HOLIDAY IN FALLUJA
These are ugly times for the US military in Iraq. It seems everywhere you turn, more and more troops are being killed and maimed in vicious encounters with determined rebel fighters. The insurgency is mounting incredibly in such places as Baghdad, Mosul, and Baquba; using more advanced techniques and weaponry associated with a well-organized guerilla campaign. Even in the massively destroyed city of Falluja rebel forces are starting to reappear with a callous determination to win or die trying. Many critics and political pundits are starting to realize that this war is, in many aspects, un-winnable.
And why should anyone think that a complete victory is possible? Conventionally, our US forces win territory here or there, killing a plethora of civilians as well as insurgents with each new boundary conquered. However, such as the recent case in Falluja, the rebel fighters have returned like a swarm of angry hornets attacking with a vicious frenzy.
I was in Falluja during the last two days of the final assault. My mission was much different from that of the brave and weary infantry and marines involved in the major fighting. I was on an escort mission, accompanied by a squad who’s task it was to protect a high brass figure in the combat zone. This particularly arrogant officer went to the last battle in the same spirits of an impartial spectator checking out the fourth quarter of a high school football game. Once we got to the marine occupied Camp Falluja and saw artillery being fired into town, the man suddenly became desperate to play an active role in the battle that would render Falluja to ashes. It was already rumored that all he really wanted was his trigger time, perhaps to prove that he is the toughest cowboy west of the Euphrates. Guys like him are a dime a dozen in the army: a career soldier who spent the first twenty years of his service patrolling the Berlin Wall or guarding the DMZ between North and South Korea. This sort of brass may have been lucky to serve in the first Gulf War, but in all actuality spent very little time shooting rag heads. For these trigger-happy tough guys, the last two decades of cold war hostilities built into a war frenzy of stark emptiness, fizzling out almost completely with the Clinton administration. But this is the New War, a never ending, action packed “Red Scare” in which the communist threat of yesteryear was simply replaced with the white knuckled tension of today’s “War on Terrorism”. The younger soldiers who grew up in relatively peaceful times interpret the mentality of the careerists as one of making up for lost opportunities. To the elder generation of trigger pullers, this is the real deal; the chance to use all the cool toys and high speed training that has been stored away since the ‘70s for something tangibly useful…and its about goddamn time.
However, upon reaching the front lines, a safety standard was in effect stating that the urban combat was extremely intense. The lightest armored vehicles allowed in sector were Bradley tanks. Taking a glance at our armored humvees, this commander insisted that our section would be fine. Even though the armored humvees are very stout and nearly impenetrable against small arm fire, they usually don’t hold up well against rocket attacks and roadside bombs like a heavily armored tank will. The reports from within the war zone indicated heavy rocket attacks, with an armed insurgent waiting on every corner for a soft target such as trucks. In the end, the overzealous officer was urged not to infiltrate into sector with only three trucks, for it would be a death wish during those dangerous twilight hours. It was suggested that in the morning, after the air strikes were complete, he could move in and “inspect the damage”.
Even as the sun was setting over the hazy orange horizon, artillery was pounding away at the remaining twelve percent of the already devastated Falluja. Many units were pulled out for the evening in preparation of a full-scale air strike that was scheduled to last for up to twelve hours. Our squad was sitting on top of our parked humvees, manning the crew served machine guns and scanning the urban landscape for enemy activity. This was supposed to be a secured forward operating area, right on the edge of the combat zone. However, with no barbed wire perimeter set up and only a few scattered tanks serving as protection, one was under the assumption that if someone missed a minor detail while on guard, some serious shit could go down. One soldier informed me that only two nights prior an insurgent was caught sneaking around the bullet-ridden houses to our immediate west. He was armed with a rocket-propelled grenade, and was laying low on his advance towards the perimeter. One of the tanks spotted him through its night vision and hastily shot him into three pieces. Indeed, though it was safe enough to smoke a cigarette and relax, one had to remain diligently aware of his surroundings if he planned on making it through the night.
As the evening wore on and the artillery continued, a new gruesome roar filled the sky. The fighter jets were right on time and made their grand appearance with a series of massive air strikes. Between the pernicious bombs and fierce artillery, the sky seemed as though it were on fire for several minutes at a time. First you would see a blaze of light in the horizon, like lightning hitting a dynamite warehouse, and then hear the massive explosion that would turn your stomach, rattle your eyeballs, and compress itself deep within your lungs. Although these massive bombs were being dropped no further than one kilometer away, it felt like it was happening right in front of your face. At first, it was impossible not to flinch with each unexpected boom, but after scores of intense explosions, your senses became aware and complacent towards them.
At times the jets would scream menacingly low over the city and open fire with smaller missiles meant for extreme accuracy. This is what Top Gun, in all its glory and silver screen acclaim, seemed to be lacking in the movie’s high budget sound effects. These air-deployed missiles make a banshee-like squeal, sort of like a bottle rocket fueled with plutonium, and then suddenly would become inaudible. Seconds later, the colossal explosion would rip the sky open and hammer devastatingly into the ground, sending flames and debris pummeling into the air. And as always, the artillery—some rounds were high explosive, some were illumination rounds, some were reported as being white phosphorus (the modern day napalm). Occasionally, on the outskirts of the isolated impact area, you could hear tanks firing machine guns and blazing their cannons. It was amazing that anything could survive this deadly onslaught. Suddenly a transmition came over the radio approving the request for “bunker-busters”. Apparently, there were a handful of insurgent compounds that were impenetrable by artillery. At the time, I was unaware when these bunker-busters were deployed, but I was told later that the incredibly massive explosions were a direct result of these “final solution” type missiles.
I continued to watch the final assault on Falluja throughout the night from atop my humvee. It was interesting to scan the vast skies above with night vision goggles. Circling continuously overhead throughout the battle was an array of attack helicopters. The most devastating were the Cobras and Apaches with their chain gun missile launchers. Through the night vision I could see them hovering around the carnage, scanning the ground with an infrared spotlight that seemed to reach for miles. Once a target was identified, a rapid series of hollow blasts would echo through the skies, and from the ground came a “rat-a-tatting” of explosions, like a daisy chain of supercharged black cats during a Fourth of July barbeque. More artillery, more tanks, more machine gun fire, ominous death-dealing fighter planes terminating whole city blocks at a time…this wasn’t a war, it was a massacre!
