BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars

Subject: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Amos
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 12:20 PM

Lars is a good human being who is presently holding down a posting with the United States Army in Baghdad, near Sadr City.

I think his report of what it is really like should be seen by all those who have opinions about what a good war this is.

A

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Update #5
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> 9 April ‏2004


Greetings from "Blood, Baath, and Beyond" – As most of you are probably aware, things are going to hell here. Looks like Bush may have to declare an end to combat operations (again). For not being a war, this sure feels like one. Guess we forgot to tell the locals. Things started to go downhill when we arrested a lieutenant of one of the Shiite clerics here, Mokta Sadr (the huge slum next to us, Sadr City, is named after his father). Then we closed the newspaper that serves as the mouthpiece of his group of Shia. Both actions would have been better been done a year ago, when we were still in the post-invasion 'honeymoon' following Saddam's exit. For that matter, arresting or killing Sadr himself would have been a good idea then – now, it will just be fuel to the fire. Unfortunately, this has occurred in parallel to, but separate from the attacks west of here where American contractors were killed and mutilated a week ago, to which we initially responded by doing – nothing.

In this part of the world, what we view as trying to show restraint is looked upon as weakness. Unfortunately for the sake of civilian collateral damage, what would make the biggest impression would be a huge air strike leveling Sadr City, and/or an assault against Sadr himself. Of course, that could also further inflame the populace…none of the courses of action at this point are very optimistic (unless one of the choices involves a time machine). Worse yet, the Shia and Sunnis are now showing signs of cooperating in their fight against us – previously we could at least count on their mutual antagonism to reduce the effectiveness of their attacks. What a lousy time for a sense of nationalism to break out in Iraq. It is worth noting that there are few, if any, empires that have ever successfully fought a war against an insurgency. Amidst the chaos of Roman decline, Caligula is reported to have said, "Let them hate, so long as they fear." This strategy only works so long as the fear outweighs the hate. In a martyr-based insurgency such as this, it doesn't take long for the scales to tip in favor of hate.

It also doesn't help that the one site we are under orders to avoid
entering or firing on at all costs, namely the mosques, are the very places used to endorse attacks against us. The mosques are also used to plan the attacks, hide the weapons and fighters, and in some cases attacks are carried out from within the walls and from the minarets of the mosques. In another time and place they would be picturesque – they usually have a large round or onion-shaped dome, covered in various shades of turquoise tile, inscribed in verses from the Koran in bright blue. Usually there is at least one tall, thin tower, also decorated in tile, next to the main structure, from which in earlier days the call to prayers was performed. Now they just have loudspeakers attached to the tops, and the five-times daily chant is blared out electronically, sort of a Muslim rap (without the wick-wicki of the album sliding). Hmmm…what sort of names would Muslim rappers use? Ice Chai? 50 Dinar? Boyz2Marty rs? I-E-Deez? Okay, that's enough.

Of late, there is a lot less smiling, and a lot more rock throwing, when we go out in town. The people that would usually wave to us, kids and families, now look either sad or hostile. Or both – the other day we were driving down a street and the kids first smiled and waved, then bent down and picked up rocks and threw them at us. So we smiled first and then shot back…just kidding. But things culminated in a Mogadieshu –style ambush in Sadr City last Sunday. Several large trucks were passing through the middle of Sadr City when they came under fire from 100 or more people on top of the roofs, using AKs, RPGs, and machineguns. The engagement lasted for nearly an hour, during which several squads had to leave their vehicles once they became disabled and started burning. They got pinned down inside some houses and had to wait for additional firepower to help extract them. One of our teams went out on the rescue mission and managed to get their humvees shot apart, expended all their rifle and machinegun ammo, and yet no one got hurt! (out of our guys,anyway…hopefully a bunch of the guys on the rooftops ate a bullet). Unfortunately, the units involved in the initial ambush weren't so lucky – 8 KIA, over 50 WIA (killed/wounded in action).

