Afghanistan update numba 1!

Astomp

Astomp

Active member
so here i am. 2 months into afghanistan. what to say... now that im actually here its helped me realize quite a bit of things...

1. the rules of engagement our so strict we get hurt more then anyone else.

2. its a 50-50 love hate with the locals. some love you others hate you.

3. hands down gun fight the US wins. There arent many wild west gun fights here though. lots of ieds.

4. taliban are much smarter then we give them credit for. they do bounding movements, buddy movements, over watch, signals, flip pigeons, have kids fly certain kites etc etc. they just arent too good at shooting straight.

5. it only takes like 12 oz's of explosives to blow a leg off. they like to use around 15 lbs to 100 lbs it seems.

6. our camo sucks ball sack.

it took about 24 hours to fly here. colorado to maine to germany to romania (which has tons of beautiful women oh my god)to kyrgyzstan to afghanistan. it was pretty exciting and they take pretty good care of you. the mountains in my area just kinda seem like rocks crashed together and suddenly came up like a knife. it was hot as balls here too. somewhere around 120 on the top of the mountain at 6700 ft. not a real mountain i know.

weve been here 2 months like i said... already taken somewhere around 60 wia then probably around 15-20 kias. our chaplain died in a ridiculously huge ied. the vehicle caught on fire and all 5 died. watched that one from the top of the mountain. pretty gnarly.

i myself caught a guy planting an ied... 100lbs of hme (homemade explosives). set up command det wire so he had to push the trigger himself to make it boom. a convoy was within 300 meters of the spot so we stopped them. i described what was happening. he was arrested...taken to jail...and released within 5 days. so some troops got lucky that day...lived to the next day and mister taliban is back out there doing whatever he likes.

had a truck break down in the middle of village/ city. that was pretty crazy. people everywhere. screaming at us. obviously one of the places we werent liked so much. i had to jump out and pull security around the vehicle. watching for vehicle ieds, suicide bombers, anyone with an ak. just crap like that. and your sense are so heightened and you hear and watch everything but still you get a kind of tunnel vision cause of your adrenaline.

im with a reconnaissance platoon so i spend 7-14 days in the mountains at a time. i go up every 14 days and overwatch everything around me. one day while 3 of us were cruising down the mountain back to our fob(forward operating base) we were within 100 meters of the gate. someone heard a funny sound so we stopped. and looked. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. that funny sound was a mortar coming out of the tube. they were shooting from probably like 3000 meters out since it took like 10-12 seconds for the splash. the round hit within 100 meters of my team directly inline with us. we took of running for cover. i laugh when i get nervous so here i am the medic running with everyone laughing cause its just like fuck...hope we dont get lucky. "thuump" still running running running BOOOOOOOOOOOOM. still inline with us. im just laying down behind some huge boulders laughing. we sat there for about 30 minutes and it was over. we continued on. they werent aiming for us. they were aiming for the fob. just werent very good at shooting mortars and we were very unlucky/lucky.

if you have any questions about afghanistan lemme know. i just figured an update would be cool.

this is the only picture of my team i have right now. its retarded. some beef jerky company sent us a ton of jerky and wanted a picture of us with it.

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1. the rules of engagement our so strict we get hurt more then anyone else.

lol

Don't agree at all with what we're doing over there, but I hope you and everyone else make it back safely. You will see snow again soon.
 
Way to hate on someone who is putting his life on the line to fight for your country. Mass disrespect.
 
thats sgt wright. probably one of the coolest most bad ass nco's you could ever work for. hes my team leader and was spose to go sf but wanted to go on this deployment with his team. im on the left. disrespect whatever, not a big deal. some people care some dont. just take a minute and sit back and realize how awesome life is in the US compared to here. not saying that we have a hand in keeping the US the way it is right now at all, but we do live amazing life and have so many advantages. i cant wait to get back too. thats for sure. 2 down. 10 to go. hahaha sheeeeeeeeeit.
 
Word. Being Canadian I'm curious to what your guys opinions are on what Canada is doing over there, care to enlighten me? I'm pretty fucking uninformed when it comes to this shit, all I hear on the news is how many people died today, and although I respect soldiers and their families who have to deal with that it would be nice to hear what's actually going on over there
 
first of all i was kidding i said that in my post learn how to read. 2nd im actually amazed there is some one in ski gabber posting who is over 18, not only that but some who actually has a real job thats what i was getting at and if your still mad COME AT ME BRO
 
i have some questions: do you feel like you are making progress or just holding shit down where you are, cause thats all you can do? and do u have any porn available for yourself, and if not you should print some out while u have access to the interwebs haha. are you army? or marines?

have you seen massive poppy/weed fields?

if you could have one thing sent to you right now what would it be?

tell me a funny story, DI insult etc. haha always a good time

is the drinking water their rerally shitty?
 
the canadians... we have some here with us. they are leaving right now. but from what i have seen and talked to them, they gotta be the most laid back, helpful, relaxed soldiers there are other then the aussies. from whta i have heard the canadian military is amazingly trained and a force not to fuck with. the only missions they have been doing from our area is convoys moving supplies around and convoys moving gear out. there time here is done so they are rollin home. sick group of guys for sure.
 
