Ask a deployed soldier anything

[Veggie]

thanks all you guys who serve. god bless. come home safe.

[Lost]

What is the thing you miss the most about being away from home? Other than your family.

I can't believe it hasn't been said yet...

I missed a personal bathroom, soft toilet paper (bleeding from your bum gets old quick), and being clean everyday. The first shower home was about 30 minutes long and the best shower I have ever felt. I had to drag myself out.

While the food was pretty good overseas, everything tasted the same after a while. It all tasted like it was drenched in fake butter. I couldn't wait for a real home cooked meal with my family.

[The Director]

This is an awesome thread! Thank you all for participating!!!!

[The Director]

Okay next questions....anyone feel free to chime in....

1. What is your biggest day to day fear?

2. Within your units, have you seen cowardice? Bravery? No need for specifics, just in general.

3. What is your opinion of the other coalition troops?

[DougJ]

Okay next questions....anyone feel free to chime in....

1. What is your biggest day to day fear?

2. Within your units, have you seen cowardice? Bravery? No need for specifics, just in general.

3. What is your opinion of the other coalition troops?

1. That I would screw up somehow, or one of the pilots I had trained would.

2. First deployment to Iraq in 2003/2004 we had a guy from MO. Frigging cowardly POS.

3. I really like the British I've worked with, not much exposure to others.

[winnre]

Who decides who goes where?

Who decides who goes to Afghanistan, Iraq or to the bases around the world like South Korea, Italy, Germany, Guam?

Did you go into bootcamp knowing where you were gonna go?

How is that decided? I've always wondered.

When mobilized we were told to pick Iraq or Afghanistan for the wish list. The vote was heavy on Afghanistan because of was quieter then. A lot of Navy folks went there (It's a landlocked country!). The guys who pigeon-holed you for an assignment, I met them, were E-5 and E-6. They basically took your clearance, skills, rank, and other factors and tried to place you where you could do the most good.

Oddly enough I was on Guam for Operation Pacific Haven. We rescued 5,500 Kurds that Saddam was going to gas. That was a mini-vacation!

Okay next questions....anyone feel free to chime in....

1. What is your biggest day to day fear?

2. Within your units, have you seen cowardice? Bravery? No need for specifics, just in general.

3. What is your opinion of the other coalition troops?

1. Biggest fear is hearing someone was killed and you don't know who it was. It was not fear for me but my buddies. A terrible wait.

2. When bullets fly there are those who say they are only here for the college money. Get them out of there asap! We need a person to watch our backs, not whine about it. Folks have been killed because of indecision of others. Sadly they go home and tell stories of heroism.

3. Local troops are a step above sheep. I find that they do not care at all about freedom, you have to fight for it and want it, you can't be handed it. As for the coalition folks like Germany and Canada who are on our world level, there are so few of them. The US makes up the lion's share anywhere you go.

[freds4]

Okay next questions....anyone feel free to chime in....

1. What is your biggest day to day fear?

2. Within your units, have you seen cowardice? Bravery? No need for specifics, just in general.

3. What is your opinion of the other coalition troops?

1. Generally it is the fear that you will not perform correctly and someone will die as a result. During one of my tours outside of Fallujah, my biggest day-to-day fear was being hit by one of the hundreds of 122mm rockets that were launched at us.
2. I only saw straight-up cowardice once, but it was very, very bad. Bravery? Every single day.
3. Wow, that's not a simple question. I have worked with a lot of different country's troops and it varies a lot. A good general statement would be that the less "civilized" the country, the less discipline thay had. Most of our NATO allies are pretty darned good, the rest, not so much. Many are into posturing during the daytime when nothing is happening, but at night, with bullets flying, they run like schoolgirls.

[Lost]

Okay next questions....anyone feel free to chime in....

1. What is your biggest day to day fear?

2. Within your units, have you seen cowardice? Bravery? No need for specifics, just in general.

3. What is your opinion of the other coalition troops?

1. One of my mates would get hurt and die. Worse if it was from my mistake or something I could have prevented.

2. Cowardice? Yes. Bravery? Yes.

3. Not much experience with them outside of Kuwait. They were courteous. Wish I spent some time with the British and Aussies (as those were mainly who I saw).

