Overheard While Getting on an MRAP
Posted by Rob on February 14th, 2008 filed in Uncategorized | Comment now »“Built to survive more, not fight a war.” - a Marine in Ramadi.
The Marines give the MRAPs high marks for its safety and security, but when it comes to the incredibly harsh ride on all but the smoothest of roads, it’s oddly positioned gunner’s platform (it’s pushed to the rear so that the gunners feet barley touch the platform when facing forward), it’s lack of gun-ports, low maneuverability in tight urban terrain, and it’s ability to pull down phone and electric lines with its high reaching antennas drag do give Lance Corporals in Iraq something to complain about.
It is incredible to see this huge vehicle roll to a stop and see just 6 Marines pile out (in the case of the 4x variant.) The chameleon jammer and the radio chassis take up a huge amount of room, leaving precious little space for combat loaded warriors and their gear.
The MRAPs are great vehicles, but after riding around in the Stryker for a week I wonder if the mine resistant v-hull of the MRAP could somehow be combined with the versatile Stryker platform to produce a seriously survivable, and practical, armored assault vehicle.
Alternate transporation
Posted by Matthew on February 1st, 2008 filed in January | Comment now »Getting around on a base as spread out as COB Speicher without a vehicle can eat up a lot of your day.
There is a bus system, but waiting at bus stops and multiple-stop routes can mean an hour’s worth of travel time just to go eat chow.
Some soldiers here have figured out that they can quickly get to where they need to go on this 16-mile square post by going for a bike ride. Mountain bikes are a popular choice here. They’re rugged enough to handle gravel, mud, speed bumps and other obstacles that stretch across Speicher.
It’s also a time-saving way to stay fit, which is a bonus when you have to run for cover during the occasional rocket attack.
Most post exchanges carry a handful of inexpensive mountain bikes that cost between $50 and $200. The PX also carries a small selection of accessories like helmets, tires and riding gloves.
A few soldiers here manage to acquire their two-wheeled transportation for free. Staff Harry Mugrage found his desert camouflage pattern, Jeep mountain bike in November. Another soldier had left it behind. “It had a sign on it that said ‘take me,’” he said.
A Break in the Routine
Posted by Matthew on January 30th, 2008 filed in January | Comment now »Day-to-day living here on COB Speicher can be … kind of boring.
Our embed unit — the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment – has been in reset mode, so Rob and I haven’t spent much time outside of the wire yet on this trip.
In between interviews, we pass the time like everyone else here. We go to chow. We go to the PX. We go to chow. We sleep. We go to chow. It seems like we spend a lot of time going to chow.
It isn’t always routine, though.
Yesterday, Rob and I were just coming out of the chow hall when a loud WOOSH! split the calm of the afternoon. I looked up to see a long, white trail of exhaust shooting overhead. It was an outgoing missile from a Guided Multi Rocket Launch System here. The huge rocket was moving so fast I had to chase it with my eyes for a few seconds before catching sight of it. About 10 seconds later another rocket shot overhead. A third quickly followed.
B Company Commander Jack Moore told us the GMLRS unit here was probably responding to a call-for-fire from a unit in trouble outside the wire.
It was a good reminder to us that a war is still going on here.
Sweet but deadly
Posted by Matthew on January 29th, 2008 filed in January | Comment now »Hot cocoa – it goes perfect with skiing, sleigh rides and snowball fights.
But here in Iraq, it’s becoming a favorite ingredient of enemy bomb makers.
As silly as it sounds, Army intelligence officials here say U.S. forces have found several weapon’s caches containing large bags of cocoa powder along with different bomb-making materials. Apparently when mixed with ammonium nitrate, cocoa powder produces a more spectacular, sensational explosion.
Wow. I guess too much chocolate can kill you.
Overheard at the Bus Stop
Posted by Rob on January 25th, 2008 filed in January | Comment now »Overheard while waiting for the chow hall bus:
Army Specialist to his fellow soldiers, “Seriously, there’s $600 in my P.T. shorts pocket, all folded up. If I get clipped, I want you guys to go into my foot locker and and get that s–t, get some kegs and have a big f–k’n party for me.”
After that, the conversation turned to what might happen at that party, who would be invited, who would hook up with whom and who would catch what. Then, the conversation turned to the pitfalls of internet dating and ideas for Myspace page designs.
I guess two things struck me about this exchange –the idea that 1) a guy can be so open and earnest about getting killed seemed reckless in the face of superstition, and 2) that his buddies can take that kind of comment in-stride and roll the conversation right along.
