[Shadow_Group] Fw: Soldiers at Camp Eagle weary of Baghdad slum, Iraqis, mission

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/04/10/Camp_Eagle.html<http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/04/10/Camp_Eagle.html>

[More fine writing from the Knight-Ridder journalists]

[source]

 . . and just four magazine titles that were all, inexplicably, about
hair: Bridal Star Hairstyles, Short Cuts, Sophisticated Black Hair and
Celebrity Hairstyles. 



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Thursday, October 14, 2004

Soldiers at Camp Eagle weary of Baghdad slum, Iraqis, mission 

By Patrick Kerkstra
Knight Ridder Newspapers 

FORWARD OPERATING BASE EAGLE, Iraq - There's no shortage of dangerous,
austere and just plain miserable military postings in Iraq, but the
American soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division bunking at this base just
outside Baghdad's Sadr City slum might have drawn the shortest straw of
all. 

Since March [2004], insurgents have flung more than 800 mortar rounds at
Eagle, turning a walk to the mess tent into a life-and-death proposition.
On patrol, the soldiers routinely encounter roadside bombs, small-arms
fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

The constant combat and bleak camp conditions have pumped up the pride of
many. They've seen the worst, and they have the swagger to show for it.

But seven grueling months also have chipped away at the optimism many had
when they arrived, lending a jagged edge to their attitudes about Iraqis,
the war and the prospects for success.

'I used to want to be nice and friendly with the Iraqis. Now I don't
care. I'm all about getting home. I got a wife and baby, and I'm not
going to take a chance that someone might be friendly and find out that
they're not,' said Spc. Jarred Mafouz, who's part of a tank crew.

A truce that was struck over the weekend between militants in Sadr City
and the Iraqi government could be good news for Eagle's soldiers. Or it
could collapse and lead to still more fighting, as similar cease-fires
have.

The Dirty Bird, as Eagle is unaffectionately known, has none of the
commodious lounges, movie theaters, bicycle fleets and other amenities
that U.S. soldiers enjoy at other camps across Iraq.

'You hear people griping about how the swimming pool isn't working, the
chow hall is too small, and I'm like, "We get mortared every night. What
are you talking about?'''Pfc. Jeremy Chapman said. 
The Dirty Bird convenience store consists of one small, dimly lit room
lined with half-empty shelves and bizarre items such as dusty tins of
sardines and just four magazine titles that were all, inexplicably, about
hair: Bridal Star Hairstyles, Short Cuts, Sophisticated Black Hair and
Celebrity Hairstyles. 

'Yeah. Pretty depressing,' Capt. Matthew Benigni said while giving a
visitor a tour. 'If you want something, call home. Care packages are very
important here.'

While troops at other Baghdad installations have been treated to live
performances by the likes of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, the only
entertainers willing to risk playing at Eagle were the members of
ThundHerStruck, 'the ultimate all-girl tribute' band to rock group AC/DC.

But it's the pounding of mortar rounds, above all else, that makes Eagle
one of the worst.

Virtually everyone has had a close encounter with an incoming explosive.
They've killed one soldier and two contractors and injured about 120, all
in a 60-acre camp with little more than 1,000 soldiers. About 25 have
been seriously injured, many of them losing limbs.

They grumble that the insurgents time their attacks for the breakfast,
lunch and dinner hours, forcing the soldiers to don flak jackets and
helmets just to get fed. Morning runs are no longer mandatory, given all
the shrapnel.

'Everybody's had a close call. I've had about a dozen or so. Everyone's
got the same story,' said 2nd Lt. Brian Panaro. 'Close isn't close
anymore unless you're covered in dust.'

Mafouz remembers speaking to his wife from the camp's phone center when a
particularly fierce mortar attack began. One round hit the building,
wounding several soldiers who also were trying to call family and
friends. 
'My wife's on the phone crying her eyes out. The mortars are landing,'
Mafouz said. 'I'm saying, `Look, I got to go help these guys.''

Some of the soldiers said they'd become so accustomed to the explosions
that they found them comforting.

'They rock you to sleep after a while. Boom. Boom. Boom. You feel the
building shake. Like your mother rocking you to sleep,' Chapman said.

Chapman, who's been sprayed with tiny bits of shrapnel from a roadside
bomb while on patrol, had an equally close call on base when a mortar
round landed right outside the company headquarters.

'My bottle of water got a Purple Heart that day,' he said.

Given the conditions at Eagle - and the maddening inability to respond to
mortar attacks with artillery for fear of hurting civilians - it's little
surprise that the soldiers there relish their chances to take the fight
to the insurgents' homes, instead of their own.

The day after a big operation in Sadr City, Panaro gleefully described to
other soldiers how a speeding tank towing a disabled military vehicle
demolished marketplaces, sideswiped cars and crushed houses. 
Asked later if the offensives were wearing the enemy down, Panaro
shrugged and said, 'They're like cockroaches. You kill one and there's
three more right behind them.'

Several doors down, a smiling Benigni watched a video of a Predator drone
wiping out a cluster of insurgents with a Hellfire missile. He replayed
it for passers-by.

'We're the tip of the spear, man,' he told one of his men as they
celebrated and relaxed after the exhausting operation.

Usually, though, the mood is less jubilant. Later that day, Benigni
worked to raise the spirits of a young officer, likening the long fight
with insurgents to a chess match.

'And they're winning,' the young officer replied.
'No, they're not,' Benigni said.
'It seems like it, sir. It seems like they're outsmarting us,' the young
lieutenant said.
The next day, Benigni's company continued the game, rolling outside the
camp's gates to meet with local sheiks and visiting schools to survey
reconstruction needs. It was a day of diplomacy and some small progress,
the kind of work Benigni said he wanted to focus on more.

But when the company returned to Eagle, it had a new assignment, which
had nothing to do with reconstruction: Eight hours, beginning at 1 a.m.,
of watching a long stretch of a crucial road to prevent insurgents from
planting any bombs, at least for one night.

Benigni and his Humvee crew shared embarrassing stories and crude jokes
and occasionally sang songs to stay awake.

'The soldiers at this camp, they know without a shadow of a doubt that
they've been in some serious combat, in some of the worst conditions,'
Benigni said. 'When they get back home they'll be proud of it.'

'But,' he added, 'you won't have any trouble finding people to complain
about it now.'

 
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