The Observation Post
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Night Patrol
You step off at 0200 to move to your destination. The Iraqis mostly stick to a formation known as the “Ranger file”, and they keep it tight. Americans are used to keeping their patrols dispersed, with at least five meters between each man, so it’s a bit uncomfortable at times as you feel like the Iraqis are crowding you. The helmet sits easily on top of your head – that is, until you add a small weight in the form of a night vision monocular on the front of it. It may not weigh much, but it shifts the balance of your helmet enough to be unpleasant. You used your NVGs while moving through the COP to the house where the Iraqi company has rallied, and in a few minutes you feel somewhat comfortable walking with them on. The green and black image deprives you of depth perception, so it is often difficult to judge when to step over obstacles. You compensate by walking more carefully and lifting your feet, which has to look comical, but it’s better than doing a face-plant. As soon as you leave the wire, the cultural lighting makes the NVGs useless. Every house has a light on it, and it’s enough to wash them out. Oh well, at least your helmet is better balanced with them flipped up.
It’s not a long movement, but the going is a bit slower since there is little moonlight and the fields are crossed by numerous ditches. Your radio operator takes a tumble, and given the size and weight of the gear he is wearing, you are impressed when he executes a pretty clumsy shoulder roll. There’s only one problem – a shoulder roll is supposed to end back on your feet, not on your back with your arms and legs waving. He looks like an overturned turtle for a few seconds before rocking on to his side and clambering back to his feet. He stumbles a few more times on the patrol, usually accompanying it with some muffled cursing. Fortunately, it gives you enough early warning to avoid the same holes.
Your body reminds you that it has been a while since you carried around this much weight. You start to get that familiar ache in your shoulders. Normally you don’t get it this early in a movement, but you haven’t done this in a while. During a brief pause, you squat at the knees and lean forward at the waist, hunching your shoulders to relieve the pressure for a few moments. It gives you a moment of relief, but it isn’t long before the vest and pack settle on the same spots.
You finally arrive at your destination, and the Iraqis move to occupy the house that will be your perch for the next eleven hours or so. Their actions on the objective are less than impressive, but if they executed it like a platoon of Marines then there would be no reason for you to be there, would there? You settle in on the roof to wait for the sun to rise so the engineers can get to work in a nearby field. Overall, it was an easy walk, but the walk back won’t be quite as fun. ¶ Sunday, May 28, 2006 0 comments
You step off at 0200 to move to your destination. The Iraqis mostly stick to a formation known as the “Ranger file”, and they keep it tight. Americans are used to keeping their patrols dispersed, with at least five meters between each man, so it’s a bit uncomfortable at times as you feel like the Iraqis are crowding you. The helmet sits easily on top of your head – that is, until you add a small weight in the form of a night vision monocular on the front of it. It may not weigh much, but it shifts the balance of your helmet enough to be unpleasant. You used your NVGs while moving through the COP to the house where the Iraqi company has rallied, and in a few minutes you feel somewhat comfortable walking with them on. The green and black image deprives you of depth perception, so it is often difficult to judge when to step over obstacles. You compensate by walking more carefully and lifting your feet, which has to look comical, but it’s better than doing a face-plant. As soon as you leave the wire, the cultural lighting makes the NVGs useless. Every house has a light on it, and it’s enough to wash them out. Oh well, at least your helmet is better balanced with them flipped up.
It’s not a long movement, but the going is a bit slower since there is little moonlight and the fields are crossed by numerous ditches. Your radio operator takes a tumble, and given the size and weight of the gear he is wearing, you are impressed when he executes a pretty clumsy shoulder roll. There’s only one problem – a shoulder roll is supposed to end back on your feet, not on your back with your arms and legs waving. He looks like an overturned turtle for a few seconds before rocking on to his side and clambering back to his feet. He stumbles a few more times on the patrol, usually accompanying it with some muffled cursing. Fortunately, it gives you enough early warning to avoid the same holes.
