My apologies for not posting for two months...events prevented me from blogging regularly until now. Suffice it to say that I am home with my wife and children now, and very happy about it. We are currently attending an OPC and just enjoyed our first trip to church together as a family in quite a while. Thank you for all your prayers and words of encouragment. I may begin to blog again at some point in the future, but for now this site will remain dormant.
Semper Fidelis, and Soli Deo Gloria!
Judd Wilson
26 November 2007
26 September 2007
26 September AD 2007
Date: 26 September AD 2007
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Status: doing well
Bible Memorization:
Proverbs 19:12-17 (1587 Geneva Bible version)
Psalm 119:153
Bible Readings:
Deut 25-26
Philippians 3
Psalm 26
Proverbs 26
Military/theological reading:
approx 40 pages of Battles of the Bible by Mordecai Gichon and Chaim Herzog
Exercise:
pull-ups: 20-14-15-14-15
160 crunches
30 min run, 6.0 mph, 1.0% incline
Main activities:
studying
memorization and review
High:
IM with my wife
Low:
it seems like there's still too many days until I leave Iraq!
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Status: doing well
Bible Memorization:
Proverbs 19:12-17 (1587 Geneva Bible version)
Psalm 119:153
Bible Readings:
Deut 25-26
Philippians 3
Psalm 26
Proverbs 26
Military/theological reading:
approx 40 pages of Battles of the Bible by Mordecai Gichon and Chaim Herzog
Exercise:
pull-ups: 20-14-15-14-15
160 crunches
30 min run, 6.0 mph, 1.0% incline
Main activities:
studying
memorization and review
High:
IM with my wife
Low:
it seems like there's still too many days until I leave Iraq!
18 September 2007
Welcome to Camp Ramadi
Today I rode on a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter to Ar Ramadi, in Al Anbar province here in Iraq. Until the last year, Ramadi - and Anbar province in general - was the deadliest place in Iraq. Populated exclusively by Sunni Iraqis, the anti-American insurgency was strongest here until the Al Qaeda forces bit the Sunni hands that fed them. Al Qaeda's undoing in Iraq is, ironically, its own fault. Cutting off fingers as a penalty for smoking, killing children for playing with soccer balls given by our troops (and then planting bombs in their gutted bodies to kill their parents who come to collect their remains), and trying to intermarry with the daughters of local Sunni leaders who traditionally only marry within the tribe or clan (like in the Bible).
So Anbar, and Ramadi, switched sides in the war and are now the strongest allies we have in the fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq. They still hate us, but they hate Al Qaeda more.
Today the Vice President of Iraq, a Mr. Hashiemi, along with the Governor of Anbar province, many robed and turban-clad sheiks, the commanding general of the Marines in Anbar, and General Petraeus' British deputy commanding general visited Camp Ramadi to commemmorate the release of dozens of reformed detainees. That is, they were Iraqis who had served a sentence in prison, undergone counseling and rehab, and were now being sent out to be law-abiding citizens in the new Iraq.
It was neat to see all this up-close. Along with my boss, I escorted twelve Iraqi journalists (whose picture I don't want to post for fear that they may suffer reprisals) to Ramadi for the ceremony. They were funny guys. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I could tell whether they were sleepy, nauseous, bored, or joking around by their expressions. And they know the word "Marine." They were respectful, more or less. More like the slackers in high school who got straight C's for lack of effort not intelligence. Cut-ups.
The flight out exposed me to the real desert in Iraq. It is a vast, trackless wasteland. I saw sheep wandering in the middle of it and wondered where they thought they were going. Oh, how many parallels I could draw between those sheep and human beings!
Most significantly for me, it was my first trip to Al Anbar province, where almost all Marines in Iraq serve. For me therefore the trip was an especially poignant reminder that I am a Marine -- which is easy to forget living here in an Army world at Camp Victory. Troops here and in the Green Zone have no reason to complain. A few hours in Ramadi illustrated the vast gulf in living conditions between troops on the front lines and those in the rear with the gear. Such has always been the case, I believe, if war fiction and histories are accurate.
I have just under 60 days to go in Iraq and am looking forward to going home. God has been so good to me and mine -- praise the Lord! I look forward to having more tales to tell before I leave.
17 September 2007
17 Sept AD 07
Hi everybody,
I was doing my cool-down stretches tonight outside of our little gym here, listening to some hymns on my mp3 player, watching a star twinkle light years away, and thought I should share this thought with you. Many times I have walked "home" after work, or jogged "home" after a workout, and looked at the same stars that Abraham, then Abram, looked at before he left Ur. I have always found that incredible. If it weren't for the heat, dust, Islam, and the war, I might want to move here. But, at least for now it is neat to think that I can be in a place that has witnessed more comings and goings than just about any other location on the earth.
