Garrison, Droll, and me on the roof......So anyways there we were sweating balls on a roof top trying to over watch a road that was known for taking Soldiers lives. We were nearing the end of the mission and from this particular roof top we couldn't really see shit. It was Garrison, Droll and me up there hunkered down within the cover of the walls around the roof. "Fuck it! Just stay down until they call us to exfil. Ain't no use pokin are heads around and gettin hit by a sniper right at mission end." I said reflecting on the week prior and events that had led us to this day that we were supposed to be on refit but were instead nearing the end of a 10 hour bullshit clearing mission.
We were supposed to be on refit this day but actually refit was supposed to have been the day before and on this day of Operation Clear Retardedly was supposed to be our day off. Not for 2nd Platoon Cco. We had come in the previous day after 6 long days of COP. We were in long enough for us to conduct the 3 S's (shit, shower, and shave) pick up laundry eat hot chow. During this time I'm waiting around after completing the list above trying to get my chill on and suddenly I hear WUMP BOOOOOM. Oh well lahahahahlahhah. Then I hear a rocket scream in and explode. I go over to my roomate and I'm like "Ume wake up man incoming!" I run outside and head towards the latrines to make sure no one is in there and is headed to the bunker. BOOOOOOOOOOOOM. Holy fuck that one was close. I stop short and run my ass to the bunker. Everyone from the platoon is in there. A total of 9 rounds hit the FOB during that attack. Just another day in Iraq, shortly after we made sure everyone was ok and started getting ready to head back to the COP. 0300 rolled around and we woke up and made final preparations for the mission. The purpose of the mission was to find an IED cell to Facilitate freedom of movement in AO Ranger. We rolled out and our first objective was a school that insurgents had used to fire at CF (Coalition Forces) along the main road, and also command wire had been found used to detonate IED's and EFP's. We searched the school and the playground (if you could call the trash laden field that). We kicked in a couple of locked doors and popped locks on lockers. Nothing. We didn't find shit. In the distance we could here small arms fire. Bravo company to our flank was already engaged. We moved out to our next OBJ (objective) and began to search neighborhoods and houses. We searched a big ass apartment building which supposedly someone saw a guy grab an AK out of a water container on the roof and hide it. So my men and I moved to the roof and looked. Mental picture- 5 soldiers exposed on a roof checking water containers for a roof in a neighborhood known for enemy Sniper activity. I radio down that its clear and we didn't find shit. Well that just wasn't good enough for the command so they had to come and check. Well buddy if you don't fucking believe me then don't send me and expose my men and I to possible sniper fire not to mention smoke our balls out on the roof. We spent a ridiculous amount of time on this one fucking building and didn't find a damn thing. We actually probably pissed the tenants off and made some more terrorists. We then moved on down the road to the next house. Since we had taken so long pumping the neighbors cat on the apartment building we were now behind the time line. What happens now you ask? Well in order to maintain the time line we rush. The process goes as so- We enter the house and clear the house from bottom to top of possible bad guys get the family into one room and then begin searching the house for evidence of possible anti coalition force activity. Wellllllll once you fall behind the time curve certain Platoon Leaders rush you through. "2-2 you need to hurry up we need to move to the next house!" "Roger Sir!". This shit pisses me off. Instead of trying to do good searches and maybe run the risk of finding some shit now your just bullshitting and quite frankly its a waste of fucking time if were not gonna take the time to really search and find shit then why bother. The men and I have sweated our asses off doing these half assed searches, searched over 500 homes and have found jack shit. During this mission we didn't find shit. I don't know if the other companies found shit but we didn't. In order to facilitate freedom of movement throughout A/O Ranger! 5 days after this big mission actually 2 days ago from the time I post this another Soldier from Bco is killed and 3 WIA. IED in AO Ranger!
Well during the days leading up to the most HOOAH mission ever we did Small Kill Teams, COP security, and Gas Station Babysitting! One particular SKT Droll, Garrison and I were set up on a berm right across the street from an Iraqi Army check point. "Well SSG Ruark why are guys overwatching a road right next to an IA check point?"you ask. Well young grasshopper listen up and I'll tell ya. See the IA are doing such a great job policing their own country that just at the beginning of this month Aco lost a soldier from an IED strike 100m in between to IA towers. Now I've been up in the Towers and you can see a great distance along the road and could possible pop someone a new asshole if they decided to try and dig in along the road side. So anyway we were helping them out without letting them know we were there you dig? Man we layed in the prone there for like 3 fucking hours and let me tell you about laying in the prone with IBA (Improved Body Armor) on for 3 hours. It sucks like slamming your dick in the door, or for the ladies like stubbing your toe. Its getting close to time for us to leave when this nice stray piece of shit dog rolls up on our position and starts barking. BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK. For 20 minutes, then bam-pop. "2-7 this is 2-2 did you just fucking shoot?" "Nope wasn't me." Then again bam dirt flies up 3 feet in front of me and the dog hauls ass. Bam-POP! That time the round flies right over our heads. "2-7 this is 2-2 we are taking fire." I recognize the familiar sound of rounds flying past my face from previous encounters, now we are trying to find out where its coming from. Again the shot passes over. When your being shot at and its close you can here the round breaking the sound barrier as it flies by you. I look and I can't make out any muzzle flashes. A convoy rolls by and the fireing stops. I'm so proud of Droll and Garrison because this is the first time that they had been shot at and I got to be there. I felt like a proud father. I looked back at Droll and said "That shits HOOAH 'eh?" Droll gave me a kinda funny look and shook his head. I'm guessing the IA at the check point may have been suspicious of the dog barking in regards to our location and decided to pop shots at us. They didn't know we were there and we didn't reveal ourselves afterwards. Shortly after we maneuvered back to the trucks and headed back into the COP.
