The war zone as "home"

JAD_333 · 04-01-2008, 10:34 AM

Military units serving in foreign countries adopt local customs and even come to consider their posting as "home". I didn't spend very long on active duty outside the US to develop that sense of "home". I would be interested in hearing the recollections of those who have felt "at home" in Iraq or elsewhere, now or in the past.

Quote:

Five years on, the US military is now owned by Iraq
By Lawrence Kaplan
Commentary by
Tuesday, April 01, 2008

General David Petraeus elicited a few chuckles when, testifying before the United States Congress last September, he inadvertently referred to Iraq as "home." But in the constellation of American bases that loop around the Tigris and Euphrates River valleys, in the spectacle of young Americans knowing Iraqi neighborhoods as well as they know their own, in the profound and sometimes disquieting sense of ownership the US armed forces have had about this war - in all of these things there is evidence that Petraeus meant exactly what he said.

Over the years, I've watched the same scene in western and southern Baghdad, Mosul, Ramadi, Sinjar and Tall Afar: American units slowly melt into the landscape, becoming in effect the most powerful of their area's tribes. Absent a functioning government, the US military administers nearly every visible facet of the state, above all in the role of honest broker.

Not unlike the Americans in Vietnam and in the Philippines a century ago, the US military in Iraq has even acquired the flavor of its surroundings. These are not the units that reside in the city-states otherwise known as Forward Operating Bases, with their Pizza Huts, traffic cops and morgues. Officers in the "Grand Army of the Tigris," as one of its senior officers calls the American force, dine with local elders at "goat grabs," greet them with "man-kisses" and routinely punctuate their own conversations with the casual "inshallah."

The vernacular has even followed the American military home: In the halls of the Pentagon, where nearly every army officer has served at least two tours in Iraq, officers ask whether this or that official has "wasta" - Iraqi shorthand for "influence" or "pull," though with a slightly more corrupt tinge.

The military has immersed itself so thoroughly in Iraq that senior officers back in the United States worry that the force is "out of balance," as US Army Chief of Staff General George Casey put it, and is too fixated on counterinsurgency. But there is another way to view this: Just as the US military that punched through Germany in 1945 bore slight resemblance to the amateurish force routed in North Africa three years before, the hardened units that America fields in Iraq today know the terrain in a way the military of 2003 and 2004 never did.

more....
The Daily Star - Opinion Articles - Five years on, the US military is now owned by Iraq

S-2 · 04-01-2008, 14:46 PM

Kind of an interesting article to be picked up out of the blogosphere by the Daily Star, a Lebanese paper.

It's an interesting military culture that's developing in our forces. Hard-pressed to imagine Army, Air Force, or Marines staying ten years without pulling at least one CENTCOM tour. Many are working on their third tours, perhaps more.

Good pickup. I looked at SWJ and didn't see it there.

JAD_333 · 04-01-2008, 15:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by S-2

Kind of an interesting article to be picked up out of the blogosphere by the Daily Star, a Lebanese paper.

It's an interesting military culture that's developing in our forces. Hard-pressed to imagine Army, Air Force, or Marines staying ten years without pulling at least one CENTCOM tour. Many are working on their third tours, perhaps more.

Good pickup. I looked at SWJ and didn't see it there.

It started out at bitterlemons a blog jointly sponsored by a leading Palestinian and an Israeli professor.

I wonder if they have any wasta.

bitterlemons-international.org - Middle East Roundtable

S-2 · 04-01-2008, 19:23 PM

"I wonder if they have any wasta. "

How can they? They don't work at the Pentagon.

HistoricalDavid · 04-01-2008, 21:15 PM

How long is the typical American tour? Somehow I hear '18 months' but does that literally mean 18 months in the country?

JAD_333 · 04-02-2008, 00:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HistoricalDavid

How long is the typical American tour? Somehow I hear '18 months' but does that literally mean 18 months in the country?

I'll probably get blasted by the military experts here for my ignorance, but I believe, army tours are 12 months, but were extend to 15 last year about this time. I don't know if that is still in effect. Reserve units are 12 months and Marines are 7 or 8 months.

04-01-2008, 14:46 PM	#2 (permalink)
S-2 *Military Professional* Join Date: 09-11-06 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 2,057 Country:	JAD 333 Reply Kind of an interesting article to be picked up out of the blogosphere by the Daily Star, a Lebanese paper. It's an interesting military culture that's developing in our forces. Hard-pressed to imagine Army, Air Force, or Marines staying ten years without pulling at least one CENTCOM tour. Many are working on their third tours, perhaps more. Good pickup. I looked at SWJ and didn't see it there. __________________ "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski

04-01-2008, 19:23 PM	#4 (permalink)
S-2 *Military Professional* Join Date: 09-11-06 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 2,057 Country:	JAD 333 Reply "I wonder if they have any wasta. " How can they? They don't work at the Pentagon.

04-01-2008, 21:15 PM	#5 (permalink)
HistoricalDavid Distant Deeps or Skies *Senior Contributor* Join Date: 07-19-05 Location: North London, UK Posts: 1,972 Country:	How long is the typical American tour? Somehow I hear '18 months' but does that literally mean 18 months in the country? __________________ HD Ready?

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Democrats: What is the most politically-advantageous number of dead US troops?	Bluesman	The War in Iraq	1043	07-04-2008 00:32 AM
‘US had designs on Iran before Iraq invasion’	Ray	The Iranian Question	10	05-01-2008 12:29 PM
Bush, Blair for 'War Crimes'	Ray	Political Discussions	22	03-04-2007 16:46 PM
Articles and links for the Military Professional	Officer of Engineers	The Staff College	115	11-20-2006 11:28 AM
Indian Army transformation	Ray	South Asian Defense Topics	36	12-22-2005 02:00 AM

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)