About Uday

On 15 September 2003 Uday informed through an email that they are still in Kuwait and will leave for Iraq in a few days.

In a letter he wrote regarding the move into Iraq, “It was about an eight to ten hour drive to Iraq from Kuwait and it was very strenuous, nobody in the truck was talking to each other. It was pretty scary going through the heavily populated towns cause you never knew who the enemy is. We finally made it to our base-an old air force base from the British times. It was completely destroyed so we had no amenities which we have taken for granted for our whole lives. Now I have been here for over a month and haven’t had any cold water to drink. We made everything from scratch-our own showers and bathrooms etc.; very interesting experience”.

There were two good news from Uday- one was that he went before the promotion board and passed and on I January 2004 he would be a sergeant and the second was that his citizenship papers are through and again may have to go back for around ten days in January 2004 to complete the formalities.

In another letter Uday wrote-“the worst part of being in this place (Habbaniyah) is that it is in the middle of the Sunni triangle and therefore one of the hottest spots in Iraq. ----------------- These guys just don’t stop. There are attacks on us every day. These guys are so stupid and have no military or fighting skills so it’s once in a while they get us and have no strategy. But the problem is we can’t catch them”.

Narrated by Bobby Laraquente “Here’s a funny story Uday has probably never told you. One of our first days in Camp Manhattan, I and Uday went for a walk. We walked and talked for a while, we literally lost a track of time and distance that we travelled. When we decided to head to our AO we noticed a few Iragi teenager near the gate, they screamed and yelled profanities at us. We started walking back when we heard something that sounded like a fun shot. I’m not 100 percent sure if it was a gunshot but me and Uday reacted and started bounding out of the area, using our m9 to cover each other move. While we moved and worked as a team, we were both laughing when we got out of the danger area. I threw my arm around his shoulder and we continued on our way. We didn’t report the incident because we weren’t sure if it was a gunshot but we did share it with the lower enlisted. The above was shared by Udays roommate and friend Bobby Laracuente with Uday’s father years later.

Uday continues in his letter of 14 Nov 2003-“I am so emotionally, psychologically and physically stressed out. For me now it is all about survival, not about this damn country's freedom, nor the money or anything, just make it through alive.”

“I’m really scared. But not afraid”.