Baghdad Summer

Well it has been somewhat confirmed we might be leaving early. I am skeptical, but we'll know for sure soon. Looks like they want us out of here before 1 December so they don't have to give us tax free and benefits for December. Anyway, thought I would write a little bit about the missions here (unclassified of course). Typical mission to get mail, Class I (food, drinks), and laundry goes a little like this. A Patrol Leader (PL) is named, they figure out which trucks and crews are going. We are assigned by truck crews so we nearly always travel with the same gunner, truck commander (TC) and driver. I have been driving mostly, but early on I was a gunner. Once the PL is assigned and truck crews are named, we have a patrol brief. About 15 minutes long, it details threats along the route, assigns missions to crews once on the FOB (Forward Operating Base), and just details the route and anything we need to know. We prep trucks about 30-45 minutes prior to leaving, then gear up and get in and head out. Once out the gate, we turn our counter IED devices on and load our guns (red status). We stay together and keep a good space between us but do not let vehicles get in between vehicles. Most places here can be reached in about 30-45 minutes. We follow our designated route making calls to battlespace owners informing them or our travel through their space and what our mission is (ie going to FOB Falcon). They let us know if anything is going on that we need to avoid, closed roads, incidents, etc. Once we reach our destination, we unload and turn off our crew devices. Once inside the FOB, we go to clearing barrels and clear our personal weapons (M9 and M4). Some de-gear at this point also. After our mission is complete, we turn around and do it again.

Also don't forget a couple things, it's 120 degrees, your are in a vehicle with crappy AC and a big hole in the roof (where the gunner is), you are wearing boots, pants, long sleeve shirt and oh yeah, about 45 pounds of gear. The IOTV (Improved Outer Tactical Vest) is lighter, easier to put on (goes over top of your head), and doesn't weigh on the shoulders as much. But with 6 loaded M4 magazines (30 rounds of 5.56 ammo each), and 3 M9 (15 rounds of 9mm each), bullet proof plates (1 front, 1 back, and 2 smaller side plates) it weighs you down. Sitting in the truck not so bad, but it doesn't breathe and you sweat really bad underneath (at least I do). Also note the UAH (up armored HMMWV) wasn't designed for people over 6 feet (I'm 6'4") nor is it designed for comfort. You are crammed in there on cheap foam seats that after about 30 minutes really don't do any good and you are pressing on the metal seat frame. Side to side the HMMWV is really wide but the seats are about as roomy as a Kia Rio. Oh, and somehow you have to squeeze your M4 in somewhere next to you along with your M9 that is strapped to your leg.

Well, they always say war is hell, and just driving around is a challenge. They drive the wrong way all the time (we call it counter-flow), don't really pay attention and generally are horrible drivers. There is no requirement to drive here except you have enough to buy a car.

Hope this enlightens you a little, I shall write more later.

Back In Baghdad

Seems there was some controversy stirred up while I was gone. A Colonel we trained with at Ft Riley and traveled with to Iraq wrote a memo blasting the advising effort, saying we've done all we can and we need to pull out by August 2010. Google search for Timothy Reese Iraq and I am sure you will see it if you haven't already. Well, the good news is I am back in Iraq safely. The bad news is I am back in Iraq safely. We have about 4 months left, with outprocessing stuff means we leave Al Rasheed in about 3.5 months. Rumors are flying that we might leave early but they are self generated in some respects. I would love to leave early but it will hit me financially as I haven't sold my house in Hampton yet and we need to get moved by the end of the year. Problems are the housing market sucks right now and the house barely worth what we paid for it, meaning we will take about a $30,000 loss if we sell for anything less than what we paid for it. That's factoring in the $15,000 we've put into the house, realtor fees and closing costs. Yes, it hurts. Anyway, we'll hope for the best and get it sold and move on, don't really have a choice and we don't want to rent unless we absolutely have to. Well, I am going to make a conscious effort to post more regularly as we get ready to leave, but I say that every time and a month later I get to it.

Settling in

We made it through Baghdad from Taji to our base here in Southeast Baghdad. It's a small compound within an Iraqi compound. Yes, we're completely surrounded, but this time the Iraqis are our friends. There seems to be a lot of dogs here, the guys here say they have killed over a hundred of them, have to because they may be rabid. On the way in, we saw a bunch of them chasing a poor little donkey. The ride over was about an hour and a half, through the heart of Baghdad. I wanted to video but was told not to, though it wouldn't have been very good anyway. It was interesting to see the progress in the country, I was happy to see many checkpoints and police along the route. Though there is still danger from IEDs, it has been relatively quiet here of late.
Our rooms are actually sub-rooms of larger rooms partitioned off with plywood for privacy. I have one of the rooms with a door so I can lock it, others have to put up blankets but people respect privacy. We probably will move once the other guys leave, depends on if the rooms are bigger, I like mine because it is dark, no windows and the walls are high. But I only have one outlet and the light on one side doesn't work well. So I will see what is available and don't mind staying where I am if the other places aren't better.
A few of you may wonder why I don't talk about what I do, well for one I haven't started my job yet, and for another, we aren't allowed to talk about specifics so I thought it best to give my impressions of Iraq in general, and relay funny things or really what I think is interesting. I will update as often as I can, but no guarantees it will be updated daily or even weekly. I plan to include stories of our interactions with the Iraqis but I will not include names or actual places. As for where I am, well southeast Baghdad is good enough, I hope you understand. We are near two Coalition FOBs on an Iraqi base. It's fairly safe, but again you should never get complacent. Well, that is all for now, will update as soon as I can.

From Baghdad..

Well, finally made it here to Camp Taji, north of Baghdad. The accommodations are apparently old Iraqi barracks, but western style bunk beds with mattresses. Getting here was rough, took all day. Started out at 0200 wake up at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, then on to Ali Al Salim AB, Kuwait, at 0330. Get there at 0445, then waited around until about 0700 when we boarded buses to the plane, a C-17. The plane took off at 0822, landed at BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) at 0925. We then de-planed, processed in, then took buses to Camp Striker where we had cots to crash on. We had lunch there (I Had Burger King, Chow hall was not open yet), went to the PX and local vendor shops, then back to the tent for a 1600 bus ride back to BIAP. Once there, we found out our helicopter, CH-47 Chinook, would be in about 1915. We went to eat at the Chow Hall which was quite nice, then back to the waiting area for the helos. They came a little early, and we were on the second chock, so about 1900 we loaded up. Packed in like sardines, the flight was only about 10 minutes, but was my first helicopter ride. Kind of cool, different than a plane definitely. We get to Taji about 1935, grab our gear and head to the barracks. We are off today and start tomorrow. When we get to our final location, we don't know yet, depends on our team and transportation to there, may be another helo because it's quite a drive but we don't know for sure. Anyway, not sure if I will have a chance to blog for a while, so until next time, take care!