1-504 PIR

A U.S. Army Soldier assigned to3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment provides security while his platoon searches a house for a possible improvised explosive device cache in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 28, 2008. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jason T. Bailey) (www.army.mil)

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment patrol in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 26, 2008. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jason T. Bailey) (www.army.mil)

Traditional Holiday Meal Will Replace Field Rations for Many Troops

DefenseLink News Article: Traditional Holiday Meal Will Replace Field Rations for Many Troops: "Traditional Holiday Meal Will Replace Field Rations for Many Troops By Samantha L. Quigley American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2007 – When troops stationed in the Middle East sit down to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, the turkey won’t come in a brown field rations pouch.
Thanks to the efforts of the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia’s efforts, troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Dubai and Djibouti will enjoy a traditional holiday meal. “Historically, Thanksgiving dinner is one of the most family-oriented meals that there is,” said Ray Miller, director of subsistence for DSCP, the agency that supplies meals to the military worldwide. “When you are deployed and you’re not with (family), … it’s a taste of home wherever you are.” Hundreds of thousands of troops will dine on turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, assorted pies and more. While this all sounds very “Norman Rockwell” normal, there’s nothing normal about the amount of food needed to feed that many troops. The employees sent 342,382 pounds of turkey alone. More than 15,000 containers of stuffing mix and about 13,000 containers of white potatoes will join nearly 120,000 pounds of shrimp and a combined total of 249,357 pounds of ham and beef, as well. “It would be like 100 tractor-trailers pulling up outside your house to deliver Thanksgiving Dinnerdinner,” Miller said, describing just how much food was sent to the Middle East for the dinner. And at the back of the very last tractor-trailer would be the one thing needed to finish the meal in fine holiday tradition: nearly 163,500 pies. "

Thanksgiving Blessings to all of our troops. God Bless You -- and
Thank You

Iraqi National Police find cache in Rusafa District

A U.S. Army Soldier from 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division walks in front of the remains of a building as he provides security in the Rusafa district of Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 2, 2007. The Soldier is providing security for a visit to the area by U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multi-National Corps - Iraq, and Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor of the CBS evening news. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Curt Cashour) www.army.mil

"By Multi-National Division - Baghdad PAO
Sep 22, 2007 - 1:58:39 PM
Blackanthem Military News

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq - Officers with the Iraqi National Police recovered a weapons cache in the Rusafa District of eastern Baghdad Sept. 15. The officers found a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and nine 120mm mortars. The weapons were turned over to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team's Special Troops Battalion for their explosive ordnance detachment Soldiers to destroy the weapons. The discovery comes as U.S. and Iraqi Security Forces continue to sweep out insurgent strongholds in eastern Baghdad. This includes the establishment of Coalition outposts and joint security stations as part of the Baghdad Security Plan to pacify the capital. "

Iraqi National Police find cache in Rusafa District:

Car bomb wounds 3 Iraqis in eastern Baghdad

"By 2nd IBCT, 2nd Inf. Div. Public Affairs
Aug 16, 2007 - 1:58:32 PM

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq - Three Iraqis were wounded and 38 vehicles destroyed when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated in the second floor of a parking garage in Rusafa Square in eastern Baghdad Aug. 16.

Following the 9:30 a.m. attack, troops with the 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division and Company A, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, attached to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, rushed to the scene and cordoned off the area. The wounded were transported to Medical City for treatment."

More... Car bomb wounds 3 Iraqis in eastern Baghdad:

Iraqi youth use concrete as canvas

Local Iraqi artists created murals on concrete security barriers on Sadoun Street near the Abu Nuwas Market in eastern Baghdad. Under Operation Fardh Al-Qanoon, also known as the Baghdad Security Plan, the Abu Nuwas Market is going to be re-opened for public use which will mean more customers for Sadoun Street, as well. More than 140 artists were employed for this project.
(U.S. Army photo by Maj. Sean Ryan, 2nd IBCT, 2nd Inf. Div. Public Affairs Officer)


"Sadoun Street receives facelift in Baghdad;
By Maj. Sean Ryan, 2nd BCT, 2nd Inf. Div. Public Affairs Officer
May 24, 2007 - 5:49:27 AM"

More ...Sadoun Street receives facelift in Baghdad; local Iraqi youth use concrete as canvas:

Troops nab caches, insurgents in three separate east Baghdad operations

By 2nd IBCT, 2nd Inf. Div. Public Affairs
Jun 29, 2007 - 10:00:50 AM

Blackanthem Military News, FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq — Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers recovered three caches and seized five suspected insurgents in three separate incidents in eastern Baghdad June 26.

Solders with the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team found two rocket-propelled grenades, three rocket-propelled grenade motors, one drum of ammunition and one spool of wire in New Baghdad thanks to tip from residents. Two suspects were also detained in the operation.

A second raid in New Baghdad netted 2-16th Infantry Soldiers one pistol, one air rifle and three more insurgent suspects.

A third operation, conducted by Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, uncovered a weapons cache in Baghdad’s Rusafa District. The troops there recovered a cache containing two AK-47 assault rifles, two machine guns, one armor vest and four grenades."

