Kraut783
SOF Support
Taji 2007....freaking awesome place, when I was there...always out at a FOB or joint outpost....Sadir City was not fun =(
Reflections on the War in Iraq
- Thread starter Marauder06
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I got medivaced to CSH 31 in Balad never got to see much of it though. I heard the movie theatre there got a big hole in the roof from a mortar.
Yeah, I heard SADR city was a hell of a place to be especially when the guys there started going door to door.
I was in for short stints at Kirkuk, Tikrit, Baghdad, An Najaf, Ramadi, Al Salaminayah, Al Kut, Al Hay, Some place I can't mention. And a few others I can't offhand remember the names of at the moment. I use to have a map and I would mark every place I'd been. Lost it in an eviction a long time ago.
I always wanted to see Babylon. Such history there.
I think I was in that theater twice. The first was very early in my tour, when we had a memorial for MAJ Syverson.
I think the second time was to watch Dodgeball. ;)
I'll never forget talking to an 11B from the 101st's 327 who mentioned he missed Iraq (our talk was at Jalalabad Afghanistan 2010-2011 timeframe). Why? To him, Iraq was straight forward, his experience was small arms and IEDs. Afghanistan was everything everywhere when a TIC kicked off. The fight was 360 and with everything the Taliban/ ISIS could use including AAA guns against people. Mines were everywhere (I experienced this firsthand) coupled with the ROE? He was going Guard because he never wanted to see Afghanistan again.
Vets are going to fight about OIF vs OEF forever. Is the "I suffered more" hierarchy residual worth all of that? Not my fight, I'll let you tear each other apart.
Vets are going to fight about OIF vs OEF forever. Is the "I suffered more" hierarchy residual worth all of that? Not my fight, I'll let you tear each other apart.
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Devildoc
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Box
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I went to both.
They both sucked.
In fact - I'll bet if you talk to enough SF guys - you'll find out that whatever place THEY went - it wasn't only harder - but the PART of the country they went was harder than everywhere else in THAT country...
In other words...
I went to Mosul when I did my tour in Iraqistan.
...but if you went to Baghdad - you went to the "easy" Iraqistan.
...in fact, when I was in Mosul, I was on the HARD side of the river; the other side of the river was the "cushy" side of Mosul.
I did a tour in the Orgune/Lwara area - everywhere else in Trashcanistan was the "easy" part of Trashcanistan...
...except for that tour I did in Wardak, in which case, during that particular time period, Wardak was in fact, the "hard" Afghanistan.
...well, except for my time in Kandahar; when I was in Kandahar, it was definitely the most dangerous part of Trashcanistan.
...then of course there was that trip that I spent around Ghanzi.
...did I mention my time in Kabul, dear lord - that was just the WORST
...blah blah blah there I was yada yada yada knee deep in had grenade pins
...and anybody that says different probably never even left their FOB !!!
Pfft
I should have just pulled a Tim Walz and gotten into polyticks.
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FWIW, 5 days prior to our convo, he'd taken an AK round to his Nods mount and the wounds from the spall were still visible.
My Bagram to-go tray fobbit opinion (I won't forget that turd eating, dickhole fucking piece of shit, but I digress...) is that Iraq was obviously violent, but more condensed. Afghanistan was as violent, but a near 360 fight because of the terrain and included recoilless rifles and AAA used against ground forces. I think almost everyone had the fight of their lives going on, but the wars were different. Take Fallujah for example: we all know how bad that was, no question. What was it...Route Irish that was horrific for awhile? How many people know about the Korengal valley? The Marines down in RC-South? The Triangle in Iraq?
OEF/OIF was bad for everyone. I hope our members are smart enough to understand that and aren't caught up in a "last hard school" argument.
My Bagram to-go tray fobbit opinion (I won't forget that turd eating, dickhole fucking piece of shit, but I digress...) is that Iraq was obviously violent, but more condensed. Afghanistan was as violent, but a near 360 fight because of the terrain and included recoilless rifles and AAA used against ground forces. I think almost everyone had the fight of their lives going on, but the wars were different. Take Fallujah for example: we all know how bad that was, no question. What was it...Route Irish that was horrific for awhile? How many people know about the Korengal valley? The Marines down in RC-South? The Triangle in Iraq?
