Socrtease
Verified User
Yesterday afternoon myself and my friend Steven went to Juarez, Mexico, so I could pick up some prescription meds. After we got the meds, we went to the Kentucky Club which is a bar that has been operating in Juarez since 1920. While there we met four soldiers from the of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division stationed in Fort Bliss. They had gotten back from Mosul, Iraq 8 days ago and were in Juarez to have a few drinks and try to find the illusive Donkey Show.
They had been in Mosul for 15 months, and they told me that when they were first deployed to Mosul their Brigade was only at 70% strength. So they deployed short on troops. When they arrived in Mosul they were the ONLY the Brigade there. Mosul is a city of about 3.5 million people and they were the ONLY Brigade there. Compare that to Baghdad which is 7.4 million people and there is somewhere between 8 and 10 brigades in Baghdad. So not only where these guys sent there with an understrength Brigade they were all alone. Anyway, I asked them a very open ended question. I said "So what was it really like over there?" I was hit by a chorus of "It Sucked!". Well no shit it sucked, they were away from home and family and even 3 and 4 week long field exersizes sucked so I KNEW it sucked. So I said "What do you mean it sucked." Without any further prompting, they told me of the wall our troops are running up against everyday.
To a man, they said that the Iraqi people mostly hate us. Not dislike us, or begrudge us being there, they HATE us. They told me of an Iraqi man that the army hired to do odd jobs for months that was ultimately caught planting IED's on the road just outside the main gate. They told me of a 9 year old that ran at their dismounted patrol in a Mosul neighborhood with a grenade and threw it at them. They said that Men Women and Children in Mosul were all engaged in insurgent activities against them while they were there. Then they had their hands tied by military protocol. One of the guys, (I am not using names here, because, first, they were in Juarez, which has been off limits to soldiers for years, and second, they aren't towing the administrations line), told me about being out on a mission in a small-kill team, known in the military as SKT. They were set up in an area of Mosul where patrols has been under heavy IED attacks. He said they were set up when 5 or 6 Iraqi men showed up and fanned out in the area. He said that none of them had noticible weapson but every so often men would come to one building and report to a guy with a cell phone up on the roof. He said they watched him for 8 hours and twice during that time he asked his Lt. if he could take the shot ( he was on the sniper rifle this day) The Lt. not being able to make that call had to radio back to HQ to ASK PERMISSION to shoot the guy. The desk jockey that was on the other end of the radio asked how many hostiles and how many weapons. When told there were no weapons they were denied the right to take the shot. So they sat there and watch until their Relief started coming up one of the other roads in the neighborhood. The guy with the phone then received a call and then made a call and the street that their relief was coming up exploded around them, killing 4 men and injuring several more. He then told me that when the MI troops showed up to take an After Action Report, they asked about the guys on the roof. They asked about how often the others showed up to report to him, and how often he answered the phone and how ofter he called on it and if he called just before the explosion. When the AAR was over the MI officer made the accessment that the shot should have been taken at some point before bombs were set off and that most likely the bombs were set off by cell phone.
One of the guys told me that he was originally from Kansas, that he voted for Bush twice and that when he went to Iraq, he KNEW he was going there to help people, to fight terrorism and to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people. All four of them said they were really gung ho about going to Iraq at the time, all four had been to jump school and were airborne qualified. These guys WANT to be soldiers. But to a man they said that after 15 months in Iraq, the know that this war is now all about full employment for american contractors, and all about money. I wish all of you could have sat with me and listen to these guys. They are all really good soldiers, and you could tell that the experience had made them all extremely close. They were on the same team the entire time and no one on their team was killed and only suffered major injuries. But they were also disillusioned by what they had gone through.
They all said they had been lied to from the minute they were told they were going. They were sold a bill of goods about how it was a war on terror and how the bulk of people in Iraq were happy that the Americans were there. How they were going to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people. And how all of that was bullshit. As I said two of them already have slots for the Q-course for Special Forces training so they KNOW they aren't going back anytime soon. But the other two were told on Wednesday, that they will more than likely be going back in 8 months. Neither of those young men was excited about that prospect. I know that you Neo-con war suporters are going to do your best to diminish this encounter with them and some of you might even attempt to demean these brave young men because they aren't towing the "American" line, but as BB is always fond of saying, they've been there. They saw it, and I didn't press them to say anything or give them any idea of how I felt about the goat screw in Iraq until we really started talking. I told them after we talked for a while, how people, again like BB demean me for criticizing the war. I told them that I support what they do, but I HATE the fact that their Commander in Chief has put them in harms way for no good reason. The youngest guy in the group, a PFC told me, that the next time someone told me that, to tell them to Fuck Off for him. He said he and LOTS of other soldiers also want this shit in Iraq to be over but so long as they wear the uniform they will go where told and do their mission and give 110%. But all of that does not for minute mean they believe the mission is worthwhile nor do they think it is worth a single american life.
