What Are We Fighting For?

A biweekly article series by

Chief Master Sergeant Bob Anderson

I’m Chief Master Sergeant Bob Anderson, and I’m honored to be writing to you from

Balad Air Base in Iraq.

I’ve been in Iraq since July 24, 2005.  During this time, I’ve been sending email updates to my wife to send out to our personal distribution list.  Since doing this, she receives emails from people she doesn’t even know, requesting to be added to her distribution list.  The updates are popular, not because they want to know about me necessarily, but because my updates provide a real picture of what is really going on here in our ongoing fight for freedom.  Of course I update on the weather conditions and the difficulty faced, but more importantly, I update on what I call my “kids”.  My kids are all of the troops here serving in our nations military.  Most have volunteered to be here, partly to fight a war for freedom for the people here, but mostly to help ensure the continued freedom in our great United States of America.

When you read the paper or turn on the TV, trust me, you are not getting the real story.  I am so proud to be serving with these troops.  Their bravery is second to none.  Their morale, in spite of what they are faced with day and night, is very high.   They are proud to be serving.  They understand that what they are doing here is important.  They understand that getting things stabilized in this area of the world is absolutely necessary to reducing the threat of terrorism in our homeland.  I understand that not everyone reading this shares this opinion, but I hope you can honor our troops for the sacrifice they make everyday.  They make this sacrifice because they believe that what they are doing is putting us one step closer to ensuring we do not loose the freedoms that previous generations sacrificed so much to provide for you and me.

In my position here, I’m involved in forming a new Air Force Security Forces Squadron.  In several of our locations this involves, is a joint effort with the Army or Marines.   I have troops at locations throughout Iraq; this requires me to travel extensively to visit these locations.  Most of the time, I travel in a Black Hawk helicopter.  During the flight we fly low and fast over a land that one moment is a lush green date palm orchard and the next a burning desert.

I’ve been to “The Palace” in Baghdad.  I cannot explain to you the ego of this man, Saddam.  I have been to Fallujah where his sons had a beautiful hunting estate.  They hunted people. 

Seeing these places and hearing the stories of their atrocities (things you haven’t heard in the mainstream media) are mind boggling and enhance my motivation for being here!

I’m honored to be writing to you and updating you on the situation here in Iraq. For easier reading, I’ve converted my updates into this article format.  In my future articles, I will be incorporating pictures of the local area as much as possible.  I hope you find these articles beneficial and provide you with a better sense of “What We Are Fighting For”!

God Bless our Troops and God Bless America!

Bob