1 Hour Reddit Compilation Of The Best Army Stories Shared On r/AskReddit

serious soldiers offer in it who fought in Afghanistan what preconceptions did you have that turned out to be completely wrong I'd have to say this is not a perception but rather a culture shock I was never part of any interrogations but I was told that some of the Taliban we had been fighting believed we had force fields that were causing their weapons most notably RPGs to not hit us it had nothing to do with skill of the user or the weapons capabilities they actually believed our technology was that superior my perception that was completely wrong is that all the locals hate you when they want to try and kill you 24 Strokes 7 as I stated that is completely wrong and it was the opposite of that the local Afghan population and ironically the Taliban were extremely nice to us they would rather have us there than the Taliban where I was stationed was the heroin capital of Afghanistan I actually believe in the world as well we were also told that the majority of the Taliban were from this area as well because of this a lot of them didn't want to fight in their own backyards the locals were happy with us because we kept the peace and helped them out as much as we can in a combat environment we actually brought an economic boost for them as well the local shop owners loved us because we would always buy monsters pop cigarettes and chips are for them we would buy food off of other locals on a weekly basis oh yeah that's another perception I had that was wrong those suckers can cook and I mean cook they had the best chicken and potatoes and made the best bread as I stated already the Taliban soldiers didn't have a problem with us either there are many times we will hear that the higher up Taliban leaders would call the local guys and flip the frick out on them because they aren't trying to kill us and the local dudes would just be like hey man were good they are good they aren't doing anything to harm us we just want a chill they will be gone sooner or later I'm not joking you that's how their conversations went there would even be times that the Taliban were forced to do their job that they would have other local people place the IEDs and make them so frickin obvious like textbook ie dealing so we can see it from a mile away so none of us would get hurt and they can pass it on and say they did their job this was great too right thank you for asking it's pretty rare that someone asks you anything about being in Afghanistan other than did you kill anyone it's nice to talk about it was in the tangi Valley and we had two of our four of hnm wvs broke in the middle of the town but the whole village male population came out to help us dig out our vehicles talking like 100-200 people who were digging and crab right next to us and with us Sun went down and it started to snow everyone left we got attacked that night the villagers didn't want us there not because they hated us but because they knew their mud huts were about to get flicked up in the attack that would happen that night Christmas Eve I think 2010 soldiers tend to train for fighting at some 500 meters at least I always had not being able to see the enemy wasn't completely out of the norm for training but they were usually within the effective range of our small arms come to Afghanistan and we were getting fired at by invisible enemies on the side of mountains a kilometer and away we hardly knew we were getting engaged let alone went into contact drills when I was told I was going to Afghanistan I was picturing mountains and all that stuff they have in the eastern part of the country I went to southern Afghanistan it's mostly desert but around the rivers it's a freaking jungle I spent many patrols wading through nita waist-deep water and mud in pomegranate and grape orchard most of my training leading up to deploying to Afghanistan had been geared towards urban operations and convoy operations what I ended up doing was small squad sized dismounted patrols through rough terrain also didn't expect to be as close to the enemy as we usually were usually less than 50 meters was our engagement distance that is interesting all the Canadian soldiers I have talked to I am Canadian have said they rarely even saw the enemy that must have been nuts their concept of food in their culture if anyone had food they were to share it with everyone around them this is even if you only have enough for one person to have a snack it was almost as if they didn't believe food could be owned by a person some of the Afghan I worked with would be offended if I ate anything and didn't offer them some I guess also that I would actually be working with some Afghans I didn't expect that to be a thing I saw this everywhere in developing countries people who have nothing offering everything they have to me it's a sense of community that we have long lost that Afghanistan was an actual country it's only so on the map the people in some of the more rural places at least have no concept of Afghanistan we were in a village in northern Kandahar province talking to some people who of course had no idea who we were or why we were there this was in 2004 not only had they not heard about 9/11 they hadn't heard Americans had come over talking to them further they hadn't heard about that one time the Russians were in Afghanistan either we then asked if they knew where the city of Kandahar was which is a rather large and important city some 30 miles to the south they'd heard of it but no one had ever been there and they didn't know when it was for them there was no Afghanistan the concept just didn't exist man I had some guy think we were still the Russians lol Oh also about the fighting we did I had in my mind that it would be these organized ambushes against a somewhat organized force it may have been like that for the push Marja but once the initial defense was scattered the fighting turned into some farmer getting paid a year's salary to go fire an ak-47 at our patrol as we walked by I mean no wonder there was so much PTSD going around it doesn't feel okay when you killed some farmer feel trying to feed his kids or save his family from torture that next night it feels like crap actually that we would be fighting the Taliban the majority of people we managed to detain had been coerced into shooting at us by the Mujahideen which is made up of all sorts of people who had kidnapped or threatened their family the most glaring example of this was when our free on board Forward Operating Base was attacked by a massive VBIED truck bomb that blew a hole in our wall a suicide bombers ran into the free on board through the hole and blew them up in our bunkers every single one of them had their hands tied and remote detonation receivers so they couldn't back out holy heck you don't hear about that on the news it really puts things in perspective that everyone was going to be dirty and poor like in those helper poor starving child commercials I remember being really surprised to see kids running around playing in dirt roads and everyone was clean no dirt smudges on their face or anything also there were these two little girls were the most unbelievably white dresses I have ever seen standing by the side of the road watching our convoy rolled by very surreal