Terrorism unveiled - 2LT James Haltom's Letter from Iraq
By Athena on News
2LT James Haltom's Letter from Iraq
Hey folks... Well, I have been overseas for about a month now and to my surprise I am about to move to another base (I will explain further down) so I moved I thought I would give an update about my experience thus far.
I am currently at FOB DUKE (it was hard being at a base named Duke after getting up at 4:30am to watch the Duke/Carolina game in the chow hall to only see Carolina lose by 1 the other day!). FOB DUKE is 20 km (about 13 miles) outside Najaf, in the middle of the desert. It is about as safe as a base as you can find over here, it has never been hit by mortars or insurgents. There are about 1,000 Marines, Sailors (Navy Seabee's) and soldiers here. It is a major stopping point for convoys and choppers going further north- so there is always a lot of activity. I have included a few pictures of the base. While there are alot of people here it is very plain as you can see. The base has alot of extras that many other bases do not have such as a gym, MWR (game/library/TV room), a PX (military store), occasional hot water and phone centers. It really helps to take the stress off after coming in from a long mission. Speaking of missions I have gone on about a dozen into Najaf and one into Karbala so far. Most of them have just been presence patrols (like being a cop) around the city to make sure nothing is going on. The most interesting so far was a 30 hour mission to protect the 1 airstrip airport in Najaf while election officials flew in after the election. While I was there a mortar hit about 1km from there and an Iraqi police station got hit by insurgents about 2km away...so that made for an interesting night. I was there with the Marines we are replacing and for them it was just another night in Najaf. Since we have been here the Marines have been training us to take over their jobs and I must say the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit has treated us well. They have taken alot of time to show us what worked for them and did not work (such as filling the wheels of the Humvee with water to reduce the blast impact of IED's (improvised explosive device), along with giving us all kinds of extra equipment. That Marine unit runs two 4 to 6 hour daily patrols (with 4 humvee's and 20 men) of Najaf and has been taking us out with them to learn the city. They have even taken us out on extra patrols so we can better learn the area; which has been super helpful and even more impressive because they are taking that extra risk so close to going home.
As far as Najaf and the area - It is hard to adequately describe. The city has about 1/2 million people. It also has the largest cemetery in the world (about 1,300 acres and over 5 million graves) that takes up about 1/4 of the city. Insurgents try to keep weapons caches in the cemetery and use if for cover. The Marines we are replacing had a month long fight in the cemetery in Aug where they lost 5. I have included a few pictures and you can see some of the area where the fighting took place. It is like no cemetery back in the states.
Since that fight in the cemetery back in Aug, Najaf has had no major incidents, there are a few mortars on occasion, but the Marine are very proactive against insurgents in the area and normally raid their hideouts before they can strike (they have done a great job in stopping the IED's). There are two main reason that the Marines have been so successful in finding the insurgents 1) they have made friends with the locals who now trust them (especially the children) whom disclose the plans of the insurgents and 2) We have pumped over 36 million dollars into the city for special service projects such as rebuilding schools, restoring running water, training the Iraqi police and Army, ect. Najaf is really a success story in the war on terrorism.
The most overwhelming aspect of Najaf is the poverty; it takes your breath away. I lived in the Mississippi delta, one of the poorest areas in America and this blows it away. Open sewage runs into the streets, packs of wild dogs roam the area, goats, donkeys, sheep, lamas, camels, and chickens are everywhere in the city. Open fresh meat/fish markets crowd streets. There is no garbage pickup and trash covers the entire city. We routinely have to dodge donkey carts while we are driving; it really is wild. The houses are a mixture of mud huts, half-built buildings and a few very nice houses. I have also never seen so many children. The few times I have walked in the city I have interfaced alot with the children and as a teacher it was very difficult to stay focused on conducting our mission because I am overwhelmed by their poverty. I did talk with a few in my broken Arabic and their broken English, they all asked for school supplies and soccer balls (not candy, ect). I keep a box in my humvee now to pass out when they ask. It was funny one day I did not have any, but one of the kids noticed my pen that I keep on my body armor and he kept trying to trade me his chicken (a live one in his hands) for it. The Marines I was with just laughed.
With such poverty the simplest act of kindness seems to go a long way, we always carry water for the Iraqi police checkpoints, school supplies for the children and food for the families we interact with. We still are a few folks who throw rocks at us, but normally (especially if they are children or teenager) we will jump out and grab them..within minutes an upset mother or father (mad at the child) will come running out and scold them. Our interpreter explains what happen to the parents and we will leave...normally no one else on that street throws rocks after that. Beside the children, however the rest of the city still makes me nervous. There is almost no gas and the few gas stations have lines that are miles long that people wait in for days. Most of the citizens are more upset about that than anything else. However, the biggest things that makes me nervous are all the AK-47's and RPG's (rocket propelled grenade) that are everywhere. The police have them, the Iraqi Army have them, personal security people have them...and almost no one wears a uniform. The police direct traffic by shooting AK's in the air, the Iraqi Army controls crowds by shooting, and the insurgents shoot them randomly just to keep us on our toes...I have yet to go into the city when I did not hear constant gun fire (yet to see anyone hit thank god) It is weird however with all that gun fire, you almost know instantly when it is coming toward you (we have been shot at once). It put a hole in our humvee but we could not tell where it came from. We have confiscated some AK's from unauthorized people. I got a chance to fire one a few days back on our firing range at the base...I have a film of it that I will send out later; it almost knocked me over.
Now for the big news. Just as I was getting ready to take over one of the combat patrols and my unit was finalizing how we were going to operate; my Brigade decided they needed more combat power further north. The bottom line is that my platoon and a platoon of tanks from an active duty unit from Calif are being sent to Camp Dogwood 20 miles outside of Baghdad on the Euphrates river. This came as a total surprise to my commander and my men.
Basically I am going to be a independent combat maneuver platoon under the direction of the camp commander there. I was told my platoon was chosen because the platoon was the most combat ready, had the best leadership and was the only one who could operate so independently away from our battalion. While that is a big vote of confidence in the outstanding leadership of my platoon sergeant and squad leaders it does move us into a much more hostile area. My brigade has lost two soldiers since being in country and both were staying at Camp Dogwood. 1 died when his humvee hit a IED and the other died in a vehicle accident outside the base. From what I have been told Camp Dogwood has been abandoned twice within the last year, once by US forces and once by the Brits and is now being reoccupied. I understand right now it does not have phones, hot showers, a gym or a chow hall (meaning we get Army premade food- nothing like food that can survive a nuclear blast!). When the Brits abandoned it in Dec 2004, the local Iraqi's stripped it of everything they could so it is barren right now. My men were very upset at first when they were told we were going to a newly reoccupied base, but after the initial shock wore off they realized that we are the most prepared, have outstanding equipment and will be ready for our missions. As for me, as a young platoon leader it gives me alot of independence along with responsibility that I normally would not have and I hope to fulfill the faith my commander has placed in me. Right now I have been told we will be there anywhere from 6 weeks to the rest of the time my unit is overseas. While I am not thrilled I am going so near Baghdad, I know the good lord will take care of my platoon and give my platoon sergeant and I the strength and knowledge to lead our men.
2LT James Haltom
Several of you have asked what I need here and I am fine, but if you do want to send something send items that I can give to children such as school supplies or very small toys. |