I spoke to some of the young soldiers on our teams who helped bring in the wounded from the trucks, and also gave initial aid, including setting up IVs, giving morphine, etc. You could tell they had just run up against the reality of war, as opposed to their previous expectations born of video games and movies. The "glory" had become the "gory", and you could tell it had shocked them. One young guy I knew, normally upbeat and talkative, described trying to help another soldier he carried in on a stretcher, who had taken a round through the eye socket and had it exit through the back of his skull. He spoke in a subdued tone, and I would guess that he will be seeing that dying soldier in his dreams for years to come. While the soldier I spoke with did not personally know the wounded man, perhaps in later years as he goes on to live the portion of life denied to the other soldier he will think about all of life's richness that the other man will never experience, and remember h im, and appreciate his own life all the more. Perhaps that is the dying man' s parting gift to my soldier: imagining the loss of never seeing your child go off to their first day of school, never holding your wife in your arms again, never walking on the beach with your dog, watching the sun set, never again enjoying a drink and a laugh with friends, never to enjoy the quiet rewards of old age...and thereby feel the fleeting sweetness of life more keenly. Whatever one might miss the most out of life, the absolute finality of death is so very hard to face. It is as if a painting of a life was sto
ed abruptly, a few forms sketched here and there, some color and
hints of the overall canvas in place, but really only shadows of a promise left unfulfilled. Seeing a fellow soldier's blood and brains spread out in front of you is a sobering, sad experience that gives the lie to all the blustering pronouncements coming out of Washington. The sheer sense of butchery that is war, the we t, bloody carnage that results, should be experienced first-hand by politicians before they are ever allowed to send other family's fathers and sons (and daughters) off to die. Sometimes such actions must be taken nonetheless (though I doubt history will judge this to have been one of them), but the decision to do so should weighed against personal knowledge of the human cost.

Since that firefight, Sadr positions have been getting pounded in the city at night. Usually around 2300, you hear the explosions start up, followed by small arms fire. Last night walking back from the chow hall, a firefight between Iraqis erupted outside the south wall of the camp. Don't know what it was about, but you could see the tracers going back and forth like a deadly game of tennis. The air attacks have even reached the point that they 're starting to use Spectre gunships - C-130 airplanes that have been modified to shoot a 105 mm howitzer out one side, and 1 or 2 Vulcan Phalanx 20 mm cannons out the other. You can tell when Spectre is shooting – you hear a two-part "thump-boom", as the gun fires and a half-second later the round hits the ground and explodes. It's a lot of firepower for a concentrated area like Sadr City – another sign that Iraqi Reconstruction has turned back into Iraqi Deconstruction. Several times in the last week we have had explosions at the front gate of the camp (right next to the building they made us move into yesterday, BTW), and we are now taking small arms fire into the camp several times a week. I'm starting to think we're not appreciated by these people!

The FOB (Forward Operating Base) I used to be at, War Eagle, which lost the guys in the Sadr ambush, has been getting rocket and mortar attacks about every other night. We have been going to "ThreatCon Delta" (threat condition) here at Camp Dragoon at about the same frequency, which involves putting all our gear on (body armor, helmet, both weapons) – normally we only gear up when we leave the camp. We then have to man a position near the back wall of the camp, sitting out in front of the building at night waiting for any attacks over the walls. In the event the guard tower there gets hit by an RPG, we have to climb up and man the machinegun there as well. Doesn't sound a lot like Civil Affairs, does it..? The latest wrinkle in the enemy tactics is a concern they may try to use a gas/diesel tanker as a vehicle bomb, either using gasoline or just the container filled with other explosives. The engineers have modeled the blast effects of a 30,000 pound car bomb (what they estimate a tanker or semi-trailer would work out to), which is 6 times the size of the Oklahoma City bomb, and it levels half the buildings on the base, and at a minimum ruptures the ear drums of everyone who isn't hit by shrapnel or crushed by the over-pressure. They're actually recommending we sleep with earplugs. I asked if this would protect our ears from rupturing, and they looked puzzled and said no. So I concluded they just don't want us to hear the sound of our impending doom.

Part of my work here at the brigade involves tracking the projects the
teams are doing to rebuild the area (sort of like combat-SAM, for those of you reading this from my old days at SAM in San Diego County). They range from rebuilding schools to installing drinking water lines, sewage treatment pumps/plants, power generation substations, building clinics, local government offices, setting up fire and police stations, doing anti-terrorism force protection upgrades, and my favorite, humanitarian assistance drops, where we go out in the community and hand out food and clothes to families and their children.