As I look back on the air strikes that lasted well into the next morning, I cannot help but to be both amazed by our modern technology and disgusted by its means. It occurred to me many times during the siege that while the Falluja resistance was boldly fighting us with archaic weapons from the Cold War, we were soaring far above their heads dropping Thor’s fury with a destructive power and precision that may as well been nuclear. It was like the Iraqis were bringing a knife to a tank fight. And yet, the resistance toiled on, many fighting until their deaths. What determination! Some soldiers call them stupid for even thinking they have a chance in hell to defeat the strongest military in the world, but I call them brave. It’s not about fighting to win an immediate victory. And what is a conventional victory in a non-conventional war? It seems overwhelmingly obvious that this is no longer within the United States hands. We reduced Falluja to rubble. We claimed victory and told the world we held Falluja under total and complete control. Our military claimed very little civilian casualties and listed thousands of insurgents dead. CNN and Fox News harped and cheered on the television that the Battle of Falluja would go down in history as a complete success, and a testament to the United States’ supremacy on the modern battlefield. However, after the dust settled and generals sat in cozy offices smoking their victory cigars, the front lines in Falluja exploded again with indomitable mortar, rocket, and small arm attacks on US and coalition forces.
Recent reports indicate that many insurgents have resurfaced in the devastated city of Falluja. We had already claimed the situation under control, and were starting to turn our attention to the other problem city of Mosul. Suddenly we were backtracking our attention to Falluja. Did the Department of Defense and the national press lie to the public and claim another preemptive victory? Not necessarily so. Conventionally we won the battle, how could anyone argue that? We destroyed an entire city and killed thousands of its occupants. But the main issue that both the military and public forget to analyze is that this war, beyond any shadow of a doubt, is completely guerrilla.
Sometimes I wonder if the West Point graduated officers have ever studied the intricate simplicity and effectiveness of guerrilla warfare. During the course of this war, I have occasionally asked a random lieutenant or a captain if he at any time has even browsed through Che Guevara’s Guerrilla Warfare. Almost half of them admit that they have not. This I find to be amazing! Here we have many years of guerrilla warfare ahead of us and our military’s leadership seems dangerously unaware of what it all means!
Anyone can tell you that a guerrilla fighter is one who uses hit and run techniques to attempt a breakdown of a stronger conventional force. However, what is more important to a guerrilla campaign are the political forces that drive it. Throughout history, many guerrilla armies have been successful; our own country and its fight for independence cannot be excluded. We should have learned a lesson in guerrilla fighting with the Vietnam War only thirty years ago, but history has a funny way of repeating itself. The Vietnam War was a perfect example of how quick, deadly assaults on conventional troops over a long period of time can lead to an unpopular public view of the war, thus ending it.
Che Guevara stressed in his book Guerrilla Warfare that the most important factor in a guerrilla campaign is popular support. With that, victory is almost completely assured. The Iraqis already have many of the main ingredients of a successful insurrection. Not only do they have a seemingly endless supply of munitions and weapons, they have the advantage to blend into their environment, whether that environment is a crowded market place or a thickly vegetated palm grove. The Iraqi insurgent has utilized these advantages to the fullest, but his most important and relevant advantage is the popular support from his own countrymen.
What our military and government needs to realize is that every mistake we make is an advantage to the Iraqi insurrection. Every time an innocent man, woman or child is murdered in a military act, deliberate or not, the insurgent grows stronger. Even if an innocent civilian is slain at the hands of his/her own freedom fighter, that fighter is still viewed as a warrior of the people, while the occupying force will ultimately be blamed as the responsible perpetrator. Everything about this war is political…every ambush, every bombing, every death. When a coalition worker or soldier is abducted and executed, this only adds encouragement and justice to the dissident fervor of the Iraq public, while angering and demoralizing the occupier. Our own media will prove to be our downfall as well. Every time an atrocity is revealed through our news outlets, our grasp on this once secular nation slips away. As America grows increasingly disturbed by the images of carnage and violent death of her own sons in arms, its government loses the justification to continue the bloody debacle. Since all these traits are the conventional power’s unavoidable mistakes, the guerrilla campaign will surely succeed. In Iraq’s case, complete destruction of the United States military is impossible, but through perseverance the insurgency will drive us out. This will prove to be the inevitable outcome of the war.
We lost many soldiers in the final battle for Falluja, and many more were seriously wounded. It seems unfair that even after the devastation we wreaked on this city just to contain it, many more troops will die in vain to keep it that way. I saw the look in the eyes of a reconnaissance scout while I talked to him after the battle. His stories of gore and violent death were unnerving. The sacrifices that he and his whole platoon had made were infinite. They fought everyday with little or no sleep, very few breaks, and no hot meals. For obvious reasons, they never could manage to find time to email their mothers to let them know that everything turned out ok. Some of the members of his platoon will never get the chance to reassure their mothers, because now those soldiers are dead. The look in his eyes as he told some of the stories were deep and weary, even perturbed. He described in accurate detail how some enemy combatants were blown to pieces by army issued bazookas, some had their heads shot off by a 50 caliber bullet, others were run over by tanks as they stood defiantly in the narrow streets firing an AK-47. The soldier told me how one of his favorite sergeants died right in front of him. He was taking cover behind an alley wall and as he emerged to fire his M4 rifle, he was shot through the abdomen with a rocket-propelled grenade. The grenade itself exploded and sent shrapnel into the narrator’s leg. He showed me where a chunk of burned flesh was torn from his left thigh. He ended his conversation saying that he was just a dumb kid from California who never thought joining the army would send him straight to hell. He told me he was tired as fuck and wanted a shower. Then he slowly walked away, cradling a rifle under his arm.
