It all seemed to be going so smoothly.
Sure, the unit was an hour late to pick me up. But you gotta be ready for that when traveling in a war zone. They don’t work on your schedule over here.
I made it down to the command post for 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines — a Hawaii-based unit that’s been here since August. The plan was to head out with them in a town called Karmah for a couple days to see how security has improved since some tough fighting this past summer.
I met a few of the guys, loaded my gear (way too much of it, of course) into the “high-back” Humvee (the pickup truck version with a big box of thick steel armoring its cargo compartment) and we headed toward the back gate of Camp Fallujah. During the first part of the ride, we made small talk, getting to know where each other was from and how things had been since they got here.
Then I asked them how their Humvees had been holding up.
“Pretty good,” one of the Marines replied.
The Humvee is a real workhorse here. But for the last few years new units coming in have been falling in on the same jeeps left here by other battalions heading out. That means these Humvees have taken quite a beating. And it’s a real tribute to the maintenance Marines — and Soldiers, for that matter — who keep them running.
No sooner had we left the back gate on our way to Combat Outpost Delta, where 3/3’s Lima Company is based, than the vehicle commander radioed his team leader: “Gunny, you know your Humvee is smoking?”
Though we tried for another 100 or so yards, pushing on for the rest of the five-mile trip was not an option. We had to tow it back to Camp Fallujah for repair or a switch of Humvee.
I was wishing I hadn’t asked anything about the jeeps…
A blown radiator, a screwy Chameleon anti-IED system and a Blue Force Tracker on the fritz, kept us at Fallujah for eight more hours. Each time we thought we were free to go, a new problem cropped up. Murphy was on the attack.
The maintenance guys told me many of the earlier problems with the Humvee had been fixed. With new suspensions, more powerful engines and a rebuilt power steering system, major problems are kept at bay. Problem is, it’s the minor ones that’ll keep you from getting to your destination most of the time.
They told me Marines at the forward bases sometimes put oil in the power steering system, or brake fluid in the radiator. “One time I had to drain the gas tank and I found anti-freeze,” one of them said.
There’s no evidence this kind of routine Jiffy Lube snafu was the cause of our problems. But one thing’s for sure. These Humvees do Herculean work. But if you put the wrong fluids on the wrong place, Murphy could be lurking behind you just around the corner.
– Christian
(Cross-posted at Christian’s “From the Front” blog.)
Camp Fallujah was my home whils I was working with the Marines as an Army grunt. My Humvee looked like swiss cheese and liked to catch on fire now and then. at least you have some trees on the Camp to look at.
don’t they teach the grunts what fluid goes where
There has to be a good reason for that kind of screwup; nobody is *that* stupid to mix up fluids. Especially in this day and age where most guys have cars and are socially expected to know how to work on them.
As for the Humvees, I’m kind of surprised they’re still getting play, with the MRAP hub-bub and all.
up armored humvee’s are bad ass. my had taken 10+ hits from ieds and still keep on trucking. the only thing the ieds do is pop tires which we would get out of the kill zone and fix in sector.
When they first brought the Humvee’s to Israel, they told us they were unflippable.
The IDF managed to flip one on the first day.
Drive safe!
Charles– Yeah, there are people that stupid. I’ve met them. One guy put his lug nuts on backward (beveled end out).
It’s really sad. You know, people used to grind their valves at home.
The Humvee fluids ports aren’t that easy to identify if you’ve never opened one up before. Of course, they come with instructions.
Christian…its cold huh? I bet you’re freezing your behind off at night huh??? How those rats, scorpions and such treating ya big guy? Kinda makes ya wonder why you decided to head back don’t it? Jokes aside be safe cowboy, can’t wait to hear your stories…
They need to be careful where they put the headlight fluid. They’ll throw the Fahrvergn
Well when I was in the Navy they had padlocks on the access hatches to the main reduction gears in the engine room. Back in the day when somebody didn’t want to go out to sea they put metal shavings in the reduction gears and you were guaranteed to miss a deployment.
So maybe it isn’t that they are ignorant but rather they just don’t want to go outside the wire.
DC2
You can be too concerned about the injury and will be bogged down in these, only see weak, you can keep playing their first game mentality, the game itself is in order to play. You wanted to earn Hellgate London gold, you can go to earn, if you want not, you can too. Play game you must be very happy, if you angry, in real life has a lot of experience, so why should their spare time to relax, no one knows how the real you, so you can even have their own game of life, would not mind other people said. I think games like reality, life is your own visited, good or bad, people can not participate in.
Explore huge new areas and dungeons you have never seen before. Visit new cities! Do new quests! Battle new monsters! And on top of it all, a further premium area is available on Rookgaard. You will find that as a premium player there is simply more Tibia Gold to see and more to do.
There is no room for softness or love in the world of Requiem gold. There is only death, carnage, and salvation through extreme force.
so I did not had enough time to sleep and study, and also did not enough money to bought the new clothes, because I spend my pin money to bought the 2moon dil, maybe some people said that I was very foolish, but I did not care about other people