deployed in 2011 my misconception was that we were going to help the Afghans have better lives likely use a tanner settle here most of them just wanted to be left alone and didn't care at all about whether they had democracy or the Taliban we would do anything we could to get people to talk to us and give us any information on the Taliban and Haqqani most said nothing good somewhere honest look what good will it do me to talk to you you will leave soon they will still be here what are you going to do for me my brother was kidnapped last week have any Americans been doing anything about that can you protect me and my family if something happens to us can I count on you of course we would try to sound positive and helpful without making promises and try to act like off-course we are here to help you but protecting Afghan civilians was not the priority not that we would intentionally endanger them but we would never go out of our way just to save or protect a local but force Pro force protection is the name of the game and I get it it's the military not a humanitarian NGO certain missions take priority and you can't risk lives needlessly I just thought that we might have put more effort into winning trust there was this police chief in our AO police chief in name only he was effectively a warlord who was fighting the hack and his because they killed his son-in-law he literally told us if he didn't have them to fight he would fight the Americans just because we were there I thought that entrusting that it was really a war it's just people sustaining other people with a lot of nothing actually getting done as someone who was a gunner for most of my tour we mainly did transportation missions from Kabul to the eastern province we never saw any action and to this day I thank God for that the fact that a lot of my time outside off convoys was spent either sleeping eating or gaming surprised me I suppose but in the end we're just there to provide presence and not expected to actually accomplish anything the amount of awards given out back in Kabul for people simply hitting a high quote off maintenance repairs threw me off - there were times when I was looked down upon from not working every day in a shop and instead being on convoys the worst part of it all was losing a friend to suicide after returning home safe that was something I never expected to see happen and it still messes with me to this day I've been to eleven other countries during my five years in the Marines went there expecting the people to be chanting for our death and plotting nefarious acts of villainy all the time which certainly there are a few out there for the most part though people the world over are the same with minor outliers afghan e's are not an exception here they mostly just want to be left alone tend their land in their family they are almost exactly the same as anyone who grew up in the deep south just a different flavor on religion most interesting to me is how their history has passed down each generation it's all word of mouth for generation after generation and largely focused on the wars they fought the end result is you will have elders in the mountains he'll swear that their great-great grandfather fought against Alexander the Great for the most part though people the world over are the same with minor outliers I wish more people actually understood this that they had any idea why we were there we'd ask them if they knew what 9/11 was and they had no idea we'd show them pictures of the WTC on fire after the planes hit and asked them what it was their response was usually that it was a picture of a building the u.s. bombed in Kabul their capital kind of mind-blowing that they're being occupied by a foreign military force and have no dear why I remember reading about the 1 million dollar reward originally offered for bin Laden they are staff gain farmers what they do with that much money most couldn't even understand the concept in the ones who did wanted simple things like two goats or a balloon for their daughter I served in both Iraq and Afghanistan to BCT 101st airborne 2004 to 2009 one preconception I had prior to arriving was that the whole country was a crap hole Afghanistan had some of the most beautiful landscapes and views I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying the people there are simple farming and hunting gathering tight folk and when introduced to money they became extremely selfish alright so after 8 my first duty station was Qatar I got there in the middle of the night got picked up and and got a room the next day I started in processing and met with my new CEO and 1sg which is when I get informed that I won't be staying in Qatar instead I will be going to Afghanistan so there I am 20 years old in Qatar I don't know anyone and all I have is my uniforms and personal belongings getting told I'm going to Afghanistan the next day I got my action Tibor that day that was told I will get the rest of my gear including my weapon in Afghanistan I was absolutely terrified I was expecting crap like you see on TV where the Taliban is constantly attacking and shooting at you I got to Bagram and it's a huge freaking airfield karmas can be there are stores and restaurants and civilians everywhere and nobody gives a frag I get to Kabul and it's the same thing there were kids playing soccer right outside the Kabul Airport though the airport has since become more secure I got a custom tailored suit there and even went back as a contractor after I finished my four years Afghanistan was not nearly as terrifying as I thought Kabul looked like a war-torn and impoverished featuring Colin's company there were apartment complexes restaurants billboards for colleges trucking companies etc most of the airline's didn't give a Frick about the war they gave a Frick about providing for themselves however bad you think the terrain might be it's worse we are talking mountains like the Rocky Mountains type terrain imagine trying to go to the Rockies and fight the indigenous people there now add on top of that the fact that you are a foreigner who doesn't know their language customs traditions or Jack Krak about them now try to win their hearts and minds another part is how amazing the views are the world truly is missing out on Afghanistan's beauty it's shocking how pure and beautiful the landscape is they have a serious tourism goldmine they are sitting on I'm talking about Maine the north and east of the country Frick the south it's just bad all around you hear so much about how different Afghans and Afghani culture is before you go that you forget that they're just people to the kids especially kids everywhere are pretty much the same I don't feel too bad about leaving the crappy lazy AMF guys to their fate but I still wonder about the little kids I used to watch play from our guard tower soldiers offered it what is something you wish you had known before joining the military I wish I had known how important my hearing was I've never been to prison but crap I have to imagine that deployments are dang near close to it bored out of your freaking mind getting swole at the makeshift outside gym counting down the days surrounded by dudes and every now and then some butt hole tries to kill you excellent analogy don't forget very occasionally getting