Inside The Wire

Get the Gouge Interview with Captain Paul Abraham (Senior Naval Advisor to the Iraqi Navy)

Afghanistan, 2008: The Unknown War
Part 4

By 0630, there was not only a line of villagers looking to present claims for battle damage, but a few enterprising locals had brought 1.5-liter bottles of soft drinks to sell to the Marines. As the first Marine walked through the compound grinning and holding a bottle of cola, the word spread quickly amongst the others: "Holy shit, lookit that…where'd you get it…want to sell it?"

For a company of Marines who had spent 46 days living on warm bottled water and/or warm reconstituted Gatorade and MREs, this was good news indeed. Marines began wandering to the main gate with cash, and the 'terps worked overtime buying more cola, orange drink and sparkling lemonade – with the terps doing the negotiating, the price stayed at a dollar a bottle – the Marines would have paid more without question. Three giant cucumbers for a dollar was a good deal also; a cool cuke for breakfast is a lot better tasting than a jambalaya MRE.

Four Tours In Iraq

Four Tours In Iraq Cartoon

"Shore Duty"

"Shore Duty" Cartoon

Afghanistan, 2008: The Unknown War
Part 3

Amir Agha—The fighting ended just 48 hours ago in the Garmsir District, and already the local elders have a "Shura" scheduled to talk with the Marines.

With the convoy quickly disgorging bottled water, mail and your Gouge correspondent, the Alpha 1/6 Marines have got everything squared away in their command compound.

In Afghanistan the locals build walled compounds out of adobe-style mud bricks and then construct two, three or four single-room buildings inside the walls. One building is for sleeping, one for cooking and another for fodder for the ever-present sheep and cows that wander through.

Afghanistan, 2008: The Unknown War
Part 2

FOB Dwyer—Anyone who thinks the British Royals have it easy should visit this base. Located approximately 100 miles south of Kandahar, FOB Dwyer is the British base from which Prince Andrew was operating last year before the American media ratted him out. The Brits now share their base with the 24th MEU Marines, and both sides coexist in this too-small and too-hot spot in the Afghan desert.

The Marines and Brits have different missions. The Brits use Dwyer to support a mechanized company they have out in the field a few miles away. It consists of precisely three 105mm howitzers and showers—their only logistics hub this far south. The Marines, however, use the base as their logistics and headquarters center as they immediately pushed both their infantry and artillery downrange. Marine Air runs virtually round-the-clock as it ferry troops and supplies into Dwyer in order for them to be convoyed out as quickly as possible.

Afghanistan, 2008: The Unknown War
Part 1

Kandahar—Everything in the camp is covered with a thin layer of dust—except when the wind blows, after which everything is covered with a thick layer of dust. The camp here at Kandahar Air Field is busy; American Marines, Army and Air Force walk past, as do Soldiers and pilots from Britain, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands. Humvees lumber past, as do unidentifiable gun trucks from these few allies who actually fight, as the choking hot dust billows behind them. At 117 degrees the fact that it's a dry heat is immaterial; dust, wind, 117 degrees and blinding sun is unpleasant, regardless.

These troops are here in order to try to regain control of Helmand Province, the source of 55 percent of Afghanistan's world-leading opium-export crop. Located south of Kandahar on the Afghan-Pakistan border, the Taliban controls much of Helmand's opium business, which provides finance for the Pakistani jihadis who invade the country nightly. The Taliban runs its fighters, arms and munitions north, and returns south with opium and any wounded.

Getting Aid into Myanmar, Part III: Marines Denied Access by Myanmar Junta

As MSNBC reported Tuesday evening, the Myanmar government reneged on the deal that the West thought had been struck to allow the American, British and French ships lying off Myanmar to assist in refugee relief. Myanmar's junta, facing global outrage for spurning international assistance, appeared to relent Monday, saying it would allow its Asian neighbors to oversee the distribution of foreign relief to cyclone survivors.

Myanmar's state-controlled media said that U.S. helicopters or naval ships were not welcome to join the relief effort. The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said accepting military assistance "comes with strings attached" that are "not acceptable to the people of Myanmar." The report cited fears of an American invasion aimed at grabbing the country's oil reserves.

Getting Aid into Myanmar: Part II

As the death toll in Myanmar continued to climb last week in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, the world's political leaders made veiled threats to take relief efforts into their own hands. 

In Brussels, the Secretary General of the Council of the European Union, Javier Solano, said that if the Myanmar government continued to block large-scale foreign aid, then perhaps the outside world would find a way to deliver it anyway. "The United Nations charter opens some avenues if things cannot be resolved in order to get the humanitarian aid to arrive."

Getting Aid into Myanmar: The 31st MEU, Offering to Assist

Southern Thailand, May 11– With the death toll from Cyclone Nargis projected by the UN to climb to 100,000 or higher, the Maritime Contingency Force in the Asia-Pacific region, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, was diverted from their planned participation in multinational Exercise Cobra Gold 2008 and is steaming towards the Myanmar coast in order to assist in disaster relief.

The 31st MEU arrived off the coast of southern Thailand on 8 May to participate in Exercise Cobra Gold. But this exercise could be delayed as American, Thai, French, British and other government officials continue to negotiate with Myanmar's military dictatorship for permission to land and assist in humanitarian relief. As the hours pass, the death toll from last week's Cyclone Nargis is estimated to exceed 100,000, yet Myanmar's government has responded to the outpouring of international offers of assistance by closing its borders and seizing an NGO and Thai Air Force transport loaded with relief supplies.

