Posted on 11/23/2004 1:52:46 AM PST by Mount Athos
Hump Day All, Hot! Unbelievably hot! Unbelievably freakin' hot!!! | Helpedsome of my Marines move ammunition crates the day before yesterday at Ali Al Salem Air Base. It was 137 degrees. That's right sports fans, One Hundredand Thirty-Seven degrees. Felt like my damn hands were actually cooking inthe heat. Completely soaked through with sweat all the time. The camel spiders are disgusting, damn things are all over the place at Al-Assad. They look like something out of "Aliens", but they can't hurt you, got mouths like a daddy-long legs, can't break the skin.
Checked in to the new AO we are taking over, got a good area recon and lookat our ground. Walked into the COC. Wham! Wham! Wham! Three mortar rounds,courtesy of our distinguished enemies lands about 100 meters away. The unit we're relieving says "No big deal, this is the third night in a row, and they can't hit anything." My boss says "BS." The Colonel looks over at meand says, "Nick, take care of that right away." WTF? I hadn't even had a chance to drop my gear yet. I said, "Okey, Dokey sir" (a non-doctrinal Marine Corps response.) I ordered up a counter-battery radar set a couple of hours later. Also some other surprises. Next night, same, same. Hit about 0130, 60mm stuff, so we know they're firing from relatively close, probably not more than 2-3 clicks out. Our counter-battery fire worked well, we now have two 81mm mortar fire-capable 24/7. Rounds go out. Nothing further heard from Hadji tonight. Nothing heard for the next eight nights, as a matter of fact. Patrols running well,quiet sector.
Motorized patrols on the MSR and the town's going well, counter mortar patrols we are running are aggressive and appear to be effective. Ninth night: Wham! Big stuff, 82mm and 122mm dropping all over. I think about 12-15 rounds total into our FOB, can't give you an exact count, due to the fact that I was holding onto my butt with both hands during the explosions. Bad guys suck! Gotta give Hadji credit, he does strike back when he can,it just took him over a week to get re-supplied with bigger weapons. Surprise number one: in addition to our 81's,we now have a platoon (3 guns) of 155mm and 198 howitzers at the FOB. Two of the puppies are fire-capped 24/7 also. Our counter-battery/mortar fire is quicker than hell. Four rounds from each weapons system, 81's and 155's.Ouch, that's gotta hurt on the receiving end. Too bad, so sad for Hadji. Should've picked another | damn neighborhood to screw with, not mine.
Hadji is using Somali-like tactics, small trucks, shoot and scoot. Fire 2-3 rounds and try to leave the freakin area. This crap looks really familiar. I think they lease their vehicles from the same dealers as in Somalia. | Think all these freakin' dirt bag terrorists wannabe's read from the same manual?
Surprise number two from Nick's bag of tricks: A C130 Spectre gunship in DS of my Battalion, doing figure eights all night, just waiting for his chance.They target on the impact of our mortars and 155's. A four-second burst from the Spectre, all weapons systems. That's it, just a four-second burst. Not a sweeter sound in the world. That makes it game, set,and match! Hadji don't want to play nor more tonight.Only a four-second burst from the AC130, remember?
Took a patrol out a few hours later, the ground from the rounds impacting, especially from the Spectre, looked like a damn tornado went through there. Beautiful sight. Pieces of two small Nissan trucks, mortar parts, mortar rounds, and body parts all over the area. Pro-activity is a wonderful thing. These bastards are dangerous, but they are also lazy as hell. They set patterns worse than anybody I have ever seen operate. Keep your eye on Fallujah. We is going to be going back in there full force.
Got another one you'll like: Air strike went in on the outskirts of Fallujah targeting a specific building hiding some Foreign Fighters from Syria or Chechnya trying to infiltrate. Good hit, target destroyed. About thirty seconds later, my radio battalion guys monitor a cell phone call from a terrorist cell leader, saying "the Americans missed me, but they just hit XXXXXX's house across the street." We called the air dogs back, had them re-target and run another strike. BIG BOOM! Secondary explosions all over the place from a weapons/ammunition cache they had in the house that the idiot just called from. Thanks for the assist Hadji. He's doing a one-on-one interview with Allah right about now. If this wasn't so deadly serious, this would have been funny as all hell. (truth be told, we were all still cracking up about it two days later). All I can really say is this place sucks.
