Behind the Times with the Covid-19 Virus

This current Covid-19 crisis reminds me of being in Iraq during the invasion of 2003.

I was Marine Infantry and we were tip of the spear.  We bounced back and forth from being on the front to letting other units pass.

We rolled into Baghdad the day after the famous “thunder runs” by tanks started.  The only gotcha, and there is always a gotcha when it comes to the Marine Corps, was that all the tanks were going over the river and heading west and south into town.  I thought finally, after fighting for 20 days we would have some armor in support.  Nope.  They all turned south in front of us and we turned north.

That day we rolled through and took two different military compounds that where lightly held.  We stopped before the first one to set up a formal attack and plowed through and had almost no resistance.  The Iraqi Army was fleeing and anyone that stayed we made quick work of.

The second compound we just rolled straight into.  We held that area for the night.  Our sister company took another area in the city next to us.  We were supposed to have the brunt of the attack, but they ended up getting pounded by the enemy all night.  They held fast not giving up an inch while taking heavy casualties.

We held our position waiting all night on an attack intelligence said was sure to come, but never did.  The next morning, we packed up and pushed to where our sister company had been taking it on the chin all night.

We dismounted our vehicles and ran online, three blocks across, and a platoon deep.  100 plus screaming Marines running down the road pushing the enemy out as we went.  We pushed the enemy into a large field by sure intimidation.  There a large group sat in the open trying to figure out what to do.

We called in air and Cobra gunships made short work of the group.  Next we were tasked with taking an intelligence base near our position.  We pushed through that in a matter of hours and then pushed forward into the heart of Baghdad and what would become known as Sadr City later. 

As a mortarman, we help our position to support the company with indirect fires.  Resistance was so small that we were not needed.  The company pushed forward again and took what was the United Nations building and Headquarters in Baghdad (the building was brought down by a car bomb about a year later and is gone).  Once our company had a foot hold, we were called to consolidate with the unit to be ready for a counterattack.

We ran as a small unit (about 25 of us) over a mile and half through the war-torn streets of Baghdad each carrying 100 plus pounds of weapons, ammo, and gear.  Now it doesn’t sound like much but at the time it was crazy and felt like the ending scene of the movie Black Hawk Down.  There were people, live and dead everywhere, and random shots, explosions, and machine gun fire rang out constantly.    

Once we linked up with the rest of company we set up in the defense and acquired a U.N. SUV for use the mortar sections use.

In the SUV was a radio that we were able to find a BBC broadcast of the news.  We were listening to a live report of what we had been doing for the last couple hours.  Hearing it on BBC made it sound even crazier and more exciting.

We just laughed that this was a live broadcast of what was happening on the ground right now… except that we had just lived it a couple hours before.  I sat comfortably in the front of an SUV getting a well-deserved drink and something to eat.  All curtesy of the UN, but that’s another story. 

I feel like I’m back there at this moment in time listening to the BBC as I listen to the news reports today.

I realized this when I was out for a hike and listening to Mike Seeklander’s Podcast The Best Defense Survival Roundtable.  They were reporting on what they saw as they went out.  I saw that the day before when I had gone out.

After that I started looking at all the news reports coming through my feed.  Everyone one of them was behind somehow.  Each one of them was trying to be the most up to date source of information but each one was behind on the facts.

Which leads me to believe the news even less.  They will always be behind.  Everything that is good information for us during this crisis is coming out of reports.  Reports take time to put together and there always has to be a cutoff date and time to create the report.  This starts the lag time.

After that, someone has to publish the report.  Someone has to read the report.  Then someone puts it on the TV or Internet (I hope you are reading about this crap not watching the news.  They are trying to make you crazy so that you keep watching).  Then it takes time for you to get that info and digest it.

All of this puts us behind the power curve on everything.  That time lag is just more exposed now that our world is changing faster than even.  Our President and his advisors cannot keep up right now. 

As the information gets updated it all changes.  How many different impending doom graphs have you seen in the last couple weeks.  Every single one was different.  And none of them have been proven right. 

The point is, we won’t know what is really happened until it is done. We need information right now to keep our families safe and secure.

Get what you can from your media sources, then do your own recon and intelligence gathering. 

Right now, my favorite recon missions are walks around my neighborhood.  I need to know what people are thinking and feeling in my immediate area to know if violence is immanent our not. 

How are the people closest to you reacting to this crisis?  Are they starting to get restless? Mad?  Starting to talk about social justice the wrong way?

One of my readers sent me a message about their neighbors talking on Nextdoor about taking supplies they see others having in their neighborhood.  That is a big red flag.  Where are you going to stand if this starts happening?  What are you going to do?  If it’s someone else or if it’s you?

If you watch your area, you can see these red flags and see the violence coming.  Keep an eye on your immediate area.  That’s where violence will strike you first.

Stay Safe,

Ben

The post Behind the Times with the Covid-19 Virus appeared first on Modern Self Protection.