Baghdad´s Airport Road (Ambush Alley) and Tom Jones (A true Story)
Marshall Adame
June 06, 2009
In early 2005 I was employed by a large commercial interest in Iraq as their V.P. for Aviation Services and Business Development. At that time I lived in the Baghdad Hotel, just across the river from the safe "Green Zone", and worked out of an office in the Gardenia Hotel, located much farther into the city and far away from the Green zone and any U.S. forces. Both the Baghdad Hotel and the Gardenia Hotel were located in very dangerous parts of the red zone.
In the course of carrying out my job responsibilities I spent some time traveling between downtown Baghdad and the Baghdad Airport. The road which linked the Baghdad to it´s now famous airport, was then and still, is referred to as "Ambush Alley". Although many areas throughout Iraq were very dangerous places to be, Airport Road was one of the most dangerous. It got that name primarily because it is the place where many insurgent ambushes have taken place against American forces and civilians.
One day in early 2005, while traveling through Ambush Alley, returning back to the Baghdad Hotel, my three car convoy, traveling at about 80 miles per hour, drove right into an ambush. A roadside bomb had just exploded about seventy-five yards in front of my convoy when a small Iraqi military convoy had passed near it. Almost immediately the right side of our convoy came under small arms fire. The driver of the car I was in accelerated the car in an effort to drive through the situation as rapidly as possible. We were going fast, about 80 miles per hour, but it felt like a snails pace. It is hard to explain what goes through one´s mind when something like this occurs. It all seems to happen so fast and your mind goes into automatic as though there is something in your brain giving you instructions you cannot hear, but react to anyway.
In those days in Iraq everyone carried a weapon. Although my seven Kurdish bodyguards were all heavily armed, I personally carried a 9mm MP5. (An MP5 is a small submachine gun which strongly resembles an Israeli UZI submachine gun).
My guards immediately returned fire and so did I. The cassette player in my car happened to be playing a Tom Jones song, "Its Not Unusual". It was my tape and I had always asked my driver to play the music loud. I was firing my 9mm Mp5 out of the window and had to change the 20 round magazine clip because I had emptied the first one. Bullets were flying and the noise was deafening. One of my guards riding with me was yelling something in Arabic and, as I learned later, he was praying, but at the moment I thought he had been shot. In the midst of all the chaos I suddenly realized that I had been singing along with the music of Tom Jones "Its Not Unusual" the whole time and, in fact, I had paused for a moment in the action and verbally said "This is my favorite part". Tom Jones and "Its not Unusual" will now be with me for the rest of my life. We did make it through with only a few holes in our car, but I can testify that being in Iraq can be a great adventure and, as all great adventures, overflowing with adrenalin filled uncertainty and danger.
Personally though, I was not in Iraq for either the adventure or the danger. I thought I was helping a suffering people. I arrived in Iraq in May 2003 and remained until late September 2006. The human mind is such a mystery to me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marshall Adame served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 22 years as an Aviation Logistician. He is a Vietnam veteran. He became an Aviation Management/Logistics Consultant in 1992. He worked in the Kuwait recovery of 1992 rebuilding the Kuwait F-18 Logistics program and was an Aviation Logistics Support Representative (LSR) throughout the United States until 1998.
He was the Senior Aviation Logistics Manager for Kaman Aerospace in their Egypt US Government Aviation programs and lived in Egypt from 1998 until late 2002.
Marshall went to Iraq in 2003 where he was the U.S. Coalition Airport Director for Basrah International Airport.
Later he was VP for Aviation development with a Commercial Services Corporation in Iraq where he lived and worked in the "Red Zone" of Baghdad.
In 2005 Marshall received a U.S. State Department Diplomatic appointment in Iraq and was a U.S. Advisor to the Iraqi Minister of Interior.
Later, as a State Department Official in Iraq, Marshall was assigned to Department of State Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) where he was on the staff of the National Coordination Team (NCT) in Baghdad, Iraq overseeing PRT development throughout the country.
He returned to the United States in August 2006 after over three years in Iraq and is now the DRS-TSI Program Manager for the U.S. Army CECOM Reset program.
He is a member of the consulting groups, Gerson Lehrman Group and The Society of Industry Leaders. Marshall is also an artist member of BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc) where his music is cataloged.
Marshall attended the University of Maryland, NC State University and Carolina College. He is also a graduate of the Marine Corps Staff NCO Academy, the Navy Senior Aviation Logistics School, and the Marine Corps / State Department Embassy School.
Marshall and Becky Adame´s family home is in Jacksonville, North Carolina where Becky is a 3rd grade teacher. They have four children, Paul 37, Veronica 35, Billy 30 and Benjamin 26, and twelve grandchildren.
