Hillah, Iraq.
Originally, we were supposed to go to the shooting range. However, a knocking on my door at 0730 for a meeting lead to the news that we were on call for a high priority mission. We were waiting for some intel that could lead to the arrest of a bad guy trying to deal a chemical warhead artillery or mortar round that was to be used against a major Coalition installation. We all prepared our gear, and loaded it into the vehicles to make our departure that much speedier when the word to roll came. With nothing to do but wait, I decided to go for that elusive re-rack. In the Navy and Marine Corps, one sleeps in a ‘rack’. The verb for sleeping is ‘racking’. Thus, to sleep again in the same day (as in a nap) is ‘re-racking’, and some of the sweetest sleep there is, as sleeping is better than working. I had just settled in for some serious reracking when the word came down to go. The movie Blackhawk Down has been in rotation with the movie watching crowd, so everybody was shouting “Irene!” to each other as we got into the vehicles.
We had an asset in the air that was providing real time intel on the location of the bad guys and the weapons they were dealing. We rolled out the gate and headed north. We had a location of the final destination, but we were informed that the target vehicle was on the move in our direction. They were in a blue Kia pickup truck.
Regrettably, blue Kia pickups are one of the most common cars on the road in Iraq, and there was one every fourth car, it seemed.We ignored the ones until we got close to the area where the vehicle was reported to be. Then it turned into the “basket in the market scene” from Raiders of the Lost Ark, with us trying to visually scan dozens of trucks on the road. We were rolling north at the location we were told when I spied two trucks parked in front of stores and houses.
“I just saw two trucks parked back there.”
“Where?”, asked the captain.
“Right next to us in the back of the convoy.”
A quick conference with the eyes in the air, and then he said “Go get ’em!”We hung a u-turn (no small feat of driving considering the added armor and turret) and raced back to the scene with a Special Forces and SWAT vehicles right behind us. We blocked the road while the SF and SWAT guys descended on the suspects. I got out to cover the row of houses and the now stopped traffic. I took cover behind one of the roadside stands (there are roadside stands about every eight feet, selling everything from Cokes to food to gas), and noticed to my dismay that I had chosen the propane tank roadside stand to take cover behind. If I learned nothing else from Doom, you never stand next to barrels of highly compressed and flammable material, particularly when there is a heightened chance of a gun fight. So….I opted to jog a bit to cover behind the much less explosive and thus more attractive fruit stand. Under normal circumstances, I can rely on fruit not to explode.
The SF and SWAT guys were taking the suspects into custody and searched the vehicles. Regrettably, these were not the vehicles we were looking for. Somehow the eyes in the air got confused, and they now reported that the vehicle was moving north.
Blocking a dual lane highway with big armored vehicles creates a bit of a stir, not to mention a traffic jam. We opted to let the eyes in the sky get a better grip on things, and let things calm down a bit. We drove south a few kilometers, and parked on the side of the road in such a manner that we could make a quick exit.
And we sat. And sat. And sat.
It was 109 degrees, and we were just parked on the side of the road. I have gotten used to running around in my body armor and all my other gear, and I don’t really notice the weight anymore. But the heat really can take it out of you. We drank water, tried to stay cool, and waited. Various reports came over the radio as the target vehicle moved around, and after two hours, we were told to move into a position a few miles north, and standby. We gladly loaded up, cranked up, and moved out.
We quickly got to our staging positions, and blocked the road to ensure that we could swoop in quickly. Soon, the word came.
“Irene! Woo hoo! Let’s go go go!”
Back in to the vehicles, and away we went. Our pulses were up, and excitement was infectious. This is real life cops and robbers, only with the best toys.We descended on the location: a house and warehouse on the side of the road, unremarkable except for the blue Kia pickup out front. One Anglico blocked the upstream road, and my vehicle raced down the side of the house to catch anybody sneaking out the back. And the SF guys and SWAT locked down the house.The raid went off so precisely that the bad guys were standing there with some stuff, caught completely off guard. There was no hope for escape. They were taken into custody, and we quickly secured the area to make sure no one was hiding with plans for escape or other nefarious designs.
Then the SF and SWAT guys began searching. They found, as advertised, a very large chemical warhead, as well as other crude but effective high explosives. Also found were various illegal weapons and IED making materials.This raid was particularly pleasing to me on many levels. Mostly that we got the bad guys as the intel promised, and without any gunfire at all. Secondly, we got a serious chemical weapon off the street. We definitely saved some lives today.
We also confiscated the bad guys’ KIA truck. Some of the guys at Camp Charlie wanted it to soup up. It is just a beater pickup, but they are going to put a big motor, AC, and stereo in it, and use it as a camp vehicle.On the way back to camp, the truck (quickly dubbed the Hadjimobile) broke down. The convoy stopped, and I noticed that we were right next to a stand selling Cokes. The kid running the stand was about twelve years old, and not sure what to make of all these heavily armed Americans in front of his stand. As we had been in the sun for about six hours, I purchased four Pepsis for my Marines. He was shocked, but quickly brought out ice cold beverages. I suspect that I may have thrown off the local pricing structure, because I paid him two dollars. He tried to give one dollar back, but I didn’t feel like getting my wallet back out, and he needs the dollar a lot more than I do. He smiled, and said in English, “Thank you!”
We made our way back to Camp Charlie and declared victory for the day. Later, the mechanic guys in camp were tearing around in the Hadjimobile. They loved it, and have big plans for its ‘improvement’.