April 2004 in Iraq

An email from Jeff:

I'm an MCT Chief (Mobil Collection Team) working for the ISG (Iraqi Survey Group). Our missions are diverse, but overall we report directly to the President. The initial mission was to find WMDs, but we are now working on other types of activities.

I have a permanent team of 14 plus 2 medics. My main job is to be the convoy commander whenever when go outside the wire, traveling virtually anywhere in Iraq. We go out with SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) specific to the mission requirements.

We are staying in Camp Slayer, on the outskirts of Baghdad, which is actually really nice. Out team house will be one of the old Bath Party villas. I have an entirely new team, so we are still waiting to move into our lodging, currently living in mobile trailers which aren't too bad.

Chow is decent, supposedly the best in the country, but not as good as Kuwait and Qatar. We eat as much as we want, but on Slayer, there aren't many other options, unlike other camps.

We work 7 days a week about 16 hours a day, but we only go out on about 1 convoy every 3 or 4 days. So far, I have only gone out once, since I am waiting for the team to stand up. We will soon have about a week of training then will start things up.

Camp Slayer, a former Iraqi government palace and amusement complex near the Baghdad airport, is now a logistics and operations base for US intelligence and weapons-hunting teams. Camp Slayer, a former Hussein palace complex near the Baghdad airport, is the base for the weapons hunt. The camp also hosts US eavesdropping and other classified operations. Most of the 1,200 or so troops here, plus CIA and FBI officials, covert Special Forces teams, civilian experts and others, camp in two dozen or so garish guest houses that line three artificial lakes.

Once renovations are done, the Iraq Survey Group staff will work in the Perfume Palace. The ornate building has an indoor pool on the ground floor, military murals on the second floor, and a blue-domed ballroom on top level. The pair of Iraqi trucks that the CIA said were mobile biowarfare production facilities are stored at Camp Slayer, which also includes a stockade for some captured Iraqi weapons scientists and other top regime officials.

All the buildings were looted, and most lack air conditioning or running water. Soldiers have furnished their accommodations with chandeliers, wingback chairs, gilt-edged tables and pieces sculpture scavenged from the complex's five major palaces. One palace has an underground bunker with thick steel doors and gold wallpaper.

Information from: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/radwaniyah-cc.htm

Here is a link to someone else's website with pictures of Camp Slayer: http://www.neason.com/deployment.html

Things have been a bit slow here due to a higher rate of enemy activity. This keeps us buttoned down on our missions, which can be both good and bad. Since my team is so new, they would like to go out through the wire more often and do what it is that we were brought here to do. However, it is nice to have an opportunity to do a bunch of training before we do too many ventures.

My 15-man team moved into our own compound last week and have spent a good number of hours making improvements. We have fortified the walls with concertina wire, constructed fighting positions on the roof and build more important things such as covered patios for the BBQ.

We spend about 7 hours a day training on various tasks like convoy operations, breaching obstacles, searching and clearing a building, basic Arabic, helicopter operations, etc. We try to have a bit of fun when we can, so we go to interesting places to train. Last week we went to Saddams Victory over America palace to practice cordon and search and we went to BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) to practice defensive driving, communications and navigation. Of course, this is also were the PX (Post Exchange) is, so we also got our shopping done.

We cant drink any alcohol here, so I have to sacrifice and drink a bottle of Becks non-alcoholic beer with my nightly cigar. It could be worse. The weather has been really nice so far, usually in the low 80s. It has only reached the high 90s once, but that will change soon.