Forward Base Falcon Disaster

[LunarRay]

Originally posted by: palehorse74

Originally posted by: LunarRay
Wonder what was burning and exploding in that video and if it is related to the event?

1) that video was NOT of this incident as it was uploaded last January. duh.
2) not-a-newsflash: Ammo dumps and POL storage areas get hit from time to time. GG Insurgents! even they can get "lucky" sometimes... that said, it's also not unusual for LEP's to give the enemy a layout of the base after working on one.
3) the entire casualty list in the OP is fake.
4) some of you need more tinfoil.

The US Military said something occured... and the damage and injuries as posted in my earlier post... I still wonder what that video was of.. maybe US bombing of Baghdad earlier on..

 

[LunarRay]

Originally posted by: wazzledoozle
Pictures
Video

Well.. looks like a lot of vehicles were destroyed.. not quite a $billion but given we pay top dollar to our defense contractors.. could be..

 

[1EZduzit]

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: palehorse74

Originally posted by: LunarRay
Wonder what was burning and exploding in that video and if it is related to the event?

1) that video was NOT of this incident as it was uploaded last January. duh.
2) not-a-newsflash: Ammo dumps and POL storage areas get hit from time to time. GG Insurgents! even they can get "lucky" sometimes... that said, it's also not unusual for LEP's to give the enemy a layout of the base after working on one.
3) the entire casualty list in the OP is fake.
4) some of you need more tinfoil.

The fact remains that you claimed that the attack never occured, even though the military confirmed it had.

:roll:

And he's supposedely in Military Intelligence.

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: palehorse74

Originally posted by: LunarRay
Wonder what was burning and exploding in that video and if it is related to the event?

1) that video was NOT of this incident as it was uploaded last January. duh.
2) not-a-newsflash: Ammo dumps and POL storage areas get hit from time to time. GG Insurgents! even they can get "lucky" sometimes... that said, it's also not unusual for LEP's to give the enemy a layout of the base after working on one.
3) the entire casualty list in the OP is fake.
4) some of you need more tinfoil.

The fact remains that you claimed that the attack never occured, even though the military confirmed it had.

:roll:

the massive attack described in the OP's reference did not occur; rather, a much smaller attack took place that hit and destroyed "some" ammunition...with NO casualties.

And since the "casualty list" seemed at first to be the main point of contention here (ie, all those "gigantic uber coverup" accusations, and other tinfoil nonsense!), I think it's safe to say that the entire OP was trollbait.

the enemy gets lucky and hits POL and ammo dumps form time to time.. ok... ya... big story? i dont think so... nothing to see here, please move along...
kthxbye.

 

[Pens1566]

Originally posted by: 1EZduzit

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: palehorse74

Originally posted by: LunarRay
Wonder what was burning and exploding in that video and if it is related to the event?

1) that video was NOT of this incident as it was uploaded last January. duh.
2) not-a-newsflash: Ammo dumps and POL storage areas get hit from time to time. GG Insurgents! even they can get "lucky" sometimes... that said, it's also not unusual for LEP's to give the enemy a layout of the base after working on one.
3) the entire casualty list in the OP is fake.
4) some of you need more tinfoil.

The fact remains that you claimed that the attack never occured, even though the military confirmed it had.

:roll:

And he's supposedely in Military Intelligence.

Commander function in BF2 != Military intelligence.

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: Pens1566

Originally posted by: 1EZduzit

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: palehorse74

Originally posted by: LunarRay
Wonder what was burning and exploding in that video and if it is related to the event?

1) that video was NOT of this incident as it was uploaded last January. duh.
2) not-a-newsflash: Ammo dumps and POL storage areas get hit from time to time. GG Insurgents! even they can get "lucky" sometimes... that said, it's also not unusual for LEP's to give the enemy a layout of the base after working on one.
3) the entire casualty list in the OP is fake.
4) some of you need more tinfoil.

The fact remains that you claimed that the attack never occured, even though the military confirmed it had.

:roll:

And he's supposedely in Military Intelligence.

Commander function in BF2 != Military intelligence.

Commander function in BF2 = boring as all hell. besides, I've moved on to playing POE2... a much more playable mod.

So wait, let me get this straight: working in/for/with the Army, and being a gamer, are mutually exclusive?! how about bicycling... am I allowed to ride a bike without ridicule? go camping? how about reading fiction? allowed or no?

