Close The Door!

More reminiscing from the first Gulf War, cause its the anniversary and all. This link is great cause we were there, again. Click all the links for pictures. I wish I had more photos of my own, but I was told not to mail film home cause it would get removed from the package for whatever political reason. So I carried them all around with me. Unfortunately, I used most of them twice, cause I am a dumbass, so they are all double exposed! Artsy!

Couple guys who wrote books later must have been in the units I was attached to, cause they are writing about all these incidents that I remember vividly. My machine gun team and a rifle squad was detached from our company, Bravo 1/25, to go support 3/3 and Task Force Taro. See previous post, this was a “pre-assault” operation to secure the flanks (that’s what she said…).

They sent us off in two humve’s, 12 of us all by ourselves, with some first generation piece of shit GPS nav system no one had ever used, to try to hook up with the main assault force a half a day’s drive away. We just drove out across the clear desert, headed for Kuwait, nothing in sight. All alone. Seems so ridiculous now.  Much like our daily “accommodations“.

Luckily, there was a berm on the border, cause the grid they sent us too was the FINAL location of the pre-assault team, two days LATER! We would have just rolled out into Kuwait, 12 Marine Reservists with M16′s and a single M-60. So, we roll up to the berm, and there is this armored dozer there, punching a hole in the berm for tanks to drive through.  Next to this dozer is a humve with four flat tires and a torn up soft back. Couple guys were standing around outside of it, and the dozer driver was smoking a butt, as well.

We waved and headed for the hole in the berm. These guys all started shouting at us so we stopped. They asked us just what THE FUCK we thought we were doing? We explained we were headed out to hook up with 3/3 at these grid coordinates. They laughed nervously and told us 3/3 was not out there, but a bunch of Iraqi BMP’s and tanks were. They said a fire mission had just been called in by 3/3, who were several klicks to the east, at a corner in the berm, which it turns out is the infamous “dogleg” in the Kuwait-Saudi border which was the location of the ground invasion. Who knew? We sure didn’t.

So if you can imagine, there is a 90 degree corner in the border berm a few klicks to our direct left (east), and a few klicks north of that corner is 3/3, calling in artillery on Iraqis probing around in the corner.

The guys in the hummer and the dozer were all shaken up and chain smoking, and we saw the four flat tires and other damage on the hummer, and of course stopped when they explained our position. We asked what had happened to the truck, and they explained that 3/3 had called in the artillery on the that dozer about 15 minutes before we rolled up, thinking it was part of the Iraqi force. They dropped cluster munitions, which looked like lawn darts but were filled with little flechettes or balls or something. These had exploded all around the dozer and hummer, and blown out all their tires, but somehow had not injured anyone!

We had just missed the fun, it seems. In fact, one of the apache helo’s called in to smoke the Iraqi’s had flown right over us minutes before, and circled around back onto us, and you could see the red light of his laser sighting system light us up. We had this orange flag thing tied on the roof, which was the sign for “friendly”. He buzzed us, all lit up, I was in the back with the gun. He came right over us and then peeled away. That was one of the scariest moments of the whole war for me. Ridiculous cause there was not another soul in sight for miles!

At any rate, these Marines advised us not to proceed with our little 12 man invasion of Kuwait two days ahead of schedule, and told us to just drive along the berm, this weird dirt pile in the middle of nowhere, until we came to 3/3. Since our battalion intel had just about gotten us killed, we decided to go with the intel on the ground and do as they suggested.  It all worked out, and we arrived safe and sound later that day.

Turns out we had just missed some more action, as a Marine had recently blown himself up that day while playing with his grenades while walking patrol up on the berm.

Like I always say, we didn’t do shit the 5 months we were there, but we had front row seats.

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I am reposting this post from 2008, as Feb 22. is the 20 year anniversary of Cpl. Aaron Pack losing his life in Kuwait, we me laying under a truck 200 yds away.

