24-07-2004 03:09									#331
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actually the Marines have a fair amount of experience with counter insurgency, and a hearts and minds orientation in their doctrine for carrying it out, IIUC. Whether they have been succesful or not in Anbar province, and in particular whether they have done better than the Army, is another matter.

However it was hardly absurd to do deploy them.

	24-07-2004 03:25									#332
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quote: Originally posted by lord of the mark actually the Marines have a fair amount of experience with counter insurgency, and a hearts and minds orientation in their doctrine for carrying it out, IIUC. Whether they have been succesful or not in Anbar province, and in particular whether they have done better than the Army, is another matter. However it was hardly absurd to do deploy them.

They certainly failed in Falluja.

600-700 Iraqis dead - Iraqis said most of them were civilians, American commanders said ALL of them were enemy combatants, the truth probably right in the middle. After some weeks of heavy fighting, US military decided to call it a day and gave control of the city to one of Saddam's generals. What a glorious victory!

	24-07-2004 03:47									#333
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Given what the USMC was tasked with in Fallujah, its not clear the Army would have done any better. And agreeing to a deal hardly sounds like the policy of people who dont understand theyre fighting a political war.

Look Im not arguing whether what happened in Fallujah was a success or failure. Im arguing whether its an indication that the USMC is worse than the army at counter insurgency and hearts and minds warfare. I see no evidence from Fallujah that that is so. In fact there were plenty of reports that they WERE getting info from friendlies inside the city, and in fact are doing so now. But they were going up against the most pro-insurgency city in Iraq. And in fact at least part of the reason was mistakes made by the ARMY division that had been there before.

	24-07-2004 04:06									#334
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quote: Originally posted by lord of the mark Given what the USMC was tasked with in Fallujah, its not clear the Army would have done any better. ---

It's not really a matter of who (what unit) that fights the war, but how.

But certainly, given the hostility of Falluja in the first place, any US unit would probably had failed to win the hearts and minds, no matter what policy they would had choosen.

quote: And agreeing to a deal hardly sounds like the policy of people who dont understand theyre fighting a political war.

Perhaps not you, but many Americans on Apolyton said the Marines kicking butt was the way to deal with Falluja, some even recommending carpet bombing. Then the Falluja threads just died when the handover deal was set.

	24-07-2004 08:51									#335
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quote: Originally posted by Chemical Ollie This is what I have been saying on Apolyton for almost a year and a half, but most Americans won't listen. They think deploying the Marines as peace-keepers and use air strikes in urban areas is the way to win a war of liberation. USA, USA, USA!!!

Please notice I said a minority of units do this.

	24-07-2004 08:55									#336
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quote: Originally posted by Chemical Ollie Oerdin, you seem to have gained some increased responsibility during your deployment. Any theoretical chance you will go home as a leutenant, or is a West Point graduation mandatory before you can? Question is not really personal, I'm just curious of US Army policy. My buddy who is a multiple UN peace-keeping veteran (6 UN missions = 3 years of war-zone deployment, plus one mission as a civilian contractor) was asked to go on an 8th assignment. When he was reluctant, they told him he would be promoted from private to leutenant, without even serving as a sergeant in between, just like that. (He still declined, since his GF was pregnant and his priorities had changed now that he was older.)

Field Commisions do happen, however, I am not seeking one. I'd probably have to reelist which is not something I entend on doing. I plan on getting out of the military and working on a civilian career but I'm leaving the door open for possibly applying to the Air Force Reserve for a flight position.

	24-07-2004 09:04									#337
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Chem Ollie, before being posted to Falluja, the Marines had been quite successful in the regions they were previously posted. They weren't muscled-brained morons who shot first and grunted later.

They were, however, tasked with retaking Falluja, which is a lot different than simply peace-keeping.

	24-07-2004 09:07									#338
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Yesterday was a some what morbid day. I'm assigned to support 1-18 infantry of the 1st ID but due to upcoming missions they asked my team to assist them in recoving the body of a Hungarian national who had be beheaded by Islamic militants. The fellow was kidnapped and then beheaded and his body was thrown into the Tigris with his head stuffed into a back pack straped to the body. Some Iraqi farmers found the body flooting in the river and it was taken to Tikrit General Hospital. Our job was to get the body and transfer it to the morgue in FOB Spiker outside of Tikrit. Unfortunately, the body wasn't in a body bag so six of us had to put the headless corpse and the decapitated head into a body bag.

