My garage in Mosul, Iraq

[mzbk2l]

I wouldn't have thought to post pictures of Iraq, but Drylan's thread: My garage in Afghanistan seemed to be very well received, so I'll share some of my pictures from the middle east, too.

I came to Mosul in July 2004 and worked as a mechanic until October 2005, when I got an office job and moved to Camp Anaconda (later known as Joint Base Balad, or JBB). When that closed last year, we came down to the Baghdad airport, and I'll leave for good next month after 8 years and 1 month in Iraq.

In the posts below are pictures of our shop in Mosul, and some of the jobs we worked on.

 

[mzbk2l]

Hangar queen that was in the shop when I arrived:

We generated a lot of trash with the early "Add-On Armor" kits for Humvees:

 

[mzbk2l]

My first big job; new engine in a HET (Heavy Equipment Transporter), which requires removal of the cab:

All done.

 

[mzbk2l]

Humvees kept us very busy; a lot of engine replacements in those days.

Fuel pumps were constant source of trouble in the heat, as well.

I got to watch a mortar round fall out of the sky and hit this truck about 20' in front of me during twilight one morning:

 

[mzbk2l]

The shop from the street:

And my side:

My bay:

 

[mzbk2l]

Hand wash station:

Back side of shop:

Conex door blown over the bays by a gas cylinder explosion:

And the spot where the conex used to sit:

 

[mzbk2l]

More work:

 

[mzbk2l]

These guys drove into a ditch in the dark and tore up the front suspension. I replaced everything up to the frame rails:

Don't remember what this job was, but the driver was happy with us for the Add On Armor and his armored windshields!

A little local color:

 

[mzbk2l]

Top view of the shops:

Another engine job:

 

[mzbk2l]

Not ours (luckily!):

Nothing new here... another engine. Note that the army inspects the vehicles and orders the parts - we just install them. No way we would have thrown engines at most of these jobs when they could have just been repaired.

New engines sure are purty, though, aren't they?

 

[mzbk2l]

This one was more fun. A group of soldiers "adjusted the bearings" on their HEMTT and subsequently welded the rear hubs to the axle housing. We put two new axles in it:

Finally getting some shade, a year after moving in:

The army, hard at work:

 

[mzbk2l]

Safety first!

All done.

Huh?

 

[mzbk2l]

One of those waterloo toolboxes I read about on here:

To be fair, we had to roll them across rough concrete to get them out every morning and lock them up every night. This was only a castor failure, not a toolbox issue.

Rain drains:

 

[mzbk2l]

Last job before I moved to the office:

Someone reinstalled a driveshaft out of phase (was our best guess).

It's an Allison MD3070PT, also known as the "drop 7" for bigger truck geeks.

No fixing this one...

I think I was on my way to the plane when this one came in.

I have plenty more Iraq pictures, but I was wearing Khakis and nice shirts when I took the rest of them.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Nice pics! We used to joke about the mortars coming in every day at KAF...then they started hitting stuff.....they are no laughing matter.

What kinda cylinders were those lying about? Seems like that coulda been a pretty bad deal....

 

[mzbk2l]

The new army unit brought in a conex full of welding gas cylinders, and something sparked it. Not sure if they ever decided if it was a mortar hit or simply leaking gas that was ignited by a cigarette. Couple of guys were badly injured, though, and the cylinders were blowing up higher than the tree tops. Flying cylinders did some serious damage to a few parked vehicles, too. It was a mess.

 

[Bull]

Geez, Mike, do many guys stay over there for that long of a period of time? Eight years seems like a loooong time to be in the sandbox.

That's some seriously cool equipment you were working on.

I like those massive HW jacks, and the humongous red jack stands in the earlier photos.

 

[Drylan]

I will have to wait till I get home to see your pics. Our company net blocks all of Photo buckets pics along with a ton of others. Glad I inspired you to post. People back home just don’t have a clue on what goes on over here behind scenes. And they should.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Nothing new here... another engine. Note that the army inspects the vehicles and orders the parts - we just install them. No way we would have thrown engines at most of these jobs when they could have just been repaired.

What happens to the engines that are removed? Are they sent somewhere for rebuilding or do they get scrapped?

 

[mzbk2l]

What happens to the engines that are removed? Are they sent somewhere for rebuilding or do they get scrapped?

We sent them to Kuwait... I believe they went to a depot-level repair shop from there. Hopefully back in the states, because the in-theater rebuilds we received were junk. Engines rusted from water in the crates, cross-threaded injector lines, missing bolts, etc. We eventually stopped using them altogether and just sent them back as "inoperative" and kept opening crates until we got brand new engines.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Wow, thanks for sharing! Some very big stuff you worked on!

 

[Skyline]

Thank you for your service!

 

[Big-Foot]

Thank you for your service!

X2 here.... Great shots! Man some of those vehicles are shot-up pretty badly!

Looks like it can be hotter than hell during the day and freezing cold at night..