GG with all of your old overly-utilized one-liners attacking my personal character.

back on topic: the fact is that the OP brought out the tinfoil crowd with a quickness!

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

In all fairness, PH, you did say this event never occurred, which combined with your purported intel MOS, lends itself to a little good-natured ribbing.

 

[RichardE]

Originally posted by: dualsmp

http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a2547.htm

Courtesy of Novosti Press Agency

The Green Zone Follies

Baghdad, 12 Oct 06: ?On Tuesday, I was in my quarters, writing a letter to a friend that I knew will be censored so I was being very unspecific about conditions here.

About 2300 there was a huge explosion to the south of the Green Zone, followed at intervals by other, very heavy, explosions that numbered about thirty or forty and lasted all night. I went up onto the roof and saw a great fountain of flames, billowing smoke and flaming debris shooting up into the air like Fourth of July fireworks.

Personnel were running all over the building, wide-eyed with terror and wondering if our compound was going to ?get it? next. Usually, we hear distant explosions scattered throughout Baghdad on a daily basis as another convoy is blasted by the insurgent bombs but this ongoing mess was louder, and longer, than anything I have ever encountered.

It was impossible to sleep what with all the explosions and in the morning, I shaved and went to my office. As a note here: I am lucky to have quarters with no windows facing outwards towards Baghdad. The insurgents have sniper rifles, usually U.S. .50 caliber, set up in buildings that have a distant overlook and more than once, personnel shaving in front of a bathroom window have had their brains splattered all over the tile walls as a sniper zeroes in on them. The sound of the shot follows and never, not once, have our security people ever found the sniper?s nest.

In the office I learned that ?Forward Operating Base Falcon,? one of our light-headed senior officer?s idea to set up fortified positions in various places, such as the capital of the Al Anbaar province as-Saqr was hit by enemy action, set on fire and suddenly exploded as tons of stored ammunition cooked off.

Camp Falcon at Sukkaniya is located in the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah.. ?Forward Operating Base Falcon? was one of the newest and most heavily armed fortified positions.

There now exists a very high threat of suicide bombers in Ramadi who might attempt to ram Falcon with a vehicle packed with explosives, and so heavy concrete barriers were placed around the base designed to prevent such attacks. This did not deter the members of the Resistance movement who lobbed the same type of mortar shells into Falcon as they have been lobbing into the so-called ?super secure? headquarters areas of the Green Zone. Falcon had also become the largest US weapons arsenal depot in the American General Headquarters in the south of Baghdad and a very tempting target. This time, we heard later, (and officially denied!) the Resistance used Grad and Katyusha rockets instead of mortars and the results were immediate, prolonged and completely devastating.

The installation itself is full of smoking rubble, and fires were still burning the following day. Although it is still very early to be accurate, reviews here of Falcon?s inventory indicates that losses will certainly exceed $1 billion.

That addresses the loss of property. The loss of life is even worse

Over 300 American troops, including U.S. Army and Marines, CIA agents, U.S. translators and contractors were killed or injured outright or died immediately afterwards en route to hospital or in hospital and over 125 seriously injured, requiring major medical attention and 39 suffering lesser injuries By accounts, charred and totally unrecognizable fragments of personnel were scattered over an eight block area.

122 members of the Iraqi armed forces were killed and 90 seriously injured members of same, were also evacuated to the U.S. military hospital at al-Habbaniyah located some 70km west of Baghdad. U.S. medical personnel at al-Habbaniyah initially stated that the US military hospital at the massive American-occupied air base there had begun to receive dead and wounded personnel. The military hospital in al-Habbaniyah, the largest in occupied Iraq, was opened on 12 May this year in response to sharply rising (and redacted) US casualties.

Initially three large military transport aircraft with the red cross displayed under the wings and on the fuselages, had flown into the base, and casualties were being unloaded and sent into the hospital at the al-Habbaniyah base, and officially, we predictably released a flood of ?official statements? that claimed there were ?only a few personnel wounded and no fatalities whatsoever.? Also predictably, our people overreacted by launching a wild series of bomb and rocket attacks on random parts of Baghdad, killing an estimated 120 Iraqi civlinans and injuring an unknown number as well as setting fires that were still burning the next morning. There were strong ruimors that a container of artillery shells containing some kind of a nerve gas (for use against Iraqi militant strongholds?shades of Hussein!) turned out to be false. What was involved were a kind of tear gas, thank God, or we would all be dead now!