--
hEkLe
And why should anyone think that a complete victory is possible? Conventionally, our US forces win territory here or there, killing a plethora of civilians as well as insurgents with each new boundary conquered. However, such as the recent case in Falluja, the rebel fighters have returned like a swarm of angry hornets attacking with a vicious frenzy.
I was in Falluja during the last two days of the final assault. My mission was much different from that of the brave and weary infantry and marines involved in the major fighting. I was on an escort mission, accompanied by a squad who’s task it was to protect a high brass figure in the combat zone. This particularly arrogant officer went to the last battle in the same spirits of an impartial spectator checking out the fourth quarter of a high school football game. Once we got to the marine occupied Camp Falluja and saw artillery being fired into town, the man suddenly became desperate to play an active role in the battle that would render Falluja to ashes. It was already rumored that all he really wanted was his trigger time, perhaps to prove that he is the toughest cowboy west of the Euphrates. Guys like him are a dime a dozen in the army: a career soldier who spent the first twenty years of his service patrolling the Berlin Wall or guarding the DMZ between North and South Korea. This sort of brass may have been lucky to serve in the first Gulf War, but in all actuality spent very little time shooting rag heads. For these trigger-happy tough guys, the last two decades of cold war hostilities built into a war frenzy of stark emptiness, fizzling out almost completely with the Clinton administration. But this is the New War, a never ending, action packed “Red Scare” in which the communist threat of yesteryear was simply replaced with the white knuckled tension of today’s “War on Terrorism”. The younger soldiers who grew up in relatively peaceful times interpret the mentality of the careerists as one of making up for lost opportunities. To the elder generation of trigger pullers, this is the real deal; the chance to use all the cool toys and high speed training that has been stored away since the ‘70s for something tangibly useful…and its about goddamn time.
However, upon reaching the front lines, a safety standard was in effect stating that the urban combat was extremely intense. The lightest armored vehicles allowed in sector were Bradley tanks. Taking a glance at our armored humvees, this commander insisted that our section would be fine. Even though the armored humvees are very stout and nearly impenetrable against small arm fire, they usually don’t hold up well against rocket attacks and roadside bombs like a heavily armored tank will. The reports from within the war zone indicated heavy rocket attacks, with an armed insurgent waiting on every corner for a soft target such as trucks. In the end, the overzealous officer was urged not to infiltrate into sector with only three trucks, for it would be a death wish during those dangerous twilight hours. It was suggested that in the morning, after the air strikes were complete, he could move in and “inspect the damage”.
Even as the sun was setting over the hazy orange horizon, artillery was pounding away at the remaining twelve percent of the already devastated Falluja. Many units were pulled out for the evening in preparation of a full-scale air strike that was scheduled to last for up to twelve hours. Our squad was sitting on top of our parked humvees, manning the crew served machine guns and scanning the urban landscape for enemy activity. This was supposed to be a secured forward operating area, right on the edge of the combat zone. However, with no barbed wire perimeter set up and only a few scattered tanks serving as protection, one was under the assumption that if someone missed a minor detail while on guard, some serious shit could go down. One soldier informed me that only two nights prior an insurgent was caught sneaking around the bullet-ridden houses to our immediate west. He was armed with a rocket-propelled grenade, and was laying low on his advance towards the perimeter. One of the tanks spotted him through its night vision and hastily shot him into three pieces. Indeed, though it was safe enough to smoke a cigarette and relax, one had to remain diligently aware of his surroundings if he planned on making it through the night.
As the evening wore on and the artillery continued, a new gruesome roar filled the sky. The fighter jets were right on time and made their grand appearance with a series of massive air strikes. Between the pernicious bombs and fierce artillery, the sky seemed as though it were on fire for several minutes at a time. First you would see a blaze of light in the horizon, like lightning hitting a dynamite warehouse, and then hear the massive explosion that would turn your stomach, rattle your eyeballs, and compress itself deep within your lungs. Although these massive bombs were being dropped no further than one kilometer away, it felt like it was happening right in front of your face. At first, it was impossible not to flinch with each unexpected boom, but after scores of intense explosions, your senses became aware and complacent towards them.
At times the jets would scream menacingly low over the city and open fire with smaller missiles meant for extreme accuracy. This is what Top Gun, in all its glory and silver screen acclaim, seemed to be lacking in the movie’s high budget sound effects. These air-deployed missiles make a banshee-like squeal, sort of like a bottle rocket fueled with plutonium, and then suddenly would become inaudible. Seconds later, the colossal explosion would rip the sky open and hammer devastatingly into the ground, sending flames and debris pummeling into the air. And as always, the artillery—some rounds were high explosive, some were illumination rounds, some were reported as being white phosphorus (the modern day napalm). Occasionally, on the outskirts of the isolated impact area, you could hear tanks firing machine guns and blazing their cannons. It was amazing that anything could survive this deadly onslaught. Suddenly a transmition came over the radio approving the request for “bunker-busters”. Apparently, there were a handful of insurgent compounds that were impenetrable by artillery. At the time, I was unaware when these bunker-busters were deployed, but I was told later that the incredibly massive explosions were a direct result of these “final solution” type missiles.
I continued to watch the final assault on Falluja throughout the night from atop my humvee. It was interesting to scan the vast skies above with night vision goggles. Circling continuously overhead throughout the battle was an array of attack helicopters. The most devastating were the Cobras and Apaches with their chain gun missile launchers. Through the night vision I could see them hovering around the carnage, scanning the ground with an infrared spotlight that seemed to reach for miles. Once a target was identified, a rapid series of hollow blasts would echo through the skies, and from the ground came a “rat-a-tatting” of explosions, like a daisy chain of supercharged black cats during a Fourth of July barbeque. More artillery, more tanks, more machine gun fire, ominous death-dealing fighter planes terminating whole city blocks at a time…this wasn’t a war, it was a massacre!
