'We're going to war, bro': Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne deploys to the Middle East

[turbinetree]

WORLD NEWS JANUARY 7, 2020 / 6:06 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Rich McKay 5 MIN READ


FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Reuters) - For many of the soldiers, it would be their first mission. They packed up ammunition and rifles, placed last-minute calls to loved ones, then turned in their cell phones. Some gave blood.

The 600 mostly young soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, were headed for the Middle East, part of a group of some 3,500 U.S. paratroopers ordered to the region. Kuwait is the first stop for many. Their final destinations are classified.

“We’re going to war, bro,” one cheered, holding two thumbs up and sporting a grin under close-shorn red hair. He stood among dozens of soldiers loading trucks outside a cinder block building housing several auditoriums with long benches and tables.

Days after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the drone killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, raising fears of fresh conflict in the Middle East, the men and women of the U.S. Army’s storied 82nd Airborne Division are moving out in the largest “fast deployment” since the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-security-usa-fort-bragg/were-going-to-war-bro-fort-braggs-82nd-airborne-deploys-to-the-middle-east-idUSKBN1Z616W

First of all lets bring back the draft........................second this is really sad, to deploy men and woman to a combat zone to help the traitor in the white house defect his treason......................and because he was Impeached for .................

[Botany]

1. Please tell me this isn't really happening

This is madness.

And the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear: “A Fool lies here who tried to hustle the East.” Rudyard Kipling

[Volaris]

18. That last line should be stamped to the bottom of Trumps conviction and removal order.

[Botany]

23. Iran is not a threat to us, Iran did not attack us, and it was Trump who broke the peace treaty.

And yet it looks like we are going into an unneeded war with Iran. Ivanka, Jared, Don Jr., and Eric
should all be up front and center for any operations.

[OhNo-Really]

28. 2 websites to follow for military news

https://www.militarytimes.com/

https://www.armytimes.com/

Confirmed 82nd Deployed
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/01/06/no-cell-phones-laptops-were-allowed-to-go-with-8

[gratuitous]

2. Oh boy, it's war!

A wild, romantic adventure! Two thumbs up, bro! Yahoo!

I hope you all realize that the folks who will be taking care of you when (and if) you get back aren't going to be the same folks who sent you out. In fact, your care-givers probably didn't want you to go in the first place.

[Aristus]

7. He might change his tune if he gets vital body parts blown off.

Too goddamned many war films for this hammerhead.

And not the ones he should be watching, 'Saving Private Ryan', etc.

He's watching the Rambo films, where the ripped guy always wins single-handedly...

[Golden Raisin]

13. TV recruiting commercials for various military

entities make it all look exciting, adventurous, high tech, and a flashy computer game or Marvel movie come to life. Reality is many of the kids are cannon fodder who, IF they come home, will be fucked up physically and mentally.

[AkFemDem]

16. This is how soldiers make one foot step in front of another into that white bus...

You think that soldier isn’t scared? It does himself and his family zero good to show that fear- bravado is what allows him to keep marching.

And yes I know firsthand.

[Aristus]

17. Me too.

I remember when I got my orders for the Gulf in 1991, thinking it would be a lark.

Then our C-130 touched down at KKMC in Saudi Arabia, and it all became real. The dust, the heat, the tired personnel wearing fraying BDU's. I thought: "Shit! I could get killed!"

Fortunately, my unit wasn't sent into combat, and the one Scud missile attack we came under missed us by a country mile.

[11 Bravo]

31. I was 19 when I was sent to VietNam. I thought I was fucking invincible.

I was quickly disabused of that notion the first time I had to cover up a guy from my platoon with a khaki tarp, and then help load him onto a helicopter.

He was not a priority medevac, because an RPG had removed most of his upper body, so he didn't mind the wait.

Fuck Donald Trump and every other chickenhawk piece of shit who thinks that war is a game to be played in order to bolster their political fortunes.

[walkingman]

3. Cheering for war is insane.

[Caliman73]

9. That is why it is typically very young men who are recruited to fight.

I was like that in 90-91 when we were ramping up for Desert Storm. It took my dad, who had done the same thing in 1966-67 to sit me down and basically threaten me, for me to not sign up to fight.

Young men are typically filled with testosterone and not much sense. They haven't yet seen their friends blown up or lost body parts so they feel invincible.

[pwb]

4. Everybody else besides that one guy ? How do they feel?

Reuters pushes for war. IMO.

[TheRealNorth]

8. Remember the Maine!

Oh wait, that was another war the press pushed for.

[Roland99]

5. My daughter was stationed there less than 2 yrs ago

[marlakay]

6. Their grins won't last long

When they see friends die and injuries happen.

