A Soldiers Blog

Iraq

Soldiers in the thick of it tell you what you can expect

By Gina Cavallaro
Times staff writer

An explosion rocks the Humvee vehicle in front of you, throwing soldiers onto the street. You see the vehicle rise up onto two wheels before settling and rolling to a stop. AK-47 fire erupts and incoming rocket-propelled grenades are heard almost simultaneously. Your soldiers stagger about, trying to shake off the effects of the concussion. Some fire wildly in different directions because the cracking of the AK-47s is echoing off the buildings, so you cannot pinpoint the direction of fire. The battle drill says to clear the kill zone, but you have competing priorities. You have casualties that need to be secured, assessed and stabilized.

If you run, you won’t kill the enemy or deter them. You must fight back and hopefully kill them. Do you stay in the kill zone and fight?

This scenario, written by Capt. Daniel Morgan, former commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), was real, and, he said, repeated itself “on several occasions in various forms.”

Morgan is one of several soldiers interviewed on the Internet in December who have spent nearly a year in Iraq toppling the Saddam Hussein regime, battling lingering insurgents, caring for civilians and carving out forward operating bases for the next round of incoming soldiers.

These newly minted war veterans have a lot to share with soldiers heading into the war zone as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.

Through May, more than 200,000 troops will swap places in Iraq, as units deploy to replace soldiers who have been there for a year or so.

Soldiers in theater say incoming troops will do things they’ve trained for and things they never thought they’d do. They’ll pine for family, yet have access to phones and the Internet.

They’ll befriend some Iraqis, arrest a few and shoot at others who shoot at them.

Danger zone

“It’s still dangerous here. It’s arguably more dangerous than during combat operations,” said Capt. Anthony New, assistant planning officer with 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

“The enemy … will conduct terroristlike attacks. He will hit you when you least expect it. Constant and continual situational awareness, alertness and leaders supervising their subordinates — and watching out for each other — is paramount.

“The first priority of work is, and should always be, security,” he said.

Changes in training

Most enemy contact, like that described by the 3-502’s Morgan, takes place outside the camera’s eye, but a good deal of it also is reported in the news. The Army uses all of it to create the most realistic training scenarios possible. Lessons learned are incorporated into instruction throughout the Army, from basic training to national training centers.

“If you’re reading about it in the news, you’re going to see it at the National Training Center,” said Maj. Mike Lawhorn, an NTC spokesman at Fort Irwin, Calif. “We’re also in touch with guys in theater. Our hope is that a soldier never experiences anything for the first time in theater.”

NTC ramped up training for troops going to Iraq by boosting the number of civilians on the battlefield, the number of mock villages and the number and nature of contacts soldiers will experience.

Booby traps are everywhere. Convoys are attacked with simulated small-arms fire, grenades and surprise roadside explosives.

Chanting villagers rock Humvees and soldiers talk to them through interpreters. Instead of rotational forward operating bases, soldiers live in fixed buildings.

It’s difficult and the realism is meant to unnerve the soldiers.

“You can see it in their faces. Guys are tense. They’re dealing with role players, the crowd gets close,” Lawhorn said.

Dressing for combat success

You can count on a wide swing in weather conditions during a year in Iraq.

Soldiers say you shouldn’t even consider not consuming the water you are ordered to drink.

Last summer, according to medical officers at the 21st Combat Support Hospital in Balad, there was a spike in cases of kidney stones because soldiers weren’t drinking enough water.

Maj. Christopher Croft is the logistics officer for the 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, which is living in Baqubah, just north of Baghdad.

When they got there last April, the weather was about 90 degrees, rose to about 130 in June and topped out at 157 in August, he said.

“Driving on the roads, you felt like you were in a convection oven,” he said. “Bottled water was at a premium. We were issued five bottles of water per person, per day, plus we had the bulk water being produced by Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Units.

“Now it’s very cold — around 30 degrees at night,” he wrote in December, “and around 50 degrees during the day.”

New described the extremes, too:

“You will experience the entire spectrum of weather. From, ‘It’s so hot that I’ve stopped sweating.’ ‘The sandstorm is pelting my face and I don’t think I can take another step.’ To the point of being so cold and wet that, ‘If I move another step then that raindrop on my Kevlar helmet will fall down behind my collar, and migrate its way all the way down my spine, making me cold to the point of no return.’”

Officers and enlisted soldiers alike should pack all the cold- and hot-weather gear issued, even if it seems ridiculous. You may not use it all, but you will want it if you need it.

Other must-have weather-related and personal-comfort items are:

• CamelBak drinking system.

• Neck scarf, neck gator.

• Sun and safety glasses, such as Wiley-X goggles or other sun-wind-dust goggles.

• Sunscreen and lip balm.

• A good pair of gloves, preferrably the Nomex gloves aviators wear.

• Extra boot laces and boot insoles.

• Sturdy shower shoes. Don’t go cheap on these.

• Spray or gel deodorant “because anything else will melt,” Croft said.

• Moleskin and corn pads.

• Running shoes and physical-training gear.

