Shadow's Taxicab reports: Three tiny troop tales

[shadowknows69]

The replacement killers....or killed

I had a van load last night who were all new recruits and apparently being deployed near the end of the month. This surprised me initially because I hadn't heard of any scheduled departures recently. The only major one that I currently know of is set to go out in July of 2007. I asked him how many were going out this time and he informed me that it was actually only eight individuals being sent to Iraq. It seems these boys, and at 37 I can call them boys, were all going as fully green replacements for casualties suffered in one particular unit. It seems in the carnage last month a full 45, that's FORTY FIVE out of the 100 troops killed in December were all from this kid's same unit in the 10th. I can only imagine how many were injured. I questioned the logic of replacing 45 with only eight and he simply said they do it gradually. The 10th is getting hit hard in this war and the scars both mental and physical are showing themselves more frequently.

There is some good news for our division. A large number are being rotated back from Afghanistan soon and from what I hear it will be a longer home leave this time and as I indicated earlier it seems there aren't any new deployments base wide until next summer. This same soldier also told me they were cutting some deployments down to eight months instead of the standard 12 or brutal 18 that many have done and that the Army is trying to work things that some other Forts are going to take some of the burden for a while. Not a hugely rosy picture for my base's troops but they take what they get. As always I tell them to keep themselves safe and get back home.

Be all the criminal you can be
One of our drivers was robbed at gunpoint (not me thank Gods. Been there. Not fun.)and apparently it was a soldier that did it and right in his own military housing off post no less. I had to tell the driver the other day he was my hero because the crazy bastard got out and chased the robber after he had a gun to his noggin. I'm no coward but hey, a gun is a fucking gun. I bailed from my robbery scene like my cab had Superman pushing it. Anyhoo they caught him as we managed to kind of circle in the complex and figure out what building he was in. Cops were johnny on the spot too. Have to give them props, they've caught every cab robber in the last 6 months and there have been more than 5 in our town. If you knew our town, that's significant. Now the alleged armed robber is trying to say he only had a pen in his hand but my colleague assures me he knows the difference, and I do too.

Motives? Who knows. Money? It was payday weekend so maybe he spent a little too much on the holidays. A LOT of our troops sadly have bad drug habits and there is an abundant supply of those in little ole Watertown. I suspect we rank fairly highly in heroin, crack and meth in upstate NY communities. I see a lot of heavy users from age 16 to 60. Proof? Experience breeds insight and that's all I've got to say about that. One more possibility jumps to mind. Did this young man simply not want to go back to war? A felony armed robbery charge, which he is now clearly trying to make like wasn't an armed robbery, should get him kicked out of the army one would think. At the time of this writing I don't know if a gun has been found or not. It almost seemed he was planning to be caught. Surely there are better places to stage a heist on a taxicab than in your own apartment complex, particularly for someone who is trained in tactics and strategy. If he was armed he apparently didn't have a standoff so to incur a "suicide by cop" situation. I expect incidents like this will occur again as the true toll of this war starts to really settle in.


People with PTSD shouldn't drive taxi

I met my first soldier this weekend who had gotten out of the military specifically because of PTSD. When he told me this he took care to explain it to me in case I didn't comprehend the acronym.

"I just got out of the military on medical five months ago"

"I'm sorry to hear that sir. You were wounded?"

"No, I got out due to PTSD, shell shock, I've seen too much combat"

Not much I can add to that eh readers?

I asked him if the army was taking care of him in that respect and if he was getting the help he needed? He indicated he was. For his state of mind anyway. Apparently he was messed up enough to be out of the army but not enough to get any financial help on the outside. I learned he had taken what sounded like a pretty good IT job with a local business and he said it paid pretty well but he had some child support issues so he needed a second job and actually started asking me about cab driving and if we were taking any people. I said we always were and gave him the basics but in hindsight I should have told this guy to do anything BUT drive cab. It was only later I thought, DUNCE SHADOW! This job and just my proximity to the troops in this war has turned me into a basket case that has nightmares that shouldn't even be my own. This man has lived the nightmare and would unknowingly subject himself to a constant barrage of people that would probably trigger his worst possible memories. If a man is too broken in spirit to fight how will he be as a citizen again? Should he hide from the horrors he's seen or confront them. Questions I daily thank my Gods I don't have to answer about myself. HOME NOW. Tip your cabbie.
Shadow out.

