Went to DC over the weekend and watched the unveiling of the newest memorial for our vets that participated in operation Desert shield/Desert storm. My father participated and I wanna say thank you to everyone who participated. Yall made a huge impact. Thank you for your service. God bless our troops.
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Such a Beautiful Memorial! The carving in the stone is Amazing!
Wow it is a stunning memorial. Thank you for sharing it.
I thought so too. No problem!
The losses on the other side is massive
Yeah definitely. If Sadam hadn't invaded it would've been entirely avoidable.
In war when the other side has high casualties and your are low, that’s what’s called “success”
Beautiful. Can’t wait to go visit. So at the rate, we’ll get a gwot memorial around 2040.
In hindsight, those were the peak of the forever war. Afterwards, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi freedom, Inherent Resolve (probably forgetting a couple) all kind of left a bad taste in your mouth.
Wise_Swing_2608 [OP] 11 points · 3h ago
Yeah my dad certainly has his opinions as well on many things. As do I. But Kuwait made it clear that we really helped them in this situation so I'd count that as a positive. They paid half of the 16 million that this cost as well.
Ok-Hat-5540 5 points · 3h ago
Yes, even then my squadron had 2 aircrew refuse to fly and turn in their wings because they saw it as "going to war for western gas corporations." They became permanent duty officers for the duration, which was great for the rest of us and people really didn't give them too hard a time about it.
Backsight-Foreskin 4 points · 2h ago · Army Veteran
The royal family of Kuwait mostly lives in London. Kuwait has people in slavery and is known for human trafficking.
Wise_Swing_2608 [OP] 5 points · 2h ago
I just googled what you said and thats 100 percent false as far as the Royal family being in London. Kuwait does not legally support slavery. You can look up the 1960 penal code for more information on that. They do have trafficking issues but they are doing things to combat it. The U.S. recognizes they could do way more to entirely eliminate. Which is why they're ranked as tier 2.
Backsight-Foreskin 5 points · 2h ago · Army Veteran
And yet,......
https://cdn.walkfree.org/content/uploads/2023/09/28142852/GSI-Snapshot-Kuwait.pdf
Wise_Swing_2608 [OP] 4 points · 2h ago
Fair point and thanks for sharing but id still say what I said in terms of legality. But id add that they are either letting it happen or they're incompetent af if those numbers are accurate. You got me curious now though. Im gonna go down a rabbit hole and see if theres any government involvement. Even just at the level of individuals. If theres enough officials and such that have been caught up then ill definitely raise more of an eyebrow.
anon11101776 3 points · 1h ago
Inherent resolve can be argued as being a righteous cause though. But it’s like starting a fire to stop it. (Inherent resolve veteran 2016)-here
Ok-Hat-5540 3 points · 1h ago
I kind of am too, Al Udeid CAOC in 2015. Yes, I was more just referring to my part in the ops not anything more. They can all be argued to be righteous, but looking back do they still seem that way to you?
anon11101776 1 points · 18m ago
Yeah but I’m no longer 20 years old and still have that guilt of collateral damage from all the airstrikes my unit and I did over fallujah, Mosul, marjah and Damascus. Isis were bad dudes, nazi level bad they had to be stopped and through Air strikes I felt we did do the right move
comcam77 1 points · 43m ago
Just watching video video screens lol
anon11101776 1 points · 18m ago
Yeah for you maybe. But when you’re the one loading bombs and cranking rounds you have some skin in the game.
Samwhys_gamgee 1 points · 7m ago
Forever war? WTF? Desert Storm lasted 6 weeks and there was relative peace in the ME for the next decade until 9/11.