Close only counts...

Well....we are in Iraq.

I won't tell you the base location because of OPSEC. We arrived and were put up nicely...as nice as it gets. But- let me back up and cover our trip up into country.

Last you read we were in Doha getting our gear- or not getting it. That night we were told no flight until at least Friday. At 23.00 we get alerted we have a bird that morning and we leave at 0400.

We hop a C130 north and do a fast drop onto the runway. Top and the Old Man meet us at the tarmac and pick up our gear while we wait for a chopper ride.

Holy shit...Back on the green line waiting for the go sign...We wait....and wait....waiting still....

The private security companies have got some serious hardware and have mod'd the f*ck out of some F150s...

We wait...and wait...the sun goes down...CPT J wanders off to take a piss and BAM!!! Manifest and get on the shithook! We grab CPT J's gear and watch him run from the porta-john trying to button his fly.

The bird lifts and we are out cold. What is it about choppers that put combat troops to sleep in about five seconds?

We land at our FOB (Forward Operating Base) and get shown to our billets. It's 01.30 hrs.

0600 I am up and smoking a cigarette. I wash and shave and go lay down until breakfast. CPT J walks out to burn one and watch the sun rise when a 107mm Chinese rocket slams into the ground about 100 mtrs away. It failure to fully explode and the fact CPT J is standing around the corner of a blast barrier keeps him from being smoking little piles.

Welcome to Iraq.

For the next few days we inprocess and get our gear. We start scrounging what we really need. Friday we get the word that we will have four men going out on the next morning cordon and search in Baghdad.

Myself, SFC B, CPTs J and B- are rolling out with a tank reinforced Mech Battalion to set three Traffic Control Points.

We roll out the gates and set our positions. We watch the sun come up and the people begin moving around. The kids come out to talk to use and we begin a pick-up game of soccer. Of course we are still in Body Armor and carrying weapons, but we are kicking the ball as best we can.

One of our interps tells an old man that the future of Iraq is this. The old ways are gone. When was the last time American soldiers, Iraqi soldiers and little children played soccer in the streets?

More when I have the time.

dutch- out

Doha hasn't changed much...

Four years since I was last here I am sitting in Camp Doha, Kuwiat.

Our team arrives a few days ago and are waiting to fly north into Iraq to start our mission. We've recieved a few items here but are still the black sheep of the CMATT-I. Since we are a small team we are not getting anything simply because we don't have the Field grade balls to make it happen.

Hood's answer to many of our questions was- You will get it in country (which most of us old habd knew was smoke being blown up a fourth point of contact). Doha's answer to our questions is- You're Brigade should have given it to you before you left.

Bottom line: We are on our own.

I am using the post library omputers to update today because we don't have any way to jack in , otherwise.

We are living in ware-houses, although we have bunks instead of cots. The showers are in trailers still, and the food is plenty if not good. The PX is bigger than four years ago- but the prices are the same you'd pay in the states.

Got to e-mail the wife and kids before I updated you all, priorities and all that. Sent off a letter as well.

Doha is the crossroads of the Army right now. If you don't meet someone you know here in a week- you just don't get out much. I met a guy I went to OCS with in 1993. SFC B meet his uncle. SSG A met his old gunner, and so on.

Odd as it sounds, looking forward to leaving here and getting up north.

We used to joke and say Doha was the prison camp with all the guards on the inside. You'd have to be here to understand.

Talk to you all again soon.

dutch508

36 Hours

We've finally got a flight. The Air Force is going to let us bum a ride on one of their planes. We are 36 hours out and counting.

What to do in those last 36 hours? I caught myself thinking about the Tom Hanks Movie, 'The Green Mile', and what goes through your mind when you have a deadline facing you (no pun intended here).

I figure I will try to sleep about eight hours tonight. Try is the key word as your mind is running a hundred miles an hour trying to think if you have completed everything you need to. I was awake most of last night going through my packing list again...obsessive, ain't I...and thinking about load plans for vehicles once we hit the ground, our move to our base, contingency plans, evac plans, medical needs, ect ect ect.

My oldest son has a soccer game tonight so there is two hours, I have to go in and close out my hand reciepts for Battalion Property, four hours.

Fourteen Hours gone before I even really do anything...

