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My First 7 Months In Iraq, The Shocking Truth You Didn't Hear On CNN

My First 7 Months In Iraq, The Shocking Truth You Didn't Hear On CNN.

I worked for KBR.
My First Six Months Of 2006. These are my unedited Iraq journal entries.

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February 29 - March 16

Well, I did not go to Cedar yet. However the very next week I passed my driving test and over the course of the next week went on three missions. First was a mission to warhorse some 20 miles away from Anaconda. It went well, however the road was incredibly bad due to IED holes and VBED holes.
(VBED=Vehicle Born Explosive Device)

The next mission was to TQ at Al Taqqdum Air Base southwest of Baghdad. Definitely the most dangerous mission I've been on yet. Despite the risks or the 6 hour drive, both our convoy and military escorts escaped the breadth of the mission without a scratch.

March 17 - March 22

Finally I have arrived at Cedar near Tallil Air Base. I like it a lot here, but unfortunately Cedar doesn't have even one tree. Tallil is only 7 miles away. It has trees. So I don't know why we don't? Like Anaconda the dust is bad but the smoke is light. Cedar is just 12 miles from Al Naziriyah.

March 23

We sat around much of the day in a minor but very irritating sandstorm. A mission up to Scania was cancelled. Perhaps tomorrow they will reschedule the mission. Also today we were given an escort class. Dealing in how to properly lead around third country nationals. Otherwise known as TCNs. A short but boring class.

March 24

Yesterday the airplane that took us from Baghdad to Tallil last week crashed in Tallil because only one landing gear came down. Three were airlifted due to injuries sustained. The plane is a very old Russian-made twin prop. It appeared to us last week that it had issues. According to a report, this is the second time in six months that the same plane has crashed. First time was due to engine failure.
Sat around the Pickle Park for much of the day. In the afternoon we loaded fuel for a mission to Scania tomorrow. A short two hour drive.
March 25

We went to Scania without any incidents along the way. Except one of the military escorts brok down near a Baghdad Interchange. The 5-ton was dragged the rest of the way to Scania. When we got there I checked out the Haji mart. The only place in all of Iraq where you can actually go outside the wire by yourself without armed escourt. The vendors are VERY pushy Made it back to Cedar without a scratch by 5 p.m.

March 26

I am carrying MOGAS. About 8,000 gallons of unleaded fuel. This I must carry through much of Baghdad to get the fuel to Anaconda in Balad. Once again I am in Scania MSR Tanfa (I couldn't read that name very well) North of us is red. In other words the insurgents are gonna blow us up. The army has therefore ordered us to stand-by for the night, before we continue.

March 27

From Cedar to Anaconda route was strewn with IEDs. Convoy ahead of us hit by two IEDs at MSR Sword ramp.

March 28

Sat on perimeter road at Anaconda for over two hours. The subsequent drive to Cedar was uneventful. No one to my knowledge was blown up or shot. PWC Logistic truck was completely on its side and just wiped out. My guess is the driver must have fallen asleep at the wheel which a great many of us were in danger of doing this morning.

March 29 - April 6

Got on Heidloff's crew, it is very excellent! We went to Al Taqaddum (we smoked hash there!) on the 30th and stayed until April 3rd. We got back to Cedar on the 4th. At Taqaddum 5 soldiers drowned in flash flooding while we were there. We experienced very fierce rainstorms.
On the way back on MSR Long Island, and MSR Tampa we were held up for hours as usual while EOD detonated multiple IEDs in our path. Today is the 6th and I have done nothing at all.

April 6
Did nothing all day at Cedar Camp

April 7
We have driven to Scania. The 100 kilometer trip took 5 hours because a truck broke down. We are staying overnight.

April 8
Still at Scania, We're out of here on our way to Anaconda at 10 pm (or 2200 hrs)

April 9-16
We just got back from BIAP (Baghdad International Airport). I hauled MOGAS (un-leaded in layman's terms). All went well.

April 17-20
Went to Anaconda/Balad with CC Bad Habit. I bought 950,000 Iraqi Dinar for mom for her 59th birthday. Cost; $700

April 21-April 24
Here in Taji about 14 miles from Balad and 26 miles from Baghdad. A lot of hostile action can be heard outside the wire. We had a hellacious sandstorm earlier mixed with a severe rainstorm. It was mud rain!

April 22-27
Left Taji yesterday (21st) made it back to Cedar II in one piece. Did a small mission to Tallil only 7 miles away.