Your body reminds you that it has been a while since you carried around this much weight. You start to get that familiar ache in your shoulders. Normally you don’t get it this early in a movement, but you haven’t done this in a while. During a brief pause, you squat at the knees and lean forward at the waist, hunching your shoulders to relieve the pressure for a few moments. It gives you a moment of relief, but it isn’t long before the vest and pack settle on the same spots.
You finally arrive at your destination, and the Iraqis move to occupy the house that will be your perch for the next eleven hours or so. Their actions on the objective are less than impressive, but if they executed it like a platoon of Marines then there would be no reason for you to be there, would there? You settle in on the roof to wait for the sun to rise so the engineers can get to work in a nearby field. Overall, it was an easy walk, but the walk back won’t be quite as fun. ¶ Sunday, May 28, 2006 0 comments
Thursday, May 25, 2006
First Patrol
We left at 5 AM this morning to search a house about a kilometer and a half away for a known insurgent. The search turned up little, but it was a good chance for me to get out and see some of the terrain. It also gave me a chance to get out and walk around with my gear on and see how it works out. I have quite a bit of new gear since my last deployment, and as any infantryman knows, until you get out and walk with it on for a while, it’s impossible to know how well it will work. Because of the nature of our training back in the States, this was really my first opportunity to move a couple of kilometers with it on. With a few tweaks I think it will work pretty well. The Navy takes new ships out and “shakes them down” to work out some of the bugs – this is the grunt version. The patrol was a short one, lasting just under two hours, so we were back before it got too hot. I know I won’t stay that lucky for long, but it was nice not to kill myself on my very first trip outside the Corral.
The terrain around here is eerily reminiscent of my time in An Nasiriyah in 2003. Since we are on the banks of the Euphrates, the area is lushly vegetated. It’s also crisscrossed with small irrigation ditches, some of which can just be stepped over, but some of which require a running leap to clear. The mud clings to the bottom of your boots and gradually increases their weight, which doesn’t help when trying to jump over a ditch. We cut through numerous fields and fenced-in yards, trying to avoid roads as much as possible.
The patrols are made up of mostly the Iraqi soldiers, with a few Marine advisors. We try to send a small ANGLICO team out with at least one patrol a day to help them control artillery or air support if they get into a fight. The Marines from the MTT are all from combat arms specialties, so they are pretty good when it comes to controlling artillery, but the ANGLICO Marines have much more experience working with aircraft. I couldn’t help but smile to myself remembering the advice I had gotten from some of the older captains in ANGLICO before deploying. One such gem was that the Camelbak was worthless, since you could just carry bottled water in your vehicle. Nothing against those guys, we just happened to land in the one part of Al Anbar where cross country foot patrols are the norm. ¶ Thursday, May 25, 2006 0 comments
We left at 5 AM this morning to search a house about a kilometer and a half away for a known insurgent. The search turned up little, but it was a good chance for me to get out and see some of the terrain. It also gave me a chance to get out and walk around with my gear on and see how it works out. I have quite a bit of new gear since my last deployment, and as any infantryman knows, until you get out and walk with it on for a while, it’s impossible to know how well it will work. Because of the nature of our training back in the States, this was really my first opportunity to move a couple of kilometers with it on. With a few tweaks I think it will work pretty well. The Navy takes new ships out and “shakes them down” to work out some of the bugs – this is the grunt version. The patrol was a short one, lasting just under two hours, so we were back before it got too hot. I know I won’t stay that lucky for long, but it was nice not to kill myself on my very first trip outside the Corral.
The terrain around here is eerily reminiscent of my time in An Nasiriyah in 2003. Since we are on the banks of the Euphrates, the area is lushly vegetated. It’s also crisscrossed with small irrigation ditches, some of which can just be stepped over, but some of which require a running leap to clear. The mud clings to the bottom of your boots and gradually increases their weight, which doesn’t help when trying to jump over a ditch. We cut through numerous fields and fenced-in yards, trying to avoid roads as much as possible.