By now, it should be clearly obvious that the reporting of fatal casualties in both Iraq and Afghanistan are really under stated. For example, we had a young officer in here about three days ago who was talking with several of us. He is assigned to the air field from which the dead are shipped back to Dover, Md. According to him, last month, he supervised the loading of over one hundred and seventy military caskets but amazingly, the official DoD reportage had only a fraction of that. Of course he has no names, only numbers, and perhaps some high officer or Halliburton thief is shipping dope or underaged girls back to the states inside the boxes but this man had no reason to lie. It will be interesting to see if the DoD website shows the deaths over the Falcon incident. Time may tell but they won?t.?

That reeks of so much of a bs propghanda letter from the anti- war crowd I just puked and craped my pants at the same time and I still feel sick. The information might be true, but that letter does not help.

 

[brandonbull]

Shouldn't they build some kinda bomb proof ammo dump and not make a big trailer park full of bombs?

I guess it was a tough choice.............. new yachts for the Halliburton execs or some bunkers to store ammo for our frontline troops.............. decisions.....decisions.

 

[dahunan]

Originally posted by: CitizenKain

Originally posted by: dahunan
How retarded has our command become.. why was it so easy to create such a giant set of explosions.. We are almost outwitted by terrorists too often... I guess we can only be as smart as our leader

This may suprise you, but ammunition explodes when it is hit by other ammunition. Shocking as it may be, but stuff full of explosives actually explodes when set on fire.

I wonder if the OP is the same person who tried the same article on the Something Awful forums last night, but was laughed out of the forums. Of course that person claimed it was a tactical nuke being kept at a base. Which makes sense for the large number of a our ground vehicles that use nuclear weapons. Must be our stock of nuclear handgrenades.
Some people, I swear.

A giant ammo dump seems like it should be secured well enough to withstand simple mortar rounds.. eh? It wasn't a large missile or bunker buster was it?

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: cruzer
The ammo dump should have been in dirt covered, half sunken bunkers. The picture shows a line of shipping containers, I wonder who will be blamed for this mess.

Do you need to ask? Who is the man you call when you need to toss some blame around? That right, Bush!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: CitizenKain

Originally posted by: dahunan
How retarded has our command become.. why was it so easy to create such a giant set of explosions.. We are almost outwitted by terrorists too often... I guess we can only be as smart as our leader

This may suprise you, but ammunition explodes when it is hit by other ammunition. Shocking as it may be, but stuff full of explosives actually explodes when set on fire.

I wonder if the OP is the same person who tried the same article on the Something Awful forums last night, but was laughed out of the forums. Of course that person claimed it was a tactical nuke being kept at a base. Which makes sense for the large number of a our ground vehicles that use nuclear weapons. Must be our stock of nuclear handgrenades.
Some people, I swear.

lmao

Seriously where is the thought process? Tactical nukes in Iraq? For what purpose? To knock out a safehouse and the surrounding city?

 

[CitizenKain]

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: CitizenKain

Originally posted by: dahunan
How retarded has our command become.. why was it so easy to create such a giant set of explosions.. We are almost outwitted by terrorists too often... I guess we can only be as smart as our leader

This may suprise you, but ammunition explodes when it is hit by other ammunition. Shocking as it may be, but stuff full of explosives actually explodes when set on fire.

I wonder if the OP is the same person who tried the same article on the Something Awful forums last night, but was laughed out of the forums. Of course that person claimed it was a tactical nuke being kept at a base. Which makes sense for the large number of a our ground vehicles that use nuclear weapons. Must be our stock of nuclear handgrenades.
Some people, I swear.

lmao

Seriously where is the thought process? Tactical nukes in Iraq? For what purpose? To knock out a safehouse and the surrounding city?

I'm not sure where someone came up with that idea, I think its the people who associate "large boom with mushroom cloud" = nuke.

Still, I wonder why the place wasn't arranged as secure as you think a ammo dump would be. I would think you'd pile up dirt to keep the blast from going sideways and force the explosion upward. Maybe the place was still under construction, or more likely, someone just screwed up. Maybe someone thought it was a good idea to put off putting the stuff away earlier, like I do with groceries. Although my apartment is only rarely attacked with mortar fire.

 

[RichardE]

Originally posted by: CitizenKain

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: CitizenKain

Originally posted by: dahunan
How retarded has our command become.. why was it so easy to create such a giant set of explosions.. We are almost outwitted by terrorists too often... I guess we can only be as smart as our leader

This may suprise you, but ammunition explodes when it is hit by other ammunition. Shocking as it may be, but stuff full of explosives actually explodes when set on fire.

