FOB Marez/Mosul 2003

ismith

ismith

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Anyone who was there may appreciate this PBS video, I personally toured the leather tannery @ 7:44, had tea with the proprietor and his staff, handing over my NCO's M9 and a M16 magazine to be measured for holsters and mag pouches. Hard to believe those memories are old enough to buy a beer now. I still have my M16 mag pouch I got from that place. Everything at Mosul International Airport and FOB Marez was leveled during the fighting with ISIS which started about 10 years ago.
 
ismith said:
Anyone who was there may appreciate this PBS video, I personally toured the leather tannery @ 7:44, had tea with the proprietor and his staff, handing over my NCO's M9 and a M16 magazine to be measured for holsters and mag pouches. Hard to believe those memories are old enough to buy a beer now. I still have my M16 mag pouch I got from that place. Everything at Mosul International Airport and FOB Marez was leveled during the fighting with ISIS which started about 10 years ago.
Click to expand...
I was at Diamondback in '08. It was weird to think that ISIS laid their heads in my room just a few years later. I talked to a guy the other day who was in Mosul when they were fighting ISIS and it's hard to imagine that city being leveled.
 
ismith said:
Anyone who was there may appreciate this PBS video, I personally toured the leather tannery @ 7:44, had tea with the proprietor and his staff, handing over my NCO's M9 and a M16 magazine to be measured for holsters and mag pouches. Hard to believe those memories are old enough to buy a beer now. I still have my M16 mag pouch I got from that place. Everything at Mosul International Airport and FOB Marez was leveled during the fighting with ISIS which started about 10 years ago.
Click to expand...
AntelopeWalker406 said:
I was at Diamondback in '08. It was weird to think that ISIS laid their heads in my room just a few years later. I talked to a guy the other day who was in Mosul when they were fighting ISIS and it's hard to imagine that city being leveled.
Click to expand...
We are deeply in debt to you both, for the service and sacrifices made by you and your families.
 
AntelopeWalker406 said:
I was at Diamondback in '08. It was weird to think that ISIS laid their heads in my room just a few years later. I talked to a guy the other day who was in Mosul when they were fighting ISIS and it's hard to imagine that city being leveled.
Click to expand...
In 2015-2016 I was over there to play a small part in the leveling. What a damn tragedy.
 
AntelopeWalker406 said:
I was at Diamondback in '08. It was weird to think that ISIS laid their heads in my room just a few years later. I talked to a guy the other day who was in Mosul when they were fighting ISIS and it's hard to imagine that city being leveled.
Click to expand...

It's a weird feeling for sure. Spent 6 months on Patrol Base Sperwan Ghar in 2009. The Americans took it over in 2013 when Canada left Kandahar and the Taliban took it back in 2021.

It's hard not to feel like you wasted months of your youth and countless lives were lost, only for the Taliban to wait 20 years and take the country back with such ease.
 
SaskHunter said:
It's a weird feeling for sure. Spent 6 months on Patrol Base Sperwan Ghar in 2009. The Americans took it over in 2013 when Canada left Kandahar and the Taliban took it back in 2021.

It's hard not to feel like you wasted months of your youth and countless lives were lost, only for the Taliban to wait 20 years and take the country back with such ease.
Click to expand...
Well, we're home now, and that's what counts.
 
I was in a later generation 09-14 and we were more focused in Afghanistan. But I have some very close friends who were in that initial push in Iraq, some long conversations were had. Most everyone I have talked to feel similar to me in how both of those wars played out. Useless firefights, and sacrifices were made and the question is still out there as to why. I think most of us feel we were there for each other at the end of the day. Good young men were lost in Afghanistan, but like myself I think most of us felt like we were doing good work. It was hard to see how it ended. I feel for the poor souls during that exit, the sights they had to see were unspeakable.

War sucks for everyone involved in the fighting.
 
ismith said:
Anyone who was there may appreciate this PBS video, I personally toured the leather tannery @ 7:44, had tea with the proprietor and his staff, handing over my NCO's M9 and a M16 magazine to be measured for holsters and mag pouches. Hard to believe those memories are old enough to buy a beer now. I still have my M16 mag pouch I got from that place. Everything at Mosul International Airport and FOB Marez was leveled during the fighting with ISIS which started about 10 years ago.
Click to expand...
Thanks for being there in our service. Thanks for coming home to reflect on memories ... good or bad.
 
I was in Taji, Iraq in 2004 and we were fighting Chechnians (sp) from Russia after they blew up that school. We always knew who we were fighting where Isis and Taliban would spray and pray and the Chechnians would give us good direct fire.
 
JohnCushman said:
I was in Taji, Iraq in 2004 and we were fighting Chechnians (sp) from Russia after they blew up that school. We always knew who we were fighting where Isis and Taliban would spray and pray and the Chechnians would give us good direct fire.
Click to expand...
Was in Taji in 2016. Apparently we had to buy a large portion of the base back from an Iraqi general.
 
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