I was enlisted in the US Army just out of high school, finished resultin my Basic Combat Training at Fort Benning, GA, did my Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Fort Gordon, GA (My MOS was 25B, or basically networking and advanced troubleshooting for computers.)

I was then sent BACK to Fort Benning to the 4th Infantry Division, was deployed two months later, and spent 13months in Iraq.

I was injured during a patrol, when we took light enemy fire at one point. I was hit in the back, but luckily my plate stopped the bullet from actually killing me... The force of impact was enough to mess my back up for a long time, I think they said the bullet hit the plate so hard it literally shifted a disc in my back, basically crippling me for a year and a half.

That's how I was discharged. Back injury from taking a shot. I'm glad to say I can walk fine, even train in martial arts. I'm back to normal, however I can't re-enlist (like they said I could!) due to my "medical history". Bah.

Well that was all my time in the Army. Forgive me if some of this doesn't make sense, I have a horrible memory.

it's ok soldier..you did what few would even consider and fewier actaully go through with it,semper fi

That sounds exactly what I want to do in the army when I finish High school (the job, not getting shot )

Your a hero you served for your country and that's something to be proud of

I used to want to be a soilders but I wanna be a politician and hopefully prime minister to completely pull troops out of Afghanistan as maybe it's time to face the fact we willnever win


Remember ur a hero

i would join the UK army when i get out of highschool, if i dint hav a fuckin bleedin condition (von wilerbrands type II, if your woonderin) so basically, thts my only career choice fucked

thanks guys and yeah I would never tell someone not to join the military, I loved it and still love the thought of being a part of something bigger you know

Im going in as a Royal Naval Officer (hoping for warfare officer) as a submariner since im good with confined spaces. If i dont get the grades then ill look into possibly joining the UK version of the SEALS. But idk about that as my mum said she would rather cut me out of her life then know that the possibilities of me dieing are reasonable.
(the SEALS bit my mum supports me all the way on the Navy)
My grandad was apart of the first submarine to stay fully submerged from england to america.
P.S Awesome story. Well apart from the bit of you being shot. Also im sure they can re-enlist you in another job not necessarily front lines. As if they give you a choice in the first place. Also since you mentioned you were a specialist how many ranks did you go through for that rank?

delta, you did the right thing, not run like a sissie, but show that u have balls and u are a real man on a combat situation.


also i dont have that corage to be honest, i want to join the Colombian Air Force as Black Hawk Gunner, the worst thing can happen is that they transfer me to the Infrantry Brigades, seriously, i dont want to loose my legs with a anti-personal mine ( yeah the FARC troops set tons of those mines in colombia)

I wasnt specific on why and how and what happened when I got shot... let me elaborate...
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We were on a patrol (common thing) and it was night, but we had our night vision so it was all good. We were basically ambushed by a small band of Insurgents in an alley we had turned down, it was in a neighborhood we knew had heavy insurgency influence so our orders were to just scout and see what kind of force we were dealing with.

So anyway. We turned down this one ally (the squad I was in and myself) while the second squad held security at the entrance. (Each squad we formed had 5 people in it). Now this "alley" was wide, I'd say about 15 feet wide and the length was maybe 50 meters long. It was an apartment complex of sorts, a bunch of windows, doors, everything you DONT want in this situation lol.

Anyway me and the Squad leader led up from, the last three pulling guard duty behind us. Well, it just so happened the Insurgents knew we were going to go down here and set IEDs (not big tank killers, but like anti-personnel mines you know, crude claymores.) Well my SL tripped the wire, we all heard the *click* but it was a dud. At that point we were running back the way we came ( we were about half way in the alley) but they were holed up in a small building near the front, maybe about 20 of em. Right when the click went off they charged out.

The rear squad pulling security joined the fight, but all the apartments were linked together by overhead walkways, like you can go from one to the other via upstairs (where the entire fight took place), so it was essentially a giant system of halls and rooms and doors and walkways. Well the insurgents fled inside when they noticed our other squad firing at them (my squad ducked into an empty building when the enemy opened up on us).

We had to search EVERY damn building ><. It was intense gunfighting in these small *** rooms. Luckily we had grenades but they didn't. Well one of my squad mates (SAW gunner) got hit in the leg crossing the hall to our position. I turned my back to grab him and pull him to safety when suddenly I felt something POUND into my back, throwing ME down with him. The adrenaline luckily dulled the pain enough to where I got us to safety. I was fine, he was out for the count though. He just stood on one leg looking out a window firing at the enemy while me and the squads advanced.

Well about an hour later they either all fled or were killed, and we returned to base. It was afterwards I realized I was shot, as when I tried to stand up after debriefing, I COULDNT lol. It sucked man.

I have the Purple Heart to prove it too. I turned down the Bronze Star because I mean, I didn't really DO anything, I just did my job ya know. I did get a letter from our Commander praising my actions that saved the Corporal that night, and each of the two squads got letters as well.

The bullet hit me with such an impact it shattered the plate designed to stop it, they said it was a miracle the bullet stopped, it could've easily gone through and killed me. But boy did I have a giant bruise for a month!
------

Funny thing is, I was trained for COMPUTER NETWORKING lol, not infantry tactics like this, but that night we were all Soldiers, all infantry.

But that night we had two injuries apart from myself: the Corporal who got his leg shot up and a Sergeant who had gotten hit in the arm. But no fatalities thankfully.

------

Well there it is guys. My war story.

EasyDelta wrote:

I wasnt specific on why and how and what happened when I got shot... let me elaborate...
----
We were on a patrol (common thing) and it was night, but we had our night vision so it was all good. We were basically ambushed by a small band of Insurgents in an alley we had turned down, it was in a neighborhood we knew had heavy insurgency influence so our orders were to just scout and see what kind of force we were dealing with.

