Troops: what was your experience in afghanistan/iraq

Question

My fiance is in the army and just got his deployment papers a few days ago. He said it looks like he'll be going to Afghanistan next year in December 2009 (pretty much has put a dent in the marriage plans for that year for now.) I am nervous about him going over there. Everyone has their opinions on which one is worse than the other when it comes to Iraq and Afghanistan. Now I've had family that have mostly been deployed to Iraq, and I believe only one, who was in the Marines, sent to Afghanistan. But what I want to know is from your point of view, what was your experience there? Was it scary? How did you have to live? And does it compare to what the media gives u on the news and the internet everyday? But for the ones (especially who were in Afghanistan) what was the experience, and which one do you think is worse: Iraq or Afghanistan. I can use the information. My fiance and cousin told me a little but it always helps to hear others views on it. It would really help me out a lot.

Answer 1

Afganistan is much less developed and has many more remote outposts that are accessable by only helicopter or tactical airlift like helicopter or C-130/C-17 aircraft.  It is also becoming increasingly violent.  That is one of the reasons why they are currently boosting the troop strength there.  Many of these places have limited use of water, little in the way of hard structures to sleep, work and operate out of but instead are in and working out of tents for the most part.  Iraq on the other hand has fewer of these kind of places but the violence until recently has been higher in many parts of it than Afganistan.  Many of the posts in Iraq have harden structures to work and operate out of and there is more in the way of recreation at the larger camps and you can travel by convoy from some to others and they utilize air only to transverse the most violent regions.

For some either place can be scary based on where they are assigned and what their jobs are.  Providing paramiter security, going on patrols, kicking down doors are pretty dangerous things for those that do it and most but not all do some of one or the other at some point.  Living and working in and out of tents 24/7, having limited water to bathe with, and never really a chance to get clean, relax, and get some good home cooked food and good entertainment and relaxation can and does really take its toll on you after a while.  The new HBO series is very much realistic in so far as living conditions go for the outter camps and places in Iraq.  For Afaganistan it is is even worse as there is little in the way of electricity, large modern cities with any kind of running water or anything else.  Most places are just towns or villages and in most parts they are few and farther in between than in Iraq.  I think for someone in the Army or Marine Corps Iraq is more dangerous and the threat of violence is more prevalent but Afganistan is harsher in so far as living conditions go.  

Answer 2

its pretty d**n bad anywhere so... all you need to do is to be supportive of him and understand that he will not have a lot of time to talk to you all the time...believe me i did three deployments to iraq in the USMC and i was on the infantry...