Leaders Recon

Sgt. Sam White "posing" to yell

After arriving in Fallujah, we set up camp at an old Army base called now camp Manhattan.   They gave us a building to sleep in  with no electricity and buried behind weeds that needed to first be removed.  We found ourselves sitting outside not only because it was dark without lights but because we all wanted to be together....and there were some bats inside.

As the U.S. was beginning to mobilize around the city, planes overhead were dropping fliers warning the civilian citizens to get out.  They knew that we were about to invade and in just a few days the largest offensive to date in the war in Iraq was about to be underway.  There was an uneasy tension in the air at camp.  A kind of giddy, slap happy immaturity, nobody was ready to die and we were trying to do everything we could to keep ourselves from thinking about that.      

The leaders recon is a standard practice and is just what it says.  The leaders of the unit go out ahead of the main element and take a look at where they will be operating.  We also used this time as an opportunity to meet with Iraqi locals that sometimes were helpful and other times were not.  We would go from a village to the one next to it and the local attitudes towards Americans would be completely opposite.  They want pictures with you in one, and then down the road the kids are throwing rocks at you.

The next day was not as long. I sat in the turret with Johnstone while Capt. Conway and again with Lt. Pittson went on a leaders recon. Listening on the radio to a tow vehicle call in an anti-air gun spotted across the Euphrates. I was entertained by the radio traffic. Picturing me as the TOW gunner begging to get authorization, permission to shoot and then you could hear the mortars starting to land.

The TOW was the weapon system that I had been trained to operate during my first enlistment, after volunteering to go to Iraq I was made to be a scout team leader.  TOW stands for Tube launched, Optically tracked, Wire command linked guided missile system.

The next couple of days we began to set up vehicle checkpoints. Everyday we would be in the same place for hours and then we would get mortared. After the mortar attack we would find an IED the hard way. Our first casualty in the company was a Marine named Risides. The mortars landed as close to 30m from me. We displaced and headed north on Boston looking for the mortar position. When we came back south on Boston we pulled off to see the mortar craters. We were passed by 2nd Plt. and then fell in behind them. I heard over the intercom "Holy Fuck" as the Capt. and Johnstone saw the blast.
A second later I heard it. Then over the radio, LT. Edo saying they have been hit by the IED and have a casualty.

We stopped right in front of a wire going across the road into a pile of dirt. I had cleared possible IED's before but never seconds after one had gone off less than 100 m away. But when the Capt. told me to check it out, there was no hesitation. As soon as I made it to the front of our vehicle I saw the wire and knew it was not a threat. I reached down yanked the wire out of the ground and ran back to my vehicle catching a little of the medevac going on in front of us.
It was a taxicab with its hood up on the side of the road that was detonated as we rolled by.

The Garden of Eden

Fallujah was the insurgent strong hold that had taken the dead bodies of Blackwater contractors and hung them from the bridge in celebration seven months prior.   The week leading up to November we had to move. closer to the fight. 

Nov 1, 2004

    Everything has changed. I forget what day but we packed up and moved from probably one of the safest places in IRAQ to the most dangerous, Fallujah.

    The first day here just my vehicle and one other went on a leader's recon and shadowed the army. I found myself on the banks of the Euphrates's river, just across Fallujah, sweeping through orchards and crops looking for weapons caches and realized that I was in the birthplace of civilization. "The Garden of Eden" I can see why. From where I was in the middle of the desert to where I was standing was night and day. There were forests of Palm trees, blue water, soil not sand, and then gunfire.

    It was only one, maybe two shots coming from the Fallujah side of the river. A soldier said that he had heard the round fly over his head, as we looked for a gunman another single shot. This was the first one I actually heard and it sounded like a twig snapping but it was not close and I was not concerned. But it was a good feeling to actually be in danger. After the few months in KV I never got that feeling. I was pissed off that I had put my life on hold to come back and fight a war and I thought I would get off the plane shooting and ended up chasing guardrail thieves.

    Later that first day while driving back to base, Camp Manhattan, we stopped suddenly and angled the vehicle to block traffic and dismounted scouts. I was not in my usual seat with the radio to my ear, because we had brought Lt. Pittson, the 3^rd Platoon commander for the leaders Recon, so I never heard why we stopped but we jumped out and pushed out about 20 meters to stop traffic. The Captain said "if a car made it to us they would engage with the 25mm" so I knew he wasn't messing around. It was a busy road and cars did not need to be told to turn around the 25 mm told them that. Most of the cars were stopping and jumping the median about 100m from me. I thought I was going to have to shoot when a brown jeep speed past that invisible line,  I took three steps towards him  fast, bringing my rifle up into my shoulder. He locked up his breaks and cranked the wheel coming to a stop, across the median. It was a fun day. I felt like we were actually working and that I was actually at war, and it only got better... and worse.

Cordon and Knock

 The next day we went to a gas station/market and Iraqi Police Station next door I stood outside the IP (Iraqi Police) station, with my scouts in place, talking to Sgt. White - Sam. Sam is the only other CIC guy in my platoon. We waited while the captain and a guy from HIET (Human Intel Exploitation Team) along with Louie and the Gunny went inside and talked to the police after they were done we walked over to the gas station and "shopped" while SGT. Paul from HIET and Louie did their thing trying to get info on bad guys from shop owners. We went through a few buildings and got on top of one roof but I don't think we got anything out of the visit except for some chicken and soda that they gunny bought for us.

