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Message
re: Iraq-Afganistan War veterans, what were your experiences?
Posted on 7/26/24 at 8:31 am to RougeDawg
Posted on 7/26/24 at 8:31 am to RougeDawg
quote:
Iraq opened my eyes to the MASSIVE about of waste is involved in "war". Remember a meeting where the State Department was trying to figure out what happened to $5 million dollars of small portable generators they had purchased for citizens in Baghdad. No clue. Taliban was probably using them to work on IEDs at night for all we knew.
100% this. The uniparty is the part of war (and kickbacks). Once reason they hate DJT so much is they are scared he's going to get us out of supporting this conflicts.
0
Posted on 7/26/24 at 8:58 am to SidewalkTiger
Do yourself a favor and watch Generation Kill this weekend..
People who like to tell you stories about what they saw, usually didn't
People who like to tell you stories about what they saw, usually didn't
Posted on 7/26/24 at 9:06 am to GrammarKnotsi
quote:
Do yourself a favor and watch Generation Kill this weekend..
used to work with a marine that didn't talk much about his time in Iraq but after a few years, I gathered it was around the initial invasion. Always wanted to ask him about that show.
He would talk a lot about his time Okinawa
Posted on 7/26/24 at 9:46 am to Sam Quint
quote:
This is such an oversimplified, dumbed down version of reality that has basically just become accepted as fact. If you want stories and experiences from GWOT vets, don't insult us.
I don't mean to insult vets in the least, the vets themselves (in most cases) were extremely brave and had the most honorable of intentions.
I feel the regular people in this country did as well.
We were all taken advantage of by the government though, both through an abuse of our spirit of patriotism and fear mongering of WMD's, we were outright lied to.
Not only that, but they seemed to be completely unprepared for anything that happened after Saddam was overthrown.
Posted on 7/26/24 at 9:55 am to OWLFAN86
They knew Iraq didn't have WMDs. Bush went in there because his Saudi Daddy told him to
Posted on 7/26/24 at 9:56 am to SidewalkTiger
quote:
I don't mean to insult vets in the least, the vets themselves (in most cases) were extremely brave and had the most honorable of intentions.
yea people who think criticizing the Iraq War as a whole is a shot at the veterans who fought there are fricking stupid. Same with Vietnam
Posted on 7/26/24 at 10:04 am to Midtiger farm
I have nothing but respect for the veterans. I also don't feel like any of those who were killed died in vain, they were doing the best that they could considering the circumstances.
To me, when you have people who have signed up and are willing to defend this country to their possible death, the least the country can do in honor of that sacrifice is to not send them around the world willy nilly to fight wars that are, at best, based on bad intelligence.
To me, when you have people who have signed up and are willing to defend this country to their possible death, the least the country can do in honor of that sacrifice is to not send them around the world willy nilly to fight wars that are, at best, based on bad intelligence.
Posted on 7/26/24 at 10:36 am to SidewalkTiger
Just tread lightly when making rash generalizations based on Monday morning quarterbacking. You can't judge history too harshly through the lens of modernity.
9/11 was hands down the scariest event of my lifetime, and I was in LA when it happened. It was a collective trauma by Americans, and I bet anyone on here who was even remotely close to being an adult that day remembers every detail about it. I was 23, and it's seared into my memory.
The images in the news every day for months - people jumping to their deaths from the Twin Towers, firefighters crying in the streets, people running for their lives covered in ash - drove American patriotism to steroid level. Vietnam didn't happen in Manhattan. Just try to imagine - seriously - passenger jets flying into buildings in a major U.S. City or crashing into one of our federal buildings.
Pretty much everybody wanted blood. Kind of hard to describe.
9/11 was hands down the scariest event of my lifetime, and I was in LA when it happened. It was a collective trauma by Americans, and I bet anyone on here who was even remotely close to being an adult that day remembers every detail about it. I was 23, and it's seared into my memory.
The images in the news every day for months - people jumping to their deaths from the Twin Towers, firefighters crying in the streets, people running for their lives covered in ash - drove American patriotism to steroid level. Vietnam didn't happen in Manhattan. Just try to imagine - seriously - passenger jets flying into buildings in a major U.S. City or crashing into one of our federal buildings.
