Somalia silver anniversary

[slehman]

Gents:

25 years ago yesterday I led a dismounted patrol from Cali Xasan to Ballen Balle in Somalia. This was part of Op Restore Hope in which the Canadian Regiment Battle Group was part of. We were assigned the north eastern most humanitarian relief sector. Earlier this month our squadron was trying to establish contact with one of the northern Somali factions that was still fighting the southern Somalia faction whose area we were in. When our column struck a mine and disabled one of our vehicles, we sucked back and sent out a LRRP. I don't recall which faction was loyal to Aideed and which faction was loyal to Barre as neither really enjoyed our presence. As we were an armoured car squadron we lacked some of the proper recce kit such as the 77 set manpacks, we ended up carrying a 515 set which created it's own issues. We humped about 15 kms until we hit the bottom ring of their defensive positions where we set up our OP. After observing as best we could be humped back prior to last light as we didn't have the means for carrying enough water. We asked for a helicopter DP but they 'were busy'. On the return route we were bumped and returned fire of about 100rds before they broke contact.

Lost a little hearing as my earplugs were in my combat shirt which was in my ruck when we made contact.

I had my recce camera with me but was a little busy to take photos, damn. I had this picture taken as I wanted a memory if things really went to shite.

Part of the kit we carried was a starlight scope for one of the carbines. A set of NVGs for leading the patrol. A 515 HF radio. An M-72 LAW for technical assistance. Assorted smoke and frags.

Anyways guys, just wanted to share on this Silver Anniversary.

Cheers Steve

[lew]

Glad ya made it through the social visit with nothing more than a few dead cells in yer ear. At first glance, you guys looked South African. I'd be interested in hearing about the rest of your loadout.

[slehman]

Lew:

I carried with Canadian 64 pattern ruck which was a hold over from jump troop days. It's like the Nam era US ruck with different buckles. The 515 set was tied to the ruck frame using para cord. We had to use the 515 as the Squadron didn't have the kit to dismount the 77 sets which were mounted in the vehicles as our second radio. The battery spares were divided amongst the patrol. We had an expedient antenna to try and ensure we maintained good comms. Funny thing was they told us to go as far as we could and maintain comms. With a bit of luck we could have spoke to Israel. As our expedient antenna was a long wire, we had to climb a tree to mount it, but then the radio was placed high in the tree. Much like Green Acres, we had to climb to send in reports. The expedient ant was made using MRE spoons as insulators right out of the Ranger handbook.

We had one of the Magellan GPSs which were just coming into service at the time. One of the corporals carried the GPS as they had more time to play with them to figure out how they best worked. Our maps were completely blank less the grid lines as there was no geographic survey done of this part of Somalia. We used grid paper and the GPS to make maps. Mine had features on it like burnt out tanks and Sgt Nineday the dead camel. We filled in the maps with mechanical pencils drawing routes or features. At the end of a patrol you turned in your map so it could be added to the map HQ was building. Distances were measured with pacers and ranger beads. We had two Silva compasses on the patrol.

We each carried two water bottles with me having a US 2qt canteen for emergencies. The water wasn't enough for the heat but this was years before bottled water. We each carried two days worth of stripped down MREs as well as a couple of LRP rats, we called them LMCs for light meal combat(sugar candy, jerky, etc)

For weapons we each carried 5 mags as we only had limited numbers available, sad but true. As the patrol leader I had some special mags consisting of trace and AP.(that was my Christmas mag as it went red bullet, green bullet, red bullet etc.) If we came across a technical, this was the one I would us to light it up. We each carried two M67 frags and two smoke. My 2IC carried the M72 LAW as our only real anti armour weapon. Worst case scenario, their tanks were old and their crews were junk so I was confident of using my French Commando anti-armour training. Our carbines were Canadian produced M4s with iron sights. The Starlight mounted to the carrying handle with a rail and screw. We zeroed and test fired all our rifles prior to the patrol.

For night fighting we had one pair of NVGs working of image intensification II and the starlight for the rifle. There wasn't a cloud in the sky so visibility was pretty good. We figured we had the night fighting advantage through the optics and training.

For sleeping we each carried a poncho liner/ranger blanket and a poncho to build a shelter, a shade from the sun or stretcher if required.

