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
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