As I look back on the air strikes that lasted well into the next morning, I cannot help but to be both amazed by our modern technology and disgusted by its means. It occurred to me many times during the siege that while the Falluja resistance was boldly fighting us with archaic weapons from the Cold War, we were soaring far above their heads dropping Thor’s fury with a destructive power and precision that may as well been nuclear. It was like the Iraqis were bringing a knife to a tank fight. And yet, the resistance toiled on, many fighting until their deaths. What determination! Some soldiers call them stupid for even thinking they have a chance in hell to defeat the strongest military in the world, but I call them brave. It’s not about fighting to win an immediate victory. And what is a conventional victory in a non-conventional war? It seems overwhelmingly obvious that this is no longer within the United States hands. We reduced Falluja to rubble. We claimed victory and told the world we held Falluja under total and complete control. Our military claimed very little civilian casualties and listed thousands of insurgents dead. CNN and Fox News harped and cheered on the television that the Battle of Falluja would go down in history as a complete success, and a testament to the United States’ supremacy on the modern battlefield. However, after the dust settled and generals sat in cozy offices smoking their victory cigars, the front lines in Falluja exploded again with indomitable mortar, rocket, and small arm attacks on US and coalition forces.
Recent reports indicate that many insurgents have resurfaced in the devastated city of Falluja. We had already claimed the situation under control, and were starting to turn our attention to the other problem city of Mosul. Suddenly we were backtracking our attention to Falluja. Did the Department of Defense and the national press lie to the public and claim another preemptive victory? Not necessarily so. Conventionally we won the battle, how could anyone argue that? We destroyed an entire city and killed thousands of its occupants. But the main issue that both the military and public forget to analyze is that this war, beyond any shadow of a doubt, is completely guerrilla.
Sometimes I wonder if the West Point graduated officers have ever studied the intricate simplicity and effectiveness of guerrilla warfare. During the course of this war, I have occasionally asked a random lieutenant or a captain if he at any time has even browsed through Che Guevara’s Guerrilla Warfare. Almost half of them admit that they have not. This I find to be amazing! Here we have many years of guerrilla warfare ahead of us and our military’s leadership seems dangerously unaware of what it all means!
Anyone can tell you that a guerrilla fighter is one who uses hit and run techniques to attempt a breakdown of a stronger conventional force. However, what is more important to a guerrilla campaign are the political forces that drive it. Throughout history, many guerrilla armies have been successful; our own country and its fight for independence cannot be excluded. We should have learned a lesson in guerrilla fighting with the Vietnam War only thirty years ago, but history has a funny way of repeating itself. The Vietnam War was a perfect example of how quick, deadly assaults on conventional troops over a long period of time can lead to an unpopular public view of the war, thus ending it.
Che Guevara stressed in his book Guerrilla Warfare that the most important factor in a guerrilla campaign is popular support. With that, victory is almost completely assured. The Iraqis already have many of the main ingredients of a successful insurrection. Not only do they have a seemingly endless supply of munitions and weapons, they have the advantage to blend into their environment, whether that environment is a crowded market place or a thickly vegetated palm grove. The Iraqi insurgent has utilized these advantages to the fullest, but his most important and relevant advantage is the popular support from his own countrymen.
What our military and government needs to realize is that every mistake we make is an advantage to the Iraqi insurrection. Every time an innocent man, woman or child is murdered in a military act, deliberate or not, the insurgent grows stronger. Even if an innocent civilian is slain at the hands of his/her own freedom fighter, that fighter is still viewed as a warrior of the people, while the occupying force will ultimately be blamed as the responsible perpetrator. Everything about this war is political…every ambush, every bombing, every death. When a coalition worker or soldier is abducted and executed, this only adds encouragement and justice to the dissident fervor of the Iraq public, while angering and demoralizing the occupier. Our own media will prove to be our downfall as well. Every time an atrocity is revealed through our news outlets, our grasp on this once secular nation slips away. As America grows increasingly disturbed by the images of carnage and violent death of her own sons in arms, its government loses the justification to continue the bloody debacle. Since all these traits are the conventional power’s unavoidable mistakes, the guerrilla campaign will surely succeed. In Iraq’s case, complete destruction of the United States military is impossible, but through perseverance the insurgency will drive us out. This will prove to be the inevitable outcome of the war.
We lost many soldiers in the final battle for Falluja, and many more were seriously wounded. It seems unfair that even after the devastation we wreaked on this city just to contain it, many more troops will die in vain to keep it that way. I saw the look in the eyes of a reconnaissance scout while I talked to him after the battle. His stories of gore and violent death were unnerving. The sacrifices that he and his whole platoon had made were infinite. They fought everyday with little or no sleep, very few breaks, and no hot meals. For obvious reasons, they never could manage to find time to email their mothers to let them know that everything turned out ok. Some of the members of his platoon will never get the chance to reassure their mothers, because now those soldiers are dead. The look in his eyes as he told some of the stories were deep and weary, even perturbed. He described in accurate detail how some enemy combatants were blown to pieces by army issued bazookas, some had their heads shot off by a 50 caliber bullet, others were run over by tanks as they stood defiantly in the narrow streets firing an AK-47. The soldier told me how one of his favorite sergeants died right in front of him. He was taking cover behind an alley wall and as he emerged to fire his M4 rifle, he was shot through the abdomen with a rocket-propelled grenade. The grenade itself exploded and sent shrapnel into the narrator’s leg. He showed me where a chunk of burned flesh was torn from his left thigh. He ended his conversation saying that he was just a dumb kid from California who never thought joining the army would send him straight to hell. He told me he was tired as fuck and wanted a shower. Then he slowly walked away, cradling a rifle under his arm.
--
hEkLe
posted by E-4 Mafia at 2:14 PM
34 Comments:
Hekle, glad to hear you're okay, man. I've been checking the blog every couple of days to see if there was any word from you guys, and after about a week, I guessed that you were probably in Fallujah.