I never met him, didn’t know his name till years later, but I think of it every year at this time.

http://jerrychabot.com/2008/03/24/cpl-aaron-a-pack-usmc-kia-feb-23-1991/

Found an excellent excerpt from a book that describes our mission and what we did those few days in February as well as any that I have read. Really took me back.

http://www.historynet.com/persian-gulf-war-us-marines-minefield-assault.htm

We were Task Force Taro, and we walked in the day before the actual ground assault took place to provide security on either side of the main advance. At the time, it was no big deal, certainly not the scariest moment of the war for me. Of course, reading all the information leading up to that night, now, with all that the generals knew, etc. and in retrospect it was a bit dicier I guess!

Hence, the most important rule of running a military unit – the mushroom rule: keep them in the dark and feed them shit.

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Friday I had to deal with a half dozen truckloads of gravel being delivered to the association road. I had to spread it with the skid steer, cause we are cheap like that.  So, in the AM, I decided to tear apart the moto so I could install new tires so I could get it inspected. Getting the wheels off a huge, shaft drive, full bagger moto is not super easy, FYI.  I did the front tip method, though, and it worked out fairly well.  Note to wifey – if you leave your car parking spot empty, I am gonna fill it with some torn apart vehicle, almost every time. Its a rule.

After lunch, I headed down for the gravelfest.  It went fine, got it all smoothed. Then I had him run up to the intersection of two of the roads and dump a full 14 yard load over where the culvert crosses the road. He could not dump spread it cause of power lines so he just plopped it dead center of the intersection, as instructed.

Meanwhile, I was ditching the side of the steep (20%) hill that I love to ride up so much.  All that side force or something caused the skid steer to blow the tensioner gear on the left side drive chain. It made awful noises, and I was forced to limp it home before it died right in the road (that would be bad) as you can’t tow a hydraulic drive machine. Fix it or bury it where it falls. Not ideal. Trust me. I have been there (recall the starter motor job from winter of 2009).

We had a BBQ shindig at 630, it broke at 5. I was angsty, as this exact thing happened to this machine 10 years ago and it cost over 2k to fix, as my father had to have a mechanic come out to the woods and rebuild it. I have the paperwork still. So I was freaked.

I had to tear into it to see what I was looking at, as it still moved so the chain did not break, but there was tons of slop (like half a wheel rotation). I got it all apart likity split, worst part being the 15 gallon of hydro fluid I had to drain and store. I have 5 gallon pails just for this purpose.

What I found was that the idler assembly that was repaired the last time blew up. Or the tensioner held up, but the gear exploded. Not sure if its related, but its the same side, and I can see where they welded the tensioner plates to fix it last time.

Its not pretty, but I was very happy to see that that was all it was. The whole assembly comes out fairly easily, no special tools. I got all the chunks out of the belly pan, and I got the tensioner out and its looks ok. I think I may replace it as its welded and the gear broke, hmmmm. I need at a minimum the gear, but its just the idler so it just slips on! Easy!

I can’t believe I am so happy about this. I celebrated with 2 hamburgers, a beer, and 2 mohitos. BOOM.

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Yah so, nice going Mr. American Auto Worker.

WTF am I talking about? Ford. Specifically the 2000′ish F150′s.  Standard trim is no running boards. I like running boards. My wife really likes running boards, cause the damn Fords are so tall.  Super, its a factory installed option.  Awesome, as I was custom spec’ing this truck and having it built to order back in 2001.  My first fancy new car that we bought (we had leased a stripped down explorer prior, but that is it).

Truck has been awesome for me. Never any trouble except brakes and tires. Its got 100k miles on it. I take very good care of it, frequent washing, keep it in the garage, etc. I am also old school and anal about washing UNDER the truck. I routinely spray up under the rockers, the under side of the bed, behind the bumper, etc.  My Dad beat that into my head. Take care of your vehicles. Especially washing the underside in winter.

While doing such a washing last year, I noticed bubbling of the rocker panels. I poked them a bit, hoping to scrape off the flakes and hit it with some rust neutralizer and undercoating. Unfortunately, the paint was holding the metal together and it all crumbled. Further investigation showed both sides were the same, but only up at the drivers door, not the rear doors (its a quad cab).

Once all the metal broke away, it became apparent that the entire front rocker area was PACKED with dirt. Full. Like shovel fulls. Crazy.  Then I noticed a giant hole on the back side of the rocker letting all the front wheel dirt and spray to collect in there. All the sand held water, and boom, rockers melted.