Praise the Lord! He is good.
Date: 17 September AD 2007
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Status: great
Bible Memorization:
Proverbs 17:15-21 (1587 Geneva Bible version)
Psalm 119:143-145
Bible Readings:
Deut 12-13
Galatians 1-2
Psalm 17
Proverbs 17
Exercise: (felt tired)
pull-ups: 20-17-10-13-11
155 crunches
30 min run, 6.0 mph, 0.5% incline
Main activities:
work
memorization and review
High:
IM with my wife
Low:
missing my family
I was doing my cool-down stretches tonight outside of our little gym here, listening to some hymns on my mp3 player, watching a star twinkle light years away, and thought I should share this thought with you. Many times I have walked "home" after work, or jogged "home" after a workout, and looked at the same stars that Abraham, then Abram, looked at before he left Ur. I have always found that incredible. If it weren't for the heat, dust, Islam, and the war, I might want to move here. But, at least for now it is neat to think that I can be in a place that has witnessed more comings and goings than just about any other location on the earth.
Praise the Lord! He is good.
Date: 17 September AD 2007
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Status: great
Bible Memorization:
Proverbs 17:15-21 (1587 Geneva Bible version)
Psalm 119:143-145
Bible Readings:
Deut 12-13
Galatians 1-2
Psalm 17
Proverbs 17
Exercise: (felt tired)
pull-ups: 20-17-10-13-11
155 crunches
30 min run, 6.0 mph, 0.5% incline
Main activities:
work
memorization and review
High:
IM with my wife
Low:
missing my family
28 August 2007
28 August AD 2007
Date: 28 August AD 2007
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Status: feeling well
Bible Memorization:
Proverbs 17:28-18:5
Psalm 119:123-125
Reading:
finished a very abridged version of Calvin's Institutes a few days ago
finished a great book today on the start of the Civil War called Lincoln Takes Command
Exercise: (yesterday)
pull-ups: 20-21-17-14-14 (86)
150 crunches (95-20-20-15)
30 min run, 6.0 mph
Best meal:
brownies from my wife
Main activities:
studying
High:
telling my wife how much I love her and miss her, and telling her how I felt when I first met her
Low:
I'm still in Iraq!
Joke of the Day:
true story: I recently memorized a few proverbs dealing with lying, bribes, and fools by associating a different Democrat presidential candidate with each!
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Status: feeling well
Bible Memorization:
Proverbs 17:28-18:5
Psalm 119:123-125
Reading:
finished a very abridged version of Calvin's Institutes a few days ago
finished a great book today on the start of the Civil War called Lincoln Takes Command
Exercise: (yesterday)
pull-ups: 20-21-17-14-14 (86)
150 crunches (95-20-20-15)
30 min run, 6.0 mph
Best meal:
brownies from my wife
Main activities:
studying
High:
telling my wife how much I love her and miss her, and telling her how I felt when I first met her
Low:
I'm still in Iraq!
Joke of the Day:
true story: I recently memorized a few proverbs dealing with lying, bribes, and fools by associating a different Democrat presidential candidate with each!
16 August 2007
busy days
It's been a busy past few days, mostly due to driving around and making travel arrangements for various media - NBC, FOX, CBS, PBS... and having early days and late nights. Today things got back to normal, thankfully. We're all expecting an onslaught of media to arrive in the next few weeks to cover the assessment of the surge. So September should be busy. But it'll make the time go by quickly, which is good. And I have a liberty pass to look forward to at the end of September - going to Qatar for a few days of R&R. I thank the Lord for that!
The Lord has blessed my workouts - I've gotten to doing 20 pull-ups in a row (the hard way for me, with palms facing away, using the back more than the arms). That is a great blessing and an answer to prayer.
I'm in Proverbs 16 now...2/3 of the way through my goal of memorizing the first 24 chapters of the book before I go home...and of course my goal is to finish the other 7 chapters shortly thereafter.
Mostly, I spend my days looking forward to going home to my wife and kids!! Thanks to everyone for their love, support and prayers.
S/F,
Judd
The Lord has blessed my workouts - I've gotten to doing 20 pull-ups in a row (the hard way for me, with palms facing away, using the back more than the arms). That is a great blessing and an answer to prayer.
I'm in Proverbs 16 now...2/3 of the way through my goal of memorizing the first 24 chapters of the book before I go home...and of course my goal is to finish the other 7 chapters shortly thereafter.
Mostly, I spend my days looking forward to going home to my wife and kids!! Thanks to everyone for their love, support and prayers.
S/F,
Judd
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