Saturday, April 10, 2004
Journal Entry: Setting Up The Pieces
Journal Entry: 13 May 2003
2030 Hours
Al Asad Air Base, Iraq
Problem: We're only receiving two 1-litre bottles of water per soldier per day. In the absence of a reliable bulk water supply, that is not enough to sustain light infantry in the field. The industry standard is 8 gallons/soldier/day. We must solve that problem!
We took on a monster when we kicked off the mission without any of our organic vehicles. We bit off too much. We'll muddle through somehow, though. But we should not have taken or been assigned the mission without the communications and support assets on hand, or expressly committed by the 3rd ACR to make it happen. I'm not sure if the mechanized guys realize how austere our setup is--particularly with no water trailers or vehicle-mounted radios.
A few guys at the 3rd Armored Cavalry's support squadron have been a huge help: Captain Mack, for one--don't know his first name, He's in the squadron admin-log operations center,--and Major Matthew Schram, who I think is the operations officer.
Also working the issue of an evac vehicle for the aid station. None was budgeted.
1127 Hours: Collected statements on a vehicle accident for which I was appointed the investigating officer. I find no evidence of negligence.
We received 3 bottles of water per man for tomorrow. I'd rather have 4, but we can go on three for a while. One of our LT's came to me asking for more water. He thought one bottle was for hygiene, and went through the whole bottle. NOPE!
Rats all over the building. Arab style squat-latrines in the main building. But HHC's building has western-style latrines. Much better.
Asked for and got a medic to go on tomorrow's convoy to Baghdad. A vehicle was fired on yesterday in Fallujah, so things are still dicy.
2030 Hours
Al Asad Air Base, Iraq
Problem: We're only receiving two 1-litre bottles of water per soldier per day. In the absence of a reliable bulk water supply, that is not enough to sustain light infantry in the field. The industry standard is 8 gallons/soldier/day. We must solve that problem!
We took on a monster when we kicked off the mission without any of our organic vehicles. We bit off too much. We'll muddle through somehow, though. But we should not have taken or been assigned the mission without the communications and support assets on hand, or expressly committed by the 3rd ACR to make it happen. I'm not sure if the mechanized guys realize how austere our setup is--particularly with no water trailers or vehicle-mounted radios.
A few guys at the 3rd Armored Cavalry's support squadron have been a huge help: Captain Mack, for one--don't know his first name, He's in the squadron admin-log operations center,--and Major Matthew Schram, who I think is the operations officer.
Also working the issue of an evac vehicle for the aid station. None was budgeted.
1127 Hours: Collected statements on a vehicle accident for which I was appointed the investigating officer. I find no evidence of negligence.
We received 3 bottles of water per man for tomorrow. I'd rather have 4, but we can go on three for a while. One of our LT's came to me asking for more water. He thought one bottle was for hygiene, and went through the whole bottle. NOPE!
Rats all over the building. Arab style squat-latrines in the main building. But HHC's building has western-style latrines. Much better.
Asked for and got a medic to go on tomorrow's convoy to Baghdad. A vehicle was fired on yesterday in Fallujah, so things are still dicy.
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