I'm here at FOB Gabe outside Baqubah. I don't have much time to write any personal updates, but I'll post the first three of my dispatches. Hope all of you are well.
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Four soldiers from Stalker platoon lean against an abandoned mud brick hut using night vision goggles to scan one of the main roads through the southern Diyala provinces. Convoys have suffered repeated IED (Improvised Explosive Device) attacks along this route, referred to as Detroit by the US military.

Lt. John Hintz, commander of Stalker Platoon, has peppered several kilometers of route Detroit with observation posts and sniper teams who will stay out all night. “If we see someone putting in an IED, we’re not taking detainees.” Lt. Hintz has stressed that the goal of this mission is to kill anyone involved with placing IEDs. If successful he believes the mission will make a statement to the insurgency and gather intelligence about the source of the IEDs.

This is the type of mission that fuels the members of Stalker platoon. They are part of a self-selecting group of the US Army called Cavalry Scouts (scouts for short). Traditionally commanders deploy scouts ahead of major invasions or combat actions to assess the situation on the ground. As forward observers scouts must operate in small, detached units, which require scouts to become omni-competent soldiers capable of acting in a variety of combat roles—reconnaissance, tankers, infantry, military police.

Stalker platoon member PFC Luis Santos says, “I told the recruiter I wanted to be a spy and he put me in (the Cavalry Scouts).” To become a scout soldiers must score at least seventy out of a hundred on the Army’s entrance exam, while infantry and other combat jobs have a lower standard, usually around fifty.

Though technically not considered a special operations unit, higher standards like these add an element of elitism to the scouts. They pride themselves in being unconventional soldiers who think outside the box and do dangerous jobs with the fewest casualties possible. “The infantry needs parameters, but the cav scouts don’t need anybody to hold their hand,” explains Sgt. Joseph Garcia.

Within the Army the scouts are looked upon with respectful disdain. “They think they’re God’s gift to the Army,” says Sgt. Fulbright, a tanker. Still he concedes that they’re highly skilled, effective soldiers.

Since Stalker platoon’s arrival in Iraq at the end of December, many scouts complain that the platoon hasn’t been used to its full capacity. “Ninety-percent of the time we just drive around looking for things,” says Lt. Hintz.

Constant patrols spent searching for weapons caches and IEDs have created the feeling that those in Stalker platoon has been reduced to something like low-level street cops. The new observation post mission excites soldiers. They see it as an opportunity to use their training and take a more proactive stance.

About two hours into the operation the soldiers positioned along the mud hut doubt the operation will succeed. Stray dogs have barked continuously since the soldiers’ arrival. After the dogs have barked without rest for nearly three hours, PFC Brian D’Arcangelo shakes his head, “Unbelievable.”

“They do it in rotating shifts,” jokes Sgt. John Hughes.

The desert night is too cold for any of the soldiers to sleep in rotating shifts. Everyone stays awake quietly chatting and occasionally sweeping the road with night vision goggles.

PFC Matt Graham, Stalker’s medic, tells about his friend who helped an eccentric, old man construct a time machine in the New Zealand. After nearly a month of laboring with the old man, they’d built a large, wooden pyramid. Graham’s friend watched the old man place a crystal on top and crawl into the pyramid with a jug of water. After three days the old man emerged from the time machine, hardly any of the water missing from the jug, and unwilling to talk about the time machine.

“It was weird though,” adds Graham. “My friend said that this guy looked noticeably younger.” Other conversations topics include whether it would be better to keep a monkey or a hyena as a pet, classic American television shows exiled to late-night time slots, humorous sexual encounters, and jokes about different commanders.

Further down the road a sniper team, supported by Lt. Hintz’s observation post, notices a car idle by an IED hole several times. To reduce the amount of time they’re exposed, insurgents often drop IEDs in craters from old explosions rather than digging a new hole.

The vehicle finally stops in front of an IED hole. Sgt. Haupt and SPC Joseph Taylor, the sniper team, decide to fire when one of the men in the car reaches behind his seat for something. Taylor wounds and probably kills one man with two shots from his sniper rifle, while Haupt rakes the car with two-hundred rounds from his SAW machine gun. Miraculously, the car is still able to drive away and the presumed insurgents escape.

While the mission didn’t result in any new intelligence or a fully confirmable kill, most men in the Stalker platoon are pleased with the night’s work. Lt. Hintz believes the mission probably stopped the placement of an IED, but lists the main success as a psychological victory. The insurgents, Hintz believes, will now always wonder whether or not somebody is watching.