to call your family on a crappy connection should have done ROTC and finished up college instead of enlisting fellow women military people will back this up see civilian geologists all military people will back this one up see civilian dentists know that when you join your life is owned by the government it's fairly obvious but when you actually experience it it can be pretty surreal doesn't matter what you want all that matters is what the government wants from you my old man was terminally ill and trying to get home was a nightmare if I had been a civilian I could have just quit I have had a good career with the military I'm releasing in the next few months because this has started to really bother me don't trust who everything your recruiter tells you look up info on your own and bounce questions off of them I did and got stuck as a laundry specialist for four years oh and color vision can affect the jobs you can get and the military let me give some more details on my story I wanted to join the army to do cool army crap plain and simple I was a junior in high school when a recruiter called out of the blue and told me about the split option the split option meant I could go to basic during the summer and come back and finish up high school only thing was that I had to join the reserves and pick a non-combat loss the recruiter told me I could change my whole contract after I got back from basic that was the lie so I signed up for any old moss which ended up being a 92 s shower laundry and clothing repair specialist so I go off to Fort Sill for the summer when I got back I went back to the recruiter stationed my original recruiter moved on to his next duty station and when I asked about changing my contract I was told I had to wait until I was 18 a few months go by I'm an adult I go back rules change I have to wait two years so I go to eight and become a 92s and report to my unit I ask about changing my mas and get no help from the crap bag full timers so I was stuck as a stitch B for four years until a sister unit let me join them and Rea class to deploy with them now as for color vision I found out I was red green colorblind when I went through MEPs and thought nothing of it mistake on my part I learned later that due to Michael or blankness I was unable to do all that cool army crap that I originally wanted to do so no combat moss no specialty schools no freakin nothing I never did a single fricking thing I wanted to do in the army it ended up being a big waste of time I'm going to stop typing because I'm making myself angry just do me a favor if you're considering joining the military remember my mistakes and don't get flicked frick yourself over don't get that Dumbo skull with a beret tattoo or an anchor most of sniper school involves a lot of math there's nothing glamorous about being B for most of the time you're waiting around in the heat it's nothing like the movies all the people in books that say they can remember the faces of everyone they've shot are full of crap the big one not only can you not smoke you can't use tobacco in any form good luck if you another nicotine addict the maths in Sniper school makes it sound awesome I wish I had joined the freakin airforce sailor here I too wish I joined the airforce fifth don't be afraid to volunteer for cool missions and opportunities being able to control some aspects of your career feels pretty awesome search around go on forums check opportunities Network etc okay volunteer feel nothing especially if they are looking for volunteers for a course that on the surface sounds amazing but when you look around you are the only one with your hand up and suddenly you are cleaning some crap for someone else okay wait help accountability if you're sick you notify your fire team leader or squad leader if you don't not only do you get in trouble you get their ass in trouble which in turn will get you in more trouble in addition save every bit of info you're given because it may one day save you ass it could be a signature for an order acknowledging your sick anything that would you might get questioned for doing something or not being somewhere how very very likely you are to get irrevocably hurt doing the things you do every day that's how most people get hurt in fact for me it was PT I've had a knee repair a shoulder repair stress fractures a hideous staph infection the list goes on Danish army how civilian life feels after don't get me wrong civilian is a ton easier than what I ever had to go through in the army but no one ever taught me how to readjust back to how everyone else are but when you're in the army you become mentally adjusted to a way of life and while that way of life might be very challenging you almost always know what it brings or you are trained how to meet any eventualities no one ever trains you how to meet life no one can do that the army manages to put a very structured personality into you and then when you get out a few years after no one else follows that structure I still remember a day seven years ago at business school during a group 72-hour exam where we've all agreed on stuff to do during the night now it was 2:00 a.m. and we were to meet at 7:00 a.m. but when we met again that 7.16 I was really peed by sixteen minute delay I really couldn't understand the guy when he told me that he was too tired to do it and just wanted to cuddle with his girlfriend he might as well have said those words in Chinese to me I literally didn't understand the guy my mind had been so adjusted to that everyone around always would do what they were told well they would tell me that it would not be possible before that I had gotten so used to every person not working the same way as me that I forgot it that if they would be tired they would tell me immediately not tell me embarrass later this is a pain when I got my first job outside the military I was always 15 minutes early because that's being on time then my boss wrote me up for trying to ride the clock by showing up early never mind that I was getting turnover gathering supplies all the piddly crap you have to do to get ready to actually work first save every scrap of paper that you receive make a binder that includes copies of all your orders certificates important documents evaluation reports medical information etc have copies of everything it seems like overkill but paperwork goes missing all the time second if you are sick go to sick call if you get paperwork from the doctor keep a copy in your binder if you get hurt go to sick call if it is severe make sure you get line of duty paperwork each small injury might not seem like a big deal but after a few years they add up you don't want to be 30 years old with the joints off a 60 year old and no paperwork to back up your history third if you need mental health treatment go to mental health stop caring about what other people say if you need help go get it fourth speak up for yourself be your own advocate not everyone has your best interest in mind if you don't think something is right voice your opinion professionally fifth don't be afraid to volunteer for cool missions and opportunities being able to control some aspects of your career feels pretty awesome search around go on forums check opportunities Network etc sixth go to school actual school don't let