Happy Invasion Day!

**C-grunt** · 03-20-15, 04:30

Happy 12th anniversary to all the guys who participated in the invasion of Iraq.

I was a young 19 year old E2 Private in the Army at the time. I vividly remember being in the desert of Kuwait lining up on the border. My Platoon Sergeant, who had been in the first Gulf War, telling us "12 hours after we put our MOP suits on we will be in Iraq.... trust me." Everyone else thought it was all saber rattling. There was no way we were going to war.

The order came down to don our MOP gear. Ok.... This is getting a bit more serious we all thought.

Then someone shouted "What the ****!". Way up in the sky we saw what was unmistakably a missile flying through air. I awed at the smoke trail it left behind and thought that must be what the Space Shuttle looks like to people in Florida. A hug pit formed in my stomach when I realized that missile was heading south. My Platoon Sergeant shouted "Get the **** in the track" and we all ran into the back of the Bradleys, half dressed in MOP gear. A few minutes later the Platoon Sergeant stopped by the track and told us "time for war boys".

The next three weeks or so and the few months after will always stay with me as some of the best times of my life. Not because of war. But because I got to spend it with some of the best men this country has ever known.

A couple of my squad mates smoking and joking while we put on our MOP gear.

Me and my 900 rounds of linked 5.56 for my SAW

Day of the big red sandstorm. Im on the SAW covering my squad leader as we set up a defensive position after receiving word that an Iraqi RPG team was trying to flank us. (picture taken by our Time Magazine journalists that were with us)

Taking a break on the outskirts of Baghdad with some liberated Pepsi's I found.

Anyone else there for the kick off???

Note*** I know this is a few hours late.

**Eurodriver** · 03-20-15, 05:05

OIF 47,849.2 here.

Thanks for your service and post. I enjoyed reading that, as the later deployments were much different.

**Hank6046** · 03-20-15, 07:34

I think I was 13 at the time working at a coffee shop at the Airport, I remember that every TV had CNN on covering the Invasion, I was counting the days till I could join thinking how much fun the Military was going to be, awe to be young and dumb again. I always appreciated those NCO's and Officer's who were their from the beginning didn't have quite the chip on their shoulders like the people who just came back from their first deployment. I know that these memories are something that will always stay in the back of your mind, I appreciate the reminder.

**3 AE** · 03-20-15, 14:44

C-grunt, Holy shit dude. 900 rnds + loaded SAW + body armor + everything else needed for combat operations. What's that, about 70+ pounds minimum? You're the boss, man, the boss.

The red sandstorm shot is almost surreal. Glad you made it back.

**Turnkey11** · 03-20-15, 14:59

I was a couple months late to the party, I didnt PCS from Schofield to Hood until July, I was on a plane to Kuwait 3 weeks later. I dont have many pictures left but heres a few from Speicher in 03', nothing too cool as I was still in aviation then...

**Eurodriver** · 03-20-15, 15:21

Some of mine

Movie night

**C-grunt** · 03-20-15, 15:38

Originally Posted by 3 AE

C-grunt, Holy shit dude. 900 rnds + loaded SAW + body armor + everything else needed for combat operations. What's that, about 70+ pounds minimum? You're the boss, man, the boss.

The red sandstorm shot is almost surreal. Glad you made it back.

I think it was about 95 pounds total. I was also a Javelin Gunner so sometimes I had to carry one of those around to. Never fired it. We had the Brads and the tanks that took all the anti armor fun. But we did use the thermal sight on it a lot to scan for Iraqi Army at night.

Eurodriver... I was back in 2005 for OIF 3 and A LOT changed in the year I was gone. My buddies who stayed in and went back in 2007/2008 timeframe said it was even dumber then.

**C-grunt** · 03-20-15, 15:53

Roof top of a farm near Al Asamaniyah (I think thats what the town was called). I was in a "weapons squad" so we had 3 M240Bs, 2 SAWs, 4 M16s w/203s, a M24, and a Javelin. This is where we got into our first real engagement with the Iraqi Army. They had fortified the small town and were shooting at nearby aircraft with AAA. We sent in a scouting party using 4 Abrams tanks and some scout vehicles. All hell broke loose when the Iraqis did a full on frontal attack with infantry that were supported by heavy machineguns and snipers inside the town. After the attack was repelled and the tanks had taken care of the snipers and machinegun nest with volley cannon fire they started mortaring us. My First Sergeant, being a former mortarman himself, walked in our counter battery. We had three or four M113 mortar track with 120mm mortars and they hammered that town. After that no one from the town shot at anymore medevac choppers.

My platoon leader found a Darth Vader helmet and wore it around. Picture taken as we were taking Baghdad.

Some sort of BMP type vehicle that took a 120 from an Abrams. Outside doesnt look to bad but the interior was wrecked.