Shops in Iraq bases and FOBs

Yes, I did no mistake, there're well Harley Davidson shops in military bases in Kuwait, Iraq,... "Delivered here or Back home", "Exclusive military pricing", "Military sales"...If I remember right, this picture was took in a facility in Kuwait !

When I was in Kosovo, I have seen a Ford contractor in the US base

P-E wrote:And here's one more...the particularity of this one is that they're embroidering a cap with my family name in english and arabic I asked to a friend of me who was deployed in Iraq if he can find me one cap with my name embroidered on it. He found me one ! It costs me some money (for cap + embroidery + international shipping), but I finaly got one !

this was scarry to see on here as i knew the guy on the right because i bought patches from him during my deployment in 09. carzy to see tallil/adder pics on the net.

also my nco refused to pay for that mini white guideon

The one that blew me away on the boardwalk at Kandahar, this was a pleasant surprise after living at a PB.

Outside

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Inside.

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TGIF! The FOB is a paradise.

Yep Kandahar is crazy, besides still smelling bad it felt like a holiday for the few days we were there. My photos dont realy do the size of TGIF justice, it was massive, I just wish id got photos of the US PX, the size of a K mart or something like that in Australia.

Cheers
Jason


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The fast food joints were a nice change up from the routine crap when one had the chance to. But then again, so was eating in a DFAC, when all you've had was MRE's, pogey bait and microwaveable food out in the Patrol Bases and COP's!! Don't know how many times I gave some whining REMF FOBBIT an earful for crying about some minor or trivial issue while standing in line that was my first opportunity in a long time to actually have the luxury of it!

And the Harley "Dealership" as well as others, didn't actually have inventory. You could order your new ride while in country, and have it waiting for you back at home station when you returned.

Maybe this is the real reason my veteran buddy (infantryman) hates the "POGs" so much..... He has every reason to be envy of them.

The thing that used to get us angry at the patrol base was when we had overnight convoys stay and the next morning most of the nice to have type food was gone from our very small dry store. These people had just come from the FOB that morning and the next day would be back in the line for the DFAC or getting a coffee at the 24 hour green beans! So we would be stuck on dehydes for the next however many weeks.

ok i know it isnt Iraq but these are in Camp Bastion:

2ndAIF wrote:

P-E wrote:

Harley Davidson??

You get awesome deals on the bike you want. Order now, pay while you're down range, and ride it when you get home. Of course you'll have to attend several motorcycle safety course on post before you can enjoye the bike.

They also have car salesmen over there too.

P-E wrote:yes, 100% sure it isn't airsoft. I found this picture in the private album of one of those soldiers from the 278th ACR, so yes, I'm 100% these are real soldiers in Iraq.

Here's the photos album, it's picture #455 :

https://picasaweb.google.com/112858771817419179195/Iraq1#

Everyone seems to be dancing around the "white elephant" on this thread. Most of these pics are of weekend warriors who lucked out on a deployment they will talk about for the rest of their lives. Granted the active Army has its share of "heavy drops" but the Marines have fat boys too, the Navy has its "fat fround bottom", and the USAF has plenty of "tankers".

I find the USMC tend to do a good job at keeping them hidden from view but you can catch a glimps of them when they let them out to graze.

airborne1968 wrote:

P-E wrote:yes, 100% sure it isn't airsoft. I found this picture in the private album of one of those soldiers from the 278th ACR, so yes, I'm 100% these are real soldiers in Iraq.

Here's the photos album, it's picture #455 :

https://picasaweb.google.com/112858771817419179195/Iraq1#

Everyone seems to be dancing around the "white elephant" on this thread. Most of these pics are of weekend warriors who lucked out on a deployment they will talk about for the rest of their lives. Granted the active Army has its share of "heavy drops" but the Marines have fat boys too, the Navy has its "fat fround bottom", and the USAF has plenty of "tankers".

I find the USMC tend to do a good job at keeping them hidden from view but you can catch a glimps of them when they let them out to graze.

Yippers. Saw plenty of them when I was mobilizing some NG brigades. Could only shake my head in wonder. But, like you say, I've seen some hefty boys on the active side as well, although they were generally quick to be shown the door. At least "back in the day". The last decade has seen too many left to slide by for the numbers game with deployments. Then again, I knew a few guys over the years who could never met HT/WT but were the biggest studs in the field where shit mattered, often leaving those PT studs in the dirt.

2ndAIF wrote:

P-E wrote:

Harley Davidson??

Yep, and all of the Car manufacturers have sales shops there. All purchases are DUTY free, and tax free. You reup in country, and your bonus is tax free... spend it here, and pick it up at any dealer you choose..... what a country

toasty13 wrote:

P-E wrote:And here's one more...the particularity of this one is that they're embroidering a cap with my family name in english and arabic I asked to a friend of me who was deployed in Iraq if he can find me one cap with my name embroidered on it. He found me one ! It costs me some money (for cap + embroidery + international shipping), but I finaly got one !

this was scarry to see on here as i knew the guy on the right because i bought patches from him during my deployment in 09. carzy to see tallil/adder pics on the net.

also my nco refused to pay for that mini white guideon

Was also at Adder in 09, with the Seabees. Adder had very good Hadji shops, But Delta had the best

I know this is a several year old thread, but seeing the morbidly obese guy reenlisting rubs me pretty raw. It doesn’t matter what patches he wears, or what units he has served in, he and his Command are an embarrassment to the Army. I know that’s blunt, but that’s what it is.

Airborne1968 is spot on. Many of these obese individuals pictured here were fat before their deployment, and their Command was too ineffective in addressing it prior to, or during, mobilization. No one puts on 50bs from Burger King in Baghdad during a deployment.

The National Guard and Reserve service members have the exact same height/weight, body fat, and physical fitness standards as the Active Duty component. The fact that someone was not 'flagged' (A suspension of favorable personnel actions: no reenlistments, no awards, no promotions) for being so ridiculously overweight and allowed to reenlist is in direct contrast to Army regulations. This isn't supposed to happen. What does happen is a Commander with poor leadership skills makes exceptions or looks the other way rather than make hard decisions. In some National Guard or Reserve units, it is not uncommon to find members who have been in the same units for a decade or longer, often with stagnation in promotions. Sometimes the excuse is "but SGT Smith is a really good dude"; friendships can get in the way of proper accountability. Sometimes the excuse is "but SGT Smith is an expert at ___, or no one else can do ____"; this again is a Command failure. It has happened before, and will happen in the next conflict.  

To address another issue, yes, these are Combat Troops.  While these guys are *probably not* Infantrymen, they certainly are deployed to a war zone and given a weapon with the expectation to competently shoot, move, and communicate at the most basic standard. That's not to say there aren't fat Combat Arms (MPs, Infantrymen, Cav Scouts, Tankers, Artillerymen) service members in the Guard and Reserve - they do exist, just in less numbers. Overweight service members on Active Duty are quick to be put on a 'fix-it' plan and unless progress is made they are shown the door.