Unofficialbmw.com

MattB · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 1633 Location: Lakeland, FL

Take care over there Mark and if you'd do me a favor, please send my sincere thanks to each and every one of those you run into over there.

patrick66 · Joined: 10 Dec 2002 Posts: 623 Location: Oklahoma

Mark, whenever I was out at Prince Sultan AB, SA, I always made it a point to do some stargazing. If there hasn't been a sandstorm, the skies are so clear that you can see a lot of things you'd normally have to go to the Rockies or the Olympias to see in the sky. Quite a wonderful site, to be sure...

My nephew is in Tikrit with the 1st Marine Batallion. I'll PM you and give you his name. If you get an opportunity, say "hi"!

The '90 BMW rag is just about road-ready now!

Stay low and cool! The really hot season is yet to occur (Aug-Sept)!!!

markf · Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:44 am Post subject: Did markf go to Iraq yet???

Thanx for best wishes guys.. appreciated.
MattB, and Patrick.. yea , I can see you've been here before..heheheh!! Right on the money!

KY.. as for whoppin heads.. our security boys told me about a week before I got here, a pick-up truck coming at them on the highway, took a couple pot shots at them as they approached.

What these pot shooters didnt know was that in the bed of the trace vehicle was our man on a 'SAW'.
He lit them up as they flew past and floated into his sight picture.. every 5th round was a tracer.. so that pick up truck veared off the road, caught fire and flipped over.. ejecting one of the occupants. Our guys dont screw around.. I' still like to smack one in the head though..

More as it develops...

[ 06-21-2004: Message edited by: markf ]

TnSlim · Joined: 08 Sep 2003 Posts: 355 Location: Curaçao, N.A.

Mark, two questions.

Are you satisfied with the local security? That is, do you think your personal security would be materially enhanced if you were armed? (presuming you aren’t)

You mentioned air conditioners. Are your sleeping quarters air conditioned?

Billo · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2004 8:53 pm Post subject: Did markf go to Iraq yet???

Mark,

When you told your wife you were going for cigarettes, did she have any idea...?
The lengths a man will go to in order to play with heavy ordnance!

Bill

markf · Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 10:08 pm Post subject: Did markf go to Iraq yet???

Slim.. Security appears organized and ready. They are well armed, and have the proper attitude. Being that this is an ammo storage facility, they brought up some mortar tubes, and tucked them away where they can be retrived in a moments notice.
we have enough rounds to last 500 years.
I cant go into detail about methods and procedures, but Im as confident as I can be given the situation. Im not in the center of Baghdad's green zone with thousands of soldiers guarding my ass. The rules are different out here.
Things have heated up in the last few days, with the handover coming up. So Ive been issued a weapon.

NO.... not this one.

Company policy restricts me from carrying a weapon. But they didnt say anything about keeping one in my hooch.. or at my desk.
The program mgr mentioned in confidence, that nobody expects me to sit on my hands in a worse case scenario.

Billo..She asked me why I just dint quit smoking. I said, "HEY..! IM NO QUITTER, DAMN-IT!"

SaturdayNightBimmer · Joined: 15 Feb 2004 Posts: 443

MARK!!! Great to see things are going well. DO NOT STOP UPDATING US!!
WE ARE READING THIS STUFF!

You're big long post above was awesome. I copied it and passed it along to a few friends. One particular buddy at The Pentagon in Public Affairs was praising it. No doubt it's been passed around all over the world by now.

Keep your head down muchacho!
Man, you're tan! SPF 30 I hope.

Keep the info comin!

markf · Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2004 5:15 am Post subject: Did markf go to Iraq yet???

Wow..! Thanx SNBimmer
Well.. you want more.? Ok then.. my next installment:

Saturday Morning.. 5 am June 19.
I just finished having my coffee out on our inner defensive perimeter. (the wall)
It’s a man made wall which surrounds the heart of the facility, in which I work.
From it, there is a commanding view of the desert. The outer perimeter lies beyond,
about 500 meters. It is barbed wire, 10 feet high with raised gun positions every hundred
meters, or so. If anybody were to compromise that defensive line, they would have to get across 500 yards of barren field, (which is slightly sloped in our favor), just to reach that wall, which could not be scaled easily, and without assistance.
Considering the amount of firepower we could muster to that wall in moments, the attempt would be sheer suicide. It would become a killing field. This is immediately clear, and must be apparent to the local anti-American minority, as nobody has attempted such a foolish thing yet.
Here, so far, the unrest amongst the locals is reflected in pot shots at our convoys.
(see attached picture of yesterdays un-neighborly gift.)
No IED’s yet, or suicide bombers.

I’ve always loved the desert, finding it to be among the earth’s more delicate places, with its eco-web as fine as a garden spider’s net… and as far as deserts go, this is a really good one; Its beauty, not unlike that of the ocean.
With the sun not yet risen, the blue-gray shadow of the earth known as the ‘Belt of Venus’ arcs across the horizon, retreating to the west, as the eastern horizon begins to turn its pinkish hue’s.
It’s at this time, that a special feeling always comes over me.. it begins with a cool breeze, which drifts thru my hair, and across my face as if the desert were beseeching my forgiveness of yesterday’s angry heat.
A kind of seduction ensues.. and though I know she will offend again.. I forgive her, and welcome the brief soothing caress of morning breezes.

