Hillah, Iraq.
I did not receive a call from the guy who was supposed to call me about scheduling a helicopter borne assault, so I took the initiative by calling him. He confirmed that he was the guy to talk to about such a mission, and gave me his email address. I sent him all the required paperwork, as well as all the material we could give him. I received email from the helicopter squadron a bit later confirming that they were able to support the mission. They had a few minor questions, but otherwise they were ready and willing to help us catch some bad guys.
The Special Forces continue to brief their replacements. I provided a quick brief on how Anglico supports Special Forces, which was well received. Talking about dropping bombs is a subject that lends itself to interesting conversations.
In the afternoon, we again provided security for a graduation ceremony of another battalion of the Iraqi Army. We stood in the sun for a couple of hours. I haven’t seen a cloud in months (sandstorms don’t count as proper clouds). The temperature lately has been at least 115 degrees, and has broken 120 a couple of times, so standing in the sun is itself a challenging activity, not considering doing so with all the gear. It is hard to stay intense about standing in the sun holding a gun for a couple of house. At one point, SSGT leaned over to me to say, “You know, this just isn’t really motivating any more.” SSGT is also an airline pilot, so we passed the time speculating on what sort of lines we might hold when we get back, and the prospects of the airline industry in general.
Physiologically, I noticed a big difference between us and the new Special Forces guys. Granted, it was hot. But we were only perspiring agreeably, and I only had to drink a couple bottles of water. The new guys were sweating rivers, and must have drunk three or four bottles of water each. It takes a bit of time to get acclimated. We had the benefit of arriving in country before it got so hellishly hot.
We did get a couple of laughs at the Iraqis’ expense during the graduation. As part of the graduation ceremony, the Iraqi Special Forces (ISF) puts on a demonstration of their specialized training. They have two trucks full of Iraqi SF standing by behind a building next to the parade area where the graduation is held. At a signal, the two trucks roared out to a mock village built so that the spectator stands have a good view. The trucks skidded to a halt, nearly hitting each other. The ISF guys hopped out and stormed the mock village, complete with smoke grenades and explosive but theoretically harmless charges meant to please the crowd. The ISF simulated rescuing somebody, and then they all carried the rescued dummy back to the truck. All was going smoothly until the last ISF dude attempted to climb back into the truck, which is no small feat considering all the gear he had on. One of his buddies slapped the side of the truck to encourage him, but the driver took this as a signal to go. The truck roared off. The ISF guy held on for a bit, but then let go, and was left alone standing in a cloud of dust, lamely holding his rifle and wondering what to do. Finally, he just sort of shuffled off to the side to try to find his comrades. Later, I saw the vehicles parked off to the side, and there was quite an animated conversation going on. I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody ended up bruised.
When we got back, there were just a few more administrative matters regarding our helicopter assault, now confirmed for tomorrow night. The helo guys are going to show up early so they can brief us, and we can brief them. We are planning on taking off around midnight, and then swooping down on the unsuspecting villains. Once we have have secured the objective with rotary wing justice, the ground elements will arrive to liberally distribute crime fighting goodness. The helo guys are as psyched for the mission as we are. This is going to be fun.