the military convince you that University of Phoenix is your end goal do whatever you want to do so you have skills when you leave the service use your GI Bill if you offered a special school take AI T especially if you are just coming out of 8 my biggest regret is that at the end of eight a couple cows came into our living area and said we've got ten slots for airborne Adara shuold if you want one the other or both raise your hand now and you'll be on the list told myself at the time that I'd go later when I was in better shape or whatever I told myself I freaking hate myself because ever since then it's either been the unit doesn't have money for it or I procrastinated any chances away don't do that to yourself keep your training environment mentality and get the schools done while you still have that mentality because once you're out of that mentality it's dang hard to get all one to be back in it save all paperwork save your goddamn money do not go out and buy a new car do not fricking do IT you're not special the car salesman is going to freak you over just like everyone before you save your first couple paychecks get a bita and save the crap out of your money I've seen guys save for four years and have enough to buy their dream car in cash watched an e5 buy the new Corvette Stingray as soon as it hit the market with cash he told us all that he had been saving for the past five years it's not about cars though it's about your future eventually you won't be army anymore you gonna be like some of us dump asses and be in debt looking for whatever job you can get just to make ends meet and go to school Frick what anyone tells you go get signed up for classes do online don't bother with classroom as mission will dictate whether you get to make it to that class try telling 1sg you can't go to the field because you've got class so take us mehnat online courses as you can shoot for a degree of any kind preferably one you want you will be leagues ahead of everyone else finally get seen for anything medical keep the paperwork if you see combat especially real combat not a day of your life will go by from there on where you don't think about it it will go away when you're busy or preoccupied but when you're just sitting there lost in your own thoughts your mind will be back on the battlefield it's draining the dog-and-pony shows my god I absolutely love pressure washing frickin sidewalks all day because a general I've never heard of is coming to visit my base for a week the military is unrevealed at creating and fostering leadership unfortunately most of the best leaders can do some basic math realize how valuable they are in the civilian world and hightail it out as soon as they can on a more positive note it still blows my mind that I am entrusted with the beating heart of a billion-dollar warship and that drive the thing like you still it is the normally encouraged mindset to have while doing so I highly doubt that I will ever do something this cool once I get out how much it sucked digging holes in the forest during a storm how to save money that I would go to Iraq three times then ten years later we see Isis is in charge what a freaking waste of money and people's lives if anybody tries to take the M&Ms that the MRE gods have so graciously bestowed upon you you kick that mother in his throat a lot of posts about the other four branches of the US Armed Forces but no one mentioning the Coast Guard great duty stations great missions always operating in some capacity whether search-and-rescue law enforcement pollution response etc I was in the Army and I always advise people to consider the Coast Guard one save all documents you get do not count on the military to save your stuff because they will lose it too don't volunteer for crap even if it sounds cool I made that mistake once thought it would be great to get off base to deliver some vehicles a few hours away turns out someone picked the wrong vehicles and it turned out to be a 12 plus hour day three Call of Duty wasn't around when I joined but so many folks joining the military think it will be like Cod it's not you will clean [ __ ] dishes and after Ivor's for join an aviation unit the most fun I had was in an aviation unit forget driving we're flying pilots for the most part just want to fly and are pretty chill from my experience that if you deploy there's a good chance your marriage will fail and your so will leave you two things from a former 19 Delta CAF scout one recruiter equals liar if it's not in your contract you're freaked i dang near maxed out my ex fab and could have had any job I wanted similarly I could have had choice of duty station and/or airborne my recruiter told me all of that would happen after basic ha thought my guys from basics got one or both those that didn't got lied to the recruiters are under tremendous pressure to get you in your interests are secondary I grew up poor without health care every dentist hai ever went to said that I badly needed braces every single army dentist orthodontists said that my teeth were fine and didn't need braces military medicine is not as good or comprehensive a civilian medicine you get the minimum I am glad I joined and served over although you can learn to live with PTSD much of the time but no one can help you forgive yourself for who you've been or what you've done except yourself when you're out you can get help but you have got to be the one that takes the opportunity help doesn't come in 12 ounces bottles or pint glasses remember it normally doesn't build up all at once the cure doesn't happen all at once but serious redditors who have experience in military combat what things depicted in action movies and games are not true in real life but nothing I've seen in movies is like the combat I experienced except one thing the first 20 minutes off Saving Private Ryan gets one thing right bullet noise not the shot a bullet passing close by it has weight like a piece of incredibly long thin rebar just appearing out of nowhere right beside you gets your undivided attention Frick the guy who got that right drove me right out of the theater the temporary shell-shocked parts were good too from a sound perspective except for the fact that in the movie they were temporary I roll everything sounds like you have saran wrap over your ears death isn't always a quick process it can take more time than the length of any movie out there combat medic here unfortunately I can confirm this to be true currently in the Royal Air Force mainly the thing they for obvious reasons leave out in the movies is the sheer length of time you could be coming under contact for I've spoken to a lot of regiment guys who have been on tours to Iraq and Afghan for around two five years of their life and coming under contact with the enemy can be seriously psychologically demanding you could be having to wait out oncoming mortar fire for hours on end literally non-stop shells that can be metres away from you and all you can really do is take cover and keep your body to the floor behind in a bunker crap is not fun same sort of thing with fire fights really I was in armored Corps and I was going to say something along those lines the amount of time spent sitting in cover is beyond exhausting that is a direct order no crap all orders are frickin direct