[allen37]

I had the "pleasure" of participating in these events as an 18 year old infantryman. Living in an outpost with a generator and no running water, tightly nestled away between AQI and JAM. Mortars in the morning, IED or two in the day, and skirmishes at night while the engineers brought in the T-walls. Character building, to say the least.

[throwaway713824]

My ETS date was June 2002, I was a 19k (tank crewman). My first day as a civilian I swore into the Air Force reserve. Word was they were stop holding tankers and calling them back in. No effing way I was going to war with the low lifes and criminals I served with in tank platoons in the late 90s. I understand recruiting did a lot better after 9/11, more motivated people. All I knew was if the Air Force has me the Army couldn’t get me. Peace brother.

[SamReidHughes]

Wow, that would be a great answer for the YC application's "Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage?" question.

[elteto]

It was a fascinating and terrifying read. I’m glad you made it out.

[hart_russell]

Thank you for your service.

[psychedelic]

Nice to see I'm not the only 11B on hackernews. I was there as well from Nov 07 - Feb 09. Spent most of my days at Hope/SUJ. Had the "pleasure" of months of fighting and helping with the T-walls on route Aeros. Good times.

[jseliger]

Have you read Sebastian Junger's book Tribe? If not, you likely should; I found it very interesting but cannot speak to some of his reporting on and experience with the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.