How to Win in Al-Anbar

Terrorists Fight like Girls

Anyone who has ever spent time in a schoolyard can see that boys and girls deal with conflict in diametrically different ways. When boys have a problem with each other, the cause of the feud is usually well-known to both parties, and they tend to confront one another directly, often physically. The worst insult a boy can endure is to be told that he "fights like a girl." While such battles can be violent, they're also short-lived. The victor often offers his hand and helps the defeated boy from the ground.

Lone Survivor

This was payback time for the World Trade Center. We were coming after the guys who did it. If not the actual guys, then their blood brothers, the lunatics who still wished us dead and might try it again.

Good-byes tend to be curt among Navy SEALs. A quick backslap, a friendly bear hug, no one uttering what we're all thinking: Here we go again, guys, going to war, to another trouble spot, another half-assed enemy willing to try their luck against us...they must be out of their minds.

It's a SEAL thing, our unspoken invincibility, the silent code of the elite warriors of the U.S. Armed Forces. Big, fast, highly trained guys, armed to the teeth, expert in unarmed combat, so stealthy no one ever hears us coming.

Taking Grenades: All in a Day's Work

In mid-November of 2005, I was manning a combat outpost with my platoon in Al Anbar province, Iraq. The "COP," as most refer to it, was set up to deny insurgents the ability to use the heavily trafficable roads to transport weapons, ammunition or hostile threats from one city to another. On this rotation and specific morning at the COP, a resupply convoy had just departed my position to return to our company firm base.

While en route the convoy was hit with a coordinated ambush. The situation sparked multiple support assets, including rotary wing aircraft. Not long after the aircraft had been on station, they spotted several armed combatants running into a house several hundred meters to the south of the ambush site. The aircraft kept observation on the house for sufficient reporting and received permission to send TOW missiles into the house that sheltered positively identified hostiles.

Fight Like a Champion: Thoughts on Laughter, the Big "I" and a Beautiful Blonde in Tight Jeans

During bad times I tell my platoon that "laughter is the best medicine." The problem is, I'm lying. As Rolling Stone columnist P.J. O'Rourke corrects me, "Laughter is in fact not the best medicine. Penicillin is the best medicine, followed by tetracycline and the sulfa drugs…." 

Even though laughter may not be the best medicine, I do know that the most important thing in life is to have a sense of humor. A sense of humor is definitely more essential than food, O'Rourke reminds us, because if you have a sense of humor, you can laugh even when you're starving, while if you laugh too hard on a full stomach, you'll throw up. 

24 Insurgents Killed, 3 Marines Rescued, 1 Navy Cross: A Reluctant Hero Is Made

View From the Ground — Part I

This two-part series lays out a clear strategy for how to win in Iraq from a combat-tested Marine – not a desk-based strategist – as told to Gina DiNicolo. 

Depending on the day of the week, political party and the media pundit, US forces in Iraq should:

1. Get out;
2. Stay put;
3. Both a) and b); or
4. None of the above.

Public hype and rhetoric aside, there's a core of battlefield tested JOs who have an insider's understanding of the situation in Iraq. Amid raging debates about obsolete Cold War tactics, the current realities of asymmetric warfare and the 360-degree battlefield, some on the sidelines wonder when forces will truly move beyond old habits. In a recent conversation one Marine Captain gave a frank and compelling perspective of how to win in Iraq. 

View From the Ground — Part II

This two-part series lays out a clear strategy for how to win in Iraq from a combat-tested Marine – not a desk-based strategist – as told to Gina DiNicolo.

The Short Term: How to Defeat the Insurgency

Here are some tactical solutions for short-term gains:

• Census the citizenry. Every population center should have an interface-capable and compatible census database that includes every male – or better yet – every citizen. This would include job information and provide data with regard to familial ties, among other things.

• Remove heavy armor units except for limited quick-reaction force roles. Use light, mobile infantry, parachute and Marines, especially in urban areas. The heavy armor has become a hindrance.

Gouge from Commanding General Petraeus: Letter to the Troops

Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Civilians of Multi-National Force-Iraq:

      We are now over two-and-a-half months into the surge of offensive operations made possible by the surge of forces, and I want to share with you my view of how I think we’re doing. This letter is a bit longer than previous ones, since I feel you deserve a detailed description of what I believe we have—and have not—accomplished, as Ambassador Crocker and I finalize the assessment we will provide shortly to Congress.

7 Things You Should Never Be Without When Leaving the Wire

Never go to work "outside the wire" in Iraq without these essentials: 

   1. A wrist-mounted GPS (the Foretrex series from Garmin is the cheapest and works fine) that displays Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) coordinates and uses WGS-84 Datum. It's always nice to look down and see your grid without having to pull anything out of a pouch/pocket – especially if you're on foot patrol. Most vehicles have their own GPS.

   2. A watch with a compass on it, either electronic or one that's added on.

   3. A battle book with all report formats laminated that you may need, including an IED 9-line card, CASEVAC and other standard reporting materials.

What to Pack for Iraq

On my first trip to Iraq, I met my unit about halfway through the deployment. Before heading over there, I had to check in with the remain-behind element. The senior man gave me and the other lieutenant checking in two-and-a-half days to get everything in order and be on a plane. In addition to all check-in procedures, he gave us his personal advice on what to carry over, as follows: our main pack, an extra personal bag and a five-foot sea bag. If you can imagine a brand-new then-2ndLt carrying all that gear over to Iraq, I hope you have a good laugh.