Attack on Base???

What A day today was! I just got off work.  3 1/2 hours later then I was suppose to.  It all started about 11pm.  We got A call through the radio.  They told us to be extra watchfull of whats going around our towers and that someone would be around later to let us know what was going on.   I sat there and started thinking about the 100 possible situations that could of happend.  Did someone get shot? Did one of my friends die?  Did North towers get A suicide bomber?  (we are in the south towers and my friends are in northtowers)What was the sudden excitement about?  Well, our   COG (Corporal of Guard) came around about an hour later and told me what the fuss was all about.

They had raided  A small village somewhere in the outskirts of the city.  The iraqi’s they captured gave up some good information.  They said that there was A small band of insurgents, heavily armed vehicles,and suicide bombers  coming toward our towers.   They also said, they had mercedes benzes with anti aircraft rockets mounted on the benzes. The news was then relayed to our higher uppers at about 11pm.  They told us at about 11:20pm.   At about  4am this morning, they had Bradley Tanks set up near our front gate.  They also had humvees full of Army soldiers waiting by the front gate for an attack. 

My shift was suppose to end at 3am.  As I was leaving A 50 truck TCN (Third Country Nationals) arrived.  These are truck drivers from third world countries.  They drive trucks from Kuwait and other places on to the base to bring supplies.  But before they can come on base, they must be searched, the trucks must be searched and go through A screening process.  Well, we are short on personnal so, I ended up going to the front gate to provide security.  Turns out, one of the truck drivers is A malayalee.  They are everywhere!!  I ended up chit chatting with him for A few minutes. 

Back to the attack.  The informants said, they wanted to take our pumphouses out.  They have been doing or trying to take out our pumphouses for months now.  We have two major pumphouses.  These pumphouses provide water for the whole camp.  Without these pumphouses, we wont have water on base.  They have been sending mortors and placeing IED’s at these pumphouses to take out our water system.  Those pumphouses are an essential part of this camp.  

The last few days have been pretty busy.  We had mortor rounds hit inside the wire everyday for the past three days.   I finally heard an impact.  Usually, the loud speaker comes on and says “INCOMING, INCOMING, INCOMING” and you would hear nothing else.   Two days ago, I stood outside my room and we heard the same sound we always hear, “Incoming, Incoming, Incoming”. So, we were like okay, whatever.  Then suddenly, after the word of incoming came off the speaker, we heard “BOOM”. or what sounded like A big Thud.  Turns out, the rocket had landed very close to us.   First time I heard the impact. 

Some of you asked, how do they know when there is incoming?  Well, its called advanced technolgy.   As soon as A rocket takes off the ground from the enemy, they have Satellites that dectect the exact location from where those mortors took off  from. We get A signal on base letting us know there are mortors coming in and  In return, all the speakers on base, repeat the same recording, “INCOMING,INCOMING, INCOMING”. Everyone runs inside for saftey.  Then you hear lots of booms . Those booms are us, sending out mortor rounds to the location where it came from. 

Suicide Bombers In The Area

Another Ueventfull night at the South Towers.  We got to work yesterday to find out that there were Suicide bombers in our area.  We were told to say vigilant.  Everyone was on the alert.   I work at  A tower that overlooks the “greeters” or the  Gate.   The  Gate has A lot of traffic. ALL convoys and Military personnal come through these gates.  The South towers are the most active as we get most of the Action.  Morter Rounds seem to hit on the southside. 

 The south gate is outside the wire.  When I say outside the wire, it means they are outside the base. Inside the wire means iniside the base.   If anything happens to them, (the Marines standing Guard at the gate) they are basically on their own.  All we can do is provide firepower from the towers.   I was at  the tower (I cant say the number for security reasons) and was observing any suspicious cars coming off the highway.  We had reports that in front of another tower, Iraqis were digging holes..for unknown reasons.  

They caught An Iraqi not too long ago inside our base, pacing his steps from the Chowhall (cafeteria) to the local PX(store).  The reason they do that is beacause, they can relay that information to terrorist outside and thats how they know where to send the morters. Degrees, distances etc.   Spies on the inside relay this info. and in return terrorist position their morter rounds to hit particular parts of the base.  They are very smart and are only getting smarter.  Yes we do have spies so, thats why we are carefull what we say and how we say it.  How else do you think we get hit with mortors and how they know the exact locations to specific targets inside the wire. 

Nothing happed though.  Yesterday was very quite.  They have A huge sign near where I stay. 

It reads “Complacency Kills” 

We tend to get complacent when nothing happens for A while. When you least expect it ,thats when they strike.

