So, who here has experienced getting hit by either one? I have been hit with an IED and my gunner stopped a SVBIED from going to Allah on our truck.

Discuss.

I would very much like to here about the experience myself.  I'll have my share of those later this year.

Blinding flash, concussion, HEAT like the bowels of hell, You will rarely ever see it before it goes off. SeeBee26, I fell for ya, Goodluck.

I was hit by two ied's in 4 days here. First time I was sitting right behind the driver, shattered the drivers windshield and blew the engine.

The second time I was in the gunners hatch....rocked my world a bit. Hey Stryker we met at the Gap...good to see you back.

my vehicle got hit by a 155 at close range. i was sitting right behind the driver and the IED went off right on my door. luckily it was buried in a concrete electrical junction box and the blast went straight up. if it would've been on the side of the road, i would be missing my left leg or worse right now. after we stopped so i could do a crater analysis (i'm a combat engineer) a secondary IED went off near some other dismounts from the MAP i was attached to. it was an 81/82mm WP mortar. two guys almost got hit. after that, we got the hell outta there.

1-75Ranger, saw your picture in another forum and thought you looked familiar. It was a long year and happy to be home, can't wait until the job in Iraq is over and everyone gets to come home for good. You take care of yourself and keep an eye out for those sneaky little bastards.

We were conducting a joint movement to contact, going to raid a house of an insurgent that had just assassinated the IA OPS NCOIC. My truck turned a corner when it went off. Blinding flash and the truck was filled with dust and smoke. Felt like I fell out of a tree. My terp and my gunner were both moaning from their wounds. My truck moved out of the kill zone while the rest of my platoon executed the IED battle drill.

Luckily no serious injuries, just concussion and blown ear drums.

you wake up with someone yelling "quit laying there like a b**ch and lets get out of here" and it feels like you got punched in the chest, real real hard


then later your buddies make fun of you for fainting


ohh...  and your ears ring for a long long long time




or so it has been described to me by my buddy Austin aka "fainting goat"

June 1st 2004, I missed getting killed by a VBIED by 30 seconds. I was outside the front gate of FOB Summerall identifying the locals that were doing Force Protection Projects for me. I was shooting the bull with the gate NCO, SSG Stow and I saw a combat patrol coming down the the road towards the gate. I jumped in my Polaris Ranger and just pulled away. I got just inside the main gate itself with the lead patrol vehicle right behind me when a blue late model BMW pulled out behind the last hummer in the patrol and detonated. It detonated right where I was standing. The blast knocked out the gunner in the hummer and blew the machine gun and armor off the hummer. SSG Stow was hit in the leg by the BMW radiator. The interpreter standing next to him received multiple shrapnel wounds in his back. They were standing within 30 feet of detonation.

I immediately turned around, grabbed the first soldier I could find in the guard shack, grabbed a Combat Lifesaver bag and hauled ass to the detonation site. Blast killed 11 Iraqi's and injured 27. 3 Soldiers working the search area were wounded, none seriously. There were 6 trucks and a tractor on fire. I pulled 4 Iraqis out of burning vehicles and along with 3 other soldeirs that ran to help, started moving everyone behind cover. I was afraid of a second VBIED coming through the hole in the search area the first bomb made.

I then realized the scene was unsecure. All the US soldiers manning the search area were out of commission and the area was engulfed in black smoke. Another MSG was there and I told him "this aint secure. We need to get on the other side of the blast area". He said "I got your back and we started to weed our way through the fire. An explosion went off and I almost pissed my pants. It was a fuel tank on one of the burning trucks. We went another 20 feet or so and another fuel tank exploded. I told MSG Eckels, "F*ck this" and I took off right running through the flames to get away from the burning trucks.

We got to the other side of the blast area and saw a man lying on the ground about 75 meters down the road. We moved to his location and rendered first aid. Then I realized the two of us were the only security for the whole front gate area. Needless to say, I was screaming on the radio for a gun truck. We were out there for about 10 minutes before a gun truck could get through the blast area.