April 28
We are on our way to Anaconda again. We were diverted to BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) because just south of BIAP at 25 Alpha (at an overpass) we came under heavy machine gun attack. I saw the skylight up with tracers coming from my right about 90 meters ahead of me. It looked as though you could walk on the bullets! There were so many of them. My adrenalin spiked moments before I drove through this maelstorm of fire. Initially I thought it was AK-47s firing at us. But one of the old-timers pointed out to me that at such a long range the bullets were on a flat trajectory. Indicating we were being fired upon by a so-called quad-72. A four barreled machine gun with rounds supposedly bigger than the US made 50 caliber! Unbeknownst to me there was a Bradley tank on the overpass. He saved us! But our rear Army Escort (Humvee) was shot up badly. All of our trucks escaped damage miraculously. And there were no injuiries/dead. We will continue to Anaconda tonight!

April 29-30
We were cancelled. I am still in Balad. Supposed to leave tonight though (30th). Talked to Anna on the phone today. She is getting much better at her (spoken) English. Temperature topped at 109 f.

April 30 (night)
Un-cancelled. We left Balad at 8:30 p.m. About 5 kilometers out we took a bunch of AK-47 fire. About 35 kilometers after this attack on MSR Sword in Baghdad an IED detonated on a truck. It was five trucks ahead of me. I saw a huge yellow flash on the left, followed by a thunderous BOOM. Then came the small arms fire. I heard a large popping noise nearby. And lots of other popping noises. But they did not use tracer rounds This time. My instrumentation was knocked out as well as my dome light. We looked for a good while on my Mercedes for any evident bullet holes to no avail. Yet my instrumentation dome light went dead after the distinctly loud popping noise. Our good Egyptian friend has bad hearing from the explosion (IED) which also completely destroyed his windshield and driver's window. The truck behind him had some bullet holes below the driver's seat. Both drivers are in relatively good shape. Crazy days!

May 1-May 13
It has been a very active beginning of the month. Heidloff's crew was hit at 4 Alpha. They lost nine trucks! I know many on my former crew: Christian Walker from Montana was hit by an IED on the MSR Long Island route to TQ (Al Taqeddum). She came with our group from Houston (about my mother's age) I saw her today (May 14) now she has a huge hole in her right leg from shrapnel. She is lucky to still be alive. The ballistic blanket saved her
I'm still on Palenkas' crew aka Bad Habit. We came back this morning (14th) from Taji. I had Taco Bell there! $1.75 for a bean freaking' burrito! We were hit by an IED and lost a truck. Also lost a truck last night because of bullet holes in the fuel tank.

May 15 - May 22
Went to Taji on the way back on Mobile a mortar crew was preparing to attack us from a nearby rooftop. We moved a mile up. Problem averted! After this we had another uneventful trip to BIAP

May 23 - May 24
TQ (Taqaddum) mission C C Regian and Michael Lanning had their truck destroyed by a large IED 10 miles from our destination. There were actually two large IEDs: one right after the other. The second caused only nominal damage to a humvee. Both driver and passenger of the truck received minor injuries. Route was Long Island.

May 27 - May 29
On a mission for Balad/Anaconda got this idiot for a CC named Stanolis or Trouble. We hate him. In fact we hope he gets killed. Mean? Yes, but I'm not beating around the bush. Our group does not need a scumbag CC! We will be rid of him ASAP! Bad Habit is on R&R.

May 30 - June 5
Uneventful. Two missions.

June 6
I am truck #5. On Willie Limbrick's crew. He is the new stand-in CC while Bad Habit is away. He is way better than Stanolis! A black American muslim our front escort were hit by a small IED. We're on our way to Taji. We've been diverted to BIAP.

June 6 - June 14
Last mission before R&R. Our front escort took an IED. I don't remember exactly what day.

June 15 - June 30
Nikolev, Ukraine baby!
Black Sea lovin! Oksana, Lina, Nina, Igor, Julia, Irina, Zanna, Massa and a second Massa!

July 1 - July 17
Back to work. We are B.U.S.Y.

July 18
I'm the CC driver. Our truck is #1. Anaconda mission = 2 IEDs, one demolished $175,000 truck (#7). No injuries. Heavy activity on all sides! Second IED on the heels of the Iraqi Army. EOD detonated enormous bomb about 1/8-1/4 mile in front of us. It shook the earth. Mortars shot behind us.

July 19 - July 21
Went to Taji. Delay on the way north so EOD could detonate an IED. The way down we were shot at in the same area where the first IED blew up on the previous mission to Anaconda.
Again #7 truck was hit. Third time in a row. Shortly after I saw a very large bomb explode around 40a. It was controlled.

July 22 - August 3
At 41 Alpha, we were stopped going northbound for an IED in a small pothole in the middle of the road. where my ass would have been first, since I am still driving lead. Rumors going around that there will be large scale attacks on US in upcoming weeks.