After that we helped some of the guys from our unit's headquarters pick up some equipment at FOB Spiker then it was time for me to write my daily report.

	24-07-2004 09:08									#339
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That sux.

	24-07-2004 15:13									#340
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Went to a town council meeting today here in Tikrit. As usual the council members sat around and *****ed about every little grip that passed their mind yet did absolutely nothing to fix any of those problems. The only thing they could agree on was that the US should give them more free money.

I'm thinking the Iraqis are acting more and more like western politicians each day.

	24-07-2004 15:53									#341
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3922055.stm

The BBC has a nice article about the Tigris becoming an open sewer. They are a bit misleading and biased as they imply the war made it the open sewer that it is today but the truth is the vast majority of Iraqi cities have no sewage treatment and never have. The same goes for Syria and I suspect eastern Turkey. That means millions of gallons of raw sewage oozing down the river each day. Joy of joys.

Luckily, I'm north of Baghdad so the water just looks nasty but doesn't smell horrid. Since I'm right on the river the smell would make my life worse then it already is.

	24-07-2004 16:25									#342
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I hope you used gloves. Some of the bacteria in those rivers and canals is so virulent I dont even want to think about it.

	24-07-2004 18:57									#343
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quote: Originally posted by Chemical Ollie They certainly failed in Falluja. 600-700 Iraqis dead - Iraqis said most of them were civilians, American commanders said ALL of them were enemy combatants, the truth probably right in the middle. After some weeks of heavy fighting, US military decided to call it a day and gave control of the city to one of Saddam's generals. What a glorious victory!

But the Marines hadn't even stormed Fallujah. They just encircled the city until someone decided to throw money at the problem. (i.e. have an "Iraqi brigade" go in)

	24-07-2004 19:54									#344
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin I'm thinking the Iraqis are acting more and more like western politicians each day.

Wasn't that what you where aiming for?

I've been a way for a few weeks. Nice to be back and see that the old Gee... G.I. is still alive and on his feet.

	25-07-2004 01:09									#345
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quote: Originally posted by SpencerH I hope you used gloves. Some of the bacteria in those rivers and canals is so virulent I dont even want to think about it.

Gloves and a face mask.

	25-07-2004 01:14									#346
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quote: Originally posted by Chemical Ollie Oerdin, you seem to have gained some increased responsibility during your deployment.

Yes, and I'm happy about that. I've finally gotten to a place where no body f*cks with me and I'm calling the shots. I have to make sure the reports are well written and that I keep my team busy but other then that I more or less have a free hand. It's always possible that a higher ranking person will get transfered into my area but we only have two months to go so maybe this won't happen.

I'm trying real hard to be a better NCO then some of the NCOs I served under. That means I make sure my guys get two days off per week if at all possible and they get a bit of free time at night to take care of their personal stuff (writting home, doing laundry, and what not). I've written out exactly what each person is supposed to do and so far they've done an excellent job of making sure their jobs get done.

	25-07-2004 04:20									#347
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin I'm trying real hard to be a better NCO then some of the NCOs I served under. ---

Can't be too hard when looking back at what you wrote about them 5 months ago. It was characters like out of a B-movie

You are probably like Winters in "Band of Brothers", while they were like Sobel...

	25-07-2004 04:28									#348
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quote: Originally posted by Lonestar But the Marines hadn't even stormed Fallujah. They just encircled the city until someone decided to throw money at the problem. (i.e. have an "Iraqi brigade" go in)

They were in allright. Not in large numbers, perhaps a company or batallion, but in none the less. But don't expect me to dig out news reports from April to prove it. And there were air strikes killing civilians in Falluja as late as this week. So much for power handover.

	25-07-2004 04:45									#349
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin Yesterday was a some what morbid day. --- Our job was to get the body and transfer it to the morgue in FOB Spiker outside of Tikrit. Unfortunately, the body wasn't in a body bag so six of us had to put the headless corpse and the decapitated head into a body bag. ---

:Yuk: But someone has to do the dirty work. It seems to be a good advice to wear gloves and mask, allright. Bacteria grow fast in dirty water.

My UN veteran buddy picked up a guy in Lebanon who was hit by an RPG round in the belly. The body bag was not really appropriate for the mission, he said they would rather need a bucket. He also showed me some pics of a guy who was killed by a hand grenade. There was plenty of hamburger meat hanging from the trees.

