Infidel-6 said:
Wes, anyone bitching about being based at FOB Union or out at VBC, is really missing hardship. The same with the current state of KAF, BAF etc. Frankly your weapons shop is not suffering tactical deficencies likley to get them killed when they are down 2-3 guys.
Hi Kev, hope your Christmas is going well. Been hot here as usual.
I don't know how it works on current CF deployments, but CSS working along side Inf/Armd during our operations on my tour was unique. We are soldiers first and tradesmen second, and we were all too often used during missions outside the IZ, into the 'badlands' as we were all LAV qualified (Dvr and C/Comd), and we all shared the hardship equally alongside our Paratroopers (no paratroopers were LAV qualified) and fellow Lighthorsemen, as our total strength all ranks on the Combat Team was 110 men (qty of pers is not a OPSEC issue its been in the news). If we were not driving or C/Comd'n, we were shooter/operators. As a Sergeant, I wore many hats, and performed many roles at times, including PL Comd, Artificer Sergeant Major, and I was the CSS PL SGT from go to wough (= the PL WO in the CF). Throughout the tour I was busy, at times conducting 20 hr days. However there were times too that no one left the FOB also.
If we did not take our own Type 3 LAV out, we crewed a Type 2. If we were not part of a mission out of the IZ, we manned the RRF, positioned outside the FOB near a VCP on the fringe of the IZ. As for the weapons shop, there was only two of us for the last 3 months, and only me from Nov to Jan, as one of my guys was sent home. RAEME consisted only of a very small number of men, all LAV qualified. We were also out in the IZ daily conducting business. Some of our up armoured SUVs also recieved sniper fire within the IZ.
We pushed as far as city of Taji north of Baghdad, and other areas of the city as required, plus we had been out to about 20km from the Iranian border also. Our Combat Team had more missions outside the wire than any previous tours, and this we were proud of. We took fire and returned fire. Some of my friends recieved citations for action against the enemy. Although we lived at Union III, (it was not a safe place in those days) we were outide the wire often, and being honest, I could not even count how many times I was outside the wire. That was going on 2 yrs ago now, and the level of violence in the city was outragous, with 16,476 citizens of Baghdad killled from Sep 06 - Mar 07, and those were the reported cases through our INTSUMs, not some CNN ratings body count.
The tour for us was very dangerous all the time with daily IDF from either 107mm or 122mm Katyushas and mortars of all sizes (I had two 122mm's come in about 40m from me one day at a market at Assasin's Gate, there was locals killed in right front of us, and a number were injured - there was only 3 of us, and about rather pissed off 150 locals). Plus the threat from insurgents not only outside the wire, but in those days there was roving snipers and a fair bit of 'naughtyness' in the IZ from sympathisers and supporters of the baddies. VBIEDs got through, and often 'favourite haunts' for us were out of bounds do to some threat or another.
We had well over 100 IDF incoming in one evening alone (we were across the street from the new US embassy, and often caught the drop shorts or seen the ones fall into the Tigris which over shot). Some IDF was so close the concusion blew our doors open, or had dust falling and elec conduit blowing off the walls, and we laid low kitted up during stand-to, manning our strong points. Our tour was no cakewalk - it had its moments, and 7 months of that was more than enough. One early morning our Aussie sanctuary also took a direct hit from a 122mm Katyusha, striking a T-wall just 2 metres from an occupied barracks, injuring 5, but that was 9 days before we were on the ground. If that T-wall had not have been there to soak up the brunt of the initial blast there could have been 20 to 30 killed. Australian Forces had often been deliberatly contacted, with IEDs getting two LAVs in the city from another tour, and a total of 5 or 6 Aussie LAVs lost to IED/EFP within a period of about 18 months. Just lucky there was no KIAs. Our tour was 207 days.
I am simply trying to emphasise that no matter which trade one is in our Army, on these small Combat Teams, we're all equals, all soldiers first. Regardless of trade, one killed is a hardship in itself. We were a Combat Team, we had no REMFs, we were all front line soldiers, and did our bit.
Our leave was indeed welcomed and IMHO we all deserved the break. The Australian position on leave will not change in the forseeable future, but I will sum up and say if there was no leave granted, and as professional soldiers, we would have accepted that and soldiered on, but I beleive any leave is good for both the soldier and his family back home.
Although at the time we joked about the daily danger and always seemed to downplay it, but we later realised when we got home, what we had seen, done and got throught, often with simply luck on our side.
At the end of the day, we each have our opinions about leave, and its pros and cons, and to discuss this on here benifits us all, although we might not agree where each of us sits with it.
Regards,
Wes
As usual, edited for spelling ;D