orders there was never a dynamic where my leadership had to tell me they were serious cick wit playing lol none of Hollywood is true in real life military combat is boring monotonous mixed with seconds of adrenaline your weapons Jam you're hungry tired and sleepy the gear is heavy and burdensome it looks cool on television but it's fake source USMC veteran war is 99% boredom and 1% sheer terror I used to live with an Army Ranger who described being in combat as absolutely terrifying but only afterwards in the heat of combat he would default to his training but only realize how fricked up and scary things were after it was all over he also said he was cold and hungry a lot and he would have paid 1 million dollars for a slice of cherry pie the enemy doesn't always just die I've seen enemy combatants take more damage than you could possible imagine and keep going I've seen them pass out on the field and wake back up to fight some more magazine changes whilst moving our frickin tricky well if you want to keep the empty one anyway nobody in movies seems concerned with keeping them when contact is made combatants from both sides fire a ton of ammunition and don't hit very much a wounded soldier is a subjective term I've seen a soldier with nine gunshot wounds be fully conscious and smoking a cigarette I've seen a soldier with a very minor shoulder wound go into shock and nearly die most of the soldiers who appear very tough and talk about wanting to be in combat all the time don't do very well in an actual combat situation the clear thinkers are usually the quiet guys female soldiers can be a force to be reckoned with a lot of soldiers are actually hesitant to engage the enemy when it actually comes time to fire on enemy combatants there's still something there inside of us that has to be written in spite of the training and the situation one of the most difficult things about being in a combat situation is that you can't hear a goddamn thing no one is wearing hearing protection and your ears are ringing like crazy communication can be very difficult noise firing handguns and firearms inside is really quite distressing on the ears the number of actions movies where it's no big deal and they fire round after round without flinching in a confined space as pretty and realistic as an hour sixty four D Apache helicopter crew chief the entirety of the Nicholas Cage movie fire birds I feel like Neil deGrasse Tyson watching gravity when I see that flick I don't think anyone can point out anything occur it's about fire birds other than those are indeed helicopters in the most intense battle it can be total chaos the only thing that gives an edge is the constant practice of contact drills et Cie and your initial training and general day-to-day squad section platoon and company training communication is one of the most effective winners of a battle whether it's sign radio or sheer brute voice though often the latter doesn't work except to get some attention from an enemy rifleman gunshot sunt constant they are intermittent and the most random peaceful things will occur smack bang in the middle of a battle like being offered a cup of tea most grenades don't go up in a fireball you really have to tinker with cars to make then blow up weapons jammed reasonably frequently though if you clean to the right environmental conditions you'll usually be fine initiative and smallest angles of fire will often her bigger outcomes than you originally thought most battles occur over significant distance three hundred eight hundred metres urban warfare is usually incredibly slow and then amazingly fast this is obviously subject to numerous variables if you are shot most people don't notice in the initial milliseconds following and most of the toughest guys are the ones who mentally process stuff well there can be a significant amount of downtime but that's to compensate for the full of moments despite all the training science shows that only less than 20% of soldiers will actually fire directly into another but unless that combatant is directly threatening them or a friend I found the HBO series Generation Kill to be the most accurate portrayal of noir I did two tours both year long in Iraq agreed it's the perfect balance of [ __ ] around during firefights and getting crap done along with the platoon dynamics and individual characters there are no back-to-back headshots and people don't die right away during initial contact you want to gain fire superiority you don't have to kill the guy just get their heads down so you can't move to cover or flank also it is very loud ie we got in a firefight inside a building and I couldn't even hear the guy next to me shouting out orders my ears rang for two weeks after it can also be a lot of boredom sitting on guard for hours at a time staring at the same area for days weeks even months grenades don't cause huge balls of fire when they explode cause don't blow up anything like in movies or games people don't go flying back when short knife kills are not a real thing most of all you don't respawn or sit and magically heal I would say that knife kills a rare not common not a real thing a guy in my unit has two knife kills defending himself from an insurgent attack on his free on board in no way was it planned it just kind of happened parachute infantryman arauco 7 + o 9 cos are really resilient we've had a 240 249 m4 w 203 rounds and a Barrett pumping rounds into that mother and he just kept going he died of blood loss later in the hospital but now he's 19 year-old me thought it was going to be a lot different maybe with fire and whatever nope M 203 rounds are really weak and don't blow up with fire or anything just kicks up dust and makes loud noise nobody gets confirmed kills it's extremely rare and almost always reserved for a good sniper section on special missions most people that tell you they got this or that are most likely lying it makes you go insane while you're there you can't wait to come home and then once you come back you miss being deployed regular civilian life is actually harder to deal with in the military everything is provided for you even the mental support of your fellow soldier then once you come back it all disappears and you feel alienated from society no one knows what you've been through then after a while you start to forget and carry on with life but go to college when you're 25 with a bunch of 18 year olds that you can't really identify with and then you start a job and hopefully find a few friends that you can it all gets better with time real PTSD is the worst the kind where when you hear a helicopter you start to cry uncontrollably because you've seen so many mangled bodies come off them the thing that's weird is that while you're over there it nothing fazes you it's just a job and training muscle memory kicks in this only from personal experience not everyone is the same but we are all human and real war takes our toll on everyone I haven't played a game that has depicted war correctly a movie though lone survivor and Das Boot is pretty accurate both are movies at what happens when everything goes bad confusion for one you rarely know where the guy until they expose themselves to fire shots at you training kicks in meaning you work well together doing complex things without Direction