20-06-2004 04:08									#181
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What's the Navy doing in Chicago? Patrolling against a Canadian over-lake invasion?

	20-06-2004 05:01									#182
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The Navy's Boot Camp is in Chicago.

But I was just passing through on leave.

	20-06-2004 23:46									#183
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Hey Oerdin do you have any idea what weapons the Iraqi police usually carry? I have seen them pictured with AK's, but from what you describe that seems to be a commodity there.

Just curious because alot of what I've read says the US commanders are making them more and more accountable for providing security. They say that the US commanders will provide them weapons but will not engage US forces in certain instances. Now this includes areas formerly under direct US military control.

I'm just wondering as to what they have to fight back with when they get attacked with machine guns, grenades, and RPGs.

	21-06-2004 02:46									#184
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I'd assume it'd be AK's, as they're a much more familiar weapon. Saves the trouble of having to retrain people. The stuff the US is providing them is probably more on the lines of vehicles, communications equipment, etc.

	22-06-2004 18:15									#185
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quote: Originally posted by Ted Striker Hey Oerdin do you have any idea what weapons the Iraqi police usually carry? I have seen them pictured with AK's, but from what you describe that seems to be a commodity there.

I worked with MPs when I was in Al Kut and one of there jobs was to give the Iraqi Police Glock pistols to replace their AK-47s (this is considered more police like and less military like) and to train them how to use the Glock pistol. The Glocks were originally donated by the government of Australia so the price was right (this is one of the ways Australia helps out), however, I question if a Glock was really the right pistol for these people.

For one a Glock has no safety. The IPs always walk around with a road chambered and they frequently walk with their fingers on the trigger housing even while the pistol is holstered. This has resulted in numerous IPs shooting themselves. The second big problem is that although Glocks are a wonderfully designed Austrian fire arm it still needs to be kept clean or it will jam. The Iraqis, god help them, just can't seem to figure out why a fire arm should be cleaned and inspected regularly. Even the Iraqi military in both gulf wars just could seem to get their soldiers to give a rat's ass about cleaning the weapon on which their lives will depend. Nothing has changed and the Iraqis are still just as likely to drop their pistols in the mud as they are to clean them.

The ICDC carries around AK-47s and various Soviet made belt feed machineguns but they are not allowed to have RPGs or heavy weapons. We want them armed but not so well; that way if they turn against us we can whip them out easily.

	22-06-2004 18:19									#186
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin ... The Iraqis, god help them, just can't seem to figure out why a fire arm should be cleaned and inspected regularly.

Because if a gun fires or not it is In'shAllah?

quote: Originally posted by Oerdin The ICDC carries around AK-47s and various Soviet made belt feed machineguns but they are not allowed to have RPGs or heavy weapons. We want them armed but not so well; that way if they turn against us we can whip them out easily.

Hmm... so, they can't outfight the insurgents either?

Can't say I think this policy is a winner. What happens when the USUK forces are gone and the poor bastards have to fight on their own?

	22-06-2004 18:23									#187
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Just FYI I am now in Tikrit. My company picked me up in Baghdad yesterday around 4pm and it took us a good 2.5 hours to get back to Tikrit. Along the way the freeway was closed due to an IED being placed along the side of the road but luckily the UXO team was already on the scene so we didn't have to wait long.

It appears another person has taken over my old job while I was away in America so I will be heading to a new AO. I spoke with the 1SG and he told me that several of the teams along the central half of the Iranian border have openings so it looks like I will be heading east towards Iran. I'm kind of happy because I was getting bored in Al Kut and now I shall get to see an entirely new part of the country. With luck I might even be able to pick up a few hand woven Persian rugs while I'm at it. I did see a few of them for sale in Baghdad but those guys wanted $500-$600 for them and I've been told by Iraqis that the prices are always double in Baghdad plus they double again if it is a western who is buying. I'd like to see if I can't get an Iraqi friend to do the buying for me so that I can get the rug for $150 instead of $600.

In any event I'm stuck here for a few days so I've been reorganizing all of my stuff. If I do go east then I shall be traveling by helicopter and I will only be allowed one backpack and one dufflebag. That means I'm going to have to start mailing stuff home as well as putting my TA-50, which I don't use, into a connex here in Tikrit. Still, it will be worth it to lighten the load.

