Monday, March 30, 2009
Rules, Laws, and other Nuisances
i was driving down a highway the other day when a thought occured to me. in a few weeks i'll be back in the states and there will actually be laws i'll have to follow about how i drive. i'll probably have to drive in one of the designated lanes, not in the middle of the road. if there's a car in front of me i want to pass, i doubt i'll have a gunner available to "suggest" they pull off to the side of the road if they haven't already. if i come upon some traffic, the police will most likely frown upon me switching lanes into oncoming traffic and forcing the other cars off the road. they'll probably want me to obey traffic lights and stop signs too. not sure i like that idea.
The FOB of war
i was able to go back to the FOB for a few hours the other day. got a chance to go to the store, eat a cheeseburger, and take a nice, hot, long shower. it was a great day.
but it got me thinking. in a couple weeks, i'm going to be back in the states and can do all those things just about any time i want. not sure what i'm going to do with myself when at any time i can hop in a car and go to a store or a resturaunt. i'll even be able to go to this thing called a mall where there are lots of different stores and resturaunts in a single building. amazing!
but it got me thinking. in a couple weeks, i'm going to be back in the states and can do all those things just about any time i want. not sure what i'm going to do with myself when at any time i can hop in a car and go to a store or a resturaunt. i'll even be able to go to this thing called a mall where there are lots of different stores and resturaunts in a single building. amazing!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Latin
sergeant comes from the latin "one who serves." interestingly enough, officer is latin for "one who messes everything up but we have to listen to anyway." those romans really could fit a lot of meaning into a single word.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Leave
my leave got bumbed up. i will now be back in the states for the second half of april. plan accordingly.
Chai
iraqis can be very hospitable people. there's really no way to tell if it's real, they're just used to deference to authority, or they're trying to cover for the bad things they do at night, but the fact remains they're very nice when we come around.
we've been walking thru the nearest villiage talking to people and doing the whole "hearts and minds" thing. some houses we visit are real quick, but sometimes we stay a while and whoever we're talking to offers us chai which is simply arabic for tea. very good tea, as it happens. one day we spent a few hours going thru the villiage and i must have drank 10 cups of chai. very small cups, but still... i felt like a british soldier liberating the netherlands.
we've been walking thru the nearest villiage talking to people and doing the whole "hearts and minds" thing. some houses we visit are real quick, but sometimes we stay a while and whoever we're talking to offers us chai which is simply arabic for tea. very good tea, as it happens. one day we spent a few hours going thru the villiage and i must have drank 10 cups of chai. very small cups, but still... i felt like a british soldier liberating the netherlands.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
I am the law!
one of the hardest lessons to learn here is that we can pretty much do anything we want. i'm used to life in America were we all generally obey the law and do things in a proscribed manner. sure, i may go a few miles over the speed limit, but other than that things are pretty orderly.
in iraq, however, there are far fewer restrictions on what we can do to accomplish a task. if we want to stop the enemy from moving weapons, set up random roadblocks and search every car. if we think someone in a particular villiage is a bad guy, search the whole villiage. we think they might run away with their weapons when they see U.S. soldiers going house to house, cordon off the villiage. nobody goes in or out till we're done.
if we knock on your door, it's a courtesy. we'll now ask permission to enter your house, but yes or no, we're going in (they've never said no). wherever we are, no one else goes. if we have to stop in the middle of the street for something, all traffic stops with us, but a good 200 meters back.
we're as nice and understanding as we can be in everything we do, but this is still a war and that gives us priority over the local nationals' freedom of movement.
in iraq, however, there are far fewer restrictions on what we can do to accomplish a task. if we want to stop the enemy from moving weapons, set up random roadblocks and search every car. if we think someone in a particular villiage is a bad guy, search the whole villiage. we think they might run away with their weapons when they see U.S. soldiers going house to house, cordon off the villiage. nobody goes in or out till we're done.
if we knock on your door, it's a courtesy. we'll now ask permission to enter your house, but yes or no, we're going in (they've never said no). wherever we are, no one else goes. if we have to stop in the middle of the street for something, all traffic stops with us, but a good 200 meters back.
we're as nice and understanding as we can be in everything we do, but this is still a war and that gives us priority over the local nationals' freedom of movement.