From Stateside, things are kind of weird. Right after the election wrap-up (which lasted all of about a day in which the media basically rolled over and forgot how fucked up the Administration is), Fullujah was the top story everywhere. And then... you'll hate this shit... and then Scott Peterson was found guilty in a courthouse about 10 minutes drive from where I am right now. Fucking Scott Peterson. Who gives a shit about Scott freakin' Peterson? I live here and I don't give a shit. But that's all we saw on CNN, Fox, and everybody else.
It's like people -- or at least the networks -- just don't get it. It's a war, and they're reliving OJ Simpson. So at this point, we're almost relegated to blogs for accurate coverage -- one that's popped up is http://fallujapictures.blogspot.com... but I guess you don't need to see something on the web that you've seen up close and personal. It's just whacked, like we're living in a bad movie.
I think your posting was right on the money. No matter how John Wayne the US gets, no matter how Dirty Harry that our El Presidente Macho talks, I think we're losing this thing. Little by little, day by day. The death of a thousand papercuts. And it tears me apart to see that the public is being fed the "don't worry, be happy" message from that brass you talk about (we see them on TV all the time), and from the politicians that just got four more years in DC.
I'm worried. We've turned Fallujah into a wasteland, displaced about 300,000 people, Mosul has problems, and we hear about shit going on in Baghdad (as usual) and now new spots. Freaking Mosul... the Kruds kept that place tight through Saddam's reign, and even kept it mostly together after the invasion... and for it to go to pot now... that's trouble.
It would be comedic if it were a movie. But it's just tragic. Keep writing man, please keep letting us know what's going on over there, because otherwise we'll never find out.
Let me know if there's anything I can send your way.
Be safe,
SunGod
www.brainthink.com
You ever read Hideous Dream by Goff?
I don't think the US has to screw up Iraq, I'm not sure Kerry would have unfucked it, but it is unfuckable.
Four years, however, is more patience than the Iraqis or the Americans have.
What I want is 5-day-a-week Arabic lessons for fully half the troops.
A slogan "Fraternization, not Fornication" (make friends with the Iraqis, don't fuck them)
And you to get enough promotions to pull it off :)
I guess I'll read the Che book. But if someone over there wants to know "What can I do?" have them read Goff's Hideous Dream.
Glad to see your ok dude.
Like Greg I check every day. I was gonna email you but your post beat me to the punch.
I had a feeling you was in Fallujah. The Images from "Fallujah in pictures" pretty much match what your post said. So no need to ask.
Not gonna bore you with the bullshit back here. Gregg did a good job summing up. Most Americans are still delusional but its not their fault since corporate media does a good job of medicating the masses.
President is talking tough about Iran, using the same bullshit he used for Iraq. So pretty soon the pain of war will be shared once the draft starts.
Just remember everybody is the enemy. Do what you must to get back home.
Tell the fellas I said hi.
Anyway bro, glad you're alive. Be strong.
Spanner
http://lowrentrat.blogdrive.com/
It seems to me that there is a huge gap between what you believe and what you do.
The war is horrible. Its killing your friends, and as you say, countless Iraqis.
Do you realize that you are in a unique position to do something about it? To stop it?
Why not take some action?
It seems to me that there is a huge gap between what you believe and what you do...The war is horrible. Its killing your friends, and as you say, countless Iraqis...
Do you realize that you are in a unique position to do something about it? To stop it?How dare you, Anonymous! This comment shows the delusion and lack of responsibility of civilians (myself included). We have failed our military; we have failed Iraqi civilians; we have the responsibility here. How many of us quickly acquiesced to this war? How many of us fail to raise eyebrows as Congress approves a new yacht for Bush yet can't manage to arm or protect our troops adequately? Bush gets a yacht; our military rely on their families and church bake sales to get body armor. And now, we've got a civilian placing the onus on our brave, outstanding military to risk jail and career failure to clean up after our mistakes. Don't listen to it. Do whatever you need to do to come back here safe. The responsibility for the policies which created this situation need to remain where they are: a credulous public; a corrupt media; and horrific politicians who, having escaped duty in Vietnam, show no reluctance in casting our troops to hell. Hang in there and don't even consider sacrificing your future because of the mistakes that others have made. The vast, vast majority of US society fully and unequivocally supports you and will embrace your safe return; that's perhaps one of the few common threads that run between Democrats and Republicans right now. I will pray for your safety and sanity, and extend my personal apologies for not doing enough as a citizen to avoid this war. Perhaps "Anonymous" will be better served lobbying and campaigning to ensure that you will get the benefits and care that you so fully deserve when you can finally come back home. God bless you.
hEKle,
Just a quick question: what's up with all the references to bazookas? Because when I was over there, that's not what we called them.
Arkhangel
arkhangel.blogs.com
In reference to the "bazooka" comment, I was just going on a writing frenzy and never thought to call them "AT-4's"
How many civilians out there would even know what the hell I’m talking about if I used every single acronym in the Army dictionary of ambiguities? Hey, Average Citizen, would you know what an AT-4 is unless I called it "bazooka"?
No, we never refer to a bazooka as a bazooka, whether it’s our own or it’s the enemy's. We call an enemy bazooka an "RPG" for "rocket propelled grenade". But all in all, when it’s all said and done, its still a fucking bazooka, isn't it?
ba·zoo·ka ( P ) Pronunciation Key (b-zk)
n.
A shoulder-held weapon consisting of a long metal smoothbore tube for firing armor-piercing rockets at short range.
Much like our definition of a helmet. Hey Average Citizen, we call those "Kevlars", or sometimes "K-POTS".
And we're not allowed to refer to guns as guns. They are always "Weapons", although sometimes you can get away with calling them "rifles", but ultimately, its still a gun.
FMPP? Hey guys, that’s a 4-day Pass.
DFAC? That would be a dining facility.
SAW? A Squad Automatic Weapon.
IBA? An Interceptor Body Armor vest, or a bulletproof vest.
Hand wash Station? That’s a sink with running water and soap. Haha. See how ridiculous this all is?
So for all the Joe's out there who are confused by my civilian labels for military tactics or equipment, please understand that I'm sharing my stories with not only you, but to anyone who cares to read them. It just so happens that a large majority of the readers are not in the military.