making progress no. we caught a guy planting an ied. positive id on him covering the ied and hooking up det cord. he went to jail for like 3 days then got released. they just had a voting election here in afghanistan and taliban set up check points to keep people from voting. they were trying to rocket our fob and hit kids just outside our fob we had to treat and evacuate. wanna see something fucked up see 2 kids take shrapnel from a rocket and have there chest punctured on one and the others femur sticking out. 4 years old and 3 years old. we are just holding down where we are and trying to help as best we can. so no real progress.

im in the army. medic with some cav scouts.

i personally havent seen any poppy or marijuana fields. but one of our teams said they have walked by some poppy fields. walking through a field is bad ju-ju. they(taliban) pay farmers to set up ied's in fields. already had 2 scouts go home for stepping on landmines in fields and losing their legs and feet.

one thing sent to me... a reeses peanut butter cup and some god damn milky ways. i have more hard candy then i could desire. and a playboy. were not "allowed" to have that shit but everybody does. you just dont flaunt it.

a funny story

i had been on the mountain for about 11 days now. and the mountain life is quiet. real quiet. you hear every boom and shot fired. its like 0100 and next thing you know huge spectacular boom and then the splash(round hitting) im scanning the ground trying to figure out whats going on. all 6 of us are up scanning. boom...splash. boom boom boom splash splash splash. we had an ac-130 spectre gun ship just rocking the valley below. they said they had 12 kia's. good show. went back to bed on my rocky mountain side bed that i had wood leaned over to make a roof to hide me from the sun. next thing i knew there was a boom bigger then anything before. dust and rocks flying inside my little jack shack. i was dead asleep. im up and throwing on my body armor and grabbing my rifle cause i thought we just took a rocket or mortar round. my mind is racing. im like oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck.once i start looking around everyone is laughing at me. they made an mre bomb ( you take the heater from an mre shove it in an empty water bottle with a little bit of water, huge boom. add lots of pepper and tabasco sauce you got yourself a rudimentary cs bomb). i realized they were just waking me up since we were about to head down the mountain. called them some explicit names. we all had a good laugh, then carried on.
 
definitely an interesting thread, and its good to read it coming directly from somewhere there, and not from some news source trying to spin a story.

I'm considering joining the army when I'm done with college. Almost did after high school, but my father who'd been in years ago persuaded me to go to college first by telling me stories about how much better life was for the officers than enlisted men.

keep on doing what you're doing and stay safe man.
 
Thanks for the update man, it's really interesting to hear about this shit from the front lines and not through a newspaper. Stay safe and if shit gets rough, just think about all that fresh powpow waiting for you back home...
 
This is very interesting. Politics aside, thanks for the very personal updates man! Its great to hear from someone who actually knows whats going on, on the ground. I hope the locals are cool, if I was you, I'd try and talk to alot of elders, get their opinions on the taliban and pre taliban times. Are you allowed to play with the kids and so on? I was also wondering, do you have any affiliations with the Kiwi troops over there? what are they like?
 
wow OP, this is...newschoolers.com?? yeah read it right. always interesting to read about personal stories from overseas....good stuff.

the US military is the largest welfare state in. the. world. nobody says this out of fear of being chastised as 'unpatriotic'. we're not the first great civilization crippled by a bloated military
sorry, but the taliban will win this war. simply through economics. they want us there in a long, drawn out conflict.
shit, these wiley fuckers beat the ussr 30 years ago.
be safe out there OP!

 
Thats all fucked up that they let that guy go after 5 days. As fucked up as I may sound, they should have put a bullet into his head. If he attempted to do it once then he will attempt it again and you never know which attempt will be the one that takes out you or a buddy. Mad respect for your service over there. Keep updating us with more stories. They are very interesting.
 
and how exactly is the military a welfare state? Because taxpayers pay to house, feed, pay, and take care of these guys?

and in turn, they risk dying. Seems like a fair trade off to me. And in any case, I'd rather pay to have an army standing by and ready to go than not pay, and not have a military.
 
Na I am not a troll man. I am just speaking from past experiences. My sisters husband was over in iraq and lost his best friend infront of him to an ied. You try and explain how that is supposed to make him feel. You can't sit back and say you would be fine with that if it if there was the possibility of it being prevented. This situation had the possibility of being prevented in the future. But thats all I will say because maybe you don't feel the same way and I somewhat respect that.
 
Bump.
My sister's BF went to afghanistan with canadian artillery a year or so ago and within 3 weeks of being there his convoy got hit by an IED, he was the only one to survive in his jeep. He got sent home and begged to be sent back.
Im kinda sad that Canada is pulling out but thats what everyone wants in the country. We will be in the Congo as soon as we are out of Afghanistan. UN mission probs.
 
another question if you're still on: My best friend joined the marines, went to OCS and all that, basically balled out. if anyone was meant for the marines he was, he fucking loves pushing himself, fighting(hockey player), basically just being an overall beast. He is due to ship out when he finishes his last semester of college with me in december. do you think i should be stoking him up on going, and being all like "this is fucking badass, waste some Haji's" etc, or more just keep it mellow and really try and bes like youre a homey, come back safe, stay safe etc?

