OtisM BLS Tulsa FOB Jayde KGB's blog: "Political shit."

Patriots vs the cowboy

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to anyone who really believes that I might be just another whiner who believes that the war against terrorism is not something that can be won because I don't understand the gravity of the situation ... and for those brave dedicated few who don't believe that the shrub was ... and has always been ... and will always be ... a mindless moron.

I would like you all to meet some people. First there's this motley crew:

From left to right they would be SGT Mutlaq AlQatani, PFC Aaron "Pink" Pinkston , myself, SP4 William ( Ski ) Bukowski and SGT Michael ( Mike ) Cohen. Everyone save myself in this picture is an arabic linguist.

The arabic lettering on the side of that tracked vehicle behind us is pronounced "nuz la sulahik wil la fidjerna gerahgrik" . For those of you in the military and searching for an interesting way to piss off your enemy while simultaneously causing some of the urine to run down both legs ... it means "Drop your weapons of we'll blow your balls off". The front of that same vehicle had/has additional lettering that says "jak izraeul as sadaam" or "The death angel is coming for you Sadaam!". We were with the 24th Infantry Division out of Ft Stewart GA. For those of you who do not know the 24th deployed and prepared for the retaliatory strikes against Iraq within 72 hours of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

I, along with one other man from our duty station were notified by a priority alert message from a non-military agency that was concerned with and managed military based intelligence gathering resources globally for our great nation telling us that we were to choose 5 Combat Electronic Warfare and Intelligence ( CEWI ) qualified volunteers each to take with us, and prepare for deployment within 12 hours of receipt of that message. Our specific destinations would be forthcoming but that we should pack for a mission of indefinite duration.

That was all the notice I had, or needed, to get me on the road. The point being that WHERE we were going was less important to me than the nature of the call!! SHIT YEAH WHERE DO I SIGN???? Turned out I didn't have to sign anything All I needed to do was pack my field gear ( which was always in my duffel stashed in my closet and inventoried monthly by me and quarterly by my supervisor). I did one final inventory and I was back at the company HQ ready for departure within the hour.

So off we went!

Within 72 hours and after some - not necessarily so warranted cavorting around and about in Savannah - we, along with the rest of the 24th ID were camped on some cots in a port warehouse in Damaam Saudi Arabia. We in particular ( the portion of our march column that ended up in that bay ) were in the one right next to the one that housed the depleted uranium coated rounds that were to be used in the M1 tanks during the main battle movement. We waited 2-3 days depending on whose story you hear, and having discovered that our prime movers ( heavy equipment - tracked vehicles ) were still en route on cargo ships and would be for several more days the decision was made to move out and form an advance camp with alternative transportation and the available service vehicles.

The alternative transportation turned out to be double decker buses. We rode for several hours, occasionally stopping to disembark and push the buses through the 15-20" of sand that had accumulated across the highway during the most recent sandstorm. They then dropped us off the buses and offloaded our personal gear from the tops of them along with Bedouin tents to use as shelter.

We spent about 8-9 months living in Bedouin tents out in the Al Hinnah desert in Saudi Arabia. This feat in and of itself would be remarkable, without even taking into consideration that SGT Cohen, in addition to being an arabic linguist, was also one of the first jewish soldiers to ever set foot on the sacred soil of the kingdom. Mutlaq, was a Kuwaiti conscript. He was a student at the University of North Carolina when he was snatched from his classes, much like I was snatched from my assignment, and placed in active service following an abbreviated basic training course and awarded the rank of SGT E5 on completion of that course. This was one of many bones of contention between Mutlaq and myself, and would not be the last, but then he REALLY didn't ask to be there. He, as the title conscript implies, was drafted to serve in defense of his country - Kuwait.

Many may be asking why ( since I was not an arabic linguist - spanish was my specialty ) and how ( my god he speak SPANISH people what would he be doing in the middle east? ) I ended up being included in that marching order. Well, the 24th ID was to be the proving grounds for a newly revamped listening and direction finding system. The vehicles included in this system were still en-route to Ft Stewart when the fur started to fly. They were diverted to ships untouched and still in crates, and that priority traffic sent out to all personnel ( all 4 of us globally ) that were still in the service and had worked with the original version of the system. The activity of collecting information from voice signals in varying ranges involves a lot more than just understanding what they're saying once the equipment is up and running. I would estimate the actual operator station time to be about 10% of the overall effort.