Unfortunately, I also have to be the guy who handles all the money that pays for these projects. This requires me to travel from our base out to the Baghdad Intl. Airport (aka, BIAP), which is where the actual cash is kept. The road to BIAP is one of the most heavily IED'd routes in the city, because of its frequent use by dignitaries and other notables going back and forth between the Green Zone and BIAP. It also runs through the predominantly Sunni area of west Baghdad, which until a week ago was the main place where we could count on the locals being cranky with us. So getting money or closing the accounts, something I have to do every week in order for the teams to be able to do their work in the neighborhoods, requires running the gauntlet out to BIAP. To make matters worse, when I come back (after picking up money), I usually have between $250-500,000 cash in my backpack. Pretty good payday even in Iraq – of course, they're willing to kill us for free.

Two days ago we were heading out to BIAP again, to pick up more money. On the way out there, we got stuck waiting for some EOD soldiers (Military bomb squad) to clear an armored Mercedes SUV that got hit by a RPG near a freeway overpass. While clearing the SUV, they found an IED hidden close by, so they had to stop and do a render safe procedure – they eventually had to blow it in place. While they were setting up the shot, one of the guys sitting atop one of the Bradleys (a large, tracked, armored troop carrier that has a 25 mm chain gun mounted on a turret) spotted people moving around on the rooftops opposite us, raising fears of a sniper. At this point we were all stopped on the overpass, about 25 feet up in the air, a nice clear shot for anyone caring to shoot at us (less than 200 m away). So we positioned ourselves where we could accurately return fire if someone started shooting at us – I found the chain link fence to make a good barrel rest. After about 15 minutes of waiting the people on the roofs to start shooting at us, the EOD crew blew the IED, startling us a bit – we had forgotten about it in focusing on the suspected sniper.

When an IED goes off, the EOD team has to do a post-blast analysis, to confirm details of its placement, construction, and if possible obtain clues as to who built it and/or placed it. So then we had another delay, during which we went back to looking for snipers. After another 10 minutes or so, we were shaken by a second blast, this time from behind us. Apparently another IED had been set on the section of road below us – this one was closer than the first one, but since we were on the road above it, we were pretty well shielded from the shrapnel. I think the second IED went off prematurely or accidentally – we ran over to the side of the overpass looking down at the blast site, expecting to see a damaged humvee or SUV. But all we saw was the smoke curling up in a thin column through the trees, with no obvious target in sight. We scanned for anyone running away from the scene, to try and get a shot at the likely person setting the device off. But no one close enough to the blast was running away or otherwise acting suspicious, and there were no clear shots regardless. Just as well – I have a hard time shooting someone just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This was in a built up area, so there are likely to be other people around besides the guerillas. In a rural setting though, if the only people around are a couple guys running away from the blast, it's a safe bet they're involved. In that case, they'll probably get shot.

During the time we were stuck on the overpass, we could see four large pillars of smoke rising to the west of us, out beyond BIAP. They reminded me of photos from the first Gulf War after Saddam blew up the oil rigs in Kuwait – the smoke was the thick, black kind you see from burning petroleum. We later found out it was from a fuel tanker convoy. Four tankers got hit by up to 15 RPGs, followed up by an ambush of the other vehicles in the convoy, with an end result of approximately 5 KIA, 40+ WIA. They are learning how to hit us where it hurts, for maximum effect with minimum losses to their forces. In other words, they're waging a typical guerilla war.

One of the sad things about the turn of events this last 10 days or so is seeing a lot of the projects and work we've done in the last year to improve the lives of the average Iraqi being destroyed. Civil Affairs is largely on hold for now – combat operations are the priority at present.

Another disturbing sign is that in some cities, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) that we trained to be sort of like the National Guard has been seen taking up arms against us – probably the same weapons we gave them and trained them how to use. Also of note is that in the last 10 days 11 or more Humvees, with .50 cal heavy machineguns mounted, and U.S. uniforms, and U.S. Ids have been stolen (mainly from the Green Zone, I think). So now we have to doubt whether the trucks we see driving up to a checkpoint are ours, …or theirs.

