11 years ago today

[Mick-Boy]

Combat operations in Iraq officially commenced.

I was deployed with the 24th MEU(SOC) and ate my heart out watching everyone cross the border on the news. We got the word to go in a few days later. I left the ship carrying 180lbs of equipment. Two months later I got back on the boat for the trip home. Our company didn't loose a single Marine during the invasion.

Here's to the guys that were there. With me and in other places.
Here's to the guys that came after.
And here's to the guys that came before, on who's experience we built our training. You helped a lot of young, dumb grunts to make it home during those first few years.

These pictures are all from my next deployment in 2004.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/822/27022469208_ab2f5ca213_k.jpg


Falluja, Spring '04
[https://farm1.staticflickr.com/796/39083559570_25e72f630a_k.jpg

Patrol through downtown Mahmudiya.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/812/39999340265_ee1df5734e_z.jpg

Cpl Christopher Belchik KIA 22 Aug 2004
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4777/40189574584_3d911243d2_z.jpg
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/790/40185046684_d375497ccb_z.jpg

My squad's corpsman in an IED crater on ASR Jackson in between Mahmudiya and Lutifiya
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/816/40851059242_31bd12da84_h.jpg

My squad waiting for nightfall in a palm grove. I'm sitting on the hood.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/815/40185047294_e27d73de25_z.jpg

What happens when you're chasing a gun team through irrigated farm fields? The third truck in line gets browned out and can't *quite* judge where the crossing is....
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/802/39999341885_521d726ed2_k.jpg

This picture was taken after a guy in my original squad got hit outside of Falluja. I got moved to another platoon to take over a "problem child" squad halfway through the trip. Every one is laughing because the unlucky soul got shot in the ass. The guy holding the IV bag for the doc is Michael Hodshire. He was KIA on the units next deployment.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/816/39083557020_5cd35f9c4b_z.jpg

All the dust in the air did make for some beautiful sunsets.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4794/39083556990_3c71ceb5f0_k.jpg

Let's see some other OIF photos.

[Delfuego]

You guys' modesty never ceases to impress me.

PS: Happy belated St. Pat's from one Irish brother to another. Stay safe out there [Beer]

[ruthabagah]

Thank you for your service, and for sharing your pictures.

[StagLefty]

Well done young'un-Thank you.

[Hound]

Simply... thank you.

[Dave]

I was in the Army stationed in Hawaii watching the invasion in our CO's office as Marines and other Army units were rolling in.

[MarkCO]

Thanks for your service in our nations military, and for your service to the local community of shooters as well. :)

PS. If you have not checked out the Marine 3Gun shooting team lately, they are kicking some serious tail and moving to the top of the heap. [Beer]

[2112]

Again thanks for your service, and the cool pics.

[Logan]

Respect to you and your brothers. [Beer] Thanks for sharing with us.

[stoner01]

I'll have to find all my pictures from the different deployments. '06',07, '08 and '10. Granted some of them were tame by Micks standards.

[asmo]

Our company didn't loose a single Marine during the invasion.

+10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[Hoser]

A cockpit/boxoffice photo of us going into Baghdad. Not sure what year. 2003-2006.

http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac105/puebloshooter/Hurk/hurkcockpit-1.jpg (http://s890.photobucket.com/user/puebloshooter/media/Hurk/hurkcockpit-1.jpg.html)


Baghdad at night through NVGs.

http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac105/puebloshooter/Hurk/NVGBaghdad.jpg (http://s890.photobucket.com/user/puebloshooter/media/Hurk/NVGBaghdad.jpg.html)


Almost dawn at Baghdad IAP. 2005.

http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac105/puebloshooter/Hurk/SatherSunrise2.jpg (http://s890.photobucket.com/user/puebloshooter/media/Hurk/SatherSunrise2.jpg.html)

Hero pose on top of a SU-22 in Kirkuk.

http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac105/puebloshooter/Hurk/KirkukCrewPoseonMig.jpg (http://s890.photobucket.com/user/puebloshooter/media/Hurk/KirkukCrewPoseonMig.jpg.html)

Lt Pete, a former member of the 2001-2003 AFA Combat Shooting Team, and I meet up in Balad in 2006. Ran into another team member later that Deployment further up north. Another team member that cross commissioned to the USMC was over in Anbar kicking in doors. All of us tried to get together but it never worked out.

http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac105/puebloshooter/Hurk/PeteandHoser.jpg (http://s890.photobucket.com/user/puebloshooter/media/Hurk/PeteandHoser.jpg.html)

[Mick-Boy]

Hey thanks everyone. I didn't post this to get kudos though. I enlisted of my own free will. It was what I wanted to do. I had a lot of opportunities and experiences that most people will never get and I wouldn't trade them for anything. It was a fair deal struck between me and Uncle Sam and we both got our monies worth.

