Thread: Employment Opportunities

Watched the video. Pretty depressing, the cycle of violence.

Stay safe out there - it looks like a completely lawless place.

Watched on telly the other day a show called "the truth about black hawk down", seen the movie of the same name, now the vidio clip and I guess the truth of it all is still out there somewhere. Stay safe
cheers
blaze

As per any day in the office...make sure you have adequate PPE...as per the people on my shop floor:









Had to get out beyond the wire to visit 3 different FOBs across Mogadish to escort a sub-contractor here to inspect the ROWPUs (Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Units) producing potable water for the AMISON Force. meant we had to do some convoying and slept overnight at the Burundian base then, out again this morning to beat the locals on their way to their Mosques, to get to another base. We were there for 3hrs and Al Shabaab put in some direct fire on one side and we were party to a great old firefight. Nothing came close but it always pumps the adrenalin up.

Then convoyed back down to the Airport Base where I normally live.

These were the carts we used:

Casspirs: -









Great bit of engineering, simple but effective. This one had previously copped an RPG and shrugged it off:



This is a their recce veh... a Mamba:









Then, to finish the day off on an interesting note I found the Burundians had two of these:



Anyone hazard a guess?

Wheelbase familiar?



Kitted out as ambulances...they never leave the base though because they are not armoured.





Then, on the convoy back down through town I saw a decrepit old County..Landies, even in Somalia.

Growing up on the east coast of Australia, I was quite regularly exposed to the joy of lantana (used to grub it out), lawyer vine (wait-a-while) and other stuff that used to slow you down if you were making your way through the sub-tropical vegetation. Then travelled wider to see the north of Australia and enjoy the delights of the tropical forests further north...thought I'd seen thick stuff....until I got to Somalia....eesh...the thornbush here takes the 'cake':



Each year the bushes push out long wand-like branches and they merge together and form the most impenetrable vegetation I am yet to see:



Then, when it dies and the thorns dry, it becomes the hardest, almost 'flint-like' metallically hard thorns:



....and can they penetrate! Through the soles of Blundstone steelcap boots....easy. Light vehicle tyres...I have had 4 flat tyres here in 3mths and we are always changing the tyres on the Casspirs and Samils.

In the 01 May 08 Army News it was reported that:

Warren Ball was also deployed
at short notice to Somalia in 1993,
where he spent five months as the
transport sergeant. He provided
vehicles for the Ready Reaction
Force and to deliver troops to provide
security for aid organisations’
food drops.
“We went through the battalion
group’s tyres for the whole
deployment in just two weeks.
Camel thorns pierced tyres like
they were going out of style.
There were a lot of tyres that
were repaired but we probably
had a least 15 holes in each tyre,”
he said.

I can vouch for that experience. I have heard of types of African Thorn Bush invading parts of the north of Australia. Pray not. This stuff makes lantana look like a soft lush green weed.

This is a slightly different one but, still spiky:



Here though, it does have it's benefits. It denies both us and the bad guys freedom of movement. The combination of thorntree and razor wire forms a fierce partnership:



Never thought I could eke out so much of a story about vegetation....

Originally Posted by BBC

Marshal bodied ambulance - used mainly by the poms and the dutch.

Thanks for sharing! As interesting as I find Ambulances, they pale into insignificance alongside the human stories here.

I'll stop typing now lest I simply re-repeat myself, again.

Ta.

you know its bad when you look at a marshal bodied ambulance, and the first thought you have is "WTF? SONOFA....... damn thing has a SIII deluxe bonnet.....nigh on impossible to find in Australia, but this BBC character manages to find one in a far flung, war torn third world, first rate hell hole!"

In my travels I have always been impressed by what measures man can go to to adapt and overcome, especially in relation to transport. In comparison to Australia some of it is quite sobering.

Interesting to make comparisons here between Afghanistan and Somalia. The first, from Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. Enough I think to scare most other road users out of the way...tastefully decorated??:



Easy enough to pick out his indicators............

Then Somalia, Mmmmm....not so decorative. I think we'd have to say a very practical solution in a country of nearly 30yrs of conflict and poverty:



This one was inside the base delivering charcoal. What sort of truck is it? Who could tell....I don't think the owner could remember.

Charcoal is the means by which both the Ugandans and Burundians fuel their kitchens for cooking...very traditional.

Earlier this week I missed a classic photo of a truck, the same as above, loaded with only God knows what but.....being towed by 4 x donkeys...what a classic photo! Unfortunately though, I was in a Casspir being sped along in a convoy...bit hard to ask the lads to slow down for a photo opportunity!

Thanks for your amazing posts BBC.

Have a Happy and SAFE Christmas and New Year. Hope you get to spend some time with your family.

Cheers, Erich