A Walk in the Park

I am so sore today.  We had a diagnostic APFT yesterday morning followed by a long day of classes and NCOPD.  After a few hours to ourselves (long enough to eat and get a shower), it was time to hit the trail.

We went on some raids with the IA and IP.  The IP were raiding a nearby village, so we acted as a backup for them while operating primarily with the IA in their target city.  The city has been known to hold terrorist safehouses.  The first time we ever visited there, the bad guys set an IED in the road immediately after we passed by hoping to get us on the way back.  Its that kind of place.

So we rolled in a little after midnight.  I always find it a little humorous that coalition forces “sneak” in under cover of darkness, using night optics, and taking side routes while the IA go roaring in, lights on, with a battalion of vehicles on the main highway.  They also have no tactical sense at all.  They will stand in the street, under lights, in a gaggle talking and not paying a lot of attention while in the middle of a hostile city.  My opinion is they rely of the professionalism of US troops too much for their security and to get them out of jams, but that is another post.

We staged at a local IP station that was relatively secure.  No sooner had we pulled in and set up a perimeter, then we heard automatic gunfire a few blocks away.  We reported it up, and continued mission.  We ended up doing dismount operations in the heart of the city while the IA raided houses throughout the town.  I grabbed my 60 pound aid bag, and after getting a bit of help, got it secured and sitting pretty decently on my back.  My radio went into the side pouch on my body armor, and I joined the other dismounts.  The dismounts were a combination of IA and US forces, our commander and theirs included. We began by patrolling the immediate block around the IP station.  There wasn’t much going on there, but the IA commander was pointing out different things to our commander.  I got the strange idea that the IA thought we were on a tour rather than a patrol as the didn’t seem overly concerned by such things as security, patrol formations, or snipers. They were all pretty much grouped up around their commander, and ours, walking down the street absentmindedly.

Myself, the Platoon Leader, and another one of the US dismounts decided it was wise to fall back about 100 meters from the gaggle and take up a roving overwatch.  We spread out a little and maintained a close watch on the linear danger areas, alleyways, and rooftops.  The power grid was up so the city was pretty well lit, and optics weren’t really needed much.  It should probably be mentioned that our vehicles were split up and the Platoon Sergeant took two with the IA raiding parties, and the other two were following us about 100 meters behind my little formation, just in case we needed the heavy weapons.

We continued to patrol down the streets heading in the general direction of the center of the city.  I have mentioned before how creepy Iraqi cities are at night.  This one was no different.  The breeze moves clothes on the lines and creates illusionary movement in your peripheral vision.  There are mostly feral chickens, goats, dogs, and donkeys wandering about.  Every now and then you here an odd gunshot or two off in the distance, and occasionally the miserable wailing of a woman whose husband or sons have been arrested or killed.  The soft glow of exterior fluorescent lights on several buildings lent an eery glow to the streets which didn’t help.  In particular last night all the dogs in town started barking and yowling simultaneously, then after about a minute they all stopped.  It was very strange and I got the distinct feeling something was about to happen.  Lucky for us, nothing serious materialized.

We stopped a few pedestrians that were out well past curfew.  Remember, its Ramadan, so all the people are out later than usual at dinner parties, prayer sessions and the like, but the national curfew is still the same.  At one point we stopped for a long time near a store while someone was interrogated.  The IA were all standing under the street lights smoking and I just knew a sniper would take a shot.  The US forces however, had set up good security in a nearby building, blocked the streets with our humvee backups, and had taken up security positions in a couple of alleyways.  It really is a stark contrast to see the two groups operate together.  We ended up bringing the man back to the IP station for further questioning. The other raiding parties detained a couple of suspects, so it was a pretty successful night.

In all we were patrolling for several hours, then standing watch at the back of the IP station until we returned to the FOB.  It was a “Walk in the Park.”  The Aid bag on my back was really weighing down on my shoulders by the end of the night.  I am pretty sure that is why I am so sore.  They really should build a frame into those things if they expect us to carry that much stuff around.  I am going to find an old ALICE pack frame somewhere and try to mount the bag to that and see how that works.  It should also give me some extra room to mount a camelback so the whole pack will sit evenly, not cocked to one side as it does now when I have water in my camelback.

I am now off to catch a short rest before doing it all again.  I spent a few good sleep hours getting the humvee’s A/C fixed already.

Share: