Been deployed? Post a pic!

Can't believe I just saw this thread. To all you that serve our nation, Thank you!
This is my dad in Vietnam (center of image) 1st Infantry Division. He passed in December of 2014, Proudest Veteran I've ever known.
I found a book in his closet when we were going through some stuff and this page was bookmarked, we never knew about it; he didn't talk much about his experiences over there and we understood why. He suffered heavily from flashbacks and PTSD yet he was always in an extremely positive state of mind. He was wounded during an operation and spent 1 year in a hospital in Oikinawa Japan with a broken neck, doctors told him he would never walk again, he refused to give up on therapy. Persistence paid off, my dad learned to walk again, returned home and went to college. Fast Fwd to 1975 and he became a college professor and taught for 24 years; when his students would ask him about his prior service he would say that he'd do it all over again for his country.
He had many combat related illnesses, scars and wounds; the illnesses attributed (by the VA) to his heavy exposure to Agent Orange. In 2011 both of my dad's legs were amputated and he was never able to walk again, the VA refused to fit him with prosthetics due to his fragile bone structure. He remained optimistic about his situation and never complained. I remember many many trips to the VA in San Antonio 4hrs away, one thing I always noticed in his appointments was that the nurses or doctors had a chart in the exam rooms that had a 1-10 scale of pain. They'd ask vets what level their pain was at, when my dad was really hurting he'd always say 9. One time I asked him why he didn't say 10? He looked at me and said "I'll never give it the full 10 that it wants out of me"
Sorry for the long story, I can go on and on... I am a proud son and have much respect for you service men and women. I have seen first hand the effects of war and the sacrifices made to allow us the freedom that we truly enjoy.

 

Somewhere over Iraq, circa 2006.

 

LSA Anaconda

 

perfect timing on the second pic... gunner decided to fall in the poppy fields

 

I'll add.
















I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.

 

Yesss....just saw this thread, love the Pics!

I wasted the best years of my life in Iraq...

 

Top pic is from the roof of one of Saddam's palaces in Iraq.

Second is me and my good buddy from the Land Down Under before he returned home.

 

Kuwait '15-16, camp beuhring/udairi. Pretty lame deployment, only excitement was the occasional parts run from there to camp taji in Iraq. Never spent more than a few hours in Iraq at a time, so no patch for me. Hopefully that will be fixed sooner than later.

The gang:

Loading apaches for transport to Afghanistan


Flight to taji with some marines


Shenanigans

Scenic kuwait


Last day in country

 

Everytime I see this thread it reminds me of all of the men and women that are always out there protecting us!




THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Haha jk man. I have a couple buddies in Kuwait right now. On weekends they're out at the beach and shit.. it's a vacation haha. I was at Al Salem for like a week waiting for my flight to Iraq but I couldn't really go anywhere

 

Trust me I know man lol I didn't get any beach time but I know plenty of people who did. Being a helicopter mechanic makes it tough to see much action, I usually just end up fixing the aftermath unfortunately.

 

We all have important roles. Still part of the 1%

 

Started out in OIF 1, Ended with OEF 14-15 with 4 other deployments in between totaling 60 months deployed. It is not for me anymore. I retire in 168 days from the Army. I will say that I had the best job the army could offer, and served with some of the best soldiers I've had the privilege to meet.

 

A few from when I was a young Specialist, Corporal, Sergeant in OEF 10-11. Stryker Mechanic so POG was life with the exception of a few Recovery Missions outside the wire. Also had the privlidge of meeting an amazing man, Robin Williams himself (RIP). Fun times.

 

Ok, I'll contribute. These pics are from Kandahar, Afghanistan 2013. I was there as an Air Advisor (basically advising the Afghan's how to properly maintain Russian MI-17 helicopters). It was my 6th and last deployment as I have less than one year until my retirement of 24 years. This one was the knarliest but most rewarding deployments BY FAR of my career.

Pic descriptions in order:
1. Trip to FOB Ripley (SEAL base) as maintenance support.
2. Geared up for mission
3. Low level in the real definition of BFE!
4. Providing overwatch with Afghan ANA. Over there you kept your head on a swivel...there was a Green on Blue attack while I was there.

Deployments:

1. Masirah Island, Oman Sept 2001
2. Camp Snoopy, Qatar 2003
3. K2, Uzbekistan 2004
4. Ali Al Salem, Kuwait 2005
5. Ali Al Salem, Kuwait 2006
6. Kandahar, Afghanistan 2013

Thank you to all who serve, who have served, and those who support us. I can only imagine what it would have been like coming back from Vietnam and getting spit on after a shitty tour that I didn't volunteer for! At least now our country men and women support us.....even if they don't support the cause.

 

Fire Base Bell, Iraq

 

@ripcityota You’re the first person I’ve seen with a canteen in a long time.

 

Silly LTs