When he was home, the police asked him to clean out a stair house where a brutal knife murder had taken place. There was blood on the floor and walls from the top floor down to the ground level where the victim collapsed and died. The police knew that he had been in war and seen things like that before, while his mother who was the regular janitor refused to go in there.

	25-07-2004 04:48									#350
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin Field Commisions do happen, however, I am not seeking one.

Are you saying you have to seek (formally apply) for one to get one, or would your superiors handle all of that for you?

	25-07-2004 04:48									#351
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quote: They were in allright. Not in large numbers, perhaps a company or batallion, but in none the less. But don't expect me to dig out news reports from April to prove it. And there were air strikes killing civilians in Falluja as late as this week. So much for power handover.

You may recall the Iraqi government asking the Coalition to continue assisting to provide security forces. Power was handed over but the Iraqi government wants foreign troops to assist in controlling Islamic militants and Ba'athists.

	25-07-2004 04:57									#352
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Exactly. So you guys will stay a few years more. Perhaps not Sgt Jackson himself, but 100 000's of other guys.

Edit: By the way, are you working at the computer around the clock now that you are the boss? First reply at 5 this morning (my time), then some replies during the day and some late at night.

	25-07-2004 06:35									#353
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I have tomorrow off and I can't sleep so it's off to the computer I go.

	25-07-2004 20:09									#354
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A while ago we passed off some of the more run of the mill security jobs off to the Iraqis, now, they've handed off about half of the gate guard jobs on this very post to the Iraqis and I'm beginning to wonder if that was such a hot idea. Case in point. Three times now our interpritor has gotten on the post without a soldier coming to pick him up. Normally, nonmilitary personnel cannot enter a base in a combat zone unless they are escorted by a soldier. Thus the SOP is for the guard at the front gate to call our house and then for one of us to go sign in our interpritor. Lately, the Iraqi guards have just been letting the Iraqi interpritors on without escorts.

The interpritors do have picture IDs but those IDs are cheap and could easily be faked. There are thousands of Iraqis who work on post so it's not like the guards are going to remember the faces of who belongs and who doesn't. This is a major security breech as far as I'm secured and it is a direct result of the military's desire to pull out as many US forces as possible and replace them with Iraqi forces.

	26-07-2004 19:17									#355
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Today we went to the Tikrit office of the Iraqi Media Network in order to help write up line up the financing of the stations expansion. The expansion plans call for the building of a TV broadcasting station and an increase in the power output of the existing radio station. Iraqis, like most Arabs, don't have access to a great deal of public broadcasting so we're hoping to create more state owned TV stations to diseminate news and information. With luck the local TV station will be up and running before the census occurs in October so we can use it to help inform people about the census and the national elections which will be occuring in January.

After that we assisted the Head Quarters of our Psyop Company when they went on a log-pack to FOB Spiker. Now it's down time followed by dinner and then writing my daily report.

	26-07-2004 19:21									#356
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Please explain the term "log-pack"???

	26-07-2004 19:30									#357
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Logistics run.

	27-07-2004 01:12									#358
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I'm very disappointed with the revised up armored humvee. The thing has a top speed of 65-70mph and it over heats if you go that speed more then 10-15 minute if the AC is used. This started to happen to my vehicle today and turning off the AC only seems to slow down the over heating but not stop it. I've checked both the oil and the water levels and they're fine so I think the problem is the fan. The fan design seems to be to small for this vehicles engine plus it doesn't stay on long enough to actually do much cooling before it switches off again.

I only have 4700 miles on the vehicle yet there have already been numerous problems including a door latch which literally fell off while we were driving down the road and severalo dash board lights which light up but then won't turn off. I know these vehicles are made by the lowest bidder but it seems, as is usual, they cut to many corners and now GIs are stuck with vehicles which are extremely unreliable.

	27-07-2004 01:21									#359
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So when they started "up armored" the humvees did they bother upgrading the engines to account for the extra weight? Sounds like they didn't.

	27-07-2004 01:28									#360
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They added a turbo charger to the engine and you get a standard GM four speed automatic instead of the junky three speed the regular humvees use but that's about it. It doesn't seem like they upgraded the cooling system at all. They did add AC which they didn't have in the regular humvee but the AC unit never seems to get very cold. It can hold the line at 80 but even at night it can't seem to get lower.

Still, the AC is a god send when it's 125 degrees.