jhungary
MILITARY PROFESSIONAL
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In war, soldier get killed doing all sort of things, from doing a recce to attack enemy position, some died without a glorified reason like getting killed by mortar while standing in a queue trying to grab a lunch (This happened before), while other killed by outright accident.
When a soldier died, we fed their NOK crap about how he/she died for his/her country, or how brave s/he face their enemy when they died, all sort of crap that as if it can do something to soften the blow.
Iraq, 2003. The third months into the war coined "Iraqi Freedom", about two weeks after the famous Bush speech "Mission Accomplished" on board the Abe on mayday. I am sitting in my tent outside Baghdad International Airport after those boys from First Brigade took the airport back in April, spending heck a lot of time clearing out unexploded ordinance, we can still hear controlled blast everyday. Back when in May, it's the beginning of summer heat, normally the temperature is still about cool to warm, but some day can go as high as 112F. Just tent, and no air conditioning.
Soldier trained to fight with minimal comfort, in war, you don't have the luxury of the same a civilian would expected. You dig a hole in the ground and you do no1 and no2 in it. No toilet, nothing.
However back in camp, they are supposed to give you some degree of civilization, you get electricity, you have TVs, hot meals and stuff like that, what you also have is a Porta-John. It's not much, but is a big upgrade from squander in the sand.......
Still, the top brass knows Porta-John will not boost morale as much as a Standard American Toilet does, the military top brass, in all their might, ordered 2500 newly made American Standard Toilet fly straight from the US on C-17 trying to boost morale. Catch is, how do you get the brand new toilet from C-17 to all its bases and camp around Iraq? The answer is simple, you need a convoy.
Being unloaded from C-17, 2 of them in Baghdad International, back then it still a military airport which controlled by Military Authority, it's almost certain that the escort duty will fall in the lap of 3d Infantry Division that stationed and controlling the airport. Which mean I will be the one doing the convoy escort.
Back in 2003, I was fresh out of Infantry training and just received a commission as 2LT (I was commissioned less than a year ago). Back then I was sticking with 3d ID and green as hell, the only war I ever saw is from the TV screen in first Iraq war, Somalia, Kosovo and Serbia. Never been to a war before. 3 months in the country, felt like already saw enough, last action I have seen is back in April, during the 2nd Brigade thunder runs, got shot to shiite while we are doing it...Been on base duty since.
Back at the camp, order came thru, they need to send out 4 convoy and 4 escort duty are opened. "Better get out of here then clearing mine" I think to myself, before long, I was tasked to do a little convoy protection.
4 destinations for 4 different convoys that day, 1 head Southeast to al-Kut, north to Tikrit/Kirkuk, West to Fallujah and South to Nasiriya, each platoon of 45 men will load up on a few Humvee and a few deuce and a half. Kut was connected by highway 6, don't know much of the road there, Tikrit will bring us thur highway 1, which we just got around with heavy fighting back in April, a no-no....Fallujah still resisting, it will be a bad choice. That left Nasiriya, which is where those female private vanished, captured and then rescued a month ago. Luck would have it, I drew the Nasiriya route.
2 proposed route to get there, either by route 8 express, which is exactly where we got here from down south 2 months ago. Just in reverse. Or travel SE via route 6 and then south via route 7, then we will overlap with the convoy going to Al-Kut, we progress south and they split up at Kut, very tempting I must say, but against all judgment, I choose route 8.
Road to camp (not yet a FOB then) Adder is very scenic, it ran pass several ancient city before riding along Euphrates river, about 450 mile round trip, that will take us at least 2 maybe 3 days to get back. Our convoy is a few civilian container truck that was loaded with the "Precious" cargo that make our conquest easier, if we have our toilet.
Convoy start 0730 on the ***, with the lead Humvee start a stretch of convoy that's about 1 mile long. Camp Adder is our southernmost logistic point and thru adder, supplies run into southern part of Iraq and into every base camp, FOB, FB and hospital along southern Iraq.
