What I didn't get for Christmas....

Merry Christmas...How many people didn't get what they wanted for Christmas? If you answered: "Me" then you must have set your expectations too high. All I wanted for Christmas was a BAR, and I didn't get it...but I'll be OK.

The Falljuh Christmas story had a happy ending... what did you expect?

However, while my team was in Falljuh, our main base of operations was in Baghdad...so everything our family and friends sent us for Christmas was sitting there. Our commander said they would bring up the boxes waiting for us...but they never came. So, we got back to Baghdad a few days after New Years Day... and that will lead into another story later.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to all. For Sgt Grumpy, and all my other friends in Iraq.... remember Christmas at Eagle Base in Bosnia in 2003....

And for my new friends in TEXAS...Merry Christmas and I hope everyone gets what they want for Christmas.

-D.

Christmas Eve, Fallujah, IZ 2004

From the Soldier side: OK, everyone's been telling me to get to the story end...

Christmas, Fallujah, IZ 04...Part 8:

As we loaded into our M1114 armored Humvee, I heard the 155mm cannons fire 2 rounds. I knew they were not just shooting for fun, so someone downtown was getting a whopping. We rolled out the gate heading towards the city. The Iraqi dude we were looking for could be in any kind of car...he changed often. I was really wondering what he had that the Marines were so interested in...I was thinking of all kinds of things. Maybe WMD, maybe the map to where Sadam was hiding out...ummmm...what could it be?

The further we go from the camp, the more amped up I got. My job was to get my Humvee and crew to provide cover whilst they did the transfer.

My mind started to wonder a little I was the day before Christmas, my second Christmas away from home in 2 years. But I wasn't going to cry about it...we had a job to do. Right now it looked very important.

Gunny called on the radio:"we have a car approaching....can't tell if it's him yet...be ready."
A small beat up car was slowly driving towards us...it was slowing down. As we got closer, Gunny said: "It's him, go around and provide security."

Gunny's humvee stopped and we drove past. I got out with my M16 as well as my driver. We could here rifle fire in the distance, but nothing close. I was really looking hard for anyone approaching. My gunner was in the turret. We had a good talk about not letting cars get close again and now he understood.

A few minutes had passed, when I looked towards the Iraqi car to see how they were doing.

Oh my gosh...we were going to have a good Christmas boys....they were loading cases of beer into the Humvee.

So much for General Order #1. Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Mission: Fallujah, IZ

From the Soldier side: I'll get right to the Christmas story, what are we up to....part 7?

Fallujah Christmas, Part 7: Operation Christmas Mission Fallujah, Iraq. By Christmas Eve 2004 my team and I had done a few jobs into Fallujah with the Marines. They always took good care of us and I know I learned a lot from them.
On Christmas Eve, The Gunny we were working with came over to where I was working and asked if my team could be ready to go on a mission in less than an hour. I said sure and I gave the team a "warn-o" (warning order to get ready for a mission.)
We checked out the SAW and ammo, I did a PCI (Pre Combat Inspection) on my team and we were ready to roll in 3o minutes.
Gunny came over to where we were loading the M1114 and got us all together for the "convoy brief" (this should always be done before any covoy. It covers who, what where etc and what the mission is.)
This mission was simple: We were going to drive towards the city of Fallujah, we were looking to meet up with an Iraqi dude. He'd be driving by himself, but Gunny didn't know what kind of car he'd be in, so we would have to be really alert. When we found the dude, we would put out security to protect him and there would be a transfer of "items" from the Iraqi dude's car to Gunny's humvee. Then we'd move back to camp.
I didn't want to ask what the transfer would be...I was assuming it would be info on WMD or some such stuff. Very imporant stuff...I assumed...

The radios were checked, good comms, the fuel tanks full, full load of ammo, all ready to roll....

to be cont.

Where is everyone?

From the Soldier side: I've discovered it's rather difficult to tell a story and try to keep some things "classified." Sorry for all the confusion. But this is the story of what I did in Iraq from Dec 2004 to Dec 2005. I'm home... I can look back and laugh...it's therapy for me.

Some days I don't laugh... but my story will continue now.. it's almost most Christmas.. in current time and in this story.

Fallujah, IZ, Part 7:

If you've ever seen any movie about ghost, that's what Fallujah looked like in Dec 04. The streets were almost empty. My team and I rolled into down town with the Marines. Two Humvees, and a few very frightened National Guard troops. The Marines had been fighting for a while..they were tired... but they kicked the insurgents butts. Our first trip to town was un-eventful... except when we went on a roof. Seems some insurgents were still playing sniper...but they sucked.

We did stuff in town, then went back to the camp.

A few days later, the Marines asked us to go a second time. We were the last vehicle of a 2 vehicle convoy, so my gunners job was to cover our "6 O'clock." That means no civilian cars should get close and none should pass us...they were assumed to be bad guys.