[The Director]

Personally, my biggest fear of fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan would not be death or dismemberment - it would be capture.

Knowing that the enemy can and will take you prisoner if given the opportunity, and most certainly will use you for their political gain (just as the Vietcong did in Vietnam).....do you have a fear of being taken prisoner, or is that very likely in the types of engagements you are in?

[winnre]

We are told to resist at every moment. The thought used to be to play along and you will be rescued. The enemy will kill you within 8 hours and then really mess up your body. At that point you hope your own side does not find you.

In my first engagement where I heard rounds fired close by I was speaking to civilians. With the pop-pop-pop they went indoors and beckoned me in. I turned towards the shooting, because that is what I do.

I could have easily ducked into the room but that's not my purpose. Prisoner? We will all die together. TO be taken prisoner is suicide. I'll have one of them by the neck in my last moments.

[Francis Marion]

...wolf ammo i know the answer but cant tell you at this time (sorry)
bad guys get ammo anywhere they can
captured insurgent munitions, i wish could tell you

An NY Times journalist discusses Taliban weapons, ammo in detail:

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/a-firsthand-look-at-firefights-in-marja/

Lee Enfields and WW2 (and earlier) 303 shells in above link.

In the same series, (follow the whole series, very informative read) the journalist also reports:

-US-purchased Wolf 7.62 rimmed in Taliban belt fed machine guns.

-7.62 AK rounds are a real hodgepodge in any given magazine; ammo's filthy and not well cared for.

[Uriah02]

Our TOC/HQ had a DSN line in it, so during "off" hours (ie. non-business hours), you were allowed to make a "morale call". Most of the fobbits used it daily. The guys heading outside the wire either used it before mission or not at all.

I had internet access on my downtime, but rarely contacted family. The less they heard from me, the less they would think something went wrong in case I missed a "scheduled" e-mail or call. I usually sent one mass e-mail a month and made one phone call every other month.

In all fairness during my FOB life (I was at Div HQ), I only called home 1x per 2-3 months...

[Manic Moran]

Okay. Question: As an armed force in a foreign land, Is there or has there been any native citizen that you really trust?...or is everyone generally working some angle?

They're all working an angle, generally trying to get as much money out of the Americans as possible, but that doesn't mean they're not trustworthy. As long as you know what the angle is, you're fine.

so do you miss afghanistan yet Sir

I could have done another month, maybe two.

In all fairness during my FOB life (I was at Div HQ), I only called home 1x per 2-3 months...

Long live Skype.

NTM

[goathead]

They're all working an angle, generally trying to get as much money out of the Americans as possible, but that doesn't mean they're not trustworthy. As long as you know what the angle is, you're fine.



I could have done another month, maybe two.



Long live Skype.

NTM

while kunar is far worst than mosul

[CavTrooper]

Personally, my biggest fear of fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan would not be death or dismemberment - it would be capture.

Knowing that the enemy can and will take you prisoner if given the opportunity, and most certainly will use you for their political gain (just as the Vietcong did in Vietnam).....do you have a fear of being taken prisoner, or is that very likely in the types of engagements you are in?

It was always a thought.

Semi-jokingly, our platoon made a deal, if they saw someone being drug off by the enemy and couldnt stop it, go ahead and shoot em, better dead than captured.

A few of us kept 2 5.56 rounds in our the breast pocket of our uniforms in case we were ever caught in the position where we had ran out of ammo and were about to be captured. 1 round to swallow and a second in case that one misfired.

It was all machismo talk, hyping each other up and everything, however, I can tell you, theres no way they were gonna get me if I could help it.

There was many a time where one of us couldve been captured.

I spent many nights sharing chai and hookah with the Iraqi Army guys, on thier base, with one other US Soldier, we couldve easily been snatched up there.

4 of us got left behind in the middle of Salman Pak by a National Guard MP unit when they pulled off the checkpoint we were providing overwatch for. We spent the next 30 minutes walking towards our fob until we were able to raise our platoon on the radio.

There was always someone trying to get you to come into thier house for one reason or another, maybe innocent, but maybe not. Strange stuff, but always interesting, but yes, the fear of capture was always there.