Mostly I was just thinking about the past tonight and figured I'd post it up. It won't be long before the kids enlisting don't remember watching the towers fall.

Stoner, let's see the pictures and hear a story or two!

[Mick-Boy]

Baller stuff Hoser!

[dan512]

Between the two options, I'd have to choose Hoser's view of the war. Mick, that picture of patrol in Mahmudiya looks like it sucked!

[stoner01]

Mostly I was just thinking about the past tonight and figured I'd post it up. It won't be long before the kids enlisting don't remember watching the towers fall.

Stoner, let's see the pictures and hear a story or two!

Like I said I'll have to find the hard drive they're on. As for stories, I have a few. The two times I got hit, the closes calls with IDF. Funny stories, gross stories, take your pick.

And the fact that kids who were only five when the towers went down are enlisting scares the shit out of me.

[Logan]

I'd love to hear about the IDF stories and your experiences with that group. And the stories about getting hit. Oh and the funny ones, too. :D

[Sharpienads]

I was 17 during the invasion, and enlisted as soon as I could as a Jr in highschool. I had to get my parents to sign for me.

My first trip to OIF was Fall of 2004. I was 19yo.

Cool guy pic (but not cool enough to blur out my face) taken outside of Fallujah Nov 2004:
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/Sharpienads/Iraq001_zps513cfa86.jpg (http://s1133.photobucket.com/user/Sharpienads/media/Iraq001_zps513cfa86.jpg.html)

More cool guy pics of me and Josh, my JTAC at the time, in Fallujah Nov 2004:
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/Sharpienads/Iraq030_zpsee11c953.jpg (http://s1133.photobucket.com/user/Sharpienads/media/Iraq030_zpsee11c953.jpg.html)

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/Sharpienads/Iraq031_zps675615a0.jpg (http://s1133.photobucket.com/user/Sharpienads/media/Iraq031_zps675615a0.jpg.html)

Asking the ground commander which building to drop a bomb on next (not really, but that's what it looks like):
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/Sharpienads/Iraq016_zps7f1d397d.jpg (http://s1133.photobucket.com/user/Sharpienads/media/Iraq016_zps7f1d397d.jpg.html)

We tried our hardest to teach these Marine ANGLICO guys that were with us the right way to conduct CAS, but it's tough to teach Marines complicated stuff [LOL]:
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/Sharpienads/Iraq026_zps3d779398.jpg (http://s1133.photobucket.com/user/Sharpienads/media/Iraq026_zps3d779398.jpg.html)

After we left Fallujah:
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/Sharpienads/Iraq042_zpsd2b9bdec.jpg (http://s1133.photobucket.com/user/Sharpienads/media/Iraq042_zpsd2b9bdec.jpg.html)

The local talent: (think the "me so horny" scene from Full Metal Jacket)
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/Sharpienads/Iraq041_zpsded8b94a.jpg (http://s1133.photobucket.com/user/Sharpienads/media/Iraq041_zpsded8b94a.jpg.html)

Funny story, we rode into Fallujah in Bradley IFVs. It took us 13 hours to get there. Brutal. One of the guys in there said, when we get into the city, we're gonna drop the back ramp and you guys run out. All I could think of was the D-Day scene from Saving Pvt Ryan where dudes are getting mowed down by machine gun fire when they drop the ramps on the boats. Turned out, they basically backed the Bradleys through a wall and we ran straight from inside the vehicle to inside a house.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m591/Sharpienads/Iraq018_zps93054fae.jpg (http://s1133.photobucket.com/user/Sharpienads/media/Iraq018_zps93054fae.jpg.html)