Some Iraqi asshole was sitting in his car, facing the blast area reving his engine. OH YEAH, BANG, BANG you Motherf*cker. We lit him and his car up. Another Iraqi jumped into that car and drove it away before we could search it. I still think the driver was a second VBIED.

And I saw an Al-Jezzera cameraman drive by. I knew he was a cameraman but I guessed he was Al-Jezzera later as the blast was on the internet within 15 minutes of detonation.

I was the guy that built the search area and moved the search area to the new location just 5 days before the blast. No Americans lost their lives but damn, 11 Iraqis dead and 27 wounded. What a monumental waste of life.

If anyone reading this has been to FOB Summerall in late 2004-2005, the main gate monstrosity you went through was my design to eliminate the vulnerabilities in the original gate. The guy that replaced me when I left, built it up even more. And those 8" diameter drop arms are the biggest in country. FOB Summerall now has a better gate system than the Green Zone in Baghdad.

Damn, I can still smell the burning flesh.

Survived three IED's and walked away with nothing more than Tinnitus. Sadly, several of my Marines weren't so lucky.

Got pointed in the direction of a VW Passat that was sitting by the side of the road with the hood up. It was deemed somewhat suspicious because the driver got out of the car, lifted the hood, then ran across a field, through a canal, and kept running across more fields to a local village. We figured this was a bit odd.

As a result, the little voice in my head saying 'don't go up to the car' was a bit stronger than usual. EOD showed up, looked at it, and said 'we'll blow it'. When I was arguing with battalion about whether or not I could use a tank to blow it up, it blew itself up.

Next one was some sort of blue Nissan. We had been sent to look for a suspiscious car at a crossroads. We got there, didn't see the car. "This is Blue 1, we're at the intersection but can't see (BOOM!)... never mind"

A few hundered meters North, the car blew up next to a couple of Strykers. The Strykers just kept going as if nothing happened.

Bomb #3 was buried in the median, we were crossing it to avoid a suspiscious vehicle. (Walked into that one). My tank leading, then the smaller stuff (HMMWVs, Brads). As we went by the burning truck, I hear this 'Pop'
"That was an IED" says my loader.
"Don't think so, seemed awful quiet"
"No, I think it was an IED"
"It was a fuel tank explosion, I've heard them before" says my gunner who's a firefighter on the civilian side.
"Really, I think it was an IED"

I look over my shoulder, and see the HMMWV behind is stopped, the infantry types are out of the vehicles and shooting all four directions. "Umm.. Josh, stop the tank" No harm done.

Bomb #4 managed to knock out the HMMWV, though it was an M1114 so no critical damage done. Bit of scarring of the window, headlight, shock/noise injury to one of the guys.

I've seen the results of others though, sometimes the M1114 saved the people inside, sometimes it didn't make a difference.

NTM

It seems the Marines are getting hit more often than other U.S. units lately. Any particular reason for this?

Good point hop, I saw Marines riding around in the back of a duece with no armor protection on more than one occasion..

Our unit has been hit a few times, and discovered and neutraulized a whole lot more..... mostly because our job is to do just that...but the TTP's on both sides here are different than Iraq.

Nope and hopefully never are involved in one.

Quoted: It seems the Marines are getting hit more often than other U.S. units lately. Any particular reason for this?

because the Marines are better about presence patrols and, as Patton would say, "grabbin' 'em by their nose and kickin' 'em in the ass."

the BN i was attached to took more casualties then any other BN since vietnam. we also conducted more ops, patrolled more road andfound more stuff than most other units in country.

The Marines are better at Patrols and kickin them in the ass, in whose opinion? Present facts, not your personnel biased opinion.

Quoted: the BN i was attached to took more casualties then any other BN since vietnam.

The could either indicate that you were in more hostile territory than other units, or that you were in equally hostile territory and just weren't as good at avoiding getting blown up. Unless you've been around a lot of the country, there's no way to tell.

