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Iraq Dumpster Finds


hawkdriver
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That is the problem with this stuff, I could keep everyone outfitted with uniforms until the cows come home, but to ship that pile of stuff is going to be around $65. Who's going to pay that for seven sets of uniforms. The sad thing is that I found a quad con tonight of two piece ABDU and DABDU flight suits that someone was using for an arrow stop. Most of the uniforms are in good shape, but who is going to pay to ship that home? Most of this stuff will probably get tossed in the uniform box to be destroyed. The boots are pretty well worn or hanging over the internet wiring at the top of T-walls in the ETS fashion. Hats are so soiled that I wouldn't touch them with gloves on. :crying:

 

 

Oh come now! That Blackhawk of yours has great lift capabilities! Just sling load several crates full of uniforms and other junk, fly it down to a USAF base, have them load it and fly it home. Just mark it as "medical supplies" I saw it done on M*A*S*H, so it has to be possible! :lol:

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Wow... what a waste.

 

Sorry to get off topic, but as you Hawkdriver are a U.S. serviceman still over in Iraq, what are you guys doing there when the Combat troops have left? (Not meant as a Why are we over there question, but a literal one.)

 

Do you guys just patrol or hang out or what? The no combat troops thing confuses me. Who does security?

 

Sam

 

 

Too add to Hawks reply, for those who might be wondering about the rest of the matter, here is the skinny on the remaining 50k that will be here in theater for the next year or so. And bare with me here, as it might seem like a lot of reading. Even though they are officially combat brigades, or regiments, in the case of 3rd ACR, ( they and another Bde size element are soon to be on ground here. With my work, I had a hand in preparing their senior leadership in the advising aspects, etc.. of this type of mission ) they will not be known as that...combat bdes, or units. Now they are being labeled SFAB's...Security Force Assistance Brigades, with the mission of partnering with and providing advisor functions to the Iraq MOI and MOD forces. Earlier these were known as AAB's or MBSFA's... Advise and Assist Brigades, and Modular Brigade Security Forces Assistance. Nothing really new. Not to many folks anyway. To joe schmoe on the street, sure it is a total surprise, even tho the advising effort has been going on for years now. From small teams like I did at the BN and lower tactical level, to these Brigade size/National level efforts as I mentioned. It is not well covered because the media likes to overlook things. We all know they live on sensationalism and "if it bleeds, it leads" reporting. Kinda like this "last combat unit" leaves Iraq BS.

 

As it stands, under the Security Forces Agreement with the Government of Iraq, the only US military ground movement "outside the wire" is supposed to be for logistics and admin purposes. No combat operations WITHOUT direct request for assistance from the Iraqi side. And if we go, it has to be Iraqi faces leading the operations. Also,The logistics and admin ground movements are all supposed to be escorted by Iraqi Security Forces...But, We still have our own organic security elements with these movements! Its just that they have to be present.It has been that way for awhile now.

 

As for security, many of the FOBs have had contracted security companies performing the fixed site protection in conjunction with and under the US mil supervision for sometime now. They supplement or augment the security functions. There are, or were, I haven't looked in a while now, about 5 PSC's that had license to perform these functions at one time.

 

 

 

And on the subject of all forces being gone, I am in Iraq right now doing some work with the Iraqi MOI. To a one, they all have told me that it is too soon for us to be leaving, and are afraid of what is going to happen when ALL the US forces are out. They aren't ready and echo what has been reported in the news of being said by more senior folks from the Iraqi side.

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And as for FOB security, just so that no one is confuse. Don't picture US civilains doing the work, the companies may be US, but they are hiring Ugandans to do the work. They are already here, wearing the tan BDU's we have all been discussing.

Hoovie, great explanation.

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And as for FOB security, just so that no one is confuse. Don't picture US civilains doing the work, the companies may be US, but they are hiring Ugandans to do the work. They are already here, wearing the tan BDU's we have all been discussing.

Hoovie, great explanation.

 

True that. The management staff and supervisors are US for the most part, since secret clearances are required on most contracts. But the guards come from less fortunate countries, where they can be paid less by our standards, but making a good paycheck by theirs. And I think most of the Ugandies are gone, and now they come from Sierra Leone. At least the company I work for is using them. I had Ugandans when I was a Site Manager for one such contract. Am working on getting a couple of the guards uniforms as we speak. Although I am not directly involved in the Security side of the companies interests anymore, I am still surrounded by them, and a buddy of mine is the Site Manager where I am currently doing my work. If I woulda known my interests were going to be rekindled in collecting, I would have snagged a bunch from my own stocks when I had the chance, lol.