I wonder if the OP is the same person who tried the same article on the Something Awful forums last night, but was laughed out of the forums. Of course that person claimed it was a tactical nuke being kept at a base. Which makes sense for the large number of a our ground vehicles that use nuclear weapons. Must be our stock of nuclear handgrenades.
Some people, I swear.

lmao

Seriously where is the thought process? Tactical nukes in Iraq? For what purpose? To knock out a safehouse and the surrounding city?

I'm not sure where someone came up with that idea, I think its the people who associate "large boom with mushroom cloud" = nuke.

Still, I wonder why the place wasn't arranged as secure as you think a ammo dump would be. I would think you'd pile up dirt to keep the blast from going sideways and force the explosion upward. Maybe the place was still under construction, or more likely, someone just screwed up. Maybe someone thought it was a good idea to put off putting the stuff away earlier, like I do with groceries. Although my apartment is only rarely attacked with mortar fire.

Sooo when you say "groceries"

What you really mean are liquids in glass bottles that you got off the Russian in the back alley right?

 

[5to1baby1in5]

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: CitizenKain

Originally posted by: dahunan
How retarded has our command become.. why was it so easy to create such a giant set of explosions.. We are almost outwitted by terrorists too often... I guess we can only be as smart as our leader

This may suprise you, but ammunition explodes when it is hit by other ammunition. Shocking as it may be, but stuff full of explosives actually explodes when set on fire.

I wonder if the OP is the same person who tried the same article on the Something Awful forums last night, but was laughed out of the forums. Of course that person claimed it was a tactical nuke being kept at a base. Which makes sense for the large number of a our ground vehicles that use nuclear weapons. Must be our stock of nuclear handgrenades.
Some people, I swear.

lmao

Seriously where is the thought process? Tactical nukes in Iraq? For what purpose? To knock out a safehouse and the surrounding city?

I can see it now.

General #1: "Where are the WMD's we were going to plant in Iraq on Nov 5th?"

General #2: "Umm, they got burned up."

:laugh:

 

[LunarRay]

Well... IF nothing happened on a large scale as the OP indicated then alls well that ends well..

Military Intellegence ought to say what it means... mean what it says... and insure that what it does say cannot be construed to mean anything but what it intended to say..
Other wise.. like in the (IIRC) ITT or ATT case study all sorts of things can happen that were not intended..

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: LunarRay

Originally posted by: wazzledoozle
Pictures
Video

Well.. looks like a lot of vehicles were destroyed.. not quite a $billion but given we pay top dollar to our defense contractors.. could be..

Iether you stand behind your story 100% or you don`t!!

None of this could be , would be well I guess shizza!!

 

[CitizenKain]

Originally posted by: RichardE

Originally posted by: CitizenKain

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: CitizenKain

Originally posted by: dahunan
How retarded has our command become.. why was it so easy to create such a giant set of explosions.. We are almost outwitted by terrorists too often... I guess we can only be as smart as our leader

This may suprise you, but ammunition explodes when it is hit by other ammunition. Shocking as it may be, but stuff full of explosives actually explodes when set on fire.

I wonder if the OP is the same person who tried the same article on the Something Awful forums last night, but was laughed out of the forums. Of course that person claimed it was a tactical nuke being kept at a base. Which makes sense for the large number of a our ground vehicles that use nuclear weapons. Must be our stock of nuclear handgrenades.
Some people, I swear.

lmao

Seriously where is the thought process? Tactical nukes in Iraq? For what purpose? To knock out a safehouse and the surrounding city?

I'm not sure where someone came up with that idea, I think its the people who associate "large boom with mushroom cloud" = nuke.

Still, I wonder why the place wasn't arranged as secure as you think a ammo dump would be. I would think you'd pile up dirt to keep the blast from going sideways and force the explosion upward. Maybe the place was still under construction, or more likely, someone just screwed up. Maybe someone thought it was a good idea to put off putting the stuff away earlier, like I do with groceries. Although my apartment is only rarely attacked with mortar fire.

Sooo when you say "groceries"

What you really mean are liquids in glass bottles that you got off the Russian in the back alley right?

You don't have to buy vodka from the creepy russian guy in the alley, they sell it stores now. Although the really good stuff is from the creepy irish guy and the creepy scotish guy the next alley over.

