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Iraq diary: the line at the PX seems longer here! - Mobilization & ReadinessMaj John F. Rosnow
MAJ John F. Rosnow, USAR, ROA national sergeant-at-arms, has been deployed with his unit, the 3rd Corps Support Command (COSCOM) Assault Command Post (ACP). On the evening of the Mid-Winter banquet, Major Rosnow found out his unit had been activated; he was to report in by noon the next day, Thursday 23 January His unit flew to Germany to link up with their active-duty counterparts on 27 January, but did not receive mobilization orders until the middle of February He left Germany for Kuwait on 19 February.
Television coverage and embedded reporters have brought the dramatic events of Operation Iraqi Freedom right into our homes, where we have been able to follow the progress of the U.S. forces through daily highlights. Major Rownow's journal, on the other hand, allows us to experience the day-to-day life of a soldier in Iraq as he waits for the action to begin.
25 FEBRUARY 2003:
Very windy today. I spent the early part of the morning cleaning my 9mm pistol. Then we had our morning brief and I spent most of the morning and early afternoon getting the computer set up and typing a few memorandums. We now have our evening battle update brief (BUB) earlier in the day. It makes for a later dinner, but more time in the evening. Dinner was very good tonight: country style beef. It was like roast beef. We also had rice and peas and carrots. It is going to be cold out again tonight. I am going to bed soon as I have the 0500 to 0700 shift.
26 FEBRUARY 2003:
Nice sunny day and cool outside. Very little breeze at all so the tents get warm. I had duty from 0500 to 0700 this morning. Today has mostly been on the computer with a few briefings. I am in charge of gathering receiving, staging, onward movement, and integration (RSOI) information for our daily briefings. I need to get some things installed on my computer now.
27 FEBRUARY 2003:
It was cool outside today, but sunny. I got up at 0430. It is now almost 2100 local and I thought I would update this a litfie and then get to bed as I need to get up at 0200 local to pull duty. I could sleep until 0230, but I want to take a shower. My smallpox vaccination is kind of hurting a bit and I want to look and see how it is doing. I am going to try e-mail in the morning. I was going to put my photos up on webshots but that site is blocked, too.
28 FEBRUARY 2003:
Well I was able to get up and get a shower this morning. It was cold when I got up. The shorts and T-shirt were not the appropriate attire, but it worked to walk down to the shower point. We lost power this morning. A surge protector sparked and started to smoke. That does not surprise me as much stuff as we have plugged in here. We start our BUA in about 20 minutes and it is just the battle captain and myself in the tent. Pretty quiet around here this morning. We had a desert rat in the tent last night. I did not see it, but heard everyone talking about it. That is the first one we have seen.
1 MARCH 2003:
I had a good day today, picked up a cough this afternoon though. I went to Camp Doha on a supply run. I waited in line two hours today to check out at the PX. I wrote letters while I waited in line. It was nice to see the countryside, even though there was not a lot to see. Tonight we are all watching a movie, "We Were Soldiers." Great movie. We are playing it on a computer, but project it onto a big screen. We also have an external set of speakers so it sounds pretty good. I started a trend with my haircut. There are only two guys who have not shaved it down. Even the women on the team may do it.
2 MARCH 2003:
Today was nice outside again. My highlight of the day was going out to the corps storage area (GSA). The 3rd COSCOM commander flew over the GSA and landed right next to our vehicles. It was kind of neat, but it really ticked off the WO1 in charge of the GSA, as it is a no-fly zone. I also got to see the V Corps Commander--I saw him, but did not talk with him. They had a fire up at another camp this morning. The dining facility tent burned to the ground and caught another six tents on fire too. Nobody was hurt, which was a good thing. They got an emergency supply of MREs and water to tide them over until the damage could be assessed.
3 MARCH 2003:
Beautiful morning today--sunny and no wind. No more sore throat. We are supposed to get a dust storm today and the wind really picked up. It is still windy tonight, but warmer. I got a shower tonight. The women showed up early again and were complaining because there were still guys in the shower. They must have been at least five to 10 minutes early, as I walked all the way back to my tent and it was 2158 when I got there. Just a few notes for the journal then off to bed. We had a helicopter land by the dining facility tonight, not sure if it was a VIP or medical.
