Outside the wire

The exercise has kicked off. One of our battalion operations was attacked, and we had 2 WIA and 1 KIA. Simulated, of course. They were delivering water to an Iraqi village and the convoy was attacked.

I went to one of the outlying FOBs, and then to the HQ of the Iraqi National Guard. As we left the ING FOB, one of the guards was hollering at us "You no good! Go home." I guess he was angry because he needed boots, and we didn't have any for him.

My convoy took off and left me at the first FOB. My lunch and rain gear was in one of the HUMMVs that took off, so I was feeling pretty stranded. However, got a ride back to our FOB without much problem.

Saw some anti-American graffiti. "Die American" and the like. There are lots of real Iraqis here as roleplayers. We have 4 sitting outside the door to my office listening to ZVOT radio play Iraqi music. It doesn't have a good beat and you can't dance to it, so it doesn't do much for me.

Each time our convoy stopped, I contemplated my actions if we got attacked. I was really hoping that we would not be attacked, because that would involve me having to flop down in the mud. Each time I rode with someone new - twice - we worked out our drill if we were attacked. Who gets out of the vehicle first, who lays down suppressive fire, which side of the vehicle we go to, etc. Luckily, no attack. Even so I'm muddy up to my knees just from walking around.

The soldiers in the outlying FOBS, most of the brigade, will be in large tents for the next 10 days. There are no showers on the FOBs. They will to prop up a watercan on a vehicle and barely open the cap to serve as a shower. The tricky part will be for the females, assuming that they don't want to shower in the open. 10 days of mud and no showers. That's living. They did say the food is better in the FOBs.