PMC  PDF Downloads:

   •  Convoy Lessons Learned
   •  Frontline Lessons Learned

   •  Marine Lessons Learned

   •  Israel U.S. Lessons Learned

   •  Iraqi Freedom  L. L.

 

  PMC  Power Point Presentations:

   •  Convoy Lessons Learned

 

  LESSONS LEARNED: Here are my lessons learned after spending a year in Iraq as a contractor.  I am willing to speculate I'm as well traveled in Iraq as anyone I've met. I've been just about everywhere between Kuwait and Iran, all points in between. And I've traveled every way possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"By BEN THOMAS - Former Contractor"

  I've gone in military convoy up armored hummers at 40MPH. I've run the Fallujah Baghdad gauntlet in a 15 truck convoy, thin skinned white F350's. I've rolled all over in blacked out (Mitsubishi) Pajero's (SUV) in local dress. Diplomatic convoys with armored Suburbans and hello cover. 

I've done the whole hide the guns and smile a lot all the way to showing just about everyone the front sight post.  I've done 140KMH up MSR Tampa and weaved through Sadr City at a near standstill.  I, like nearly everyone have made mistakes and been lucky to be here writing this.  Here are some of my thoughts.

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LESSONS LEARNED (CONT)

  THE CLIENT: Learn to deal with all the clients. Some truly think that all Iraqis are great people and that the US Army is the enemy. Some will encourage you to shoot bicyclists who hog the road. I've seen both sides. Keep their agenda and ego's in mind. Don't make your own life miserable. Never let the client convince you "its safe. I do this all the time"... If it's stupid, it's stupid. On the same note, remember if we hamper our client's ability to do their job - our company can get fired. 

It's a fine line. Yeah, you're client thinks it's cute to drive to some local official's house at midnight for tea, sometimes you just have to do it.

  EQUIP: “Weapon, twelve mags, pistol, three mags, MEDKIT, GPS, map and compass, radio, spare battery, $500US dollars, MRE's, water bottle, NVG, armor. It's a lot. It's hot. If it's too heavy, get a gym membership - this job isn't for everybody.”

I will never not wear a helmet again. If there is a Kevlar helmet, it's going on my head. A dude standing right next to all of us on the roof was dropped from a headshot. The more comfortable and low profile the more likely it is you'll wear it. WEAR A HELMET.  

The AIMPOINT as issued is great, but it's a 3MOA (minutes of angle) glass at best. We are consistently making shots well beyond 300M. Last night I was slinging at a mortar crew about 700M. Luckily I had the PKM on them. My point is? Get an ACOG. Best money is the TA31F (ACOG, Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight by Trijicon.) I bought a shorty M4 and brought it with me. I wouldn't come here without a short gun. I also have a 22" MK12 (Special Purpose Rifle based on M4) with a Leupold (scope). I use that for long-range stuff. But at least bring an ACOG.

THE GOLDEN CONEX BOX.... it ain't coming. If I had a nickel for every time I have been told "Oh yeah man, we ordered ten of those and they should be here in three days" Or my favorite "don't worry, it will meet you in-country". If you don't have good guns, ammo, armor, or comms, just say "No" like Nancy Reagan. Some companies are worthless and will leave you in Iraq with a badly-used, stolen AK and two mags. Some will do you better than a Tier One unit. Personally, I just want the above-mentioned items and the rest to go to my bank account. If I want a three hundred dollar backpack, I'll buy it. Bottom line. Remember what gear is critical. Demand it be the best and take proper care of it.
 
  WEAPONS: Carry as big a gun as you can. Keep it clean. Keep it hot. CARRY LOTS OF AMMO. On April 4th I went through 14 mags and NEVER would have thought that a possibility before then. Carry more ammo, stage spare mags EVERYWHERE. If you're doing Green Zone PMC, one or two magazines may be enough, but you but if venture into the party zone, you need at least 12. 

  Buy short M4's. They will save your life. I carry a 18" upper on me with glass so when we reach our destination I flick it on the lower receiver and I now have a decent long gun. It's like having two guns to choose from. Optics, uppers, all that. Aim-points are great. The EOTEC (HOLOgraphic Weapon Sight (HWS)) is OK. The ACOG TA31 is the best by far. The AIMPOINT battery lasts six months. The EOTEC is a little too bright for my taste. Remember that the dot is like 3MOA in size so they aren't any good past 300 or 400. The ACOG is the best.

