Good evening all.

Another Friday and its another day marked off the calendar to coming home.

Things are going pretty smooth, some hiccups here and there but who doesn't have those, right?

We had some vehicle maintenance this week and that's one thing I like about the army, you learn how to do many things and don't need any schooling or training.

You basically just dive right in and learn on the job training.

Ever since I joined the army I've always helped out the mechanics to get to know my vehicle a little better each and every time.

After you finish working on a vehicle it feels great, well, to me at least.

The reason being is that you work so long and so hard to accomplish the political tasks to hopefully help out a cause.

In this case you accomplish something that day and you feel good about it and the next day maybe another vehicle to finish working on.

It's a good feeling to accomplish something and not wait and wait to see if you made any change in the job that I was trained in.

Good things do come from what we do though at times, just takes a while to kick in and see it.

This week also included some guard time for a base that is underway.

We moved into a town that is heavily populated with the enemy.

We are right now in the process of building a base to maintain order.

The engineers are building the walls, the communications....building better comms with the main base that I live on and then you have the infantry doing walking patrols, sweeping through to make sure everything is peaceful for the moment.

Don't get me wrong, it's not peaceful all the time.

As military police, we helped out to man guard towers, so that things can

run smoothly in the building process.

When told about this mission, we heard of the daily schedule of what goes on in this area.

We have occasional popped shots, grenades thrown at our walls, suspicious packages or bags on the roads near by just waiting for a walking patrol or convoy.

Don't forget about the mortar attacks, very few ever hit because the enemy doesn't have the equipment we have to hit the target.

During our 5 day camp out we had a couple explosives in the distance, grenade thrown near our outer wall, popped shots near by.

This is pretty much a daily thing for this new base and we knew what to expect.

The nights were cold and long, dogs howling in the distance, cats having their quarrels, cows and donkeys, upset because they can't get any sleep from the noise.

The roosters calling out in the middle of the night, when they are suppose to be doing that at the crack of sunlight.

Nights were pitch black and you would scare yourself to a point where you pop on the radio to make sure your other guys are awake.

So the guard tower was interesting time, many experiences.

The days aren't as loud as the nights.

The days are occasional people in the neighborhood walk by and flip you the bird while you are in the tower.

Cars driving by, kids playing or walking to the nearby school.

It all seems like a quiet and peaceful town.

This all doesn't change though when people throw grenades or shoot at us, they all know they're safe, we are the targets not them.

All in all it's a tough situation we are in.

Can't tell who the enemy is because it could be any one of them, but as a soldier you need to keep an open mind towards the people, yeah we are all mad for the things the enemy does but you can't use that hatred towards all the people.

The one thing I learned from the first engagement is that you can't trust everyone, you get the occasional couple you can count with two hands that are totally for their country and respect what we do.

There's those you can't trust as far as you can throw them even though they say they're on our side.

Coming out of this week was a success, we all came home from accomplishing our mission, things went smoothly in the process of building the new base, and I'm awake another day to see the sun come up.

Soon enough I'll be home to see the family and hang out with them for a couple of weeks.

All in good time.

I'm glad I could write you some good news, finally.

You all have a safe weekend and thanks for tuning in to here my boring letters.

Thanks again Mr. Cianciola.

Yours Truly,

Dan Lyon