More... Troops nab caches, insurgents in three separate east Baghdad operations

Mortars are a constant presence at FOB Loyalty

By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, December 28, 2006

Lisa Burgess / S&S
Sgt. Israel Arroyo, 22, left, of La Puente, Calif., and Sgt. Luke Draper, 25, of Long Beach, Calif., stack sandbags to protect a window shattered during a mortar attack on Forward Operating Base Loyalty.


FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq — The soldiers were eating their chicken fingers in the chow hall and watching Terrell Owens tell ESPN why the Dallas Cowboys got pounded by the Philadelphia Eagles when the first mortar hit."

More... Stars & Stripes: Mortars are a constant presence at FOB Loyalty

In April 2007 SPC Burnett, Robert; SPC McCafferty, and SPC Podell of Bravo Company were wounded in a mortar attack on FOB Loyalty. The good news is that SPC McCafferty and SPC Burnett were soon able to return to the company and are now back with their platoons. SPC Podell injuries were slightly more serious and he is now in Qatar recovering but is expected to return to the company in the next few weeks.

Update: I have been infomed that at the time of this posting SPC Podell was already back in Baghdad.

Iraq Pictures

Iraq Pictures: "Soldiers from Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, attached to 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, prepare to fire a 120 mm mortar to ensure their proper distance and accuracy at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in East Baghdad, Iraq. Pic: SSG Bronco Suzuki"

CSM Klaus J. Meckenstock, of Bad Kreuznach, Germany, the senior noncommissioned officer with 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, hangs a mortar round during the platoon’s registration at Forward Operating Base Loyalty. Pic: SPC Courtney Marulli

Troops laugh it up with visiting comics

Stars & Stripes: "Troops laugh it up with visiting comics


By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, February 12, 2007

Comedian David Alan Grier delights nearly 300 troops at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in Baghdad on Saturday night.

BAGHDAD — David Alan Grier of the 1990s TV series “In Living Color” and two fellow comedians kicked off a three-day visit to the Baghdad area with a show Saturday night for nearly 300 delighted troops.
With routines lasting almost a half an hour each, Grier, Kevin Avery and Kristopher Tinkle offered their audience at Forward Operating Base Loyalty little on the war, the military or Iraq.

Instead the men focused on such universal topics as jobs, relationships and, of course, sex.
Avery, a comic who often opens for comedian Dave Chappelle, moaned about his latest blind date. "

More...

FOB Loyalty

'Head Fobbit' Works for Quality of Life at Forward Operating Base

By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service

A swimming pool, started during Saddam Hussein's regime and finished after his overthrow, provides a respite from the desert heat for servicemembers at Forward Operating Base Loyalty, Iraq. Photos by Jim Garamone

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq, Dec. 16, 2005 – Life on the FOB is a little bit different from life in your typical neighborhood.

A FOB is a forward operating base. These are interspersed throughout Iraq, and are the bases that coalition soldiers use as home during their year-long deployments to the country. The "mayor" of FOB Loyalty is Army Capt. Melissa Ringhisen. "Anything that has to do with feeding, bunking or caring for the troops comes under my office," she said. "We try very hard to make it a good place to work out of." Servicemembers on the base patrol areas of East Baghdad, including Sadr City. Going off the FOB can be uncertain. Improvised explosive devices, car bombs, suicide bombers and mortar and rocket attacks are the main threats.

Those who don't leave the base are called "fobbits." Going "back to the FOB" means going back to safety. And being "the head fobbit" means being the mayor - a term Ringhisen enjoys. FOB Loyalty is located in what was Saddam Hussein's directorate of internal security. There are a couple of monuments to U.S. Air Force accuracy on the grounds of the FOB. The main building took three or four precision-guided bombs, and another precision bomb wiped out the house Saddam used when he visited the base.

Contractor Kellogg Brown & Root runs the dining facility, or DFAC. The chow is excellent, with a wide variety of choices and even ice cream. Each week features a steak and seafood night. It's tough having to eat crab legs in Iraq. All that good food means that there needs to be a way to work it off. The gym on the FOB has weight machines and free weights. There are treadmills for those who don't care to run in 120-degree heat in the summer.

There is even a roofed pool started by Saddam's men and completed by KBR for the soldiers, Marines and airmen to use. At the POB laundry, "if you drop off your clothes before 9 a.m., you can get them back that afternoon," Ringhisen said. A dayroom open around the clock has a large-screen television, two pool tables, pingpong and a library of books donated by Americans from all over the United States.

The FOB is not large enough for Army and Air Force Exchange Service store, but the mayor has a store stocked with sundry things servicemembers need on a daily basis. "We make a bulk order with AAFES weekly," the captain said. "There is always the AAFES catalogue, and we can pick up special orders if needed." It's not home, but Ringhisen and her "head fobbit" counterparts throughout Iraq do everything they can to make life on the FOB as comfortable as possible for servicemembers.

n.b. This article is over a year old and it has been reported that the new growth of the camp with the additional troops now qualifies FOB Loyalty for a full AAFES

FOB Loyalty

DefenseLINK News: Prison Stands as Testament to Saddam's Evil:
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service


FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq, Dec. 17, 2005 – Saddam Hussein, sitting in a defendant's chair, looks harmless and slightly ridiculous. But his deserted facilities at this base are testament to his evil.

The Americans moved onto the grounds of what was Saddam's Directorate of Internal Security. At its center is a prison that could comfortably hold 500. At times, it had 3,000 people jammed into it."