well last night was not a boring one. in case you dont know my platoon mans the ECP(entry control point) for the United Nations compounds here in Baghdad, Iraq. right now im on the graveyard shift which is 2330-0730hrs. yesterday(thursday) was the start of "day of rage part 4" more on that later.
me and my battle buddy had pulled in to the UN compound and turned the HUMVEE around so we could off load our gear and do our shift change when i hear the incoming alarm going off which indicates mortars and/or rockets are coming in. so the guys we are to relieve get in the bunker and me and my battle stay in the uparmored vehicle. i start looking skyward as im waiting for the all clear announcment when i see a flash in the night sky and then over the radio i hear one of our other ECPs saying that 7-8 mortars had just detonated in close proximity to them but far enough away that they were safe. this was great news since there was 5 US soldiers killed a few days ago from a rocket attack not far from where we operate.
we finally get the all clear and do our change over. for the rest of the night me and my battle are pretty on edge. but we prepped our checkpoint to make so nothing could sneak up on us.
at about 0500hrs there was a large explosion to our north west and some gunfire directly after it. im assuming a VBID(vehicle born improvised explosive device) had been detonated at or near an ECP leading into the IZ(international zone) where we operate. if this is true then it would be the second time that has happened since ive been here, the first one will be in another blog post. but it also could have been some douche in a suicide vest as well.
explanation of the "day of rage"
the prime minister of iraq over around 100 days ago told the iraqi government to get their shit together in 100 days or else. during these 100 days the locals have been staging protests and when they do that the IZ gets locked down so that there is limited movement within the IZ so that anything out of the ordenary is more easily spotted as well as lessens casualties in the event the IZ gets breached. there have been a few times where the IZ has been locked down 100% and no movement period which means for those of us on the ECPs a 36 hour shift.
anyways the first day of protesting had an official name and i think it was called the day of redemption or something like that. all i kknow is that it started with an R. so we started calling it the day of rage and just started parts for every one that we had to suffer through, which brings us up to "day of rage part 4"
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