US Troops Destroy Babylon

[Arrian]

As usual, I find Oerdin's perspective interesting in Iraq threads. Thanks

This certainly falls under the category of "doh!" But there are a host of things I find more disturbing.

-Arrian

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Cruddy
Well, I'm not surprised. Dumb USAF bombed Pompeii in WW2.

Perhaps they're jealous of other cultures?

Or more likely the 18 year olds don't give a ****e and there commanders have other things they worry about more. It's still bad but the chain of command won't make it an issue unless the media makes a ruckus.

[Whaleboy]

And you don't think it a little disturbing that these 18 year olds sent to "liberate" a country clearly know nothing of its history or significance, which seems perhaps indicative of a general ignorance that I fear may concern the people too. Perhaps it's understandable but it certainly isn't justifable.

[axi]

There is a simple reason for this.

It is well known from civ2 that the Americans and Babylonians are both turquoise coloured civs, hence they cannot coexist. Why do you think the Americans invaded Iraq. They HAVE TO be the only turquoise civ on the map.

Wait, which is the third turquiose civ?

It's the Chinese isn't it?

Uh, oh....

[Whaleboy]

*gets popcorn*

[Gangerolf]

Aren't the Babs green?

[Zkribbler]

Here's an e-mail I got from a friend of my stationed in Babylon.

In a few places, I've censored out names of his friends bcause, well, I don't know if they'd like their names plastered over internet. I've marked any changes I've made with brackets [].

I don't think it actually is [Groundhog Day], but I've certainly been a groundhog in the sense of being deep in a burrow and incommunicado. Sorry for the lengthy
absence all, the internet has been being highly disagreeable for several months.

On the plus side, I'm about to get out of here. I could find out how many days, but I try not to count. I hope everyone has been well, or is at least improving.

My first little bit of rant is a sort of Catch-22. We've got this duty called SCAR guard. (Security Control Access Roster) It's a SCAR guard's duty to keep people who don't belong in the DTAC out. We're now required to
have our rifle with us, and loaded. Now, this isn't a bad thing--it's just that we've done... 320 days worth of the guard while being required to have our weapons cleared... So if anyone walked in with a weapon it would be a case of, "Please hold while I get with the Ops NCO for some ammo, and load my rifle." So that is a good change, since we're now allowed to actually
have rounds loaded, just not chambered.

The rest of the changes are just rather silly. First off, we know the people who belong there; and if we ask them to show ID they will simply swear, flip you off, and in general act rude. Yet there it is in the reg--check all IDs. Then there's the no doing anything one meant to keep the guard alert. Unfortunately, sitting alone at a desk for anywhere from .5 to 3 hour(s) without doing anything tends to sap one's ability to remain concious. Wait--is it?--Yep, there's the peanut gallery with the "you have to have discipline!" bit. I myself feel tired, but do not sleep on guard. But the way that it's set up, people outside from behind and in front of the
post can see and fire at me, and I can't see them to shoot back. So I could be the most alert person in the world, but I'm still going to get shot; either in the back of the head or riddled with bullets from the front! The
only way to fix this is to turn the lights off; and then you're sitting at a desk alone with no lights below a heater. Which isn't going to do wonders for your alertness.

Catch-22 #1.

Also the 'no having fun' reg states quite specifically and clearly that no reading of any kind is to take place on SCAR guard, and that SCAR guards are not permitted to attend to any other duties while on SCAR guard. Every few days, we get a thick packet of slides for some retarded class we've taken 10 times before which we're supposed to study while on duty. Don't forget, the
only method of learning these rules is by reading the paper they are written on--which is impossible, because you're not allowed to read *anything*.

Catch-22 #2.

Then there's the random passers by that task us to help them do stuff, when clearly, by the regulation they themselves put out, we're not allowed to do
anything else but guard. So I can do the task, and get reamed for leaving my guard post, or I can sit there and get reamed for refusing to go do the work.

Catch-22 #3.

Oh, sweet irony. Really though, most of the people understand these retardations are what they are, and accordingly ignore them entirely. Thus I'm allowed now to draw on duty, which keeps my mind occupied. Mainly, I draw firearms, and cross sections of bullets. That and I also bull**** with SSG [censored], who was attached to the DTAC from a Ranger regiment, and who
restores my hope in the 'real army'. Definitely a good guy.

