Marine in Iraq, If you have any Intelligent questions you would like answered...

Dark_Seraph

My bud just got home about 5 months ago. He had been in some serious situations and has done things that most wish not to in order to protect himself and his brothers. We've talked about these things and they are weighing heavy on him now because of certain situations since he's gotten home. He's said the same things as you as far as the iraqi people being kind and loving to our military and that the media only shows the crap because it gets viewers. Believe it or not he's wishing he was back there. He is having a hard time being back here in the states and if you need someone like yourself to talk to whos been there then I'll get him online here as he is a member of this forum. I'm sure he wouldn't mind talking to you.

Just gotta add that I'm proud of our men and women in all branches for their service. Do your best to get home safe.

[edit on 10-9-2006 by I See You]

Originally posted by dawnstar
I was just wondering, and well, please don't answer this issue if it compromises security in any way. but....

what kind of assignments are they using navy personel in iraq? are they mainly staying on the bases? are there alot of naval personel in Iraq?

Dawnstar, my other son's friend, in the Navy, spent time on a boat circling an oil rig to protect it. I don't think that info would compromise security, as when I heard his assignment, I sorta went Doh! Of course! ala Homer Simpson.

I see you found this site while Googling for 'UFO/Aliens'. Did you see something over there in the sky? Or was it just out of boredom?

Thanks and take care of yourself.

sorry guy, but........

i truely believe there are NO intelligent people,,

WILLING to go out and kill other people!!!!!!




you see it takes a fool to follow a leader into a war,,
and this particular leader,, REFUSED to go to war HIMSELF........


bush may not be so foolish after all

ya know ive seen alot of people worried that this guy might be a spy or something..i cant believe how paranoid this is, do you guys think that the government actually wastes that much energy on us hehehehehehe that is to funny

I want to thank those of you that are former vets that are answering a lot of these questions, I really cant talk about a lot of the things I would like to because I am a member of the US Military and I could get in terrible trouble if I said anything that would endanger anyone. I started this thread because I wanted to answer little questions here and there, I didnt think that it would turn into a political warzone. Dont tell me its not. I never said anything about asking me questions about why the president does what he does. I am only 21 years old, how much do you think I really know about politics? I dont pretend to know everything or very much. There are 82,000 people registered to this site, and about half of you are here to bicker and argue. That is why I didnt want to post here anymore, and people were asking me personal, specific questions, and that bugs me. I had to have my name removed, because I was foolish enough to think that this was a completely mature community (not saying that there arent, because I have meet many of you that are fantastic) but I dont like being bashed for what I do. Dont ask me to specific questions, im a jar head! Im that way for a reason. Im not alowed to talk about politics to other people, I dont have that right. One of my favorite sayings,

"I may not like what you say, but I will defend it with my life so that you can continue saying it."

I dont have a constitution, I dont have rights, so please dont get me in trouble.

Very Respectfully,
DS

well thanks for trying ds im really ashamed of the human race sometimes..how embarressing

hey DS...

you seeing many mercs over there? private soldiers?
do they keep them in separate areas, to avoid conflict?

do any of the soldiers complain about the differences between private merc pay, and military pay (about $80,000 per yr. difference).

and one more thing... Hang in there, and thanks very much for doing your job.

Well, I gave it a day and nobody seems to know what dnr is. It is indeed strange, because regardless of which branch of the military you join, its an essential part of basic training and everybody takes it.

I'm not sure what basic is these days with it being all politically correct and all, and maybe now sarge yells "give one for the core and two for the tang", I don't know, but if troops are sent to war with out a hammered in dnr reflex, they're cannon fodder.

I guess no need to ask what a troop should do when taking fire from LF, RF, from dead 12, if he's on the road should he go for the ditch or solid cover, should he pop smoke, etc. With out knowing what dnr is, there's no point.

I got a few little questions, no politics just basic USMC jar head stuff.

Dark_Seraph, what is DNR?

I'm know you're 21 and all, but you did go through basic right?

How do you burn a rabbit? How about clearing a barricaded room? Don't say grenades, they don't work. Even if you're not a front liner, everybody talks, so you should know unless you're pushing paper all day.

