GuardAnon's Story of Survival of an Iraqi Blacksite (Jurassic park)

1431139973437.png


I worked a prison in a remote area in southern Iraq miles from umm qasr. At the time I was there it detained 30k prisoners and an additional 3k that no one except people working there knew about. They'd put us in blacked out window commercial buses and drive us an hour away for days at a time to guard the facilities. We were never allowed to speak with anyone on the main prison FOB and forbidden to tell anyone about it. We referred to it only as "Jurassic park,"one of the black prisons run by "contractor" medical personnel.

The facility itself was a facade of mud/brick buildings resembling a small village. The place was complete with villagers, us, dressed up in man dresses and a small area for goats on the outskirts. From a distance it looked legit but up close you could see the bulges from our combat gear underneath the clothing. All of us there were picked for our darker complexion and allowed to grow facial hair you also had to be military police with TS and PRP or Yankee white clearance. I couldn't see um qasr from the facility so I have no idea where we were, just that we were in the middle of nowhere.

We had to park the gun trucks and buses away from the area and use netting to cover them. the trucks were manned by a PMC so they looked like civilian vehicles beside being armored variations of normal vehicles. Usually a small fire team would be tasked with security and a terp. The rest of us had to put the clothing on and start a small patrol to relieve the other guards. In late 2007 we were woken up early and recalled to go the facility three days earlier than our normal rotation. We bitched got ready and headed out to get in the buses. This time around we arrived to a lot full of newer up armored humvees told to stfu and get in, there were already drivers in each truck and off we went.

Ariel Pink Glitch GIF


The drivers drove in a tight group which is unusual for convoy ops. They also didn't talk to us the entire ride. Its pitch black out and all you can see is blackness, but this is the first time we were allowed to see where we were going because the humvee windows weren't blacked out like the buses. I'm trying to orient myself but can't see much beside the little red lights of the vehicle in front of mine. The Windows are thick armored glass so its impossible to see anything in the nighttime desert with no illumination beside the convoys.

We drive for little over an hour and you can see a faint glow in the distance. We start to get closer and its the facility that's on fire. the Lt comes over our comms and relays that anyone not wearing American DCU pattern mopp4 is to be eliminated via deadly force. None of us are wearing MOPP gear. The drivers stop the vehicles and were told to dismount and rally around a group of LMTV's that are waiting for us. They start calling out SSI numbers and handing out mopping gear that is already our sizes. My WTF is going off hard. NCO's come around and tell us to gear up.

We start putting our mopp gear and are abruptly told to stop and strip back down to our regular uniforms and take out our military id cards, driver license, and any other form of photo identification on our person or gear. Little teams of PMC (private military contractor ie. Blackwater etc) start collecting and searching us. One guy would cutaway our name tape, military branch tape and unit patches. Once they finished another team of them would come by and try to find anything the first one missed. Lastly our NCO's did the same thing to see if the first two missed anything.

Officers start rallying up our NCO's for the OP order (operations order, tells them what the plan is) and the rest of us are told to rally back up around another set of LMTV's (armored supply trucks like a newer deuce and a half) and start unloading boxes filled with ammo, magazines, and newer NVG's than the ones we already had in our gear. these ones had a rail system that attached in behind our optic so we could wear a gas mask and still shoot and see in the dark. We're told to load as many magazines as possible and put the spares in our 3 day assault packs ( fancy military for backpack). We already carried a basic load of 210 rounds and m9 pistols with 45 rounds in our ammo pouches on our IBA's (individual body armor).

We're taken over to another area to zero our weapons at a makeshift little range made of hesco blast barriers. with my NVG's I can see that there is a security perimeter around us made up of PMC'S. We shoot, zero, then rally back up to hear what the plan is. we are to provide personal security for a team of contractors and are to follow any and all direction from contractors unless it's basic combat tactical decisions.
Make Love Glitch GIF by Altered State of Mind
We start forming up into squads(12 people) then break down into fire teams (about 4 people) and designate who will stay with the contractor, who will provide external security, and who will be clearing rooms. We then are briefed via rock drills (literally a fucking map made up of rocks and lines in dirt) for which squads will assault at what entry points or defend entry points.