[unhappycamper]

1. Thanks for posting.

I know it's a delicate question, but do they talk about the justification of this invasion and occupation?

Do any of them call it an occupation?

[shadowknows69]

2. I've had a couple call it that

It's a hard subject to breach and I imagine hard too for these guys and girls to deal with themselves. Could you admit to being a killer in an unjust cause. Many still "believe" in the cause because they HAVE to. It is survival.

[badgerpup]

3. Thank you, Shadow

For allowing us to see these anonymous 'troops' as the REAL people that they are...
and for your compassion. It must be heartrending sometimes. :patriot:

[shadowknows69]

4. I don't do this job for:

The paid vacation-NONE
The health benefits-NONE
The flexible schedule-12 HOUR SHIFTS

I do it for you (ok, that and the fact that I can take a break any time and go do bongs at home)

READ ME!!!
FEED ME!!!
-Shadow's small but occasionally belligerent ego

[lebkuchen]

5. Great writing

I wish I had your skill.

Fort Drum? I've been checking the casualties over at

http://icasualties.org/oif/

Forts Drum and Hood have taken a lot of casualties. So have we here in Germany. There was a memorial for three Schweinfurt soldiers just the other day.

Check on "casualties" at the upper tab at the link and then click on the blue half circle representing "army."

Please continue the updates. I hope you have a journal.

on edit: found your journal. I'll be checking in from time to time.

[shadowknows69]

6. Did I mention I also had to pull over

and listen to a soldier puke last night for about 10 minutes flat? Sounded chunky too. Ewwww! :puke:

Kick

[sanskritwarrior]

7. Love the posts

enjoy what you have to say, I am a soldier myself. One point of contention. I take it by 10th you mean 10th Mountain Division. The 10th did not suffer 45 combat deaths in December, nor in november. In fact they did not suffer 45 deaths in the months combined. I know you're telling the truth, I'm a Senior NCO young GI's tell how do I say this "tall tales" to get free cab rides, extra lap dances, etc. I know I did it back in the mid 90's. The only reason I bring this up is if some freeper looks at this thread and sees the mention of the 10th and does a little research they can then take this post and blog about how those "nutjobs at DU" now are saying people died that didn't die. It's just as a soldier I like accuracy when talking aout my brothers and sisters that have fallen. I like your posts and please keep telling people what you hear, just remember that sometimes the troops tell "little fibs" to try and get something from you........ Rock on my brother...... (need rock and roll icon)

December 2006 115 American KIA

1st Cav Div: 16
1st Armored Div: 11
25th ID (Alaska and Hawaii) 17
10th Mtn Div: 5
2nd Inf Div: 12
Marines: 32
1st Inf Div: 7

National guard: 6

136th Infantry Massachusetts: 2
125th Armor (Kentucky,Mississippi): 4

Unknown units: 5

Individual units: 4

20th SF Group: 1
4th Air Defense Bn: 1
Dept. of Army St. Louis: 1
1st Engineer Group: 1



November 2006 American KIA's

Marines: 24
82nd Airborne: 9
4th Inf Div: 6
1st Cav Div: 6
1st Armored Div: 5
2nd Inf Div: 3
1st Inf Div: 3
3rd Inf Div: 2
101st Div: 2
89th MP BDE: 2
172nd Stryker: 1
25th ID: 1
Air Force: 1

National Guard: 3

1114 Transportation Company: 1
46th MP Battalion: 1
125th Infantry Battalion: 1

Individual units: 2

Command General Staff College: 1
3rd SF Group: 1

[shadowknows69]

8. after looking at icasualties I saw that too

could he have been referring to a more generic unit designation or something that would encompass more than one base? Thanks for posting the debunk on this one sanskrit. I just repeat em as I'm told em.

<edit to add> something I also wondered about. It seems we get quite a few other branches of the military coming and going from here. I've met lots of marines, guard and reserve as well.