Checking in on the 'Sons' in the dark

(Soldiers of truck #1-7- from left to right- Sgt. Vernon Prewitt, 42, of Williamsburg, KY; Spc. Joshua Brokaw, 24, of St. Louis, Mo; Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Player, 40, of Los Angeles, CA; Pvt. Marc Scott, 22, of Chicago, IL; Pvt. Antonio Castro, 21, of Seattle, WA.)

FOB O’Ryan-
They don’t have the cavernous dining facilities or fast food establishments of their gigantic neighbor- LSA Anaconda. Food is trucked in in plastic bins. At night they don’t even have outside lights, but what Alpha Battery of the 2/320th Field Artillery Regiment do have is good conversation.

Inside the moving vehicle, the two Sergeants were from basically as far apart as could be imagined- "Doc" from rural Appalachia and "Smoke" from inner-city LA. The discussion jumped from religion to race to region. If I thought I understod the Army before, I was wrong.

As they drove over sandy berms and under too-low wires the talk hinged around the negativity in rap music and the futility of reparations. Of the five inside, some tuned in, some tuned out, and some took off their headsets. Smoke led the dialogue and tried to entertain each point of view.

Finally Doc spoke. He told exactly how he grew up, and if anyone wanted 5 percent or reparations for that, they could have it.

The vehicle teetered for a moment on the side of a berm.

“When was the last time we were on a road?” asked Spc. Joshua Brokaw.

A recent news article claimed that soldiers serving 15-months were happy the Army moved back to 12-month deployments even though they wouldn't be leaving early.

“Who were they interviewing?” Doc wondered.

Which effectively ended the conversation. It was time to disembark from the MRAP into darkness. The route, more desert than village, was known for recent trouble, which is why Alpha Battery was out to support several new SOI (Sons of Iraq) checkpoints that had been staked down with little more than a tent and some AK-47s.

“The reason we’re coming out here is to show the good and bad guys that we support this checkpoint," said Lt. Brian Reynolds, 24, to the armed citizens who gathered around him.

The Iraqis nodded in agreement. Then he asked them if they’ve tested their AK-47s recently. The Iraqis began to complain that they didn’t have enough ammunition to test fire. Lt. Reynolds asked one of them to shoot off a few rounds anyway. On the first try, the gun jammed. Finally the Iraqi got off a few rounds.
(Lt. Brian Reynolds (facing center) asks a local if he's familiar with any of the names on the Army's blacklist.)

See, that’s why you need to test fire, Reynolds said. We always test fire our weapons before we go on a mission.

The Iraqis asked about when the Hesco fortifications and bigger weapons were coming. They said they wouldn’t be able to hold off an attack on this stretch of deserted road. Reynolds made notes and asked if they’ve been paid by the sheik yet. They hadn’t. Reynolds assured them that payday was coming.

Then the dismounted soldiers popped a few flares which quickly fizzled in the darkness. There were no street lights or even house lights around.

This is just a show of force, Brokaw said. Next time we’ll bring out the Howitzers to show how we can light up the sky.

Maj. Tim Frambes of 2/320 said the Iraqis named the Howitzer rounds that they call in, “Light Bombs". The Field Artillery Regiment, now mostly on infantry patrol, are only to happy to provide this support since artillery was what they were originally trained to do.

But not tonight. Alpha Battery got back into their vehicles and rolled off. It was only eight o’clock but it seemed like midnight. The conversation was over. There would be more stops.

(Spc. Brokaw pulls perimeter security using his night vision.)