Wrap-up from FOB Loyalty

FbL says: pictures coming soon. Meanwhile, here's the latest from Bob...

We were amazed that we were allowed into the meeting with Iraqi Army generals and their staffs, an Australian general, our American GEN Campbell, and many more. It was a high-security meeting to discuss everybody working together on security issues in this area of Eastern Baghdad.

We thought we were finished here with our interviews after our last post last night, but we have had the great privilege of interviewing the 2IBCT Commander, LTC Bannister, last night. He gave a great overview of the total picture in this area of Eastern Baghdad.

After we interviewed him, LTC Bannister invited us into another high-security meeting that he led, and which included the Battalion and Unit leaders. It was their nightly security/update meeting where they shared intelligence, briefed on apprehended insurgents, and much more. The briefing room was so high tech--it was amazing! We will not share most of what we heard there and witnessed, due to obvious security reasons. But there were big screens--two of them--on which we watched aerial footage of the Baghdad area from a balloon and a Predator aircraft circling high overhead. We also saw charts and graphs and much more.

We are very thankful for the trust they have placed in us by allowing us into these high-level meetings.

After this meeting, we were privileged to sit down--for our last interview here--with the 2nd BCT Chaplain, Major Zust. We will have more on this interview in our next post when my notes are in front of me. This 21-year veteran Major had a strong message for our churches and people of faith.

We will have our next report in the next day or two, as we head for a new location and more interviews with our heroes here who are doing an absolutely Great Job!!!