We're leaving in platoon size (about 5 squads) and the rest of our normal security detail will provide overwatch with heavy weapons/marksman on the external perimeter once we start to sytematicly clear the village/underlying prison facility. After all that a team of 3 contractors wearing those pressurized suits that push air outward when it rips join my fireteam.

i want to say they had dupont logos on the suit itself but idr. we start to move toward our objective. The patrol there goes smoothly and we setup a perimeter and recon the area. Only a few buildings are still smoldering the fire itself had gone out during all the B.S. of just gearing up. a majority of the village is intact, there are also bodies strewn about but with the gas masks and only Night vision it's hard to make out if they are insurgents or the guys we normally relieved wearing local clothing. Their is a small IR beacon (infared) flashing at the base of one of the larger buildings and wants out team to shift to cover/clear that building. Plans are adjusted and the assault begins.

it is damn near impossible to move with all mopp suit on. that combined with sweat pooling in my mask and low visibility is making something relatively complicated in itself even more difficult. fireteams make progress to their respective areas, are building is on the opposite side of the town so it takes us a minute to get there. we bound and take positions making it even more tedious as we move. i'm running to take up the next position and each shit into the ground landing on top of a body. the face is caved in and the gore gets all over my mask and suit. i notice he is armed with an m4 meaning he is american military and there are shell casings and magazines strewn about his body. my guess is i tlost footing when my foot hit the shell casings and like marbles they made me slide and lose balance.

The guy behind me bounds up and drags me up by my assault pack back up to my feet and we continue. small arms fire is going off sporadically but in controlled bursts meaning that other teams are running into opposition but handling the situation. we arrive and stack up on our building and wait for the last team to get in place and set off two flashbangs to signal for all the building clearing teams to start.

Im covering my area of responsibility but can barely see shit with the sweat stinging my eyes and my inability to wipe it away because of the gas mask. the gunfire has quelled and the flash bangs echo throughout the village to signal the rest of us. im first in as leadman in my fireteam. im having trouble seeing in the darkness and the fucking mask is making it worse. i swing my weapon up and clear my area of responsibility.

The rest of the fireteam follows. first room clear so i stack back up on the next door and wait to feel the pat on my back to assault the next room. my eyes are stinging at this point and i really cant see shit. all im hoping is some prick doesn't get the drop on me and i get lit up. feel the slap on my gear, shove open door.

GIF by Jay Sprogell
I swing right and see a silhouette in the corner. he first cowers away from the light coming from my surefire flashlight then rebounds. i cant see if he has a weapon or not but he starts to run toward me. reach to squeeze the trigger but the rubber from my mopp gloves is caught on the trigger guard, something so simple and quickly taken care of becomes an action long enough to get me killed. two shots go off and my ears are ringing, the third man in saw the threat and neutralized it.

We start to stack on the next door after securing the assailant with flexi cuffs. Contractor comes in and tells us to standby. walks over and starts fucking with the dead body, wtfisthisniggadoing.jpeg. starts swabbing the mouth with qtips and prodding the body with other instruments, i cant really focus on what he is doing as im responsible not to get us killed if someone comes through the next door. the other two technicians come in and start consorting with the contractor.

The head guy walks over to my fireteam leader and tells us to stop clearing immediately and standby. contractor gets on his radio and starts relaying a message to his people. sitting there waiting, letting whomever is waiting for us to get into position cause they know were there now, and every minute wasted is a minute for them to prepare for our entry, i'm getting antsy thinking about it and want to keep moving but cant until im told. contractors radio goes back off and he mumbles something into it then addresses my fireteam leader. we are told that anyone inside the facility is to be considered hostile and dont try to identify weapons just shoot. umokherecomewarcrimestribunal.mp4 contractor tells us to continue.