August 5 - August 9
Mission to Anaconda, IE Balad. Iraqi Army guys blew up one of CC White's trucks in front of us at a checkpoint. On our way south from Balad on the evening of the 6th we took heavy gunfire from the middle to the rear. The gunmen pushed us into a large crowd of Iraqis. The first four trucks made it past the crowd. Meanwhile cc White was row behind us and sitting in a storm of lead rain unable to move out of it because of the roadblock of people we were jammed in.
The 6-7 trucks in the midst of the crowd all got stoned. (I mean rocks!) Our comrad Philip Roberts from Wales took a rock to the face. And we had a bunch of smashed windshields. This was 59A. About 25 miles north of Baghdad.

Further south, in Baghdad at precisely 47a, I swerved to a relatively new debris field on my left. Michael Lanning also avoided in the #2. bout our Indian friend (we call him Moe) went through the debris. The bomb he hit was a monster! The truck was no more. But Moe is still with us. His truck was armored. At this time we were again hammered with AKs. This time from my truck to the back. Only two trucks did not receive bullet holes or damage from anything.
Last night while we were in Baghdad, CC Jarhead was attacked with the same results. It happened to us on the 6th. Jarhead two nights later on the 8th. The military is quite useless these days. Because the US is prosecuting so many soldiers for supposed war crimes now they won't defend us because of the fear they have of prosecution. This war is being made more unwinnable everyday by idiot Bush and his friends.

August 12 - August 13
Mission to BIAP went well. I am no longer in the first truck. Number 15 now! It's way better. In the 1st truck it is much harder to be anonymous whilst smoking hashish. And occasional bottles of Jordanian-made Jack Williams Whiskey!
At Camp Liberty I had a lengthy conversation with the ABC World News crew. I declined an interview request. Off-camera I told them when they asked me about conditions/security in Iraq that indeed it is fast deteriorating. I don't remember the war correspondent's name. But he was a replacement for Bob Woodruff who was critically injured in a bomb blast in Baghdad while travelling with the Iraqi Army in January 2006.

August 14 - August 18
It was a mission to Al Taqaddum. The first time we've all been there since "Tattoo" was blown up on Long Island in mid-May. We traveled with empty fuel tankers this time. This was a first. To not upload at Cedar II I mean. So, away we went on the 15th in the early afternoon north to Scania, then we presumed TQ next. Wrong! Roads went "red" meaning we had to wait for a few hours at BIAP until they cleared the roads. About 9:30 p.m. we went out a shortcut directly onto the MSR Sword. Sword I will mention runs right through south Baghdad in the most dangerous suburbs on earth. This is where much of the Shiite-Sunni slaughtering occurs. At several sections consist of several mile long overpasses that go through these suburbs. On the first overpass we encountered it all went to hell! Intense gunfire erupted on us from below from about the 5th truck all the way to #20.

Victor Lobo's truck (#9) was stuck by a burst of tracers in his tanker causing it to explode. Lucky for him there wasn't anything but a small amount of jet fuel at the bottom of the tank. The fireball burst out the top hatch. It poofed out the whole tanker trailer as if it were a 9,000 gallon size marshmallow! I prayed intently to God to save my butt in the few seconds before driving through the maelstrom. Unfortunately Ronald Sousa in #19 received a serious shrapnel wound. I learned a few days later that our escorts killed several of the attackers. It is unclear exactly how many. We had 14 flats from bullets. My truck glided through without a scratch! Amazing! On the way back to Cedar I lost count in - the IEDs that detonated in their attempts to again cause harm. I stopped counting at six. All were big bombs! Overall I really hate to!

August 19 - September 16
It's been almost a month since I've made any entries in this journal. Palenkas AKA "Bad Habit" went on R&R. He put this screwed up Irishman as head of the convoy. Mike Lanning both opted to get outta there! So we did. Lanning, AKA "Tattoo" lucked out and got with Cordoba. I went with cc Maners, Holliday, "Tye Dye", Mike, and another Mike. They were cool. But after just two missions SP-5 inexplicably yanked one off of Manners crew. *END*

About the Author

lets play the itunes party suffle, what do you really listen to.?

in your itunes library, click the party suffle icon. 11 songs should appear if the upcoming songs is set to 10, and recently played is set to zero. no cheating, must be random.

uhm sure
(dont laugh..i have some whack stuff that might pop up ..ok..)

{artist .. . . .. .Song}

nine inch nails...dead souls

fallout boy......... this aint a scene

Selena... .. .Fotos Y Recuerdos

SOAD. .. .. .. Chop Suey

Smashing Pumkins. . . . bullet with Butterfly wings

Switchfoot . .. . This is your life

SOAD .. . . .. Let the bodies hit the floor.

Seether . .. out of my way...

Smashing Pumkins .. . .Tonight, tonight..

Muse.... Plug in baby...

Eminem .. . .. Toy soldiers...

Death and swift revenge on Operation Dark Rest
THE patrol set off in darkness. Through fields of poppy and wheat, 100 men from the Brigade Reconnaissance Force stumbled towards their target, a strip of compounds that had been used by the Taliban to fire on British troops.

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