And one more thing, about the anonymous comment left in regards to where we stand in this mess...
"It seems to me that there is a huge gap between what you believe and what you do.
The war is horrible. Its killing your friends, and as you say, countless Iraqis.
Do you realize that you are in a unique position to do something about it? To stop it?
Why not take some action?"
The only thing I can say is, well, you are correct. War is horrible and yes it is claiming the lives of not only good soldiers but also innocent Iraqi civilians.
And yes, there is a huge gap between what I believe and what I do about it. But let me ask you this, Anonymous, what would you do in the same situation? Have you ever been in the military? Do you even know the anomaly presented by being an antiwar soldier?
By human standards, we always have a choice. And this is the problem concerning not only me but also many of my close friends in the same situation. We could make a stand and say "NO! We will not fight any longer!"
But the problem with that is the system is very unforgiving. Combat refusal could land you in prison for up to five years, and ruin your civilian future. There is no two-week notice in our line of work.
And this has made it especially harder since we have been stop-lossed. Its a constant reminder that the Army will always get the last word, and they can fuck you as hard as they want at any time for any reason.
So is it morally correct for me to say "NO MORE WAR" while still holding that gun in my hand? You bet, and I feel like a hypocritical coward for not standing up for my convictions. But if there is one thing I've learned from being in the military, it’s that you must choose your battles, and by remaining an anonymous blogger, I have chosen mine.
--
hEkLe
To Arkhangel
I think what my boy hEkLe was trying to tell you in his oh so subtle way was: "IF your trying to expose me as a charlatan..Shut the fuck up. This mutha fuck IS in the shit, asshole!"
To the Dudes at FTS..The statistics..Happy Thanksgiving bros..God bless...Get home safe.
Spanner
http://lowrentrat.blogdrive.com
hEkLe fuck anonymous! Bottomline bro and its pretty fucking simple. YOU DO WHAT YOU MUST TO GET BACK HOME A LIVE!
These cocksuocker who try to attack you cause you fight awar you dont belive in are clueless Zombies of teh Bush Cult..who AGAIN I reiterate are SAFE at HOME! I did some math about the election and I figured that 9 million ppl who are of Draft age voted for Bush YET we are NOT meeting our recruitment numbers...EXPLAIN THAT SHIT TO ME PLEASE! These mutha fuckers support this man and his war BUT dont have the BALLS to fight in it!
hEKLe you do what you gotta do to survive. Dont you worry abut bitches who dont have the stones to fight questioning your values and alleged contradictions. And too al yu Gung Ho Red Stae assholes. Take your ass to a recruitmen stattion. If not then SHUT THE FUCK UP you Gutless holy rollers.
Spanner
http://lowrentrat.blogdrive.com
Dear blogger,
You are a traitor. Don't you remember 9/11? what about bin laden? You raghead loving pinko don't you..blah, blah, blah blah.
Just kidding.
Please check out my blog and write me.
http://fallujapictures@blogspot.com
If you get a lot of hatemail and are sick of answering it, I invite you to post it to my new blog.
It's called "Don't You Know Nothing?"
If you like, i'll make you an account.
http://southernzenquestion.blogspot.com
dear blogger please stay annoymous. its dangerous out there for anyone who speaks the truth and opposes what the government is doing, even in the states where we are not getting shot at. the minister at my church protested the war, her phone was tapped and she was trailed. a teenager who put an anti bush sticker on his car got a visit from the secret service. everything i see since the election tells me that if you were right you are gone, if you are a true believer in bush and his doings you get promoted. can you imagine the guy who brought us gitmo and abu ghraib as attny general? well thats who the guy is, he wrote the memos stating the geneva conventions don't apply and he's been tied to bush for 10 years. how about at state no more colin powell, condi rice? and the cia is being completely purged by goss. none of this can end well. among other things these guys are really and truly bankrupting the country, in 225 years our national debt got to x, in the last 4 years they have increased that debt BY 37%. and listen, we've been borrowing 40% of that money at each auction from basically 2 central banks: japan & china. But guess what they ain't showing up recently, as in since sept, and guess whos been buying: hedge funds. now thats REEL stable money. also the dollar has been dropping like a stone since bush's re-election. then of course there's iraq which you have the misfortune to be participating in. from what i can tell, every week it gets worse there and not enough troops to really calm things down. noticed they had to pull troops off fallujah to go to mosul, for instance and today in the wsj lt. gen. metz saying that "us forces didn't completely seal off fallujah until shortly before the invasion because the traffic control points that would have been necessary for a firm cordon have become popular insurgent targets" WHAT? the article goes on to say this means that alot of insurgents slipped out of falluja and that "us forces might find themselves putting down rebellions in the same cities they have already assaulted". there is no happy ending coming there either as far as i can see. so financially and militarily we are basically F-K'd. then lay in the fact that all the public opinion polls i see from overseas say we are not liked at all these days. my take is the situation is: fools paradise, next comes crash and burn. meanwhile you have to work on staying alive and sane. not easy. i read through all your posts back thru feb when i came across your site last nite and i bookmarked it and plan to come back every day. i can hardly imagine the total rage you must be in. AND OF COURSE TOTALLY TOTALLY JUSTIFIED. but i worry. i read about you refusing to put on the combat patch. my friend you are early, 6 months from now if this mess is still on you will have alot more company out there. but as you know very well: point man is a dangerous place to be. can you think on your wife, your new born son and your daughter and think about your main goal which is coming home to them? is it possible for you to go with the flow a little more, not let them know so much how you feel? maybe not, but it would be safer for you. i read about the writings on the latrine walls. FTA. funny, i still have a button from the Viet Nam war that says FTA. some sites which you may not know about which might be good for you: www.booksforsoldiers.com,which sends books and dvd's requested by soldiers; www.optruth.org, which is by soldiers returned from iraq; www.anysoldier.us where soldiers sign up to recieve care packages for their units. we support you, be careful tropical
oh some sites i forgot: www.sftt.org, this is col david hackworth's site. they would love you on the message board there and they are also looking for stories from falluja and the frontlines. hackworth has it right, his "hacks target,11/15 on falluja states: "in insurgency warfare, taking real estate-mountain or city-means zilch. long term winning is all about getting the people over to our side. As a marine sargeant wrote last week from falluja,"for every one killed five more are recruited". and www.antiwar.com is very good for a news summary. it probably wouldn't hurt for you to get known over there anyway, since he has some pull in case any thing gets bad for you. also you might enjoy this from knight ridder, joseph galloway, 11/24 titled:us struggles to find troops for irag, afghanistan "...they are also reportedly eyeing the ready brigade of the 82nd airborne division which stands by at ft bragg for rapid deployment anywhere in the world in a crises....the baltimore sun reports that the army is hard pressed to find enough officers for staff jobs in iraq and afghanistan and will double the length of thier tours...other extraordinary steps ordered or under consideration include pulling officers out of military schools or delaying entry into such programs.....the army is struggling to fill hundreds of staff jobs for majors and lt. cols in war zone headquarters and in the past month began stripping majors and lt cols from their pentagon billets and ordering them to iraq and afghanistan."
