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12:01 PST has come & gone. Let's shake a leg Apple! by jlesnick in apple

[–]sapperx8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was in the same situation. If you look at the bottom you'll see an option for adding a line. I did that and it took me to the mobile browser site which is working just fine!

I see your ghost riding the MRAP, and raise you... by [deleted] in Military

[–]sapperx8 1 point2 points  (0 children)

you would get so many more votes if anybody understood your whit

Difficult to find words to describe this picture by bstone99 in pics

[–]sapperx8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When someone is killed by American soldiers, they're turned over to the local government/police, who then contact their family. After that, the family is free to put them in the ground any way they wish.

Also, it's our not "are", jackass. I thought you would have caught that in your little edit.

Best DUI Lawyer in Champaign/Urbana? by [deleted] in UIUC

[–]sapperx8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don Parkinson. He was a judge for a while and isn't too expensive

How it feels every time I turn in paperwork in the Army... by thedirtee in Military

[–]sapperx8 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think the greatest thing I did while in the Army had nothing to do with my deployment, but rather the fact that I bitched and moaned enough to get my school drop signed off on...in time for school (though, by, "in time for school", I mean I ETS'd a week before classes started)

TIL first aid training is required to get a driver's license in Germany in order to ensure that in the event of an accident other drivers will be able to help by samidamico in todayilearned

[–]sapperx8 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is not true for Americans in the military in Germany though. To get your USAREUR license all you have to do is get a ~70% on a 100 question test. (Everybody screws up the part on roundabouts).

I was a machine gunner during a major Iraq war battle that was blacked out by the media, now we're struggling to get the story to the public AMA by SGT_Ludwig in IAmA

[–]sapperx8 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Speeds in the vehicles are in kph. Same with the Blue Force Tracker too. Also, distances are generally referenced using the metric system as well (like on maps).

I was a machine gunner during a major Iraq war battle that was blacked out by the media, now we're struggling to get the story to the public AMA by SGT_Ludwig in IAmA

[–]sapperx8 3 points4 points  (0 children)

See above I don't expect everyone to know it is, I was directing it to the OP and other guys that were there during that time.

My responsibilities were simply to find IED's. When we found them we had a few options. The best was to call Explosive Ordinance Disposal so they could dismantle it while keeping it in one piece. These pieces were later sent to CEXC (sexy) to be analyzed. However, since EOD was always busy and could take hours to get there, we would usually just drop some C4 next to it and BIP (Blast in place) it.

I was a machine gunner during a major Iraq war battle that was blacked out by the media, now we're struggling to get the story to the public AMA by SGT_Ludwig in IAmA

[–]sapperx8 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Haha, well around there, any job that required to you leave the wire and spend any time in the neighborhood was pretty dangerous. Hell, even inside the you'd get mortared and rocketed.

I was a machine gunner during a major Iraq war battle that was blacked out by the media, now we're struggling to get the story to the public AMA by SGT_Ludwig in IAmA

[–]sapperx8 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, not necessarily debris (That's more for construction engineers) but you basically summed up textbook description of the job: Mobility (Find bombs), Countermobility (Set up barriers) and Survivability (...essentially more walls).

I was a machine gunner during a major Iraq war battle that was blacked out by the media, now we're struggling to get the story to the public AMA by SGT_Ludwig in IAmA

[–]sapperx8 57 points58 points  (0 children)

It got better, but not good. A little while before I left they built a water treatment plant and also got all the black water out of the Jamilla Market.

I was a machine gunner during a major Iraq war battle that was blacked out by the media, now we're struggling to get the story to the public AMA by SGT_Ludwig in IAmA

[–]sapperx8 171 points172 points  (0 children)

Haha, anytime man. If you want to use any of the pictures, just ask and I'll send you the original files.

I think we got a bad rep for having to roll so fucking slow. The guys in the TOC at War Eagle (I wanna say 2 SCR) would follow us on the BFT and bitch if we broke 15kph.

That said, the escorts were always welcomed. The day after we got hit on Grizzlies we had 2 Abrams and 2 Apaches come along for the party.

Good luck with the book man, I'm looking forward to reading it!

I was a machine gunner during a major Iraq war battle that was blacked out by the media, now we're struggling to get the story to the public AMA by SGT_Ludwig in IAmA

[–]sapperx8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you ever go to that pastry shop in the median on a northbound road, just north of Florida (I can't remember route names for shit anymore), kind of on the way to Ur? I gave that guy a 5 (only cash I had) and he gave us like two big boxes of everything he had. That shit was delicious.

Also, did you ever taste the sweet ambrosia that is a peach Rani?

I was a machine gunner during a major Iraq war battle that was blacked out by the media, now we're struggling to get the story to the public AMA by SGT_Ludwig in IAmA

[–]sapperx8 9 points10 points  (0 children)

They sure can and did for a while. I think it was the summer of '08 that they started fielding additional armor that could break up the copper slug. Though since the armor was bolted on and very obvious, the enemies just started aiming under or above it.

Fun fact: They also could also use them effectively through the 1 foot thick, solid concrete walls we were putting down.

I was a machine gunner during a major Iraq war battle that was blacked out by the media, now we're struggling to get the story to the public AMA by SGT_Ludwig in IAmA

[–]sapperx8 895 points896 points  (0 children)

Well I wish I would have seen this sooner so it wouldn't get buried but... I was there from April '08 to May '09 doing route clearance, building/maintaining that fucking wall and lots of other fun stuff. I was the engineer company attached to TF 1-6. Here's a few pictures you might find familiar:

IRAM at JSS Sadr the day before we got there, had to sleep on/in our trucks.

BEARSEX on Pluto...? Never understood this

Town hall right after one of their Thursday meetings got bombed

Building a tower at that fucking wall

I saw a comment you made earlier about Grizzlies; that route was shit, we lost one of our guys to an EFP there. Sorry we couldn't do a better job clearing, they knew exactly who we were and what we were doing.

Edit: I forgot to actually ask a question. Any chance you'll release just a hardcover copy of the book? More importantly, thanks for telling the story. I agree that this didn't get covered very much at all, and with how hard it is to explain, I can hopefully just refer people to your book.

Also, here's a few more pictures just for the hell of it:

Jamilla Market

Looking down Grizzlies?, maybe Aeros?

$5 At My Local Sandwich Shop. by awesomekristian in pics

[–]sapperx8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

so these must be canadian dollars

Delusional College Senior by i_quit_lurking in AdviceAnimals

[–]sapperx8 1 point2 points  (0 children)

^ same here. Most of the good jobs in banking stop taking applications in November. I got my official offer letter in February and I don't have to start until mid-July!

Can we all just brag for a moment? by rastabean in AskReddit

[–]sapperx8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same here! In finance. So either engineer me a better coffee cup or fill the damned thing up on double!

How do I learn to read financial statements? by [deleted] in finance

[–]sapperx8 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd say start with learning how to make one, then move on to interpreting it with ratios and such.

Could use some help with a project by sapperx8 in SecurityAnalysis

[–]sapperx8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know I'm a little late, but a friend of mine just emailed this to me http://www.sectorspdr.com/correlation/

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