NTM

May 4, 2005.   VBIED in Baqubah, Iraq.    I was in the lead victor when an unoccupied maroon car on the side of the road with a couple of artillery rounds blew-up between me and the second humvee.  Minor damage to the second vehicle and no significant injuries.  We all got out, chased and detained every Hajji in sight.   Needless to say Ali Baba got away.

A few weeks later, we ran into an IED at a project site.  It was 25 meters away from my dismounted position!   Luckily, it didn't detonate and one of my guys noticed wires leading up to it which also seemed to go into the treeline.  We immediately cleared the area and called higher.  One of our patrols came over with a Buffalo and confirmed it.  Later, EOD came.  It turned out to be a 155.

I've been home for a few weeks now, and I was in my Toyota at an intersection other night when bright flashes of light went off behind me.   I was waiting for the BOOOM , but I soon realized the flashes were from a traffic camera which our local govt installed to catch motorists running the red.

Skated by death many times over in the sand box

Quoted: Quoted: It seems the Marines are getting hit more often than other U.S. units lately. Any particular reason for this? because the Marines are better about presence patrols and, as Patton would say, "grabbin' 'em by their nose and kickin' 'em in the ass." the BN i was attached to took more casualties then any other BN since vietnam. we also conducted more ops, patrolled more road andfound more stuff than most other units in country.

Al Asad was one of teh safest places in the regions. I was there for a year and had only 2 gate "attacks". Marines RIPed us. I was the last army vheicle to leave post. that day the Marines kicked ALL the locals off post and raided a house in Bagdaddy and popped teh mayors daughter in the back. Al Asad became a crater stricken hell hole. morters and rockets became the norm.

My prayers go out to all of you and hope everyone is ok.

I truly wish you all my thanks and blessings and wish you a safe tour........

God protect all of you.

pardon if i keep it to myself.

I think I'm in a unique position to discuss the differences between the Army and Marine experience in regards to IEDs.

I am a designated marksman in an Army infantry platoon.  Originally we were tasked to SW Baghdad/Abu Ghraib area, working under the Army.  While there we used M1114s, and I was personally hit by 2 IEDs.  The 1114s did their job admirably, and no one was permanently injured.  We conducted presence patrols around the clock.  I worked about 12 hours a day out in sector, with an occasional day off.

Now I am organized under the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Taqaddum.  Here the Marines have supplied us with M1026 and M1043 HMMWVs rather than the newer 1114s.  I've been hit by 1 IED and one anti-tank mine since we arrived here.  These "up-armor" kit HMMWVs perform nowhere near as well as the 1114s that the Army supplied us with.  The door seals are poor enough that doors frequently get blown off, and the cockpit armor leaves much to be desired.  The Marines that have been tasked to us (we are now 3 Army infantry platoons and 2 Marine platoons) were not used to conducting presence patrols with the frequency we do, nor did they "take charge" out in sector as much.  One of their platoons was moved completely out of sector rotation after they had consistent failures to do basic vehicle maintenance, resulting in incidents as egregios as HMMWV wheels falling off out in sector.  Also, all the friendly fire incidents I've experienced have been instigated by Marine forces.  Now, I in no way mean to denigrate the Corps as a whole, but I want to point out that the stereotype of Marines being so much more hard core is a lot of fluff.  There are squared away units on both sides, and idiots everywhere, regardless of service.

Btw, being hit by an IED is first and foremost LOUD.  If it doesn't compromise you too much tactically, wear ear plugs.  After 2 really bad cases of tinnitus, I always wear them when we're out there now.

Tangochaser,
I hear you on the new gate at Summerall. I was at Speicher with the USAF 1058 GT Det. running guntruck security for the Army. When they finished the gate area I thought it was 100% safer. Guess what.. I just found out I'm heading back over. Damn.. I can't wait for this shit to be over.

