US Soldier Reveals the True Iraq Situation
Dana K Beausoleil is a member of www.mlitary.com and posted this on the Discussion forum recently:
I'm an MP w/16 months in Iraq. I wear combat action badge and about 25 other medals and ribbons and train jr. MPs to go to the fight.
I ran electronics, generators, security and humanitarian missions in Iraq and walked the halls of power in 2003 as a COL/GS15 under orders to restart the government.
I survived many attacks but an IED attack took part of my hearing at the end of 2004 and two guys 50 feet from me along w/2 more wounded. The facts are that we got shot at daily in 2003 after "mission accomplished". Two of my buddies died after the war was over.
In the 6 months I was out of country the UN pulled out after a massacre. During the next rotation in for a year, we only spent something like $4B on reconstruction of the $60B authorized because we couldn't get the projects going.
The E-9 in charge of projects left in Dec 04 totally frustrated because all the projects he'd worked were stalled or not started and we were rationing food and water. We had the oil pipeline in the north just outside our perimeter on the MSR. EVERY time we rebuilt it they blew it up again. It burned the entire year I was there except for a few days.
They rocketed our barracks almost daily w/impunity and killed our burger king and killed our interpreters families. We, in turn (my unit) shot up their wedding parties by mistake and ran over their animals in the street on purpose.
At the start of the year, we threw water to kids begging. At the end of the year, we threw water AT kids begging. They threw rocks at us and flipped us the bird within two months of arrival of the invasion after we cut off their food and water and electric supplies.We weren't much better off. In winter we burned everything wood we'd built for heat because some of us had no winter clothes. We used a swimming pool for potable water.I ran out of bullets.
Our generators died and no parts came to fix them. Some generators just didn't come. We paid $50K to ransom a stolen generator worth $500K. Two more were still missing and thought to be in Syria when we left. Our command lost 8 dead and one POW (Matt Maupin). A good friend of mine lost his arm and spleen in the same week I performed ceremonies at 8 funerals at our FOB.Every time we killed a bad guy ten came to take his place.
Every time we killed an innocent, 20 came to take his place. The venders we worked with locally came in and tried to blow up our bazaar we set up to help them make money. We stopped that but they got to our DFAC.
By 2005, 1/2 of the Iraqi National Guard deserted at our post when we arrested their general for collusion. At night we aimed our attention (and our weapons) inside the perimeter at the ING barracks. We don't trust them. We'll never trust them. It's all about numbers. The longer we stay, the more we spend, the more their ranks grow. The more the public disapproves of the war. the more the Muslim nations learn to hate us. Like it or not, it's all about attrition by now.-Including in our units. We lost 1/3 of our unit after 4 deployments. My last unit had 1/3 PTSD. The numbers don't look good on the inside as well as in the news on the outside. We are, however, making our recruiting and retention because our bonuses are steller. I now get $3,000 if I get just one soldier in the guard and I'm not a recruiter! The only thing keeping us alive over there now is that they've decided it's more effective to mostly seek revenge on their own than drive out the invaders because we still have no effective IED defense and our apache's now avoid close air support because it's too easy to shoot them down.
Those aren't opinions, there observed facts. My unit will be back there inside 2 years. We're down to only 20 MP's qualified and a lot of nonquals and no uparmored HMMWVs and a lot of our equipment simply is gone.
It's gonna be a tough couple of next years. And, after 5 years of war, we need MAJOR refits.
Until then, we'll do our job but we'd be much better off hand frisking every person and container coming in this country than promoting muslim facism weapons training overseas.
I missed Vietnam, but I expect it was as screwed up at the end as this war is now. Changing objectives, vague victories, two steps back for every one forward... Now we're running 16 month deployments and more brigades in Baghdad. I'll probably support one more deployment over there myself but if I do, I promise it will be my last.I've done my share and a whole lot more. Someone better start talking about a draft because we're gonna need one at this pace...I doubt the liberal press is to blame.
