Hillah, Iraq.

Since I am right next door to the wireless router, I really don’t need thewireless bridge ethernet booster to get good connectivity, but I like it
because I can use linux to connect. One of our Marines far away from therouter has crappy reception, so I decided to give the bridge to him to help. Itook it down there, and looked at the two power strips.

Me: “Is this hadji power [220v]?”
Marine 1: “No, sir, that is American.”
Me: “Are you sure?”
Marine 1: “Yes, sir.”
Me: “You are sure, now?”
Marine 1: “Oh, yes sir. American power. I am sure.”
Plug.
Pow.
Bzzzzzz…….smoke.
Marine 2 walks over.
Me: “I think that is hadji power.”
Marine 1: “…..”
Marine 2 to Marine 1: “Dude, I told you that strip is hadji power two days ago.”
Marine 1: “Maybe that is why my shit has been fucked up.”

We loaded up for the Minister of Defense’s visit to the local governor at about1300. Of course, things slipped right away, so we all went into the commandpost to watch an Anglico go up against a Special Forces guy in X Box Boxing,using the projector screen. Finally, things got going again, and we mountedup. The two F-15s that I had gotten for air cover checked in, and I talkedthem onto our convoy sitting in the parking lot. The convoy started rolling,and the jets ranged out in front to scout.

The Military Police that we had brought along to clear the road succeeded increating such a huge traffic jam that even three warning shots from theshotguns didn’t clear it out, so we had to ram our way through. You haven’tseen road rage until you have seen a four ton armored humvee with lots ofmachine guns absolutely mauling a Toyota compact. The humvee just peeled itopen. It rocked. After bulling our way through, we got to the governor’smansion. The VIPs got out, and we turned the convoy around and then sat on thesidewalks looking mean.

The jets orbited over head providing intelligence with their fancy sensor pods.A slight mob started to gather, but a little rumble of jet engines clearedthat right up. After about half an hour, the visit was our, and we made ourway back to camp. I cleared the jets for a low pass, which was very well received by everybody, including the Minister of Defense.

My stock with the SF guys also went up appreciably. One of them said,”You’re the ace of the day, sir. That was the coolest thing ever.”

One combat control.