ATS EXCLUSIVE~ ADVISOR inside Iraq, teaser

Thats cool, the guy in the first picture far right facing the camera looks just like my former NCO when I was in the army, except he was in 3rd ACR not 1st cav. But I thought he was moving to first cav.
Anyway my former unit 3rd ACR is in Iraq right now almost a year in this novemeber for the 3rd time so maybe it was him.

Nice pics, SF

[edit on 3-10-2008 by snowen20]

Good pictures man. I was their March 03' - March 04'. I spent about 8 months driving a Bradley linebacker, and then the rest of the time as a stinger gunner in the back. Hot is such an understatement. That spider pick brought back some memories lol.

Yeah bro, nice to see another grunt on here... I was an Infantry Scout with the 1/187th Rakkasans 101st Airborne in OIF 4 FOB Summerall Baiji Iraq, 2005-2006 was my last deployment... I had been stoplossed for over a year and then finally got the hell out just in time, thank god.

Can you give us a location of FOB Normandy... if you can't that's cool... I know why. Anyways is it still SOP to "Willy Peet" stolen or confiscated cars of opposition militia or insurgents? Do you guys do "night raids" on potential HTV or insurgent households and neighborhoods? How many wounded or KIA do your guys have at this point?

After rounding up HVTs and "freedom fighters" do your NCO's or Officers give you guys an acceptable explanation on where those POW's are being taken to?

How many enemy KIA has your Troop inflicted on the enemy?

What are the living conditions like at this point?

What is your rank?

Are you going to re-enlist? If so, what kind of incentives are they offering you guys at this point?

How is the reactive armor holding up on the Bradly's and HMV's? Are IED's still getting through? How many IED's does your Troop or Platoon encounter in a given week?

How are your weapons holding up... did they issue you guys new M4's, M249's, M240B's, AT4's... small D's, NOD's?

My PVS14's sucked... I could barely see at night, did they give you a good pair?

What kind of Humanitarian efforts is your task force conducting in your AO? If any...

Lastly take care bro, just think in weeks... take it one week at a time, thats what I did. I'm not real religious... don't get me wrong, I belive in god... but it does help to have a one on one with the Chaplin every so often. Oh and if you get in a fire fight just remember stay calm, and keep it slow... slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Thank you for your service although i don't support the war, I support the soldiers. A lot of my friends are being deployed to Afghanistan and I'm really worried about them. So thank you and good luck. God bless you.

reply to post by ADVISOR


Thank you so much for your service, I and my family are proud of you and what your doing.

Thank you for posting these pictures and for your service to our country. God bless and keep your eyes and ears open.

Thank you for your service. I'm glad to know there are people like you willing to make the sacrifice to ensure our daily freedoms. I'm celebrating my son's homecoming after his 15 month tour in Iraq. He just got home this past Monday. He's with the 416th Trans. Div. I'm very proud of him and it's always an honor to speak with one of his brothers in arms.

Stay safe and know that myself and many others pray for our troops every day. I look forward to seeing more pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Stay strong and God bless.

Thanks again every one for the replies and links MD, glad ATSers showed
so much interest. I’m looking forward to posting the full gallery and will
continue to put forth extra time on it when available.

CuriousFinger

Dang man, you have a lot of questions, I’ll reply to the ones I know
I can get away with.

FOB Normandy is approximately 50 miles NE of Baghdad.
We never used White Phosphorous for any thing that I know of.
Night raids, sort of yes. We call them SKT’s though, for Small Kill Teams,
yes I know not very politically correct, but you know screw PC.
This ain’t the 90s any more.

None of the guys in my unit are hurt at this point, we have rotated back to the US.
How ever we are gearing up for redeployment soon. We usually escort the HVT’s to
their new homes, so yes.

We managed to dominate the enemy in our AO, and they learned Cavarly is nothing to mess with after having lost a good many contacts.

Some estimates by our SCO have put the numbers around 600 confirmed enemy combatants.

Living conditions were ok, at least we had AC and a roof over our heads.

No, I don’t have any plans for reenlistment. This was my second contract with the Army,
and I plan on starting my own company.

