Joshua Silver, MHS '01. |
BAGHDAD, IRAQ -- Hello from Baghdad.
I had a pretty good day today. I got to work the Iraqi pay site. This is the place where they pay the Iraqi soldiers from the war.
Today we had about 11 of us out front and 11,000 Iraqis showed up to get paid. Our job was to keep all of them in a single file line and to keep order within the line.
Once, there were about 50 Iraqis piled up in a ten foot area; I was paired up with another soldier. Now, the rule is, if you don't stay in single file, you go to the end of the line. Needless to say, making 50 people in the middle of the line go to the end of an 11,000 person line doesn't make them too happy, and they tried to resist.
In the midst of throwing people out of line, my partner got caught between the line and the wall. I had to fight my way through them and get him back out of the crowd. On the way out my partner got punched in the eye, which opens us up for restrainment. It took the two of us about 15 minutes or so to get most of them restrained, or to follow our orders.
Later in the day one of the Iraqis ratted out two line jumpers. After I threw them out of line they called the snitch names, which is a very offensive thing in Iraq. Well, this guy got angry and fought me for my club to go attack the two men. Needless to say, he lost and was restrained. After a couple of hours they realized that keeping order would not get them kicked out of line, and the rest of the day was pretty quiet. All 11,000 got paid.
SPC Joshua Silver, United States Military Police Corp.
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A Topic entitled "From the Theatre" has been set up in the Iraq Forum in Ridertown Forums. Please see the Forums for additional response from Ridertown Military personnel such as 1Lt. David Simms, who sent an email Tuesday August 26, 2003.