If you can't be 'em, just wait
since soon after the war began there has been people, including myself, arguing against any timetable for the withdrawl of troops from iraq. now that i'm here i have the privilage of seeing our reasoning proved true.
there were 2 main arguments made against a timetable. 1) it's a big morale boost to a nearly beaten enemy to realize they only have to survive till a certain date in order to claim victory and 2) that same enemy will launch larger and more numerous attacks as the day approaches so they can say their attacks drove us out.
it's hard to gage the first argument, but the second one seems to be fairly accurate. we're receiving word that units and locations that haven't been attacked for months are suddenly coming under motar attack, small arms fire, or increased IED implacements.
the most dangerous part of any mission is the exfiltration. on tactical missions into cities we have sergeants and officers to do everything they can to limit the dangers. for the strategic mission into iraq we have politicians increasing them. thank you Mr. President.
there were 2 main arguments made against a timetable. 1) it's a big morale boost to a nearly beaten enemy to realize they only have to survive till a certain date in order to claim victory and 2) that same enemy will launch larger and more numerous attacks as the day approaches so they can say their attacks drove us out.
it's hard to gage the first argument, but the second one seems to be fairly accurate. we're receiving word that units and locations that haven't been attacked for months are suddenly coming under motar attack, small arms fire, or increased IED implacements.
the most dangerous part of any mission is the exfiltration. on tactical missions into cities we have sergeants and officers to do everything they can to limit the dangers. for the strategic mission into iraq we have politicians increasing them. thank you Mr. President.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Ricky Bobby
so, we finally got to do something related to an infantryman's job. i won't go into too much detail about it, but i do want to mention one fun aspect to it. are you ready?
I GOT TO BE PART OF A HIGH SPEED CHASE!!!!
not only that, i was on the chasing side of it, which isn't something i'd imagined a year ago. anyway, my CO (commanding officer, captain) had loosened the gloves(but not taken them off, of course) and we were on our way to search a small villiage. as we pulled up, a truck took off. a helicopter we had hovering up above notified us he was leaving and threw smoke grenades in front of the truck to try to get him to stop. but he increased speed instead, getting about a mile away from us.
so we figured this is a bad guy. let's go get him. luckily, i was driving that day. unfortunetly, i was the last of three vehicles. but not for long. when word came over the radio to stop the truck, the 2 vehicles in front of me hesitated just long enough for me to pull into the lead. i put the pedal to the metal, going as fast as i could, over dirt roads or just thru fields making my own roads. the whole time the copter was overhead throwing out more smoke grenades and directing us to the truck. oh, and don't listen to what anyone else might say. there was no chance of me flipping the humvee.
eventually the chase got onto a hardball(paved street) and we caught up to him. he finally decided to pull over and i screeched to a halt, angling in front of him. our guys got him out of the truck and questioned him, which wasn't so much fun for him. turned out he didn't have anything. he was just a really, really stupid guy who thought he didn't have to stop for copters throwing smoke grenades, and turned into a really, really scared guy who learned a valuable leason. don't run from me.
anyway, it was probably the most fun filled 10 mins i've had in months.
I GOT TO BE PART OF A HIGH SPEED CHASE!!!!
not only that, i was on the chasing side of it, which isn't something i'd imagined a year ago. anyway, my CO (commanding officer, captain) had loosened the gloves(but not taken them off, of course) and we were on our way to search a small villiage. as we pulled up, a truck took off. a helicopter we had hovering up above notified us he was leaving and threw smoke grenades in front of the truck to try to get him to stop. but he increased speed instead, getting about a mile away from us.
so we figured this is a bad guy. let's go get him. luckily, i was driving that day. unfortunetly, i was the last of three vehicles. but not for long. when word came over the radio to stop the truck, the 2 vehicles in front of me hesitated just long enough for me to pull into the lead. i put the pedal to the metal, going as fast as i could, over dirt roads or just thru fields making my own roads. the whole time the copter was overhead throwing out more smoke grenades and directing us to the truck. oh, and don't listen to what anyone else might say. there was no chance of me flipping the humvee.
