Hey guys I know it has been a while since I have posted or even visited. I have been in Baghdad iraq for a month now, and I have been assigned excavator as my main piece of equipment and d9N as my secondary. For jobs just around the post I will be using a 320 D And jobs outside of the wire I will mainly be running a 230 LCR johndeere. I love both machines. I thought I would share with you guys now that I have had the chance. Just taking my love for equipment for another country. I bleed Hydraulics. -Michael-
Thanks for sharing the pix YO, looking forward to seeing more of them. What sort of work are you doing out in Baghdad? Are you in the military or a contractor working for them? BTB
Thanks for the update on where you've been, and the pics, Young One, and for your service to the country. No. No bleeding of any kind permitted! Keep your head down, ok?. :cool2
Thanks I am in the Army. We will mainly load trucks put in and maintain culverts and lay some pipe over here. Moving berms into 20 ton dumps to be moved somewhere else is what I have been doing lately. Fun work, And I get to work with the people I enjoy the most most of the time. Always remembering we are at war though. The equipment erases the fact that from my head most of the time, I just keep enjoying what I love most. More pictures soon. -Michael-
Keep up the good pics, how are things going over there??
Your very welcome sir! Proud to serve those who help me, and I can learn something from. I have come a long way in the past two years.
Things are going great over here for me, I am taking it better than some guys I guess you would say. I am working 16 hours a day and sleeping the other 8. Making the year go by fast for me hopefully so I can get back in the states and continue working and sharing my passion with you all. I am really enjoying working on, and maintaining our older equipment. I changed all the filters on the 320 D and the 230 LCR on new years. And little things like that make me really happy, because at home if i want to help i get told " let the mechanic do it " So I am taking charge and playing operator and mechanic. Trying to make the days go by fast, and enjoy and love what I do. I am really looking forward to doing the next full service on the D9N. Im not the mechanic, but I will make sure it gets done, and gets done right. I love my job! -Michael- Very calm over here if you meant how the war was.
Keep your guard high and make shure that the locals knows that you're one of the meanest units around. Even though u operate machines. A well secured workarea is a must before u start working. If not...you'll soon be a target.... Keep up the good work that you all do down there. Hope everything goes well with you. Hesco, KBR, Maybee Johnson and Texas barriers will soon be a big part of your daily life..
Thanks sir! we are have combat engineers, and have equipment operators, So security first. I am actually a gunner, and a main equipment operator and maintainer. I am a busy man. And I love it! We have 700 meters of berm to put up soon, 15 foot tall. 200 Meters of hescos, and a bunch of T-Walls. we will be busy. Especially me. Most equipment operators in my unit only touch equipment once a month, and lack the want to learn. So leaders rely alot on the few of us to get alot of work done. And put in alot of hours, both things I love to do. What kind of work do you do? And who do you work for? -Michael-
I've send u a PM Youngone. Some minutes on youtube will give u a good answer.(search for mktef)
Thanks mktef! definately sounds interesting. I will look you up on youtube one evening when the internet is a little bit faster here. Just spent an hour after dark here replacing what I find to be the steering cylinder on a scraper. It was leaking badly. When the machine turned left it would close, and when it turns right it opens. So im going to call it a steer cylinder. Is that the proper name for it? I had never did it before, and it wasnt too hard. Another day, another thing learned. -Michael-
can we see some of the armered cabs on your guys heavy equipment they always look so cool how is the visibility out of them compared to a regular cab
Yes sir, I will try and get some more pictures. The photo inside the D9N is inside an uparmoured tractored. Visibility is great inside there. Its a two seated machine. The only loss in Visibility that I find is when backing up, Which is with any dozer that is not up armoured. T he scaper if you look at the cab is also up armoured, its basically a four corner armour plating. with an armoured top. The visiblity is good in machines like this, You just lose visiblity in the corners, and have to slow down. And pay more attention to what your doing. We also have uparmored rollers. The 230 John deere excavator I am getting is supposed to be up armored I have never seen one. I am interested in seeing how they could up armor it because of the boom cylinder. Unless it is just a thin plate. I will try and get more pictures. -Michael-
I would advice you too be carefull about posting pics of your armoured equipment. Especially pics showing the strength and construction of your cabs. Also every info about mine/eod/ied/iedd protection/rutines you got. Its your life protection, and i bet you wount tell your enemies how to easy get a big hole in it. Your enemies are not stupid, and using the net as we are, to get the info they want. This is not to restrict you from giving us info, but think twice before u post stuff. This is a message to everybody here....
