Dinger Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 A) poured-concrete buildings with flat roofs and exposed steel reinforcements on the (unbuilt) upper story(-ies). No matter how many stories a building may have, the top one is incomplete. A popular rumor is a variation on the "Mansard" story -- buildings "under construction" aren't taxed. I suspect something more prosaic. I mean, heck I see them here, in a somewhat wealthier, even more militarized place (saw of all things a couple of M108s on maneuvers a few weeks ago) -- there's one I'm fond of over here that attaches a TV antenna to one of those steel "cords" sticking out. Water tanks on top of all buildings. That's the way it is, man. C) Minivans. Also note the custom in those parts, when encountering a car coming the other way on the highway, is to honk the horn as a salute/reminder to stay awake. Don't know how this last bit would be relevant, but you never know. D) Fortifications. The Mott-and-Bailey citadel at Aleppo; the bridge at Saone; Krak des Chevaliers in its entirety. Oh yeah, and I want the temple of Baal at Palmyra and hand-to-hand through the Souk at Damascus. That's a dealbreaker. (er... wait a minute, forgot about this little thing... better leave the monuments out of it -- just give me more poured concrete and spare the Great Mosque. Everybody wins) E) Realistic DPICM dud rates. Okay, this one's wishful thinking. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinger Posted October 21, 2005 Author Share Posted October 21, 2005 Forgot to mention (not that anyone cares): on the "background sountrack" to rural/village missions, you need a two-stroke generator throbbing away in the distance, at least at night. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer76 Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 Sad. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 I expect buildings to be SOOOOO different than in CMx1 that our collective jaws willl drop! The population of many middle-east countries has more than doubled in the last 40 years. That means a LOT of multi-story concrete apartment blocks. Everybody's been assuming that our hypothetical drive into Syria is going to be west through Iraq. let's not leave out the chance of a Macarthur-style landing from the Med., flank any east-facing fortifications and race through the mountains before sufficient opposition can be redeployed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 Dinger, Great observations! Regards, Ken 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinger Posted October 21, 2005 Author Share Posted October 21, 2005 <oops double post> [ October 22, 2005, 05:09 AM: Message edited by: Dinger ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 Originally posted by Dinger: A) poured-concrete buildings with flat roofs and exposed steel reinforcements on the (unbuilt) upper story(-ies). No matter how many stories a building may have, the top one is incomplete. A popular rumor is a variation on the "Mansard" story -- buildings "under construction" aren't taxed. I suspect something more prosaic.Maybe the constructor/owner has decided that, "okay, I have money for a three-story building, but what I'll do is leave the top 'unfinished' so that I can add the fourth floor later when I have accumulated more capital"? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew H. Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 Originally posted by Sergei: Maybe the constructor/owner has decided that, "okay, I have money for a three-story building, but what I'll do is leave the top 'unfinished' so that I can add the fourth floor later when I have accumulated more capital"? Or maybe he's thought that, with the possiblity of hostilities in 2007, now is not the time to spend money on the roof of his building... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 Interesting observations indeed I've been amazed at how many unfinished buildings I've seen in pictures and video of ops in Iraq. Sometimes I have to shake my head and ask if the footage is really from a MOUT course somewhere in south western US since the cinder blocks and lack of furnishings looks just like it! Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aacooper Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 I was told that in Latin America an unfinished top floor is a feature -- you can add a second story when you get the money. It might be analogous to an unfinished basement in a house in the US. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinetree Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 Plenty of them in Turkey as well 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinger Posted October 22, 2005 Author Share Posted October 22, 2005 Yeah, I can look out my (3rd story) window down the block next to mine and see 4 or 5 of the buildings on said block are reinforced concrete with exposed steel up top -- and one of those is a luxo health spa that charges women rates that make their Palm Beach counterparts look cheap by comparison. (the other building is colonial) And this is a _rich_ country. Over in Syria, they're still using oxteams dragging scratch-plows. So, yeah, unpainted concrete, with exposed steel up top, and rust running down the sides. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nijis Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 I think the construction might be lodgings for the next generation being built in installments. In rural areas a lot of times the sons, when they get married, set up family in the parents' place. In Egypt, where you're forbidden to build on agricultural land, the simplest way is just to throw a new story on top, and you save a little each month until it's done. I knew one Nubian living in Cairo who every month would send money to the home village to buy a few more bricks. In urban middle-class districts, there's a doorkeeper who's got some works going on top of the building. In rural Iraq, meanwhile, where farmland's less scarce, people often prefer one-story family compounds, a big walled structure with living quarters built into the sides. I expect that particular design is hundreds of years old. Also, Middle Eastern city will be complete without power lines dangling all over the place, and no bit of desert will be complete without plastic bags blowing around everywhere. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ng cavscout Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 I can confirm Nijis' comment. It seems that even the well to do countries such as Kuwait are covered in trash. I remember seeing a white porcelain toilet sticking out of the desert sand on the road to Udairi range complex near Camp Buehring, and across the border in Iraq, it is like they just set aside areas for dumping trash. There is still a burned out tank sitting in a fighting position about 200 meters outside of the Iraqi city of Safwan, looks like an old T-55. The kids use it like a jungle gym. The walled rural family complexes are very common in southern Iraq, most sit 200-1000 meters off the major highways such as MSR Tampa. Every time a convoy stops, even in the desert, within 5 minutes, you will have kids or even adults appearing from out of nowhere, like sand-people, trying to cadge free water, MRE's, whatever they can get. My driver is a hard core born again Christian, and he has to be dissuaded from handing out bibles or other non-Islam religious materials. There are also people trying to sell you stuff everywhere you go, from counterfeit Arabic porn, to Viagra, to bayonets or nasty Bahrainian cigarettes, they will climb on moving semi trucks to try and sell the stuff. And the convoy escorts try and keep them away in case they try slipping a bomb instead of carton of cigarettes into one of the trucks. We used to give the kids stuff, till a few of them didn't wait for the trucks to stop, and got run over, now we just try and chase them away. It also didn't help when we hear reports of Iraqi children putting straw on an American that a crowd had doused with gasoline and set on fire, to stoke the fire. Things like that makes us take a hard second look at the civilians. I imagine alot of this would be the same in a Syrian environment. Just a few observations from the area. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Cairns Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 A big factor in terms of construction is the age profile of many of these countries. Compared to the US let alone Europe many of these countries have something like half their population under 25. In addition many are undergoing rapid development, as a friend of mine said when I asked him what he thought of Cyprus after a hoilday there... " It will be nice when it's finished". Peter. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hakko Ichiu Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 Along with water tanks mentioned above, some buildings also have oil tanks. In West's No True Glory, he relates a story of how Marines holed up for the night on the roof of a building were surprised when an insurgent came up the roof access. The man was equally surprised, and he ran across the roof and seemingly disappeared. The Marines searched the area and couldn't find him. Finally, they looked inside a tank full of oil (home heating fuel perhaps?) and saw his eyes and nose just above the surface. The man immediately ducked down. When he surfaced again, the Marines shot him. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt May Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 Originally posted by MikeyD: Everybody's been assuming that our hypothetical drive into Syria is going to be west through Iraq. let's not leave out the chance of a Macarthur-style landing from the Med., flank any east-facing fortifications and race through the mountains before sufficient opposition can be redeployed. You don't suppose the Israelis would allow us to go through the Golan Heights, do you? Or maybe they will have their own forces jamming that area. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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