Pretty much everybody wanted blood. Kind of hard to describe.
Posted on 7/26/24 at 10:38 am to Espritdescorps
I agree with a lot of what the others have written, but I'll add three things (I was an infantry officer in OIF):
1. The first time you see combat ready American military units in action is an awesome sight, and I mean awesome in the truest sense - you are awestruck. I was doing a ride along with my battalion commander on maybe the second or third day in theater, and there was a firefight that broke out kind of adjacent to where we were at (he was meeting with a local tribal leader). The amount of coordinated firepower an American ground unit can bring to bear is amazing. The average civilian doesn't really appreciate how lethal our military really is and all that goes into it.
2. Certain strains of Islam are a complete poison pill to civilized people. Infuriating that certain political factions in the West won't face that reality.
3. The psychological strain is very tough. Just lost another one of my guys to organ failure after a prolonged battle with addiction. Not the first and won't be the last.
My memories of it are fading at this point. The specific days, sequences, and so forth are slipping away. I do vividly remember the heat and the smell.
1. The first time you see combat ready American military units in action is an awesome sight, and I mean awesome in the truest sense - you are awestruck. I was doing a ride along with my battalion commander on maybe the second or third day in theater, and there was a firefight that broke out kind of adjacent to where we were at (he was meeting with a local tribal leader). The amount of coordinated firepower an American ground unit can bring to bear is amazing. The average civilian doesn't really appreciate how lethal our military really is and all that goes into it.
2. Certain strains of Islam are a complete poison pill to civilized people. Infuriating that certain political factions in the West won't face that reality.
3. The psychological strain is very tough. Just lost another one of my guys to organ failure after a prolonged battle with addiction. Not the first and won't be the last.
My memories of it are fading at this point. The specific days, sequences, and so forth are slipping away. I do vividly remember the heat and the smell.
Posted on 7/26/24 at 11:27 am to HouseMom
quote:
Just tread lightly when making rash generalizations based on Monday morning quarterbacking. You can't judge history too harshly through the lens of modernity.
9/11 was hands down the scariest event of my lifetime, and I was in LA when it happened. It was a collective trauma by Americans, and I bet anyone on here who was even remotely close to being an adult that day remembers every detail about it. I was 23, and it's seared into my memory.
The images in the news every day for months - people jumping to their deaths from the Twin Towers, firefighters crying in the streets, people running for their lives covered in ash - drove American patriotism to steroid level. Vietnam didn't happen in Manhattan. Just try to imagine - seriously - passenger jets flying into buildings in a major U.S. City or crashing into one of our federal buildings.
Pretty much everybody wanted blood. Kind of hard to describe.
I understand what you're saying and remember some of that.
I'm not blaming the American people for supporting the war in Iraq, it seemed like a very just endeavor based on the information we were given.
I blame the government for either outright lying to the country or not having enough good intelligence to actually go to war, depending on whichever you believe.
And then once we were in the war, they did not have any kind of effective plan for dealing with Iraq sans Saddam.
Posted on 7/26/24 at 11:42 am to SidewalkTiger
I’m by no means a military strategist but I never understood how the worlds military superpower couldn’t quickly defeat a small country like Afghanistan which is one of the poorest in the world. It was americas longest war and still had to withdraw. The Soviet Union also had to withdraw when they were a huge military power at the time. I’m sure it’s way more complicated than i will ever understand but what makes Afghanistan so hard to beat?
Posted on 7/26/24 at 11:49 am to SidewalkTiger
I completely agree. All I'm saying is that the American people were flaming mad and looking at POTUS to make a move.
Bush could have sent troops to invade Switzerland and people would have been cheering in the streets.
Bush could have sent troops to invade Switzerland and people would have been cheering in the streets.
Posted on 7/26/24 at 11:55 am to bdavids09
quote:
I’m by no means a military strategist but I never understood how the worlds military superpower couldn’t quickly defeat a small country like Afghanistan which is one of the poorest in the world.
We did, with a minimum input of resources. What we couldn't do is hold on to it. Which nobody else could either, not the Russians, not the British, not Alexander the Great.