4 MARCH 2003:
We have a few new Army sayings.
Shifted to the right = when a date gets pushed out, e.g., you are supposed to move on 1 March and then it moves to 3 March.
Nug it out = get the details to figure it out.
BUA (rhymes with HOOAH) = battle updated assessment. Formerly known as BUB = battle updated briefing.
Snivel Gear = long underwear, sweater, gloves, etc.
Too Easy = too easy, usually used after someone tasks you with something to do
It is still windy this morning and warmer out this morning, so no snivel cloudy. It looks like it could rain. It was gear needed to walk to the DFAC. I had a dream this morning for the first time that I can remember. The wind has picked up quite a bit late this morning. Looks like we are getting our sandstorm today.
5 MARCH 2003:
HUMIDITY! That is how the day started. The humidity was so high it was like fog. The sand was damp and the mirrors on the vehicles were dripping water. It was warmer out, but the dampness had a chilling affect. Today I got anthrax shot number 3; now I do not need another one for six months. I got on e-mail today, which was good. It gets hot in the tent, 88 today, when we have it buttoned up. Pretty nice now with a breeze coming in and 78 [degrees].
6 MARCH 2003:
Great morning. I slept in until a little after 0800. Our OIC said we needed our rest so we pushed our morning brief until later. I feel great, and no coffee yet. Today-both the battle captains are leaving for a meeting so I will be the acting battle captain for the day. I will get the brief set up for tonight, and try and track some things down. It is very windy again this morning, wind from the south today. Not a lot of sand blowing. We had a little thunderstorm today. It rained a bit so the sand does not blow as much.
I have to admit, it is a whole lot less stressful only working one job/career at a time. No VERITAS 10 hours a day, then Reserve, then ROA. Makes things kind of nice for a change. Of course, there are trade-offs, too. We heard this morning Saddam purchased U.S. and U.K. uniforms and will use them to commit war crimes against his people so the United States gets bad press.
Man, the wind is strong tonight. So much for the rain today. Our tent is buttoned down as best we can, and it is hazy in the tent from the dust. I should have worn my goggles from one tent to the other. It is warm out tonight. I was the battle captain all day, until about 2130. Then I lay down for about 30 minutes as I am on duty tonight from 2300 to 0100. I just got done posting the order book.
7 MARCH 2003:
Today we practiced loading up and moving. The weather was nice in the morning, but then we had another sandstorm. We were able to pack up and move in less time than expected. We sure got dirty though. Sand everywhere--inside my sealed duffel bag even. I was up late as I wanted to take a shower. I also had to wait in line for dinner for 50 minutes, and they just had hamburgers and hot dogs. It was good, but not worth the wait.
8 MARCH 2003:
The weather here is much nicer today, sunny and a nice breeze. We had sandstorms the last couple of days so this is a welcome break. I skipped breakfast this morning as the line was too long. I got stung by a bug today. I think it was a bee. I kept it just in case I have problems later. It really hurt. We were going to try and watch a movie tonight, but it got kind of late. At least the line went quicker tonight at the DFAC. Roast beef for dinner, and a place to sit again.
9 MARCH 2003:
We now have embedded media. In sun is from Korea and is reporting for about 2.5 million people in Korea. Meg from Florida joined up with us just for the morning. She writes for 32 papers back in the United States: Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, etc. I helped her with her first article. Tried to help her with her computer, too, which is not working well now. She needed to get out on our LAN, but was running an older version of IE, so then I tried to upgrade it. I had to put our Proxy in to get to MSN, now I cannot get back to her home page. Tried to upgrade IE and she does not have a Windows 2000 CD. Maybe one of our guys has one. I can connect fine to her e-mail from this PC. She is writing her article now and we can get it sent off, and then get her computer upgraded after.
10 MARCH 2003:
It looked like it was going to rain this morning, but it only dropped a few drops. We jumped to the assembly area today. We got everything packed up in a very quick manner. I talked with Insun today at lunch. She comes from Korea, but has lived in the United States since 1999. She completed her second master's degree in public administration in Boston. She then moved to Washington, D.C. and his lived there a couple of years. She has been reporting on the military for a long time, but this is her first time seeing things up close.
