Sunday, August 21, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
I am BRAVO team leader.
********************** WARNING NOT FOR SENSITIVE EARS!!!***********************
This video is of a dismount op we did. The first three minutes is us dismounting and going into the village. The next three minutes are of a conversation with an 8 or 9yr old Iraqi kid . The last two minutes are of us mounting back up.
It was very dark out so you wont be able to see much but worth a listen.
This video is of a dismount op we did. The first three minutes is us dismounting and going into the village. The next three minutes are of a conversation with an 8 or 9yr old Iraqi kid . The last two minutes are of us mounting back up.
It was very dark out so you wont be able to see much but worth a listen.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Rough start good ending
Woke up this afternoon very tired from having not slept well. I got to work and saw that we had a mounted brushback mission so I took the least involved position of being a passenger in the back of the MRAP with the medic. We get all loaded up and and roll out from the ready room and headed for our exit checkpoint. As we are cruising through VBC the driver of my MRAP jumps on the brakes and brings us to a very abrupt halt, after peeling my face off the air conditioning system I ask the driver wtf that was all about? He informs us that a pack of skinnies to our 9 had kicked a soccer ball into the road and stopped to avoid running it over. After the TC(truck commander) and driver look around to see if they could see the ball but couldnt, they called it clear and we continued on. We make it out to our check point and go on with our mission that ended up being a uneventfull cruise through the red zone and then we returned to our ready room. Once there the gunner of the truck behind us let us know that we had in fact ran over the soccer ball. Well apparently this did not sit well with the skinnies cause they started yelling, throwing stuff and flipping the bird to them. Then he points to our white board and someone had written MRAP 1 soccer ball 0. We all had a good laugh over that.
After a few hours rest it was time for us to pull our tower duty which was as eventfull as it sounds. I passed my time by messing with the Ugandan, his name is Robert.
Me . . . So how long have you been in Iraq Robert?
Robert . . . 3 years.
Me . . . Have you shot anyone?
Robert . . . No.
Me . . .You have been in Iraq for 3 years and aint shot anyone?
Robert . . . No sir.
Me . . . Look at me Robert. Now pay attention. You are leaving at the end of this year cause VBC is shutting down correct?
Robert . . . Yes sir.
Me . . . Before you leave here, you HAVE to shoot someone!
Me . . . Shoot an Iraqi.
Me . . . Its required that you shoot someone.
Me . . . Its in the Geneva convention, look it up.
I crack myself up.
My relief shows up and I update him as to what activity I had seen and then head down the 7 flights of stairs to the dirt road below, then walk about 300 meters down the road to my pickup spot. Its about 0430hrs at this point and dawn of the new day is progressing nicely. I have some time before my ride shows up, so I take a seat on a jersey barrier, turn on my hajipod, pop in my headphones and enjoy watching the little brown sparrows swoop through the air after the morning bugs as well as watching a slight breeze sway the tall grass and reeds that line a small creek in front of me. While im sitting there enjoying this I think to myself how freaking cool this is! Sitting on a jersey barrier alone, in full body armour, with weapon, listening to music, watching nature while the sun slowly lights up the sky in IRAQ.
After a few hours rest it was time for us to pull our tower duty which was as eventfull as it sounds. I passed my time by messing with the Ugandan, his name is Robert.
Me . . . So how long have you been in Iraq Robert?
Robert . . . 3 years.
Me . . . Have you shot anyone?
Robert . . . No.
Me . . .You have been in Iraq for 3 years and aint shot anyone?
Robert . . . No sir.
Me . . . Look at me Robert. Now pay attention. You are leaving at the end of this year cause VBC is shutting down correct?
Robert . . . Yes sir.
Me . . . Before you leave here, you HAVE to shoot someone!
Me . . . Shoot an Iraqi.
Me . . . Its required that you shoot someone.
Me . . . Its in the Geneva convention, look it up.
I crack myself up.
My relief shows up and I update him as to what activity I had seen and then head down the 7 flights of stairs to the dirt road below, then walk about 300 meters down the road to my pickup spot. Its about 0430hrs at this point and dawn of the new day is progressing nicely. I have some time before my ride shows up, so I take a seat on a jersey barrier, turn on my hajipod, pop in my headphones and enjoy watching the little brown sparrows swoop through the air after the morning bugs as well as watching a slight breeze sway the tall grass and reeds that line a small creek in front of me. While im sitting there enjoying this I think to myself how freaking cool this is! Sitting on a jersey barrier alone, in full body armour, with weapon, listening to music, watching nature while the sun slowly lights up the sky in IRAQ.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
New crap hole to live in and new stuff to do.