I met several Iraqi’s yesterday. Some of them work at this facility, during the day.
They have ID cards and site access is restricted according to their duties. They have been told, that if they are found inside the No Access Area, that they will be shot. And it is not a hollow threat.
Iraqi’s are escorted to their place of work in the morning, and escorted to the gate in the evening. They are not allowed to wander, and the penalty is immediate dismissal.

The harsh reality is that the happy humble Iraqi that you met this morning,
who you find outside his work area, may not have just gotten lost.. but may rather be pacing off distances for an impending mortar attack. As much as you want to like them, you have to stay alert for this kind of thing.

My impression of the Iraqi commoners, whom I’ve met, is that they are a fairly hard working people with little to no formal education. They are big on customs of politeness, and respect. They greet you affectionately, and much is taken from the way you greet them.
Formal greetings can be long and heartfelt, full of affection and respect. Some take your hand gently with their right hand, and place their left hand over their hearts. This signifies heartfelt sincerity, and affection.
A proper greeting should always include a polite inquiry about the health and welfare of their families, (never just the wife), and be genuinely concerned about them.
If you greet an Iraqi in a blunt or cold manner, they will be offended, and you will have an enemy for life.
Much of this I learned in orientation, but the first time you meet an Iraqi, you immediately see the truth of it.

I’ve been driven across 60 miles of Iraq, and I’m outside Tikrit, now.
From what I’ve seen of it, the land and the people are on par, or less, with the rural regions of Mexico. There are no modern facilities, no strip malls, or contemporary architectures. The roads are in poor condition, and there is little to no public transportation.
Farming is predominant in this region, although modern machinery is very scarce, they manage to raise the most lush green crops out of sandy loam soil. Wide creeks meander thru green fields, lined with short stubby palm trees.
Indeed, the areas of cultivation are beautiful. It’s strange to be driving thru such an area, and instantly find yourself in harsh barren desert. Its as if the land is straining to give birth to a wide variety of flora.. if it could just get a little water. And where man has provided such, the ground has yielded and abundance of greenery. Amazingly so.

Today, Mike and I went down into the ammo storage grounds. Row after row spread out over a couple square miles, of ammunition storage ‘igloos’. Aside from the contents of the Igloos, there are thousands of boxes of artillery shells, rockets, grenades, mortars, Tank rounds, artillery rounds of all sizes, Land mines by the palette, and small arms ammunition of every kind, just laying in piles on the ground outside. It’s a cornucopia of lethal fireworks, spread out seemingly as far as you can see. It just breaks my heart that we are forbidden to take ANYTHING for a souvenoir. Not even empty ammo cases, or empty shell casings. As a gun owner, I own a couple weapons which fire 7.62x39 ammunition. Its somewhat expensive. ($125 for a case of 1000 rnds)
But today I drove by over a thousand palettes of cases, all slated for destruction…
seems a shameful waste.

At 3pm our time, we stood with our cameras ready in this area, and waited for the daily Ordnance blast. This is called ‘Demilling’ of explosive ordnance.
I attached a few pics which I took of the daily event.
Spectacular..!

Hey..! it’s chow time.
Gotta go.

THE WALL

DEMILLING OF ORDNANCE

[ 06-25-2004: Message edited by: markf ]

donaldan · Joined: 01 Jul 2001 Posts: 1881 Location: Ft. Myers, FL

In as much as we all like to hear your war descriptions, are we posting unnecessarily for the enemies to learn of your situations? We are in a war and this is no joke. Let us hear it from you when it is all over.

SaturdayNightBimmer · Joined: 15 Feb 2004 Posts: 443

Don't worry Mark, no one at the Pentagon Press Office has contacted me telling you to quit posting and giving up *important* military secrets about getting coffee, Iraqi farmers, and watching ordinance explosions. So don't worry, you're "all good."

You keep on posting your journal entries. We ALL enjoy hearing what's REALLY happening over there and how our boys are coping. We're here for ya man! Love the pics!

Greenhornet84 · Joined: 11 Nov 2003 Posts: 406 Location: Uper Darby PA

Mark
Godspeed
and keep your head down.
Mark

markf · Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2004 9:25 pm Post subject: Did markf go to Iraq yet???

Donaldan.. I appreciate your concern, sincerely.. But I've been careful not to post anything which would have any tactical, or strategic value to anybody.
The bad guys already know whats here.

markf · Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2004 9:47 pm Post subject: Did markf go to Iraq yet???

We had an Incident, yesterday.
Here is the incident report, and Pics.

Rocket incident

markf · Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 4:49 am Post subject: Did markf go to Iraq yet???

practicing a little insurgent deplomacy

get the movie: Budda-bing

SaturdayNightBimmer · Joined: 15 Feb 2004 Posts: 443

Mark , that is friggin awesome! Have to give you props man, you are really walking the walk. Wish the film of you shooting there, had some audio. What was it like? The kick doesn't look bad at all. Awesome, simply awesome!

Post the pic of you in the pool for everyone to see. Funny as h.ell!

What's the vibe over there since the handover??