The patrols are made up of mostly the Iraqi soldiers, with a few Marine advisors. We try to send a small ANGLICO team out with at least one patrol a day to help them control artillery or air support if they get into a fight. The Marines from the MTT are all from combat arms specialties, so they are pretty good when it comes to controlling artillery, but the ANGLICO Marines have much more experience working with aircraft. I couldn’t help but smile to myself remembering the advice I had gotten from some of the older captains in ANGLICO before deploying. One such gem was that the Camelbak was worthless, since you could just carry bottled water in your vehicle. Nothing against those guys, we just happened to land in the one part of Al Anbar where cross country foot patrols are the norm. ¶ Thursday, May 25, 2006 0 comments
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
OK Corral
We left Habbaniyah this morning to make the 20 minute drive to Combat Outpost OK Corral, my new home. I’ll be working with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division of the Iraqi Army (1-3-1). The Iraqi Brigade Commander and Brigade MTT Advisor came along to talk with the staff of 1-3-1. This was my first time convoying with the Iraqis, who were in an uparmored Humvee that was almost identical to the one we were driving.
The COP itself is aptly named, there’s definitely a bit of a Wild West feel to this place. The battalion MTT is made up mostly of Marines from 3rd Battalion 5th Marine Regiment, an infantry battalion from San Mateo, CA. The ANGLICO Marines live with the MTT Team and the Iraqi interpreters in the Marine House. Hopefully no one needs that name explained. The Iraqi jundi are spread out through the rest of the COP.
Most of the day was spent getting oriented around the COP and meeting some of the Marines I will be working with over the coming weeks and months. Cpl Tressler, my team chief, and I conducted an inventory of all of the gear that I will be signing for on Thursday. I probably have about a half-million dollars’ worth of equipment between the radios and optics. That night, MSgt Bowden and I went to eat dinner with the Iraqi battalion staff and the MTT staff. The Iraqis put on quite a bit of a feast, serving up a freshly slaughtered sheep and a ton of rice. Rice is definitely a staple of Middle Eastern diets, I ate a lot of rice in Afghanistan as well. We drank chai tea after dinner before settling down for the nightly meeting to discuss the next day’s patrols. I do like the chai, but I think I prefer the green chai from southern Iraq and Afghanistan over the brown chai they serve here.
Overall, the jundi seem friendly, and even though the COP is definitely a rougher life than Al Asad or even Habbaniyah, I think I’m going to really like it out here. The next week or so promises to be busy as I get my feet wet and learn the new area. ¶ Tuesday, May 23, 2006 0 comments
We left Habbaniyah this morning to make the 20 minute drive to Combat Outpost OK Corral, my new home. I’ll be working with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division of the Iraqi Army (1-3-1). The Iraqi Brigade Commander and Brigade MTT Advisor came along to talk with the staff of 1-3-1. This was my first time convoying with the Iraqis, who were in an uparmored Humvee that was almost identical to the one we were driving.
The COP itself is aptly named, there’s definitely a bit of a Wild West feel to this place. The battalion MTT is made up mostly of Marines from 3rd Battalion 5th Marine Regiment, an infantry battalion from San Mateo, CA. The ANGLICO Marines live with the MTT Team and the Iraqi interpreters in the Marine House. Hopefully no one needs that name explained. The Iraqi jundi are spread out through the rest of the COP.
Most of the day was spent getting oriented around the COP and meeting some of the Marines I will be working with over the coming weeks and months. Cpl Tressler, my team chief, and I conducted an inventory of all of the gear that I will be signing for on Thursday. I probably have about a half-million dollars’ worth of equipment between the radios and optics. That night, MSgt Bowden and I went to eat dinner with the Iraqi battalion staff and the MTT staff. The Iraqis put on quite a bit of a feast, serving up a freshly slaughtered sheep and a ton of rice. Rice is definitely a staple of Middle Eastern diets, I ate a lot of rice in Afghanistan as well. We drank chai tea after dinner before settling down for the nightly meeting to discuss the next day’s patrols. I do like the chai, but I think I prefer the green chai from southern Iraq and Afghanistan over the brown chai they serve here.