  Shoot a lot. Keep training. If you're company can't get more ammo. MAKE THEM. Dry fire. Practice mag- changes. Focus on cheek weld and front site. The basics win every time. Practice shooting out to 800M. I know, nearly every fight is within 150M but we were trying to bag a mortar crew that was pounding us at 800M's - and it happened more than once.  In terms of shooting, practice as you did on active duty, and always scrounge ammo.
  
  TRAINING:  I think the most important and neglected aspect of survival in theatre is training. Every day your crew should practice "actions on" (Emergency Action Drills). At least do it on a dry erase board. Actions upon anything and everything. What usually happens is we start going through the "what ifs" and all the sudden every guy in the crew has a different idea of what should happen. After all we come from many different backgrounds. 

  Decide on some fundamental concepts - and stick to them. As long as we all know the end goal and work towards it. For example, if the vehicle is stalled in the ambush, driver flicks it in neutral so the rear car can ram us out and we prepare to repair the vehicle on the opposite side of the contact.

  In the movie We Were Soldiers Once, (Sam Elliot's character, Sergeant Major Basil Plumley) said "If I need one there will be plenty laying around" in the film, in regards to rifles? He was right. During a firefight, a buddy was on a SAW and I had a M203. There were weapons strewn about the roof by wounded and those who elected to not play on the two way range. By the end of week two here, we all had our choice in weapons. We fired RPK, AK47, PKM, MK19, M249, M203, M4, Dragunov, and M60 at bad guys between the eight of us... That was unreal... Which brings me onto this - Train on all weapons. If you don't have access at least read the FM or TM on them. You never know when you're out of 5.56 and someone will hand you a PKM. Get familiar with them.

  While doing the workup for my last deployment we did live fire IAD's (Immediate Action Drill's) and movement from vehicles. It was the best training I have done and the most useful. On that note we did many SIMUNITION runs with vehicle ambush scenarios. We found that without a doubt THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN SURVIVING IS GETTING OUT AND AWAY FROM THE CAR. Getting behind it as though it was a concrete barrier (and) a RPG HEAT round will get you killed.
 
  VEHICLES:  Being broke down in Iraq is like a scene on a bad movie. Been there done that. Check tires, oil, fluid, etc... And don't overdrive your car. Every IC (independent contractor) you meet will tell you he is a great driver. Just because you drive fast and haven't hit anything yet doesn't mean you're a good tactical driver. Go to B.S.R. or some other school. If you haven't been to B.S.R. (basic safety refresher), let the guy who has drive. Conduct driver training. Get the best guy to teach everyone else. OJT. 

Practice changing tires. Realizing you've packed 300 pounds of gear on top the spare while on the side of a road in Ramadi is a self-loathing I'd like not replicate.Make sure you have a tow strap in EVERY vehicle. Loop it through the rear bumper so it's already attached. When you swing in front of the busted car and they hook up you can be gone in 60 seconds or vice versa. Get a good jack, it's worth the money. Make sure everyone knows where all the tow, change, repair gear is in every vehicle. Practice it.

  Always do a proper route plan (strip map). We are always trying to be sneakier and more clever than everyone else. Avoiding MSR's and roads frequented by convoy's as they are frequent targets. Well before taking a road you see on a map that isn't used by the Army. Go see the G2, ask them why. It may be for good reason. In the glove box keep your stay behinds. A fragmentation grenade, as smoke grenade and a CN grenade. The rule is. NEVER TOUCH THE PIN UNLESS YOU HAVE THE GRENADE OUTSIDE THE WINDOW!. Hit a bump and it drops on the roadside. Minimal drama. Inside the car? Party foul.

  Using CN and Smoke. If you're caught in traffic and you have a bad feeling about a car behind you, toss the smoke. Most motorists will stop or at least give you a lot of space. It works and it's harmless. Be judicious about using CN and never while in tight traffic. Watching that cloud blow towards your car faster than you can drive is not fun. CN is rough stuff and I only would use it on those rare situations where it just has to be done. And the frag? Well we all know when those need to be used.
 

  I will ALWAYS take a hard car over a soft. It's just common sense at this point. If I have a soft car I will sandbag the floors and jam steel and spare plates everywhere I can. Bolt on armor is crap, but better than nothing. Remove the LEXAN windows from the gun-trucks. Just like in the old days nothing breaks contact quite like returning accurate, violent fire. Think about fuel consumption. Plan your stops for fuel and food. Always carry a gas can, just in case. Track your fuel consumption and do the math. Carry enough fuel.

  Put a US flag on the visor so nobody can see it until you approach a checkpoint, then, flip it down. On the passenger side do the same with a VS17 panel. G.I. Joe will shoot you just as soon as a Hadji will.