Billy and Benjamin are presently serving in the US Army and are both Iraq veterans. Billy was wounded in Battle about 20 miles North of Baghdad on July 2, 2006. Benjamin returned from his second 15 month tour in Iraq November 2008 marshall_adame@yahoo.com
In the course of carrying out my job responsibilities I spent some time traveling between downtown Baghdad and the Baghdad Airport. The road which linked the Baghdad to it´s now famous airport, was then and still, is referred to as "Ambush Alley". Although many areas throughout Iraq were very dangerous places to be, Airport Road was one of the most dangerous. It got that name primarily because it is the place where many insurgent ambushes have taken place against American forces and civilians.
One day in early 2005, while traveling through Ambush Alley, returning back to the Baghdad Hotel, my three car convoy, traveling at about 80 miles per hour, drove right into an ambush. A roadside bomb had just exploded about seventy-five yards in front of my convoy when a small Iraqi military convoy had passed near it. Almost immediately the right side of our convoy came under small arms fire. The driver of the car I was in accelerated the car in an effort to drive through the situation as rapidly as possible. We were going fast, about 80 miles per hour, but it felt like a snails pace. It is hard to explain what goes through one´s mind when something like this occurs. It all seems to happen so fast and your mind goes into automatic as though there is something in your brain giving you instructions you cannot hear, but react to anyway.
In those days in Iraq everyone carried a weapon. Although my seven Kurdish bodyguards were all heavily armed, I personally carried a 9mm MP5. (An MP5 is a small submachine gun which strongly resembles an Israeli UZI submachine gun).
My guards immediately returned fire and so did I. The cassette player in my car happened to be playing a Tom Jones song, "Its Not Unusual". It was my tape and I had always asked my driver to play the music loud. I was firing my 9mm Mp5 out of the window and had to change the 20 round magazine clip because I had emptied the first one. Bullets were flying and the noise was deafening. One of my guards riding with me was yelling something in Arabic and, as I learned later, he was praying, but at the moment I thought he had been shot. In the midst of all the chaos I suddenly realized that I had been singing along with the music of Tom Jones "Its Not Unusual" the whole time and, in fact, I had paused for a moment in the action and verbally said "This is my favorite part". Tom Jones and "Its not Unusual" will now be with me for the rest of my life. We did make it through with only a few holes in our car, but I can testify that being in Iraq can be a great adventure and, as all great adventures, overflowing with adrenalin filled uncertainty and danger.
Personally though, I was not in Iraq for either the adventure or the danger. I thought I was helping a suffering people. I arrived in Iraq in May 2003 and remained until late September 2006. The human mind is such a mystery to me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marshall Adame served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 22 years as an Aviation Logistician. He is a Vietnam veteran. He became an Aviation Management/Logistics Consultant in 1992. He worked in the Kuwait recovery of 1992 rebuilding the Kuwait F-18 Logistics program and was an Aviation Logistics Support Representative (LSR) throughout the United States until 1998.
He was the Senior Aviation Logistics Manager for Kaman Aerospace in their Egypt US Government Aviation programs and lived in Egypt from 1998 until late 2002.
Marshall went to Iraq in 2003 where he was the U.S. Coalition Airport Director for Basrah International Airport.
Later he was VP for Aviation development with a Commercial Services Corporation in Iraq where he lived and worked in the "Red Zone" of Baghdad.
In 2005 Marshall received a U.S. State Department Diplomatic appointment in Iraq and was a U.S. Advisor to the Iraqi Minister of Interior.
Later, as a State Department Official in Iraq, Marshall was assigned to Department of State Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) where he was on the staff of the National Coordination Team (NCT) in Baghdad, Iraq overseeing PRT development throughout the country.
He returned to the United States in August 2006 after over three years in Iraq and is now the DRS-TSI Program Manager for the U.S. Army CECOM Reset program.
He is a member of the consulting groups, Gerson Lehrman Group and The Society of Industry Leaders. Marshall is also an artist member of BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc) where his music is cataloged.
Marshall attended the University of Maryland, NC State University and Carolina College. He is also a graduate of the Marine Corps Staff NCO Academy, the Navy Senior Aviation Logistics School, and the Marine Corps / State Department Embassy School.
Marshall and Becky Adame´s family home is in Jacksonville, North Carolina where Becky is a 3rd grade teacher. They have four children, Paul 37, Veronica 35, Billy 30 and Benjamin 26, and twelve grandchildren.
Billy and Benjamin are presently serving in the US Army and are both Iraq veterans. Billy was wounded in Battle about 20 miles North of Baghdad on July 2, 2006. Benjamin returned from his second 15 month tour in Iraq November 2008 marshall_adame@yahoo.com
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