Thats why they tell us Always stay vigilant………

Ramadan Knowledge

Ramadan is coming up. Expected dates are Sept.23 through Oct. 23. Here is some basic knowledge about Ramadan which I found intresting.

Principals of Ramadan:
Ramadan is the most sacred time of worship for all Muslims to honor Allah and to remember the giving of the Qur’an.

During Ramadan, Muslims will:
-Ingest nothing by mouth including food and water or anything nutritional (fast) from sunrise to sunset.
-Abstain from sexual activity from sunrise to sunset
-Try to read the whole Qur’an
-Spend addtional time in prayer

When is Ramadan?
~Ramadan is based upon A Islamic (lunar) calendar and will start once the religious scholars see the first signs of the new moon by the naked eye.

Lailatul-Qadr (Night of “Destiny”)
~ The most significat night during Ramadan in which Muslims remember the giving of the Qur’an to the prophent Muhammad. Also Known as the “The Night of Power”.
~Muslims spend the night asking for forgiveness of their sins and reciting the Qur’an.
~It Falls on one of the last odd numbered days of Ramadan (usually the 27th day of Ramadan)

EID-UL-FITR (End of Ramadan)
-Eid-Ul-Fitr is the most important festival in the Islamic calendar.
-The festival marks the end of Ramadan.
-Eid marks the end of fasting with communal merrymaking that occurs in mosques, homes and open spaces in towns and cities. It symbolizes Islam’s world wide Fraternity.
-Eid resembles Easter.

Thats A little knowledge about Ramadan for those of you who don’t know. We just got our brief. Coalition forces (thats us) have to refrain from eating or drinking in front of them. Using profanity or vulgar language, eating meals and snacks during daylight hours.

An Najaf and Karbala are considered to be holy cities. There will be an increase of Muslim pilgrims to those cities. There will be A lot of gunfire of celebration during El Fitar.

Now, heres something else they told us. There will be more violence during Ramadan then before. Some of the insurgents feel like Allah will grant them more if they attack during Ramadan. For the past 4 years violence has increased during the month of Ramadan. (ex) USS Cole bombing and other attacks on US and coliation forces were done during Ramadan.

Other Pics Of Me

Pictures of The Tower I work at and A small Iraqi Village over looking the Tower.

Iraq and the Violence

I had the day off today. The soldiers from Uganda are taking over some of the towers. So, I decided to play Halo today. All day. For those of you who don’t know, Halo is A video game on xbox (which is the Video game system). Well, I started at 8pm and now its 3:29am. Yes, Non stop Halo with 10-15 other people. We have about 15 tv’s here and they are all linked togather. So, we can all play at the same time. Very popular spot. Thats what I do all the time. Play Halo. Who said Iraq was so bad?? I work for 8 hours and play Halo for 7 hours. But I think Im addicted!

I have been chatting with some of the Uganda soldiers. Some of them told me that they have three wives!! Can you blieve it?? I can’t!!.. Let alone 1, but three?? Man, I have 1 wife and I cant imagine having to worry about three!!

Im kind of  missing Indian food. Umm some appum and motta curry sounds really good right now. I told Anitha to send me some indian sweets. We eat the same food day after day! There are no resturants here, no fast food, no choice! Theres only one place to eat. The local store here does not even carry food. They do have A store here that sells boot leg dvds. We call it the Hajee shop. Hajees are what we call the locals here. We have dvds that here that are still in theatres. I guess in wartime bootleg movies are not A big issue.

Theres also A turkish shop here. Everytime I go in there, the guy wants me to buy A suite from here. “Mister, Mister, 300 Dollar for Coustom Made Suite”. He sells suites. Custom Made suites. He also sells lots of leather jackets shirts and shoes.
“Cheaper then US” Hey, the suites are not bad. They also sell Loui Vatton knock off bags and fake rolexes. If you want anything from Iraq, Just email me.. Let me know if you want Iraqi money or Iraq souvieners or even A custom made suite!

Iraq, amazing….(sigh) The land, the culture, the rich history. I had A chance , to view the land that was in front of me while sitting in the towers. . I wondered how life was in Saddams time.
The other day we had A truck driver trying to come through the gates with A fake ID. He was carrying A 14 year olds ID and we clearly can tell that it was not his ID. When he was questioned, he told us that he was A Sunni Muslim and that the city of  Fallujah was mostly Shite Muslims. He told us that if he go caught here, he would be beaten by the locals.

How life has changed in Iraq. Many Iraqi’s I have talked  at the barber shop and other places  say that life was better on Saddams worst days in Iraq, then it is now with all the violence and loitering .  For example,  A week ago, British troops pulled out of A base A few miles  from here.  They did not inform the IP or the Iraq Police and The local towns people looted everything on the base from doorknobs to whole doors.  The crowd was too much for the Marines or the Local Police to handle. 