Well, as we stopped at a check point, a civilian vehicle came up and passed...my gunner failed at his job. Nothing happened, and the vehicle drove by... He was new...the "other guys" traveling with us got really mad at my gunner and let him know it. So we continued into town and this time on the way back, I got on the gun...

Heck, I am pretty good with machine guns and stuff...this should be easy. We rolled on back towards camp. The rules of engagement at that time were any vehicles coming up had to stop when we put up our hand...if they continued, there were no warning shots...it was a burst to the driver.

So, there we are at a check point...everything looked good, then here comes a civilian van. I yell out: "Vehicle at 6 O'clock!" I put up my hand and swing the muzzle around....it kept coming.

I was getting ready to pull the trigger and let go a burst..I had my sights lined up, clicked off the safety, ready, ready...then the vehicle comes to a stop.

I looked and saw hajji with his family in the van. A Marine runs up and yells for me not to fire...it was some Iraqi government guy and his family.

I almost smoked them... I was so glad I had the confidence to know my skills and I waited before hosing them down...that would have been hard to live with.

There, J, I feel better today... the Christmas story to come soon. -D

To be cont....

This is some scary s.... man

OK, I'll just get right into part 6.

Falljuah, Dec 04, Part 6: What we're here for.

The Marines were great. The Army dudes we were replacing were so burned out that we did a handover in just a few days...and let them rest. It was an eye opener for me. The Marines wanted me to chat with some of the "persons" we had. Many of them were not from Iraq...so they were there for the Jihad.

Why did so many Islamic pukes come from other places to kill Americans? They were spun up on what happened at Abu Grabe Prison. In my opinion they should have taken everyone who took photos and did improper stuff at Abu Grabe and executed them. What they did made fuel for the fire for thousands of foreign fighters to come to Iraq and kill Americans. Those who were leaders at Abu Grabe and those who did the stupid childish things there, have the blood of hundreds of dead Americans on their hands. It's too bad they seem to lack the intelligence to understand that.

After we were in Camp Fallujah for a while, the Marines we were working with said they needed us and our armored humvee to roll into town with them.... they said with our vehicle they would have enough to make a convoy to "do something" in town. We just needed to borrow an M-249 SAW and we were ready... except my lowest ranking soldier had never fired a SAW. So I had to give him a quick class. "Here's the feed tray, the safety, the trigger....fire 6-7 round burst."

(You will never see the M-249 SAW on my list of favorite weapons. It is a POS. )

I tried to tell our command that everyone in our unit needed to be qualified on all the weapons we might use. They said that wouldn't be necessary. Wrong.

So we rolled into the city of Mosque with the Marines...and a few other guys whom I can't even say what type of Unit they were in, but there's a TV show about this Unit on these days.

to be cont.

It snows in Bosnia!

From the Soldier side: OK, I've been going on about Iraq too much in the last few postings. My Bosnia deployment was really much better...I mean we all got arrested and all.

What? Say it ain't so...the CI-Roller Dude is a cop in civilian life, how could he get "arrested" in Bosnia and just before Christmas?

Well, our jobs required us to go outside the camps. I'm not sure if some people stuck on the camp resented that or what...but rumors from things the last rotations did spread and got mixed with things some of our teams might have actually done...I don't know for sure. I know I did my job and stayed out of trouble.

So, just before Christmas, all the outer teams were called back to the main camp. We had to turn in our weapons, ammo and badges...and we were told we were restricted to the camp.

CID (Criminal Investigation Division) interviewed us all...those of us whom the command felt were good soldiers were interviewed first...then cleared and told to go back to work.

However, we sat at the main camp through Christmas...and all our mail and packages from home were sitting at the outer camps we were assigned to...so we didn't get to open our Christmas packages until well after Christmas. Screwed again by the Army and the lack of decent leadership.

Who was finally charged after all the investigations? Most of the officers and some senior NCOs. A former team leader of mine was later investigated for something else, relieved of his command and it was given to me... of course without a promotion.

Part 6 of Fallujah will come later....enjoy your Christmas, because the Fallujah Christmas had a good and bad part.

Suck it up, drive on, and survive Christmas?

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

From the Soldier side: When asked: "CI-Roller dude how did you make it through Christmas and all the other holidays, birthdays, and other stuff when you were away?"
I wish I had an answer. I think humor helped me the most. This time of year some people have other little battles going on...even back home. Sometimes it's someone who's passed on, sometimes it's someone we wish would pass on. (Like, "I hate that SOB, I wish he/she would die.")
Then there's the depressing part for people like Sgt Grumpy who's in Iraq now, and according to his recent blog post, he may have just realized something about the Iraqis that I didn't want to tell him...they are not worth "freeing." They are backwards, dumbass, lying, untrustworthy, stupid people. So, what the hell should Grumpy be fighting for? I'll tell you. He should be fighting for the same thing I did when I was there...to save and protect the lives of the other troops.
Despite what some well meaning citizens think...we don't fight for our country and freedom and all the crap. When we go to war, we fight for the person standing next to us... our mission is to help all the other troops survive!

