Thoughts from the Firmbase


Sweat glistens on foreheads as eight young men packed into a 15’ x 15’ room eat, sleep, and otherwise pass the time in another local Iraqi home turned firmbase for 96 hours. It’s pretty warm today—the warmest it’s been yet. It’s only mid-April and Marines are already returning from foot-mobile cache sweeps looking as if they had a bucket of water dumped over their head. Their cammies soaked through from mid-thigh all the way to upper-arm, they hydrate constantly, and it’s barely enough to regain the fluids they loose on a single patrol.

At the firmbase

Once again, I find myself sitting in an Arab home with about two platoons of Marines, waiting to go on patrol. Waiting at the firmbase to go out on patrol may be the worst part of my job. I love rolling around in the HMMWV hunting insurgents. However, sitting inside the firmbase you feel equally as useless as you are back at Camp Fallujah, but you have none of the amenities of Camp Fallujah. Until you go out on patrol you are reduced to sitting in an 80+ degree house with minimal ventilation, sweating even though you aren’t moving, and perform some combination of eating, reading, sleeping, and defecating.

During downtime

We are attached to 2nd Recon Bn for this op, their first op alone since they relieved 1st Recon a few weeks ago. They’re not quite as comfortable running around in Zaydan as 1st Recon was, but that’s understandable at this point. Only months of operating in the area will give you the familiarity that we came to expect by dealing with 1st Recon near the end of their stint in country. The ride in was uneventful, as we hoped it would be. No errant IEDs or small arms fire impeded our progress.

Gear is strewn about the room, surrounding the sleeping pad and blankets of it’s owner. We sleep on blankets found in the house. They make a comfortable and convenient way to slumber, especially when you can’t always take your boots off to get into your sleeping bag. While on call everyone sleeps with his boots on, ready to respond to any threat at a moment’s notice. MRE wrappers lie on the floor near the Marine that consumed them, discarded temporarily to await the burn pit outside later tonight.

So as I sit here and wait wait wait my life away, I thought I might jot down my thoughts on an advertisement in one of my Time magazines I brought to read, the cleanest sheet of paper I could find. Tomorrow will bring another day and another patrol.

Information and Links

Join the fray by commenting, tracking what others have to say, or linking to it from your blog.

Information
May 1st, 2006
16 Responses
Feeds and Links
Comment Feed
From This Author
Del.icio.us
Digg
Technorati
Categories and Tags
Iraq

Other Posts
Top 7 Insurgent Lies
You Stay Classy, Iraq

Write a Comment

Take a moment to comment and tell us what you think. Some basic HTML is allowed for formatting.




Reader Comments

Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Slayer
Posted on:
May 1, 2006 at 6:56 pm

Sounds like that sucks! Hope you get to do something soon! Stay classy, Jeff Barnett. :)

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
jdb0857
Posted on:
May 1, 2006 at 7:32 pm

This is not what I expected as SOP, but I’m the outsider looking in. You and your Marines must be alert and safe. Looking forward to all of you returning home.

Be SAFE

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Mintz
Posted on:
May 1, 2006 at 10:04 pm

Jeff, do you like GameInformer, the gaming magazine?

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Andrew Israelson
Posted on:
May 1, 2006 at 11:34 pm

Hey jeff, hope you get to go out on some exciting missoins soon. Anyway the house you are staying in, is it vacated or does someone still live there. If someone is living there how do they feel about your presence?

Anyway stay safe and if you or your men need any magizines or dvds just email me and i;d be more that happy (honored actually) to send some over.

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Slayer
Posted on:
May 2, 2006 at 12:05 am

I have RvB Season 2… :)

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
Crystal
Posted on:
May 2, 2006 at 4:53 am

Ok, so last night my hubby and I finally rented and watched jarhead. I’m not even going to go all cliche on you because I wouldn’t have a clue as to what was realistic and what wasn’t. It was just odd to then get on here tonight and read your blog about holed up in this house and roasting and the boredom and the waiting your life away. I mean do I wish you something interesting or more waiting? I mean the action could lead to injury but the boredom could drive one insane. All I can say is I pray for your safety. I to would be honored to send anything that might make life easier or more interesting for any of you. God Bless

Comment Number:
7
Written by:
Jeff Barnett
Posted on:
May 2, 2006 at 11:04 am

All,
Sitting inside the firmbase is not a permanent activity. It’s what you do between patrols. Sometimes we have a long break (8 hours or more) and sometimes we pull back in, sleep 4 hours, and head back out.
I get out on plenty of missions. I just don’t have time to scrawl down my thoughts during that time. I write down narratives of each interesting mission after it’s done, but I’ll be waiting until I return home to share most of them.

