Info From Iraq From Someone Who Is Doing the Run and Gun

June 2004 | An American Contractor

[Woahhs]

Thanks Travis. I appreciate your explanation.

But if you don't mind, I'd really like to hear your thoughts/recommendations on the magazine changes EE referred to, and my confusion on exactly how you're suppose to perform/train.

[Woahhs]

Like after Dubya is re-elected, and the extreme left of the Democrat party (the ones who think Howard Dean is a right-wing deviationist) discover "leaderless resistance."

I think it's safe to assume you can cull out 99% of the probables unless they can figure out a way to practice it from behind a cop's pant-leg.

[Poohbah]

I'm not laughing...

[Travis McGee]

Did you see the thread with the Indymedia forum posts about jabbing freepers with HIV needles at street rallies? They were not kidding.

[Eaker]

Hey Patton!

Great info, huh!

I have let my Texan buddies know that you have Virginia covered!

[Travis McGee]

I guess you mean thata thing on top of the building, the "two way range." I guess he meant they just stood there reloading, instead of moving, getting down, and firing from new spots?

[Poohbah]

Did you see the thread with the Indymedia forum posts about jabbing freepers with HIV needles at street rallies? They were not kidding.

It sounds like they suffer from a malady best treated by high-velocity intracranial injection of copper-jacketed lead.

[Eaker]

Ok.

THAT is sweet.

Would you mind sending that beauty to me for a closer look???

[Steel Wolf]

Outstanding stuff, sir, very obviously the work of a pro. Anyone heading to the sandbox would be well served by taking this advice seriously.

Coincidentally enough, my team just returned from Iraq last week, and today we briefed our AAR to our unit. (We were attached to another unit for the rotation). It contained many of the same lessons learned as in this email, albeit our version was in officer friendly PowerPoint. Overall it was very well received. Still, it's amazing how many people want to cling to the old ways of doing things, despite the fact that the lessons from combat are all written in blood. I know they'll get their turn soon enough, but I hope they take our advice seriously.

[patton]

ROFL, I got the river. Nine ways from heck. You would not believe it.

[patton]

Good job, boy. I admire you.

[e_castillo]

I'm not laughing...

Oooops! Well in case things do get a little like Falluja I think I have most of whats needed to stay safe.

[ChefKeith]

WOW! Blunt and to the point.

Stay safe Y'all

[Eaker]

It sounds like they suffer from a malady best treated by high-velocity intracranial injection of copper-jacketed lead.

Great!!

I buy a rather large supply of bullets and now the rules change and I need intracranial copper-jacketed lead.

Thanks.

Slinks off to corner to tap toe in anger.

[LibWhacker]

LOL, I hear 'ya!

Check out some of their other custom uppers. As the article says, they build a lot of stuff for the Tier One guys. All 'ya gotta be is LE or military to order one (and definitely not live in the stinkhole state I live in). :-(

[e_castillo]

Did you see the thread with the Indymedia forum posts about jabbing freepers with HIV needles at street rallies? They were not kidding.

Well this bring up an interesting scenario.

I noticed in the article the he mentions his long gun as an 18" rifle. This seems a little short to me but I suppose if you do alot of your initial shooting from a vehicle then the shorter the better. The problem is that at 800 meters(mortar fire) I would think something a little heavier and longer would make a difference.

[Woahhs]

Did you see the thread with the Indymedia forum posts about jabbing freepers with HIV needles at street rallies? They were not kidding.

Do you have a link or keyword?

Pretty frickin' insidious.

[Wolf_Lochert]

Yesterday a friend of mine who runs a small security company here in Iraq emailed me. He is standing up a protection detail and wanted my opinion on tactics and equipment running the roads of Iraq; Tactics, SOP's, hard car or soft? I have been giving it some thought and here is where I am at.

I am willing to speculate I’m as well traveled in Iraq as anyone I’ve met. I’ve been just about everywhere between Kuwait and Iran, all points in between. And I’ve traveled every way possible.

I’ve gone in military convoy up armored hummers at 40MPH. I’ve run the Fallujah Baghdad gauntlet in a 15 truck convoy, thin skinned white F350's. I’ve rolled all over in blacked out Pajeros in local dress. Diplomatic convoys with armored suburbans and helo cover.

CSA is the least caring and the worst paying here. Lessons learned from bitter experience:

Your medical plan is via a company called VanBuren, and they don't like to pay. So it's all out of pocket first then you have to fight with the dealer to get paid.

Housing you get a talk up of a shared apartment, in the real side is you get stuck in a 3BR apartment, and the #3 gets' the maids quarters. The furnature is used junk.