A very good point and something that was crossing my mind as I was reading. Good luck in doing a job you love Young one, But be careful.
I liked the Cat scraper pic, the armor plate is interesting. Knowing the heat you experience there, I hope the AC works well all the time. As a Seabee equipment operator in Vietnam, working from before daylight till after dark six and seven days a week definitely helped the time go by. I really hated days off or when we were restricted to base for one reason or another. Those days seemed to crawl by. We never used nor had much armor plating on our equipment. Did help put some plate on some TD20's for one job, but otherwise we did without. We also rarely wore much more than trousers, a soft hat, and boots most days. Our flak jackets we mostly sat on in the various trucks we drove to protect our valuables in case we hit a mine you know. We also sandbagged the floors. Initially, deep sun burns were our biggest injury. Lot different in dress than what I see in pics from Iraq. As you seem to have found out, men that do good work and are always willing to pitch in are in much demand in a military outfit. Officers and senior enlisted appreciate the help, and you often get rewarded in various ways. Keep one eye open all the time and know where the exits are. Thanks for your service and Good Luck!
Well gentle men I for one would love to know the quirks of armoured plant operation, BUT and it a big but I DONT NEED TO KNOW especially when it will endanger a life ,now if there is a life threatening issue on a standard piece of plant,non millitary spec then we have a duty to share it .So folks lets all help save lives let us know of the standard problems (non millitary) , keep stump on the life preserving millitary mods and the safety related issues and as the ww2 vets said "loose lips sink ships".
I can delete the picture of the scraper, if requested.
I would tell u imediatly if i saw something that should be deleted Digger! On a distance that pic is not worse than what u would find on the manufacturers site. But i don't want to see any detailed pics of that D9 cab. Similar equipment is in heavy battle theese days a bit further to the west... The description told me all about the produsers and who invented it. That cab might even come from a non US produser..
I appreciate that. I just didn't want Young One getting in trouble with his commanding officer, so I made the offer.
I think that we should also ask Young One this...to take the pictures that he can, even if he stores them himself, so that years from now they can be shared.....someday a lot of us will appreciate that. In the meantime, thank you for your service, it is because of the young men and women in the forces over the last 100+ years that we have our freedoms in North America.
As long as we're asking him things... Mike, what's the story on the excavators in civilian colors? Does Bagdad have a CAT Rental Store?
I am unable to say which rental store we use. We have two caterpillar excavatars a 318 and a 320 D. The deal with them, since they do not have armor on them they can be used anywhere in the greenzone. And anywhere outside the wire. ( where the bad guys are ) AS LONG as we have a perimiter of berms hescos, Texas barriers up. Something to protect them. My John Deere 230 which is uparmorored. Can be used in the greenzone, and outside the wire without a perimeter already up. Cannot comment on how the military has armored it though. Any more questions I will answer to my best of my ability within opsec.
I was only kidding about the "Cat Rental Store" specifically. But they are rental units? Interesting. Gotta wonder what the terms are...
