Friday, September 30, 2011

A Day Down Range

You probably see a lot of news about the war in the middle east and the coverage usually centers on the big picture so I thought I would show a few pictures of every day life and the little things which go unnoticed in the media. The picture to the right is of one of our .50 cal's with a small silly looking bird attached to the night vision scope. Some of the troops would have little toys like this and would put them in pictures to send home for their kids to see. Most of the time it was a toy which belonged to their child. I guess this gave some connection to home and vise versa                                
When we first arrived in country (very early stage of the war) the vehicles were not well armored, no bullet proof glass or ballistic pannels. This proved deadly so we engineered our own "hardening" from any scrap we could find. most looked like this. We welded panels over the doors and top and bottom of windshield. What you can't see is the 1/2 or 3/8 steel plates under the seats, by the time we finished a 6,000 lb Hummer weighed over 10,000 lbs. but hey it worked. Note double steel panels on doors, the first sheet of steel would deform the bullet and it would have a harder time penetrating the second sheet, there was about a one inch gap between them.

 When we were on convoys we would have to radio in reports at certain checkpoints to give status updates on things like ammo, fuel or if we had enemy engagement or medical evac. etc. These reports had acronyms to go by like LACE or SALUTE etc. some radio operators would write the format out on the inside of the windshield in grease pencil, this allowed them to call in reports without looking down at notes which was also a big help at night because we traveled totally blacked out using only NVG's but they could still be read.

 Many times when we moved about we carried interpreters with us and we knew from experience they could not be trusted  because we learned the hard way they might leak convoy plans to the enemy so we would keep them in their own tents and they would not be privy to any planning. Thus the need for this sign on  the outside of out "internet cafe" and phone center. There were no cell phones of any kind allowed in any camp. Some units used satellite phones but they were strictly controlled.


11 comments:

  1. The media is intentional in it's de-humanization of our military - unless it suits their purpose. Can I ask a silly question? Since interpreters can't be trusted, how do you know they are interpreting correctly? Also, are the dialects just so numerous that we can't train our own in the languages to ensure correct interpretation?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Some things don't change. I was in a forward-deployed squadron in the Med (early '70s) and we had the same kinds of opsec issues.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I fear knowing how to improvise armor for a vehicle might soon be a handy skill to have.

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow Duke - thanks for sharing that - and i would love to see more! i have a girlfriend who was also comm-intel (like me) and in her last year of serving 20yrs was sent to the sandbox. she had just divorced and had 3 little girls to figure out how to take care of while she went over. she did it and managed to come back with a smile. i don't know how she did it. needless to say - she is super glad to be home and knowing that she is retired and never has to go back over makes her feel relaxed. she, as i am sure you, experienced and saw some things that were not nice - to put it lightly!

    i love the pics and stories - and i sure would love more. oops - i think i already said that!

    to Mermaid - as a Canadian Forces-trained, UN Certified Korean linguist - yes - the dialects are so many and each area of any country speaks in it's own particular dialect. imagine a DC-trained linguist trying to interpret a southern Texan with a grade 6 education whose family has lived in the same spot for 130 yrs...that linguist would have a hell of a time trying to interpret what was being said in any normal conversation, due to slang, drawl and particular word choices. and it costs the military a bazillion dollars to train a linguist - therefore it it easier, although more dangerous and definitely less trustworthy, to hire locals. and of course, precautions like Duke mentioned, MUST be taken.

    anyway Duke - i have really been enjoying these last several posts. keep it up buddy. and am looking forward to those wedding photos but only if you are up for sharing them!

    your friend,
    kymber

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mermaid, kymber was right about the dialects, and we did not know for sure about translations but we did know some key words ourselves so we listen for those as well as look at body language. Some of the translators were US citizens hired over here who were maybe raised in the middle east but they had friends over there and might leak things just being stupid and not seeing the danger we did.
    Rev Paul, it is true the more things change the more they stay the same.
    Odysseus, you might be right, funny we thought the Mad Max movie in the 70's was far out but that hummer would fit right in that movie today.
    Kymber, good observations, it is strange how some come back better than others. You can be sure ALL are different some don't show it as much and we all learn to compartmentalize things. I will post more pictures like these as well as the wedding.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Duke, the VC translators did the same. I'm sure when we invade Canada we'll have the same problems with them....

    ReplyDelete
  7. Duke, this is so great. I would rather read about the day-to-day life of the guys than any of the stories in the big media outlets. I know, I'm weird. I've always been a military junkie and I really get nothing new from the "news". This is great. Thanks for that. I always find it sad when the guys have to do their own outfitting (such as the armoring) because of poor foresight on the part of the upper chain of command and politicians. Of course, this pretty much happens all of the time from personal kit on up.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Duke - thanks for that. my friend came back hurting 2yrs ago but she is trying to put it behind her and get on with her life. i have several friends that have been over and they tell me that they just kept going to sleep at night (when they could!) as one more day would pass and it was one day closer to getting back home. all of my Canadian military friends hated it over there, and strangely enough some of my American military friends hated it even more - but some of my American military friends enoyed being exposed to a culture so different from ours. my American military friends who enjoyed it were all intel - so they were never out patrolling or anything like that. i, like you, find it interesting how different people react to their experiences.

    once more - thanks for sharing this. and i, and others it seems, would appreciate you sharing more. oh and don't forget the wedding! i have got to see that wedding! it was held in such a beautiful place it must have been just gorgeous!

    your friend,
    kymber

    ReplyDelete
  9. Stephen, It's true things don't change that much I guess
    45er, glad you enjoy my tid bits. We did start getting armor after a few months (for the hummers) but you do what is needed in the mean time.
    kymber, You're welcome, I won't forger about the wedding.

    ReplyDelete
  10. thanks duke - i really enjoyed this post. there is no information like first-hand information and it's thought-provoking to see what improvisations you guys made to improve your safety and effectiveness.

    the "media" never reports on the ingenuity of actual combatants, i am thoroughly impressed - great photos and great explanations - love the grease pencil!

    ReplyDelete
  11. jambaloney, glad you liked it. We were always learning and dreaming up different ideas to make things work better.

    ReplyDelete