	22-06-2004 18:35									#188
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quote: Originally posted by Cruddy ... so, they can't outfight the insurgents either? Can't say I think this policy is a winner. What happens when the USUK forces are gone and the poor bastards have to fight on their own?

The Iraqi Army does have heavy weapons because the Iraqi Army is much better trained (and dare I say politically indoctrinated?) then the ICDC. The ICDC was meant as a stop gap measure to fill security needs until the New Iraqi Army is up and running. The ICDC never got real indepth training and many of them are old local Iraq Army members who wanted to make a paycheck. Many of them are corrupt and take bribes, however, there role will become more and more marginalized as time goes on. Eventually the ICDC will become a National Guard type force while the Army and the Police will become responsible for daily security (police in peaceful areas and the army in not so peaceful areas).

As for now if the ICDC runs into real trouble well the US/UK forces aren't far plus their is always air support. That means we can still let them do much of the leg work (I'd say ICDC is doing about half of the check points and half of the patrols) and defections, like the ones which occured in Falluja and Najaf, won't cause us much difficulty. We will still outgun them and we can put them down easily.

Have you ever seen the movie Lawerance of Arabia? It's kind of like how the British didn't want to give the Arabs field artillery pieces because once the Arabs got those then the west wouldn't have nearly as big a military lead on them.

	22-06-2004 18:40									#189
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Ah, right... I was thinking the ICDC was the Iraqi Army, not the militia, so to speak.

	22-06-2004 23:40									#190
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The DC Metro Police have Glocks and a couple of years ago The Washington Post had a huge expose regarding accidental shootings with these weapons. Glocks seem to take an awful lot of training and discipline to use correctly.

	22-06-2004 23:49									#191
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quote: Originally posted by Chemical Ollie What's the Navy doing in Chicago? Patrolling against a Canadian over-lake invasion?

Originally, yes. We did fight two wars with Canada you know. Now its a training center.

	22-06-2004 23:55									#192
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quote: For one a Glock has no safety.

That strikes me as a bad idea.

Good luck with the new assignment, Oerdin, and keep us posted.

-Arrian

	24-06-2004 15:44									#193
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It appears I will be flying out to my new station on Saturday afternoon. It sounds like a decent station with some good people plus I hear they are rather laxed about the rules. I'm thinking that is exactly the kind of place for me.

In the mean time I'm helping the 1SG spread gravel by hand at the front of the house. We normally park our humvees there but over the last six months several deep ruts have been formed by the humvee tires so now we're covering everything with gravel. You might wonder why we're doing it by hand; well, they originally were using a bulldozer until the buldozer broke the main water line into the house. It appears the Iraqis put their waterlines half a foot under the surface instead of three to five feet like in civilized countries.

It really is just another example of how half assed the Iraqis do everything. Even in Saddam's palace complex the work is half assed.

	24-06-2004 16:54									#194
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Careful, Oerdin. You don't want to have that attitude get so ingrained that it's obvious to the average Iraqi you meet. They might not like it very much...

-Arrian

	24-06-2004 17:02									#195
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Oh, I will be careful not to say so while here in Iraq. One of the reasons for writting a blog like this is so I can share my observations with other people who are "safe". Meaning you don't know the same people I know so if I say something about my boss or about Iraqi (mis)construction techniques then you folks are unlikely to spill the beans so to say.

	24-06-2004 18:10									#196
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Great thread, Oerdin. I've had a long hiatus from 'Poly, and I've just arrived back to read this.

I wish you and your unit an uneventful tour of duty in Iraq.

Asmodean

	24-06-2004 18:16									#197
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Thanks. So far the first 6 months have been alright and there is only about 3 months or so to go.

	24-06-2004 18:17									#198
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If the water line was laid by hand, why wouldn't it be half a foot underground?

	24-06-2004 18:21									#199
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin --- and there is only about 3 months or so to go.

How can you be so sure? Some of the people you were replacing had to stay for some extra months despite having been there for a year already, didn't they?

	24-06-2004 18:22									#200
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Oerdin, have you considered opening up a website to post your day to day stuff?