What is the procedure for identifying, ranging location and estimating time to impact of a mortar attack? In what cases can you call in an anti-mortar fire mission and how do you dial it in? What are the distinguishing thumps of Mk.1937/1941, Mk.1938 and Mk.1943?

Will you even hear a launch of Mk.1943 shell at its max effective range?

How do you determine if the mortar fire is being corrected, and if it is where do you look for spotters? How do you communicate when you locate a spotter? What are the tell-tail signs of a spotter scoping out and ranging the area prior to attack?

What is the most common Mk and what is its caliber? Which Mk's are crew mobile and which require vehicle support?

Given mobility requirements of a mobile urban Mk crew, what is their estimated shell load and max rate of fire?

What is the average length of their attack and how many shells do they expend?

Dark_Seraph, all this stuff is a part of daily, base wide status briefings/announcements, and since you are stationed on a base, you should know all about it.

Oh how about just this, what is the color of their tracers, and what is the color of ours?

Respectfully, iskander.

Dark_Seraph

It is nice to see some other military personnel here on ATS. I am with the USAF. Been to Kuwait and I know what ya'll are going thru. Take my best wishes with you, return home safe, kick some butt for us! Safe returns bro! Semper Fidelis!

Huaaaa

Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
hey DS...

you seeing many mercs over there? private soldiers?
do they keep them in separate areas, to avoid conflict?

Here's a sighting in Somalia though, Laz...

UK--US ACCUSED OF COVERT OPERATIONS IN SOMALIA

Dramatic evidence that America is involved in illegal mercenary operations in east Africa has emerged in a string of confidential emails seen by The Observer. The leaked communications between US private military companies suggest the CIA had knowledge of the plans to run covert military operations inside Somalia - against UN rulings - and they hint at involvement of British security firms.

Here's one with an unusual accronym:

Advanced Training Services

- ATS provides Training, Operational Support, Logistics, and Intelligence Services to a wide variety of clients from government and industry.
- ATS is a US owned and operated Limited Liability Corporation.
- Maintains US Offices in Reston, Virginia and Altha, Florida.

Marine, check them out when you get home if you still REALLY REALLY want to go back.

Herm...Well, I will tell you Isk, I cant answer those questions. They are way to specific. Please remember that the chances of a Terrorist prowling this site are really really high... Mercs? No havent heard or seen any, just contractors. Thank you all for your support, I knew that there were only a few bad apples, but they are still depressing. There is going to be a thread (from what I believe) that will be a place for Q&A. I am here to help you understand a little bit about what we do over here, as long as 1) I, nor any other member of the Government, tells about anything that may endanger, hinder, or get us in trouble. 2) The thread does not become a free for all political shooting gallery aimed at our current president, military members, or why we are in Iraq. These seem pretty much self-explanitory, but there are still people that are out to show us they are the bigger people and belittle us in the process. This thread has been Authorized by "The Man" Springer and any of his partners or Moderators. Hopefully we can get one that is a little more civil. Thank you agian AST Staff for all of your support in getting this thread taken care of. It will also be open to everyone but with restrictions, also any stories/input any of the vets or current members would like to convey via this coming up thread is more than welcome. There are many on ATS, and I can see now why they havent wanted to share any of their experiances so far, hopefully with a new thread and the guidelines this will correct any problems we may have with this free-for-all thread. Thank you again Mods and Owners! You guys are doing a great job keeping 82,000 people in check.

Very Respectfully,
Dark

Herm...Well, I will tell you Isk, I cant answer those questions. They are way to specific.

Sorry Dark_Seraph, the answers to my questions have been common knowledge since WWI, and are easily found in all kinds of openly published material, not to mention the HISTORY CHANNEL. You can find all kinds of books in every single book store on such topics.

Please remember that the chances of a Terrorist prowling this site are really really high...

Well DS, when you find them pesky Terrorists, tell them to take it easy on you since you don't know what DROP AND ROLL is (works when you're on fire too, what do you know), and make sure to tell your CAO that you don't know the color of your own tracers.

