Description of what my cousin is doing in Iraq right now

[HootieMcBoob]

A few months ago I posted something about a cousin of mine. He is 40 years old and has an interesting story.

He was a cook in the Army when he was younger. After leaving the Army he got married and found work as a cook/chef and he and his wife had some kids, etc. Well, the years went by and he started having some trouble with the bottle and he and his wife separated. He joined AA and thought that he might as well join back up with the Army Reserves to get a little more money because things were a little tight at the time.

He joined the reserves toward the end of the Clinton administration. Remember that he's now a 40 year old cook with an alcohol problem.

a few months ago he received orders to retrain. I was told at first it was infantry training which I thought was strange but he's doing something else. I'm sure there was a good bit of infantry training involved in his new MOS/Job but he's working escorting convoys. From the looks of it, mostly KBR convoys.

Anyway, I know that most folks here have a pretty good idea of the situation over there but I thought I'd post it because it's pretty much an up to date description of the kind of thing these people are dealing with on a daily basis.

Apparently he's scared shitless and with good reason, it sounds absolutely hellish.

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Convoy Escort Duty In Iraq

Written by xxxxxxxxxx

Friday, 11 February 2005

Due to the 120,000 to 150,000 American Soldiers deployed to Iraq, convoys enter and leave Iraq from Kuwait on a daily basis. These convoys can be very large up to 60 vehicles or more. They consist of military vehicles, parts, mail, food, fuel and personnel. Anything you can think has probably been convoyed up from Kuwait a time or two. Not only are there military convoys but also Kellog Brown and Root convoys. They usually need gun truck support as well. Kellog Brown and Root known as KBR is one of the largest civilian contractors of the U.S. Army. They do everything from providing food for the soldiers to wiring buildings. They are one of if not the biggest contractor in Iraq for the U.S. Army and of course the military will provide escort for them as well.


The first rule the Army tells you is that you own the roads. Don’t let any Iraqi vehicle within your convoy. If they are in front of you push them off the side of the road and if they are coming up on the back of your convoy make them slow down and keep a distance. Pointing your machine gun at them is a universal sign and they will understand what you mean and want. Depending on the mission, the U.S. Army has to provide so many gun trucks per convoy as a certain ratio for example 10 transport vehicles per gun truck. Sometimes it may be as little as 1 gun truck per 5 transport vehicles.

Gun trucks consist of Hummers with hopefully uparmor and manned by a soldier sitting in a belt harness up top scanning the roads with a 50 Caliber machine gun or a 240 machine gun. Transport vehicles very from a wide range such as fuel trucks, lowboys, HETS, 5 tons with trailers and so on. HETS and Lowboys are similar to tractor trailers used to hall military vehicles like Abrams , BFVs, Paladins Paladins.

Some consider convoy escort duty as one of the most dangerous jobs in Iraq. You risk every type of attack possible to include IED’s, VBEDs, RPGs, IF and DF. If the insurgents are really organized they can implement a combination of these techniques. From the border of Kuwait to the northern regions of Iraq there is over 600 miles of the most dangerous territory in the world for American soldiers and civilians. You don’t know what or who is waiting for you around the next corner.

It becomes very tedious and repetitive to provide convoy escort. Often the convoy will take up to 10 days or more and then you pick up another convoy and due the same thing over again. You can travel hundreds of miles with your eyes fixed on the sides of the roads looking for IEDs and finding absolutely nothing and then boom the next vehicle in front of you is on fire, RPG’s are zinging over your head and Iraqi dismounts are charging you from the side of the road with their AK47s blazing away. When you’re least expecting it, it will happen and when you’re expecting it, it will not. Always expect something when you drive through the cities. The AIF love to stand on an over passes and drop bombs down on American vehicles as they pass underneath. They also like to stand inside the windows of burnt out buildings along the side of the roads and snipe you or send out RPGs against you. American soldier’s heads and necks become these great swiveling devices as they are constantly forced to scan the areas around them at all times.

The only thing that would make the IED noticeable is the command detonated wire that would lead out into the desert or building where an insurgent would be holding the triggering device to set the IED off. Often they are placed in dug holes and filled in with sand or in trash like a coke can. They will also put them in the backside of guide rails. Sometimes they even place IEDs in the carcasses of dead animals. AIF also like to daisy chain multiple 155 artillery rounds together and place them along the side of the road. They are constantly adapting and changing their techniques as U.S. soldiers identify the new IED threats. Many IEDs now are triggered by cell phones or door bells to eliminate the command wire. One of their favorite types of IEDs is a container filled with ball bearings and now syringes. Once exploded these ball bearings will go through anything to include uparmor vehicles and the soldiers IBVs. They are one of the most dangerous types of IEDs made along with the 155 artillery rounds. When all else fails they will simply put on their best white clothes, fill their cars or pick up trucks full of explosions and simply drive right into American fighting vehicles, checkpoints or buildings.
By
1LT xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Glossery


IED- Improvised Explosive Device
VBED- Vehicle Born Explosive Device
RPG- Rocket Propelled Gernade
IF- Indirect Fire is some type of artillery
DF- Direct Fire is some types of small arms or machine gun fire
AIF- Anti Iraqi Forces
IBV- Individual Ballistic Vest is what all American soldiers wear
BFV- Bradley Fighting Vehicle halls soldiers in the back of it
FOB- Forward Observation Bases
SSAS- Shit Showered and Shaved
PT- Physical Training
Paladin- 155 Howitzer Artillery
Abrams- American Main Battle Tank

<edit: clarity>

[wtmusic]

1. Interesting..."Anti-Iraqi Forces"

or is it "Anti-US Forces"?

[HootieMcBoob]

2. that is interesting

considering that most of the "insurgents" are Iraqi

[KoKo]

3. I worry that 2/3'rds of our troops don't know why they are over there at

this point and wonder about their lives being snatched away from them. In many ways what's going on now is worse than Vietnam. This is a form of "conscription." It's awful...I did everything I could to stop it...I just feel so awful for anyone who is over there in that mess. :-(

Thanks for sharing..

[Jacobin]

4. That is the sad part for me

Soldiers who are taught that their highest duty is to obey an order and not question authority (which is a necessary attribute on a battlefield, unquestioning obedience), they are taught not to think. Most don't think about policy. America is right, no matter what. Anyone else is wrong no matter what. Little education, lots of propaganda, flags waving at home (before they go over and when they come back, at least), being told they are 'protecting america', some adventure for some who have no prospects for adventure or importance in life (better than flipping hamburgers).

Bush* has misused and abused and confused these legions of mostly poor, honest but not terribly aware people...he has killed them and maimed them and emotionally ruined tens of thousands of these guys for nothing more than to make people think he's some big, risk taking, large dicked man, when he is nothing but a sociopathic wimp, trying to out do his father in some Freudian way.

It makes me weep to hear about these folks and their tales from the front, and the confusion they must finally confront, when their efforts (nobly expended) are thrown away by the idiotic policies adopted by chickenhawks.