The Iraqi Collector

Stuart Harrison

Description

It was going to be the beginning of a long year, and it was only the first night rolling out on a deployment in Iraq. I sat in the back of the lead High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). There were three vehicles out on patrol that night. We were pulled off the side of the road for less than 10 minutes when a black sedan passed our convoy and pulled directly off the road in front of our lead vehicle with about a distance of 20 feet. The reaction to the black sedan speeding by our vehicles, swerving in, and slamming the brakes made the guy’s up top in the turrets with the M249 machine guns wake the hell up ready to fire into the black sedan. Most civilized humans would ask, why kill innocent people in a car just for backing up? Let me explain a highly probable and truly tragic situation that occurred frequently in Iraq, which led to the murder of innocent civilian women, children, men, US and Iraqi Soldiers. If the black sedan moved backwards toward our lead vehicle, and there was an explosive shell in the vehicle it could be detonated by the two suicide bombers killing myself and my men. We had seconds, a demand for immediate action, a question of whether or not to pull the trigger, unleashing a barrage of hot steel into the car in front of us. For most in the western civilized world a different response would be considered first, “Well, let’s wait to see why the guys in the black sedan are backing up, maybe they’re lost!” Unfortunately, in Iraq, in that moment, your vehicle could be consumed by a ball of flame. That’s where the light switch effect comes into play. Deciding to do nothing is what gets you a one-on-one with the maker up in the sky. 

Sujets

• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Iraq War
• Military

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 19 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977267658
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Iraqi Collector Truth In Lies All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2022 Stuart Harrison v1.0

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Outskirts Press, Inc. http://www.outskirtspress.com.

Cover and Interior © 2022 Stuart Harrison. All rights reserved - used with permission.

Outskirts Press and the “OP” logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Table of Contents

1. 9/11, Two Lost Souls in the Middle East

2. Seeing Death Never Gets Easier, but it Does Prepare You to Meet Your Own One Day

3. Walking on Black Tin, UN Assassination

4. A Typical Friday Night—What Makes Us

5. Killing of SPC Chris Coffland

6. The Randomness of Death Is a Constant in War - Friday the 13th

7. Recall or Memory

8. First Night in Iraq

9. You Disappoint Me, Maybe You’re Better Off This Way

10. Purple Haze

11. The Red Dot Air Conditioner

12. Expectations (My Dad)

13. Ride in MRAP—A Day in the Life

14. A Chief Warrant Officer Neighbor, The Heavy Man in Flight

15. Kitchen Conversations

16. My Wedding, My Dad’s Unrequested Facial Drink

17. Swinging Mitsubishi Wall Unit

18. The End

9/11, Two Lost Souls in the Middle East

I remember being on the phone with my dad; he was not happy about the news I was giving him that afternoon. I would be shipping out with the military to the border of Iraq and Kuwait (No fly zone). This was especially troubling because 9/11 had just occurred a few days prior. Literally, the twin towers were still smoldering when I let my dad know where I was going in two weeks, at the end of September 2001. The world was a scary place; 9/11 had just happened, and no one knew what the US government leadership was going to do. Shock, sadness, fear, anger: The 9/11 attacks inflicted a devastating emotional toll on the American people. But, as horrible as the events of that day were, a majority of Americans said they couldn’t stop watching news coverage of the attacks. A survey was completed following the attacks just days after 9/11, from Sept. 13–17, 2001. A sizable majority of adults (71 percent) said they felt depressed, nearly half (49 percent) had difficulty concentrating, and a third said they had trouble sleeping. It was an era in which television was still the public’s dominant news source—90 percent said they got most of their news about the attacks from television, compared with just 5 percent who got news online—an d the televised images of death and destruction had a powerful impact. A sizable majority of Americans found it frightening to watch, but most did so anyway. Well, times have changed. The Iraq War brought about changes that would change America forever. Fear of future attacks from an invisible enemy was an honest feeling to have. Simply enough, information was being controlled by government officials to create fear while also massaging our need for patriotism and nationalism—all the ingredients needed to start a war.

The time came for my unit to move to the Middle East two weeks after 9/11. We flew into Kuwait at night, offloaded the plane, and loaded up on multiple white buses that had windows blackened out. The road leading out of the airport seemed like it just snaked off into the desert. As the bus convoy drove on, there were no identifiers until we came u p on a single oil fire burning in the distance. The fire looked like a lit match coming out of the grou nd. A large pipe was visible, stemming out of the ground, and the fireball sat right on top. There was only one, but it made the area around the fire glow for miles. The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by Iraqi military forces setting fire to a reported 605 to 732 oil wells. They did this as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991.

It felt like we were driving for hours; the sun started to rise across the desert as we continued to drive on a road that finally seemed to lead somewhere. The base where we were going to be stationed peaked over the horizon. Along with the base, we also started seeing large concrete hangars spaced out around the base. There was something very odd about each of the hangars; each one had a hole in the middle of it. I asked around about these bunkers once I got on base, and someone was finally able to tell me about them. The bunkers were purchased by Kuwait from the French government for a reported $1,000,000 per bunker. The bunkers, per the French, were supposed to be indestructible, even from missile attacks. Well, that was the big joke because when the Iraqis occupied Kuwait; they took up residence in the indestructible bunkers. When the United States decided to attack and take out the Iraqis occupying the Kuwaiti bunkers, the U nited States used long-range surface-to-air missiles). Each supposed impregnable French bunker had a perfectly placed hole penetrating the middle. I sincerely do not believe the Kuwaitis ever got their money back.

I woke up with the sun in my eye; there was a hole sliced open directly over my bed. The majority of us were provided some outdated housing—tents that were sun faded and full of holes. It looked like a rush job by the Pentagon, but, considering 9/11 had just happened two weeks prior, it would do until proper quarters were made available. We worked 12-hour shifts, doing our best to avoid direct exposure to the 130-degree, sun-scorched sand that seemed to be everywhere. The border of Kuwait and Iraq was quiet, except for a little contact with conventional Iraqi forces. One of the problems we were dealing with was Iraqi triple-A artillery guns (AA, AAA). I have one vivid memory that I recall from that deployment specifically that involved the guns. We were watching two Iraqi soldiers repeatedly load and fire an AAA gun for about an ho ur. We finally received word of an incoming UAV drone strike. I continued to watch the Iraqis fire the gun; they kept their firing sequence simple. One soldier would run up to the artillery gun from cover and load a shell; then he would run back. The second soldier would run up from his cover and fire the gun. We were told that a missile was inbound at any second to the gun position. We watched as the first Iraqi ran up one last time, loaded a shell into the gun, and ran back. The second soldier ran up to fire the gun. As he approached the gun,