Get to door, feel slap, rush in, room clear. this is the deepest into the building any of has ever been. there is one last door with a keypad and badge reader. there is a dead guard in the corner with boils on his exposed skin/black blood pooled around him and his clothing soaked through his clothes.

The contractor follows us in when we secure the body. he repeats the process again but doesnt call it in again. we wait in the room for a minute and wait for other fireteams to finish their way up to their respective entrances. waiting...waiting.. then one of our guys asks the contractor if we're suppose to shoot other american personnel.

hmmm, what a dumb question i think, but then this prick looks at us and says, "yes. anyone in this facility regardless of affiliation." WHAT THE FUCK, i cant even believe im hearing this shit. had it been our rotation instead of those guards then the higher ups would of just had us offed too? with the downtime im starting to connect the dots. something bilogical was in this place and now they are worried it will get out. my heart starts to race, i have blood on me, im wearing a shitty mopp ensemble from some lowest bidder government contractor probably had made in fucking puerto rico. im starting to shake a little bit, my gas mask is starting to pulse on my face from the deep breaths im taking.

i'm starting to freak out, "how well did my buddy checks really check this fucking thing to make sure im sealed up right?" i ask the contractor if im safe inside my mopp gear, he responds yes nonchalantly. i yell at him that he has a fucking suit that looks its out of the movie outbreak and thats easy for him to say.

My leader tellls me to chill the fuck out. i proceed to chill the fuck out, sort of. radio goes back off, other teams are ready. contractor walks up to door and takes out restricted area badge, swipes it, then enters his pin. door hisses loudly and retracts backwards with a hydraulic whir. enter next room, sterile, one way glass to my right, little corridor not really a room. shove muzzle into one way glass to break it in case someone is going to light me up from the other side. muzzle makes contact and the solid glass doesnt even wobble, the shock hurts my wrist, continue toward end of corridor, another key pad.
Sci-Fi Animation GIF by Tachyons+
Contractor does his thing. we assault into a long hallway with rooms on either side. fucking room clearing nightmare. contractor assures us all these doors are secure and walks ahead of us to a specific door. i can hear movement and voices inside the rooms, realize they are where the detainees are kept in cells. contractor talks to leader, contractor wants us to force cell extract the prisoner. we dont have any riot gear to do this, have to do it anyway.

Stack up on door and he inputs a code to open it, door unlocks, rush in. my first step in i slip and am shoved forward by my teammates pfor the extraction, im knocked out briefly, wake up back outside cell. im covered in blood and teammate is wiping blood off my face shield, contractor is hovering over me and asks me to check the seal on my mask to make sure it didnt tear. seal is fine, doesnt even ask if im alright, walks away talks to Sgt. look inside cell, covered in blood and vomit, detainee dead in the corner. overhear contractor address one of the techs, tells them to stay out of the cell and that he was hoping we'd find him here and wouldnt have to go another block of the facility.

Restart assault, and get to end of cell block, another key pad, inputs code and we go in. the room is round with a guard shack in the center of the circle room, cells align the entire room with another keypad door at the end. some of the cells are unsecure with doors open. vomit, blood, shit line the walls and floor. gate shack is one way glass, cant see inside. hear beeping from inside, american steps out. none of us have the balls to kill him. i recognize him, one of the guys i normally relieve but he is down here? he starts to bable, he doesnt recognize who we are behind the protective suits. sees contractor shuts up immediately.

Contractor is waiting for us to react, im waiting for us to react, no one reacts, i lower my muzzle and look to sgt for guidance, he just nods his head no. contractor asks to speak with sgt and two other techs, take opportunity to ask guard what happened, tell hiim my name, he remembers me from doing changeover. relays that four days ago "five of those fuckers came up and told us there was a riot going on that the guards inside were being overwhelmed by. said that we didnt need suits like them that it was a precaution. they lied, we need to get out of here man." looking into his eyes notice they are bloodshot, his skin is yellow, gums pale, and he keeps rubbing his stomach.