OEF/OIF was bad for everyone. I hope our members are smart enough to understand that and aren't caught up in a "last hard school" argument.
Box
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Dude - I went to that school - we could have been classmates.
Of course, when I went to Hard School - it was just a lit-tle bit harder than when most people went to Hard School.
...but hey, the first rule of Hard School is never talk about Hard School
The SECOND rule of Hard School is DONT TALK ABOUT HARD SCHOOL
But the 3rd rule of Hard School is - if you do talk about Hard School, at least make sure your stories are believable.
When I watched both wars I badly wished I was young enough to be there. War sucks in a thousand ways but doesn't suck at all in maybe a half-dozen others...but when you've been there, you want to be there. It calls you. Seriously, it fucking calls you.
For most of my deployments I was an intel guy in the national-level SOF task force. We had great people, and a lot of them. We had a near-inexhaustible budget. I was on the FOB and only ventured off enough times to make sure the operators I supported knew I wasn't scared. We had a commander who did pretty much what he wanted and got us pretty much anything we wanted, including other people's people and other people's stuff.
...and we got results.
But if anyone says I had it easy on my deployments... they are 100% correct.
Not as easy as my deployments.
My OIF was Camp Arifjan ( aka Garrison fwd ).
My OEF deployment was Colombia.
Top that bitches.
Box
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I have all of the body parts that I was born with.
I have only the holes that I was biologically assigned to have at birth.
I haven't yet had that day when I ended up curled into a ball on the floor of my shower crying over survivors guilt.
I still have the occasional thoughts pop into my head that I'd prefer to forget...
...but don't we all.
That being said - and knowing the price that too many of my brothers have paid over the last couple of decades - overall, I'd have to say that all of my deployments turned out pretty damn easy in comparison to how things COULD have turned out and THAT is about all the reflection I care to do.
Has anyone seen the video of AOC talking about how much she hates "fake politicians"
...epic
I have only the holes that I was biologically assigned to have at birth.
I haven't yet had that day when I ended up curled into a ball on the floor of my shower crying over survivors guilt.
I still have the occasional thoughts pop into my head that I'd prefer to forget...
...but don't we all.
That being said - and knowing the price that too many of my brothers have paid over the last couple of decades - overall, I'd have to say that all of my deployments turned out pretty damn easy in comparison to how things COULD have turned out and THAT is about all the reflection I care to do.
Has anyone seen the video of AOC talking about how much she hates "fake politicians"
...epic
ThunderHorse
Verified Military
Tim Walz OEF Deployment was Italy...
I did multiple tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The threat in the two theaters varied significantly depending on location and timeframe. The biggest difference between the two, in my experience at least, was a surprising lack of infrastructure in Afghanistan. Iraq could be extremely challenging sometimes, but generally speaking logistics were fairly straight forward. This was often not the case in Afghanistan.
He was and became a large part of Iraqi politics up until a couple years ago. As dysfunctional as it's always been, his groups went from enemy insurgents, to parliamentary leader, to "out of politics".
They started telling us lowly troops way back in 06' not to criticize or trash talk him in front of the IA troops. He could become a future leader and was an important figurehead for the Iraqis. Viola', several years later he was...
He called for the removal of U.S. troops several times, and the closure of the Embassy several times. A couple years ago "they" were still meeting with him. Now, I have no idea.
Ex wife destroyed a couple of my good posters when we split....
Devildoc
Verified Military
I never did understand the pissing contest with vets about why their slice of heaven was harder, etc. We all went wherever were told to go. So much of it was luck, a coin flip by FOGOs on who goes where to do what.
I was in the reserve by the time Iraq kicked off and I was mobalized with the rest of my unit and when over 90% of them left and the rest of us did not, honestly, I was devastated. But I did what I was told to do and I came off the bench later on and for a very short time and that was just enough for me.
I was in the reserve by the time Iraq kicked off and I was mobalized with the rest of my unit and when over 90% of them left and the rest of us did not, honestly, I was devastated. But I did what I was told to do and I came off the bench later on and for a very short time and that was just enough for me.
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Topkick
Verified Military
I was on OC duty, training National Guard units on 9/11. I didn't deploy until 2005 but the units I trained were all deployed. That was my job until I finally deployed, and I think it was an important contribution.