Escort duty can be fun, road trip and all, up until the point when people are trying to block you, then shot the crap out of you. Back then we don't have much knowledge about running convoy, the war has just started, and nobody know much, the sort of convoy we ran before got shot to shiite during thunder runs, now that was back when we have no ground at all, now we have control of some ground along the way.
Driving pass highway 8 mean driving thru Al Najaf, which is still a shia country after the 101 took them back in April. Well, there are call to by pass the town but 101 said the area is secure, then the area is secure. Also, driving past a secure town is 10 times better than rural route. We may have own the town, but Iraqi still call the shot in and around..
The first 100 mile went by without any incident. The road is quiet, people are working their everyday life and we sort of just like a traveller driven by, to them, we are like totally out of the context.
Just south of Al Najaf, Radio stared playing the song "Complicated" by Arvil Lavinge, the Humvee instantly erupt with co-ordinated out of keys singing. Back then it was quite a hit song and most of the soldier in my trucks were 19, 20 tops. Icom started singing too, apparently not only we tuned in the radio.
Precisely that moment, glances of flashes appear on my 10 o'clock, 2 or 3 second after that, heard a "Ping" and a distant explosion, somebody shooting at us with small arms and RPGs.
"Contact Left, Contact Left, 11 O'clock" Icom crackle
Since I am on the passenger side, I can't light them up, so I yell out to mike, a Machine gunner manning the M2 on the turret. "Mike, 10 o'clock, don't miss", he didn't say anything, I look up and his 50 cal shell started bouncing off my head.
the sound for 50 cal is nothing like 556 or 762. The low pitch "Drum" noise is very recognisable and in he dead of night, you can hear a MA Deuce fire from over 2 miles away.
"Fuxk You" I said, referring to his 50 cal shell. While trying to find my icom button to raise the platoon and keep on cursing.
"All call sign, this is Oscar 3-6 Actual, we have hostile small arms and RPG fire south bound, highway 8, just outside Najaf, any friendly call sign copy?" Instead of Icom, I gone thru VHF....
After I finish with VHF, what I saw I can still remember today, a RPG hit one of those 40 ton rig and the blast blow about 200 American standard toilet up 50 feet in the skies......
"Ok, I see enough, let's get out of here" Yell out on Icom, when we drove past the rig that just got blown up, those TCN had it pretty bad.
"Don't think anyone survive that", ok, moving on. You never stop in a convoy, until you got to where you going.
"Yeah, it look bad" I said, after drive past the cabin of the rig.
Meanwhile the fire is being supressed by the Ma Deuce on the top turret. Mike turn in to me and say "See that sucker Blow?" referring to secondary det, he probably shot the ammo dump or something like that as the ammo got blown to sky high.
Looking back on my rear view, and then call out to VHF "Second Det on grid something" (can't expect me to remember the location exactly after 10 years...) Calling out so other people know what you up to, otherwise they may call fast air inbound and god only know what they are going to do to you.
After that, not a single round fired.
Arriving in Camp Adder some hours later, I remember it was all dark then and been on the road for 16 or 18 hours. A navy lieutenant came out and greet us. Clipboard at hands
"We are expecting 2, 40 ton truck" He look at me, which the butter bar is the only thing he can see.
"Sir", well, although his rank is also a Lieutenant, he outrank me. "We got ambush about 150 clicks up Highway 8", I said while I am looking for my stuff.
That Seebee lieutenant look at me like I am trying to hide his 200 toilets.......What I am going to do with that? Start a indoor plumbing business in Iraq?? "We have 2 TCN KIA" I added, just so he can carry on. "We have to leave their body, it was quite hairy"
"How's the road" The LT ask me while he doing his paperwork. "Beside getting shot at?" I said. "It's quite scenic"
That night, we party with some Marine and play some Games and head back out fight light. Going back to Baghdad International. Thinking that since the mission accomplished speech, action should have wind down, and my first war would getting duller by the second. Turns out it is not to be, because the day we got back to Baghdad International, we were tasked to help the Marine to pacific a hotspot called Fallujah.
