Saturday, May 2, 2009

Bulletproof and Billy

I went out the other day with a platoon of MPs to a market opening in the Abu Ghraib district of Western Baghdad.  Our mission was to provide an outer cordon for the ceremony. In short, it was to stop insurgents from entering the market and blowing things up.  We had two Iraqi interpreters with us whom were more fluent in English and slang than I could ever dream of being.

Billy's story.

"Hey Billy, how come you don't wear any body armor or a helmet?" I said.
"Sheet man, I don't need that f*&%$ing sheet," Billy replied while brushing back a curl of hair on his greasy black head.
"OK, don't you feel a bit naked without it?" I further inquired.
"I only wore that sheet once," he stated between drags of his Iraqi slow-burning cigarette. 
"And?"
"And I got f*&%$ing shot," he said with a smile.
"Uhhh, OK. Did you scream like a bitch?" I said, returning his smile.
"Nahh man.  I got outta the humvee and started walking.  Next thing it felt like someone jumped up and kicked me in my chest," he continued. "I fell like f*&%$ing 10 feet back and the LT was over me pulling off my body armor. I was like, 'What the f*&%$, man!' He said, 'Hold still.' And opened my armor and showed me the round that hit me.  Man sheet. I don't wear that sheet no more."
I looked around at the other MP that was listening to Billy's story and he just shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows, then turned to pull security.
"Right on, but if you didn't have that armor on then you would have been killed," I said.
"Naaah, man. That sheets like bad luck or something. F*&%$ that," added Billy.
It was hot out and I didn't have the energy to argue with luck.

Bulletproof's story.

With a gut protruding several inches past his belt, Bulletproof nimbly dodged my camera.  Most of the 'terps don't like their pictures taken.  Most of the terps live in Baghdad or have family here and a picture can get them all killed. I reassured him that even if I accidently snap a photo of him, then I don't print that anyways.  He smiled a toothy grin and wiped the sweat from his brow by removing his ACU patrol cap with his right hand and using his left biceps to wipe his forehead.  On the back of the patrol caps it states your name.  On the back of his patrol cap it reads, "BULLETPROOF."

"Hey man, how'd you get the name 'Bulletproof?" I asked pointedly.
"Yo, it's cause I'm bulletproof!" he proudly stated.
"How's that?"
"Cause I've been shot three times," the 27-year-old man said. 
"Then you're not exactly bulletproof, are you?"
"Sheet, I'm still here, ain't I?" 
Bulletproof had a point.

These are just some of the characters that you can find in this world over here.  Most of them are just trying to survive like the rest of us.  Some of them are even making a few bucks doing it.
It's just starting to get hot over here and it looks like it's going to be one hell of a summer.  I'll keep drinking water and I'll keep my body armor on cause there's only a few kinds of people left over here. The really stupid or the really lucky.  I'm not sure which one I am yet.
Here are a few pictures I took from that day.  Sorry, no pics of terps allowed.

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BAGHDAD – Sgt. Michael Eichmann, a military policeman from El Paso, Texas, assigned to the 591st MP Company “Spartans,” 93rd MP Battalion, 8th MP Bde., guards an outer cordon of a market opening in Abu Ghraib here, April 29. The Spartans work closely with their Iraqi Police counterparts on missions similar to this one every day. “We help them with supply issues, setting up an arms room, help their leaders become better leaders, make sure they’re taking care of their people and helping them with force protection, to name a few things,” said Eichmann. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, MND-B PAO)



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BAGHDAD – Sgt. Justin Haugen, a team leader and military policeman from Brookings, S.D., assigned to the 591st MP Company “Spartans,” 93rd MP Battalion, 8th MP Bde., guards an outer cordon of a market opening in Abu Ghraib here, April 29. Haugen has been in the military for almost 10 years, deployed four times and visited ten countries. “I enjoy seeing the difference that we make,” explained Haugen. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, MND-B PAO)


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BAGHDAD – Sgt. Justin Haugen (left), a Brookings, S.D. native and military policeman team leader and Staff Sgt. Marc Paugh (right), a military policeman and native of Dunkirk, Ohio, both assigned to the 591st MP Company “Spartans,” 93rd MP Battalion, 8th MP Bde., discuss the plan on where to set up security to guard an outer cordon of a market opening in Abu Ghraib here, April 29. “The outer cordon is to keep suicide bombers and terrorists from getting inside the market,” said Paugh. “We are also here to redirect and divert traffic around our cordon.” (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, MND-B PAO)


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BAGHDAD – Staff Sgt. Marc Paugh, a military policeman from Dunkirk, Ohio, assigned to the 591st MP Company “Spartans,” 93rd MP Battalion, 8th MP Bde., stands guard behind a fence during an opening ceremony for a market opening in Abu Ghraib here, April 29. The Iraqi Police work seamlessly with the Spartans and have built personal relationships with their counterparts, added Paugh, once a civilian law enforcement officer. “You conduct business with the IPs like police back in the States, but the IP Stations are more paramilitary here.” (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, MND-B PAO)

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BAGHDAD – Brookings, S.D. native, Sgt. Justin Haugen, a military policeman team leader assigned to the 591st MP Company “Spartans,” 93rd MP Bn., 8th MP Bde., takes the perimeter of a cordon for a new market opening in Abu Ghraib here, April 29. The Spartans’ mission was to provide security during the opening ceremony along with their Iraqi Police counterparts from three different IP Stations in the area. The site of the previous market was notorious for crimes against Coalition forces along a main route in western Baghdad; the market was moved and reopened in a safer location April 29. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, MND-B PAO)

2 comments:

  1. The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 05/05/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.

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  2. Hey SSG Burrell, it's SPC Mitchell. How are things going over there?

    ReplyDelete