movements and other orders have been trained on so everyone knows what their role is but there is a real phenomenon called bullet time what seemed like 12 20 minutes of an engagement was really 5-7 minutes your overall mission and procedures for combat are different for each unit your orders could be returned fire and exit the area if under attack or engage and defeat the enemy the randomness of it while you extensively train for scenarios reality is extremely random the terrain whether you're in their position size of your force size of enemy force capabilities of equipment and ferocity of both of your force and theirs are just some examples the largest thing not depicted to me is the intelligence or lack there off that is information of the battlespace location of where you and friendlies our overall objective asks enemy intelligence etc you have an understanding that your unit is like one of many pins holding a gear that is a part of an engine that is a part of a bulldozer that is a machine a part of a construction site one stroke 327 in 101st TBN Kunar province I've been through the korangal valley featured in Restrepo the Sharia Valley featured in lone survivor what a Pahlavi and many other crevasses in that mountainous hex cape that is eastern Afghanistan a beautiful countryside though one of my favorite things to do is watch action movies and tear them to pieces mothersuckers don't even know one battle drill anyways things that annoy me mothersuckers not seeking cover why the Frick are you standing in a doorway while someone is firing on you the lack of ammo supply awareness if you run out of bullets before the bad guy life's going to suck and by the way every 100 rounds of 7.62 is about 7 pounds a crap gets heavy real fast gear is heavy cumbersome and a B to keep quiet velcro pockets are you kidding at me the sense of confusion often times you're fired upon first there's usually a couple seconds on where the Frick did that come from until someone eventually shouts out where it's coming from and how far by this time you should have sought cover behind a solid object or you're sprawled out prone and as low to ground as possible if there is none currently which brings me to my next point all those sweet hiding spots and perfectly placed cover in video games and movies don't freaking exist the smart Taliban would wait until access to cover was limited or you were awkwardly situated then fire on you also any Taliban fighter worth a W penny knew to put plenty of open space between us and them so we couldn't get close without having to bound through a field large terraces down a freaking Mountain and up another one etc the ones that rarely did and suffered greatly I mean they all usually did we have Apache attack helicopters for Frick sake it's fricking loud gun smoke and other smoke gets in your eyes and it's all you can smell it's an assault of the senses and you have to ignore it I don't feel like that depicted enough weapons Jam every now and then and it's sometimes a real be to fix a weapon malfunction but it does happen firing from a fixed position isn't ideal it gives your opponent the chance to maneuver on you I suggest you maneuver also there were times when firefights went on for hours but that was rare air support would usually deter long firefights but they weren't always available so it's not anything like constant action it was usually sparse and lasting only a few minutes when it did happen patience was key if you ever think you can be a one-man army you're an ignorant crap the first person to win in a fight is the man whose battle buddy shows up first three of my battle buddies for every one of your battle buddies is usually prime conditions Vietnam veteran here something that can never be captured on film or in a game the smell of death there are a lot of great answers here are a couple things I'd add from my experience in southern Afghanistan where the OEF rules of engagement were pretty restrictive the constant anticipation of that first shot coming in was incredibly unnerving even though it got a little more lacs toward the end due to experience and the just another day attitude not because it was any less dangerous I remember how instantaneous either hitting the ground or finding covers everyone freezes up given the right situation whether it be rounds impacting within inches of your face or hearing I'm hit luckily this usually lasts a couple seconds at most before getting back to the task at hand or taking the proper steps given the situation the noise of it all was mentioned earlier I just heard that everyone is yelling as well at least at first in many environments the direction of shots that are fired is hard to locate especially when you add the panic and urge to find cover so you have guys yelling out direction distance number of combatants weapons jams etc it's a combination of ringing weapons firing people yelling and any other noises the dull mumble of the radio any grenades yada-yada myth you're shooting that truck while the good guys crawling through it he heroically makes it through the back with lots of holes above and around him reality the traces immediately catch the interior on fire and he is coughing and hacking on white phosphorus that is burning him alive if that doesn't kill him pretty quickly than the spall and bullet fragments impacting from the outside will smith men fly up in the air when shot reality dudes just fall down like they tripped me contact is always a heroic endeavor reality getting shot at his surreal until it's scary as Frick driving around is boring until you are dead from the bomb buried in the road that you'll never even see myth going to war is fun reality it's boring until you're dead you don't want to be there anymore it's always of the inopportune moments when you are crapping or spacing out thinking about home that you get hit and have to do something about it source mi weenie attached to an MPB n with a psycho for being commander soldiers offered it what are things that the military doesn't provide that would be good for people to send incur packages my parents sent me a box just absolutely stuffed off snack-sized experimental tacky flavors best thing I ever got next was a generic note from a third grader named Nigel said I hope you can see your family again kinda murdery that the intent was good everyone in the squad got a laugh make sure your ker package isn't for someone in training they might not be allowed to use those products my aunt sent me fuzzy pajamas and a box of chocolates to bootcamp she could not understand why I got in trouble for them and had to throw them away I turned 40 while deployed and received a ker package from my wife that had a fully inflated mylar balloon which I thought was pretty dang nifty and creative the Box had other stuff in it too so it wasn't suspiciously light yet when I sliced it open thank God I didn't slice through to the balloon up floated the colorful happy 40th balloon made my week socks I used to do a lot of foot patrols in Afghanistan we never had a way of buying socks and we sure as heck rarely got to send anything to be washed most of the time we just chucked the socks after Patrol from walking in crap water anyway I wonder how long this will be the top answer my grandmother had letters from my grandfather