1843L, 2 May 2003, Friday

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I wrote in here. I figured that since things had calmed down I wouldn’t have as much to write about. That’s true to a certain degree, but a lot has happened in the past few weeks. I’ll hit on some highlights, but I can’t remember most of the dates.
Last week we went down one of the streets I’m responsible for. We have called it “The Dungeon” because every time we go down there, it’s one problem after another. A bunch of political parties have made their home there and there are a bunch of old government building that the looters continue to have their way with. This particular time we were in the neighborhood simply to talk to people. One family told us there were looters down the road. When I looked down there I could see people crossing the road with big chairs, tables, and anything they could carry. It was just Larry and I out this time. We drove down the road and immediately had to break up a fight between some locals and the police. We detained them at gunpoint. We also detained about 5 other people that were looting the place. There’s something wrong when two soldiers are detaining seven people. We called for backup because there were so many people and we could only cover one exit. At one point, I finally asked the police to take their car to the far end where the other exit was and block the road so no one could drive by. We needed to limit the traffic in the area. Some locals told us that there were people inside the building with weapons. Once the police took off to secure the road, we heard about 8 or 10 gunshots. They sounded like pistol shots. I immediately took cover behind a wall and aimed my weapon towards where the shots were coming from. It sounded like the shots were aimed at the police car. I saw a man who looked like he was about to jump the wall into the compound we were securing. I fired a shot just under where he was about to jump over. He ducked behind the wall then appeared and jumped over the wall. I fired another shot in front of him and then he took off toward the building. The third shot I aimed right at him but just barely missed him as he ran behind the building. He’s probably got a hole in his shirt because I didn’t see the shrapnel from my shot hit the wall. I never saw him again. We kept calling asking about our backup and they kept telling us 10 minutes. Eventually, but not soon enough, an infantry platoon arrived and searched the building….40 minutes later!! They didn’t search any of the houses where I reported the gunshots coming from though. They said they didn’t have time for that. I guess we’ll be dealing with that soon too.

A lot of the poor people have uprooted from wherever they used to live and moved into former houses belonging to the government. That doesn’t sit well with the neighbors. A lot of these neighborhoods are nice neighborhoods (by Iraqi standards) and then they get these poor people that move in. Of course they don’t like that. We don’t kick anyone out of these homes, but we do take away their weapons. I’d say about 90% of them claim some political party that gave them permission to take the house. All the political parties have weapons. We’re constantly seizing weapons from party headquarters all over Baghdad.

Today we got a call that another unit needed help at a gas station they were assisting with. At the time, we were trying to record a prayer from a local mosque that was broadcasting anti-American propaganda. Today the Imam was talking about Jihad and the responsibility to destroy themselves in the name of Allah. I’m going to find that guy and gut his throat. We went to the gas station at the end of the prayer. When we got there we saw that they already had a guy assisting with translation so we left. On our way out we ended up at another gas station that looked like anarchy. In my ultimate bid of stupidity I decided to try and help. All I had with me was my team (4 people) and our scout truck (3 people). The scout truck had an automatic weapon on top. The station was in complete disarray. There were people everywhere. We attempted to bring some sort of resolution to the problem. The problem was that they would not listen. Things were getting worse it seemed, although I think we straightened things out a little at the pumps themselves. People were constantly sneaking in the station and trying to jump in line. I don’t even know how many people I forced out of the gas station at gun point. Even a little boy, probably 13 years old, I had to point my pistol at in order to get him to leave. All he did the whole time was beg me for food or water or candy or chocolate. I wanted to shoot him in the forehead. He never came back after I forced him out. About an hour after we called for backup they showed up. The story was that in 5-10 minutes they would arrive. Every time we called it was the same 10 minute story. I had my doubts that I would live through the experience. I thought for sure that at any minute the huge crowd of hundreds of people would realize that there were only 7 of us. Finally, just when I had resolved myself to just leave because I couldn’t fix the problem I got a call on the radio. An infantry platoon had shown up to assist but they couldn’t get their Bradley fighting vehicles close enough to the gas station. We decided to just send in a dismounted squad. The psychological operations team showed up also with a portable speaker system. That helped immensely as I broadcast the rules for the gas station. We opened 2 pumps for fuel cans and the rest of the pumps were reserved for strictly vehicles. No one driving up in a vehicle was authorized to place fuel in a can. If they wanted fuel in a can, they had to wait in he walk-up line. A lot of people were trying to sneak fuel into cans after fueling their cans so I broadcast that anyone caught in the vehicle lane filling up a fuel can would get their can slashed. I even threatened to slash a few cans before they realized I wasn’t joking. I had the knife out and was making the motion to cut the can when they decided to leave. Eventually, order was restored. The MP’s showed up and took over the mission from the infantry and us. When I got back, I talked to the S2 about placing concertina wire around the fuel station to prevent people from walking up and trying to cut in line. They are going to try that tomorrow. That would cut the manpower required to maintain control of the station by about 75%. Then, today was finally over. I am so beat.