We came back to KV for our three days back and on day two went out for what was only supposed to be a few hours to do a maintenance 25mm shoot. As soon as we were on our way back we got a call from higher saying that we were needed for a cordon and knock in Ah Rutba, so we waited for the others to come out to where we were, and then moved in.

We usually did not go into the city they wanted the IP's to try and do their job so this was my first time other than when we first got to IRAQ and an IED was found on the edge of town.  We rolled in with our huge LAV driving down alley's and narrow streets as the sun was going down. We blocked off two blocks around the target house and you could hear Marines banging on doors.  Things seemed to be going smooth. Sam and I had our Scouts out there wasn't a lot of traffic or people then the lights went out. Power was off in the whole city as I looked through my NVG's, we had cut power to the city, just to kick down this guy's door.

All I saw was infrared spotlights and laser sights. Then I heard an explosion, I didn't see the blast but I could tell it was close to 50 to 75 meters. After about one minute of confusion we were back in our vehicle but didn't move far. Overall we came back with zero detainees.

Moral Compass

At one of the stops from Kuwait to KV our company met with the regimental commander who talked to us about why we were in Iraq.
 1. Help the Iraqi people
 2. Kill anyone who try's to stop us from doing #1
 3. Do #1 and  #2 without harming a single  innocent Iraqi
 4. Do # 1 #2 and #3 without loosing your moral compass 

 

 After leaving the six men on the street picking up their things off the road

Oct 14th  

We went to talk to the INGs (Iraqi National Guard) they had said that it was them that had fired the shots as they were shooting at a car that was not stopping at their check point.  They were lying.  There was no empty shell casings and they could not even give a description of the car.

The ING were difficult to work with but we wanted them to be able to police their own country.  As well as telling us not to loose our moral compass the Colonel told us what it might be like to be ING.  He asked for somebody to name a city in the U.S. and a Marine shouted Memphis.  The Colonel began to tell a story.

Say that you have lived in Memphis your whole life and you decide that you are going to do your part so you apply to the Memphis police department.  The next Sunday you go to the church you have gone to your entire life and as you walk in there is a piece of paper with your name on it, posted so that everyone can read and it says " If you work for the P.D. we will kill you" so you take it down and show it to your priest and he says that he cannot help. That you are on your own. You take the note to the P.D. and even the FBI and they all say the same thing, they can't help you are on your own.  You still want to be a cop and interview for the job.  The next Sunday the note says " if you work for the P.D. we will kill your family." You take the note down and show it to the same people and they all say the same thing. There is nothing they can do, you are on your own.  This makes you want to be a cop even more, this is what is wrong with your city.  You get the job and begin training at the police academy.  That Sunday there is no note.  When you get home from church you find the head of your 12 year old son on the door step.

This happened to an Iraqi.  Out of the first class of 40 Iraqis that were trained by coalition forces only 12 finished and when it came time to work only 4 showed up.

Oct 14th 2006

During the first few months in Iraq we fought nothing but boredom.  We had made our way through Iraq from Kuwait without incident.  Ending up at Camp Korean Village near the Syrian border.  It was said to probably be the safest place in Iraq.  This is a picture of Ar Rutba, the city just outside of KV.

3rd LAR C.I.C.

The guys that I had come to know better than anybody else were others who had volunteered to return to active duty after being discharged.  We called ourselves the CIC.  Civilians in Cammies.





The trip had taken us three days.  I was a scout, which meant that I was riding in the back of an LAV with my head and arms exposed to anything.  I feared being attacked from above as we would drive under overpasses on the highway. I thought that we were such an easy target for a grenade to be dropped in from the bridges above us.  I catch myself thinking of those first three days in country even still today sometimes when I lookiup at the bridges I drive under.

OCT 14th 2006

It has been a busy week, our first day out on patrol and red platoon had shots fired over their heads at the Phoenix-Mobile intersection.  We rushed to their position and blocked traffic on Phoenix.  As the cars began to stack up I deployed my scouts on orders from the Capt.  to begin searching cars for weapons that might have been used in the shooting.  With guns drawn I ordered the people in the first car to get out. As I watched the six men climb out of the small car I quickly realized that we did not speak the same language.  With the help of our translator, Louie, the search continued.  just as I was throwing blankets on to the street from the trunk I was told that we were moving out. I left the blankets on the street.

 

PRIVATE

THIS IS A PRIVATE RECORD

IT IS ASKED, THAT IF I AM TO DIE, IT NOT BE READ BY ANYONE IN MY CHAIN OF COMMAND.

THAT IT BE GIVEN ONLY TO MY FATHER, CHARLES HAGBURG, 

WHO CAN SHARE ITS CONTENTS WITH ANYONE HE CHOOSES.

David S. Hagburg

This diary begins in June of 2004. It was a record kept of my life while I served as a Marine with 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance in the Al Anbar providence of Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom II.  I have decided to revisit my thoughts and share some of them with you. 

I never planned on returning from Iraq.  I try to remind myself that I am glad I did.

Six years ago this week I wrote that I was unable to call my sister on her birthday, when she turned 23. I talked about how "I remembered when her and I did not get along but that now, I cherish her friendship" On her birthday six years ago I detained 10 men, a convoy was attacked and a Cobra helicopter needed our help in making an emergency landing.

My next entry was six years ago tomorrow, Oct 14th 2004