Small things, dude for when you get here: wear the ballistic goggles, drink water all damn day (the camelbacks are great), I'm drinking probably 5 gallons of water per day, and it ain't enough. Helmet and Flak Jacket worn at all times when you are outside, it sucks, but it saves lives. Wear both the throat protector and the groin protector. Perforated eardrums are common, get and wear the anti-blast ear plugs. I wear them whenever we're in a vehicle,just in case of IED's. Purell hand sanitizer is a good piece of gear also. We've got them everywhere for the Marines to help keep clean. This whole freaking country is a dirty shit house. It's weird flying on the helos at night. In some places they can only fly at night, due to SA's and RPG's. At night it is scary as hell, because you're just watching those damn green tracers all over the placed,waiting for one to turn and reach toward the helo you're on. Dude, when we fly,I'm also sitting on top of two flak jackets, valor be damned, I don't want to get shot in the butt or worse. They were giving me crap about it at first, but now everybody is doing it. I swear to god, Fallujah is like Detroit on steroids during Halloween. It's time we just need to clear that whole damn city in zone. Just waiting for the word.
My Battalion HG, COC, and ALOC are in an old chicken factory from Saddam's days. Good facility, strong structure, we have hardened it with wood, metal and sandbags all over the place. Has taken two direct mortar hits with no effect. That's gotta be pissing Hadji off. Main job is keeping the MSR's open for convoys; checkpoints and combat outposts at each bridge and overpass. My brother, the US army scares my guys more than the bad guys do. Every time an army convoy gets hit going through our zone, they fire in every direction, 360 degrees. No fire discipline. My guys in a bunker were taking .50 cal fire on their sandbags last week. Now we're making each army convoy that comes through stop at each of our checkpoints to check in and find out who is in charge. Has reduced their nervousness. Don't mean to ping on you army guys (even though I do it all the time) but the small unit discipline is the issue.
This is truly a Sergeant and Corporal's war. Tell you what Bro, these younger Marines of mine are nothing short of amazing. They are thriving, living on the edge of the adrenaline rush the whole damn time. The code word for every day is "Trouble." Ever time I get into a vehicle, I ask the driver "What are we looking for today?" Every one of them answers "Trouble, Sir!" Trouble for hadji is what they mean, if the bad guys want to attempt to screw with us.These so-called "insurgents" are the worst kind of freakin' cowards I have ever seen. I thought the Somalis were bad, but at least they had some drug-induced courage.
The battalion adjacent to us had a hit on a damn school bus in the AO the other day, targeting elementary school kids of junior new Iraqi govt officials. Their Ops Officer told me the Marines were having to pick up kids arms and legs from off the tops of buildings. Bet you're not seeing this crap on CNN? The ops Officer also told me that his Marines are truly pissed, because they are deadly quiet as all hell right now, not loud as usual, but quiet and focused, looking for some real payback. The day is coming. Gotta run, this was a long one, lot going on. Got some more to send in the next couple of days." S/F - Mud
May God bless and keep this Marine and fellow troops safe.
Amen.
"Fallujah is like Detroit on steroids during Halloween. It's time we just need to clear that whole damn city in zone. Just waiting for the word."
Sounds like this Marine got what he wished. Hope it was all that he had hoped it would be. My prayers have been for the safety of the troops - hope this guy and his buddies made it through okay.
May God give you strength and wisdom to outwit and destroy the enemy, and before they take the lives of any more innocent children! Keep safe, come home in one piece, and alive! We bless you all...every one of you! May God bless you, too!
thanks very much for this letter.
cheers
angel of death.
Thanks great peice, I haejut put it up as the lea story in todays update of http://www.christian-news-in-maine.com/
Thanks great peice, I have just put it up as the lead story in today's update of http://www.christian-news-in-maine.com/
IT sounds like hell on earth.
DAM the media for not honoring these men. Dam them.
May they be protected from above.
ping
137. They could cook a steak rare by laying it out in the sun.
"These so-called "insurgents" are the worst kind of freakin' cowards I have ever seen."
Says it all, but the MSM will never point this out. These muslim freaks - including those involved in the September 11th, 2001 attacks, bin laden, zarqawi, and rest of them - are nothing but a bunch of latent homosexual cowards who can only strike unarmed men, women and children. May God strike the devil of islam down. Until then, the USMC will do a fine job sending beaucoup muslims to Hell.
What a time we live in. Reports from marines right in the thick of it. Liberals must be about ready to pass out from all of the blatant "hurt feelings" our guys are handing out in Iraq.
Wow. These are the heroes. These fellas over there deserve our respect and admiration. Praying for them to make it home. I heard the sad story of soldiers at the VA hospital in Twin Cities who have brain damage, etc. Praying this is over soon.
Yep. It gets HOT in these parts. I felt even more admiration for our troops in the summer with all that gear on outside in the oven-like heat.
Today, however it's windy and quite chilly in Baghdad. We wimpy civilians are all shivering.
God bless the Marine who wrote this and all the rest of 'em!
Semper Fi bump for later circulation to my sons.
this is worth reading
bump
poing
Just got an email from a Navy doc, says he had a young Marine refuse a purple heart for a wound that took six stitches to close. Kid said "I don't need no blank blank kerry purple heart."
Thanks for sharing this letter. May God bless our soldiers and their families.
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