Clothing wise, we carried a spare pair of wool socks each. Our combat shirts/jackets were kept in our rucks. Ear plugs, cam sticks, knives, sewing kits, mini mag flashlight with a couple of lenses, shell dressings etc were all in the ruck. We wore the standard Canadian combat pants and US (Norman Schwarzkopf style)desert boots. Our pants were bloused with boot bands to keep out spiders, scorpions and snakes. There were lots and lots of big ass camel spiders and scorpions with a healthy mix of small vipers. We were not issued snake bite kits as they said we would be dead before we could use them. I argued that I would like to have the option if he didn't get a good bit but to no avail. We had a really crappy combat cap so Tilley Endurables provided us with Tilley hats which were dyed by our Navy in Mogadishu. They turned out patchy green or brown. A fair number of Rear ech guys bleached their hats, I dyed mine brownish for cam.

Other kit, we carried a section first aid kit as well as a couple of IV bags and some barrier cream to help chafing. We all took mefloquine/laramine as an anti-malaria drug. They were issued Wednesday mornings and caused some interesting reactions, we called pill day whacky Wednesdays.

I really can't think of anything else other than my corporal bitching about the speed I was ghost walking looking for trip wires. I had my sling hanging from the front swivel but still ghost walked when we had any tree or bush close to our route.

It's been a couple of years and honestly this is really the first time I tried to rethink what we humped. If you have any questions, feel free.

Steve

[slehman]

As patrol commander I carried a note book, a few mechanical pencils, a pen flare with four red flares. We spoke in clear so we didn't have any codes or sigs instructions. I also had a crappy little camera if required.

We wore our standard OD combat uniforms as the tans were issued later on the tour and as our squadron was so far away, we had left overs. Most we short/small or extra large/extra long so we didn't wear them in the squadron.

I have a Bundeswehr knife taped to my shoulder strap with extra rubber bands and gun tape on the sheath.

This photo shows our standard web during a short daylight patrol through town as a show of force. I'm holding a small rock which was just thrown at us, luckily Africans throw like girls. This was not during the LRP.

Post tour our Airborne Regiment was disbanded due to a few kills that were not within our ROEs and some screwed up troops. That and the government at the time didn't want any one unit that was thought of as superior to any other generic infantry unit.


Steve
NT 12C

[lew]

Steve,

Fantastic write-up. I'm always curious what folks carried and, most importantly, why, especially when it's in an environment similar to mine. Perhaps it will benefit me directly, or it will just be for my edification.

"Africans throw like girls." Lulz.

What unit was this, and how bad was your pasty Canuck skin burned by the time you got back?

Cheers, mate!

-Steve

[slehman]

Thanks Lew

Prior to leaving Canada it was minus 30C (minus 22F) and we had blood thinning agents given, within a few days we were up to plus 55C (131F). When we landed in Mogadishu we were told to drink 20 litres of water a day which was bloody impossible. I think the most anyone managed was about 12 water bottles a day, I went from 3 meals a day to maybe one and a half. It was nice to be warm again. The sun wasn't too bad until our squadron made us wear black berets in the desert so you can imagine us being a 'little sun fucked'. We were forced to wear the black beret when mounted but allowed to wear the field hat and then Tilley hat when dismounted. We NCOs were close to winning the hat argument with our chain of command until the troops started to put lemon juice in their hair to be summer blonde and they started sun tanning. For most part I kept my sleeves down and really didn't have to worry much about burning.

Our armoured car squadron was from the Royal Canadian Dragoons which was attached to the Canadian Airborne Battle-group. I had just spent two years in our airborne armour recce jump troop before being transferred to our squadron. The squadron was a late addition to the Battle-group so our vehicles were flown there using SAC Galaxies and Starlifters.

When I was a Sgt in our Depot at the Combat Training Center, we were training young soldiers to be crewman in the armour corps. Most of the guys would go to tanks or armoured cars but about 25% would go to reconnaissance. We trained the guys to be soldiers first with a healthy dose of patrolling and defensive routine out of trenches. Eventually the chain of command which were hard corps tankers (muscle heads) decided we didn't need patrolling and trenches as the guys would get that at the Regiment. We bent the rules as best we cold to prep the guys for deployments and sure enough, when we deployed to Somalia, we went as an armoured car squadron but were rerolled to a recce squadron when we were over there. Now instead of teaching patrolling at the school, we were teaching in theatre. Some patrols did great work while others were just out for a walk, the squadron was bloody lucky we didn't lose anyone. We set up OPs at some cantonment sites with the two vehicles and build sand bag walls between the vehicles for sleeping. We had the occasional drive by so I didn't want the guys getting shot while sleeping. We also dug a couple of trenches along the wire so if we were attacked by ground troops the sentry had a place to take cover while the crews got ready. When we would rotate out of an OP there were some NCOs that took down the sand bags and built lawn furniture and used the trenches to hide beer cans. The same guys spent more time building a mini putt course than they did with defensive preps. We did some great work but the tour was a bit of a mess.

