28 Apr 07
The RAF Force Protection (FP) guys came to see us today about reinforcing our hangar and office buildings with sand/concrete walls. Flight Lieutenant (pronounced “Lef-tenant”) Dave is the officer in charge of the operation so came to survey the area. After the survey we had a long talk about the COB and security within it.
Dave works in the FP Cell which is in a concrete bunker but with only a tin roof. The cell tracks incoming rockets. When a rocket is fired, the computerized radar tracking system triangulates launch points and projected impact points. The senior controller within the cell calls out, “Rocket!” Simultaneously another controller sounds the “incoming” alarm. The senior controller then calls out “Launch point: …” followed by an 8 digit map coordinate. The next phrase called out is the projected impact point; “Impact point: …” followed by another 8 digit map coordinate. The final piece of info called out is the actual location of the projected impact “Impact location: …” Meanwhile plotters gathered around a map work frantically to plot the launch location and impact location. An attack scenario would go something like this (with fictitious map coordinates): “Rocket! Launch point: 80463521. Impact point: 88657290. Impact location: Allenby Lines.” All of this happens within 10 seconds.
A few weeks ago we had a rocket launch and the controller called out (again, fictitious coordinates) “Rocket! Launch point: 80892398. Impact point: 88345343. Impact location: … [pause to recheck coordinates/location] … Impact location: my location!”
Dave said for the first time everyone in the cell looked at one another, hit the dirt, and then pulled their body armor over top of them. A 240 Katusha rocket (75 lbs warhead) landed right outside of their building. All of the ceiling tiles and lights fell out of the ceiling. Dave said there was an enormous crack! that rung in their ears for over an hour.
The work centers that surround the outside of the bunker were crowded during shift turnover so there were twice as many people about. Despite that, everyone responded appropriately (do your damnedest to melt into the earth beneath you as quickly as you can) and they suffered only two very light injuries.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
The Interpreter
27 Apr 07
I had a bizarre visit in the middle of the night last night. Mustafa is our squadron interpreter. The contract agent for interpreters is Nathan at the Army's Camp Bucca. Nathan said he would be down last night to give me Mustafa’s contract renewal form and to give me Mustafa’s back wages. He was coming on a convoy which seemed to me to be an exceptionally dangerous way to conduct administrative duties. I expected him around dinner time. At 2200 I went to bed thinking he must have been delayed until morning. At 0130 I heard a beat at the door. The adrenaline spiked and I jumped out of bed. It was Nathan there to do 15 min of business before jumping on the convoy headed back to Bucca. I can do without late night visitors.
Mustafa has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural and mechanical studies and is working on a masters in the same. To get accepted into the masters program he had to obtain an English certificate which is how he came to be our interpreter.
Most Iraqi marriages are arranged and the newly weds live in the groom’s parent’s home. Mustafa defies many of Iraqi societal rules in that he found his own wife and does not live with her in his parent’s home. He lives in an apartment next to his brother and his wife. I asked if the wives got along okay. He said, “Of course. They are sisters.” He explained that his brother was dating a girl and Mustafa met the girl’s sister, liked her, and the rest is interpreter history.
Mustafa has seemed sullen lately. The other day we were in the car headed to talk to a contractor. I asked him how he’s doing. He said several of his friends work for the same company he does and two of them have recently been abducted. One of them was killed. Mustafa said he believes it is only a matter of time before he is taken. We have made friends with many of these guys and it’s comparatively safe on the COB which makes it so bizarre to hear what’s happening to them when they leave the gates of the base.
I had a bizarre visit in the middle of the night last night. Mustafa is our squadron interpreter. The contract agent for interpreters is Nathan at the Army's Camp Bucca. Nathan said he would be down last night to give me Mustafa’s contract renewal form and to give me Mustafa’s back wages. He was coming on a convoy which seemed to me to be an exceptionally dangerous way to conduct administrative duties. I expected him around dinner time. At 2200 I went to bed thinking he must have been delayed until morning. At 0130 I heard a beat at the door. The adrenaline spiked and I jumped out of bed. It was Nathan there to do 15 min of business before jumping on the convoy headed back to Bucca. I can do without late night visitors.
Mustafa has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural and mechanical studies and is working on a masters in the same. To get accepted into the masters program he had to obtain an English certificate which is how he came to be our interpreter.
Most Iraqi marriages are arranged and the newly weds live in the groom’s parent’s home. Mustafa defies many of Iraqi societal rules in that he found his own wife and does not live with her in his parent’s home. He lives in an apartment next to his brother and his wife. I asked if the wives got along okay. He said, “Of course. They are sisters.” He explained that his brother was dating a girl and Mustafa met the girl’s sister, liked her, and the rest is interpreter history.
