March 3, 2007 Rockets Fall on Camp Cedar II in Iraq

It's Saturday afternoon and I'm riding in the car, coming back from Ikea. My grandchildren are in the back, I'm reading them a book. My neighbor is driving because she has a Prius making the trip a lot cheaper. :-) My cell phone rings, it's my daugther, a 1LT in the Army. She sounds tired as usual. I'll call her Little Paws.

She has to stay up late or get up during the night to call while the girls are awake. She talks to them and then to me. She tells me the Camp was under fire today. I ask what she means; bullets, mortar, what? She says it was rockets. I asked if anyone was hurt and she says, "yes, one person". I asked if they were injured or dead, she can't tell me. Was the person military or civilian? She can't tell me! I ask how many buildings were damaged, she can't tell me. I ask why she can't tell me since it will be on CNN in a minute. She says, "no, it won't", I don't understand, she explains that only things in high profile areas like Baghdad get reported? "Yes, I'll have to write you a letter", she says.

I don't understand because I was under the impression from others that had been to Iraq that Camp Cedar was "safe" as far as locations in Iraq go. I say that to my daugther. She tells me it's because Baghdad is so something or the other; my head is spinning because everything I thought I knew is now wrong, I don't get what she said. She says the insurgents had to go South to unprotected bases to create destruction because it was harder for them in Baghdad now. I ask if Cedar II is unprotected and she says, "yes".

I asked her if there had been any advanced warning, she said, "no". I wanted to know if they were able to get to the bunkers, she said they were. I guess that's why more people were not hurt.

It was only about 1 or 1.5 weeks ago when she called and said mortars had fallen right outside the gate. I wondered then; what was going? All I could do was hope that was the last of it. Yeah, right!