Posted on 06/12/2004 5:03:46 PM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
BAGHDAD — Troops would wake up at “oh-dark-thirty” for a convoy if they were anywhere other than Iraq. But the sun is already climbing the desert sky when soldiers from the 1052nd Transportation Company roll out of their sleeping bags Monday morning.
The National Guard unit out of Kingstree, S.C., prepares for the trip from Logistics Support Area Anaconda, near Balad, by arranging in long lines in an empty, dusty lot.
Up-armored trucks and Humvees weave throughout lines of KBR civilian semis carrying Army supplies bound for Baghdad International Airport.
Before troops head “outside the wire,” the convoy commander, Staff Sgt. Jerome Lemon, holds the traditional convoy briefing.
These soldiers know the deal. They don’t have to be told what to expect from the route: They drive it nearly every day.
They know traffic will thicken as they approach Baghdad. They understand they have to pay close attention when cars, trucks, motorcycles and people close in around them during lulls. They are aware that if anyone aims a weapon at the convoy, or is even seen carrying an RPG, they should be shot.
Lemon doesn’t go into the minor details; he simply reminds the crowd, “We’re professionals. If a car gets in between the convoy, we’ll professionally escort them out of our way.”
Talk of the day lingers around a car bomb that hit a convoy around Taji a couple of days ago. There were mass casualties.
The rest of the briefing covers radio protocol, weapons status, and strategies for responding to vehicle failures and attacks. There is a quick prayer given by a sergeant in the unit, and then lines of vehicles come to life and start snaking out of the parking area onto the “hardball.”
Gun trucks are sprinkled throughout the convoy.
Sgt. William “Kenny” Sauls crawls behind the wheel of his two-seater Humvee. There is a soldier manning a mounted squad automatic weapon and another manning a .50-caliber machine gun in the back. The original canvas doors of the Humvee are gone, replaced by 1-inch-thick armor steel sheets with no glass.
Sauls has been in the Army for more than 20 years and is “fixin’ to retire.” In fact, he should have already been out of the Army, but is on stop loss while deployed.
As the convoy prepares to roll out of Anaconda and into a portion of the Sunni Triangle, which is known for its attacks against coalition forces, the sergeant says something about needing gas. But it’s too late for that. It’s time to lock and load.
As soldiers have their weapons at the ready exiting the camp, little children are out waving to them. The weapons don’t seem to bother them. Some point to their mouths in hunger, others simply look at the passing troops with a smile. The troops cannot give handouts per Army policy, so many simply wave back.
The convoy drives as fast and close together as it can.
Farm land zips past. Cows and sheep walk along the shoulder of low brush and irrigation canals. Everything looks serene, but this is the same place where people lob handfuls of mortars into the camp each week.
Sauls maneuvers the road like a pro. He doesn’t hit potholes and stays off the shoulders, explaining that those are prime locations where improvised explosive devises are placed.
Everyone in the Humvee is wired in to the same communication frequency with a Kevlar helmet, microphone and earphone set. Chatter is light and comical. One of the guys talks about his job in the Army.
“Sometimes when I’m scared and the adrenaline is pumping, I just think this is a job. It’s something I gotta do, that’s it.”
Spc. Joshua McDaniel, a country boy who plans to make the Army a career, is talking to his sergeant.
The other gunner stops the conversation and asks if McDaniel could be quiet and pay attention to his sector.
“I am,” says McDaniel. “I’m watching everything.” He goes on to describe all the things he’s seeing in his field of fire.
The convoy heads down the highway toward civilization. The trucks and Humvees stay in the left lane and away from the shoulder. Iraqis in civilian cars and pickup trucks quickly move to the right. Nobody passes.
Off the road, women in black robes skillfully walk with huge packages balanced on their head, barefoot children run back and forth, and shepherds tend to flocks that forage along the ditches. There are a few shattered and burned-out vehicles in medians and high brush that stand as a reminder of problems on that stretch of highway in the past.
There are a few lulls, especially around Taji. During one stop, Sauls’ Humvee stops under a bridge.
“I don’t like being under here,” one of the gunners says.
The Humvees starts again. Eyes are peeled.
Then, quickly, the convoy rolls over overpasses and ducking under underpasses within minutes of BIAP.
The convoy goes off without a hitch. There is an almost audible sigh of relief while the convoy gets in line to enter the security behind the KBR trucks.
As Sauls’ Humvee rolls onto BIAP, the driver shakes his head with disbelief and moves over to the shoulder.
“Ran out of gas,” Sauls says. “Man, I’m never going to live this one down.”
Luckily, the Humvee is in the safe zone. If it would have happened outside the wire, it could have been a different story.
This time, things ran smoothly, but the unit has to prepare to head back to Balad in a couple of hours.