Mustafa has seemed sullen lately. The other day we were in the car headed to talk to a contractor. I asked him how he’s doing. He said several of his friends work for the same company he does and two of them have recently been abducted. One of them was killed. Mustafa said he believes it is only a matter of time before he is taken. We have made friends with many of these guys and it’s comparatively safe on the COB which makes it so bizarre to hear what’s happening to them when they leave the gates of the base.
Iraqi Friends
26 Apr 07
It seems to me the Iraqis form friendships on a much deeper level than the average westerner. They are always very mindful of others’ feelings and always very polite. The average Iraqi isn’t like the guys you read about in the newspaper so ready to kill westerners, Americans, or Christians. Much as we misunderstand Iraqis, the Iraqis and even the Brits misunderstand that we Americans like to use our war machine because we’re so good at it. I think the IqAF guys are figuring out that
Abdul Aziz came by my office to visit today. He said he missed me living in the IqAF camp since we don’t really go over to eat or visit with them anymore. I miss hanging out with them off duty (but I don’t miss pulling guard duty, etc.). He said he wanted a picture of us together because he wanted to show his family and friends his American friend. I appreciated the sentiment.
Abdul Aziz and Khalid are good friends both on and off duty in Basrah as well as in their hometown of Samawah. Habeeb is a very twitchy guy and both Abdul Aziz and Khalid imitate him a lot…they have it down to a T and it is hysterical but they wouldn’t let Habeeb see it or know. That said, Abdul Aziz says he respects Habeeb very much, looks up to him and wants to be like him. To them, friendships are not superficial as they can be in the west.
It seems to me the Iraqis form friendships on a much deeper level than the average westerner. They are always very mindful of others’ feelings and always very polite. The average Iraqi isn’t like the guys you read about in the newspaper so ready to kill westerners, Americans, or Christians. Much as we misunderstand Iraqis, the Iraqis and even the Brits misunderstand that we Americans like to use our war machine because we’re so good at it. I think the IqAF guys are figuring out that
Abdul Aziz came by my office to visit today. He said he missed me living in the IqAF camp since we don’t really go over to eat or visit with them anymore. I miss hanging out with them off duty (but I don’t miss pulling guard duty, etc.). He said he wanted a picture of us together because he wanted to show his family and friends his American friend. I appreciated the sentiment.
Abdul Aziz and Khalid are good friends both on and off duty in Basrah as well as in their hometown of Samawah. Habeeb is a very twitchy guy and both Abdul Aziz and Khalid imitate him a lot…they have it down to a T and it is hysterical but they wouldn’t let Habeeb see it or know. That said, Abdul Aziz says he respects Habeeb very much, looks up to him and wants to be like him. To them, friendships are not superficial as they can be in the west.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Rockets & British Gamecocks (pics)
22 Apr 07
Still no word on Abduhl Raheem’s neighbor though one hospital said if he died before actually being admitted in the hospital (i.e. triage) he wouldn’t have been logged in to the hospital database.
We get rocketed routinely and with the British recently handing over two other bases in the province, the insurgents have stepped up their attacks on our base. The other night I set a personal record with 5 separate attacks for a total of 14 rockets in one day. While I was in Baghdad the guys had 7 separate attacks in 24 hrs which set a camp record (previous camp record was 4 in 24 hrs). Additionally, last week before I left we caught two monster salvos of rockets within 2.5 hrs. The first salvo had 17 rockets, the second had seven and the third had one.
On my return trip from Baghdad to Basrah our plane couldn’t land because the base had been rocketed. Two rockets landed in the ammo dump but failed to explode.
When we finally landed at Basrah I went to the Iraqi restaurant to see who was in town. The Iraqis have a general here visiting and they were throwing a big feast for him but they invited me in anyway. I had a bowl of something like a garbonzo bean soup though the Iraqis assured me it was not a bean. Anyway, it was good to see all of them. Some I hadn’t seen in more than a month like Nader and Habeeb.
Pooh called in the middle of our visit so I went outside to talk with her. Just a few seconds into our conversation I heard an explosion in the distance followed a second later by a really loud explosion very close. I hit the dirt, told Pooh I’d call her back, and hung up. After a few seconds I jumped up to run to the bunker but stopped after a few steps because I couldn’t see in front of me and knew there was a wall close by. I put my hand out and hit the concrete wall just 12 inches in front of me. I would have knocked myself out!
