The great thing about fighting in the worse city in Iraq, especially in those early years of OIF, was the air assets. During the first months, ordinance was getting dropped at least once a week in the middle of the city, not counting the gun runs from apaches, cobras, and fixed wing. But as time went on, so did the ROEs. The times of smoke checking dudes for simply wearing sneakers began to fade, and along did the air power. When the FAC attached to us could simply point at a building (or grid square) and turn into dust, the powers from above managed to fuck that up. In one instance, as our entire company was being ambushed from multiple buildings, an F18 magically appeared and instead of gazing us with a freedom dust cloud, it gave us a very expensive light show instead. Later we learned that in order for fixed wings to drop any type of ordinance, steps had to be taken in order to avoid "senseless damages". A fly by was first required on top of the target building, them another one, then flares, then more flares and only then, after a series of approvals from higher ordinance could be dropped. But by that time, it really didn't matter. Whether it was the hearts and minds thing, or to simply avoid responsibility for blowing up a target, we quickly realized that those assets were no longer useful. No point of having that support if you can't use it the way it's supposed to be. I'm no FAC by any means, but if it takes an hour to get shit done while on station, then it's pointless. All I know is that once we left, ROEs prohibited any track vehicle to enter the city because it would damage the asphalt on the roads. Lucky for us, tanks were still useful for the time being. #truth #incoming