Quoted: Now I am organized under the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Taqaddum.  Here the Marines have supplied us with M1026 and M1043 HMMWVs rather than the newer 1114s.  I've been hit by 1 IED and one anti-tank mine since we arrived here.  These "up-armor" kit HMMWVs perform nowhere near as well as the 1114s that the Army supplied us with.  The door seals are poor enough that doors frequently get blown off, and the cockpit armor leaves much to be desired.  The Marines that have been tasked to us (we are now 3 Army infantry platoons and 2 Marine platoons) were not used to conducting presence patrols with the frequency we do, nor did they "take charge" out in sector as much.  One of their platoons was moved completely out of sector rotation after they had consistent failures to do basic vehicle maintenance, resulting in incidents as egregios as HMMWV wheels falling off out in sector.  Also, all the friendly fire incidents I've experienced have been instigated by Marine forces.  Now, I in no way mean to denigrate the Corps as a whole, but I want to point out that the stereotype of Marines being so much more hard core is a lot of fluff.  There are squared away units on both sides, and idiots everywhere, regardless of service.

I am in no way taking away from your experience.  However, the units that are at Camp TQ are air units and support units for it.  You might also have a few other units.   The platoons you worked with were more than likely formed from these units.  So they were performing jobs not specific to their MOS.  For example, my wife is currently at Camp TQ.  One of her Sgts(Communication Marine) is a squad leader in a QRF platoon.  Before this he was repairing networks.  The entire platoon was pulled from a wide variety of MOS's.  They are not infantry and are not trained as such.  Take this for what it is.  My assumption could be wrong.  



On a different note.  Marines and the Army units serving in the Al Anbar province are seeing the heaviest casualties.  It's where most of the insurgency is fought.  Since Marines have responsibility for this area and only serve in Al Anbar(with a few minor exceptions).  You will see casualty figures that appear high.  The Army units serving in Al Anbar with the Marines are also seeing high casualty rates.  It just sucks being stationed in the heart of the scumbags.  

Semper Fi
RS

Quoted: Al Asad was one of teh safest places in the regions. I was there for a year and had only 2 gate "attacks". Marines RIPed us. I was the last army vheicle to leave post. that day the Marines kicked ALL the locals off post and raided a house in Bagdaddy and popped teh mayors daughter in the back. Al Asad became a crater stricken hell hole. morters and rockets became the norm.

In the Spring of 2004 the Marines  went to Al Asad.  Several extremely good friends who I've served with deployed their.  They were an artillery unit and there mission was counter-battery fires in support of the 1st Marine Regiment.  They sat in position for two months and didn't fire one round in return.  Why is that?  They only had one IDF attack.  So what happened to these guys.  RCT-1 who they were supporting told them to pack up their guns and sent them all over to play infantry.  In particular the Syrian and Jordan borders.  Now I'm not trying to start a pissing contest.  However, whoever passed along that info to you is full of it.  

I was the NCOIC of a Buffalo team in Tal 'Afar.  Lost count of how many IED's we disarmed or had detonated on us.  Only 3 VBIED's though so not too much experience with them.  That Buffalo is a damn fine truck to say the least.

Quoted: Quoted: Al Asad was one of teh safest places in the regions. I was there for a year and had only 2 gate "attacks". Marines RIPed us. I was the last army vheicle to leave post. that day the Marines kicked ALL the locals off post and raided a house in Bagdaddy and popped teh mayors daughter in the back. Al Asad became a crater stricken hell hole. morters and rockets became the norm. In the Spring of 2004 the Marines  went to Al Asad.  Several extremely good friends who I've served with deployed their.  They were an artillery unit and there mission was counter-battery fires in support of the 1st Marine Regiment.  They sat in position for two months and didn't fire one round in return.  Why is that?  They only had one IDF attack.  So what happened to these guys.  RCT-1 who they were supporting told them to pack up their guns and sent them all over to play infantry.  In particular the Syrian and Jordan borders.  Now I'm not trying to start a pissing contest.  However, whoever passed along that info to you is full of it.

one of me best friends just got back from his second tour. He hade a few runs up there and told about the damage. I didnt know the specifics of what all had happend in spring of 04 after I left. but he did fill me in on what it looks like now. the outdoor poor that was used for ROWPU was rocketed and took out the dive tower. our old building is now windowless. the PX pretty much got hit in the front door.