We rolled up the road and set up our ACP in record time. We walked across the street basically to the mobile kitchen trailer (MKT) to get dinner. They had hamburgers. No line and no walk. It was great. I got all ready to go and take a shower, stayed up to meet the male shower hours, then got in line and waited, signed in, and found out that they had to close as they were moving. (Real story was the pump for the shower broke down, that is why they had to shut down. We did not find that out until Tuesday.) I just washed up with a washcloth and then went to sleep as I had the 0300 to 0500 shift.
11 MARCH 2003:
I got up in time for the shift and watched "Jackass" from MTV We did not have all the communications up yet so I did not check email. Busy day today figuring out the top issues for the 19th and then working them. I also helped people get on the computer and get connected to the Internet to check things out. I got connection on one of our programs that we need, ILAP. I got mail today Someone had to go back to Camp VA and they picked it up. It was my vitamins and a box from a friend. Both were mailed the middle of February. The one box had three address changes on it. I got all kinds of goodies in there. Just dug into some of the cookies now. Very good, and still fresh! Things have quieted down a bit here so I am going to read my e-mail and then try to synch it again tonight over the satellite phone.
We have our embedded media person, Insun, with us for the duration. They have 2.5 million readers in Korea, and now her boss said they sold her story to Japan; now [we will have] 4 million new subscribers, plus more on Internet access. She heard a story from her boss today that some British forces were doing weapons training near the border and some Iraqis heard the shots and came out to surrender. The British sent them back as they said the war had not started yet. Kind of humorous in a way. We actually had some wildlife here yesterday. A few lizards. One big one, about a foot and a half including tail, and one chameleon-sized one.
12 MARCH 2003:
Hot one today. It is 88 inside the tent and 99 outside. Glad we have a breeze. We went to full battle rattle when outside the tent today. Problem with that is it makes it even hotter. Then you want to drink more water to stay cool, but then you need to use the latrine so you have to put all your stuff on again. Vicious circle it is. I want to go and wash clothes, but need to get an e-mail sent out as I cannot make contact via the phone.
13 MARCH 2003:
Today it is cooler outside, but too windy to have the tent open. Too windy as in wear goggles to keep the sand out of your eyes. I was going to do laundry today, but it would be pointless. I was able to shave my head again today. It is much cleaner this way with all the sand. Insun said she saw a small scorpion today, headed toward our tent.
14 MARCH 2003:
We are back to soft caps today. Beautiful morning-cold but warming up quickly. Nice breeze just came up. Got my laundry done. It is outside drying now. The PX truck showed up today. I am not going to wait in line. I heard it was mostly for snacks and stuff.
15 MARCH 2003:
I got up and took a shower today. When I got to it, the shower had water. After getting in, I found it only trickled out. At least it was warm and I did get cleaned up. I did a little more laundry; everything is clean and ready to go. I never thought I would need my E-tool (little shovel) with me but I put it to use today to fill a few sandbags. We all had to fill three of them to hold down the tent for the impending sand storms. We had training with our night-vision devices tonight. We drove around with them on. They have improved a lot since the last time I used them.
16 MARCH 2003:
Rich Ward and Ryan Wilson from CALIBRE Systems Inc. came out to teach us about ILAP. We use that to have total asset visibility to supplies. It got hot out today; 110 outside and we hit 103 in the tent at one point. I drank lots of water, which helped. We were supposed to get a sandstorm late yesterday and it was pretty mild.
17 MARCH 2003:
We did MOPP gear exchange this morning. Good review. Working issues today. It is 95 degrees in the tent with AC, 112 outside. Time to drink some water. Had meatballs for dinner. They kind of tasted like Chef Boy Ardee. Not bad at all. It was over beans and rice, which was kind of sticky, but OK. E-mail has been slow today. I have been able to send out, but have not received much. I think we will know more after President Bush speaks tonight.
18 MARCH 2003:
Beautiful morning today. Sunny and cool, 71 degrees out. Per President Bush last night, Saddam and his sons have until 0100Z 20 March 2003 to get out of Iraq. Looks like it will be a busy week. I got a couple of "Thank you for serving" e-mails from people who know people I know. Kind of neat.