Army stuff that I must do:

At 1230 tomorrow we have to drop our bags off with the Air Force. At 1430 draw weapons from the arms room. At 1830 go to the manifest site. Wheels up at 2250.

So really it's only 28 hours remaining. Fourteen hours acounted for. Fourteen hours free...

I have to clean out the Garage. I have to pack up my office at home. I figure five hours- you haven't seen the mess I have made in that last two months.

Nine hours.

What would you do if you only had nine hours left?

I wonder if 5 June 1944 was like this?

Still waiting to fly.

We are ready to go, all our bags are packed and we are just waiting…waiting…waiting.

Some of the team has taken leave to visit their families. I have taken a couple days off to spend time with mine. Soccer season has just started here all of the boys are playing. The wife’s coaching again this season, and like always she is stressed about it, work, cub/boy scouts, etc. etc. etc.

I am tired of sitting here waiting to go. I want to get on with it.

You read about the soldiers who have fought in all the previous wars sitting and waiting and it driving them crazy. It’s true. It sucks just waiting here.

I’m going over my packing yet one more time, making sure I have all the crap I think I need. No way this is like WWII, we’re not going up against the heavily defended beaches of Normandy. We’re just going to Iraq to advise their Army.

Bomb blast hit another Iraqi Army/Police group again today. I’m checking my load-out again making sure everything works/fits.

1. Kevlar with ESS goggles, PVS mount, cover and headband.
2. Intruder Body Armor with plates, with:
a. SPEC-Ops M4 6 mag pouch
b. SPEC-Ops SAW bag
c. Radio pouch
d. M9 2 mag pouch
e. 2 1 qt. Canteens with covers.
f. first aid pouch
3. Pistol belt with:
a. SPEC-Ops drop holster for my M9
b. 2M9 2 mag pouch
c. K-Bar
4. Mod’ed DCUs
5. Wellco desert boots
6. Knee pads
7. 3 Day assault pack with Camel-back with:
a. GPS
b. Combat Lifesaver Bag
c. Binos
d. 6 M4 mags
e. 2 MREs
f. gloves
g. Map, pens, pencils, other junk.

and weapons…M4 and M9.

In addition, 2 duffle bags, 1 MOLLI Pack, and one footlocker with all my snivel gear.

We got our Team's guidon today. maybe it will show up in a pic in a later post.

Waiting for the green light...

Dutch in Kuwait, circa 1997 

Recovery after intense action...

I have to admit- I wasn't ready for yesterday's serious fighting.

How the &#(&^!%)*^& Patriots won the Superbowl...at least I didn't loose any money on the point-spread.

We (the fam and I) had a busy weekend with three Superbowl Parties and a visit from 1/3 of Three Stooges. (Growing up I had two best friend...in fact we were all born with-in two weeks of each other...and we all now live in Texas). He had come down to see me before I left for Iraq. The other Stooge stopped by during the week.

Of course we all drank too much and ate too much...but I thought that was the point of being an American.

Our Team (back to Army stuff) is only a week out from our deployment. Hopefully we are as ready as we can be. We still have issues with weapons, and it looks like the Brigade is just gonna out-wait us and send us off without addressing those issues.

None of the equipment we've requested has been issued. We will have to make do with what we have- and pray that no-one dies because of the lack of it.

The bulk of our teams are already in Iraq and took part in the security operations during the election. Our LTC, who I will refer to from now on as Durot, sent us back an e-mail so we would know the dangers he faced. Let me quote here for a moment...

"We all felt like we were jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire."

"Naturally, we thought we were all doomed."

Um....it's not like they were fighting the battle of Stalingrad here folks...They were manning 9 Traffic Control Points. No one was hurt. They took 'harrassment small arms fire'. This is the guy I get to work for. Of course pandering one's own 'bravery' to the whole Division doesn't make you a schmuck...I'd already thought that of him shortly after we'd met...but doing so in prose fit only for Reader's Digest is. I just hope he remains inside the wire from now on and stays away from my team.

I wonder just what he thought he was going there for?

Anyway...I expect a bit of delay in the next update as I am not sure when we'll beable to log on in Iraq. However, as soon as I can I will be blogging from 'the combat zone!'

give me a break...

dutch508