Quoted: I was the NCOIC of a Buffalo team in Tal 'Afar.  Lost count of how many IED's we disarmed or had detonated on us.  Only 3 VBIED's though so not too much experience with them.  That Buffalo is a damn fine truck to say the least.

I have 3 of em here, well desgined to survive but just not made for the rough terrain we face here.

The worst:

Sadr City, December 2003: I was rear security in an open-backed, unarmored humvee, and was sitting in a "liberated" office chair that we'd strapped to the center of the bed.  Nobody in the TC(passenger) seat.  Another soldier on the wooden slat seats to my left.  Blinding orange flash, but no sound that I remember.  Something slammed my head forward, and it felt like the vehicle had hit a large rock.  The TC side of the vehicle went about 18-24" up into the air, then came back down.  The two of us that were in the back ended up in a dogpile on the floor of the humvee against the tailgate.  (As a rule, we NEVER closed the tailgate so we could kick a grenade out if needed, except for that day.  Strange.)  A rain of dirt, rocks, and sewage landed on us before we could pick ourselves up.  AK fire started from 4-5 points on the rooftops on each side of the street.  We got up, kneeled in the back, and started suppressive fire toward the rooftops while the driver and lead vehicles got out of the killzone.

EOD/engineers inspected the set-up later, and they said that hadji had put 20lbs of PE4 with shrapnel materials and rocks buried in a puddle of sewage by the road.  Wire detonated.  The IED went off by our front, passenger side tire, throwing shrapnel through the open door and hitting me in the back of the kevlar.  The liberated office chair caught a piece of something that would have gotten me in the neck.  All I got was a sore neck, and hearing problems in my left ear from my buddy firing too close to my head.  He ended up with a broken back from something that hit his rear plate, but no paralysis, luckily.  The gunner in our lead vehicle took an AK round through his bicep.  Our vehicle had a bunch of small holesand dents, most hoses and the radiator were blown from blast overpressure, and even the run-flat insert in the tire was shredded.  On the whole, we were lucky with a capital L.  

The best:

August 2003, Mansour, Baghdad.  Sitting in the TC seat, no doors, one foot proped in the door and the other in the floorboards.  We stopped at an intersection, and I looked down between my knees and saw a cinderblock in the gutter, holes plugged with concrete, and wires leading from it into the bushes.  Three seconds to look at it, think "Oh, F.", and grab the radio to tell the lead vehicle to haul a$$.  With them pulling forward we were able to move out of the way.  Ten seconds later we were around the corner and the thing blew.  I bought my guardian angel a near-beer that night.      

Quoted: Quoted: I was the NCOIC of a Buffalo team in Tal 'Afar.  Lost count of how many IED's we disarmed or had detonated on us.  Only 3 VBIED's though so not too much experience with them.  That Buffalo is a damn fine truck to say the least. I have 3 of em here, well desgined to survive but just not made for the rough terrain we face here.

Agreed.  Cross country thry are a killer!  Its like riding in the back of a school bus while off roading.  Roughly 85% of our patrols were on roads or what passed for roads in Northern Iraq.  Also a lot of the time we were inside the city and the turning radius is quite large so some problems on the smaller streets.  But I still love them.  As many hits as our took and still kept rolling you got to love them.  plus we were always of the opinion that better we take the hit than some poor sap in a Hemmit.