Once again I realize that we are so much more reactive then proactive. We wait till a couple of Soldiers die on the MSR before we set up and over watch it. The shitty thing is, is that the IED or EFP detonations happen within sight of the IA towers, and check points. Even with the over watch we are reminded of how crafty these little bastards are. We assume COP duty and later in the night an IED detonates just down the street from our COP on the MSR and the convoy thats hit shoots wildly into the night. That same spot would blow up again just a day later. Our last patrol day before the mission and our lack of refit, would be going to a gas station and hanging out there for 7 hours to make sure that ACF (Anti Coalition Forces) aren't stealing gas and taking it back to their neighborhoods and selling it for cheap. You have to understand a legitimate gas station in Iraq will have at least a line 2 miles long or longer of people waiting to get gas. The government is trying to cut back on people buying gas and selling it on the roadside like a lemonade stand.
Well this last 6 days kind of blended together we went and did some more gas station action. Which is really fun because you sit in the truck for 7-8 hours and hope nobody has laid any I love you bombs on your egress route. Watch hajj get all pissed off waiting in the sun all day to get gas or kerosene, and drink ice cold waters out of your cooler and try not to fall asleep because just the day before you had COP security and did 24 hours of 3 on 3 off. Its about as much fun as a prostate exam! We ended up the rotation with escorting a General through the market. A market that right before we got here had a VBIED (vehicle born improvised explosive device) detonate on a street corner killing a bunch of people. That was fun. I sweated my ass off really hard there, I got played by a little girl. She was laying on the ground with a bandage on her head with a blanket over her and her mom fanning her so I gave them like 10 bucks. About 10 minutes later and a 100m up from where I first saw them Picard calls out to me "Hey Sergeant you got played!". He then pointed to the little girl and her mother passing me up looking all happy. She smiled at me and all I could do was smile back. "You little shit!" I said.
Today is another refit day but its not. We are heading back out to the COP later on. So we will have done 22 days pretty much straight. HOOAH. Please encourage your house representitive to get us out and send us home if you could be so inclined. Once again Thank you for your support!
Ruark OUT!
We were supposed to be on refit this day but actually refit was supposed to have been the day before and on this day of Operation Clear Retardedly was supposed to be our day off. Not for 2nd Platoon Cco. We had come in the previous day after 6 long days of COP. We were in long enough for us to conduct the 3 S's (shit, shower, and shave) pick up laundry eat hot chow. During this time I'm waiting around after completing the list above trying to get my chill on and suddenly I hear WUMP BOOOOOM. Oh well lahahahahlahhah. Then I hear a rocket scream in and explode. I go over to my roomate and I'm like "Ume wake up man incoming!" I run outside and head towards the latrines to make sure no one is in there and is headed to the bunker. BOOOOOOOOOOOOM. Holy fuck that one was close. I stop short and run my ass to the bunker. Everyone from the platoon is in there. A total of 9 rounds hit the FOB during that attack. Just another day in Iraq, shortly after we made sure everyone was ok and started getting ready to head back to the COP. 0300 rolled around and we woke up and made final preparations for the mission. The purpose of the mission was to find an IED cell to Facilitate freedom of movement in AO Ranger. We rolled out and our first objective was a school that insurgents had used to fire at CF (Coalition Forces) along the main road, and also command wire had been found used to detonate IED's and EFP's. We searched the school and the playground (if you could call the trash laden field that). We kicked in a couple of locked doors and popped locks on lockers. Nothing. We didn't find shit. In the distance we could here small arms fire. Bravo company to our flank was already engaged. We moved out to our next OBJ (objective) and began to search neighborhoods and houses. We searched a big ass apartment building which supposedly someone saw a guy grab an AK out of a water container on the roof and hide it. So my men and I moved to the roof and looked. Mental picture- 5 soldiers exposed on a roof checking water containers for a roof in a neighborhood known for enemy Sniper activity. I radio down that its clear and we didn't find shit. Well that just wasn't good enough for the command so they had to come and check. Well buddy if you don't fucking believe me then don't send me and expose my men and I to possible sniper fire not to mention smoke our balls out on the roof. We spent a ridiculous amount of time on this one fucking building and didn't find a damn thing. We actually probably pissed the tenants off and made some more terrorists. We then moved on down the road to the next house. Since we had taken so long pumping the neighbors cat on the apartment building we were now behind the time line. What happens now you ask? Well in order to maintain the time line we rush. The process goes as so- We enter the house and clear the house from bottom to top of possible bad guys get the family into one room and then begin searching the house for evidence of possible anti coalition force activity. Wellllllll once you fall behind the time curve certain Platoon Leaders rush you through. "2-2 you need to hurry up we need to move to the next house!" "Roger Sir!". This shit pisses me off. Instead of trying to do good searches and maybe run the risk of finding some shit now your just bullshitting and quite frankly its a waste of fucking time if were not gonna take the time to really search and find shit then why bother. The men and I have sweated our asses off doing these half assed searches, searched over 500 homes and have found jack shit. During this mission we didn't find shit. I don't know if the other companies found shit but we didn't. In order to facilitate freedom of movement throughout A/O Ranger! 5 days after this big mission actually 2 days ago from the time I post this another Soldier from Bco is killed and 3 WIA. IED in AO Ranger!