[dewsgirl]

10. They do not all feel this way..my son's unit leaves next week

and I had a living room full here last night, that all were fine before Thursday, but they definitely don't sound like this guy.

[ismnotwasm]

11. I like to watch "coming home" videos

The ones where deployed military haven’t seen their families for a while get to see them. I’ve lived that. Some of them have this..look. So sad.

My daughter served in Afghanistan and is mostly fine.
My son in law served all over the world, for years, and is...mostly...fine.
My son served 18 months in Iraq and has a substance abuse disorder he’s fighting. He’s at the VA all the time.

I am lucky they are alive
War is bullshit

[DFW]

12. Anyone who cheers and gives a thumbs-up at the prospect of going to war

....has never been there.

My father-in-law was drafted at age 17 and sent off to war with some guys like that. He was already not thrilled at having been taken off his farm, though he had no idea what was in store for him.

Of his unit, he was the only one who returned alive, and at that, it was at age 19 minus a leg. But, of course, no one in a gung-ho unit ever gives a thought to scenes like that without having been there, and then it's too late.

[Arthur_Frain]

14. Sat with a friend last night, and he spoke about watching his son and a friend this weekend.

His son and his friend are both 16. He is possessed of an unimaginable sadness right now, knowing his son and his friend, in all likelihood, will be going off to fight in our now endless conflict.

I had nothing to say to him. I’ve never been so thankful that it never came to pass that I wanted to have children.

[Dukkha]

15. This is what we're making

More men like this. They were probably gun-ho, fist in the air, cheering for the glamour and excitement they watched in movies and indoctrinated by armchair chicken hawks. Now it's just about trying to forget and be mentally calm enough to sleep at night.

[cwydro]

21. Many are hung-ho in every war.

Maybe Vietnam not so much because of the draft.

The soldiers who went to fight WW1 thought it was a fantastic thing, and both sides were confident they’d be home for Christmas.

[Blue_Tires]

25. Thanks for this...

[cwydro]

20. Why do you want to bring back the draft?

I’d say you’re in a minority there.

[MadLinguist]

24. Because it makes the insanity of war everybody's business

If you and your children and your friends' children have their lives on the line, you vote for the people least likely to bring war and destruction to the nation. If war is fought by the economically disadvantaged, as it is during non-draft eras, there's a big sector of the population who are revved up and full of patriotic fantasies of domination. The vast majority of such folks do not have anything to do with the military; somebody else's kids die. So the draft makes the responsibility of war fall into the democratic process.

[cwydro]

32. I hate to break it to you, but the "economically disadvantaged" were the ones most affected by the

draft, in Vietnam certainly, but in pretty much in every war.

The rich can escape the draft.

[MadLinguist]

33. you're not breaking anything to me

It's true that rich people always escape going to war, but the a far bigger sector of the populace ends up going if there's a draft on. The unpopularity of the Vietnam war was in large part fueled by the draft.

I'm OK being disagreed with, but there's no need to trot out condescending phrases like "I hate to break it to you".

[cwydro]

34. No need to be so sensitive.

Plenty of people think a draft would be fair.

But it won’t be.

[MadLinguist]

35. aight, aight, not really bruised

I doubt the draft would be very fair either. I just think the draft would make a lot more people pay attention to the motives, and the voting record of politicians who get us into wars because a lot more people would be adversely affected.

[winstars]

22. Starship Troopers!!! Get the Bugs!!!

[greatauntoftriplets]

26. One of my great nephews left for basic training at Fort Benning today.

He's not the gung ho type and he's openly gay. The family tried to talk him out of it.

[Newest Reality]

27. Maybe they should add...

"This is a good day to die! Who will die with me?", (and REALLY mean it) as a morning reminder to snuff the jubilation and get real about fighting and war. It is not a video game and I have never heard dedicated warriors sounding giddy about the seriousness of impending battle. It is solemn and ominous and I guess they have to find that out.

May they be safe and at peace.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

29. We'll need more than the 82nd Airborne

They're an elite highly decorated division but Iran has a military with a half million active duty personnel. They'd be fighting a defensive war on their turf.

[mylightningtoo]

30. I thought war was going to be "fun" too back in early 2003. When

those road-side bombs started going off on BIAP road, not so fun.

[lpbk2713]

36. After he goes two weeks without a shower or warm food ...

He won't be so eager to go to war.

[Paladin]

37. This big, stupid country of ours. We never seem to learn. (nt)

[Initech]

38. I hope this lesson hits the Dude Bros who voted for Trump hard.

If you elect a conservative, you're gonna go to war. Elections have consequences.

[onecaliberal]

39. There is zero chance I'd send my son to fight a proxy war for the perpetrators of 9/11

For that orange piece of shit draft or not.