I’m tired of talking to people. All I ever hear about is how they need power, how America isn’t doing enough to restore life to the way it was fast enough, how someone forced someone else out of their house, how there are looters down the road, how their next door neighbor is a Ba’ath party member, how they need a job, how they need food and water. I don’t care about their problems anymore. It’s difficult to collect information when you can’t stand to be around these people. We help to liberate them and still there are those that refuse to sell to us. There are those that still broadcast messages of hate towards Americans over the loudspeakers of their “religious” mosques. Sometimes freedom of speech shouldn’t be authorized. These people are stupid enough to try that stuff. They’re all religious zealots just waiting to become a “martyr.” I’ll make them a martyr. If they want to be a martyr I should just set up a clinic for potential suicide bombers. Come to me and I’ll just go ahead and kill you. No need to blow yourself up and hurt others. Just enter through my office door and I’ll shoot you in the head and proclaim you a martyr for the cause. It would be so much easier that way I think. I don’t think I’ll even think twice about it. I don’t go anywhere without a chambered round in my weapons anymore. I worry about talking to people and having them blow up right beside me. This whole religious thing just irritates me. Islam is about the most unholy religion I can think of. I’m constantly blowing smoke up my ass as I talk to people telling them that Islam is a great religion, much like Christianity. I tell them I don’t see why the two religions don’t get along better. I’ll tell you why. Because Muslims are terrorists just looking to make themselves “martyrs” for some stupid worthless cause. The guys in charge of spreading the religious message of the Koran wouldn’t know holy if it descended upon them on a white cloud and beat them with a halo. I used to be tolerant of the Muslim religion, thinking it was much like Christianity with it’s handful of people who take the gospel a step too far. Now I think the entire religion is that way with a handful of people who have a straight head on their shoulders and truly are peaceful. Okay, I should end this. I’m pretty irritated. I’m going to keep writing in my journal on a regular basis now.

Supposedly, we’ll be going home between the 12th and 17th of May. I can’t wait to leave this place. I can’t wait to take a shower on a regular basis, even if it is a cold one. Just two more weeks and I’ll never return to this “wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

Things changed today. We had a meeting at the company. It’s pretty much official that SASO (Support And Stability Operations) is starting. Mr. Walker’s team was recalled from 3/7 Cav. Him and Mike will be used to lead the [batallion team], along with 1LT Meyer and a 98G specialist. Nate and I are being ripped from this team and will be given two 98G’s (Larry and Nick). I will be the team leader for Team 6 for 3/15 Infantry. We will have completely different zones than we now have to learn and collect on.

This town is in such disarray. Every night you hear gunshots. Tonight it seems a little worse than normal. You’d almost think that gangs are taking over Baghdad. I can make out AK-47 and pistol firing. I don’t know what they’re firing at, but it’s pretty close. I know it’s not us. They’re probably shooting at looters or threatening the local populace. We don’t really do patrols at night yet. I’m not sure if or when we’ll start either. It seems like the shooting starts when the sun comes down cause you hardly hear any firing during the day. Actually, I can’t think of the last time I heard gunshots during the day except to kill the lion that got loose from the zoo.

A few days ago a lion got loose from the zoo and was chowing down on a horse from the pen next to his. It was pretty funny to hear over the radio. Obviously, we had to kill the lion because we didn’t have any experienced people to keep control over the zoo animals. It took quite a few bullets to put that sucker down too. I’m not sure what they used, but I heard quite a few of them. Mr. Young and I got to see some lions at Uday Hussein’s house two days ago. His house was pretty much rubble, but he had a cage in his front yard with three lions in it. Two were lionesses and one was a lion. I teased it into getting some good pictures of its fangs and roar. It was cool. Inside the lion’s cage were what looked like the remains of at least three different people. Bones were scattered all over the cage and I saw three skulls. I could make out some ribs, hips, and a few femurs in there as well. It was always rumored that Uday would throw people he didn’t like to the lions and I guess it’s true. The bones didn’t have any meat on them, but they weren’t bleached to the point they looked like they were really old either. After seeing people at various stages of death and decomposition I can pretty much discern how old bones are now. One of the lionesses looks very pregnant too.

Anyway, tomorrow we have a mission to look for guy to get some information on where some bad people are. We’re also going to look into a weapons cache. We’ve been in the neighborhood before, but not in this particular area. After that is finished, we pick up the other two guys and become Team 6. We’ll see how this works because we don’t have a lot of the things we need. We don’t have a portable hard drive, we don’t have a printer, we don’t have many of the automation things we need. We’re taking the digital camera. It’s irritating. I’m tired of this and just want to end it. I just want to go home. The talk is four to six weeks. Screw that!! I say give us one to two weeks. By the time we start getting things running we’ll be leaving.

I haven’t written in awhile. It’s difficult to find the time to write when there really isn’t much going on. Our days are beginning to resemble each other. A couple of days ago, Nate and I went out on a presence patrol through one of the neighborhoods called Al Mansur with the SF guys. We were able to dismount and speak with the local populace. While we were on the ground talking with people we were able to get locations on a few weapons caches and also some safehouses for Fedayeen.

