Mortarville

They call this place Mortarville because of all the mortar’s we get here in Balad. We average about 4 attacks per week, but it’s really not as bad as it seems. Lots of people have it worse off than we do and if the insurgents would just stop and think for a moment, they’d stop launching at us and go to work.

Balad is about 15 square miles in size with our airport taking up most of the real estate. The airport becomes the largest target, but of course it affects the entire camp and we all have to react.

I was lying in bed early this morning. I went to Taji yesterday and had planned to get up early and file my trip report. I hear this disembodied voice come over the camp loudspeakers, “Incoming, incoming, incoming….take cover, take cover…” I start counting and wait for the counter-fire to launch but I don’t hear anything which means the attack was on the other side of camp; I can roll over and keep napping. Actually, that’s not what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to get up, grab some clothes and run for the nearest designated concrete culvert (too early for that picture?). We either wait for Armageddon to fall or the voice to say, “Yellow alert, yellow alert…key personnel only, key personnel only”. The latter is usually always better than Armageddon. That’s stage two and happens about 15 minutes after the initial attack. Since I’m not key personnel, I have to remain in the concrete bunker until the “ALL CLEAR” comes over about 20 minutes later. What’s been happening is the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) goes out to the point of impact and checks out the damage, checks to see if they hit anything or anyone with the counter battery and then they can set us free. Everything shuts down during an attack. You can’t walk outside or leave a shelter. If you’re in a building you must exit and find a bunker. If you’re riding the bus, it stops and everyone gets off….it’s a real pain in the rear. Plus, we’re one of the only camps that wear our body armor and helmet everywhere we go, hence our nickname…Mortarville.

We’re out in the middle of the Sunni Triangle surrounded by mostly farmland. They’ll set up a timed mortar or a small rocket (they don’t have tanks or anything really big) and then set the fuse and run. The timer could be 1-2 hours long because they’ve learned that our counter-battery is pretty effective. Once a mortar is launched over the fence at us, counter-battery radar along the perimeter tracks it and calculates a back azimuth. Counter-fire then launches their own little “goodies” at the probable point of origin with sufficient radius to get someone’s attention. Counter fire can happen within seconds. It is very effective and really makes the bad guy think thru an attack. So it’s really a lot of attacks to have 3 within 24 hours here.

Why do the insurgents go thru all of this hassle? Because, they only have to get lucky once and land one in a barracks or a mess hall, they’d take out more people than all the convoys in a year. In Jihad-land, that’s worth the risk. One time, they found some ordinance that had landed unexploded and we were curious why it hadn’t gone off and asked if it was old? Turns out, it had been frozen in a block of ice and when it finally melted later and fit down the mortar tube and launched, the coldness had damaged it. Sometimes they’re pretty ingenious and try new techniques. Some of them work, some don’t. We have to keep up with them. We were here for a solid week before we went thru the first drill, I was hoping they got the memo...

I made the trip to Taji yesterday to see their national depot; we’re working on a distribution system for their Army. Btw, I sure could use a warehouse manager from NWA, Target, Best Buy or someplace like that. It was a long day with many meetings and tours of the depot. It was a late night and an early morning delayed by the attack and now I’m about ready to call it a week and go to chow.

I really want to thank my family for the care package that just arrived. The cookies and the rice crispy bars are like manna from heaven, thank you so much. I’m still shaking my head about the sea salt with the plastic grinder, but you know….now that I have it, I’ll end up using it I’m sure. Thank you! I know there are packages going out to Paul, so if anyone hears that they arrived safely, let me know.

Best wishes to all, love to all and good thoughts to all our friends…
/Murph