Oct 27 at 8:08pm by David Tate
An American commando raid into Syrian territory has resulted in the “decapitation” of the primary network responsible for facilitating the Iraqi insurgency from Syria, this according to Bill Roggio at The Long War Journal.
According to Roggio, the raid killed the group’s leader, Abu Ghadiya, as well as his entire senior leadership.
By Bill Roggio
October 27, 2008 4:51 PM
“Al Qaeda leader Abu Ghadiya was killed in yesterday’s strike inside Syria, a senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal. But US special operations forces also inflicted a major blow to al Qaeda’s foreign fighter network based in Syria. The entire senior leadership of Ghadiya’s network was also killed in the raid, the official stated.
Ghadiya was the leader of al Qaeda extensive network that funnels foreign fighters, weapons, and cash from Syria into Iraq along the entire length of the Syrian border. Ghadiya was first identified as the target of the raid inside Syria late last night here at The Long War Journal. The Associated Press reported Ghadiya was killed in the raid earlier today.”
Read More here —> The Long War Journal
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Sep 22 at 2:02pm by David Tate
I am now offering my pictures, and some video, to folks in need of images related to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. You can look at available pictures here: Available Pictures
If you cannot find what you need, ask, I may have it and just haven’t posted it yet.
I also have some video that can be licensed out (contact me directly), however most of my video clips are available here: David Tate’s Getty Collection
Photos include, but are not limited to, Afghan National Army, Romanian Army (Afghanistan), US Marines(Afghanistan), Iraqi Army and US Army (Iraq/Afghanistan). I also have images of civilians from Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan and of the first anti-Iraq War march in Washington, January 2003.
All proceeds gathered go directly to funding this site.
dtate38@cox.net
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Sep 17 at 10:10am by David Tate
As 3,500 US Marines prepare to leave southern Afghanistan following an extended tour in Helmand and Farah Provinces, the US Department of Defense announces they will be replaced by at least 2,000 fresh Marines with 3,500 additional soldiers set to land two months later.
US Marines, led by Third Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment (3/8) from Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, is expected to be in place by November and will comprise the combat element of a new Marine Air/Ground Task Force (MAGTF). 1,000 other Marines will be taken from across the Corps to complete the “ad hoc” task force.
Although the full mission of the MAGTF has not been disclosed, the Marines will most likely continue the training mission currently underway by Second Battalion, Seventh Marines (2/7), who are operating mostly in Farah Province.
3/8 will join First Division’s Second Battalion, Second Infantry Regiment, who have recently deployed to Maiwand in Kandahar Province, leaving the American overt troop total in Regional Command South at nearly 3,300 troops.
There is still no word whether replacements are coming for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is currently wrapping up operations in Helmand and Kandahar Provinces. 24 MEU, originally sent to Afghanistan as a roving combat force designed to take the fight to Taliban fighters across Helmand Province, ended up securing Garmser (Garmsir) in southern Helmand and holding it until Afghan and British reinforcements could be sent in.
Earlier this month, Fourth Kandak, Third Brigade, 205th Corps (Afghan National Army), along with British embedded trainers, took over security of Garmser as the Marines pulled back to Kandahar in preperation for the trip home to North Carolina.
10th Mountain Returns
In January, approximately 3,500 members of 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 10th Mountain Division, will also be deployed to Afghanistan. Like 3/8 Marines, 3BCT is being diverted from an announced mission to Iraq.
More Marines Coming?
Another Marine Expeditionary Unit has also recently left port for destinations unknown. The 26th MEU, based in North Carolina, is a plausible candidate to fill any void left by 24 MEU in southern Afghanistan. The 2,100 member MEU has its own air assets, is special operations capable (SOC) and overall self-sufficient.
Edit - 9/17 2042 - After re-evaluating my information I realize there may be a mistake in my assessment, forcing me to re-work this article for known accuracy. While 3BCT will “join” (as reported by the Marine Corps Times) 3/8 Marines in deploying to Afghanistan, it is not clear if they are literaly joining 3/8 to form the MAGTF or if they’re even deploying to Regional Command South at all. I apologize for the potential error.
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Sep 16 at 3:03pm by David Tate
A Battlefield Tourist is really just a name for what I do as a hobby: Collecting military video archive material for Getty Images. In 2005, I had the fortune of signing a contract with Getty, which turns out to be one of my biggest professional accomplishments.
