The Armpit of The World

Nick Stach
English 97F
Professor Shen
4-Feb-2010

The Armpit of The World

I left for Iraq on the 27th of October 2006. Spending 16 months in the worst place imaginable was so much fun I miss it. The reason for this is because I was excited to see what was always about to happen. I had all the friends that I needed and all the heartache that anyone could ever want. Leaving my new wife of only six months was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I couldn’t wait to see the extremes that I have gotten my self into. The results of me joining the Army is for me to get shipped off half way around the world.

My troop (containing 75 people including myself) ended up in Mosul Iraq where we spent 8 of our 16 months. We were the tip of the spear inside the city (meaning we were the people that reacted to everything). Being in Mosul was the most awesome part of being in Iraq. Driving through the city unprotected, and standing up out of the top of the truck was a blast. It was my job to be a gunner while on patrol, so basically from my chest up was exposed and unprotected for as long as the patrol would lasted. It wasn’t just me toughing it out. There were 5 trucks in our patrol so that means that there were 5 gunners. It was our job to protect the convoy from people that wanted to shoot at us, or try and interrupt the mission any way that they could. They would even try to throw rocks and glass bottles or jars full of rocks at us. To be in a city where it felt that everyone hated the site of you was a very creepy feeling. All of this was good but that was only half the fight. We fought dysentery every single day on and off the forward operating base (f.o.b.) we were getting sick and having uncontrollable bladder problems. For all of this punishment and pain that we were putting our selves through. We had all picked up horrible habits of drinking energy drinks by the dozen after taking diet supplements. The usual combination was three to five Hydroxy Cut Hardcore pills and four or five Monster energy drinks to stay awake. And that was just one combination that we would use to prevent sleep. Allot of us were addicted to nicotine, we would just pile smoking and dipping on top of the taking of the sleep preventatives. It was unimaginable of what I did to my body while I was there.

Going on multiple area and recon patrols that would go either two ways, we would get Shot at or the patrol would go untouched and we would return to the f.o.b. with out having fired a single shot or having one shot at us. We had almost completed 269 combat patrols by the 4th of July. When I spied a man standing on a terrace on the 3rd floor of a building that had a rocket propelled grenade (RPG). He shot at the first humvee missing it by only a few inches. We were then under heavy attack. I turned my turret towards where I had seen the man standing on the terrace but he had darted back inside the building. So I rotated back towards the fight and fired a few short bursts from my .50 caliber machine gun towards the enemy that was shooting at us. Then as soon as it started it was over. I don’t know why that one fire fight stands out more than any other one does. But I think that it sticks out because no one was hurt. I had been in worse and longer fire fights, we were in some that took place while we were mounted and on the ground. Mounted meaning being in our humvee’s and obviously on the ground means we were on foot walking around in the streets. Those were normal days for us. Going outside of the not-so-safe f.o.b. was always a different experience. I was always flabbergasted by how the people of that country could just stand by to all of the hating and killing that was taking place there. I think it was because I grew up thinking a different thought. It was a popular question around the troop to ask if all of this hate was happening in the United States the people would stand up to it and fight back.

From all of the irresponsible acts of trying to stay awake and all of the sickness that we endured, I came home at an unhealthy weight of 185 pounds. I looked like I was wasting away and I had no idea, My wife was the first person to say you need to eat something. In my eye though I felt good and didn’t need to do anything, She showed me pictures that scared the crap out of me. I looked so spindly and weak so of course I started eating. Of course I was having a little bit of a tough time when I first got back, but now all I really got going on from all of my experience is sleep insomnia and other sleeping problems.

Almost everyone I know has asked me so how was it over there and what was it like? All I was able to say was, “Standing up for the right thing when everything around you is so wrong is the hardest job in the world.”