Well my mission at FOB prosperity ended and my command didnt want us sitting around for the next month or so, so they got us a new one which required us to move to a new FOB. I am currently living and operating out of the VBC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Base_Complex . The place itself sucks cause there is no trees or shade producing anything here so it gets amazingly hot. Plus since VBC is a highly targeted place almost every mission conducted buy us troops requires us to wear full body armour which makes the intense heat even more taxing on our bodies.
Me and most of the soldiers on my shift go to bed shortly after our shift. When we wake up in the mid afternoon we go to the gym and then shower before changing and heading off to our ready room for our shift. By the time we get to the showers the water tank outside has been in the sun long enough that turning on only the cold faucet produces almost perfect temperature water for showering and shaving. Turning on the hot water knob aint even a possibility cause it would just burn the crap outta you.
My first sunday here I didnt go to the gym since its my rest day so I set about sweeping and mopping my room. Afetr the sweeping was done I was contemplating the best place to get water for my mop bucket, and I figured that the pallet of bottled drinking water just outside my room would be warm enough to mop with. So I go grab a 12 pack of 1 liter bottles and bring it back to my room and I start pouring them one by one into my bucket. After the third or fourth one my hands couldnt take it anymore. The water was so hot that I had to give my hands a few moments to cool down before I could open and pour anymore.
I am back on the night shift again which makes life a little more pleasant but also includes us in a lot more missions cause it falls on the times that insurgents are prone to attacking. Plus trying to sleep during the day is hard enough to do without apache and blackhawk helicopters flying directly over top of our CHU's along with the KBR hacks coming in and doing inventory of our rooms or testing out the smoke detectors and checking the fire extinguishers. Im not even gonna get started on ranting and raving about the KBR pukes cause it just pisses me off.
Anyways our new mission has three parts to it. 1. QRF 2. Tower guard 3. Brush back.
QRF(quick reaction force) for us is basically sitting in our ready room waiting for something to happen on VBC such as mortars/rockets that have landed inside our walls or providing security/overwatch at an ECP cause of a suspected item/person/vehicle.
Tower guard is just what it sounds like. We sit in a tower with a Uganda, African on top of the wall seperating our base from the rest of Iraq. There is a road just on the other side of our wall that is used frequently buy US forces and Iraqis as well and a wall on the other side of that for an Iraq village. We are keeping an eye out for suspicious activity such as insurgents digging in either walls or the ground trying to plant an IED which they have successfully done as recently as a month ago. We also keep traffic flowing by not allowing people or vehicles to dawdle for more than a few seconds without putting our ROE(rules of engagement) into effect. We are also in place for IRAM( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lob_bomb ) mitigation by scanning our sectors as far out as 700 meters. A FOB not long ago had 4 soldiers killed by a 240mm IRAM cause the towers then were only manned by Ugandans and they didnt fire a single shot till after the IRAM was launched. Because of the Ugandans hesitancy and lack of training no insurgents were killed or captured and now this is why we are in the towers with them making sure they stay awake and do their job.
Brush back means we patrol the road adjacent to our wall outside the wire looking for IED's or signs of someone trying to prep an area for an IED. We patrol the same section of road that a month ago 2 uparmoured humvees were blasted with an EFP(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosively_formed_penetrator) and killed 2 northern Idaho soldiers. We will also dismount our MRAP's and me and another NCO will take our squads into the villages as a presence patrol as well as IRAM mitigation by talking to the local people trying to get intel on unknown/known or suspicious people in their village trying to launch ordnance into our base from there as well as searchign their village for signs of insurgent activity.
Me and most of the soldiers on my shift go to bed shortly after our shift. When we wake up in the mid afternoon we go to the gym and then shower before changing and heading off to our ready room for our shift. By the time we get to the showers the water tank outside has been in the sun long enough that turning on only the cold faucet produces almost perfect temperature water for showering and shaving. Turning on the hot water knob aint even a possibility cause it would just burn the crap outta you.
