Oerdin's Iraq thread.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Why do you let the civilians keep one AK-47 per family? I can't figure out any legal use a civilian would have for an assault rifle. Letting them is calling for trouble. People could jump in and out of the guerilla at their own preferance.

And if their attitude turns really hostile, millions of angry unarmed civilians is much better than millions of angry civilians with assault rifles.

Very true . I never understood why they're allowed to keep their Kalashnikovs either.

[Lancer]

Ok, glad to see you got the stuff Oerdin We got dough enough for another one but I'll let you work your way through what you have first.

[Dis]

Yeah I don't think Iraqis should have assault rifles. If americans can't have them, I don't want Iraqis having them . They have more of a right to bear arms than americans That's just not right.

I can see allowing them to carry pistols and such. But assault rifles?

[Lancer]

Oerdin, did you prefer the Gallo Salami or the HF beef sticks? That Salami is a personal favorite and if you prefer it too I'll double up on it next time at the expense of the beef sticks.

Also, next go round expect Baby Bel cheese which is tiny rounds of Gouda, wax wrapped, bite sized, mmmmm....

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie



And what's an REMF? Those American abrevasions (sp) are killing me.

Rear Echelon Mother F*ckers.

The noncombat army types.

[Kropotkin]

Malajer, Ollie, malajer...

[Chemical Ollie]

It was malajer (REMFs) who manned the cannons that sunk Blücher with 3000 German soldiers heading for Oslo in WW2. No one else was available that morning, as the regular crew was on leave. But that's another topic.

[Kropotkin]

If I remember correctly, I think that the fact that the german kriegsmarine didn't think of those old guns as a threat at all also played some role in the process...

[Oerdin]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Do you have those big, old-fashioned loadspeakers on the roof of your Hummer, like Blues Brothers in the movie?

We have four loudspeakers packed into one big unit which is mounted on the turret of our humvee. In addition we have a 600 watt amplifier in the vehicle, a minidisk player, a cassette player, a remote operating transmiter, and a microphone.

How do you know the translator doesn't set you up, and record something completely different onto the minidiscs?

We use multiple translators during a mission so hopefully one of them will be honest plus as added protection we mostly use US citizens instead of locals especially on important missions.

Didn't you try to sleep in the Hummer when you waited for the "go" order? 1-2 hours could do a miracle. But I guess the delay was not expected?

I should have but I kept expecting them to be ready at any minute and I didn't want to be groggy when we left.

[Oerdin]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Why do you let the civilians keep one AK-47 per family? I can't figure out any legal use a civilian would have for an assault rifle. Letting them is calling for trouble. People could jump in and out of the guerilla at their own preferance.

And if their attitude turns really hostile, millions of angry unarmed civilians is much better than millions of angry civilians with assault rifles.

I agree it would be better to disarm them but trying to do so would likely turn most of the pro-Coalition people against us. EVERYONE in this country has an AK-47. Saddam gave them away to everyone prior to the war so they could act as a citizens militia though most of them simply turned into armed thugs who looted and robbed at will. Now everyone feels they need an AK-47 for personal protection thus the policy is each house may have one AK-47 and 30 rounds of normal nonarmor piercing ammo. Anything more is considered stock piling and is illegal plus any other military weapons are strictly illegal (though Saddam flooded the country with those as well).

[Oerdin]

Originally posted by Lancer
Oerdin, did you prefer the Gallo Salami or the HF beef sticks? That Salami is a personal favorite and if you prefer it too I'll double up on it next time at the expense of the beef sticks.

Also, next go round expect Baby Bel cheese which is tiny rounds of Gouda, wax wrapped, bite sized, mmmmm....

Hmmm, let me nibble on a little of both and I'll get back to you.

[Barinthus]

Originally posted by Oerdin


We have four loudspeakers packed into one big unit which is mounted on the turret of our humvee. In addition we have a 600 watt amplifier in the vehicle, a minidisk player, a cassette player, a remote operating transmiter, and a microphone.

Next time there are insurgents in the area, just play Mozart or something. That should put end to that.

[pchang]

I believe rap and hip hop were the preferred weapons against Mr. Noriega.

[SpencerH]

Given the amount of time it took to get that cluster**** going I'm amazed you found anything. They were probably moving the heavy weapons out the back doors while laughing at the chaos.

[Auntie H]

Clearly Lancer has far better shelf stable cheese than Auntie H! I thought the gouda in wax required a fridge!

[GePap]

So much for the theory that a heavily armed populace is a bulkward against tyranny (during Saddam's time).

Good to hear you continue to be OK.

[oerdin's sis]

Gosh, and I was going to send mouthwash!! Just kidding, I am really sending bug repellant and anti-itch cream!!

[Oerdin]

In other news our company 1SG has been relieved of duty. Basically, everyone has hated him since day one because he's an ******* but the kicker was that he never did anything. A 1SG's job is to take care of the "beans & bullets" for the company that means he handles the paper work behind the scenes and makes sure everyone has the things they need in order to do their jobs. Our 1SG never seemed to handle anything. We've been in Iraq for three months (plus there was three months build up before arriving in Iraq) yet everyones' pay is still screwed up. No one is getting their hostile fire pay or other incentive pay nor is anyone getting their taxes refunded as they are supposed to when serving in a combat zone. Some of you might also remember last Nov-Jan when I didn't get paid for three whole months and this A-Hole kept saying he'd fix the problem but he never did. I was totally flat broke because I hadn't been paid for a quarter of a year and if my parent's hadn't lent me money I don't know what I would have done.