OK so what's turned into a long story made shorter, we invaded Iraq across the DMZ between Saudi and Iraq. We never even burned rubber in Kuwait until after the invasion was over. It took us 100 hours - straight - peeing in bottles - dodging shrapnel from friendly as well as hostile rounds.. played leapfrog with an armor column in a fire and maneuver exercise that seemed like it would never end ( 100 hours is a lot of explosions.) In the end when the dust cleared I heard that the division suffered only 8 casualties between the launch point and final rally in the Iraqi army RGFC ( the infamous Iraqi " Elite " Republican Guard )rear defense area to the south of Baghdad. We could SEE the city.

So we camped there for 2 weeks while the pundits in the administration quiveled over what we were to do next. We spent those 2 weeks on patrols. There were still Iraqi soldiers in the bunkers.. periodically they would pop up and shoot.. and they were getting dangerously close to actually hitting someone. So patrols were established to "clear" the bunkers. The only way a bunker is considered clear is if there is no soldier or serviceable munitions inside. So the patrols each had at least one linguist, and were ordered to give the directive to and indigenous militant or enemy combatant personnel who were in those bunkers to exit with their hands up within 5 seconds or stay in the bunker and enjoy the company of a fragmentary grenade. Every day for two seeks the warnings were issued.. and the grenades were dropped. I have no idea how many Iraqi soldiers died in those bunkers nor would I like to speculate.

After all of that hard work though, and after making all of that progress, the determination of the pundits was that it would not be politically or economically feasible to occupy the country as a US territory, and we could not take Saddaam out without taking control of the country. We were therefore directed to leave rather than accomplish our originally stated objective - which was delivered to us as "Now men it's been a year since we came out here, and it's been a helluva run.. We've asked a lot from you and you've come through it with flying colors. No one could be prouder than I am to serve with such determined individuals. Now though, the time has come that we've finally been tasked to deliver what we came here to do. We have received orders as a division to cross the DMZ into southern Iraq doing what we have trained so long and hard to do, and to drive Iraq back into their own country where they will be required to leave the Kuwaitis in peace. So come on and let's go GET that sodomist bastard so that we can go the F*&K home!".

- and we tried like hell

I'd also like you to meet my son, Evan:

Evan is now a blackhawk crew chief. He finished one tour in Iraq, got married on Sept 11 2004, moved to Germany, move to Kansas, and now is redeployed for his 2nd assignment there in "the raq". He serves proudly for the sake of his country and countrymen. He, like his father, is following orders. He's doing what our commanders tell him to do because that's what soldiers do. He's a soldier because that's what patriots do. He doesn't ask if what he's doing is right, he doesn't ask anything at all except where do they store the damn ammunition 'cause he burned his last clip or can on that last raid. He doesn't invite casual conversation about whether or not he should shoot the man over there with the machinegun pointed his way, he just shoots them. He doesn't ask if that package by the side of the road looks suspicious, he assumes that it is.

I want him home. I don't want some bastard cookie asshole of a politician who has never been in a hostile fire zone that wasn't cleared, cleaned, and manicured for his visit in his LIFETIME determining when it is and isn't OK for us take it upon ourselves to send our brave soldiers out to invade another country because the answer is NEVER!! If the people of that country call on us to do so then we should consider it but Iraq never did that. Their neighbors are staunchly against our presence there and that is the stated reason that some of the more radical elements of their populous decided to take it upon themselves to let US know what it felt like to take civilian casualties in time of war.

This righteous indignation that we feel about 9/11 ... they have felt nearly every day for the entirety of their lives. If we are to win over the people of the world to our way of thinking, it will not ever be by bashing it into their heads using the same techniques that are being used by their sovereigns and tyrants to keep them in an oppressed state to begin with.

We can accomplish that end only by presenting them with a more desirable way of thinking. You have to understand this. I do not care how big the US is, or how valiant and determined our soldiers might be, we will never truly win over the hearts and minds of another people at force of arms. The reason that we will not ever, is not only because human will does not bend well to that type of persuasion, but also because despite the rhetoric being spouted by the administration they really do not WANT to put an end to all wars. War is hell on everything except the economy. Nothing has changed since the end of that first war, except that we are now attempting to accomplish that feat that we who enjoined that original battle were informed was a bad idea and could not be politically supported in the region or at home.

What has changed so drastically over the course of the last decade.. that makes the current course of action more desirable than it was then?? If you point your finger to the 9/11 attacks.. whether you believe the attacks to have been orchestrated internally or not ... point them at Washington DC. If you can't think of another thing that has changed, then stop pointing them and put them away.