I'm an MP w/16 months in Iraq. I wear combat action badge and about 25 other medals and ribbons and train jr. MPs to go to the fight.
I ran electronics, generators, security and humanitarian missions in Iraq and walked the halls of power in 2003 as a COL/GS15 under orders to restart the government.
I survived many attacks but an IED attack took part of my hearing at the end of 2004 and two guys 50 feet from me along w/2 more wounded. The facts are that we got shot at daily in 2003 after "mission accomplished". Two of my buddies died after the war was over.
In the 6 months I was out of country the UN pulled out after a massacre. During the next rotation in for a year, we only spent something like $4B on reconstruction of the $60B authorized because we couldn't get the projects going.
The E-9 in charge of projects left in Dec 04 totally frustrated because all the projects he'd worked were stalled or not started and we were rationing food and water. We had the oil pipeline in the north just outside our perimeter on the MSR. EVERY time we rebuilt it they blew it up again. It burned the entire year I was there except for a few days.
They rocketed our barracks almost daily w/impunity and killed our burger king and killed our interpreters families. We, in turn (my unit) shot up their wedding parties by mistake and ran over their animals in the street on purpose.
At the start of the year, we threw water to kids begging. At the end of the year, we threw water AT kids begging. They threw rocks at us and flipped us the bird within two months of arrival of the invasion after we cut off their food and water and electric supplies.We weren't much better off. In winter we burned everything wood we'd built for heat because some of us had no winter clothes. We used a swimming pool for potable water.I ran out of bullets.
Our generators died and no parts came to fix them. Some generators just didn't come. We paid $50K to ransom a stolen generator worth $500K. Two more were still missing and thought to be in Syria when we left. Our command lost 8 dead and one POW (Matt Maupin). A good friend of mine lost his arm and spleen in the same week I performed ceremonies at 8 funerals at our FOB.Every time we killed a bad guy ten came to take his place.
Every time we killed an innocent, 20 came to take his place. The venders we worked with locally came in and tried to blow up our bazaar we set up to help them make money. We stopped that but they got to our DFAC.
By 2005, 1/2 of the Iraqi National Guard deserted at our post when we arrested their general for collusion. At night we aimed our attention (and our weapons) inside the perimeter at the ING barracks. We don't trust them. We'll never trust them. It's all about numbers. The longer we stay, the more we spend, the more their ranks grow. The more the public disapproves of the war. the more the Muslim nations learn to hate us. Like it or not, it's all about attrition by now.-Including in our units. We lost 1/3 of our unit after 4 deployments. My last unit had 1/3 PTSD. The numbers don't look good on the inside as well as in the news on the outside. We are, however, making our recruiting and retention because our bonuses are steller. I now get $3,000 if I get just one soldier in the guard and I'm not a recruiter! The only thing keeping us alive over there now is that they've decided it's more effective to mostly seek revenge on their own than drive out the invaders because we still have no effective IED defense and our apache's now avoid close air support because it's too easy to shoot them down.
Those aren't opinions, there observed facts. My unit will be back there inside 2 years. We're down to only 20 MP's qualified and a lot of nonquals and no uparmored HMMWVs and a lot of our equipment simply is gone.
It's gonna be a tough couple of next years. And, after 5 years of war, we need MAJOR refits.
Until then, we'll do our job but we'd be much better off hand frisking every person and container coming in this country than promoting muslim facism weapons training overseas.
I missed Vietnam, but I expect it was as screwed up at the end as this war is now. Changing objectives, vague victories, two steps back for every one forward... Now we're running 16 month deployments and more brigades in Baghdad. I'll probably support one more deployment over there myself but if I do, I promise it will be my last.I've done my share and a whole lot more. Someone better start talking about a draft because we're gonna need one at this pace...I doubt the liberal press is to blame.
posted by lebbie at 4:04 PM
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