[TheBelly]

OIF 06-08 Mahmudiyah, Yusufiyah, Power Plant, 3-10 West

Yusufiyah: We took over a Company outpost and squeezed a battalion in there. the motorpool was the big structure that was visible for a long ways away. it pissed me off that my bed would get mortared just because it was visible. I slept on the ground under a mortar bunker for four months. right before I left to go to another posting in that deployment, a mortar dropped through the roof onto the bed where I was supposed to sleep (not my bunker-tent). as I was walking to check it out, another landed about 5 feet away from me, but it was a dud. It made a nice loud thud, though! oh wait, that thud was the poop hitting my pants!

[sniper7]

Awesome stuff guys. Thanks for the photos and for your service.

[Ronin13]

I wasn't involved with OIF- but I did meet many folks who were when I flew home via Kuwait. They were happy they weren't in the 'Stan where I was, when I was (2009- when we reverted our attention back to that *nice* little shite hole).
Here are a few of my pics from my tour to Logar, Afghanistan:
My pimp ride for 10 out of 12 months... Assigned to my SGT, but I was the driver, so all responsibility for it really fell on me.
42385
Posing in front of said pimp ride- during security patrol at the burn pit outside of our FOB.
42389
Me with a local they called "Boba"- which is Pashtu slang for "old man."
42391
My Security Team I was the ANCOIC for:
42393
My baby, the M240B that sat in a tower with me for 3 1/2 months while working Base Security (I didn't like lugging it around, which I did rarely, but I do miss that 7.62mm beast that would cut a Prius down to scrap in seconds!)
42395

[SamuraiCO]

Thanks for sharing and for your service. One of my regrets in life never serving.

[TheBelly]

OIF 06-08 Mahmudiyah, Yusufiyah, Power Plant, 3-10 West

Yusufiyah: We took over a Company outpost and squeezed a battalion in there. the motorpool was the big structure that was visible for a long ways away. it pissed me off that my bed would get mortared just because it was visible. I slept on the ground under a mortar bunker for four months. right before I left to go to another posting in that deployment, a mortar dropped through the roof onto the bed where I was supposed to sleep (not my bunker-tent). as I was walking to check it out, another landed about 5 feet away from me, but it was a dud. It made a nice loud thud, though! oh wait, that thud was the poop hitting my pants!

The hole above my hooch

http://i994.photobucket.com/albums/af70/thebelly925/53bd2589c290f9bde123df1b712d6fa5_zps95c10d9b.jpg






The dud

http://i994.photobucket.com/albums/af70/thebelly925/213d5ea01f5052e771bdb53d4970934b_zps48923a6a.jpg

[muddywings]

No pics unfortunately. Not sure why but I just didn't take a lot of pics back then. Hoser's pictures look vaguely familiar though.
'04 I was doing the OEF thing but I was on the OIF side in summer/fall of '05.
Memorable deployment. Had my A-code yanked for doing a flare dispense for an HR move coming out of Tal Afar. Worth it though.
For the guys and gals on patrols and convoys where ever you are-stay safe!

[275RLTW]

I was in 2d Ranger Bn doing the clearing of BIAP on this evening. I remember watching the opening salvos and the 254 Tomahawks lighting the city up. Great view as we flew in to the airport.

Here is us getting ready to go out on a raid (that's our terp on the closest skid)
42425

Coming back in from a night's hunt on -60s

42427

Good times then. It was like the wild west, out hunting Fayedeen every night. Feels weird flying back there today and seeing the changes that have happened in the last 11 years. I'll post some picts of Baghdad today when I can.

[USMC88-93]

Good stuff guys, glad you all made it home.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Wow...great thread.

Thank you guys, seriously. And thanks for sharing the photographs.

[osok-308]

To those of you that served, thank you.

[jackthewall81]

Thanks fellas for all you've done. You are appreciated.

[wctriumph]

Thank you, all you guys that serve are in our prayers every single night.

[275RLTW]

well, RSO won't let anyone off camp this week so I can't get any current picts of the city. Baghdad smells better than it did 11 yrs ago although the trash hasn't moved anywhere. Here is a pict of the Colorado T-wall just off the flight line by Camp Sully (The DoS camp)

42623

still have these on the outside of my CHU

42625

some things change, some don't.