Last month, my latest submission from Iraq made it on-line, giving me almost 690 images currently being managed by Getty; ensuring my work will be used in documentaries for years to come.
Here’s a link to the entire collection:
David Tate’s Getty Collection
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Sep 3 at 10:10pm by David Tate
Here’s a great story I had the privilege of working on today. I think you all will really enjoy it.
Meet Hayder Kharalla, an Iraqi who joined US forces as an interpreter in 2003. It was in that year, during an ambush, Hayder braved enemy fire to try to rescue a fallen US soldier. The soldier died and Hayder took a round through both legs; a wound that eventually forced doctors to remove his right leg.
Hayder would eventually move to Jordan after his family was threatened with death.
Earlier this year, Hayder and his family were part of the largest wave of Iraqis allowed to immigrate since the start of the war and they settled in Roanoke, Virginia.
Coverage of Hayder’s story by WSLS-Roanoke (NBC) led to the donation of two prosthetic limbs that he hopes will help him fulfil his American dream.
Mollie Halpern wrote this continuing coverage story and David Tate shot and edited this particular segment (which originally aired September 3 on WSLS-Roanoke at 5:30).
Video Story From WSLS Roanoke
By Mollie Halpern
Investigative Reporter
Published: September 3, 2008
A perfect fit.
Iraqi refugee Hayder Kharalla says his new prosthetic legs launch him another step forward in his life in America.
Kharalla says, “I’m really happy and so excited I’m out of words to be honest with you because I’ve been waiting for this moment since a long time, and it’s finally come.”
“Virginia Prosthetics’” made it possible for Kharalla to receive both walking *and* running prostheses.
The nearly $40,000 artificial limbs are made with the latest technology, unlike Kharalla’s old one which caused him great pain.
Kharallalost his leg while trying to save a U.S. Sergeant from crossfire.
At the time, he was an interpreter for U.S. troops in Baghdad.
Becky Stewart saw Kharalla’s story on “WSLS 10 On Your Side,” and it moved her so much that she asked her bosses if they could help.
Stewart told us, “I know what these guys can do for patients, and I knew if I could get it ok’d, they could get him where he needed to be.”
Hayder will need physical therapy to get used to his running leg. Lucas Therapies in Roanoke will provide Kharalla the physical therapy he needs, at no charge. Once Hayder gets his gait, he’ll organize a community run that will benefit the children of fallen U.S. soldiers.
That includes the U.S. sergeant Kharalla tried to save, who left behind a family.
“We laughed together, we sing together, and sometimes we cry together. So it’s a family to me they were like brothers,” says Kharalla.
Kharalla says he’s happy to call America home and is grateful for his new American friends, like Stewart.
A symbol of his patriotism proudly worn on his new limbs. A part of him, with every step he takes.
We will continue to follow Kharalla’s story, and when he organizes the charity run, we’ll be sure to pass that information on to you.
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Jul 24 at 4:04pm by David Tate
Over the past several weeks, more and more evidence is mounting that a long term US presence in the Kurdish region of Iraq is in the works.
On July 16 the mayor of Halabja, Khadr Karim Mohammad, told the Aswat al-Iraqi news agency that the regional government in Sulaimaniyah Province has agreed to sell 1,500 acres of land east of town to the Americans to build an airport. Mohammad believes the airport will actually be an American airbase.
Halabja lies just under seven miles from the border with Iran and was the scene of a massacre of more than 5,000 Kurds during one of many Saddam-era offensives that targeted Kurdish civilians and rebel fighters alike.
The report claims a second source within the provincial government acknowledges that US officials have surveyed the site several times and that the project is being paid for by the Americans. “The project is much larger than just a civilian airport…”, the unidentified source reportedly said.
While the Americans do not deny the Halabja project is underway, US officials deny the airport is a “cover” for a military base.
The report of a possible US airbase in the Kurdish region is just one of several recent suggestions that any long term US presence in Iraq will most likely include, if not be relegated to, the Kurdish region. The cities of Zakho and Arbil have also been mentioned frequently as possible sites for future US bases.
