Last U.S. combat convoy has left Iraq

[OntarioVanMan]

Iraqi forces? Yeah right. Kurds? Not nearly enough. Iran has AT LEAST 500,000 combat troops. Suicidal? Could be. Unstable without a doubt. It is a nation headed for a train wreck. It is in bed with a nation (Russia) that is trying to return to it's nasty days, you remember, 25 million murdered.

you go on about Russia and this 25 million....and yet China as of right now is the worst offender..and we are in bed with them....and now we are in cohoots with N. Vietnam as well?

this is all screwed up...

Good Morning Joe...tis going to be 102 forecasted here..but it IS a dry heat!!

 

[layoutshooter]

you go on about Russia and this 25 million....and yet China as of right now is the worst offender..and we are in bed with them....and now we are in cohoots with N. Vietnam as well?

this is all screwed up...

Good Morning Joe...tis going to be 102 forecasted here..but it IS a dry heat!!

Good morning to you too you old "pot stirring" person you!!

It is a very humid heat here. Rain, thunder etc.

Does it surprise you that we are in bed with communist nations? I mean, really, Barry is their blood brother!! He believes in their style of total control government. Bet he even admires the more "nasty" methods of controlling the population too.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Took ya long enough to reply...ya got a life or somethin? the Mrs make breakfast?*L*

flipped a coin...home won out for another day..

 

[layoutshooter]

Took ya long enough to reply...ya got a life or somethin? the Mrs make breakfast?*L*

flipped a coin...home won out for another day..

We went for breakfast. Yeah, we have a life, small one for sure, but we do have one!!

 

[greg334]

Yawn..... You know you are both rehashing a bunch of stuff that gets boring, I haven't had my breakfast yet ... maybe that's it?

Iraq will not sit still with any invasion, the people may be frustrated with their own government and us but they have a rather dirty history with Iran and like the past war with Iran, we will end up supporting them again and fighting along side of them.

50k of troops and a carrier task force may not sound like a lot but do you really think that there is no one in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia?

Don't you think they would hit the ports in Iran and then move into hitting their oil supplies?

OMG you two, who normalized relations with Vietnam and strengthen the ties with China by selling them computer technology?

Didn't the first Cray get exported to China under Clinton and a republican congress approved it?

 

[layoutshooter]

Yawn..... You know you are both rehashing a bunch of stuff that gets boring, I haven't had my breakfast yet ... maybe that's it?

Iraq will not sit still with any invasion, the people may be frustrated with their own government and us but they have a rather dirty history with Iran and like the past war with Iran, we will end up supporting them again and fighting along side of them.

50k of troops and a carrier task force may not sound like a lot but do you really think that there is no one in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia?

Don't you think they would hit the ports in Iran and then move into hitting their oil supplies?

OMG you two, who normalized relations with Vietnam and strengthen the ties with China by selling them computer technology?

Didn't the first Cray get exported to China under Clinton and a republican congress approved it?

No Iraq won't sit still but their military is still in a shambles. Our forces in other parts of the Gulf are not, for the most part, combat forces. If I my son or nephew was one of those 50,000 left behind I would be very much concerned. Just as I would be if they were on the DMZ in Korea. Just there to act as cannon fodder and slow up the "bad guys" until help can arrive.

As to that Cray. It was a VERY stripped down model that was obsolete by our standards. It did NOT have full capabilities of the Cray units we had back then or even the full capabilities it had when we were using that model. It was about 2 models back of modern when that sale was approved.

As to China and Vietnam, don't trust 'em. That is just how it is and it is NOT going to change in the near future. Don't trust Obama either, for many of the same reasons.

 

[greg334]

No Iraq won't sit still but their military is still in a shambles. Our forces in other parts of the Gulf are not, for the most part, combat forces. If I my son or nephew was one of those 50,000 left behind I would be very much concerned. Just as I would be if they were on the DMZ in Korea. Just there to act as cannon fodder and slow up the "bad guys" until help can arrive.

Sorry Layout but it is a religious issue over there, two sects will fight hard.

Patton "where's your leggings, helmet and rifle?"

Cook "General I'm a cook"

Patton "I don't give a f*** what you think you are, you are a solider in the United States Army, you will fight as a soldier ..."