So anyway. We turned down this one ally (the squad I was in and myself) while the second squad held security at the entrance. (Each squad we formed had 5 people in it). Now this "alley" was wide, I'd say about 15 feet wide and the length was maybe 50 meters long. It was an apartment complex of sorts, a bunch of windows, doors, everything you DONT want in this situation lol.

Anyway me and the Squad leader led up from, the last three pulling guard duty behind us. Well, it just so happened the Insurgents knew we were going to go down here and set IEDs (not big tank killers, but like anti-personnel mines you know, crude claymores.) Well my SL tripped the wire, we all heard the *click* but it was a dud. At that point we were running back the way we came ( we were about half way in the alley) but they were holed up in a small building near the front, maybe about 20 of em. Right when the click went off they charged out.

The rear squad pulling security joined the fight, but all the apartments were linked together by overhead walkways, like you can go from one to the other via upstairs (where the entire fight took place), so it was essentially a giant system of halls and rooms and doors and walkways. Well the insurgents fled inside when they noticed our other squad firing at them (my squad ducked into an empty building when the enemy opened up on us).

We had to search EVERY damn building ><. It was intense gunfighting in these small *** rooms. Luckily we had grenades but they didn't. Well one of my squad mates (SAW gunner) got hit in the leg crossing the hall to our position. I turned my back to grab him and pull him to safety when suddenly I felt something POUND into my back, throwing ME down with him. The adrenaline luckily dulled the pain enough to where I got us to safety. I was fine, he was out for the count though. He just stood on one leg looking out a window firing at the enemy while me and the squads advanced.

Well about an hour later they either all fled or were killed, and we returned to base. It was afterwards I realized I was shot, as when I tried to stand up after debriefing, I COULDNT lol. It sucked man.

I have the Purple Heart to prove it too. I turned down the Bronze Star because I mean, I didn't really DO anything, I just did my job ya know. I did get a letter from our Commander praising my actions that saved the Corporal that night, and each of the two squads got letters as well.

The bullet hit me with such an impact it shattered the plate designed to stop it, they said it was a miracle the bullet stopped, it could've easily gone through and killed me. But boy did I have a giant bruise for a month!
------

Funny thing is, I was trained for COMPUTER NETWORKING lol, not infantry tactics like this, but that night we were all Soldiers, all infantry.

But that night we had two injuries apart from myself: the Corporal who got his leg shot up and a Sergeant who had gotten hit in the arm. But no fatalities thankfully.

------

Well there it is guys. My war story.

cool story except the getting shot part

Yeah but you gotta think of it as something that's bound to happen. I knew this wasn't going to end well, I mean the odds of us coming out alive were slim since it was their territory and they knew it damn well, utilizing everything to their advantage while we stumbled around kicking tables and chairs and doors out the way just to get a clear shot at them! So yeah it sucks but hey, I'm alive to tell the tale.

Wow, somebody whose actually experienced front line combat. You make your country proud! Oh and thank goodness you were wearing that plate, lol.

Purplevine4 wrote:

Im going in as a Royal Naval Officer (hoping for warfare officer) as a submariner since im good with confined spaces. If i dont get the grades then ill look into possibly joining the UK version of the SEALS. But idk about that as my mum said she would rather cut me out of her life then know that the possibilities of me dieing are reasonable.
(the SEALS bit my mum supports me all the way on the Navy)
My grandad was apart of the first submarine to stay fully submerged from england to america.
P.S Awesome story. Well apart from the bit of you being shot. Also im sure they can re-enlist you in another job not necessarily front lines. As if they give you a choice in the first place. Also since you mentioned you were a specialist how many ranks did you go through for that rank?

Oh sorry. E-4 is Specialist or Corporal. Corporal is Junior-NCO, you can be put in charge of stuff an NCO would be, basically. But it requires schooling and crap and Im lazy! But yeah, it's the fourth rank in the Army.

I went E-1 Private, E-2 Private 2 (or PV2 for short), E-3 Private First Class, and then Specialist. then the NCO's (Corporal, Sergeant, etc etc)

That sounded awesome! How was it like living in a base in afghanistan? Im pretty sure you cant tell us which base it is but was it enjoyable or tough or...did u at least have showers?

what part of agfhan where you in? I got hurt in helmand province in musa qelah. Damn fools gettin smart now huh?

Purplevine4 wrote:

That sounded awesome! How was it like living in a base in afghanistan? Im pretty sure you cant tell us which base it is but was it enjoyable or tough or...did u at least have showers?

I was in Iraq and it wasnt bad. Showers and all that good stuff, we slept in giant tents that had A/C and comfortable cots What can I say, we lived the good life LOL

What i want to try is steak in a tube! yumm...

do you know if i can join the US Military Forces? or i need to be born on US??.

because this days i was thinking to maybe join the USMC in the future, when i get a job and get money enough to move to US.

I'm not sure how it works but I know you can join even if your not born here. Let ask my Sgt he's from norway

you where in al asad weren't you! Lol

You have to be a US Citizen for a certain amount of time before you are eligible to enlist. I think it's like a year or something? I forget.

But no if you want to enlist from Norway or UK or Germany or anything, you can't... You have to be a citizen of the US or US property (like Puerto Rico).

negatove...u can be from different areas I have a friend from somalia....heck from sgt from norway just became a citizen two months ago at least you need a green card and I believe a certain amount of time leaving in america

Ah okay. It was something like that lol.

i was actually thinking of joining the US Army or the US Navy when i graduate. i still have four years to decide but i was thinking more of joining the navy but i have a question about the army:
wat career oprotunities are there in the army?
on topic: how was the time u spent in iraq?

well easydelta, since i have family on Pensilvania, a good record, and be a colombian citizen , that will help, cuse colombia is one of the most important US allies on South America