A little web research showed that this is a common problem for F150s, and in fact has been traced to the factory slag offs who install the rockers.  They have to removed a big rubber plug (about 4″x1.5″) to install one of the brackets/bolts that hold the running boards on. You can see the other ones along the rest of the rocker. They do not bother to replace the plug. I guess they just toss them? Let them stack up? I dunno. What I do know is that that is some lame ass shit right there. How about a little pride in your work? How about giving a shit?

So my rockers dissolved, and I had to try to find replacement panels. I have been looking for a while, they were always 250 a side, and for the regular cab, not my super crew. I had considered trading it in, but I wont get shit for it with the rockers gone. Plus I don’t need to get rid of it yet. I own it, and I don’t want the payment.

Recently, I was checking around for panels and low and behold found them for 250 for BOTH. So I grabbed them. I had to cut out the old metal, pull the running boards, which were also all rusty, and then I got one of them welded in today. Not an easy job to do well. I am not a body worker by any means, but don’t want to pay someone many hundreds to do it either. So I gave it a shot, though my sheet metal welding is not very good. I guess practice makes perfect though, eh?

It came out ok. I almost had to pull the door to do it right, but I managed to avoid it. Now I need to hit the weld with some body filler to smooth it, then I will spray the whole length, both doors, with paintable undercoating. I used that alot on the Scout and it holds up pretty well. I may go with a gallon of the DIY bed liner instead, though. That would mask the work better as well.

The bad news is the rust had spread up into the cab in spots, so now I am wondering how long I can milk the truck (new tires and brakes last fall) until its gets too bad to easily sell. Ugh. Oh well. Could be worse. Could have burnt to the ground like Gewilli.  Oh wait, then it would be fully insured. Right.

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…I am older than that now. (Bob Dylan)

Okay, so not exactly what Bob Dylan said, actually more the opposite. But I suppose the reverse is also true, as sometimes it feels like I am acting younger every year, what with the inventions of Facebook and Twitter and silly cyclocross races. Back then I had a struggling small business that was being crushed to death by the economic and political events post 9/11, and its deep impact on the semiconductor manufacturers, who I had built my business around.

I was also deeply involved in a painful negotiation of sorts with my business partner, as we tried to put the cat back in the bag. We failed, and so did my original business model.  It took another two years of digging a huge hole of debt and deteriorating relationships before I finally was spit out of the vortex and left, empty handed, back at square one.

Not totally empty handed, though. I now had two awesome kids (that I could not pay for), health insurance through my wife, and about $75k in debt. I also had an almost completed home office that I was building over my garage.

And in truth, the business I had developed had not failed, it had just been wrenched from my control. There is a difference, though at the time, it certainly did not feel like it.  Financially, obviously, I had failed as I had managed to let the nuts and bolts of the business be taken away but had not tied it to the debt and protected myself from my “friends”. I take the hit for that one, it was all me. I retreated to my usual non-confrontational approach to managing relationships, and as a result had totally isolated myself from operations.  Translation? I never saw it coming.

But I was much younger then. I am much older then that now. That was December of 2005. This is business 2.0 and it has been almost exactly as much time in this model as it was in the original.  And honestly, this past year has been a transition to business 3.0 which I am pretty enthused about, working with people that I care about.

I am not the same guy. Not while wearing the business owner hat, at least. Not at all. Sometimes I scare the crap out of myself in my current older, more cynical, confrontational, often cranky personna. I spend alot of time on the phone yelling at people, client’s even. I stand my ground. I make the hard decisions. I take the high road no matter how steep it looks. I am the go to guy for the team when the client needs to be told NO. And I try not to give it away anymore!

Its working. I am pretty proud to say its working - in spite of this current economic downturn. Perhaps working even better because of it.  I am no longer terrified what I will be doing in 2 weeks time.  I am no longer sitting on a debilitating debt. We are stronger financially because of the experience, and are well positioned to take some risks if needed to grow.

And on top of all that, I ride my bike. No, not alot by biker standards, but enough to say that I do, and enough to be able to race, and that allows me to hang out with and meet new people, new friends.

The kids sure are alot bigger. I sure am alot older and grayer (and oddly 10 pounds heavier…)

Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.

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