hello tropical,
I think you´re too scared.
And for statistics to tell us how he
feels and not wear a stupid patch
if he doesnt feel like it, is very
ok in my book. I want to hear
how he feels because I care.
And what kind of wife would that
be who would want some untrue version
of whats happening to her man?
For all the soldiers out there,
especially for statistics and his
friends: May the remaining time
in Iraq pass safely and as fast as
possible. Looking forward to hearing
more from you guys. unicornwarrior
Hi hEkLe,
I wish to thank you for giving me a better understanding of what some of you are really thinking, I had believed that you were as Einstein had penned,
“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice"
But it seems that many of you aren't, 'joyfully marching in rank and file' anymore.
The comments that Spanner make are Oh so right, their seem to be no end of Chickhawks advocating this war and the next one in Iran, or Syria or Venezuela but are they putting their lives on the line or putting their sons or daughters lines on the line, fuck NO!
How quickly would all of these conflict end if these same Chickhawks were the first ones into combat, or if they had to send their sons and daughters into the attack on Falluja.
"One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda."
~ Douglas MacArthur
"We know nothing. We don't ask. We're not told. We know nothing about the extent of bombing. So if they're going to carry out an election and if they're going to succeed, bombing is going to be key to it, which means that what happened in Fallujah, essentially Iraq -- some of you remember Vietnam -- Iraq is being turn into a "free-fire zone" right in front of us. Hit everything, kill everything. I have a friend in the Air Force, a Colonel, who had the awful task of being an urban bombing planner, planning urban bombing, to make urban bombing be as unobtrusive as possible. I think it was three weeks ago today, three weeks ago Sunday after Fallujah I called him at home. I'm one of the people -- I don't call people at work. I call them at home, and he has one of those caller I.D.'s, and he picked up the phone and he said, "Welcome to Stalingrad." We know what we're doing. This is deliberate. It's being done. They're not telling us. They're not talking about it."
We've Been Taken Over By A Cult!
http://fergusonreport.myonlinepublication.com/article.asp?pop_id=161&article_id=320
"Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war."
~ Albert Einstein
How many of you would have signed up if you had known what you know now?
How many times will we forget the lessons of the past and repeat the same mistakes over and over and over again?
"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor - with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it."
~ General Douglas Macarthur, 1957
"The greatest purveyor of violence on earth is my own government"
~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sorry for all the quotes, I haven't got a brain myself so I pick the brains of great men of the past.
How many of the troups on the ground over their share the same beliefs as you bloggers do you think?
Most? Many?
To all of you who now realise the truth and wish this illegal war to end, try to keep your humanity, and your sanity and be safe.
I will try my best, as I have done since before this evil was started, to end this atrocity. I will put a link up to this blog and hopefully our fellow men and women will start to understand that war will never solve our differences and will certainly not make the fearful, mindless masses any safer, but will only create more terrorists.
Rudyard Kipling, the poet of the British Empire, knew about deception of the young. He too celebrated the cult of the warrior, only to see his own son swallowed by the horror of the Western Front in World War I. After the war, tormented by guilt and remorse, he wrote:
'If any question why we died,
Tell them: because our fathers lied.'
Bless you All.
this blog is really great guys... check out Harass the Brass – A Website for Military Personnel, Veterans, and Their Families. This is the place where you can find out more about military people resisting war, both historically and today. http://www.infoshop.org/military.html
also see gnn.tv - join our blogpac yourselves if you would like, we'd love your input. we here are behind you all the way, bothers and sisters. keep your hearts strong. stay up. - ShiftShapers Incorporeal Corps. // Action Faction
I know how things sound when one hears "the distant sound of gunfire" [Revolutionary War quote, by, who knows?].
Rpg's can be tough. No Kevlar in 1969-70. News flash, an AK round goes "through and through" steel [our term for a helmet]. No actual body armor either. Just the "Viet Nam" vests, that I hear disparaging remarks about, both in the press, TV, and from the troops in the field. Hmmm. Yeah , I know about RPG's. They can ruin a man's day. And EMAIL??!!?? We got our mail [Snail mail], if we were lucky, about one month late. Email "Mom" before going into battle?? Puh-leese!!! We sttod in line for hours to use the MARS telephone set up. Something run by Ham Radio Operators at that time. And your folks got a telegram when you were MIA, KIA, POW. Maybe. Usually 2 weeks later. This is the Ole Grizzle Bear. Nightmares? Yep. About something that MIGHT have happened? Nope. About shit that DID happen? Yep. War IS hell. That's why, usually, people who have enough brains to locate their asses without a map and compass, don't bring a nation into a war.