Jabr al-Yawir, spokesman for the Protection Forces of the Kurdistan Region, recently told the Gulf News that, ”A permenent US presence in the Kurdistan region is welcome and is neccesary to protect Iraq from internal and external risks…”, but that the presence must be within an “Iraqi-Kurd-American” agreement because Kurdistan is the only place a US base can be present in Iraq without continuing to fuel the insurgency.
Al-Yawir suggests that US bases in Mosul and Kirkuk are fuelling armed resistance in those areas and permenant bases in either of those regions would continue to do so.
The Gulf News report also claims that US and Iraqi officials are currently working out an agreement that will solidify a defensive agreement for years to come. Those talks are reportedly ongoing with the latest round happening in the Kurdish capital, Arbil, July 20 between US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Kurdish Regional President Barazani. Barzani has long sought a permenant US presence in his region, with or without Baghdad’s support.
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Jul 12 at 2:02pm by David Tate
US Special Forces captured an Iraqi who led them to the bodies of two 10th Mountain Division soldiers missing in Iraq for more than a year.
Sgt. Alex Jimenez, of Massachusetts, and Pvt Brian Fouty, of Michigan, have been missing since their small unit was attacked May 12, 2007 south of Baghdad. The attack also left four US soldiers and an Iraqi soldier/interpreter dead.
According to the Associated Press, Brian Fouty’s stepfather, Gordon Dibler, said that military officials who personally visited the Fouty family July 8 told him the remains of both missing soldiers were found in the village of Jurf as Sakhr, an area where members of Saddam’s top-tier security apparatus used to live.
Ambush
In the early morning hours of May 12th, 2007, seven soldiers and an Iraqi soldier/interpreter were manning an “overwatch” position on Route Malibu. Their mission: To monitor an area in the town of Qarghuli, 12 miles west of Mahmudiyah notorious for roadside bombs. The unit was part of a larger operation deployed within proximity of the road.
The Americans, using two humvees encircled by concertina wire as their position, were carrying out the often boring mission when, just before 5am, the trees and tall grass around them erupted in small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades. It’s not known how long the battle lasted, but by the end, the insurgents were within hand grenade distance.
The attack happened just 800 yards from a US base and within view of an Iraqi Army position, which ignored the fighting.
A nearby American unit that had heard the explosions couldn’t reach the soldiers using their communications equipment, which prompted them to call in an aerial drone to investigate the position. In the early dawn light the drone found the position, which was now marked by billowing black smoke from the two humvees which were heavily damaged and on fire.
45 minutes later, two units made it to the scene, both slowed by IEDs encountered on the way. When they got there, they found the bodies of four soldiers, including the Iraqi soldier, in the burning humvees. The only evidence of the other four men came in the form of blood trails and drag marks. Soldiers following one blood trail found another soldier dead in a nearby building. He had been shot.
The capture of several members of the supposed kidnap team, including two major players in December 2007, led US officials to believe that 13 criminals, hired by Al Qaeda affiliated, Islamic State of Iraq, planned and executed the attack. Evidence indicates the terrorists had practiced the assault in the days leading up to May 12th.
Following the ambush, the team split into two groups and drove off; the three Americans were with the gang’s ringleader and were alive.
Al Qaeda in Iraq quickly took credit for the attack, claiming the umbrella group, Al Qaeda in Mesopatamia, carried the assault out. The group also warned the thousands of US and Iraqi troops, who had flooded the area in an attempt to find the soldiers, to stop looking or the prisoners would be executed.
On May 23rd, the body of Joeseph Anzack Jr., of California, was pulled from the Euphrates River by civilians 30 miles south of the area of the ambush. Anzack had been shot in the head and torso plus showed signs of excessive torture. There are plausible theories that suggest Anzack was shot and dumped in the river as US forces closed in on his captors.
While the search for the two remaining men did slow down in the ensuing weeks, the US military never stopped looking for them; digging up dozens of suspected gravesites over the past year.
In June 2007, Al Qaeda released a video claiming to have killed the men, but offered no pictures of the bodies. US troops also found the ID cards of the missing soldiers in a safehouse near Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad and more than ninety miles from where the ambush took place. At that time, US military sources believed they were on the soldiers’ trail with “credible” leads taking them northeast to Iraq’s Salahuddin Province. In October, troops even recovered some of the weapons that belonged to the men, but still no sign of Jimenez or Fouty themselves.