Sorry sport, but every single recruit of ANY army gets to know such boot camp ELEMENTARY BASICS, so with all do respect, I have no idea where you're coming from, unless of course USMC stopped training troops to fight.

Now let me give you and the rest of the kids here some answers. The ones DI hammer in day in day out.

How do you burn a rabbit?

When clearing buildings with T halls, one troop kneels at the corner of the T and gets ready, the other troop jumps across the line of fire to force the bad guy into opening up and dropping the lead. At the same time the kneeling troop peaks over and no more bad guy.

That son, is called "burn a rabbit".

How about clearing a barricaded room? Don't say grenades, they don't work.

Well barricaded rooms are grenade proofed, and the easiest (and the quickest) way to clear the room with out even having to expose your self, is to concentrate the fire to bust a hole in the wall, and fire a flare into it. The flare keeps bouncing around the room, lights up anything that burns and smokes out whoever is inside. Flare fumes are toxic.

What is the procedure for identifying, ranging location and estimating time to impact of a mortar attack?

Ranging 101. A troop that doesn't know how to range is a dead troop. Kind of helps with the shooting when you know how to operate the sights, you know.

Standard ranging formula - D=a/b*1000, the ABCs of military training here.

In what cases can you call in an anti-mortar fire mission and how do you dial it in?

This one is so self explanatory I'm not even going to bother.

What are the distinguishing thumps of Mk.1937/1941, Mk.1938 and Mk.1943?

Get shelled much? Twice a day I hear.

Will you even hear a launch of Mk.1943 shell at its max effective range?

Given a 7 klick max range of the 160mm shell, nope.

How do you determine if the mortar fire is being corrected, and if it is where do you look for spotters? How do you communicate when you locate a spotter? What are the tell-tail signs of a spotter scoping out and ranging the area prior to attack?

What is the most common Mk and what is its caliber? Which Mk's are crew mobile and which require vehicle support?

Come on Dark_Seraph, everybody in Iraq including women, children, mess hall cooks and every single reporter knows that. They even have LEAFLETS picturing what one looks like and offer rewards so people can report when they see guys hauling them around.

82mm

Given mobility requirements of a mobile urban Mk crew, what is their estimated shell load and max rate of fire?

I'm pretty sure that at one point CNN actually covered that one, I sure hope that the terrorists don't watch TV, but if my memory serves, depending on the distance from patrols, they usually drop 3 to 5 and move on.

What is the average length of their attack and how many shells do they expend?

See above.

Oh how about just this, what is the color of their tracers, and what is the color of ours?

Ours - orange, theirs - green.

So how's the weather in Iraq, is it like hot and sandy, and everybody is riding camels?

hopefully with a new thread and the guidelines this will correct any problems we may have with this free-for-all thread.

Can't wait, I'll ask how the mess hall food compares to indigenous cuisine. How about it? What is your favorite Iraqi street tent dish? Please make sure to mention the spices, because Iraqi food is all about the spices, and my mouth is watering even thinking about it, even though the recipes do very greatly. You know Sunnies, Kurds, Shiites, they all have their favorites.

I'm looking forward to experiencing local Iraqi cuisine vicariously so to speak, so don't leave me hanging brother.

Just to be fair, I'll get this one started for you. You see, French are not the only ones that know how to appreciate a delicacy.

nhai tam jia vi chien jion with some lemon-grass and chili, pure heaven!

btw, what are you, S-1, S-2, S-3, S-4?



[edit on 12-9-2006 by iskander]

I hate to tell you this, iskander, but every army in the world does not use the same terminology and this is especially true of the Marine Corps. While every Marine is an infantryman first, Dark indicates that he is a combat engineer. He may not be trained in every aspect of urban warfare.

It is your obvious intent to discredit Dark before he has had an opportunity to even get settled in and he has comported himself quite well given your incredible rudeness.

If Dark is not what he says he is, it will be revealed in time and not because he refuses to relent to your asinine tactics.

