20th anniversary - of Iraq 2.0 that is!

[oldfella1962]

Time flies! 20 years ago I was in Kuwait about 15 miles from the Iraqi border, when Bush said "Let's roll!" and roll we did.
I was the oldest guy in my company, one of the oldest in my entire battalion. So yeah, now I feel really, really old. Twenty more years older!
Was it worth it? I never thought about it - that's above my paygrade. So what great & deep "life lessons" did I glean from my time in the sandbox? In a nutshell:

1) The "theory" of how the Army is supposed to do things and the "reality" of how things are actually done are two different things entirely.
2) The world is not binary. Life is not a western movie or TV show, where the good guys wear white hats, and the bad guys wear black hats.
We all wear grey hats because there are no absolute "good guys" and "bad guys".
3) The military is a business, full stop. Yes it's a dangerous business, but I've done way more dangerous things for much less money.
4) Everybody is corrupt and a criminal to one degree or another. Try not to get greedy and you with any luck, you won't get caught.
5) "Bullet proof" and "bullet resistant" are not the same thing.
6) Don't hate or judge anybody. We are all riding this rocky planet around the sun and will end up six feet under before we know it.

 

[Doug B.]

Thank you for your service!!!!!!

 

[oldfella1962]

Thank you for your service!!!!!!

Thank you for your thank you!

 

[Silver Britches]

Yes, sir! Thank you for your service, brother. I remember watching the TV coverage of the 3rd ID rolling across that desert. I stayed up all night watching that coverage. And once in town, some of the locals thought it was a great idea to speed towards an M1 Abrams in a small car or truck. That didn't work out too good for them, as you can imagine. They probably weren't supposed to do so, but there used to be a website where soldiers would upload their pics and vids of some of their "work" in Iraq. Firefights, airstrikes, you name it.

I salute you, brother!

 

[Meriwether Mike]

Thank you for your service in Iraq. Looks like the Navy may have a go at China soon if they move on Taiwan.

 

[oldfella1962]

Yes, sir! Thank you for your service, brother. I remember watching the TV coverage of the 3rd ID rolling across that desert. I stayed up all night watching that coverage. And once in town, some of the locals thought it was a great idea to speed towards an M1 Abrams in a small car or truck. That didn't work out too good for them, as you can imagine. They probably weren't supposed to do so, but there used to be a website where soldiers would upload their pics and vids of some of their "work" in Iraq. Firefights, airstrikes, you name it.

I salute you, brother!

Speaking of small trucks - Iraq had more Toyotas per square mile than I've ever seen in my life!

Once on a convoy we saw one creeping down the highway with an Army "water buffalo" field drinking container (pictured) in the bed. It was hanging out from every direction, but by golly that Toyota was getting the job done. Wish I could have gotten a picture of it - we were busting a gut but giving much respect for whomever had the chutzpah to do this!

 

[oldfella1962]

Thank you for your service in Iraq. Looks like the Navy may have a go at China soon if they move on Taiwan.

I hope not - my son-in-law is in the Navy! These days that's supposed to be the "safest" branch of the military. Okay unless you are a SEAL which he is not.

 

[Batjack]

Speaking of small trucks - Iraq had more Toyotas per square mile than I've ever seen in my life!

Talataxi!

 

[oldfella1962]

Yes, sir! Thank you for your service, brother. I remember watching the TV coverage of the 3rd ID rolling across that desert. I stayed up all night watching that coverage. And once in town, some of the locals thought it was a great idea to speed towards an M1 Abrams in a small car or truck. That didn't work out too good for them, as you can imagine. They probably weren't supposed to do so, but there used to be a website where soldiers would upload their pics and vids of some of their "work" in Iraq. Firefights, airstrikes, you name it.

I salute you, brother!

I just remembered - thank goodness for TV news coverage! The news told us what was going on - what was actually happening as it was unfolding - before the Army even knew! I found out the war had officially started from my wife during a phone conversation. She was watching the news as we spoke and Bush was doing the "let's roll" thing. I was in the command tent (still in Kuwait) and told my commander the war had started and he said "nobody told me! I just got back from the daily briefing, nobody said anything." About a half hour later our commander finally got to the bottom of it and confirmed it, and the hilarity ensued.

Also once we got set up at our first temporary airfield we took over, the unit next to us set up a satellite TV and we got news feeds into our command tent. It was mind-blowing! We were in the war watching ourselves (watching the war unfold) on TV news covering the war live.
It was right about when Jessica Lynch & her unit got massacred so we saw all that rescue from the hospital stuff unfold, just a few miles away from where we were set up.