• Spare name tapes, U.S. Army tapes and patches for uniforms issued in theater.

• Sewing kit and patch kit if you have an Army-issued air-mattress pad.

• Fly bait, ant and mouse traps.

• Lots of Gatorade.

• Insect repellent with DEET.

• Pinch lights.

Plan ahead

There undoubtedly will be an adjustment period while you and your unit get settled and get your bearings.

Plan ahead to have things on hand that you take for granted, things to keep vehicles humming, weapons accounted for and computers glowing.

Here’s some advice from a group of soldiers at the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade, who suggest you bring the following:

• Individual attachable magazine carriers for the stock of your weapon. At base camps, you’ll most likely not have a magazine inserted in your weapon, but will want ammunition on hand in the event of an attack.

• Tool kits, tow bars and chains for vehicles. The elements will take a toll on vehicle maintenance and arming drivers with tools to conduct minor repairs is key. Also, you’ll travel long distances, and the last thing you want to do is leave a vehicle on the side of the road or have to secure it.

• Power inverters for vehicles also will come in handy for limited power generation of electronic equipment.

• Weapons racks and/or cages and plenty of locks. Personnel will PCS and in-process and you will have unassigned equipment to secure.

• Unit-property book materials and hand receipts. Leaders and commanders will change and property accountability is not suspended during deployment.

• Power generators. It’s difficult to sustain operations with military generators and they are only allocated/designed to support command-and-control operations in the field. Your unit headquarters most likely will be in hard-stand/buildings and require additional power.

• Zip ties, 550 cord, power tools and how-to books for doing basic electric and plumbing tasks.

• Common automation-system requirements, such as printers that use the same cartridges.

• Thumb disks, mass computer-storage devices (an absolute must!).

• Walkie-talkies.

Creature comforts

“The quality of life is improving daily,” Croft said.

“When we first arrived, we were living in tents and unimproved buildings and we were fighting the dust. Now we are living in container living units with two to four people living in them. They have a lot of room.”

There are varying degrees of comfort and access to amenities, but for many, washing machines and laundry services have replaced buckets and water, fixed structures replaced tents and dining facilities replaced field kitchens.

Internet access, phones and recreational facilities improve all the time and post exchanges bloom like spring flowers.

“Most soldiers live in buildings, whether it be a bombed-out palace or small buildings,” said Capt. Tammy Galloway, a public-affairs officer for the 82nd Airborne Division.

“Our engineers have done wonderful work in trying to reconstruct or repair areas of buildings so that soldiers may live comfortably. The buildings have A/C or fans for the hotter season and we have portable heaters now during the winter,” she said.

“The command purchased bunk beds for most soldiers so that more individuals could live in the buildings; this, of course, helps save space.”

There are porta-potties everywhere, but you’re just as likely to use a flush toilet inside a building. The same goes for showers. You may be in a force-provider tent or trailer, or in a shower stall inside an old barracks building.

But if you have the kind of job that takes you on trips, you may want to keep a good supply of baby wipes on hand.

Sgt. Gabe Nix, who works in the 350th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, a unit that’s been attached to the 4th Infantry Division and the 82nd Airborne Division, warned anyone going to Iraq to “be prepared to stink.”

“Sometimes there is no opportunity to shower or clean clothes for a while, so be aware that stinking will be occurring,” he said.

Galloway had lukewarm things to say about Iraqis contracted to wash soldiers’ clothes, but has recently decided it has its advantages.

“I don’t think I ever got all the soap out of my laundry, plus it takes too much of your time with the constant changing of water,” she said, describing the traditional bucket method. “As it started getting cold, doing laundry became more painful with your hands submerged in cold water for hours at a time. Thinking back, I’m beginning to like the laundry service more and more.”

Some PXs are better than others, and some only take cash, but soldiers usually can get what they need, Galloway said.

“You may see a store or two within a base, too, that allows locals to come in and set up a shop so soldiers can purchase other items off the market, like soft blankets, jewelry and other items,” she said.

Soldiers also have been able to take advantage of dozens of Morale, Welfare and Recreation centers located at camps around the country.

They usually have televisions, DVD players, movies, Playstations with games, weights, ping-pong, newspapers and magazines. Others have swimming pools, volleyball nets and basketball courts.

“E-mail and phone use are usually fairly accessible, depending on where you are located,” Nix said.

“Other hot items are the Internet/phone cafes,” Galloway said. “Computers set up for Internet access and several phones with commercial capabilities to call back to the states.”

And take that time to stay in touch with the folks back home, soldiers say.

“Mail is hit or miss,” Galloway noted. “We always get it. When is the question.

“Sometimes it may take a month, other times 10 days. When soldiers first arrive, it may take four to six weeks to get a good mail system in place, but after that it is pretty regular.”

Nix agreed. “Mail takes about three weeks, and mail is some of the most fun that you will have over here, so have people send lots of it.”

New said, “In Iraq, everything is difficult — from surviving the elements to the language barrier and cultural differences to capturing/killing the enemy, to helping out the local population.

“You will do things you never imagined you’d be doing and things you never thought possible.”