Need to complain

[Stickyfingers]

Originally Posted by Loke [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Your friends are probably full of shit. I personally have spent a considerable amount of time in some of the worst parts of Iraq, and even then, it wasn't FFA. Sure, you can take some creative liberties with the RoI - but some people who have you believe that the entire country is like a modern day Mai Lai.

My experience has been that 99% of people who come home and tell war stories are full of shit and telling fairy tales - because most people that do have real war stories don't want to or feel the need to talk about it with friends/family/random people who weren't there and thus wouldn't understand it in a way that would make it worth talking about.

Agreed. My neighbor was a Sniper in Fallujah during some of the really intense portions of the war, when Fallujah was a real hot bed. I asked him about it, and he didn't want to talk about it and just said it was crazy.

[MiRo2]

Originally Posted by rioisk [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

All I know is of the several friends that have been in the military that Iraq is basically a FFA rape and murder zone for US soldiers. They got out ASAP.

I did two tours in Iraq as a medic in Calvary and Infantry platoons, and can most certainly say, your "several friends" in the "military" are full of shit. Even the idea of this wasn't tolerated. In the 27 months I spent in Iraq, I only ever heard of one rape, and in that case, their entire command was relieved over it even though it was actions of 3 soldiers alone.

[fastboy21]

My father, who was a big part of the reason why I enlisted, went through Paris Island otw to Vietnam in 1969 for the Marines. He has always told me that Drill Sergeants were allowed to say anything (something they can't do today by regulation), use profanity, give personal insult, say things about religion, ethnicity, etc...but they couldn't lay a hand on you. Whoever says that they used to beat the crap out of someone as a rule is full of it.

Another thing, if you think "only being yelled at" makes the psych part very easy you dead wrong, and are speaking as someone who clearly has never been through military training. When you are completely tired, smell like shit even though you are allowed to shower twice a day, and have some guy acting like a fucking mad man waking you up to run five miles at 5 am, only to get called out and forced to do push ups until your elbows feel like they are about to break, in boots your feet don't fit right in, and chaffing on your thighs from too much sweat from your crotch, etc...then you can tell me its no big deal that some dude is yelling at you so loudly one inch from your face that you can smell the stench of whatever he had for dinner the night before...then you can tell me yelling doesn't matter and its cake.

[RKromwell]

I joined in 89, saw a few folks get their ass kicked. That being said, only one guy ever got touched during basic.

[MiRo2]

In the current army, the only time I've heard of or seen people getting their asses kicked was by their peers, never by a superior.