Background on Somalia

Somalia sits on the East coast of Africa. The Horn of Africa as you see it on the map it looks like a number 7 jutting out of the continent. In colonial times the Italians ruled Somalia.

In the global proxy war between America and Russia Somalia was the beneficiary of weapons and military training. The eventual antagonist Mohamed Farrah Aidid was even trained in the Soviet Union.

As the cold war ended Somalia broke into a civil war broke out between the clans. Foreign aid from well meaning westerners was quickly taken by the militias and sold to support their operations.

As any president on their way out of office, George Bush senior was happy to find a situation where he could build a legacy. Bringing aid to a starving country would be as good as anything.

Reporting for Duty

I showed up at 29 Palms, CA after being on a month long break. While on vacation I saw Seals and Recon Marines landing on the beach under the glare of the media.

I was relatively out of shape (a month of no physical training) but ready get militarized again. I showed up at my assigned unit with my orders and brazenly informed the First Sergeant that I wanted to go to Somalia. He laughed and said that I didn't have a choice in the matter, my new unit was shipping out and I was going.

I was assigned to a Light Armored Infantry Battalion. These Marines spent the last few years training, touring the Pacific, drinking, fighting and bonding. Then I show up. I was a concerned about being the new guy.

Over the next few weeks we had a series of false alarms. We were told not to leave the area because we might ship out at any minute. We had inspections to make sure all our gear was in place.

Finally it's the real deal, we go El Toro.

One Long Flight

We got bussed to the El Toro airport. There were a lot of Marines milling around and an incredibly depressing folk music band playing. In a situation like that you're so conflicted because the performance is bad but you appreciate the effort.

Chartered transport

I was surprised to find out that the military charters commercial planes to do the majority of their troop transport. The government and the airlines have some sort of incentive deal. We flew from El Toro, California to somewhere on the East Coast. Then to Germany, then Cairo. I'd like to claim I've been to Germany and Cairo but we stopped just long enough to stretch our legs.

Somewhere along the trip they allowed the smokers to light up. For about an hour it was horrible. The cabin was full of smoke. Besides the tobacco the entire plane was starting to smell exactly like a plane full of Marines. The stewardesses just walked down the aisle spraying aerasol cans of some sort. Then we smelled like a plane full of Marines and roses.

Safe in Cairo

I gotta say I was alarmed that we stopped off at Cairo. As we touched down private maintenance people were on and off the plane. I know we're officially friends with Egypt but a plane full of Marines would be a juicy target for anyone that wasn't a fan of the United States.

The Airport

The Marines have landed

We ended the trip in Mogadishu. It was surreal to land in this third world anarchy-zone in a commercial airliner. The hot air smacked our face, that was the first thing we noticed. As you look off in the distance and realize where you're at you feel incredibly naked knowing that you have no bullets in your gun. We got to a shaded area in the ruins of some building and they issued us our ammunition. Now we have the tools.

After we make sure we have everyone we all hop on trucks and make our way to an open space next to the runway that will become our home for the next few days. Before getting too relaxed we put up tents. Very soon after Marines come by and wire them for electricity and lighting.

A shave

What little hair I did have at the top of my head became a liability when planes maneuvered on the runway. My head became primarily a dust receptacle. So off with my hair. This was the first time I ever shaved my entire head. It was easier to keep clean and cool.

My unit was a Light Armored Infantry battalion. It's very similar to the stryker vehichles that the Army now uses. Just as a Marine isn't maximally capable without his rifle our battalion wasn't useful without our Light Armored Vehichles.

Pre-positioned equipment

The US military pre-positions equipment that just sits off in the ocean waiting a need to arise. If the equipment is needed they make their way to the hotspot to meet up with all the people that know how to operate that gear.

After a few days without doing much we finally were able to go on some patrols with our shiny new Light Armored Vehichles. It was insane going through a town that has been through years of anarchy. Not a single building is free of bullet holes, most structures are crumbling. There were plenty of people making a living and trying to survive.

The Stadium

Eventually we moved out to the stadium. It was a big concrete structure more centrally located. It made for a good base of operations. Outside of the bowl of the stadium was a deck up one flight of stairs. That deck is where we set up our cots, we mostly had shade and protection from the rain.

The entire stadium complex had perimeter security. This amounted to machine gun pits manned by Marines that kept an eye on a man-sized wall. Not long after being at the stadium they made us put sandbags around the rim of the deck we were living on. We got intelligence reports that some Arab snipers were on their way to Mogadishu to cause whatever trouble they could. Looking back, I imagine this was a small contingent of Al Queda. The sandbags were in place just in time because soon after they were up we started getting fire.

Our unit didn't lose anyone but there were plenty of times that we were concerned for our survival. I remember a particularly heavy barage of fire. I was laying there behind a row of sand bags with my helmet and flak jacket on hearing rounds impact against the sand bags. Those sand bags really work, I felt secure enough to nap through the exchange. One of our guys came incredibly close to getting shot. He was standing up watching people play cards. He sat down and very soon after a round impacted where he was standing

Marine Gunner

In between the enlisted and officer rank structures are warrant officers. They're above all enlisted men and below all officers. It's usually a spot for enlisted men that have come to learn valuable skills. In the Army you'll see a lot of helicopter pilots are warrant officers.

At about the time I entered the Marines they came up with a special designation. A Marine Gunner is a warrant officer that has previous combat experience. He knows how to employ every weapon an infantry Marine might use in combat. Literally from a pistol to a howitzer, this guy should know how the weapon inside and out. He should know under what conditions it'll operate, how far it'll shoot, how to service it on and on. The Marines thought it'd be a good idea to have a man like this around.

