Here's some pics of my recent tour in Iraq.

Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps
II Marine Expeditionary Force

Don't ask why it took so long to upload these so you all could look...but enjoy!

Going on patrol.



Main Supply Route Michigan (kind of like I-40 through the United States).



Sniper mission.



Sinh al Dhibban. This is a nasty, nasty place.



Truck Commander on a mission. We found an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) this day. Long night.



View from a .50 Cal machine gun. This was my baby.



About to leave on a mission.



Sitting in a box looking for ambushes.



My buddy Trent on the left. He was carrying an AT-4 (shoulder-fired rocket) that day, and scared the crap out of the locals.



Iraqi Police Cruiser.



Deadly Force Authorized bishes.



36 hours into a single mission with NO sleep.



Going home!

Comments and questions are welcome, as always.

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Ahh Ma Duece.
Shes a good ol girl.

at least u came back alive. Im hoping for the same with my buddys. One already went over there for 1 yr and is going back for another 6 months. Plus I got 4 other buddys there too. Me..im sitting in San Diego on North Island Naval Base waiting for deployment on West Pack.

My platoon suffered no casualties and minimal injuries. We were lucky.

glad to see you and your platoon came back safe and sound. I hope the same for you and your friends Promt.

cool pictures. Its one thing to hear about it all and see it on the news, and another to see it from the people who were there.

wow awesome, glad your alright... thanks for sharing!

nice pics - that must be some experience

great pics, glad to see your back. you ever cross paths with a guy named Ed Nusser?...one of my good friends. get a chance to fire that at-4 heat?

Verde,
Lemme just say Thanks for what you do man.
without guys and gals like you, we wouldnt be able to do the things we do.
amazing pics.
thank god (whichever version works for you..lol) you all made it back home safe.

I wish I had a gun like that, all I have is this little .50 Desert Eagle :-(

That 50 must shake the crap out that Hummer. Even a pc gets rattled.
And as Manny said thanks.

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diddo.

thank you.

~snap

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^^^ ditto...thnks for doing what u do bro

glad to see u home n safe

bboy

I have incredible respect for people like you tht serve their counrty and put their life on the line

a question though, did you kill anyone?!

edit: amazing pics btw

This post has been edited by Mike: Jan 31, 2006 - 12:14 PM

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Manny I agree with you 100%, as do others here as I see.

Very nice pictures by the way- I always like to see a cute man in a uniform

cool pics, and thanks Verde97 for serving our country and protecting the rights of mine and others in there time of need.

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Doesn't ring a bell...yes, I have fired the at-4. It's awesome, I can't put it into words.

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The Hum-Vee weighs roughly 10,000 pounds with the armor on it. You'd be surprised at how little she shakes.

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Ahh, the age old question. A lot of people ask me this. The best answer for it is that yes, I have. I'd rather not talk about it though, but it was something that I had to do, and it saved literally hundreds of lives.

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Lol, thanks.

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Finally, to everyone who replied to Manny's statement, you are very much welcome. And, the thank you comes from me. Without all of you, the military today wouldn't be what it is. There is so much respect for what I do, and it is all to serve all of you back home in the greatest country in the world.

So, I say thank you to each and every one of you who support our great military. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I almost ended up in tears from your replies, and it gives me a great feeling.

Mike

it's so awesome that you do what you did safely. Were there no security issue with no pics anywhere?

Hey verde. I'm glad to hear you are ok. And thanks for supporting our country. And diddo to what Manny said.

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yep, manny said it first and he said it best. thank you. hope you can make the colorado meet .

The hummer next to the one you guys are standing next to.
Is that a .30 cal m240?


Edit: 1st Pic.

This post has been edited by 97lestyousay: Feb 1, 2006 - 12:01 AM

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I am in agreement with the 3 of them.

Thanks

im glad you made it home safe and thank you for doing what you do!


here is something i alwasy wondered.... the political parties in america seem to be split about 50/50 on the war. some people say that we should stay as long as possible to get the job done, while others say that its time to pull out. so im wondering what most of the soldiers think is the best thing to do with iraq? since you guys are the ones who get to see it all 1st hand, i figure you would know best.

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No security issues with the pics I posted. I have some that you guys can't see, most involve pics with maps in them.

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M240B firing 7.62 Full Metal Jacket (haha). We had one on patrol with us (mainly for suppressive fire if we get ambushed, because we can always ditch the other weapons and take this one with us).

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All Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen think the same thing. While their minds are not all the same, being that Marines want to get it firefights, airmen want to bomb, etc., they all joined the military to do one thing: serve our country.

I haven't met one person in the military that doesn't like going overseas and fighting for a worthy cause. While it sucks being away from our families, we all know what has to be done.

The "worthy cause" that I mentioned is this: If we weren't over there fighting right at this very moment, the insurgency would come over to the United States, Europe, and so forth. Even though we already have terroristic actions on a regular basis, we would be in complete turmoil caused by roadside bombs, random gunfire at innocent civilians, and things of that nature.

If we were to pull out now, the insurgency would see the United States as weak and cowards. Every Marine in my platoon didn't want to leave, because we felt as if our job was being left undone.

So my answer to my novel can be summed up as this: No, we cannot pull out at this time. We CAN, however, cut down on the number of persons in country right now. The Iraqi National Guard is highly trained (we did some missions with them), and they are kicking ass and taking names. We are already handing over some small bases to them, and I am sure that they will get the job done. I believe that by this time in two years, we can almost completely pull out, but as of right now, it is not the time.

I said almost completely because we will always have personnel in that country. It will soon be what Okinawa, Japan and Germany is at the present time.

I hope that answers your question Lagos, sorry for the long reply lol.

Mike

The 240 is a great MG my second fav after the m2. The M1A1s I used to TC
have 2 and an M2. I really miss those Tanks. They are addicting. Do
MC Tanks run Table 8s like the army for qualifying?

thanks for the reply... i always wondered how the soldiers view the situation vs what we are just told through the media and polititians.

You bet Lagos.

Umm...I have no idea 97lestyousay. I'm not a tanker, but I suspect that there are similar qualifications for both the Army and Marine Corps.

Hey man like celicaST said we all
hope you can make it to the meet.
It would be great fun.
And like i said before you are
a great person doing all you
can to help our country
And we all thank you for that.

This post has been edited by celiracer: Feb 4, 2006 - 12:42 PM

I'm behind presure on that one too. That place must be crazy over there.