One of my guys starts talking to him, he turns around to face him, the back of his pants are covered in black shit, as in fecal matter matting and hardening. he passes a long winded gas but doesnt even break stride talking to the other guy. pauses looks at the ceiling abruptly, snaps his head back forward and vomits all over the guy he was speaking with. he starts to talk again like nothing happened.

Arguing starts to get louder behind me between contractor and Sgt. start to step back a ltitle bit. shit pants guard starts telling vomit guard to take of his mask so he can see his face, vomit guard is freaking out trying to clean his face shield while crouched on one knee. shit pants starts stepping closer to his crouched body and reaching for his mask. what the fuck is he doing? start yelling at him to back up and leave the other guard alone. ignores me, throws up on guard again, still reaching for his mask and they start to scuffle, shit pants is screaming for him to take off his mask so he can see his face.

I run up and hit shitpants with the butt of my weapon, he rolls off gets to his knees and continues to shit and vomit himself screaming at vomit guard to take off his mask.

clown eat it GIF by rotomangler
Istart wrestling with shit pants and screaming for Sgt to grab flexi cuffs. screams are muffled because of mask, im on top of his chest but he is still is grabbing at my mask trying to rip it off, he is biting the rubber face shield and screaming at me inbetween, start freaking out. rubber overboat kicks him in the temple, black blood starts coming from his ears, he starts struggling more but Sgt saw us fighting and ran over, now he is flipping him over and gets the cuffs on him.

He keeps squirming around, see the cuffs digging into his skin. vomit guard runs up and we drag shit pants into an open cell and slide him in and shut the door. we and our gear are all covered in vomit, shit, and blood. contractor says nothing to us but stares, we all nod in acknowledgement.

Shit pants is still screaming tumbling around in the cell. contractor has all of us come to him and the techs, says bluntly, "if you want to get out of here you need to listen to us. we have a ways to go and i want to stay alive." then walk off to the next keypad door.

Sgt yells for us to stack up. stack up, feel slap, assault room. five people mulling around in center and look surpised when we enter, i fire and so does everyone else. its a security station, monitors, intercom system etc. secure bodies with flexi cuffs. Sgt walks to camera monitor and consults me. says we can bypass a lot of shit if contractor tells us where we are going. agree, call over contractor, he agrees and looks over the monitors, points to facility clinic and says we need to go there so they can do their job and we can all leave.


Facility is much bigger than expected. contractor tells us first rooms we passed are just holding areas for new prisoners to be sorted. emergency exit map in security room, start to plan assault, place is built like a giant square with several hallways connecting rooms all the way to the center that makes up the largest cell block and aid station. run rock drills using miscellaneous office supplies. get confident we know somewhat where we are going. start to assault the facility again, get lucky through most of it, but traces of running gun fights are evident throughout. bloated corpses are in some of the security substations and we are out of flexi cuffs.

Begin using sidearms to ensure they will not pose a threat. get to a three tier block, decide that we will just assault through as quickly as possible to the other side and try not to avoid getting bogged down. open door and start beeline , there is a security station in the center, running toward it to get past and gtfo out of that place, door swings open and prisoner with m4 steps at and starts firing at us, america steps out next and takes up a position of cover and starts firing, hit prisoner standing out in open, keep up suppressing fire on guard while my teammate runs down the opposite side to flank him.

Tags guard we all rush up to clear the security room, its empty, guard is still alive, tells us they saw what we did to the other guard station and the prisoners and guards that are still alive are armed and waiting for us. Sgt shoots him. there are only four of us that have a shaky understanding of the facilities layout, makes me nervous. no time to talk run across cell block to other door to next room. continue through several more rooms. careful at each substation but havent run into anyone else. make it to clinic, secure it then set up defensive position near entrance to protect contractors while they did whatever they were doing.

satan GIF
They finish up and come out with a flexi cuffed prisoner. im getting more anxiety over this situation. now we have to tote around four people while fighting a force that knows the layout of the structure. prisoner isnt wearing protective clothing but he doesnt look sick either. start to understand why they need him.

