I expect that this will be the last post to this blog. I am back in the States and getting ready to get back to Colorado. We arrived back in California on Monday and have been doing out-prossessing and gear turn in. I should be home shortly and will be looking forward to settling down and having some time off. I expect to return to Northrop-Grumman and will begin work in a couple of weeks.

For all those who sent care packages, letters, prayers, support and well wishes thank you. Our team made it home safe and in one piece and healthy. All the best and look forward to catching up with all of you when I get the chance.

Well folks, this is the blog that I have been waiting to write, we are getting ready to leave Iraq for the States!!!! So, this will be the last blog that I will be writing from the Land of the Two Rivers. We will be heading to Kuwait in a couple of days and then after a brief holdover we will be heading back to the States. I expect that we should be back to California in early October and back to Colorado a short week later!

Overall this has been an eye opening experience. I have seen and heard from alot of different Iraqis from many different walks of life. The Iraqi people are in a state of flux trying to decide what they want to do with their future. We are seeing many more standing up to the insurgents and taking control of their situation. This war will have a positive outcome, it might take some time, but the time will come when US forces are out of the country and the Iraqis are governing themselves.

I will have plenty of time to pass on my opinions at a later date about the state of this country and how I think things are going. All we are concerned about now is getting home, having a beer and good food and reconnecting with friends and family. Thanks for all the letters, support and good wishes for me and the team that I worked with in Al Asad. I look forward to seeing everyone again soon. All the best, Dave.

Here it is, already a month since my last posting. It has been busy and we are looking forward to heading back to the states very soon. It continues to be hot, but the nights are more comfortable. Things continue to be quiet in the AO, even with Ramadan coming up. We are expecting, as I am sure the news has said, a spike in the violence. But we are hoping that it is less than it has been in the past.
This part of Iraq, the Anbar Provence, has remained a fairly stable place, with most of the violence happening in Baghdad and the surrounding area. If you listen to the news much of the information is about Baghdad and nothing else. The is not many mentions of previous hot spots such as Ramadi and Fallujah. The Iraqi people are starting to man up and take control of the country. Now the media and the Congress will say that progress is unacceptable and too slow for their liking. But progress is being made throughout the country. 60 Minutes recently did a story about the Kurdish area of Iraq. If you want to see the progress that is being made in some areas look there. In time, the rest of Iraq should be able to mimic their progress.
Enough about my rantings. We are in the midst of a turnover and my email address will be changing in five days. No longer will it be david.bennett@acemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil, but rather, david.bennett@gcemnf-wiraq.usmc.mil. So for the last few weeks we are in country that is the best .mil address to drop me a line. You can still use my MSN address to contact me as well. I am looking forward to getting back to the states and having a burger and beer with everyone and seeing the mountains again. Iraq is mostly hot and flat, I want cold and hilly!!! That is all for now. To all those of you who sent cards, packages, emails, had me in your prayers, and support our troops in Iraq I want to say thank you. We could not do what we do without you.

While in Iraq there are things that you become disconnected with being so far away from home. Events of this past week has brought those things back into sharp focus. Two events stand out in my mind, one good and one sad. I got the announcement from a friend that I deployed with in 04 that he and his girlfriend have announced a wedding date. They are two great people that will be very happy together. I wanted to pass my congratulations to them and I very much look forward to their upcoming wedding once I get back from Iraq.

The second is one of the sadder events that I have had to deal with. I found out that a former student and fantastic young man passed a week ago. I have been trying to figure out how to express my feelings to his family, and I cannot. I know that he was a great young man, served his country on uniform and was preparing for another deployment to Iraq. It is hard to grasp from such a distance the sadness that is being felt by the community and the people that knew Ted well. My deepest sympathies go to his family and his friends, I wish I could have been there to support all of you.

These types of events remind you of what is important; family, friends and the events that define life. I wish everyone health and healing in the times that cause both sadness and great joy.

