Austin Bay sends from Iraq
Austin Bay is a nationally-syndicated columnist who is also a colonel in the Army Reserve. Called to active duty, he is starting his seventh week serving in Iraq. Following are excerpts from an email he sent me this week, posted with his permission.

The base I'm on has been shelled between 15 and 20 times since I arrived, usual one or two medium mortar rounds, though we've taken a couple of 122-millimeter rocket volleys. The shooters are aiming at the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) and most of the rounds smack runway or dirt.

One afternoon we took eight rounds aimed at Al Faw Palace. A stray piece of shrapnel nicked my staff section's Ford Explorer. This is harassment fire, but high explosive cuts through the murk. Booms and bams that rattle the walls are memorable experiences.

Shooting at us is very dangerous and since mid-June the harassment fire has tapered off dramatically. 1st Cavalry Division, which is deployed in and around Baghdad, has killed a number of the shooters. The shooters drive to a spot in the desert west of BIAP, jump out of their car, set up their mortar, and fire. The 1st Cavalry Division's counter-battery artillery radar picks up the rounds in flight and a single US artillery piece returns fire. As I said, since mid-June the harassment fire has tapered off.

The counter-mortar radar he refers to is doubtless the Army's Q36 system. It is extremely accurate and fast. I tested it once against my battalion of howitzers in Germany. From a distance of more than 15 kilometers, the radar's crew located my firing guns withina radial distance of seven meters before they fired a second round. This was in 1985. I am sure that with software upgrades the radar's computations are even faster.

Austin visited the Polish military and was taken to the ruins of ancient Babylon.

A Polish archeologist took us around the ruin. Alas, Saddam ruined the ruin. He erected Disney-esque walls on top of legit Babylonian bricks. Iraq needs a new wave of archeologists to save its historical and cultural treasures, and I am certain they will come. I recommend they bring a bulldozer to deal with the ego-walls Saddam erected.

On the chow hall staff:

There is a Bangladeshi who works in the mess hall. He runs the short order griddle. His name is Wanhim and he has a smile the size of the Bay of Bengal. For some reason he and I connect -I think it's because I always thank him. For the last month, as soon as I come in, no matter how long the line, he immediately drops three eggs on the griddle and nods to me. See, I went through a phase the first week I was here where I ordered "three over easy" for five days straight. Now, I get three over easy and a big smile every day, and I don't have the heart to tell Wanhim I'm back to eating Barbara's Shredded Wheat and yogurt.

Better service than I got in Korea at the PX snack bar. There, Hadashi (Hangul for "mister") worked the sandwich line. If you wanted a cold-meat sandwich, your choices were ham salad, tuna salad and chicken salad. Whoever was first through the line at opening got what he wanted. Everyone else got what the first guy ordered no matter what they asked for. Hadashi finished that meat until the tray was empty.

If you objected that he was giving you, say, ham salad, when you had ordered tuna salad, he said sharply, "Ham salad, tuna salad, chicken salad! All same-oh, same-oh!" And then you got a ham salad sandwich.

By the way, the trade paperback edition of Austin's last novel, The Wrong Side of Brightness, is out and is available on his web site.

by Donald Sensing, 7/10/2004 12:36:43 PM. Permalink |