My first sunday here I didnt go to the gym since its my rest day so I set about sweeping and mopping my room. Afetr the sweeping was done I was contemplating the best place to get water for my mop bucket, and I figured that the pallet of bottled drinking water just outside my room would be warm enough to mop with. So I go grab a 12 pack of 1 liter bottles and bring it back to my room and I start pouring them one by one into my bucket. After the third or fourth one my hands couldnt take it anymore. The water was so hot that I had to give my hands a few moments to cool down before I could open and pour anymore.
I am back on the night shift again which makes life a little more pleasant but also includes us in a lot more missions cause it falls on the times that insurgents are prone to attacking. Plus trying to sleep during the day is hard enough to do without apache and blackhawk helicopters flying directly over top of our CHU's along with the KBR hacks coming in and doing inventory of our rooms or testing out the smoke detectors and checking the fire extinguishers. Im not even gonna get started on ranting and raving about the KBR pukes cause it just pisses me off.
Anyways our new mission has three parts to it. 1. QRF 2. Tower guard 3. Brush back.
QRF(quick reaction force) for us is basically sitting in our ready room waiting for something to happen on VBC such as mortars/rockets that have landed inside our walls or providing security/overwatch at an ECP cause of a suspected item/person/vehicle.
Tower guard is just what it sounds like. We sit in a tower with a Uganda, African on top of the wall seperating our base from the rest of Iraq. There is a road just on the other side of our wall that is used frequently buy US forces and Iraqis as well and a wall on the other side of that for an Iraq village. We are keeping an eye out for suspicious activity such as insurgents digging in either walls or the ground trying to plant an IED which they have successfully done as recently as a month ago. We also keep traffic flowing by not allowing people or vehicles to dawdle for more than a few seconds without putting our ROE(rules of engagement) into effect. We are also in place for IRAM( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lob_bomb ) mitigation by scanning our sectors as far out as 700 meters. A FOB not long ago had 4 soldiers killed by a 240mm IRAM cause the towers then were only manned by Ugandans and they didnt fire a single shot till after the IRAM was launched. Because of the Ugandans hesitancy and lack of training no insurgents were killed or captured and now this is why we are in the towers with them making sure they stay awake and do their job.
Brush back means we patrol the road adjacent to our wall outside the wire looking for IED's or signs of someone trying to prep an area for an IED. We patrol the same section of road that a month ago 2 uparmoured humvees were blasted with an EFP(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosively_formed_penetrator) and killed 2 northern Idaho soldiers. We will also dismount our MRAP's and me and another NCO will take our squads into the villages as a presence patrol as well as IRAM mitigation by talking to the local people trying to get intel on unknown/known or suspicious people in their village trying to launch ordnance into our base from there as well as searchign their village for signs of insurgent activity.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
pics
time to share some pics ive taken recently. A couple pics of me and some IA guy that says i smell like a rose. The crossed swords parade ground where Saddam would parade and berate his army. And pics of the Tomb of the unknown soldier.
At 1335hrs it is currently 123 degrees out.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Gettin jumpy
A few days ago we started training the IA(Iraqi Army) to take over for us in protecting the UN compounds because we are leaving soon and everything is getting turned back over into Iraq's control.
Needless to say everyone was pretty apprehensive about it and for good reason. We all know the way things are around here and in the week prior there have been 3 seperate stories in the Stars and Stripes of US units getting gunned down by their local counterparts. Granted these stories were in Afghanistan but just as likely to happen here.
Our first night was a tense one. We were plused up on personnel and weapons and took every precaution available to ensure things went smoothly. There was 4 Iraqis, 3 of us and 1 interpreter on every shift at every point. With space at the ECP's already at a premium before, it was really crowded now and I saw a potential for everything to go wrong with the over crowding and everyones tension already spiked.
We show up for our first shift and during the turnover the previous NCOIC(Non Commissioned Officer In Charge) and me are exchanging info and he tells me that the IA are pretty cool and to use the terp in swapping stories and BSing. For about the first hour things were very quiet and somber and im just waiting for a GREASE knife fight to happen or an altercation thats turns it all into a blood bath. Finaly I started utilizing the terp and talking with the IA.
sidenote: our interpreter sucked! He is a lot like the terp Meesh in the HBO mini series Generation Kill. If you havent seen it then you should, its pretty good.
After awhile asking questions back and forth between the IA and us, everyone gets into it and the next thing you know everyone is involved with swapping stories, telling lies to each other having a blast and laughing our asses off. But we still maintained our guard and will never allow our backs to be turned to these guys.