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: LunarRay

Originally posted by: wazzledoozle
Pictures
Video

Well.. looks like a lot of vehicles were destroyed.. not quite a $billion but given we pay top dollar to our defense contractors.. could be..

Iether you stand behind your story 100% or you don`t!!

None of this could be , would be well I guess shizza!!

uhhh, what?

 

[Ldir]

Did the MSM ever report on casualties?

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: Ldir
Did the MSM ever report on casualties?

I do not believe so.

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: Ldir
Did the MSM ever report on casualties?

The claim is that there were 0 casualties. If you find pictures of the base, both before and after, you see that the ammo had large walls around it. So all the explosive power went up into the air. I would guess that once the fireworks started all the military people ran for bunkers. I am sure they build these bases based on the idea that things like this may happen.

 

[fornax]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
If you find pictures of the base, both before and after, you see that the ammo had large walls around it. So all the explosive power went up into the air.

Sad and funny at the same time. No wonder we're the laughing stock of the world when it comes to education and literacy. Don't tell me you're a real "Prof."

 

[1EZduzit]

Originally posted by: fornax

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
If you find pictures of the base, both before and after, you see that the ammo had large walls around it. So all the explosive power went up into the air.

Sad and funny at the same time. No wonder we're the laughing stock of the world when it comes to education and literacy. Don't tell me you're a real "Prof."

ProfJohn likes to bring up "claims" and "allegations" but everything he posts has little to no substance.

A lot of people have asked him what he is a Professor of and I haven't seen him answer that question either. It's kind of like asking Bush about his Vietnam era military srvice.

 

[AndrewR]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: PELarson
I remember the MSM, MSNBC IIRC, reporting on the explosions but no followup. Expect the news, if it is as bad as it seems, not to arrive until after the Nov. 7th elections.

"US forces have begun accusing Iraqi translators working for the American occupation of leaking information to the Iraqi Resistance that facilitated the devastating Resistance attack on the Falcon Forward Base arsenal late on Tuesday night, 10 October."

Interesting home video.

I am suprised the video is still available.

I wonder who shot that video - civilian contractors, maybe? They seem awfully entertained by the devastation.

That video is NOT the FOB Falcon ammo dump. It's from Kirkuk in 2004. I know that because my Airman was there when it happened, and she brought back that video a couple months after it happened (from the guys who shot it). If anyone remembers, Kirkuk had their ammo dump hit back then.

Now, I'll address some other idiocies in this thread.

1.) FOB Falcon is NOT the largest American installation in Iraq, as the original "article" claims. I think that distinction belongs to LSA Anaconda with the Victory Base Complex (VBC) a close second. Does Forward Operating Base imply a sizeable installation? If it does, then I guess a Patrol Base is even larger!! :roll: And, if you're wondering, they don't store vast quantities of ammunition at FOBs -- that's reserved for Logistics Staging Areas (see Anaconda, above).

2.) There aren't 3000 men stationed at FOB Falcon. That's brigade-sized, and there are no brigades headquartered there or stationed there. 4 ID is housed in the VBC.

3.) I love this one: "accurate mortar fire" from the insurgents. Ha! It does happen but very, very rarely. They get lucky, that's about it.

4.) Does anyone honestly believe that the US military is stupid enough to put "much of its armor and transport" and its "entire reserves of ammunition and special fuel (???)" in one place protected by only 3,000 men? Also, is it logical that all of these items would be placed in such a way that they would be destroyed by one indirect fire attack? Seriously, how gullible are you people?

If you look at the details of that "article", it's rife with generalizations and glosses over details that might sustain some credibility.
-What is "special fuel"?
-To which base in Baghdad were the alleged wrecked vehicles taken?
-What hospitals treated the wounded and the dead?
-Why would the military transport people 70km west of Baghdad (into Marine territory!!) when the main US hospital is located near the Green Zone?
-Is it FOB Falcon or Camp Falcon?
-Satellite pictures and aerial photos (where are they?) from which "neutral sources"?
-Why would elements from 1/4ID, 2/4ID, 4/4ID, at least 2 different elements of the 25ID, elements of the 82nd Airborne, 25th Marines, elements from 2 different MP brigades, and elements of the 101st Airborne (among others!!!) all be stationed at the same location???

That "article" is written by an idiot, and anyone who believes a word of it qualifies under that title as well.