There is a problem whether or not they are combat soldiers, if they are not viewed as soldiers, then they should not be there. Everyone knows or should know how to use a weapon or weapons and kill to follow orders, to defend themselves and this country - no exceptions. If this means that they are on the front lines of a battle or conflict while we can't get other troops to replace them, then that's too bad. They took an oath to do what we need to have done, they are there to be soldiers. Sorry to sound cruel but that's the way our system should work. Once we start picking and choosing who fights based on jobs in the worst situations, we are lost.

As to that Cray. It was a VERY stripped down model that was obsolete by our standards. It did NOT have full capabilities of the Cray units we had back then or even the full capabilities it had when we were using that model. It was about 2 models back of modern when that sale was approved.

It don't matter, once the door was opened, it was too late. The most striped down model still can do a lot of stuff, more so than the PC of that time.

As to China and Vietnam, don't trust 'em. That is just how it is and it is NOT going to change in the near future. Don't trust Obama either, for many of the same reasons.

I don't trust a lot of people too, maybe you noticed that but that doesn't mean we need to get all up in arms about it and act as they are a direct threat to us. What we need to do is prepare for them and change what needs to be changed. BUT it seems that may be impossible, we are too greedy and small minded, we as a country want things now and cheaply so China and Vietnam won't be going away in our lives any time soon.

 

[layoutshooter]

I am WELL aware of the role of ALL U.S. military members. Everyone of us had our lives on the line. We could have been put into combat at any point while we were in, MOS not withstanding.

Having said that, what I meant was, those troops are NOT combat ready troops. They are mostly logistics, supply and support. They are not equip to handle heavy combat. That too is a reality.


I also am WELL aware of the "tension" between Iran and Iraq. I spent a lot of time working that problem. It would not be pretty or easy but Iran's army is well trained and much larger compared to Iraq's. The Iraqi's would give them a good fight but would lose. Iraq's army is also infilitrated with not so good guys would might even side with Iran if push comes to shove.

It is just not stable yet and pulling out those troops AT THIS TIME was likely a mistake. Which is exactly what I expect of Obama.

 

[greg334]

I know exactly what you meant but here is the situation, I hear this from some of them who I met "I won't fight because I am ....". I understand they may think they don't have to fight but to me that's a slap in the face of the people of this country.

It doesn't matter to me, if it is staving off Iran within the border of Iraq of preventing Canada's invasion force from reaching one of our breweries to liberate the master brewers, they are expendable at that point.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I am WELL aware of the role of ALL U.S. military members. Everyone of us had our lives on the line. We could have been put into combat at any point while we were in, MOS not withstanding.

Having said that, what I meant was, those troops are NOT combat ready troops. They are mostly logistics, supply and support. They are not equip to handle heavy combat. That too is a reality.

I also am WELL aware of the "tension" between Iran and Iraq. I spent a lot of time working that problem. It would not be pretty or easy but Iran's army is well trained and much larger compared to Iraq's. The Iraqi's would give them a good fight but would lose. Iraq's army is also infilitrated with not so good guys would might even side with Iran if push comes to shove.

It is just not stable yet and pulling out those troops AT THIS TIME was likely a mistake. Which is exactly what I expect of Obama.

How the heck can you have NOT combat ready troops out there? it is war zone! They all came thru boot camp....sounds like ya making excuses should we get our butts kicked....

 

[greg334]

It's the new military.

I won't get into all the BS that has come about because of the idea of the individual over the people, but I do know from meeting a lot of them recently that there are clearly two types, one is willing to risk all and the other can't bring themselves to risking anything. I won't hesitate to support those of the former group but feel the ones of the latter need to be gone.

Nevertheless, the ones who have fought should be the ones who get the rewards and they seem to be missing out on a lot ... still.

 

[layoutshooter]

There is a lot of that "it's not my job man" crap for sure. I would not like to see a support group get put into battle, even with a full compliment of paper and pens.

It reminds me a an Inspector General who came to Japan. A "light bird" and a REAL pain. He kept bothering me while I was copying code. I was a "spec 4" and he was NOT allowed to bother a "spec" who was performing his duty.

Any who, my trick chief got me relieved so I could talk to the putz.

He asked: Soldier, what would you do if a Soviet squad came in the room right now?

Keep in mind, we were NOT armed.

I looked that putz square in the eye and said:

"Sir, I would find the highest ranking officer I could find, take him down to the EM Club, buy a BIG bottle of vodka, hand him a drink and ask him what he wanted to know:

Would you believe that IG actually asked me why I would not fight?

I laughed and asked him if he wanted me to throw my mill (special type writter) at them.

Troops without the right toys can't fight even if they wanted too.