The unit coming in to relieve the outgoing troops, the 1st Cavalry
Division out of Ft. Hood, TX, came in with a lot of attitude – like they felt they had something to prove. It was almost like they were looking for a fight – looks like they got one. You know what they say, "Be careful what you ask for – you may get it."

At times I feel like a swimmer who has dove too deep below the waves and is struggling to get back up to the surface before their air runs out. I have only had a few close calls, nothing too dramatic yet. But as we keep saying on our team, one of these days someone is going to 'win the lottery'. You have to wonder, when we're jumping into the humvees, if my sitting here instead of there, if being in the first truck rather than the second truck, is what will make the difference between living and dying today. Will having my rifle raised up to my face protect it from a blast…or will it be the reason why the shrapnel was able to penetrate my side and pierce my heart? Does any of this dark calculus really connect to the patterns of causation in war, or is somebody watching out for the destinies of some of us more than others? Or is it all random, existential chance, as under our control as tea leaves, goat entrails, and portents in the weather? For those who do not make it home, is it a sign their lives were finished and they had done everything they were here to do, learned all they needed to, lived and loved their share, and though they did not know it, had finished their part on the earthly stage? For those of us lucky enough to return back to our families and friends, is it a sign we still have some significant event to experience, some contribution to make? Is it a sign our portion of living and loving has yet to run out, and our personal fate is still bound up with that of the larger world? No one knows, of course…all we have is belief, and for some, faith. I don't know if it's true that there are no atheists in foxholes,but being in a place like this reinforces one's hope that it is not all up to chance, and that we each get a second chance. I think that each of us owes it to those who never come home, to live our lives as if we do still have an important contribution to make, to never take another day for granted, and to make our lives truly matter.

I know some of you keep me in your prayers, and I appreciate that very much. But tonight, after you read this, say a prayer instead for the families of the soldiers who won't be coming home, for their children, and for all of us who hope to get a second chance at life.

Take care,

Lars

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Teribus
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 12:45 PM

Thanks for that Amos.

Ah, the nostalgia, it brought it all back to me, the memories of all us "squaddies" who used to sit round writing letters like that back home all the time - Hardly.

What flamin' anti-war site did you dig that one up from? It's about as convincing as a fairytale.

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Amos
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 12:53 PM

Actually, it's not from an anti-war site, mate; it's from a soldier, or so I have been told by one of his personal friends. OF course, it is possible the friend, who is himself a retired Marine, could be lying through his teeth, but I do not think so.

A

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Teribus
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 01:23 PM

"Will having my rifle raised up to my face protect it from a blast…or will it be the reason why the shrapnel was able to penetrate my side and pierce my heart? Does any of this dark calculus really connect to the patterns of causation in war, or is somebody watching out for the destinies of some of us more than others? Or is it all random, existential chance, as under our control as tea leaves, goat entrails, and portents in the weather?"

Hmmmmm - yeah, highly bloody credible - mind you I did rather like the "dark calculus .. connected to the patterns of causation in war" - We used to come out with phrases like that all the time Amos, ol' buddy - sometimes it got down-right hard to come up with something to match that style of pen-manship for the next letter home to inform a former pal as to how things were going.

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 01:24 PM

Sorry Teribus, but it doesn't have the ring of fiction to me old Infantry ears.

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 01:34 PM

I'd say it was pretty factual. Especially the part of who to shoot and why.

Nothing like a doomsday philosopher to wake the living. And live it we survivors must. For those who didn't get to.

Thanks Amos
Steve

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Teribus
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 02:17 PM

Oh, Rapaire and Norton, I'm not saying that it isn't well written, in fact I think it is remarkably well written - but that does not have the feel of being written by someone in the circumstance and situation so well described.

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Amos
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 03:13 PM

Maybe they are being raised a bit more literate than in your day, old chap?

A

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 03:29 PM

No, Teribus. The details are too accurate. The Bradley is armed with a 25 mm chain gun; Specters are the descendants of Puff and Spooky and are armed as described. The fire-to-detonation time for the 105 shell from Specter would be accurate. "KIA" is fairly well known and used, "WIA" is not.