I'm a former Marine and I didn't know what "burn a rabbit" means and I didn't know what DNR means, either, even though I used the drop and roll technique when I was on fire during a mortar attack, although I think you use the term somewhat differently.

Do you know the weight of a 105mm HE round?

How about how many charges a 4.2 in. mortar has? What's the minimum charge? The maximum?

Do you know what a zone and shift is?

What color is a Willie Peter round?

What distinguishes a 4.2 in. mortar Willie Peter round from the Vietnam era from a Willie Peter round from the Korea War?

What are H&I's?

What's the weight of a 155mm HE round? How many charges? What does a full 155mm charge weigh?

What does Willie Peter stand for?

What's a VT fuse? What's special about it?

How many fire teams in a Marine rifle squad?

What's a Dog target?

What branch of the service were you in?



[edit on 2006/9/12 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by desert

Dawnstar, my other son's friend, in the Navy, spent time on a boat circling an oil rig to protect it. I don't think that info would compromise security, as when I heard his assignment, I sorta went Doh! Of course! ala Homer Simpson.

don't know....my son volunteered (yes, I have sons that dumb!!) to an assignment in Iraq, he's making it sound like it is based on lraqi soil, he's going to get training regarding the car bombs and such the terrorists are using...
he's also saying that he's heard they might be getting something like $100 per diem.....but this might not be true.

the only thing I can think of that they'd be using navy for onland would be medical and legal...but I am sure there's more.

his last deployment he was in the gulf area hunting pirates down....of course, everytime the pirates were out to play, he was in dubia, or the garden of eden, or somewhere ported. he's seen more action off the coast of haiti than he did in the gulf.....unless of course he isn't telling me everything that's happened there.

Hello Dark-Seraph,

I spend a couple of hours a day on reading international newspapers, and watching out for interesting bits of information via sites like these. And I can tell it's very difficult to filter thruth from fiction.

But some things are very clear:

It's true that Preston bush financed Hitler.
It's true that his son was head of CIA and later became President of the US.
It's true that Osama Bin Laden was recruted by the CIA.
It's true that the US crushed an Iranian democracy after WW2 and they put the sha in power. And afterwards around the 70's they went back to create a democracy.
It's true that Haliburton gets most of the big rebuilding contracts.
It's true that Unocal installed an oil pipeline after the afghanistan incident. Something that was impossible before.
It's true that the bush family is part of the freemason society.
It's true that there is still a lot of secrecy on 9/11 by the government.
It's true that the US has put Saddam in power.
It's true that Iraq had recieved a lot of their military equipment from the US.
It's true that Iraq didn't have WMD's.
It's true that there are a couple of secret CIA prisons in Europe. Not US soil !!
It's true that Iraq isn't what Bush promised it would be.
It's true that the media manipulates the mass (for the agenda), Try to read more than one newspaper.
It's true that the so called war on terror doesn't make this world more safe. People just get more scared by propaganda. So the government can get more control over the mass.

Ask yourself this:
What has your government done for you lately?
They didn't know how to handle 9/11
They didn't know how to help the victims of Catrina
They send thousants of innocent people to warfields, to fight a war with an unclear cause (not for general public)
They raise tax to keep the warmachine running.
What are your really fighting for?


If the US bombs my town and kills my family, because we have WMD's or we are supporting terrorist organisations, but later none of this seems to be true, I would become an enemy of that evil liar.
However you look at this. Terror will not stop if you keep shooting at innocent people.

And to be clear. I respect what you do for your family and your country. Because your intension is humane. And probably most of the US troops support your good intensions.

But I doubt that the US Government has those good intensions.

If you would like to see what the truth is about.

I can recommend following free google video's.

HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

WHO KILLED JHON ONEAL: Our true history, very good movie!!

Real War on terror 1

Real War on terror 2

Real War on terror 3


People open your eyes and see what's going on. It's not a war on terror, it's war on all of us.
As you see the whole picture you will notice that the people in power (our leaders) can be as dangerous as any terrorist organisation.

Let's all get toghetter and end this silliness.
I hope humanity will evolve to accomplish Freedom, Equality, Peace, Brotherhood.

