On the Something Awful forums we've got a forum called "Ask/Tell", where you can post stuff like "Ask me what it's like to be a heroin addict" and people can ask a recovering smack-addict all the stuff they've seen in movies and find out it's nowhere near as bad as the real thing, or "Tell me about Glasgow, Scotland" because they're off there to uni there, and people will tell them all about it.
It's a pretty impressive forum - my favourite on the SA site - and the stories people are able to tell can be startling. I have certainly learnt a lot about areas of life I thought I understood, but really didn't. And I've also been able to offer some help in some of the "Tell me about..." threads.
Anyway, one that caught my eye was by a Goon (SA member) called "Roy of CA" who is serving in an infantry regiment in Iraq's worst hellhole. We have had a few thread like this from Goons serving in Iraq of Afghanistan, but usually some time after they return, or from a position with the gear in the rear. This bloke is in Ramadi, which is pretty much the worst place to be in the world right now, barring the caldera of a few of the more active volcanos. The questions are a mixture: some from people who are really interested and others from right- and (mainly) left-wingers trying to get him to say stuff that backs their preconceived positions. He's too smart for that, but at the same time sounds like a scary bastard. He introduces himself by saying "I am a Specialist in the United States Army's infantry. I am the 'one man' on my team, meaning when we enter any building or go into an fire fight, I am the lead person." His thread is a strange mixture of bravado, grim fatalism, heroic willingness, brotherhood, and brutal violence.
If you don't have a subscription to Something Awful you can only view two or three pages of the forums a day, so here are some of his answers to questions put to him, out of the hundreds he has answered:
"I have been blown up 7 times, 3 of them being from a car bomb. I have been sniped 3 times, all three missed (one bounced off my gun). I have been in too many firefights to remember."
Q: What do you think of the way that the current administration has conducted the war?
A: I do not think strategically, I think tactically. I don't think "I would move that brigade over there" I think "I need another guy on that rooftop".
Q: I would also like to know what you would prefer the government's next step be in the war. Would you prefer if they pulled out? Would you prefer if they sent in more troops/stayed? I'm really curious.
A: America can pull out everyone, just leave us here because most of us don't want to leave, we want to kill or capture more Al-qaida.
Q: My troop was just in Ramadi less then 8 months ago
If you are with the 506th, you are with the shittest unit I have ever seen in my whole life (band of brothers indeed). The 506th did absolutely nothing to secure the city, they sat on their base and stopped doing patrols, stopped counterfiring on mortar attacks, stopped everything.
If you are 506 then you have absolutely no reason to ever talk to me other than to apologize for leaving the sector like this (like your Battalion Commander apologized to our BC for leaving the sector like this).
Q: Is there anything you guys need/want that I could ship to you? Candy, books, movies?
When you guys send care packages, please don't send candy. No one over here eats the candy you send. Send tuna packages. Everyone here eats tuna, everyone.
Q: I'm headed into transpo pretty soon. Are there many supply convoys on the MSR that you see or provide security for?
Boy, did your recruiter *** you...I hope you are ready to get blown up more than me man, transportation sucks. Good luck.
Q: What is the freakiest or most surreal thing that you have seen or have happened to you while you were in an actual gunfight or battle?
The freakiest, by far, is one I will never forget. I saw a man accidently shoot an RPG in mid air. Both sides stopped firing for about 3 seconds (in a fight thats a long ass time) and we all were like "whoa...did that just happen?".
The Haaji shot an RPG from a rooftop down onto us and this guy actually shot the thing mid air (he obviously was just aiming at the Haaji). It was something I will never forget.
Q: Could you tell us about those? Obviously a car bomb/IED sucks because you never know when they're going to hit and it just instantly fucks anyones *** up without warning.
I really don't know what people see in the whole war story thing. I just don't get i into my own stories much. I guess because I was there and it's all a repeat of *** I don't wanna repeat sometimes.
What exactly do you wanna know?
When a car bomb goes off, everything is grey after. the sky, the ground, everyone's skin around you, all grey. Things are falling on you for the next few minutes. Body parts are all over everything, stuff you don't know what it is but you know it's human.
I got hit with a VBIED when I was checking for car bombs at a ECP (entry control point into the city) back during the elections. I remember running up to a guy I thought looked bad and I asked him "hey dude you ok....oh" It was just his vest. He had no head/arms/legs.
Q: When you return home do you retain your hatred for Haaji?
Absolutely. Every single person I even think is an arab pisses me off just by being anywhere fucking near me. Most of us can tell between an arab and an indian, a south american, etc etc. We know a Haaji when we see one usually.
I have snapped on a Haaji many many times in the states. My wife has helped me alot with that.
I can't look at them without wanting to smash their fucking face into the back of their head sometimes, and sometimes I can't look at them and not feel sorry for them, even if they're rich. It's weird, I dunno.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2409489
It's a strange thing about this conflict: the ability to speak to someone almost real-time who is serving on the very front lines. He might not come back from today's operation. Or he might just have been on a 4-day OP in someone's house and turn up again answering questions as if there had been no delay.