Posted on 7/26/24 at 11:56 am to AbuTheMonkey
Never served, but have plenty of friends that did. We'd have some wild "3am after the bar" talks. Clearing rooms with 40 mike mikes, enemy snipers (had one friend take a shot to the torso and another saved by bullet proof glass). Burn pits, the heat and the smells were mentioned often. I wish I would have written them all down. Time gold-plates all memories, but I could tell it was one of those "glad it's over, glad I did it, but I'll never do again", kinda things.
The progressive left has been doing this to the American populace for 20 years. Poisoning them with a vicious ideology. It's the only thing I fear about the future of the US.
quote:
Certain strains of Islam are a complete poison pill to civilized people. Infuriating that certain political factions in the West won't face that reality.
The progressive left has been doing this to the American populace for 20 years. Poisoning them with a vicious ideology. It's the only thing I fear about the future of the US.
Posted on 7/26/24 at 2:49 pm to SidewalkTiger
I did three trips to Iraq. Overall, I 'd give Iraq 1.5 stars with OIF1 (the invasion) pulling up the average from 1.
OIF1 was totally different from later tours. It was actually awe-inspiring to be part of an entire division on the march.
I'll never forget when we lined up on the berm hours before the start of the war. The terrain was flat, and there must have been a full moon, because I can remember standing on top of my truck, and having a clear view of what looked like thousands of vehicles, of all kinds, lined up behind us, ready to roll, as far as the eye could see. I pitied the Iraqi at that moment.
It was the first, and only time, I'd had an in-person, visual sense, of how large and incredible the army was. And what I could see was probably only one or two brigades.
Everyone was scared of gas at the time, but ready to roll, so the mood around me was 'nervous euphoria.' The saying is cliche, but the feeling of 'belonging to something larger than yourself' was completely intoxicating.
That is my favorite memory from that place.
OIF1 was totally different from later tours. It was actually awe-inspiring to be part of an entire division on the march.
I'll never forget when we lined up on the berm hours before the start of the war. The terrain was flat, and there must have been a full moon, because I can remember standing on top of my truck, and having a clear view of what looked like thousands of vehicles, of all kinds, lined up behind us, ready to roll, as far as the eye could see. I pitied the Iraqi at that moment.
It was the first, and only time, I'd had an in-person, visual sense, of how large and incredible the army was. And what I could see was probably only one or two brigades.
Everyone was scared of gas at the time, but ready to roll, so the mood around me was 'nervous euphoria.' The saying is cliche, but the feeling of 'belonging to something larger than yourself' was completely intoxicating.
That is my favorite memory from that place.
This post was edited on 7/26/24 at 2:54 pm
Posted on 7/26/24 at 2:53 pm to SidewalkTiger
Why the f should I tell you?
Posted on 7/26/24 at 2:55 pm to bdavids09
quote:
I’m by no means a military strategist but I never understood how the worlds military superpower couldn’t quickly defeat a small country like Afghanistan which is one of the poorest in the world.
Please point out who are the Taliban in the photo.
Posted on 7/26/24 at 2:57 pm to Jim Rockford
Was that when the northern alliance was still present?
Posted on 7/26/24 at 3:02 pm to tketaco
I was briefly at FOB Airborne in 2013 since our convoys would occasionally stop there. I was a medic and can see the craters where ied’s were
I must not have been there when shite got hairy for the most part fob airborne felt safe whenever I was there. Shank would always get mortar rounds
I must not have been there when shite got hairy for the most part fob airborne felt safe whenever I was there. Shank would always get mortar rounds
This post was edited on 7/26/24 at 3:24 pm
Posted on 7/26/24 at 3:05 pm to SidewalkTiger
I was stationed on an old Republican Guard training post west of the Baghdad Airport. Log Base Seitz.You could see the town of Abu Ghraib from our towers.
We got shelled nearly daily. By the grace of God we brought everyone back but the other units there with us weren't as lucky. Lost a couple of guys.
I was there from May '03-March '04.
We got shelled nearly daily. By the grace of God we brought everyone back but the other units there with us weren't as lucky. Lost a couple of guys.
I was there from May '03-March '04.
This post was edited on 7/26/24 at 3:06 pm
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