Im sure its not cheap. haha
I would guess KBR long lease/rental program. I don't realy now for shure, but they deliver anything to the Forces abroad. It can also be rented in Kuwait by the Cat rental store. All of you guy's would be realy, realy surprized of how much and many sivillian firms that is operating in Iraq to "support" the troops. Blackwater is just the most famous one, because of some not so good situations.. We had one soldier who ended his mission with us and went home as normal. Showed up 2 months later in a black suv with a local driver, AK-47, Zastava 9mm, bulletproof vest and big dollar paycheck. Escorted KBR workers and convoys from Kuwait to Bagdad. 2x 3months contract and he had 2 years income in his pocket. Earning money in a abroad firm, working in a third country=no tax... Have to say that we are talking about well educated/trained soldiers with no airbag. Many of our soldiers where also asked to work for KBR with high vages... Our Crane ops was offered a brand new Liebherr LTM 120t crane, only problem it had to be driven from Bagdad to Basrah first...He politely said no.
Michael, you're in a lot of people's thoughts and prayers here at home, you're not forgotten! Be careful, come home safe. :drinkup
mftef. I will say that you are very close. And the equipment comes from a similar place. And you are right, civilians are taking over over here. There is close to just as many of them as their is us. And plenty of TCN's ( Third country nationals ). Their making more money for us, and doing half the job it seems. I do appreciate their help though. And as for the money their making, more power to them. I would do it too. But i will probably end up being a lifer in the military. Buckethead, Thank you for supporting what we do. Not everyone supports the troops, and that is their personal belief and opinion. We do the best job we can everyday to make America a safer place. Thank you to all that support us. Be home soon!
Thanks for your service and be safe along with all our people their:usa :usa
young one, are in the IZ or at VBC? I was at Travis all last year doing PSD for the DOS, PRT, UN alongside with BW (the little birds used to fly cover for me) and convoy escort from VBC to Shield twice a week.. I escorted more than a few KBR HETs to Shield and back again.....quite the characters. I also Hijacked a 320 while at the range at FOB Prosperity (I never go to war without my key ring) and showed my squad the finer points of combat grading....until my PSG and 1SG showed up and crapped a T-Wall....anyhoo.... :usa
Danregan i see your point here.... Some of us have filled our language with shorts/codes so everybody on the outside don't understand what we are talking about. Maybee we should agree to do some translation on what we are talking about. KBR=Kellogg Brown & Route.(Big logfirm) IZ=Irak, FOB=Forward operating base(They have names too) PRT= Provincial reconstruction team(in Afghanistan)
Sorry about that.... the IZ is the International Zone, formally known as the Green Zone. VBC stands for Victory Base Complex, West of the IZ formally known as Saddam Hussein International Airport. Now its a conglomerate of, heck, 6 or so different Camps and airfields. Most everyone goes thru it unless the fly right to LSA (Logistical Support Area) Anaconda/Balad. I used to enter VBC at the southeast entrance and exit thru the south entrance after driving all over the damn place picking up people and trucks, and it would take an average of 90 minutes with all the damn checkpoints and stuff, God forbid youd get stuck behind a big convoy or Route Clearance team then you may as well pull over and have a chemlight fight and wait it out. this could be one of your loaders, I stopped one day for photo op, right near commo hill / CRAM
I'm sorry boys, but for a non served civi it frightens the hell out of me that something is going to get let out of the bag by accident. Very, very intresting, BUT please be careful :drinkup
I don't know why but that made me laugh alot! middle of a war zone and having a glow stick fight. I just want to thank you for the service your doing for this great nation. :usa I wont get into the semantics of weather or not you support the war but to not support the men and women serving should be punishable by deportation. im sure Baghdad and the IZ could use some replacement inhabitants. THANK YOU! oh and any pics you could provide of the machines in and any pics of the work and areas would be awesome. DO NOT post any that could be to revealing though. BUT DO TAKE those pictures and save them so years from now you can share every possible minute detail with generations past. I find the work that the combat engineers did in some of the most pivotal times in history to be fascinating.
great pics watch you ass over there !:guns
Thread hijack in progress HETT near Liberty Chow Hall convoy stage yard near Commo hill Baghdad Traffic with Blackwater helicopter helping us dodge CEE tractor in IZ ACE in IZ Very handsome army man and cool little cat dozer fitted with armor Route clearance stuff :usa