Part 5, our job in Fallujah, IZ:
So the Marines turned out to be very nice, professional and good people. When ever you go and have to work with someone new, you always worry a little about how you'll get along. I always try to do what I can to get along with people...unless I have to kill them.
These guys were great! They gave us a tour of the little camp within a camp. As we were walking in the equipment container, the staff sergeant showing me around asked: "Do you guys need anything?"I explained about the lack of ammo we had. He looked shocked that we rolled up with only a few rounds. He handed me ammo cans full of 5.56 MM and 9MM ammo. I felt like a kid at Christmas. I had never been so happy to get bullets. I mean I'm a range master back home for the PD. When I needed ammo, I just picked up the damn phone and had it delivered! If I had known the Army wouldn't give me ammo for war, I would have brought my own.
Anyway, the ammo problem was now taken care of. We could go go work.
Our job? can't say much about it...but we got the privilege to "chatting" with a bunch of little turd insurgents who'd been captured. I can tell you, the ones we talked to were not very impressive. A boy/girl scout troop could have taken them out.
to be cont.

The "Fallujah Marines."

From the Soldier side: My teams first mission as most know, was in Fallujah, Iraq. I won't go on about it too much, you can read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Fallujah

as well as other sites. If I knew then what I know now, I think I would have called in sick.

Part 4, we arrive at Fallujah. As we got out of the Humvees, it took me a few seconds to get my legs working. I had either driven on been a passenger on many convoys a lot longer than this trip, but not as scary. We were greeted by the Army team we were here to replace. They looked very burnt out. One agent had been helping the Marines look through the dead insurgents to figure out who they were... he had the joy of being able to speak, read and write Arabic, so he was well used up. I had never seen anyone who looked so burnt out.
We were escorted to where the senior Marine Sergeant was, and I met the guy we were going to work for.
I can't mention his name, but he was a Marine Gunny (E-7) who was a Marine Reserve who'd been on many deployments. He was also a cop in is civilian life...so we got along good. We had plenty of coffee, but couldn't locate any donuts.
Just as I was being introduced to "Gunny" an Army 155 MM cannon went off without warning. I had been around a lot of loud noises in my life, but that cannon caught me off guard---good thing I had just gone to the latrine.
"Gunny" looked at me and saw my expression, and said: "it's out going....don't worry."
Each time a 155mm cannon went off, I thought it was taking out a city block in Fallujah. The battle was not over.

To be cont.

Al Falluja, "The City of Mosque"

From the Soldier side: I think "GOOGLE" is great, I first used their search to find a person of interest while working in Bosnia. The photo is from Google Earth, it makes Falluja, Iraq look like a nice city. I'm sure the image was from before the Battle of Falluja, because by Dec 2004, about 70-80% of the city was gone.

The USMC and US Army went in and cleared out the F.F.I. (foreign fighter insurgents) those that weren't killed or hadn't escaped were captured. They had a lot of detainees who were in need of a chat.

Part 3, Convoy to Falluja:

Just as my team and I were about to get into the humvees, the supply sergeant came out. He slipped me a few boxes of ammo. I split them with my team. So now I had two magazines...but the ammo he just handed me was all 5.56 mm tracers. I had one mag with all tracers. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

As I recall, the ride to Falluja was pretty quick. As we got closer to Falluja, the only vehicles allowed on the roads were military. Any other vehicle was fair game to be shot at...without any question. I have been a cop for over 25 years, been to a lot of shit, but this ride had me soo on edge, anything might have made me loose it.

Our absolutely useless training warned us that anything could be an IED...every pile of crap I saw, had me worried. The humvees never slowed and drove at top speed to every check point. I didn't like sitting still at the check points, but as soon as we passed, the driver had it in overdrive in no time. 400 Cubic Inch GM turbo diesel with Over Drive.... still moved too slow for someone used to a Ford Crown Vic that could move at 120MPH.

We rolled into the front entrance to Camp Falluja without incident. Drove over to where the Marines we were going to help were and un-assed the vehicles.

To be cont.

New info to help spot a Taliban

This is to help Sgt Grumpy and his friends in Iraq...

Ten signs of a Taliban:
10. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection tobeer.
9. You own a $300 machine gun and a $5,000 rocket launcher, but youcan't afford shoes.
8. You have more wives than teeth.
7. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.
6. You can't think of anyone you HAVEN'T declared Jihad against.
5. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry IEDs in your robe.
4. You've never been asked, "Does this burka make my ass look fat?"
3. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other thansetting off roadside bombs.
2. You've uttered the phrase, "I love what you've done with your cave."
1. You wipe your butt with your bare left hand, but consider bacon unclean.