Overall, the jundi seem friendly, and even though the COP is definitely a rougher life than Al Asad or even Habbaniyah, I think I’m going to really like it out here. The next week or so promises to be busy as I get my feet wet and learn the new area. ¶ Tuesday, May 23, 2006 0 comments
Monday, May 22, 2006
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Habbaniyah
I got up early this morning to catch a ride on a helicopter to my new home, Habbaniyah. We flew to Al Taqaddum first, then made the short trip to Camp Habbaniyah. The camp was an old British base, so there are some hints of colonial architecture. While TQ (Taqaddum) has almost no vegetation, like Al Asad, Habbaniyah is heavily vegetated. The camp is divided into an American and an Iraqi side, with a wall of dirt-filled Hesco containers separating the two. Since Spicoli (another ANGLICO JTAC) and I work for a Military Transition Team that is advising an Iraqi Army brigade, we live on the Iraqi side of the base. The MTT and ANGLICO Marines live in a building known as the Alamo, next to the Iraqi brigade headquarters.
Although there aren’t as many creature comforts as Al Asad, the environment is much more relaxed here. It’s no secret within the military that the nicer a base gets, the more it is occupied by officers and senior enlisted with nothing better to do than dream up stupid rules to make it more like a Stateside “garrison” environment. These are almost invariably people who spend little to no time outside the wire. In previous wars they were called REMFs. However, since the term Forward Operating Base, or FOB, became vogue in Iraq, the term REMF has been replaced by “Fobbit”.
During the afternoon, we took a short boat trip across the Euphrates River to visit a nearby Combat Outpost (COP). The COPs in this area are generally home to a battalion of Iraqis and their respective MTT teams. This is who I will be supporting in just a few days - one of the battalions occupying a COP across the river. A COP is similar to the A-Camp where I spent two months during my deployment to Afghanistan, so it will be a pretty spartan lifestyle. I ran into the Marines from my team this afternoon, and they say they are really enjoying the COP life. The MTT teams are a little better equipped than the Special Forces team that I lived with in Afghanistan - they have internet connectivity at the COP, for instance.
The next few days are likely to be busy as I prepare to take over my team and step into MSgt B’s shoes. It’s nice to finally be out here, another step closer to making a meaningful contribution in this war. ¶ Saturday, May 20, 2006 1 comments
I got up early this morning to catch a ride on a helicopter to my new home, Habbaniyah. We flew to Al Taqaddum first, then made the short trip to Camp Habbaniyah. The camp was an old British base, so there are some hints of colonial architecture. While TQ (Taqaddum) has almost no vegetation, like Al Asad, Habbaniyah is heavily vegetated. The camp is divided into an American and an Iraqi side, with a wall of dirt-filled Hesco containers separating the two. Since Spicoli (another ANGLICO JTAC) and I work for a Military Transition Team that is advising an Iraqi Army brigade, we live on the Iraqi side of the base. The MTT and ANGLICO Marines live in a building known as the Alamo, next to the Iraqi brigade headquarters.
Although there aren’t as many creature comforts as Al Asad, the environment is much more relaxed here. It’s no secret within the military that the nicer a base gets, the more it is occupied by officers and senior enlisted with nothing better to do than dream up stupid rules to make it more like a Stateside “garrison” environment. These are almost invariably people who spend little to no time outside the wire. In previous wars they were called REMFs. However, since the term Forward Operating Base, or FOB, became vogue in Iraq, the term REMF has been replaced by “Fobbit”.
During the afternoon, we took a short boat trip across the Euphrates River to visit a nearby Combat Outpost (COP). The COPs in this area are generally home to a battalion of Iraqis and their respective MTT teams. This is who I will be supporting in just a few days - one of the battalions occupying a COP across the river. A COP is similar to the A-Camp where I spent two months during my deployment to Afghanistan, so it will be a pretty spartan lifestyle. I ran into the Marines from my team this afternoon, and they say they are really enjoying the COP life. The MTT teams are a little better equipped than the Special Forces team that I lived with in Afghanistan - they have internet connectivity at the COP, for instance.
The next few days are likely to be busy as I prepare to take over my team and step into MSgt B’s shoes. It’s nice to finally be out here, another step closer to making a meaningful contribution in this war. ¶ Saturday, May 20, 2006 1 comments
Friday, May 19, 2006
Bored
It’s been a week of waiting patiently at Al Asad. We’ve been studying up on the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that we’re going to employ while controlling aircraft, and trying to find out as much as possible about the areas that we are going to work in. This morning we took our rifles to a range here on the base to check the zero on our optics and practice some close quarters marksmanship.