But til today, I still dream of that day when I see 200 toilet got blown up in the skies and what a way to go!!!
As usual, tone down the colorful language so I can keep it PG........
When a soldier died, we fed their NOK crap about how he/she died for his/her country, or how brave s/he face their enemy when they died, all sort of crap that as if it can do something to soften the blow.
Iraq, 2003. The third months into the war coined "Iraqi Freedom", about two weeks after the famous Bush speech "Mission Accomplished" on board the Abe on mayday. I am sitting in my tent outside Baghdad International Airport after those boys from First Brigade took the airport back in April, spending heck a lot of time clearing out unexploded ordinance, we can still hear controlled blast everyday. Back when in May, it's the beginning of summer heat, normally the temperature is still about cool to warm, but some day can go as high as 112F. Just tent, and no air conditioning.
Soldier trained to fight with minimal comfort, in war, you don't have the luxury of the same a civilian would expected. You dig a hole in the ground and you do no1 and no2 in it. No toilet, nothing.
However back in camp, they are supposed to give you some degree of civilization, you get electricity, you have TVs, hot meals and stuff like that, what you also have is a Porta-John. It's not much, but is a big upgrade from squander in the sand.......
Still, the top brass knows Porta-John will not boost morale as much as a Standard American Toilet does, the military top brass, in all their might, ordered 2500 newly made American Standard Toilet fly straight from the US on C-17 trying to boost morale. Catch is, how do you get the brand new toilet from C-17 to all its bases and camp around Iraq? The answer is simple, you need a convoy.
Being unloaded from C-17, 2 of them in Baghdad International, back then it still a military airport which controlled by Military Authority, it's almost certain that the escort duty will fall in the lap of 3d Infantry Division that stationed and controlling the airport. Which mean I will be the one doing the convoy escort.
Back in 2003, I was fresh out of Infantry training and just received a commission as 2LT (I was commissioned less than a year ago). Back then I was sticking with 3d ID and green as hell, the only war I ever saw is from the TV screen in first Iraq war, Somalia, Kosovo and Serbia. Never been to a war before. 3 months in the country, felt like already saw enough, last action I have seen is back in April, during the 2nd Brigade thunder runs, got shot to shiite while we are doing it...Been on base duty since.
Back at the camp, order came thru, they need to send out 4 convoy and 4 escort duty are opened. "Better get out of here then clearing mine" I think to myself, before long, I was tasked to do a little convoy protection.
4 destinations for 4 different convoys that day, 1 head Southeast to al-Kut, north to Tikrit/Kirkuk, West to Fallujah and South to Nasiriya, each platoon of 45 men will load up on a few Humvee and a few deuce and a half. Kut was connected by highway 6, don't know much of the road there, Tikrit will bring us thur highway 1, which we just got around with heavy fighting back in April, a no-no....Fallujah still resisting, it will be a bad choice. That left Nasiriya, which is where those female private vanished, captured and then rescued a month ago. Luck would have it, I drew the Nasiriya route.
2 proposed route to get there, either by route 8 express, which is exactly where we got here from down south 2 months ago. Just in reverse. Or travel SE via route 6 and then south via route 7, then we will overlap with the convoy going to Al-Kut, we progress south and they split up at Kut, very tempting I must say, but against all judgment, I choose route 8.
Road to camp (not yet a FOB then) Adder is very scenic, it ran pass several ancient city before riding along Euphrates river, about 450 mile round trip, that will take us at least 2 maybe 3 days to get back. Our convoy is a few civilian container truck that was loaded with the "Precious" cargo that make our conquest easier, if we have our toilet.
Convoy start 0730 on the ***, with the lead Humvee start a stretch of convoy that's about 1 mile long. Camp Adder is our southernmost logistic point and thru adder, supplies run into southern part of Iraq and into every base camp, FOB, FB and hospital along southern Iraq.
Escort duty can be fun, road trip and all, up until the point when people are trying to block you, then shot the crap out of you. Back then we don't have much knowledge about running convoy, the war has just started, and nobody know much, the sort of convoy we ran before got shot to shiite during thunder runs, now that was back when we have no ground at all, now we have control of some ground along the way.
