Hillah, Iraq.
The Marines fired illumination mortar rounds as SWAT searched the bushes for the primary target. They are really good at firing illumination rounds. The Marines would hang the mortar, timing the dropping of the round so that it would fly to its zenith and ignite just as the previous mortar flare was burning out. I leaned against the hood of Yazoo 25, examining the scene through my NODs. The wind was quite gentle, and each illumination flare left a large plume of smoke that hung in the air like a scaled down thunderhead, drifting slowly west. I counted eight miniature clouds, remarkably even in
their spacing, and the mortar fired again. I admired the skill of the Marines, and their ability to keep the target area illuminated constantly with very little overlap.
“Sir, you want to fire one?”
I politely declined. My hearing is terrible already, and firing a mortar with no hearing protection is not likely to help.The only remarkable thing about this mission was that it was unremarkable. We were finally executing the mission that was canceled due to SWAT being needed in case of the demonstration turned violent. The brief went quickly as we had already prepared once before. Four target areas that were houses of insurgents running an IED/insurgent training camp. Yazoo 25 was to push to the far eastern edge of the objective area, which was the mostly likely spot for squirters to run. Maybe we would get to catch some more bad guys personally tonight.
We rolled out the gate to the skirling of Scotland the Brave. We ran north, the roads deserted and the moon just a sliver. NODs work great in very little light. The stereo played:
“Let my love open the door…”
The suburban areas gave way to countryside, and I watched the landscape roll by, a blur of dusty shacks and dirt roads. I had a pocket full of miniature fragmentation grenades in my left cargo pocket, and they pressed against the baseplate of the mortar wedged between my seat and the speaker box.
“Every little thing she does is magic…..”
We found the turnoff to the objective area without incident, and the assault force turned in. The lead vehicle containing the informant tossed out chem lights, one color to the left marking one target area, and another color to the right, marking the next target area. The SWAT vehicles peeled off to their
respective targets. The trailing Anglico vehicle stayed at the intersection to provide supporting fire as required.
“Viva, Las Vegas….”
The other two assault elements, separated by my Anglico vehicle, rolled east into the objective area. The lead vehicle again tossed out chem lights to mark the third target area in the southeast corner of the objective area. The final assault element proceeded towards the final target, a building in the north east corner of the objective area reputed to be the insurgents’ training facility. Yazoo 25 turned east into the field that separated the last two target areas. Later we all agreed that we were nervous pulling into this field. It sure looked dry and safe, but you never can tell.
We bounced the hundred meters over the dusty field, and stopped short of the canal that bordered the eastern edge. The gunner covered the east, and we all hopped out to provide security north and south on those objectives. I heard demolition breaching charges to the west where SWAT and the Special Forces were clearing the houses allegedly used to house student insurgents. The charges weren’t that loud, but the booming rolled across the field. Staff Sergeant and I decided to take a quick look at the canal. In the low light, our NODs and laser pointers work quite, quite well. Staff Sergeant has adjusted the focus of his rifle mounted IR light so that is makes a fine flashlight, if you have the proper equipment. We carefully made our way up to the canal. Nothing. We went back to the vehicle.
“Fly me to the moon…”
The Green Berets called for illumination. The primary target had escaped into some brush just to the north of the training compound. Normally, illumination rounds provide too much light for the use of NODs, but SWAT only has eyeballs to work with, so they needed light. I grabbed the mortar rounds as the Marines set up the mortar. We had light on the target within three minutes of the call for fire. Not bad at all, in my opinion.
The mission went on while SWAT methodically worked their way through the brush. The Marines didn’t mind at all as shooting the mortar is fun. Training material in peacetime is disappointingly hard to come by, but wartime combat operations offer a wealth of ammunition, and we intended to enjoy that availability. SWAT found the bad guy, and the fire mission was ended. I watched the smoke curl out of the end of the mortar as the Marines picked up the cardboard tubes and the wooden box used to hold the mortar rounds.
The initial phases of a mission are the most dynamic and exciting part of the evening. Once an objective has been secured, the routine exercise of identifying the suspects to be detained, and searching for evidence becomes an exercise in patience.
“Once in a lifetime, water flowing under ground…”
SSGT and I went back up to the canal, but found nothing again. With the suspect and evidence properly taken into custody, we headed back to the rally point to sort out who was arrested, and making sure we had documented everything properly.
“Teenage wasteland, oh yeah…”
I dug a Jolly Rancher out of my pocket. It was grape. I wasted a lot of time thinking about the taste of grape. Most ‘grape’ flavored things don’t taste like real grapes at all, but the grape flavor used in gum, candy, and sodas has become more ubiquitous than real grapes. When you have a lot of time to stand around, one’s thoughts tend to wander. We caught two of our four top targets, as well as twelve insurgents in training. And everything went according to plan, which, ultimately, made for a less interesting evening. However, I think that in combat, less interesting is just fine.