Begin assault through building, have to cover new territory as it the shortest point to one of the exits that is an entrance that leads to another facility where we can link up with a fireteam from our original assault force on the surface. start running through rooms trying to be be cautious but trying to gtfo as quickly as possible. run into what looks like an ambush, the three who set it up are barricade behind random furniture and bodies litter the kill zone. start running through the bodies tryin gto keep weapon level with barricades. gest to the point where im running on top of bodies.

Reach barricade, all dead, still have weapons, looks like they succumbed to whatever everyone is sick with. vomit, shit, black blood, something new with these guys they look like their abdomens tore open from the pressure of the fluids inside of them, the organs are black, some it the fluid is a deep yellow. keep running. getting tired, getting complacent, overheating, dehydrating, nothing we can do but keep running. Sgt is lagging behind us, we cover more ground and he stops and takes off his mask and throws up.

I look at the contractor and he just nods his head. his skin is yellowing aggressive looking boils on his cheeks has that same deep red tint to his eyes. pulls m9, kills himself before we can even say anything. no time, start running forward again hoping to make it to that door.

We have three more rooms to cover. contractor calls me back and tells me to stop. i know where this is going so i put the m4 on him and tell him i kill both of us before i let him waltz out without me and my guys. tells me not to worry and says we need to deviate slightly to decontamination rooms. too tired to care and he leads the way. get to rooms and they spray the gore off the suits, sitting, waiting, for remnants of the original prisoners and guard force to kill me while i just stand there like an asshole while this thing sprays a bunch of shit on me.

Nothing happens and we all rendezvous in what he called a clean room to wait on my other three guys to get done with their decon process. start to put gear back on and not paying attention. gunshots ring out in rapid succession. contractor has killed the other two techs and has gun on me. tells me he can get me out of there but i need to protect him when we get to the surface. agree to it. he shuts off the decon and locks my guys inside to die.

Has me put on one of the techs suits instead of my original gear. takes me not to the door we fought to get to but to an elevator. nothing seems real. go on autopilot, and follow him he knows the layout more than he led on in the beginning. e get tot he elevator and he takes us back to the original mock up village that hid all this shit. rendezvous with my original security element hoping they dont recognize me through the face mask. helo lands and takes us across border to ali al salem air base in kuwait. im smuggled out of the country and back into the united states.

Contractor kept his word and ive kept mine. if i gave you my real name it would say i died in a mortar attack in late 2007 in southern iraq outside of um qasr.

ill leave you with this, a clue: J376

Not kill. It'd be difficult for anyone to find us. Its a network of people within several agencies keeping us alive. I will say I've tracked people from our old security teams and most are dead with an increasingly high number dead in iraq in places we never were. Others have obituaries from accidents stateside that would have happened during the time we were deployed. I've seen others make it home but its not the same person, some are white others Asian, our original security details were specifically chosen for looking like locals so this makes no sense. I've tried to contract families of those I was close with and it seems like they are just gone.


Anon: Why did the contractor care if guard got out alive? He wasted everyone else, wouldn't leaving one alive just be a liability?


OP: Needed for personal security to still get out. I needed him to get out as well.i dont think i was chosen specifically, i just happened to be the first out of decon. None of the other fireteams that went into the underground facilities ever came back out. None of the contractor's with those teams did either. My personal belief is we found what they needed and everyone was else was killed even if they made it out.

Once we all geared up and armed up there is no way he could have pulled off killing all of us. He still needed someone with combat training to get him to the elevator as well. I still work for him as security, take him places, sit outside the lab while he works but mostly I'm just around now.


Anon: What does he work on in the lab?? More importantly what was going on in there? Were you ever debriefed by your S shops?


OP: According to the military I died in a mortar attack in late 2007. I'm not sure of specifics but liquor and a sense of loyalty usually loosens his lips and drops hints or giant pieces of information regarding the project. I'm not sure why I haven't been killed off. I'm not the only one in his security detail. Most of us have met him through our military service and we owe him our lives. I dint think I have much time anymore anyway. The project is wrapping up and I think the contractor even knows we're all going to be killed in the end game.