To add to the fun, the worst dust-storm in 50 years hit the region (The Weather Channel did a special documentary about it) reducing visibility to about 20 feet. Awesome! We were deep into Iraq surrounded 360 degrees by whatever hostile forces hadn't been killed yet or got out of Dodge while they still could and couldn't see 20 feet, and obviously couldn't fly limited helicopter missions or even flight check our radars to be fully functional. We couldn't drive to transport troops & equipment or conduct perimeter recon & defense. Good times!

 

[snookdoctor]

Glad you're here to tell the tale, oldfella.
Again, thank you for serving!

 

[Dutch]

If we would have finished the job in '91, ya'll wouldn't have had to do it in 2003.

 

[Batjack]

If we would have finished the job in '91, ya'll wouldn't have had to do it in 2003.

If we would have been allowed to do the job we were sent there to do in '91 we probably .. maybe....wouldn't have had to go back in '03.

 

[Dutch]

If we would have been allowed to do the job we were sent there to do in '91 we probably .. maybe....wouldn't have had to go back in '03.

"We" actually did what "we" was sent to do.
Just should have been allowed to finish it.

 

[Ruger#3]

We were killing them whole sale in 91 and the politicians made us stop. Look at the result. When we go to war go to win, I’m sick of the crap of make work nation building.

 

[Dub]

@oldfella1962 @Dutch @Batjack @Ruger#3

Gentlemen, thank you deeply for your service.



It is an honor to have gotten to know you here on Woody's.

 

[Ruger#3]

This was the score and the cronies made us stop.

 

[Iwannashoot]

This was the score and the cronies made us stop.

View attachment 1216749

Should have kept on rolling north, then hooked a right and blown through Iran and Afghanistan. Would have saved the US a lot of trouble in the long run

 

[oldfella1962]

If we would have been allowed to do the job we were sent there to do in '91 we probably .. maybe....wouldn't have had to go back in '03.

Not necessarily and here is why I think this:
1) The 1991 Iraq mission was finished with efficiency and minimal casualties (on our side anyway) and then we went home. Kuwait was liberated, and Saddam's military was defeated. No sense hanging around being a target.

2) The 2003 mission was slightly different because Iraq was allegedly developing "weapons of mass destruction" and supporting terrorist groups. Also repeatedly violating the "no-fly" zones was a reason.
When these reasons were on shaky ground * "human rights abuses" against the Kurds was added as a reason. But bottom line - If the war in Afghanistan hadn't already been going on (inflamed by the 9/11 attacks) the 2003 Iraq mission would have been a very, very hard sell to America & our coalition forces. 2003 Iraq was very much viewed as a big part of the overall "war on terror" so it was going to happen and lack of reasons wasn't going to stop the show.

* "weapons of mass destruction" AKA chemical/biological weapons?
Not a chance in the hot-place that Iraq had an effective program and if they did, they would never use it against the US military/coalition forces.
Did they have some chemical weapons? Yes, because they used them against Kurd civilians. Deploying them under combat conditions to a superior military wasn't going to happen. Any chemical weapons Iraq had were taken to Syria before we invaded. Saddam wasn't going to be caught with his hand in the chemical cookie-jar when he was inevitably defeated.

Sidenote once the war started Iraqis (mostly civilians working in government & banking but criminals & military too) took trucks & cars filled with cash & gold across the border (it was a porous joke of a border) into Syria. We intercepted & captured some of them and confiscated it. The whole country was looted & pillaged in the chaos.
We had Iraqi civilians coming around with big commercial grade air-conditioning units that they looted from Baghdad offices (for like 50 dollars cash per unit including the installation fee) in the military buildings that we took over when we drove out the Iraqi air force. So all our rooms had air conditioning, which was more than the original military occupants ever had. Oh, and we were alive and they were not, and they left their jets behind too.

 

[oldfella1962]

We were killing them whole sale in 91 and the politicians made us stop. Look at the result. When we go to war go to win, I’m sick of the crap of make work nation building.

I hear you - nation building? Our own nation is falling apart!
What are we going to bring to the table? I still remember being in the chow hall on seeing Bush on the big screen TV saying "mission accomplished!"
Really now? So we're getting out of Dodge, right? Catching the first thing smoking out of here? Hey, what's another decade or so when you're having fun, I guess.

 

[oldfella1962]