DEPLOYED Archives
Spanky's Back
By Slab
So, I'm surfing the MNF-W PAO website on the SIPR tonight, and I run across a video clip of GySgt William "Spanky" Gibson. Seems Spanky has returned to Iraq with the I MEF Fires section.
I've got to hand it to him for displaying remarkable courage in the face of adversity.
I mean, volunteering to deploy on MEF staff? Talk about taking one for the team...
Volunteering to deploy after losing a leg is pretty cool, too.
Riverine Patrol
By Slab
Hey folks, I know it's been a little while since my last update. In lieu of a long-winded post about nonsense, here are some photos from a recent operation with Riverine Squadron Two (RIVRON 2) on Lake Qadisiyah.
Update: You can't read it, but the Riverine Patrol Boat (RPB) in the second picture has the name "BM1 James E. Williams" stenciled on the side. I had no idea who that was, so I decided to look it up. And that is how I came to find out about the most decorated enlisted Sailor in the history of the United States Navy. One hell of a warrior.
More after the jump.
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Update
By Slab
Well, it's been a while since my last update, so I thought I'd post a quick one. Around Christmas, 5-7 Cavalry got orders to move to a new location in Iraq. Unfortunately, these orders took them outside of Al Anbar province, and II MEF wouldn't let the squadron take their ANGLICO teams with them. It was a disappointing decision, as my team had grown to like working with Apache Troop.
So, we were out of job shortly after New Years. My team spent about a week and a half on Camp Fallujah cooling our heels, before we got orders to head west. We're now living at Hadithah Dam, and once again I find myself supporting the Iraqi Army. We're still getting settled in, but so far things seem pretty good out here. Of course, it's quiet like the rest of Al Anbar. Remember the old saying, popular in the '60s, "What if they threw a war and nobody came?" Well, that's kind of what it feels like. Like I told my wife, if I've got to spend 7 months in Iraq, I expect somebody to have the common decency to crank off a round in my direction from time to time. To keep it interesting, like.
In other news, we now have a Tactical Escalade (MRAP). It's a pretty nice ride if you're road-bound, but the suspension is extremely stiff, so off-road or even just a road with a lot of pot holes (like many in Iraq) gets pretty rough. I'll do a longer post on it later. It was obviously designed by engineers, without sufficient input from the guys who would be operating it on the roads. I'm certainly a fan of the comfort, but these things will be of extremely limited utility down the road. Typical stop-gap solution, in my opinion.
More to come later.
Christmas Update
By Slab
Merry Christmas to our readers. I thought I would take some time for a quick update. Al Anbar remains quiet, and the Marines and Soldiers here continue to take advantage of the security situation to further our relationships with the local leadership. There is evidence of the insurgents nosing around here and there, and every so often they got caught in the open, but they have been unable to mount any effective operations. I haven't been keeping up with the news to know if the details have been released, but the Ramadi IPs recently ran a successful operation to stop an insurgent cell that was attempting to assassinate a local leader. More impressively, U.S. forces in the area knew nothing about the operation until its successful conclusion. It's the kind of story you might expect from a metropolitan police department in the U.S. or Europe, and it's very gratifying to see that sort of independence from the Iraqi security forces.
As for my personal end of this little fracas, it's been distressingly quiet. I'm certainly pleased about our progress in this little slice of the province, but ANGLICO is an organization that specializes in delivering large quantities of firepower, and our services are not in as much need as I would like. We'll continue to make whatever contributions we can, and we'll remain the "break glass in case of TIC (Troops in Contact)" organization. I guess, looking outside of my own personal views, it's a good thing when a group that specializes in spectacular kinetic effects of the sort produced by 500 lb bombs is feeling under-utilized. In this kind of fight, that means progress.
Our Christmas out here at the COP was peaceful. I spent about an hour and a half scooping out mashed potatos for the Soldiers and Marines here before I sat down with the Troop Commander and XO to eat our own dinner. We even got to have real turkey, instead of a processed imitation of turkey dinner. Obviously not as good as my lovely wife makes, but it'll have to do. I really enjoyed my Christmas overseas as a single guy, but this year there's a lot more to miss at home.