The rest of the company has been busy throughout Iraq. Although they have been employing aircraft daily, they have controlled relatively few attacks on insurgent positions. Funny that we spent so much time in the States training to drop bombs when it is a pretty rare activity over here. However, it is the one thing that we can least afford to screw up, so in the end it makes plenty of sense. Despite the rarity of getting ordnance off of aircraft, ANGLICO is still managing to put a dent in the country’s “muj” (mujahadeen) population, so all is well. ¶ Friday, May 19, 2006 0 comments
It’s been a week of waiting patiently at Al Asad. We’ve been studying up on the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that we’re going to employ while controlling aircraft, and trying to find out as much as possible about the areas that we are going to work in. This morning we took our rifles to a range here on the base to check the zero on our optics and practice some close quarters marksmanship.
The rest of the company has been busy throughout Iraq. Although they have been employing aircraft daily, they have controlled relatively few attacks on insurgent positions. Funny that we spent so much time in the States training to drop bombs when it is a pretty rare activity over here. However, it is the one thing that we can least afford to screw up, so in the end it makes plenty of sense. Despite the rarity of getting ordnance off of aircraft, ANGLICO is still managing to put a dent in the country’s “muj” (mujahadeen) population, so all is well. ¶ Friday, May 19, 2006 0 comments
Friday, May 12, 2006
The Flight Over
Well, the 10th was a long day. After saying good-bye to my family and girlfriend at Camp Lejeune, we rode a bus up to Cherry Point, unloaded our baggage, and weighed in at the terminal. Following about a three-hour wait, we boarded the aircraft. We had the good fortune of being accompanied by about 20 dog handlers and their dogs. Fortunately they were at the back of the aircraft, so the smell didn’t get too bad and the engine noise drowned out the barking.
I have to say, I think I now prefer flying on an Air Force C-17 to flying on a chartered airliner. For one thing, the flight was much faster. Only 10 hours to Ramstein, Germany. Also, once we reached cruising altitude, we were allowed to get up and move around freely. Big deal, you say, I can do that on an airliner. But can you find a nice comfy piece of floor space to curl up and sleep? Between some room to stretch out on the floor and two Actifed that my girlfriend gave me, I was conscious for about two hours of the flight.
We finally landed at Al Asad at 4 AM on the 12th. It took us about two hours to track down the phone number for ANGLICO and get a ride from the terminal over to Camp Ripper. We spent the rest of the day getting somewhat settled in and catching up with guys we hadn’t seen in over two months. Now just to see when we actually push out forward and get to work. More updates soon. ¶ Friday, May 12, 2006 2 comments
Well, the 10th was a long day. After saying good-bye to my family and girlfriend at Camp Lejeune, we rode a bus up to Cherry Point, unloaded our baggage, and weighed in at the terminal. Following about a three-hour wait, we boarded the aircraft. We had the good fortune of being accompanied by about 20 dog handlers and their dogs. Fortunately they were at the back of the aircraft, so the smell didn’t get too bad and the engine noise drowned out the barking.
I have to say, I think I now prefer flying on an Air Force C-17 to flying on a chartered airliner. For one thing, the flight was much faster. Only 10 hours to Ramstein, Germany. Also, once we reached cruising altitude, we were allowed to get up and move around freely. Big deal, you say, I can do that on an airliner. But can you find a nice comfy piece of floor space to curl up and sleep? Between some room to stretch out on the floor and two Actifed that my girlfriend gave me, I was conscious for about two hours of the flight.
We finally landed at Al Asad at 4 AM on the 12th. It took us about two hours to track down the phone number for ANGLICO and get a ride from the terminal over to Camp Ripper. We spent the rest of the day getting somewhat settled in and catching up with guys we hadn’t seen in over two months. Now just to see when we actually push out forward and get to work. More updates soon. ¶ Friday, May 12, 2006 2 comments
