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Pan Am re-opens with service to Bagdad!

Pan Am re-opens with service to Bagdad!

Ah, the ole B-52 in a Pan Am disguise ploy....

BTW, it's Baghdad....

I should know that, having been there.

On Christmas, we were driving through Baghdad on the MSR at night. There was one stretch where we kept seeing flashes. It took a little while before we realized that the crew in the vehicle in front of us was trying to take photos of the signs through Baghdad with the flash on. Needless to say, they got an earfull over the radio

Of course, this is the same crew that on the same mission, ran into two barriers, turned onto the wrong road in the wrong direction(He later claimed that his NVG 'lights' went out. If you're driving in blackout, and your NVGs die, who keeps driving?), backed their truck into the ditch while turning around, reved the engine too high and blew a hose, and a couple days later, fell asleep while we were sitting at the Anaconda gate waiting for Casevac to turn green and let us leave. After sitting there for several hours, it was too late to leave, so we were told to go back onto the base. We waited for several minutes after getting the radio call to return, but when we didn't move, my buddy got out of the humvee to find the rest of the convoy in front of the 5-ton was gone. He walked over to the truck to find the TC alseep, and the driver sleeping at the wheel in her sleeping bag . When he asked her if she saw the convoy in front of her, she said she did. He than stuck his head into the cab, looked through the windshield and told her that he didn't see it.

I should know that, having been there.

I dont think Ill ever go to Baghdad, even when the war is over.

Too many stories of people getting there @$$'s blown off while driving to work.

I had an individual in my vehicle that decided to use his flash camera at night.   I ripped a new (back side orifice.).
He was older than the others and should have known better. I called him combat zone tourist for the next few weeks to let it sink in.

I took that one above way back in 2003 right after the "End of Major Hostilities".  Things were fairly quiet. Most people were still waiving at us.  Rarely did we even get any dirty looks.

We joke around about acting like tourists when we take photos, but most of us know not to take photos when it interferes with our jobs or opsec. I'll admit, i've taken quite a few photos, but i'm smart about it.

A month or so ago, I saw Uday Hussein's mansion and took a few photos of the marble building. It had been taken over by the Marines and is a small camp/outpost, so besides the mortar attacks, it's mostly secure inside. A marine staff sergeant yelled at us about being tourists because we took a couple photos.

But when we drive around in our special, and not so common vehicles, I see more Marines taking pictures of us than Soldiers....

Yeah they are kind of funny looking.


I was reading through some old Cold War stuff that described the various methods of breaching obstacles.  It was described as a "choreographed ballet of various farm equipment".

If you think about your current vehicle set, it still kinda fits that desription.

Yeah they are kind of funny looking.


I was reading through some old Cold War stuff that described the various methods of breaching obstacles.  It was described as a "choreographed ballet of various farm equipment".

If you think about your current vehicle set, it still kinda fits that desription.

We get a lot of people describing our vehicles to being similar to something from Mad Max

If they're talking about the movie i'm thinking about, i've only seen parts, so I don't quite get it...

[quote][quote]Yeah they are kind of funny looking.


I was reading through some old Cold War stuff that described the various methods of breaching obstacles.