This tells me many soldiers have no illusions about what the “surge” is doing, or what effect the election will have on their deployment or even what legislation congress is currently debating. Today’s soldier wants now what soldiers have wanted since the the first Roman legions were formed; a task, a meal, a cot and cadre of kindred spirits to share all of it.
Memories
Posted by Matthew on January 25th, 2008 filed in January | Comment now »Nothing helps you bond with soldiers more than shared misery.
During my last trip to Iraq over the summer of 2005, I followed Stryker soldiers from B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment to a little desert outpost near the Syrian Border in the town of Rawah. It was a new camp with plenty of sand, piss tubes, flies, cots, dust storms, flies – really nice. We thought of having T-shirts made that said “Suck Fest in the Sand 2005: Rawah, Iraq.”
So anyway, now I’m at COB Speicher near Tikrit with another Stryker unit, the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment. I sit down next to Staff Sgt. Williams today on a bus heading to the dining facility.
After introducing ourselves, it takes about two minutes before we both realize we had chewed on the same dust together in Rawah more than two years ago. We laughed and shook hands like old friends. It turns out he’s with C Company, 4-9 now, the same unit I had already planned to hang out with tomorrow.
Sometimes it pays to suffer.
Visitors
Posted by Matthew on January 23rd, 2008 filed in January | Comment now »It’s good to be a distinguished visitor here. You get to stay in newly refurbished villas, complete with freshly poured, concrete sidewalks in the front yard. The rooms have a sort of Brook’s Brothers motif to them — beds made with executive blue sheets and charcoal blankets; wardrobes finished with a light cherry stain. Each bathroom has a sliding-door shower stall with a hand-held shower massage nozzle. A cleaning crew brings stacks of fresh towels every morning.
But these accommodations aren’t for everyone. For less refined guests – like the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment – there’s a lovely little tent city nestled in the middle of dirt alley here on Contingency Operating Base Speicher. The 4-9 arrived here last week from its former home of nine months in Taji.
When it rains here – like today – the fine moon dust around the tents turns to a rich mud resembling the double fudge chocolate ice cream served at the dining facility. There are plenty of port-a-johns, but you have to walk to another tent city to take a shower. The dining facility is several miles down the road, but there’s a bus system that runs by every 30 minutes or so.
You have to keep things in perspective I guess. This is a combat zone and no one has everything they want. For instance, the Green Bean gourmet coffee shop by the post exchange has been out of cup sleeves and lids for days … war is hell.
Walls
Posted by Matthew on January 22nd, 2008 filed in January | Comment now »They’re called T-Walls – huge slabs of concrete approximately 15 feet high, 4 feet wide and 12 inches thick. Each has a base that flairs out and forms a T to hold the massive structure upright. They stand side-by-side, surrounding each American base in Iraq. Here on Speicher, they also encircle living quarters, post exchanges, gyms, dining facilities – anywhere soldiers congregate. The military has been using them here for years.
The last time I saw them here was during an embed in August 2005. Back then, I found their drab, gray color quite comforting when nearby blasts from mortars, rockets and car bombs regularly interrupted camp life.
But this time it’s different so far. I’ve heard very few booms of any kind. The quiet makes these towering partitions seem more like prison walls than protective barriers.
Arrived in Iraq — Finally
Posted by Matthew on January 22nd, 2008 filed in January | Comment now »We’re finally here. Rob and I arrived at Contingency Operating Base Speicher near Tikrit three days ago. It took us a week just to make the trek up from Kuwait. Traveling though Iraq is the same frustrating drill for everyone. Soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen, contractors, and journalists like us spend days waiting for a seat aboard a helicopter flying to a destination.
We came to Iraq to do an in-depth look at the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment – the first unit to go to war equipped with a computerized soldier kit known as Land Warrior. It looks like something out of the 1980s blockbuster movie “Aliens” – combat troops wearing tiny computers, voice and text radios and a mini computer screen over one eye. Sounds like a triumphant tale already, but this story has a strange twist to it.
Last year, the Army essentially killed Land Warrior when budget officials cut off the program’s money supply. So what’s it doing here?
The 4-9 had already trained up with Land Warrior, so it decided to take the system along when it deployed to Iraq nine months ago as part of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Since then, 4-9 soldiers – team leader and above – have had to rely on this new technology to help them find the enemy, keep tabs on their soldiers in battle and trust that it won’t fail them when their lives depend on it.
Rob and I came here to find out the truth about Land Warrior, to find out if it has proven its worth in battle or if it’s destined for the next sci-fi thriller on the big screen.