Our Marine Gunner had, what I believe was, an M82 .50 caliber rifle. Either way, it was a big gun that used bullets that were particularly phallic, like seriously. I believe that the round is meant primarily for shooting equipment not so much humans, it's overkill. But it's handy when someone is taking pot shots at you behind a flimsy wall.

Sniping the sniper

The Gunner took up a position near the top of the stadium. We heard these distinctive booms whenever he fired. We're not sure if he got anyone but the sniping went away.

The most of the time we were at the stadium we did boring things like secure feed sites. We occasionally took part in raids or busted up road blocks. George Bush senior came to a tent city in Mogadishu and we provided a security perimeter for that operation.

Bardera

Another Plane Ride

Some of us were sent more inland to a town called Bardera. Some drivers took the LAVs from Mogadishu and drove directly to Bardera. The rest of us traveled by plane. We traveled particularly low, I assume to avoid any random shooting.

We landed at an air strip in the middle of nowhere. This would be our home for a while. We formed our LAVs in a perimeter around the strip. The big GP tents didn't make their way up to Bardera yet so we improvised our ponchos and tent-halves into a depressing shelter. Being Marines we had to make nice rows of rocks to mark the walk-way up to our shelter.

LAI Unit Organization

The smallest unit in the Marine infantry is the fire team. It's 4 guys: fire team leader, machine gunner, assistant machine gunner and point. Things are different in Light Armored Infantry units. It's organized around the LAVs. So you have a driver, gunner, commander and a small contingent of plain old infantrymen that dismount and do their thing. In the Light Armored Infantry world these infantryment were called scouts. I was never too wild about that name. I was the senior Marine among the infantrymen on my LAV but the commander was in charge of everyone.

It is not tactical to glow

The 2 junior scouts were an interesting pair. There was a black kid that was very un-motivated and an ignorant goon from Alaska named Grapengater. Grape was a treat, buck-teeth and lots of attitude. This genius decided to cut open a chem-light. He thought the best place to do this was above the helmet and flak jacket of the other scout.

Then it hits the fan. I'm not really sure what the situation was but there were lots of bullets going back and forth. Maybe it was someone probing our perimeter, maybe it was spooked Marines that started shooting each other. What I do know is that we all had to get tactical real quick. That means we had to put on all of our gear and get ready for anything.

Eventually we realize that one of our scouts is at the perimeter with a glowing helmet and flack jacket. This is sub-optimal. This was serious but we had a hard time warning the kid because we were laughing so hard. Fortunately no one died that night.

Guarding NGOs

When I was in Security Forces I was one of a handful of Marines that got some quick Hummer training to drive troops to Fort Ord in California. Just for the record, driving a Hummer is not difficult.

In Bardera there were a handful of NGOs. I can remember at least Doctors Without Borders, ICRC (Red Cross) and CARE. They needed Marines to leave base at dusk to spend the night with NGOs for protection. The NGOs would hire Somalis and occasionally if they had to fire them, they would receive threats.

My HummVee skills came in handy because we always had to drive out to the NGO site. Not too many Marines had Hummer licenses so I went along for most every trip. There were lots of perks to this.

I could put a bottle of water in their freezer, I can't describe how welcome cold water is when all you have to quench your thirst all day is hot water. I could occasionally help myself to their food. It was nice to communicate with someone other than a jar head once in a while. I remember there were some Green Berets doing similar missions in Bardera.

One of the Green Berets became romantically involved with one of the NGOs, not professional.

The NGOs were well-meaning people. I personally think that there's a self-serving side to their work.

I remember a European guy not understanding what was in our chem-lights. These are just the lights you give your kids on Halloween. I told him that it was plutonium or something, I don't think he picked up on the humor.

On the cover of the Rolling Stone

One night guarding a CARE compound there was a team of Americans that were working for CARE to get footage of their work. The camera man was an interesting guy. He was a former Army camera man that lived in Central America, he worked mostly with ABC or something, he had lots of stories.

There was a female on the video team as well, she was attractive. The European in charge of the compound was drunk and had his eyes on her. I remember it being very tense, he made some moves, got angry, there were Somali gunmen working for him in the compound. All the while he was loudly listening to and singing along to the Dr. Hook song On the Cover of the Rolling Stone. Other than protecting everyone we were also keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't try anything with her. Eventually things calmed down.

We got along well with the Somali gunmen. We used the international language of guns to break the language barrier. They had HK G3s and we had our M-16s. Other than inspecting assault rifles we sort of sang some Bob Marley together and also gleaned that they liked Michael Jackson and liked listening to the BBC world service.

Bet you can't chew through that pole

One day we were incredibly bored. Grape had huge teeth so I mentioned that I'd bet that he couldn't chew through a pole supporting our tent. He got up and examined the pole. It was pressure treated, very hard. He said he could chew through a 2x4. Quickly a platoon and a half of Marines were betting on wether or not this guy could chew throught a pole.

He got started and I was nervous because he seemed like he knew exactly what he was doing. He got cocky and even took a smoke break and ate some cake. Grape got real deep into the wood. We thought he was getting close but he didn't make the wood wide enough such that he could get his teeth into the wood. I forget how much time we gave him, maybe 2 hours. Eventually he ran out of time.

After it was all over he was $40 in debt to me. He said that he did that bet in Alaska previously. If you seem crazy and have big teeth I guess people make bets about your ability to chew through things.

...more to come