Jan 25 2008
Gogjalee Site Visit
For some reason, Mugs seems to think everyone is bored with my FOB Life postings! I have been out and about, but I knew you would all much rather read about my new CHU. I guess I’ll change it up today and post about today’s site visit to the Gogjalee neighborhood of Mosul. The Iraqis get a huge kick out of hearing me try to pronounce the names of Iraqi towns, so I won’t bother with a phonetic description of Gogjalee.
After passing over the Tigris River heading east, we drove through one of the gates of Ninevah. Remember Jonah 1:2? “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” (The Message) The picture below is actually us heading back through the gates on our return to the FOB, but I wanted to include it first!
At the pump station, there is a family living in the operator’s building. When we arrived the women and one of the sons came out to talk to us. The father and the other sons were away, but we saw them returning as we were leaving.
I was finally prepared for the boy. I bought a pouch for my body armor to hold a stash of goodies. So I was able to give this boy a dum dum sucker and a tiger finger puppet.
After the site visits were complete, I kept my camera ready to take a picture of a particular mosque I had seen on the way out. This is the Nebi Yunus mosque, or in English, the Prophet Jonah mosque. Reportedly, in one of the rooms is a shrine to Jonah complete with whale bones.
The trip itself was very uneventful, thanks to the soldiers of the 3rd ACR. Chris Johnson’s unit, 1-8 Infantry Battalion, is part of 3rd ACR. In my trips outside the wire lately, I’ve noticed a much increased presence of US troops throughout the city. Over the last couple of days, we experienced a huge blast that leveled a three-story building followed the next day by a suicide attack that killed the Mosul Chief of Police. The Governor of Ninewa put a curfew in place, so there were no civilian cars on the road at all today. He must have seen the news reports on the TV in his office!
I do NOT find your postings boring! Mugs just happens to be an absorbing, engrossing, fascinating, riveting, gripping, compelling, compulsive, captivating, engaging, enthralling, appealing, attractive, amusing, entertaining, stimulating, thought-provoking, diverting, intriguing writer. Where does she come up with these stories? Do they really happen or does she make them up?
Anyway, Dale, thanks for the postings. I read everyone and have NEVER fallen asleep. The pictures of Ninevah were wonderful! Especially for those of us who must stay in Stafford, Virginia and miss all the sightseeing. 😉
Thanks Dennis. The snake in the house, the flying squirrel, and the sad goldfish song are all things I wish I was clever enough to invent, but I think God allows me to experience them because he knows how dearly I love to laugh. A lot of people have a laundry list of things they look for in a husband or wife. I had two things on my list: he needed to be a Christian and he needed to make me laugh. He still checks off both things on the list, but as you can tell he is a tad bit competitive. I know if I goad him enough, he’ll try to outdo me. Irritated that I dared to tell him that his FOB life postings were making not only himself, but me stir crazy, he decided to show me up by taking pictures of the gates of Ninevah and the shrine of Jonah. I really can’t outdo that.
i find anything and everything fascinating from both Mugs and DAle…tee hee
😕 YOU both are too much 🙂
love you Mugs and Dale…
that’s so dang fascinating about Jonah ….thanks for writing and sharing this with us…
SPC ROBERT IS HOME!!!!!
he got home last week and is doing good.
Lisa and Robert will be United as ONE this Feb 9th.
JT and Kat became 2 weeks ago ….
all is good here on the homefront…
i love you both and love BOTH of your readings 🙂 tee hee
don’t forget to visit your sister on myspace
http://www.myspace.com/selfdt