Iraq - A Chronicle of War

My name is Kyle Salisbury, and as you may have guessed, I'm in the US Army. My job is 19D, Cavalry Scout. This is basically a mix of infantry and armor - but in Iraq all that usually means is clearing houses and patrolling!

I recently returned from Iraq, where I was deployed 13 months. I spent time in Tall 'Afar, Mosul, Al Jazeera Desert, Baghdad, and Baqubah. I was wounded while on mission in Baqubah, which is why I'm back in the US. My unit, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), is still in Baqubah, Iraq.

My intention is to chronicle my experience completely, beginning with my deployment from the US, to Kuwait, and all over Iraq. I hope other will learn from this and I hope that one day, no one will have to experience what we soldiers have experienced in war.

I am still in the Army so I work quite a bit, but will be updating this page at least once a week! So, add me to your favorites and come back!

Pre-Deployment

Some people might think it's very relaxed and easy going before deployment to make up for the year that you're going to be gone.........well that's completely wrong!! We were almost busier before we deployed than we were in Iraq!

Of course you have a the train-up cycle, which is very time consuming. This train up cycle lasts about 6 months. It begins with a lot of weapons ranges, which means very long days spent cleaning ranges and weapons. The next step is FTX, or field training exercises.

FTX's are dreaded in the Army, what it meant to me was a week living on my Stryker with no good food or showers! Not to mention very long days of training. Usually we use simulation rounds in our weapons for FTX, which is similar to a paintball round, but it hurts MUCH more. If you're lucky during these FTX's you'll get to play the OPFOR (opposition force). Being the OPFOR means your only job is to mess with the other team as much as possible! If you're the main force, there's a lot of careful planning, which can be a long process.

National Training Center (NTC)

If you're stationed on the Western half of the United States, you can bet that before you deploy, you'll spend at least at a month in the Mojave Desert, at Fort Irwin, California.

This month was by far the most tired and dirty I've been in my entire life! I'll finish this part later as it will take awhile.