My Generation Was Killed - Part 10 - BASE! How low can you go…

 

‘Sup Killers? Well, blow me down, part TEN eh? That’s a thing for sure…! It’s been a full on week here. I was away in the CHB for mahi most of the week, but I still managed to get some stuff done on the list 🤩

First cab off the rank was to finish the bases. I painted, washed and dry brushed them, then added some tufts to lift the bases. Next step was rubbish… No, literally, I wanted to add some rubbish to the bases. No way of saying this politely, in my experiences of Iraq, rubbish is everywhere… When your go-to for rubbish disposal is burning or just dumping, then its no surprise that it gets EVERYWHERE… 

And yes, I wasn’t helping either… Me and the other thousands of coalition troops in the AO that is. I can’t remember much about what I did with my rubbish, but most of it was either dropped on the ground, or burnt for OPSEC reasons 😑 

I cut up various things to make some different colors of trash, and you may notice the small, yellow bits with some black ‘writing’ on them. They represent the Humanitarian Meal Ready to Eat (MRE). These were issued by US troops to Iraqi CIVPOP and were a variation on the usual MILSPEC MRE. The main difference being the removal of the heater pack for various reasons. They came in a similar size plastic bag to a MILSPEC MRE, and I was issued a box to feed myself on once occasion, so they have some memory for me. I painted a piece of paper yellow, gloss varnished it then used a thin sharpie to add the ‘writing’.

Pic below shows the bases before I added the Hummers, see if you can spot the yellow MRE bags… 😉

I never saw a pink bag, just the yellow ones. Pic below shows the actual bags and some of the outer packaging, and what they looked like inside.

So, I had my bases, now to glue the trucks to them…! That was an easy job using some ‘Canopy Glue’ which as far as I can tell is a runnier, sticker version of white PVA…! Anyhoo, this is what they look like.

Brad’s truck from both sides. Note the yellow MRE bags underneath his door. You can just see the Iceman poking his head out with his NV scope…🫡

Next up the other support truck with a Fifty.

And then the two, TOW vehicles, these are the ‘punch’ for the PL!

And finally a ‘family shot’ of all four trucks together. It feels good to have one PL finished and I know this will inspire me to get onto the rest! This is a departure from my previous modelling SOM where I would do everything at once for the whole list before moving to the next stage. Undercoat everything, basecoat everything etc. That’s OK for what it is, but it can lead to fade as you never see anything completed. At least with this idea, I can see progress!!!

Well, to round up, this weeks ‘Tales from the Crypt’… I have so many memories, they get a bit out of place and jumbled top. Here’s two I remember that happened at the same FOB maybe a few days apart.

First up, as a SGT I alongside all other SNCOs and Officers pulled a number of duties. And one of those was to be on radio stag or radio listen. I got this one shift that started at something like 0200 hrs. This was right in the middle of things happening, so there was a lot of radio traffic going on all the time.

My job was to note any occurrence that would affect my unit, or anything that was on larger scale. I would possibly need to raise the NBC alarm, or the incoming ARTY alarm etc. Or get the CO / RSM if big things were happening above my pay grade…

It was 0200, I was knackered, and I was also super concerned about missing something that might lead to drama for myself and others. It now was around 0330 and I remember that sensation of falling, and jerking upright… Having a radio stuck in your ear with either traffic, or the dreaded hiss of white noise wasn’t helping…

Yup, I had nodded off… I had no idea if it was a 2-second ‘micro-nap’ or if I had been out for like an hour or something… 😳 I panicked, wondering if I had missed something, if something had happened. Had I let my mates down? Was there an Iraqi Republican Guard unit storming towards us..???

Once I calmed down, I thought, ‘How am I going to work out how long I was asleep for..?’ It was then I realised to check my radio log. 

Last entry was at 0327. I checked my watch and it was 0329. So taking off the approximate the minute I had been mulling this over, that meant a gap of around one minute… That’s like an eternity… I went into a panic and just prayed that I hadn’t missed anything and caused anyone any issues. 

The rest of my shift went with no issues as I was now SO awake it wasn’t funny… My HOTO person arrived, we carried out our HOTO and I slunk off to my pit, not mentioning my lapse…

I was real worried for days that I had caused an issue, and kept popping into the COY CP to check on any issues that may have occurred whilst I was on shift. Praise the Lord there didn’t seem to be any, so I just packed that away and carried on normal jogging.

First time I have shared that storey I think. Not sure how telling it makes me feel as I am not a fan of telling of my mistakes, but there it was. These are the things that keep me awake some times…

OK, lets end on a ‘high’ note… 😉

Same FOB, same week (I think..!), different situation. It was O-Dark hundred and I myself sat on an ammo tin chewing the fat with ‘Noddy’ Holder the Transport WO and the previously mentioned Lol Wood the CSM. We were bemoaning the fact that we hadn’t had a beer in who knows how long when Noddy piped up and says, “You know you can drink AL39 (Army issue vehicle antifreeze)?” ‘Fark OFF’ says Lol and I, ‘Whatever!!’ “Honestly you can”, Noddy went on…

“Just mix it with enough orange juice and you’re in!” ‘Right’ says I, ‘I’ll be back in 5 minutes, I’m off to see the EGGOPS (Chefs). Noddy, go grab some AL39…’

5 MIKES later I returned with 2 Litres of the worlds finest OJ, Noddy had 1 LT of AL39 and a bucket…

So, we tipped the OJ and about half the AL39 into this bucket, stirred it for 10 seconds with a tent peg, then all dipped our cups into it…

BANG!!! 😳 It was like drinking vodka and orange!!! Well, MAYBE it was like drinking vodka and orange…😂 We dutifully finished the 2.5 litres of Go-Juice, yarning until it was dawn at about 0500…

We all slinked off to our scratchers to get some sleep, feeling VERY merry…🥳 🤩

About 2 hours later, I woke up… First thing I noted was the heat, then approximately 0.1 of a second later, my head started to throb… And when I say throb, it felt like Tyrian Lannister was actually inside my head, and was attacking it to get out with the same vigor he used at the Battle of the Blackwater… 😫

I mean, I had had hangovers before, but THIS?! Seriously, this would have killed a civvy stone dead…😂

By now, Lol and Noddy had appeared and we kind of stared at each other wondering did we actually do what we thought we had done the night before. The half-empty can of AL39 and the stains inside the bucket were the silent witnesses to our madness…

SO, if anyone tells you that you CANNOT drink anti-freeze, tell them that’s rubbish… I mean didn’t hurt Austrian wine sales in 1985 did it?! Did it…? 🤔😜

On that note Killers, that’s it for this week! Appreciate all your kind comments and remarks, and remember, I might be saying things in this blog that sound odd, or that im struggling with something, but actually I am OK. And this blog is part of that being OK.

Till next time, Stay Frosty 🫡