  Iraq, is war stricken with Kurds ruling Northern Iraq, and constant fighting between Shites and Sunnis in the South to gain political control.  Violence is getting worse in places like Bhadad and Ramadi. Roadside bombs are common. Mortor Rounds coming into base is common.   We have become accoustomed  to these kind of things.

 This week A famous soccer player and the bodies of 36 Iraqi’s  were found on the streets of Iraq.  I would not be suprised if A civil war broke out today. 
As far as American troops leaving anytime soon… hmm  I don’t  think, in my opinon, American troops will be leaving anytime soon.  The Military will be in Iraq for A very long time. 

Some Pictures!!

Its getting cooler

The weather is getting cooler.  No more hot days.  Some of you want to know why I have not posted pics yet.  Well, We are not allowed too.  They wont let us upload pictures or download them on these computers.  

I just got back from work. Its about 7am here.  Work was boering as usual.  Nothing exciting.  Yesterday we had British troops attacked while bringing A convoy through our gates.  Some of the bullets from the firefight hit our Towers.   This morning A Humvee came through our gates after running over A roadside bomb.   Attacks are getting more frequent as we get closer to Ramadan.  
I been talking to the indians here.  Most of them are leaving.  There contracts are up.  Some of them are staying.  They come here on 17 month contracts from Kerala, AP, Mumbi and other places.  They all have been talking to me. 

We were joking around the other day and said, someone has to be crazy to rob one of the stores here on base or even attempt to.  Everyone here is carrying  A weapon.  Imagaine walking outside your street and every single person you see is carrying A rifle.  

Thats how life is here. 
Theres not much to do.  You go eat, go to the gym, or use the internet.  Thats about it. Theres not much else to do.  I spend most of my time sleeping or using the phone and internet.  I work 8 hour shifts from 8pm to 4am and I get 16 hours off. 

 MY job is to sit on these towers that over look the city.  Making sure there is not any Insurgent Activity.   Tower 9 is my fav. It over looks A small village.   I see kids playing soccer and men with flocks of sheep. I hardly see the women.  The evening prayer sounds off at 7pm.  They have A curfew here. They cannot be out past 11pm.  So, Lights usually go out by 9pm.  They hardly attack at night.  Daylight is when they do all their dirty work.   We try to watch out for rooftop snipers or anyone who looks like they dont belong their. So far I have not seen any activity.   We have not gotten any shots or we have not gotten shot at yet.   The greeters or the gate is A little bit more dangerous.  The gate is outside the base.  They are the first point of contact.  All the conveys come through there.  Sometimes 20 trucks sometimes 50. I got to do that twice.  We also have Iraqi truck drivers.  We have to pull them out and check their passports and check to see if they are carrying any weapons or bombs.  Then we check their trucks.  Alot of saftey measures here.

3am..just another day in Iraq

I just got off work.. Its about 3am and I find myself doing the same thing day in and day out.  I get off work at 2:30 am.  I drop my 30lb flak with bulletproof sappy plates back at my room and walk down this dark road to the internet cafe.    

I am about to go to the gym.  I have been working out, trying to get bigger.  Thanks Ruby for that comment and your insight on my selfishiness  Your right.  I have someone else to think about now.  Update on those guys.  They are doing fine. The IED blew up the tire on the humvee.  Lucky for them .  5 more months to go.

Heres my address for those who were asking.  Send me letters please.. Also candy, and anything else your hearts desire.  I have all the time in the world to read letters. 

LCPL JOSEPH, VINU
Bravo CO. 4th PLT
2-136 CAB DET 1
APO-AE 09387

For those with curious minds, let me answer your questions..

No, I have not killed anyone yet.
Life is actully good here. The food is good.  I still suck at Halo..

HEy

5 minutes ago, one of the marines that are in my company came up to me and told me that they got hit with An IED or roadside bomb while doing patroll! He was freaked out.. he told me they were checking for IEDS and all of A sudden there was a blast on his right side. Nothing happend to them.. Thank God they didnt get blown up. I was asked to be put on that patroll but my STaff SGT wont let me . He told me that I just got married and he wants to see me to go home in one piece.. I am an action junkie.. I like to live life on the edge.. not fair that I have to be stuck on the towers.. Am I being selfish? I love Anitha but man I want to see some actions as well..and I guess my Staff NCO’s are looking out for me . Anitha, be thankfull for them…I was orginally suppose to go do patrolling and I was switched to tower duty..and removed and put on Tower duty….I Guess God is watching out for me..