I thank god you are alive and well enough to talk about it.  I hope those insurgents burn in hell.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I was the NCOIC of a Buffalo team in Tal 'Afar.  Lost count of how many IED's we disarmed or had detonated on us.  Only 3 VBIED's though so not too much experience with them.  That Buffalo is a damn fine truck to say the least. I have 3 of em here, well desgined to survive but just not made for the rough terrain we face here. Agreed.  Cross country thry are a killer!  Its like riding in the back of a school bus while off roading.  Roughly 85% of our patrols were on roads or what passed for roads in Northern Iraq.  Also a lot of the time we were inside the city and the turning radius is quite large so some problems on the smaller streets.  But I still love them.  As many hits as our took and still kept rolling you got to love them.  plus we were always of the opinion that better we take the hit than some poor sap in a Hemmit.

Yup, we don't have any paved rpads within 150K of here, and only one then....... much of our driving is in wadis that pass for roads. I have replaced more front axles here in less than a year than all of Iraq.

My only bitch as a maintainer is that there is waaayyyyy too much variation bewteen each one in wiring and configuration.... it is a real pain in the ass.

How did the RG-31's do for you guys over there? They are great for us here and ride like a bitch cross country but will go pretty much anywhere we take em.

Al Asad was one of teh safest places in the regions. I was there for a year and had only 2 gate "attacks". Marines RIPed us. I was the last army vheicle to leave post. that day the Marines kicked ALL the locals off post and raided a house in Bagdaddy and popped teh mayors daughter in the back. Al Asad became a crater stricken hell hole. morters and rockets became the norm.

Who fed you that load of horseshit????

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I was the NCOIC of a Buffalo team in Tal 'Afar.  Lost count of how many IED's we disarmed or had detonated on us.  Only 3 VBIED's though so not too much experience with them.  That Buffalo is a damn fine truck to say the least. I have 3 of em here, well desgined to survive but just not made for the rough terrain we face here. Agreed.  Cross country thry are a killer!  Its like riding in the back of a school bus while off roading.  Roughly 85% of our patrols were on roads or what passed for roads in Northern Iraq.  Also a lot of the time we were inside the city and the turning radius is quite large so some problems on the smaller streets.  But I still love them.  As many hits as our took and still kept rolling you got to love them.  plus we were always of the opinion that better we take the hit than some poor sap in a Hemmit. Yup, we don't have any paved rpads within 150K of here, and only one then....... much of our driving is in wadis that pass for roads. I have replaced more front axles here in less than a year than all of Iraq. My only bitch as a maintainer is that there is waaayyyyy too much variation bewteen each one in wiring and configuration.... it is a real pain in the ass. How did the RG-31's do for you guys over there? They are great for us here and ride like a bitch cross country but will go pretty much anywhere we take em.

Sorry to say no real experience with RG-31's.  We started to get them in as we were packing up and heading to Mosul to redeploy home.  Although our battalion staff had a few so they could drive around and "earn" their CAB's.  We mainly used 1114's and M113A2's as escort vehicles outside town and A2's and Brads in the real crappy areas.

Quoted: Quoted: Al Asad was one of the safest places in the regions. I was there for a year and had only 2 gate "attacks". Marines RIPed us. I was the last army vheicle to leave post. that day the Marines kicked ALL the locals off post and raided a house in Bagdaddy and popped the mayors daughter in the back. Al Asad became a crater stricken hell hole. morters and rockets became the norm. Who fed you that load of horseshit???? im guessing it wasnt his S-2......

what ever. were eiter of your two there in March - April 04? That was the brief we recieved the next day that came down from Regiment. I may have exagerated on the crater stricken hell hole a bit. I have not seen Al Asad since I left. Only seen pictures and and listened to the stories of our guys that just got back on their 2nd tour. Im sure the Marines quickly resolved the problems though. All the buildings still sand bagged? Do you still have to be locked and loaded at all times and in full battle rattle when not in a building? durring the 2-3 week period when they were transfering command everyone suddenly became anal retentive. one day you could walk down to the bazar by the track in your PTs to buddy set buddy move just to make it to the shitter.