We took care of the weapons the unit had before us, nothing we got was new except
AT4s, so every thing was in service and well maintained.
My NVGs or NODs worked great, never had an issue.

The humanitarian services we provided included bringing food and medical, public works
such as water services and electricity. A lot of public service like paying the locals to clean up the neighborhood. We had them do it so they would get the idea. Also, just sitting down and getting to know the Muqtars and other local leaders build a trust. Some thing that payed off as they would inform us of unwanted individuals.

Thank you for the advice, been there done that, but fire fights and mortar attacks never bothered me, not even getting RPGed, or blown up while dismounted. We actually spotted the attacks while every one else (non combat arms aka POGs -Personnel Other than Grunts, pronounced with the o as in oh) took cover and hid. It is a part of our job, to gain and maintain contact, so it was all good. Besides Ali Baba can’t aim any way.

reply to post by Perseus Apex


You overestimate the enemy and the opsec value of these photos.

My cousin told me that it wasn't funny at the time,but now looking back it is, they would shoot a RPG at them and throw their prayer rug down and pray that it would hit them. They would never aim, just point in their direction.

reply to post by smokingmonkey


What if a foreign agent was in your unit without your knowledge taking pictures/video of the war for propaganda purposes?

This could be a member of the Mossad or CIA and you would have no idea of their motives.

What disturbs me today is that our military in Iraq has been infiltrated with 'agents' of which have alterior motives. They are very few though have been strategically placed in high/influential positions as well as 'strategic' positions. These motives may not be in you or our citizens' benefit and may put your lives in danger for the 'information' they reveal.

How do we know who to trust? Listen to your instincts and question everything, especially any 'action' that makes no sense or provides no credible support to the 'mission' as stated.

Also, focus on soldiers, contractors, or any other personell acting in a support function. In otherwords, the short term or temporary people that come and go from your base.

There are more acts of espionage and treason that go on in war time than most understand. Google the words and perhaps you'll be on the right path, if that is a path you wish to take.

I could go on though I think thats good for now considering the nature of the thread. Just keep your eyes open and your conscience clear. We as soldiers signed up to defend our nation, not serve the interests of a foreign, private entity of whom has an alterior motive.

There are some real soldiers on ATS and there are some fake soldiers with alterior motives. One, more than likely wouldn't be able to determine the differenct unless he/she were one themself. The military life is a life quite distinguishable from that of civilian.

The most serious threat are the soldiers who were 'groomed' to hold influential staff positions within the DoD and Dept. of Homeless Security as well as certain Generals and their co-horts on down that 'chain' of command.

I'm off topic though this is too important not to mention. We need to pay attention to the actions of our 'authority' figures. If they don't make sense, more than likely they weren't meant to.




[edit on 6-10-2008 by Perseus Apex]

reply to post by Perseus Apex


The guy that posted that stuff is gay dont sweat it. This is the EOD Team Leader that was inside the JERRV in the picture you have posted on here of the IED Detonation. Great pics and great thread. Its good to see you made it back in one piece brother. Take care and god bless. Oh, tell Panero Hello from HAVOC 1-1 (Simpkins, Kerney, and Calhoun) please. Bradley can go # himself D-BAG HA!

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


I'll pass the word a long, no problem there.
A bit of a surprise though seeing another ATSer reply, (even if a closet ATSer) that was in the AO I was.

Glad to see your still around as well.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


Good luck with that.

Okay I saw the pictures and read the captions but what the hell is with the "kumar the Camel Spider" joke ? First, its IRAQ. I bet your gonna find a "KUMAR" in IRaq, more likely a Mohammad or Abdul .

"kumar" is like an Indian name and India is a "tropical" country not Desert. Think Jungle.


With our economy in the crapper, I doubt those boys will be there much longer.

reply to post by IAF101


Yes, joke.
Not too many Arabic names that I know of go well with "camel".
If I really gave it some thought. I'm sure some thing would have transpired, but it was a spur of the moment thing.

Karif the camel spider, just doesn't roll off the tungue quite right.


What would you name your camel spider?

Awesome pictures Advisor Thank you for sharing your experience with us... Continue to be safe, and I'm excited to see some more pictures when you have them


- Carrot