned and brought an ambulance to take the wounded man to the hospital in Balad, even though it was we Americans that had shot this man he would not recieve any further treatment from Americans for his wounds. This is all part of the downsizing of American presence, we no longer shoot and treat we just shoot and partial treat.

We had the local authorities clear the route out of town for us and then when all seemed clear turned around and, as fast as possible, raced out the way we had come in. We were almost certain to get attacked if we took the "cleared" way out. As we raced away I couldn't help but think what the average Abyiachi citizen must be thinking, it definetly didn't improve our image and may have created more "Takfiri". From the Iraqi point of view it must have been very simple. It was the holy day, Americans came into town shot somebody that was found to be unarmed and just an average man going to market on Friday morning, and just has quickly fled. That's just the way it seemed to me at the time.

So, exactly what happened ? I will first say from what I saw and was told by the shooters it was completly justified and unfortunate. As the lead element arrived in Abyiachi the Five- Zero actual attempted to clear and secure room for the rest of us to enter town safely. To do this he had to gain control of all foot and vehicle traffic to his front. Suicide bombers can not be allowed to approach coaltion forces, and all Iraqis know that if they do not respect the space between us and them they can be percieved as a deadly threat and will be shot. ( this is life is Iraq) A vehicle with a single male occupent, and looking like the typical Vehicle Bourne Improvised Explosive Device, approached and when told to stop refused too comply, Konohiki Five-zero actual then raised his weapon and screamed for the man to stop, he instead accelerated and headed directly at our officer and his security element. The Officer had to take immediate action to protect the rest us and fired, as did his security element. There was no other option available.

This was an unfortunate encounter with the people of Iraq but it must be understood that to do anything other then exactly what was done would result in many more American deaths. The quicker we can get our men off the streets of Iraq the better off the average Iraqi will be. But we can not leave compleltly any time soon. Soon I will be adding pictures and video to past entires so please be patient, as I've said it is much easier now to be open with these entires.

Salaam Alekum

Free at last, free at last thank God almighty I am free at last!! Well I finally made it hoe after a sixteen day stay in Hawaii for demobilization. People may find this hard to understand but we "Cross level soldiers" hated it in Hawaii. Eighty percent of the people in the unit were home and feeling pretty good but us Mainland, Samoa and Guamanian guys were still waiting to see our families. I can't express how good it feels to be home and realize I don't have to go back to Iraq. I thank God for giving me a new chance at life and the chance to experience the last year.

All in all it was a good life experience and I was honored to serve with so many fantastic people. I will soon start making entries that I was pressured into avoiding and giving some real insight into what has happened in the last twelve months. I will write of a "Hero" ignored and of many "Heros" that aren't. I will give isnsight on exactly how something like "Abu Grahb" could hapeen and try to hold those REALLY responsible accountable. I will share some very personal reasons for my entries and detail some very dissapointing things that happened.

I did not make alot of entries in Jan simply because I was worried about the realiation from those in a posistion to troment me. I will explain later. right now I have a sunset over the Pacific to catch.

As we continue to await our orders releasing from this deployment we talk to each other about what exactly happened in Iraq over this past year and wonder if it will all be woth it in the end, it's some very intresting conversation and I will share much of it in upcoming blogs. Many of my fellow soldiers have asked me to continue the blog and mention our conversations, I will do this because "they" want me to. I will have to wait until I get home because things here are still confused and I want to carefully make my entries.

When we first arrived here in Hawaii we heard alot of "Welcome Home" but have been here for over two weeks and have yet to be told when we really are going home. The people of Hawaii have been fantastic and sincere and it helps, but we really want to go home. One concern for all of us is the amount of money we are spending each day. It is difficult to resist being in Hawaii and not doing the tourist thing, which costs us money. Hawaii is very nice but it's not home.

That's all for now I will have much more to say when I finally get home.

I am now in Hawaii and in the process of demobilizing or returning to the life I had for most of 2004. It took us almost thirty five hours ro get here from Kuwait and we made for stops along the way. I must admit I did not expect anything special on this trip but really didn't expect what we got. Everywhere we went we were basically hidden from view and it seemed like we were an embnarassement or something. I am sure the Government has it's reasons for not letting the public see us, I am just saying it didn't feel right. When we landed in California for two hours I was not expecting to stand out side in the wind and rain on the far side of the airport, we couldn't even see our fellow citizens.

I will make quite a few more entries when I finally make it home, this is home for most of the people in the unit and there doesn't seem to be any priority for getting usa "Cross levelers" back to our families. I sure it will be by the end of the week and things could be worse than sitting on the beach in Hawaii drinking a cold one and soaking in the sun.

It is not well to hear the news reports of more of us dying in Iraq and we are very happy to be out of there.