Quoted: Quoted: Now I am organized under the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Taqaddum.  Here the Marines have supplied us with M1026 and M1043 HMMWVs rather than the newer 1114s.  I've been hit by 1 IED and one anti-tank mine since we arrived here.  These "up-armor" kit HMMWVs perform nowhere near as well as the 1114s that the Army supplied us with.  The door seals are poor enough that doors frequently get blown off, and the cockpit armor leaves much to be desired.  The Marines that have been tasked to us (we are now 3 Army infantry platoons and 2 Marine platoons) were not used to conducting presence patrols with the frequency we do, nor did they "take charge" out in sector as much.  One of their platoons was moved completely out of sector rotation after they had consistent failures to do basic vehicle maintenance, resulting in incidents as egregios as HMMWV wheels falling off out in sector.  Also, all the friendly fire incidents I've experienced have been instigated by Marine forces.  Now, I in no way mean to denigrate the Corps as a whole, but I want to point out that the stereotype of Marines being so much more hard core is a lot of fluff.  There are squared away units on both sides, and idiots everywhere, regardless of service. I am in no way taking away from your experience.  However, the units that are at Camp TQ are air units and support units for it.  You might also have a few other units.   The platoons you worked with were more than likely formed from these units.  So they were performing jobs not specific to their MOS.  For example, my wife is currently at Camp TQ.  One of her Sgts(Communication Marine) is a squad leader in a QRF platoon.  Before this he was repairing networks.  The entire platoon was pulled from a wide variety of MOS's.  They are not infantry and are not trained as such.  Take this for what it is.  My assumption could be wrong.   On a different note.  Marines and the Army units serving in the Al Anbar province are seeing the heaviest casualties.  It's where most of the insurgency is fought.  Since Marines have responsibility for this area and only serve in Al Anbar(with a few minor exceptions).  You will see casualty figures that appear high.  The Army units serving in Al Anbar with the Marines are also seeing high casualty rates.  It just sucks being stationed in the heart of the scumbags.   Semper Fi RS

You are totally right about the support units here.  I can't believe they make these guys run sector patrols without being combat arms!  It's probably good they're tasked to towers now.  Thanks for pointing that out.

Yeah, Al Anbar is pretty much the pits...

Take care man.

Quoted: Now I am organized under the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Taqaddum.  Here the Marines have supplied us with M1026 and M1043 HMMWVs rather than the newer 1114s.  I've been hit by 1 IED and one anti-tank mine since we arrived here.  These "up-armor" kit HMMWVs perform nowhere near as well as the 1114s that the Army supplied us with.  The door seals are poor enough that doors frequently get blown off, and the cockpit armor leaves much to be desired.  The Marines that have been tasked to us (we are now 3 Army infantry platoons and 2 Marine platoons) were not used to conducting presence patrols with the frequency we do, nor did they "take charge" out in sector as much.  One of their platoons was moved completely out of sector rotation after they had consistent failures to do basic vehicle maintenance, resulting in incidents as egregios as HMMWV wheels falling off out in sector.  Also, all the friendly fire incidents I've experienced have been instigated by Marine forces.  Now, I in no way mean to denigrate the Corps as a whole, but I want to point out that the stereotype of Marines being so much more hard core is a lot of fluff.  There are squared away units on both sides, and idiots everywhere, regardless of service.

Interesting observation about vehicle maintenance, I saw the same thing here with the Marines we worked with, the attitude seemed to be drive it untill it breaks then someone else will fix it. I saw numerous failures that were simply from either a lack of grease or lack of paying attention and letting something get way past the point where it should have been fixed.

I have seen it to a lesser degree with Army infantry, but you can tell what platoons have NCO's from a mech background.

Edited to add I just read that the USMC is buying some Buffalos...... they better get on the ball maintenance wise because if they try to run them with the attitudes and skills I saw they will not last 2 months.

Just got hit by 3 of them last night daisy chained together.  Sucks ass....at least nobody was hurt as it missed my 1114 by about 100 meters.

