I was thinking of signing up for the Army in the morning...

[Omphaloskepsis]

How long would it take for me to land in Baghdad? Basic and all that jazz. How long before my feet are sinking into the warm/hot sand.?


Six months? Why the fuck could I be there in a few months.. And we can't get the Iraqis up to speed in three fucking years? It just isn't going to work.

[Heidi]

1. You're joking, right?

Because I don't relish the possibility of you being injured or killed, young man.

[Omphaloskepsis]

3. Yes.. (I hate to call it a joke)

I was illustrating a point.

But, my question remains.. How can our troops get up to speed so quickly. While it is taking so fucking long to get the Iraqi's up to speed. They seem to be better at fighting than us. It doesn't make sense. It just won't work... Ever.. We are just teaching them to fight each other. --sigh--


Heidi:::loveya:

[Lasher]

6. Worse than that, we are training our enemies to kill us.

Members of militias go to US provided training to become Iraqi police or whatever. Then they either infiltrate said police or whatever, or go back to their militias. Like you said, this won't ever work.

[Cobalt-60]

2. STOP

Even without the prospect of allowing Bushco to convert your precious blood to their cash, the military is absolutely the employer of last resort.
When I was in Navy basic one of the Instructors put it best when he said "Your recruiter was the last one that f*cked you before boot camp."
As usual the Chief was absolutely f*cking right.

[Omphaloskepsis]

4. Please see my response to Heidi...

My question was a mental exercise.. I was using hyperbole to get input. I apologize for the confusion.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Readying your responses

and having seen this recently... after basic, if you are lucky you'd get A-School. A couple of kids we know ended up in country about 12 months motns after raising their right hand and taking their oaths of enlistment

Now for reference sake, if this was the Nam era (which we would go back to if the military gets desperate enough or we finally get a draft), troops back then got 13 weeks of basic, and then one year in country... and they were done.

So we could conceivably go back to 13 weeks of basic, go in country as basic infantry, and then come back for any promised A school.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. I guess the difference is no one is trying to kill our recruits here in

...the US like they do in Iraq. Plus, I believe the training of recruits in Iraq is handled by a private contractor...

[Omphaloskepsis]

9. Your last sentence is telling..

Success of training == unemployment of wonks..

Your first offered insight, thanks.

[EFerrari]

8. I don't believe the BFEE wants Iraquis to get "up to speed".

The BFEE hasn't raked in enough billions yet for us to pull out of Iraq.

[PhilYerHead]

10. What a trip, what if we all went and enlisted? Instead of walking on

the street, we will just go over and fix it all. Right?

Bad idea.

[Omphaloskepsis]

11. I would suggest you read the entire thread.

Thank You..