Just back from Iraq, any Q's?

[carnivorousplant]

If you wanted an M14 instead of an M16, what do you have to do?

How long does it take to acclimate to the heat wearing body armor and carrying so much gear? I’ve seen guys wearing gloves.

[GKW]

@Chouinard Fan

Their roads were in surprisingly good shape, considering the ave. annual income of the populace they had quite a few 2-4 lane paved roads besides the 6 lane freeway. They were always asking for help to get the, what I would call alley way type streets, paved before the rains. By the time I was sitting in on the town council meetings as my commanders rep. we had already pushed most of the responsibility on to the new gov. elected in JAN 05. So that means the council would say ‘the council agrees that need #1 is paved roads’ and I would say ‘Coalition Forces (CF) want to support the people in petitioning your Provincial gov. in requesting more paved roads.’ and they would say ‘the Prov gov has stated we are under CF government, so we need help from you. The children of the town will always consider it a gift from CF to have paved roads.’ and I would say, ‘we govern no one, we are here as brothers to help Iraq not as fathers to dominate you…’ and so on and so on.

So nothing would get done and no one would take responsibility? That must have been very frustrating. Is this the type of situation that slowed reconstruction for electricity or was it more a problem of sabotaging work that was completed?

[Yeticus_Rex]

Welcome back, and thank you for your service.

Was your unit ever televised by any media (US or foreign) or in a documentary? If so, have you seen it, and did it accurately portray your unit and issues you faced?

[wevets]

Welcome back! I’m glad you made it in one piece!
How were communications between Americans and Iraqis? Were there enough Iraqis who spoke good English/Americans who spoke good Arabic? Any major confusion caused by translation issues?

[duffer]

@GargoyleWB

Can the troops relax in local discos, pubs, bars? Or are you restricted from public leisure time for danger/security reasons.

I’d like to add to this question. In the late 70’s my dad was offered a 2 year contract to go to Saudi Arabia to get hospitals up and running, which he declined. He’d make light of the decision by saying, “Who the hell would want to go 2 years without a beer on a hot night?” Turns out (at the time, at least) that alcohol was prohibited in the kingdom entirely.

So I guess it’s two questions. First, is this still the case (if it ever really was)? Also, if alcohol is banned, are there any exceptions made for foreigners in any of the countries in the region? That’s very broad, but any info would be appreciated.

[BrainGlutton]

Welcome home, thanks for your service.

Based on what you could see from your on-the-ground perspective, if the Coalition troops were to pull out entirely, immediately or in the near future, what would happen in Iraq? Would there be a civil war? If so, who would win it?