ARNG Sniper

Quoted:

The best:

August 2003, Mansour, Baghdad.  Sitting in the TC seat, no doors, one foot proped in the door and the other in the floorboards.  We stopped at an intersection, and I looked down between my knees and saw a cinderblock in the gutter, holes plugged with concrete, and wires leading from it into the bushes.  Three seconds to look at it, think "Oh, F.", and grab the radio to tell the lead vehicle to haul a$$.  With them pulling forward we were able to move out of the way.  Ten seconds later we were around the corner and the thing blew.  I bought my guardian angel a near-beer that night.      

WOW!
want to trade gurdian angels?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Al Asad was one of the safest places in the regions. I was there for a year and had only 2 gate "attacks". Marines RIPed us. I was the last army vheicle to leave post. that day the Marines kicked ALL the locals off post and raided a house in Bagdaddy and popped the mayors daughter in the back. Al Asad became a crater stricken hell hole. morters and rockets became the norm. Who fed you that load of horseshit???? im guessing it wasnt his S-2...... what ever. were eiter of your two there in March - April 04?

Yup...Was there for the changeover and the following 9 months....

I have not seen Al Asad since I left. Only seen pictures and and listened to the stories of our guys that just got back on their 2nd tour.

Well then, sinve you weren't there, and, instead, decided to just regurgitate somebody else's bullshit, I need not waste my time saying anything else.

Quoted: Quoted: Now I am organized under the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Taqaddum.  Here the Marines have supplied us with M1026 and M1043 HMMWVs rather than the newer 1114s.  I've been hit by 1 IED and one anti-tank mine since we arrived here.  These "up-armor" kit HMMWVs perform nowhere near as well as the 1114s that the Army supplied us with.  The door seals are poor enough that doors frequently get blown off, and the cockpit armor leaves much to be desired.  The Marines that have been tasked to us (we are now 3 Army infantry platoons and 2 Marine platoons) were not used to conducting presence patrols with the frequency we do, nor did they "take charge" out in sector as much.  One of their platoons was moved completely out of sector rotation after they had consistent failures to do basic vehicle maintenance, resulting in incidents as egregios as HMMWV wheels falling off out in sector.  Also, all the friendly fire incidents I've experienced have been instigated by Marine forces.  Now, I in no way mean to denigrate the Corps as a whole, but I want to point out that the stereotype of Marines being so much more hard core is a lot of fluff.  There are squared away units on both sides, and idiots everywhere, regardless of service. I am in no way taking away from your experience.  However, the units that are at Camp TQ are air units and support units for it.  You might also have a few other units.   The platoons you worked with were more than likely formed from these units.  So they were performing jobs not specific to their MOS.  For example, my wife is currently at Camp TQ.  One of her Sgts(Communication Marine) is a squad leader in a QRF platoon.  Before this he was repairing networks.  The entire platoon was pulled from a wide variety of MOS's.  They are not infantry and are not trained as such.  Take this for what it is.  My assumption could be wrong.   On a different note.  Marines and the Army units serving in the Al Anbar province are seeing the heaviest casualties.  It's where most of the insurgency is fought.  Since Marines have responsibility for this area and only serve in Al Anbar(with a few minor exceptions).  You will see casualty figures that appear high.  The Army units serving in Al Anbar with the Marines are also seeing high casualty rates.  It just sucks being stationed in the heart of the scumbags.   Semper Fi RS

Right now the OOH (out of hide) secrurity forces augmenting the army BN are all drawn from the MLG (Marine Logisitic Group).  

The reason army elements are guarding a few Marine bases has to do with a denial of an RFF last year, intially the MARCENT attempted to get 2 Marine Battalions to do the jobs, but because of desire to have forces for the 5.7 rotation those were denied and USA (NG) forces were tasked to cover down on the mission.    

Mess tent in Mosul 12/22/04. My nephew doesn't talk about it. After recovering from critical injuries and months of rehab he went back and redeployed with 1/24. Gimp and all, he was out patrolling the streets until his brigade came back home. These days he's celebrating life, just got married last week to a beautiful girl. He's staying in too because deep down he's a true warrior just like many of you folks.

To those that have served my heartfelt thanks.