eventually the chase got onto a hardball(paved street) and we caught up to him. he finally decided to pull over and i screeched to a halt, angling in front of him. our guys got him out of the truck and questioned him, which wasn't so much fun for him. turned out he didn't have anything. he was just a really, really stupid guy who thought he didn't have to stop for copters throwing smoke grenades, and turned into a really, really scared guy who learned a valuable leason. don't run from me.
anyway, it was probably the most fun filled 10 mins i've had in months.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
The Army killed the radio star
there is a certain way to talk over military radios. some of it we follow, most we ignore. i'm not going to get into all of it, but i figured our code names might be interesting to the civi world. our radios are secure, but for some reason we're not allowed to use proper names over the radio. not sure why. don?
anyways, instead of using names, we use positions. for instance, when i was the LT's gunner, my call sign was Red 1 Golf. Red(first platoon name) 1(vehicle number) Golf(gunner). when i was moved to a dismount squad and gunned for the humvee, i became Legion 2(second squad name) Golf(gunner). sometimes i also take over driving duties for the humvee, in which case i am Legion 2 Delta(driver).
if, however, i'm just a passenger i don't have a position or therefore a call sign. but if someone needs to talk to or about me, they still can't use my name. we have a clever little way to get around that. in that situation, i am "code name potts." letter of the law.
anyways, instead of using names, we use positions. for instance, when i was the LT's gunner, my call sign was Red 1 Golf. Red(first platoon name) 1(vehicle number) Golf(gunner). when i was moved to a dismount squad and gunned for the humvee, i became Legion 2(second squad name) Golf(gunner). sometimes i also take over driving duties for the humvee, in which case i am Legion 2 Delta(driver).
if, however, i'm just a passenger i don't have a position or therefore a call sign. but if someone needs to talk to or about me, they still can't use my name. we have a clever little way to get around that. in that situation, i am "code name potts." letter of the law.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
11B
i just want to clarify something from the last post. i have not been in a fire fight yet and have not been blown up yet. and i'd like that trend to continue. but only if i'm not getting into fights because we've disrupted the enemy to the point he is unable to plan and execute effective operations or he's too scared to engage us. if that's the case, we've basically won the war. let's go home.
if, however, we're not getting into fights because we're too scared to engage the enemy or too many constraints are being placed on us, then what's the point? i joined the army because my country is at war. i signed up to do my duty for my country, not to fly half way around the world and watch bad guys go by.
like i said, i have no desire to fight, just to do my job.
if, however, we're not getting into fights because we're too scared to engage the enemy or too many constraints are being placed on us, then what's the point? i joined the army because my country is at war. i signed up to do my duty for my country, not to fly half way around the world and watch bad guys go by.
like i said, i have no desire to fight, just to do my job.
SOFA
i'm just gonna go ahead and put it out there that i hate the SOFA agreement. the SOFA agreement (status of forces agreement) covers what we are and (mostly) are not allowed to do.
imagine you are a doctor, and the hospital you work for signs a deal that says you are not allowed to use needles or ask your patient any questions without their 3rd cousin twice removed present. there would probably be a lot of needlessly sick people roaming around.
that's kinda what's happening here, but the end result is reversed. there's a lot of people walking around who don't need to be alive and well, or at least free. there's people who need killin', but the SOFA agreement won't let us do it. it's not so much that i want to kill them, it's just i want them not to be alive anymore.
P.S. yes, i know saying SOFA agreement is redundant, but that's just the way it works. kinda like saying fedex express. it's just something you have to deal with.
P.P.S. if the last line of the post doesn't quite seem like it fits, don't worry about it. it's not meant for everyone, but i couldn't resist the option to put it in.
imagine you are a doctor, and the hospital you work for signs a deal that says you are not allowed to use needles or ask your patient any questions without their 3rd cousin twice removed present. there would probably be a lot of needlessly sick people roaming around.
that's kinda what's happening here, but the end result is reversed. there's a lot of people walking around who don't need to be alive and well, or at least free. there's people who need killin', but the SOFA agreement won't let us do it. it's not so much that i want to kill them, it's just i want them not to be alive anymore.
P.S. yes, i know saying SOFA agreement is redundant, but that's just the way it works. kinda like saying fedex express. it's just something you have to deal with.
P.P.S. if the last line of the post doesn't quite seem like it fits, don't worry about it. it's not meant for everyone, but i couldn't resist the option to put it in.