Well during the days leading up to the most HOOAH mission ever we did Small Kill Teams, COP security, and Gas Station Babysitting! One particular SKT Droll, Garrison and I were set up on a berm right across the street from an Iraqi Army check point. "Well SSG Ruark why are guys overwatching a road right next to an IA check point?"you ask. Well young grasshopper listen up and I'll tell ya. See the IA are doing such a great job policing their own country that just at the beginning of this month Aco lost a soldier from an IED strike 100m in between to IA towers. Now I've been up in the Towers and you can see a great distance along the road and could possible pop someone a new asshole if they decided to try and dig in along the road side. So anyway we were helping them out without letting them know we were there you dig? Man we layed in the prone there for like 3 fucking hours and let me tell you about laying in the prone with IBA (Improved Body Armor) on for 3 hours. It sucks like slamming your dick in the door, or for the ladies like stubbing your toe. Its getting close to time for us to leave when this nice stray piece of shit dog rolls up on our position and starts barking. BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK. For 20 minutes, then bam-pop. "2-7 this is 2-2 did you just fucking shoot?" "Nope wasn't me." Then again bam dirt flies up 3 feet in front of me and the dog hauls ass. Bam-POP! That time the round flies right over our heads. "2-7 this is 2-2 we are taking fire." I recognize the familiar sound of rounds flying past my face from previous encounters, now we are trying to find out where its coming from. Again the shot passes over. When your being shot at and its close you can here the round breaking the sound barrier as it flies by you. I look and I can't make out any muzzle flashes. A convoy rolls by and the fireing stops. I'm so proud of Droll and Garrison because this is the first time that they had been shot at and I got to be there. I felt like a proud father. I looked back at Droll and said "That shits HOOAH 'eh?" Droll gave me a kinda funny look and shook his head. I'm guessing the IA at the check point may have been suspicious of the dog barking in regards to our location and decided to pop shots at us. They didn't know we were there and we didn't reveal ourselves afterwards. Shortly after we maneuvered back to the trucks and headed back into the COP.
Once again I realize that we are so much more reactive then proactive. We wait till a couple of Soldiers die on the MSR before we set up and over watch it. The shitty thing is, is that the IED or EFP detonations happen within sight of the IA towers, and check points. Even with the over watch we are reminded of how crafty these little bastards are. We assume COP duty and later in the night an IED detonates just down the street from our COP on the MSR and the convoy thats hit shoots wildly into the night. That same spot would blow up again just a day later. Our last patrol day before the mission and our lack of refit, would be going to a gas station and hanging out there for 7 hours to make sure that ACF (Anti Coalition Forces) aren't stealing gas and taking it back to their neighborhoods and selling it for cheap. You have to understand a legitimate gas station in Iraq will have at least a line 2 miles long or longer of people waiting to get gas. The government is trying to cut back on people buying gas and selling it on the roadside like a lemonade stand.
Well this last 6 days kind of blended together we went and did some more gas station action. Which is really fun because you sit in the truck for 7-8 hours and hope nobody has laid any I love you bombs on your egress route. Watch hajj get all pissed off waiting in the sun all day to get gas or kerosene, and drink ice cold waters out of your cooler and try not to fall asleep because just the day before you had COP security and did 24 hours of 3 on 3 off. Its about as much fun as a prostate exam! We ended up the rotation with escorting a General through the market. A market that right before we got here had a VBIED (vehicle born improvised explosive device) detonate on a street corner killing a bunch of people. That was fun. I sweated my ass off really hard there, I got played by a little girl. She was laying on the ground with a bandage on her head with a blanket over her and her mom fanning her so I gave them like 10 bucks. About 10 minutes later and a 100m up from where I first saw them Picard calls out to me "Hey Sergeant you got played!". He then pointed to the little girl and her mother passing me up looking all happy. She smiled at me and all I could do was smile back. "You little shit!" I said.
Today is another refit day but its not. We are heading back out to the COP later on. So we will have done 22 days pretty much straight. HOOAH. Please encourage your house representitive to get us out and send us home if you could be so inclined. Once again Thank you for your support!
Ruark OUT!
2 comments:
That's a pretty big statement in your last paragraph. Are you serious or just venting because you are frustrated, hot and tired?
Are you saying that you think the U.S. should pull out of Iraq?
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