There were two salvos back to back. The first was 5 rockets and another 5 in the second salvo. One landed in the Danish camp behind us and the other landed in Trafalgar where Mike used to live…that’s the second time in a few weeks that Trafalgar has caught rockets. Twelve rockets throughout the day. Four injuries but the only serious injury was an Iraqi at Trafalgar that failed to respond to the first round or to take cover. I called Pooh as soon as I could…I knew she would be worried sick and she was.
The insurgents fire Katusha rockets like the ones fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel not long ago. There are three main types of Katushas: the 107 is the most prevalent and has a 15 lbs warhead; he 122 is the next step up and has a larger warhead but I’m not certain of the size; the largest rocket is the 240 which packs a 75 lbs warhead. It leaves a healthy crater in its wake and is noticeably louder than the smaller rockets. As frightening as the 240 is, it pails in comparison to the 500, 1000, or 2000 lbs bombs we use.
Our new commanding general came to visit us Friday. I greeted him at the acft and gave them the brief on how to respond if we are attacked. He was here for 5 hours and we showed him all around the base. Not that I wanted anything bad to happen but we all wanted him to experience an attack so he knew what we go through. As luck would have it, Friday was the first day in some 3 weeks without a single attack. Two days earlier the British had their 4-star general visiting and a 240 hit some 30 yards from the building he was in. The officers in the room with him said he was visibly shaken and pale. The event put an exclamation point on the briefs the British staff had been giving on events in Basrah. The best we could do was take our general down and get a picture of him in the crater from that rocket.
The visit was a real eye-opener for the general despite no rockets. I’m not complaining about the British base because they are treating us no better or worse than they treat their own but the American bases are much, much nicer and the general knew it. The British are here to perform a mission and there isn’t much time/room for pleasantries. They travel light and without the frills you find on American bases. There are five on our team still down here now but hundreds (more than a 1000?) under the general’s command. No others under his command have it as rough as us and he said so. That said, the base is no FOB and I know we have it better here than any of the infantry/riflemen assigned to a FOB…my point is simply that there’s a huge disparity within the general’s command.
That said, we finished moving into the British camp where it’s much safer. We live in very small hooches with no indoor plumbing but they are fortified. The e
ntire RAF component at Basrah lives in the camp. The camp is subdivided into compounds named after RAF bases. As I mentioned ours is officially named Odiham. There are 6 hooches in the compound each with two occupants. Fortunately my roommate is in Baghdad for several months or it would be considerably more cramped. Each hooch is 7’x14’. The compound is surrounded by a 7 ft high, 3 ft wide Hesco sand wall right outside our doors. Between each hooch they’ve placed a 4 ft high, ¼ inch steel plate The roof is made of Kevlar. Additionally, there is a sunshade some 30 feet above the camp. The purpose of the 
sunshade is to a) provide shade of course, and b) to detonate any rockets before they land in the hooch and explode into the hooch.
Between the Kevlar roof, steel plates, Hesco walls, and individual body armor, you should be reasonably protected in an attack though there have been mild injuries in some of the camps. A rocket hit a compound at Allenby, exploded in the sunshade and sprayed shrapnel into the hooches below. Call it luck or divine intervention, but the occupants of all the hooches were on night shift so no one was home.
Yesterday at approximately 1700 we were all sitting around in front of our new hooches in the British camp. One of our team members, Dan, and I heard a rocket streak by overhead. We started to dive into our hooches and another Curtis said, “That was a fighter passing overhead.” We settled back down only to hear the attack alarm a second later.
Last night at about 0130 we had a 240 hit by the flightline followed by the attack alarm several seconds later (really?). It was the loudest explosion all of us have heard. Ten minutes later another rocket hit somewhere else on base but it was a smaller rocket.
I liked living with the Iraqis a lot and not just because I had my own room with a bathroom and shower but because I like the guys. But for the majority of the time we were in the Iraqi camp, there was no protection other than cinder blocks stacked five feet high on the the front and sides of the trailers to protect us. Additionally, they seldom had guards on duty and never had armed guards. When a guard mount was required, the Americans in the camp had to conduct it.
They don’t have the rocket/mortar problems at Baghdad bases because they’ve installed the Phalanx Defense System. It’s a U.S. Navy designed system used on their ships but they determined they would be as useful on fixed bases. The system uses a radar controlled minigun to intercept incoming rockets/missiles/mortars. Attacks at bases with an operational Phalanx system tapered off to nothing. We will receive Phalanx here very soon.