The devil -- and the truth, to my ears and eyes -- is in the details.

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 04:08 PM

Actually it is Spectre. It's name comes from its original call sign. Originally the AC-47D, not the huge big bird used now (AC130), the C-47 had two General Electric "mini-guns". One on each side of the bird. As the ship banked it could direct fire at the ground. It's radio call sign was "Spectre four seven Actual" in the very early days of its existence. There were also two M-60s mounted in forward firing compartments that individual gunners manned.


Todays AC130 Spectre is a highly advance computerized gun platform. Like the difference between a Matchlock and the present day Gatling gun.

Just some cheap info folks -

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: GUEST,Clint Keller
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 04:10 PM

My father was a writer. That's not a job description, that's a personality description. Maybe a compulsion description. His letters and journal entries all sounded as if they were written for publication.

He was never in a war, but I don't believe he would have lost his vocabulary & writing ability if he had been.

clint

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: artbrooks
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 04:57 PM

"Good war"? Anybody who thinks that this or any other war is "good" has obviously never been around one up close and personal or has never seen the immediate impact upon the people involved. There is a possibility that the final results of some wars may be "good", but that is a very objective issue.

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Amos
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 05:08 PM

Art:

I am sorry -- I was using the term ironically. I think there are far too many people who think of the Iraq war as a virtuous one, with no cognizance of the misery they are supporting, using bland clichés and shallow automatic reactions to avoid the real issues on the ground.

A

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Teribus
Date: 21 Apr 04 - 05:21 AM

If the devil and the truth, that convinces you, are in the "detail", Rapaire. To anyone who wishes to convince you of the truth of anything along the line of this thread, I'd recommend at least two publications, Janes "Armoured Fighting Vehicles" and Janes "Fighting Aircraft", there are, of course, many other sources and publications where such information is readily available.

The time delay for almost anything fighting in a close support role firing HE ammunition is, "a two-part "thump-boom", as the gun fires and a half-second later the round hits the ground and explodes", exception to this being mortar fire where the delay is longer because of the trajectory of the mortar round.

Oh, Amos - 20 Apr 04 - 03:13 PM, I wish that was true, but most surveys and educationalists would tend to disagree with you - if anything, in general standards have declined.

Subject: RE: BS: The Days of Good Soldier Lars
From: Rapparee
Date: 21 Apr 04 - 09:18 AM

The decline might be true in the general, but the specifics ALWAYS can give lie to the general. Statistics, as I certain you're aware, Teribus, are based on a large population group, any single member of which could deviate, even wildly, and have no significant effect on the overall result. For example, my blood glucose dropped to 22 a couple of weeks ago because of a bad test strip -- that level would have laid me flat in the hospital, but it had little (if any) effect on the 60 day average or even on the 30 day average. You cannot argue pro or con based upon one sample within the overall population group.

I am also aware of the so-called "crack-thump" method of small-arms fire range estimation and many similar things. I can (and have) "spooned" hand grenades, called in accurate mortar and artillery fire corrections, and given a properly zeroed rifle I can hit a man-sized target out to 300 meters (I wear glasses and have a hard time seeing the targets beyond that, given a rifle with open sights). During my time in the Infantry I fired for record or familiarized with the .38 revolver, M1911A1 .45 pistol, US Rifle Caliber .30 M1, US Rifle Cal. 7.62 mm M14, US carbine cal. .30 M1, US Rifle cal. 5.56mm M16A1, US machine gun cal. 30 M1919A6, US machine gun cal. 7.62 mm M60, US machine gun cal. .50, 3.5 rocket launcher, M79 grenade launcher, LAW, 81 and 60 mm mortars, BAR, the "Tommy gun", the 12 gauge shotgun and a bunch of other such stuff about which I've forgotten. I've set and fired Claymore mines, tossed various sorts of hand grenades, and taken courses in Explosives and Demolitons and Boobytraps and Mines. So did a lot of others, of course -- my PMOS was 11B40.

The letter rings true to my ears. It also doesn't strike me as any more "anti-war" than any other, similar, letter I've read from my friends and cousins in Iraq.