I can hear the artillery firing today. The ground is shaking. I found a lizard underneath my bed today It was small, about a foot long. I took a few pictures of it. One of the guys here said it was a Euro Mastiff. We will roll out of here the morning of the 20th to go to the attack position. Good supper tonight. I found the trick is to go about 15 minutes before they close. You get more to eat that way, at least of whatever is left at that time. Everyone is in a great mood today. We just added two Air Force folks from the TALO to help open the airfield. The temp got to 123 today in the sun.
19 MARCH 2003:
Huge sandstorm today. Nobody wants to leave the tent. We are getting ready to jump to the attack position. I got a lot of e-mail from people whom I have not heard from in a long time. I also got a few from people I have never met (no, not spain, people I know sent my address to them). Change one, time to go pack, we are rolling out this afternoon. We ended up tearing down all but the TOC as we found we were not rolling until the morning. We slept out under the stars. Luckily we had good weather. Not much wind and no rain.
20 MARCH 2003:
We left AA Guardian and went to Attack Assembly Area Dawson. It was about a four-hour trip. We got there and lined up all the vehicles, hooked up the spitfire and scamp to monitor traffic. 3ID started to invade the afternoon of the 20th. President Bush declared war early morning our time on the 20th. Near sunset, we observed a scud missile fly overhead followed by someone yelling, "Gas' so we all went to MOPP4. We found out that everything was clear and went back to MOPP0. We went to sleep and were told to go to MOPP1. I slept about an hour and then had duty from 2000 to 2200Z. At 2130Z we had MLRS and Patriots go off right outside our perimeter. Someone yelled "Gas," and we went to MOPP4 again as a precaution. We got the all-clear and I was off duty so I went to sleep. Again, slept under the stars. Nice night, not very much wind.
21 MARCH 2003:
We got up and were expecting a slow day. We found out our timeline had been moved up so we packed up our stuff and started the convoy at 1045Z. We were still in MOPP1, but we took our DCUs off so all we had underneath was underwear. It made it much cooler. We locked in a magazine of live ammo upon departure. We drove all day and toward evening we were passing another convoy and missed our turn, as there were no longer MPs marking the route. We ended up going past the U.N. check-point and across the first berm. We realized we missed the turn and turned the convoy around and got back out of the DMZ.
We crossed over into Iraq after dark. It was very dusty and hard to see at times. It was hard to stay awake. We often halted for [as much as] 30 minutes. I was able to catch a few catnaps here and there. We did not arrive to FLB Cedar until 0730Z or so. When we got here we had inbound artillery fire a mile or so away. Shortly after that, the MLRS next to us went off and fired a volley of about eight rockets. We then moved into the FLB about 0800. It was a long and very tiring time in the vehicle. My back and legs were killing me. We rode in full gear, i.e. helmet, flack vest, TA-50, mask and weapon. We got our TOC set up and the tent for the general. He showed up about 45 minutes later.
We found out not too long ago that we are not in a secure area. A couple of National Guard guys from the RAOC were out today and they found two anti-aircraft guns burning, and another one concealed that had been untouched. It was loaded and had four Chinese rockets by it as well. The called it in, but we do not think anything has been done about it. They also spotted a forward observer out here by the bridge (perimeter) of our area. He got away, but they got all his stuff.
I am not as tired as expected, but I bet I could sleep pretty good about now. I am in the TOG working, but still have my flack vest and gear on, just in case. We can hear artillery Outside at times. We are now planning to split the group in two and leave the airfield opening package here while we go forward toward Baghdad and establish the ACP.
23 MARCH 2003:
I was sleeping under the stars again and woke up this morning to the sound of horns and people yelling "Gas," Not my preferred method for waking up. Got up and got the all-clear. Found out we are jumping this morning so tore everything down and was on the road shortly after 1000Z inbound for Rams.
24 MARCH 2003:
Did not arrive at Rams until 0900Z. Long night in the vehicle. Driving, stopping to wait for other vehicles, driving some more. I was the TC (tank commander or assistant driver) most of the night, but did drive a few hours in the morning. Saw some rockets being launched. I could not tell if they were friendly or enemy. We did have some artillery coming in close, but not danger close. When we arrived we had to wait to get into the AO because of an Iraq APC in the area.
