Hillah, Iraq.

Happy Memorial Day! And to kick our Memorial Day off, we had a hurry up mission this morning. The El Salvadorans got some intel bright and early, and decided to act on it pronto. We had a brief at 0730, and stepped off at 0830. This was a primarily El Sal operation, and a field test for their Iraqi National Guard. Only one Anglico and one SF humvee went. The Iraqis wasted no time in begging our water. The staff sergeant got fed up with them, so he showed them where the water is stored. Over a dozen Iraqis stampeded off to the water storage area, and came back with armfuls of water bottles each. Fortunately, he showed them where the Polish keep their water. At least they aren’t begging our water now.

We had an uneventful trip to the objective. The objective was a suspected weapons cache in an automotive garage and house, both collocated at a T intersection right off the main highway. For once, we pretty much achieved complete surprise as all we had to do was exit the freeway. My vehicle took up a security position along one of the roads. I covered the field behind the garage for a while as the Iraqis searched. Quite a bit of traffic had backed up along the road, and the El Sal colonel decided to let traffic pass, which I was not happy about. You never appreciate how many trucks and vans are on a road until you consider that one might be carrying a bomb.

We had to move our vehicle off the road, and I was actually directing traffic for a while as the vehicle got repositioned. I made the oncoming traffic move onto the dirt shoulder as the through traffic passed by. As the traffic jam was clearing up, I saw a blue minivan come zipping around the corner. The van passed the end of the line of slow moving cars.

I gave the hand signal to slow down. He didn’t.

I stepped into the middle of the road, and repeated the hand signal. He didn’t slow down.

Hand signal and yelling. Not slowing down.

Hand signal yell hand signal yell Hand Signal HAND SIGNAL. What a jerk, I just cleaned this rifle. Weapon up safety off.

BLAM

In one of the finer displays of driving skills I have seen to date, the driver managed to skid the vehicle to a stop with both hands raised. He was still about 40 feet from me, despite his lack of anti skid brakes. I estimate the time from his appearance to being stopped at about six seconds.I kept my weapon pointed right at his head for about ten seconds. No dogs were barking.

Then I waved him through. If I have ever seen a pale Iraqi, that was the one.The raid was a bust because we only found four AK magazines, and some TNT pellets.

When we got back to base, we found the other Anglico and SF vehicles returning. There were a pair of Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) attacks in Hillah this morning, and our guys were the Quick Reaction Force that responded.

Last week, the US military announced quite publicly that they were going to close Baghdad to clean out all the insurgents. Who do you think were the first to leave? The now vacationing insurgents took to the highways, and unfortunately, Hillah is south of Baghdad along a major highway. In fact, the insurgents took a page from the US’s book, and announced an offensive of their own. Apparently, it started today.

The attack in Hillah has not put anybody on edge, but I am taking certain precautions. I have decided to take naps in shorts for a while, as I would hate to be caught naked during an attack, as it could lead to an awkward situation.

Lunch today was a big Memorial Day fiesta. The chow hall had been draped in red, white, and blue banners, and there was a superb meal: steak, lobster, fried shrimp, and crab legs. There was a mammoth sheet cake, and they even managed to drum up some strawberry ice cream. The coolers were stocked with Coors Cutter and Red Bull.

The non-Americans in the camp are probably only vaguely aware of what Memorial Day is, but they got into the swing of things well enough. The Europeans seemed to have a six pack each of Coors, and the Mongols likewise had a half dozen each of Red Bull. I don’t mind the Europeans stocking up on non alcoholic beer, but I am not sure how I feel about Mongols getting all spooled up on Red Bull. Those boys are excitable enough. I don’t want them any more twitchy.