Steven and I paid for their drinks, bought them another round of REALLY good tequila and drank a toast to their safe return and to the soldiers that were never going to be able to drink to that toast and we left. I hope luck smiles on all four of those guys and I hope that sense takes control of someone in Washington DC before they have to go back, because the loss of just one them is not worth that entire fucking region.
They had been in Mosul for 15 months, and they told me that when they were first deployed to Mosul their Brigade was only at 70% strength. So they deployed short on troops. When they arrived in Mosul they were the ONLY the Brigade there. Mosul is a city of about 3.5 million people and they were the ONLY Brigade there. Compare that to Baghdad which is 7.4 million people and there is somewhere between 8 and 10 brigades in Baghdad. So not only where these guys sent there with an understrength Brigade they were all alone. Anyway, I asked them a very open ended question. I said "So what was it really like over there?" I was hit by a chorus of "It Sucked!". Well no shit it sucked, they were away from home and family and even 3 and 4 week long field exersizes sucked so I KNEW it sucked. So I said "What do you mean it sucked." Without any further prompting, they told me of the wall our troops are running up against everyday.
To a man, they said that the Iraqi people mostly hate us. Not dislike us, or begrudge us being there, they HATE us. They told me of an Iraqi man that the army hired to do odd jobs for months that was ultimately caught planting IED's on the road just outside the main gate. They told me of a 9 year old that ran at their dismounted patrol in a Mosul neighborhood with a grenade and threw it at them. They said that Men Women and Children in Mosul were all engaged in insurgent activities against them while they were there. Then they had their hands tied by military protocol. One of the guys, (I am not using names here, because, first, they were in Juarez, which has been off limits to soldiers for years, and second, they aren't towing the administrations line), told me about being out on a mission in a small-kill team, known in the military as SKT. They were set up in an area of Mosul where patrols has been under heavy IED attacks. He said they were set up when 5 or 6 Iraqi men showed up and fanned out in the area. He said that none of them had noticible weapson but every so often men would come to one building and report to a guy with a cell phone up on the roof. He said they watched him for 8 hours and twice during that time he asked his Lt. if he could take the shot ( he was on the sniper rifle this day) The Lt. not being able to make that call had to radio back to HQ to ASK PERMISSION to shoot the guy. The desk jockey that was on the other end of the radio asked how many hostiles and how many weapons. When told there were no weapons they were denied the right to take the shot. So they sat there and watch until their Relief started coming up one of the other roads in the neighborhood. The guy with the phone then received a call and then made a call and the street that their relief was coming up exploded around them, killing 4 men and injuring several more. He then told me that when the MI troops showed up to take an After Action Report, they asked about the guys on the roof. They asked about how often the others showed up to report to him, and how often he answered the phone and how ofter he called on it and if he called just before the explosion. When the AAR was over the MI officer made the accessment that the shot should have been taken at some point before bombs were set off and that most likely the bombs were set off by cell phone.
One of the guys told me that he was originally from Kansas, that he voted for Bush twice and that when he went to Iraq, he KNEW he was going there to help people, to fight terrorism and to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people. All four of them said they were really gung ho about going to Iraq at the time, all four had been to jump school and were airborne qualified. These guys WANT to be soldiers. But to a man they said that after 15 months in Iraq, the know that this war is now all about full employment for american contractors, and all about money. I wish all of you could have sat with me and listen to these guys. They are all really good soldiers, and you could tell that the experience had made them all extremely close. They were on the same team the entire time and no one on their team was killed and only suffered major injuries. But they were also disillusioned by what they had gone through.
They all said they had been lied to from the minute they were told they were going. They were sold a bill of goods about how it was a war on terror and how the bulk of people in Iraq were happy that the Americans were there. How they were going to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people. And how all of that was bullshit. As I said two of them already have slots for the Q-course for Special Forces training so they KNOW they aren't going back anytime soon. But the other two were told on Wednesday, that they will more than likely be going back in 8 months. Neither of those young men was excited about that prospect. I know that you Neo-con war suporters are going to do your best to diminish this encounter with them and some of you might even attempt to demean these brave young men because they aren't towing the "American" line, but as BB is always fond of saying, they've been there. They saw it, and I didn't press them to say anything or give them any idea of how I felt about the goat screw in Iraq until we really started talking. I told them after we talked for a while, how people, again like BB demean me for criticizing the war. I told them that I support what they do, but I HATE the fact that their Commander in Chief has put them in harms way for no good reason. The youngest guy in the group, a PFC told me, that the next time someone told me that, to tell them to Fuck Off for him. He said he and LOTS of other soldiers also want this shit in Iraq to be over but so long as they wear the uniform they will go where told and do their mission and give 110%. But all of that does not for minute mean they believe the mission is worthwhile nor do they think it is worth a single american life.
Steven and I paid for their drinks, bought them another round of REALLY good tequila and drank a toast to their safe return and to the soldiers that were never going to be able to drink to that toast and we left. I hope luck smiles on all four of those guys and I hope that sense takes control of someone in Washington DC before they have to go back, because the loss of just one them is not worth that entire fucking region.