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Years to all of our readers.
Thanksgivings Past
By Bull Nav
We are all thankful today for something.
I am thankful I am home, and that when I was on active duty, although I missed a few Thanksgivings (and one birth), I never missed a Christmas.
One of the Thanksgivings I missed was in 1999. The mighty USS SCRANTON was inport Bahrain, one of 4 port calls to that august center of US Navy operations in the Arabian Gulf.
A couple of other ships were in, too. Our carrier, the USS JOHN F KENNEDY and its shotgun, the USS MONTEREY were both inport. It didn't seem like a carrier was in...
Until the Joan Jett concert.
Beer was cheap and it was Ramadan, so no one was going into town. It was1999, the last century even, and 9/11 was still a couple of years away. We were the tip of the spear, ready to get to it with whoever wanted to make trouble. In port, it was time to party and let loose.
Our Chop (that is supply officer, for you non-Navy types) managed to get the entire band to sign our brow banner, but Joan Jett did not.
Drank a lot of beer and ROCKED OUT!
It was a good time in a foreign port, even though we were far away from our families.
We still had our Navy family.
Sunday we were underway and back at it.
Greetings From The Front
By Slab
To all of our readers, I just wanted to report that I am safe and sound in Al Anbar province. I am currently living and working in a small outpost north of Saqlawiyah. So far it's been relatively quiet, as the Iraqi Civilian Watch is helping to keep the insurgent activity down. Of course, some of them were insurgents, but counterinsurgency often makes strange bedfellows. More updates to follow.
Obscene amenities indeed
By Slab
I know I've been rather scarce lately, it's been a rather busy time for me. We had a couple of training exercises going up near Cherry Point which had their ups and downs (on one day, all of our scheduled air canceled due to weather EXCEPT a section of USAF F-15Es, which was slightly embarassing for those of us who sing the praises of Marine Air; and I think the Marines of VMA-542 will be telling stories for years to come about the two captains from ANGLICO who slept in Humvees in their hangar). I will tell you that the folks of Oriental, NC were very kind and generous, even as we targeted their houses and stores and directed Harriers on simulated bombing and strafing runs.
I read John's latest salvo against William Arkin yesterday, which reminded me of his "obscene amenities" remark. I kind of let that one pass at the time, and focused my efforts on other things. However, since I've been reminded of it, I thought I'd post some pictures of some of those "obscene amenities" that I've had access to in past deployments. Really just for my own amusement, hopefully a few of you will get a chuckle too.
UPDATE: I guess, to be fair, I should admit that even I found some of the amenities on Taqaddum and Al Asad to be a bit over the top. Understand that there is a significant difference in quality of life from the grunts like myself to the "Fobbits" hanging out in the rear. Many of the Fobbits play their own role in the war, some of them even have a rather essential role, but it's hard for those of us out on the "bleeding edge" not to resent the Mongolian BBQ in the chow hall and the shower trailers so easily available to them. Keep in mind, this post isn't meant to be a statement of any sort, just a humorous look at some of the hardships that contrast Arkin's "obscene amenities".
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Duty in the Desert
By John
This milblogger seems to know his business:
An active-duty U.S. Air Force pilot; flown mostly C-130s during my career at numerous locations, to include a tour as instructor pilot at the C-130 schoolhouse at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, teaching new pilots how to fly the Hercules. Did a stint as Director of Operations, Chief Pilot, and Chief of Stan-Eval at a rapid-response C-130 unit specializing in high-priority, sensitive projects and test flights. Also served as an advance agent for Air Force One directly supporting the President of the United States. Married my best friend and we have 3 children that keep us very busy.
Herky driver LtCol Patrick writes Duty in the Desert, an excellent new milblog. Bookmark him, read him daily, and be sure to check out his remembrance of downed F16 pilot Major Troy Gilbert.
Do Female Soldiers Get Any Privacy?