Well hello again. It has been a month since my last post, sorry, but time flies when you are having fun. Not to much to report from the sand box. It is hot, 120+ is our daily high, no clouds and a hot wind. It amazes me that 110 can feel comfortable, and at times it does. Things continue to go well for the team and we are beginning to count down the days until we rotate back to the States. We are not exactly sure of our return date yet, or when the Colorado crew will actually get back to CO, but it will be coming soon.

I do want to pass along some incites from my side of the world. I know watching the news it seems like things are not getting better in Iraq. But believe me they are. In the Al Anbar Provence things have changed dramatically. Once considered the deadliest place in Iraq, Anbar has quieted down significantly. The surge here has worked. Public works projects in the cities are in full swing and the infrastructure of the cities is being rebuilt. If you are only able to watch the news it does not seem so, but it is happening.

One of the guys on the team made a great point to me the other day. The way our media reports the war they only talk about the bad things that are happening. His example was a great one. He said: When do you hear about teachers in the media? Only when one does something bad, sleeps with a student or some other form of misconduct. You never hear about the teachers who change kids lives for the positive and do great things for their students. The same is true here in Iraq. What do you hear about in the media? The violence in Baghdad, misconduct by service members or other less than flattering things about the young men and women fighting in this war. You never hear about the medical treatment provided by service members helping the sick, the rebuilding of the schools, the opening of new hospitals, the rebuilding of roads, the fixing of the basic services infrastructure neglected by Saddam while he built palaces for himself and his family with the money meant for the people of Iraq.

Politicians are pandering to the popular opinion of the people who are not willing to listen to the good things that are happening in this county. Is the country perfect? No, and we have a ways to go to get Iraq and the Iraqi people back on their feet. But I have had the chance to talk to Iraqis who are eternally grateful that we entered Iraq, deposed Saddam and are helping to rebuild the country. Many of the Iraqi's that I have spoken with are embarrassed by the conduct of their countrymen who are causing the destruction of the country. They are even more appalled by the outsiders from Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other countries that are coming to Iraq and killing Iraqis, American and Coalition Forces.

This is just my opinion. You may not agree and still want the immediate withdrawal of American and Coalition Forces from this country. But what if we had not helped rebuild Germany and Japan after World War 2 and South Korea after the Korean War? Think about it. It is our responsibility to finish the job we started in Iraq. As long as public opinion and the spineless politicians in Washington bash what we are trying to do they provide the strength for the insurgency and people destroying what we are helping rebuild to continue their fight. Remember, the United States struggled to become a unified nation after we gained our independence from England. Most of the world did not recognize the legitimacy of the US government until after the War of 1812 and we still had to fight a civil war before the US was truly one nation.

Just the thoughts of a service member. Thank you to everyone for your support of me and the Marines that I serve with. I know the American people support the troops and what we are doing. If we all supported the government the same way we would be unbeatable.

To all at the USOC, thank you very much for the two huge boxes of shirts, hats, pants and all the other goodies included. I have now outfitted the entire team in Olympic and games gear. We kind of look like USOC-Iraq around the compound. The clothing is great and all the people on the team greatly appreciate the generosity!!!! I have included a picture of us in the some of the gear (the second box came two days later). You all are fantastic.

All is going well here. The weather is still hot, the work is consistent and the team is all doing well. I do not have any deep thoughts at this time, but I will say that the Anbar province is much more quiet than it has been in many years. I hope I didn't just jinx us, but the surge has worked in this area. Keep the faith in the troops here, we are winning, slowly, but we are winning!

More to come, hope all is well!

This picture was supposed to the below blog, so read the blog, then look back up at the picture.

I wanted to drop a line and tell everyone who sent a package, card or email for my birthday Thank you Thank you Thank you. I cannot tell you all how much I appreciate all the cards, car packages and emails that were sent. It always a huge morale booster to receive mail, but it is even greater when it happens on a birthday. So to everyone, THANK YOU!!!!!! I feel very lucky to have so many people looking out for me while I am here. Thanks especially to all of you who look out for Caroline while I am out of town. It is much easier to deal with the separation here, because I am with other separated people.

So to all of you supporting me and my team from the States, we say Thank You!