[240B]

You are bringing back some...odd...memories.

That MOPP stuff. Wow. And the Liberals think Waterboarding is bad. HORRIBLE!

Put one of those terrorists in a MOPP suit for a couple hours. He will be begging to be waterboarded!

BTW, I just want to say off the side or whatever, it is fun, enjoyable engaging (speaking with you).

[FlyVet]

I talked to a Chief I worked with before I retired, a few years ago. Some of his Airmen were sent to Iraq for convoy duty. He said they came back pretty rattled. In general, our guys were just not trained to handle that kind of stuff, like Marines or Army infantry are. We have our Security Police who train for Air Base Ground Defense, they get some pretty good combat training, and of course the Pararescue guys who go hardcore like the Green Berets or the SEALS, but in general, no, we do not get the hardcore training.

I deployed to Fort Drum for a week once, around 1990, we set up a tac unit, hospital, chow hall, perimeter, sandbag bunkers and all that. OPFOR was seasoned Rangers, the older guys, NCO's. MILES gear. They were using AK's with blanks, but without the muzzle plug. Man does that thing make an impressive muzzle flash at night. And the distinctive sound. Pop-pop-pop, that low cycle rate.

They freaking killed us three times over. Walked right through us. It was quite an eye-opener. You have to be trained for that stuff. We generally weren't.