There were a lot of people there. We’d try to talk to one guy and eventually there would be an entire group congregated around us trying to tell us their story. Everyone seemed to have information about something. We eventually had to pull people aside to an area that we had roped off just to talk to them. The worst part of doing what we did was that we had to completely cut off traffic to the area we were walking around in. It was a major road so traffic was backed up pretty far for a little while. Everyone was really anxious to help in whatever way they could. These aren’t the same Iraqis I’ve been fighting for the past few weeks. They’re actually people.

During our visit we also saw an ice cream stand and I bought ice cream for me, Nate, and the security guys with us. It only cost me 250 dinars each, 1000 total. That converts to about 20 cents. Four ice creams for 20 cents! You can’t get a better deal. And did I mention it was ICE CREAM?! The cold kind. Actually, it didn’t really cost me a thing because I used the money I had taken from the enemy and dead people. There were also venders on the sides of the street selling cigarettes for $5 a carton. I bought 3 cartons and sold them for $20 each. I’ve got over $200 to my name now in cash. I crossed the border into Iraq with about $38. Of course, all this money will go back into operations since it’s difficult getting things here.

Today we’re going on another presence patrol in the same general vicinity. I plan on buying about $40 worth of cigarettes. If I can get them for $5 a carton, I’ll just sell them for $10. That’s only a $1 per pack, which I guess is good if you’re a smoker. I don’t smoke, so it’s just money to me. I can’t believe these people spend about $35 on a carton of cigarettes back in the states. That’s an expensive habit. I could certainly find much better things to spend that money on. But, we all win I guess.

There isn’t a lot going on, I’m just bored and thought I’d get started early with my day.

We woke up at about 0400 because we had to meet the manager of the Al Rasheed Hotel. The Al Rasheed is the hotel that all the reporters stay at when they are reporting from Baghdad. When you get those awesome pictures of Baghdad burning, they usually come from that hotel. Anyway, the manager wanted to meet with us to discuss some issues. He wants to come in to the hotel to get fuel for the generators powering both his living area located right outside the hotel grounds and for the hotel itself. He also wants to get food for the families that are also living there. The area he is staying in is where the managers and a lot of the employees live. It looks like another, smaller hotel. He also wanted to get the salary for his staff for the month of March which is locked in a safe hidden in the hotel.

We were there mostly as language support, but didn’t end up talking so much. He spoke pretty good English, as did all the engineers he brought with him. The engineers are going to be the ones restoring power to the hotel. They are also fixing the sewage and water problems. The Rasheed has all sorts of cool stuff in there. There is a swimming pool, massage parlor (obviously not manned), bowling alley, and a few other nifty entertainment rooms. None of them are operational right now because there is neither power nor water.

Well, that’s the day so far. We’re supposed to meet these guys again to take their pictures at noon. That way they can come and go without dealing with the hassle. We told them that only a select few would be allowed inside the hotel.

1817Z, 13 April 2003, Sunday

Nothing much else really happened for the rest of the day. Nate and I went back to talk with the people from the Rasheed. We took their pictures and created identification cards for them. The manager gave us three cases of Pepsi. You just don’t know how bad you’ve had it until you get to drink Pepsi. It’s like winning a million dollars.

Later in the day the team went to Brigade Headquarters where the company is set. CPT Somers came by earlier in the day to brief us on what’s been going on. Not much has been going on so we just talked a lot. It looks like we’re already starting to move into a more support and stabilization operation. We already pretty much knew that just by the nature of what we’ve been doing. All we do these days is talk to people anyway, only now we have to talk to them as possible sources of intelligence. But, since I’m going to be using this journal as a personal journal that I will allow people to read, I can’t go into what that really means.

While he was here, CPT Somers said that they had phones set up. We needed to go to the company anyway to get our trailer, which we dropped way back near An Najaf because it was bogging us down during the war. We couldn’t get out of tight situations quickly with the trailer. Now that we’re doing more SASO type stuff, we need the trailer again. The company also has a phone set up and we wanted to try and call home. I tried for about thirty minutes to get through but couldn’t. Vince got on right after me and got through after just two tries, but he got an answering machine. Then chief got on and tried for about twenty minutes and couldn’t get through either. I tried again for about ten minutes before we had to go. Obviously, I didn’t get through.

I also found out that 4/64 commander put me in for a Silver Star for what I did during the ambush. I don’t think it was all that impressive, but…

We also found out why everyone has been sick lately, including me. Apparently, during the war, a bird got into one of the water buffalos and died. No one knew it was in there and it contaminated our water supply. No one is giving away names about who’s responsibility it was to check the water and ensure these things don’t happen, but a bad water supply can cause an entire unit to become combat ineffective. Luckily, we found it before it got too bad and we had more than one water buffalo. I just chose the wrong one to drink out of.

I did get a letter from Emily today though. She wrote it the day after we went to war. Now that the company is set up, I will try to call her a little bit more. I would at least like to call once every two weeks. I think that is a good goal. More than that would be great, of course. I anticipate us being here about another six to eight weeks. That’s three or four more phone calls. I guess that is how I can pass the time: by phone calls.

The media wants us to believe that we’re unloved and unwanted in Iraq. And while we shouldn’t stay indefinitely unless asked, the fact is we’re there and there are people who support and appreciate that.