That would all change on July 1 when US Special Forces captured a man who led them to the graves a few days later. The wondering, the questions, suffering the unknown, is now over.
Same Method of Operation?
A year earlier on June 16, 2006, not far from where the 2007 ambush/kidnapping occurred, a dozen soldiers manning a checkpoint on a bridge, also along Route Malibu, were attacked in a coordinated ambush that would later be realized as a planned kidnapping of American soldiers. The operation was a rare one for insurgents. The only other similar incident during the war happened farther south in Karbala in January 2007.
According to an Iraqi eyewitness, three humvees were manning a checkpoint on a bridge west of Yusifiyah when the checkpoint came under attack from several directions. Two of the humvees speed off and before the third could follow, it was engaged at close range by seven masked men supported by a truck bearing a heavy machine gun.
One soldier, Specialist David Babineau of Massachusetts, was killed during the initial assault. Two others, PFC Kristian Menchaca of Texas and PFC. Thomas Tucker of Oregon, were captured alive.
A month later, insurgents released a gruesome video of the two mutilated, decapitated soldiers as fighters continued to desecrate their bodies. A US military official says the men were paraded up and down Route Malibu before being killed.
The bodies were found June 19 in a ditch booby trapped with IEDs. They were found at the power plant in Jurf as Sakhr.
Abu Usama al-Tunisi, the alleged mastermind of the attack, was killed in an american airstrike in September 2006. Tunisi was also a major facilitator for foreign fighters coming into Iraq and was al-Qaeda’s emir of Yusufiyah.
Steven Dale Green’s Legacy?
There is a debate as to the motivation behind both of these attacks. Some say it’s as simple as well executed insurgent operations. However others, including al-Qaeda in Iraq, say both ambushes were in retaliation for the rape and murder of a young Iraqi girl and her family in 2006, three months before the first ambush, also west of al Mahmudiyah.
In March of that year, 15-year old Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi was gang raped by a group of paratroopers after her mother, father and five year old sister were murdered. Abeer herself was then shot and set on fire. The main perpetrator was Pvt. Steven Dale Green.
Within three months insurgents sprung the first ambush/kidnapping detailed above, targeting members of the same unit accused in the rape and murder incident. Al Qaeda claims the executions of the soldiers were carried out by Abu Hamza al-Mujaeer, possibly a member of Abeer Hamza’s family.
Whether the deaths of these 10 soldiers from Bravo, 1/502, 101st airborne and 4/31, 10th Mountain are tied to the rape and murders of the Hamza family may never be agreed on. However, the fact that both ambushes carried similar hallmarks, both ambushes happened within 25 miles of one another and the fact that both incidents ended in Jurf as Sakhr certainly suggests, at the least, the two incidents are related in some way.
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Jul 8 at 12:12pm by David Tate
In an effort to bolster its firepower in Afghanistan, the US military said July 7th, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is now in position to do just that.
The news, first reported by NBC and now CNN, is a continuing sign of US military forces ratcheting up involvement in Afghanistan.
The Abraham Lincoln, which had been supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, will be based in the Gulf of Oman where its F-18A fighter/bombers will have access to southern Afghanistan, and beyond, via overflights of Pakistan.
The move follows remarks last week by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates showing great concern over the rise in violence seven years into the Afghan war.
In April, a “one-time” surge of 2,200 US Marines landed in southern Afghanistan after a year of near-hollow wrangling to get the international community to send more troops to the fledgling government’s aid. That unit, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, was extended 30 more days July 3rd.
In June, President Bush announced his intentions to bolster US ground forces in Afghanistan by two Regimental Combat Teams before July 2009. That move would increase US ground forces in that central asian country to roughly 40,000, up from the present level of 31,000. However, in a speech last week, the president acknowledged the tough time in Afghanistan, suggesting more troops could be in country by the end of the year.
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Sep 19 at 3:03pm by David Tate
Tuesday afternoon I picked up a real short flight to FOB Falcon to begin my third, and last, embeddment. This time I would be hooking up with 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, Third Infantry Division (Mechanized). These guys are currently operating southeast of Baghdad in an area that hasn’t had a sustained coalition presence for the past 18 months and is said to be filled with Al Qaida in Iraq. Since I didn’t get to Falcon until the afternoon, I was in no hurry to get out that same day, so I took advantage of the time to get some laundry done and catch up on some rest.
