What I learned from spending time in a war zone.

[SketchMaster]

I did not pet the monkey, was worried I'd get sick. :rolls eyes: guess it didn't matter much in the end.

Great post.

I remember those feelings, and it's why veterans have a brotherhood that others don't easily understand.

This post should be required reading before posting in OT, the crap in here makes me cringe sometimes. (#firstworldproblems)

I remember once I was working a contract in Germany, and the small town I was staying in had a festival going on that week. I went outside to go check it out and stumbled upon a table of Americans and asked if I could join. It turned out that the group was made up of solders on R&R from Afghanistan and where quite pleasant towards me.

...Then realized that not only was I not a member of the service, I was a damn dirty contractor and promptly told me to get my beer and get the **** away from their table.

I talked to some buddies that were prior service and they explained it to me like this: "Though the way they treated you was very rude, you are not part of the club; and until you serve, you will never be."

I didn't really get it back then, I mean... I got it, but I didn't really.

Now I get it, even though they were still rude, I see why they didn't want to bother with someone that hadn't seen what they saw and done what they had to do. I have to remind myself that six months ago I came on here whining about smashing my car, even though it was my own simple butt that did it; otherwise, I'd go off on every person that I see on my Facebook whining about their lost phone or having to work the weekend.

And like I said before, I had it pretty darn easy over here compared to a lot of people.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

A friend of mine left the Police force here to go to security work over there. A week later his convoy was ambushed and he was killed. But he did it for the money. He was getting more over there in a month than he made in a year here. Respect going out to all the soldiers that gets dumped in a strange country. Doesnt matter what they say no training can make up for a foreign hostile environment. Like walking blind folded into a shooting range. Not referring to Iraq only. Theres lots of countries where peace keeping missions is currently running. Some of our Soldiers are doing duty like Burundi. But thats also in Africa so its a little bit easier to adapt than like on another continent.

But the sad thing is a handful of idiots tries to hold a whole country hostage. If they dont get what they want then they do with violence. The other sad thing is that those people live most of their life in oppression and are too scared or dont know what to do for themselves or help themselves. Stuff like that will take years and years to start happening. Keeping aside the other things and stuff that said to be going on there I think the US did a good job over there.

But in the end politicians fight the war on tv and everyone is forgetting about the soldier on the ground winning it.Patient is the game is such places and I think they learned a valuable lesson from Somalia.

Anyways great post OP. Good to see theres some people out there respecting each others culture

 

[wischeez]

:thumbsup:
Great post Op!