LA Times article on California Guard Unit

[bubbagump]

Thought some of you might find this article interesting...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-national-guard-iraq-20110914,0,716311.story

[Snoopy47]

I read it. It doesn't make him look good.

[SoCal_Sapper]

What a F'ed up story man. Some people just cant take the rigors and stresses of war.

[paul0660]

As the picture of him perched on his ride shows, he was trying to lead with style, not substance.

[goathead]

i remember when all that was going down in 05

[epilepticninja]

I dunno, I kind of liked the cat. He was trying to lead using his own style, but got hammered for it. At least the story touched on one of the greatest assests of the Gaurd and Reserve, that most of them have skills in areas completely different from their military jobs.

[SoCal_Sapper]

i remember when all that was going down in 05

That's funny. I was in 4th ID in 05 and our battalion had been shut down because the Army was creating Brigade Combat Teams. Well, us combat engineers got stuck with 1-67 Armor, 2nd BDE. Man did that suck, the BC was obviously an Armor officer and he didnt really know how to utilize engineers who had deployed from 03-04 and did infantry work the whole year. When I asked him how he was going to utilize us engineers he gave some BS answer. This guy thought he was ****ing Patton or something because he always tried to give "HOAAH" speeches. "One day when we're morbidly obese and sitting in the VFW, we'll think back with fondness on the first of the 67th and realize those were the best times of our lives!" What a schmuck.

Oh and BTW, engineers did gate guard and escorts that whole year. What a ****ing joke.

[Bad Kitty]

The Command and General Staff College made a case study out of that unit's deployment as an example of what not to do.

[matticus]

We were attached to 4th ID in 05 with CJTF72 or some b/s. We ran from Nasiriyah to Kalsu. 2nd BCT, 4th ID.

What a crazy year in Iraq that was

[goathead]

That's funny. I was in 4th ID in 05 and our battalion had been shut down because the Army was creating Brigade Combat Teams. Well, us combat engineers got stuck with 1-67 Armor, 2nd BDE. Man did that suck, the BC was obviously an Armor officer and he didnt really know how to utilize engineers who had deployed from 03-04 and did infantry work the whole year. When I asked him how he was going to utilize us engineers he gave some BS answer. This guy thought he was ****ing Patton or something because he always tried to give "HOAAH" speeches. "One day when we're morbidly obese and sitting in the VFW, we'll think back with fondness on the first of the 67th and realize those were the best times of our lives!" What a schmuck.

Oh and BTW, engineers did gate guard and escorts that whole year. What a ****ing joke.

we left march 05 , we were up with 1 bde 25th ID in Mosul.. some wild times for sure

[boltmopar]

Were you in B co 588th prior to that?

That's funny. I was in 4th ID in 05 and our battalion had been shut down because the Army was creating Brigade Combat Teams. Well, us combat engineers got stuck with 1-67 Armor, 2nd BDE. Man did that suck, the BC was obviously an Armor officer and he didnt really know how to utilize engineers who had deployed from 03-04 and did infantry work the whole year. When I asked him how he was going to utilize us engineers he gave some BS answer. This guy thought he was ****ing Patton or something because he always tried to give "HOAAH" speeches. "One day when we're morbidly obese and sitting in the VFW, we'll think back with fondness on the first of the 67th and realize those were the best times of our lives!" What a schmuck.

Oh and BTW, engineers did gate guard and escorts that whole year. What a ****ing joke.

[Soldier415]

I remember this from when it was happening. This guy did **** that is not reported in this article/.

[chris]

We were attached to 4th ID in 05 with CJTF72 or some b/s. We ran from Nasiriyah to Kalsu. 2nd BCT, 4th ID.

What a crazy year in Iraq that was

i was at Kalsu during that time. 2/8 2 BCT4th ID was a joke. i had more fun with 2/11ACR from Irwin.

[boltmopar]

i was at Kalsu during that time. 2/8 2 BCT4th ID was a joke. i had more fun with 2/11ACR from Irwin.

Were you attached to EOD? I can't think of anyone who would of been there for both groups. And yes, 2/8 was all jacked up.

[chris]

Were you attached to EOD? I can't think of anyone who would of been there for both groups. And yes, 2/8 was all jacked up.

i was with the Intel team next to them before 4ID made us move. next to the flight line and catty corner from the mess hall.

we had a saying for 4th ID "4th is dumb" talking like matt damon in Team America World Police. those idiots lost i think 5 m16's on the way from Kuwait so they had their people dummy cord their weapons. we got mortored on Xmas 05 and they all came out after it was over running around like cocroaches with the light just turned on.

155 BCT was awsome and 2/11 was great no saluting on the FOB no lights on at night. then 4th showed up and put lights everywhere. yep they were dumb but not all of them the S6 was pretty cool except for some a**hat E-6 who almost walked in on a source meet and i was about to arrest him for it. he came in to work on our SIPR line.

i arrived at Kalsu in oct 05 and left in sept 06. i run into guys from 2/11 from time to time that were there.ran into a guy at Irwin in June that was there too.

does this area look familiar? EOD was on the corner and we were next door. it's was flattened out for the fire dept. that moved in there later.

remember this? when the US flag was flown on the FOB 4th ID stopped that one.



a view from my truck at our old work site.