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Old 08-12-2004, 07:53 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Location: Fort Lewis, WA
War in Iraq - My View Part 2

You can read part 1 here if you haven't

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...threadid=65604

Ok, this second I just want to say is based purely on my life here and is not in what so way anything near what the engineers, infantry, tankers or cav scouts go through. So take it for what its worth. And I do just back in a time a bit too.

I remember finally getting through Baghdad at about 10am and rolling up to the front gate of Baghdad International Airport and seeing a couple of Bradleys from 1st AD performing overwatch on a TCP (traffic control point) and the huge line of people trying to get in to find a new job working with the US gov't. We finally rolled through and came up to our new home. Victory is built on what used to be Saddam's hunting grounds in the middle of Baghdad. (For size relation Camp Victory is the largest posting of soldiers outside of normal bases the US army has ever set up). It also houses a couple of palaces and lakes. The entire complex was walled and had guard towers on it in various places. It is surronded on 1 side by BIAP (the airport), on one side close by the Abu Gharaid district, one side by the Ameriya district and the last side by the Ghazaliya district of western Baghdad. Abutting one of the walls is the Baghdad Veterinary College and on another point is Baghdad College of Agriculture. There is also a small old Republican Guard base that is in between the two colleges that has been taken over by squatters and is now a small village of almost 4,000 people. After going on a patrol one time and talking to people I was shocked to find out that the people were shot for even attempting to look into Saddam's hunting grounds. Definetly a good neighbor policy.

When I rolled into the complex the first thing I could see was endless lines of 40' x 10' long trailers. These were to be our homes for the time we were here. They are pretty nice and depending on your rank is how big the room is. My trailer has 4 people in and is split into 2 rooms. My roommate and I both get along great and it's air conditioned (Couldn't imagine it without). Definetly not what I was expecting. The power grid was pretty shaky for the first 6 months or so but its better now. We were actually living pretty well. Well except for the mortar attacks that were still happening. You would hear a mortar whistling in, grab your gear and either duck on the floor or run outside into a bunker depending on where you were. There where a lot of sleepless nights the first couple of months.

One day my 1SG came up to me and asked me if I knew how to operate a front-end loader. I asked him if it was anything like a bobcat and he said sure. So I ended up the next day driving this huge Volvo loader outside the gate with a loaded M16 and full gear on outside the gate to start our reconstruction projects that we were assigned. Remember we are mechanics and such, this isn't something that we were trained for. At the time now my unit actually has a larger area of responsibility to patrol than one of the tank units there. We started out with just clearing out from around the walls. It ended up being a project that still continues to this day. Every day except for friday we send at least one loader and most of the time 2 out there to clean roads, fill in pits, move trash, dig pits, knock down old buildings and try to help people. I have never seen such gratitude from people as when you do something as simple as spending a day building a landfill for them. (At the time due to the war there is no sanitation system and garbage just piles up in corners of alleys and such). Simple quality of life issues like this or taking an old field and leveling it out so some children can have part of their life back and play a game of soccer. I wish I still had pictures of everything that was out there but I lost them due to a hard drive crash.

We went over to the old Republican Guard airbase one day and started clearing the rubble out of the area. I kept seeing these large pits that were probably close to 100' across and about 70' deep or so I and kept wondering where they came from. Then it hit me. They were all bomb craters. Seeing first hand the devasation and precision that US employs both makes me proud and shocks me at the same time. The ability to drop a bomb in a crowded neighborhood and remove an aircraft hangar I think makes it a little easier to stomach. But then on the other hand sitting there on the ground and trying to help these people rebuild I was trying to think if it was even worth it. My question was answered soon.

I think I pissed off my platoon sergeant one day and me and my roommate got assigned to KBR (Kellog, Brown and Root) detail one night. No local nationals were allowed on post with a military escort and we got stuck being their escorts for a water truck that was filling up the shower water holds every night. I can still remember now 5 months later sitting in this truck with an older man about 45 or so and his assistant who was in his early 20's. They asked us to get some food for them since it was dinner for us. As it is all free for us it was no problem. So me and my roommate load up on 4 plates and bring it back out to the water truck to eat (no pork of course). When we got back they looked shocked at the pure amount of food that is normal for us to eat here. The older man started talking about how he used to serve in Saddam's army. They didn't get fed meals by person. Instead he was saying that they would get a certain amount of rice and tomatoes depending on the amount of people. A 5lb bag of rice and a bag of tomatoes for 40 people; I couldn't imagine those conditions. Working for around 1 dollar a day. I asked him if he was glad that the US had come in and the expression on his face was worth it. He told me that he was finally able to provide for his family, he was able to buy a car, he was able to buy new clothes for his daughter, he was able to buy dvds and get a satellite dish. He said none of this stuff would have been able to be done under Saddam. I asked him about the attacks that kept happening to us and his reply was "Not iraqis, iraqis are happy." A little translation later and he was telling us that the majority of all the attacks were from other countries sending people there to attack us.

I felt like I had walked up to a wall and seen a sign that said

"Hunting Season Open - No Limit - American's Only"


Well, work starts again. Will do part 3 later today. It's quite relaxing to actually write a bunch of this stuff out. I really appreciate all the support everyone has been writing. I sorta worry about if this stuff will get me in trouble and I know freedom of speech won't save me. Sadly its a right I gave up when I raised my hand to enlist. Oh well, life goes and I'll do what I feel is right.
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Old 08-12-2004, 08:29 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Wow. I can't even imagine going through all that. I'm not an American, I'm a Canadian, but I really appreciate what you are doing over there. Hopefully, in the end the Iraqi people will have a significantly better life.

Stay safe and I thank you for this inside look at what's going on...
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Old 08-12-2004, 08:46 AM   #3 (permalink)
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Location: Florida
Good luck, Please stay safe!!!
Thank you for the good word from the field.
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Old 08-12-2004, 12:16 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Location: Fort Lewis, WA
Quote:
Originally posted by bookerV
[B] Wow. I can't even imagine going through all that. I'm not an American, I'm a Canadian, but I really appreciate what you are doing over there.
Oddly enough we have a few natural born Canadians serving in the US army in my unit. I have no idea what possessed her to join
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Old 08-12-2004, 12:19 PM   #5 (permalink)
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More than anything, hearing your words makes me glad that we did what we did. Despite all the politics and arguments we're getting at home, your first-hand experience is putting things in a new light.

Keep everything up; you're doing far more good than you realize.
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Old 08-12-2004, 12:30 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Thankyou so very much for sharing. There's nothing that can match an eye witness in any situation. Good to hear. Stay safe.
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Old 08-12-2004, 01:11 PM   #7 (permalink)
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That's some amazing stuff, i love reading it Stay safe bud!
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Old 08-12-2004, 08:00 PM   #8 (permalink)
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That is a great story, I am going to go back and read part 1 right now. It is such a change of pace to hear about these stories in such a heartfelt manor.
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Old 08-12-2004, 10:58 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Another good one. We want pictures. Send pictures.

Stay safe.
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