We got set up and heard reports of Iraqis with RPGs in the area doing rushes on the perimeter. I was burning up during our meeting and drank a bottle of water (1.5 liter) and finally started to cool down. I thought I was going to go down. After our meeting I went and changed my T-shirt, which was soaking wet. I cleaned up a little and then had guard duty from 2100 to 2300. We were just observing the perimeter as we have hostile forces in the area. They have an Avenger set up to assist that has thermal and night vision as well as firepower. There is a Bradley unit set up close to our side of the perimeter, too. We have an Iraqi house about 200 meters from our perimeter. We could see a light on in there last night. A few missiles being fired was about all that happened.
25 MARCH 2003:
I slept for about four and a half hours on my cot, which was good. It was also the first night in a tent in about a week. Now up and working issues. The boss is providing guidance and letting us know what he needs. No gas alarm last night and no attacks to our perimeter, so it was a pretty useful night. Very windy today as well. Most of the sand is packed here so it is not as bad as Camp VA, but it is still bad outside the tent. I have not been eating much. I am not hungry, but I do force myself to eat something every now and then. About an MRE a day and a few granola bars. Lots of water though. We just had an Iraqi in black clothes walk right outside our perimeter. He is being detained while we find an interpreter. It was strange walking out to the trucks and seeing a donkey next to the trucks.
We had a major sandstorm. The sky was orange. We had some rain after that. When I was out on guard duty, there was a real strong wind. It was raining mud. I got a picture of me after I cleaned up, and it is still pretty bad. Everything was plastered with mud. I got a chance to wash up completely last night out of my canteen cup. It felt good. Really needed it after the rain and mud and being in the chemical suit for the last week or so. Time sure does fly.
26 MARCH 2003:
Got about five and a half hours of sleep last night. It was cold out this morning, but clear. The wind picked up later though. More orange sky. I took a couple of photos last night. I hope they will turn out. I think my disposable camera may have broke after a few pictures because of the sand. I had it in the truck with me when we crossed into Iraq. It is cool out today, hut warm in the tent. Lots of visitors here. Looks like we are getting more people in the ACP. We also have two more reporters. We had another gas alarm today. Not sure why, but we got the all-clear pretty quickly. No e-mail check since we left AA Guardian. I am sure there is a lot to read, not that I have had any time to read it.
I am not sure when it was, within the last few days or so, I really gave some thought about being scared and dying. I am not really nervous. When it is my time to go, it is my time to go. It is not really in my hands but in God's. (No, I have not been born again, but it does make things much better not to worry about it.)
I am taking some time tonight during the sandstorm and phones being down to read the e-mail that was downloaded before the war started. It is a nice break. With luck, NIPR will be up tomorrow so I can mail things out. Mail showed up today from the rear. I hope I have some. Things are starting to come back to memory from the last few days when I read my e-mail. I did get to see some green vegetation and a few birds this week.
We have dogs out here, too. I am sure they are wild, but they come in pretty close. I am sure people are feeding them, which is not good as they will come in even closer and may become a nuisance. Our tent was a zoo last night. We had people sleeping in other people's cots and crashed out on the floor. I had less then a foot to walk by my cot and a person sleeping next to it. It is still windy and cool outside. We heard today that some American POWs were executed on live television.
27 MARCH 2003:
Great night's sleep. I got almost seven and a half hours. I woke up and the people all over the floor were gone. Nice and calm, sunny, and cool this morning. I can hear the artillery outside. Not sure if it is incoming or outgoing. Not sure if it is ours or theirs. They had another scud launch today towards Kuwait City Hard to believe they still have all of this stuff. The people on the front line are getting tired of shooting people. The Iraqis are not giving up, so the front line just keeps shooting them. They destroyed a few buildings last night but people keep running out with automatic weapons. Hopefully no chemical attacks.
Work is jumping today. I had time to grab a granola bar here and there while in the work tent. It was nice out today. We had the tent open most of the day I am sure we will be closing them soon as it is getting dark outside. Need to keep light down to a bare minimum. The two reporters with the CG left today to get back to Kuwait. Insun decided to stay with us. We have a chicken coop not to far from our tent. The gate is open, but chickens still hang out there. There are more buildings around here than I expected. I am getting crabby Probably due to the lack of food today.
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