To continue with the topic of this thread, 11 yrs ago today we were pulling Jessica bitch...I mean Lynch from the hospital and digging her 11 friends from their shallow graves around the corner. Good mission but a bad night digging in the dirt and rocks.
Readily shall I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight on to the Ranger objective and complete the mission...

[Shodown]

This was in Baghdad. My loadmaster (not ready for the photo, hence the awkward look ha) and I while waiting for customs before bouncing around various places around the rest of the country.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/Shodown69/DSC00729_zpse5f86488.jpg (http://s36.photobucket.com/user/Shodown69/media/DSC00729_zpse5f86488.jpg.html)

This was my crew on my last deployment. Again, waiting for customs in Baghdad.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/Shodown69/DSC00789_zpsc3abef1b.jpg (http://s36.photobucket.com/user/Shodown69/media/DSC00789_zpsc3abef1b.jpg.html)

Hero shot! (taken the same day as the one above)

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/Shodown69/DSC00791_zpsc538e405.jpg (http://s36.photobucket.com/user/Shodown69/media/DSC00791_zpsc538e405.jpg.html)

[TheBelly]

Sometimes things start on fire when they get blown up. It was very therapeutic to know that we all egressed out of this vehicle alive. Standing on the side of the road as your 'War Hoopty' burns to the ground will let you know that there's a party goin on.

http://i994.photobucket.com/albums/af70/thebelly925/6020_zps38af6328.jpg

[Mick-Boy]

Misc. photos with anecdotes.

This photo was taken by where the Mahmudiya police station was going to be built. The small cinder block wall was sort of the unofficial border of the construction area. One day we drove down to show face and check on their progress. While I was walking the perimeter posting security I heard a muffled *pop*. When I investigated, I found a wired up 155 round buried in a dirt hill. The blasting cap had slipped out just far enough that it didn't detonate the round when it was triggered. The second picture is me with the round that could have killed me (and two others). We followed the wire back to where the trigger man was but he was long gone.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/789/40851054062_677542dbef_k.jpg
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/783/40855778622_24a115f90b_b.jpg


This truck was part of an Army convoy that was traveling up ASR Jackson through our AO. We got called out to QRF them after they got hit on Apr 8th, 2004 and ended up in the longest single contact I've ever been a part of. An 18hr running gun fight through the town of Lutifiya. Sgt. Michael Speer was killed (https://marines.togetherweserved.com/usmc/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=305170) by a shot to the head when he turkey peeked a corner on Apr 9th. Wrong place, wrong time, bad luck. Mike was one of the most naturally gifted warriors and leaders I've ever known.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/820/40897610461_26e9a0980e_b.jpg

This kevlar helmet saved the life of my buddy. He was driving the HMMV below. He had to be medically retired because of all the frag he took to the left side of the body. At the time we had just started using bolt on armor for the trucks. It was better than running around in soft skins but it left a lot to be desired. You can see the intact armor on the right side of the truck. The armor panel on the left side was blown into the troop compartment and took the leg off the company RTO. To the best of my knowledge, he's still serving. He proved he could run a 3 mile PFT on his prosthetic leg, then Marine Corp let him reenlist.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4775/40851054502_08264e2c70_h.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/804/39999338595_fb0023b29a_h.jpg

The platoon was caught in a very well laid "L-shaped" ambush coming out of a patrol base. Chris Johnson, pictured below, lost his right arm to a 12.7mm DShK round in the initial contact. His life was saved by his squad's corpsman who jumped out of his truck, ran across the kill zone and got a TQ on Chris. The Doc then picked up Chris's rifle and assaulted through the ambush with the rest of the platoon. Chris died in a boating accident in 2008 and is buried in Arlington. (http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/christopher-johnson.htm)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/817/27027277608_78e50ad155_k.jpg

Mike Jernigan (holding the Iraqi non-alcoholic Budweiser) lost both of his eyes (among multiple other injuries) to the IED that killed Chris Belchik (mentioned in my earlier post). He's since become something of a poster child for positive attitudes and driving forward (https://www.usfsp.edu/blog/2012/05/03/mike-jernigans-commencement/). He works for South Eastern Guide Dogs. Pictured behind him is Benny Cockerham (giving the camera the finger). Benny was killed on the following deployment (http://projects.militarytimes.com/valor/marine-cpl-benny-g-cockerham-iii/1206509) while serving as a machine gun team leader. He was 21.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/811/39999341715_5a63ef8823_z.jpg