The British recently had a big draw down (not including PM Blair’s planned 1,100-person troop reduction). They achieved the reduction by extending the duty day for the majority of their forces. They now work 16 hour days. The camp is largely empty during the day with only a few camp management personnel left in the camp. The Brits work every day up to and including the day they leave. At least four times I’ve been talking to a Brit at work. When I asked when they were leaving they replied “tonight on the Charlie-130 back to the U.K.”
The Brits had a social last night in honor of their patron saint, St Georges. It’s apparently a big deal. I chatted most of the evening with the wing executive officer, Sqdn Leader Keith Perry. I introduced him to a couple of our guys and talked about where our guys were from. Curtis is from CA and Keith said he did a year of college at USC then said “the other USC.”
I said, “Carolina?”
He asked, “yes, have you been there?”
“Once or twice.” Then I explained that I was from the Gamecock City.
He went to Carolina on an exchange program from his school in England and spent a year in 1987-88 attending USC’s International Economics program. He said people always assume Southern Cal when he tells them USC. I said, “there’s a USC in California?”
Keith said he became an avid football fan while at USC. He loved Carolina tailgating and in his limited experience he believed Gamecock fans must be some of the best tailgaters in the country (not to mention a stark contradiction to British soccer hooligans). I thought it was too ironic that Keith was an ardent Royalist but considers himself a Gamecock given the Revolutionary War origin of the name “Gamecock.” Anyway, who would think you’d meet a British Gamecock in Iraq?
Still no word on Abduhl Raheem’s neighbor though one hospital said if he died before actually being admitted in the hospital (i.e. triage) he wouldn’t have been logged in to the hospital database.
We get rocketed routinely and with the British recently handing over two other bases in the province, the insurgents have stepped up their attacks on our base. The other night I set a personal record with 5 separate attacks for a total of 14 rockets in one day. While I was in Baghdad the guys had 7 separate attacks in 24 hrs which set a camp record (previous camp record was 4 in 24 hrs). Additionally, last week before I left we caught two monster salvos of rockets within 2.5 hrs. The first salvo had 17 rockets, the second had seven and the third had one.
On my return trip from Baghdad to Basrah our plane couldn’t land because the base had been rocketed. Two rockets landed in the ammo dump but failed to explode.
When we finally landed at Basrah I went to the Iraqi restaurant to see who was in town. The Iraqis have a general here visiting and they were throwing a big feast for him but they invited me in anyway. I had a bowl of something like a garbonzo bean soup though the Iraqis assured me it was not a bean. Anyway, it was good to see all of them. Some I hadn’t seen in more than a month like Nader and Habeeb.
Pooh called in the middle of our visit so I went outside to talk with her. Just a few seconds into our conversation I heard an explosion in the distance followed a second later by a really loud explosion very close. I hit the dirt, told Pooh I’d call her back, and hung up. After a few seconds I jumped up to run to the bunker but stopped after a few steps because I couldn’t see in front of me and knew there was a wall close by. I put my hand out and hit the concrete wall just 12 inches in front of me. I would have knocked myself out!
There were two salvos back to back. The first was 5 rockets and another 5 in the second salvo. One landed in the Danish camp behind us and the other landed in Trafalgar where Mike used to live…that’s the second time in a few weeks that Trafalgar has caught rockets. Twelve rockets throughout the day. Four injuries but the only serious injury was an Iraqi at Trafalgar that failed to respond to the first round or to take cover. I called Pooh as soon as I could…I knew she would be worried sick and she was.
The insurgents fire Katusha rockets like the ones fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel not long ago. There are three main types of Katushas: the 107 is the most prevalent and has a 15 lbs warhead; he 122 is the next step up and has a larger warhead but I’m not certain of the size; the largest rocket is the 240 which packs a 75 lbs warhead. It leaves a healthy crater in its wake and is noticeably louder than the smaller rockets. As frightening as the 240 is, it pails in comparison to the 500, 1000, or 2000 lbs bombs we use.
Our new commanding general came to visit us Friday. I greeted him at the acft and gave them the brief on how to respond if we are attacked. He was here for 5 hours and we showed him all around the base. Not that I wanted anything bad to happen but we all wanted him to experience an attack so he knew what we go through. As luck would have it, Friday was the first day in some 3 weeks without a single attack. Two days earlier the British had their 4-star general visiting and a 240 hit some 30 yards from the building he was in. The officers in the room with him said he was visibly shaken and pale. The event put an exclamation point on the briefs the British staff had been giving on events in Basrah. The best we could do was take our general down and get a picture of him in the crater from that rocket.
