Mongolian Troops in Iraq

[Dave the Dawg]

Mongolia has deployed a 200-man force consisting of a company of infantry, construction troops and a medical team. As the unit commander joked when the troops arrived, "things sure have changed since we were last here." That would be 1258 AD, when the Mongol horde, under Genghis Khan's grandson Hulegu, sacked Baghdad.

Here are some smaller images. These are from the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces (http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/) website, so while unlike commercial pics they may be around for a while, the Mongolian server is sometimes unreliable.

Arrival:

http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/eng/index_files/zurag/team2.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/eng/index_files/zurag/team1.jpg


Troops:

http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t20.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t19.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t21.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t18.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t16.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t17.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/zurag4.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/zurag3.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/zurag5.jpg


Visit of the Chief of the General Staff to Iraq:

http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/eng/index_files/zurag/16.JPG
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/eng/index_files/zurag/14.JPG
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/eng/index_files/zurag/17.JPG


Command and staff:

http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t12.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t13.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t14.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t15.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/zurag.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/zurag1.jpg


Barracks life:

http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/8.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/5s.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/4.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/3.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/zurag2.jpg


Medical team:

http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t7.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t8.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t9.jpg


Miscellaneous:

http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t6.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t5.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t4.jpghttp://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t3.jpg
http://www.pmis.gov.mn/gsmaf/index_files/zurag/tsergiinbag/t11.jpg

[usa320]

nice and rather rare photos. THanks.

[Marxist203]

rofl "Things sure have changed since the last time we were here" oh man, that is gold!

The Mongolian Armed Forces is pretty small, 200 men is a pretty big contribution for them.

[Uncle Sam]

That's pretty awesome...

That's funny 'cuz when I was in the Sinai with the MFO, we had a fijian (fiji) Company of about 100 guys with us...Hell, there whole Army is as big as one of our Battalions (U.S. Army), so they were about half strength at home...

...Very cool, though...

[Vintendo]

Cool. Very interesting.
Are those Polish soldiers in the back of the cafeteria?

[ßå$tĮТHÏ¿ð]

Whats there camoflauge called?

[REMOV]

Are those Polish soldiers in the back of the cafeteria?Right. There is ca.170 Mongolian soldiers in Polish-led zone.

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2003/09/25/international/mong650.jpg


Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1051793,00.html

Mongolians join multinational force
Rory McCarthy, Babylon
Monday September 29, 2003
The Guardian

Captain Byambaa Chinzorig is, perhaps not surprisingly, a little touchy about 1258 and all that. When Mongolian forces last came to Iraq, led by the great warrior Prince Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan, they sacked Baghdad, killed an estimated 800,000 people, brought to a bloody end the Abbasid caliphate and destroyed a vast array of ornate public buildings and a sophisticated irrigation system. Today, 745 years later, their plans are much more modest.
"We all know the history of the 13th century when the Mongolian soldiers captured Iraq but this time is completely different," said Capt Chinzorig, 30, a proud graduate of the Military University of Mongolia, Ulan Bator's equivalent of Sandhurst or West Point. "Of course, we have a different mission."

Eight centuries on, and current world military power means that the Mongolian armed forces are now one of the smaller contingents that make up America's military allies in Iraq. The 171 Mongolian troops - a single infantry company - are part of the 17-country Multinational Division which, earlier this month, took over responsibility from the US marines for five provinces south of Baghdad.

Within the Polish-led division the Mongolians do not play the most prominent role. They are not the smallest force - Kazakhstan contributed just 28 soldiers and Lithuania 45 - but their work is largely confined to construction and logistics at their base outside the town of Hilla. They do not patrol and have not yet been involved in direct gun battles with the Iraqi resistance fighters who strike around 20 times a day against US military patrols further north.

Yet for Mongolia this mission in Iraq is unprecedented and it is its first active deployment overseas since the country won independence from China in 1921, helped by the Soviet Union. Since the fall of the communists a decade ago Ulan Bator has quietly developed growing links with the US military, a small effort towards self-protection in the face of its two giant neighbours, Russia and China.

Capt Chinzorig and many of his troops have been sent on training exercises in America, and US marines have visited Ulan Bator. The result is that the Mongolian military, although small, quickly committed itself to the US as a ready ally in George Bush's war on terror. "We support any anti-terror activity in the world," said Capt Chinzorig.

The 15,000 troops of the Mongolian military, all volunteers, have so far been confined to border patrols at home and disaster relief, apart from brief training exercises in Kazakhstan and Bangladesh. Their mission in Iraq is likely to be the first of a series of international peacekeeping roles.