In any event the last straw was when one of our teams was assigned to support a unit in Najaf and they got attacked by 3 RPGs. Their humvee was the only one not uparmored or without the new armored ballistic doors which can be mounted on regular nonarmored humvees. They only survived because the Arabs can't aim worth **** and missed their vehicle. It turns out the 1SG hadn't even bothered to turn in the paperwork to get the armored doors dispite the fact that we have all sent in written requests for them multiple times.

I actually meet our new 1SG four years ago when I was mobilizing to go to Kosovo. He was the 1SG for the Psyop company that was going to Bosnia and he was in the infantry during Vietnam where he was awarded a Silver Star with V device for bravery under fire. He was stationed with the Brigade HQ in Baghdad but he will now move to our company's HQ in Tikrit. I think he will be a big improvement.

[Oerdin]

Originally posted by Auntie H
Clearly Lancer has far better shelf stable cheese than Auntie H! I thought the gouda in wax required a fridge!

Yours was very nice too. Thank you.

[Oerdin]

Originally posted by GePap
So much for the theory that a heavily armed populace is a bulkward against tyranny (during Saddam's time).

He didn't arm the populace until it became obvious the Coalition was going to invade. I guess he figured he was going down so he'd arm everyone to make things more difficult after his government was gone.

Good to hear you continue to be OK.

Thanks.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Oerdin


He didn't arm the populace until it became obvious the Coalition was going to invade. I guess he figured he was going down so he'd arm everyone to make things more difficult after his government was gone.

They could have used them agaisnt him anyway.

Thanks.

East your salami

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Oerdin
In other news our company 1SG has been relieved of duty.

Good to hear.
Its terrible when someone's incompetence or laziness puts other peoples lives in danger.

[self biased]

Originally posted by GePap
East your salami

that sounds perverse. especially with that smilie.

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by pchang
I believe rap and hip hop were the preferred weapons against Mr. Noriega.

Pantera, baby.

[pchang]

So what happens to the guy after being relieved of duty? Does he get demoted and put to work doing domething else? Does he get discharged and sent home?

[Kropotkin]

Don't be to happy about the 1sgt being removed. He'll probably end up getting what's in reality a promotion - just in some other unit. Incompetent morons almost always end up getting promotions in big organisations.

[Oerdin]

This morning at 0900 I had just finished eatting breakfest and I was sitting in my humvee, with our team's gunner, waiting for the Captain and our SSG to finish eatting when four mortars were fired at the base. I had my body armor on but my helmet was sitting next to me while my friend had (against standing orders) taken both off when we heard the rounds fired. I scrambled to get my helmet on, grab my rifle, and was running the 30 meters to the nearest bunker when the first mortar impacted 100-150 meters away from me. The explosion was very loud but I was a safe distance away from it. Right before the explosion I heard the tell tail incoming "whistle" of the mortar round and I hit the deck. After the impact I got up and was once again running to the bunker when the next three hit. They were all impacted further away (one in an open field, one on the Air Bases flightline, and another in the K-9 Company's compound). I made it to the shelter with all of my gear with my friend right behind me though he had run the 30 meters with his body armor only half on and his helmet not strapped on his head.

We waited 1-2 minutes in the bunker just to make sure no more mortars would be fired then we collected the rest of the team and went to find the impact sites. We were thinking that if there were wounded they might need our medical kits our we could use our humvees as ambulances but luckily no one was hurt. The K-9 units compound was hit but miraculously no one was at the compound at the time.

After that the day seemed to be going normally like any other day. We went with IO to help sort out a few issues at TV stations (essentally there are to many stations and not enough channels so the stations are interfering with each other's broadcasts) and distributed magazines at the town market. After that we went to Kirkuk Air Base so we could pick up the Captain after he got done with the eving operations brief at the 25th ID's division HQ and it was when we were driving back to the CMOC when things got interesting again.

In order to get home we have to drive one of two routes through a shi'a neighborhood where we've seen a fair amount pro-Sadr grafitti before and while we were driving someone opened fire on us with an AK-47. Right before the shooting the gunner was distracted by two shi'a Arab boys who flipped him off and began yelling "**** you, America!!" and he was looking at the kids so he didn't see exactly where the shots came from (though he knew the general area). I was driving and due to the noise of the (floored) engine I didn't hear the first three round burst being fired and didn't know what was going on until the turret gunner yelled that someone was shooting at us. We quickly radioed the other vehicles in the convoy telling them what had occured, but, unfortunately the road makes a sharp right turn at that point meaning we would once again be driving right by the spot where the sniper was sitting. It was about then that the gunman opened up with a second much longer 10-12 round burst. This time both of the humvee gunners saw three men crouching on a rooftop, one with an AK-47, and they both fired a steady stream of machinegun fire at them.

The whole thing took maybe 60 seconds. As we were driving we considered going into the shi'a neighborhood to find the three guys but the captain decided engaging in possible urban combat with six men without back up in a shi'a neighborhood wouldn't be wise. Especially considering what has recently happened in Sadr City, Fallujah, and Najaf. Instead we radioed the location and "report of contact" into the local infantry company and left the ambush site. In Najaf the Shi'a tried to trick soldiers into a bigger ambush by firing a few rounds and getting the soldiers to move down narrow streets.

As of right now I don't know if the infantry has acted on our ambush report.

[chequita guevara]

When you hit the deck, do you take a flying leap or just drop like a sack of potatoes?

[PLATO]

*PLATO is thankful that Oerdin remains safe*

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Oerdin
As we were driving we considered going into the shi'a neighborhood to find the three guys but the captain decided engaging in possible urban combat with six men without back up in a shi'a neighborhood wouldn't be wise.

Don't go looking for trouble!! Minute you got out the "three" probably would have turned into thirty.