By Charlie
I caught this in SLATE today:
Given these dangers, how much privacy do women get when they're deployed in the Middle East? …It depends on what they're doing there. In Kuwait, where companies bound for Iraq stop for training and acclimatizing, the degree of privacy is up to the women. Male and female soldiers are expected to sleep cot to cot under large tents that house 50 to 60 people at a time. The women usually curtain off a single-sex section in the back with sheets and ponchos. But this kind of self-segregation carries the risk of alienating women from their platoon, depriving them of Army chatter, or making them seem as though they need special treatment. In particular, females in leadership positions can't afford to live apart from the male soldiers they command. For them this means changing clothes inside sleeping bags—a practice many male soldiers also adopt.
…Changing clothes inside the sleeping bag?? Get over yourself. If we expect soldiers to see combat, is it so unreasonable to expect them to see nudity?
Chalk this up as another reason I’m glad I’m serving with an infantry unit.
What a Great Idea!
By Charlie
Having not seen a woman (caveat: if a woman is wearing a uniform, it doesn't count. yet.) in quite a while, I thought this site was an idea whose time has come.
(Reasonably safe for work.)
I'll go one better: ladies, send ME your own pictures, and I'll make my own calendar.
/repressed
Priorities, People!
By Charlie
So I’m in the chow hall today, eating my KBR food, and minding my own business. Then, from out of nowhere, I was bombarded with the cable TV news feeding frenzy that spun around an American beauty queen who boozed it up, and the subsequent Donald Trump/Rosie O’Donald spat.
I cast a casual eye over to a nearby table, looking at some of my multi-national coalition partners, then to a table in the corner where our terps were avidly watching the anonymous lip-glossed blond chick reading us the breaking “news.”
So I thought to myself: is this really the image that America wants to project to the world? Flaunting the corruption of our youth for all to see, and celebrating the newfound “victimhood” of alcoholism (at 20?). We have displayed one of our “best and brightest” as nothing more than a frolicking harlot drinking herself silly, and she’s got the title “Miss USA.” Let me throw some caveats in here, lest you think I am being too harsh on Ms. Conner: two girls making out is hot, and there’s nothing wrong with underage drinking (in my opinion, if an 18 year old can enlist and fight for his country, he should at least be allowed to buy a beer –hell, he should get them for free.)
My point here is that America projects a negative image of itself to the people of the world. Instead of showing ourselves as hardworking people, caring people, or anything that may portray us positive light, we hold up the Tara Conners for all to see –an example of our opulence and self-absorption. When people from other countries and cultures see this kind of thing continually flaunted, obsessed over, and fawned over, they begin to form a very different picture of America from the one that we all currently know.
What we need is a PR Firm to sell the real America, like the one that put me here to make this place I’m stuck in better before I leave. All of the locals I meet here love Americans, because they know us personally: we’re individualized. The problem is that the individualization of the average American may be Tara Conner to many people who have never met an American. This is a bad thing.
We’ve got real problems to deal with in the world, and yet America is navel gazing at a beauty queen. How many soldiers risked their lives today? How many people were killed in the jihad in Sudan? How many lives were saved by doctors and emergency responders? Once we solve all of the pressing issues of our time, I promise that I will start to care about the plight of Ms. Conner.
Holiday Wishes
By Charlie
Hi folks,
Your friendly neighborhood staff officer reporting from abroad. First of all, I have to say that being in an infantry battalion is hands-down the best place to be as a young officer. My dealings with the folks up at brigade (only one echelon up) have proven to me that experience at a lower level unit is an absolute necessity. Lots of officers don’t get the opportunity to serve at my level. An officer of my rank at a division or above command would be relegated to “assistant to the chief coffee fetcher” or some other functionally bereft position. Here, I’m in charge.
So I count myself among the lucky ones. Anyway, the job is going well. The holidays, however, put a strain on not only us deployed soldiers, but our families back in the rear. Remember, the families are the ones who didn’t volunteer.
So now might be a good time to check out the “Support the Troops” tab at the top of our webpage, and throw some of that holiday bonus towards some worthy causes. I’m going to plug Soldier’s Angels because I’ve seen their work firsthand here, and random care-packages in the mail makes Joe happy, and keeps him motivated and his mind on the mission, instead of the suck. Of course, the USO is also a worthy cause to check out. Also, if you want to send me some holiday cheer, shoot me an e-mail. I’m very lonely.
