2nd Lieutenant Geneva Arnold uses the scope on her M-4 rifle to check for possible enemy activity on nearby rooftops. Click the photo to read "The Face of War: Women in Combat."

Colonel John Bogdon has a few thoughts on why the air is so bad around FOB Rustamiyah, and it "ain't" the cigars. Click his photo to read "Bad Air - Cigars at FOB Rustamiyah."

Soldiers at the 18th MP Brigade befriended this wounded seagull.
Click the photo to read the article
"A Seagull Named Rocket."

Major Mike Indovina and Captain Tedrick by the dart board in Joe's Cafe. Click the photo to read "After the Patrol - Conversations at Joe's Cafe."

The author with Iraqi General Ali Adnan (center) and US Army Colonel John Bogdon (right). Click the photo to read "Building Bridges to the Iraqi Police."

From Groundhog Day to Firefight

"Groundhog day" is the term soldiers in Iraq use with a certain amount of cynical humor to describe their lives in the combat zone. "You wake up every day and go about your business just the same as you do every other day," said Captain Becca Beard. The diminutive blond MP works in the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) of the 716th MP Battalion. Her sentiments were echoed by almost every other soldier I met while embedded.

Soldiers mostly work 6 day weeks. "We'll get an afternoon off a week," said Captain John Templar, commander of the 64th MP Company (Guardians). "But sometimes you just work through it. There's not all that much to do."
        
When soldiers have rare free time they usually spend it with the same faces that they work with daily. PX runs, maybe a trip to Al Faw Palace to gawk at Saddam's extravagances, drop off laundry, and a few sundry tasks tend to be time-fillers rather than interesting experiences. Gym facilities in one form or another are available just about everywhere and brave souls are frequently seen running the dusty roads or pedaling bicycles among Humvees and MRAPs, but such diversions can take up only so many hours.
       
Soldiers who regularly left the compound on combat patrols seemed to enjoy their jobs more than those who never left the base. "I'd go out every day if I could," said SP4 David Lawson, 108th MP Company (Warlords) gunner for company commander Captain Keith Edwards' Humvee. "I'd rather be out here than be a fobbit stuck back on the base." Lawson, a Boston native with a sharp eye for targets, has a sharper tongue for fellow soldiers who he thinks are not living up to his standards, consistently referring to those who remain back on the FOB as "fobbits," definitely not a term of endearment.

Edwards chides him gently, but Lawson replies that he "respects those who try to get outside the wire and can't" because a job ties them to the base, but has open contempt for those few who have the opportunity to roll out on patrol and consistently turn it down. "Tocroaches" is another of his favorite disparaging terms for those who won't leave the security of the TOC.
        
The appeal of rolling out on a combat patrol may elude some who have not been exposed to it. But to soldiers who are buried in routine, the simple act of leaving the wire brings at a minimum new sights and sounds, and opportunities to see and do something different.
        
There is another, rarely stated appeal to being out on patrol. These soldiers - the MP units I was with - consider themselves to be "mounted Infantry." They go out loaded for bear, expecting a fight, and, even though they might not openly admit it - looking for contact. Not that they will fly off the handle and open fire wantonly. Far from it.
        
The rules of engagement (ROE) under which the turret gunners must operate are complex. The ROE seem restrictive to the point of suffocation to someone with Vietnam combat experience. I listened to a gunner recite the ROE at every mission briefing I attended. The first time I heard them was with jaw-dropping disbelief.
        
"What do you do when a vehicle approaches the convoy?" the squad leader asked, designating a specific gunner for a reply.

"Shout, Show, Shoot," the gunner replied. "First shout for the vehicle to turn away, get the driver's attention and wave him off. If he keeps coming I show my weapon, raise my M-4 so that he can see it, or turn the .50 caliber in a warning. Then, if he keeps coming, I shoot. First a warning shot to either side of the oncoming vehicle. Then I shoot a disabling shot in front of the vehicle trying to knock out the engine. Finally, if all else fails, I take a killing shot at the driver or passenger."
        
Good grief, I thought. Imagine that you're driving a car down a normal city or suburban road in the States and you see a car approaching perpendicular to you, say at an intersection. Just go through that ROE in your mind as if that approaching automobile might be a vehicle-borne explosive device (VBED), a suicide bomber intent on killing you and your buddies. How would you react? Would you be able to restrain yourself, be properly disciplined enough to keep your cool and obey the ROE? I don't think that many of us could do that.
        
Yet that very scenario is played out day after day in Baghdad with very, very few incidents of improper fire. It is gut-wrenching and nerve-wracking, and we insist that 19 and 20 year old young men and women go through it day after demanding day. Their ability to cope with such stress is awesome.
        
"There was an incident not long ago," one of the commanders told me. "A vehicle came screaming around the corner - it was old, beat-up, and looked like a typical VBED. The gunner went through all of his ROE and finally - at the last minute - fired into the vehicle. Turns out it was just some crazy Iraqi driver - maybe he was drunk, maybe he was arrogant - who disobeyed the traffic rules. The gunner ended up killing a young girl in the car. It wasn't the gunner's fault he did everything in accordance with the ROE - but it shook him up badly."
  

Situations like this are not an anomaly. They happen somewhere in Iraq, and after time weigh heavily on the minds of the troops. Think about the mental conflict: if you shoot too soon you risk hurting innocents; if you hesitate too long you risk your life and the lives of your fellow soldiers. How many of us could mount up day after day and perform such stressful tasks without cracking under the strain? And we send these soldiers over fully expecting that they will perform at 100% of the time for a year or more. The astounding thing is that they do!

Bad Air - Cigars at FOB Rustamiyah Colonel John Bogdon has a few thoughts on why the air is so bad around FOB Rustamiyah, and it "ain't" the cigars.	The Face of War: Women in Combat Though it may still be controversial, Military Police women are potentially engaged in the fight every time a convoy rolls outside the wire. Hear the stories of several MPs in Iraq.	Who is That Masked Man? Despite their intimidating appearance, Interpreters are unarmed and rely completely on soldiers to protect them.
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