But.......The last time I heard, this IS the VOLAR..yes? Volunteer Army? Marine Corps too? At my weekly Viet Nam discussion group, the volunteers of that conflict, Marines as myself, and a few RA fellas, and "Zoomies"[Air Force guys} listen . We listen patiently as the draftees complain. THEY were DRAFTED. Presumably the Air Men, Marines, and Soldiers, of today are volunteers. I'm just too damn old. I just don't get it. What were the youth of America THINKING when they VOLUNTEERD for the ARMED Services? Job training? College tuition? Saving up cash for a new ride? News Flash: Its called the ARMED Services 'cause you be carrying ARMS. [and are trained to use them?] Weapons, [yeah back in the day, you didn't have a rifle, or a machine gun [M-60] or even a "Blooper" [M-79 40mm granade launcher], you had YOUR WEAPON]. Do the Marines still have that damn "Rifle Prayer"? Probably.
Go north? [Canada} Desert? Geez!
I reaad somewhere about a soldier getting sick at dogs eating from a pile of human bodies. My response is ...Okay, AND?
Folks, military persons, if you really can't hack it, shoot your CO, or XO, or platton Sgt[ in their feet]. Or, shoot yourself in the foot, even.
Another newsflash, yes we went into Iraq for the OIL!!! If you disagree with that, then be honorable and ride a bicycle when you arrive "back in the world". Or walk.
I'm not sorry for sounding off. Perhaps, when there is one half million severely wounded, and 50-something thousand dead, then I will be sorry. Perhaps I'm just one sorry Mutha Fucka.
I present to you [plural], a notion, email yor parents and see what THEY were up to during 1964-72. Their answers may surprise you.
And oh. As to me? USMC MOS 6100 basic helicopter man. Door gunner in a Huey, and a CH-46. No Kevlar helmet. No kevlar with ceramic plates body armour. No chain gun. No armor on the birds [either of them]. And YES!!! We cannibalized parts for our air-craft. And the jeeps, trucks, generators, etc.
Termonology, Weren't Hum-Vees supposed to replace Jeeps? What's with the armor question/issue?
Isn't a Bradley a "Fighting Vehicle? What's with the "Bradley Tank" term?
Last staement, when I sit down with my peers, all of us grey, with bellies, there are 14 of us. Within our group, our "facilitator" once conted up the Awards and Decorations for the group as a whole. Several Navy Crosses [and the Army equivalent], an even dozen Silver Stars, another dozen Bronze Stars with the combat "V", maybe three dozen Navy/Army Comm. Medals all with valour "V"'s. So many CIB's [second and third awards] and Navy/Marine Combat Action Ribbons [ditto] that it is too many to count. And forget about Air Medals . Just too damn many to count.
So what's the point to this blather? Maybe there isn't any point. Maybe I just wrote to vent. Maybe to let the young soldiers and marines know that others have seen horrific things that one doesn't mention to civilians. That one "gets through it" and come home and tries to get on with their life. [and NO, one NEVER "gets over it, EVER, I know that too]. Whatever. [my grand-daughter says that expression. I personally think it is asinine but what can a grand-pa do?].
Good luck. Don't get yourself[yourselves], killed, or wounded. Purple Hearts usually cost far, far more, than any civilain can ever imagine OR appreciate [ I know].
Over and Out.
Recommended reading:
Take The War To Washington
by Peter Van Greenaway
It is about Vietnam, but it is still relevant.
in catch 22, when yosarian gets an unjust order to kill civilians, he drops all of the bombs over the ocean, killing only fish. Orson Wells is forced to give him a medal or really look bad. Maybe the guys who don't want to do five years in military prison and don't want to kill women children and old people could do this. They'll never have to tell the Iraqis what they're doing or why, but the Iraqis will know, and a complicity can develop between the u.s. army and the iraqi civilians, and even the "insurgents". This would be our soldiers joining the guerilla war against the pentagon and it's sleeping taxpayer supporters without having to go to jail or hurt innocents who are doing exactly what they'd do in the same circumstances.
Heh guys, I love you all, and my compassion I send to all you Americans - at home and at war. I'm scared to death of Bush and the neo-cons and the Christian Right, and I KNOW the insurgents will win ultimately - BUT will they get the oil? I'm a refugee Canadian in England, where Tony Blair is trying damn hard to become George Bush, and is succeeding. Fare well.
Amerikans still don’t want to face up the reality that they are the most violent people on this planet. Whether massacring each other at home or the wanton slaughter being played out once more in Fallujah and Baghdad. Apaches, F16s and barrages of mortars for softening up, then the tanks and bulldozers for mopping up, the disgusting calculus of high tech military-industry Amerika grinding Third Worlders into the shit and desert dust for a fistful of dollars.
Bring on the 'dozers, guys and the IOF landscaping marauders, all the foreign legion of killers our tattered greenbacks can still buy and together my contracted comrades in hell we'll pile a mound of ruins in that biblical tradition here where Satan fell, a monument to our great Judaeo-Christian culture in Washington, Israel. Proudly raise Ol’ G’ory on a modern Iwo Jima of re-bar, rubble, protruding bone and human flesh. Sound the bugle and frame the photo, a pledge fulfilled to Freeiraq, the latest protectorate of the US oil industry.
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to all who read this,
bottom line for all of you who are against the war, we're in it. the last thing we can do is back out of what we are in, remember vietnam? we need to have some balls to stick it out and stick it to the insurgents and such like them. it is our duty to do such. i was 16 on 9/11 and i could tell you right now where i was, i was in business and sports management class. i will never forget that day. i tell you this, i would rather, though not desire, that one of my brothers in arms fall in combat, fighting for a cause i believe in, fighting against the REAL bad guys, than see or hear of one American civilian fall in the hands of a terrorist. i remember the reason for the war, it is necessary. here's a fitting quote i found: "War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
-- John Stuart Mill
though to you i will remain a nameless man, i want to give you a face. i am 20 years old. i'm from new york, and i no longer have any permanent place to call a home. home is where my boots are. i am currently in line to go to Ramadi in a little over a month. my fiance doesn't like the idea of me going to war, but she supports me. i love her very much and i respect those who fight and have a family to worry about. in case you're wondering, i enlisted about 10 days before we invaded Iraq, i knew what i was getting myself into.
oh, yeah, i voted for Bush.
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