Just asking cause before football games i never liked it when people where like "good luck, stay safe, hope you play well", i though it better to stoke me up.

obviously two different things, but im just tryna do right by my broseph.
 
I have a few opinion questions

Have you talked to the civilians? or cant you? How are they (civilians)?

Are reporters and journalists huge assholes?

If you can sit down with anyone from the white house or house of representatives, who will it be and what would you do/talk about?

How much underground shit really goes on with the troops? fighting, verbal abuse, insubordination...stuff like that.
 
aoteara

if I was you, I'd try and talk to alot of elders, get their opinions on the taliban and pre taliban times.

-cant...they all speak pashto.

Are you allowed to play with the kids and so on?

i did at first then they all say "fuck you when you dont give em candy. so i just hand out high fives for free now.

-I was also wondering, do you have any affiliations with the Kiwi troops over there? what are they like?

-havent seen any kiwis.

hurrisun

have u killed a man yet?

-not a question you should ask any soldier period. but nah.

Q.Mcbrew

Astomp, is our involvement in afghanistan needed?

-i volunteered to do a job to bring soldiers home. didnt do this for a patriotical reason. just thought i could help our guys not our govt.

californiagrown

do you think i should be stoking him up on going, and being all like "this is fucking badass, waste some Haji's" etc, or more just keep it mellow and really try and bes like youre a homey, come back safe, stay safe etc?

-not like kill those mo'fuckin hajis. keep him level headed about it. he understands hes gonna see some insane shit. avoid the cliche statement "thanks for what you do." be the same friend you always are.

freestyler540

Have you talked to the civilians? or cant you? How are they (civilians)?

-the local nationals are 50-50. they like us when we are paying them out the ass for anything.

Are reporters and journalists huge assholes?

-havent dealt with any. cant wait to try and scare one though. be like "im a medic for my guys and i dont give a fuck about you reporters" hahaha

If you can sit down with anyone from the white house or house of representatives, who will it be and what would you do/talk about?

-hmmmm i wouldnt. im to small on the totem pole to worry about what i can change and dont follow politics that closely but lets go with abe lincoln cause of that fucking hat and beard. if i could talk to someone about medic training...get more live tissue hands on practicals. spend more time on trauma work and trauma medicine. forget becoming a registered emt-b. i spent two months going over emt-b. i wont use any of that here. what we medics do for work is quantity of work in little time. chop shop. it aint pretty. its fast.

How much underground shit really goes on with the troops? fighting, verbal abuse, insubordination...stuff like that.

what would you do if you had a guy you knew in your basement who you knew for a fact killed your friends? or if you were over watching a known ied spot and saw two dudes at 0200 squatting over the road but you cant exactly tell if they are collecting wood or digging to plant something? underground shit might or might not happen. you work with a bunch of guys for a few years you tend to stick up for each other and stories all come out the same or the right way no matter what. when you would take a bullet for your buddy next to you i would imagine you would do some seriously intense shit. i mean thats just saying it might or might not happen. possible shit for sure.

insubordination...not really.

verbal abuse hahaha sure. but the other guys dont know what your saying. its just what anyone would say when they are angry.

fights...seen some wicked rock fights between little kids. they are evil little fuckers out here.
 
It's so interesting to hear the no-bullshit version of the war. I'll be reading all new posts.

And kill Osama Bin Laden. He's a mean man.
 
definitely. thanks internet

and thanks astomp. ive switched names but ive read your posts for years on here so its pretty crazy to get these updates from you. keep it up, youre the man
 
Awesome read man - love it - stay safe!

One thing , as you're in Recon... do you have any interaction with Special Forces etc... are they just everywhere and nowhere at the same time? Im British, so just wondering how you get on with the Brits / SAS (if you have to contact them?)

 
Interesting stuff. I've been studying a bit of counterinsurgency theory in university, and am curious as to your experiences with indigenous Afghans. You had said that they are 50/50; they like you when you're paying them. Is that referring to commanders' discretionary funds and programs for hearts and minds? You said that you're doing reconnaissance mostly, but have you had interaction with people doing outreach and COIN?
 
It's awesome to really see what's happening over there. I am really considering doing OCS after I graduate, you guys serving our great country inspire me everyday.
Come home safe.
 
my friend just got back to germany and he said he racked up 28 kills.
thats some real life COD shit!
 
Right on man, thanks for serving!

One of my best friends is in the Helmand Province right now. He said its as close to Vietnam as he'll ever get, firefights for 10 hours a day and his helicopters are landing into hot LZ's nearly every day taking quite a bit of small arms fire. Makes me pretty worried about him but its what he wanted to do all his life so more power to him. Good luck man!
 
It's not a fuckin joke, kid.

Thanks for sharin this, it's a great read. hopefully in a few years I'll be watchin out for you guys from above.
 
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