	24-06-2004 18:29									#201
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Ollie: You are of course right but there are several things which lead me to believe this will not happen. #1 We are scheduled to have our replacements take over on 22 Sept which is around two weeks before the Presidential elections in the US. The last thing Bush wants is for the newspapers to be full of "Bush is ****ing over the soldiers again" articles just before the election. #2 The Army has very limited Psyop assets which it wants to keep in the field as long as they possible can (even if this screws the individual soldiers). Since Congress has passed laws which limit the amount of time the President can call up reservists they have to choice between to 9 month tours or one 12-16 month tours. The army will almost always go for 18 month over 12-16 months. They want the extra two months.

Luckily, I will be out by the time that next deployment happens (unless they stop loss me) and then I should be able to apply for flight school with either the Air Force Reserve or the Air National Guard.

	24-06-2004 18:30									#202
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quote: Originally posted by Giancarlo Oerdin, have you considered opening up a website to post your day to day stuff?

Yes, I have but I'm not sure which place would be best. Do you have any suggestions?

	24-06-2004 18:31									#203
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin Yes, I have but I'm not sure which place would be best. Do you have any suggestions?

This is the service I use:

http://www.below10host.com/hosting.php

Starting from $4.99/month.

	24-06-2004 18:31									#204
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Apolyton.

	24-06-2004 18:35									#205
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I would like to use one of those online blog services if I was going to post a real blog. I've been told you get more cross traffic that way since they cross advertise and index other blogs on the same service.

	24-06-2004 18:37									#206
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Livejournal if you insist on a real blog then.

	24-06-2004 22:28									#207
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin It appears I will be flying out to my new station on Saturday afternoon. It sounds like a decent station with some good people plus I hear they are rather laxed about the rules. I'm thinking that is exactly the kind of place for me.

You... you slacker!

Hope it turns out to be a place you'll like with people you at least can work with without any moronic officers or whatever.

Hope you and your comrades are faring alright considering the "Tet offense" thing insurgents pulled off.

	25-06-2004 19:48									#208
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Well, I guess some things are not meant to be. I've been told that due to recent events I'm going to be needed in the Samarra area instead of on the Iranian border. The border area is quiet except for the odd smuggler while Samarra seems to be quickly degenerating into another Fullujah so they're redirecting people there.

I can't help but feel the politicians are really screwing things up here just like they did in Vietnam. For the last month or so the Bush Administration seems to be very concious of the fact that every time bad press comes out of Iraq their poll numbers go do so they've been interfering with military operations in order to minimize press exposure.

Two excellent recent examples of this are Fullujah and Najaf. After four US contractors were killed in Fallujah the CPA announced the military was going to go take over the town and that they would continue occupying it until the persons responsible were brought to justice. The marines went in, lossing several dozen men, but before any bad guys were captured the politicians got squemish about the bad publicity and order the marines out of the city. The Marines were forced to give back the territory their men had just died to take in exchange for a cease fire which lasted less then one day. All the military experts said the cease fire wouldn't work and that the insurgents would just use the time to rearm and reequip but the Bush Administration didn't want pictures of dead bodies on TV so close to the elections. The result? The rebels now control the town and they use it as a safe haven to launch attacks against us.

When Sadr began his little uprising a few months back the CPA spokesman was quick to say Sadr would be either killed or captured but there would be no negotiations. The military began operations in Najaf but when Arab TV began showing pictures the Administration again lost its nerve and the army was order to abandon the town. We never did catch Sadr dispite the fact that everyone knows exactly where he is (the Imam Ali Mosque) and the Coalition has now twice looked like weak liars because we said we'd do something but then the politicians lost the nerve to follow through. We cannot win any type of honorable solution if the Bush Administration continues to undermine our soldiers in the field.

So any way I will now be going to Samarra which is another town the Administration as let the insurgents take over. With each town they take over they get stronger and bolder while we look weaker. Bush doesn't seem to have the nerve to do anything atleast until after the election so now our soldiers sit here being targets and are unable to effectively respond to the threats coming from these defacto safe havens.

Last edited by Oerdin on 26-06-2004 at 01:31

	25-06-2004 20:14									#209
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin ...Luckily, I will be out by the time that next deployment happens (unless they stop loss me) and then I should be able to apply for flight school with either the Air Force Reserve or the Air National Guard.

Go for your wings! I'm turning green here!

	25-06-2004 21:03									#210
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin Thanks. So far the first 6 months have been alright and there is only about 3 months or so to go.

And then they extend you.