  Carry MRE's and water in your car.  NEVER throw food or candy to kids. There are many reasons why, but at the least it encourages kids to jump in front of cars. Smashing a kid would ruin your trip here.  The rear vehicle is always most likely to be hit. Put your best shooters in there, biggest guns.  A car door is not cover. In fact, a car is not cover. Cement is. (Comment - HUMVEE's are cars)
 
  MEDICAL:   Medical equipment. It's expensive. It has saved lives. The company I currently work for spent big dollars outfitting each crew with great medical gear. I'm sure the bill was hard to swallow. It saved three lives. Each wounded person had life threatening injuries. The medical kits and our 18D's (Special Forces Medics) saved them. The Army had a few bandages and an IV. That was it. 

  Do remedial medical training. Can't say anymore on that issue. Do it. Wherever you go carry lots of booze. It's the most valuable item you can have. If I wrote a list of things I have managed to swindle with a bottle of Jack placed in an E8's hands you would crap you're pants.

  BASICS:  If I were you coming in June? I would bring at least four pair of lightweight boots, so you can swap them out frequently. It's about a million times worse than August in Niland (California, north of El Centro). Fifteen pairs of socks. At least ten, NON COTTON t-shirts. Two pairs of sunglasses. Non-cotton skivvies, if you wear them. (Comment-cotton does not burn, it chars. Aviators and armored vehicle crewmen are required to wear cotton undergarments. Polyester and nylon, materials in 'wicking' garments, melt at high temperature, vastly complicating treatment of burns.)  Lots of foot powder, DVD's & sunscreen.

  

  QUARTERS:  If you sleep in a trailer or hootch, know where the nearest bunker is. Trying to find it at 4 AM while scared (deleted) isn't the answer. And yes everyone runs for the bunker. The Delta dude who is always giving the evil eye will probably be the first one there followed immediately after by a SEAL in flip-flops. 120MM mortars make us all very humble. The chow is terrible by my standards. I sometimes eat MRE's just for a change. If you're a coffee drinker bring your own. A bag of Starbucks coffee is worth its weight in gold.

   I wear hikers socks, something that wicks the sweat out. Bugs are hit or miss. One week they are terrible and the next, non-existent. Right now they are moderate. Flies galore though.  

  THINGS TO REMEMBER:

  Always remember that you were once a young dumb puppy. You made $450 a month and weren't allowed to fart without a permission chit ran up and down the chain of command. Keep this in mind when you're bitching because you're only making $17,000 month when guys at the other company are getting $17,500. When the bosses back in the states email you to have a clean shave - do it. You never know when you're going to be on some stupid newspaper. Remember how much money you're making.

  The soldiers around us are deployed for a year, sometimes more. They make a fraction of the pay, and are ordered to do stupid, dangerous stuff everyday. Treat them well, nobody else does.

  Yes, we all work for ourselves at the end of the day. At the same end, never screw over your company or teammates who have to stay behind and clean up your mess. Business OPSEC is one thing but always share your info on Intel and tactics. We are all Americans and most of us will work together one time or another. Some of the "business secret" stuff is corny. If you hit an IED on ASR Jackson yesterday, email your colleagues to stay away.  

  • Just because somebody is a good dude isn't good enough. If he can't shoot, think, and move leave him home. Big boy rules.

  • Listen to your intuition. It has saved a guy who is on this mailing list and not listening to it killed a friend a month ago.

  • Have thick skin. Take criticism. If you suck at something ask for training.

  • Bring your own body armor, including a Kevlar helmet. They are hard to come by.

  • Always have spare batteries for the GPS, Always have a map and compass just like when we were E1's. Do a map study and make sure everyone in the crew knows the route plan.

  • Put a rubber band or a Ranger Band on your sling so it doesn't get caught on stuff while getting out of the car.

  • Bring some mosquito netting and a poncho liner for an urban hide. You will want to have a sniper in the hide covering your movements around the GC.

  • If you find yourself trusting the locals, it's time to take a vacation.

  • Once you make contact ... Finish it. If you shot a guy and he is limping to cover he can still get there and return fire. Just finish everything you start.

  • Things I'm glad I brought;  ACOG, short M4 rifle, personal holster, personal field gear, poncho liner, ground pad, compass, books.

  • Things I wish I had brought;  More socks, more rifle magazines, more t-shirts, more boots, spare parts kit for M4, urban hide site kit, more DVD's.

  • Keep a sense of humor. Keep funny people around, they make lousy situations tolerable and are like Prozac when you need it.