There are also my dinner buddies [censored]. We go to midnight chow and have a pretty good time doing it, and in general BS with one another and keep each other awake on SCAR guard when possible.

Then there's SPC [censored], who is probably my best buddy here, he's our Shadowrun GM and also a total weirdo like me. He's a Mormon, and married to
a slight young lady named [censored]. We spend a lot of time BSing in random places, wherever duty drags us. I get food for him all the time, which gives me another reason to go to the chow hall, so is a good thing. He gets irate about the retardation and hipocrisy too, which helps us both calm down because there's someone we can relate to.

Time for roving guard with G-6. Everyone take it easy.

[Whaleboy]

You want to ask your friend if he ever thinks about the thousands of years of history the US army is ****ing with?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Whaleboy
You want to ask your friend if he ever thinks about the thousands of years of history the US army is ****ing with?

I thought about it, but I haven't yet come up with a way to do it in a way which can't be perceived as accusatory.

Getting sent to Iraq is bad enough. Then top that off with months of guard duty with an unloaded gun, and then an e-mail from me asking about destruction of millenia-old historical treasures--if he thought I was somehow accusing him, that would not be good.

As you can see from his e-mail, he's an intelligent guy who sometimes gets frustrated with the stupidity going on around him. I know he's not part of the problem.

[Whaleboy]

Fair enough. For what it's worth I can't imagine this being the fault of any individual or small group of individuals, rather the people above them not explicitely explaining the significance of the site.

[Straybow]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Or more likely the 18 year olds don't give a ****e and there commanders have other things they worry about more. It's still bad but the chain of command won't make it an issue unless the media makes a ruckus.

Exactly. And about Saddam's Babylonland it wasn't the '70s but later in the '80s. Some archeologists complained at the time, but others pointed out that the site had been mined for bricks frequently over 2000 years. Early archeologists had made a mess as well, leaving great piles of tailings. These mounds are called GOK (archeology term for dirt and relics so mixed up that God Only Knows what belongs where).

It is these mounds of GOK that were used to fill sandbags. It is not a loss, whatever was in those mounds were worthless to archeology.

Originally posted by axi
It is well known from civ2 that the Americans and Babylonians are both turquoise coloured civs, hence they cannot coexist. Why do you think the Americans invaded Iraq. They HAVE TO be the only turquoise civ on the map.

Wait, which is the third turquiose civ?

It's the Chinese isn't it?

Uh, oh....

tsk, tsk. The cyan civs are Americans, Chinese, and Persians. Babylonians are a green civ, and the Assyrians are a blue civ.

Clearly you need to be re-educated. I hereby sentence you to a game of Civ2. Go directly to the Civ2 forum and volunteer for the next Succession game.

[Whaleboy]

It is these mounds of GOK that were used to fill sandbags. It is not a loss, whatever was in those mounds were worthless to archeology.

Hardly (and I can't be arsed to check the validity of your statement), but they do not need a specific geographic reference or relative comparison to the surroundings to be of archeological worth, if they are, say, individual objects, pottery shards, or perhaps ancient samples of grain etc.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Whaleboy
Fair enough. For what it's worth I can't imagine this being the fault of any individual or small group of individuals, rather the people above them not explicitely explaining the significance of the site.

Ah ha!! That was the angle I was looking for! I've sent the e-mail off, but GOK only knows when he'll get it. IIRC, he comes into the main camp where the internet facilities are only once every three weeks or so.

[Sava]

This sucks, but I'd be lying if I told you I was outraged. It doesnt' surprise me one bit either.

but @ this thread...

[Patroklos]

Hardly (and I can't be arsed to check the validity of your statement), but they do not need a specific geographic reference or relative comparison to the surroundings to be of archeological worth, if they are, say, individual objects, pottery shards, or perhaps ancient samples of grain etc.

And once again you predictably produce outrage when it is obvious there is no need to. What part of archeologically insignificant do you not undersand, or is it just that Whaleboy knows archeology best like the all other subjects?

Again, we have a handful of bricks missing which btw I am not sure how the hell they know the Americans did that, some worthless ancient refuse moved from one place to another (if there was no importance to it in one pile, it will be just as unimportant in another when they empty the sandbags), and an ancient but of nodescript pavement cracked vice looters running off with everything not bolted down like the museums in Bagdad. I bet the tourists of Rome do more damage hourly.

It amazes me the lengths you guys will go to be be outraged over nothing.