Staying busy, getting things done

Our work load has increased substantially as of late. We now spend much more time outside of the wire and lose a little more sleep than before. I know that our families back home prefer that we stay inside the base at all times, but our new schedule enables us to make an even greater impact here. It not only allows us to make the area safer and freer of insurgent activity, but it also gives us increased opportunity to interact with the locals in a positive way. The last few weeks we have given out several boxes of shoes and clothing to communities that we had not been able to reach before now. We’ve also been more successful at nabbing bad guys. In the weeks since I’ve been back from leave we managed to capture a heavy hitter in this area. We are reasonably sure that he is one of the men responsible for the murder of a fellow soldier. Our efforts have led to the capture of several men in a prominent insurgent cell. For various reasons we have detained many people since we arrived in country, but it often feels like we’re engaged in some sort of catch-and-release program due to lack of evidence. I’m confident that this one is going to be different. We are likely to be the first platoon to get a conviction. And not only did we catch a suspected insurgent, but one who is believed to have killed one of our own.