Embedding poses a ton of different challenges that are rarely seen or talked about, including how to get clean clothing. These FOBs have laundry services, problem is, they have a 72 hour turnaround, which in my case, is impossible to do. I usually just wash my clotes in the shower, but as you can imagine, that can get old and rarely does it get your clothes clean. So I have to give a “shoutout” to the nice lady from KBR who listened to my plight and got my stuff done in four hours!! Must’ve been a record!!
I got a good night’s sleep and was up early Wednesday to get on a logistics convoy heading out to 1/30, which is the area directly southeast of Baghdad. To get there, our convoy of HMMWV’s and large trucks (I do not know their designation) had to make our way through a portion of southern Baghdad that has cost this unit some casualties. As always, any sort of ground transportation is a scary venture. In fact it can be so scary, that ABC News is no longer allowed to do them. IED’s are frightening not only because they are killers, but because they always make you fear for your life, whether you get hit by one or not, and here I am in a large convoy heading through an area that is just coming under US control.
Fortunately, the trip was eventless and we made it to our first stop of the day, a brand new base called Patrol Base Hawkes. Engineers have been working hard to stand the base up for the past five days and it’s going up rather quickly. The area originally had a base, 18 months ago, that didn’t last but three weeks once the upper brass realized the supply lines were not sustainable. With the surge in effect, things have changed a bit and 1/30 was making plans to stay.
This is important as the Iraqi Volunteers, now called “Concerned Citizens”, started taking off in the area as it has over a number of areas in Iraq. People are just getting tired of the thugery handed out by Al Qaida and are looking toward the US for help. You cannot get people to cooperate on a regular basis if you don’t have a sustained presence to instill confidence. So 1/30 stood up Patrol Base Murray a few months back and are now working on PB Hawkes.
There really isn’t much to PB Hawkes just yet, but that’s quickly changing and will be operational by October. This is helping to convince locals to take their futures in their own hands and help the coalition. Win, win situation. Actually, the Americans have already handed an 8 sq/km area over to the Concerned Citizens who have literally been taking the fight to Al Qaida. Not only that, but the intell provided by these people is proving invaluable.
I spent most of the day at PB Hawkes taking pictures and hanging out with the troops before backtracking to PB Murray, where I’ll be staying for the rest of my time. At both Patrol Bases, the dust is just incredible. They call it “moondust”, but you mightas well call it seven inches of baby powder; as fine as I’ve seen it since Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan.
The soldiers here say PB Murray used to the Usay or Quday’s summer retreat. Whether that’s true or not, I can’t confirm, but whoever used to own it was certainly rich. It’s a large mansion located right on the banks of the Tigris River. You can tell there were once lush vegetation gardens here as well as elaborate rock gardens that included waterfalls, a dock and a swimming pool. The remnants are still here, but the feel is long gone. Now it’s home to Bradley Fighting Vehicles and infantry that are itching to take on Al Qaida.
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Sep 18 at 1:01am by David Tate
Mahmudiyah is a mixed pot of Sunni and Shia Muslims, with the the Sunni sect dominating the countryside and the Shia sect primarily within the city of Mahmudiyah itself. As the sectarian stew bubbles, those lines are constantly fluid with one side chasing the other out, in a fight to purify that particular sects’ area.
Monday, I got another chance at a patrol with the same platoon I did the air assault with the night before. Actually, I learned they were going on patrol and asked to go, gaining permission just moments before they punched out. Of course, that made me almost late once again, and I made it to the outgoing convoy of four HMMWV’s just in time. In fact, as my ass hit the right rear seat of truck #4, we immediately rolled out of the gate.
Mahmudiyah is in terrible shape. As you go into town, a majority of the shops are closed down. There’s trash everywhere and other stark reminders of how difficult life must be for these people. Farther in, businesses are open, heavy equipment is digging up the main square (which contained a monument of sorts that sported a large painting of Muqtada al-Sadr) and people are going about there business. The one image I want to retain is that of a playground up on a hill, its slide slightly twisted, unused for what looked like eternity… like out of a spooky movie. Even though I did see a trash truck with men loading it, the streets were just filthy. I’ve never been here before, so it’s impossible to compare it to its previous state, but it certainly reminded me of the poorer areas of some third world countries I’ve seen in the past.
