Danes & Soccer

15 May 07
The Danish got into quite a fight yesterday in downtown Basrah. It wasn’t clear in the briefing how the fight began other than three of their platoons were operating in northern Basrah when they were contacted by the insurgents.

Early in the fight they had one member critically wounded and called for medical evacuation. When the aircraft arrived on the scene they were expecting one critically wounded casualty but were loaded with four lesser casualties. They evac’ed them back to our base where the RAF medical team caught them at the helicopter landing station (HLS).

In what must have been a heartbreaking scene, the critically wounded soldier the helicopter was originally sent for was trapped in a building at the center of the heaviest fighting. His comrades were unable to evacuate him to the helicopter because the fighting had simply gotten to intense. The Danish warrior passed away in a stranger’s home in southern Iraq.

In all there were some seven casualties but because the helicopters were able to respond so quickly they were able to save all but one. Four RAF Regiment troops were with the Danes during the fight and their commander briefed at prayers this a.m. that his men found a new respect for the Danish and their fighting abilities.

Our bldg is just two doors down from the HLS. When the ambulance took off out of the HLS he hit the siren and we all dove to the floor and started wrestling on our gear. A second later Adnan told us it was an ambulance and not the attack alarm.

Today was a fun day with the Iraqis. I signed them up to play soccer in the multinational force intramural league. They played their first game today. They were late (they were on "ensha Allah time") so had no time to warm up. They took the field and the game began almost immediately. The British team scored two goals within the first two minutes of the game.

The Iraqis LOVE western women. There were two girls on the British team and it distracted the Iraqis. At one point one of the girls took Khalid down. He later said to me, “I was very happy for this accident”…too funny.

Our guys looked hapless and it seemed like the game would be a rout but after the second goal our guys collected themselves, found their footing and pressed the attack. Nader scored two goals followed by Hyder who scored the third goal.

In the final two minutes the British pressed hard but came up short. The Iraqis won the game 3-2. All of the USAF guys were there to cheer them on. We genuinely wanted to see them win. It was good for them. Next up: the Czechs. I met them today…surprisingly they talked a lot of trash.