Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
this is the truth.... it goes a little farther than this, but in reality... most soldiers over here are b.o.r.e.d.
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq — Pfc. Adrian Vesik heard that war could be hell.
He was happy to discover when he arrived in Iraq earlier this year that his war experience also would include salsa dancing, yoga and martial-arts classes.
“When I signed up for the Army, I thought I was going to be a hero — go out and do some fighting,” says Vesik, 19, during a break at a Filipino-Okinawan jujitsu class. “I haven’t come close to doing anything that I was trained to do. I work, maybe, four to five hours a day. I have time to try all these new things. It’s not so bad.”
Because of new rules that require Iraqi approval for all U.S. missions, and a general decline in violence nationwide, many of the 117,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq say they now have more idle time than at any previous point in the six-year war.
Combat is still a daily reality in some parts of Iraq, and U.S. troops are being killed here at a rate of about one a week.
But for many troops in places such as this large military base in southern Iraq, traditional soldiering such as kicking down doors and searching for roadside bombs has at least partly given way to book clubs, karaoke nights, sports and distance-learning university programs.
Many troops express relief at the diminished threat of injury or death. Yet some say they have struggled with depression because they don’t feel like they are doing enough.
Others say they are frustrated by the sense they’re being underutilized — particularly at a time when their comrades in Afghanistan are struggling to beat back the Taliban.
“It’s been hard to get used to how much things have changed,” says Army Staff Sgt. Wayne Kersh, 31, of St. George, Utah, who is on his third deployment in Iraq. “During the other tours, we were always going. You went on patrol, you ate, you slept, and then you did it again. You never had to think about keeping a soldier occupied.”
The improvement in Iraq’s security recently prompted Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander here, to accelerate the pace of sending troops home. He announced last month that 4,000 more troops — about the size of an Army brigade — will be going home by the end of October. Even more will leave next year, until only 50,000 troops remain after Sept. 1, and the rest are to be gone by the end of 2011.
The drawdown is occurring as President Obama is evaluating a request for more troops in Afghanistan.
Simply shifting troops from one war to another is difficult because of specialized training needs, transport logistics and other factors. But a smaller force in Iraq should, over time, free up the manpower to increase forces in Afghanistan, should Obama decide that is necessary.
“An accelerated drawdown in Iraq would give the Pentagon more flexibility to meet the force requirements for Afghanistan, even if no troops were transferred directly between the two theaters of war,” says James Phillips, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank.
This week, Odierno canceled the deployment of a brigade scheduled to arrive in Iraq next January. The Pentagon has no plans yet to send that unit to Afghanistan. But Phillips says that brigade likely will be sent there.
The U.S. is still spending about $7.3 billion a month on the Iraq war, training Iraqi troops, providing security and assisting Iraqi forces as they target insurgents responsible for bombings and other attacks.
Yet, there has been a more relaxed atmosphere, particularly since June 30, when U.S. forces had to leave Iraqi cities and towns as part of the security agreement between the two countries.
More of the article here...
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/gns_iraq_changes_102109/
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq — Pfc. Adrian Vesik heard that war could be hell.
He was happy to discover when he arrived in Iraq earlier this year that his war experience also would include salsa dancing, yoga and martial-arts classes.
“When I signed up for the Army, I thought I was going to be a hero — go out and do some fighting,” says Vesik, 19, during a break at a Filipino-Okinawan jujitsu class. “I haven’t come close to doing anything that I was trained to do. I work, maybe, four to five hours a day. I have time to try all these new things. It’s not so bad.”
Because of new rules that require Iraqi approval for all U.S. missions, and a general decline in violence nationwide, many of the 117,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq say they now have more idle time than at any previous point in the six-year war.
Combat is still a daily reality in some parts of Iraq, and U.S. troops are being killed here at a rate of about one a week.
But for many troops in places such as this large military base in southern Iraq, traditional soldiering such as kicking down doors and searching for roadside bombs has at least partly given way to book clubs, karaoke nights, sports and distance-learning university programs.
Many troops express relief at the diminished threat of injury or death. Yet some say they have struggled with depression because they don’t feel like they are doing enough.
Others say they are frustrated by the sense they’re being underutilized — particularly at a time when their comrades in Afghanistan are struggling to beat back the Taliban.
“It’s been hard to get used to how much things have changed,” says Army Staff Sgt. Wayne Kersh, 31, of St. George, Utah, who is on his third deployment in Iraq. “During the other tours, we were always going. You went on patrol, you ate, you slept, and then you did it again. You never had to think about keeping a soldier occupied.”
The improvement in Iraq’s security recently prompted Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander here, to accelerate the pace of sending troops home. He announced last month that 4,000 more troops — about the size of an Army brigade — will be going home by the end of October. Even more will leave next year, until only 50,000 troops remain after Sept. 1, and the rest are to be gone by the end of 2011.
The drawdown is occurring as President Obama is evaluating a request for more troops in Afghanistan.
Simply shifting troops from one war to another is difficult because of specialized training needs, transport logistics and other factors. But a smaller force in Iraq should, over time, free up the manpower to increase forces in Afghanistan, should Obama decide that is necessary.
“An accelerated drawdown in Iraq would give the Pentagon more flexibility to meet the force requirements for Afghanistan, even if no troops were transferred directly between the two theaters of war,” says James Phillips, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank.
This week, Odierno canceled the deployment of a brigade scheduled to arrive in Iraq next January. The Pentagon has no plans yet to send that unit to Afghanistan. But Phillips says that brigade likely will be sent there.
The U.S. is still spending about $7.3 billion a month on the Iraq war, training Iraqi troops, providing security and assisting Iraqi forces as they target insurgents responsible for bombings and other attacks.
Yet, there has been a more relaxed atmosphere, particularly since June 30, when U.S. forces had to leave Iraqi cities and towns as part of the security agreement between the two countries.
More of the article here...
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/gns_iraq_changes_102109/