Green Zone
The insurgents have successfully penetrated the heavily fortified Green zone and set off a suicide bomb. Personally, I've been in the green zone a bunch of times. The military calls it another name besides the green zone, but just for opsec reasons, I am not going to say that on here just in case. I don't see how it's been able to remain so secure for awhile without anyone getting a bomb through. That really surprises me. Especially guys doing security after awhile, I know it must get alittle repetitive for them and they probably slake off sometimes. It's just human nature, it's hard to fight that type of problem.
I was just home recently for a 4 day weekend. Which means we have Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. I got to go home and hang out with my relatives. I am trying to see them as much as possible so when we soon arrive to Iraq in the fast coming few months we have left. I got to talk to my uncle who just seems to hate Bush. Most of my family are democrats, I try to stay in the middle of the road. I like to think I'm in the silent majority that doesn't have a party to present it. I don't like far left-wing or far right-wing political parties. I debated with him about Iraq, I got to vent some of my angers I've been having inside and let them hear from a prospective of a guy who has actually been there. I explained how I feel that I can't see how these people can say they support the troops when all they can do is point out the failures of the war and sit there and complain about civilian deaths and YET still say they support the troops. I know they do support us, but it still feels like when they talk about civilians getting killed, they single handedly blame the military. I get so fired up when people claim the troops are trigger happy. Yes, some of the guys are eager for action when they first go off into war. That is natural, I wanted to go and fight before the war started, I hated all the waiting. But I soon learned and anyone else who has seen combat and has buddies that they knew like brothers die by their feet and yet they feel so sorry for him but also so glad it wasn't they who are still alive. In combat, you have bullets buzzing around you, hitting on the ground around you, sometimes you see guys with holes in the cloths where bullets just hit the clothing. You don't have time to sit there and ID every target you're going to take a shot at. You have to react fast and furiously and think quickly to survive. That is one thing also that upsets me, is people wanting us to win hearts and minds. Yes, that is very important. I think a good thing to do would be to drive down Iraqi streets and have a guy throw out candy to the kids or give out school supplies and help build soccer fields. But I am not going to let a bunch of kids flock up to me, and then next thing you know out of no where a soda can lands by you with explosives inside and you cant defend urself cause you have no idea where it came from because of the distraction. My goal is to come back home safe and in one piece and to bring all my buddies back home safe and in one piece. Probably the biggest point I made out to my uncle during the debate was I believe the Army is being too soft on the enemy. When I was in Iraq, we would have Iraqis tell us the US Army was being too nice and not being firm enough and so the insurgents were taking advantage of that. Right after the war, the people had nothing but respect for the US military. They wouldn't even think for a second to attack Americans because we showed we were not afraid to use force during the war. Then we started to get more and more relaxed in our tactics, and then the next thing you know guys started getting killed. In Fallujah, right after the war, 4th ID started to lose alot of soldiers, things were getting out of hand, until the 3rd ID was sent in. They really laid the HAMMER down in Fallujah, and for months and months you NEVER heard anything about Americans getting hurt or dieing in Fallujah. Then, once the 82nd took over 3rd ID, it went back to being a shitty place again. If they really want to Americans to stop dieing, they need to get VERY tough, they need to start leading offensives without being afraid to use force, then start doing raids and finding weapons and explosives. Then, they also need to destroy these ammo dumps.
I watched the third Presidential debate. Whoooodie dooooo. The same retarded rhetoric "oh Kerry clearly won this debate!" or "oh Bush really showed him!" I mean come on. It's obvious the people who are for Bush will say he won and the people for Kerry will say he won. Honestly, from what I saw there was no clear winner. They looked like they did a good job holding their own.
I was just home recently for a 4 day weekend. Which means we have Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. I got to go home and hang out with my relatives. I am trying to see them as much as possible so when we soon arrive to Iraq in the fast coming few months we have left. I got to talk to my uncle who just seems to hate Bush. Most of my family are democrats, I try to stay in the middle of the road. I like to think I'm in the silent majority that doesn't have a party to present it. I don't like far left-wing or far right-wing political parties. I debated with him about Iraq, I got to vent some of my angers I've been having inside and let them hear from a prospective of a guy who has actually been there. I explained how I feel that I can't see how these people can say they support the troops when all they can do is point out the failures of the war and sit there and complain about civilian deaths and YET still say they support the troops. I know they do support us, but it still feels like when they talk about civilians getting killed, they single handedly blame the military. I get so fired up when people claim the troops are trigger happy. Yes, some of the guys are eager for action when they first go off into war. That is natural, I wanted to go and fight before the war started, I hated all the waiting. But I soon learned and anyone else who has seen combat and has buddies that they knew like brothers die by their feet and yet they feel so sorry for him but also so glad it wasn't they who are still alive. In combat, you have bullets buzzing around you, hitting on the ground around you, sometimes you see guys with holes in the cloths where bullets just hit the clothing. You don't have time to sit there and ID every target you're going to take a shot at. You have to react fast and furiously and think quickly to survive. That is one thing also that upsets me, is people wanting us to win hearts and minds. Yes, that is very important. I think a good thing to do would be to drive down Iraqi streets and have a guy throw out candy to the kids or give out school supplies and help build soccer fields. But I am not going to let a bunch of kids flock up to me, and then next thing you know out of no where a soda can lands by you with explosives inside and you cant defend urself cause you have no idea where it came from because of the distraction. My goal is to come back home safe and in one piece and to bring all my buddies back home safe and in one piece. Probably the biggest point I made out to my uncle during the debate was I believe the Army is being too soft on the enemy. When I was in Iraq, we would have Iraqis tell us the US Army was being too nice and not being firm enough and so the insurgents were taking advantage of that. Right after the war, the people had nothing but respect for the US military. They wouldn't even think for a second to attack Americans because we showed we were not afraid to use force during the war. Then we started to get more and more relaxed in our tactics, and then the next thing you know guys started getting killed. In Fallujah, right after the war, 4th ID started to lose alot of soldiers, things were getting out of hand, until the 3rd ID was sent in. They really laid the HAMMER down in Fallujah, and for months and months you NEVER heard anything about Americans getting hurt or dieing in Fallujah. Then, once the 82nd took over 3rd ID, it went back to being a shitty place again. If they really want to Americans to stop dieing, they need to get VERY tough, they need to start leading offensives without being afraid to use force, then start doing raids and finding weapons and explosives. Then, they also need to destroy these ammo dumps.
I watched the third Presidential debate. Whoooodie dooooo. The same retarded rhetoric "oh Kerry clearly won this debate!" or "oh Bush really showed him!" I mean come on. It's obvious the people who are for Bush will say he won and the people for Kerry will say he won. Honestly, from what I saw there was no clear winner. They looked like they did a good job holding their own.