 

[JasonW]

Thanks for sharing. Bet you're glad to be headed home, even if your new garage will be smaller.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Very interesting thread. I'm really impressed with the facility and the work that you did. Back in my day, Vietnam, most of what you fixed would have been junked or evacuated to depot in Japan or the US. You may be a civilian but bullets and bombs don't know the difference and I appreciate your service. What will you be doing when you come home?

 

[blownhemi]

Very cool pictures, thanks for sharing.

Will those uparmored humvee windows stop a 7.62 round?

 

[NUTTSGT]

Some great looking pics. Thanks for directly supporting our troops. After 8 years over there, I hope you have a fat bank roll for what you dealt with.

 

[Nighttrain]

Very cool pictures. Thank you for up and close support of our men and women soldiers.

 

[ZRX61]

Geez, Mike, do many guys stay over there for that long of a period of time? Eight years seems like a loooong time to be in the sandbox.

One guy I know has been contracting on Saudi AF fighters since 1986. He's about due to retire soon.

 

[mzbk2l]

Geez, Mike, do many guys stay over there for that long of a period of time? Eight years seems like a loooong time to be in the sandbox.

I guess you get used to it. "Institutionalized," as Brooks said in The Shawshank Redemption. Most people are smart enough not to stay that long, though.

I will have to wait till I get home to see your pics. Our company net blocks all of Photo buckets pics along with a ton of others. Glad I inspired you to post. People back home just don’t have a clue on what goes on over here behind scenes. And they should.

Pretty similar pics to yours, only a bit less cover back in the early days.

X2 here.... Great shots! Man some of those vehicles are shot-up pretty badly!

Looks like it can be hotter than hell during the day and freezing cold at night..

Those pictures took place over two summers and one winter, so there were both hot and cold, although not usually at the same time. 130* on the ground was not abnormal during the summer, and we had enough snow one time in February to scoop it off the vehicles for a snowball fight, although it didn't stick to the ground.

Thanks for sharing. Bet you're glad to be headed home, even if your new garage will be smaller.

Very.

Very interesting thread. I'm really impressed with the facility and the work that you did. Back in my day, Vietnam, most of what you fixed would have been junked or evacuated to depot in Japan or the US. You may be a civilian but bullets and bombs don't know the difference and I appreciate your service. What will you be doing when you come home?

Plenty was junked... I have pictures of piles of Humvees and 5-tons stacked in the DRMO.

I have a garage to build when I come home!
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=141169

Very cool pictures, thanks for sharing.

Will those uparmored humvee windows stop a 7.62 round?

I believe the pockmarks in the windshield I'm standing next to in one of the pics came from an AK-47.

We used a 20oz ball peen hammer one day and tried to go through one of the 5" thick side glass windows. At the end of the day, 4 or 5 of us had worn out arms, and there was a small pile of glass chips on the ground, but we hadn't even made it through one layer of the glass.

 

[HOTFR8]

Would love to drive some of that machinery. Must be an "interesting" place to work.

 

[bauschracing]

8 years of "groundhog days"? That is rough! Motor pools all seem to look alike. I was at Tallil in 05-06 as a TACOM logistics assistance rep. (LAR) and the IRAQ motor stables were built just like the ones in the pictures. People back here in the states have no clue to what our brave men and women are subjected to. The roadside bombs are deadly even with the armor. The heat is hard to explain, the sand storms hurt your lungs, the rain makes it hard to walk, and you walk everywhere. I had a 1 mile walk to and from the chow hall and laundry. You take a shower and you are dirty on your walk back. You never know if that trash on the side of the road is trash or a road side bomb.
Just getting too and from your duty station can take days and you are always subject to getting killed at any time.
Not only do our troops deserve respect, but the contractors and government employees (AAFES, Corp. of Eng,Logistics people) do also.
Keep safe and thank you for your support!!!
Mike

 

[shopnut]

Thanks for sharing. It's quite a bit different than any maintenance/repair shops on the bases I've visited in the States. But I guess that's to be expected. It looks like you are making due just fine with what you have.

And thanks for your service to our country.

 

[morfmedia]

Awesome work, thanks for sharing!

 

[graffix000]

Thanks for sharing. Stay safe.

 

[thunderchunky]

Amazing photos...thanks so much for your service my friend.

 

[tim82]

Thanks for the pictures. I've been there, back in 2005. I am still in the Army, get blown up right outside the gate there. Nice to see quality mechanics like you. This is my first post and I'm glad it was for this reason

 

[Higgins]

Great Photo's! It's amazing to see the level of repair you folks are having to perform over there in those harsh conditions!

 

[mdkingsley]

Thanks for keeping our military junk running for our guys and gals in Iraq. They need dependable service in those conditions.

 

[welder4956]

And the spot where the conex used to sit:

Thank you for your service.

I can't help but notice these are acetylene cylinders where the box used to be. If they were stored inside a poorly ventilated conex box and any of them leaked, all it took was a spark to set it off.