**What vehicles are your unit using? Are you still holed up in overweight, top-heavy HMMV’s or do you guys have Strykers, MRAP’s, etc? The Strykers and MRAP’s came about after my time (I got out in 1993), but from what I have read and seen in demonstration videos they look pretty durable. **
We have some MRAPs and mostly use the new MATVs. Still top heavy but better armor than a HMMWV.
**Do you have any gay colleagues? How “out” are they? How do you feel about DADT, and it’s likely demise? **
I’m pretty sure the gay mechanic has come out to some people. The ones he trusts, but he’s not officially out. As for DADT, I’m fine with it going away. That’s strictly personal though, plenty of homophobes in the unit.
** What type of firearms do you use on a regular basis? **
Standard issue M4 carbine, M249 SAW(squad automatic weapon, and the M240B light machine gun. Nothing’s changed other than the switch from M16 Rifle to the M4 Carbine since the 90s.
**How do you get laid in a strict, Muslim country? Can you do it at all? Can you ride a camel into town or something?
I think I would go insane if I were stuck in some highly religious country where all sorts of horrific things are done to women for sexual transgressions.
Are there stories of local Muslim girls who went off with Infidel servicemen and were killed/mutilated/raped or all three by their family? **
Going off post by yourself is insane because you would be killed as the easy target you would be. And no, it is against policy to have intercourse with Local Nationals and 3 party Foreign Nationals(in other words, we can’t have sex with the Canadian soldier, but we can have sex with each other). And a big negative on the stories about local girls and servicemen. This isn’t Vietnam.
** I don’t want to have you say anything that could get you or others in trouble, but with Afghanistan glutted with heroin, raw opium, and hashish, (but no access to alcohol, even on US bases, correct?) are you seeing soldiers falling into drug abuse?
Are soldiers drug-tested in the field?
Where do you like to head for R&R?
**
So far my battalion has had one soldier caught with heroin and hashish. He was drug tested, but only because he was caught with it. During my past tours this would result in everyone getting tested, but not this time for some reason.
All my leave is to see my family and friends back home. So far I haven’t vacationed for myself once yet, but that’s what my terminal leave(end of service) is gonna be for.
**In Iraq, the insurgents are generally called “hajji” or “hajjies”, much like the Vietnamese were “gooks” or the Germans were “krauts”.
What’s the equivalent term for the Afghans? **
We still use Hajji because it relates to the Islam religion as a whole, not just the culture of Iraq. The Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca and a Hajji is someone who has made the pilgrimage and I guess we use that because of Johnny Quest, even though in the show Hajji is Indian or something. Don’t ask me why, I don’t come up with this nonsense. Actually, since so many guys in our AO have the name Hajji, our guys have taken to just using ‘Local’ so as not to confuse anybody, especially since the guy we rent the land our COP is on has Hajji in his name.
**
Do you think it’s a particularly good idea to announce to the world that you’re in Afghanistan? By doing so, do you think that you’re violating OPSEC and perhaps risking your life and those of your fellow unit members?
I ask because I have been deployed to that region numerous times and I have made it a point not to say where I was until I came home. If you get rolled up, God forbid, will your captors be able to research things about you and use them against you, or do you sincerely believe that you are anonymous?
For my part, I can tell you that in the past I was far too free with personal information. Fortunately I do not have an easily searchable real name as it’s very common (much to my surprise). Just something to think about.**
You never received packages from total strangers who somehow got your name off a list because you were someway put on some queue? Lucky you. So many people know where I am and what I’m doing there’s no point in denying it, besides which it’s not OPSEC violation to say where I am or what unit I’m in, especially since journalists put that information into their articles all the time. My brigade even has a Facebook page with updates all the time about us. Thanks for the concern, though.
**Are there any American troops in the Wakhan Coridoor, the eastern strip of land that touches China? I have actually been near the place on China’s side. **
Don’t know. I only have a vauge idea of what goes on in the country as a whole.
**Have you acquired any souvenirs? **
Souveniours as in war trophies are illegal, but guys buy scarves and hats all the time. I couldn’t even keep shrapnel pulled from my body if I wanted to. I myself have yet to get a scarf or hat.
**What is your opinion of the Afghan army-any good? **
Afghan Army NCOs, great guys. Well trained and knowledgable. Afghan Army soldiers: not so much. And for some reason, no matter how hard their NCOs work at it, the soldiers just never seem to get the idea. It’s really surreal how on a different page they really are. That said, no matter their rank the Afghan Army is brave and eager to please. Without any hesitation they’ve flexed out and assaulted enemy positions before we even know what they’re doing. Course, they do it sloppy and slipshod, but still, they do it.
**What is it like when you come home from a deployment? Is the transition difficult? What kinds of things do you miss most from home? **
Transition can be difficult, especially when you’re at home instead of with your guys. You can’t help thinking “These people just don’t know.” The urge to talk about your experiences and relive stories is strong, and if no one who was with you is around, it just feels empty. Even with my soldiers now I get that empty feeling when I want to talk about previous tours and the guys who were actually there are all gone. It’s pretty bad. Pretty bad. And trying to talk about it with civilians can be so tiring because there’s so much to explain and still so much they wouldn’t understand. They don’t know why it’s so funny that when I almost drowned during a night movement that I whispered for help instead of yelling for it. If it’s really bad, they’ll see it as another example of soldier’s bravery which is just so agonizing.
I miss Korean restaurants the most. Yeah. Definitely miss that Korean food.