# Just back from Iraq, any Q's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 23, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289 "2006-01-23T19:51:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chouinard\_Fan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Chouinard\_Fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chouinard_Fan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/1 "2006-01-23T19:51:12Z")
After enjoying various threads on the SDMB for years I finally got a $ membership for Christmas and have since been prodded to start this thread. Just to be up front though here is a mini-bio: coming up on 6 years of service in the Army, served as an enlistedman for 2.5 yrs when I ‘flipped’ and became an infantry officer, went to Iraq as a platoon leader (PL’s are over ~30 infantrymen), was moved ‘up and out’ as they say to become my company’s (~100 men) executive officer (XO). During my year there I went on about 30 patrols, fewer than many of my guys did in a month. It just wasn’t (unfortunately in my mind) my job. I was the one officer who was supposed to manage the supplies, maintenance etc etc to allow everyone else to do their jobs. When I say I managed, I mostly mean I stood around watching my experienced enlistedmen doing their jobs extremely well. I did get to play PL with an Iraqi Army/US joint platoon once and commanded the company for about 32 days total. So in short I wasn’t Super Ranger Man outside the wire every 16 hours but I was surrounded by those who were. So fire away now that the disclaimer is (finally) through. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/2 "2006-01-23T19:55:30Z")
…so the Chouinard you’re a fan of isn’t figure-skater Josee? … Welcome to the Boards. Sorry, no questions on Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/3 "2006-01-23T20:03:38Z")
It’s bound to come up so… What do you think of this administration’s handling of the war? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/4 "2006-01-23T20:07:59Z")
How was the local food? ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/5 "2006-01-23T20:20:53Z")
Glad to be home? I have to say, you infantry guys are a special breed. I’m a REMF Captain here (TC). My OIF time has been spent doing various jobs on the seaport side of things. First, shipping out USAREUR euipment in Belgium to kick it off, then working at Ash Shuaiba in Kuwait for the surge between OIF I and II. I think where I was we were more in danger of tripping down the stairs into the PX trailer than taking fire. Good on you for doing the dirty work. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/6 "2006-01-23T20:44:23Z")
Whats your opinion on the shortage of both body armor and armor for vehicles? ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/7 "2006-01-23T20:48:55Z")
Just as a counterpoint to these more serious questions, as part of your uniform, do you have to wear a goofy hat? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/8 "2006-01-23T20:57:09Z")
How many Iraqi civilians did members of your unit slaughter? Do you keep a tally? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/9 "2006-01-23T20:59:00Z")
First off, I thank you for your service. Can you tell us what the news is getting right and what they’re getting wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/10 "2006-01-23T21:03:22Z")
No questions others haven’t / won’t ask. Just tipping my hat to say “Thanks for what you do/did.” ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/11 "2006-01-23T21:03:48Z")
> [@e-logic](#): > > How many Iraqi civilians did members of your unit slaughter? Do you keep a tally? Other than being a jerk and trying to elicit an angry response, **e-logic** , I can’t see why you’d ask this question. If you want to vent your anger at the armed forces, perhaps you should start a Pit thread. Please don’t do this again. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/12 "2006-01-23T21:07:05Z")
Avoiding **e-logic** ’s kind of asshattery, what _were_ your interactions with Iraqi civilians like? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/13 "2006-01-23T21:10:47Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Welcome to the Boards. And welcome home. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/14 "2006-01-23T21:14:26Z")
You hear so much that the press paints a negative picture of how it’s going, while the troops in Iraq have a different opinion. What was your experience? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/15 "2006-01-23T21:14:43Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#): > > Other than being a jerk and trying to elicit an angry response, **e-logic** , I can’t see why you’d ask this question. If you want to vent your anger at the armed forces, perhaps you should start a Pit thread. Please don’t do this again. Genuine question - figures for civilians death are hard to come by, it’d be useful to know whether front-line troops are aware of the number of civilians their operations affect. And the US Govt claim not to keep official tallies of civilian deaths at all - it’d be interesting to see whether front-line troops do have records. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/16 "2006-01-23T21:32:30Z")
Welcome home, and thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/17 "2006-01-23T21:40:37Z")
Shed a little light on the decades old “M-16 is a jammamatic POS” argument. Did you or your people commonly suffer weapons malfunctions? ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/18 "2006-01-23T22:06:21Z")
> [@e-logic](#): > > Genuine question - figures for civilians death are hard to come by, it’d be useful to know whether front-line troops are aware of the number of civilians their operations affect. > > And the US Govt claim not to keep official tallies of civilian deaths at all - it’d be interesting to see whether front-line troops do have records. Your original post should have been phrased thusly. I’ll let this one go for now, but let’s not try to turn this thread into a debate. Great Debates is the place for that. ---
**Author:** ![Chouinard\_Fan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Chouinard\_Fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chouinard_Fan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/19 "2006-01-23T22:18:48Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Shed a little light on the decades old “M-16 is a jammamatic POS” argument. Did you or your people commonly suffer weapons malfunctions? easy answers first: …so the Chouinard you’re a fan of isn’t figure-skater Josee? …Welcome to the Boards. Actually its Yvonne I would love to climb with some day and have my kids shake his hand. thanks for the welcome. How was the local food? local food- great taste, less filling. if you eat it you will be in bed for days (sometimes). One buddy had to have something like 3 IV’s just to get his fluids up. BA-A-AD. you infantry guys are a special breed. I’m a REMF Captain here (TC) Well, once again I too was basically a REMF in a IN company. Whats your opinion on the shortage of both body armor and armor for vehicles? Well, we didn’t have a shortage of body armor, before we left we saw some ideas for additional armor from the guys out of the 82nd Airborne and we had the production model add ons for our personal IBA’s (interceptor body armor) 3 months later. (I saw the body armor thread, will talk more on this some time) As for vehicles, we were in Bradley Fighting Vehicles (no more armor needed) and HMMWV’s (which did need armor). EVERY vehicle we drove north from Ku had some sort of armor. Some was fab’d up by the units in Ku (level 3, least) and some was production add ons(level 2) and some was of the style that was designed into the vehicle from the begining(level 1, best). Eventually though, we only left the base with the vehicles that were level 1. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289/20 "2006-01-23T22:49:26Z")
Welcome back, soldier. I have a dumb question for you: Do the people in your unit say "Like monkeys f\*\*\*in’ a **football"** or **“beachball”**? Ever run into a unit that uses the version you don’t? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-back-from-iraq-any-qs/341289.md?page=2)