As we moved along, the females generally ignore us, the males just stare at us, but occasionally a child or a teen would smile or give the thumbs up. A far cry from the types of greetings I was used to seeing in Afghanistan.
Today we were heading to a small Sunni enclave within the city itself. We had heard the Jaish al-Mahdi militia (devoted to al-Sadr) had previously ran the people off, who were now returning home. Lt. Cleveland’s assignment was to assess the situation and report back his findings.
As we piled out of the HMMWV’s, we’d unexpectedly picked up the “Light Horse” choppers as overhead watch (Kiowa attack choppers), which provided a sense of security beyond our means and those of the Iraqi Army that was already there. We were met at the front gate of the first home by a woman and some of her sons who were eager to show us what had happened. In a nutshell, the woman told Lt. Cleveland that they had been chased out and when they returned, everything was gone.
As we walked past a group of girls and young ladies near the front of the house, they tried to hide their smiles. “Salaam Alikeum”, I said. “Walikum Salaam”, they replied. I kept my camera down and my eyes averted because in this culture, the mixture of women and non-family men is not normally an appreciated situation. I kept walking.
Inside, as the woman said, it was stripped bare. Nothing left at all. I broke out my cameras and started recording both video and stills. At this point, the men realized I was a journalist and were more than eager to have me come to their homes to document the damage. Most of the homes were completely gutted and burned out, as were their vehicles. I signaled for a young boy to come toward me, then I took his picture and showed him the result. That earned me a burst of laughter from all the men and boys. It’s a trick that always works, even in the shadows of their burned out homes.
In all, six families had dared to return. Lt. Cleveland sat down with one of the men to get his version of events and asked that he call him if the JAM members returned. The man said he would, and we moved on. Outside, another man was talking with Lt. Cleveland, so I walked up to listen in on the conversation. It was clear that made the man very uncomfortable and he asked that they speak alone. I obliged instantly. I would later learn that the man had information on local insurgent activity and info on those that burned his home, but in the presence of me and/or the Iraqi Army, he didn’t want to talk about it. Here in Iraq, fear and distrust rule the day.
As our patrol pushed on, our next mission was to head to Route Tampa, a most dangerous and important highway that bisects that country. It is surrounded by fence and Iraqi Army posts, but still manages to produce a significant number of IEDs. Lt. Cleveland was tasked with finding out what the IA was going to do about it. This same stretch of highway made the news recently when a double suicide car bombing brought down a highway overpass, killing several Americans. This attack is the epitome of how the news can mismanage perception back home. While the attack did bring down the overpass, this bridge was not an active, working overpass, but a place where the soldiers had created a battle position. My perception of the event, when it happened, was that it was some major blow to the transportation infrastructure, and that was not the case.
All along route Tampa in this area, these overpasses are where IA soldiers live and defend the route. Somehow, in between them, the insurgents manage to plant IED after IED. I wondered how they could do this, considering the road is asphalt? Apparently they pour gasoline on the road to soften it up, pick the asphalt out and then bury the explosives before resurfacing the spot. I saw literally several dozen holes dotting the side of the highway from previuos explosions. I can only imagine how many people have died or been horrificaly injured here. The process of getting these IEDs buried is not an easy task and I could only wonder how in the hell no one would see this activity. In defense of the Iraqi Army, they do not have night vision, but it still seems like a lot of trouble is right under their noses.
At most of the battle positions we visited, there were no officers. “A lot of these guys are just taking up air”, complained one soldier. However again, in the IA’s defense, this section of Tampa was just assigned to the IA working out of Mahmudiyah. Their success as a unit is earning them a bigger battlespace which is stretching them to the limit. One thing for sure, though: These battle positions are 100% Iraqi Army, all the way down the road. They have armored vehicles, weapons and many have body armor. Again it isn’t perfect, but it appears that the IA is starting to stand on its own (with US guidance).
After returning to base, the rest of my day was spent writing the various things I need to get working on (including this post) and getting the pertinent information I need to write future articles. I also got in a nice nap where I was again assaulted with some very strange dreams.
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