At 0534hrs that morning one of the US soldiers that was new to ECP's and was there to help plus us up asked me when the booms start? So i looked at the clock and tell him that they are usually either at 2330 or 0530 and that it looks like we might be in the clear today.
At 0600 sure as shit a morter hits,boom! All 8 of us clam up and start looking around when we hear a very strange sound and I start thinking to myself, you know that sounds really familiar to the sound I heard just befor the first explosion, OH SHIT INCOMING! Everyone else must have been on the same wave length cause we all dived for the nearest bunker and make it in before the next boom. As we are standing in there i stated that it was really strange that the morters were close enough to hear them coming in but yet we never got any warning from the IDF alarms. After a few minutes of waiting for something else to happen, but didnt, we all came out and finished up another normal day.
The past 2 nights have been really quiet and both the US and IA have scaled back their troops to just 2 of each per shift per point and no terps. Its been pretty entertaining having a conversation with the IA without a terp but somehow we make it work. I have been teaching them some english and they have been teaching me some arabic.
At 0600 this morning BOOOM!!! I mean this explosion was so loud and/or close that I damn near jumped out of my skin and pissed myself at the same time! This stuff keeps up and Ill be just like my buddy SGT Grivet. He is one skittish dude with the 2 deployments before this one. The slightest sound and he was up and running for cover before HE even knew what was going on. Im talking prison bitch jumpy. I always used to laugh at him and have fun with it, but now im starting to feel his pain and im not one to ever startle easily.
Needless to say everyone was pretty apprehensive about it and for good reason. We all know the way things are around here and in the week prior there have been 3 seperate stories in the Stars and Stripes of US units getting gunned down by their local counterparts. Granted these stories were in Afghanistan but just as likely to happen here.
Our first night was a tense one. We were plused up on personnel and weapons and took every precaution available to ensure things went smoothly. There was 4 Iraqis, 3 of us and 1 interpreter on every shift at every point. With space at the ECP's already at a premium before, it was really crowded now and I saw a potential for everything to go wrong with the over crowding and everyones tension already spiked.
We show up for our first shift and during the turnover the previous NCOIC(Non Commissioned Officer In Charge) and me are exchanging info and he tells me that the IA are pretty cool and to use the terp in swapping stories and BSing. For about the first hour things were very quiet and somber and im just waiting for a GREASE knife fight to happen or an altercation thats turns it all into a blood bath. Finaly I started utilizing the terp and talking with the IA.
sidenote: our interpreter sucked! He is a lot like the terp Meesh in the HBO mini series Generation Kill. If you havent seen it then you should, its pretty good.
After awhile asking questions back and forth between the IA and us, everyone gets into it and the next thing you know everyone is involved with swapping stories, telling lies to each other having a blast and laughing our asses off. But we still maintained our guard and will never allow our backs to be turned to these guys.
At 0534hrs that morning one of the US soldiers that was new to ECP's and was there to help plus us up asked me when the booms start? So i looked at the clock and tell him that they are usually either at 2330 or 0530 and that it looks like we might be in the clear today.
At 0600 sure as shit a morter hits,boom! All 8 of us clam up and start looking around when we hear a very strange sound and I start thinking to myself, you know that sounds really familiar to the sound I heard just befor the first explosion, OH SHIT INCOMING! Everyone else must have been on the same wave length cause we all dived for the nearest bunker and make it in before the next boom. As we are standing in there i stated that it was really strange that the morters were close enough to hear them coming in but yet we never got any warning from the IDF alarms. After a few minutes of waiting for something else to happen, but didnt, we all came out and finished up another normal day.
The past 2 nights have been really quiet and both the US and IA have scaled back their troops to just 2 of each per shift per point and no terps. Its been pretty entertaining having a conversation with the IA without a terp but somehow we make it work. I have been teaching them some english and they have been teaching me some arabic.
At 0600 this morning BOOOM!!! I mean this explosion was so loud and/or close that I damn near jumped out of my skin and pissed myself at the same time! This stuff keeps up and Ill be just like my buddy SGT Grivet. He is one skittish dude with the 2 deployments before this one. The slightest sound and he was up and running for cover before HE even knew what was going on. Im talking prison bitch jumpy. I always used to laugh at him and have fun with it, but now im starting to feel his pain and im not one to ever startle easily.
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