Profile Essay
- Submitted by: jb1986
- Views: 1818
- Category: Other
- Date Submitted: 03/02/2011 02:40 PM
- Pages: 5
- Report this Essay
One thing I have never understood as an Infantryman deployed to Iraq as soon as I left High School was all the guys who wanted to go so bad. They all seem to have some sort of restless spirit inside them that wants to experience something new. They all thought it was going to be a fun and great experience. I really think they wanted to kill the Taliban. But as soon as the soldier wakes up after a 14 hour plane ride and takes their first step onto the dry soil of Iraq, thoughts of whether they have awoke in Hell or not usually circulate through their mind and tears of fear and reality fill their eyes; all while trying to hold their breath because of the burning pain they feel as the fiery air seems to singe their nose hairs.
The climate is completely different than the United States and it almost feels like you are on a different planet; a planet where the temperature gets up to 139 degrees in the day and 40 degrees at night; a planet that is completely covered with brownish red sand except for the few rivers and lakes. The winds can literally knock someone off of their feet and the sandstorms sting and sometimes cut up the face. This is all not to mention the fact that the average infantryman wears approximately 35-45 lbs of gear when they go on missions in Iraq. They have to wear their full Battle dress uniform, their combat vest with Kevlar body armor and usually a backpack or rucksack. They also have to wear their heavy Kevlar helmet and carry their M4 or M16 rifle or some carry the bigger M249 Saw (Squad automatic weapon) or M240B machine gun which is really heavy. The weapons and anything of metal structure gets so hot and blazing to the touch that soldiers always have to wear gloves also. They either wear the gloves and are a little hotter or not wear them and burn your fingers on everything. So, by the end of their 12 hour shift, they are pouring sweat and have usually drunk 2 or 3 gallons of water if not more. It is extremely easy to get heat stroke...
The climate is completely different than the United States and it almost feels like you are on a different planet; a planet where the temperature gets up to 139 degrees in the day and 40 degrees at night; a planet that is completely covered with brownish red sand except for the few rivers and lakes. The winds can literally knock someone off of their feet and the sandstorms sting and sometimes cut up the face. This is all not to mention the fact that the average infantryman wears approximately 35-45 lbs of gear when they go on missions in Iraq. They have to wear their full Battle dress uniform, their combat vest with Kevlar body armor and usually a backpack or rucksack. They also have to wear their heavy Kevlar helmet and carry their M4 or M16 rifle or some carry the bigger M249 Saw (Squad automatic weapon) or M240B machine gun which is really heavy. The weapons and anything of metal structure gets so hot and blazing to the touch that soldiers always have to wear gloves also. They either wear the gloves and are a little hotter or not wear them and burn your fingers on everything. So, by the end of their 12 hour shift, they are pouring sweat and have usually drunk 2 or 3 gallons of water if not more. It is extremely easy to get heat stroke...