and his buddies thanking her for the socks she knits them and asking for more from the 1940s whatever you sent please do not pack any soap or detergent in the same boxes food we got some really big boxes that had packages of detergent and lots of candy and all of the candy tasted like tied my father-in-law made me a few lbs of deer jerky long ago the wife added a few bars of dial to the flat rate box and ruined every bite I still ate it I regret nothing my parents sent me a care package full of cheap toys ones dart guns noisemakers little toy army men a small etch-a-sketch etcetera we all played with the toys for a day or so and it was entertaining and afterwards we gave all the toys to local kids who enjoyed the heck out of them saw a kid three weeks later who made the etch-a-sketch into a weird necklace looked a little like a third-world version of Flavor Flav kinda made me feel like not all is bad in the world condiments such as hot sauce food is not always bad but it's very predictable hot sauce makes it much better just make sure you wrap the bottles really well postal centers overseas tend to just ignore fragile during the shipping and handling process also the hotter the better daring each other to test the hottest sources we can find as great entertainment I've seen a few of these on here already but I will reiterate for the important ones beef jerky any kind of jerky honestly tuna fish - sounds weird I know sometimes that quick shot of salty greasy fish will keep you going it comes in single serving bags way better in the fields and cans hot sauce one of the best curb packages I ever had the pleasure OTT was nothing but 16 bottles of different types of hot sauce one of my buddies got and we all shared not joking seeing what was in that box when my buddy opened it is one of the best memories I have of the war baby wipes when I was deployed I went out on a few extended missions sometimes for a week or two I took a shower in the field once one time things have changed a lot in the last 14 years but I loved getting DVDs I don't know what the equivalent would be in 2020 vision I discovered this too late for it to have been helpful for me to this day I still occasionally have dreams where my mouth and nose and eyes are completely clogged with dry sand and no amount of me trying to get it out helps my eyes at least would have loved me discovering vision long before I did magazines the print kind not the bullet holding kind anything from smut to housekeeping it doesn't matter National Geographic was my favorite and it aged as well this was specific for me I just wanted to share it my girlfriend used to put a small note on anything she sent me message simple and sweet and she leave a kiss and lipstick on it and spritz it with her perfume I don't think I ever told her how much that meant to me but dang sometimes that really got me through I still have some of those notes this list is really good but I would like to add underwear middle of a deployment my underwear was worn out my mom always talks about how besides her home made beef jerky that was something I always wanted sucks like black socks for Navy Marines green or whatever that color is idk about the other branches but holy heck I am in boots all day seven days a week for seven nine months please for the love of God send me socks also hot sauce and ketchup we're always out of ketchup and I'm sick of Texas speeds thank you Marines are coyote brown socks green shirts my all-time favorite was a church group where each contributor made a blanket representing their home state I still have that blanket and no one not even my girlfriend is allowed to use it its draped over the back of my reading chair in the library it's even been than a whoopee Gatorade makes on Navy ships we can get bottles of Gatorade but it would be better to get Gatorade mix and if it's that we can only get a 22 ounce a can not the 5 pound ones that would useful if you really want to help soldiers or sailors send 55 pound containers of Gatorade mix to a specific base or ship I worked in the nuclear spaces on an aircraft carrier it was assigned to a technical library on the ship when I was not on watch there were seven of us in there and we were drinking almost three gallons of water a day just to be able to pee it was 115 degrees F and machinery species and even hotter in some areas of the reactor room we were one of the few people in the world enduring the heat Gatorade was designed for that so sent a lot of Gatorade mix it means a huge difference in quality of life I was a new Caswell I always liked having anything to flavor the water at all SF kool-aid Crystal Light Gatorade the water seemed to always have too much chlorine and I always felt like I was going pool water crayons Marines need snacks the best kur package I ever got was just a massive amount of energy drinks beef jerky wet wipes and sunflower seeds my boy asked me to send chips and baby wipes when he was in Iraq and Afghanistan a Disney Princess baby wipes were a big hit for his buddies equals D beef jerky one time I got a a s'mores kit coloring book fake snow bubbles law pumpkin spice related stuff puzzle books granola bars and stuff I couldn't get at the store protein pictures decent coffee candy hair ties hygiene related stuff I like that wasn't there certain shampoo body wash deodorant different types of trail mix magazines I think that's it I enjoyed it all and no matter what I got it was the thought that always counted I used to like getting Gatorade magazines comic books birthday Mother's Day Father's Day et Cie cards the nice ones q-tips razors baby wipes soap anything that can make water flavored at first I thought the first things were supposed to be examples of things to flavor water and I was so confused DD 214 for those who don't know what this means like me who googled it , the Defense Department issues to each veteran a DD 214 identifying the veterans condition of discharge hunter herbal general other than horrible dishonorable or bad conduct when I was in popular stuff was the tuna packs that you can rip open cheez-its were good you eat plenty but it always seems like you're always working in a deficit so sugar any sweets was pretty big two magazines you can read or interact with are always good any kind of jerky or hot sauce is good to have as well my parents always sent hard candy to give out to the kids to Clif bars or energy bars seemed to do good to someone sent us two rum cakes wrapped in cellophane still moist and delicious that was a golden sunlit moment amid a dreary and painful deployment I know this is oddly specific but my husband really liked the tactical field playing cards made by bicycle when he was overseas he said they held up really well and were basically weatherproof sunglasses were supposedly well received to ETA thought of another one of his favorites things while deployed Gold Bond I once packed Curt packages for soldiers and there were a lot of games and puzzles including dice and playing cards at a casino donated send spicy ketchup from Whataburger 386 CLR SCSS unit reckons abroad I have a friend that gets deployed a lot and the food out there sucks obviously his requests are always tuna packs the different flavored ones that come in the blue plastic packaging dried fruit easy Mack a set of