Alright, today is the Sunday that we will all gather around our Picture Boxes, and watch a bunch of apes throw a funny looking ball at each-other. I am not totally against the Superbowl, I enjoy watching it, I simply don't understand the mass appeal. It is in the same category of Nascar, let's sit there and yell at people that can't hear us, while they do the same thing over and over an over....... And OVER....... Granted Football is challenging, I never played on a team but I had my fair share of Backyard Superbowls growing up, so I do understand the game and the fact that what they do is not easy. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy watching those apes in pads attempt to murder each-other with a banana shaped ball.
Now, I am going to draw a picture for you. It is early morning, the city is Baghdad, The temperature is hot enough to Bake one of those Stouffer's Lasagna's in ten Minutes, you know the ones that take like 4 hours to cook. The sun is always out, The air is as Dry as my Dad's sense of humor. I am getting ready to go get Breakfast, why did I become a driver.... If I had known I was going to be running meals back to the Bone-Yard I might have re-considered my offer. Today was in many ways, going to be just like every other day. Hot, miserable, and I would have to be driving all day. So, I jumped into my Jittny-Mobile and head out the Gate, I am lead vehicle, and I have my Gunner on the back of my truck.
Let's take a step back here, I want you to picture my truck. You know when you watch the movies, and you see the Humvee's with all of the armor? And you think to yourself, That actually looks pretty safe. Shift-Delete that image right out of your Memory. My Humvee was a Bikini Top, with no doors, and it had NO armor. It was like driving a jeep that was painted camouflage, I was not privileged to have an Armored Humvee, because, well none of us had them. We did get armor, but it was really just 1/4 inch steel plates that were welded and bolted to the surface of our trucks. Not necessarily there to stop bullets or shrapnel, mainly to try and slow it down enough that it would maim instead of kill.
Back to the story, I was running morning chow, I was driving like Mario Andretti, weaving in an out of traffic, running people off the road, I felt like a New York City Taxi driver. I made it safely to 501st Support battalion, where the worst slop you could ever taste waited in these big green containers, I grabbed our ration and took it back to the Bone-yard. Why do the containers need to be green, is the enemy going to find our crappy food and steal it if it is not in a Camouflaged container? Also, who decided that our food needed to taste like the sole of a combat boot? Anyway, I made it back, alive, and I blared the horn as I entered the compound, I was also an alarm clock for my two Battle-Buddies this Lazy Cuban and Greek.
This day was however going to be an interesting day. We had this enormous warehouse, this warehouse housed a multitude of ammunition, all of it was left over crap from the first war. RPG's, SAM's, guns , bombs, grenades, basically a Hillbilly heaven. In this plethora of death and dismemberment, there was this one piece of artillery, I liked to call it Sally, it was a 155 mm Artillery shell, it had been launched and landed, without exploding....... I am sure you can imagine.... THIS IS NOT SAFE!!! However, in the true nature of most of the locals out there, this was no big deal. Apparently it had arrived at our compound when one of the local men picked it up and carried it there.......... THIS IS NOT SAFE!!!!! Do not, PLEASE, think that there is any amount of intelligence in carrying unexploded ordnance. This man, evidently thought just the opposite. Well, we had our mission, it was to clear all of the Weapons of Minor destruction out of the warehouse and out to the desert and have a fireworks show. It came down to the end and nobody wanted to take Sally, they said she was dangerous and could not be trusted. So, we called in EOD.... *Ominous Tough guy Music* These guys are certifiably insane. Trust me, they play with bombs, as jealous as I am, I am not that brave.
Mid-day, all of the vehicles are moved back behind the Mansion (The only 'House' on the Compound) all of us are standing there huddled behind the wall, like kids waiting to be picked for Dodgeball. Trust me, you don't want to be picked for this game, the end result can be very messy. The EOD officer looks at us and says. "Alright, we are sending in the robot, the robot will sever the fuse from the bomb," (This is so cool, we are gonna blow a robot up) "you will hear one of two things, if it sounds like a shotgun...... That means we did it right, but if we didn't do it right, well you will know." So, now we are all standing there, I plug my ears as the EOD Officer begins to countdown.
5.......
This is going to be awesome.
4.......
Here it comes.
3.......
Inhale deeply.
2.......
Hold..... HOLD....
1.......
Snap, a shotgun sized blast, how disappointing...................................... BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!
Holy Hell, I should have kept my fingers in my ears.
"Looks like we didn't do it right...." Chuckles the EOD guy.
I almost wonder if they even tried to disarm it or if they just wanted to blow some stuff up. Anyway you look at it, we all enjoyed the result.
Now, it is time to go observe the Damages. As we walk into the warehouse, there is a hole taller than me in the inner and outer wall. The cement below the shell has vanished and now there is a hole three feet around and about three feet deep. I turn around and I can see holes in the ceiling, 50 feet above our heads, holes in the far wall, about 300 Feet from where we are standing. Oh look at that, apparently we had forgotten to move this, It is a brand new engine for a M-88, oh and look there is a hole clean through it. OOPS! The recovery guys are not going to be too happy about this. There are holes the size of a fist through steel I-Beams, holes in everything, shrapnel the size of a human arm. It was fun. I am sure you can imagine. Anyway, I am getting stolen away from you, the Commander has plans for today, and apparently I am involved in them.
Timmy OUT!