Yet for an army trained to operate at temperatures of -40°C, adjusting to life in Iraq brings its own challenges.

Food in the "chow hall" of the division's headquarters, in a large camp by the ruins of Babylon on the banks of the river Euphrates, is a little too heavy on vegetables and salad for the Mongolian troops.

"It is mostly American and European food. It is not too bad but we like a little more meat," said the captain. Rations of dried beef strips have been sent out, along with portions of dried milk.

"Everybody loves those," said Captain Sukhbaator Togtmol, 28, a medic with the unit.

The troops have summer uniforms but were sent out with heavy black leather boots. Capt Togtmol, and others, have already switched to the lighter US-issue desert boots. The soldiers live in a former Iraqi military barracks which they rebuilt at their base in Hilla. The officers, however, sleep in large white air-conditioned tents which are stifling when the power breaks down. "I would say extreme cold is better than this," said Capt Chinzorig. "When it's extremely hot there's just no way to get out of it. Sometimes the electricity doesn't work and we're just sweating."

One Mongolian volunteer came with the unit to act as a translator, although it proved more difficult than expected. "We have English language training for our soldiers and some Arabic too, although that wasn't so successful," Capt Chinzorig said. "We had one volunteer who had studied Arabic but he had never been to an Arab country before."

Families in Ulan Bator, just like those across Britain and America, were anxious when the deployment orders were issued. "My family refused to let me come out here because of the news on the television," said Capt Chinzorig. "They heard that American soldiers are dying and that people at the UN are dying. But the military is the military. My generals gave me an order to come so I came. It is not for a long time, just six months. It's not all my life."

[Apogee]

Thats a really great quote. I'm about this close to changing my signature.

[Dave the Dawg]

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1051793,00.html

...
"Everybody loves those," said Captain Sukhbaator Togtmol, 28, a medic with the unit.

The troops have summer uniforms but were sent out with heavy black leather boots. Capt Togtmol, and others, have already switched to the lighter US-issue desert boots. The soldiers live in a former Iraqi military barracks which they rebuilt at their base in Hilla. The officers, however, sleep in large white air-conditioned tents which are stifling when the power breaks down. "I would say extreme cold is better than this," said Capt Chinzorig. "When it's extremely hot there's just no way to get out of it. Sometimes the electricity doesn't work and we're just sweating."
...
This is Capt. Togtmol:

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=77861&stc=1

[martinexsquaddie]

I guess there probably hard bastards
life in mongolia where -40 winters is common does'nt breed weaklings

[Gimana]

So even the Mongolian sent in their troops to help rebuild Iraq, where the fxxk are those chinese PLA............

[maw]

"things sure have changed since we were last here"
that strikes me as a rather un-diplomatic comment. dave is actually under stating the significance of hulagu's seige on baghdad in 1257. with the exception of the city's christian population, the mongols slaughtered every living being in the city and then torched it. entirely. this event devasted the sunni's and is marked as an epic tragedy for muslims.
two other episodes in mongol peace keeping that come to mind are the massacre of the population of parvan (about a dozen miles north of kabul) where all 300,000 residents were slaughtered. the other event that sticks in my mind was the bloodbath that followed the seige of bamian (also in present day afghanistan) where every human being was put to the sword and after the city had fallen, systemetic beheadings where conducted. subsequently, the heads were separated into men, women and children, then stacked in great pyramids. there was even a pyramid of heads from cats and dogs for the khan's orders had called for the death of "every living creature" in the city.

anytime anyone tries to explain to me the concept behind expressions like "total war" and "shock and awe", i smile and politely refer them to the history books.

[Marxist203]

Doesn't seem all that un-diplomatic...things really have changed quite a bit. Considering the fact that well, its not 1258 AD

[maw]

i mean it's a sore point that doesn't need prodding.

"since we were last here" is clearly a sarcastic historical reference.

in certain middle eastern cultures, the mongol experience is not trivialized nor forgotten. a comment like that automatically triggers the question: "so when were you last here?", which then prompts some asking around and you've now reopened some old wounds.
if i were the commander of some mongolian troops deployed in the middle east, particularily a sunni area, i'd be most concerned with the safety of my men. as such i'd keep my mouth shut and save the clever comments for the yak shagging contests.
middle easterners routinely refer to westerners as crusaders. the fact that crusaders were campaigning in the eastern mediterranean at the same time that baghdad was decimated, makes the chronological timeframe relevant. i realise that less than 60 years after the war europe is trying to turn into a giant love fest. but in the middle east actions are not quickly forgotten. maybe time moves slower there.

[Micke]

Well, Mr Maw... my theory is that the individual in question was joking. Look up 'joke' in one of those books of yours.