Posted on 06/12/2004 5:03:46 PM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
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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