Steven

[slehman]

This was what we referred to as 'boats'. They were purchased in the late 70s as tank trainers which were never to get deployed. The guys on these were referred to as 'boat people' in keeping with the humour of the times. The boats were looked down on by both the tank and recce crews. For a poor mans armoured car, the cougar actually took pretty good care of us with myself striking a Russian anti-tanks mine writing off the boat but walking away.

The cougars were painted white as the Airborne Regiment was slated to go to West Africa as part of a UN force but didn't deploy. Their vehicles were already on the Roll Roll ship before we were added to the battle group.

The Airborne Regiment was disbanded in 94 after some pretty messed up hazing rituals were put to light and we had a few illegal kills in Somalia. One of which was the baiting of a thief who was shot and another was of a thief who was caught and beat up through out the night until he died of his wounds. The government wanted to get rid of the rot and instead of fixing the issue they disbanded the Airborne Regiment. It was a pretty messed up time for our army.

Steve

[lew]

Wow, that is some messed up stuff- both the hazing and the lovely tanker attitudes, but that attitude is universal to all militaries.

Looks like the LAV didn't need much help in the camo department with all that mud and dust. Do you know what type of mine it was? Russian TM46 or 57?

-30 to +50? Damn!

Again, thanks for sharing your experience. Looks like you made the most of a sub-optimal situation.

I'm hard-pressed to drink 10L a day running around the mountains in 40*C weather. 20 is just insane. In the summer, I wear a Tyr Tactical Recce boonie hat (ventilated around the crown), long-sleeved Under Armour lightweight shirt, lightweight shorts, and canvas and rubber shoes. LBE beats a backpack for breathability any day.

[slehman]

The engineers told us it was a Soviet TM-57. We were pretty cavalier about mine strikes as we had 3 Cougars strike AT mines as well as 2 Bison 8 wheeled similar hull to the Strykers. Everyone walked away without injury; two Cougars were write offs but the crews walked away. We were hitting either Belgian PRBs or Soviet TM-57s and were quite happy that the Somalis were crappy engineers. Our attitude changed when we lost one of the US ODA members Sgt Bob Deakes to a mine strike in his Hummer. His strike was a US M-15 mine.

Technology for clothing has come a long way. The nice thing about the heat and cotton uniforms was you could wash you shirt and have it dry by the time your pants were washed. We were issued washboards for laundry. 40 degrees in the mountains, you're a better man than I Gunga Din, I'd be pooched.

[lew]

Mines are some serious shit. Very pleased that I have not had occasion to encounter them. Speaking of ODA, were you working with only the Canuck contingent, or were you partnered with allied forces?

For heat tolerance, I am, by nature, a desert rat. I also work out regularly and hit the sauna afterwards to maintain that tolerance. Cold weather's easy: throw more clothes on, move around, and eat something warm. You can only remove so many articles of clothing to deal with the heat.

[slehman]

The Airborne Battle-group was based out of Belet-Uen a couple of hundred klicks north east of Mogadishu. We had our own Humanitarian Relief Sector which stopped to the north east. Everything west of us was still controlled by the militias. We only had ODA 562 in our area which was attached to our squadron for a couple of weeks. They were a great bunch of guys and were instrumental in our push north to Ballen Balle. When we first moved into Belet-Uen we had some Marine super cobras supporting us but nothing else. We really didn't see much else for Allies in our sector.

When the mission was turned over to the UN, our sector was handed over to a Nigerian Armour Recce unit. Didn't hear how they faired.

Our army is getting better at mild weather, we have the kit for the desert and arctic but when the temperature hovers around freezing, you need a more efficient means of keeping kit dry. We waited for years for gortex. One year after arriving in Mogadishu I was back in Canada doing a jump in an open doored Huey. It was minus 86 at altitude. Jumping with leather gloves with wool liners didn't cut it so we had to do a few race tracks to have everyone get their seat belts off. By the time we jumped my hands were so frozen I could only hold a slip for a few seconds before I had to let blood in them again. Releasing the canopy was difficult and undoing the QRB 'dial of death' was frig near impossible. I spent about 10 minutes rocking back and forth with my hands under my arm pits just so I could feel them enough to pack up the chute. I have never been so stinking cold in my life, it took several days for the hands to get full circulation again. I'm truly not a fan of the cold anymore, not bone chilling cold anyways.

Cheers

[lew]

The background and supporting information is very much appreciated.

What was the strength of the ABG?

-86? Yeah, hard pass from me.