If there's one feeling I'll always associate with my Iraq deployment in 2004, it's being tired. Grabbing cat naps in 1-2 hour stretches during the day so we could go play reindeer games at night. Getting woken up at random times to QRF other units or because someone decided that we needed to go show our presence somewhere else. Weeks of living and sleeping in random houses, schools, factories or police stations and never feeling like I was actually rested.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/796/39083559270_e0db3a6f44_b.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4786/39999339095_284c179657_k.jpg

Random photos from foot patrols. Flankers would have to be pushed out to the left and right to watch for trigger men (command detonated IEDs were all the rage) and we'd usually run a 2-4 man team about 100m ahead of the rest of the patrol to look for IEDs along the roads. These positions would be rotated and everyone would take their turn. As the squad leader I'd wander to where ever I felt I had the best tactical control of the squad/patrol.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4794/40851055312_f1c6bc673e_h.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/785/27022467648_39cfab7dc9_k.jpg

Interacting with the locals was always an experience. Watching how our terp addressed someone was usually a pretty good indicator of how friendly they would be to us. Often people were very friendly. This was particularly true in rural areas and the people were often a huge help in pinning down where the bad guys were.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/799/40851055162_399d037166_k.jpg

We had a TIME photographer with us in early 2004 (http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994122,00.html). He was able to take some pretty amazing shots of various bombs being dropped on Fallujah.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4784/40185046044_b7c1fc9676_k.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4795/40892864611_0b128b7e65_k.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4771/26020729907_3a5ce03c96_k.jpg


2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines deployed in March 2004 to Iraq where it was attached to Regimental Combat Team 1, 1st Marine Division and fought in Al Mahmudiya, Al Kharma, the first and second assault in the city of Fallujah, and Al Zadan. Especially notable during this deployment were the events that led to 2ndLt Ilario Pantano being charged with two counts of premeditated murder. Lieutenant Pantano was acquitted of these charges. During this deployment the Battalion suffered 154 Marines wounded and six killed in action while participating in more than six hundred separate engagements of various sizes.

All told my time in Iraq was probably one of the most defining times of my life so far.

[TheBelly]

'Light Infantry'......... Sure.



http://i994.photobucket.com/albums/af70/thebelly925/HPIM0020_zps62c7c5c5.jpg

[Mick-Boy]

'Light Infantry'......... Sure.



http://i994.photobucket.com/albums/af70/thebelly925/HPIM0020_zps62c7c5c5.jpg


Damn sir. You never heard of spread loading?

I meant to ask, was that company outpost you guys took over in the Chicken Factory in Mahmudiya?

[02ducky]

That's for the additional pics Mick.

[TheBelly]

Damn sir. You never heard of spread loading?

I meant to ask, was that company outpost you guys took over in the Chicken Factory in Mahmudiya?

The factory outside mahmudiyah was the first place we went, yep... My battalion took over for a unit from 101st (they got jammed up because a couple of their troopers got DUSTWUN'd and a couple more were convicted of murdering some family and then doing not-so-nice things to the younger daughter down the road. it was a big story in the army times; June 2006, IIRC). Very rough area. Our FA unit was based out of Lutufiyah. We then pushed out to Yusufiyah, then out farther into Qar-Ghuli and down the Mullah Fayad highway. We eventually ended up at the power plant.

After I had enough time doing the Good Lord's work there, I was posted up at Victory and we did Area security/denial and 'other' missions down route Irish. Also, not a good area (but living on Victory wasn't bad; we called it 'Camp Nine Mill' for all the high-ranking folks walking around with their m9s). When that operation had finished, we were trasnferes back to the RSTA to go watch stuff throughout our BDE's AO.

17 months in that crap-hole.

[Mick-Boy]

02ducky, No worries. I've been enjoying digging through these pictures and thinking about thing 10 years and 20+ trips overseas ago (in a melancholy kind of way).

I had no idea we'd chewed so much of the same dirt Belly.

