Off to Iraq!

Good luck and Godspeed.

Cycloptichorn

As Cyc said - Good luck and Godspeed.

And should you find it convenient, occasional commentary from the scene would be appreciated.

Be careful! Watch out! Hopefully, all will be quiet and under control by the time you get there... Post if you are able.

Come back safe and quickly.

Good luck.

you got what you wanted...congratulations.....hopefully sane heads will prevail and there'll be no need for you to be there by early summer although I seriously doubt it, sane heads don't seem to be anywhere to be found....

I hope you survive and are not wounded.

we want you to be safe and be back here soon.

Take care o'yourself, Baldimo. Be well.

Yeah, you might even be careful too.

Baldimo,

I hope that you make out of there safe and sound.

Um...he is leaving next month not ten years from now.

baldi, there was a guy on a political discussion board that i got into in january of 2003, he was a conservative guy. he was a former army officer and had a great knowledge and understanding of history. he had this great saying as a signature on his posts;

"you can defeat me physically, but you cannot defeat my mind".

vaya con dios, hermanito.

g.

Good luck!

You have got all the body armor and equipment you are supposed to have right?

As much as I enjoy the taste of irony...that's almost too strong......

Not conserened with body armor, after all you all do know this is the first war we have fought in that body armor is available?

Won't the elections be over about then? If the elected officials of Iraq request that our armed forces get out, won't that make his a short stay...? I understand that is about the only thing all the parties running agree upon... So the troops will all be moved to Kuwait or someplace, in short order, right?

Dunno as thats entirely accurate; flak jackets were pretty much standard issue durin' the Southeast Asian Unpleasantness of a generation ago. Not only were they commonly worn (though frequently grumbled about), they were real comfortin' - in a confidence-boostin' sorta way - to sit on if you happened to be in an airborne chopper over Indian Country. Sandbags were popular for that, too.

Not concerned? Doesn't matter if body armours were invented yesterday, If I were headed for Iraq or any other warzone (entirely hypothetical) I'd be sure to buy one if I wasn't certain one would be issued.

No amount of gear is gonna save your ass in the absence of attitude, training, and common sense.
Sure advances have been made in personal and light vehicle armor - particularly over the past couple of years. The practical considerations of fielding those advances are staggering, yet are being met with unparallelled dispatch. Something not so widely bandied about ny The Media as the front line troops not havin' enough of stuff invented last week is the fact that in the American Military today, one's chances of post-wound survival are better than twice what they were in either Vietnam or Gulf War 1. Much of that is due not to medical advances, though they have played a huge role, but to improvements in light armor. Of course its better to not get hit, even better to not be anywhere near anywhere you might get hit, but failing that, if you are an American Serviceperson hit in Afghanistan or Iraq, your odds are far, far better than any who have worn this nation's uniform in conflict ever before you.