Comment Number:
8
Written by:
skipsailing
Posted on:
May 2, 2006 at 12:08 pm

Thank you for an interesting glimpse into a very different world. My son is probably not far from you, doing the same things you are.

I cannot tell you how impressed we are by you guys. That we can produce people of your calibre gives me great hope for the future.

I don’t think the insurgents counted on American being able to produce people like you (and my son). I don’t think they bargained for the kind of fight they got. You’ve taken it to them in ways they could never imagine. They are too full of themselves to surrender and sue for peace, but you know, that’s exactly what they are doing right now.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your service. Thank you for being you.

that photo of the guys sleeping is just amazing. I have a photo of my son sleeping on a cot beside his unit’s hummer. He’s still got his boots on and his m16 is propped up where he can get it, but he’s sound asleep. He’d been awake for the better part of five days.

The hollywood macho wannabes cannot begin to imagine the life you’re living now. showers once in a while, days without sleep, sacking out where ever when ever and driving these ruthless killers into the dust with your skill and bravery.

I won’t see jarhead because my son asked me not to. Instead, I will leave it to people like him and you to tell us what it was really like in Iraq. Some day you’ll be sitting at a bar and a story will spill out and all the other men in the bar, they guys that didn’t join the marines and didn’t go to iraq, those guys will HOLD THEIR MANHOODS CHEAP that they were not with you.

Well enough. God bless you and thank you again!!!!

Comment Number:
9
Written by:
Laura, Marine mom from Ohio
Posted on:
May 2, 2006 at 12:10 pm

You guys look peaceful while sleeping. Always playing the “hurry up and wait” game. What can I send to help you pass the time? My prayers are with all of you. Stay safe and thank you for a great post.

Comment Number:
10
Written by:
Brick
Posted on:
May 2, 2006 at 1:42 pm

Tried to msg you, nothing big. Got a bounce back because you box is full.

- Brick

Comment Number:
11
Written by:
Patricia
Posted on:
May 3, 2006 at 12:30 am

I want to tell you I just love this blog!I searched for anything I could find on Fallujah, and found you! My daughter recently arrived at Camp Fallujah, I had been reading your entries before she got there, and appreciate all the pictures you post. It gave me a feel for the area where she’ll be for a long while to come. She in an Army reservist, there for shower/bath and laundry repair. Ive told her all about your writing, who knows maybe youve even seen her…lolol… keep up the fantastic writing, I truely enjoy it!
Patricia

Comment Number:
12
Written by:
TBone
Posted on:
May 4, 2006 at 1:06 pm

Howdy Devil Dog,

I like your blog. Good shit. One word of advice though…be careful about naming units, places, and times or you might find your blog shut down by the OPSEC nazis.

Cheers and Semper Fi,
T

Comment Number:
13
Written by:
The Thunder Run
Posted on:
May 5, 2006 at 11:17 am

Web Reconnaissance for 05/05/2006…

A short recon of whats out there that might draw your attention….

Comment Number:
14
Written by:
Tracy
Posted on:
May 15, 2006 at 2:07 pm

these are funny~

Comment Number:
15
Written by:
Joe Jackson
Posted on:
April 9, 2007 at 6:41 pm

God bless you brave soldiers!!!! There ain’t enuff words to describe you very special people….Brave, ballsy man good luck to you all and a safe return. If in doubt, tap ‘em thrice. joe

Comment Number:
16
Written by:
searching non expensive self employment rate of health online www access of las cruces nm
Posted on:
December 8, 2008 at 5:05 pm

searching non expensive self employment rate of health online www access of las cruces nm…

dispels!protoplasm:Brest addicted …