Rent a cars, you get told you share with one other, sometimes as many as five on a car.

When you request your wage statement, the fees for the car and housing are on it, and the cars are not distribuited fairly. They are paying a lot for crap. If you complane to hr you become a target for pay back.

Talk with the managment who is hiring you, and get the details in writing, accecpt nothing less. These people are skin flints. Is the furnishing new or old? How many days you get a rental car? Clear standards on how raises are approved and proper counceling in getting pay raises. Anual increase is about 3%

Work 48 hour work week is a normal week. Thursday is 1.25 Time and friday is 1.5 time (CSA Weekend)

Leave is collected, even though on the contract it states you get 192 hours, so you have to earn it first. Make sure on your first day you have the 192 hours up front.

If you decide to leave and give 30 days notice that you get all bonus earned up to that time. You will see vaugeness in the contract and the story on the ground, mgt will adjust things to their advantage.

Most of the upper managment receive their slot not on merit by nepotism.

The company is there to make money, and you don't rate high on the social scale.

KBR truck drivers are quitting as fast as they can get to Kuwait. There is a back up at the out process desk at Camp Doha. They don't take well to being captured and killed. Heck some of the ITT team are more than worried about it. These are tough dudes and I respect their nerve.

Want to bet the next bunch of truck drivers comes from the third world where life is a lot cheaper? There are plenty here already. You should see the assembly yard in the evenings. It's a little UN of third world types. Some in turbans, some in long robes, and those long shirts the Arab's are fond of. The trucks become campers for this kind of work.

Heck I scared my former commo LT here. Asked him to listen into the CB radio chatter around here. Damm little of it was in English. Some of those trucks are tall enough with sightlines to call in directed fire. Perhaps I will remind my current commo LT about this possibility and get the drivers to shut off the radios when in camp.

As for commo, Threya sat phones are common here.

The cell phone system has not made it to here yet. Seems bad guys tend to trash un attended stations. Such is life.

Near other bases, cell phones are the tool of choice when convoys get attacked. Very similar to the U boat situation off the US coast during WWII. From the moment they leave the yard, its a high stakes game of tag.

One driver told me a story of a convoy that was attacked. The lead truck had its tires blown out. A snatch team of bad guys pulled the driver from his truck. Seems another driver further back, pulled out of line and ran over the snatch team, then picked up the stricken driver. Good thinking dude!

It's all family relations here. One cousin calls another and the trucks are taken. If they are lucky the drivers are left with water and their shoes. Hijackings are a real business. Seems some locals are taking trucks and storing them to use later for their own businesses. Damaged tucks are stripped clean down to the sheet metal. This is not a hobby, but business.

Notice how the government will issue weapons but said nothing about vehicles. This base has some 'up armor' Humvee but not enough if this document is accurate. I know the MP's like the Up Armor because it will keep them alive if someone shoots or blows off an IED near them. Standard Humvee will swiss cheese. Fortunately I have yet to witness any of that. Saw one with a bullet hole near a tail light once, that hardly counts except to the crew.

The mechanics next door have a hard job of fixing the broken Humvees. As civilians we are used to part failures. Got to see a four wheel drive transfer case that was trashed when a bomb sent a fragment through its case. This isnt your normal 4x4 repair shop.

Good news air cover is back. I see a lot of armed choppers every day. Apaches, Kiowa, black hawks, and a lot more 'fast movers'. We even have a crew of Air Force 'forward air controllers' here. Since they are kind of spooky in nature, I don't take their photos without approval.

[Eaker]

That link brought tears to my eyes.

Thanks!

[Wolf_Lochert]

The Peel is an immediate action drill that is designed to break contact without giving away the size of the element and the way we did it, ended with a real bang! (Claymore)

Is that the one where the lead guy opens up on full auto until he runs dry, then he falls back while the guy immediately behind him follows the same procedure in a reverse leap-frog?

Sometimes. Nighttime, that point man was the ONLY one who fired on fullauto, and anyone else who did so automatically became on the receiving end of a grenade, either hand/frag or M79 from anyone reasonably in range to do so. That also prevented mishaps taking place during magazine changes, a serious consideration in the days of the M16/CAR15 with 20-round magazine. A lot of those pulling that number two guy Slackman position preferred a shotgun as a result, though sometimes the point would use the shotgun and the slack would run the fullauto instead, often a cutdown beltfed RPD or M60.

But that was for troops on foot, and operating out bush. Those working in vehicle convoys in Iraq have a very different set of immediate action drills to work with, and different considerations if they're under RPG fire or if a mine or IED halts the lead vehicle. Different considerations require different procedures, and if the SOPs remain static, count on the bad guys using that predictability to their advantage.