The Mahmudiya/Lutifiya/Yusifiya triangle was.... active when we left in the fall of '04. We turned over with some Marine reservists (2/24 maybe?) and they got their clock cleaned for a few months. I ended up working in Basra with some of the guys from their sniper platoon. Hearing about them relearning lessons we'd already passed down to their leadership was frustrating. I heard it got even worse when the 101st came in. I imagine it was downright exciting when you were there.

I remember when those 101st guys went all My Lai in that area. I was down at the Regional Embassy Office in Basra with Triple Canopy but I saw it on the news. Pretty fucked up. Sometimes life in prison isn't enough. Ally, brick, dumpster, problem solved.

I was just looking on google earth and the place looks pretty similar. Pretty huge difference from what the Iraqis did to Victory and Liberty.

FOB St. Michael (the Chicken Factory) facing SW towards the canal.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4772/27022468698_9cedf4b0eb_k.jpg

Looking SE towards the motor pool and ASR Jackson (HWY 8).
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/821/40185043444_ad6ce6ef4f_k.jpg

[TheBelly]

Yeah...... Volatile area.......

[Eggysrun]

I served over in Iraq as a Cavalry Scout. Deployed in 07-09 during the surge in western baghdad. Second tour I was in Maysan province and bounced all over the province.

Iraqi PM put out that civilians should be disarmed since the "ISF" could take care of security. We supervised, while an IA BTN did the dirty work. Almost 600 AK's were taken, no bloodshed.
42793

My old platoon, OIF 7-9
42795

Loved my ma deuce. We rolled out with a bradley to the front, 2 humvees in the middle and bradley covering the rear.

42797

Anyone remember these? Burn on my face was from schrapnel from an IED.
42799

2nd tour, we spent a lot of time by the Iranian border. Primary mission was training the border police, secondary mission was smuggling interdiction and our tertiary mission was recon on Iran (....and occasionally inside Iran with support of an LRS platoon attached to us)
42801

[3beansalad]

Welcome home Devil Dog. And thanks for your service

[Ropes4u]

Thank you brother

[TEAMRICO]

WILD TIGER!!!
That shit was like from Syria!!!
Tasted like cigarettes to me.....but boy what ever was in it gave you a buzzzzzzz!

[MarkUSMC88]

Ooh rah

[Mick-Boy]

Bumping this one back up. 15 years now...

[Martinjmpr]

I was in Afghanistan on this day 15 years ago. We knew the Iraq war was kicking off the next day and we figured we'd be "locked down" once that happened so our SGM put together a "morale day" trip from BAF down to Kabul.

Ten months later I was on a plane back to the Middle East in support of OIF, almost a year spent in Kuwait. My last deployment.

It's crazy to think we're still in both places. My dad was in Vietnam in 1966-67 for a full tour, and then did three "short tours" as a DA civilian in 1969, 70 and 71.

I sometimes think about how weird it would have been if we had still been fighting in Vietnam in 1980 when I joined the Army, but there are more than a few now who are in that situation, i.e. young GI's who were babies when the war started and now they're fighting over the same dirt their fathers did 15 years before.

[Shooter45]

I left for the Marines in 2004 as a Machine Gunner upon graduating high school. Got assigned to 2nd BN 3rd Marines out of Hawaii and deployed to the Asadabad Afghanistan in 2005/2006 then the Haditha Triad, Iraq in 2006/2007. Afghanistan was physically exhausting, Iraq mentally exhausting.

Asadabad, Afghanistan 2005/2006

Asadabad FOB:
73928

Afghan Squad:
73929

Burn pits:
73930

Korengal:
73931

LCpl Michael Scholl in the Korengal 2005, KIA in Haditha 12 Nov 2006
73940



Haditha Triad, Iraq 2006/2007

IED:
73934

RPG IED:
73935

Me in briefing room:
73932

My Iraq squad:
73933

2/3 memorial once home:
73936

[2112]

The awesomeness in this thread never ceases to amaze me.

[BlasterBob]

Thank for your service.[Marine]

[zteknik]

Thanks to all that have served and prayers for the ones that didn't make it home.

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[Mick-Boy]

16 years and a couple of days. Kids born after we invaded can drive now...