Anyway, the next few days are a time for joy and cheer and such for most folks, but remember that there are soldiers in the field this Christmas. Hopefully next year, I’ll get to spend Christmas in America.
AFN- WTF?
By Charlie
Because we troops can’t be trusted with actual TV programs, we’re granted AFN. The Armed Forces Network broadcasts into our chow halls and work areas, carrying NFL games, sitcoms, movies, and other TV shows commercial-free. Almost.
The AFN commercials –some might call them propaganda- are cute at first, then annoyingly tedious, and after a few weeks, slightly hilarious. When I get back to the states and see actual brands being advertised during commercial breaks, I won’t know what to do with myself. Basically, AFN commercials break down into the following categories:
Safety: These commercials communicate a simple message: you are too stupid to carry out basic tasks, and must be constantly reminded of the impending consequences of every action you take! Remember: driving in a vehicle is the most dangerous thing you will ever do. Ever. Also, be sure to look both ways before crossing the street.
Alcoholism: Why AFN must continually broadcast messages about alcohol abuse to troops living under the prohibitionist General Order #1 confuses me greatly. Are there bars on the base camp that I just haven’t been able to track down yet? Is drinking and driving really that big of a deal in forward areas? Strange.
Unit Advertising: The 10th regional support under-command is here to serve you! The 119th Nocturnal Air Service Logistics Group puts in long hours to accomplish the mission! Re-enlist today! I just don’t get these.
Oddities: I saw one yesterday that urged me to “stop global warming.” Great -how? How can I stop something that may or may not even exist, and what can I do to stop it? What if I don’t want it to stop? It’s getting freaking cold here anyway! Why is AFN filling my brain with such things?
Also, for a military that must live under “don’t ask, don’t tell” rules, “Will & Grace” is on every night on AFN. Ponder that for awhile.
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The Come-Back Blogger
By Charlie
Re-starting your blogging engine is pretty tough when you've been out of the loop for a while. I used to have my schedule down to a science. Get up, go to work, come home, PT, drink a beer, blog, eat dinner, drink another beer, go to sleep, repeat. Now with this deployment, getting the blogging back into my schedule has been rough.
Hours are long (longer than I thought) and getting up the energy to write a post has become more and more difficult.
That being said, I'm not crying in my non-alcoholic beer, here. At least, I'm not crying as hard as a group of artillerymen at the St. Barber's day dinner where they tearfully lament the loss of their tubes and their subsequent replacement with IO messages.
Anyways, getting back into the habit of writing on this blog is now a stated goal of mine (i'm stating it!)
So, with that, I'll be in touch.
-OP-FOR CMD POST (F)
RE: Women in Combat Arms
By Charlie
Alright- my blood is up on this one. What’s more important to the Army: “diversity” or “victory”?
Arraying troops on the battlefield based on “diversity” rather than tactical necessity makes no sense. “Captain, get more Hispanics and some 25-48 year old male Aleutian Islanders and reinforce the right flank!
Here’s my suggestion: take all the soldiers who are stateside writing reports about diversity and “strategically redeploy” them downrange.
I currently serve in a line infantry battalion, my take is a bit different from the physical argument that Lighting makes below: it’s the sex. The type of men that volunteer to jump out of helicopters, freeze on check points in the middle of the night, go days without showering, and cover their bodies in tattoos like to live on the edge. That applies to the …extracurricular activities they choose to engage in while off duty –they like to live life on the edge and take risks.
The biggest complaint I hear is “I thought I joined the Army, not the priesthood.” Currently, soldiers are forbidden to drink, smoke unless they are 50 feet from buildings, wear reflector belts wherever they go, fill out risk assessment forms to go on leave or pass, and of course – no sex. Introducing the temptation of female companionship into the almost-monastic lifestyle of the infantry is a morale killer for the unit (although a massive morale booster for that lucky Joe.)
