Hillah, Iraq.

The visiting Green Berets returned to Baghdad today, escorted by half of the Special Forces and Anglicos. Things seemed really quiet after a week with four
extra guys, a busy operational tempo (optempo), and nonstop briefings.The quiet put everybody in a mood to not work. The morning passed by with people going through the motions of doing work, but really not getting much accomplished as our hearts really weren’t into it.

Finally, we gave up and declared a movie afternoon. Everybody packed into the team room (one of the only cool rooms, as our hooches get pretty warm during the day), and we watched National Treasure on the projection screen we normally use for briefings. We passed the afternoon eating popcorn, watching the movie, and generally having fun in our clubhouse.

Towards evening, the word was passed that Camp Charlie was facing an imminent attack by mortars and suicide booger eaters driving VBIEDs. We get these warnings once a month or so, but this time the Polish freaked out about it. They changed the uniform standards (which we ignore anyway) so we had to start wearing our body armor and helmets around at all times, and carrying a weapon. The protection requirements coupled with the heat made everybody very disinclined to do anything outside, which was fine until supper time. The guards at the chow hall would not let us in unless we had body armor, helmet, and a weapon.

Going to the chow hall is sweaty and hot work as it is. It is made nearly intolerable by the body armor and helmet. Most of us staged a protest by draping our body armor over one shoulder, and carrying our helmets. I have a spare pistol that I stuck in the band of my shorts. When we got to the chow hall, we saved a table by placing all our gear next to the table, then getting food unencumbered by body armor, like a civilized person. At first, the chow hall was filled with guys wearing everything including their helmets while they ate. That didn’t last long as it is hard to eat wearing a big ole helmet on your head.

Camp Charlie has two gates. Our gate has a maze of concrete barriers that drivers have to weave through, two five ton trucks that block the entrance, and 30 heavily armed El Salvadoran guards. The Polish gate has a crossbar blocking the entrance. We figured that if the camp were going to be attacked, they would attack the Polish gate, which is far away from us. We considered putting up road signs inside the camp for the benefit of suicide bombers, but nobody knew how to write “This way to Polish area of camp” in Arabic.Even though our intel guys more or less dismissed the threat of an attack, we still got out some spare anti tank rockets, and prepped some mortars for fire. We all took our weapons and body armor to our hooches just in case, with the understanding that if we were attacked, we would rally at the concrete barrage shelters, then go up to the fortified shooting position on top of the team room. This position offers a commanding view of the street in front of Camp Charlie.

Nothing happened, and I slept well all night.