I used the internet 3 times in Iraq. I got a satellite phone call ONCE a week for 15 minutes. This lasted 5 and a half months before we got somewhere that we could use our phone cards and call home more than once a week.
Why in the hell is money being put into allowing individuals to have INTERNET acces in Iraq. It's a DEPLOYMENT. Not a MEU or a pleasure cruise. It's a ****ing deployment. The amount of money, time, and manpower being put into leisure activities (see Club Al Asad, and the video game room there, and the 4-5 different restaurants there) is SICKENING. Why the **** not take those Marines or Soldiers guarding the POOOOOOL at Al Asad and send them to relieve some poor schmuck who's been running convoys his entire deployment. This is such bullshit.
There's gotta be thousands of people actively involved in the MWR facilities in Iraq. Don't get me wrong, MWR is important. But it's clearly not getting distributed and some places are f'cking nicer than stateside. My buddy came home recently referring to Camp Fallujah as Camp Flejeune.
Larthan, I'm probably talking out of school so pile on everyone who's been over there, but I agree with you. From what I've seen on T.V. these camps are huge! I wonder if half the troops are just guarding the camp. We may not need more troops over there if you get people out of the camps. Of course all we had was snail mail and after our 100 hour fire fight, we did get to call home. Only after trying to beg, borrow and steal a ride back to the rear where they had these huge tents set up that you waited 12 hours in line to make a 10 minute call. Yea, go ahead and pile on.
There are dance lessons on Al Asad. A burger king. a subway. a Green Bean Coffee shop. Multiple shops. A Dominoes (THAT DELIVERS). MP's with SPEED TRAPS to catch people speeding.
It's ridiculous. And the chow hall is better than we eat stateside. WAY better.
That would be awesome if the delivery guys were the same couple of stoners that deliver for me. "Whadda ya' mean 'get on the C17?' Can I pack my stash?"
LAREthan, I don't see a problem with the MWR opportunities that now abound in theater.
Quote, "Why in the hell is money being put into allowing individuals to have INTERNET acces in Iraq."
Our unit chipped in our own money and made our own monthly payments for service, so no federal funding was diverted for our MWR purposes. Whether you like it or not internet access is probably single-handedly one of the biggest morale boosters in country.
So what if there are fast food joints and pools. If that gives the hard chargers some relief from their long days of kicking in doors, runnin' convoys and kicking azz then I'm fine with that.
I'm sure the next time you're there you will sit in your hooch eating MRE's and playing solitaire the old fashioned way, with a deck of cards not a computer, while listening to your Ipod.
I know you're gonna say some crap about how I'm a winger and yadda yadda. That's fine
I'm not bashing you and I do not intend to get into an online rumble. I just think you should be careful when presenting this "War is hell, and I'm tough because I didn't get to use the interenet" attitude.
I will say that the amount of funding put into the civilian personell who man these facilities is the real crime. Civilian pool lifeguards earning $60,000 and $80,000 for a year!! that is what is ridiculous. KBR employees earning average of $100,000 for various duties that never involve going outside the wire?? That my friend is the real crime.
Brother I'm not trying to say I'm tough cause I didn't get to use that crap. I chose my MOS, I knew I wasn't gonna get the perks some of the others would, so I have no one but myself to blame. I just feel it's bullsh all that's being spent on that crap where other areas of the theater see NOTHING.
I do agree that there is alot of frivelous spending going on in theater. Our battallion thought they needed 2 47" flat panels mounted side by side in ops so they could post flight information, the only thing I ever saw on those things was ESPN on one and a movie running on the other. I'm not gonna put up some tough guy front, I was in the nasty guard when I went over for a year. I was on the mother of all MWR facilities, Balad. All I can say is that people understand MOST troops and Marines aren't there by choice, so an effort is being made to provide MWR opportunities when and where they can to give folks a break from the meager existance that they are living while outside the wire.
Part of the frustration from the grunt side over this perception of excess spending is that the guys who are in the crappiest locations (FOBs, OP's, any number of random shitholes out in the middle of nowhere), who the people planning these facilities probably see as the ones most needing MWR, are the ones who most of the time receive the least opportunity to get to use these facilities on a regular basis.
Nobody is protesting the actual presence of these amenities. We may grumble about how they go about it but in the end their motivating sentiment is to make things easier for the warfighter on the ground, and we are well aware of that.
yes the dirt eaters on FOBs and OPs are the ones who need it the most. I guess LAREthan put it in perspective when he said that he chose his MOS and knew that he wouldn't get some of the perks that others would. I know when I chose my MOS I was not thinking about the MWR opportunities that would come with my job. So I guess take advantage when you can and the rest of the time-- Locate, close with and destroy the enemy....
Personal satelite uplinks are prohibited for the same reason that personal cell phones are; they are unsecured and the Corps cannot control them when it is River City time.
Sorry it took so long to respond, but internet connectivity is spotty here in Bragg.
I was at Al Asad and saw all of the ammenities. Unfortunately I had very little chance to visit them. Something about being on call when not actually on shift.