Bottom line: it’s a whole can of worms we shouldn’t open up.
Thanksgiving
By Charlie
Tomorrow is the first of many holidays I’m spending forward deployed. So while the folks back in the states worry about turkeys and what they’re going to buy this Friday, I’m just going to work.
Yeah, there is always an attempt to make the place look like people are somehow celebrating or observing some sort of festivity –but you can only put so much lipstick on a pig. An army chow hall with a couple pictures of a turkey and some pilgrims in it is still an army chow hall.
So I’m watching a DVD with my roommates, and hitting the weight room, and waiting for the January semester to start so I can take some classes online. I try to talk to my girlfriend every night on Skype, but the time difference is tough. We’re both talking when one of us is dead tired.
For those who have never deployed, I believe the burden falls heavier on the soldiers’ family members than it does on the soldier. I volunteered to deploy, my family (and girlfriend) certainly didn’t volunteer me. That burden, in turn, weighs heavier on the soldier, who realizes that the litany of small problems at home that could be easily handled if he were only there are causing undue stress to loved ones left at home.
For me, deployment is a comfortable disconnection from the reality of life. Everything is simpler in the Army world. You wear the same uniform, eat at the same place, do the same job, and live with the same people all day, every day. Thanksgiving is just another day, another report filed, and another small victory when everyone comes back in the wire safe.
Lest I get you down during this festive season, I remain thankful. I’m thankful for my great country. As I’ve said before, when this deployment ends, I’ll get to go home. The people here won’t, and so it is my job to keep them safe while I’m here.
I’m thankful that despite the burdens, strains, and pain caused by disconnection with family and loved ones, I am surrounded by motivated, professional soldiers. It’s better than being stuck in some third-world backwater with a bunch of draftees (shudder).
That being said, Happy Thanksgiving from the OPFOR command post (forward), folks!
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Ask the Audience, Again
By Charlie
Hey all,
I always get some good input when I put a question up for our readership to ponder. I'm interested in pursuing a master's degree program while deployed. It would have to be an online-based course, and I'd prefer one I could start in, say, January. I'm looking for a degree in the political science/ international studies/ foreign affairs/ global security arenas, but a good old MBA would work too.
Any suggestions?
Out of the Loop
By Charlie
For those of you playing at home, I used to blog with John back in OPFOR’s early days. I think I even thought up the name. Anyhow, I’ve been deployed for 5 months now, and have secured a reasonably reliable internet connection. For those of you wondering- the whole “blogging” thing is pretty tough to start back up after being out of the game for about 5 months.
First of all- look what I’ve missed out on while traipsing around the world with a light infantry battalion: The war between Israel and Hezbollah this summer, North Korea shooting missiles all over the place in July, there were some elections held back in the states, our government changed hands, the PS3 came out, there’s apparently a Halo 3 now, and the SECDEF retired.
Blogging is about providing instant commentary to news, and it is a (hopefully good) habit that you just fall into. So this is my attempt to cold-start the diesel engine. I’ll give you a quick snapshot of my current state of mind. I’m in high spirits, as are the men around me. We are motivated to do good things while we are here –because we will eventually leave this place, and we should leave it better than when we found it. Americans living in the States are very lucky, as are the soldiers that deploy from there, because we’ll get to return when our mission is complete. The people here can’t just pack up and leave after their “tour” is up –it is never up.
We’ve got a limited amount of time to make a difference in the society (or whatever society) we find ourselves deployed in. As a free-thinking guy, I hate showing up and saying “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help!” But what I can do is point to the patch on my uniform, the American flag, the US Army, or my unit, and say “America is here, and we’re going to keep you safe.”
The American Army is respected because they are the most competent, disciplined, and generous organization that has ever provided a security blanket to a thankless world. To bring this home, I haven’t seen my girlfriend in months, I miss my folks, especially as the holiday season approaches, and I can’t drink. However, I’m proud to be here, and I’m going to man my watch on the wall, and when I leave the people here will know that America did something right. That’s what makes the difference.
Until next time, from the OPFOR command post (forward)
OUT HERE