Driving pass highway 8 mean driving thru Al Najaf, which is still a shia country after the 101 took them back in April. Well, there are call to by pass the town but 101 said the area is secure, then the area is secure. Also, driving past a secure town is 10 times better than rural route. We may have own the town, but Iraqi still call the shot in and around..
The first 100 mile went by without any incident. The road is quiet, people are working their everyday life and we sort of just like a traveller driven by, to them, we are like totally out of the context.
Just south of Al Najaf, Radio stared playing the song "Complicated" by Arvil Lavinge, the Humvee instantly erupt with co-ordinated out of keys singing. Back then it was quite a hit song and most of the soldier in my trucks were 19, 20 tops. Icom started singing too, apparently not only we tuned in the radio.
Precisely that moment, glances of flashes appear on my 10 o'clock, 2 or 3 second after that, heard a "Ping" and a distant explosion, somebody shooting at us with small arms and RPGs.
"Contact Left, Contact Left, 11 O'clock" Icom crackle
Since I am on the passenger side, I can't light them up, so I yell out to mike, a Machine gunner manning the M2 on the turret. "Mike, 10 o'clock, don't miss", he didn't say anything, I look up and his 50 cal shell started bouncing off my head.
the sound for 50 cal is nothing like 556 or 762. The low pitch "Drum" noise is very recognisable and in he dead of night, you can hear a MA Deuce fire from over 2 miles away.
"Fuxk You" I said, referring to his 50 cal shell. While trying to find my icom button to raise the platoon and keep on cursing.
"All call sign, this is Oscar 3-6 Actual, we have hostile small arms and RPG fire south bound, highway 8, just outside Najaf, any friendly call sign copy?" Instead of Icom, I gone thru VHF....
After I finish with VHF, what I saw I can still remember today, a RPG hit one of those 40 ton rig and the blast blow about 200 American standard toilet up 50 feet in the skies......
"Ok, I see enough, let's get out of here" Yell out on Icom, when we drove past the rig that just got blown up, those TCN had it pretty bad.
"Don't think anyone survive that", ok, moving on. You never stop in a convoy, until you got to where you going.
"Yeah, it look bad" I said, after drive past the cabin of the rig.
Meanwhile the fire is being supressed by the Ma Deuce on the top turret. Mike turn in to me and say "See that sucker Blow?" referring to secondary det, he probably shot the ammo dump or something like that as the ammo got blown to sky high.
Looking back on my rear view, and then call out to VHF "Second Det on grid something" (can't expect me to remember the location exactly after 10 years...) Calling out so other people know what you up to, otherwise they may call fast air inbound and god only know what they are going to do to you.
After that, not a single round fired.
Arriving in Camp Adder some hours later, I remember it was all dark then and been on the road for 16 or 18 hours. A navy lieutenant came out and greet us. Clipboard at hands
"We are expecting 2, 40 ton truck" He look at me, which the butter bar is the only thing he can see.
"Sir", well, although his rank is also a Lieutenant, he outrank me. "We got ambush about 150 clicks up Highway 8", I said while I am looking for my stuff.
That Seebee lieutenant look at me like I am trying to hide his 200 toilets.......What I am going to do with that? Start a indoor plumbing business in Iraq?? "We have 2 TCN KIA" I added, just so he can carry on. "We have to leave their body, it was quite hairy"
"How's the road" The LT ask me while he doing his paperwork. "Beside getting shot at?" I said. "It's quite scenic"
That night, we party with some Marine and play some Games and head back out fight light. Going back to Baghdad International. Thinking that since the mission accomplished speech, action should have wind down, and my first war would getting duller by the second. Turns out it is not to be, because the day we got back to Baghdad International, we were tasked to help the Marine to pacific a hotspot called Fallujah.
But til today, I still dream of that day when I see 200 toilet got blown up in the skies and what a way to go!!!
As usual, tone down the colorful language so I can keep it PG........