The visit was a real eye-opener for the general despite no rockets. I’m not complaining about the British base because they are treating us no better or worse than they treat their own but the American bases are much, much nicer and the general knew it. The British are here to perform a mission and there isn’t much time/room for pleasantries. They travel light and without the frills you find on American bases. There are five on our team still down here now but hundreds (more than a 1000?) under the general’s command. No others under his command have it as rough as us and he said so. That said, the base is no FOB and I know we have it better here than any of the infantry/riflemen assigned to a FOB…my point is simply that there’s a huge disparity within the general’s command.
That said, we finished moving into the British camp where it’s much safer. We live in very small hooches with no indoor plumbing but they are fortified. The e
ntire RAF component at Basrah lives in the camp. The camp is subdivided into compounds named after RAF bases. As I mentioned ours is officially named Odiham. There are 6 hooches in the compound each with two occupants. Fortunately my roommate is in Baghdad for several months or it would be considerably more cramped. Each hooch is 7’x14’. The compound is surrounded by a 7 ft high, 3 ft wide Hesco sand wall right outside our doors. Between each hooch they’ve placed a 4 ft high, ¼ inch steel plate The roof is made of Kevlar. Additionally, there is a sunshade some 30 feet above the camp. The purpose of the 
sunshade is to a) provide shade of course, and b) to detonate any rockets before they land in the hooch and explode into the hooch.Between the Kevlar roof, steel plates, Hesco walls, and individual body armor, you should be reasonably protected in an attack though there have been mild injuries in some of the camps. A rocket hit a compound at Allenby, exploded in the sunshade and sprayed shrapnel into the hooches below. Call it luck or divine intervention, but the occupants of all the hooches were on night shift so no one was home.
Yesterday at approximately 1700 we were all sitting around in front of our new hooches in the British camp. One of our team members, Dan, and I heard a rocket streak by overhead. We started to dive into our hooches and another Curtis said, “That was a fighter passing overhead.” We settled back down only to hear the attack alarm a second later.
Last night at about 0130 we had a 240 hit by the flightline followed by the attack alarm several seconds later (really?). It was the loudest explosion all of us have heard. Ten minutes later another rocket hit somewhere else on base but it was a smaller rocket.
I liked living with the Iraqis a lot and not just because I had my own room with a bathroom and shower but because I like the guys. But for the majority of the time we were in the Iraqi camp, there was no protection other than cinder blocks stacked five feet high on the the front and sides of the trailers to protect us. Additionally, they seldom had guards on duty and never had armed guards. When a guard mount was required, the Americans in the camp had to conduct it.
They don’t have the rocket/mortar problems at Baghdad bases because they’ve installed the Phalanx Defense System. It’s a U.S. Navy designed system used on their ships but they determined they would be as useful on fixed bases. The system uses a radar controlled minigun to intercept incoming rockets/missiles/mortars. Attacks at bases with an operational Phalanx system tapered off to nothing. We will receive Phalanx here very soon.
The British recently had a big draw down (not including PM Blair’s planned 1,100-person troop reduction). They achieved the reduction by extending the duty day for the majority of their forces. They now work 16 hour days. The camp is largely empty during the day with only a few camp management personnel left in the camp. The Brits work every day up to and including the day they leave. At least four times I’ve been talking to a Brit at work. When I asked when they were leaving they replied “tonight on the Charlie-130 back to the U.K.”
The Brits had a social last night in honor of their patron saint, St Georges. It’s apparently a big deal. I chatted most of the evening with the wing executive officer, Sqdn Leader Keith Perry. I introduced him to a couple of our guys and talked about where our guys were from. Curtis is from CA and Keith said he did a year of college at USC then said “the other USC.”
I said, “Carolina?”
He asked, “yes, have you been there?”
“Once or twice.” Then I explained that I was from the Gamecock City.
He went to Carolina on an exchange program from his school in England and spent a year in 1987-88 attending USC’s International Economics program. He said people always assume Southern Cal when he tells them USC. I said, “there’s a USC in California?”
Keith said he became an avid football fan while at USC. He loved Carolina tailgating and in his limited experience he believed Gamecock fans must be some of the best tailgaters in the country (not to mention a stark contradiction to British soccer hooligans). I thought it was too ironic that Keith was an ardent Royalist but considers himself a Gamecock given the Revolutionary War origin of the name “Gamecock.” Anyway, who would think you’d meet a British Gamecock in Iraq?
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