They’ll do it over again the next day.
But next time, there will be no gas problems, Sauls says.
Staff Sgt. Jerome Lemon, convoy commander with the 1052nd Transportation Company, holds the traditional convoy briefing explaining radio protocol, weapons status, and strategies for responding to vehicle failures and attacks. These soldiers know what to expect from the route, because they drive it nearly every day.
Convoy ping
ping
ping
Been with these guys and they're good.
During one prayer the guy kept saying that 'we just want to get to know you, Jesus...' and so I chimed in with 'But not today, oh Lord!'. It got a chuckle from the crowd and a glare from him.
Irreverent humor is not always appreciated by the pious.
Stay safe !
Good ROE.
It was the first time I'd seen someone doing that in that unit and I mentioned the incident to his commander afterwards. So what do you know, the next day two convoys going through the same town were attacked with RPGs and AKs outside town, resulting in 4 WIAs. I hope his commander made the connection between the events. I dodn't like riding backseat to some nutjob and don't intend to do so again. Maybe he can get some Letter of Appreciation from Al Sadr "P#ssed-of local Shiites and turned them against the Coalition, resulting in 4 infidel casualties"
Ran out of gas?
Talk about living dangerously! Bet he remembers to fill up next time.
'But not today, oh Lord!'.
Very good points. I haven't served in the military but I did spend time in Northern Ireland and had cause to talk to some of the Brit soldiers up there. They were of the same opion regarding the psychological impact of pointing weapons and so on. They would alos try to patrol in berets as often as possible because they found wearing their helmets offended offended the population and actually increased the chances of IRA attack.
Old habits die hard. To this day I avoid driving over anything out of place on a road.
I spent three or four months as a truck driver in Vietnam 33 years ago. In reality I was a 63C mechanic, but could not get along with the drunk motor sergeant so the 1SG asked me to drive ammo resupply. This was for an M109, 155mm SP howitzer battery. When we made our runs into Tay Ninh on an irregular basis to keep from setting a pattern, the disadvantage was we had to travel the same route. We never ran over debris or through a mudhole and did not stop for anything. My five ton cargo went with me and a "shotgun" in the passenger seat. We had sandbagged the floors and placed an extra flak vest over the doors. No tops, just a windshield, in the monsoon we got drenched in the afternoons.
Our security was usually a "gun jeep" with a Lt as the convoy commander and then a "quad fifty" towards the front and one in the rear. Sometimes we had "dusters" but they were better suited for fire base perimeter security since they could not maneuver as well as a truck or go as fast and often the best defense was driving like the proveribial "bat out of hades" to keep from bunching up.
I am surprised to see the chain of command forbid the GI's from handing out food to the kids. They were our worst enemy at times, but they also were a good predictor of an ambush. If we drove thru an area normally populated with kids begging for "C's" and did not see any, we knew something was up and generally we would get at least a few sniper rounds into a truck or two.
Enough war stories for now. My hat is off to these guys (and gals) - but that is another story. :-)
I wonder about the no food or candy to the kids policy too. I guess in VN a "kid bomb" was less of a possibility.
I can speak personally to that effect. I cannot wear a kevlar helmet because of a LoD Army injury. I wear a hat and civilians. Every time I'm in an all-Army convoy I'm a focus of peoples' attention. When we've been stuck in traffic people will come up to my window and shake my hand and say "thank you, thank you mister" etc. One merchant even kissed his hand after I shook it.
Not wearing a kevlar and being in civilians I get treated like I'm some govenor or something. I get quite a kick out of it sometimes. Lots of smiles, waves, even people running out of fields, waving, etc. I think it dramatically shows the difference in reactions to people who are not wearing helmets.
Im0 we really missed a golden opportunity to draw the Shiites to us. After the capitulation to the UN and the political humiliation of Abu Gharib they've definitely taken a step back in my area. And the Mahdi have exploited Shiite skepticism to their advantage. I think it will be a long time before they trust us again. They're all-for Western lifestyles and freedoms but the political fortunes and the influence of media makes us far too fickle in their eyes for them to trust us.
There was a problem with kids. They would be given a "frag" with the spoon fastened down with a rubber band and the pin pulled. Walk up to a truck and stick it in the fuel tank. Either gasoline or diesel, the fuel would eventually disolve the rubber band and . . . . . .
The VC often used a hostage to get the kids to do their bidding. Pretty close to the same techniques we see used in Iraq.
I've also seen it said that giving kids food and such, encourages them to run up to convoys, resulting in kis sometimes getting run over by same. Instant enemy made of the parents / relatives, even though maybe it's not the driver's fault.
Inexcusable, especially from an NCO, especially with the press around. I hope his chain of command was properly chastised and the < crap > rolled down hill.
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