silverware homemade cookies beef jerky pudding etc basically all the snack foods we take for granted not a soldier did I sent canned pie filling and shortbread cookies together it's almost a pie for Thanksgiving all the cans made it and I was told it was well received back in Afghanistan the poo pond the best cur package I received was a carton of cigarettes baby wipes about a month's worth and protein bars the worst well let's just say having former members decide that 27 corn cobs sent to you on a box gift wrapped in graphic pea leaves all of Kandahar laughing raining down 27 corn cobs on a fortified position will confuse her enemy long enough to take it if any Americans would like to send the Brits a half-decent gun it would be appreciated we call our rifle the civil servant it never works and you can't freakin fire it civil servant it never works and you can't freakin fire it I knew the l85 was crap but that's hilarious y'all should do like France and go with the 416 AR platform is the way female veteran here books that aren't about war and killing we had so many donations of Tom Clancy and ilk what many of us wanted was a break from that life Terry Pratchett and Dave berry coming right up maple syrup the knock off the heaven Kuwait is awful and cold maple products beef jerky magazines comics not allowed to have nudie mags in certain countries hard candies snacks in general cigars wet wipes hard drives full of movies or preloaded with videogames our welfare tents have some of this stuff but there is nothing better than opening a letter from someone saying they are thinking about you and getting spoiled with a bunch of snacks and cigars baby wipes toothpaste antiperspirant and a stuffed animal my husband says notes cashews baby wipes body spray aureus can cheese peanut butter Nutella x5 instant coffee packets gum Tylenol 500 mg headphones razors nicer ones q-tips hot chocolate packets tootsie rolls hot sauce drink mixes fruit snacks my husband was in a more remote location then some bases wet wipes chewing tobacco even if they don't chew giving this to people down range especially infantry will make them best friends with everyone around them a laptop with a portable hard drive full of movies PE and TV shows wet wipes any type of food that won't melt cheese its energy drinks a portable cell phone charger as they are allowed a phone if no phones allowed a prepaid phone card wet wipes a spork a lot of people are saying condiments but I saw a lot of people getting condiments and it arriving spoiled and broken spewing all over the place if sending some pack them into a separate smaller package inside that package because the package handlers downrange don't give a freak about fragile please don't pack soap or any scented hygiene product with any food items the food items will absorb the smell it's hard to enjoy Irish Spring cookers one of the best Curt packages I ever received was a box full of handmade thank-you cards from young kids they were all very sweet but some of them were downright hilarious had a good laugh with some of my buddies I held on to those cards and when I need a bit of inspiration sometimes I look at the happy scribbles of some random first grader I never met when I was overseas we got Magic the Gathering card packs and I cherished the freak out of them not to set you up on an expensive Curt package item but I was in dark dark place over there and something like that brought me back for a solid couple of weeks good tampons dip chewing tobacco smokes foot body powder sunflower seeds Jolly Ranchers magazines sunscreen Gatorade powder flavor liquid for water depending on where they're deployed I'd avoid sending chocolate my in-laws sent me a tub of peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's and by the time it got to me it was a melted block of wax paper chocolate and peanut butter the tobacco items are good even if the service member doesn't smoke or dip because you can use that stuff for trades we had a tent in our area that was loaded with care package goods if I received a package that had stuff I didn't plan on using I'd put the items I didn't need in that tent for someone else who might need them band-aids we got stuff to stop a bullet wound build a paper cut and it's game over feminine products treats candy energy drinks you'll never mix food and soap the food often absorbs the soap fragrance and tastes terrible socks all toiletries are a big welcome Tylenol or ibuprofen stupid dollar store games witty cards sent by you Oh if you send treats aureus are a big hit vacuum sealed cookies - I've seen the need for baby wipes to cease over time man wipes are nice I'm military but not out on the field by any means from what I have seen though anything small and prepackaged like beef jerky or trail mix is greatly appreciated and energy drinks we live off that crap especially the poor bastards maintaining claims and the even poorer bastards out in the field have a buddy that was Marines and mentioned how he basically ran on Ripert's while he was deployed could believe it considering how many energy drinks he was always going through there is a brand of nut powder called monkey butt mail a case of that crap over baby wipes magazines ramen oatmeal pretty much any soap and hygiene holiday cards black socks lube and a pocket B I'm being dead serious there is never anything to do when deployed you haven't been laid in months and you're surrounded by guys all the time taking a pocket Peto a shower is sometimes the only thing you have to look forward to for the day you haven't been laid in months this is redic bro I'm not so sure a lot of guys are gonna sympathize wet wipes socks and underwear letters from home one Red Bull or monsters to dip and cigarettes three battle wipes for candy I preferred now in laters Afghani kids love them too I kept a bag in my cargo pocket and hand some out if situation allowed five beef jerky or beef sticks I always appreciated letters they didn't even have to be from people I knew just letters from kids or towns or businesses or whatever saying hey thanks for the sacrifice to you in our prayers or something to that effect there was not a lot of optimism on my last trip to Afghanistan so anything with a positive message that pulled you out of the world for a little bit was welcome books not about war and the military were a treat as well you have been visited by the romantic dog Air comment love is magic so you never fall in the friendzone if you are new to the channel you can subscribe I publish new videos every day until then check another video or don't either way have a great day you magnificent people

Channel: Updoot Everything

Views: 51,714

Rating: 4.8322744 out of 5

Keywords: reddit 1 hour, 1 hour, reddit compilation, compilation, military, soldiers, military stories, #updootst, updoot, reddit, r/askreddit, askreddit, ask reddit, r/, r\, best of reddit, reddit stories, reddit story, top posts, funniest posts, funny, funny posts, funny reddit stories, funny askreddit, reddit funny, askreddit funny, askreddit stories, reddit stories 2019, people of reddit, sub, reddit cringe, memes, toadfilms, updoot everything, updoot reddit, story, stories, rslash, comedy, fresh

Id: I-eX5XIBWU8

Length: 61min 52sec (3712 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 30 2020