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I remember after I did four years active duty in the Navy I threw out all my uniforms.Then the civilian job was not paying enough I went into the Navy reserve I became a pack rat.One unit I was with SBU IX they were closing down the base they closed down a lot of Naval bases in Calif so the unit shrunk from 150 to 20 well had to find another home I had to turn in a lot of gear gore tex jacket,pants,web gear,Kevlar helmets,danner gore tex boots,they let me keep all my camo uniforms I was going to another unit and that was the working uniform.One thing about the reserve every thing is issued I got a whole new seabag when I went in differnt than active duty I think they took it out of my first paycheck.And when you get older you learn the value of these thing when I retired I gave most of my uniforms to the sea scouts they were mostly dungarees and dixi caps and some dress uniforms I did keep all my camo's and field jacket and a gore tex jacket but I did not want to see them go to waist.Want to hear some thing funny since we only used caamo's as a working uniform all the stuff in the seabag was original from 1985 most of the stuff would not fit we grow with age and since the only uniforms I used was camo's and winter blues and summer white's those were the only ones I made sure I had that fit we would have seabag inspection I had every thing thank god they did not make sure the stuff fit :lol:

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I can either ship to the states or I can ship to an APO. If you have someone in the states that can accept and ship to you, that would work. Everything I ship has to go to the US, or if another country by military mail, to which, no foreign civilians.

It's funny you ask about the combat shirts, I haven't seen a single combat shirt in the trash yet.

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And as for FOB security, just so that no one is confuse. Don't picture US civilains doing the work, the companies may be US, but they are hiring Ugandans to do the work. They are already here, wearing the tan BDU's we have all been discussing.

Hoovie, great explanation.

 

Why are we hiring security forces? If we still feel the need to be protected, we should have just kept the real soldiers in combat instead of hiring mercenaries. All I have heard about is the Army rolling out. Did that include the Marines and any naval combat teams? And anybody know where the combat troops are going? I heard Kuwait. But where to after that?

 

Sam

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I read in the newspaper this morning that Taliban Insurgents were wearing U.S. military uniforms when they attacked two coalition bases in Afghanistan, so maybe it's not a good idea that these uniforms be thrown out where they can be accessed by non U.S. personnel. I read earlier in this thread that nobody but American personnel have access to the dumpster where the uniforms are being disposed of, but I think one needs to be very careful with their uniform items.

 

Also, I apologize in advance for this statement, and I don't mean to be rude or disrespectful, but I think the "where are you guys going," and "what are you doing over there" questions are a little inappropriate. I know this isn't wikileaks, but in my opinion, I don't think Hawk should be asked what he's doing and how he's doing it. You'd be surprised how many people scour the internet for bits and pieces of information that may help them. Just like I have always thought embedded reporters were a bad idea, I think discussing operations of a current conflict, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem, is a bad idea.

 

You don't have to be registered to view the topics in the forum. It's an open forum where guests can come in and see what we're talking about.

 

That's just my opinion. I'll shut up now. Again, I'm not serving in the military, and I don't mean to step on toes, it's just an observation.

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snake36bravo
You'd be surprised how many people scour the internet for bits and pieces of information that may help them.

 

I actually worked a unit in DISA that performed this function for intelligence/counter-intelligence. JWRACs was our term. militaryphotos.net is the worse for opsec in terms of what is revealed for potential operational planning purposes. The truth is anyone with the intent can gather this information all day from various sources.

 

In regards to the recent attack by enemy forces wearing US uniforms, plenty of US Surplus uniforms are sold by our own government to foreign countries. Or just get them from Ebay complete with IR Tabs or buy yourself a strobe even to confuse air support. Whats worse, from my own experience, is the use of off base local personnel to supplement active duty personnel and contractors. Everything from cooks, barbers, tailor shops, etc exist wherever we deploy. Nation building might be a nice term but again, anyone with the proper training, intent can infiltrate for intelligence gathering purposes to disseminate the information to the enemy.

 

The game is always on in this regard.

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Those insurgents in A-stan wearing US uniforms bought them from the local street vendor market where these uniforms are sold regularly. They speculated that most were stolen from a warehouse. Seems like someone needs to go through the market and have a uniform rodeo round-up. As for information, it can be found just about anywhere, but I'm not worried about here, in another 27 hours, the war will be completely over and no more worrying about the insurgents anymore. :think:

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Corpl. Cleaver
in another 27 hours, the war will be completely over and no more worrying about the insurgents anymore. :think:

 

yeah right, keep safe buddy :salute:

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