Buddha,

Get a life and stop ruining his thread, you may not agree with it but your acting like an arse. If you want to make a statement go ahead, do it in another thread, hell make your own special shiny thread with buttons and whistles but leave his alone.

Dark,

Just wondering...have you served with any other troops ie british ?

If so what did you think of them?

Well said, buddhaLight. It's not politics, it's much worse, it's truth. And I would say politic is the art of twisting the truth. No offend, but repeat a lie over and over again and people are bound to believe it's true.

I would liked to have asked Dark a couple of questions myself, though he might not have liked them.

Originally posted by I See You

My bud just got home about 5 months ago. He had been in some serious situations and has done things that most wish not to in order to protect himself and his brothers. ... He is having a hard time being back here in the states...

It's not only about the so far 1300 or so troops killed. It's the tens and hundreds of thousands who return home, never to be able to adapt to society again.

Are many turning psycho overthere?

Sound young boys are turned insane by war.
You're not just feeding a generation for the guns, you're turning them into misfits. Look a the Vietnam vets. I have known and still know a few. Here where I stay is where they prefer to be. They never returned home.

Ever seen the movie "Born on the 4th of July" with Tom Cruise? (a general question, not for Dark specific)

I like Americans very much and what America stands for, let me put that clear, but there has hardly been an administration I've been for. On my feelings on Americans, please look my post in Bushkrieg: Shock and Awe in America near the bottom of the page.

Let me briefly introduce you to Randy, a vet from the first Gulf War, I have come to know in this country. He was in the infantery when they finally crossed into Iraq. Before that he had been showeling up the oil spill from the Saddam destruction of the Kuwaiti oilfields. Without any other protection than oilskins - it was not hazardous, the Army told them.
He participated in the offensive into Iraq, the one where bulldozers were used to bury the Iraqi soldiers in their trenches - in hundreds of thousands, according to Randy.
In the furore of the battle he was attacked from behind by an Iraqi soldier who somehow hadn't been quite buried. He almost slit his throat, but a fellow GI came to help. Unfortunately in the close combat he missed the target and his bayonet was planted in the back of Randy.

He did survive, but was marked for life. He won't die from that, but he probably will from the cancer he've contracted. Like so many of his fellow GI's who helped clean up in Kuwait already has.

The incident made Randy a morphinist. The Defence Department pays his medical expenses and in this country he have no trouble finding a doctor to prescribe him all the heroin he wants. Now he's a drugadict.

That's another question I would have liked to put to Dark: Does the war turn many into drugusers overthere? Like it did in Vietnam. But it's probably confidental anyway.

Like Randy use to say: "Don't believe what the Army say, the US Army is the biggest lier on earth."
No offence, it's just Randy's story.

And buddha, don't let any devil put you down - whatever their weapon.
This is a discussion forum, not a padding club.

And, oh yes, the last thing I would bother to ask Dark would be if he've seen any Danish boys overthere. I couldn't care less. :
Such questions should be kept for the padding club.


[edit on 12/9/06 by khunmoon]

Bravo Zulu, guys.

Isklander, maybe YOU and Grady should apply to the other ATS? They're probably running boot camps too. Or special ops in the field that only experienced personnel know how to tell some grunt how to do. Marine, you would know them as 'consultants', contractor's in disguise.

About the contractors that you do have, watch and see how many of the workers are Iraqi and how many have been headhunted from other Asian countries such as the Phillipines, Indonesia, India, Paki and all the other 'stans around there. There are US Labor Law violations going on with them (but who cares, it's not CONUS) along with other international human rights abuses. If any speak English, ask them who has their passport? And how they happened to be hired for the job they do.

I understand that it's hard to know who to trust.

The point is, the Iraqi's might not be happy with who has been brought in to rebuild their country and who, in return, are the war profiteers (carpetbaggers) this debacle has spawned.


Buddha, have I got a (light) prayer for you...

Evoking the presence of the great compassion,
let us fill our hearts with our own compassion
- towards ourselves and towards all living beings.

Let us pray that all living beings realise
that they are all brothers and sisters,
all nourished from the same source of life